First The Hypocrite is described by what he hath he hath God in his mouth Thou art near in their mouth i. e. they profess with a full mouth that they are thy People saith Piscator or they speak much about the Law as another senses it God and his Temple Religion with its rites are much talked of among them they have him in their prayers and duties and this is all that the Hypocrite hath of God Religion only sanctifies his tongue that seems to be dedicated to God but it penetrates no farther and therefore Secondly He is described by that he hath not or by what he wants And or but thou art far from their reins i. e. they feel not the powers and influences of that name which they so often invocate and talk of going down to their very reins and affecting their very hearts so we must understand this Metaphorical expression here as the opposition directs For the reins having so great and sensible a sympathy with the heart which is the seat of affections and passions upon that account it is usual in Scripture to put the reins for those intimate and secret affections thoughts and passions of the heart with which they have so near cognation and so sensible a sympathy When the heart is under great consternation the loins or reins are seiz'd also as Dan. 5. 6. Then that Kings Countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him and the joynts of his loins were loosed On the contrary when the heart is fill'd with delight and gladness the reins are said to rejoyce Prov. 23. 16. Yea my reins shall rejoyce when thy lips speak right things totus laetitiâ dissiliam I shall even leap for joy So then when the Prophet saith God is far from the reins of the Hypocrite the meaning is he feels not the heart-affecting influence and power of Religion upon his heart and affections as Gods People do And hence the Note will be That God comes nearer to the hearts and reins of his People in their duties than he doth to any Hypocritical or formal Professor By Gods nearness we understand not his Omnipresence that neither comes nor goes nor his love to his People that abides but the sensible sweet manifestations and out-lets of it to their souls So in Psal. 145. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him unto all that call upon him in truth Note the restriction and limitation of this glorious priviledge 't is the peculiar enjoyment of sincere and upright-hearted Worshippers Others may have Communion with duties but not with God in them But that God comes nigh very nigh to upright hearts in their duties is a truth as sensibly manifest to spiritual persons as that they are nigh the fire when they feel the comfortable heat of it refreshing them in a cold season when they are almost starved and benumed with cold Three things make this evident First Sincere souls are sensible of Gods accesses to them in their duties they feel his approaches to their spirits Lam. 3. 57. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst fear not And what a surprize was that to the Church Cant. 2. 8. It is the Voice of my Beloved behold he cometh c. Certainly there is a felt presence of God which no words can make another to understand they feel the Fountain flowing abundantly into the dry pits the heart fills apace the empty thoughts swell with a fulness of spiritual things which strive for vent Secondly They are sensible of Gods recesses and withdrawments from their spirits they feel how the ebb follows the flood and how the waters abate So you find it in Cant. 5. 6. I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake I sought him but I could not find him I called but he gave me no answer The Hebrew is very Pathetical He was gone he was gone A sad change of the frame of her heart quickly followed Thirdly The Lords nearness to the hearts and reins of his People in their duties is evident to them from the effects that it leaves upon their spirits For look as it is with the Earth and Plants with respect to the approach or remove of the Sun in the Spring and Autumn So it is here as Christ speaks Luk. 21. 29. When ye see the Figg-tree and all the Trees shoot forth we know that Summer is nigh at hand An appoaching Sun renews the face of the Earth and makes Nature smile The Trees bud and blossom the Fishes rise the Birds sing it 's a kind of Resurrection to Nature from the dead So is it when the Lord comes near the hearts and reins of men in duty For then they find that First A real taste of the joy of the Lord is here given to men the fulness whereof is in Heaven hence call'd 2 Cor. 1. 22. The earnest of his Spirit And 1 Pet. 1. 8. Glorified Joy or a short Salvation O what is this What is this Certainly it is something that hath no Affinity with flesh or gross corporeal pleasures but is of another nature something which transcends all that ever was felt or tasted in this world since we were first conversant among sensible objects Secondly A mighty strength and power coming into their souls and actuating all its faculties and graces When God comes near new powers enter the soul the feeble is as David Psal. 138. 3. In the day that I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul Hope was low and Faith was weak little strength in any grace except desires but when the Lord comes strength comes with him Then as it is Neh. 8. 10. The joy of the Lord is your strength O the vigorous sallies of the heart to God! Psal. 63. 8. O the strength of Love Cant. 8. 6. Duties are other manner of things than they were wont to be Did not our hearts burn within us Luk. 24. 32. Thirdly A remarkable transformation and change of spirit follows it These things are found to be marvelously assimilating The sights of God the felt presence of God is as fire which quickly assimilates what is put into it to its own likeness So 2 Cor. 3. 18. They are said to be changed from glory to glory It always leaves the mind more refined and abstracted from gross material things and changed into the same Image They have a similitude of God upon them who have God near unto their hearts and reins Fourthly A vigorous working of the heart Heaven-ward A mounting of the soul upwards Now the soul shews that it hath not forgot its way home again It is with such a soul as sensibly embraces Christ in the arms of Faith as it was with Simeon when he took him bodily into his Arm. Now saith he let thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation O! it would
wings of Faith pinion'd that when we should soar aloft in the highest acts of sweet communion with God we can but flutter upon the Earth and make some weak essays and offers Heaven-ward which often times are frustrated and put by through the unbelief that is in us Thirdly The excitation of the affection is rendred difficult by reason of that natural deadness and hardness that is in the heart Alas It 's naturally an heart of stone and as easie it is to dissolve or melt the Rocks into a sweet syrup as the heart into spiritual and Heavenly affections towards God There is scarce any one thing in this world that Christians more passionately bewail and are more sensibly afflicted for than the deadness and hardness of their own hearts Nothing is found sufficient sometimes to effect and raise them and yet if they be not excited out of their torpor and stupidity they cannot have Communion with God in duties 2. Secondly And if we enquire into the reasons why poor Christians find themselves more infested by natural Corruption in the seasons of duty than at other times the reasons are obvious to him that considers That 1. Duty irritates it 2. Satan excites it 3. God permits it to be so First Corruption is irritated by duty it s provoked by that which bridles and purges it Nothing is found more destructive to Sin than Communion with God is and therefore nothing makes a fiercer opposition to all fellowship and communion betwixt the soul and its God than sin doth As Waters swell and rage when they are obstructed by a dam so do our Corruptions when obstructed and check'd by duty Sin would fain make men leave praying and Prayer would fain make men leave sinning Secondly As Duty irritates it so Satan excites it especially in such seasons When Joshua the High Priest stood before the Lord Satan was seen standing at his right hand to resist him Zech. 3. 1. How hard is it for a Christian then to be dexterous apt and ready for spiritual works whilst Satan stands at his right hand the working hand to make resistance The Devil is aware that one hour of close spiritual and hearty converse with God in Prayer is able to pull down what he hath been contriving and building many a year Now this envious Spirit having an easie access to to the phansie that busie and unruly power of the soul will not be wanting to create such figments and notions in it as like a rapid stream shall carry away the soul and all its thoughts from God in duty Oh what adoe have most Christians to prevent the sallies and excursions of their hearts from God at such times Thirdly As Satan exercises it so the Wise and Holy God for good ends to his People permits it to be so This Thorn in the Flesh keeps them humble these lamented destructions and corruptions in their duties destroys their dependance upon them and glorying in them For if we be so prone to pride and confidence in our duties amidst such sensible workings and minglings of Corruption with them what should we be if they were more pure and excellent These things also make the Saints weary of this World and to groan within themselves after the more perfect state wherein God shall be enjoyed and seen in more perfection and satisfaction But 3. Thirdly This in the mean time cannot but be a very grievous affliction and pressure to the gracious soul to be thus clog'd and infested by its own Corruptions in the very season of its communion with God For First By this the soul is rendred very unsuitable to that holy presence it approaches Hab. 1. 13. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look upon Iniquity Must the great and blessed God wait upon a poor Worm till it be at leisure to attend him Must he be forsaken for every trifle that comes in the way of its phansie Oh how provoking an evil is this Surely God heareth not Vanity neither will the Almighty regard it Job 35. 13. This unsuitableness of our spirits to the Lord cannot do less than cover our faces with shame as it did Ezra 9. 6. O my God I am ashamed and even blush to look up unto thee Secondly By this those benefits and comforts are intercepted which are better than life There is a sensible presence of God there are manifestations of pardon peace and love there are reviving influences and fresh anointings of the spirit there are a thousand mercies of this kind that in their seasons are communicated to men in the way of duty and would it not grieve a man to the very heart and soul to be defeated of those inestimable treasures by the breaking forth of the Unbelief Pride or Vanity of his own heart when such mercies are almost in his hand Your Iniquites saith the Prophet have separated betwixt you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear Isa. 59. 2. O cruel covering O dismal Cloud that hides the face of God from his People that they cannot behold it Wherefoream I come from Geshur saith Absalom if I may not see the Kings face What do I here upon my knees saith a Christian if I may not see God Duties are nothing to me without God The World and all its comforts are dry and tasteless things to me without God His manifested favour and sealed love are the very life of my life and from this the corruptiun of my own heart have cut me off Thirdly By these things the beauty and excellency of duties are defaced These dead flies spoil that excellent Oyntment for wherein consists the beauty and true excellencies of duties but in that spirituality Heavenly temper of soul with which they are performed This makes them suitable to their object Joh. 4. 24. take away spirituality from duties and then you may number them among your sins and the matters of your shame and sorrow Take away the heart from duty and what remains but a dead carcass without life or beauty Fourthly By these things gracious souls are greatly puzled and perplexed about their estate and condition This is the fountain of their fears and doubtings O when a man feels such deadness in his heart towards God such stiffness in his will to the will of God such a listless careless temper to all that is spiritual How thinks he can this consist with a renewed state and temper Sure no Christian is troubled with such an heart as mine is especially when it shall be found in its ordinary course so free nimble and indefatigable in its persuits and entertainments of things sensual and earthly There it is as the Chariots of Aminadab but here like Pharoahs Chariots there it as much needs the Curb as it doth the Spur here Lord saith the poor soul I know not what to do If I do not look into my heart I cannot be sincere and if I
