sence withdrawn and that we do not behold his Glory We retain Notions of Truth concerning his Person Office and Grace but faith is not in constant exercise as to real views of him and his Glory For there is nothing more certain in Christian Experience than this is that while we do really by Faith behold the Glory of Christ as proposed in the Gospel the Glory of his Person and Office as before described and so abide in Holy Thoughts and Meditations thereof especially in our private Duties and Retirements all Grace will live and thrive in us in some measure especially love unto his Person and therein unto all that belongs unto him Let us but put it to the trial and we shall infallibly find the promised event DO any of us find decays in Grace prevailing in us deadness coldness lukewarmness a kind of Spiritual Stupidity and senseless coming upon us Do we find an unreadiness unto the exercise of Grace in its proper season and the vigorous actings of it in Duties of Communion with God And would we have our souls recovered from these dangerous diseases Let us assure our selves there is no better way for our healing and deliverance yea no other way but this alone namely the obtaining a fresh view of the Glory of Christ by faith and a steady abiding therein Constant contemplation of Christ and his Glory putting forth its transforming power unto the revival of all Grace is the only relief in this case as shall further be shewed afterwards SOME will say that this must be effected by fresh supplies and renewed communications of the Holy Spirit Unless he fall as dew and showers on our dry and barren hearts unless he causeth our Graces to spring thrive and bring forth fruit unless he revive and increase faith love and holiness in our souls our backslidings will not be healed nor our spiritual state be recovered Unto this end is he prayed for and promised in the Scripture see Cant. 4. 16. Isa. 44. 3 4. Ezek. 11. 19. chap. 36. 26. Hos. 14. 5 6. And so it is The immediate efficiency of the revival of our souls is from and by the Holy Spirit But the enquiry is in what way or by what means we may obtain the supplies and communications of him unto this end This the Apostle declares in the place insisted on We beholding the Glory of Christ in a Glass are changed into the same image from glory to glory even by the spirit of the Lord. It is in the exercise of Faith on Christ in the way before described that the Holy Spirit puts forth his renewing transforming Power in and upon our souls This therefore is that alone which will retrive Christians from their present decays and deadness SOME complain greatly of their State and Condition none so dead so dull and stupid as they They know not whether they have any spark of heavenly life left in them some make weak and faint endeavours for a recovery which are like the attempts of a man in a dream wherein he seems to use great endeavours without any success Some put themselves unto multiplied duties Howbeit the Generallity of Professors seem to be in a pining thriftless condition And the reason of it is because they will not sincerely and constantly make use of the only remedy and relief like a man that will rather chuse to pine away in his sickness with some useless transient refreshments than apply himself unto a known and approved remedy because it may be the use of it is unsuited unto some of his present occasions Now this is to live in the exercise of Faith in Christ Jesus This himself assures us of Joh. 15. 4 5. Abide in me and I in you As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self-except it abide in the vine no more can ye except you abide in me I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing THERE is a twofold coming unto Christ by believing The first is that we may have life that is a spring and principle of spiritual life communicated unto us from him for he is our life Col. 3. 3. and because he liveth we live also Joh. 14. 19. Yea it is not so much we that live as he liveth in us Gal. 2. 1 9 20. And unbelief is a not coming unto him that we may have life Joh. 5. 40. But secondly there is also a coming unto him by believers in the actual exercise of Faith that they may have this life more abundantly Joh. 10. 10. That is such supplies of Grace as may keep their souls in a healthy vigorous acting of all the powers of spiritual life And as he reproacheth some that they would not come unto him that they might have life so he may justly reprove us all that we do not so come unto him in the actual exercise of Faith as that we might have this life more abundantly SECONDLY When the Lord Christ is near us and we do behold his Glory he will frequently communicate spiritual refreshment in peace consolation and joy unto our souls We shall not only hereby have our graces excited with respect unto him as their object but be made sensible of his actings towards us in the communications of himself and his love unto us When the Sun of Righteousness ariseth on any soul or makes any near approach thereunto it shall find healing under his Wings his beams of Grace shall convey by his spirit holy spiritual refreshment thereunto For he is present with us by his spirit and these are his fruits and effects as he is the Comforter suited unto his Office as he is promised unto us MANY love to walk in a very careless unwise profession So long as they can hold out in the performance of outward duties they are very regardless of the greatest Evangelical Priviledges of those things which are the marrow of divine Promises all real endeavours of a vital communion with Christ. Such are spiritual peace refreshing consolations ineffable joys and the blessed composure of assurance Without some taste and experience of these things profession is heartless lifeless useless and Religion it self a dead carcass without an animating soul. The peace which some enjoy is a meer stupidity They judge not these things to be real which are the substance of Christs present reward and a renunciation whereof would deprive the Church of its principal supportments and encouragements in all its sufferings It is a great evidence of the power of unbelief when we can satisfie our selves without an experience in our own hearts of the great things in this kind of Joy Peace Consolation Assurance that are promised in the Gospel For how can it be supposed that we do indeed believe the promises of things future namely of Heaven Immortality and Glory the faith whereof is the foundation of all Religion when we do not believe the
a dry Season that soaketh not unto the Roots of things the power of them doth not enter into us Is it not all from hence that their notions of future things are not enduced out of the Experience which we have of the Beginnings of them in this World without which they can make no permanent aboad in our minds nor continue any Influence upon our Affections yea the Soul is disturbed not edified in all Contemplations of future Glory when things are proposed unto it whereof in this life it hath neither foretaste sense experience nor evidence No man ought to look for any thing in Heaven but what one way or other he hath some experience of in this Life If Men were fully perswaded hereof they would be it may be more in the exercise of Faith and Love about Heavenly things than for the most part they are At present they know not what they enjoy and they look for they know not what HENCE is it that Men utterly strangers unto all Experience of the Beginning of Glory in themselves as an effect of Faith have filled their Divine Worship with Images Pictures and Musick to represent unto themselves somewhat of that Glory which they fancy to be above For into that which is truly so they have no prospect nor can have because they have no experience of its power in themselves nor do they taste of its Goodness by any of its First-fruits in their own minds Wherefore by that view alone and not otherwise which we have of the Glory of Christ by Faith here in this World we may attain such blessed conceptions of our beholding his glory above by immediate vision as shall draw out our Hearts unto the Admiration of it and desires of its full enjoyment 3. HEREIN then our present edification is principally concerned For in this present beholding of the Glory of Christ the Life and Power of Faith are most eminently acted And from this Exercise of Faith doth Love unto Christ principally if not solely arise and spring If therefore we desire to have Faith in its vigor or Love in its Power giving Rest Complacency and Satisfaction unto our own Souls we are to seek for them in the diligent discharge of this Duty elsewhere they will not be found Herein would I live Herein would I Dye Hereon would I dwell in my Thoughts and Affections to the withering and consumption of all the painted Beauties of this World unto the Crucifying all things here below until they become unto me a dead and deformed thing no way meet for affectionate Embraces FOR these and the like Reasons I shall first enquire into our Beholding of the Glory of Christ in this world by Faith And therein endeavour to lead the Souls of them that Believe into the more retired walks of Faith Love and Holy Meditation whereby the King is held in his Gatleries Cant. 7. 