it so earnest a plea for Judgment as that Hell out of Heaven is plague little enough for the matchless pollution of it then it is not safe to look back wishfully God can distinguish an eye of desire from that of pity and he punisheth according to the tendency of the aim he must needs give righteous judgment who weighs in the ballance touches by the Standard and measures by the line of Justice every thought word and work therfore ought man to be exact and wary that there be not in his soul any guest without the wedding garment any desire or fear which is not qualified and brought into subjection For as temporal Thrones are never secure while any emulous Competitors continue in power unsubjected to the one that pleads he has the right or that resolves he wil have it so in mans Mind there is no serenity while Passions importunity be subjected to Reason's Empire and the will of man strikes sail to the pleasure of God Which is the next Argument to be urged Hitherto I have borrowed Ear-rings as it were from Egyptians drawn water out of the wels of humane Learning and produced Instances out of Moralists now I will be bold with the fruit of Paradise such Arguments as being drawn from Gods purpose and his Saints sufferings ought to be very perswasive to us The first whereof is the Will of God Argum. 1 that his in this world should not have a serenato but be chastened 1 Cor. 11.32 that they might not be condemned with the world God suffers his to be often stung by the Taratantula of this World that they may cry out for the musick of his Mercy for cure Alas O holy soul this world is thy Pathmos t is thine Egypt wherein thou hast load of labours laid on thee by thy merciless Task-masters t is thy nonage and thy Gardians in it are such as sell thee to what Vice and what Mischiefe bidds most 't is the Den into which Gods Daniels are shut that they may by faith conquer difficulties and civilize Lions Heaven that remains is thy Rest thy livery and seisin thine emancipation God commands his to wait for that blessed reversion to pray that it may come and till it comes to submit to feed on short commons O these children of the Kingdom have often bread of sorrow and water of affliction given them yea so great exigents are they driven to that sometimes they deceive the dogs in licking up the crums that fall from mens tables whose portion is in this world Psal 17.14 and whose bellies God fils with his hid treasures And fit it is they that would succeed to Christs purchase Heaven should clear the encumbrances and carry the crosses of this world exsultingly not with repinings not crying out mournfully Euseb l. 4. but resolutely as Polycurpus did Malus miles est qui Imperatorem gemens sequitur whom his persecutors burned No matter quoth he what becomes of my body so my soul get to heaven He is an ill souldier that follows his Commander weeping and as bad a Christian that comes to the stake lamenting resolving to keep his place in Paris Foelix vita beatitatis plena semper ac verè vitalis in numinis comitatu perpetuo boni participes Sabellicus Exemplo l. 1. c. 6 Tom. 4. Jude ver 14 Memento Philippe te esse mortalem though he lose a Mansion in Paradise I read of the Saints of God glorious by sufferings but never glorious without them Indeed Enoch who lived heaven upon earth is said to be translated without any mention of sorrows though I beleeve he had them from the wicked world of whom he prophesied But besides him do I finde none but had these mementoe's of mortality and fescues to fear Abraham the friend of God was he not in a strait when Grace and Nature like two violent torrents met in him or like notable Advocates tempted him by turns to gratifie requests antipodick each to other God commands him as it were to imbark his son Gen. 22.2 and hoist sail to the port he appoints Moriah Faith bids him get ready the wind was fair the fraught beneficiall the return safe no miscarrying if wee keep Gods way on Gods errand Wel when Abraham comes whither he is bound what must he do He must unlade and ease the vessels of her burthen Isaac must be sacrificed Faith calls to him to run not halt to obey not dispute and that because the supream Power willed it which was able to raise children to him out of stones and to remand life into its forsaken cell Isaac's body But Nature much amused boggled somewhat at the action and Abraham me thinks thus reasoneth What O Lord my Son What mine onely Son the Son of the Promise and of mine old Age What Isaac What is effusion of innocent bloud a childs by his Father unlawful And shall I be president to this cruelty Shall I who am noted for sanctity teach others upon occasion of passion and displeasure to be Assassines of their Issue That be far from thee the Judg of all the world to command from me the Father of the faithfull and of Isaac to doe O the good mans agony Did he not think ye repent he was