mine But this acceptation of the words is not for my present turn and therefore in the second place you may take them thus with Mr. Ainsworth in his Annotations upon the place How precious are thy thoughts i. e. The thoughts that I have of thee the thoughts that are raised out of my heart up to thee Oh how precious are they Divine meditation Beloved is a very heaven upon earth 't is an having of one foot already if I may so speak in the porch of heaven 't is a fore-taste of eternal life 't is to the Saints as the fiery chariot was to Elijah by it they are transported from earth to heaven in their spirits nay so far ravished in their thinking upon Gods Name as that sometimes they know not those things that are before them they minde not those persons that are about them but being in the body they are as it were carried out of the body with spiritual ravishment they taste such incomparable sweetnesses in the good Name of God as that they are not able to express them even as the chewing of our meat makes us to taste much more sweetness in it so this heavenly practise of meditation causeth us to feel much more sweetness in the Name of God Meditation ever brings with it delight therefore see how David doth knit them together Psalm 119.15 16. I will meditate in thy precepts and will have respect unto thy ways I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy Word That holy object about which a mans thoughts are much conversant he cannot but take much delight and complacencie in As it argues love to the object Psalm 119.97 so I say it argues delight in the object And then in the last place to conclude the Motives this is an exceeding profitable and advantageous duty and that divers wayes I will name onely two or three of them 1. Meditation turns the promises into marrow it not onely tasteth but cheweth the promises and manifestations of God unto his people and therefore 't is not onely sweet and comfortable as I told you before but it is profitable too Read Psalm 63.5 6. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night-watches As there is all manner of pleasure so is there all manner of profit in the believing meditations of God they make the promises as a Royal feast to faith Meditation is not onely an effect of faith but 't is an excellent means to strengthen faith 2. 'T is profitable for the avoiding of evil Meditation prevents the intrusion of vain and sinful thoughts of foul and fleshly lusts which otherwise would swarm in the soul it leaves the devil no room for his black and hellish suggestions for his blasphemous injections It defeats the world which otherwise would be ready to catch us to get in to defile our hearts Nay 3. It promotes our spiritual good hereby we get into acquaintance with God the fountain of all goodness hereby we attain unto a greater measure of spiritual wisdom grace holiness we prove tall and experienced Christians filled with all knowledge Nay this holy meditation in a word is profitable to others for why it fits us for holy and Christian conference Thus and many other ways is this Exercise profitable Well then you have heard what an encouragement there is to the practise of this dudy I come in the next place to shew you the means whereby you may be enabled to the performance of it The Means shall be of two sorts 1. Negative 2. Positive By Negative I intend those sins or impediments which we must labor against if we will fruitfully think upon the Name of God In the first place avoid Pride and a conceitedness of a sufficiencie in your selves to conceive of God or to think of any thing else that is good You have heard before what the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 3.5 Pride hinders the right improvement of every holy duty and communion with God in every holy duty God indeed hath promised to impart himself and his secrets to the humble Psalm 25.9 but God will have no acquaintance with proud persons he looks upon them afar off as the Psalmist speaks This causeth a mans going out from God indeed but it hinders his drawing nigh to God as in other exercises so in this of holy contemplation God commonly leaves such to doat and busie their brains about Questions and vain Disputations which tend to nothing but strife and ostentation See what the Apostle speaks of a proud and self-conceited man 1 Tim. 6.4 5. He is proud what follows knowing nothing but doating about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envie strife railings evil surmisings perverse disputings of men of corrupt mindes and destitute of the Truth supposing that gaine in godliness From such withdraw thy self It is just with God to leave proud hearts to unprofitable studies 2. If you will religiously meditate upon the Name of God take heed as of Pride so of Passion Passion carries us out of our selves and carries us too from the business and duty before us As an angry mans discourse runs wilde so his thoughts and cogitations run wilde also As the passions of the Concupiscible appetite and intemperancies of youth carry a man beyond his bounds and therefore the Prodigal repenting is said to come to himself Luk. 15.17 so likewise do the passions of the Irascible appetite Anger disorders and discomposeth the spirit Passions in the minde are like a tempest in the air which do exceedingly disturb the minde Many a man like a ship at sea hath been over-set and sunk with the violent gusts and whirlwindes of his own spirit As a turbulent heart can