5. BUT because there is no Benefit in nor advantage by the Contemplation of this Sacred Truth but what consists in an improvement of the practice of the duty declared in it namely the constant beholding of the Glory of Christ by Faith I shall for the promotion of it premise some few Advantages which we may have thereby 1. WE shall hereby be made fit and meet for Heaven Every man is not so who desires it and hopes for it For some are not only unworthy of it and excluded from it by reason of Sin but they are unmeet for it and incapable of any advantage by it All men indeed think themselves fit enough for Glory what should hinder them if they could attain it But it is because they know not what it is Men shall not be clothed with Glory as it were whether they will or no. It is to be received in that Exercise of the Faculties of their Souls which such Persons have no Ability for Musick hath no Pleasure in it unto them that cannot hear nor the most beautiful Colours unto them that cannot see It would be no Benefit unto a Fish to take him from the bottom of the Ocean filled with Cold and Darkness and to place him under the Beams of the Sun For he is no way meet to receive any Refreshment thereby Heaven it self would not be more advantagious unto Persons not renewed by the Spirit of Grace in this Life HENCE the Apostle gives thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1. 12. Indeed the Beginning here and the Fulness of Glory hereafter are communicated unto Believers by an Almighty Act of the Will and Grace of God But yet he hath ordained Ways and Means whereby they may be made meet receptive Subjects of the Glory so to be communicated unto them That this Way and Means is by the beholding of the Glory of Christ by Faith shall be fully declared in our Progress This therefore should excite us unto this Duty for all our present Glory consists in our Preparation for future Glory 2. NO Man can by Faith take a real View of this Glory but Vertue will proceed from it in a transforming Power to change him into the same Image 2 Cor. 3. 18. How this is done and how we become like unto Christ by beholding his Glory shall be fully declared in our Progress 3. THE constant Contemplation of the Glory of Christ will give Rest Satisfaction and Complacency unto the Souls of them who are exercised therein Our Minds are apt to be filled with a Multitude of perplexed Thoughts Fears Cares Dangers Distresses Passions and Lusts do make various Impressions on the Minds of Men filling them with Disorder Darkness and Confusion But where the Soul is fixed in its Thoughts and Contemplations on this glorious Object it will be brought into and kept in an Holy Serene Spiritual Frame For to be Spiritually minded is Life and Peace And this it doth by taking off our Hearts from all undue Regard unto all things below in comparison of the great Worth Beauty and Glory of what we are conversant withal See Phil. 3. 7 8 9 10 11. A Defect herein makes many of us Strangers unto an Heavenly Life and to live beneath the Spiritual Refreshments and Satisfactions that the Gospel doth tender unto us 4. THE Sight of the Glory of Christ is the Spring and Cause of our Everlasting Blessedness We shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes. 4. 17. Or be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1. 23. For there shall we behold his Glory Joh. 17. 24. and by seeing him as he is we skall be made like him 1 Joh. 3. 2. which is our Everlasting Blessedness THE Enjoyment of God by Sight is commonly called the Beatifical Vision and it is the sole Fountain of all the Actings of our Souls in the State of Blessedness which the old Philosophers knew nothing of neither do we know distinctly what they are or what is this Sight of God Howbeit this we know that
him wherein God purposed and designed to glorifie himself in him Now this is all that may be known of God in a saving manner especially his Wisdom his Love his Goodness Grace and Mercy whereon the Life of our Souls doth depend And the Lord Christ being appointed the only Way and Means hereof how exceeding glorious must he be in the Eyes of them that do believe THESE things being premised I shall close this first Consideration of that Glory of Christ which we behold by Faith in this World with some such Observations as may excite us unto the Practise of this great Duty and Improvement of this great Priviledge the greatest which on this side Heaven we can be made Partakers of THERE are some who regard not these things at all but rather despise them They never entertain any serious thoughts of obtaining a View of the Glory of God in Christ which is to be Unbelievers They look on him as a Teacher that came forth from God to reveal his Will and to teach us his Worship and so indeed he was But this they say was the sole use of his Person in Religion which is Mahumetism The Manifestation of all the holy Properties of the Divine Nature with the Representation of them unto Angels above and the Church in this World as he is the Image of the invisible God in the Constitution of his Person and the Discharge of his Office are things they regard not yea they despise and scorn what is professed concerning them for Pride and Contempt of others were always the safest Covert of Ignorance otherwise it would seem strange that Men should openly boast of their own Blindness But these Conceptions of Mens Minds are influenced by that Unbelief of his Divine Person which maketh havock of Christianity at this Day in the World I speak of them whose minds are better disposed towards heavenly things and unto them I say Wherefore do you love Jesus Christ for so you profess to do Wherefore do you trust in him Wherefore do you honour him Wherefore do you desire to be in Heaven with him Can you give a reason of this hope that is in you An account why you do all or any of these things If you cannot all that you pretend towards him is but fancy and imagination you fight uncertainly as men beating the air or is one of your reasons hereof That in him you do by Faith behold that glory of God with the Holy Properties of his Nature and their Principal Operations in order unto your own Salvation and Blessedness which otherwise would have been eternally hid from you Hereon is he precious unto them that do believe LET us therefore as many as are spiritual be thus minded Let us make use of this Priviledge with rejoycing and be found in the discharge of this Duty with diligence For thus to behold the glory of Christ is both our priviledge and our duty The duties of the Law were a burthen and a yoke but those of the Gospel are Priviledges and Advantages IT is a Promise concerning the days of the New Testament that our eyes shall see the King in his beauty Isa. 33. 