here too blame in preferring a lesser duty before a greater and doing that unseasonably which in due time was to be done and in neglecting an opportunity for the hearing of Christs word which Mary took It was not only blameless but a duty in it self to make provision for Christ and his attendants but â—he should have been hearing first while he was preaching and taken that opportunity for the benefit of her soul It was no ordinary Preacher that was come under her roof His stay was not like to be long his doctrine concerned her salvation She knew not whether ever she should have the like opportunity again And therefore she should have rather stayed for his own direction when to go make provision for their bodies then to have omitted the hearing of his word But you 'l ask perhaps When a Sermon and other worldly business fall out at once are we alwayes bound to hear the Sermon I answer No not alwayes For else in great Cities that have frequent preaching you should do nothing â—lse but hear We have a Body as well as a Soul and must have meet imployment for both and must make due provision for both and must be serviceable to the bodily welfare of others and to the common good Our bodily labour and temporal employment must be conscionably followed as well as our spiritual For God hath determined that in the sweat of our faces we shall eat our bread Gen. 3. 19. and even in innocency Adam was put into the garden to dress or till and keep it Gen. 2. 15. with quietness we must labour and eat our own bread and if any will not work neither should he eat 2 Thess 3. 12. 10. See Pauls example v. 8. Neither did we eat any mans bread for nought but wrought with labour and travail night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you We must labour working with our hands that we may have to give to him that needeth Eph. 4. 28. And if our bodies have not competent employment they will grow such rusty unfit instruments for the soul to work by that when Melancholy or other diseases have disabled them the soul it self will have the loss and he that will do nothing but hear and pray and meditate is likely shortly to be scarce able to pray and meditate at all unless it be one of a very strong and healthfull constitution No one therefore from this determination of Christ to Martha is to be driven from their lawfull Calling into a contrary extream But this was not the case between Mary and Martha It was a special opportunity which then was to be taken We must first seek Gods kingdom and its righteousness and prudently take such opportunities for our souls as we can without omitting greater duties and as our case requireth not taking as much food as we can ingest but as much as we can digest It is possible to eat too much but not to digest too well A Christian must have prudence when two duties come together to know which at that present time is the greatest and to be preferred which dependeth much on the necessity and the ends the good that will follow the doing of them and the hurt that will follow the omission And without this prudential discerning of time and duty we shall never order our conversations aright but shall live in a continual sin when we are doing that which in its own nature and season is our duty A poor man may not Read and Hear so frequently as a Rich ordinarily nor a Servant as the Master because there would greater evils follow the omission of their common labour at that time Thus much being said for the Explication of the Text there is no more necessary but what will fall in most conveniently with the Matter The sense is as if Christ should have said 〈…〉 Martha Martha I know thou dost all this in love to me and â—…anest well in it and it is no more then what 's thy duty in its â—…per season But O what is the food that perisheth in compariâ—… of that which endureth to everlasting life It is my meat â—…d drink to do the will of him that sent me in feeding and in â—…ing souls Thou hadst now an opportunity to hear my word 〈…〉 word of the Son of God thy Saviour and thereby to have â—…moted thy Everlasting happiness as Mary doth and this should have been preferred even before this provision for our bodies and 〈…〉 for this thou hadst now omitted thy care and labour about eat and drink I would not at all have been offended with thee thou hadst thy choice and Mary had her choice Thou hast chosen â—…e and trouble about many things and made thy self a great â—…al ado but Mary hath chosen that one thing that was necessary which is the better part and therefore it shall not be taken from â—…er but she shall possess the benefit of her choice Where note for the fuller understanding of it the true oppoâ—ition between the case of Mary and Martha 1. As to the Matter Martha had many things in hand multifarious care and trouble but Mary had but One. 2. As to the Manner and effects of their employments Martha was full of care and troubles distracted or disturbed by the â—…mberance of her businesses but Mary was quietly hearing and learning how to be free from care and trouble and how to â—…ttain Everlasting rest 3. As to the quality of their business Martha's was of less necessity or concernment though good and honest in its place but Mary's was about the thing of absolute necessity Also Martha's was Good in its season but a lesser good but Mary's was that Good part which containeth all other good or referreth to it and therefore was to be preferred 4. And therefore as to the continuance Mary's being a more eligible imployment and about an everlasting treasure shall not be taken from her when the fruit of Martha's imployment will quickly have an end Yet in these different cases each one had her choice Had Martha chosen better she had had better And the choice much proceeded from the judgement and disposition Had she judged better and been inclined better Martha would have chosâ—â— better Before we come to the principal Doctrines we may profitably note these Observations by the way 1. Note here that the neerest Natural Relations as Brothers and Sisters yea Parents and Children are not alwayes of one mind or way in the matters of their salvation Greater difference may be between them then this between Martha and Mary in the Text. They may rise up against each other and seek each others lives as Christ foretold Mark 13. 12. And therefore Father Mother Brother Sister and all are to be denyed for Christ that I say not hated as Christ saith Luke 14. 26. when they stand in opposition to him The same parentage and education made not Esau and Jacob of a disposition or of one mind or
Let him take all there is no living quietly by 〈…〉 A dog at his carrion or a swine in his trough is not more greedy then many of these sensualists that labour of the Caninus appâ—titus to their trash But to Holiness they have no appetite and are worse then indifferent to the things that are inâ—…sirable They have no covetousuess for the things which 〈…〉 commanded earnestly to covet 1 Cor. 12 31. They have â—…tle hunger and thirst after righteousness that a very little or none will satisfie them Here they are pleading alwayes for â—â—deration and against too much and too earnest and too long And all is too much with them that is above stark naught or dead hypocrisie and all is too earnest and too long that would make Religion seem a business or would engage them to seem serious in their own profession or put them past jeast in the worship of God and the matters of their salvation Let but their servants or children neglect their worldly business which I confess they should not do and they shall hear of it with both ears But if they sin against God or neglect his Word or Worship they shall meet with more patience then Eli's sons did A cold reproof is usually the best and it is well if they be not encouraged in their sin and if a child or servant that begins to be serious for salvation be not rebuked derided and hindred by them If on their dayes of labour they over-sleep themselves they shall be sure to be called up to work and good reason but when do they call them up to prayer When do they urge them to read or consider or conferr of the things that concern their everlasting life The Lords own day which is appointed to be set apart for matters of this nature is wasted in idleness or worldly talk Come at any time into their company and you may have talk enough and too much of news or of other mens matters of their worldly business sports and pleasures But about God and their salvation they have so little to say and that so heartlesly and on the by as if they were things that belonged not to their care and duty and no whit concerned them Talk with them about the renovation of the soul and the nature of holiness and the life to come and you shall find them almost as dumb as a fish or as dry as a chip or as erroneous or insensible as those that speak but words by rote to shew you how little they savour or mind the things of the Spirit The most understand not matters of this nature nor much desire or care to understand them If one would teach 〈…〉 personally they are too old to be catechized or to learn though not too old to be ignorant of the matters which they were made for and are preserved for in the world They are too wise to learn to be wise and too good to be taught how to be good â—…ough not too wise to follow the seducements of the Devil â—…he world nor too good to be the slaves of Satan and the deâ—…rs and enemies of goodness If they do any thing which theâ—… a serving of God it is some cold and heartless use of wordâ—…ake themselves believe that for all their sins they shall be saved so that God will call that a serving of their sins and abomination which they call a serving of God Some of them will confess that Holiness is good but they hope God will be merciful to them without it And some do so hate it that it is a displeasing irksom thing to them to hear any serious discourse of holiness and they detest and deride those as fanatick troublesome Precisians that diligently seek the One thing necessary So that if the Belief of the most may be judged by their practices we may confidently say that they do not practically believe that ever they shall be brought to Judgement or that there is any Heaven or Hell to be expected and that their confession of the truth of the holy Scriptures and their profession of the Articles of the Christian Faith are no proofs that they heartily take them to be true Who can be such a stranger to the world as not to see that this as the case of the greatest part of men And which is worst of all they go on in this course against all that can be said to them and will give no impartial considerate hearing to the truth which would recover them to their wits but live as if it would be a felicity to them in Hell to think that they came thither by wilful resolution and in despight of the remedy And is it not a sad prospect to a man that believeth the Word of God and the life to come to look upon such a distracted world O Sirs if Jesus Christ be wise that condemneth their course and them then certainly all these men are fools And if Christ knew what he said we must needs think that they know not what they do O what is the matter that reasonable men should have no more use of their reason in things of such importance then thus to neglect their everlasting state for a thing of naught Did God make them unreasonable or give them understandings uncapable of things of such high concernment Or rather have 〈…〉 not drowned their reason in sensuality and wilfully poisoâ—…th malicious aversness to God and Holiness What is â—…ter that the One thing needful is no more regarded Hath God made them believe that they shall dwell here for ever and never die No surely this is so gross a lye that the Devil himself cannot make them believe it They know that they musâ—… sure as they are alive And yet they prepare not but wâ—…eir dayes in scraping in this dunghill world as if they werâ—…o no further Did God never warn them by a Sermon or 〈…〉 to prepare for the life which they must live for ever Yes â—…y a time but they would take no warning Did God never â—â—ll them that after this life there is another where they must live in endless joy or torment Yes and they professed that they did believe it They heard it an hundred times over till they were weary of hearing it Did God make them believe that they shall die like beasts that have no further to go nor any other life to live No if they do believe this it is the Devil and not God that maketh them believe it What then is the matter that the One thing needful is no more regarded Hath God shut up their souls in desperation so that it is in vain to seek or trouble themselves for that of which there is no hope Oh no! his compassion hath provided them a full remedy by the death of his Son Redemption is procured and he hath made them a deed of gift of Christ and pardon and eternal life and tendred it to them that upon theâ—â— acceptance it may be
