and all the secrets of the heart Psalm 44. 21. 94. 11. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world Acts 15. 18. His understanding is infinite Psalm 147. 5. What praise doth that Goodness and Mercy deserve which is diffused throughout all the world and is the life and hope and happiness of men and Angels His Mercy is Great unto the Heavens and his Truth unto the Clouds Psalm 57. 10. O how great is his Goodness to them that fear him Psalm 31. 10. and therefore how great should be his Praise Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord and who can shew forth all his Praise Psalm 106. 2. For great is the Glory of the Lord Psalm 138. 5. § 15. 2. It is the end of all Gods wondrous works and especially the end which man was made for that all things else might Praise him Objectively and men and Angels in estimation and expression that his Glorious excellency might be visible in his works and be admired and extolled by the rational creature For this all things were created and are continued For this we have our understanding and our speech This is the fruit that God expecteth from all his works Deny him this and you are guilty of frustrating the whole creation as much as in you lieth You would have the Sun to shine in vain and the Heavens and Earth to stand in vain and man and all things to live in vain if you would not have God have the praiâ—e and Glory of his works Therefore Sun and Moon and Starrs and Firmament are called on to Praise the Lord Psalm 148. 2 3 4. as they are the matter for which he must by us be praised O praise him therefore for his mighty acts Praise him according to his excellent greatness Psalm 150. 2. O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare his wondrous works for the children of men Psalm 107. 8 c. Yea it is the end of Christ in the Redemption of the world and in saving his elect that God might in the Church in Earth and Heaven have the praise and glory of his grace Ephes. 1. 6 12 14. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that iâ— the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Heb. 13. 15. And let the redeemed of the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever Psalm 107. 2. For this all his Saints are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people that they should shew forth the praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 5 9. § 16. 3. The Praise of God is the highest and noblest work in it self 1. It hath the highest object even the glorious excellencies of God Thanksgiving is somewhat lower as having more respect to our selves and the Benefits received But Praise is terminated directly on the perfections of God himself 2. It is that work that is most immediately neerest on God as he is Our end And as the end as such is better than all the means set together as such so are the final duties about the end greater than all the mediate duties 3. It is the work of the most excellent creatures of God the holy Angels They proclaimed the coming of Christ by way of Praise Luke 2. 13 14. Glory to God in the highest on earth peace Good-will towards men Psalm 103. 20. 148. 2. And as we must be equal to the Angels it must be in equal Praising God or else it will not be in equality of Glory 4. It is the work of Heaven the place and state of all perfection And that is best and highest which is nearest Heaven Where they rest not day nor night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Allmighty which was and is and is to come Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 8. 10. Rev. 19. 5. A voice came out of the throne saying Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that fear him both small and great verse 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundrings saying Allelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Let us be glad and rejoyce and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready § 17. 4. It beseemeth us and much concerneth us to learn and exercise that work which in Heaven we must do for ever and that is to Love and joyfully Praise the Lord. For earth is but the place of our apprentiship for Heaven The preparing works of mortifying repentance must in their place be done but only as subservient to these which we must ever do When we shall sing the new song before the Lamb Thou art worthy For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast made us Kings and Priests unto our God Rev. 5. 9 10. Therefore the Primitive Church of believers is described as most like to Heaven Luke 24. 53. with great joy they were continually in the Temple Praising and blessing God O Praise the Lord therefore in the congregations of the Saints Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King Psalm 149. 1 2. Let the Saints be joyful in glory Let the high praises of God be in their mouths verse 5 6. § 18. 5. Though we are yet diseased sinners and in our warfare among enemies dangers and perplexities yet Praise is seasonable and suitable to our condition here as the greatest part of our duty which all the rest must but promote Pretend not that it is not fit for you because you are sinners and that humiliation only is suitable to your state For the design of your redemption the tenour of the Gospel and your own condition engage you to it Are they not engaged to Praise the Lord that are brought so near him to that end 1 Pet. 2 5. 9. that are reconciled to him To whom he hath given and forgiven so much 1 Tim. 1. 15. Tit. 3. 3 5. Psalm 103. 1 2 3. that have so many great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. that are the Temples of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in them and sanctifieth them to God That have a Christ interâ—â—ding for them in the highest Rom. 8. 33 34. That are allways safe in the arms of Christ that are guarded by Angels and Devils and enemies forbidden to touch them further than their father sâ—eth necessary for their good That have the Lord for their God Psalm 33. 12. 4. 8. That have his Saints for their companions and helpers That have so many ordinances to help their souls And so
see how millions are there safely landed that once were in as dangerous a station as you are Through many tribulations and temptations they arrived at the Heavenly Rest Satan once did his worst against them They were tost on the Seas of this tempestuous world But they were kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation and so may you 1 Pet. 5. 1. § 19. Direct 19. When you would duly value all your present means and mercies and see whither Direct 19. they tend look up then to the souls with Christ and see whither the like mercy hath conducted them The poorest Cottage and the hardest fare are great mercies as they tend to endless blessedness This now and Heaven after is great though the thing in it self be never so small Heaven puts the value and signification upon all your mercies The wicked make Cyphers of their greatest blessings by separating them in their esteem and use from God and Heaven which is the measure of their estimate § 20. Direct 20. When you see Divisions among believers and hear one for this party and another Direct 20. for that and hear them bitterly censuring each other look up then to the Saints with Christ and think what perfect Love and Peace and Concord i◠among them Consider how unlike our factions and Schisms are to their fervent Love and Unity And how how unlike our jarring strifes and quarrels are to their harmonious Praise of God Remember in what work it is that they are so happily united even Love and Praise uncessant to Jehovah And then think whether it would not unite the Saints on earth to lay by their contendings for the preheminence in knowledge covered with the guilded name of Zeal for the Truth of God and to employ themselves in Love and Praise and to shew their emulation here in striving who shall Love God and each other with the more pure heart and fervent Love 1 Pet. 1. 