silence Conscience by running to worldly diversions or snatch at comfort before Humiliation hath had its perfect work and by this default all comes to nothing with Ephraim they flee like a Bird from the birth and from the womb and from the conception and possibly never recover the like advantage Infinitely therefore doth it concern us when we have so fair a gale for Heaven to improve this opportunity to the best advantage which cannot be neglected without great hazard of losing Eternal happiness 4. We should be careful to cherish the good motions of Gods Spirit exciting us to this work As the best way to overcome sin is to resist the first motions of it upon that in Gen. 3. The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head Austin saith What is the Serpents head but the beginning of Sin Resist that and thou breakest the Serpents head so the best way of working out our Salvation is to cherish those good motions the holy Spirit breatheth into the Soul if thou blowest a spark says the Wise man thou shalt have fire if thou spit upon it it will go out and both out of one and the same mouth The Spirit of God is compared to Fire in Scripture as that phrase of quenching the Spirit implieth there is no man but sometimes hath a spark of this fire warming his heart if we be careful to blow this spark we may have fire to light our feet into the ways of peace if we quench or neglect to cherish it we make our selves fitter Fuel for everlasting burnings The Spirits working is compared to the blowing of the Wind (z) Cant. 4.16 John 3.8 Mariners when they have a fair wind use to put forth but if they neglect that opportunity may stay some time before they have another wind and perhaps may lose their intended Voyage when the North South wind of Gods Spirit bloweth upon the Garden of our Souls then is our time to set out for heaven if we neglect these sweet gales we must know the Spirit bloweth where when it lifteth we cannot expect it should blow at our pleasure It is said of the Ostrich That she leaveth her Eggs in the Earth and warmeth them in the dust and forgetteth that the foot may crush them or the wild beast break them (a) Job 39. Some Naturalists say when she thus leaveth her Eggs she doth it with an intent to return to them again and for that purpose usually takes her mark by the seven stars but having staid some time in seeking her food and the seven Stars being removed from the place where they were she in vain looketh for her Eggs and so they are either broken or miscarry for want of brooding Many men have good motions put into their hearts many purposes to set about that great work of their Salvation but at present they lay them aside thinking they may re assume them when they please but neglecting at present to prosecute those good motions the Spirit being grieved withdraws it self and when the Spirit withdraws its assistance it will be in vain to think to effect this work by their own strength when therefore the blessed Spirit of God warmeth our hearts with good motions it should be our care to follow good motions with good purposes and purposes with promises and promises with endeavors and endeavors with performance and performance with perseverance whereas if we quench these motions and stifle these births of the Holy Ghost in our Souls it will be just with God to withdraw his Spirit so God threatneth Be instructed oh Jerusalem lest my Soul departeth from thee and wo to them when I shall depart from them saith God (b Jer. 6.8 Hos 9.12 But to press this further Behold saith Christ I stand at the door and knock (c) Rev. 3.20 this knocking is chiefly by the motions of his Spirit Knocking is first a vehement motion men knock hard when they desire to come in so doth the blessed Spirit Secondly It is an iterated motion men knock and if they be not heard knock again so the Spirit Thirdly It is a gradual motion men knock first more gently then with a louder noise so likewise it is with the Spirit But then fourthly Knocking is a finite motion men will not always continue knocking we have a saying if a man knock three times and none answereth it is manners to be gone and when the Spirit of God knocketh time after time if we shut up the doors of our hearts it is but just that he should give over and never knock more Again He is not only said to knock but Call behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice though he doth not speak by an audible voice yet he doth by words spoken inwardly to the mind by a secret inspiration as Austin saith he felt something within him but what it was he could not tell for it was neither a voyce to be heard by the Ear nor any colour to be discerned by the Eye nor any scent to be perceived by the smell it was neither hard nor soft that it might be felt yet there was somthing God did which he easily felt but was not able to express As when the Lightning saith Cyprian breaketh through the Cloud the sudden splendour of it doth not so much enlighten as dazzel the Eyes so thou sometimes feelest thy self touched but dost not see him that toucheth thee thou hearest words spoken inwardly to thy Soul but dost not perceive him that speaketh to thee by such a Voice God often speaketh to men a Voyce sweetly acquanting us with Gods will such a voyce as is spoken of Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying this is the way walk in it f) Isa 30.21 and if when God thus speaketh we be ready to hear if when he saith seek my face our hearts eccho thy face Lord will we seek when he saith let him that hath an ear to hear our hearts answer speak Lord for thy Servants hear when he saith Return ye backsliding Children our hearts answer Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God (g) Jer. 3.22 If when he cryes List up your heads Oh! ye Gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors that the King of Glory may come in we forthwith hear his voyce and open the door he is most ready to come in and sup with us and to give us to sup with him But here is the great misery God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not (h) Job 33.14 and when we turn a deaf ear to Gods Call we hereby provoke him to take up that peremptory resolution Because I called and ye refused I will also laugh at your Calamity then shall they call upon me and I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me Somtimes he is said to strive with men and this he doth in such manner that it
