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
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.
Predication is very Emphatical it is meat indeed and drink indeed which notes two things First Reality in opposition to all legal shaddows and types Secondly Transcendent excellency far surpassing all other food even Mannah it self which for its excellency is styled Angels food My Flesh is meat indeed i. e. true substantial and real food to souls and choice excellent and incomparable food Hence observe Doct. That what meat and drink is to our bodies that and much more than that the Flesh and Blood of Christ is to believing souls Two things require explication in this point First Wherein the resemblance or agreement lies betwixt the Flesh and Blood of Christ and Meat and Drink Secondly Wherein the former transcends and excels the latter 1. Query Wherein lies the resemblance and agreement betwixt the Flesh and Blood of Christ and material Meat and Drink Sol. The agreement is manifest in the following particulars First Meat and Drink is necessary to support Natural life we cannot live without it Upon this account Bread is call'd the Staff and Stay i. e. the support of the natural spirits which do as much lean and depend upon it as a feeble man doth upon his staff Isa. 3. 1. But yet how necessary soever it be the Flesh and Blood of Christ is more indispensibly necessary for the life of our souls Joh. 6. 53. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you Our souls have more absolude need of peace and pardon by Christ than our bodies have of meat and drink Better our bodies were starved and famished than our souls damned and lost for ever Secondly Meat and Drink are ever most sweet and desirable to those that are hungry and thirsty It is hunger and thirst that gives value and estimation to meat and drink Prov. 27. 7. To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet and so it is in our esteem of Christ Joh. 7. 37. If any man thirst let him come to me and drink When God by illumination and conviction makes men deeply sensible of their miserable lost and perishing condition then ten thousand worlds for a Christ. All is but dung and dross in comparison of the excellency of Christ Jesus Thirdly Meat and drink must undergoe an alteration and lose its own form before it actually nourishes the body The Corn is ground to pieces in the Mill before it be made Bread to nourish us And Christ must be ground betwixt the upper and neither Milstones of the wrath of God and malice of men to be made Bread for our souls The Prophet saith Isa. 52. 14. His Visage was marr'd more than any mans He did not look like himself the beauty and glory of Heaven but the reproach of Men and despised of the People Oh what an alteration did his Incarnation and Sufferings make upon him Phil. 2. 6 7. Quantum mutatus ab illo Fourthly Natural food must be received into our bodies and have a natural Union with them and Christ must be received into our souls and have a spiritual Union with them by faith or else we can have no nourishment or benefit by him An empty Profession a meer talkative Religion nourishes the inner man just as much as the sight of meat and our commending of it doth our outward man It 's Christ's dwelling in our hearts by faith Eph. 3. 17. our receiving of him Joh 1. 12. our eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood Joh. 6. 53. i. e. the effectual application of Christ to our souls by faith that makes us partakers of his benefits Fifthly Meat and drink must be taken every day or else natural life will languish and spiritual life will never be comfortably maintain'd in us without daily communion with Jesus Christ If a gracious soul neglect or be interrupted in its course of duties and stated times of prayer it will be quickly discernable by the Christian himself in the deadness of his own heart and by others also in the barrenness of his discourses And in these things stands the Analogy and agreement of the Flesh and Blood of Christ with meat and drink 2. Query The next thing is to open the transcendent excellency of Christs Flesh and Blood above all other food in the world and this appears in four particulars First This Flesh and Blood was assumed into the nearest Union with the second Person in the blessed Trinity and so is not only dignified above all other created Beings but becomes the first receptacle of all grace intended to be communicated through it to the Children of men Joh. 1. 14. Secondly This Flesh and Blood of Christ was offered up to God as the great Sacrifice for our sins and Purchase of our peace Col. 1. 20. Eph. 5. 2. and so it is of inestimable price and value to Believers The humane Nature of Christ was the Sacrifice the divine Nature was the Altar on which it was offered up and by which it was dignified and sanctified and made an Offering of a sweet smelling savour to God Eph. 5. 2. Thirdly This Flesh and Blood of Christ is the great medium of conveyance of all blessings and mercies to the souls and bodies of Believers It lies as a vast pipe at the Fountain-head of blessings receiving and conveying them from God to Men Col. 1. 14. 19. So then it being united to the second Person and so become the Flesh and Blood of God it being the Sacrifice offered up to God for Attonement and Remission of sins and the medium of conveying all grace and mercy from God the Fountain to the souls and bodies of Believers how sweet a rellish must it have upon the pallate of faith Here faith may tast the sweetness of a Pardon a full free and final pardon of sin than which nothing in this world can be sweeter to a Sin-burdened Conscience Here it tasts the incomparable sweetness of Peace with God a Peace which passeth Understanding the breach Sin made is by this Sacrifice made up for ever Col. 1. 20. Here it tasts the unexpressible sweetness of acceptation with God and an interest in his favour a mercy which a poor convinced soul would give ten thousand worlds for were it to be purchased Yea here it rellisheth all the sweet Promises in the Covenant of grace as confirmed and ratified by this Sacrifice Heb. 9. 5. So that well might he say my Flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed the most excellent New Testament-food for Believers 1. Use of Information First See here the love of a Saviour that Heavenly Pelliâ—…an who feeds us with his own Flesh and Blood You read Lam. 4. 10. of pitiful Women who eat the flesh of their own Children but where have you read of Men or Women that gave their own flesh and blood for meat and drink to their Children Think on this you that are so loth to cross and deny your flesh for Christ he suffered his
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
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
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
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