to excite it and call it up to act in the progress of sanctification Men are strangely inclined to a perverse construction of things tell them that we are to act and work and give diligence then they would fancy a doing in their own strength and be their own Saviours Again tell them that God works all our works in us and for us then they would take the ease of doing nothing if they cannot have the praise of doing all they will sit still with folded hands and use no diligence at all But this is the corrupt logick of the flesh its base sophistry The Apostle reasons just contrary Phil. 2. 12. It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do Therefore would a carnal heart say we need not work or at least may work very carelesly But he infers Therefore let us work out our Salvation with fear and trembling in the more humble obedience to God and dependance on him not obstructing the influences of his Grace and by sloth and negligence provoking him to withdraw or abate it Certainly many in whom there is truth of grace are kept low in the growth of it by their own slothfulness sitting still and not bestirring themselves and exercising the proper actions of that spiritual Life by which it is entertained and advanced From all filthiness All kind of sinful pollutions not as Men commonly do reform some things and take to themselves dispensations in others at least in some one peculiar sin their Mistress and their Herodias their Dalilah No parting with that yea they rather forego many other things as a kind of composition for the retaining of that Of flesh and spirit The whole Man must be purified and consecrated to God not only refined from the gross outward acts of sin but from the inward affection to it and motions of it that so the heart go not after it Psal. 131. Which under restraints of outward committing sin it may do and very often does as the Israelites lusted after the flesh pots their hearts remained in Egypt still though their bodies were brought out This is then to be done affection to sin to be purged out that is to cleanse the ground not only to lop off the branches but to dig about and loosen and pluck up the root though still fibers of it will stick yet we ought still to be finding them out and plucking them up Further These not only of the inner part of all sins but of some sins that are most or wholly inward that hang not much on the body nor are acted by it those filthinesses of the Spirit that are less discerned then those of the Flesh and as more hardly discerned so when discerned more hardly purged out Pride Selflove Unbeleif Curiosity c. Which though more retired and refined sins yet are pollutions and defilements yea of the worst sort as being more spiritual are filthinesses of the Spirit Fleshly pollutions are things of which the Devil 's not capable in themselves though they excite Men to them and so they are called unclean Spirits but the highest rank of sins are those that are properly Spiritual wickednesses These in Men are the chief strengths of Satan the inner works of these forts and strongholds 2 Cor. 10. 4. Many that are not much tempted to the common gross sensualities have possibly though an inclination to them yet a kind of disdain and through education and morality and strength of reason with somewhat of natural conscience are carried above them who yet have many of these heights those lofty imaginations that rise against God and the obedience of Christ all which must be demolisht Perfecting holiness Not content with low measures so much as keeps from Hell But aspiring towards perfection aiming high at self victory self denial and the love of God purer and hotter as a fire growing and flaming up and consuming the Earth Though Men fall short of their aim yet it is good to aim high they shall shoot so much the higher though not full so high as they aim thus we ought to be setting the state of perfection in our eye resolving not to rest content below that and to come as near it as we can even before we come at it Phil. 3. 11. 12. This to act as one that hath such a Hope such a State in view and is still advancing towards it In the fear of God No working but on firm ground no solid endeavours in holiness where it is not founded in a deep heart a reverence of God a desire to please him and to be like him which springs from Love This most Men are either strangers to wholly or are but slight and shallow in it and therefore make so little true progress in holiness Then there is the motive having these Promises Being called to so fair an estate so excellent a condition to be the people yea the Sons and Daughters of God therefore they are called to the coming forth from Babel and the separating themselves from sin and purging it out holiness is his Image in his Children the more of it the more suitable to that blessed Relation and Dignity and the firmer are the hopes of the inheritance of Glory Consider Sin as a filthiness hate it Oh how ugly and vile is lust how deformed is swelling Pride and all sin is an aversion from God a casting the noble Soul into the mire the defacing all its beauty Turning to present things it pollutes it self with them that he who was clad in scarlet embraces the dunghil as Jeremy in another sense laments Purity of things is an unmixture and simplicity corresponding with their own being and so is the Soul when elevated above the Earth and Sense and united unto God contemplating him and delighting in him all inordinate bent to the Creatures or to it self which is the first and main disorder doth defile and debase it And the more it is sublim'd and freed from it self the purer and more heavenly it grows and partakes the more of God and resembles him the more This then to be our main study first to search out our iniquities the particular defilements of our Nature not only gross filthinesses Drunkenness Lasciviousness c. But our love of this Earth or of Air or Vanity of mind our Self will and Self-seeking Most even of Christians are short sighted in their own secret evils the filthinesses of Spirit especially and use little diligence in this enquiry they do not seek Light from God to go in before him and to lead them into themselves as the Prophet had in the discovery of Idolatries at Jerusalem Oh that we could once see what heaps of abominations lie hid in us one behind another Then having searcht out we must follow on to purge out not to pass over nor spare any but to delight most in casting out the best beloved sin the choicest Idol that hath had most of our service and sacrifices to make room for Jesus Christ.
And never cease in this work for still there is â—eed of more purging one dayes work in this disposes for and engages to a further to the next for as sin is purged out Light comes in and more clear discoveries are made of remaining pollutions So then still there must be progress less of the World and more of God in the heart every day Oh this is a sweet course of Life what gain what preferment to be compared to it And in this 't is good to have our ambition growing the higher we rise to aspire still the higher looking farther than before even toward the perfection of holiness it is not much we can here attain to but sure 't is commonly far less than we might we improve not our condition and advantages as we might do the world is busie driving forewards their designs Men of spirit are animated both by better and worse success if any thing miscarry it sets them on the more eagerly to make it up in the right management of some other design and when they prosper in one thing that enables and incourages them to attempt further shall all things seem worth our pains are only Grace and Glory so cheap in our account that the least diligence of all goes that way Oh! strange delusion Now our cleansing is to be managed by all holy means Word and Sacrament more wisely and spiritually used than commonly with us and private Prayer that purifies and elevates the Soul takes it up into the Mount and makes it shine and particularly supplicating for the Spirit of holiness and victory over sin is not in vain it obtains its desires of God the Soul becoming that which it is fixedly set upon Holy resolution Christians much wanting in this faint and loose in their purposes The consideration of Divine Truths the mysteries of the Kingdom the hope of Christians yea rich and great Promises that is particularly here the motive these are all the means holy means they are as their end is the perfection of holiness Having these Promises Now consider whether it is better to be the Slaves of Satan or the Sons of God measure delight in God with the low base pleasures of sense Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God these gradually go on together and are perfected together Why then is there such an invincible love of sin in the hearts of Men at least why so little love of holiness and endeavour after it so mean thoughts of it as a thing either indecent or unpleasant when 't is the only noble and the only delightful thing in the World the Soul by other things is drawn below it self but by holiness it is raised above it self and made Divine Pleasures of sin for a season the pleasure of a moment exchanged for those of Eternity But even in the mean time in this season the Soul is fed with Communion with God one hour of which is more worth than the longest Life of the highest of the Worlds delights SERMON XV. Psal. CXIX 32. I will run the way of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart TO desire ease and happiness under a general representation of it is a thing of more easie and general perswasion There is somewhat in Nature to help the argument but to find beauty in and be taken with the