neither hear nor pray as it ought so so neither can it think or meditate as it ought Passion unfits the heart to and for any religious duty Well may such a one exact folly as Solomon speaks but I warrant you while he is thus distempered he wo'n't lift up many holy thoughts these do require a sedate and quiet spirit free from the confused hurrie of troublesome passions And therefore in the second place see that you eschew passion And then 3. If you would conscionably perform this duty beware of earthly-mindedness Worldliness or earthly-mindedness divides and distracts the heart fills it with noysome lusts but indisposeth it to the thinking of God or upon the things of God This corruption if nourished will eat all manner of goodness out of the heart The Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 7.32 33. But I would have you without carefulness He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord how he may please the Lord but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world how he may please his wife Implying that an excessive and an immoderate engaging of the heart in the world is
vale of Siddim slimy and slippery full of Lime-pits and pitfals snares stumbling-blocks laid on purpose to maim and to mischief our souls But now he that truly fears God comes off without great hurt he keepeth his heart with all diligence he watcheth the very thoughts and motions of his heart he will not suffer vain thoughts to lodge there but labours to wash it from all filthiness that so he may perfect holiness in the fear of God This fear of God weeds hypocrisie out of the heart pride arrogancie and every secret way of iniquity Job was a man fearing God and therefore he durst not once to think lustfully upon a maid this was that which made him to refrain contemplative wickedness Job 31.1 And then 3. As this holy fear of God cleanseth the Head and the Heart so it cleanseth the Hands too it keeps the Life and Conversation pure Prov. 3.7 saith Solomon there Fear the Lord and depart from evil The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil that Beloved is the definition of the fear of God Eschewing of evil is not onely put as an effect of the fear of God as when 't is said of Job Chap. 1.1 that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil but it is put I say in the very definition it self of the fear of God 't is the nature of this fear of God to depart from evil not onely from habitual and inward but likewise from outward and practical evil from publike as well as from private and secret evil See what Jehoshaphat saith in his charge unto his Judges when they were going their Circuit 2 Chron. 19.7 Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts q. d. This fear of God if it be upon you if it be radicated and rooted in your hearts will teach you to forbear Bribery and iniquity with your hands It was the fear of God Beloved that reined in Joseph from condescending to the wicked motion of his wanton Mistress though he might have committed that folly and the world have been never the wiser I can proceed no further at present in the tryal of this holy fear of God Examine your selves by what hath been said If with those godly ones here in my Text you are men and women truly fearing the Lord then this fear of God hath had this cleansing influence upon you and hath cleansed your Heads Hearts and Hands Secondly As this holy fear of God cleanseth the Head Heart and Hand from sin so doth it no less frame the heart to the doing of duty and that 1. towards God 2. towards men For as you heard before the fear of God is a very extensive and comprehensive grace it includes the whole duty of man not onely his Negative duty what he ought not to do but his Positive duty too what he ought to do In the first place then this holy fear of God frames the heart to the performance of its duty towards God And here I shall instance onely in two duties 1. It perswades the heart to believe God and his Word The Scripture noteth this expresly of the Patriarch Noah Heb. 11.7 By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an ark c. Moved with fear what is that i. e. with a reverent fear of that God that spake unto him Noah's heart being touched with the true fear of God believed God even in those things which were not as yet seen he believed those forewarnings of God concerning the judgment he purposed to bring upon the world and accordingly prepared an Ark whereby he saved his houshold and condemned the wicked world Thus the Israclites possest with this filial fear believed God and his servant Moses You may see this clearly Ezod 14.31 And the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses Pray observe it well the people feared the Lord c. As Faith may be and is the ground of holy Fear so holy Fear may sometimes draw forth acts of Faith it will make a man tremble as much at the Threats of his Word as at the Strokes of his Hand And then 2. As it frames the heart to a believing of God and his Word so likewise to an obeying of God and his Word the holy obedience of his revealed will Psal 103.17 18. saith David there But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children to such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them He describes you see them that fear God to be such as keep his Covenant and remember his Commandments to do them A soul truly fearing God is afraid to disobey God his heart with David's will stand in awe of Gods Word And hence 