soul to him We have known and believed the love that God hath to us 1 Joh. 4. 16. 19. When Christ had forgiven much to that poor Woman that had sin'd much and manifested pardoning mercy to her soul O how much was her love to Christ inflamed thereby Luk. 7. 47. Secondly Renewed care and diligence follows the Sealings of the Spirit Now is the soul at the foot of Christ as Mary was at the Sepulcher with fear and great joy He that Travels the Road with a rich treasure about him is afraid of a Thief in every bush This is exemplified in the Spouse who had endured many a sad day and night in Christs absence and sought him sorrowing but when she had regained his felt and sensible presence it 's said Cant. 3. 4. I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go She doth not as one speaks lay by diligence as if all were done but is of new taken up with as great care to retain and improve this mercy as before she was solicitous to obtain it Whether a Believer want or have whether he be seeking or enjoying there is still matter of exercise for him in his condition Thirdly Deep abasement and great humblings use to follow the eminent appearances of God to the souls of men Lord said that Disciple how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us and not unto the world Joh. 14. 22. When God Sealed the Covenant to Abraham to be a God to him at this Abraham fell upon his face Gen. 17. 1 2 3. Never doth a soul lie lower in the dust and abhor it self than when the Lord makes the most signal manifestations of his grace and love to it Fourthly Increased strength follows the sealings of the Spirit New powers enter into the soul and a sensible improvement of its abilities for duty or ever I was aware saith the Spouse my soul made me as the Chariots of Aminadab Cant. 6. 12. Now the wheels of the soul being oyled with the joy and comfort of the Spirit run nimbly in the ways of obedience The joy of the Lord is your strength Fifthly Sealings of the Spirit inflames the desires of the soul after Heaven and makes it long to go home Nothing makes death so undesirable to the Saints as the doubts and fears that hang upon their Spirits about their condition Were their evidences for Heaven clear and their doubts resolved they would as the Apostle speaks desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. If once the great question of our interest in Christ be throughly decided and all be clear betwixt us and our God we shall find Life the matter of Patience and Death the object of desire Sixthly and lastly Improved Mortification to the world flows naturally from the Sealings and Assurances of the love of God to our souls It is with our souls after such a view of Heaven and a sealed interest therein as it is with him that hath been gazing upon that glorious Creature the Sun when he comes to cast his eye again upon the Earth all things seem dark and cloudy to him He sees no beauty in any of those things because of that excellent luster which he lately beheld We know saith the Apostle that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolv'd we have a building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens there 's Assurance or Sealing For in this we groan earnestly desiridg to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven There 's the natural effect of it 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. Uses The point speaks to three sorts of persons viz. 1. To those that have not yet been Sealed 2. To those that once had but now want this comfort 3. To those that enjoy the comforts of it First To those that yet want this mercy who have not been formally Sealed by any assurance of their title to Christ but all their days have been clog'd with fears and doubts of their condition To such my Counsel is First That you be not quiet under these uncertainties but pant after the assurance of peace and pardon Say unto Christ as the Spouse did Cant. 8. 6. Set me as a Seal upon thy heart as a Seal upon thine arm Pant after it as David did Psal. 35. 3. Say unto my soul I am thy Salvation How can you look upon such precious promises and not dare to tast them How can you hear others speak of their satisfaction peace and assurance and be quiet until you also have attained it What is it that hinders this mercy that it cannot come home to your souls Is it your neglect of duty O stir up your selves to take hold of God Is it want of a through search and examination of your estate O let not thine eyes find rest till that be fully done Is it some special guilt upon thy soul that grieves the Spirit of God Be restless till it be removed I know this mercy is not at your command do what you can do but yet I also know when God bestows it he usually doth it in these ways of our duty Secondly To those that once had but now want this blessing who say as Job 29. 2 3. O that it were with me as in days past The darkness is the greater to you because you have walked in the light of the Lord. The sum of Christs Counsel in this case is given in three words Rev. 2. 5. Remember Repent Reform First Remember i. e. ponder consider compare time with time and state with state how well it once was how sad it now is Secondly Repent mourn over these your sinful relapses sure you may challenge the first place among all the mourners in the world Your loss is great O better to have lost the light of your eyes than this sweet light of Gods countenance your sin hath separated betwixt you and your God O mourn over it Thirdly Reform Do your first works again O Christian consider thy heart is sunk deeper into the world than it was wont to be Thy duties are fewer and thy zeal and affection to God much abated Return return O back-sliding soul and labor to recover thy first love to Christ what-ever pains it cost thee Lastly To those that do enjoy these choice and invaluable mercies the Sealings of the Spirit First Take heed that you grieve not the good Spirit of God by whom you are Sealed to the day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. He hath comforted you don't you grieve him The Spirit is a tender and delicate thing you may quickly deprive your selves of his joy and peace Secondly Be humble under this advancement and dignity If your hearts once begin to swell look out for humbling dispensations quickly 2 Cor. 12. 7. This treasure is always kept in the Vessel of a contrite and humble heart Thirdly Keep close to duty yea tack one duty to
SACRAMENTAL MEDITATIONS Upon divers select places OF SCRIPTURE WHEREIN Believers are assisted in preparing their hearts and exciting their affections and graces when they draw nigh to God in that most awful and solemn Ordinance of the Lords Supper By Jo. FLAVEL Minister of Christ in DEVON Cant. 4. 16. Awake O North wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the spices thereof may flow out Let my Beloved come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruit London Printed for Jacob Sampson next door to the Wonder Tavern in Ludgate-street 1679. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Christian Reader CHrist may be said to be Crucified three ways by the Jews actually in the Sacrament Declaratively and by Unbelievers at his Table Interpretatively Among sins Blood-guiltiness is reckoned one of the most heinous and of all Blood-guiltiness to be guilty of the Blood of Christ is a sin of the deepest guilt and will be avenged with the most dreadful punishment 1 Cor. 11. 27 29. If Vengeance be taken sevenfold on him that Slew Cain what Vengeance shall be taken on him that Crucifies afresh the Lord of glory The heaviest blow of Divine Justice is still ready to avenge the Abuse of the best mercy What can the heart of man conceiâ—…e more solemn more sacred or more deeply affective than the representation of the greatest love of the Father and the most grievous passions of the Son What sin can be more provoking to God than the slight and contempt of those most awful mysteries and what punishment can be more terrible than for such a wretched soul to eat and drink Damnation to it self Melancthon records a very dreadful example of God's righteous Judgment upon a Company of Prophane wretches who in a Tragedy intended to act the death of Christ upon the Cross. He that acted the Soldiers part instead of piercing with his Spear a Bladder full of blood hid under the Garment wounded him to death that was upon the Cross who falling down killed him who in a disguise acted the part of the Woman that stood wailing under the Cross. His Brother who was first slain slew the Murderer who acted the Soldiers part and for staying him was himself hanged by order of Justice Thus did the Vengeance of God speedily overtake them and hang'd them up in Chains for a warning to all that should ever dare to dally with the great and jealous God These are terrible strokes and yet not so terrible as those which are more ordinarily but less sensibly inflicted upon the inner man for the Abuse of this Ordinance To prevent these Judgments and obtain those blessings which come through this Ordinance great regard must be had to two things viz. 1. The Inbeing of true Grace 2. The Activity of true Grace 1. Examine thy self Reader whether there be any gracious principle planted in thy soul whereby thou art alive indeed unto God It was an ancient abuse of the Sacrament condemned and cast out by the Carthaginian Council to give it unto dead men Dead souls can have no Communion with the living God no more benefit from this Table than the Emperors Guests had from his Table where Loaves of Gold were set before them to eat There is more than a shew of grace in the Sacrament it hath not only the visible sign but the spiritual grace also which it represents See that there be more than a shew and visible sign of grace also in thy soul when thou comest nigh to the Lord in that Ordinance See to the exercise and activity as well as to the truth and sincerity of thy grace Even a Believer himself doth not eat and drink worthily unless the grace that is in him be excited and exercised at this Ordinance It is not Faith inhereing but Faith realizing applying and powerfully working It is not a disposition to humiliation for sin but the actual thawing and melting of the heart for sin whilst thou lookest on him whom thou hast pierced and mournest for him as one that mourneth for his only Son for his First-born Nor is it a disposition or principal of love to Christ that is only required but the stirring up of that fire of love the exciting of it into a vehement flame I know the excitations and exercises of grace are attended with great difficulties They are not things within our command and at our beck O! 't is hard 't is hard indeed Reader even after God hath taken the heart of stone out of thee and given thee an heart of flesh to mourn actually for sin even when so great an occasion and call is given thee to that work at the Lords Table for the same power is requisite to excite the act that was required to plant the habit Gratia gratiam postulat However the duty is thine though the power be Gods why else are his people blamed because they stirred not up themselves to take hold of him Isa. 64. 7. To assist thee in this work some help is offered in the following Meditations 'T is true it is not the reading of the best Meditations another can prepare for thee that will alter the temper of thy heart except the Spirit of God concur with these truths and bless them to thy soul But yet these helps must not be slighted because they are not self-sufficient Man lives not by Bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God yet it were a fond Vanity and Sin for any man upon that ground to cast away Bread and expect to live by a miracle without it We must lift up our hearts to God for a Blessing and then eat do the same here first pray then read and the Lord quicken thee by it for duty There are two things of special concernment to the Reader when thou art to address thy self to any solemn duty especially such as this 1. Prepare for thy duty diligently 2. Rely not upon thy preparations First Prepare with all diligence for thy duty take pains with thy dull heart cleanse thy polluted heart compose thy vain heart remember how great a presence thou art approaching If Augustus thus reproved one that entertained him without sutable preparation saying I did not think we had been so familiar much more may thy God reprove thee for thy careless neglect of due preparation for him Secondly But yet take heed on the other side that thou rely not upon thy best preparations It is an ingenious and true note of Luther speaking to this very point of preparation for the Sacrament never are men more unfit than when they think themselves most fit and best prepared for their duty never more fit than when most humbled and ashamed in the sense of their own unfitness That the blessing of God and the breathings of his good Spirit may accompany these poor labours to tby soul is the hearts desire of Thy Servant in Christ JOHN FLAVEL SACRAMENTAL MEDITATIONS c. The First Meditation UPON