very way of holiness that leads to it is more rare and depends on a higher principle Self-love inclines a man to desire the rest of Love but to love and desire the labour of Love is love of a higher and purer strain To delight and be chearful in obedience argues much love as the spring of it that is the thing the holy Psalmist doth so plentifully express in this Psalm and he is still desiring more of that sweet and lively affection that might make him yet more abundant in action Thus here I will run c. He presents his desire and purpose together the more of this Grace thou bestowest on me the more service shall I be able to do thee This is the top of his ambition while others are seeking to enlarge their Barns their Lands or Estates or Titles Kings to enlarge their Territories or Authority to incroach on Neighbouring Kingdoms or be more absolute in their own instead of all such Enlargements this is David's great desire An enlarged heart to run the way of Gods Commandments And these other how big soever they sound are poor narrow desires this one is larger and higher than them all and gives evidence of a heart already large but as it is miserably in those 't is happy in this much would still have more Let others seek more Money or more Honour Oh the blessed choice of that Soul that is still seeking more Love to God more affection and more ability to do him service that counts all days and hours for lost that are not employed to this improvement that hears the Word in publick and reads it in private for this purpose to kindle this love or to blow the sparkable if any there be already in the heart to raise it to a clear flame and from a little flame to make it burn yet hotter and purer and rise higher But above all means is often presenting this in Prayer to him on whose influence all depends in whose hand our hearts are much more than in our own it follows him with this desire and works on him by his own interest though there can be really no accession of gain to him by our services yet he is pleased so to account with us as if there were therefore we may urge this Lord give more and receive more I will run the way of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart We have here in the words a required disposition and a suitable resolution The disposition relates to the resolution as the means of fulfilling it and the resolution relates to the disposition both as the end of desiring it and as the motive of obtaining it The resolution occurs first in the words I will run c. The way resolved on is that of Gods Commandments not the road of the polluted World not the crooked ways of his own heart but the High way the Royal way the straight way of the Kingdom and that in the Notion of Subjection and Obedience the way of thy Commandments This man naturally struggles against and repines at to be limited and bounded by a Law is a restraint and a vain man could possibly find in his heart to do many of the same things that are commanded but he would not be ty'd would have his liberty and do 't of his own choice This is the enmity of the carnal mind against God as the Apostle expresses it it is not subject to the Law of God neither can it be it breaks these Bonds and casts away the Cords of his Authority This is Sin the transgression of a Law and this made the first Sin so great though in a
forbear to confess multitudes of offences that know themselves And who can chuse but seek thy Face that ever saw thy Face and that know thee In their affliction they will seek me early He that Prays not till affliction comes and forces him to it is very slothful but he that Prays not in affliction is altogether senseless Certainly they that at this time are not more than ordinary fervent in Prayer or do not at least desire and strive to be so cannot well think that there is any Spiritual life within them Sure it is high time to stir up our selves to Prayers and Tears all may bear arms in that kind of Service weak Women may be strong in Prayer and those Tears wherein they usually abound upon other occasions cannot be so well spent as this way Let them not run out in howlings and impatience but bring them by bewailing sins private as well as publick to quench this publick Fire and ye Men yea ye Men of courage account it no disparagement thus to weep we read often of David's Tears which was no stain to his valour That cloud that hangs over us which the frequent vapors of our Sins have made except it dissolve and fall down again in these sweet showers of Godly Tears is certainly reserved to be the matter of a dreadful storm be instant every one in secret for the averting of this wrath and let us now again unite the crys of our hearts for this purpose to our compassionate God in the Name and Mediation of his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Job XXXIV 31 32. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not Teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do no more THE great Sin and the great Misery of Man is the forgetting of God and the great End and Use of his Works and of his Word is to teach us the right Remembrance and Consideration of Him in all Estates These words do particularly instruct us in the application of our thoughts towards him in the time of Affliction The shortness and the various signification of the words used in the Original gives occasion to some other Readings and another sence of them But this we have in our Translation being not only very profitable but very congruous both to the words of the primitive Text and to the contexture of the Discourse I shall keep to it without dividing your thoughts by the mentioning of any other Neither will I lead you so far about as to speak of the great dispute of this Book and the question about which it is held He that speaks here though the youngest of the Company yet as a wise and calm spirited Man closes all with a discourse of excellent Temper and full of grave useful Instructions amongst which this is one Surely it is meet to be said or spoke to God This speaking to God though it may be vocal yet it is not necessarily nor chiefly so but is always mainly and may often be only mental without this the words of the mouth how well chosen and well exprest so ever they be are to God of no account or signification at all But if the heart speak even when there is not a word in the mouth its that he hearkens to and regards that speech tho'made by a voice that none hears but he and is a Language that none understands but He. But it is a rare unfrequented thing this Communing of the heart with God speaking its thoughts to him concerning it self and concerning him and his dealing with it and the purposes and intentions it hath towards him which is the speech here recommended and is that Divine exercise of Meditation and Soliloquy of the Soul with it self and with God hearkening what the Lord God speaks to us within us and our hearts ecchoing and resounding his words as Ps. 27. 8 9. And opening to him our thoughts of them and of our selves though they stand open and he sees them all even when we tell him not of them yet because he loves us he loves to hear them of our own speaking Let me hear thy voice for it is sweet as a Father delights in the little stammering lisping Language of his beloved Child And if the reflex affection of Children be in us we will love also to speak with our Father and to tell him all our mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to be often with him in the entertainments of our secret thoughts But the most of Men are little within either they wear out their hours in vain discourse with others or possibly vainer discourses with themselves even those that are not of the worst sort and possibly that have their times of secret Prayer yet do not so delight to think of God and to speak with him as they do to be conversant in other Affairs and Companies and Discourses in which there is a great deal of froth and emptiness Men think by talking of many things to be refresht and yet when they have done find that it is nothing and that they had much better have been alone or have said nothing Our Thoughts and Speeches in most things run to waste yea are defiled as water spilt on the Ground is both lost cannot be gathered up again and it is polluted mingled with dust but no word spoke to God from the serious Sense of a holy Heart is lost he receives it and returns it into our bosom with advantage a Soul that delights to speak to him will find that he also delights to speak to it And this Communication certainly is the sweetest and happiest choice to speak little with Men and much with God One short word such as this here spoke to God in a darted thought eases the heart more when it is afflicted then the largest Discourses and Complainings to the greatest and powerfullest of Men or the kindest and most friendly It gives not only ease but joy to say to God I have sinned yet I am thine or as here I have born Chastisement I will no more offend The time of affliction is peculiarly a time of speaking to God and such speech as this is peculiarly befitting such a time And this is one great recommendation of affliction that it is a time of wiser and more sober thoughts a time of the returning of the mind inwards and upwards A high place Fullness and Pleasure draws the mind more outwards great light and white Colours disgregate the sight of the eye and the very thoughts of the mind too And Men find that the night is a fitter Season for deep thoughts It s better says Solomon to go to the House of Mourning then to the House of Feasting Those blacks made the mind more serious 'T is a rare thing to find much Retirement unto God much Humility and Brokenness of Spirit true Purity and Spiritualness of heart in the affluences and great prosperities of the