17. We shall behold the Glory of Christ in its Lustre and Excellency What is this Beauty of the King of Saints Is it not that God is in him and he is the great representative of his Glory unto us Wherefore in the contemplation of this Glory consists the principal exercise of Faith And who can declare the Glory of this Priviledge That we who are born in Darkness and deserved to be cast out into utter Darkness should be translated into this marvellous Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. WHAT are all the stained Glories the fading Beauties of this World Of all that the Devil shewed our Saviour from the Mount What are they in comparison of one View of the Glory of God represented in Christ and of the Glory of Christ as his great Representative THE most pernicious effect of Unbelief under the preaching of the Gospel is that together with an influence of Power from Satan it blinds the eyes of mens minds that they should not see this Glory of Christ whereon they perish eternally 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. BUT the most of those who at this day are called Christians are strangers unto this duty Our Lord Jesus Christ told the Pharisees that notwithstanding all their boasting of the knowledge of God they had not heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape that is as Moses did They had no real acquaintance with him they had no spiritual view of his Glory and so it is amongst our selves Notwithstanding the general profession that is of the Knowledge of Christ they are but few who thus behold his Glory and therefore few who are transformed into his Image and Likeness SOME Men speak much of the Imitation of Christ and following of his Example and it were well if we could see more of it really in effect But no Man shall ever become like unto him by bare Imitation of his Actions without that view or intuition of his Glory which alone is accompanied with a transforming power to change them into the same image THE Truth is the best of us all are wofully defective in this Duty and many are discouraged from it because a Pretence of it in some hath degenerated into Superstition But we are loth at any time seriously to engage in it and come with an unwilling kind of Willingness unto the Exercise of our Minds in it THOUGHTS of this Glory of Christ are too high for us or too hard for us such as we cannot long delight in we turn away from them with a kind of Weariness yet are they of the same Nature in general with our beholding of the Glory of Christ in Heaven wherein there shall be no weariness or Satiety unto Eternity Is not the Cause of it that we are unspiritual or carnal having our Thoughts and Affections wonted to give Entertainment unto other things For this is the principal Cause of our Unreadiness and Incapacity to exercise our Minds in and about the great Mysteries of the Gospel 1 Cor. 3. 1 2 3. And it is so with us moreover because we do not stir up our selves with Watchfulness and Diligence in continual Actings of Faith on this Blessed Object This is that which keeps many of us at so low an Ebb as unto the Powers of an Heavenly Life and spiritual Joys DID we abound in this Duty in this Exercise of Faith our Life in walking before God would be more sweet and pleasant unto us our spiritual Light and Strength would have a daily Encrease we should more represent the Glory of Christ in our Ways and Walking than usually we do and Death it self would be most welcome unto us THE Angels themselves desire to look into the things of the Glory of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 10 12. There is in them
Experience of any such thing who never had any refreshing communion with him cannot be sensible of his Absence they never were so of his Presence But those whom he hath visited to whom he hath given of his Loves with whom he hath made his Abode whom he hath refreshed relieved and comforted in whom he hath lived in the Power of his Grace they know what it is to be forsaken by him though but for a moment And their Trouble is increased when they seek him with diligence in the wonted ways of obtaining his presence and cannot find him Our Duty in this case is to presevere in our Enquiries after him in Prayer Meditation Mourning Reading and Hearing of the Word in all Ordinances of Divine Worship private and publick in diligent Obedience until we find him or he return unto us as in former Days IT were well if all Churches and Possessors now would manifest the same Diligence herein as did the Church of old in this Example Many of them if they are not hardened by the Deceitfulness of Sin cannot but be sensible that the Lord Christ is variously withdrawn from them if ever they had experience of the Power of his Presence Yet are the generality of them far from the frame of heart here described in the Spouse for they are slothful careless negligent and stir not up themselves to enquire after him or his return unto their Souls So was it with Laodicea of old so was it with Sardis and so it is to be feared that it is with many at present But to return GENERALLY Christ is nigh unto Believers and of a ready Access and the principal Actings of the Life of Faith consists in the frequency of our Thoughts concerning him for hereby Christ liveth in us as he is said to do Gal. 2. 20. This we cannot do unless we have frequent thoughts of him and converse with him It is often said among Men that one lives in another this cannot be but where the Affections of one are so ingaged unto another that night and day he thinks of him and is thereby as it were present with him So ought it to be between Christ and Believers He dwells in them by Faith but the Actings of this Life in them as where-ever Life is it will be in act and exercise are proportionable unto their Thoughts of him and Delight in him IF therefore we would behold the Glory of Christ the present direction is That on all occasions and frequently when there are no occasions for it by the performance of other Duties we would abound in thoughts of Him and his Glory I intend not at present fixed and stated Meditations which were spoken unto before but such Thoughts as are more transient according as our opportunities are And a great Rebuke it ought to be unto us when Christ hath at any time in a day been long out of our Minds The Spouse affirms That ere she was aware her soul made her as the Chariots of Amminadeb Cant. 7. 12. It so fell out that when she had no thoughts no design or purpose for attendance or communion with Christ that she was surprised into a readiness and willingness unto it So will it be with them that love him in sincerity Their own Souls without previous designs or outward occasions will frequently engage them in holy thoughts of him which is the most eminent character of a truly spiritual Christian. 4. THE next Direction is That all our Thoughts concerning Christ and his Glory should be accompanied with Admiration Adoration and Thanksgiving For this is such an Object of our Thoughts and Affections as in this Life we can never fully comprehend an Ocean whose Depths we cannot look into If we are spiritually renewed all the Faculties of our Souls are enabled by Grace to exert their respective powers towards this glorious Object This must be done in various Duties by the Exercise of various Graces as they are to be acted by the distinct powers of the Faculties of our Minds This is that which is intended where we are commanded to love the Lord with all our souls with all our minds with all our strength All the distinct powers of our Souls are to be acted by distinct Graces and Duties in cleaving unto God by Love In Heaven when we are come to our Center that State of Rest and Blessedness which our Nature is ultimately capable of nothing but one infinite invariable Object of our Minds and Affections received by Vision can render that State uninterrupted and unchangeable But whilst we are here we know or see but in part and we must also act our Faith and Love on parts of that Glory which is not at once entirely proposed unto us and which as yet we cannot comprehend Wherefore we must act various Graces in great Variety about it some at one time some at another according unto the powers of all our renewed Faculties Of this sort are those mentioned of Adoration Admiration and Thanksgiving which are those Acts of our Minds wherein all others do issue when the Object is incomprehensible For unto them we are enabled by Grace ONE end of his illustrious coming unto the Judgment of the last Day is that he may be admired in all them that believe 2 Thes. 1. 