Religion upon your very hearts and reins this will settle you better than all Arguments in the world can do By this the ways of God are more endeared to men than by any other way in the world When your hearts have once felt it you will never forsake it THE THIRD MEDITATION UPON Rom. 7. 21. I find then a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me THIS Chapter is the very Anatomy of a Christians heart and gives an account of the most secret frames inward workings of it both as to Graces and Corruptions and this Verse is a Compendium of both for the words are a mournful complaint uttered with a deep sense of an inward pressure by reason of Sin wherein we are to consider three things 1. The person complaining 2. The matter of complaint 3. The discovery of that matter First The person complaining I find I Paul though I come not behind the chiefest of all the Apostles though I have been â—…rapt into the third Heaven heard things unutterable yet I for all that find in me a Law Never was any meer man more deeply sanctified Never any lived at an higher rate of Communion with God never any did Christ more service in this world and yet he found a Law of sin in himself Secondly The matter of the complaint which consists in a double evil he groaned under viz. 1. The presence of sin at all times 2. The operation of sin especially at some time First The presence of sin at all times Evil saith he is present with me it follows me as my shaddow doth By evil we must understand no other evil but sin the evil of evils which in respect of power and efficacy he also calls a Law because as Laws by reason of their annexed rewards and punishments have a mighty power and efficacy upon the minds of men so sin in-dwelling sin that root of all our trouble and sorrow hath a mighty efficacy upon us And this is the mournful matter of his complaint 'T is not for outward Afflictions though he had many nor for what he suffered from the hands of men though he suffered many grievous things but 't is sin dwelling and working in him that swallows up all other troubles as Rivers are lost in the Sea this evil was always with him the constant residence of sin was in his heart and nature Secondly And what further adds to his burden as it dwelt in him at all times so it exerted its efficacy more especially at some times and those the special times and principal seasons in his whole life When I would do good saith he any spiritual good and among the rest when I address my self to any spiritual duty or Heavenly imployment when I design to draw near to God and promise my self comfort and redress in Communion with him then is Evil present O if I were but rid of it in those hours what a mercy should I esteem it though I were troubled with it at other times Could I but enjoy my freedom from it in the seasons of duty and times of communion with God what a comfort would that be But then is the special season of its operation Never is sin more active and busie than at such a time and this O this is my misery and burden Thirdly The next thing to be heeded here is the discovery of this evil to him over which he so mourns and laments I find then a Law saith he I find it i. e. by inward sense feeling and sad experience He knew there was such a thing as Original sin in the Natures of men when he was an Unregenerated Pharisee but though he had then the notion of it he had not the sense and feeling of it as now he had he now feels what before he traditionally understood and talkt of I find a Law q. d. What or how others find I know not I examine not some may boast of their gifts and some may talk more than becomes them of their graces they may find excellencies in themselves and admire themselves too much for them But for my part I find a Law that when I would do good evil is present I am sure I find a bad heart in the best season a proud dead wandring hard heart I find it wofully out of order God knows and this is my misery Hence Note Doct. That the best Christians do sensibly feel and sadly bewail the workings of their corruptions and that in the very seasons and opportunities of their communion with God Bring thy thoughts Reader close to this point and sadly ponder these three things in it First In what special acts Christians use to feel the working of their corruption in the season of their Communion Secondly Why is it that Corruption stirs and troubles them more at such times than at others Thirdly Upon what account this is so great a burden to every gracious heart 1. First As to the first of these namely the special actings of Corruption in the seasons of Communion they are such as have a natural aptitude and design to destroy all Communion betwixt God and the soul Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit It 's contrary to the spirit and by reason of that contrariety a poor Christian cannot do the things that he would How many times have some Christians lamented this upon their knees with bleeding hearts and weeping eyes Lord I came hither to enjoy thee I hop'd for some light strength and refreshment in this duty I promis'd my self a good hour my heart began to warm and melt in duty I was nigh to the expectation and desire of my soul but the unbelief deadness and vanity of my heart hath seperated betwixt me and my God and with-held good things from me Three things are requisite to Communion with God in duties First Composedness of thoughts Secondly Activity of Faith Thirdly Excitation of affections and all these are sensibly obstructed by innate Corruption For by in-dwelling sin First The order of the soul is disturbed by sending forth multitudes of vain and impertinent thoughts to infest and distract the soul in its approaches to God the sense of this evil gave occasion to that prayer Psal. 86. 11. Unite my heart to fear thy Name How much have we to do with our own hearts upon this account every day Abundance of rules are given to cure this evil but the corruption of the heart makes them all necessary Secondly The activity of Faith is clogg'd by natural unbelief O what difficulties is every work of Faith carried through Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Mark 9. 24. It cramps the hand of Faith in every part of its work the soul sensibly feels it self bound and fetter'd by its own unbelief so that it cannot assent with that fulness clearness and determinatness that it would It cannot apply with that strength certainty and comfort it desires and thus are the
do I can have no comfort This is a sad perplexity indeed Fifthly and lastly By these things the Spirit of God is grieved and that which grieves him cannot but be a grief and burden to us His motions are quench'd by these Corruptions his sanctifying designs as much as lies in us obstructed by them surely then there is cause enough why a Christian should follow every vain thought with a deep sigh and every stirring of unbelief with a sad tear The usefulness of this point is great and exceeding seasonable when we are to draw nigh to God and address our selves to spiritual duties It may to great purpose be improved by ways Of 1. Information 2. Direction 3. Consolation We may greatly improve it for our Information in the following particulars 1. Hence we may take our measures of the wonderful and astonishing grace and condescension of God to his People who notwithstanding all that evil which is present with them in the good they do will not reject their persons or duties for all that How doth free grace make its own way through swarms of Vanity How doth it break through all the deadness infidelity and hardness of our hearts to do us good Though evil be present with us our gracious God will not be absent from us notwithstanding that How greatly was the Spouse amaz'd at the unexpected condescension and grace of Christ in this matter Cant. 2. 8. It is the voice of my Beloved behold he cometh leaping over the Mountains skipping over the Hills It is the Voice of my Beloved That abrupt cutted expression shews a perfect surprize She saw mountains of guilt and unworthithiness betwixt Christ and her Soul and yet behold he comes skipping over all those mountains and hills O free grace rich and admirable grace which with so many notwithstandings and neverthelesses will save and comfort the poor unworthy soul 2. How little reason have any of us to be proud of our best performances There is not a just man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not saith Solomon Eccles. 7. 20. If there be something supernaturally good in our duties yet there is abundance of natural evil commixed with that good the evil is wholly ours the good wholly Gods we have no reason then to glory in our best performances It hath been a question with some whether some short transient act of a regenerate soul may not be free from sin but it was never question'd whether any continued act much less a course of actions could be without sin Evil will be present with us in all we do 't will be with us in our Closets present even in the awful presence of the holy God in the most high and solemn duties of Religion in the most pure and spiritual actions that pass from us cease then as from dependance so from Pride and Conceitedness in all you do Whilst our natures are sanctified but in part and our principles mixt our duties and performances can never be pure Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one Job 14. 4. 3. How are we all obliged to bless God for Jesus the Mediator to make us and our sinful duties acceptable to God Sad were our case if this High Priest did not bear the Iniquity of our holy things as it is Exod. 28. 38. 'T is his Oblation and Intercession that obtains and continues ouâ—… pardon for our Prayer-sins our Hearing-sins our Sacrament-sins These alone would eternally damn us if we had no other did not free grace make us accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1. 6. When evil is present with us then is Christ our Advocate present with the Father for us and thence it is that we are not destroyed upon our knees and that the jealousie of God breaks not forth as fire to devour us in our very duties 4. If evil be present with us yea inherent in us in our best duties what need had Christians then to watch against the external occasions of sin and to keep a close guard upon their senses especially when they have to do with God! There 's danger enough from within you need not open another door from without This natural corruption is too active in it self if there be no irritation by any external occasion how much more when the eye and ear are open and unguarded and occasions are offer'd it from without Watching is half the work of a Christian whilst he is praying Eph. 6. 