is used inâ—â— ver 27. conform to that of Moses Gen. 6. Every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart is only evil continually The word indeed signifies the wise thoughts so then take the full latitude of it thus The carnal mind in its best and wisest thoughts is direct enmity against God Carnal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What meant by the flesh here It is the whole corrupt Nature of man and that we may know by its opposition to the Spirit not to the Spirit or Soul of a man for so it hath no thoughts nor minding these being proper to the Soul but opposed to the Spirit of God Now the Corruption of Nature is called the Flesh not without very good reason not only to signifie the baseness of it the Flesh being the more ignoble and meaner part of a Man but because the greatest part of the sins of mens lives are about sensitive objects and things that concern the Flesh or the Body it lets in temptation of sin to the Soul by the doors of the Senses and it gives the last perfection or accomplishment to sin by external acting of it The very first sin that brought in Death and Misery with it upon Mankind the pleasure of the eye and of the taste were sharers in the guiltiness of it The carnal mind Man in regard of his composure is as it were the tie and band of Heaven and Earth they meet and are married in him A Body he has taken out of the Dust but a Soul breathed from Heaven the Father of Spirits a House of Clay but a Guest of most noble Extraction But the pity is it hath forgot its Original and is so drowned in flesh that it deserves no other but to go under the Name of Flesh. It is become the Slave and Drudge of the Body and as the Israelites in Egypt made perpetually to moyl in Clay What is all your Merchandise your Trades and Manufactures your Tillage and Husbandry but all for the Body in its behalf for Food and Raiment In all these the Mind must be careful and thoughtful and yet properly they reach it not for it self hath no interest in them It is true the necessity of the Body requires much of these things and superfluous custom far more but it is lamentable that men force their Souls to forget it self and its proper business to attend these things only and be busie in them They spend all their time and their choicest pains upon perishing things and which is worse engage their affections to them They mind earthly things whose end is destruction Philip. 3. 19. The same word that 's here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Will you consider seriously that your Souls run the hazard of perishing because you consider not their Spiritual Nature When that earthly Tabernacle of yours shall fall to the ground and e're long it must your Souls must then enter Eternity and though you had as large a share of earthly things as your earthly hearts now would wish they all lose their use in that moment they are not a proper good for the Soul at any time and least at that time If you keep it all your life long busie about the interest and benefit of the flesh the Body how poor will be when thy part having provided nothing at all for it self but the guiltiness of a sinful life which will sink it into that bottomless Pit Be forewarned then for to be carnally minded is death verse 6. precedeing the Text. The carnal mind Now as Sin hath abased and degenerated the Soul of Man making it Carnal so the Son of God by taking on our Nature hath sublimated it again and made it Spiritual The Souls that received him are Spiritualized yea as Sin made the Soul Carnal Grace makes the very Body to become Spiritual making it partaker and co-worker in spiritual things together with the Soul in doing and suffering and participant of the hopes too of an everlasting reward This is the main Christian Character our Apostle gives here that they are spiritually minded and that their actions suit their minds They walk not after the flesh but after the spirit whereas before with the rest of the World they were eager in the pursuit of Honours and Profits and Worldly Pleasures Now the stream of their desires run in another channel they seek after Honour and are very ambitious of it but it is such Honour as the Apostle speaks of in this Epistle Rom. 2. 7. By patient continuance in well doing they seek for glory and honour and immortality Their mind is upon profit and gain but it is with the same Apostle Philip. 3. that they may win Christ and they account all other things loss in comparison And their desires are after pleasure too but not Carnal Pleasures those are both base and of short continuance but the pleasures they aim at are those that are at Gods right hand and for evermore Psal. 16. 11. And that path of life he there speaks of that way of holiness that leads thither is their delight Spiritual Excercises they go to not as their task only but more as their joy and refreshment And this change the Spirit of God works in the Soul making it yea and the body wherein it dwells of Carnal to become Spiritual as the fire to which the Holy Ghost is compared refines Sand and Ashes and makes of them the purest Glass which is so neat and transparent Enmity against God Sin hath not only made us unlike God by defacing his beautiful Image in us not only strangers by making us wander far off from him but enemies nor enemies only but Enmity in the abstract for that is emphatical The carnal mind is Enmity nothing else but Enmity Now this Enmity is described in the latter clause of the Text by an Antipathy so to call it or Not-compliance with the Law of God it is not subject to the Law of God neither can it be to wit while it remains such There is an absolute impossibility in it to suit with the Law of God and consequently with God himself the reason lies in their opposits qualities God is spiritual and holy and so is the law as our Apostle hath it in the preceeding Chapter and the opposition he there makes betwixt his Unregenerate part and the Law is wholly true of the Unregenerate man The law is holy says he ver 12. And ver 14. It is spiritual to which too he opposes but I am carnal sold under sin Where are now those that so vilifie Grace and magnifie Nature Or shall I rather say Nullifie Grace and Deifie Nature Here is the best Elogy the Apostle will bestow upon the best of Natures Enmity against God Nay all the sparkles of Virtue and Moral Goodness in Civil Men and Ancient Heathens is no better besides many other things to be said to the Vertues of those Philosophers as ignorance of Christ by whom alone this enmity is removed I
as a House covers all for so it signifies doth not blaze abroad the failingâ— of men yea it hides much covers a multitude of sins not only from the eyes of others but even from a mans own eyes makes him not behold and look on those things that might provoke him yea it is Ingenious and Inventive of the fairest Constructions of things to take them by the best side in the favourablest sense and so long as there is any agreeable way to Interpret any thing favourably will not have a hard thought of it Thinks no ill as there it is not only hath not active evil thoughts of Revenge or returning Evil but willingly doth not judge ill of what is done by others and that might be so lookt on as to provoke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not reckon wrongs so high as want of Charity moves the most to do sets them low and as a healthful Constitution is sweet it self and relishes all things right there is more true pleasure and content of mind in forgiving than ever any man found in revenge that is but a Feverish delight that Malice and Anger hath wrought working perhaps greedily but is indeed a Distemper This Love is the very root of Peace and Concord a humble Grace that is not lifted up and Insolent as the word there is and so doth not breed Jars about Punctiliâ—e esteems so well of others and so meanly of it self that it cannot well be crost by any in that matter of under valuing But vain Spirits are puft up with a little approbation and as easily kindled up with any affront or apprehended disgrace Love is not lightly put out of temper as sickly Constitutions a Fit of a Fever or Ague with any blast or wrong touch of Diet it is of a stronger digestion and firmer health Then for that Not commit Adultery All things of that kind though they spring from a kind of Love yet not from this Love from above but as the Apostle James distinguishes wisdom from the Love that is sensual and devilish Love is not the true name of it but base and brutish Lust and generally all prophane Societies and sortings of men one with another are most contrary to this pure Love The Drunkards that are Cup-friends as they are full of Jars and have no constancy but are unstable as that wherein their Friendship lies their Liquor are a vile despicable Society not worthy of Men much less of Christians This sin hath affininity with Uncleanness and is usually ranked there Right Love to a Tipler is not to sit down and guzzle with him but to reprove and labour to reclaim him and where that cannot be done to avoid him To wicked persons we owe not a complacency or delight which is most contrary to this Love but hating their Sin we owe them Love and the desiring and as far as Love can the procuring their Conversion and Salvation Wicked Converse cannot consist with this Love which is the fulfilling of the Law and a Combination for the breaking of it and the joining their strength together for that end Love rejoiceth not in Iniquity but in the Truth makes not men rejoice together in Sin So foul unclean Affections and a Society in order to the gratiâ—ying them is most