a Father who was commanded to unchilde his child and destroy the temple of his sons body which not long before he was instrumentall to build by Gods blessing on his generative energie In this difficulty what course steers hee Abrahams Isaac and Abrahams God must not be Competitors the Father of the faithful is faithfull to his Father God who commands and resolves Isaac for a Sacrifice Gen. 22.13 But see the grace in the reward Abraham above Nature prepares his son for God and God beyond nature provides a Lamb hung by the horns for reprieve Abrahams Faith was not more mirculous then Gods Mercy in accepting so poor an exchange for so rich a captive How ready is God to accept our wils for deeds God looks at the willing minde and rewards Abrahams faith with Isaacks freedome Thus God tried Abraham and were not his sorrows like those of a woman in travel fit only for his faith the windes sutable to the sail that this vessel of glory navigated by to Eternity Next was Moses the servant of God who spake with God as never meer man did Exod. 33.11 face to face 40 dayes together in the Mount ver 28. and was kept without food all that Lent the power of God for that time heaventizing his body and giving it priviledg from natural indigencies and satisfying it without their ordinary supplyes yet was this man not without troubles and cross gales One while his Wife with a feminine clamour and in a motherly rage cries out to him Exod. 4.25 Thou art a bloudy Husband words like the messenger of death portentous and ghastly words that deserved which by no worthy husband ever can are potent enough to
it makes them cry out of Prosperity as captived Craesus did of Solon O Solon Solon had I hearkned to thy premonitions I had never been so unprovided for bonds and captivity Of these then that which the Apostle saves of the Unchaste widdow is most true they are dead when they live 1 Tim. 5.6 But to the Godly it is far otherwise their peace outward is ever sanctified not as to the present use of it for they may faint in the Sunshine they may be lifted up through abundance of Revelation but as to the Sacred end and ultimate result of it God shall turn this by the Sacred Chymistry of Omnipotency into Good Rom. 8.28 This is within the pale of All things work together for good to them that love God Away then thou Accuser of the Brethren avoid thou Tempter to Evil and thou Mortar Piece of Divine Fury Satan Away yee children of Darkness who hate those of Light because your deeds are evil forbear your tauntings of those whom the Lord hath smitten justifie not those whose Iniquitous Ballances have made themselves onely weighty and all others too light the Standard of Justice is coming round Dan. 5.25 your doom is Mene tekel Vphursin the glory of your forged Sanctimony is defaced God will humble the pride of men and polish his rusted Saints by the arising beams of the Sun of Righteousness The Churches Soveraigne is at hand and though his first coming was in humilitie his next will be in glorie to ride in triumph over all feigned Piety and to set these Goats of Lust and Rage on his left hand Lift up O holy ones your heads Your Redemption draws nigh Hee that dyed for you will owne you and expects you should owne him in preserving his seamlesse coat from rents and in keeping unity of Spirit though there be difference of Language Peace be O holy souls to you the peace of this world not by its gifts but by Donation of him who hath subjected all things prepare your selves by holy love to deal out your Riches to those that want freely ye receive freely give O far be it from you to give vinegar and gall to your brethren since your Father in Heaven gives you the generous liquor of Love and bids you do as you would be done by Take your fils of the waters of outward plenty Marah is cured the bitterness of death is past Christ hath by his Cross so crucified the world to you that it is now become your Vassal not your Lord remember there is the portion of Peace annexed to Acquaintance with God So do and so have But is this all are the grains of allowance only in Externals Is my Carcass more worthy then my Soul What shall be done to that animula blandula 2 Pet. 1.4 which is after a sort Partaker of the DIVINE Nature is there no accrewment to that Doth God take care of Sparrowes and of the haires of our heads and is there no provision made for that which is the Nightingale of Eternity Surely yes two for one the double portion for this first-born One portion respects its conjunction here with the body and the other its separation from and glorification with the body in Heaven the first in Grace the second in Glory the first in via the Comfort and Peace of a good Conscience and the latter and better in Patria of a good God in a glorious Kingdom Heaven 2 Peace Internal not Physical sans Palpitation of the Heart sans exclamation of the Passions or their