he refused to go out free at the year of release and had his Ear boared with an Awl to the Post of the Door to signifie his resolution to serve his Master continually To profess Service to the Lord and then to depart from him is highly to reproach and dishonour him and in effect to say that fleshly and worldly Lusts are better Lords than He 't is more notoriously to despise him and to harden others in their contempt of him and of his Word and Commandments Attenders upon God give not over following him in all those ways he has commanded them to walk in They follow on to know him they follow him fully and being upheld with the right hand of his Righteousness their Souls follow hard after him Psal 63. 8. And whom should they follow to whom else should they go The Lord has the words of Eternal Life He alone has Grace and Honour and Glory and all good things else to give and to go away from him is to lose all this and to tread the path which leads to Eternal Death Attenders upon God cannot change their Lord but they must change for the worse nay the very best for the very worst of all therefore they are unchangeably his stedfast and unmovable always abiding and abounding in his Work and Service In the third place I am to speak of several sorts of Attending upon God It will be needful to insist particularly on these that you may have a more distinct understanding of your Duty in the Extent and Latitude of it The Scripture makes a great difference between Attendance and Attendance upon God so that there are diverse kinds of it as shall be manifested in these following Distinctions I. There is an Attendance upon God which is with the lips and body only and that which is with the Heart also I begin with this distinction to prevent Hypocrisie and Formality in Religious Duties whereby the Jealous God is so much provoked and Professors deceive others but principally cheat and ruine their own Souls 1. An Attendance which is with the lips and body only God by the Prophet spake against this and by his own Son shews the vanity of it and how displeasing 't is to him Mat. 15. 7 8. Ye Hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you saying This People draweth near unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me The body indeed is to give Attendance as being the Temple of the Spirit The Tongue is then most Angelical and Man's Glory when most enlargedly it does confess to God call upon and praise and magnifie his Name But if when the eyes are lift up towards Heaven the hands are stretched forth with great eagerness the knees bowe with seeming Humility and Devotion and the words of the mouth are serious and holy and with appearing fervency all this while the heart keeps aloof and at a distance from God values not his love his grace or Communion with him but goes after its pleasures lusts and covetousness Alas Here is only a dead and rotten carcass of a Duty without a Soul and 't is very loathsom and abominable In all Religious Performances if the heart does not at all care to draw near 't is certain the Lord will not draw near neither as to his gracious presence And if God be not found in the Duty nor the Heart of the performer found there how unprofitable must the performance needs be 2. There is an Attendance upon God not with the Body only but with the Heart also He speaketh unto us as unto Children and saith My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. Give him never so much without this you give him nothing that he cares for The Heart does the chief part in the pure and acceptable Worship of God The Heart must keep his Commandments else they are not kept Prov. 3. 1. My Son forget not my Law but let thy Heart keep my Commandments The Psalmist lifted up his very Soul to God Psal 25. 1. this the Lord look'd at and liked Those Graces which are to be acted in Attendance upon God as Faith and holy Reverence Love Desire and Hope and such like the Heart is the Seat of them and 't is by the Heart that they are exercised And when the Heart being cleansed from its Defilements and weaned from the Allurements of this World draws very near to God and God also draws very near these his nearer approaches how reviving how healing and confirming are they When the Spirit of a Saint does before the time in a sense return to God who gave it and converse with him in the heavenly places that converse how high and joyful and beneficial is it found When Moses came down from the Mount where he had been with God his Face did shine and when the Heart has been above in Heaven a clearer light does shine into it and 't is more gloriously transformed into the Divine Image and Nature II. There is an Attendance upon God which is voluntary and which is through constraint and forced 1. An Attendance which is voluntary When God by his powerful Grace inclines and determines the Will to himself so that He is chosen and his special Favour and Blessings are valued above all things A mighty strength is put forth and yet without coaction in bending the Will of Man towards God and to his Will which naturally is so perverse and obstinate in Evil that 't is fitly compared to an Iron Sinew What a Power is it which makes it pliable Psal 110. 3. Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power And when to will is thus wrought the Heart is then enlarged and at liberty to come to God and to do its Duty There is a renewed Nature which is principium motus a principle of spiritual Motion This is notably expressed Zach. 8. 21. And the Inhabitants of one City shall go to another saying let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of Hosts I will go also The like temper we find Jer. 50. 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their Faces thitherward saying come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten 2. There is an Attendance which is through constraint and forced The Heart is not right with God nor taken with himself at all But pressing necessity drives the Soul to him for some benefit which none but he can bestow Or there are some indications of God's Anger and Displeasure The effects of which they which attend upon him feel or fear whereupon they are forced to cry for mercy Such kind of Attenders were those Psal 78. 34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him they returned and enquired early after God they remembered that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouth and lyed unto him