22. and who shall Praise him with the most heavenly alacrity and delight Consider whether this work of blessed souls be not like to be more desirable and excellent than the work of self-conceited wrangling Sophisters And whether there be any danger of falling into Sects and Factions or falling out by emulations or contentions while we make this work of Love and Praise the matter of our religious converse And consider whether almost all the Schisms that ever vext the Church of God did not arise either by the Pastors striving who should be the greatest Luk. 22. 24 26. or by the rising up of some Sciolist or Gnostick proudly pretending to know more than others and to vindicate or bring to light some excellent Truth which others know not or oppose And when you see the hot contendings of each party about their pretended Orthodoxness or wisdom which Iam. 3. is purposely written against remember how the concord of those blessed souls doth shame this work and should make it odious to the heirs of Heaven § 21. Direct 21. When you are afraid of Death or would find more willingness to dye look up to Direct 21. the blessed souls with Christ and think that you are but to pass that way which all those souls have gone before you and to go from a world of enmity and vanity to the company of all those blessed spirits And is not their blessed state more desirable than such a vain vexatious life as this There is no malice nor slandering nor cruel persecuting no uncharitable censures contentions or divisions no ignorance nor unbelief nor strangeness unto God nothing but Holy Amiable and Delightful Joyn your selves daily to that Coelestial Society suppose your selves spectators of their Order Purity and Glory and Auditors of their harmonious Praises of Jehovah Live by faith in a daily familiarity with them say not that you want company or are alone when you may walk in the Streets of the Heavenly Ierusalem and there converse with the Prophets and Apostles and all the glorious Hosts of Heaven Converse thus with them in your Life and it will overcome the fear of death and make you long to be there with them Like one that stands by the River side and seeth his friends on the further side in a place of pleasure while his enemies are pursuing him at his back how gladly would he be over with them And it will embolden him to venture on the passage which all they have safely past before him Thus Death will be to us as the Red Sea to pass us safe to the Land of Promise while our pursuers are there overthrown and perish We should not be so strange to the World above if we thus by faith conversed with the blessed ones § 22. Direct 22. When you are overmuch troubled for the death of your Godly friends look up to Direct 22. that world of blessed souls to which they are translated and think whether it be not better for them to be there than here and whether you are not bound by the Law of Love to rejoyce with them that are thus exalted Had we but a sight of the world that they are in and the company that they are gone to we should be less displeased with the will of God in disposing of his own into so Glorious a state § 23. All these improvements may be made by a Believer of his daily converse with the souls above This is the Communion with them which we must hold on earth Not by Praying to them which God hath never encouraged us to do nor by praying for them For though it be lawful to pray for the Resurrection of their Bodies and the perfecting of their blessedness thereby yet it being a thing of absolute certainty as the day of Judgement is we must be very cautelous in the manner of our doing this lawful act it being a thing that their happiness doth not at all depend on and a thing which will-worshippers have shewed themselves so forward to abuse by stepping further into that which is unlawful as the horrid abuses of the Names and dayes and shrines and relicts of real or supposed Saints in the Papal Kingdom sadly testifieth But the necessary part of our Communion with the Saints in Heaven being of so great importance to the Church on Earth I commend it to the due consideration of the faithful whether our forgetfulness of it is not to be much repented of and whether it be not a work to be more seriously minded for the time to come § 24. And I must confess I know not why it should be thought unlawful to celebrate the memorial of the life or martyrdome of any extraordinary servant of God by an Anniversary solemnity on a set appropriate day It is but to keep the thankful remembrance of Gods mercy to the Church and sure the life and death of such is not the smallest of the Churches mercies here on earth If it be lawful on the 5 of November to celebrate the memorial of
119. 162. Ier. 15. 16. 7. Delight thy self in his Image though but imperfectly printed on thy soul and also on his holy servants Gal. 2. 20. 1 Cor. 15. 10. 2 Cor. 7 18. 8. Delight your selves in the consideration of the Glory which he hath from all his creatures and the universal fullfiling of his will As the prosperity and happiness of your friend delighteth you and the success of any excellent enterprises and the praise of excellent things and persons and as you have a special delight in the success of truth and the flourishing order and unity and peace and prosperity of Kingdoms especially of the Church much more than in your personal prosperity unless you have selfish private base unmanly dispositions so much more should you delight in the Glory and Happiness of God 9. Delight your selves in the safety which you have in his favour and defence and the treasury which you have in his All sufficiency and Love for your continual supplies in every want and deliverance in every danger and the ground of quiet contentedness and confidence which is offered to fearful souls in him 10. Delight yourselves in the particular discoveries of his common mercies to the world and his special mercies to his saints and his personal mercies to your selves from your birth to this moment both upon your souls and bodies and friends and names and estates and affairs in all relations 11. Delight your selves in the Priviledge you enjoy of speaking to him and of him and hearing from him and adoring and worshipping him and singing and publishing his Praise and in the communion which your souls may have with him through Christ on his Days and at all times in his sacraments and in all your lives And say as Solomon 1 King 8. 27. And will God indeed dwell on earth will he dwell and walk with sinful men When the Psal 68 3 4 5. 69 30 31 32. Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him Psalm 40. 16. Let those that seek him Rejoyce and be glad in him and 122. 1. Let us be glad to go up to the house of the Lord and joyn with his holy Assemblies in his worship Psalm 46. 4. The streams of his Grace make glad the City of God the holy Tabernacles of the most high God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved 12. Delight your selves above all in the forethoughts and hope of the Glory which you shall see and enjoy for ever I do but name all these for your memory because they are before spoken of in the Directions for Love § 4. Direct 4. Understand how much these holy Delights are pleasing unto God and how much he Direct 4. is for his peoples pleasure For it much hindereth the Joy of many Christians that they think it is How much God is for his servants Deligâ—ts against the will of God that such as they should so much Rejoyce Or at least that they apprehend not how much he hath commanded it and how great a duty it is and how much pleasing to their God Consider 1. It is not for nothing that the nature of man is made capable of higher and larger delights than the bruitish sensual nature is And that in this we are made little lower than Angels Phil. 3. 1. Isa. 58. 19. Job 22. 26. Isa. 55. 2 3. Psal. 4. 7. Acts 14. 15. Deut 27. 7. 1â— 12 18. â— Pet. 1 â— 4 6. Joh. 14. 16 26. 15. 2â— Isa. 53. 3. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 8 9. Mat. 11. 28. Isa. 55. 