contrary to it true Love is most tender of the Chastity of others and cannot abide an impute thought in it self So in not Stealing Love would be loth to enrich or advantage it self upon the damage of others in any kind it doth most faithfully â—nd singly seek the profit and prosperity of our Neighbour even as our own And iâ— this took place of how much use were it in the World But oh it is rare This meum and tuum is the grand Cause of the ill understanding and discords that are amongst men when it is not managed by this Love but by Self-love And the tendering and preserving of the good name of our Brethren is a proper and very remarkable fruit of this Love which is so far from forging false defaming Stories that it will rather excuse if it may be done or if not will pity the real failings of men that tend to their reproach and on the contrary will teach men to rejoice in the good carriage and good esteem of their Brethren as of their own In the end Love works such a Complacency in the good of others and such a Contentation with our own Estate that it most powerfully banishes that unruly humour of Coveting which looks on the condition of others with envy and on our own with grudging and discontent This Law of Love written within doth not only rectifie and order the Hands and Tongue but the Jealousies the very stirrings of the Heart it corrects the usual disorder of its motion and bars those uncharitable inordinate thoughts that do so abound and swarm in Carnal minds 3. The Original of this Love is that other Love which corresponds to the other part the first and chief point of the Law our Duty towards God Love to him is the sum and source of all Obedience when the whole Soul and Mind is possest with that then all is acceptable and sweet that he commands first what he commands as immediately referrable to himself and then what is the Rule of our Carriage to men as being prescrib'd and commanded by him For so and no otherwise is this Love the fulfilling of the Law when it flows from that first Love Love to God whose Law it is that commands this other Love to Men. Some may have somewhat like it by a mildness and ingenuity of Nature being inoffensive and well-willing towards all but then only doth it fulfil the Law when out of regard to the Law of God it obeys and obeys out of love to him whose Law it is So then the Love of God in the heart is the Spring of right and holy Love to our Neighbour both 1 because in obedience to him whom we love soveraignly we will love even sincerely because he will have it so That is reason enough to the Soul possest and taken up with his Love It loves nothing how lovely soever but in him and for him in order and subordination to his Love and in respect to his Will and it loves any thing how unlovely soever taking it in that Contemplation It loves not the dearest Friend but in God and can love the hatefullest Enemy for him Amicum in Deo inimicum propter Deum Aug. His love can beautifie the most unamiable Object and make it lovely He saith of a worthless undeserving Man or thy most undeserving Enemy Love him for my sake because it pleases me that 's reason enough to one that loves him 2 There is that dilateing sweetning Vertue in love to God that it can act no other way to men but as becomes Love Base self-love contracts the heart and is the very root of all Sin the chief wickedness in our corrupt Nature but the Love of God
assimilates the Soul to him makes it Divine and therefore Bountiful full of Love to all So these two contradict not Love the Lord with all thy heart and thy Neighbour as thy self If all our love must go to God what remains for our Neighbour Indeed all go upwards and be all placed on him and from thence it is refounded and regulated downwards to men according to his Will But Self-love brings forth Pride and Cruelty and Covetousness and Uncleanness and disdain of others and all such kind of Monsters so it is the main breaking of the Law All that can be said will not perswade men to this till the Lord by his Love teach it and impress it on the heart Know that this is the Badge of Christs Followers and his great Rule and Law given to them and if you will follow him that you may come to be where he is then study this That as our Lord Christ loved us so also we ought to love one another SERMON XI PREFACE GReat and various are the Evils that lodg within the Heart of Man Hence proceed Evil thoughts Adulteries Murders and many other mischiefs as our Saviour specifies there they come forth apace and yet the heart is not emptied of them But was this heart thus at first when it came newly forth of the hands of its Maker Surely no Man was made upright but he found out many Inventions Soon did the heart find the way to corrupt it self but to renew it self is as impossible as to have been the Author of its own Creation easily could it deface the precious Characters of Gods Image but it passes the Art of Men and Angels to restore them Only the Son of God who for that purpose took on him our Nature can make us according to the Apostles Phrase partakers of the Divine Nature It is he alone that can banish these Unclean Spirits and keep possession that they return no more Have not they made a happy change of Guests that have those Infernal Troops turn'd out of Doors and the King of Glory fixing his abode within them This is the voice of the Gospel Lift up your heads ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors that the King of glory may enter in But small is the number of those that open where this voice is daily sounded yea some there are that grow worse under the frequent Preaching of the Word as if Sin were emulous and as is said of Vertue would grow by opposition The truth is too many of us turn these serious Exercises of Religion into an idle Divertisement Take heed that Formality and Custom and Novelty do not often help to fill up many Rooms in our Church It were indeed a breach of Charity to entertain the fullness of your Assemblies with ill Construction No it is to be commended But would to God we were more careful to shew our Religion in our Lives to study to know better the Deceits and Impostures of our own hearts and to gain daily more Victory over our secret and best beloved Sins Let our intentions then be to meet with Christ here and to admit him gladly to dwell and rule within us if he conquer our inward Enemies those without shall not be able to hurt us if he deliver us from our sinful Lusts he will still our own distrustful fears And that such may be the fruits of our meeting let us turn our selves towards the Throne of Grace with humble Prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ the Righteous Psalm LXXVI 10. Surely the wrath of a man shall praise thee The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain WHat Man is this said the Passengers in the Ship that even the Winds and the Sea obey him Christ suddenly turns a great tempest into a greater Calm Matth. 8. 27. Surely those are no ordinary words of Command that swelling Waves and boisterous Winds in the midst of their rage are forc'd to hear and taught to understand and obey them Therefore the holding of the Seas in the hollow of his Hand the bridling of the Wind and riding upon the Wings of it we find peculiarly attributed to the Almighty But no less if not more wonderful is another of his Prerogatives to wit His Soveraignty over all Mankind the divers and strange motions of the Heart of Man admirable is it to govern those both in respect of their Multitude and Irregularity Consider we what Millions of men dwell at once upon the face of the Earth and again what Troops of several Imaginations will pass through the fancy of any one man within the compass of one day 'T is much to keep eye upon them and to behold them all at once but far more to Command and Controul them all yet if they were all Loyal and willingly Obedient were they Tractable and easily Curbed it were more easie for us to conceive how they might be Governed but to bound and over-rule the unruly hearts of men the most of them continually are either plotting or acting Rebellion against their Lord to make them all concur and meet at last in one end cannot be done but by a Power and a Wisdom that are both Infinite That God whose Name we often mention but seldom think on his Excellency is alone the Absolute Monarch of mens Hearts and the Ruler of all their Motions he hath them Limited while they seem most free and works his own Glory out of their attempts while they strive most to dishonour him Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee c. The Psalm is made up of these two different sorts of Thoughts the one arising out of Particular Experience and the other out of a General Doctrine These drawn from Experience are set down in the verses precedeing the Text and in it with those that follow is the Doctrine with a Duty annexed to it which two are Faiths main Supporters by past particulars verifie the Doctrine and the generality of the Doctrine serves to explain the particular Experiences to all wise observers There is not a Treasure of the Merits of Saints in the Church as some Dream but there is a Treasure of the precious Experiences of the Saints which every Believer hath right to make use of and these we should be verst in that we may have them in readiness at hand in time of need and know how to use them both to draw comfort from them to our selves and arguments to use with God The words contain clearly Two Propositions both of them concerning the wrath of Man the former hath the event of it Surely the wrath of Man shall praise thee The latter the limitation of it The remainder of wrath thou wilt restrain That the Vertues and Graces of men do praise the Lord all men easily understand for they flow from him his Image and Superscription is upon them and therefore no wonder if of them he has from them a Tribute of Glory Who knows not that Faith praises him Abraham