judgement more regardable then a hundred yea many hundred 2. Nay it is no One at all Those that you say turn off arâ— only such as tryed an Opinionative Religiousness and some of the Outward duties of Christianity but they never tryed the power of a living rooted faith nor the predominant Love of God in the soul nor a Living Hope of the Heavenly Glory nor the sweetness of a Heavenly life nor the mortification of the fleshly inteâ—â—â—â— and true self-denyal These are the vital parts of Christianâ—â—â— which these few Apostates never tryed though some of them have had some acquired counterfeits of them and some good gifts of common grace and think that none had more then they had Sinner I beseech thee for the Lords sake deal faithfully with thy poor soul when all lies at the stake Wilt thou take the judgement of a swaggering Gallant or a scoffing worldly or ungodly Sot that none of them ever truly tried a state of Holiness And wilt thou refuse the judgement of God and of all his servants that have tryed it Go to any Godly man and ask him which of these wayes he hath found by experience to be best and hear what he will say to thee He will be ashamed to hear thee make a Question of it He will tell thee Alas friend I was once deceived by sin and deceived with the pleasures of my flesh and the glittering glory and riches of this world as you are now I once was a stranger to the life of faith and the Hopes of Heaven and the Holiness of the Saints But it was by the meer delusion of the Devil and it was the fruit of the blindness and deadness of my heart I knew not what I did nor where I stood nor what I chose nor what I set light by I never well considered of the matter but carelesly followed the sway of my fleshly inclination and desires But now I seee I was the Devils slave and my Pleasures were my fetters and my own corrupt affections were my bondage and I now find that I did but delude my soul I got nothing by all that the world did for me but provision for my after-sorrows I had been now in Torments if I had but dyed in that condition I would not be again in the case that I was in for all this world or a thousand such worlds That life that once I thought the best hath cost me dear even the breaking of my heart and a thousand thousand fold dearer would have cost me if the dearest blood and recovering Grace of my dearest Lord had had not prevented it O had I not been unspeakably beholden to the Mercy of the Lord even to that Mercy which I then made light of I had been undone for ever I had been laid under Everlasting desperation before this Now I find that there is no life so sweet as that which I then was so loth to choose Now it is my only grief that I was holy no sooner and can be no more Holy then I am O that I had more of that quickning comforting saving Grace O that I were further from my former sinful fleshly state O that I could get nearer God though I parted with all the prosperity of this world I now find what I lost by my continuing in sin so long but then I knew it not O friend as you love your soul take warning by me and make use of my experience and give up your self to God betimes This or to this purpose would the answer of an experienced person be if you should ask him Which is the better way But if you say that thus we would be our selves the Judges and bring the matter into our own hands I answer you 1. It is true we would be our selves your Helpers and do the best we could for your salvation And if you will neither help your selves nor give us leave to help you take what you get by it we have done our part But 2. I will not yet so part with you I will further make you this reasonable offer I demand of thee whoever thou art that Readest these words Whether thou know of any man on earth that thou thinkest to be a wiser man then thy self If not thou art so like the Devil in Pride that no wonder if thou be near him in malignity and misery If thou do know of any wiser then thy self go with me or with some faithful Minister to that man and ask him Whether a diligent holy life be not much Better then any other life on earth and if he do not say as I say here and as Christ saith in my Text that the godly choose the better part or else if I prove him not a very sot before thy face I will give thee leave to brand my understanding in thy esteem with the notes of inâ—amy and contempt Yea more then so I will allow thee to go to one that differeth from me in the way of his Religion Ask an Anabaptist if thou think him more impartial whether A Holy and Heavenly heart and life be not the best and try whether he will not say as I do Ask those that you call Episcopal or Presbyterian or Independents or Separatists Ask an Arminian or one of the contrary mind Yea ask a Papist and see whether he will not say as I do It is true they are every one of them of minds somewhat different about some points in the order and manner of their seeking God But all of them that are but sober men will confess as with One mouth that God should be loved above all and sought and served above all and that all should live a Holy Diligent Heavenly life 2. But yet if all this will not satisfie you I will come yet lower Who is it that you would have to be Judge or Witness in thâ—… case Is it thy malignant or worldly or drunken and ungodly friend I am contented that the case be referred even to him and to as many of them as thou wilt upon condition that he will but first Try the way that he is to judge of Let him but make an unfeigned tryal of a life of Holy Faith and Love and Obedience and Self-denyal as long as I have done and we will receive his Testimony Nay more let him thus try a life of Holiness inwardly and outwardly but one year yea or but one moneth or day or hour and we will take his Testimony But to be judged by a man in a matter of salvation that speaks of what he never knew nor tryed one hour but speaks against he knows not what this is a motion too bad to be made to a very Bedlam 6. If yet you are not resolved which is the Better part and way to whom do you desire to referr it Shall Heathens Jews and Infidels be Judges Why if they be they will give the cause against you Jews and most of the Heathen world do profess to believe a
but while their power can enforce them They are subject to errour and injustice and are not the same in one Countrey as in another or in one age as in the former and their Rewards and punishments are but temporal and therefore though under the Laws of God they are necessary for the Government of Common-wealths yet without Gods Laws they would be utterly insufficient 6. The way of Holiness is contrary to all Evil whatsoever and therefore hath nothing to disturb a Common-wealth It is true we cannot say so of the persons because they are but imperfectly sanctified Were they in all things such as their Lord and Rule and Religion do require they would have nothing that might be injurious to any But surely as a sick man or a lame is better then a dead corps and as a man of mean understanding is better then an ideot and a mean Schollar better then the illiterate so a man imperfectly sanctified is better in a Common-wealth then the ungodly You blame not the Laws of this Land because that Thieves and Murderers break them The Laws are Good if they oblige men to nothing but what is Good though bad men break them The Rules of Christian Religion are most perfect and direct or command men nothing that is evil There may be faults in us but there is none in the holy Laws which we desire and endeavour to obey Religion therefore is the way to the perfecting and securing of all Societies and the want of it subverteth them 7. Holiness doth not only tell men of a right way and shew them their duty but also effectually Disposeth their very minds to the performance of it and causeth them to walk therein The nature of it is to be the very Right Disposition of the heart and right ordering of the life The truly gracious soul is habitually an enemy to all known sin and addicted to obey in all known Duties And surely persons thus habituated are liker to live according to their Dispositions then others to live well that hate the good in their hearts which they should practise Mens Laws can command good but cannot give men good hearts to practise it as God doth by his servants If you cannot tell whether wicked men that love sin or godly men that hate it are better members of a Common-wealth you know not what Societies are for 8. Holiness destroyeth the root of iniquity and teacheth men to hate even secret sins which are in the heart or which none can see but God alone The Laws of men restrain the Subjects but from open injuries but Holiness restraineth men from doing the most secret wrong to others or once thinking speaking or contriving any evil against them It reacheth the conscience it cleanseth the heart from whence all evil doth proceed 2 Sam. 12. 12. Deut. 27. 24. Psalm 90. 8. Eccles 12. 14. A man fearing God as such dare not deceive or wrong another though he were sure that it would never be known on earth For he knoweth that the Lord is the avenger of such things 1 Thes 4. 6. 9. Holiness cementeth the members of all Societies with the strongest cement of endeared Love It bindeth them together in the bond of Charity He is not Godly that Loveth not all men even his enemies with that common Love that is due to humanity and that Loveth not all that Fear the Lord with a special Love Psalm 15. 4. Joh. 13. 34 35. 15. 12 17. 1 Joh. 3. 14 23. 4. 7 11 12 20. Luke 6. 27. 