crowing shrils in the brain but peace Metaphysical the peace of God in the brest of man God as it were incarnate sitting on the Tribunal of a Mortal Judicatory Now the winter is past the stormes are over the singing of birds is come the voice of the Turtle of the Primum Mobile is heard O Extatick Elamire O Seraphick Ela O Note stept aside from the Quire of Angels to entice our Admirations Doth God dwell with man can these houses of clay contain him that is whatever is Infinite and Incomprehensible which he is Be thou O Lord with my pen and let it be thine Instrument to decipher this which is so rare which is whatever Nature can aspire to value Peace of Conscience a Jewel which abates not price a child of light admired in all Ages Persons Countries sought after when not had cherished where possessed deplored when lost whom Patriarks Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Christians valued and to which they peered nothing Peace of conscience the Salt that seasons Mirth sweetens Sorrow and the Plummet that sounds the bottom of every coast and discovers Shipwrack and safety Peace of Conscience the Touchstone of our innocency the probate of our Zeal the Furnace of our Charity for then only can we love God and our Neighbor when his love is shed abroad in our hearts by his holy Spirit who works this peace in us Peace of Conscience that Phenix nest made up of the Persumes of Graces out of which expiring rises peace of Eternitie Peace of Conscience heaven on earth glory in weakness light in obscuritie Abrahams bosom in Lazarus sores Peace of Conscience Goshen in Egypt Gods Segullah to the Alchimy of the worlds Admirables the fat kine of holy serenity that by a miraculous transposition swallow up all the lean kine of worldly cares and confounds the wisdom of secular interests Peace of Conscience the Lily of the vallies in which Christ nestles the Rose of Sharon on which the Sun of Righteousness smiles to which Solomons bravery is but Beggery and Herods oratory but babling Peace of Conscience compared with which Balm of Gilead is but like the trifling Compound of a Quack Salve and the Gold of Ophir but as dross and dung Peace of Conscience to which Power and Policy Arts and Armies Councels and Senates are but as Molehils to Mountains Ants to Men Atomes to the body of this earth and the dwindling light of the candle to the center of light enveloped in the Sun Peace of Conscience the Musick to which Orpheus his Harp and Arions Pipe helped on with Syrens voice are but so many straines of perfect discord and displeasing Harmony Peace of Conscience the best companion of life the sweetest Confessor at death the noblest Memorial after death nay the souls prodomus next under Christ to Heaven for thither it ran on Cornelius his errand to display his Almes and thither it must go to the credit and comfort of all that have it For there is none of this peace to the wicked saith my God Here O profane worldlings here O wretched Politico's yee are outstripped pleasures profits honors have no suffrage in this confistory they cannot make their Masters partakers of this delight to which all others are but shadowes as far beneath them as drops to the Ocean Neither Alexanders Power nor Solomons Wisdom nor Mithridates his Wealth nor Justinians Learning nor Galens Receipts nor Archimedes his Experiments can
reasonably thought a prophanation of and violence done to his Excellency He who was consecrated in the womb had sorrows in his soul before on the cross wounds from spears in his side that he might appear to be A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief whose soul had the propassion before his body the Passion Yet further verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief What means this is there any degree of misery beyond that of a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Is not every twitch of anguish an Orator to God and mans pity What can be a depression more irrecoverable then to be condemned to the Cross for the Son of God to bear the sins of men yet this puts a further emphasis on Christs Suffering God permitted him to be bruised in the mortar of mens malice that the fragrancy of his charity may affect his and make them admire him for this savour of his oyntment Cant. 1.3 And 't is well coupled To bruise him with It pleased the Lord God commended his love to man by giving his San to die an act of pure choice and perfect charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simul affectum acceptationem includit Pagn in verbo Nothing could have moved Christ to come from heaven to suffer on earth but free and unmerited benignity Christ had a body given him to be broken for us that our Ransome might be effected by his lifes dissolution our debts solution Thus it pleased the Lord what to doe To bruise him not to humble him as a Virgin robbed of her Ornament that could not be