sufficient for Self-support therefore naturally it seeks out some other thing to lean and rest it self on The unhappiness is for the most part that it seeks to things below it self these being both so mean and so uncertain cannot be a firm and certain stay to it These things are not fixed themselves how can they then fix the heart Can a man have firm footing on a Quagmire or moving Sands Therefore men are forc'd in these things still to shift their seat and seek about from one to another still rolling and unsettled The Believer only hath this advantage he hath a rest high enough and sure enough out of the reach of all hazards His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal. 81. 2. The Basis of this happiness is He trusteth on the Lord. So the heart is fixed and so fixed it fears no ill tidings This trust is grounded on the Word of God revealing the Power and All sufficiency of God aâ—â— withal his Goodness his offer of himself to be the stay of Souls commanding us to rest on him People wait on I know not what perswasions and assurances but I know no other â—o build Faith on but the Word of Promise the truth and faithfulness of God opened up his wisdom and power and goodness as â—he stay of all these that renouncing all other props will venture on it and lay all upon him He that believes sets to his Seal that God is true and so he is sealed for God his Portion and Interest secured Isa. 7. 9. If you will not believe surely ye shall not be established This is the way to have peace and assurance which many look for first Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stay'd on thee because he trusteth in thee Isa. 26. 3. So here the heart is fixed by trusting Seek then clearer apprehensions of the faithfulness and goodness of God hearts more enlarged in the notion of free Grace and the absolute trust due to it thus shall they be more establish'd and fix'd in all the rollings and changes of the World Heart fixed Or prepared ready prest and in Arms for all Services resolved not to give back able to meet all adventures and stand its ground God is unchangeable and therefore Faith is invincible that sets the heart on him fastens it there on the Rock of Eternity Then let Winds blow and Storms arise it cares not This firm and close cleaving unto God hath in it of the affection which is inseparable from this trust Love with Faith and so a hatred of all ways and thoughts that alienate and estrange from God that remove and unsettle the heart The holiest wariest heart is surely the most believing and fixed heart if a Believer will adventure on any one way of sin he shall find that will unfix him and shake his confidence more than ten thousand hazards and assaults from without These are so far from moving that they settle and fix the heart commonly more cause it to cleave the closer and nearer unto God but sinful Liberty breeds inquiet and disturbs all Where Sin is there will be a Storm the Wind within the Bowels of the Earth makes the Earthquake Would you be quiet and have peace within in troublous times keep near unto God beware of any thing that may intâ—â—pose betwixt you and your confidence It is good for me say the Psalmist to be near God not only to draw near but to keep near to cleave to him and dwell in him So the Word Oh the sweet Calm of such a Soul amidst all Storms thus once trusting and fixed then no more fear Not afraid of evil â—idings not any ill hearing Whatsoever sound is terrible in the Ears of men the noise of War news of Death even the found of the Trumpet in the last Judgment he hears all this undisquieted Nothing is unexpected being once fixed on God then the heart may put cases to it self and suppose all things imaginable the most terrible and look for them Not troubled before trouble with dark and dismal apprehensions but satisfied in a quiet unmoved expectation of the hardest things Whatsoever it is though particularly not thought on before yet the heart is not afraid of the news of it because fixed trusting on the Lord nothing can shake that foundation nor dissolve that union therefore no fear Yea this assurance stays the heart in all things how strange and unforeseen soever to it all foreseen to my God on whom I trust yea fore-contrived and ordered by him This the impregnable Fort of a Soul all is at the dispose and command of my God My father rules all what need I fear Every one trusts to somewhat as for honour and esteem and popularity they are airy vain things but riches seem a more solid work and fence yet they are but a Tower in conceit not really Prov. 18. 11. The rich mans wealth is his strong City and as an high Wall in his own conceit but the name of the Lord is a strong Tower indeed ver 10. This the thing all seek some fence and fixing here it is we call you not to vexation and turmoil but from it And as St. Paul said Act. 17. Whom ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you ye blindly and fruitlessly seek after the shew The true aiming at this fixedness of mind will make that though they fall short yet by the way they will light on very pretty things that have some vertue in them as they that seek the Philosophers Stone But the Believer hath the thing the secret it self of Tranquillity and Joy and this turns all into God their Iron Chains into a Crown of Gold 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. This is the blest and safe estate of Believers Who can think they have a sad heavy life Oh! it is the only lightsome sweet chearful condition in the World the rest of men are poor rolling unstayed things every report shaking them as the leaves of Trees are shaken with the Wind Isa. 7. Yea lighter than so as the Chaff that the Wind drives to and â—ro at its pleasure Psal. 1. Would men but reflect and look in upon their own hearts 't is a wonder what vain childish things the most would find there glad and sorry at things as light as the toys of Children at which they laugh and cry in a breath how easily puâ—t up with a thing or word that pleaseth us Bladder like swell'd with a little air and it shrinks in again in discouragements and fear upon the touch of a Needles point which gives that air some vent What is the life of the greatest part but a continual tossing betwixt vain hopes and fears all their days spent in these Oh! how vain a thing is a man even in his best estate while he is nothing but himself his heart not united and fixed on God disquieted in vain how small a thing will do it He need no other but his own heart it may prove
which some Christians hang too much upon there is in simple trust and reliance on God and in a desire to walk in his ways such a Fort of Peace as all the assaults in the World are not able to make a breach in And to this add that unspeakable delight in walking in his fear joined with this trust The noble ambition of pleasing him makes one careless of pleasing or displeasing all the World Besides the delight in his Commandments so pure so just a Law Holiness victory over Lusts and Temperance hath a sweetness in it that presently pays it self because his Will 'T is the Godly Man alone who by this fixed consideration in God looks the grim Visage of Death in the Face with an unappal'd mind It damps all the joys and defeats all the hopes of the most prosperous proudest and wisest Worldings As he said when shot Avocasti ab optima demonstratione It spoils all their Figures and fine Devices But to the Righteous there is hope in his Death He goes through it without fear without Caligula's Quo vadis Though Riches Honours and all the Glories of this World are with a man yet he fears yea he fears the more for these because here they must end But the good man looks Death out of Countenance in the words of David Though I walk through the Valley and Shadow of Death yet will I fear no Evil for thou art with me SERMON XIII Matth. XIII 3. And he spake many things unto them in Parables saying Behold a Sower went forth to sow c. THE rich bounty of God hath furnisht our Natural Life not barely for strict necessity but with great abundance many kinds of Beasts and Fowls and Fishes and Herbs and Fruits has he provided for the use of man Thus our Spiritual Life likewise is supported with a variety the Word the food of it hath not only all necessary Truths once simply set down but a great variety of Doctrine for our more abundant Instruction and Consolation Amongst the rest this way of Similitudes hath a notable commixture of profit and delight Parables not unfolded and understood are a Veil as here to the multitude and in that are a great Judgment as Isa. 6. 