11. Even Believers themselves shall be filled with an overwhelming Admiration upon his glorious Appearance Or if the meaning be not that he shall be admired by them but admired in them because of the mighty Works of his Grace and Power in their Redemption Sanctification Resurrection and Glory it is to the same purpose he comes to be admired And according to the prospect which we have of that Glory ought our Admiration to be AND this Admiration will issue in Adoration and Thanksgiving whereof we have an eminent Instance and Example in the whole Church of the Redeemed Rev. 5. 9 10 11 12 13 14. They sang a new Song saying Worthy art thou to receive the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast bought us unto God by thy Blood out of every Tribe and Tongue and People and Nation and hast made us Kings and Priests unto God and we shall reign upon the Earth And I saw and heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne and of the living Creatures and of the Elders and the Number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud Voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing and every Creature that is in Heaven and in the Earth and under the Earth and that are in the Sea and all things in them heard I saying Blessing and Honour and Power and Glory be unto him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever THE Design of this Discourse is no more but that when by Faith we have attained a View of the
Promise concerning him is given unto the Church Isa. 8. 14. He shall be for a Sanctuary namely unto all that believe as it is expounded 1 Pet. 2. 8. but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence even to them that stumble at the Word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed HE is herein a Sanctuary an assured Refuge unto all that betake themselves unto him What is it that any Man in distress who flies thereunto may look for in a Sanctuary A Supply of all his Wants a Deliverance from all his Fears a Defence against all his Dangers is proposed unto him therein Such is the Lord Christ herein unto sin-distressed Souls he is a Refuge unto us in all spiritual Distresses and Disconsolations Heb. 6. 18. See the Exposition of the Place Are we or any of us burdened with a Sense of Sin Are we perplexed with Temptations Are we bowed down under the Oppression of any Spiritual Adversary Do we on any of these accounts walk in Darkness and have no Light One View of the Glory of Christ herein is able to support us and relieve us UNTO whom we betake our selves for Relief in any case we have regard to nothing but their Will and their Power If they have both we are sure of Relief And what shall we fear in the Will of Christ as unto this end What will he not do for us He who thus emptied and humbled himself who so infinitely condescended from the Prerogative of his Glory in his Being and Self-sufficiency in the Susception of our Nature for the Discharge of the Office of a Mediator on our Behalf will he not relieve us in all our Distresses Will he not do all for us we stand in need of that we may be eternally saved Will he not be a Sanctuary unto us NOR have we hereon any Ground to fear his Power For by this infinite Condescention to be a suffering Man he lost nothing of his Power as God Omnipotent nothing of his Infinite Wisdom or glorious Grace He could still do all that he could do as God from Eternity If there be any thing therefore in a Coalescency of Infinite Power with Infinite Condescention to constitute a Sanctuary for distressed Sinners it is all in Christ Jesus And if we see him not glorious herein it is because there is no Light of Faith in us THIS then is the Rest wherewith we may cause the weary to rest and this is the Refreshment Herein is he an hiding place from the Wind and a Covert from the Tempest as Rivers of Water in a dry place and as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land Hereon he says I have satiated the weary soul and have refreshed every sorrowful soul. Under this Consideration it is that in all Evangelical Promises and Invitations for coming to him he is proposed unto distressed Sinners as their only Sanctuary HEREIN he is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence unto the unbelieving and disobedient who stumble at the Word They cannot they will not see the Glory of this Condescention they neither desire nor labour so to do yea they hate it and despise it Christ in it is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence unto them Wherefore they chuse rather utterly to deny his Divine Person than allow that he did thus abase himself for our Sakes Rather than they will own this Glory they will allow him no Glory A Man they say he was and no more and this was his Glory This is that Principle of Darkness and Unbelief which works effectually at this day in the Minds of many They think it an absurd thing as the Jews did of old that he being a man should be God also or on the other hand that the Son of God should thus condescend to take our Nature on him This they can see no Glory in no Relief no Refuge no Refreshment unto their souls in any of their Distresses Therefore do they deny his Divine Person Here Faith triumphs against them it finds that to be a Glorious Sanctuary which they cannot at all discern BUT it is not so much the Declaration or Vindication of this Glory of Christ which I am at present engaged in as an Exhortation unto the practical Contemplation of it in a way of believing And I know that among many this is too much neglected yea of all the evils which I have seen in the Days of my Pilgrimage now drawing to their close there is none so grievous as the Public contempt of the Principal Mysteries of the Gospel among them that are called Christians Religion in the Profession of some Men is withered in its vital Principles weakned in its Nerves and Sinews but thought to be put off with outward Gaiety and Bravery BUT my Exhortation is unto diligence in the Contemplation of this Glory of Christ and the exercise of our Thoughts about it Unless we are diligent herein it is impossible we should be steady in the principal Acts of Faith or ready unto the principal duties of Obedience The Principal Act of Faith respects the Divine Person of Christ as all Christians must acknowledge This we can never secure as hath been declared if we see not his Glory in this Condescention And whoever reduceth his Notions unto experience will find that herein his Faith stands or falls And the Principal Duty of our Obedience is self-denial with readiness for the Cross. Hereunto the Consideration of this Condescention of Christ is the Principal Evangelical Motive and that wherein to our Obedience in it is to be resolved as the Apostle declares Phil. 2. 5 6 7. And no Man doth deny himself in a due manner who doth it not on the Consideration of the self-denial of the Son of God But a prevalent Motive this is thereunto For what are the things wherein we are to deny our selves or forgo what we pretend to have a Right unto It is in our Goods our Liberties our Relations our Lives And what are they any or all of them in themselves or unto us considering our Condition and the end for which we were made Perishing things which whether we will or no within a few days death will give us an everlasting separation from Things under the Power of a Feaver or an Asthma c. As unto our Interest in them But how incomparable with respect hereunto is that Condescention of Christ whereof we have given an Account If therefore we find an unwillingness in us a Tergiversation in our minds about these things when called unto them in a way of Duty one view by Faith of the Glory of Christ in this Condescention and what he parted from therein when he made himself of no Reputation will be an Effectual cure of that sinful Distemper HEREIN then I say we may by Faith behold the Glory of Christ as we shall do it by Sight hereafter If we see no Glory in it if we discern not that which is matter of
