Sabbath-breaking careless performance of his Service and Worship Selfishness Inordinate love of and Adulterous Affections to any Creature and hiding Pride from Man and turning our Eyes from a fond Admiration of Creatures and laying them in the dust They will not endure it but fret and murmur in their hearts and are ready to say as the Rebellious Followers of Korah did to Moses Wilt thou put out these Eyes of ours We will not come down we will not deny our selves nor be crossed in our wills nor leave our shame When God is putting the Bridle into their Mouths and laying a Curb and Restraint upon their Intemperance Pride and Luxury and bringing into contempt their Gallantry and swaggering Bravery they will not endure the Curb but rage and foam and grow mad and bite the Bridle that holds them in and reply as the remnant Jews did after the Captivity when they sent Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord for their Direction and liked not the Answer that he brought Jer. 44.16 17. We will not hearken to thee but will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth of our own Mouth we will let our Hearts with a full rein to any thing they desire for when we have done thus we were well and saw no evil when we leave off to shew favour and courtesie to our selves who shall befriend us when we begin to cry shame on our selves all men will cry shame on us and if once we come down and lie in the dust all men will trample upon us Those are some of the shifts that carnal Wisdom and Reason alledgeth whereby it would frustrate the Invitations of Mercy When God is calling for the Plumb Line and meting out a Nation for Destruction Amos 7.7 when he is drawing the lines of confusion in a place 1 Sam. 2.8 and marking it for Judgment they cry as the Inhabitants of Ephraim once did The Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Esay 9.10 And though we may not be gotten up to such a degree of wickedness as this is it will concern us to make search and inquiry whether there be no seed of this wicked nature in us I am too much out of doubt that there is much of crossness and contradiction to the will of God in the best heart and too loth are the best to veil and stoop to the will of God when it crosseth ours but it will be fitter to help on this search in the Application 4. Lastly They overlook both his Attributes Word and Works all at once that put him off with shadows instead of substance that give him a few flattering words and shews for the inward worship and purity of their hearts This is the very instance of the Psalm a part of which we have now before us What an affront is this to remember him with the Mouth that he may be cast out of the Heart where he will have more to do than all the World or else abhor that person and his service whose heart it is To wash the outside with the paint of an external profession and to have a Heart full of Pride and unmortified Lusts full of putrid noisom Filth is not to play the Christian but the Pharisee To profess God at Home and at Church in our Houses and his House and to joyn with his Servants in the Externals of his Worship to read his Word and sing his Praises with our Lips and in Heart and Life to subvert the Christian Faith is not to be a Disciple but a Judas To give God the most glorious Attributes and Titles and call him thy Creator Lord and Governour and to acknowledge thou hast all from his Bounty and yet to deny him the Service and Obedience due to his Laws this is not to remember but to forget him If I be a Father where is mine Honour If I be a Master where is my fear saith God Mal. 1.6 Is not the Lord a Spirit and will he be put off with a meer bodily service only I know he will have the service of the body also he will have the Tongue and the Knee and an External Reverence that may be of good Example to others But thou art guilty of Hypocrisie and Folly both if this be all that thou canst spare if thou go not further thou mayst be a very devil in thy heart when thou haâ—st Oyl and Butter in thy Mouth and when thou speakest the smoothest words to God thou mayst have war and enmity to him in thy heart thou mayst fetch a sigh or a groan for sin at a pretty easie rate but God will not take this instead of Self-denial and mortification of thy Lusts but will abhor their shews and complements that cover hatred with lying Lips When God calls to the proud Person to come down and sit in the dust and humble himself will it be an acceptable service if he would offer him something else or will he take the fruit of the Body for the sin of the Soul Mich. 6.7 I mean a shew of humility in going softly speaking faintly looking sadly instead of true lowliness and poverty of Spirit I speak not against the outward signs they are good when accompanied with the thing signified but when we deceive our selves with these and think to deceive God also True humility consists in a universal submission to the Will of God and ready obedience to all his Laws when they cross our interest in the world as when they do promote it And he that hath not this in a prevailing measure and degree God will look upon him afar off let him come as near as he will with his Tongue or Knee Psal 138.6 and he will plentifully reward as a proud doer Psal 40.4.31.23 When God calleth to search our hearts and try our ways and remember our doings It will not serve turn to remember the doings of others and to seâ—â—ch and censure them to lay heavy burdens upon the City or Countrey and not to touch them with one of our Fingers not but we may and must confess the sins of the whole Nation when Gods hand is upon a whole Nation and calls it to repentance but if we remember not our own sins with a weeping heavy heart also and do not loath our selves for all our own abominations Ezek. 36.31 and feellingly confess with shame and detestation the sins that lie nearest our hearts and take it for a mercy to have the scourge of a just and smarting rod as well as the charge of a holy convincing word that we have not only threatning which we have made a shift to slight so often but some execution to make sin odious to us and to recover us to a due sense and apprehension of it If we have brought our selves to such a death in sin that we cannot understand what it is until we feel it it 's a mercy to feel that we may understand But let