10. Holiness maketh Princes and Rulers a double blessing to their people It maketh them the more Divine and bear the more excellent Image of God How precious is the name of a David an Hezekiah a Josiah a Constantine a Theodosius though they had all their falls in comparison of the name of a Saul a Jeroboam an Ahab a Nero a Julian O how sweet is the name of a Godly King in the Subjects mouthes Even those that are enemies to Godliness as in themselves because they cannot endure to be curbed and troubled with it do yet use to admire and honour it in their Kings and Governours Authority and Holiness conjunct are two such rayes of the Heavenly Majesty and Goodness as place man in the state of highest excellency on earth and make him so much to resemble his Creator as hath given such the highest place in the esteem and honour of the world of any mortals And it is not easie for a people to value such Holy and Pious Princes and Governours too highly or to be sufficiently thankful for them unto God 1. Holiness effectually teacheth Governours to Rule for God To set him highest and make it their work to seek his Glory and to avoid all selfish contradictory interests and to own nothing that stands at enmity with his honour but to judge that they have most happily attained the ends of their Government and lives if they have promoted the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ and the work of Holiness in the world 2. Holiness will cause Rulers to preferr Gods Laws before their own and to be examples to their Subjects of obedience to God and to desire that all men should stand in far greater awe of God then of them It will make them careful to form all their Laws and Government to the pleasing of God and promoting mens obedience to his Laws and to take heed that there be nothing in them injurious to Christ or contrary to his Will It will teach them with David to enquire of God and make him their Counsellour And with Josiah to search the Book of the Law and humble themselves when they have violated it And with Joshua Not to suffer it to depart out of their mouthes but to meditate in iâ— day and night that they may observe to do according to all that is written therein And then God hath promised to make their way prosperous and to give them good success Josh 1. 8. 3. Holiness will cause the Rulers of the world to Love those that are Holy and to promote the Communion of Saints and to be Nursing Fathers to the Church even that part of the Holy Catholick Church which they are entrusted with and to protect them from the violence of men It will keep them from the sins of Jeroboam that corrupted Gods worship and put forth his hand against the Prophet that spoke against it Whereby God will be engaged to be their Protector in Peace and War When Princes and people that fall out with Holiness and take part with the flesh and set themselves against the servants the worship and the wayes of Christ do put themselves from under his protection and put themselves under the battering and piercing stroakes of his displeasure And wo to him that striveth with his Maker and that kicks against the pricks of his severity Isa 45. 9. Acts 9. 5. 26. 14. The fatal ruine of the Kingdoms of the world or at least the
the renewed state that grace hath brought them into For the Kingdom of God consisteth as in Righteousness so in Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. Believers receive not the spirit of bondage again to fear that is they are not under the bondage of the Law nor have the spirit or state of mind which is suited to those Legal impositions and terrible comminations but they have received the spirit of Adoption by which they cry Abba father that is As they are brought under a more gracious dispensation and a better Covenant and promises and God is revealed to them in the Gospel as a Reconciled Father through his son so doth he treat them more gently as reconciled children and the spirit which answereth this gracious Covenant and is given us thereupon doth qualifie us with a child-like disposition and cause us with boldness Love and confidence to call God Father and fly to him for succour and supply in all ouâ— dangers and necessities And how Pleasant it must be to a believing soul to have this spirit of Adoption this childlike Love and confidence and freedom with the Lord methinks you might conjecture though its sensibly known by them only that enjoy it Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the spirit is Love Joy Peace c. when the word is first received by Believers though it may be in much affliction through the persecutions and cross that attend the Gospel yet is it ordinarily in the Joy of the Holy Ghost 1 Thes 1. 6. The Holy Ghost is the Comforter of true Believers And if he have taken it upon him as his work he will surely do it in the degree and season fittest for them And if Joy it self be part of the state of Grace and Holiness you may see that it is the most delightful Pleasant course 7. Yea that we may have a Pleasant and comfortable life the Lord hath forbidden our distracting cares and fears and doubts and our inordinate sorrows and commanded us to cast our care on him and promised to care for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. and he hath bid us be careful for nothing but in all things make our wants known to him Phil. 4. 6. And can there be a course of life more Pleasant then that which dost consist in faith and Love and hope and Joy that 's built on God and animated by him and that excludeth inordinate cares and sorrows as health doth sickness where it is unlawful to be miserable and to grieve our selves and no sorrow is allowed us but that which tendeth to our joy where it is made our work to Rejoyce in the Lord yea always to Rejoyce Phil. 4. 4. A servant or tradesman will judge of the pleasure of his life by his work If his work be a drudgery his life is tedious and filled with grief If his work be Pleasant his life is Pleasant Judge then by this of a Holy life Is it care and fear and anguish of mind that God commandeth you no it is these that he forbiddeth Care not Fear not are his injunctions Isa 35. 4. 41. 10. Do you fear Reproach Why you do it contrary to the will of God who biddeth you Fear not the reproach of men Isa 51. 7. Do you fear the power and rage of enemies Why it is contrary to your Religion so to do God biddeth you Fear them not Isa 43. 5 13 14. 44. 2 8. Do you fear persecution or death from the hands of cruel violence why it is contrary to the will of God that you do so Matth. 10. 26 28 31. Fear not them which kill the body c. O blessed life where all that is against us is forbidden and all that is truly Joyous and delightful and necessary to make us happy is commanded us and made our duty which is contrary to misery as life to death and as light to darkness Come hither poor deluded sinners that fly from care and fear and sorrow If you will but give up your selves to Christ you shall be exempted from all these except such as is necessary to your joy You may do any thing if you will be the servants of the Lord except that which tendeth to your own and other mens calamity Come hither all you that call for pleasure and love no life but a life of mirth Let God be your master and Holiness your work and Pleasure then shall be your business and holy Mirth shall be your employment While you serve the flesh your pleasure is small and your trouble great vexation is your work and unspeakable vexation is your wages But if you will be the hearty servants of the Lord Rejoycing shall be your work and wages If you understand not this peruse your lesson Psal 33. 1. Rejoyce in the Lord O ye Righteous for Praise is comely for the upright Psal 97. 11 12. Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Rejoyce in the Lord ye Righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness Phil. 3. 1. Psal 5. 11. Let all those that trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that Love thy name be joyful in thee Psal 32. 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal 132. 9. 16. Let thy Priests be cloathed with Righteousness and let thy Saints shout for joy 16. I will also cloath her Priests with salvation and his Saints shall shout aloud for joy such precepts and promises abound in Scripture which tell you if you will be Saints indeed that Joy and gladness must be your life and work I know objections will be stirring in your minds But forbear them but a while and I shall fully answer them anon 2. I have told you wherein the Inward part of Holiness is Delightful I shall briefly shew you that the Outward part also is very Pleasant and fit to feed these inward joys And 1. let us view the Duties that are more directly to be performed unto God and 2. The works of charity and righteousness unto men 1. How sweet is it to be exercised in the word of God In hearing or reading it with serious meditation For the man that hath been revived by it renewed sanctified saved by it to hear that powerful heavenly truth by which his soul was thus made new For the soul that is in Love with God to hear or see his blessed name on every leaf to read his will and find the expressions of his Love his great eternal wonderous love how sweet this is experience tells the Saints that feel it If you that feel no sweetness in it believe not them that say they feel it at leaâ—â— believe the word of God and the professions of his ancient Saints Psal 119. 97. O how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day v. 103. How sweet are thy words unto my tast yea sweeter then
no relief 3. Another duty that Holiness consisteth in is Thanksgiving and Praise to the God of our salvation He that knows not that this work is Pleasant is unacquainted with it If there be any thing Pleasant in this world it is the praises of God that flow from a believing loving soul that is full of the sense of the mercies and goodness and excellencies of the Lord Especially the â—â—animous conjunction of such souls in the high praises of God in the holy Assemblies Is it not pleasant even to Name the Lord to mention his Attributes to remember his great and wonderous works to magnifie him that rideth on the Heavens that dwelleth in the light that cannot be approached that is cloathed with Majesty and Glory that infinitely surpasseth the Sun in its â—rightness that hath his Throne in the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him and yet he delighteth in the humble soul and hath respect to the contrite yea dwells with them that tremble at his Word Is any thing so pleasant as the Praises of the Lord How sweet is it to see and praise him as the Creator in the various wonderful creatures which he hath made How pleasant to observe his works of providence to them that read them by the light of the Sanctuary and in Faith and Patience learn the interpretation from him that only can interpret them But O how unspeakably Pleasant is it to see the Father in the Son and the God-head in the man-hood of our Lord and the Riches of Grace in the glass of the holy Gospel and the manifold wisdom of God in the Church where the Angels themselves disdain not to behold it Ephes 3. 10 11. The praising of God for the incarnation of his Son was a work that a chore of Angels were employed in as the instructors of the Church Luke 2. 