1. Rev. 22. 17. 1 Thes. 5. 11 14 16. Phil. 4. 4. Psal. 33 1. 1 Pet. 5. 7. Joh. 5. 40. 2. Nor is it for nothing that God hath made Delight and Complacency the most powerful commanding affection and the end of all the other passions which they proâ—essedly subserve and seek and the most natural inseparable affection of the soul there being none that desireth not delight 3. Nor is it in vain that God hath provided and offered such plenty of most excellent objects for our Delight especially himself in his attributes Love Mercy Son Spirit and Kingdom which Bruits were not made to know or to enjoy 4. Nor hath he given us in vain such excellent convenient and various helps and inferiour preparations which tend to our delight even for body and mind to further our Delight in God 5. Nor is it in vain that he maketh us yet more neerly capable by his Spirit even by affecting humiliations and mortifying cleansing illuminating and quickning works And that the Kingdom of God consisteth in Righteousness Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost And that the spirit hath undertaken to be the comforter of Believers who is sent upon no low or needless work 6. Nor did Christ purchase his peoples Joys in vain by the price of his grievous sufferings and sorrows Having bâ—rn our griefs and being made a man of sorrows that we that see him not might rejoyce in believing with joy unspeakable and full of glory 7. Nor is it in vain that he hath filled his word with such matter of Delight and Comfort in the gladdest tidings that could come to man and in such free and full and faithful promises 8. Nor hath he multiplied his commands for his Rejoycing and delight in vain again and again commanding us to Rejoyce and allwaies to Rejoyce 9. Nor is it insignificant that he hath forbidden those worldly cares and fears and griefs which would devour their joyes Nor that he hath so clearly shewed them the way to Joy and blameth them if they walk not in it 10. He filleth up their lives with mercies and matter of delight by his direction support provisions and disposals And all this in their way of tryal and in the valley of tears 11. How tender is he of their sufferings and sorrows not afflicting willingly nor delighting to grieve the sons of men 12. He taketh not away their delight and comfort till they cast it away themselves by sinning or self-afflicting or neglecting his proposed pleasures 13. He never faileth to meet them with his delights while they walk in the way prescribed to that end unless Isa 63. 9. 2 Cor. 2. 7. Zeph. 3. 17. Deut. 30 9. 10. 15. Isa 62. 5. Jam. 2. 13. Joh. 14. 13. 18. when it tendeth to their greater pleasure to have some present interruption of the pleasure 14. In their greatest needs when themselves and other helps must fail he giveth them oft-times the greatest joys 15. And he takes their delights and sorrows as if they were his own In all their afflictions he is afflicted and he delighteth in their wellfare and rejoyceth over them to do them good Cannot you see the will of your Father in all this 16. If you cannot yet lift up your heads and foresee the eternal Delights which he hath prepared for you when you shall enter into your Masters Joy And then judge whether God be for your Delight § 5. Direct
Gospel Leave out this Gratitude and it is no Evangelical Repentance And what is our saving faith in Christ but the Assent to the truth of the Gospel with a Thankful Acceptance of the good which it offereth us even Christ as our Saviour with the Benefits of his Redemption The Love to God that is there required is the Thankful Love of his Redeemed ones And the Love to our very enemies and the forgiving of wrongs and all the Love to one another and all the works of Charity there required are the exercises of Gratitude and are all to be done on this account because Christ hath loved us and forgiven us and that we may shew our thankful Love to him Preaching and Praying and Sacraments and publick praises and communion of Saints and obedience are all to be animated with Gratitude and they are no further Evangelically performed than Thankfulness is the very life and complexion of them all The dark and defective opening of this by Preachers gave occasion to the Antinomians to run into the contrary extream and to derogate too much from Gods Law and our Obedience But if we obscure the doctrine of Evangelical Gratitude we do as bad or worse than they Obedience to our Ruler and Thankfulness to our Benefactor conjoyned and co-operating as the Head and Heart in the Natural body do make a Christian indeed Understand this well and it will much incline your hearts to Thankfulness § 4. Direct 2. Let the greatness of the manifold mercies of God be continually before your eyes Direct 2. Thankfulness is caused by the due apprehension of the greatness of mercies If you either know them not to be mercies or know not that they are mercies to you or believe not what is said and promised in the Gospel or forget them or think not of them or make light of them through the corruption of your minds you cannot be thankful for them I have before spoken of Mercy in order to the kindling of Love and therefore shall now only recite these following to be alwayes in your memories 1. The Love of God in giving you a Redeemer and the Love of Christ in giving his life for us and in all the parts of our Redemption 2. The Covenant of Grace the pardon of all our sins the justification of our persons our adoption and title to eternal life 3. The aptness of means for calling us to Christ The gracious and wise disposals of providence to that end the gifts and compassion of our instructers the care of Parents and the helps and examples of the servants of Christ. 4. The efficacy of all these means â—he giving us to will and to do and opening of our hearts and giving us repentance unto life and the Spirit of Christ to mortifie our sins and purifie our nature and dwell within us 5. A standing in his Church under the care of faithful Pastors the liberty comfort and frequent benefit of his Word and Sacraments and the publick communion of his Saints 6. The company of those that fear the Lord and their faithful admonitions reproofs and encouragements the kindness they have shewed us for body or for soul. 7. The mercies of our Relations or habitations our estates and the notable alterations and passages of our lives 8. The manifold preservations and deliverances of our souls from errors and seducers from terrors and distress from dangerous temptations and many a soul-wounding sin and that we are not leâ—t to the errors and desires of our hearts to seared Consciences as forsaken of God 9. The manifold deliverances of our bodies from enemies hurts distresses sicknesses and death 10. The mercies of adversity in wholesome necessary chastisements or honourable sufferings for his sake and support or comfort under all 11. The communion which our souls have had with God in the course of our private and publick duties in Prayer Sacraments and Meditation 12. The use which he hath made of us for the good of others that our time hath not been wholly lost and we have not lived as burdens of the world 13. The mercies of all our friends and his servants which were to us as our own and our interest in the mercies and publick welfare of his Church which are more than our own 14. His patience and forbearance with us under our constant unprofitableness and provocations and his renewed mercies notwithstanding our abuse our perseverance untill now 15. Our hopes of everlasting Rest and Glory when this sinsul life is at an end Aggravate these mercies in your more enlarged meditations and they will sure constrain you to cry out Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies Psal. 102. 1 2 3 4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise be thankful to him and bless his name For the Lord is good his Mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Psal. 100. 