't is that in Scripture sometimes you finde the fearing of God and keeping of his Commandments sometimes fearing God and working righteousness joyned together The former you may see Psal 119.63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts Of them that fear thee and keep thy precepts a man cannot fear God but he must observe his precepts So again Eccles 12.13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man The connexion of these two shews us that the fear of God is a principle of obedience they that fear him will keep his commandments yea they do so in an Evangelical way though they cannot attain unto yet they wish well to exact and accurate obedience The later you shall finde Acts 10.35 But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him A man fearing God will be active and doing he will be working righteousness and that which is good And thus have you briefly heard to what particular duties this Fear frames the heart towards God I am to shew you in the next place how and in what duties it draws the heart in reference to Man The Fear of God hath a double bond in it a bond of Obedience to God and a bond of Love to Men. Well then in the first place the true fear of God is ever joyned with love unto our brethren The Apostle puts so much of Religion or of the fear of God for they are both one in the love to our brethren as that in one place he makes it all Religion yea the very definition of the fear of God Jam. 1.27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To visit the fatherless in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world This is Religion and pure Religion i.e. This is a great branch and part of Religion 't is a
use the world as though we used it not but Be not conformed unto this world The word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Accommodate not your selves to the world so Erasmus reads it Fashion not your selves to the world so Beza But in ours and some other Translations Conform not c. As a Player is fashioned to the gesture and words either of drunkenness or adultery when he acteth them on the scaffold that is the true notation of the word Be not conformed to this world i.e. Do not make the manners of the world the rule of your life let not your corrupt mindes which will carry you after a corrupt world prevail with you Now these are the precepts which are laid down by way of Negation I shall give you two that are set down by way of Affirmation Acts 2.43 saith Peter there Save your selves from this untoward generation i.e. from the corrupt society of unbelievers And again 2 Cor. 6.17 Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord q.d. Do not comply with the corruptions of the world let all these go whatever you lose or suffer for it Thus much for the precepts In the second place I shall commend this duty unto you from the constant practice of the people of God even in all ages See an instance of it 1. in Noah when the whole earth was corrupt before God he walked perfectly uprightly with God in his generation Gen. 7.1 Noah walked alone in a way different from a world of wicked people he was most sincere in the service of God in the darkest midnight of damned impiety 2. Abraham pull'd as a brand out of Ur of the Caldees where-ever he came he set up altars to God in the midst of Idolaters and makes open profession of his worship before the people of the land Gen. 12.6 7 8 So Joshua after him Josh 24.15 Do you what you will though you do generally universally serve other gods I and my house will serve the Lord. See this in Elijah who was zealous for the Lord God of hosts though alone and singular 1 King 19.10 I might tell you of Obadiah who seared the Lord greatly in a common defection 1 King 18. But come we unto the New Testament and let us see what practice of this duty we finde there I shall begin with Christ who is the original copie an infallible unerring example he was eaten up with the zeal of his Fathers house when it was polluted and profaned by all sorts Joh. 2.14 15 16 17. The Apostles after his departure resolved to obey God notwithstanding the menaces of the Councel Acts 4.19 20. Paul openly contesteth with the Gentiles at Athens about their fensless superstition Acts 17.22 Antipas held forth the Word of life even unto the death where Satans throne was Rev. 2.13 Polycarp that blessed Martyr of Jesus Christ who being commanded by the Tyrant to do sacrifice to the Idol returns this answer Eighty and odde years have I served my master Christ and he never deceived me and shall I now desert him God forbid me any such wickedness Octoginta sex annos ills servui c. It were easie to come lower and nearer our own times and to produce a whole cloud of such who held forth the Word of life by a bold and wise profession in the darkness of Popery But I will give you one onely instance more and then conclude it was Athanastus that notable champion of Christ who stood stoutly to the defence of the Truth when all the Christian world beside was turned Arrian Ille vâ—r totius orbis impetum sustinuit the whole world was set against Athanasius and Athanasius against the whole world And thus you have heard how the force-mentioned duty hath been practised by the servants of God I come to the Grounds of the Point If you look either upward or downward either to God or men you will finde Reason sufficient for the practice of this duty all which Reasons are grounded upon the text and shall be thence