13 14. There is not a promise in the book of God nor one passage of the Life and Miracles of Christ and the rest of the History of the Gospel nor one of the holy works of the spirit upon the soul nor one of those thousand mercies to the Church or to our selves or friends that infinite Goodness doth bestow but contain such matter of Praise to God as might fill believing hearts with Pleasure and find them most delightful work Much more when all these are at once before us what a feast is there for a gracious Soul O you befooled fleshly minds that find no pleasure in the things of God but had rather be drinking or gaming or scraping in the world awaken your souls and see what you are doing With what eyes do you see with what hearts do you think of the Works and Word and Wayes of God and of the Holy employments that you are so much against For my own part I freely and truly here profess to you that I would not exchange the Pleasure that my soul enjoyeth in this one piece of the holy Work of God for all your mirth and sport and gain and whatever the world and sin affords you I would not change the delights which I enjoy in one of these holy dayes and duties in the mentioning of the eternal God and celebrating his praise and magnifying his Name and thinking and speaking of the riches of his Love and the glory of his Kingdom no not for all the pleasure of your lives O that your souls were cured of those dangerous diseases that make you loath the sweetest things You would then know what it is that you have set light by and would marvail at your selves that you could taste no sweetness in the sweetest things Can you think that your work or your play your profits or your sports are comparable for pleasure to the Praises of the Lord If Grace had made you competent Judges I am sure you would say There is no comparison Hear but the testimony of a holy soul yea of the Spirit of God by him Psal. 147. 1. Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing Praises to our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Psalm 149. 1 2. Praise ye the Lord sing unto the Lord a new song and his Praise in the Congregation of Saints Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyful in their King For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud upon their beds Let the high Praises of God be in their mouth c. Psal 95. 1 2 3. O come let us sing unto the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise to him with Psalms For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods Psalm 96. 1 2 3 4. O sing unto the Lord a new song Sing unto the Lord all the earth Sing unto the Lord bless his Name shew forth his salvation from day to day Declare his glory among the Heathen his wonders among all people For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised Honour and Majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his Sanctuary Did not this holy Prophet find it a Pleasant work to Praise the Lord Yea all that Love the Name of God should be Joyful in him Psalm 5. 11. Every one of his upright ones may say with the Prophet Isa 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord My soul shall be joyful in my God For he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robes of righteousness as a Bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels For as the earth springs forth her bud and as the Garden causeth the things sown in it to spring forth so the Lord will cause Righteousness and Praise to spring forth before all the Nations It is a promise of Joy that is made in Isa 56. 6 7 8. To the sons of the stranger that joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the Name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my Covenant Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my House of Prayer What a joyful thing is it to a gracious soul when he may see the reconciled face of God and feel his Fatherly reviving Love and among his Saints may speak his Praise and proclaim his great and blessed name even in his Temple where every man speaketh of his Glory Psalm 29. 9. If the Proud are delighted in their own praise how much more will the humble holy soul be delighted in the Praise of God! When the Love of God is shed abroad in the heart and Faith doth set us as before his Throne or at least doth somewhat withdraw the veil and shew us him that lives
prosperity do you Glory in the Lord When they boast themselves in their riches or reputation do you imitate holy David who professeth Psal 34. 1 2 3. I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in thy mouth My soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad O magnifie the Lord with me and let â—…lt his name together And Psal 44. 8. In God will we boast 〈…〉 the day long and praise thy Name for ever By such spiritual joyfulness your lives would be a continued Sermon and you might thus preach home more souls to Christ then the most excellent preacher by bare perswasions Poor sinners would begin to pitty themselves that live so far below the Saints and they would think with themselves It is not for nothing that these men rejoyce and are comfortable even in the loss of all those things that we take all our comfort in For the honour of your dearest Lord and for your own felicity and for the sake of the miserable souls about you I beseech you Christians do your best to reach this sweet and joyfullest life and to avoid those inordinate troubles and despondencies which are like to cross these blessed ends And pray for me and the rest of his servants that the Lord will forgive us our dishonouring of his name our wronging our own souls and our discouraging the world from living unto God by our living so far below his mercies and so unanswerable to the unspeakable treasures of his Saints and that for the time to come we may lay this duty more to heart and by the comforting spirit may be elevated to the performance of it But I suppose some will say Tâ—â— tell me how I should live for the encouragement of others is but to draw me to an hypocritical affectation and counterfeiting of joy and courage as long as I am unable inwardly to rejoyce and can see no sufficient cause of my rejoycing in my self Answ 1. I shall by and by shew you that you have sufficient yea unspeakable cause of joy 2. And now I shall only say that you are not to suspend and forbear your comfort till you have full assurance of your own sincerity your probabilities and weakest faith and hope will warrant a more comfortable life then you can live And it is not hypocrisie but a necessary duty to do the outward actions that are here commanded us though we cannot reach to that degree of inward comfort that we desire For we do not hereby affirm our selves to have the joy which we have not I am not perswading any man to lye but only we express as fully as we are able that little which we have And a little indeed a very little of such a high and heavenly nature grounded on the smallest hopes of everlasting life will allow you in the expression of it to transcend the greatest delights of the ungodly And also we do perform the external part both as a commanded duty and as a means to further the inward rejoycing of the soul So outward solemnity and feasting in dayes of Thanksgiving are as well to further inward Joy as to express it Even as mean attire and fasting and humblest proâ—trations before the Lord on dayes of Humiliation are as much to further inward Humiliation as to express it The behaviour of the body hath an operative reflexion on the mind and therefore should be used not only for the discovery but for the cure of the soul If you cannot restrain your anger as you desire it is no hypocrisie but your duty to hide it and to refrain from the sinful effects And if you can but use your selves some time to behave your selves in your anger as if you had no anger in meekness of speech and quietness of deportment anger it self will be the quicklyer subdued and in time will be the easier kept out If you cannot restrain your inordinate eppetite to meat or drink for quality or quantity it is yet no hypocrisie but your duty to hold your hands and shut your mouthes and refrain the things to which you have an appetite And if you will but use your selves a convenient time to forbear the thing you will subdue the appetite If the drunkard will forbear the drink and the glutton his too much desired dish and the sportful gamesters their needless and sinful recreations they will find that the fire of sensuality will go out for want of fuell As the too wanton Poet saith concerning wanton Love Intrat amor mentes usu dediscitur usu Qui poterit sanum fingere sanus erit Use kindleth it and use quencheth it He that can but live as a sound man shall at last become a sound man If you cannot overcome your inward Pride as you desire you must not therefore speak big and look high and swagger it out in bravery and accompany with gallants to avoid Hypocrisie But you must speak humbly and be cloathed soberly and accompany with the humble And 1. this is the performance of one part of your duty 2. and it is the expression of your Desires to be more humble and consequently of some humility contained in these desires 3. and it is the way to work your hearts to that humility which you want or the way in which you must wait on God for the receiving of it So if you cannot overcome the Love of the world as you desire do not therefore forbear giving to the poor for fear of Hypocrisie But give the more that you may perform so much of your duty as you can and may the sooner overcome your worldly love Some trees will be killed with often cropping But if they will not it is better that a poysonous plant should live only in the root then sprout forth and be fruitful Even so if you cannot overcome your inward doubts and fears and sorrows as you desire yet let them not be fruitful nor cause you to walk so dejectedly before the world as to dishonour God and your holy profession And if you have not the inward comfort you desire express your desires and the hopes and smallest comforts that you have to the best advantage for your Masters honour And you will find that a holy chearfulness of countenance expression and deportment will at last much overcome your inordinate disquietments and much promote the joyes which you desire But yet that you may see cause for the cheerfulness to which I now exhort you I next adde 3. If thou have but one spark of saving grace it is not possible for thee now to conceive or express the happiness of thy state and the cause thou hast to live a thankful jeyous life If thou have no grace thou art not the person that I am now speaking to If thou have no grace whence is it that thou so much desirest it What is it that causeth thee to lament the want of it and walk so heavily but because thou art