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory And partly in this verse while we look not at things which are seen but at things not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal No suffering seemeth great to him who hath his mind taken up with the greatness of Eternity We read of some Martyrs that they have endured great sufferings without any sensible feeling of their sufferings as that young Child in Josephus who when his flesh was pulled in pieces with Pincers by the command of Antiochus said with a smiling countenance Tyrant Thou losest time where are those smarting Pains with which thou threatnedst me make me to shrink and cry out if thou canst and Bainam an English Martyr when the fire was flaming about him said You Papists talk of Miracles behold here a miracle I feel no more pain than if I were in a bed of Down it is as sweet to me as a bed of Roses Surely their strength was not the strength of stones nor their flesh as brass that they should not be sensible of so great sufferings only they were so much in Heaven now they were going to Heaven that they endured pains as it were without pain and sufferings without feeling of their sufferings Others again though sensible of their torments yet endured them with unspeakable courage and alacrity Laurence when his body was roasted upon a burning Gridiron cryed out This side is roasted enough turn the other Marcus of Arethusa when his body was anointed with honey and hung up aloft in a Basket to be stung by Wasps and Bees looked down saying I am advanced despising you that are below And when we see weak feeble creatures defying their torments conquering in the midst of suffering when we hear them expressing the greatest joy in the mâ—dst of their greatest suff rings singing in Prison as Paul and Silas did kissing the Stake as Henry Voes did clapping their hands when they were half consumed with fire as Hawkes did blessing God that ever they were born to see that day as John Noyes did calling their execution-day Their wedding Day as Bishop Ridley did We cannot but think there was something more than ordinary that did thus raise their Spirits and questionless this was it chiefly they had an eye to the Recompence of the reward the consideration of those eternal joyes they were now entring on did so ravish their hearts and transport their thoughts that all their sufferings seemed light and easie to them Tertullian saith the foot feeleth nothing on earth when the mind is in Heaven and as this sweetens sufferings so all other troubles Jerome thus comforted the Hermite that was sad with his being alone in the Wilderness Think of Heaven and so long thou wilt not think thy self in a Desart It is reported of Olympius who lived Cloystered up in a Monastery near Jordan that his mind was so fixed on Eternity that he had scarce any sense and feeling of any temporal miseries It hapned on a time that a certain religious man went to visit him and finding him cloystered up in a dark Cell which he thought un-inhabitable by reason of heat and swarmes of gnats and flies and asking him how he could endure to live in such a place he answered All this is but a light matter that I may escape eternal Torments I can endure the stinging of Gnats that I might not endure the stinging of Conscience and the gnawing of that worm that never dyes this heat thou thinkest grievous I can easily endure when I think of the eternal fire of Hell these sufferings are but short but the sufferings of Hell are eternal And as all present sufferings are light in comparison of everlasting torments so if we think further of the eternal joyes of Heaven this will make them seem more light I reckon saith the Apostle That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed (y) Rom. 8 18. He puts as it were into one ballance the afflictions of this life and in the other the blessedness of Heaven and having weighed both concludeth that there is no reckoning to be made of the one in comparison of the other Chrysostome writing to Stagirius to comfort him against the troubles he met with bespeaketh him in this manner If thou wert elected King of some flourishing Kingdom and wert now going to the Imperial City to be invested with the Regal dignity though as then wert passing through the Suburbs thou shouldst meet with some dirty way or have some light affront put upon thee by some Passenger wouldst thou not easily pass by this and hasten with joy to the Coronation Our abode in this life is but like passing through the Suburbs if we hope for an immortal Crown in Heaven we should make light of whatsoever troubles here befall us imitating that great Captain of our Salvation who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame (z) Heb. 12 2. It was the Counsel an old Monk gave to a young Novice entring into that Order If thou wouldst be perfect thou must be like the Ass of this Monastery which when he is laden repineth not when beaten kicketh not when driven goeth whither the Driver would have him so saith he it must be with thee and so it would be vvith us if vve had our minds seriously fixed upon Eternity What Chrysostome speaketh of wicked men vvhom he calleth the Devils Hackneys [a] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vvho go through thick and thin through fair vveather and foul vveather stick at nothing the Devil puts them upon vvould be verified in us in reference to God we would be willing both to do and suffer what God would have us no trouble would appear grievous no state and condition of life seem amiss in which God disposeth of us It is reported of a Jewish Rabbin that whatsoever befell him he would say It is good if any cross accident came it is good if any trouble befel him it is good also if a second a third cross this is good also for which cause he was called Rabbi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This also I have read of a religious man who being in a great strait and not knowing what to do wrote down all the Letters-of the Alphabet in a paper and spread them open before God saying Lord here are Letters and letters make words and words signifie things do thou put them togeth r and make of them what thou pleasest it would be so with us in some measure if we looked as the Apostles did at things Eternal we would in these temporal things refer our selves to God we would be willing to be what God would have us to be and have what God would have us to have and suffer what God would have us to suffer 6. It would have a powerful influence upon whatsoever