who only hath Immortality dwelling in that light which no Man can approach unto whom no Man hath seen nor can see to whom be Honour and Power everlasting Amen 1 Tim. 6. 15 16. If this glorious God will accept of Service from such as you how readily should you give it How highly are you favoured when you come into his Presence and have Communion with him 9. Lay this to Heart that Not to attend upon God is wickedly to contemn him and to rebel against him 'T is in effect to say He is not worthy of your Service and that the Service of your Lusts and of the World is more beneficial Thus God was despised by those wicked Men that were infatuated by Prosperity in an evil way They said Job 21. 15. What is the Almighty that we should serve him And what Profit should we have if we pray to him When Saul refused to obey the Command of God Samuel rejects his Sacrifices and charges him with Rebellion which is as Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 22 23. Behold to obey is better than Sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams for Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft and Stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry When thou castest off the Service of God thou castest off his Fear and disownest God himself This is Rebellion and this Rebellion is thy Witchcraft thy Confederacy with the Devil thou makest a Covenant with Death and with Hell thou art at an Agreement USE III. Shall be of Direction How God should be attended upon There must not be only a seeking of God but a due Order in seeking him if this be wanting instead of receiving Benefits from his hand that hand may make a breach upon us 1 Chron. 15. 13. The Lord our God made a breach upon us because we sought him not after the due order If we have no care as to the manner of our Services the Lord will care as little for the matter of them Now the right manner of attending upon God is to be declared in these particulars 1. Our attendance upon God must be present our living without God so long and contemptuous neglect of our required Duty towards him should be matter of deep Humiliation and 't is but reasonable to judge our selves worthy of Frowns and Rejection because we sought his face no sooner But now immediately we must gird up the loynes of our Minds to his Work The Holy Ghost bids us hear his voice to day he tells us that the accepted time is now The Psalmist is a Pattern worthy of Imitation for his present harkening to the Voice of God and his speediness in yielding Obedience Psal 119. 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments Delays are displeasing to God for they argue the Heart not so well reconciled to Him and to his Precepts and that some other business is liked and preferred before his work And these delays are dangerous considering the uncertainty of our lifes continuance and how soon and suddenly the Spirit of the Lord being grieved by our deferring to obey his motions and accept of his gracious Aid may totally and finally withdraw from us 2. Our Attendance upon God must be instant Rom. 12. 12. continuing instant in prayer So Act. 26. 7. Vnto which promise our twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come When we are thus instant in our attending it implies a sense of the great importance of those things we come to God about and that we are very urgent with him that we may not miscarry in our everlasting concernments Matters of Life and Death temporal are managed with great seriousness But when we attend upon God Eternal Life is before us to be laid hold on and Eternal Death is before us to escape Our intenseness and urgency here should if it were possible as far exceed our seriousness in other matters as Time in length is exceeded by Eternity As the loudest Thunder drowns a whisper so should the grand concerns of the unseen Eternal World when we come before God be carefully regarded before the petty matters of this present Life which are but for a moment 3. Our Attendance upon God must be constant Paroxisms and Fits in Religion argue an unhealthy Soul to be sometimes hot and sometimes cold is a bad temper They that grow weary of God and of his Service God is weary of them and their Duties The Lord speaks to Ephraim and Judah as one wearied because all the means and methods he had used had been ineffectual unto any lasting Reformation if at any time they seemed inclinable to what was good the inclination was very short-lived and they soon returned to their natural bent and inclination to Evil Hos 6. 4. O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah what shall I do unto thee for your goodness is as a morning Cloud and as the early Dew it goeth away 'T is not enough to begin well The same argument that perswaded you to begin will become stronger for your holding on It were better not to have known the way of Righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered to you 2 Pet. 2. 21. All that come to God should cleave unto him all that embrace his Testimonies should stick unto those Testimonies I have stuck unto thy Testimonies says the Psalmist Psal 119. 31. and ver 112. I have inclined my Heart to perform thy Statutes always even unto the end 4. Our Attendance upon God must be cordial and hearty 1 Chron. 22. 19. Now set your Heart and your Soul to seek the Lord your God The full bent of the Mind must be this way The Lord will not be found unless the Heart and Soul be set to seek him Naturally the Heart of Man is set another way being of a corrupt Original from the Womb 't is estranged from God and still 't is farther alienating and estranging it self 't is not easie to have such a Heart reconciled to God and to the Will of God But when the Heart is renewed the enmity is in a great measure cured the Heart is now willing to come into the Lord's Presence for when the Heart serves him 't is in the way to be satiated by him The Heart-searcher cannot bear the Heart's absence for if He has not the Heart something else has it which provokes him unto Jealousie But the more there is of the Heart in Duties God is the better pleased with them and the performers find them in a spiritual sense more advantageous When Hearts knock at Heaven gate the Gate shall certainly be open When Souls Thirst for God they shall not fail of satisfaction Psal 63. 5. My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fulness my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips 5. Our Attendance upon God must be with clean Hands and a pure Heart Jam. 4. 8. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Cleanse your Hands ye sinners