way nor Isaac and Ismael nor Sem and Cham not would restrain Cain the first man born into the world from cruel murdering his brother upon a difference about their Religions caused by his own ungodly mind even because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous and acceptable to God 1 John 3. 12. And therefore Parents must patiently submit having done their duty if even the children of their bodies should prove reprobates And Brothers and Sisters must submit if these in so neer a relation be Cast-awayes God hath not promised that all our kindered shall be saved Rejoyce that you are not your selves forsaken and be glad that any and so many are sanctified though further from you in the flesh and love them in their more excellent relation to Christ and you 2. Note here how our Lord doth spend his time in the place and company where he is When he entreth into a house he is presently at work in teaching poor souls the way to God Or else how could Mary have been imployed in hearing him In our places and measure we should imitate him in this Can you come into any house or company and find nothing to say or do for God Is there none wiser then your selves that you may learn of as Mary did of Christ nor none more ignorant whom Charity requireth you to teach Nor none that need a quickening word to mind them of their everlasting state As soon as worldly or vain ungodly people get together they are presently upon some worldly or vain discourse And if you be indeed a heavenly and spiritual people should you not be more ready when you come together for heavenly spiritual discourse Have you not a thousand fold more to set your tougues on work The necessities of the hearers the hopes of doing good the presence of God the sense of the duty the sweetness of the subject the avoiding of sin and the blessing of Gods acceptance to your selves O had we but the skill and will and diligence that this interlocutory preaching by holy conference doth require what a supply party would it be for the promoting of mens salvation where the more publick preaching of the Gospel is wanting Who can forbid us by familiar discourse to exercise our charity in minding poor regardless sinners of the life to come and exhorting them to due preparation and repentance and to open to them the riches of Christ and set forth his love and draw them to embrace him 3. Note here how carefully we should take the present opportunities for our souls to hear and learn as Mary did She stands not carelling like our full stomackt hearers that ask How can you prove that I am bound to hear such a Lecture or to come to Church and hear a Sermon twice on the Lords day or to come to the Minister to ask advice or be instructed by him No more then a hungry man will ask How prove you that it is my duty to eat every day Or then a sick man will say How prove you that I am bound to seek to the Physicion to go or send to his house and to look after him As there is much in the very New nature and health and relish of a gracious soul to decide such Controversies as these without any subtilty of argument so a Christians prudence and care of his salvation will tell him that when Christ hath a voice to speak to him it beseemeth him to have an ear to hear and that the Sermon telleth the hearer the season of his duty and the offer of a mercy telleth us when it is our duty to accept it without any other more particular obligation unless when we can truly say as before God that some duty that at that time is greater hindreth us These are easie questions to those that savour the things of the Spirit When Christ is speaking Mary will be hearing and lesser things shall not call her off If any shall say So would we too if we could 〈…〉 Christ I answer Remember that he never intended to 〈…〉 himself on earth and teach his Church personally by his own mouth but hath appointed Messengers and Officers to proclaim his Laws unto the world and tender them his grace and saith He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Luke 10. 16. and he that despiseth despiseth not man but God 1 Thes 4. 8. And he that will not now believe and hear Christ speaking by his Ministers when he is acknowledged to be the son of God and his sealed Word hath had so long possession in the world would hardly have regarded Christ himself in a time when he appeared in the form of a servant and was found in fashion as a man and was believed on but by a few persons then counted but inconfiderable 4. Note also the humility and teachableness of Disciples in those times who were wont to sit learning at their Teachers feet Which was then an ordinary case and not of Christ Disciples only Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel Acts 22. 3. Not like the proud and self-conceited part of our hearers in these times that come to hear somewhat for their malicious or contentious minds to quarrel with and expect that their Teachers tell them nothing but what is agreeable to their own conceits and think us to be injurious to them if we would heal their ignorance or impiety and make them any wiser or better then they are and that reproach us and set themselves against us as their enemies if we will not be ruled by them and humour them in all our administrations as if we were the patients and they the Physicion we the learners and they the Teachers yea we their servants and they our Guides and Rulers in the matters of our own Office But let us come closer to the words themselves and consider of the Instructions which they afford us which are these Doct. 1. It is but One thing that is of absolute necessity but it is many things that those are taken up with that neglect that one Doct. 2. The One thing needful leadeth to content but the many things of the world do trouble and disquiet and distract the soul Doct. 3. All men where the Gospel is preached have their choice whether they will seek and have the one thing necessary or trouble and distract themselves with the many things that are unnecessary Doct. 4. They that choose the One thing necessary do choose the good part and they that choose any other do make an evil and unhappy choice Doct. 5. The One thing needful shall not be taken from them that choose it but they that choose it not shall have no better then they choose Doct. 6. Those that make the bad unhappy choice are apt to grudge at them that choose better and will not think and do as they Doct. 7. When the matter is brought before the Lord Jesus Christ he will not take
every word of thy mouth and every penny of thy wealth in the way that he requireth it is it any more then is his due Should not he have all that is Lord of all Quest 2. Is it not the first and great Commandment Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and might And do not heathens confess this by the light of nature And hath not thy tongue confest it many a time And doth not thy conscience yet bear witness that it is thy duty And is it possible thou shouldst thus Love him with all thy heart and soul and might and yet not seek and serve him with all thy heart and soul and might Or can the most sanctified person do any more if he were perfect Quest 3. Dost thou not confess that we are all sinners And that the best is still too bad And that he that loveth and serveth God most doth yet come exceeding short of his duty And yet wouldst thou have such men come shorter and darest thou perswade them to do less Must not the best confess their daily failings and beg pardon of them from the Lord and be beholden to the blood of Christ and lament their imperfections And yet wouldst thou have them be such odious hypocrites as to think they serve God too much already while they confess that they come so short Shall they confess their failings and reproach those that endeavour to avoid the like Shall the same tongue say Lord be merciful to me a sinner and Lord I am good enough already What need there so much ado to please and serve thee any better What would you think of such a man Quest 4. Is it not an unquestionable duty to grow in grace and to press towards perfection as men that have not yet attained it 2 Pet. 3. 18. Phil. 3. 12 13 14. And must Paul and Peter and the holyest on earth still seek to grow and labour to be more holy and shall such a one as thou say What need I be any more holy that art utterly unsanctified Quest 5. Is it not one of the two grand Principles of faith and all Religion without which no man can please God Heb. 11. 6. Whoever cometh to God must believe first that God is that there is a God most powerful wise and good secondly that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him yea this is one of natures principles It is the Diligent seekers of God that he will reward And yet dare a fleshly negligent sinner reproach the diligent seeking of God and take it for a needless thing and say What needs all this ado Are not these the Atheists seconds even next to them that deny that there is any God or that blasphemâ— him And indeed if he be not worthy of all the Love and service that thou canst give him he is not the true God! Consider therefore the tendency of thy words and tremble Quest 6. Doth not that wretch set up the flesh and the world aboâ—â— the Lord that thinks not most of his thoughts and cares and words and time and labour for the world to be too much ado and yet thinks less for God and heaven to be too much And dost thou think in thy conscience that the flesh is better worthy of thy Love and care and labour then the Lord or that earth will prove a better reward to thee then Heaven Who thinkest thou will have the better bargain in the end The fool that laid up riches for himself and was not rich to God and shall lose all at once that he so much valued and so carefully sought Luke 12. 20 21. or he that laid up his treasure in Heaven and there set his heart and sought for the never fading Crown Matth. 6. 20 21 33. and counted all as loss and dung for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ Phil. 3. 8. Do you think that there is any thing more worth your care and time and labour or can you more profitably lay it out Quest 7. Have you not immortal souls to save or lose And are not your bodies for their service and to be used and ruled by them And should not your souls then have more of your care and diligence then corruptible flesh that must turn to dirt Quest 8. Dare any one of you say that you are wiser then the All-knowing God Is not thy wisdom less to his then a glow-worms light is to the Sun And hath not God most plainly and frequently in his Word commanded thee a holy life Yea every part and parcell of it is nothing else but the obeying of that Word For if it be not prescribed by the Lord it is not Holiness nor that which I am pleading for And when the living God hath told the world his mind and will shall a sinful man stand up and say I am wiser then my Maker I know a better way then this What need there all this stir for Heaven What dost thou less then thus blaspheme and set up thy folly above the wisdom of the Lord when thou condemnest or reproachest the holiness which he commandeth Quest 9. Dare you say that God is not only so unwise but so unrighteous and tyranical as to give the world unnecessary Laws and set them upon a needless work What King so tyranical as would require his subjects on pain of death to go pick straws against the wind What Master or Parent so foolishly cruel as to command their servants or children to weary themselves with hunting butter-flies and following their own shadows And darest thou impute such foolish tyrannie to the God of heaven as if he had made a world and set them upon a needless work and commanded them to tire themselves in vain Quest 10. Can a man be too diligent about that work which he was made for and is daily preserved and maintained for and for which he hath all the mercies of his life Thou hadst never come into the world but on this business even to serve and please God and prepare for everlasting happiness And are you afraid of doing this too diligently Why is it thinkest thou that God sustaineth thee Why dyedst thou not many years ago but only that thou mightest have time to seek and serve him Was it only that thou mightest eat and drink and sleep and go up and down and fill up a room among the living Why beasts and fools and mad-men do all this as well as thou Why hast thou thy Reason and understanding but to know and serve the Lord Is it only to know how to shift a little for the commodities of the world Or is it not to know the way to life eternal Look round about thee on all the creatures and on all the mercies which thou dost possess every deliverance and priviledge and accommodation every bit of bread thou eatest and every hour of thy precious time are all given thee for this One thing needful And yet wilt thou
