THE Best Acquaintance AND HIGHEST HONOUR OF CHRISTIANS OR A DISCOURSE of Acquaintance with GOD. By Matthew Newcomen Minister of the Gospel Job 22.21 Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace John 8.16 I am not alone but I and the Father which hath sent me 1 Cor. 1.9 God is faithful by whom ye are called unto the fellowship of his Son Christ Jesus our Lord. 1 John 1.3 And truly our fellowship is with the father and with his Son Christ Jesus James 2.23 Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God Psal 149.10 This honour have all his Saints John 1◠1◠Henceforth I call you not servants but I 〈◊〉 called you friends London Printed in the Year 1668. THE Best Acquaintance AND Highest Honour OF CHRISTIANS Job 22. vers 21. Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee CHAP. I. The opening of the words and of the nature of the great duty of acquainting our selves with God THe words are the words of Eliphaz one of Job's three friends and as it should seem the chiefest of the three either for age or dignity or wisdom for the other two give him the priority in speaking He having in the beginning of the Chapter given Job a bitter pill to chew upon in vers 5 6 7. that he might not leave the mind of Job exulcerated towards the latter end of his discourse attempers his speech to a milder and sweeter strain giving him first counsel vers 21 22. then promising him comfort vers 23. to the end In this 21. v. we have two things Officium Beneficium A work to be done or a duty to be performed by Job and indeed by every one And that in these words Acquaint now thy self with him 2. A benefit to be obtained by the performance of this duty and that is peace and good Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace so shall good come unto thee Acquaint The word translated acquaint is diversly rendred by Interpreters The Chaldee paraphrase renders it Learn of him The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be thou hard or stout meaning patient in bearing Affliction The Vulgar Latine Acquiesce ei Munster Conveniat tibi cum eo The Syriack and Arabick Coaequa te ei The Tigurine Accommoda te illi Coccejus Fac periculum Pagnine and Junius Assuesce te illi The French Accointe-toy An old English translation reads it Reconcile thy self unto him Our Translation reads it Acquaint thy self with him Making choice of a word that takes in both the Chaldees disce ab eo And the vulgars Acquisce and the Tigurine Accommoda te illi And Munsters Conveniat tibi cum eo And the old English Reconcile thy self to him As we shall see afterwards God willing * The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath as many other words in the Hebrew various significations and some of them seemingly contrary to others as Prodesse Increpare arguere assuescere thesaurizare recondere nocere depauperare periclitari significatione Rabbinis consuerâ Pagnin The septuagint render it sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kircher Marius de Calasio observes four principal acceptations of the word in Scripture 1. Prodesse or utilem esse 2. Thesaurizare 3. Calefacere 4. Depauperare to which he adds a fifth of the Rabbins and Chaldees which is periculum facere or periclitari And this great difference of significations which this word is capable of is the reason why there is so great variety in the translation of this Text. The word in the Original translated acquaint is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used in that Conjugation Hiphil but in two places besides this in all the Scripture The one is Numb 22.30 where Balaams ass saith to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nunquid assuescendo assuetus sum Was I ever wont to do thus The other is Psal 139.2 where the Psalmist saith Thou art acqainted with all my wayes In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our singing Psalms according to the Emphasis of the Original well render And by familiar custom art acquainted with my wayes Acquaint thy self now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an expletive particle and signifies as much as nunc ideo quaeso and accordingly some here read Acquaint now thy self Others acquaint therefore thy self Others acquaint I pray thee thy self It is a particle that implies seriousness in him that speaks and weight and moment in the thing that is spoken of Acquaint now thy self with him that is with God The Almighty spoken of before v. 17. and again v. 23. Acquaint thy self with him and be at peace that is thou shalt be at peace for so as the learned Mercer observes it is usual with the Hebrews to put the Imperative mood for the Future tense Thou shalt be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Good that is all kind of good Temporal Spiritual and Eternal as is exemplified afterwards in the following verses to the end of the Chapter That which from the words thus opened commends it self to our observation is this That the great concernment of every man is to acquaint himself with God I say The great concernment of every man that which every man should make his greatest study and business and look upon himself as most concerned in is to acquaint himself with God I shall immediately fall upon the opening of the Nature of this acquainting our selves with God in these three particulars that are necessarily included in it First This acquainting our selves with God implies a true and right knowledge of God For you will all readily conclude it is impossible for a man to have acquaintance with a person whom he hath never had any knowledge of If a man should come to one of us and name to us a man that lives at Rome or Constantinople or the Indies and ask us if we be acquainted with such a man we would presently say we do not so much as know him therefore how should we have any acquaintance with him Ignorance of God you know is rendred as a reason of mens being estranged from God Ephes 4.18 therefore they that would have acquaintance with God must labour to know God This David exacts of his son Solomon And thou Solomon my son 1 Chron. 28.9 know thou the God of thy Fathers c. Now there is a threefold knowledge of God A knowledge by the ear A knowledge by the eye And a knowledge by the taste Or if you will A knowledge of notion or speculation A knowledge of faith And a knowledge of experience And all this necessary to our acquaintance with God First There is a knowledge