4 5. The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy For as the Heaven is high above the Earth so great is his mercy to them that fear him Psal. 103. 8 11. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Psal. 136. 1 c. O give thanks unto the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the people sing ye unto him sing Psalms unto him talk ye of all his wondrous works glory ye in his holy name Let the heart of them rejoyce that seek him Psal. 105. 1 2 3. § 5. Direct 3. Be well acquainted with the greatness of your sins and sensible of them as they are Direct 3. the aggravation of Gods Mercies to you This is the main end why God will humble those that he will save Not to drive them to despair of mercy nor that he taketh pleasure in their sorrows for themselves But to work the heart to a due esteem of saving mercy and to a serious desire after it that they may thankfully receive it and carefully retain it and faithfully use it An unhumbled soul sets light by Christ and Grace and Glory It relisheth no spiritual mercy It cannot be thankful for that which it findeth no great need of But true humiliation recovereth our appetite and teacheth us to value mercy as it is Think therefore what sin is as I have opened to you Dir. 8. and think of your manifold aggravated sins and then think how great those mercies are that are bestowed on so great unworthy sinners Then mercy will melt your humbled hearts when you confess that you are unworthy to be called Sons Luke 15. and that you are not worthy to look up to Heaven Luke 18. 13. and that you are not worthy of the least
many creatures and comforts for their bodies That live continually upon the plenty of his Love That have received so much and are still receiving Should we not bless him every day with Praise that blesseth us every day with benefits Should we not praise the bridge that we go over The friend that we have tryed so oft And resolve as Psalm 145. 2. Every day will I bless thee I will praise thy name for ever and ever Psalm 63. 3 4. Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee Thus will I bless thee while I lâ—â—e I will lift up my hands in thy name Are they not bound to praise him on earth that must reign with Christ for ever in Heaven Rom. 8. 17 33. Rev. 1. 5 6. Col. 1. 12. 1 Pet. 1. 4. 6. The Praises of God do exercise our highest Graces Praise is the very breath of Love and Ioy and Gratitude It tendeth to raise us above our selves and make our hearts to burn within us while the glorious name of God is magnified It hath the most pure and spiritual and elevating effect upon the soul and therefore tendeth most effectually to make us more holy by the encrease of these graces § 19. 7. To be much employed in the Praise of God doth tend exceedingly to the vanquishing of all hurtful doubts and fears and sorrows Ioy and Praise promote each other And this it doth 1. By keeping the soul near to God and within the warmth of his love and goodness Psal. 140. 13. 2. By the exercise of Love and Joy which are the cordial reviving strengthning graces Psal. 94. 19. 116. 1. 3. By dissipating distrustful vexing thoughts and diverting the mind to sweeter things Psal. 104. 34. 4. By keeping off the Tempter who usually is least able to follow us with his molestations when we are highest in the praises of our God 5. By bringing out the Evidences of our sincerity into the light while the chiefest graces are in exercise 2 Cor. 3 18. 6. And by way of Reward from God that loveth the Praises of his meanest servants And here I would commâ—nd this experiment to uncomfortable troubled souls that have not found comfort by long searching after evidence in themselves Exercise your selves much in the Praises of God This is a duty that you ☜ have no pretence against Against Thanksgiving for his grace you pretend that you know not that you have received his grace But to praise him in the excellency of his perfections his power and wisdom and goodness and mercy and truth is the duty of all men in the world While you are doing this you will feel your graces stir and feel that comfort from the face of God which you are not like to meet with in any other way whatsoever Evidences are exceeding useful to our ordinary stated peace and comfort But it is oft long before we confidently discern them and they are oft discerned when yet the soul is not excited to much sense of comfort and delight and we quickly lose the sight of evidences if we be not very wise and careful But a life of praise bringeth ☜ comfort to the soul as standing in the Sunshine bringeth light and warmth Or as labouring doth warm the body or as the sight and converse of our dearest friend or the hearing of glad tydings doth rejoyce the heart without any great reasoning or arguing the case This is the way to have comfort by feeling to be much in the hearty praises of the Lord When we come to Heaven we shall have our Joy by immediate Vision and the delightful exercise of Love and Praise And if you would taste the Heavenly Joyes on earth you must imitate them in Heaven as near as possibly you can And this is your work of nearest imitation § 20. 8. To live a life of praising God will make Religion sweet and easie to us and take off the wearisomness of it and make the work of God a pleasure to us Whereas they that set themselves only to the works of humiliation and leave out these soul-delighting exercises do cast themselves into exceeding danger by making Religion seem to them a grievous and undesirable life This makes men backward to every duty and do it heartlesly and easily yield to temptations of omission and neglect if not at last fall off through weariness whereas the soul that is daily employed in the high and holy Prayses of his God is still drawn on by encouraging experience and doth all with a willing ready mind § 21. 9. No duty is more pleasing to God than the cheerful Praises of his Servants He loveth your prayers tears and groans but your Praises much more And that which pleaseth God most must be most pleasing to his servants For to please him is their End This is the End of all their labour that whether present or absent they may be accepted of him 2 Cor. 5 9. So that it is a final enjoying and therefore a delighting duty § 22. 10. To be much employed in the Praises of God will acquaint the world with the nature of true Religion and remove their prejudice and confute their dishonourable thoughts and accusations of it and recover the honour of Christ and his holy wayes and servants Many are averse to a holy life because they think that it consisteth but of melancholly fears or scrupulosity But who dare open his mouth against the joyful praises of his Maker I have heard and read of several enemies and murderers that have broke in upon Christians with an intent to kill them or carry them away that finding them on their knees in prayer and reverencing the work so much as to stay and hear them till they had done have reverenced the persons also and departed and durst not touch the heavenly worshippers of God This life of praise is a continual pleasure to the soul clean contrary to a Melancholly life It is recreating to the Spirits and healthful to the body which is consumed by cares and fears and sorrows It is the way that yieldeth that mirth which doth good like a medicine and is a continual feast Prov. 17. 22. 15. 15. Therefore saith the Apostle Iames 5. 13. Is any merry Let him sing Psalms He cannot better exercise mirth than in singing praises to his God This keeps the soul continually on the wing desiring still to be nearer God that it may have more of these delights And so it overcomes the sense of persecutions and afflictions and the fears of death and is a most excellent cordial and companion in the greatest sufferings Was it not an excellent hearing to have been a witness of the joy of Paul and Silas when in the Prison and Stocks with their backs sore with scourges they sang at midnight the praises of the Lord Acts 16. 25. so that all the doors were opened and all the prisoners bonds were loosed that had been their auditors so great was Gods