the honey and the hony-comb v. 14. 16. I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as in all riches I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy word 24. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors 47. I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes 72. The Law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of Gold and Silver 92. Unless thy Law had been my delight I had perished in my affliction 93. I will never forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickned me 111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart 117. I love thy commandments above Gold yea above fine Gold 162. I rejoyce at thy word as one that findeth great spoile 165. Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them I should but weary you to recite one quarter of the expressions of holy men in Scripture concerning the sweetness and Pleasures which they found in the Law of God In a word it is the work and marke of the Blessed man that His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night Psal 1. 1 2. Do you think that an unpleasant tedious life that doth consist in such employment 2. Another Holy Duty is Prayer both secret and with others in familie and publike Assemblies And do you think it is a grievous tedious work for a needy soul to beg of God that is so ready to relieve him For a guilty soul to pray to God that is so ready to forgive him for a sinful soul to return to God and confess his sins and beg for mercy that is so ready to meet him and entertain him for a Loving soul to converse with God when there is a mutual complacency between them Is it grievous for a child to speak to his Father or are you weary of the presence of your dearest friend What is there in holy prayer that should grieve or weary us sure it is not his company that we speak to For it is his presence that makes Heavenâ— And sure it is not the employment For it is but Asking and asking for the best and choicest thing and asking in our necessities for that which we must have or we are undone for ever And is it unpleasant to pray to a bounteous God in our necessity and that for the best and pleasantest things Perhaps there may be some of you that think it is but labour lost and that you could better spend those hours and that God regardeth not our prayers and that indeed we speed never the better for them and therefore you have no pleasure in them And no wonder If you are Atheists and believe not that there is a God you cannot love him or rejoyce in him If you believe not his Promises how should they give you any comfort If you believe not that he regardeth Prayers no wonder if you have no heart to pray They that say It is in vain to serve the Lord and it is no profit to us to keep his ordinances Mal. 3. 14. Will also say what a weariness is it Mal. 1. 13. and will give him but a lame and lifeless service If you did believe your friend to be your enemy you would have small pleasure in him Mis-conceits may easily make you loath the things that are most delightful The thoughts of Heaven it self yield little Pleasure to them that believe not that there is a Heaven or what it is The Light is not pleasant to the blind nor any object of our tast or smel to those that have lost these senses Is musick unpleasant because it delighteth not the deaf For shame do not charge the sweet and blessed ways of God with that which is the fruit of your own corruption If your lungs be rotten you may be out of breath with speaking the most delightful words or walking in the most pleasant fields or gardens But the cause of the weariness is within you If you have the hearts of Infidels or graceless stupid worldly sinners you are so unfit to approach the most Holy God in holy prayer that I marvail not if you go to it as a Bear to the stake as an Ox to the yoke or as an offender to the stocks For the God that you pray to is a bater of all the workers of iniquity and a consuming fire and therefore no wonder if his terrours should meet you and leave you but little delight in prayer Though its wonder that they do not follow you and meet you in all your ways and leave you less delight in the omission of it But if you had the hearts of believing holy men and had tasted in prayer what they have tasted and had their experience of the success you would then be easily perswaded that prayer is neither a Vain nor an unpleasnt work Surely it is not unpleasant to a burdened soul to dis-burden it self before the Lord nor to a sinner that hath felt the weight the smart the sting of sin to cry for mercy and healing to him that is able and willing to shew mercy nor iâ— it unpleasant for him that knows the worth of grace and glory to lie upon his knees in begging them of the Lord. All those that have felt how good it is to draw near to God had rather have leave to pray in hope then to please their senses with any delights that earth affordeth There is force in Prayer through the grace that hath appointed and doth accompany it to procure comfort to the distressed mind and safety to them that are in danger relief to them that are in want and strength to them that are in weakness Prayer is good for all things that are good and good against all things that are evil It is good against temptations dangers enemies and sin It is good against sorrows fears and cares yea against povery shame and sickness For the God that Prayer goes to and makes use of is sufficient against all and our only help Turn away now from God if you dare and cast off earnest constant Prayer as if it were a tedious unpleasant thing but be sure the time is coming when thou even thou that thus despisest it wilt betake thy self to Prayer and cry Lord Lord when it is too late or when anguish and terrour seise upon thee Sickness and death and the terrours of the Lord will teach thee to pray as useless and tedious as now you think it Yea and teach you to do it earnestly that now put off all with a few frozen heartless words But O it is seasonable believing prayer that is comfortable It is the prayer of Faith and Love and Hope that is pleasant but the prayer of too late repentance in Hell and the prayer of despair and horrour that cannot procure a drop of water afford no pleasure as they procure
for ever and when the force of Love doth open our lips that our mouthes may shew forth his praise it is pleasant both to God and us The Lord himself doth put on joy as delighting in his peoples praise and when they joyn obedience with holy worship they are pleasant in his eyes Jer. 9. 24. Isa 62. 4. 42. 1. Zeph. 3. 17. He meeteth him that Rejoyceth and worketh righteousness and that remembers him in his wayes Isa 64. 5. Would you taste of the sweetest life on earth Learn then to Delight your selves in God Do you want recreation Be acquainted with his Praise Is there not a better cure for Melancholy here among the servants of the Lord then in an Ale-house or in the company of transgressors Their carnal pleasures are unwholsom for you like luscious fruits that will make you sick But the delights of Faith are safe and healthful Fleshly pleasure is windy and deceitful and weakeneth and befools the soul But the Joy of the Lord is our strength Neb. 8. 10. A little may be too much of fleshly pleasures and it is of very hard digestion and leaves that behind that spoils the sport But the further you go in the Delights of Faith the better they are and the sweeter you will find them You may quickly catch a dangerous surfet of your fleshly pleasures but of spiritual Delights the more the better For they are curing reviving and much confirm and exalt the soul Our spiritual pleasures are so heavenly and have so much of God and Glory in them that they must needs prepare the soul for heaven and be excellent helps to our salvation O therefore if you would live a Pleasant life draw near to God and by Faith behold him and by Love adhere to him and take a view of his infinite Goodness and all his perfections and behold him in his wonderous works and then break forth into his chearful praises and you shall taste such pleasures as the earth affordeth not Lanch forth into the boundless Ocean of Eternity and let your hearts and tongues expatiate in the Praise of the Heavenly Majesty and use this work and ply it close and be not too seldom or customary or careless in it and you shall find the difference between the Pleasures of Faith and of the flesh of a Holy and of a sensual life Psalm 135. 2 3. Ye that stand in the House of the Lord in the Courts of the House of our God Praise the Lord for the Lord is Good sing praises to his Name for it is pleasant Psal 71. 8. Let my mouth be filled with thy Praise and with thy honour all the day Psal 96. 2. 6. Sing unto the Lord bless his name shew forth his salvation from day to day Honour and Majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his Sanctuary O that the Lord will but shine upon my soul with the Light of his countenance and open my heart to the entertainment of his Love and hold a gracious Communion with my soul by his holy Spirit and keep open these doors to me and continue this liberty of his House and Ordinances which we enjoy this day that I may joyn with a faithful humble people in holy Communion and in his Praise and Worship and that with a heart that is suitable to these works I shall then say with David Psal 16. 6. The lines â—â—faln to me in pleasant places I have a goodly heritage I will â—â— for no greater pleasures or honours or advancement in this world Let who will surfet on the pleasures of the flesh Here doth my soul delight to dwell Psalm 27. 4 5 6. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his holy Temple For in the time of trouble he will hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up upon a Rock And then shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his Tabernatle sacrifices of Joy I will sing yea I will sing Praises to the Lord. Till I come to the promised Everâ—… Pleasures I shall ask of God no greater Pleasures These would be as much as my soul in the prison of flesh can bear Till 〈…〉 to the Land of Promise may I but have these clusters of 〈…〉 in my present Wilderness I shall not repine My heart 〈…〉 shall be glad and my glory shall rejoyce and at death my flesh 〈…〉 in hope For as the Lord now sheweth me the path of 〈…〉 so in his presence is 〈…〉 of Joy and at his right hand are 〈…〉 for 〈…〉 Pâ—… 4. Another Pleasant Holy Duty is Our holy Communion with Christ and his Church in the Lords Supper This is a holy Feast that is purposely provided by the King of Saints for the entertainment of his family for the refreshing of the weary and the making glad the mournful soul The night before his bitter Death he instituted this Sacramental Feast He caused his Disciples to sit down with him and when they had partaked of the Passover the Sacrament of Promise and had their taste of the old wine he giveth them the New even the Sacrament of the better Covenant and of the fuller Gospel-Grace He teacheth them that his Death is Life to them and that which is his bitterest suffering is their Feast and his Sorrows are their Joyes as our sinful pleasures were his sorrows The slain Lamb of God our Passover that was sacrificed for us that taketh away the sins of the world was the pleasant food which Sacramentally he himself then delivered to them and substantially the next day offered for them The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world John 6. 