gathered I shall begin with the first The Reasons taken from God and they shall be these two 1. God doth exactly observe and graciously accept of such his servants as continue constant with him in corrupt and depraved times in a general defection or declension when sin is grown usual and almost epidemical then to adhere to the Truths Ways and Ordinances of God Oh how pleasing and acceptable is this unto God! The Lord hearkned and heard saith my Text God was much taken and affected with those sweet conferences those godly dialogues and discourses which dropt from the mouthes of the godly of those times he hearkned and heard it was melodious and delightful musick to his heavenly ears and he doth as it were apply his ears close he lays them near to their lips as loth to lose any part of their holy language The lord hearkned and heard 1 Pet. 3.12 saith the Apostle there The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers or as 't is in the Original His ears are unto or rather into their prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now what the Apostle there speaks of that individual or particular duty of Prayer is as true of their whole Christian practice not a prayer which the godly put up not a good work they do not a good word which they utter no not a good thought which they conceive but the Lords eyes are upon it and his ears open unto it he sets it all down in his Register or Note-book A book of remembrance was written But then 2. As the Lord doth graciously accept of this practice so will he plentifully reward it this labour of faith and love shall never be forgotten it shall not onely be entred or ingrossed in a book of remembrance but they they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts 1. They shall be mine i.e. I will not onely own them by a general right as my creatures but by a special peculiar and distinguishing title as my children my Saints and Servants such as have made a covenant with me by sacrifice I will be their God and they shall be my people I will look upon them as the top of my wealth and my most esteemed treasure as my Jewels whom I will keep safe in the golden Cabinet of my special providence and fatherly protection But this is not all I will spare them too as a man spareth his onely son that serveth him i.e. I will not cast them out or reject them for every small fault for every flaw or defect in their services I shall give them their allowance pass by and over-look their weaknesses How effectual me thinks might these Considerations be to provoke us to a holy contention in godliness when the times are never so bad and boisterous Hereby we shall please God hereby we shall procure good unto our selves And thus in brief of the first sort of
Heb. 12.28 Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Fear you must know is a comprehensive word it is more then a particular grace it contains Faith and Love too though perfect love casteth out tormenting fear 1 Joh. 4.18 yet perfect love casts in obeying fear When Abraham had offered up his son Isaac that was a work of mighty faith but yet when God commends him for it he doth not say Now I know thou hast a great faith but Now I know thou fearest God Gen. 22.12 Fear is all duty 't is every grace it carries every particular duty and grace in the womb of it Eccles 12.13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man or a◠is in the Hebrew This is the whole man this is that which maketh a perfect and a complear Christian a Christian indeed But then thirdly and lastly as the true fear and service of God are in Scripture sometime conjoyned so are they likewise confounded and taken promiscuously the one for the other as reciprocal and convertible terms fearing of God is worshipping or serving of God You may see this clearly by two texts of Scripture conferred or compared together Matth. 4.10 saith Christ there to the devil Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve Compare this now with Deut. 6.13 and there you shall have it thus exprest Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his Name That which in the one place is worship in the other is fear So again Matth. 15.9 saith Christ there In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men Now the Prophet Isaiah from whence that Scripture is taken expresseth it thus Isa 29.13 at part Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men They worship me according to the precepts of men saith Christ Their fear is taught by the precepts of men saith the Prophet So that fear and worship or fear and service are identical one and the same thing And thus have you here the Point confirmed by Scripture That every true and faithful servant of God is a fearer of God I shall now answer an Objection and so proceed unto Application The Objection is this briefly How do you say That the true and faithful servants of God are fearers of God or that the service of God and the fear of God are coupled together yea that they are one and the same thing whenas in Scripture we are required to serve God without fear as namely Luke 1.74 by this text it appears that the service of God and the fear of God do not commingle much less are one and the same thing If our service must be done without fear how then do fear and service go together This is the Objection Beloved by way of answer we must learn to distinguish of Fear Qui benè distinguit we say benè docet he that distinguisheth well teacheth well There is a hellish fear