18. The Arabian Proverb is as instructive as it is mystical shut the Windows that the House may be light 5. If evil be present when we would do good if it infest us in our best duties then certainly there is no rest to be expected for any of Gods People in this world Where shall we go to be free from sin if any where let us go to our Closets to our knees to the Ordinances of God yea but even there evil is and will be present with us if we cannot be free from evil there it 's in vain to expect it elsewhere in this world Only in Heaven Believers rest from sin when once they are absent from the body and present with the Lord sin shall no more be present with them which should make all that hate sin long for Heaven and be willing to be dissolved and be with Christ. 2. For Direction Let all that experimentally sense and feel what the Apostle here mourns over carefully attend such directions as may prevent the spoil of their duties by the working of their corruptions in them Though no rules are found sufficient to prevent wholly the influence of our Corruptions upon our duties yet own it as a special mercy if it may in any measure be prevented or restrained in order whereunto I shall hint briefly these following rules which the experience of many Christians hath recommended as exceeding useful in this case First Be more diligent in preparation for your duties if you would meet with less interruption in your duties The very light of nature teacheth solemn preparation to all important and weighty business and is there more solemn and concerning business in all the world than that which thou transactest with God in duties Angels approach not this God with whom thou hast to do without profound respects to his immense greatness awful holiness Esa. 6. 3. When you stretch forth your hands it is required that you first prepare your hearts Job 11. 13. Secondly Realize the presence of God in all your duties and awe your hearts all that you are able by that consideration O think what a piercing holy eye beholds thy heart and tries thy reins Wouldst thou not be really ashamed if thy thoughts were but vocal to men and the workings and wandrings of thy heart visible to those that joyn with thee in the same duty O if the presence of God were more realized certainly your hearts would be better secured against the incursions of your Corruptions Thirdly
dishonour God and thus wrong your selves 2. Doct. That the remains of unbelief in gracious hearts do cost them many tears and sorrows There are many things that afflict and grieve the People of God from without but all their outward troubles are nothing to these troubles that come from within There are many inward troubles that make them groan but none more than this the unbelief they find in their own hearts This sin justly costs them more trouble than other sins because it is the root from which other sins do spring a root of bitterness bearing wormwood and gall to the imbittering of their souls For First The remains of unbelief in the Saints greatly dishonour God and what is a great dishonour to God cannot but be a great grief and burden to them For look as faith gives God special honour above all other graces so unbelief in a special manner both wrongs and grieves him above all other sins Unbelief in dominion makes God a liar 1 Joh. 5. 10. and even the reliques thereof in Believers doth shake their assent to his truths and promises and nourishes a vile suspicion of them in the heart and how do those base jealousies reflect upon his honour Certainly it cannot but be a grief to gracious hearts to see God dishonoured by others Psal. 119. 36. and a much greater to dishonour him our selves hinc illae lacrimae Upon this ground we may justly cry out and say with tears Lord help our unbelief Secondly The remains of unbelief in the Saints doth not only dishonour God but defaces and spoils their best duties in which they at any time approach unto God Is the face of God clouded from us in prayer hearing or receiving Examine the cause and reason and you will find that cloud rais'd from your own unbelieving hearts Are your affections cold flat and dead in duty dig but to the root and you will find this sin to lie there If the word do not work upon you as you desire and pray it might 't is because it is not mingled with faith Heb. 4. 2. No Duties no Ordinances no Promises can give down their sweet influences upon your souls because of this sin Now Communion with the Lord in duties is the life of our life These things are dearer to the Saints than their eyes Justly therefore do they bewail and mourn over that sin which obstructs and intercepts their sweetest enjoyments in this world Thirdly The remains of unbelief gives advantage and success to Satans temptations upon us Doth he at any time affright and scare us from our dudy or draw and intice us to the commission of sin or darken and cloud our condition and fill us with inward fears and horror without cause all this he doth by the mediation of our own unbelief The Apostle in Eph. 6. 16. calls Faith the souls Shield against temptation And 1 Joh. 5. 4. 't is call'd the Victory by which we overcome i. e. the Sword or Weapon by which we Atchieve our Victories And if so then unbelief disarms us both of Sword and Shield and leaves us naked of defence in the day of Battel a prey to the next temptation that befalls us Fourthly The remains of unbelief hinder the thriving of all graces it 's a worm at their root a plant of such a malignant quality that nothing which is spiritual can thrive under the droppings and shaddow of it It 's said Heb. 4. 2. that the Gospel was Preached to the Israelites but it did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it No Ordinances nor Duties be they never so excellent will make that soul to thrive where unbelief prevails You Pray you Hear you Fast you Meditate and yet you do not thrive your spiritual food doth no good You come from Ordinances as dead careless and vain-as-you went to them and why is it thus but because of remaining unbelief Use 1. Let all the People of God bewail and tenderly mourn over the remainders of insidelity in your own hearts There there is the root of the disease and surely Reader thy heart is not free of such symptoms of it as appear in other mens hearts For do but consider First What is our Impatiency to wait for mercy and despondency of spirit if deliverance come not quickly in the outward or inward straights of soul or body but a plain symptom of unbelief in our hearts He that believes will not make hast Isa. 28. 16. He that can believe can also wait Gods time Psal. 27. 14. Secondly And what doth our readiness to use sinful mediums to prevent or extricate our selves out of trouble but a great deal of Infidelity lurking still in our hearts might but Faith be heard to speak it would say in thy heart let me rather die ten deaths than commit one sin It 's sweeter and easier to die in any integrity than to live with a defiled or wounded Conscience 'T is nothing but our unbelief that makes us so ready to put forth our hands to iniquity when the rod of the Wicked rests long upon us or any eminent danger threatens us Psal. 125. 3. Thirdly Doth not the unbelief of your hearts shew it self in your deeper thoughtfulness and great auxieties about earthly things Matth. 6. 30. We pretend we have trusted God with our souls to all Eternity and yet cannot trust him for our daily bread We bring the evils of to morrow upon to day and all because we cannot believe more O Reader how much better were it to hear such questions as these from thee how shall I get an heart suitable to the mercies I do enjoy How shall I duely improve them for God What shall I render to the Lord for all his goodness This would better become thee than to afflict thy self with what shall I eat what shall I drink or wherewithal shall I be cloathed Fourthly What doth the slavish fear of death speak but remains of unbelief still in our hearts Are there not many faintings tremblings despondencies of mind under the thoughts of death O if faith were high thy spirit could not be so low 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 3. The more bondage of fear the more infidelity Fifthly To conclude what is the voice of all those distractions of thy heart in religious duties but want of faith weakness in faith and the actual prevalence of unbelief You come to God in prayer and there a thousand Vanities beset you your heart is carried away it roves it wanders to the ends of the earth Conscience smites for this and saith Thou dost but mock God thy soul will smart for this thou feelest neither strength nor sweetness arising out of such duties You enquire for remedies and fill the ears of Friends with your complaints and it may be see not the root of all this to be in your own unbelief But there it is and till that be cured it will not be better with you Use 2.
mend every day I am now in Christ and it is but a little while before I shall be with Christ and arrive at the full satisfaction of my very heart O what pleasure doth every glance backward or forward give to the sealed soul 4. It is a Cordial in death and there is none like it This will make the soul triumph over the grave take death chearfully by the cold hand welcome its grim Messengers and long to be gone and be with Christ. Dark and doubting Christians may indeed shrink back from it and be affraid of the exchange but the assured soul longs to be gone and needs patience to live as other men do to die When one was asked if he were willing to die his answer was Illius est nolle mori qui nolit ire ad Christum Let him be loth to die that is loath to go to Christ. The sugar of assurance sweetens the bitter cup of death and makes it delectable to a Believers rellish 5. In a word it is a sweet support in all the troubles and afflictions on this side the grave Let the assured soul be cast into what condition the Lord pleases be it upon a bed of sickness yet this gives his soul such support and comfort that he shall not say I am sick sin being forgiven the soul is well when the body is in pain Isa. 33. 24. Let him be cast in to a Prison here 's that will turn a Prison into a Paradise Act. 5. 41. Let him be pincht with any outward want this will supply all As having nothing and yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6. 10. Thus you see how desirable it is for its own excellency And as it is desirable for the sweetness of its own enjoyment so also from the difficulty of its attainment all excellencies are lockt up under many difficulties but none like this it is indeed easie to presume an interest in Christ and cheat a mans own soul with a dream and fancy of our own Creation but sure it 's hard to get a sealed clear title to Christ and his benefits and there be among others three things that make it difficult 1. The corruptions that remain and daily work in the best hearts these are evermore puzling and scaring the poor soul with fears and doubts about its condition Grace teacheth men due severity to themselves and fear of their own deceitfulness makes them think no hearts are like their hearts especially whilst they compare other mens outside with their own inside as generally they do O how do our own corruptions every moment raise mists and clouds that it is a wonder we ever should have one clear beam of assurance shining into such hearts as our hearts are 2. The multitudes of mistakes and cheats that are frequently committed and found in this matter makes upright hearts the more suspicious and doubtful of their own conditions O when they read Matth. 7. 