33. He is the Living Bread which came down from Heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the bread that he giveth is his flesh which he hath given for the life of the world ver 50 51. Except we eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood we have no life in us Whoso eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath Eternal life and he will raise him up at the last day For his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed He that eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him As the Living Father hath sent the Son and he liveth by the Father so he that eateth him shall live by him This is that bread that came down from Heaven not as the Fathers did eat Maâ—â—â— and are dead he that eateth this bread shall live for ever I know that to an unbelieving carnal wretch the Sacrament is but a common thing For Christ himself and his Gospel is â—o better in his
Lord if your merry companions do please you better then the Communion of the Saints or if you cannot submit to the order and discipline of the family of Christ that you may partake of his provision you may follow your own corrupt desires and see whither they will lead you But here it is that I shall choose my pleasures till I reach the everlasting pleasures And though in this low communion of imperfect Saints we see but in a glass and have but some small imperfect Sasts of the glorious things which Hope expecteth yet this is more then all that earth and flesh can yield and it is most perfect Pleasure that by these is revealed sealed and Represented Sacraments can assure us of perfect joys though they give us but little joy in hand Obj. But if Sacraments be so pleasant why then saith a disconsolate soul have I found no more pleasure or comfort in them Answ Even in the soul that 's made alive by Grace diseases may much corrupt the appetite and make the sweetest thing seem bitter Are not Sacraments sweet to you and do you not delight in the communion of God and of his Saints I will not say much to you lest it seem degrestive but briefly ask you these few Questions 1. Are the thoughts of God of Christ of Heaven sweet to you If they be me thinks the Ordinances should be sweet If they be not it s no wonder that you sét light by Sacraments if you can set light by Christ and heaven it self Quest 2. Is not sin grown sweet to you If it be the ordinances will not be sweet no nor unless your sins grow bitter Quest 3. Doth not the world grow sweet to you and your condition or expectations and your thriving state more plesant to you then heretofore If so no wonder if Sacraments and all spiritual things do lose their sweetness Quest 4. Have you been faithful in your preparation by free confession true humiliation strong resolution hungring and thristing after Christ and all this furthered by diligent self-examination An unprepared soul must blame it self if it find not the sweetness of the Ordinance The holy appetite and relish that is necessary to your Delight must be stirred up much in your Preparations Quest 5. Are you careful and conscionable humble and holy in your lives If you neglect God in your ordinary conversations and walk not with him on other daies you are unlike to meet him comfortably here And if you are slight and careless in your ordinary duties you will find here that God took notice of it Quest 6. Do you faithfully endeavour to exercise Faith Repentance Love and all Sacramental Graces in the use of the ordinances You come not to a meer receiving but to a Work Have your souls been adorned with the wedding garment and do you come hither for a meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ Do you see him by faith and take all that is here Represented to you as if you had seen the things themselves Do you remember that your Lord is coming and do you lift up your heads in the expectation of your Redemption and do this in remembrance of him till he come An idle loytering in Gods work is not the way to find the sweetness of it Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. l. 1. init gives it as a Reason why every one took his own part of the Bread of the Sacrament in those times because man being a free agent must be the chooser or refuser of his own happiness The Papists on the contrary do but gape and the Priest doth pop the bread into their mouths having first perswaded them that it is not bread Do you not expect to receive the spiritual benefits just as the Papists do receive the Bread as if you had nothing to do but gape As if your presence here were as much as is to be expected from you for your edification How can you tast the sweetness that is offered when you do not exercise your spiritual senses Quest 7. Do you exercise faith as well as feeling in judging of the benefit of Sacraments Pardon and Justification and Title to Salvation are benefits which in themselves you cannot feel It is by Believing the promise that you must know them If God have promised a blessing on his Ordinance it is sure to the faithful soul as if we felt it though perhaps we may seem long without it Heaven it self which is the principal end of Ordinances will not be attained in this life and yet the Ordinace is not in vain Quest 8. Have you the true understanding of the use of Sacraments of the abundant Love that is here set forth and the freeness and fulness of the Promise here sealed If not no wonder if you taste not the sweetness when you know not how to break the shell that you may feed on the kernel of the Ordinances Quest 9. Have you not troubled your own souls and muddyed your comforts by causeless doubts and ignorant scruples about the gestures or manner or persons that you joyned with or some such circumstances as these If so no marvel if you lose the comfort Quest 10. Or at least have you not been negligent in the review and after improving of the Ordinances and have you not thought that all was done when you had received Any one of these miscarriages may make this pleasant duty bitter or at least deprive you of the most of the delight But if your hearts be suted to the work and you deprive not your selves of the offered consolation you shall find that God deals bountifully with you and will feast you even with Angels food 5. The publike worship being all thus sweet how sweet are the Lords days these holy seasons that are wholly consecrated to this work How light is the Christian that hath this day cast off his worldly cares and business and cogitations and hath set himself apart for God as if there were to world to mind On the week days he doth walk with Goa But so that his necessary worldly business doth frequently divert and distract his mind But what a sweet and happy day is this when he may strip himself of these distractions as he doth of his work-day courser cloaths and may wholly apply himself to God As the Bee goes from flower to flower labouring at all but with a Pleasant labour to gather Honey and prepare for winter so doth the Christian especially on the Lords day employ himself in labour and delight and the more he laboureth the more is his delight From Prayer he goeth to Reading and to the instructing his family if he be a superiour or learning if he be an inferiour and have helps From private worship to publike and from publike to private again and gathering Honey food and sweetness to his soul from all Tell me you childish brutish wantons Do you think in your heart that you have as much solid joy and pleasure in a play day or in
lament it Can you expect that an ingenuous man should see his sin and look back on so many years transgressions and not be grieved To see that he hath so long abused God and lost his time and neglected his salvation and that he hath lain so long in so miserable a state must needs cause remorse in the conscience that hath any feeling And will you say that Godliness is unpleasant because it makes a man sorrow for his ungodliness If a man that hath killed his dearest friend or his own Father be grieved for the fact when he cometh to repentance will you blame his Repentance or his Murder for his grief Will you say What a hurtful thing is this Repentance or rather What an odious crime was it that must be so repented of Would you wish a man that hath lived so long in sin and misery to have no sorrow for it at his return Especially when it is but a healing sorrow preparing for remission and not a sorrow joyned with despair as theirs will be that die impenitently Observe the complaints of penitent souls whether it be their present Godliness or their former ungodliness which they lament Will you hear a man lament his former sinful careless life and yet will you lay the blame on the contrary course of duty which now he hath undertaken You may as wisely accuse a man for landing in a safe harbour because he there lamenteth his loss by shipwrack while he was at Sea Or as wisely may you blame a man for rising that complaineth how he hurt himself by his fall And as honestly may you accuse the chastity of your wife because she lamenteth her former adultery or the fidelity of your friend or servant because he lamenteth his former unfaithfulness But though the pangs of the New birth be somewhat grievous and we come not into the world of Grace without some lamentation yet this is not the state of the Holy life into which we enter nor are those pangs to continue all our daies 2. You must distinguish between the weaker and the stronger sort of Christians and consider that children are apt to cry but it is not therefore better to be unborn Sickness is querulous and the weak are froward but it is not therefore better to be dead The godly are not perfectly godly They are sinners while they are Saints They have Holiness but they have corruption with it Their sin is conquered but yet not totally rooted out The relicks do remain though it do not raign And it is the remnant of their unholiness that they lament and not their holiness They grieve not that they are godly but that they are no more godly It troubleth them not that they are come home to Christ but that they have brought so much of their corruption with them Hearken whether they complain of their Humility or their Pride of their Faith or their unbelief their confidence or their distrust their repentance or their hardness of heart It is not their heavenly mindedness that troubleth them but their earthly-mindedness Nor is it their spirituality but their