and there is a holy fear a slavish fear and a son-like fear The hellish or slavish fear is such as slaves have of those or towards those to whom they are in bondage 't is a respect they carry to those in whose power and under whose command they are they do indeed that which is enjoyned them but they neither love their commanders nor take any complacencie or delight in that which is commanded them what they do they do by coaction and enforcement and in fear of the whip Such is the fear of God in reprobates and in wicked men they are stricken with a kinde of awe of Gods great and terrible majestie they do even tremble at his judgements they do it may be what is required but their obedience proceedeth not out of any love to God or out of any true affection to the service Thus Cain Esau Pharaoh Ahab Judas and others feared they had some apprehensions of the terrour of the Lord and that wrung something from them in which otherwise of themselves they took no manner of delight Cain cast down his countenance Esau wept Pharaoh let the children of Israel go Ahab humbled himself Judas repented as I could shew you from several Scriptures But then secondly there is a holy filial and childlike fear and 't is a fear to offend arising out of the sense and feeling of the love of God as when the experience I have had in mine own soul of Gods merciful and gracious dealing with me makes me to entertain a fear lest I should abuse his love and turn his grace into wantonness and do ought that might displease his Majestie as I shewed you before in the opening of the Doctrine And this kinde of fear may be where is the greatest and firmest yea the most respective love as betwixt the father and the son the husband and the wife This distinction of Fear being thus premised it will be easie to untie the knot or to solve the Querie When we are required to serve God without fear we are to understand the foresaid hellish servile or slavish fear When Zacharies meaning in that Luk. 1. is this whereas the face of God is naturally a terrour to us even as the face of a Judge is to a malefactor and whereas our services are so full of defects and blemishes as that we can have no courage to present them unto God nor hope that he will accept them This is the end of our Redemption that being certainly perswaded of the favour of God in Christ and of remission of sins by him this servile and slavish fear must be laid aside and we may come boldly unto the throne of grace and comfortably assure our selves that God for Christs sake will accept even our imperfect and scant measure of obedience This servile fear now and the true service of God cannot stand together yea they are opposite and contrary one to another But now when I say in the Doctrine That the true and faithful servants of God are fearers of God and that the fear and service of God are joyned together I intend as I told you before a holy filial child-like and reverential fear and with such a fear every true servant of God fears God The fear and the service of God are put together and must ever go together nay without it we can never serve God truly and as we ought to do And thus having answered the Objection I should in the next place proceed unto Application The Uses of the Point shall be three 1. For Information 2. Of Examination 3. Of Exhortation But the ordinary time being spent I shall adjourn the prosecution of them unto the after-noon Let this suffice for the present The first Use shall be for Information Is it so That the true and faithful servants of God are fearers of God Why then it will in the first place follow by
with this holy fear you I should exhort to grow up more and more in this grace and lay before you likewise to this end some motives and some means But I shall put these things over unto the next opportunity I proceed unto the second Duty and that shall be prest and inculcated upon you whose hearts are already seasoned with this holy fear of God And you I do earnestly exhort to abound and to grow up in this grace more and more It is not enough for you to get this fear planted into you but you must increase therein with the increase of God you must go on perfecting holiness in the fear of God And here by way of Motive and Inducement I shall refer four or five particulars unto your most serious consideration Pray attend them diligently The first shall be taken from the nature of this holy fear The true fear of God is of a growing of an increasing nature He that grows not and goes not forward in this grace had never yet this grace in truth Pro. 4.18 The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more more unto the perfect day A man truly fearing God sets forth betimes in the morning and travels to meet the day he proceeds from vertue to vertue from knowledge to knowledge from grace to grace until he become a perfect man in Christ Jesus Being once possest with this grace he â—â—ill waxeth brighter and brighter until at length he come to shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars in heaven for ever and ever It may be as the fairest sun may sometimes be overcast and darkned with clouds so the piety and holiness of a man truly fearing God may upon occasion be over-clouded through violence of outward temptation and strength of inward corruption but yet through mercy these mists are dispelled and he shines afterward far more brightly and runs a more swift and setled course in the practise of sanctification Job 17.9 The righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger The words are a circumlocution describing the same person who was before called fearing God upright innocent holy now saith Job he shall hold on his way he continues his course both in the holy motions of his Spirit towards God and in the holy actings of his life towards man And as a man fearing God is in a good estate so shall he go on in a good way The goodness indeed of hypocrites is as the morning cloud and goeth away as the early dew Hos 6.4 the wind scatters the morning cloud and the rising sun exhales the early dews thus the goodness of the hypocrite is gone but the goodness of the righteous and of the man truly fearing God like the goodness of God of whom it is endureth in its proportion continually nay such a man holds on not onely in fair way and good weather but in stormy weather and ragged ways when his way lies among sharp stones ragged rocks thorow briers and thorns yea I may say when his way lies among bears and lions he will on The righteous shall hold on his way and then it follows And he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger The words are a circumlocution ut prius he shall saith Job be stronger and stronger in the Hebrew it is he shall adde strength he shall proceed from one degree or step unto another What strength why spiritual strength answerable to that Psal 84.7 They go from strength to strength or from company to company i.e. from one good company to another still gathering goodness and they go as the best go from Duty to Duty from Ordinance to Ordinance from Praying to Hearing to gather grace and strength every grace hath strength and the more grace the more strength till we come to that which is more strictly called strength of grace Nay as it was said of the Israelites that the more the Egyptians afflicted them the more they multiplied and grew Exod. 4.12 they multiplied in number they grew in strength and stature their oppression was their addition in temporals 't is even so Beloved with all true Israelites in spirituals the more they are afflicted and troubled the more they increase And then as this is the nature and quality of men and women truly fearing God so 't is the nature of the true fear of God where ever this is put into the heart it will grow and therefore in Scripture you shall finde it compared to things of a growing and increasing nature as 1. to waters issuing out from the sanctuary Ezek. 47.1 2 3 4 5. Now this saith Mr. Deodate in his Annotations represents the progress and increases of grace and true fear of God in believers of small beginnings 2. It is compared to a grain of Mustard-seed which proves a great tree Mat. 31.31 32. They likewise resemble it to the Stone that smote the Image which became a great mountain and filled the whole earth Dan. 2.34 35. So then this is the first Incentive to the Duty in hand grow up in this grace of the fear of God because if true 't is growing By this you may come to know whether you fear God with a true and lively fear the true fear of God lives and therefore it must needs grow But then in the second place this is that which God requires and commands yea that which he expecteth and looketh for from our hands namely that we should grow up more and more in this grace Hitherto I may refer all those Scriptures wherein we are exhorted to grow in grace in general or in any particular or individual grace whatsoever because as I have often told you in the former part of this Discourse the fear of God is an extensive or comprehensive word including all and every grace For texts referring to our growth in grace or in the fear of God in general reade 1 Cor. 14.12 Even so ye forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so 't is in the Greek 'T is a metaphor taken from rivers of water which the further they run the broader they are Seek that ye may excel in spiritual gifts and graces i. e. that ye may abound in them So 1602. 15.58 Always abounding in the work of the Lord In the work of the Lord i. e. in all actions belonging to your heavenly vocation and to the true service of God See how the Apostle prays for the Ephesians Eph. 3.18 19. that they may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they might be filled with all the fulness of God Many Wits run riot in Geometrical notions about these Moral dimensions and whereas Naturalists give us but three dimensions of a Body Longitude
prefer God and the things of God incomparably before all other things whatsoever would we once make supernatural and heavenly things our chief portion and treasure then would our hearts be chiefly set upon them and our thoughts mostly run on them See what our Saviour saith Matth. 6.21 Where your treasure is there will your heart be also 5. And then in the last place to this end make use of Prayer too You know that God is both the heart-maker and the heart-mender desire him to put your souls into a spiritual frame and temper to direct your hearts unto the remembrance of his Name Pray for your selves as David did once for his people 1 Chron. 