of no other Argument though I could produce several if he died for such as deny him and crucifie him to themselves afresh and finally perish then he died no question for the rest but that he tasted Death for such is plain Heb. 10.29 Having in the verse before shewed the miserable end of those that despised Moses's Law he infers by way of interrogation Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy of that hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despight to the Spirit of Grace and yet plainer 2 Pet. 2.1 There shall be false Teachers as the Apostle gives them warning that shall bring in damnable Heresie denying the Lord that bought them So that hence it is evident that Christ laid down his Blood as a price to redeem them that ungratefully deny him And if Christ had not died for all it could not be the duty of every man to believe in him But there is nothing more unquestionable than that every one is bound to believe and such as refuse are threatned with a more fearful destruction because they wickedly frustrate as much as in them lies such a wonderful Grace of God and withstand the highest motive to Repentance and a new life 1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie him in your Body and in your Spirit which are his The Apostle speaketh to the Corinthians in general among whom there were many unbelievers And what 's the Argument he useth to perswade them to Faith and newness of Life but because Christ hath shewed such love to them as to die for them Since he hath offered up his Body upon the Cross for you do you offer up your Souls and Bodies unto him to be instruments of Righteousness to do him service is the force of the Apostles Argument We see then that the Death of Christ and the Gift of the Spirit are obligations upon all that hear the Gospel at least to a thankful Commemoration of the love of God and a Remembrance of him There are none that live under the sound and influence of the Gospel but have the love of Christ expressed in his Incarnation Life and Death for them to move them externally by way of Argument and the powerful Spirit inwardly to check their Corruptions and prompt them to obedience in some degree and measure and if they will not think upon the one nor submit to the other but slightly regard the one and stubbornly resist the other and stiffle every good motion which they feel and keep off from any serious thoughts of the death of Christ and will not be perswaded to consider the Blood that was shed for them nor suffer his love to be shed abroad into their hearts by the Holy Spirit Let such know that their forgetfulness of God is the more heynous because it hath so fast an obligation as this to the most necessary duty of remembrance the Word also as well as the Spirit What are all the passages of Scripture but such as prepare for or directly stir up to such a Remembrance You may observe some parts of Scripture more remotely conduce to this grand duty of remembring God other parts do more immediately serve to produce it where it is wanting others to reduce and recover it when 't is lost So that one of these three ways either by conducing to it or producing or reducing of it all the parts of Gods Word conspire io this principal duty The main division of the Scripture is into the Old and New Testament But what is the design and drift of both these but to rescue or preserve a Memory of God in the World Our Saviour sums up the Old Testament in these two heads the Law and the Prophets Now what doth the Law serve for if not to mind us of the great Law-giver and to beget an awe of his Soveraignty upon the World And the main end of the Prophets and their Prophesies was to reproduce this Remembrance of God when the ungrateful People had forgot him And what can be the end of that Light that hath shined to us in the Gospel but to teach us to deny all ungodliness 〈◊〉 Forgetfulness of God and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present evil World which we can never do without frequent and effectual Remembrance of God and our Lord Jesus Christ I might more particularly insist here and shew how all the Precepts Promises and Threatnings which are the three essential parts of Gods Word are intended to this end and will leave the Soul inexcusable that forgets him or how the several Books of the Old and New Testament which are the integral parts of God's Word oblige to this Remembrance But I think the case is so plain and clear that none of these ways of demonstration is needful to convince us That the whole Word of God is no little impulsive but presseth earnestly to this Remembrance and is therefore another great Aggravation of the sin of Forgetfulness I shall only chuse to set some of those Texts of Scripture before you that are fullest of Affection and most Pathetical and that shew how unwilling God is to forget poor sinners or that they should perish as they must needs do in their Forgetfulness of him Esay 48.18 19. With what passion doth the Lord mourn over the poor forgetful Israelites that had even now brought utter ruine upon themselves O that thou hadst hearkened to my Commandments then had thy Peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the Waves of the Sea Thy Seed also had been as the Sand and the off-spring of thy Bowels as the Gravel thereof and Hos 11.8 When the ten Tribes were got to such a degree of wickedness that God was not remembred by them any longer but they had divorced him from them by their Idolatries and could bear no longer without disparagement to the Truth and Justice of God with what unwillingness doth he throw them off How shall I give thee up O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim My Heart is turned within me my Repentings are kindled together What heart that is not desperately sick of stupidity can hear this sound and not return and recover the remembrance of him whom before he had forgot O that my People had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have subdued their Enemies and turned my Hand against their Adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever He should have fed them also with the finest of the Wheat and with Honey out of the Rock should I have satisfied thee Ps 81.13 14 15. Thus you see how these and such like Scriptures Numbers of which might be gathered together and as the parts of
the Question lest I should be too tedious The Common Directions which I shall propose are By way of 1 Consideration 2. Exercise Consider therefore 1. What a fearful and dangerous sin it is to forget God 2 What a shame it is to be unmindful of him 3. What are the benefits of preferinging God in our Remembrance before all other things For the First I have already shewed what a heinous and dangerous sin it is to forget God from whence it may be fetch'd for our Consideration I shall give a brief Recapitulation Consider then what Obligations thou sin'st against if thou shut God out of thy Remembrance 1. On God's part 1. He gave thee thy Faculties to this very end 2. And hath purposely set Heaven and Earth before thee to exercise these Faculties and to put thee in Remembrance of him 3. He hath sent his Son to put thee in mind of him 4. He hath given thee his Spirit Word and all his Ordinances to awake thee to remember him Think then what Gilt the breach of all these Obligations on Gods part will bring upon thee if yet thou shalt forget him Consider what Obligations also thou sinnest against 2. On thy own part Thou sinnest against 1. Thy solomn Vow 2. Covenant 3. Oath 4. Profession If these particulars be taken into thy consideration thou wilt not sure count it a venial sin to forget God and consequently it will be a means to bring thee to the Remembrance I am directing to Consider also the danger as well as the guiltiness of this sin 1. It may betray thee to all other sin and absurdity 2. It will provoke God to forget thee in a way of mercy 3. It will cause him to Remember thee in a way of Judgment If thon art one that dost believe and wilt consider thus much it will prepare thee for the duty we are now upon and be a help to a worthy Remembrance of him For every thing that hath the nature of a motive to a practical Duty hath the nature of a means or help to the performance of the Duty The Reason is because