secured We were created in a Covenant Relation unto God Our Nature was related unto him in a way of Friendship of Likeness and Complacency But the Bond of this Relation and Union was quickly broken by our Apostasy from him Hereon our whole Nature became to be at the utmost Moral distance from God and Enmity against him which is the depth of Misery But God in Infinite Wisdom and Grace did design once more to recover it and take it again near unto himself And he would do it in such a way as should render it utterly impossible that there should ever be a Separation between him and it any more Heaven and Earth may pass away but there shall never be a Dissolution of the Union between God and our Nature any more He did it therefore by assuming it into a substantial Union with himself in the Person of the Son Hereby the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in it Bodily or Substantially and Eternally Hereby is its Relation unto God eternally secured And among all the Mysterious Excellencies which relate hereunto there are two which continually present themselves unto our consideration 1. THAT this Nature of ours is capable of this glorious Exaltation and Subsistence in God No Creature could conceive how Omnipotent Wisdom Power and Goodness could actuate themselves unto the Production of this Effect The Mystery hereof is the Object of the Admiration of Angels and will be so of the whole Church unto all Eternity What is revealed concerning the Glory way and manner of it in the Scripture I have declared in my Treatise concerning the Mystery of Godliness or the Person of Christ. What mind can Conceive what Tongue can Express who can sufficiently Admire the Wisdom Goodness and Condescention of God herein And whereas he hath proposed unto us this glorious Object of our Faith and Meditation how vile and foolish are we if we spend our thoughts about other things in a neglect of it 2. THIS is also an ineffable Pledge of the Love of God into our Nature For although he will not take it in any other Instance save that of the Man Christ Jesus into this Relation with himself by vertue of personal Union Yet therein he hath given a glorious Pledge of his Love unto and Valuation of that Nature For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham And this kindness intends unto our Persons as Participant of that Nature For he designed this Glory unto the Man Christ Jesus that he might be the first-born of the New Creation that we might be made conformable unto him according to our measure and as the Members of that Body whereof he is the Head we are Participant in this Glory 3. IT is he in whom our Nature hath been carried successfully and victoriously through all the Oppositions that it is liable unto and even Death it self But the Glory hereof I shall speak unto distinctly in its proper place which follows and therefore shall here pass it by 4. HE it is who in himself hath given us a Pledge of the capacity of our Nature to inhabit those blessed Regions of Light which are far above these aspectable Heavens Here we dwell in Tabernacles of Clay that are crushed before the Moth such as cannot be raised so as to abide one foot breadth above the Earth we tread upon The heavenly Luminaries which we can behold appear too great and glorious for our Cohabitation We are as Grashoppers in our own eyes in comparison of those Gigantick Beings and they seem to dwell in places which would immediately swallow up and extinguish our Natures How then shall we entertain an Apprehension of being carried and exalted above them all to have an everlasting subsistence in places incomprehensibly more glorious than the Orbs wherein they reside What capacity is there in our Nature of such an Habitation But hereof the Lord Christ hath given us a Pledge in himself Our Nature in him is passed through these Aspectable Heavens and is exalted far above them It s eternal Habitation is in the blessed Regions of Light and Glory and he hath promised that where he is there we shall be and that for ever OTHER Encouragements there are innumerable to stir us up unto diligence in the discharge of the Duty here proposed namely a continual Contemplation of the Glory of Christ in his Person Office and Grace Some of them the Principal of them which I have any Acquaintance with are represented in the ensuing Discourse I shall therefore here add the peculiar Advantage which we may obtain in the diligent discharge of this Duty Which is that it will carry us chearfully comfortably and victoriously through Life and Death and all that we have to conflict withal in either of them AND let it be remembred that I do here suppose what is written on this Subject in the ensuing Discourse as being designed to prepare the minds of the Readers for the due Improvement of it AS unto this present Life it is well known what it is unto the most of them who concern themselves in these things Temptations Afflictions Changes Sorrows Dangers Fears Sickness and Pains do fill up no small part of it And in the other hand all our Earthly Relishes Refreshments and Comforts are uncertain transitory and unsatisfactory all things of each sort being embittered by the Remainders of sin Hence every thing wherein we are concerned hath the Root of Trouble and Sorrow in it Some labour under Wants Poverty and Straits all their days and some have very few hours free from Pains and Sickness And all these things with others of an alike Nature are heightened at present by the Calamitous Season wherein our lot is fallen All things almost in all Nations are filled with Confusiens Disorders Dangers Distresses and Troubles Wars and Rumors of Wars do abound With Tokens of farther approaching Judgments Distress of Nations with perplexities mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth There is in many places no Peace unto him that goeth out nor to him that cometh in but great Vexations are on the Inhabitants of the World Nation is destroyed of Nation and City of City for God doth vex them with all Adversity And in the mean time Vexation with the ungodly deeds of wicked men doth greatly further the Troubles of Life the sufferings of many also for the Testimony of their Consciences are deplorable with the Divisions and Animosities that abound amongst all sorts of Christians BUT the Shortness the Vanity the Miseries of humane Life have been the subject of the complaints of all sorts of considering Persons Heathens as well as Christians nor is it my present business to insist upon them My enquiry is only after the Relief which we may obtain against all these evils that we faint not under them that we may have the victory over them THIS in general is declared
by the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. We are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed But for this cause we faint not but tho' our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal OUR beholding by Faith things that are not seen things spiritual and eternal will alleviate all our Afflictions make their burden light and preserve our Souls from fainting under them Of these things the Glory of Christ whereof we treat is the principal and in a due since comprehensive of them all For we behold the Glory of God himself in the face of Jesus Christ. He that can at all times retreat unto the comtemplation of this Glory will be carried above the perplexing prevailing sense of any of these evils of a confluence of them all Crus nil sentit in nervo dum animus est in coelo IT is a woful kind of Life when men scramble for poor perishing Reliefs in their Distresses This is the Universal Remedy and Cure the only Balsom for all our Diseases Whatever presseth urgeth perplexeth if we can but retreat in our minds unto a view of this Glory and a due consideration of our own Interest therein Comfort and Supportment will be administred unto us Wicked men in their Distresses which sometimes overtake even them also are like a troubled Sea that cannot rest Others are heartless and despond not without