29.18 Oh Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel our fathers keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare our hearts unto theâ— In like manner let us pray Lord keep thy Name for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of our hearts and prepare our hearts unto thee or as he prays Psalm 19.14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer Pray that God would raise up your hearts and ravish your hearts that you may so meditate upon his Name that you may have respect unto all his ways I should come to give you some Rules or Directions concerning this holy meditation But of them God willing the next time Now because circumstances bear such a weight in every action as that they either make or mar it before I speak of the form and manner of our thinking upon the Name of God I shall deliver a word or two concerning the circumstances of Meditation There are two circumstances to be heeded in this duty 1. The circumstance of Time 2. The circumstance of Place I begin with the circumstance of Time Though it cannot be denied but that a Christian should have dayly converse and communion with God he should be alwayes ejaculating and raising up of his heart to heaven saying with David Psalm 36.4 later part of the verse Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Though he ought to take occasion even from those things which do occur and offer themselves unto his outward senses to aspire and climb up to God in his heart yet without doubt every Christian should redeem some â—it and convenient portion of time and set it apart from other employments that so he may solemaly and seriously think upon the Name of God he must not onely do it occasionally but he must appoint some time or other on set purpose that he may the more thorowly discharge this necessary duty at which time he should concentre and draw as it were into one point all the powers and faculties of his soul and command them to attend this heavenly exercise as much as may be without distaction And I suppose Beloved it were no great task to fetch in the practise of some of the holy men of God this way Isaac went out to meditate at the eventide Gen. 24.63 'T is conceived Isaac did this usually though at this time peradventure more earnestly by reason of that important business he had in hand which was his marriage It seems that Isaac did ordinarily go forth about even-tide which was saith Mr. Ainsworth at the ninth hour of the day with us the third hour in the afternoon about three of the clock to meditate This was Isaac's set-time for meditation as I say 't is generally conceived So David the Name of God and the Word of God was his meditation all the day Psalm 119.97 and in the night Psalm 119.55 yet there are some texts which lead us to think that David had his set and solemn times for this purpose amongst others I will instance onely in that one Psalm 139.18 the last words of the verse When I awake I am still with thee Some indeed refer this to the last resurrection and give out David's meaning to be this When I arise out of my grave I shall be still with thee I shall ever be with the Lord. But we need not to force the text as David had other set-times to meditate upon God so the morning was one of them When I awake out of my sleep or as soon as I awake out of my sleep I am with thee in holy meditation So that Beloved ye are not onely to maintain a constant communion with God in this duty but there must be some time laid aside on set purpose for this duty The second circumstance that I shall speak of is the circumstance of Place and here as I spake of the time so I may speak of the place for holy meditation As at all times we should think upon the Name of God so in all places not onely in this place appointed for the publick service of God but in all other places in your houses in your shops and places of trading at board and at bed at home and abroad But yet for preventing of distraction and considering that Satan is ready to take all advantages against us labouring might and main by outward objects to distract and divide the faculties of our souls with impertinent or unprofitable thoughts yea with sinful and corrupt thoughts therefore I conceive it necessary that the place where we meditate most seriously and solemnly should be retired and secret The devil well knows how neer and familiar earthly things are to our senses and how remote and far distant heavenly and supernatural things are therefore he would fain work upon our carnality by presenting earthly objects and by them would fain convey to our hearts earthly-mindedness and so bereave us of the benefit of meditation So that I say to prevent the policie and malice of the devil 't is best whenever we desire in good earnest to set upon this duty to withdraw our selves into some private place into our chambers studies or closets What our Saviour speaks concerning the duty of Prayer we may apply unto the duty of holy meditation Matth. 6.6 When thou prayest enter into thy closet so when thou meditatest enter into thy closet withdraw as much as may be from the noise and clutter of the world do it as privately and reservedly as may be I might give you some instances for this too Isaac did it in the field as you may finde in the text before alledged Gen. 24.63 he was private in meditation and soliloquie Upon this passage of Isaac I finde one to have this observation Domitian saith he about the beginning of his Empire usually sequestred himself from company an hour every day but did nothing the while but catch Flyes and kill them with a pen-knife but Isaac sequestred himself from company to a better-purpose he improved his solitariness for deep meditation and soliloquie David performed this duty in his bed Psalm 63.6 and therefore saith he Psalm 4.4 Commune with your own heart upon your bed And thus