we are here on earth They were compassed with temptations and clog'd with flesh and burdened with sin and persecuted by the world and they went out of the world by sickness and death as we must do and yet now their tears are wiped away their pains and groans and sears are turned into unexpressible blessedness and joy And would we not be with them Is not their company desirable and their felicity more desirable The glory of the new Ierusalem is not described to us in vain Rev. 21. 22. God will be all in all there to us as the only sun and Glory of that world and yet we shall have pleasure not only to see our Glorified Redeemer but also to converse with the Heavenly society and to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of God and to Love and Praise him in consort and harmony with all those holy blessed spirits And shall we be afraid to follow where the Saints of all Generations have gone before us And shall the company of our best and most and happiest friends be no inducement to us Though it must be our highest joy to think that we shall dwell with God and next that we shall see the Glory of Christ yet is it no small part of my comfort to consider that I shall follow all those holy persons whom I once conversed with that are gone before me and that I shall dwell with such as Henoch and Elias and Abraham and Moses and Iob and David and Peter and Iohn â—nd Paul and Timothy and Ignatius and Polycarpe and Cyprian and Reader bear with this mixture For God will own his image when piâ—vish contenders do deny it or blaspheam it and will receive those whom faction and proud domination would cast ouâ— and vilifie with scorn and slanders Naziaâ—zene and Augustine and Chrysostome and Bernard and Gerson and Savonarola and Miraâ—dula and Taulerus and Kempisius and Melancthon and Alasco and Calvin and Bucholâ—zer and Bullinger and Musculus and Zanchy and Bâ—cer and Paraeus and Grynaeus and Chemnitius and Gerhard and Chamier and Capellus and Blondel and Rivet and Rogers and Bradford and Hooper and Latimer and Hildersham and Amâ—sius and Langley and Nicolls and Whitaker and Cartwright and Hooker and Bayne and Preston and Sibbes and Perkins and Dod and Parker and Ball and Usher and Hall and Gataker and Bradshaw and Vines and Ash and millions more of the family of God I name these for my own delight and comfort it being pleasant to me to remember what companions I shall have in the heavenly joyes and praises of my Lord. How few are all the Saints on earth in comparison of those that are now with Christ And alas how weak and ignorant and corrupt how selfish and contentious and froward are Gods poor infants here in flesh when above there is nothing but Holiness and Perfection If Knowledge or Goodness or any excellency do make the creatures truly amiable all this is there in the highest degree but here alas how little have we If the Love of God or the Love of us do make others Lovely to us it is there and not here that these and all perfections flourish O how much now do I find the company of the wise and learned the godly and sincere to differ from the company of the ignorant bruitish the proud and malitious the false-hearted and ungodly rabble How sweet is the converse of a holy wise experienced Christian O then what a place is the new Ierusalem and how pleasant will it be with Saints and Angels to See and Love and Praise the Lord. § 8. Direct 8. That sickness and death may be comfortable to you as your passage to Eternity Direct 8. take notice of the seal and earnest of God even the spirit of grace which he hath put into your hearts That which emboldened Paul and such others to groan after immortality and to be most willing to be absent from the body and present with the Lord was because God himself had wrought or made them for it and given them the earnest or pledge of his spirit 2 Cor. 5. 4 5 8. For this is Gods mark upon his chosen and justified ones by which they are sealed up to the day of their redemption Ephes. 4. 30. Ephes. 1. 13. In whom also after ye believed ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise 2 Cor. 1. 21 22. God hath annointed us and sealed us and given us the pledge or earnest of his spirit into our hearts This is the pledge or earnest of our inheritance Ephes. 1. 14. And what a comfort should it be to us when we look towards Heaven to find such a pledge of God within us If you say I fear I have not this earnest of the spirit Whence then did your desires of holiness arise what weaned you from the world and made you place your hopes and happiness above whence came your enmity to sin and opposition to it and your earnest desires after the Glory of God the prosperity of the Gospel and the good of souls The very Love of Holiness and holy persons and your desires to know God and perfectly Love him do shew that heavenly nature or spirit within you which is your surest evidence for eternal life For that spirit was sent from heaven to draw up your hearts and fit you for it And God doth not give you such natures and desires and preparations in vain This also is called The witness of the spirit with or to our spirit that we are the children of God and if Children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 15 16 17. It witnesseth our adoption by evidencing it as a seal or pledge doth witness our title to that which is so confirmed to us The nature of every thing is suited to its use and end God would not have given us a heavenly nature or desire if he had not intended us for Heaven § 9. Direct 9. Look also to the testimony of a holy life since grace hath imployed you in seeking after Direct 9. the heavenly inheritance It is unlawful and perillous to look after any works or righteousness of So Hezektah your own so as to set it in whole or in part instead of Christ or to ascribe to it any honour that is proper to him As to imagine that you are innocent or have fulfilled the Law or have made God a compensation by your merits or sufferings for the sin you have committed But yet you must judge your selves on your sick beds as near as you can as God will judge you And he will judge every man according to his work and will recompense and reward men according to their works Matth. 25 39 40 c. Well done good and faithful servant Thou hast been faithful over a little I will make thee ruler over much Come ye blessed of my father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you for I was hungry
7. 26. 13. Mat. 23. 14. Mar. 1â— 40. Exod. 6. 30. Deuâ— 7. 12. 11. 13. 13. 18. 15. 5. 26. 17. 28. 1. Psal. 81. 8 9 10 11 12. of promoting unity and obedience and the Catholick Church while the Cloak or Cover of it is but the thin transparent Spider-web of humane Traditions and numerous Ceremonies and childish complementing with Goâ— And when they have nothing but the prayers of a long Liturgie to cover the effects of their earthly sensual and diabolical zeal and wisdom as St. Iames calls it 3. 