secret repinings at the wise disposals of Divine Providence especially when they look on the better Condition as they suppose of others And the best of us are apt all to wax faint and weary when these things press upon us in an unusal manner or under their long continuance without a prospect of Relief This is the strong hold which such Prisoners of hope are to turn themselves unto In this Contemplation of the Glory of Christ they will find Rest unto their own Souls For 1. IT will herein and in the discharge of this Duty be made evident how slight and inconsiderable all these things are from whence our Troubles and Distresses do arise For they all grow on this root of an Over-valuation of Temporal things And unless we can arrive unto a fixed judgment that all things here below are transitory and perishing reaching only unto the outward man or the body perhaps unto the killing of it that the best of them have nothing that is truly substantial or abiding in them that there are other things wherein we have an assured Interest that are incomparably better than they and above them it is impossible but that we must spend our lives in Fears Sorrows and Distractions One real view of the Glory of Christ and of our own concernment therein will give us a full relief in this matter For what are all the things of this Life what is the good or evil of them in comparison of an Interest in this transcendent Glory When we have due Apprehensions hereof when our minds are possessed with thoughts of it when our Affections reach out after its enjoyments let Pain and Sickness and Sorrows and Fears and Dangers and Death say what they will we shall have in readiness wherewith to Combat with them and overcome them and that on this Consideration that they are all outward transitory and passing away whereas our minds are fixed on those things which are eternal and filled with incomprehensible Glory 2. THE minds of men are apt by their Troubles to be cast into Disorder to be tossed up and down and disquieted with various Affections and Passions So the Psalmist found it in himself in the time of his Distress whence he calls himself unto that account Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted in me And indeed the mind on all such Occasions is its own greatest Troubler It is apt to let loose its Passions of Fear and Sorrow which act themselves in innumerable perplexing thoughts until it is carried utterly out of its own Power But in this state a due Contemplation of the Glory of Christ will restore and compose the mind bring it into a sedate quiet frame wherein Faith will be able to say unto the Winds and Waves of distempered Passions Peace be still and they shall obey it 3. IT is the way and means of conveying a Sense of Gods Love unto our Souls which is that alone wherein ultimately we find Rest in the midst of all the troubles of this Life as the Apostle declares Rom. 5. 2 3 4 5. It is the Spirit of God who alone communicates a Sense of this Love unto our Souls It is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Howbeit there are ways and means to be used on our part whereby we may be disposed and made meet to receive these Communications of Divine Love Among these the principal is the contemplation of the Glory of Christ insisted on and of God the Father in him It is the season it is the way and means at which and whereby the Holy Ghost will giva a sense of the Love of God unto us causing us thereon to rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory This will be made evident in the ensuing Discourse This will lift the minds and hearts of Believers above all the Troubles of this Life and is the Soveraign Antidote that will expel all the Poyson that is in them which otherwise might perplex and enslave their Souls I HAVE but touched on these things as designing to enlarge somewhat on that which doth ensue And this is the advantage we may have in the discharge of this Duty with respect unto Death it self It is the assiduous Contemplation of the Glory of Christ which will carry us chearfully and comfortably into it and through it My principal work having been now for a long season to Dye daily as living in a continual expectation of my Dissolution I shall on this occasion acquaint the Reader with some few of my thoughts and reliefs with reference unto Death it self THERE are sundry things required of us that we may be able to encounter Death chearfully constantly and victoriously For want of these or some of them I have known gracious Souls who have lived in a kind of Bondage for fear of Death all their days We know not how God will manage any of our minds and souls in that season in that Tryal For he acts towards us in all such things in a way of Sovereignty But these are the things which he requireth of us in a way of Duty 1. PECULIAR actings of Faith to resign and commit our departing Souls into the hand of Him who is
Scripture full of Refreshment unto us as a Spring of Living Water when we are taken into blessed Views of the Glory of Christ therein And we are in the best Frame of Duty when the principal Motive in our Minds to contend earnestly for retaining the possession of the Scripture against all that would deprive us of it or discourage us from a daily diligent search into it is this that they would take from us the only Glass wherein we may behold the Glory of Christ. This is the Glory of the Scripture that it is the great yea the only outward Means of representing unto us the Glory of Christ and he is the Sun in the Firmament of it which only hath Light in it self and communicates it unto all other things besides 3. ANOTHER Direction unto this same End is That having attained the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of Christ from the Scripture or by the Dispensation of the Truth in the preaching of the Gospel we would esteem it our Duty frequently to meditate thereon WANT hereof is that fundamental Mistake which keeps many among us so low in their Grace so regardless of their Priviledges They hear of these things they assent unto their Truth atleast they do not gainsay them but they never solemnly meditate upon them This they esteem a Work that is above them or are ignorant totally of it or esteem themselves not much concerned in it or dislike it as Fanatacism For it is that which no Considerations can ingage a carnal Mind to delight in The Mind must be spiritual and holy freed from earthly Affections and Encumbrances raised above things here below that can in a due manner meditate on the Glory of Christ. Therefore are the most Strangers unto this Duty because they will not be at the Trouble and Charge of that Mortification of earthly Affections that Extirpation of sensual Inclinations that Retirement from the Occasions of Life which are required there unto See the Treatise of Spiritual-mindedness IT is to be feared that there are some who profess Religion with an Appearance of Strictness who never separate themselves from all other Occasions to meditate on Christ and his Glory And yet with a strange Inconsistency of Apprehensions they will profess that they desire nothing more than to behold his Glory in Heaven for ever But it is evident even in the Light of Reason that these things are irreconcilable It is impossible that he who never meditates with delight on the Glory of Christ here in this World who labors not to behold it by Faith as it is revealed in the Scripture should ever have any real gracious Desire to behold it in Heaven They may love and desire the Fruition of their own Imaginations they cannot do so of the Glory of Christ whereof they are ignorant and wherewith they are unacquainted It is therefore to be lamented that Men can find time for and have inclinations to think and meditate on other things it may be earthly and vain but have neither Heart nor Inclinations nor Leasure to meditate on this glorious Object What is the Faith and Love which such Men profess how will they find themselves deceived in the Issue 4. LET your occasional Thoughts of Christ be many and multiplied every Day he is not far from us we may make a speedy Address unto him at any time so the Apostle informs us Rom. 10. 