cause it is a necessary means to any Duty to bring the Will to a thorough Resolution Now all motives are the most proper means ro bring the Will to such a Determination So much for the first thing that we are to consider Secondly Consider also what a shame it is to forget God and to be unmindful of him Hast thou no ingenuity 1. Canst thou forget him that remembreth thee every hour 2. Canst thou forget him in prosperity whom thou wilt remember in thy necessity 3. Dost thou not blush to prefer empty unsatisfactory and transitory things in thy Remembrance before God But these things I have already insisted on and therefore do but now name them as matter of our consideration as a second sort of motives and therefore fit means to help on this Remembrance Thirdly If thou wouldst be in the number of those that exalt God above all things in their Remembrance then consider what advantage will accrue to thee by such a Remembrance I know these may be also called motives as all means by way of consideration are But yet they are all distinct and different kinds of motives and have their effect upon three several passions 1. The first sort taken from the consideration of the greatness and danger of the sin of not Remembring God are rather to fright us from the sin of forgetfulness than to draw us to the duty of Remembrance 2. The second sort are intended to work upon Ingenuity where there is any and to excite shame in those that neglect such a becoming duty 3. And the third sort taken from the benefits and advantage of this Remembrance are directly to excite Love and Desire and hereby to attract the Heart to the performance of a work so beneficial I come now therefore to propose the Benefits that will follow such a worthy Remembrance of God as a means to this duty First Consider If thou art one that Remembrest God with the most prizing valuing thoughts thou art translated from Death to Life If St. John make the predominant love of the Brethren to be so sure an evidence of this Translation 1 John 3.14 We know that we are passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren Then much more doth the sincere love of God give us full security that we are thus advanced But the predominant love of God is implied in this Remembrance as the essential part of it according to the known Rule words of Sense and Understanding in Morallity essentially involve Affections and Actions If they go alone all moral Acts are incompleat unless they be both in the understanding and will in the Mind and Heart If therefore thou art one that thus remembrest God thou hast this grand priviledge whose name is Legion and contains such a number under it Death is a name of terror and sounds dreadful to all whose Ears it hath not stop'd and is the sum and abridgment of all that 's either hateful or fearful And therefore all the penalty that God threatneth for the breach of such a perfect Righteous Law as he gave to Man was comprized in the word Death And if it be not enough to vindicate the Law from contempt of such as do but hear it yet it will teach them at least not to despise it that feel it And as Death is a Name pregnant with Dread and Horror so Life is the most comfortable Sound and carries all that 's desirable in the Bowels of it And it is put in Scripture to signifie 1. All Happiness 2. Perpetuity And therefore it was the only Sanction that God added to his Law by way of Remuneration Do this and Live Where Life is opposed to the Death that is threatned to the Transgressors As Death therefore is comprehensive of all Misery so Life is a complication of all Happiness And as it is put for all Felicity so for Perpetuity Psal 56.7 In his favour is Life 1. Perpetuity as appears by the opposeâ—â—â— in the former part of the verse His Anger endures but a moment that is it 's short but in his Favour is Life 1. It 's lasting and perpetual Now Death is of three sorts opposed to a three fold Life 1. Natural 2. Moral 3. Metaphorical Natural Death is the privation of all sense Death Moral is the privation of all Love in the Will to Vertue and propension to Goodness for want of which Love it is dead to all vertuous Life and Action and feels no sweetness in them because the principle of that Life is wanting For Love is the Principium Vitae in morallibus Love is the principle of Life in the Moral Spiritual or gracious Life And as Natural Death doth not only deprive the Body of all Sense and Motion but renders it unfit for the Soul to dwell in and be united to and so dissolves the union between these two So Morally
Nature a shameful Spectacle to God Angels and Men Better he judgeth it a thousand times that God had made him a Beast rather than that he should have made himself a Beast If you judge not Sin to be the greatest evil to you and a greater disparagement than Poverty and Raggs and all the reproach and scorn of Men barely considered in themselves without sin you cannot have that sorrow for sin which is sincere For it 's absolutely necessary that sorrow for sin committed against God be greater than all other sorrow for worldly Calamities whatsoever as to the rational part of it which is in the Intellect and Will though perchance not as to that part of sorrow which is in the sensitive part and is it may be expressed in Tears or those sensible Perturbations of the Body which we usually call by the Name of Passions And how is it possible that there should bean intellectual sorrow greater than all other sorrow unless it be first truly judged to be the greatest disgrace and shame to us of any thing that can befal us and doth necessarily draw after it more evil and mischief to Body and Soul than the World can inflict on us It 's possible for a Man to have great inward Peace and Content and an excellent Spirit that is the object of the World's contempt and scorn Our Saviour had no Form nor Comeliness in him saith the Prophet Isaiah ch 53.2 And yet he was speciosus prae Filiis hominum Fairer than the Children of Men 1. for internal but not external Endowments saith the Prophet David Psal 45.2 And as the sinner that 's wounded with hearty sorrow for his sin doth thus judge of himself and doth say He is a Worm and no Man a Reproach of Men and worthily despised by the People Psalm 22.6 So he doth adjudge himself to the greatest sufferings and counts it an unspeakable Favour to be admitted to Repentance and that he may be received into Favour with God again upon any Terms This is Another Act that Godly Sorrow doth contain and is made up of Eighthly The Soul that 's truly penitent is deeply displeased with himself and wisheth heartily he had never been guilty of such Folly And if it were to do again would venture upon any suffering or shame rather than give his Consent thereto He is fallen out with himself so far as he is tainted with Corruption and upbraids himself with all his Rebellion and Ingratitude against God and his unrighteous and unbrotherly Practices towards Men and ill Government of himself He is heartily willing to grieve for his Sin and to express that grief by all significant signs that either Nature or Scripture doth suggest to him and to use all Means whereby this Grief may be procured as by Fasting and hard Usage of his Body when it may be a probable Means to promote this Repentance of his Heart Whatever is