22. that many will say to Christ in that day Lord Lord we have Prophesied in thy Name c. It scares them lest they also be deceived 3. The grand importance of the matter makes poor souls fearful of concluding certainly about it O when a man considers that the whole weight of his eternal happiness or misery depends upon the resolution of these Questions Am I in Christ or am I not It will makâ—… him tremble to determine In a word assurance is not in our power or at our command There be many holy humble diligent and longing souls to whom it is denied It is arbitrarily dispensed by the pleasure of the spirit to whom he will and such favours are rare even among true believers the more therefore it is to be valued and desired by all as the Spouse doth in this place And so much to the first thing Upon what account the assurance of Christs love is so desirable in the eyes of Chrians In the last place let us consider how this mercy which is so desirable may be obtained and this is our proper work and business at this time You are now come to a sealing Ordinance instituted on purpose for this noble end and Use. O that we could pray and plead for it as the Spouse here doth Set me as a seal upon thine heart as a seal upon thine arm for love is strong as death jealousie is cruel as the grave c. Now in order to the attainment of this most desirable mercy take a few necessary hints of your present work and duty in the following directions 1. Direction Would you be well secured of Christs love to you and that you are set as a seal upon his heart then exercise and manifest more love to Christ and let him be much upon your hearts If it be clear to you that you have true love to Jesus Christ you need not at all to doubt but you are in his heart and in his love I love them that love me Prov. 8. 17. And surely you have now before you the greatest motive in the world to inflame your love to Jesus Christ. Behold him as he here represented to you wounded for your iniquities yea sacrificed to the wrath of God for your Peace Pardon and Salvation O what manner of love is this Behold how he loved thee If Christ's love draw forth thine it will so far clear thy interest in his love as it shall engage thy heart in love to him 2. Direction But seeing the activity of your love will be according to the activity of your faith therefore in the next place I advise you to make it the main work and business of this hour to exercise your faith upon Jesus Christ set your selves this day to believe the more strong the direct acts of your faith shall be the more clear and comfortable its reflex acts are like to be There are three distinct offices or imployments for your faith at this Table viz. 1. To realize 2. To apply 3. To infer from the sufferings of Jesus Christ. 1. Realize the sufferings of Christ for you and behold them here represented in a true glass to the eye of faith See you that Bread broken and that Wine poured out As sure as this is so Jesus Christ endured the Cross suffered the Wrath of the great and terrible God in his Soul and in his Body upon the cursed Tree for and in the room of poor Condemned Sinners Your faith for the one hath as much yea more certainty than your sense hath for the other This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. and without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh c. 2. Apply the sufferings of Christ this day to thine own soul. Believe all this to be done suffered in thy room and for thy sake He offered not this Sacrifice for his own sins but ours Isa. 53. 9. Heb. 7. 27. He
have the wings of a Dove to flie away from this polluted world this unquiet world and be at rest 1. Infer Then certainly there is an Heaven and a state of glory for the Saints Heaven is no dream or night Vision It is sensibly tasted and felt by thousands of Witnesses in this world they are sure it is no mistake God is with them of a truth in the way of their duties They do not only read of a glorified eye but they have something of it or like it in this world The pure in heart do here see God Matth. 5. 8. The Saints have not only a Witness without them in the Word that there is a state of glory prepared for Believers but they have a witness in themselves These are not the Testimonies of craz'd brains but of the wisest and most serious of men not a few but a multitude of them not conjecturally delivered but upon taste feeling and tryal O blessed be God for such sensible Confirmations such sweet praelibations 2. Infer But O what is Heaven and what â—…hat state of glory reserved for the Saints Doth a glimps of Gods presence in a duty go down to the heart and reins O how unutterable then must that be which is seen and felt above where God comes as near to men as can be Rev. 22. 3 4. The Throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it and his Servants shall serve him and they shall see his face And 1 Thes. 4. 17. And so shall we be ever with the Lord. O what is that Ever with the Lord. 〈◊〉 Christians what you feel and taste here by Faith is part of Heavens glory but yet Heaven will be an unspeakable surprizal to you when you come thither for all that It doth not yet appear what we shall be 1 Joh. 3. 1 2. 3. Infer See hence the necessity of casting these very bodies into a new mold by their Resurrection from the dead according to that 1 Cor. 15. 41. It is sown in weakness but raised in power How else could it be a Co-partner with the soul in the ineffable joys of that presence above Certainly my Friends that which is to be a Vessel to contain such strong liquor as this had need be strongly hooped lest it flie to pieces as old Bottles do when fillâ—…d with new Wine The state of this Mortality cannot bear the fulness of that joy Hold Lord stay thy hand said a choice Christian once thy Creature is but a clay Vessel and can hold no more If a transient glimpse of God here be felt in the very reins if it so work upon the very body by sympathy with the soul O what vigorous spiritual bodies doth the state of glory require And such they shall be Phil. 3. 21. like unto Christs glorious Body 4. Infer Is God so near to his People above all others in the world how good is it to be near them that are so near to God O it would do a mans heart good to be near that Person who hath lately had God near to his soul. Well might David say Psal. 16. 3. All my delight is in the Saints and in the Excellent of the Earth And again Psal. 119 63. I am a Companion of all such as fear thee O this is the beauty of Christian fellowship this is the glory of that Society not the communication of their gifts but the Savour of God on their Spirits If any thing be alluring in this World this is 1 Joh. 1. 3. That ye may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Christ Jesus It 's said Zech. 8. 23. of the Jews the time shall come when there shall be such a presence of God among that People that ten men out of all Languages shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you Christians if there were more of God upon you and in you others would not be tempted to leave your Society and fall in with the Men of the World they would say we will go with you for God is with you 5. Infer If God be so near to the heart and reins of his People in their duties O how assiduous should they be in their duties It 's good for me to draw nigh to God Psal. 73. 28. Good indeed the World cannot reward the expence of time at this rates with all its glory Jam. 4. 8. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness those that remember thee in thy ways Isa. 64. 5. It would be an encouragement indeed if I might thus meet God in the way of duty but that 's but seldom I can so meet God there in sensible powerful out-lets of his grace and love I am mostly dead and cold there I feel not Communion with God going down to my heart and reins First you draw nigh to God but is it in truth or in meer formality God is only nigh to such as call in truth upon him Psal. 145. 18. Secondly If your hearts be sincere yet are they not sluggish Do you stir up your selves to take hold of God many there be that do not Isa. 64. 7. and Cant. 5. 3 5. Thirdly Have you not grieved the Spirit of God and caused him to withdraw from you O remember what Pride and Vanity hath been in you after former manifestations Eph. 4. 30. Fourthly Nevertheless wait for God in his ways his coming upon our souls is oftentimes yea mostly a surprizal to us Cant. 6. 12. Or ever I was aware my soul made me as the Chariots of Aminadab 6. Infer What steddy Christians should all real Christians be For loe what a Seal and Witness hath Religion in the breast of every sincere Professor of it True Christians do not only hear by report or learn by Books the reality of it but feel by experience and have a sensible proof of it in their very hearts and reins their reins instruct them as it is Psal. 16. 7. They learn by spiritual sense and feeling than which nothing can give greater confirmation in the ways of God There are two sorts of knowledge among men one Traditional the other Experimental This last the Apostle calls a knowing in our selves Heb. 10 34. and opposes it to that traditional knowledge which may be said to be without our selves because borrowed from other men Now this experience we have of the powers of Religion in our souls is that only which fixes a mans spirit in the ways of Godliness It made the Hebrews take joyfully the spoiling of their goods no arguments or temptations can wrest truth out of the hand of experience non est disputandum de gustu For want of this many Professors turn aside from truth in the hour of tryal O Brethren labour to feel the influences of
Labour for a deeper measure and degree of Sanctification many other rules are but Spiritual Anodynes to give present ease but this is the way to a real Cure a thousand things may be found helpful to put by a vain thought for the present but then it returns again and it may be with more strength This is the proper method to dry the spring when others are but attempts to divert the stream If habits of grace were more deeply radicated acts of grace would be more easie to us and flow more freely from us Lastly Consider what an aggravation it is to your evil to vent it self in the special presence of God in duties See how Paul mourns over it in the Text. It is not only a sin but an affronting of God to his Face this grieving of his Spirit the spoil of thy duty it is as one aptly calls it obex infernalis an hellish Bar or Remora to all sweet and free intercourse of the soul with God 3. Consolation But whilst I am representing the evil of it to some it may be there are others over-whelmed with the sorrowful sense of it even to discouragement and despondency Poor Christian is this thy case Are all the Afflictions in the world nothing to thee in comparison with this evil which is present with thee when thou wouldst do good Well though thou canst not do the good thou wouldst nor free thy self yet from the evil thou wouldst rather than live be freed from There are four things that may be much relief to thy pensive soul. First Though the presence of evil even in thy best duties be sad yet thy grief and affliction for it is sweet That is a sad sin but this is a sweet sign It is not heart-evils heart-wandrings in duties hardness and unbelief that Hypocrites mourn for but more gross and external evils Let this trouble for sin comfort thee when the presence of sin grieves thee Secondly God accepts through Jesus Christ what you do sincerely though you can do nothing purely and perfectly Cant. 5. 1. Your sincerity is your Evangelical perfection the evil that is present is not imputed the good that is present is notwithstanding that commixed evil accepted which is strong consolation Thirdly You find your case was the case of blessed Paul a man of eminent Sanctity And if you consult all the Saints one by one you will find them all sick of this disease so that your case is not singular Fourthly Your Justification is perfect and without spot though your Sanctification be not so and the time is coming when your Sanctification shall be as your Justification is and after that no more complaints THE FOURTH MEDITATION UPON Eph. 1. 