No these things you must do or else never look for acquaintance with God and when you have done all this you must acknowledge that if God should cast away you from his presence refuse to know your souls it were but just and righteous And if God doth ever admit you into his familiarity it is of his meer condescension and grace and therefore In the fourth place you must make use of a Mediatour to bring you into acquaintance with God This course men take who desire to get the favour and acquaintance of their Prince or Sovereign being themselves strangers much more if they have been enemies to him they make use of some special favourite to make way for them to procure access into his presence and to ingratiate them with him that so they may get acquaintance Now such is the condition of all of us by na-nature in respect of God we are not only strangers to him but enemies Alienated Colos 1.21 and enemies in our minds by wicked works And being such our only way to get acquaintance with God is to make use of a Mediatour What Mediatour Peter or Paul or the Virgin Mary or any other of the Saints in glory as the Papists do Alas Abraham knows us not Isa 63.16 and Israel is ignorant of us If they were not yet they are not high enough in the favour of God to prevail for us No no as there is but one God so there is but one Mediatour betwixt God and Man 1 Tim. 2.5 the man Christ Jesus He is the great favourite of heaven who alone can bring us into acquaintance with God O therefore make use of him If you ask What is the use you should make of Christ the Mediatour Quest 1 and how you should make use of him To the first of these I answer The use you are to make of Christ the Mediatour Answ 1 in order to the gaining of acquaintance with God consists in these particulars First You are to make use of Christ the Mediatour for your reconciliation and peace with God Peace must be before acquaintance can be And he must be your peace Eph. 2.14 Secondly You must make use of Christ for bringing of you into Gods presence As Joseph being the favourite of the Court of Egypt brought Jacob and his Sons into the presence of the King It is Christ in whom we have boldness and access with confidence Eph. 3.12 The Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very significant Never come into Gods presence but get Christ to take thee by the hand Thirdly You must make use of Christ to procure you acceptance with God For as the Apostle saith He hath made us accepted in the beloved Eph. 1.6 Fourthly Make use of Christ for the giving of you the true saving and spiritual and effectual knowledge of God without which you can never have true acquaintance with him No man knoweth the Father but the Son Mat. 11.27 and he to whom the Son will reveal him Fifthly You must make use of Christ for the procuring and sending down of that holy Spirit without which we can never have any true converse or familiarity with God Our converse with God lyes partly in our visiting God in prayer that we cannot do without his holy Spirit which is a spirit of prayer and partly it lyes in Gods visiting us which he doth not but by the breathings and motions and excitations and inlargements and consolations of his blessed Spirit Sixthly We must make use of Christ as to bring us into the favour of God so to keep and preserve us in the favour and acquaintance of God If you ask Quest 2 How you should make use of Christ in these particulars I answer Answ 2 Only by Faith by believing in him and trusting to him as the Son of God the Mediatour the Advocate of sinners to do all this for us This therefore do when the guilt of your sins looks you in the face commit your self and cause unto Christ relye upon him to answer for you When the doors of mercy and of access to God seem to be shut against you flye to him that bears the keys and can at any time open to you and let you into Gods presence Desire him to undertake for you to answer for you to God to your own consciences to Satans accusations and rely boldly and confidently upon him to do it for you By him alone you may boldly and comfortably converse with God but without him no drawing near Heb. 12.29 for our God is a consuming fire Fifthly When you have thus convinced your selves of a necessity of acquaintance with God when you have humbled your selves for living so long as you have done without it when you have removed obstructions when you have engaged the Mediatour Then in the fifth place do your duty Ne tibi desis do all that may possibly be done for the bringing of you into acquaintance with God As namely First Visit God often with your prayers Secondly Frequent Gods house the publique assemblies of the Saints where God dwells where Christ walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks Thirdly Practise the duty of setting the Lord always before you and setting your selves often in Gods presence Fourthly Associate thy self with the Saints those that are the friends and acquaintance God hath upon earth that is a ready way to bring thee into the notice and acquaintance of God as Ruths gleaning among Boaz his servants was the first way of bringing her into Boaz his knowledge and acquaintance and of all the preferments that followed to her thereupon Fifthly Beg for and wait for a visit from God by his Spirit and be importunate be impudent here take no denial be not satisfied in one or in few but beg still more and more say with the Psalmist Remember me O Lord with the favour thou bearest unto thy people Psalm 106.4 O visit me with thy salvation Sixthly and Lastly Study compliance with God and give thy self to a punctual and exact observation of his will in all things And these are the wayes of getting intimacy and acquaintance with God CHAP. VII Exhorting those that have acquaintance with God to keep and maintain it MY next work is to exhort those that have acquaintance with God that they would be very careful to keep and maintain that acquaintance that they have with God And to move to this I hope I shall need do no more than tell you that it is a very possible thing for you to lose that acquaintance and familiarity which you have with God Though it is true Once the Lords and ever the Lords and whom God loves once he loves alwayes and it is not possible for any that have ever been reconciled unto God and brought into his favour by Jesus Christ totally and finally to fall out of his favour again yet it is possible for you to lose that sweet intimacy and familiarity and