15 16. and to concâ—ct the Widdows houses which they devour and to put a reverence upon the office and work which they labour all the week to render reproachful by a sensual luxurious idle life and by perfidious making merchandize of souls As ever you care what becometh of your souls take heed lest sin grow bold under Prayers and grow familiar and contemptuous of Sermons and holy speeches and lest you keep a custome of Religious exercises and wilful sins For oh how doth this harden now and wound hereafter He is the best hearer that is the holiest liver and faithfullest obeyer Direct 14. Be not a bare hearer of the Prayers of the Pastor whether it be by a Liturgie or Direct 14. without For that is but hypocrisie and a sin of omission You come not thither only to hear prayers but to pray And kneeling is not praying but it is a profession that you pray And will you be prayerless even in the house of Prayer and when you profess and seem to pray and so add hypocrisie to impiety I fear many that seem Religious and would have those kept from the Sacrament that Pray not in their Families do very ordinarily tolerate themselves in this gross omission and mocking of God and are Prayerless themselves even when they seem to Pray Direct 15. Stir up your hearts in a special manner to the greatest alacrity and joy in speaking Direct 15. and singing the Praises of God The Lords day is a day of Joy and Thanksgiving and the Praises of God are the highest and holyest employment upon Earth And if ever you should do any thing with all your might and with a joyful and triumphing frame of soul it is this Be glad that you may joyn with the Sacred Assemblies in heart and voice in so Heavenly a work And do not as some humersome pievish persons that know not the danger of that proud disease fall to quarreling with Davids Psalms as unsuitable to some of the hearers or to nauseate every failing in the Metâ—â— so as to turn so holy a duty into neglect or scorn for alas such there are near me where I dwell nor let prejudice against melody or Church-musick if you dwell where it is used possess you with a spleneâ—ick disgust of that which should be your most joyful work And if you know how much the incorporate soul must make use of the body in harmony and in the joyful praises of Iehovah do not then quarrel with lawful helps because they are sensible and corporeal Direct 16. Be very considerate and serious in Sacramental renewings of your Covenant with God Direct 16. O think what great things you come thither to Receive And think what a holy work you have to See Mâ— Rawlâ—â—s Book of Sacramental Covenanting do And think what a Life it is that you must promise So solemn a Covenanting with God and of so great importance requireth a most holy reverent and serious frame of soul. But yet let not the unwarrantable differencing this Ordinance from Gods praises and the rest seduce you into the common errours of the times I mean 1. Of those that hence are brought to think that the Sacrament should never be received without a preparatory day of humiliation above the preparation for an ordinary Lords days work 2. And therefore receive it seldom whereas the primitive Churches never spent a Lords day together without it 3. Those that turn it into a perplexing terrifying thing for fear of being unprepared when it should be their greatest comfort and when they are not so perplexed about their unpreparâ—dness to any other duty 4. Those that make so great a difference betwixt this and Church-prayers praises and other Church-woâ—ship as that they take this Sacrament only for the proper work and priviledge of Church-members And thereupon turn it into an occasion of our great contentions and divisions while they fly from Sacramental Communion with others more than from Communion in the other Church-worship O what hath our subtle enemy done against the Love Peace and Unity of Christians especially in England under pretence of Sacramental purity Direct 17. Perform all your Worship to God as in heart-Communion with all Christs Churches Direct 17. upon Earth Even those that are faulty though not with their faults Though you can be present but with one yâ—â— consent as present in spirit with all and separate not in heart from any one any further than they separate from Christ. Direct 18. Accordingly let the Interest of the Church of Christ be very much upon your heart Direct 18. and pray as hard for it as for your self Direct 19. Yâ—â— remember in all what Relation you have to the Heavenly Society and Chore and Direct 19. think how they Worship God in Heaven that you may strive to imitate than in your degree Of which more anâ—n Direct 20. Let your whole course of life after savour of a Church-frame Live as the servants of Direct 20. that God whâ—m you Worship and as ever before him Live in the Love of those Christians with whom you have Communion and do not quarrel with them at home nor despise nor persecute them with whom you joyn in the Worshipping of God And do not needlesly open the weaknesses of the Minister to prejudice others against him and the Worship And be not Religious at the Church alone for then you are not truly Religious at all CHAP. X. Directions about our Communion with Holy Souls Departed and now with Christ. THE oversight and neglect of our duty concerning the souls of the blessed now with Christ I have said more of â—his since in my â—â—â—â—e of Faith doth very much harden the Papists in their erroneous excesses here about And if we will ever reduce them or rightly confute them it must be by a judicious asserting of the Truth and observing so much with them as is our duty and commending that in them which is to be commended and not by running away from truth and duty that we may get for enough from them and errour For errour is an ill way of confuting errour The practical Truth lyeth in these following Precepts § 1. Direct 1. Remember that the departed souls in Heaven are part and the noblest part of the Body Direct 1. of Christ and family of God of which you are inferiour members and therefore that you owe
if he constrain his enemies to it his servants should not be backward to do it according to his will § 4. Direct 4. Only such Honour must be given to departed Saints as subserveth the Honour of God Direct 4. and nothing must be ascribed to them that is his prerogative All that of God which was communicated to them and appeared in them must be acknowledged But so that God must be still acknowledged the spring of all and no honour given ultimately to them but it is God in them that we must behold and Love admire and honour § 5. Direct 5. The Honour of the Saints departed must be only such as tendeth to the promoting of Holiness Direct 5. among the living It is a most horrid aggravation of those mâ—ns sins who make their Honouring of the Saints departed a cover for their hating and persecuting their followers or that make it an engine for the carrying on some base design Some make it a devise for the advancing of their Parties and peculiar Opinions The Papists make it a very great means for the maintaining the Usurped power of the Pope giving him the power of Canonizing Saints and assuring the world what souls are in Heaven A Pope that by the testimony of a General Council as Ioh. 23. Eugenius c. is a Heretick and a wicked wretch and never like to come to Heaven himself can assure the world of a very large Catalogue of persons that are there And he that by the Papists is confessed fallible in matters of fact pretendeth to know so certainly who were Saints as to appoint them Holy dayes and command the Church to Pray to them And he that teacheth men that they cannot be certain themselves of their salvation pretendeth when they are dead that he is certain that they are saved To pretend the Veneration of Saints for such carnal ambitious designes and cheats and cruelties is a sin unfit for any that mentioneth a Saint So is it when men pretend that Saints are some rare extraordinary persons among the living members of the Church to make men believe that honouring them Rom. 1. 7. 1 Cor. 1. 2. 14. 33. Eph. 1. 8. 2. 19. 4. 12. 5. 3. Rom. 15. 25 26. will serve instead of imitating them and that all are not Saints that go to Heaven God forbid say they that none but holy persons should be saved we confess it is good to be Saints and they are the chief in Heaven but we hope those that are no Saints may be saved for all that But God saith that without Holiness none shall see him Heb. 12. 14. Heaven is the inheritance of none but Saints Act. 26. 18. Col. 1. 12. He that extolleth Saints to make men believe that those that are no Saints may be saved doth serve the Devil by honouring the Saints The same I may say of those that give them Divine honour ascribing to each a power to hear and help all throughout the world that put up prayers to them § 6. Direct 6. Look up to the blessedness of departed souls as members of the same body rejoycing Direct 6. with them and praising God that hath so exalted them This is the benefit of holy Love and Christian Unity that it maketh our brethrens happiness to be unto us in a manner as if it were our own 1 Cor. 12. 