9. cited here but when cleared and made transparent then they are a Glass to behold Divine things in more commodiously and suitably to our way all things are big with such resemblances but they require the dexterous hand of an active Spirit to bring them forth This way besides other advantages is much grac'd and commended by our Saviours frequent use of it That here fitted to the occasion multitudes coming to hear him and many not a whit the better He instructs us in this point the great difference between the different hearts of men so that the same Word hath very different success in them In this Parable we shall consider these three things 1 The Nature of the Word in it self 2 The sameness and commonness of the dispensation 3 The difference of the operation and production The word Seed hath in it a productive Vertue to bring forth Fruit according to its kind that the Fruit a new life not only a new habitude and fashion of life without but a new nature a new kind of life within new thoughts a new estimate of things new delights and actions When the Word reveals God his greatness and holiness then it begets pious fear and reverence and study of conformity to him when it reveals his goodness and mercy it works love and confidence when it holds up in our view Christ Crucified it Crucifies the Soul to the World and the World to it when it represents these rich things laid up for us that blest Inheritance of the Saints then it makes all the lustre of this World vanish shews how poor it is weans and calls off the heart from them raising it to these higher hopes and sets it on the project of a Crown and so is a Seed of noble thoughts and of a suitable behaviour in a Christian as in the Exposition of this Parable 't is called the Word of the Kingdom Seed an Immortal Seed as St. Peter calls it springing up to no less than an Eternal Life This teaches us 1st highly to esteem the great goodness of God to these places and times that were most blest with it Psal. 147. 19 20. He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgment unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them 2. That the same dispensation is to be Preach'd indifferently to all where it comes as far as the sound can reach And thus it was very much extended in the first promulgating of the Gospel their sound went out through all the earth as the Apostle allusively applies that of the Psalmist 3. This teaches also Ministers liberally to sow this Seed at all times according to that Eccl. 11. 6. In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand c. Praying earnestly to him that is the Lord not only of the Harvest but of the Seed time and of this Seed to make it fruitful this is his peculiar work So the Apostle acknowledges 1 Cor. 3. 6. I have planted Apollo's watered but God gave the increase 4. Hence we also learn the success to be very different This is most evident in men one cast into the mould and fashion of the Word and so moulded and fashioned by it another no whit changed one heart melting before it another still hardned under it So then this is not all to have the Word and hear it as if that would serve turn and save us as we commonly fancy The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord Multitudes under the continual sound of the Word yet remain lifeless and fruitless and die in their sins therefore we must enquire and examine strictly what becomes of it how it works what it brings forth and for this very end this Parable declares so many aâ—e fruitless We need not press them they are three to one here yea that were too narrow the odds is far greater for these are but the kinds of unfruitful grounds and under each of these huge multitudes of individuals so that there may be a hundred to one and it is to be feared in many Congregations it is more than so Whence is then the difference Not from the Seed that is the same to all not from the Sower neither for though these be divers and of different abilites yet it hangs little or nothing on that Indeed he is the fittest to Preach that is himself most like his Message and comes forth not only with a handful of this Seed in his hand but with store of it in his heart the Word dwelling richly in him yet howsoever the Seed he sows being this Word of Life depends not on his qualifications in any kind either of common Gifts or special Grace
People mistake this much and it is a carnal conceit to hang on the advantages of the Minister or to eye that much the sure way is to look up to God and to look into thine own heart an unchang'd unsoftned heart as an evil Soil disappoints the Fruit. What though sowen by a weak hand yea possibly a foul one yet if received in a clean and honest heart it will fructifie much There is in the World a needless and prejudicial differencing of men out of which people will not come for all we can say The first bad ground is a High-way Now we have a Commentary here whence we may not nor will not depart it is authentick and full Ver. 19. They that understand not gross brutish Spirits that perceive not what is said are as if they were not there sit like Blocks one Log of Wood upon another as he said This is our Brutish multitude what pity is it to see so many such as have not so much as a natural apprehension of Spiritual Truths The common Road of all Passengers of all kind of foolish brutish thoughts seeking nothing but how to live and yet know not to what end have no design trivial High-way hearts all tentations pass at their pleasure prophane as Esau which some Criticks draw from a word signifying the threshold the outer step that every foul foot treads on These retain nothing there is no hazard of that and yet the Enemy of Souls to make all sure lest peradventure some word might take root unawares some Grain of this Seed he is busie to pick it away to take them off from all reflexion all serious thoughts or the remembrance of any thing spoken to them And if any common word is remembred yet it doth no good for that is trodden down as the rest though the most is pickt up because it lies on the Road. So exprest by St. Mark 4. 4. The second is Stony ground Hard hearts not softned and made penetrable to receive in deeply this ingrafted word with meekness with humble yieldance and submission to it the Rocks yet in these there is often some receiving of it and a little slender moisture above them which the warm air may make spring up a little they receive with Joy have a little present delight in it are moved and taken with the Sermon possibly to the shedding of some tears but the misery is there is a want of depth of Earth it sinks not No wonder if there is some present delight in these therefore the Word of the Kingdom especially if skilfully and sensibly delivered by some more able Speaker Let it be but a fancy yet it is a fine pleasant one such love as the Son of God to die for Sinners such a rich purchase made as a Kingdom the Word of the Kingdom such Glory and Sweetness therefore the description of the new Jerusalem Apoc. 21. Suppose it be but a Dream or one of the Visions of the Night yet 't is passing fine it must needs please a mind that heeds what is said of it There is a natural delight in Spiritual things and thus the word of the Prophet as the Lord tells him was as a Minstrels voice a fine Song so long as it lasts but dies out in the air it may be the relish and air of it will remain a while in the Imagination but not long even that wears out and is forgot So here it is heard with Joy and some is springing up presently they commend it and it may be repeat some passages yea possibly desire to be like it to have such and such Graces as are recommended and upon that think they have them are presently good Christians in their own conceit and to appearance some change is wrought and it appears to be all that it is but it is not deep enough they talk possibly too much more than those whose hearts receive it more deeply there it lies hid longer and little is heard of it Others may think it is lost and possibly themselves do not perceive that it is there they are exercised and humbled at it and find no good in their own hearts yet there it is hid as David says Thy Word have I hid in my heart And as Seed in a manner dies in a silent smothering way yet it is in order to the fructifying and to the reviving of it it will spring up in time and be fruitful in its season with patience as St. Luke hath it of the good ground not so suddenly but much more surely and solidly But the most are presentany Mushrome Christians soon ripe soon rotten the Seed goes never deep it springs up indeed but any thing blasts and withers it little root in some if Trials arise either the heat of Persecution without or a Tentation within this sudden Spring seed can stand before neither Oh Rocky hearts How shallow shallow are the Impressions of Divine things upon you Religion goes never farther than the upper surface of your hearts few deep thoughts of God and of Jesus Christ and the things of the World to come all are but slight and transient glances The third is Thorny-ground This relates to the Cares and Pleasures and all the Interests of this Life See St. Mark 4. 1. and St. Luke 8. 5. All these together are the Thorns and these grow in hearts that do more deeply receive the Seed and send it forth and spring up more hopefully than either of the other two and yet choak it Oh! the pity Many are thus almost at Heaven so much desire of Renovation and some endeavours after it and yet the Thorns prevail Miserable Thorns The base things of a perishing life drawing away the strength of affections sucking the sap of the Soul Our other Seed and Harvest our Corn and Hay our Shops and Ships our Tradings and Bargains our Suits and Pretensions for Places and Employments of Gain or Credit Husband and Wife and Children and House and Train our Feastings and Entertainments and other Pleasures of Sense our Civilities and Complements and a world of those in all the World are these Thorns and they overspread all The lust of the eye the lust of the flesh and the pride of life And for how long is all the advantage and and delight of these Alas that so poor things should prejudice us of the rich and blessed increase of this Divine Seed The last is good Ground A good and honest heart not much fineness here not many questions and disputes but honest simplicity sweet sincerity that is all a humble single desire to eye and to do the will of God and this from love to himself This makes the Soul abound in the fruits of Holiness receiving the Word as the ground of it different degrees are indeed some thirty some sixty and some an hundred fold yet the lowest aiming at the highest not resting satisfy'd yet growing more fruitful if thirty last year desiring to bring forth sixty this