Christ is what hee was and ever will be a Lamb without blemish this Hellen of heaven hath no mole or black spot on the face of his glory though Hee was apprehended by Club-men yet was Hee Lord of Millions of Angels The humiliation of Christ consisted in this that Hee should lie in the dust as man Home rarus home singularis home extra omnium hominum numcrum solus talis in hoc mundo Corn. Mussus in concione de Pass habâ—u Romae in Palatio who could not see corruption in the grave because God that he must die an unusuall way who was an unusuall Sacrifice He must be bruised Our Lord Jesus not like Jonah for disobedience but like him in the tumultuous sea of sorrow had a grave prepared to lodg him in till his time of detension was over and that of Ascension was come then hee opened Deaths prison doors and took a speedy cours â—o heaven where he is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father O Lord how great sorrows pressed upon Christ What unparallell'd grief had he who was the Son of God and could not sin the Son of God and deserved not to suffer 't is we O Lord that provoked thee what did that Lamb do Nay rather Lord what did hee not do that deserves our admiration and eternal gratitude yet behold his sorrowes Sorrow that 's an unworthy singular of detraction such a prelation of passion calls for a plurality of expressive Gratitude Come then O holy soul to this sacred Audit and behold sorrowes numberless Love without merit O opus absquâ— exemplo O gratia sine merito O amor sine mensura Cornel Mussus Epis Bitont in Ser. de Passione Luke 2. Charity beyond Measure Had he not sorrow who was the Son of God yet became the son of Man and that of no King no Grandee but the reputed son of a Carpenter born in an Inn in the Stable of that Inn laid in the Manger of that Stable Had he not sorrow who wanted a hole to hide his head in bread to feed upon unless by Miracle whose Followers were poor whose Tribute was paid by a fish and Triumph solemniz'd by an Ass Colt and by boughs and garments spread in the way Had he not sorrow who spake and did as never man his enemies being Judges yet was traduced envied followed with Reproach betrayed by his own servant and put to death by his Country men after a shameful manner and by a lingring and protracted Engine of dispatch the Cross on which he was exposed to shame naked unpitied reviled given Vinegar and Gall to yea as it were forsaken of God What call yee this if not forrowes Was is shall be any sorrowes like these sorrows of Christ When his soul was made an offering for sin his body subjected to violence yea body and soul for a time parted to joyn God and man together whom sin had severed whom only his death could reconcile Mat 2.7.45 Wel might the Sun refuse to give light to such a deed of darkness as was the Jews cruelty in crying to death their King John 19.15 which the wisdom of Pilate hinted to them by way of Reproach in these words Shall I crucifie your King Well might the vail of the Temple be rent when the Temple of his body more glorious then Solomons Temple not made with hands as was that but compaginated by the miraculous art of Omnipotency was torn apieces by cruelty Matth. 27.51 52 53. Well might the graves open and the dead yeeld themselves no longer prisoners when Jesus Lord of the grave was on his march to the grave Well might the dead appear to many in the holy City since the City appeared but a grave of dead men who knew not what they did nor whom they acted cruelty upon O holy soul since it is thine ambition to have Christ thy reward resolve to follow him bearing his reproach Fear not the infultings of men nor the oppositions of flesh and bloud If to accompany Christ to Golgotha be to be vile be yet more vile The Cross of Christ hath treasure under it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marcus Anton ad Silenum much glory results from contempts for his sake There is nothing so becoming thy holy Prosession as to imitate Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nissen de relig Christian Profes Christianity is nothing else but to live holily and die patiently as did Christ and so much neerer him shall we be in glory as we are here like him in our Conversation Christ made it his meat and drink to do his Fathers will Thou O holy Soul must not think his good pleasure thy pennance his providence thy disappointment his service thy slavery He uttered no discontent thou must not rave and rage He suffered contradiction of sinners thou must not expect approbation from them Hee forgave his Enemies thou must not remember injuries to revenge them Percussorem Episcopum ille condemnat qui dorsum suum posuis ad flagella maledicius non remaledicit S. Hieron Epist 83. ad Oceanum Hee came unto his own and they received him not thou must not wonder if thou suffer from those whom thou hast obliged He wanted a hole to put his head in use thy plenty well that thy Lord