25 26. That there should be no schism in the Body but that the members should have the same care one for another that if one member be honoured all the members rejoice with it So far as selfishness is overcome and turned into the Uniting Love of Saints so far are all the joyes of the blessed souls in Heaven become the joyes of all that truly Love them upon earth How happy then is the state of all true believers that have so many to rejoice with Deny not God that Thanks for the saving of so many souls which you would not deny him if he saved but your friends estates or lives Especially when afflictions or temptations would deprive you of the Ioy which you should have in Gods mercies to your selves then comfort your selves with the remembrance of your brethrens Ioy. What an incongruous undecent thing is it for that man to pine away in sorrows upon earth who hath so many thousand friends in Heaven in joy and blessedness whose Ioyes should all be to him as his own § 7. Direct 7. When you feel a cooling of your love to God or of your zeal or reverence or other Direct 7. graces think then of the temper of those Holy Sâ—uls that see his glory O think with what fervour do they Love their God with what transporting sweetness do they delight in him with what Reverence do they all behold him And am not I his servant and a member of his family as well as they shall I be like the strangers of this frozen world when I should be like my fellow Citizens above As it will dispose a man to weep to see the tears and grief of others and as it will dispose a man to mirth and joy to see the mirth and joy of others so is it a potent help to raise the soul to the Love of God and delight in his service to think believingly of the Love and Delight of such a world of blessed spirits § 8. Direct 8. When you draw near to God in his holy Worship remember that you are part of the same Direct 8. society with those blessed spirits that are praising him in perfection Remember that you are members of the same Chore and your part must go to make up the Melody and therefore you should be as little discordant from them as possibly you can The quality of those that we joyn with in Gods service is â—pt either to dull or quicken us to depress or elevate us and we move Heaven-ward most easily and swiftly in that company which is going thither on the swiftest pase A believing thought that we are Worshipping God in Consort with the Heavenly Chore and of the high and holy raptures of those spirits in the continual praise of their Great Creator is an excellent means to warm and quicken us and raise us as near their holy frame as here on earth may be expected § 9. Direct 9. When you would possess your hearts with a lively sense of the odiousness of sin and Direct 9. would resist all temptations which would draw you to it think then how the blessed souls with God do judge of sin and how they would entertain such a temptation if the motion were made to them What think they of Coveteousness Pride or lust What think they of malice cruelty or lying How would they entertain it if Lands and Lordships pleasure or preferment were offered them to entice their hearts from God Would they venture upon damnation for a whore or for their games or to please their appetites Do they set as light by God and their
Matth. 18. 10. being his Messengers to man § 9. 7. Much of their work is to oppose the malice of evil spirits that seek our hurt and to defend 1 Kings 22. 19 20 21 22. us from them against whom they are engaged under Christ in daily Warr or Conflict Rev. 12. 7 9. Psal. 68. 17. 78. 49. Matth. 4. 11. 1 Thess. 2. 18. § 10. 8. In this their Ministration they are ordered into different degrees of superiority and inferiority Luke 1. 19 26. and are not equal among themselves 1 Thess. 4. 16. Iude 9. Dan. 10. 13 20 21. Eph. 1. 21. Col. 2. 10. Eph. 3. 10. 6. 12. Col. 1. 16. Zech. 4. 10. Rev. 4 5. 5 6. § 11. 9. Angels are employed not only about our bodies but our souls by furthering the means of Acts. 7. 53. our salvation They preached the Gospel themselves as they delivered the Law Luke 2. 10 9. Luke 1. 11 c. Heb. 2. 2. Gal. 3. 19. Acts 10. 4. Dan. 7. 16. 8. 15 16 17. 9. 21 22. Luke 1. 29. 2. 19. Especially they deliver particular messages which suppose the sufficiency of the Laws of Christ and only help to the obedience of it § 12. 10. They are sometime Gods instruments to confirm and warn and comfort and excite the Acts 27. 24. Luke 1. 13 30. 2. 10. Dan. 10. 12. 2 Kings 6. 16. Gen. 16. 9 10. Numb 22. 32. soul and to work upon the mind and will and affections That they do this perswasively and have as much access and power to do us good as Satan hath to do us evil is very clear Good Angels have as much power and access to the soul to move to duty as Devils have to tempt to sin As God hath sent them oft upon monitory and consolatory messages to his servants in visible shapes so doth he send them on the like messages invisibly Iudg. 5. 23. Mat. 1. 20. Psal. 104. 4. Luke 22. 43. An Angel from Heaven is sent to strengthen Christ himself in his agony § 13. 11. They persecute and chase the enemies of the Church and sometimes destroy them as Psal. 35. 5 6. 2 Kings 19. 35. Isa. 37. 36. and hinder them from doing hurt Numb 22. 24. § 14. 12. They are a Convoy for the departing souls of the godly to bring them to the place of their felicity Luke 16. 22. though how they do it we cannot understand § 15. 13. They are the attendants of Christ at his coming to judgement and his Ministers to gather his elect and sâ—ver thâ— wicked from the just in order to their endless Punishment or Joy 1 Thess. 4. 16. The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-angel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up c. Matth. 13. 41 49. The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather 2 Thess. 1. 7. Mark 8. 38. Matth. 25. 31. out of his Kingdom all offences or scandals and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire At the end of the world the Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire c. § 16. Direct 3. Understand our near affinity or relation to the Angels and how they and we are concerned Direct 3. in each others condition and affairs As to our Nature our Immortal souls are kin or like unto the Angels though our Bodies are but like the Brutes Those souls that are created after the Image of God in their very Natural Essence as Rational and Free agents besides his Moral Image of sanctity Gen. 9. 6. may well be said to be like the Angels He made us little lower than the Angels Psal. 8. 5. And God hath made us their charge and care and therefore no doubt hath given them a special Love unto us to fit them to the due performance of their trust As Ministers have a special paternal Love to their flocks and as Christians are to have a special Love to one another to enable and engage them to the duties appointed them by God towards each other so these excellent Spirits have no doubt a far purer and greater Love to the Image of God upon the Saints and to the Saints for the Image and sake of God than the dearest friends and holiest persons on earth can have For they are more holy and they are more perfectly conformed to the mind of God and they love God himself more perfectly than we and therefore for his sake do love his people much more perfectly than we And therefore they are more to be loved by us than any mortals are both because they are more excellent pure and amiable and because they have more Love to us Moreover the Angels are servants of the same God and members of the same society which we belong to They are the Inhabitants of the heavenly Ierusalem of which we are heirs They have possession and we have title and shall in time possess it We are called to much of the same employment with them we must love the same God and glorifie him by obedience thanks and praise and so do they Therefore they are Ministers for our good and rejoyce in the success of their labours as the Ministers of Christ on earth do Heb. 1. 