like to make his Heart more Tender and Sensible of his Sin he is willing to submit to He is willing to take a frequent view of his loathsom sin that he might more deeply abhor himself He is willing that God should afflict him in that measure that his Wisdom sees most fit if he will but kill his Corruptions thereby And that Men think of him as he hath deserved And when he cannot weep in reality he weepeth in desire Ninthly And as the Understanding and Will do thus far conquer to produce this Repentance and Sorrow so there will be some degree and measure of the Passions properly so called stirring in such a true Penitent There will be Grief and Shame for the Offence and Fear of him whom thou hast offended and longing desire to be reconciled And then Tenthly He that hath a truly penitent Heart and the Sorrow of the right stamp will express it by all outward Signs for the Honour of God and the Good of others He will accuse and speak evil of himself and humble himself by Confession before God his shameful Iniquities Neither will he spare to lay open the shame of his particular sins so far as he knoweth them Nay his pride is so far taken down that he will not stick to make Confession of them before Men if it be such sins whereby they have wronged their Souls and hardned them in any sinful course They will endeavour to undo what they have done by their penitent Confessions and remove the scandal as much as lyeth in their power though it cost them shame It 's a good sign that their sorrow for sin is sincere when it puts them upon such outward Acts as have a strong tendency to condemn and disgrace their former sinful Courses And they may well suspect themselves and their Repentance that stick at such disgraceful Acts as Confession is And are content that God should want the Honour that 's given to him by an humble acknowledgment of our vileness and particular sins And that Men should want such an Argument against the like sinful Courses for the time to come than that themselves should undergo a little disgrace and shame I say not that sins of a fouler nature that would tend to the disparagement of the Gospel that were committed in secret should be publickly made known at all It may suffice that such are confessed before God and the Persons that are already privy to them And that we do protest to them our unfeigned Grief for such foul Transgressions and our readiness to give them all satisfaction for any Wrong or Injury done them But the wrong that we have done to our Associates and Companions by prophanation of the Sabbath Oaths Ribbaldry or any other infectious Courses we are to beg pardon for of them whom we have thus wronged by our Miscarriages And to confess the sinfulness of such Courses to the Glory of God and to the preventing of such Evil for the future And as the penitent humble Person will not stick at Confession both to God and Men when need requireth so he will with patience and silence submit himself to any Afflictions that the righteous God whom he hath provoked doth think meet to inflict upon him He doth not mutter in his Heart as knowing that he hath deserved the most calamitous afflicted Life in this World and the unsupportable Miseries of the other Life Should a Malefactour that hath forfeited his Life murmur at the Judge that punisheth him with a few stripes and so remits the other part of his punishment I will patiently bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him saith the Church Micah 7.9 A truly penitent Heart will not complain for the punishment of his sin Lam. 3.39 What do I say he will not complain Nay he will justifie God in all that he brings upon him And as he doth express his Sorrow by humble Confession of his Sins and Justification of his Judge so he will do it by penitential Tears if the Temper and Constitution of his Body will
Death doth not deprive the Soul of all gracious and vertuous Sense and Motion but renders it unfit for the Spirit of true Vertue Grace and Holiness to dwell in and so there must needs follow a Devorce and Separation between them And as in the Natural Life there is a Union between the Soul and Body so in the Moral there is a Union between the Soul and God Death Metaphorical is the privation of all the comfortable effects of Life whether it be Natural or Moral whilst bear Life doth still remain and the presence of all those evils that may afflict or imbitter it And all these are either 1. Temporal 2. Eternal From what hath been spoken for the explication of these two terms Life and Death you may perceive what a priviledge and unspeakable favour it is to be translated from Death to Life 1. If thou Remembrest God The sting of a Natural Death is pulled out and though thou art not 〈◊〉 from the part of the penalty of sin whereby the Body is deprived of all sense and separated from the Soul yet thou art delivered from that which is most terrible in Death 〈◊〉 the misery or Death that will follow after and it is a comfortable passage for them that Remember God to endless Joy and Happiness and sometimes a welcome Messenger to them They may truly say as Agag 1 Sam. 15.32 The bitterness of Death is past 2. They are translated from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace and Holiness and are united unto God and are disposed by Faith and Love to that Holiness which is the Divine Perfection and the way to the highest Happiness and Honour that the Heart of Man can wish or desire Though this Life will be imperfect whilst we stay here And if there be such pleasure in the Union between the Soul and Body then there is much more in the Union between the Soul and God 3. As Death is put for Misery and the bitter and uncomfortable effects of the endless Life to come so they are passed from Death to Life The Sentence of Death that God hath passed against sin is so far revers'd And as for the Miseries and Evils of this Life though materially they may have more than other Men yet as to the formal and most essential part of them they feel them not so much as other Men because they are allay'd and sweetned 1. By the inward Peace and Comfort that God gives to those that Remember him 2. By the benefit and advantage they get by those outward Sufferings For as their outward Man is afflicted so their inward man is renewed strengthened and confirmed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 For their light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory even in the beginnings of it here ver 17.3 It lessens their short and momentary sufferings that by them they escape so much Temptation and all the â—aiâ—s of sin are become the less taking If thou art one in whose Remembrance God is advanced above all other things thou shalt not die but live and declare the works of the Lord Psal 118.17 And though the Lord may chasten and correct thee yet he will not give thee over unto Death ver 18. For God is the Fountain of Life and in his Light thou shalt see Life Psal 36.9 O what a Mercy is it to be delivered from the power of Death and Darkness and to be translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son where thou shalt grow up from one degree of Life to another till thou come to everlasting Life Col. 1.13 At thy first entrance into this Kingdom Death is sentenced and some execution is done upon every sort of Death