carnality Nor is it the Dâ—ties but the weakness and faultiness of their souls in duty Not that they do it but that they do it no better It is more holiness that they beg for and lament the want of And will you say that Holiness is unpleasant because men would so fain have more of it You would reason with more wisdom in another case If a man that hath tasted meat or drink complain because he hath no more you would not blame his food for that nor gather from thence that it is unpleasant or that famine is more delightful 3. You must distinguish between those Christians that have saln since their conversion into any great and wounding sin or â—â—urisâ— some vexatious distempers and those that walk more uprightly with God and maintain their integrity and peace No wonder if David after his sin complain of the breaking of his bones and heart and if Peter go out and weep bitterly The servants of Christ do know so much of the evil of sin that they cannot make so light of it as the blind and obdurate world that are past feeling That sin which hath cost them formerly so dear and hath cost Christ so much dearer on their behalf must needs cause some smâ—rt in the penitent soul Sickness is felt because it supposeth the subject to be alive but the dead feel not that they are dead and rotten And it doth not follow that therefore death is more desireable then sickness It is because they are so like to the ungodly that the servants of Christ do grieve and complain But so far as they feel the healthfulness of their souls and are conscious of their sincerity and upright conversations they have greater comfort then the world can afford them 4. You must distinguish between those Christians that by misapprehensions are unacquainted with their own felicity and those that better understand their state If a man be never so holy and know it not but by temptations is brought to doubt whether he be not yet in his unsanctified state no wonder if this man be grieved with these fears But his grief is not because he is sanctified but because he is afraid lest he be unsanctified And this shews that Holiness is most lovely in his eyes or else why should he be so much troubled when he doth but doubt whether he be Holy or not If a Rich man by a false report should believe that he is rob'd of his goods and treasure or that his houses are burnt when it is not so he will mourn or be troubled till he know the truth And will any be so foolish as to conclude from thence that Riches are more uncomfortable then beggery Had you not rather be rich though for a time you know it not then to live in certain continual want If a man that is in health be perswaded by mistake that he is in a Consumption he will be troubled by his mistake But will you thence conclude that sickness is more comfortable then health Is it not better to have health with those mistaken fears then to live in sickness Methinks you should rather argue on the contrary side How sweet is Health when the fear of losing it is so troublesom and how bitter is sickness and death when the very fear of them is so grievous And so you should say How sweet is Holiness when it is so troublesome to those that have it so much as to fear lest they have it not and How miserable a life is it to be ungodly when it is so grievous to the servants of Christ even once to fear lest they are ungodly But go to those Christians that know themselves and are truly acquainted with their sincerity and their priviledges and see whether they walk so uncomfortably as those mistaken doubting souls You will find them in another case and hear other kind of
it therefore if you can have it Dir. 9. In your addresses to God in holy worship be sure that Praise and Thansgiving have its due proportion They are the chief and most excellent and acceptable part and therefore let them not have the smallest room Though your sins and wants be as great as you imagine in your complaints it is yet your duty to Praise the Excellencies and Attributes and works of your Creator and to be Thankful for the preparations made by Christ and freely offered you so that they shall certainly be yours if you accept them But much more Thankful should you be that have but the evidence of Desire and Consent to prove your Interest in Christ and in his Covenant I would intreat poor troubled fearful souls to Resolve upon this one thing which is reasonable necessary and in their power that when they are upon their knees with God they will spend as much of their Time and words in confessing mercies and Praising God as in confessing sin and condemning themselves and lamenting their wants and weaknesses and distress Though they cannot do it cheerfully as they should let them do it as they can And at last while they keep in the right way of duty and use themselves to the commemoration of that which is sweet and grateful to the soul Religion it self will become sweet and grateful and chearfulness of heart will be promoted by our own considerations expressions The same I desire of them as to their Thoughts that they will do their best to spend as many thoughts and as much time upon Mercy as upon sin and misery and upon the Goodness and Love of God in Christ as upon his threatnings and terrous Dir. 10. If you would taste the comforts of a holy life be sure that you give up your selves to Christ without reserve and follow him fully and place all your hopes and confidence in his promised rewards Serve him with your best yea with your all and not with some cheap and heartless service Comforts are the Rewards of faithfulness They that do God the most sincere and costly service and save nothing from him which he calleth them to lose are likest to be encouraged by his sweetest comforts It is sluggish neglects and unfruitfulness doing no good in the world but thinking to be saved by a dull profession that makes so many uncomfortable professors as there be Though I know that on the other extream too many live in pining sadness by not understanding the Covenant of Grace which accepteth of sincerity and secureth the weak and infants in the family of Christ But yet the barren unprofitable Christians I mean that comparatively are such though they be sincere shall find that God will not encourage any in sloathfulness by his smiles and consolations Direct 11. If you would know the Rest and Comfort of Believers see that you Rest in the Will of God in all Conditions as the Center and only bottom for your souls His will is not to be reduced to yours strive therefore to bring yours most fully and quietly to his Gods Will is the Universal Original and End of all things and there is no Felicity or Rest for man but in the fulfilling and pleasing and disposals of his will Be not too desirous of the fulfilling of your own wills and murmure not against the disposals of the Will of God It cannot but be Good which proceedeth from that will which is the Spring of good The accomplishment of Gods Will is the perfection of all created beings being that End for which they are all created If you Rest in your own wills your Rest will be imperfect disturbed and short of duration For your wills are the wills of weak and vicious men They are frequently misguided by an ignorant mind and perverted by a corrupt and byassed heart But Gods will is never misguided nor ever determined of any thing but for the best If you Rest here you Rest in safety you may be sure you shall never be deceived by him You may Rest in constant peace and quietness for God is unchangeable and will not be off and on with us as we are with him and with our selves As you pray that his Will may be done acquiesce in the doing of his Will and whatever befall you repose and satisfie your hearts in this Direct 12. Lastly let me add that when you have all the Directions that can be given you trust not too much to your own understanding and skill for the application of them to your selves in any weighty difficult cases But as you will not think it enough for the health of your bodies to have Physick Books and Physick Lectures unless you have also a Physicion who knoweth more then you to direct you in the application so think it not enough that you have the best Books and Sermons unless you have also a faithful and judicious Pastor whose advice you may crave in particular difficulties and who may direct you in the discovery of your own diseases and applying the fittest remedies in their seasons and measures with such Rules and Cautions as are necessary to the success If God had not known that there would still be many children and weak ones in his family that would stand in need of the instruction support and encouragement of the strong he would never have settled Pastors in his Church to watch over all the flocks and to be alwayes ready at hand for the confirmation and encouragement of such as need their help There had been no Physicions if there had been no diseases Tire not your Physicions with needless consultations for easie and ordinary cases but be not without them in your greater straits and wants and doubts And blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ And whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and salvation 2 Cor. 1. 4 5 6. While you are sick or infants the stronger must support you You cannot stand or go or suffer of your selves And God is so tender of his weak and little ones that he hath not only given strength to others for their sakes and commanded the strong to bear the burdens and infirmities of the weak Gal. 6. 1 2. Rom. 15. 1 2 3 4. but also established the Ministerial office much for this end Mal. 2. 7. For the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts Not that we should disclose our Consciences and depend for guidance on every ignorant or ungodly man that hath the name and place of a Priest Even among the Papists men have leave to choose such Confessors as are fittest for them If the Priests depart ouâ— of the way and cause many to stumble at the Law and corrupt the Covenant of Levi the Lord will make them contemptible and base before all the people according as they have not kept his wayes but been partial in the Law Mal. 2. 8 9. But use those that are qualified and sent by the Spirit of God who in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the Grace of God have had their conversation in the world especially to you-wards 2 Cor. 1. 12. Such as you have acknowledged in part that they are your rejoycing as you also are theirs in the day of the Lord Jesus vers 14. Not using them as such as have dominion over your faith but as those that by office qualification and willingness and disposition are Helpers of your Joy vers 24. In the saithful practice of these Directions you will find that Holiness is the most Pleasant way and that the Godly choose the better part and that the ungodly sensualists do live as BRUTES while they unreasonably refuse to live as SAINTS FINIS I. C. Scaliger Epidorp 1. 7. p. 296. Hoc quod Valeo Non queo quod debeo Quid 〈◊〉 Mensura meaâ—es tu Domine immensa potestas Non ego tua Quodque habeâ— tu mihi dedisti Quodque do non do sed accipis hoc enim dedisti Tu solus tibi satis es tu mihi tibique Nec te laudo ubi laudo sed ipse te ipse laudas Me persiciens non tua sic laudibus ornans Queis me ad te trahis haud ego te traho super me Me praeveniens hic ades ut mihi superfis