increasing till it issue in glory John 4. 14. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up into everlasting Life And as all sorts of Life are from God so all sorts of Death he has power to inflict All Afflictions and Plagues when this Lord sends them do say Here we are The King of Terrors Death is God's subject and says I am ready to strike young or old high or low few or many as the Lord of all does give me Commission and Command And the second Death at God's righteous pleasure opens its everlasting doors to receive and eternally to swallow up all that he sentences thither Isa 5. 14. Therefore Hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it Such a Lord the effects of whose love and anger are felt not only in this World but also in the other and indeed run parallel with Eternity should certainly be attended on with a great dread of offending him with the exactest care in every thing to please him 7. God is a Lord obeyed by the whole Creation but only Men on earth and Devils and damned Spirits in Hell These greater lights the Sun and Moon that rule the day and night are perfectly ruled by their Maker and rise and set at his command And to shew that he can stop the Sun in its swift motion at Joshua's intreaty he commanded it to stand still in Gibeon and the Moon in the Valley of Ajalon Josh 10. 12. Nay in the days of Hezekiah he makes the Sun to move backward and to return no less than ten degrees by which it had gone down Isa 38. 8. All the Stars of Heaven he calls by their names and they observe their courses according to his Ordinances The Sea does ebb and flow according to his appointment and keep within the bounds that he has set it when it roars and is most tempestuous The Storms and Winds fulfil his word and if he do but say to them Peace be still presently there is a great calm He calls for the Thunder and the Lightning and how terrible is the Voice of the one and the flashing of the other The Thunder is silenced and the Lightning extinguished at his pleasure All Creatures that glide through the Air or slide through the Ocean that feed and grow upon the Earth in their way and manner obey their Maker and Preserver's Will Fye Oh Fye upon Apostate Angels and Men that they should be the only Rebels Look upward downward on the right hand and on the left and the many Thousands of Creatures which your Eyes behold are so many instances of Obedience to God Why Oh why should not all we be ready to yield our utmost Service 8. God is a Lord who over-rules them that rebel against him though they break his Commands they cannot get from under his power but he can check restrain disappoint and destroy them at his pleasure The Seed of the Woman has been hated by the Serpents brood and they that have been born only after the Flesh have been strongly inclined to persecute such as have been born after the Spirit Gal. 4. 28 29. Now we Brethren as Isaac was are the Children of Promise But as then he that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now And so 't is likely to be still When Heathen Emperors and Kings were Converts to the Christian Faith the Prince of Darkness did not turn and change He always was and is and will be full of Malice against Christ the Head and against his true Members And those who are of their Father the Devil the Lusts of their Father they will do and they that are Saints must expect find their Hearts set against them and as far as they can their hands too But that Lord who is with his People is greater infinitely than the evil one 1 John 4. 4. Ye are of God little Children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the World As Satan's Subtlety is nothing to God's Wisdom as his Power is small to God's Almightiness so his Wrath though never so great is a little and contemptible thing when the Love which God bears to his People is believingly considered The mightiest Men whom Satan employs to run down the Church of the living God shall never affect their wicked purpose the Church triumphs over her most surious Enemies looking unto her Mighty Helper Psal 46. 5 6 7. God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early The Heathen raged the Kingdoms were moved They stirred up themselves with their united force and in their rage they would have devoured the Israel of God but He uttered his Voice and the Earth melted All these Enemies were dispirited and came to nothing and no wonder for it follows The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah Well may the voluntary Subjects of such a Lord attend upon him with forwardness and Faith since he has such an absolute uncontrolable Dominion over all his and their Enemies 9. God is a Lord infinitely above and better than any other Lords whatsoever As he is infinitely superior to all in Majesty and Greatness so also in Mercy and Goodness The whole Earth is full of Divine Goodness Psal 145. 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his works It is special and peculiar Kindness which is shewn to his Saints Psal 103. 11. As the Heaven is high above the Earth so great is his Mercy towards them that fear him What are other Lords if compared with God As for Mammon who has most of Mankind to be his Vassals his delights are low his Riches uncertain his all is Vanity Satan is a cruel Lord he is a Lyar who deceives a Murtherer who destroys all whom he can keep under his Power and Dominion And the Wages which Sin does give to them that serve it is eternal Death and the more diligent they have been in the Service of Sin and the more laborious Workers of Iniquity Hell will be so much the hotter their Sorrow and Misery so much the greater Are such Lords as these comparable to the Lord Jehovah whose Strength whose Love is everlasting What care does he take of all that are truly his Servants How mild and gentle is his Government His Kingdom is Righteousness and Peace and Joy It was a Pious Ejaculation of one of the Ancients Da Domine quod jubes O Lord give that which thou commandest His Servants are by himself created in Christ Jesus unto the good works in which he has commanded them to walk He teaches them by his own Spirit to do his Will Psal 143. 10. Teach me to do thy Will for