14. There is not a sinner converted but it is the Angels Joy Luke 15. 10. which sheweth how much they attend that work We are come to Mount Zion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of Angels c. Heb. 12. 22 23. 24. They are especially present and attendant on us in our holy Assemblies and services of God and therefore we are admonished to reverence their presence and do nothing before them that is sinful or unseemly 1 Cor. 11. 10. Eccles. 5. 6. The presence of God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels must continually awe us into exact obedience 1 Tim. 5. 21. With the Church they pry into the mysterie of the dispensations of the Spirit to the Church 1 Pet. 1. 12. And so by the Church that is by Gods dealings with the Church is made known the manifold wisdom of God even to these heavenly principalities and powers Eph. 3. 10. In conclusion Christ telleth us that in our state of blessedness we shall be equal to the Angels Luke 20. 36. and so shall live with them for ever § 17. Direct 4. When your thoughts of Heaven are staggering or strange and when you are tempted Direct 4. to doubt whether indeed there is such a life of glory for the Saints it may be a great help to your faith to think of the world of Angels that already do possess it That there are such excellent and happy inhabitants of the superiour
in the Assembly Answ. 1. We may use them in that measure of suitableness to our cases which they have You may joyn with a man in prayer who expresseth part of your wants though he express not all Else you must joyn with no man in the world 2. If ungodly men are present when the faithful speak to God must we not speak our proper case because they are present The Minister in Church-administrations speaketh principally in the name of the faithful and not of hypocrites Must he leave out of his prayers all that is proper to the Godly meerly because some wicked men are there No more must the Church do in singing unto God 3. They that cannot speak every word in a Psalm just as their own case may yet speak it as instructive Otherwise they might not read or say it James 5. 13. Ephes. 5. 19. Col. 3. 16. But the Sectarian Objections against singing Davids Psalms are so frivolous that I will not tire the Reader with any more Quest. 125. May Psalms be used as Prayers and Prayses and Thanksgivings or only as Instructive Even the Reading as well as the Singing of them Answ. THe sober Reader who knoweth not what errors others hold will marvel that I trouble men with such questions But I have oft been troubled with those that Psal. 72. 20. Psal. 90. Title Psal. 86. Title Psal. 17. Title c. having no other shift to deny the Lawfulness of written and set forms of prayer do affirm that Psalms are neither to be read or sung at all as Prayers but only as doctrinal Scriptures for Instruction But that this is false appeareth 1. In that those that are real material prayers and prayses and thanksgivings and were penned for that very use as the Titles shew and those that were so used by the Jewish Synagogues where Christ was ordinarily present may be so used by us But such are the Psalms both as said and sung 2. And those that we are commanded to sing as Psalms and have Christs example so to use who sung a Hymn or Psalm of Praise at his last Supper we also may so use But c. 3. And those that are by Gods Spirit fitted for our use in Prayer Praise and Thanksgiving and never forbidden so to be used may by us be so used But such are the Psalms c. I will weary you with no more Quest. 126. Are our Church-Tunes Lawful being of mans invention Answ. YEs They are a lawful invention allowed us by God and fitted to the General Rules of Edification Scripture is no particular Rule for such Modes and Circumstances Object They breed a carnal pleasure by the melody which is not fit for spiritual devotion Answ. It is a lawful sensitive pleasure sanctified to a holy use not hindering but greatly helping the soul in spiritual worship Either you call it carnal because it gratifieth the sinful corrupt inclinations of man or only because it is sensitive or a pleasure in the imagination and lower faculties If the former 1. There is nothing in it which is a necessary cause of any sinful pleasure nor an impediment to spiritual pleasure 2. But a lustful person will turn all sensitive pleasure into sin Our Meat 〈…〉 12. 17 〈…〉 16. 〈…〉 2â— and Drink and Clothes and Houses and Friends and Health The Bread and Wine in the Sacrament may be thus abused 2. But you must know that as our Bodies are here united to our souls so they act together and while the sensitive part is subordinate to the rational it is serviceable to it and not a hiâ—derance When you come to have souls that are separated from the body you shall use no bodâ—ly instruments And yet even then it is uncertain to us whether the sensitive powers of the soul do not accompany it and be not used by it But certainly in the mean time he that will not use sense shall not use reason And he that acteth not sensibly acteth not as a man It is not a sin to be a man And therefore not to see to hear to taste to smell c. Nor is it a sin to taste sweetness in our meat or drink nor is it a sinful pleasure for the eyes to behold the Light or the variety of the beauteous works of God or to take pleasure in them His works are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Psal. 111. 2. You know not what it is to be a man if you know not that God hath made all senses to be Rom. 8. 18 32. Tâ—tus 1. 15. Rom. 14. 20. 1 Cor. 3. 21. 2 Cor. 4. 15. the inlets of objects and so of holy pleasure into the soul. Would he have given us eyes and ears and appetites and made his creatures sweet and beauteous that all might either be sin or useless to us No all things are sanctified and pure to the pure The sense is the natural way to the Imagination and that to the Understanding And he that will have no sensible and natural pleasure shall have no spiritual pleasure And he that will have none but sensitive pleasure were better have none at all It is therefore a foolish pretence of spirituality to dream of acting without our senses or avoiding those delights which may and must be sanctified to us Harmony and Melody are so high a pleasure of the sense that they are nearest to Rational delights if not participating of them and exceedingly fitted to elevate the mind and affections unto God And as it is the very nature of true Holiness to be so suited to Holy things as that they may be our Delight and he is the genuine Saint and the best of Christians who most Delighteth in God and Holiness So that is the best means to make us the best Christians which helpeth us best to these Delights And if any thing on Earth be like to Heaven it is to have our Delight in God And therefore if any thing may make us Heavenly it is that which raiseth us to such delights And therefore a Chore of holy persons melodiously singing the Praises of Iehovah are likest to the Angelical Society Psal. 150. Quest. 127. Is Church-Musick by Organs or such Instruments lawful Answ. I Know that in the persecuted and poorer times of the Church none such were used when Rev. 14. â— 3. The voice of Harpers harping with their Harps is ordinarily expounded of publick Worship they had not Temples nor alwayes a fixed meeting place And that the Author of the Quest. Resp. in Iustin Martyr speaketh against it which Perkins and others cite to that purpose And I grant 1. That as it is in the power of weak diseased Christians to make many things unlawful to their brethren lest we be hurtful to them and to deprive us of much not only of our Liberties but our Helps so in abundance of Congregations Church-Musick is made unlawful by accident through their mistake For it is unlawful caeteris