13. In whom also after that ye believed ye were Sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise FROM his doxology and solemn Thanksgiving ver 3. the Apostle enumerates the principal Christian priviledges that gave the occasion of that thanksgiving among which this in the Text is not the least though last named In this one verse we have the two noble acts of Faith displaid its direct act call'd Trusting and its reflex act which in order of nature and time follows it and is implied in the word Sealing In the latter clause to which I shall confine my Meditations four things must be remarked viz. The Subject of Assurance The Nature of Assurance The Author of Assurance The Quality of Assurance The Subject of Assurance which is and can be no other than a soul that hath closed with Christ by Faith reflex acts necessarily presuppose direct ones Never was any Unbeliever Sealed except to Damnation Assurance is peculiarly the Prerogative of Believers The Nature of Assurance he calls it Sealing an apt metaphor to express the nature of it For Assurance like a Seal both confirms declares and distinguishes it confirms the grant of God declares the purpose of God and distinguishes the person so priviledg'd from othermen The Author of Assurance which is the Spirit he is the Keeper of the great Seal of Heaven and it 's his Office to confirm and seal the Believers right and interest in Christ and Heaven Rom. 8. 16. Lastly The quality of this Spirit of Assurance or the Sealing Spirit he Sealâ—… in the quality of an holy Spirit and of the Spirit of promise as an holy Spirit relating to his previous sanctifying work upon the sealed soul. As the Spirit of promise respecting the medium or instrument made use of by him in this his Sealing work for he Seals by opening and applying the promises to Believers from the Spirits order The Note will be this Doct. That the priviledge of Sealing follows the duty of Believing There is no season more proper to treat of the Sealing of the Spirit than at a Sealing Ordinance nor can I handle the Spirits sealing work in a more profitable method than in satisfying these five Queries particularly and then applying the whole 1. What is the Spirits Sealing and how performed 2. Why none are Sealed till they Believe 3. Whether all Believers are Sealed 4. What is the priviledge of being Sealed 5. What are the effects of the Spirits Sealing 1. Query First What is the Spirtts Sealing worâ—… and how is it performed Answer The Sealing of the Spirit is his giving a sure and certain testimony to the reality of that work of grace he hath wrought in our souls and to our interest in Christ and the Promises thereby satisfying our fears and doubts about our estate and condition Every matter of weight and concernment is to be proved by two sufficient Witnesses Deut. 19. 15. our sincerity and interest in Christ are matters of the deepest concernment to us in all the world and therefore need a farther witness to confirm and clear them than that of our own spirits the spirit it self therefore bears witness with our spirits Rom. 8. 16. Three things concur to the spirits Sealing work He Sanctifies the soul. He irradiates and clears that work of Sanctification He enables it thereby to apply Promises The first is his material or objective Seal the latter his formal Sealing None but the Spirit of God can clear and confirm our title to Christ for he only searcheth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. and it 's his office Rom. 8. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to witness with our spirits This Seal or Witness of the Spirit must needs be true and certain because Omniscience and Truth are his essential properties He is Omniscient 1 Cor. 2. 10. and therefore cannot be deceived himself He is the Spirit of Truth Joh. 14. 17. and therefore cannot deceive us so that his testimony is more infallible and satisfactory than a Voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1. 19. If an Angel should appear and tell us Christ had said to him Go and tell such a man that I love him that I shed my blood for him and will save him it could
find not this presently as some do Secondly Times of eminent Communion with God are Sealing times There are extraordinary out-lets of Peace Joy and Comfort at some seasons in duty which makes the state of the soul very clear and banishes all scruples and fears from the heart Thirdly Others are Sealed upon some eminent hazard they have been exposed to for Christ or some extraordinary sufferings they have undergone for Christ wherein they have carried it with eminent meekness patience and self-denial 2 Cor. 1. 4 5. Thus the Martyrs were many times Sealed in the depth of their sufferings Fourthly It 's usually found that a Sealing time follows a dark day of desertion and sore combats with temptation Post Nubila Phoebus So that Text Rev. 2. 17. is expounded by some To him that overcometh will I give the white stone and the new name Fifthly Dying-times prove Sealing-times to many souls if their whole life have been like that day described by the Prophet Zech. 14. 17. neither dark nor light a life betwixt hopes and fears yet at Evening-time it hath been light 3. Distinction Lastly We must distinguish the several ways and manners of Sealing Some are extraordinary and immediate vouchsafed only to some persons at some special times and seasons Thus Zacheus was in an extraordinary and immediate way ascertained of his Salvation Luk. 19. 9. This day is Salvation come to this House And so the Palsie-man Mark 2. 5. Son saith Christ thy sins be forgiven thee But these immediate ways are ceased no man may now expect by any new Revelation or Sign from Heaven by any Voice or extraordinary Inspiration to have his Salvation sealed but must expect that mercy in Gods ordinary way and method searching the Scriptures examining our own hearts and waiting on the Lord in Prayer The Learned Gerson gives an instance of one that had been long upon the borders of despair and at last sweetly assured and setled and being asked how he attained that Assurance he answered Non ex nova aliqua revelatione c. Not by any new revelation but by subjecting my understanding to and comparing my heart with the written word And Mr. Roberts in his Treatise of the Covenants speaks of another that so vehemently panted after the Sealings and Assurance of the love of God to his soul that for a long time he earnestly desired some Voice from Heaven and sometimes walking in the solitary Fields earnestly desired some miraculous voice from the Trees or Stones there This was denied him but in time a better was afforded in a scriptural way Now to resolve the Query out of these distinctions First Though all Believers have not the formal Sealings of the Spirit yet they have the objective or material Seal that is the Spirit is in them as a sanctifying spirit putting a real difference betwixt them and others when he is not with them by way of evidence and assurance of sanctification Secondly Though all Believers are not Sealed at one and the same time yet there are few if any Believers but do meet with one season or other in this life wherein the Lord doth Seal them if not at their first close with Christ as many have been Sealed yet in some choice and eminent season of communion with God such golden spots of time such precious seasons most Christians can speak of Though as Bernard speaks it be rara hora brevis mora Seldom but sweet Or if not in the course of their active obedience 't is a thousand to one but they shall meet it in the way of their passive obedience if God exercise them eminently under the cross or after a dark cloud of desertion or in a dying hour Thirdly and lastly Though God now Seals not men in an extraordinary and immediate way by Revelation immediate Inspiration or Voices from Heaven yet most Christians are sealed in the ordinary way of the Spirit under one Ordinance or other in one duty or other 4. Query What is the priviledge of being Sealed by the Spirit Answ. Much every way words cannot express the riches of this mercy for let us but consider the four following particulars and you will admire the mercy First Consider whose act and proper work Sealing is God doth not send Angels upon this Errand though if he did that would be a great honour to poor dust and ashes but he sends his Spirit to do it Oh the Condescension of the great God to men this is a greater honour than if millions of Angels were imploy'd about it And then as to certainty and satisfaction it is beyond all other ways and methods in the world for in miraculous Voices and Inspirations it's possâ—…ble there may subesse falsum be found some Cheat or Imposture of the Devil but the spirits witness in the heart suitable to his revelation in the Scripture cannot deceive us Secondly The conclusion or truth sealed is ravishing and transporting All Christians vehemently pant for it few have the enjoyment of it for any long continuance But whilst they do enjoy it they enjoy Heaven upon Earth a joy beyond all the joys of this world To have this conclusion surely Sealed Christ is mine my sin is pardoned I shall be saved from wrath through him O what is this what is this Thirdly Consider the subject or person Sealed a poor sinful wretch that hast ten thousand times over grieved the good Spirit of God by whom notwithstanding thou art Sealed to the day of Redemption Thou hast by every sin deserved to be sealed up to Damnation Thou hast reason to account and esteem thy self much inferior in graces and duties to many thousands of the Saints that are panting after this priviledge and cannot obtain it O the riches of the goodness of God! Fourthly and lastly Consider the designs and aims of the Spirit in his Sealing thy soul which are 1. To secure Heaven to thee for ever 2. As intermediate thereunto to bring very much of Heaven into thy soul in the way to it indeed to give thee two Heavens whilst many others must suffer two Hells 5. Query Lastly We will enquire what are the effects of the Spirits sealing upon our souls by which we may distinguish and clearly discern it from all delusions of Satan and all Impostures whatsoever Answ. The genuine and proper effects and fruits of Sealing are 1. Inflamed Love 2. Renewed Care 3. Deep Abasements 4. Increase of Strength 5. A desire to be with the Lord. 6. Improved Mortification to the world Wheresoever these are found consequent to our Communion with God and his manifestations of himself to us therein they put it beyond all doubt that it was the Seal of his own blessed Spirit and no delusion First The Sealings of the Spirit cannot but inflame the love of the soul in a very intense degree towards God One flame doth not more naturally beget another than the love of God doth kindle the love of a gracious