matter one would think smal the eating of the Fruit of a Tree 't was rebellion against the Majesty of God casting off his Law and Authority and aspiring to an imagin'd Self-Deity And this is still the treasonable Pride or Independency and Wickedness of our Nature rising up against God that formed us of nothing And this is the power and substance of Religion the new Impress of God upon the heart and Obedience and Resignment to him to be given up to him as entirely his to be moulded and ordered as he will to be subject to hiâ— Laws and Appointments in all things to have every Action and every Word under a Rule and Law and the penalty to be so high Eternal Death All this to a carnal or haughty mind is hard not only every Action and Word but even every Thought too must be subject not so much as thought free every thought brought into Captivity as the Apostle speaks And so the Licentious mind accounts it not only the Affections and Desires but the very Reasonings and Imaginations are brought under this Law Now to yield this as reasonable and due to God to own his Soveraignty and to acknowledge the Law to be Holy Just and Good to approve yea to love it even there where it most contradicts and controuls our own corrupt Will and the Law of Sin in our Flesh this is true Spiritual Obedience to study and enquire after the Will of God in all our ways what will please him and having found it to follow that which is here called the way of his Commandments to make this our way and our business in the World and all others things but Accessaries and By-works even those lawful things that may be taken in and used as helps in our way As the Disciples passing through the Corn pluckt the Ears and did eat in passing as a By-work but their business was to follow their Master And whatsoever would hinder us in this way must be watched and guarded against to reject that we must either remove and thrust it aside or if we cannot do that yet we must go over it and trample it under foot were it the thing or the person that is dearest to us in the World till the heart be brought to this state and purpose it is either wholly void of or very low and weak in the Truth of Religion We place Religion much in our accustom'd performances to coming to Church hearing and repeating of Sermons and praying at home keeping a road of such and such Duties The way of Gods Commandments is more in doing than in discourse In many Religion evaporates it self too much out by the Tongue while it appears too little in their ways Oh! but this is the main one Act of Charity Meekness or Humility speaks more than a days discourse All the means we use in Religion are intended for a further end which if they attain not they are nothing This end is to mortifie and purâ—fie the heart to mould it to the way of Gods Commandments in the whole tract of our lives in our private converse one with another and our retired secret converse with our selves to have God still before us and his Law our Rule in all we do that he may be our meditation Day and Night and that his Law may be our Counsellour as this Psalm hath it to regulate all our Designs and the Works of our Callings by it To walk soberly and godly and righteously in this present World to curb and cross our own Wills where they cross Gods to deny our selves our own Humour and Pride our Passions and Pleasures to have all those subdued and brought under by the Power of the Law of Love within us This and nothing below this is the end of Religion Alas amongst multitudes that are called Christians some there may be that speak and appear like it yet how few are there that make this their business and aspire to this The way of Gods Commandments His intended course in this way he expresses by running 't is good to be in this way even in the â—lowest motions Love will creep where it cannot go But if thou art so indeed then thou wilt long for a swifter motion if thou do but creep be doing creep on yet desire to be enabled to go if thou goest but yet halting and lamely desire to be strengthned to walk straight and if thou walkest let not that satisfie thee desire to run So here David did walk in this way but he earnestly wishes to mend his pace he would willingly run and for that end he desires an enlarged heart Some dispute and descant too much whether they go or no and Childishly tell their steps and would know at every pace whether they advance or no and how much they advance and thus amuse themselves and spend the time of doing and going in questioning and doubting Thus it is with many Christians but it were a more wise and comfortable way to be endeavouring onwards and if thou make little progress at least to be desiring to make more to be praying and walking And praying that thou mayest walk faster and that in the end thou mayest run not satisfied with any thing attained but yet by that unsatisfiedness not to be so dejected as to sit down or stand still but rather excited to go on So it was with St. Paul Philip. 3. 13. Forgetting these things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press forward If any one thinks that he hath done well and run far and will take a pause the great Apostle is of another mind Not as if I had attained Oh no! far from that he still sets forward as if nothing were done as a Runner not still looking back how much he hath run but forward to what he is to run stretching forth to that inflamed with frequent looks at the mark and end some are retarded by looking on what is past as not satisfy'd they have done nothing as they think and so stand still discontented but even in that way it is not good to look too much to things behind we must forget them rather and press onwards Some if they have gone on well and possibly run a while yet if they fall then they are ready in a desperate Malecontent to lie still and think all is lost and in this peevish fretting at their falls some men please themselves and take it for Repentance whereas indeed it is not that but rather Pride and Humour Repentance is a more submissive humble thing But this is that which troubles some men at their new falls especially if after a long time of even walking or running as they think their project is now spoiled their thoughts are broken off they would have had somewhat to have rejoiced in if they had still gone on to the end but being disappointed of that they think they had as good let alone and give over Oh! but the
and dilated And this word signifies both a high raised Soul and is sometimes taken for proud and lofty but there is a greatness and height of Spirit in the Love of God and Union with him that doth not vainly swell and lift it up but with the deepest humility joins the highest and truest Magnanimity it sets the Soul above the Snares that lie here below in which most men creep and are intangled in that way of life that is on high to the Just as Solomon speaks Good reason hath David to join these together and to desire the one as the spring and cause of the other An enlarged heart that he might run the way of Gods Commandments Sensible Joys and Consolations in God do encourage and enlarge the heart but these are not so general to all nor so constant to any Love is the abounding fixed spring of ready Obedience and will make the heart chearful in serving God even without those felt comforts when he is pleased to deny or withdraw them In that course or race is understood constancy activity and alacrity and all these flow from the enlargement of the heart 1. Constancy A narrow enthralled heart fetter'd with the love of lower things and cleaving to some particular sins or but some one and that secret may keep foot a while in the way of Gods Commandments in some steps of them but it must give up quickly is not able to run on to the end of the Goal but a heart that hath laid aside every weight and the most close-cleaving and besetting sin as it is in that place to the Hebrews hath stript it self of all that may faulter or intangle it it runs and runs on without fainting or wearying 't is at large hath nothing that pains it in the race 2. Activity Not only holding on but running which is a swift nimble race it stands not bargaining and disputing but once knowing Gods mind there is no more question or demur I made haste and delayed not as in this Psalm the word is Did not stay upon why and wherefore he stood not to reason the matter but run on And this love enlarging the heart makes it abundant in the work of the Lord quick and active dispatching much in a little time 3. Alacrity All done with chearfulnes so no other constraint is needful where this over-powering sweet constraint of love is I will run not be hail'd and drawn as by force but skip and leap as the Evangelick promise is that the Lame shall leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desart Isaiah 35. 