into the third heavens in holy meditations There is another prays as if he would rend the heavens with his prayers another excels in zeal another in patience another in humility another in holiness These are Souls whom God visits these are mountains upon which God commands the rain of blessing Sed ego miser qui nihil horum sentio but wretched I that feel none of these things what am I but as one of the mountains of Gilboa upon whom there falls neither dew nor rain nor are there fields of offering there Thus humble thy self and bewail thy state and condition Secondly Humble thy self again for thy sin that hath brought thee into this sad condition Think and say thus with thy self Oh what a thing is this that I should by my sin provoke him to leave me in whose presence I have had such life such light such liberty such peace such joy O wretch that I am that that communion and acquaintance that I had with God was of no more esteem with me but that I should thus lose it by my folly I have been careful to keep my interest acquaintance with this and that man but have not been careful to keep my interest and acquaintance with God That which I begged with tears and was many a year a getting how have I by my sin lost it on a sudden O what have I done against my God yea against my self O my folly that have lost that for want of care that now I would redeem again if it were possible with my blood Thirdly Follow God with mournful cryes and prayers beg of him that he would return unto thee and renew acquaintance with thee importune him by all the ancient love that hath been between him and thee that he would be gracious yet unto thee put him in mind of his ancient love to thee Say as the Church Lord Psal 89.49 where are thy former loving kindnesses Lord what is become of all that love which sometimes thou barest and expressedst to thy worthless servant And humbly put God in remembrance of thy ancient love to him seeing God is pleased to be so gracious as to vouchsafe to remember it Jer. 2.2 I remember thee the kindness of thy youth the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wilderness c. Entreat God to remember there was a time when thy love was more vigorous and more fervent to him than it is now when thou couldst have followed him through a wilderness through a sea through fire and water tel him it is thy grief that thou canst not so love him now entreat him by renewing his love to thee to revive thy love to him beg of him that all old kindnesses may not be forgotten cast up thy weeping eyes with the sad complaint of a bleeding soul to thy ancient friend and his bowels will roll his compassions will relent towards thee Fourthly Submit to any conditions of reconcilement and accept of the lowest degree of restauration to favour and acquaintance with God Say Lord chide rebuke smite me command impose do what thou wilt with me only cast me not out of thy presence cashiere me not wholly and for ever say as the poor Prodigal Make me but as one of thine hired servants as the woman of Canaan Let me but gather up the crumbs among the dogs Lord if I have so far sinned as that I may not be restored to that degree of nearness that I had before if I may not have a place among thy children among thy friends Lord set me among thy servants thy hired servants yea if it be but among the dogs of thy family Lord so I may be in thy presence and see thy face I shall be thankful even for so much Fifthly Go to the Lord Jesus Christ the Dayes-man the Friend-maker between God and Enemies much more between God and those that sometimes were his friends Go to him pray him to take thee by the hand yet once again and reconcile thee anew to God He as God is a middle person between the Father and the Spirit and as God-man he is a middle Person between God and Man he is our Peace he is our Advocate with the Father Who with one appearing in heaven for us with one opening of his mouth can make God and us friends if we had never been friends before therefore go to him ingage him by his Name by his Office by his Undertakings to do this for thee Sixthly Go to the Saints of God that are upon earth that are Gods favourite and acquaintance make thy case known to them entreat them to strive with God in prayer for thee This direction God gave the friends of Job as you may see in Chapt. 42. v. 8. Go to my servant Job and my servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept Seventhly Whatever the issue of this thy mourning praying and going to Christ begging the prayers of others be though God should hide his face stil carry it strangely still yet think thou and speak thou honourably of God however Following that president of the Psalmist or rather of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom the Psalmist was but a type My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Psal 22.1 2 3. Why art thou so far from helping me c. But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel Lastly If God yet seem still to be angry with thee take the counsel the holy Ghost gives When the spirit of the Ruler riseth up against thee leave not thy place Eccles 10.4 for yielding pacifieth great offences So now when the Spirit of God seems to be provoked against thee leave not thy place leave not thy station leave not praying and hearing and waiting upon God in all holy Ordinances Henry the fourth Emperor of Germany waited three whole dayes in the depth of Winter bare-foot and bare-legged at the gate of the Pope's Castle before he could obtain admission into his presence and recover his grace and favour Upon occasion of a displeasure conceived by the Pope against the City and State of Venice Franciscus Dandalus afterwards Duke of Venice was sent Embassador to Rome to seek reconciliation and when no other means would mollifie the Pope's proud and inraged heart the Prince at length so far abased himself as to put upon his neck a coller and chain and couch under the Pope's table like a dog at his feet to see if by that means he might at length obtain Now shall Princes and Emperors thus abase themselves in seeking the favour of a mortal man and wait in these abasements long O how low should we lye how long should we wait if by any means or at any time we may recover the favour of God and readmission into his presence FINIS