for in love only God acteth to the uttermost What ever his power hath done it can do more but for his love it can go no higher he hath no greater thing to give than his Christ. 'T is true in giving us a being and that in the noblest rank and order of Creatures on Earth herein was love In feeding us all our life long by his assiduous tender providence herein is love In protecting us under his wings from innumerable dangers and mischiefs herein is love much love And yet set all this by his Redeeming love in Christ and it seems nothing When we have said all Herein is the love of God that he sent his Son c. This was free love to undeserving to ill deserving Sinners Preventing love not that we loved him but that he loved us Just as an Image in the glass saith Ficinus that is imprinted there by the face looking into it the Image does not look back upon the face except the face look forward upon the Image and in that the Image does seem to see the face it s nothing else but that the face does see the Image O the unexpressable glory of the love of God in Christ Thirdly Though God had given several sad marks of his Justice before both upon the Angels that fell clapping upon them the chains of darkness in the overthrow of Sodom and the neighbouring Cities turning them to Ashes as you may read in Jud. ver 6 7. yet never was the exactness and severity of Justice so manifested before nor ever shall be any more as it was at the death of Christ. Christ did not only satisfie it fully but he also honoured it highly making that Attribute which was once a bar now to be a bottom of our peace Rom. 3. 25. Never did such a Person as Christ stand at the Bar of Justice before The Blood of God was poured out to appease and satisfie it When Christ suffered he did both give and take satisfaction he gave it to the justice of God in dying he took it in seeing Justice so honoured in his death Secondly Another delightful prospect Christ had of the fruit of his sufferings was the recovery and salvation of all the Elect by his death And though his sufferings were exceeding bitter yet such fruit of them as this was exceeding sweet Upon this account he assumed his Name Jesus Matth. 1. 21. yea and his humane Nature also Gal. 4. 4 5. Souls are of great value in his eyes One soul is of more worth in his account than all the world Mark 8. 36. What a pleasure then must it be to him to save so many souls from the everlasting wrath of the great and terrible God Add to this Thirdly The glory which would redound to him from his redeemed ones to all Eternity For it will be the everlasting pleasant imployment of the Saints in Heaven to be ascribing glory praise and honour to the Redeemer To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Rev. 1. 5 6. The improvement of all this will be in a word or two 1. Use for Conviction This truth then in the first place may convince shame and humble the very best of Christians who find so little delight in the most easie sweet and spiritual duties of obedience when Christ undertook and went through the most difficult task for them with such chearfulness and readiness Loe I come thy Law is in my heart I delight to do thy will And yet the work he so applied himself to was a work full of difficulty attended with reproach and shame as well as anguish and pain Did Christ find pleasure in abasement and torment in suffering and dying for me and can I find no pleasure in Praying Hearing Meditating and enjoying the sweet duties of Communion with him Did he come so chearfully to Die for me and do I go so dead heartedly to Prayers and Sacraments to enjoy fellowship with him Was it a pleasure to him to shed his Blood and is it none to me to apply it and reap the benefits of it Oh Lord what an heart have I How unsuitable is this frame of heart to the Nature of God whose essential excellencies make him the supream delight the sweet repose solace and rest of souls Psal. 16. 11. How unsuitable to the principles of regeneration and holiness purposely planted in the soul to make spiritual performances a pleasure to it How unsuitable to the future expected state of glory which brings the sanctified soul to a sweet complacential rest and satisfaction in God! In a word how unsuitable is this temper of spirit to the heart of Jesus Christ O me thinks I hear Christ thus expostulating with me this day Is this thy zeal and thy delight in the duties of obedience Is it rather the awe of Conscience than the pleasure of Communion that brings thee to this duty Doth thy heart need so many arguments to perswade it even to the sweetest easiest and most pleasant duties in Religion Well I did not love thee at that rate my heart readily eccho'd to the Fathers call to die for thee to drink the very dregs of the cup of trembling for thee I come I come I delight to do thy will thy Law is in the midst of my bowels 2. Use for Exhortation If it be so how great a motive have the People of God before them to make them apply themselves with all chearfulness and readiness of mind to all the duties of active and passive obedience O let there be no more grumblings lazy excuses shiftings off duty or dead-hearted and listless performances of them after such an example as this Be ready to do the will of God yea be you also ready to suffer it Let the same mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus The more pleasure and delight you find in doing or suffering the will of God the more of Christs spirit is in you and the more of his Image is upon you Are not all holy duties expressed in Scripture by the Saints walking with God Gen. 17 1. and is not this an Angelical life Can it be a burden to the ear to hear sweet ravishing strains of melody or to the eye to behold variety of pleasant and lively colours or to the palate to rellish the delicious sweetness of meats and drinks Oh Reader were thy heart more spiritual more deeply sanctified and Heavenly it would be no more pain to thee to Pray Hear or Meditate on the things of God than it is to a Bird to carry and use his own wings or to a Man to eat the most pleasant food when he is an hungry I have rejoyced saith David in the way of thy Commandements as much as in all riches Psal. 119. 14. And as to sufferings for Christ they should not be grievous to
my Earthliness the hardness of my heart the corruption of my nature the innumerable evils of my life that brought him down to the dust of death He was made sin for us who knew no sin 2 Cor. 5. 21. Who can believingly eye Christ as suffering such pains such wrath such a curse in the room of such a Sinner such a Rebel so undeserving and so ill-deserving a Creature and not mourn as for an only Son and be in bitterness as for a first-born Fourthly Faith melts the heart by considering the effects and fruits of the sufferings of Christ what great things he hath purchased by his Stripes and Blood for poor Sinners a full and final pardon of sin a well-settled peace with God a sure title and right to the eternal Inheritance and all this for thee a Law-condemned a Self-condemned Sinner Lord what am I that such mercies as these should be purchased by such a price for me for me when thousands and ten thousands of sweeter dispositions must burn in Hell for ever Oh what manner of love is this Fifthly Faith melts the heart by exerting a three-fold act upon Christ Crucified First A realizing act representing all this in the greatest certainty and evidence that can be These are no devised fables but the sure and infallireports of the Gospel Secondly An appying act he loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. He loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood Rev. 1. 5. Thirdly and lastly By an inferring or reasoning act If Christ died for me then I shall never die If his Blood were paid down for me then my sins which are many are forgiven me If he was Condemned in my room I am acquitted and shall be saved from wrath to come through him O how weighty do these thoughts prove to believing souls 1. Use for information 1. Then sure there is but little faith because there is so much deadness and unaffectedness among Professors A believing sight of Christ will work upon a gracious heart as a dead Son a beloved and only Son uses to do upon a tender Fathers heart Reader was it ever thy sad lot to look upon such an heart-rending object Did'st thou ever feel the pangs and commotions in thy bowels that some have felt upon such a sight Why so will thy heart work towards Christ if ever thou believingly lookest on him whom thou hast pierced 2. Infer Then the acting and exercising of faith is the best expedient to get a tender heart and raise the dead affections We are generally full of complaints how hard how dead and stupid our hearts are we are often putting such cases as these How shall I get a broken heart for sin How shall I raise my dead heart in duty Why this is the way no expedient in all the world like this Look upon him whom thou hast pierced 'T is the melting Argument 2. Use of Examination But that which I especially aim at in this point is for the tryal and examination of thy heart Reader in the point of true Evangelical Repentance which is thy proper business at this time And I will go no further than the Text for rules to examine and try it by 1. Rule All Evangelical Repentance hath a supernatural spring I will pour out the spirit of grace and they shall mourn Till the spirit be poured out upon us it is as easie to press water out of a Rock as to make our hearts relent and mourn There are indeed natural meltings the effects of an ingenuous Temper but these differ in kind and nature from Godly sorrow 2. Rule Godly sorrows are real sincere and undissembled They shall mourn as for an only Son Parents need not the help of an Onion to draw tears on such accounts O! their very hearts are pierced they could even die with them Sighs groans and tears are not hang'd out as false signs of what is not to be found in their hearts 3. Rule Evangelical sorrow is very deep so much the mourning for an only Son a first-born must import These waters how still soever they be run deep very deep in the bottom channel of the soul. See Act. 2. 27. They were cut to the heart 4. Rule Faith is the instrument employed in breaking the heart They shall look and mourn This is the Burning glass that contracts the beams and fires the affections 5. Rule Lastly The Wrong sin hath done to God and the sufferings it hath brought Christ under are the piercing and heart-wounding considerations They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn The piercing of Christ by our sin is that must pierce thy soul with sorrow THE TENTH MEDITATION UPON John 6. ver 55. For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed IN this context our Lord Jesus Christ makes a most spiritual and excellent discourse to the Jews about the nature and necessity of faith in him taking the occasion thereof from the Bread which a little before he had so miraculously multiplied and fed them with raising up their minds to more sublime and spiritual things and letting them know that Bread how sweet soever it was was but a shaddow of himself infinitely more sweet and necessary These words are a proposition in which are these three things observable First The subject my Flesh and my Blood Secondly The Predicate it is Meat and Drink Thirdly The manner of Predication it 's Meat indeed and Drink indeed First The subject my Flesh and my Blood i. e. my Humanity this is meat and drink true spiritual food If it be demanded why he had not said I am meat and drink indeed but rather chuses to say my flesh and blood is so the reason is evident saith Learned Camero because if you take away Flesh and Blood from Christ he cannot be Food or Life to us For in order to his being so he must satisfie God for us and obtain the Remission of our sins but without shedding of Blood there is no Remission Now for as much as by the offering up of his Body and shedding of his Blood he hath obtained pardon and life for us therefore his Flesh and Blood is call'd our Meat and our Drink that by which our souls live Which brings us to the second thing Secondly The Predicate it is meat and drink i. e. it is to our souls of the same Use and necessity that meat and drink is to our natural life which cannot be sustained or continued without them The life of our souls as necessarily depends upon the Flesh and Blood of Christ as our natural life doth upon meat and drink Yet beware of a mistake here the Flesh and Blood or the Humanity of Christ is not the Fountain of our spiritual life but the Channel rather through which it flows to us from his Divinity By reason of his Incarnation and Death Righteousness and Life comes to us Thirdly The manner of