the natures of Creatures and things we should soon discover our follies to be too brutish either to be admired or followed and the Creation would soon renite obedience to so senslesse Governours But blessed be God he hath not left us without a witnesse of his liberality He hath informed our specious bodies with perfect souls and made a noble Lodging of State for himself that high room and top battlement our Understanding which though too vast to be filled with the little puncto's and contemptible grains of worldly nothings yet receives completion from God and those apprehensions of him which he in much condescension to us is pleased to vouchsafe us not to make us proud of our fatnesse but provident to improve fulnesse to gratitude and to serve him more compleatly who does good and is good and from whom goodnesse effluxeth to all creatures for of his fulnesse they receive fulnesse That this Understanding is the Key of Discovery and Acquaintance needs no second to confirm it for even nature tels us by the Rule that there is no desire of what we know not Ignoti nulla cupido and Scripture directs to this as the path to all gracious Intercourse with God in one passage of holy Writ I hear this asserted Psal 9.10 They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee in another He that cometh to GOD must believe that he is Heb. 11.6 Now effects imply causes as Cisterns do Springs and Rivers Seas If God be to be believed on he must be conceived of and understood by those that thus believe him for as articulation is consequent to generation so is adhaesion to assent and assent to intellect The necessity of intellect to head the will and affections which in a sort compleat acqaintance is evincible from many things from the order of God in Creation Nature which makes this as the womb at which port every thing which tends in its progresse to action enters The light natural typicall of this internall Luminary was the first Creature as that which God erected to give light to his Library the World which God compiled of nothing by a power eternal complete and indeterminable and the first tryall hee put man upon was to touch his Intellect and to try the magnetisme of that faculty which could draw all things to it and incorporate it self with every thing And if when there was no distortion if before the mis-rule which sin and Satan brought into the Understanding this was the tendency of that Faculty It must still remain what it was as to the Nature and sacred Design of God though vayled and denegrated by accessions of sin and contractions of punishments which by understanding any thing but God and in order to God is just up on it The faculty then is the same in its nature in its imployment onely the Rose hath prickles the Swan deformed legs Death is in the pot if God doth not heal the waters and turn our Understandings to that right object Himself whom to know is life eternal And whom to glorifie as God our most excellent and onely good is the sole end of our creation Nor is the order of God in Creation the only Instance of this precedence of the Intellect but experience attests this in the whole latitude of Instances the Heavens by that instinct they have as it were and after their kind do their duty to earth Man nay their Maker by a duct which to them is in stead of Intellect do they serve times and seasons do they remit and extend influence according to the law of their first Cause and the Birds and Beasts by their sensual Energy analogous in some sort to Intelect in man direct their course and run their race not attempting to love or flye that which is not Good or Evil in their eye and pleasing or displeasing to their Natures Now if that rule of the Schools be true which neither is yet nor ever will be contradicted That the work of Nature is the work of the God of Nature Opus Natura est opus Authe ris then what is the concurrent practice of Universal Nature according to its specifick being must be Positive and Absolute and so from him who is the Beginning and End of all things and therefore most true And so I have mounted the first Step the Vnderstanding Acquaintance imports Understanding for how shall Desire be heightned but from Knowledge and Knowledg be gained but by that Faculty which is admissive and receptive of it Rom 10.14 How can they saith S. Paul believe on him of whom they have not heard and how can they hear without a Preacher Nor is this Step consummative to our Acquaintance if here we stay pitching this as the Non ultra beyond which we will not go for God hath placed his Seat on High and the Rounds of the Ladder which reacheth him are many he will have us engaged in much colluctation many breathings and pantings before we come up to the Mount of Mercy where Peace is and Evil is not and therefore he cryes out to man Step 2 in the second place for his Heart his