6 7 8. Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead for the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart The things that Christ did were done at a Distance from us and they are long since past But saith the Apostle the Word of the Gospel wherein these things are revealed and whereby an Application is made of them unto our Souls is nigh unto us even in our hearts that is if we are true Believers and have mixed the Word with Faith and so it exhibiteth Christ and all the Benefits of his Mediation unto us If therefore this Word is in our Hearts Christ is nigh unto us If we turn at any time into our selves to converse with the Word that abideth in us there we shall find him ready to receive us into Communion with himself that is in the Light of the Knowledge of Christ which we have by the Word we may have sudden occasional Thoughts of him continually and where our Minds and Affections are so filled with other things that we are not ready for converse with him who is thus nigh unto us by the Word we are spiritually indisposed SO to manifest how nigh he is unto us it is said that he stands at the door and knocks Rev. 3. 20. in the continual tender that he makes of himself and his Grace unto our Souls For he is always accompanied with the glorious Train of his Graces and if they are not received he himself is not so It is to no purpose to boast of Christ if we have not an Evidence of his Graces in our Hearts and Lives But unto whom he is the Hope of Future Glory unto them he is the Life of present grace SOMETIMES it may be that he is withdrawn from us so as that we cannot hear his Voice nor behold his Countenance nor obtain any sence of his Love though we seek him with diligence In this state all our thoughts and Meditations concerning him will be barren and fruitless bringing in no spiritual Refreshment into our Souls And if we learn to be content with such lifeless in affecting thoughts of him as bring in no experience of his Love nor give us a real View of the Glory of his Person we shall wither away as unto all the power of Religion WHAT is our Duty in this Case is so fully expressed by the Spouse in the Canticles as represents it plainly unto the Minds of Believers who have any Experience of these things Chap. 3. 1 2 3 4 5. By night on my Bed I sought him whom my Soul loveth I sought him but I found him not I will rise now and go about the City in the Streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not The Watch-men that go about the City found me to whom I said saw ye him whom my soul loveth It was but a little I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go The like account she gives of her self and of her Behaviour on the like Occasion Chap. 5. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. THIS is the substance of what by this Example we are instructed unto The Lord Christ is pleased sometimes to withdraw himself from the spiritual Experience of Believers as unto any refreshing sense of his Love or the fresh communications of consolatory Graces Those who never had
its Fruits and Effects with sundry other Considerations of the like Nature By a distinct Prospect and Admiration of these Things the Soul may walk in this Paradise of God and gather here and there an Heavenly Flower conveying unto it a sweet Savour of this Love of Christ. See Cant. 11. 2 3 4. MOREOVER Be not contented to have right Notions of the Love of Christ in your Minds unless you can attain a gracious Taste of it in your Hearts no more than you would be to see a Feast or Banquet richly prepared and partake of nothing of it unto your Refreshment It is of that Nature that we may have a spiritual Censation of it in our Minds whence it is compared by the Spouse to Apples and Flagons of Wine We may taste that the Lord is gracious And if we find not a Relish of it in our Hearts we shall not long retain the Notion of it in our Minds Christ is the Meat the Bread the Food of our Souls Nothing is in him of an higher spiritual Nourishment than his Love which we should always desire IN this Love is he Glorious for it is such as no Creatures Angels or Men could have the least Conceptions of before its Manifestation by its Effects And after its Manifestation it is in this World absolutely incomprehensible CHAP. VI. The Glory of Christ in the Discharge of his Mediatory Office AS the Lord Christ was Glorious in the Susception of his Office So was he also in its Discharge An unseen Glory accompanied him in all that he did in all that he suffered Unseen it was unto the Eyes of the World but not in his who alone can judge of it Had Men seen it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Yet to some of them it was made manifest Hence they testified that in the Discharge of his Office they beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father Joh. 1. 14. And that when others could see neither Form nor Comliness in him that he should be desired Psal. 53. 2. and so it is at this day I shall only make some few Observations first on what he did in a way of Obedience and then on what he suffered in the Discharge of his Office so undertaken by him 1. WHAT he did what Obedience he yielded unto the Law of God in the Discharge of his Office with respect whereunto he said Lo I come to do thy Will O God yea thy Law is in my Heart it was all on his own free choice or Election and was resolved thereinto alone It is our Duty to endeavor after Freedom Willingness and Chearfulness in all our Obedience Obedience hath its formal Nature from our Wills So much as there is of our Wills in what we do towards God so much there is of Obedience and no more Howbeit we are antecedently unto all Acts of our own Wills obliged unto all that is called Obedience From the very Constitution of our Natures we are necessarily subject unto the Law of God All that is left unto us is a voluntary Compliance with unavoidable Commands with him it was not so An Act of his own Will and Choice preceded all Obligation as unto Obedience He obeyed because he would before because he ought He said Lo I come to do thy Will O God before he was obliged to do that Will. By his own Choice and that in an Act of Infinite Condescention and Love as we have shewed he was made of a woman and thereby made under the Law In his Divine Person he was Lord of the Law above it no more obnoxious unto its Commands than its Curse Neither was he afterwards in himself on his own Account unobnoxious unto its Curse merely because he was Innocent but also because he was every way above the Law it self and all its force This was the Original Glory of his Obedience The Wisdom the Grace the Loye the Condescention that was in this Choice animated every Act every Duty of his Obedience rendring it amiable in the sight of God and useful unto us So when he went unto John to be baptized he who knew he had no need of it on his own Account would have declined the Duty of administring that Ordinance unto him but he replied Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness Mat. 3. 15. This I have undertaken willingly of my own accord without any need of it for my self and therefore will discharge it For him who was Lord of all universally thus to submit himself to Universal Obedience carrieth along with it an Evidence of Glorious Grace 2. THIS Obedience as unto the use and end of it was not for himself but for us We were obliged unto it and could not perform it he was not obliged unto it any otherwise but by a free Act of his own Will and did perform it God gave him this Honour that he should obey for the whole Church that by his obedience we should be made righteous Rom. 5. 