Flesh to be rent and his Blood set abroach for you what love like the love of Christ Secondly Learn hence a ground of Content in the lowest and poorest condition allotted to any Believer in this world It may be some of you live low in the world you have hard fare and are abridg'd of many of those sweet comforts in the Creature which the Enemies of God abound in but still remember you have no cause to envy their dainties and be dissatisficd with your own lot and portion when not many Nobles or mighty in the world feed as your souls do feed O what a feast have you What dainties do your souls tast by faith Whilst others do but feed upon Ashes and Husks what is the flesh of Lambs and Calves out of the Stall to the Flesh of Christ What is Wine in bowls and the chief Oyntment to the Blood of Christ and the anoyntings of his Spirit O be satisfied with your outward lot however God hath cast it whilst he hath dealt so bountifully with your souls Thirdly Learn hence the necessity of faith in order to the livelihood and subsistance of our souls What is a Feast to him that cannot tast it And what is Christ to him that cannot believe That cannot by faith eat his Flesh and drink his Blood 'T is not the Preparation made for souls in Christ but the Application of him by faith that gives us the sweetness and benefit of him Faith is the souls mouth or pallate the Unbeliever tasts no sweetness in Christ he can rellish more sweetness in money meat drink carnal mirth or any sensual enjoyment than Christ. Fourthly How excellent are Gospel-Ordinances What sweetness is there to be found in them by true Believers For there Christ is prepar'd and as it were serv'd in for them to feed upon It is your Ministers work to cook and prepare for you all the week long and to furnish for you a feast of fat things Loe here 's a Table spread and furnish'd this day with the costliest dainties that Heaven affords O prize these mercies sit not here with flat or wanton appetites lest God call to your Enemies and bid them take away 2. Use of Exhortation Is the Flesh and Blood of Christ Meat and Drink indeed then let me exhort you Brethren First To come to this Table with sharp and hungry appetites Have you ever tasted that the Lord is gracious and do you not hunger and thirst to taste it again Surely where the Carcass is thither will the Eagles be gather'd Math. 24. 28. There is a two fold appetite a dainty and an hungry appetite beware of a nice and dainty appetite that can rellish nothing in the most solid and spiritual duties except the dish be garnisht with flowers of Rhetorick or the matter serv'd in with art and elegancy This hath been the great sin of the Professors of this Generation O Christians no more of that I pray you Were you really an hungred and athirst for Christ you would come to his Ordinances as famishing men to a feast Secondly To feed heartily upon Christ in every Ordinance and in every Sacrament especially O that your souls might hear and answer that invitation this day Cant. 5. 1. Eat O Friends drink yea drink abundantly O Beloved For Motives I will only hint these three following First Christ is the matter of this Feast God hath prepar'd him for your souls Is any thing in Heaven or Earth so sweet as Christ Sacrificed is Do not the Angels and Saints in Heaven feast upon him Surely one drop of Christ's Blood hath more sweetness and excellency in it than the whole Ocean of all Creature-comforts Secondly Don't your graces need it Have you not a languishing love a staggering faith dull and sluggish desires Look into your hearts and see what need there is of strengthening the things that are in you which are ready to die O feed upon Christ that your graces may be revived strengthened Thirdly Do you know how many daies you are to go in the strength of this meal How long it may be ere you sit again at the Lords Table Surely even these as well as your inferior temporal comforts stand upon terms of greatest uncertainty Ah Christians Consider well the times you live in the Enemy that stands ready to take away the cloth and remove your spiritual food from you It 's said of Peter Martyr that being in Oxford when Q. Mary came in and hearing the first Mass-bell ring he was struck to the heart and said haec una notula omnem meam doctrinam evertit This one tinkling Bell overthrows all the labours of my Ministry at once God grant we may hear none of that Musick in England any more but it 's like to be according to your estimation and improvement of Christ's precious Ordinances Thirdly Commend the experiensed sweetness of Christ to others Don't conceal his loveliness and excellency Thus the fair and enamoured Spouse charges or adjures others Cant. 5. 9. Be not content to feast upon Christ alone whilst others souls are starving and perhaps the souls of your dear natural Relations Say to them as David Psal. 34. 8. O taste and see how good the Lord is Fourthly and lastly See that your appetite to Christ be right and truly spiritual Such an hunger and thirst upon which blessedness is entail'd by promise and you may conclude it so when First It is a sharp and strong appetite Psal. 42. 1. Let your thoughts run upon Christ night and day like the desires of a longing Woman Secondly When 't is a Universal appetite after every thing in Christ his Holiness as well as his Righteousness his Commands as well as his Promises for he is altogether lovely Cant. 5. 16. Thirdly When 't is a continual appetite I mean not that the pulse of your desires should keep an even stroke at all times but that there be real and sincere workings of heart after him always Psal. 119. 20. Fourthly When 't is an industrious appetite awakening the soul to the Use of all means and practice of all duties in order to satisfaction Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after Fifthly and lastly It 's then aright when 't is an insatiable appetite never to be allaid with any thing besides Christ Psal. 73. 25. No nor with Christ himself till thou comest to the full enjoyment of him in Heaven The Believer knows how sweet soever his Communion with Christ is in this world yet that Communion he shall have with Christ in Heaven far excels it there it will be more intimate and immediate 1 Cor. 19. 12. more full and perfect even to satisfaction Psal. 17. 15. more constant and continued not suffering such interruptions as it doth here Rev. 21. 25. More pure and unmixed Here our Corruptions work with our graces Rom. 7. 21. but there grace shall work alone In a word more durable and
was Incarnate for you Isa. 9. 6. For us a Child is born to us a Son is given His death was for you and in your stead Gal. 3. 13. He was made a Curse for us and when he rose from the dead he rose for our justification Rom. 4. 25. and now he is in glory at the right hand of God he is there for us Heb. 7. 25. He ever lives to make Intercession for us It was the pride passion earthliness and unbelief of thy heart which Jesus Christ groaned bled and died to procure a pardon for 3. Infer from the sufferings of Christ those conclusions of faith that tend to assurance As thus Did Christ die for me when I was an Enemy then surely being reconciled I shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. Again Is Christ dead for me then I shall never die eternally Nothing shall separate me from the love of God it is Christ that died Rom. 8. 34. 3. Direction Mourn over all those sins that cause the Lord to hide his Face from your souls Have you grieved the Spirit by your sin O be grieved for it this day at your very hearts cover the Table of the Lord with tears Look upon him whom you have pierced and mourn as for an only Son Though there be no merit yet there is much mercy in a broken heart for sin and there is no such advantage to get your hearts broken as this is which is now before you When the showeth of Repentance is fallen the Heavens over thee may be clear and the Sun shine out in its brightness upon thy soul. 4. Direction In a word pour out thy soul to God in hearty desires for a sealed and clear interest in his love this day tell him it is a mercy thou valuest above life Thy favour is better than life Psal. 63. 3. Tell him thou art not able to live with the jealousies and suspicions of his love thou art but a torment to thy self whilst thy interest in his love abides under a cloud Beseech him to pity thy poor afflicted soul which hath lain down and risen so long with these fears and tremblings and been a stranger to comfort for so many days Tell him how weak thy hands have been and still are in duties of obedience for want of this strength and encouragement Engage thy soul to him this day to be more active chearful and fruitful in his service iâ—… it will please him now to free thee from those fears and doubts that have clogg'd thee in all thy former duties O cry unto him in the words and with the deep sense of the Spouse in this Text. Set me as a seal upon thy heart as a seal upon thine arm for love is strong as death jealousie is cruel as the grave the coals thereof are coals of fire c. THE TWELFTH MEDITATION UPON Eph. 3. 19. And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge THE knowledge of Christ and of his love is deservedly in this place set down among the desiderata Christianorum the most desirable enjoyments of Believers in this world This love of Christ had centred the Apostles heart he was swallowed up in the meditation and admiration of it and would have all hearts inflamed and affected with it as his was Some think the Apostle speaks Extatically in this place and know not how to make the parts of his discourse consistent with each other when he puts them upon endeavours to know that love of Christ which himself confesses to pass knowledge But though his heart was ravished with the love of Christ yet there is no contradiction or inconsistency in his discourse He doth earnestly desire for the Ephesians that they may know the love of Christ i. e. that they might experimentally know his love which passeth knowledge that is as some expound it all other sorts and kinds of knowledge yea and all knowledge of Christ which is not practical and experimental Or thus Labour to get the clearest and fullest apprehensive knowledge of Christ and his love that is attainable in this world though you cannot arrive to a perfect comprehensive knowledge of either Mens humana hoc capit non capit atque in eo capit quod rapitur in admirationem as others reconcile it The note from it is Doct. That the love of Christ surpasses and â—…anscends the knowledge of the most illuâ—…inated Believers The love of Christ is too deep for â—…y created understanding to fathom â—…is unsearchable love and it is so in â—…ivers respects It is unsearchable in respect of its â—…tiquity No Understanding of man â—…an trace it back to its first spring it â—…ows from one Eternity to another â—…e receive the fruits and effects of it â—…ow but O how ancient is that root â—…at bears them He loved us before â—…is world was made and will contiâ—…ue so to do when it shall be reduced â—…to ashes It is said Prov. 8. 30 31. â—…hen he gave the Sea his decree when he â—…ppointed the foundations of the Earth â—…en was I by him as one brought up with â—…im and I was daily his delight rejoycing â—…lways before him rejoycing in the habitaâ—…le parts of his Earth and my delights â—…ere with the Sons of men The freeness of the love of Christ passes knowledge No man knows nor can any words express how free the love of Christ to his people is It is said Isa. 55. 8. My thoughts are not your thoughts The meaning is My Grace Mercy and Love to you is one thing as it is in my thoughts and quite another thing when it comes into your thoughts In my thoughts it is like it self free rich and unchangeable but in your thoughts it is limitted and narrowed pincht in within your straight and narrow conceptions that it is not like it self but altered according to the model and platform of Creatures according to which you draw it in your minds Alas we do but alter and spoil his love when we think there is any thing in us or done by us that can be a motive inducement or recompence to it His love is so free that it pitched it self upon us before we had any loveliness in us at all When we were in our blood he said unto us live and that was the time of love It did not stay till we had our Ornaments upon us but embraced us in our blood in our most loathsome state and of all seasons that is the season of love the chosen time of love Ezek. 16. 7 8. Christ loved us not upon the account of any fore-seen excellency in us or upon any expectation of recompence from us Nay he loved us not only without but against our deserts Nothing in nature is found so free as the love of Christ is our thoughts therefore of this love going beyond all examples and instances that are found among men quickly lose themselves in an immense Ocean of free grace where they can find neither bank