Will which is the Jewel in this Cabinet of Glory This this to the Intellect is as the Sailes to the Ship takes the Winds gales and carrys it to the Port of Loss or Gain this this is the Womb in which are the Issues of life and death this this is the Paradise which we ought to guard with the Flaming Sword of an uninterrupted and earnest Zeal for as the Sailes move the Ship by reason of the wind which acts upon them and so is causal of their swelling as they of the Ships motion and according to the quantity of the wind so ordinarily is the way of the Ship so doth this act upon the Intellects premises admitting whatever hath the Watch-word from that Centinel I say not that the Will alwayes followes the rectified Understanding but this I say No man wills what is evil under the notion of evil Bonum velle convertuntur for the Wil and Good are convertible and many greatest evils have some good in conjunction with them for which they are admitted though as to the predominant parts of them they deservedly be termed and judged Evil for whatever erreth from the perfect Rule of Gods Law and defaceth the Image of God in the soul hath not the allowance of Heaven to make it currant Now this Will of man is highly concerned to the completion of reasonable Actions it being the vehiculum which carries the Intellect to its Object and thereto unites it the Understanding approves the Match but the Will tyes the knot and adunates as I must know before I can will so must I will before I can be acquainted with that I will which is the reason why between things averse there is no acquaintance properly so called but rather an Antithesis and Retrogade Motion Contraryes meet not nor
Lord speaks of who sell all to purchase the Jewel of Divine Intercourse these are they that cry out for the light of Gods countenance Psalm 4. and care not what they suffer so they have it To these humble prostrates are the Doles of Heaven dealt out on these that cry out as Rachel did to Jacob Give me Grace or else I dye doth God give the blessing of Acquaintance and for these and these only hath he a Reserve a Mansion in his Kingdom Jerusalem above which is the vision of Peace and in the fruition of which by holy Acquaintance with God as the way and means we shall obtain adunition to God as the end and fruition of Peace in that felicity for so saith the next words Acquaint now thy selfe with God and be at peace But stay man a while There is somewhat intercurrent 'twixt Acquaintance and Peace there are bars and bounds to keep the Stage free from pester God hath appointed Means and Degrees by which to come at length to this Culmen this top of the Mount on which shall be our Transfiguration Christ Moses and Elias are to be met with when we can say our Christian Alphabet roundly when we can say not only as Saint Paul Phil. 3 12. Rev. 5.9 10. Nondum attigimetam but sing that Epinichyon Thou art worthy O Lord for thou hast redeemed us from sin sorrow the world and made us Kings and Priests to thee Till then there is aliquid agendum if ever thou wilt come to the end of thy race it must be by the Means ordained to that end which is the second Scruple to be explicated Scruple 2 2 What are the Meanes of obtaining this Acquaintance The Solution of this is partly done in the foregoing Consideration and therefore will require the less answer here the prescribed Steps of assent are also many several Paces towards it what is necessary to be added by way of Illustration is only this God requires of every Acquaintance 1. Reconciliation to Christ 2. Resignation to his holy Spirit 3. Adoration of his Ordinances 4. Admiration of his Works 5. Renovation of life 1 Reconciliation to Christ All sin is Hostility against him 't is Rebellion against the Prince of Peace and folly against him the Wisdom of the Father He came to unite God and thee and thou O man labourest the Defeat of his advent the end of his descent from Heaven to earth was to draw men after him thou in stead of coming to him that thou mayest have life John 5.40 runnest away from him in stead of casting down thy self at his feet and craving his pardon thou holdest up Weapons of unrighteousness against him Is this thy kindness to thy friend Is this thy Loyalty to thy Prince Is this the Badge of Acquaintance and friendly intimacy Dost thou crown Christ with thorns and expect he should kiss thee with the kisses of his lips Dost thou deliver him to the Corss and lookest from him for a place in Paradise Do these rough hands of Esau deserve from Isaak any Blessing O man mistaken erring thorow the Delusion of thy Prospect and the Temptation incumbent on thy heart Return and seek to him by tears whom thou hast provoked by Treachery crave his blood thine Attonement which thou hast shed in triumph to thy Lusts thou hast made him thine Adversary by sin humbly prostrate thy self as his Purchase and Penitent Let him see