which will be perfected as this remembrance of God grows up to perfection in thee O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos 13.14 Which as it was verified of Christ personally understood so it is of Christ mystically understood 1. As Christ overcame Death in his Person so every true Believer such are all and only they that have God in their Remembrance hath gotten some conquest over Death which shall grow up to a full Victory and therefore Paul in the Name of the whole Church doth acknowledge this mercy Thanks be to God that giveth us the victory thorough our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15 5 7. Whilst the wicked forgetters of God are dead in trespasses and sins and dead to all soul and solid Joy and Comfort and designed to an eternal death Thou that thinkest upon God and remembrest his Love in Christ art entred into a state of Life and hast such a Promise that contains more in it than all the rich Indian Mines Because â—e hath set his Love upon me With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation Psal 91.16 If thou didst but know what a treasure is hid in thâ—â— Remembrance thou wouldst throw out every thing of thy Memory and Heart that hinders this Remembrance of God This one priviledge of being translated from Death to Life is big with a number more 1. It implies that thou art reconciled to God and he is at peace with thee and thou needest no more to fear him as thine Enemy All his Attributes of Power Justice Holiness Vengeance Majesty that sound so terrible to the forgetters of God do but the better secure thee of thine Happiness 2. It implies also thy present Justification in title of Law God hath acquitted thee by the law of Grace and Act of the Gospel from the guilt of sin and dissolved the Obligation to condemnation Who can lay any thing to thy charge if God absolve thee Who can do thee any hurt when Christ is become thy Advocate Rom. 8.33 3. With this mercy doth concur the mercy of Adoption and Sonship It 's no small Honour to be one of his menial Servants but to be a Son yea a Heir is a priviledge not easily valued and understood 4. The gift of the Spirit to dwell within thee is here also implied to mortifie all sin and to work all gracious habits that may fit thee for a state of Glory In a word 5. All real and relative Grace so far as is necessary to Salvation is thine either in Title Possession 1. The Righteousness of Imputation is thine whereby thou art made fit for Pardon and the Righteousness of Implantation is thine whereby thou art made fit for his Love and Complacency and sweetest Communion with him Secondly If thou art one that Remembrest God all things shall co-operate and conspire for thy good Every Age every state and condition of Life every Place and Company every Change and Alteration in the World Prosperity and Adversity Friends and Enemies Health and Sickness Honour and Dishonour every Relation thou art plac'd in shall help forward thy Joy and Felicity and some Foundation God is laying in every one of these whereupon to
the greatest Honour Pleasure Profit unless it be the Hypocrites and formal Professors that slight it over and whose Hearts are not engaged in the Work Mic. 2.7 Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Psal 58.11 I mean such a one that comes not behind his Duty but keeps company with it You may safely and confidently aver to him that soweth Righteousness there is a sure reward as well as shall be Prov. 11.28 Many a refreshing joyful Song he hath whilst he is scattering this Seed what then will the joy of the Harvest be if Plowing and Sowing be such a pleasing Work I confess in all other Service that doth not refer to this the question may be truly put What doth it profit Where is any pleasure that my Heart and Soul can taste and find I have many a time come home by Weeping Cross when I have travelled hardest in the affairs and matters of this Life But he that saith his Heart hath found no sweetness nor reward in his approximation unto God and in the exercise of his Worship if he understands himself he doth but proclaim his Hypocrisie and tell the World that his Heart is defective in the Work That he doth not Worship his Maker and Redeemer in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4.24 That he doth not consider to whom he doth repair nor what he may expect nor who is ready to intercede for him if he doth but look to him with a believing Heart otherwise if these things come under any due Consideration he could not find no taste nor sweetness in such a Service nor return with such a dry and empty Heart from the Fountain of infinite Joy and Fulness Could a Man come to the Sun and not be enlightened and stand under it's warm refreshing Beams and not be revived Could a Man touch the Hem and Border of Christs Garment and feel no Virtue come forth for his Refreshment much less can a Man stand in the presence of his Glory and have no reflections of Light and Comfort from him You may as well say that a Man may feed upon the most nourishing Sustenance and concoct what he eats and yet not thrive at all As that a Man may thoroughly and seriously consider the great sanctifying Truths and live under the power of such Thoughts and find nothing of Gust and Relish in them Peace and Comfort in some Degree are as inseparable from Grace if Consideration bring it into Exercise as Light is from the Sun And as Consideration doth gather strength and is more lively and vigorous so will the Exercise of Grace be more fervent and when Grace is upon the Wing and in a hasty flight Heaven-wards the Virgins that are her Companions Peace and Joy and Comfort I mean will not be dead and unactive but will like the shadow keep company and resemblance with the Body to which they do belong And they that are most frequent and strong in the Exercise of their Grace Faith Love and Hope will have the stronger and more frequent Consolations and Refreshments And therefore David whose Faith and Love and Thankfulness to God were continually working had the the greater sense and experience of this inward Joy and Comfort And such was the degree thereof oftentimes that he could not contain himself but he must needs break forth into Songs and Triumph How sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter than Honey to my Mouth Psal 119.103 O how I love thy Law it is my Meditation all the day ver 97. Thy Statutes have been my Songs in the House of my Pilgrimage ver 54. The service of God must needs be tedious and irksome to them that have their minds on something else and think not what a courtesie they do themselves whilst they draw near to God with the Heart What a favour it is to approach such a presence What an Honour it reflects upon them and what advantage there comes in every way to him that offers a Sacrifice fit for God to accept 2. Exhortation SEcondly Having shewed you what an Obstruction Inconsideracy is to the Remembrance of God and instanced in two woful inconveniences that necessarily flow from an incogitant heedless Service of God By this time I hope our Eyes may be a little opened to see what a sin it 's to be defective in so great a Duty as Consideration is and therefore it 's the more seasonable to warn and beseech you that you would not at one dash blot out all true Worship of God