6. The Spouse desires her Beloved to hasten as a Roe and Hind on the mountains of Spices and she doth so and each faithful Soul runs towards him to meet him in his way It is a sad heavy thing to do any thing as in obedience to God while the heart is straightned not enlarged towards him by his Divine Love but that once taking possession and enlarging the heart that inward principle of obedience makes the outward obedience sweet 't is then a natural motion indeed the Soul runs in the ways of God as the Sun in his course which finds no difficulty being naturally fitted and carried to that motion he goes forth as a Bridegroom and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race This is the great point that our Souls should be studious of to attain more evenness and nimbleness and chearfulness in the ways of God and for this end we ought to seek above all things this enlarged heart 't is want of this makes us bog and drive heavily and run long upon little ground Oh! my Beloved how shallow and narrow are our thoughts of God Most even of those that are truly Godly yet are led on by a kind of instinct and carried they scarce know how to give some attendance on Gods Worship and to the avoidance of gross Sin and go on in a blameless course 't is better thus than to run to excess of Riot and open Wickedness with the Ungodly World But alas this is but a dull heavy and Languid motion where the heart is not enlarged by the daily growing Love of God few few are acquainted with that delightful Contemplation of God that ventilates and raises this flame of Love petty things bind and contract our Spirits so that they feel little joy in God little ardent active desire to do him Service to Crucifie Sin to break and undo Self-love within us to root up our own Wills to make room for his that his alone may be ours that we may have no Will of our own that our daily work may be to grow more like him in the Beauty of Holiness You think it a hard saying to part with your Carnal Lusts and Delights and the common ways of the World and to be ty'd to a strict exact Conversation all your days But oh the reason of this is because the heart is yet straightned and enthralled by the base Love of these mean things and that is from the ignorance of things higher and better One glance of God a touch of his love will free and enlarge the heart so that it can deny all and part with all and make an entire renouncing of all to follow Him it sees enough in Him and in Him alone and therefore can neither quietly rest on nor earnestly desire any thing beside Him Oh! that you would apply your hearts to consider the excellency of this way of Gods Commandments our wretched hearts are prejudiced they think it melancholy and sad Oh! there is no way truly joyous but this They shall sing in the ways of the Lord says the Prophet Do not Men when their eyes are opened see a beauty in Meekness and Temperance and Humility a present delightfulness and quietness in them whereas in Pride and Passion and Intemperance there is nothing but vexation and disquiet And then consider the end of this way and this race in it rest and peace for ever 't is the way of peace both in its own nature and in respect of its end Did you believe that Joy and Glory that is set before you in this way you would not any of you defer a day longer but forthwith you 'd break from all that holds you back and enter into this way and run on chearfully in it the perswasion of these great things above would enlarge and greaten the heart and make the greatest things here very little in your eyes But would you attain to this enlarged heart for this race as you ought to apply your thoughts to these Divine things and stretch them on the promises made in the Word above all take Davids course seek this enlargement of heart from Gods own hand for it is here propounded and said before God by way of request see what is my desire I would gladly serve thee better and advance more in the way of thy
disquietment enough to it self his thoughts are his Tormentors I know some men are by a stronger Understanding and Moral Principles somewhat raised above the vulgar and speak big of a constancy of mind but these are but flourishes an acted bravery somewhat there may be that will hold out in some trials but far short of this fixedness of Faith troubles may so multiply as to drive them at length from their posture and come on so thick with such violent blows as will smite them out of their Artificial Guard disorder all their Seneca and Epictetus and all their own calm thoughts and high resolves The approach of Death though they make a good Mâ—en and set the best Face on 't Or if not yet some kind of terrour may seize on their Spirits which they are not able to shift off But the Soul trusting on God is prepared for all not only for the Calamities of War Pestilence Famine Poverty or Death but in the sadest apprehensions of Soul above hope believes under hope even in the darkest Night casts Anchor in God reposes on him when he sees no light Isa. 50. 10. Yea though he slay me says Job yet will I trust on him not only though I die but though he slay me when I see his hand lift up to destroy me yet from that same hand will I look for Salvation M. B. My desire is to stir in your hearts an ambition after this blest Estate of the Godly that fear the Lord and trust on him and so fear no other thing the common Revolutions and Changes of the World and those that in these late times we our selves have seen and the likelihood of more and greater coming on seem dreadful to weak minds but let these perswade us the more to prize and seek this fixed unaffrighted Station no fixing but here where we make a Vertue of a Necessity Oh! that you would be perswaded to break off from the vile ways of Sin that embase the Soul and fill it full of Terrours and disingage them from the Vanities of this World to take up in God to live in him wholly to cleave to and depend on him to esteem nothing beside him Excellent was the answer of that Holy man to the Emperour first essaying him with large proffers of Honour and Riches to draw him from Christ. Offer these things says he to Children I regard them not Then after he try'd to terrifie him with threatning Threaten said he your effeminate Courtiers I fear none of these things Seek to have your hearts established on him by the Faith of Eternal Life and then it will be asham'd to distrust him in any other thing Yea truly you will not much regard nor be careful for other things how they be 't will be all one the better and worse of this moment the things of it even the greatest being both in themselves so little and worthless and of so short continuance Well chuse you but all reckon'd and examin'd I had rather be the poorest Believer than the greatest King on Earth How small a Commotion small in its beginning may prove the overturning of the greatest Kingdom but the Believer is Heir to a Kingdom that cannot be shaken the mightiest and most victorious Prince that hath not only lost nothing but hath been gaining new Conquests all his days is stopt by a small Distemper in the middle of his course He returns to his Dust then his vast designs fall to nothing in that very day his thoughts perish But the Believer in that very day is sent to the possession of his Crown that is his Coronation day all his thoughts are accomplisht How can you affright him Bring him word his Estate is ruined yet my Inheritance is safe says he Your Wife or Child or dear Friend is dead yet my Father lives You yourself must die well then I go home to my Father and to my Inheritance For the publick troubles of the Church doubtless it is both a most pious and generous temper to be more deeply affected for these then for all our private ones and to resent common Calamities of any people but especially of Gods own people hath been the Character of men near unto him Observe the pathetical strains of the Prophets bewailing when they foretel the desolation even of Foreign Kingdoms much more for the Lords chosen people still mindful of Sion and mournful for her distresses Jer. 9. 1. and the whole Book of Lamentations Psal. 137. If I forget thee O Jerusalem Pious Spirits always publick as even brave Heathens for the Commonwealth So he in that of Horace Little regarding himself but much solicitous for the publick Yet even in this with much Compassion there is a Calm in a Believers mind How these agree none can tell but they that feel it finds amidst all hard news yet still a fixed heart trusting Satisfied in this Deliverance shall come in due time Psal. 102. 13. And that in those Judgments that are inflicted man shall be humbled and God exalted Isa. 2. 11. and. 5. 15 16. And that in all tumults and changes and subversion of States still his Throne is fixed and with that the Believers heart likewise Psal. 93. So Psal. 29. 10. The Lord sitteth upon the floud Yea the Lord sitteth King for ever Or sate in the Floud possibly referring to the general Deluge yet that then God sate quiet and still sitteth King for ever He steer'd the Ark and still guides his Church through all So Psal. 46. throughout that whole Psalm In all Commotions the Kingdom of Christ shall be spreading and growing and the close of all shall be full Victory on his side and that 's sufficient Of this a singular example is in Job who was not daunted with so many ill hearings but stood as an unmov'd Rock amidst the Winds and Waves In this condition there is so much sweetness that if known a man might suspect himself rather selfishly taken with it than purely loving God such joy in believing or at least such peace such a serene calmness is in no other thing in this World nothing without or within a man to be named to this of trusting on his goodness he is God and on his faithfulness giving his promise for thy Warrant He commands thee to roll thy self on him The holy Soul still trusts in the darkest apprehensions if it is suggested thou art a Reprobate yet will the Soul say I will see the utmost and hang by the hold I have till I feel my self really cast off and will not willingly fall off If I must be separated from him he shall do it himself he shall shake me off while I would cleave to him Yea to the utmost I will look for mercy and will hope better though I found him shaking me off yet will I think he will not do it It is good to seek after all possible assurance but not to fret at the want of it for even without these assurances