thy tears trickle down thy tender cheek from a pensive heart and a gracious eye that now lookest upon thy self with greater scorn then ever sinfully thou didst upon him when wickedly thou saidst I will not have this man raign over me and let no hour day moment pass without some earnest Petition for Reconciliation That he would cease to be what thou hast deserved thine Upbraider Accuser severe Judge and be what he hath promised to all that turn to him with all their hearts an Advocate a Load-stone the Way the Truth and the Life An Advocate to plead thy Cause a Load-stone to touch thy heart the Way in which and Truth by which thou shouldest walk and the Life to crown thee after thy work done But perhaps thou concludest thy self at too great a loss to recover too far out of favour to be re-ingratiated Why so If where sin abounds Rom. 5 2◠Grace superabounds there is hope for thee Bespeak not O man thy denyal do not stay thy career towards heaven because thou fearest the door of Grace is shut Such Conclusions may hinder thy endeavour they cannot add to thy comfort therefore covet in the second place the Holy Spirit to thy comfort entertain him kindly grieve him not by reiterated sins quench him not by averse obstinacy An nescis anima te verecundum habere sponsum This holy Dove sent from the Deity brings the Olive Branch with him the Peace is bought by Christ but the Spirit seals and applies the Purchase the Salve is rare but works not kindly except that hand layes on the Plaister therefore resign thou thy self to the Spirit of God let him rule in thee and by his Steerage be thou acted follow this Star it ever leads to Christ hearken to his voice it is vox dilecti it s a clam sweet lovely lightsome voice be ravished with this Musick which with Hyper-Syrene notes charms most wisely give up thy self soul and body to this Besieger that summons thee to deliver up the strong Holds of Sin and Satan to Christ the King of Saints and the Saviour of his Body the Church Make no terms with him the Holy Ghost will not be tyed to Articles He is free to intercede and thou must be free to render as he will have good quarter so gives he sure comfort The soul that receives him is Scot-free from Terror and Fear of Divine displeasure for this Guest secures his Quarters yea the power of the Almighty overshadoweth those with Grace whose hearts are prepared to cry Veni Spiritus Sancte And till O man this be thy temper thou art as unfit for Acquaintance with God as for Heaven of which it is a real Type and to which it is the Baptist for as into Heaven flesh and blood quà such cannot enter so into familiarity with God can none be admitted who have not the Test of this Comforter who never beares witnesse that they are the sons of God who rest unreconciled to Christ unresigned to him But how may these Graces appear in me may the soul say God Christ and the Holy Ghost have their Court in Heaven I am in the Valley of Bochim in the frigid Zone of earthly vanities where dust and ashes wormes and no men live and acclamate the Diana of Pomp and splendid nothing my bucket is not deep enough my stature not high enough to reach Heaven my bulk will not bear those breadthy Sails which that Glory fils What shal I do How may I contract acquaintance with God by union with Christ
and rendition to his Spirit To these the third Step is answer Adore his Ordinances Those are his Leidgers which here he leaves to negotiate about affaires of Heaven these are the Chariots in which Eliahs are whirled thither these bring forth and there is none barren amongst them the good will of him that was in the bush are upon these Deut. 33.16 which Atheism and Irreligion would separate and unbrother as rejectitious and illegitimate God hath appointed his Word for our Rule his Ministers for our Guide his Sacraments for our Comfort his Day for our Rest and Refection his Church for our Pillar and Ground of Truth and those who adore not these are not like to be Gods Acquaintance Soveraignty will have no limits prescribed by Subjects Heaven knowes no Method but that of its own dictation Those that will be beggars must not be chusers Interest with God is worth gaining by cap in hand and upon bended knee and they deserve not to be heard in their request who request any thing contra formam Statuti inde editi the Declarative Law is Search the Scriptures John 5.3 9. Luke 16.29 for they do testifie saith Christ of me And in another place If they will not bear Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded if one rise from the dead Wander not then O soul after wild phansies and blazing figments exposed to view and set on broach of purpose to deceive and mislead ignorant and inquisitive worldlings who set the Crown on Coridons and believe Christ the Saviour of the world rather from his riding on an Ass-Colt and obscure parentage then from his glorious attestation from