and solid Peace and Comfort out of your own Hearts by a sin so inconsistent with the Rational Spiritual Nature that God hath bestowed upon Man Must not he that hath made both Soul and Body be worshiped with both and served with their united strength As the Eye guides the Body so doth Consideration first stir up and then steer and govern the Soul in all its operations and therefore if you leave out that the Soul cannot stir or move suitably to its Nature If then Forgetfulness of God be a sin that you would not for all the World be found guilty of at the great trying day then be sure not lay the Foundation of such a guilt by the neglect of Consideration Use that Faculty in all things if you would they should be wisely pone but fail not to use it in the service of God and in the matters of highest importance And as you have to do with God in all things either mediately or immediately in a nearer or remoter manner so it behoves you to consider if you will discharge the Duty and rightly perform your Work There are but two sorts of Actions that a Man hath a capacity to produce and in both we have to do with God 1. There are some Actions that have God for their Object or something immediately subservient to him and their end also Such are all Actions of Religious Worship whether External as Prayer Praises solemn Invocation of his Name in an assertory or promissory Oath hearing of the Word participation of the Sacraments or Internal as Faith Love Reverence Dependance Trust Submission 2. There are other Actions that have not God but something else for their Object yet they should have God for their Principal and Vltimate End Such are all the Actions where we have to do with Creatures whether They be Acts of Labour Refreshment In Study the Object about which our Action is conversant is that which our thoughts are exercised about whither it be Names or Things In Trafique the Object of our Action is that with or for which we Trafique In Eating and Drinking the Object is our Meat and Drink But the end in all these should be the pleasing of God and the promoting his Glory which is done when we ask Counsel of him and humbly beg his Direction in all these and heartily devote the Knowledge the Strength the Gain which comes in by these Actions
it is to escape without Repentance Who more likely to abhor himself to be humbled and broken in heart to confess his Sin with Shame and to resolve against it which are but the several parts of Repentance than he that considers how he hath affronted God perverted his Order seduced his Brethren and wronged his own Soul and disparaged the very Reason that God hath given him and laid the Foundation of Gods Eternal displeasure and his own everlasting ruine You see Consideration when it is of such particulars is the ready way to bring a Sinner to Repentance And on the other side who so like to find joy and pleasure in the Contemplation of Heaven and the joys thereof in the possession it self and the promise that gives Right and Title to it than he that hath some good hope through Grace that he shall enjoy it So that you see of what use Consideration is both before and after Conversion but yet as before Regeneration there may be in the heart of a Sinner that love which worketh by desire though not that which worketh by complacency to Heaven and heavenly things so before Conversion there may be that Consideration that is forced and constrained but after Conversion it 's like to be more sweet and pleasant and to bring in greater profit and advantage O could you but look upon God as your reconciled Father in Christ and one that is at peace with you how would this help up your thoughts Heavenward and sweeten your Meditations of the life and happiness to come you would not need then so much to force and spur up your mind to such comfortable thoughts at least sometimes it will be getting up of its own voluntary accord upon Mount Nebo to view the promised Land he that hopes to be one of the Inhabitants of the Heavenly Jerusalem will at least sometimes walk about Sion and go round her and tell the Towers thereof And mark well her Bulwarks and view and consider her stately Mansions and Palaces Psa 48.12 13. what an encouragement will you have to look up and behold the glory and perfection of the Divine Nature when you can say This is my Father and these Attributes I have an Interest in But yet I must needs confess that even after Conversion there will be oft-times much backwardness and reluctancy to this spiritual and heavenly Duty and you will need to quicken up your selves and chide your backward hearts that they should be so strange to the place where their Treasure is laid up But yet it will not be so hard to bring your heart to such Meditations as it was when you were without hope and without God in the world Fifthly It will further the work of consideration to lay Temporal things in the balance with Eternal things and to make advantage of every Object that 's presented to our Senses to make the consideration of the highest and greatest things more warm and piercing You may very well and rationaily conclude that if the glory of Earth be so great as to dazle the eyes of some beholders and strongly to enamour their affections that the glory of Heaven doth far out-shine it He hath reserved joy and gladness indeed for that place and state if there be so much to be found in this sinning imperfect state here on Earth for all Earthly things serve but to the example and shadow of Heavenly things Heb. 8.5 If the beauty of the body be so taking that men and women oftentimes dote upon it what is the beauty of the Soul do you think and if it were to be seen with bodily eyes how much would it ravish and amaze the beholders If the pleasure of the Senses be so sweet and delicious that men will buy them at the dearest rate how sweet must the pleasures of the Soul needs be when there is so vast a difference between the Soul and Body that are the subjects of these pleasures As there is an unspeakable disproportion between a Spirit and a Body so there must needs be as wide a disproportion between the delights of the one and the delights of the other For I suppose none can be so absurd as to think that the state to come shall be no better than this present state and that mens Bodies are as much worth as their Souls and the Heaven which is the place of his glorious Habitation and Palace is no more adorned than the Earth None can be so void of reason to think that God bestows as much upon his Rational Creatures whilst they are in a state of Tryal and Probation as when they are come to Perfection and are actually chosen to be Citizens of the Heavenly Corporation where they shall live for ever How can the joy of Seed-time be comparable to the joy of Harvest And how can this visible Sun rejoyce the Creatures that it shines upon so much as the Face of God will rejoyce those that behold it You may well therefore rise up in your Meditations from any perfection that you behold on Earth to admire those perfections that are unseen They are the greatest that lye not open to the bodily eye nor can be enjoyed by any Corporeal Faculty or Organ so that when you walk abroad and look upon the glory of the visible Heaven and Earth you may much more admire the splendour and excellency of the invisible