is no easie thing to out-strive these wrestlings and contendings of Gods Spirit he doth so follow men with the Exhortations Admonitions Counsels of his Word so hedge them in with Mercies on the one hand and Corrections on the other so besiege them by inward Enlightnings Convictions Perswasions Impulses that men shall confess another day that they were forced to strive and strive hard to elude these workings of Gods Spirit but this he will not do always My Spirit shall not always strive with man (i) Gen. 6.3 Oh then take heed of withstanding these strivings of the Spirit Woe be to him that striveth with his Maker (k) Isa 45.9 If all striving with God be woful certainly this is most desperate when he shall strive to do us good and we shall strive to suppress and put off these contendings of the Spirit when he shall strive to save us and we shall strive for our own Damnation wo to him that thus striveth with his Maker if we have hitherto thus striven against God take we heed of striving any longer lest God resolve My Spirit shall not always strive with man for that he is flesh Sometimes the Spirit is said to draw (l) Cant. 1.4 Hos 11.4 There are in Nature four ways by which one thing may be said to draw another by Sympathy so they say the Herb Aproxis through a natural correspondence with the fire though at a distance from it draweth the flame and begins to burn by heat so the Sun draweth up the Vapours by motion so the Horse draweth the Coach and by secret attraction so Amber draweth the Straw and the Loadstone the Iron the blessed Spirit maketh use of all these four ways of attraction he draweth by Sympathy when he worketh in the heart any kind of willingness to yield to his call by heat when he warmeth the heart by good motions by motion when he seeketh to work upon men by the pious examples of other Christians and lastly by secret attraction when in a Dream a Vision of the night or any other secret way he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide Pride from man (m) Job 33.16 17 29. And as Elihu adds Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man These several ways he seeketh to draw him to himself and when the Spirit doth thus we should resolve with the Church Draw me we will run after thee (n) Cant. 1.4 whereas if when the Spirit draws on we draw off when he draws forward toward heaven we dravv backward toward perdition Let us remember that dreadful commination If any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him (o) Heh 9.38 By all this it appeareth of vvhat grand import it is to observe the motions comply with the workings of the Spirit We read when the Cloud the testimony of Gods presence abode upon the Tabernacle whether it were two days or a month or a year the Children of Israel abode in their Tents and journied not but vvhen the Cloud vvas taken up vvhether it vvas by day or by night they journied (p) Numb 9 17. When the Spirit of God is present vvith us and offereth its assistance novv is our time to set out for heaven vvhereas to neglect this season and to think to do it aftervvard is as if the Mariner should lie still vvhen the Wind is favourable the Ship rigged the Sails spred and all accommodations provided should put forth vvhen he vvere deprived of all these Advantages Or as if the Smith should lay aside the Iron when it is hot and malleable and begin to strike when it is grown cold When David enquired of God whether he should go out against the Philistines he had this Answer from God When thou hearest the sound of a Going in the tops of the Mulberry-trees then thou shalt bestir thy self for then shall the Lord go out before thee (q) 2 Cor. 5.24 When we hear as it were a voice within us exciting us to this work we should then set upon it that being the time when the holy Spirit goeth before us 5. We should conscionably perform those Duties which God hath appointed as means and helps to obtain Eternal happiness As 1. We should be much in Prayer David saith For my love they are mine Adversaries but I give my self to Prayer (r) Ps 190.4 it is in the Original but I prayer the words give my self unto as in our Translation are added for explanation as the different Character sheweth David speaketh as if he were composed and made up of Prayer and therefore no wonder that David assureth himself of Heaven As for me I will behold thy face in Righteousness it being impossible that a Son of so many prayers should perish He that calleth upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved is in three several places Recorded in Scripture 2. We should be swift to hear Hear and your soul shall live (s) Isa 55.3 It was by the Ear by our first Parents listning to Satan that we lost that hapiness we were entitled to by our first Creation and in Nature the same thing that giveth the wound doth sometime afford the Cure So God hath ordered that by the Ear by hearing the Word we may obtain happiness Excellent is that passage of Chrysostome If you step into Courts of Judicature what pleading and wrangling shall you hear If into the Market-place there is little to be seen but buying and selling and lying and cheating if into Private Families nothing but working and toiling for the World if into Princes Courts (s) Isa 55.3 all the Discourse is about Honours and worldly greatness but nothing that is Spiritual (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scarce a word of God and Heaven But go now into the House of God and there you shall be sure to hear something of Heaven and Heavenly things of the blessedness of separate Soul of such things as neither the eye hath seen nor the ear heard (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. we should therefore diligently wait at Wisdoms doors and attend at the posts of her Gates 3. We should be much in thanksgiving God promiseth I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them (w) Ezek 29.21 he would give them deliverance in such manner that Ezekiel and the rest of the Faithful might with freedom and open mouth praise the Lord in the Assemblies This opening of the mouth in praise which justly belongs to God for whom praise waiteth in Sion and is imperfectly done by Believers on Earth is perfectly and abundantly practised by the Saints in Heaven the high praises of God are in their mouths it is the great work of those Heavenly Inhabitants as therefore wicked men accustom themselves to swearing and cursing as practising that on Earth they are like to do in Hell So the Saints