Heaven or his convincing conversation here on earth and judg nothing Sacred but what is indeed common and unclean But O soul keep thou close to the Ordinances of Christ which his servants have received from him by the unquestionable tradition of the Church to the Truth of which the lives and deaths of holy Martyrs and glorious Confessors have in all ages born witness and do not believe that any thing is so lovely and truly advantageous to thy peace and orderly conduct as to serve thy God in that manner which he hath appointed and adore thou these holy mysteries Psal 46.4 by which waters the City of God in thy soul ought only to be made glad 5 And though thus to do be to do more then many now will yet is it not the totum postulatum of thee God O man requires of thee some tribute of praise the quit-rent of Gratitude The Psalmist tells us in the person of God Psal 50.23 Whoso offereth me praise honoureth me and to give God the glory of his Munificence is but to offer him of his own it is but to pay him our Fine in his owne Coyn 1 Cor. 4.7 for what have we that we do not receive And in no kind is this sense of our obligation to God better resented by him then by Admiration of his Works which is the fourth Requiry of God towards the perfection of our Acquaintance with him Admiration of his Works And here me thinks I am enforced to exclamate with the holy Pophet Lord what is Man What his Being Capacity Dignity that thou shouldest honour him with Contemplation of thee and of those Works which set thee out in thy back parts though not to the ineffability of thine Essence Who O who wishes not his tongue were untied and tipped with Eloquence excelling mortal Emulation Psalm 150.2 that he might give to God the glory due to his name and praise him according to his excellent greatness not only for that he is high not for that he is and there is none besides him but for that he vouchsafeth to look down upon us here below and calls us to contemplate his good Will as well as matchless Power in the Formation of things and the orderly production of them Here is Matter to amuse the Secretary of Nature and to puzzle the greatest Oedipus here is a full point to Plato's Eloquence and Plotinus his Profundity Who can search the Center of that Idea which was in God when he made the Sun Moon and Stars appointing them their seasons influences order and sweetly tuning them each to other Who knowes the Nature of Creatures animate and inanimate vegetive and sensitive and can say of their Natures as God doth of the Seas proud Waves Hitherto and no further this you can and this you cannot do Where is he that sees the abyss of Providence and penetrates into that privy Chamber of Divinity which is for Gods eye only daring to affirme what shall and shall not be and the consequences of things natural and contingent Sure no mortal man undementated dare so confide in Art and dote so fondly on his vain shadow as to boast of this which is Gods incommunicable Jewel and the Prerogative of his Crown Our portion Oman is to wait Gods discovery Secret things belong to God Deut. 29.29 Exod. 24.2 but things revealed to us and God forbid we should come neerer the Mount then is indulged us or endeavour after Wisdom beyond Sobriety Our duty is to acquaint our selves with God not by knowing him as he is for that 's impossible but by knowing him as he manifests himself in works of Power Providence Mercy and in the improvement of what light we borrow from this Lamp we may see enough to make us in love with him who made all things as and what they are and to what they shall be In him the Rich and the poor the wise and the simple the Brute and the Rational the Worm and the Angel the Flye and the Eagle the Ant and the Elephant the Mouse and the Lion the Eele and the Whale meet God is the Maker of them all and the same power went to the production of the least as greatest from him come winds and seasons and without him nothing is that is nor shall be that he wills not this is the sum of what we can reach to in the folio of Contemplation and practice for whatever helps Art Nature give us come far shorter of the utmost extent of Gods Works than the shortest ladder is short of the Heaven we see or the impurest soul of that better Heaven we hope for The best Meditation we can make is that of the Father Si tale Artificium qualis Artifex si tale est quod fecit qualis est quifecit If the courage of the Lion strength of the Elephant capacity of the Whale prudence of the Ant continence of the Dove If the world be so variously fitted with necessaries for delight support and exercise of man and his Nature so adapted to search into and blessed to find out and improve the secrets and several qualities of things creatures and continents in some proportion sutable to his being and Gods designment hath he not great cause to cry out with that Kingly Prophet Psal 139.14.19.1 O