Heavens and consequently of all those things that lead thither God that made all things made those visible things that they might be some advantage to the Understanding of things invisible and that they might lead up our apprehensions and affections to him that cannot be immediately seen without the help of such a Glass God is infinitely exalted above our understanding neither are we capable of having any direct and proper Conceptions of the state and life to come and therefore the glory of Heaven is set forth to us in the Word of God by such things as seem glorious to our Senses The Streets of the New Jerusalem or Heaven are said to be paved with Gold and the Gates to consist of Pearl and precious Stones and the pleasures of that state are set forth by a Feast because these are so pleasing to our Senses Now though we must not understand these things in a proper litteral sense yet we are hence instructed that the happiness is exceeding great and such as cannot be well understood by us but by such helps as these So that we may well argue from any pleasures or excellency here on Earth to the excellency and pleasure of that state and make this advantage of all sensible comforts to make our apprehensions of things spiritual more lively and affecting As therefore you may collect the unspeakable torment and misery of the Damned by the pressures and calamities that we feel here on Earth and Hell is usually set forth by Fire and Darkness and a Worm continually feeding upon the Conscience which are things obvious to our Senses so
Reason can easily stir or command is a great Enemy to this Duty He therefore that would be always fit for this Duty must with all his Might resist the true and principal Cause of Sadness I mean Sin and when he cannot prevent it he must speedily repent of it and turn from it and renew his Faith in Christ and then his Soul will not refuse to be comforted but will chear up and at length attain such a good measure of Alacrity as will become Christianity and constantly dispose him to this Duty provided his Body be not oppressed with melancholy Fumes and Vapours For in such Case the Art of the Physician must be joyned with the fore-mentioned Prescriptions And such Temperance and Exercise of the Body must be used as may reduce it again and make it fit to subserve a chearful Mind There 's no greater pull-back nor obstruction to this becoming generous heavenly Work than a sower dejected and contracted Spirit The Jews had a Proverb amongst them that Spiritus sanctus non descendit super Animum maestum which though taken without limitation is not true because the Spirit of God works Godly Sorrow and dwells in the contrite Heart that 's broken for sin to revive comfort and bind it up again yet with some restriction it contains a very great Truth viz. That the Divine Spirit in it more Noble and Excellent Operations of Love Joy and Delight and those other Affections that have a very near confederacy with these and chearful Obedience which results from these doth not descend upon those that are of a sad and heavy Heart whilst such But they are first exhilerated and cheared by the Heavenly Comforter before they can get up to these higher Duties And though Godly Sorrow for sin be consistent enough with some Spiritual Joy and Concomitant Affections before mentioned whilst it keeps its just degree and measure yet when it proceeds to Heighth and Excess and goes beyond its just Bounds it greatly indisposeth to Works of that Elevation But the Sorrow of the World worketh Death and is therefore very inconsistent with Works that require the greatest Life yea the sorrow and dejectedness that arise from the Temper and Complexion of a Melancholick Body do very much hinder the Soul in these more sublime and raised Operations And the more voluntary it is through the wilful neglect of Means either Medicinal or Moral whereby it may be shaken off still the greater Enemy it is to the joyful Heavenly Work When therefore we prepare for this Work every weight must be cast away and the sin that presseth down and all indisposing dulness must be shaken off as much as may be And therefore Elisha to make way for the Holy Spirit in these noble Operations of it calls for a Musical Instrument 2 Kings 3.15 the better to compose and exhilerate his Mind And it came to pass whilst the Minstrel played that the Hand that is the Spirit of the Lord came upon him 2. He must be of a competent Candour and Ingenuity towards Men One that will readily do good and as easily acknowledge it when it is done by others That affects not to conceal his own Infirmities nor the Worth of others but can quickly spy out both That judgeth not according to outward Appearance but judgeth righteous Judgment And is prone to take every thing by the right handle and to pass the fairest construction upon every thing He that 's disingenuous and base towards Men will be so towards God For it is in other Affections as it is in Love Now he that loveth his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Is the Argument of the beloved Apostle 1 John 4.20 3. He must be very well contented with his Condition None more Averse to the Duty in hand than he that 's displeased with his Estate How can that Man be thankful unto God for any thing he hath that liketh nothing Male-Content filleth a Man with rage and bitterness against every thing almost as supposing it to contribute something to his uneasie Condition It puts him frequently upon sinful study and contrivance to better himself And it is so far from disposing any to the sweet Temper I am now speaking of that it prompts him to be angry with every one Such a one tasts no sweetness in any good he hath be it never so great and therefore forgets all but his discontents He pores wholly upon his Misery and nothing else seems worthy his observation And that Man that hath no eye to observe any Comfort that he hath will never think himself obliged to him from whom they come and such a one is most unfit for a Thankful Acknowledgment 4. He must have made some good progress in the work of Mortification and be pretty well weaned from all Sublunary Good and Pleasure That hath no strong propension to Sensual Comforts and Carnal Delights but hath got a considerable Conquest over the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts And hath a Love that 's rational and doth propend most to that which most deserves it For how can he perform the highest Acts of Spiritual Life that is not first dead to those things that do stifle and utterly quench the Spiritual Life Or how can he thank God aright for any thing that is not in a capacity to make a true judgment of what God doth bestow which is the Case of every one that hath his Affections inordinately wedded to these Earthly Contentments Such a one cannot take a worldly Cross or Reproach and Shame and Sickness and other Afflictions to be such Mercies as they sometimes are nor thank God sometimes for them more heartily than for any outward prosperity 5. He must have a deep Sense and Perswasion of the Certainty and Excellency of Eternal Things The Immortality of the Soul The worth of God's Favour The unspeakable Misery of the damned And the Felicity of those that must live for ever with God otherwise the Pleasures of this World are but a Dream and the Happiness of this Life but a shadow and all the Comforts that are tyed to this state so fickle and unsatisfactory that a wise and considerate Man will not much regard them unless as they be Pledges and Fore-runners of a better Felicity and so cannot rise to any high pitch of Joy and Thankfulness whilst it hath no better Materials to erect such a Frame nor better Motives to this Duty Thus much for the Matter or what is prerequisite to make way for these High and Heavenly Acts of Gratitude and Praise which are always accompanied with some degree of joy and delight in God which formally and principally imply First A due observation and worthy estimation of the Amiable Perfections of God and of his Grace and Favours towards us If we overlook these and our Eyes be in the ends of the Earth when they should be intent upon the infinite Majesty and his Mercies towards us every