19. Herein I say did God give him Honour and Glory that his Obedience should stand in the stead of the perfect Obedience of the Church as unto Justification 3. HIS Obedience being absolutely universal and absolutely perfect was the great Representative of the Holiness of God in the Law It was represented glorious when the Ten Words were written by the Finger of God in Tables of Stone It appears yet more eminently in the Spiritual Transcription of it in the Hearts of Believers But absolutely and perfectly it is exemplified only in the Holiness and Obedience of Christ which answered it unto the utmost And this is no small Part of his Glory in Obedience that the Holiness of God in the Law was therein and therein alone in that one Instance as unto human Nature fully represented 4. HE wrought out this Obedience against all Difficulties and Oppressions For although he was absolutely free from that Disorder which in us hath invaded our whole Natures which internally renders all Obedience difficult unto us and perfect Obedience impossible yet as unto Opposition from without in Temptations Sufferings Reproaches Contradictions he met with more than we all Hence is that glorious Word Although he were a Son yet he learned Obedience by the things which be suffered Heb. 5. 8. See our Exposition of that place But 5. THE Glory of this Obedience ariseth principally from the Consideration of the Person who thus yielded it unto God This was no other but the Son of God made Man God and Man in one Person He who was in Heaven above all Lord of all at the same time lived in the World in a Condition of no Reputation and a Course of the strictest Obedience unto the whole Law of God He unto whom Prayer was made prayed himself Night and Day He whom all the Angels of Heaven and all Creatures worshiped was continually conversant in all the Duties of the Worship of God He who
expeperience of it in the Minds of Men carnal and ignorant of the mystery of believing as it is at present by many derided tho it be the life of Religion Fancy and Superstition provided various supplies in the room of it For they found out Crucifixes and Images with Paintings to represent him in his Sufferings and Glory By these things their carnal Affections being excited by their outward Senses they suppose themselves to be affected with him and to be like unto him Yea some have proceeded so far as either by Arts Diabolical or by other means to make an appearance of wounds on their hands and feet and sides therein pretending to be like him yea to be wholly transformed into his Image But that which is produced by an Image is but an Image an imaginary Christ will effect nothing in the Minds of Men but imaginary Grace THUS Religion was lost and died When Men could not obtain any experience in their Minds of the spiritual Mysteries of the Gospel nor be sensible of any spiritual Change or Advantage by them they substituted some outward Duties and Observances in their stead as I shall shew God willing elsewhere more at large These produced some kind of effects on their Minds and Affections but quite of another nature than those which are the real effects of true Evangelical Grace This is openly evident in this substitution of Images instead of the representation of Christ and his Glory made in the Gospel HOWEVER there is a general Supposition granted on all hands namely that there must be a View of Christ and his Glory to cause us to love him and thereby to make us conformable or like unto him But here lies the difference those of the Church of Rome say that this must be done by the beholding of Crucifixes with other Images and Pictures of him and that with our bodily eyes We say it is by our beholding his Glory by Faith as revealed in the Gospel and no otherwise And to confess the Truth we have some who as they reject the use of Images so they despise that spiritual View of the Glory of Christ which we enquire after Such Persons on the first occasion will fall on the other side For any thing is better than nothing BUT as we have a sure word of Prophesie to secure us from these abominations by an express prohibition of such Images unto all ends whatever so unto our stability in the profession of the Truth and experience of the efficacy of this Spiritual View of Christ transforming our Souls into his own likeness is absolutely necessary For if an Idolater should plead as they do all that in the beholding of the Image of Christ or of a Crucifix especially if they are sedulous and constant therein they find their Affections unto him greatly excited increased and inflamed as they will be Isa. 57. 5. and that hereon he endeavours to be like unto him what shall we have to oppose thereunto For it is certain that such Images are apt to make impressions on the Minds of Men partly from the readiness of the senses and imagination to give them admittance into their thoughts and partly from their natural inclinations unto superstition their aversation from things spiritual and invisible with an inclination unto things present and visible Hence among them who are satisfied that they ought not to be adored with any Religious Veneration yet some are apt upon the sight of them to entertain a thoughtful Reverence as they would do if they were to enter into a Pagan Temple full of Idols and others are continually making approaches towards their use and veneration in Paintings and Altars and such outward postures of Worship as are used in the Religious Service of them But that they do sensibly affect the Minds of Men carnal and superstitious cannot be denyed and as they suppose it is a love unto Christ himself However certain it is in general and confessed on all hands that the beholding of Christ is the most blessed means of exciting all our Graces spiritualizing all our Affections and transforming our Minds into his likeness And if we have not another and that a more excellent way of beholding him than they have who behold him as they suppose in Images and Crucifixes they would-seem to have the advantage of us For their Minds will really be affected with somewhat ours with nothing at all And by the pretence thereof they inveagle the carnal affections of Men ignorant of the Power of the Gospel to become their Proselytes For having lived it may be a long time without any the least experience of a sensible impression on their Minds or a transforming power from the Representation of Christ in the Gospel upon their very first Religious Devout Application unto these Images they find their Thoughts exercised their Minds affected and some present change made upon them BUT there was a difference between the Person of David and an Image with a bolster of Goats Hair though the one were laid in the room and place of the other And there is so between Christ and an Image though the one be put into the place of the other Neither do these things serve unto any other end but to divert the Minds of Men from Faith and Love to Christ giving them some such satisfactions in the room of them as that their carnal Affections do cleave unto their Idols And indeed it doth belong unto the Wisdom of Faith or we stand in need of spiritual Light to discern and judge between the working of natural Affections towards spiritual Objects on undue motives by undue means with indirect ends wherein all Papal Devotion consists and the spiritual Exercise of Grace in those Affections duely fixed on spiritual Objects BUT as was said it is a real experience of the Efficacy that there is in the spiritual beholding of the Glory of Christ by Faith as proposed in the Gospel to strengthen encrease and excite all Grace unto its proper exercise so changing and transforming the Soul gradually into his likeness which must secure us against all those Pretences and so I return from this Digression HEREBY we may understand whether the Lord Christ doth so withdraw himself as that we do not as that we cannot behold his glory by Faith in a due manner which is the thing enquired after For if we grow weak in our Graces unspiritual in our Frames cold in our Affections or negligent in the exercise of them by holy Meditation it is evident that he is at a great distance from us so as that we do not behold his Glory as we ought If the weather grow cold Herbs and Plants do whither and the Frost begins to bind up the earth all men grant that the Sun is withdrawn and makes not its wonted approach unto us And if it be so with our Hearts that they grow cold frozen withering lifeless in and unto spiritual Duties it is certain that the Lord Christ is in some