Earth move about and the Heavens to stand still which if it be supposed yet must be the effect of an infinite Power It 's the description that 's usually given of a wise Man That he is one that wonders at nothing because they suppose Ignorance to be the Cause of wonder And therefore the more we know and understand any thing the less we wonder at it But yet for all this I may take the boldness to say That he is a wise Man indeed that wonders not at every thing Especially if he be one that hath Wit enough to see the impregnable Difficulties that stand in the way and hinder a distinct and perfect understanding of any the least of God's Works And this is another Confideration that will do good service in provoking us to the Praises of the Lord if it be weighed with an undisturbed silence and attention 2. As it will advance a Heart in Praises and Thanksgiving to God and help on this noblest part of God's Worship to behold these Three great Attributes of his Wisdom Goodness and Power as they shine forth in the Works of Creation and Providence about the unreasonable Creatures So 2. It will elevate a Soul yet higher and make it more fit for the work of Thankfulness and Praise to ponder these Attributes as they are made glorious in and about the reasonable and intelligent Creatures And here I shall pass over the Angels the most noble Creatures which God hath made And because this is an Argument most likely to move us with the greatest force Let us more particularly insist upon his Goodness towards us 1. In giving us a Nobler Being than he hath done to any other visible Creature He hath stamped his Image upon Man more lively than he hath done upon any Creature if you look on him barely in his Natural Capacity as consisting of a Body and Soul The one Corruptible The other Incorruptible The first he hath in Common with other Creatures but the other is a peculiar Glory that God hath put upon no other Creature here below besides himself And yet in his very Body he far surpasseth all his Fellow-Creatures If you consider well the Comeliness and Propoâ—ition of Parts the well mixing of the Humours that give the Colour and the pure lively Spirit that gives Air and Motion to the several Parts his erect stature and the symmetry of the whole To say nothing of Speech that 's peculiar to Man alone all other Creatures must submit and bow before him But as to his Moral Capacity There 's no other Creature here below that hath any Lineament of his Maker's Image but Man only He alone was intended to represent his Maker in Righteousness and true Holiness and had a Capacity first to be honoured in his Service and to be made happy in his Eternal Enjoyment The rest of the Creatures as they have their Face downward so they have no disposition to look so high as to their Maker nor any tendency of love or desire towards him For God having made them uncapable of any such Acts or Habits expects no such Service at their Hands But God made Man for his own immediate Service and therefore gave him a Nature suited to that imployment He did not only bestow on him the Faculties of Understanding and Will but endued them with the knowledge and love of God that by the exercise of these Acts he might find out the Rest and Happiness that he doth so indefatigably seek after 2. He gave him Seigniory and Dominion over this lower World Psalm 8. As all things were made for his use and service so they were given into his hand to dispose of And they had no power to cross his Command or disobey till he had rebelled against his Maker They were all ready at his service to go and come at his beck and to execute his pleasure to their utmost strength and capacity Gen. 1.28 And God blessed them that is Adam and Eve and said to them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and subdue it and have dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth See also Gen. 2.19 20. And Man wanted not the Faculty to discern the Nature and Vertue of every Creature and for what uses they might serve Yea the Inferiour Heavens were made to accommodate him and every way God dealt with him as a Bountiful Lord and most Liberal Benefactour The Sun was made to enlighten him and the Heavens to chear him and make the Earth fruitful with their Influences which was to bring him forth it s various Productions for his several uses and occasions And who that hath the Heart of a Man and not of a Beast can think of such Munificence and Bounty which God hath exercised towards him and not abhor ingratitude And even feel himself delighted in the Praises of his so great Benefactour 3. When he had undone himself and had involved his Soul and Body in Misery unspeakable the Lord did not utterly forsake him as he deserved but he set his Wisdom a work to contrive a way how to salve the honour of his Justice and yet save the miserable Rebels from destruction When we were all fallen short of the Glory of God he found out a Method to recover us into Happiness again And when no Creature in Heaven or Earth could do such a Favour for us the Son of God became Man and dyed for us that he might satisfie offended Justice and vindicate the honour both of the Law and Law-giver and procure Terms of Peace and Favour for us O what a Remarkable Sentence is that which should be engraven upon the Heart of every sinner When we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 This is a faithful saying indeed and worthy of all acceptation 1. highest and most thankful entertainment that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 4.9 10. We had been now bound hand and foot and shut up in outward darkness and had been Fuel to the Wrath of God and the Flames of Hell which are kindled thereby and had been tormenting our Souls with the bitter remembrance of our sin who are or may be comforted with the blessed Tydings of the Gospel What a comfortable Thought should it be to us when we lye down and when we rise up to remember that Christ is risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15.20 To understand which Text of Scripture it 's necessary that we be informed that sin having brought a Curse upon Man and upon the Earth for his sake and all the Fruit it brought forth the Sacrifice of the First-Fruits among the Jews to which the Apostle here alludes was appointed by God as a Means whereby the whole Harvest might be sanctified and secured and the Curse removed Which First-Fruits were a Type of Christ by