by his holy Spirit who is their domestick Monitor and sweet inhabitant 'T is true what the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God The meaning of it is that all our strength and help lies in him we daily finde a want in our selves and God as it pleaseth him le ts out from his sufficiency unto us now a little and then a little we are ever receiving from him and enabled by his Grace and Spirit to do what is done I say the Spirit disposeth the heart to this holy meditation and that two ways 1. By enlightning the heart 2. By enlarging the heart But the time being past I shall refer what remains to some further opportunity 1. I say the Spirit enlightens their hearts The first and primary work of the Spirit is to beat out as it were new windows in the dark souls of men and to put in a principle of new light thereby giving the soul some signs of God some sense of his sweetness some glimpse of his glory And hence 't is that the holy Ghost in Scripture is sometimes called a spirit of wisdom and understanding a spirit of counsel and of knowledge Isa 11.2 sometimes a spirit of wisdom and revelation Eph. 1.17 sometimes a spirit of illumination Heb. 6.4 Now the Spirit is so called from this effect which it hath upon the heart because the Spirit causeth a spiritual and heavenly light to shine about our mindes by which spiritual things are made manifest to the eye of our understanding as by the light of the Sun bodily things are made manifest to the eye of our body The Spirit saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.10 searcheth the deep things of God and reveals them to us and shews us the back parts of God though somewhat obscurely as through a grate onely or darkly as through a glass In this life we know but in part And then 2. The spirit having possessed the heart he enlargeth or wideneth the heart towards God and the things of God it enables us to captivate our thoughts to the obedience of Christ to conform them to the severaignty of his grace to the rules of his Word and the remembrance of his Name Nay 3. The Spirit sanctifieth the heart and so puts it upon a continual fresh succession of holy thoughts The whole spirit soul and body of a Christian is sanctified thorowout God writes his Law in their hearts stamps his image upon the spirit of their mindes makes them partakers of the divine nature erecteth a new nature a blessed frame of grace And hence have they an ability given them of holy thoughts and meditations for as the man is so will his thoughts dispositions meditations and affections be Hence is that of the Prophet Isa 32.8 But the liberal deviseth liberal things and by liberal things shall he stand A man of a noble liberal and generous spirit will carry his heart out after worthy and noble things Nay hence is that of our Saviour Matth. 12.35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things As from the old and unregenerated heart proceed evil thoughts so from the new and sanctified heart proceed holy and sanctified thoughts gracious considerations of and holy reverend respects to God and to his Name That is the third Reason of the Point It is and should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and upon the things of God because the Spirit doth to this purpose enlighten their understandings and possesseth and sanctifieth their hearts 4. But then last of all it is and should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and the things of God because all that truly fear God stand in a marvellous neer and dear relation unto God Neer relations you know will minde one another God and his servants are neerly related he is their friend and father their God and guide their Prince and portion their shield and their exceeding great reward Nay Beloved he is their all in all the stay and the strength of their hearts for ever and therefore it cannot be but their hearts must run much upon God and upon the things of his kingdom Nay a little further every faithful servant of God every true believer hath resigned and given up his name to God he hath devoted himself to his fear Mark what holy David saith Psal 119.38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear Believers have as it were sworn themselves to the service of God I am thy servant I am thy servant saith the same holy David oftentimes in the Psalms they love the Lord with all their soul with all their heart and with all their strength and as for the Name of God they flie unto it in any difficulty and distress as unto a Garison and strong Fort or Tower Prov. 18.10 The righteous know that the Name of God is so deep that no Pyoner can undetmine it so thick that no Cannon can pierce it so high that no Ladder can scale it and hither they run for refuge Nay they walk in this Name as in a Garden or Gallery Mic. 4 5. We will walk in the Name of the Lord our God for ever and ever they resolve to walk in the Name i. e. By the Laws and under the view of the Lord their God who is God of gods and Lord of lords they rejoyce and delight in it as in all treasure Psal 119.14 Now brethren sum up all together in a word and then you shall finde the force of this Argument Can the fearers of God rejoyce in his Name run unto it upon all occasions walk in it and yet not minde it and yet not have their hearts set upon it This is impossible Can they I say vouch him for their God set him up for their Soveraign converse with him as a friend and yet not think upon his Name this cannot be well conceived And thus you hear what the grounds of the Point are Let us now make some Use of it I shall improve it four ways 1. For Insormation 2. For Increpation 3. For Examination 4. For Exhortation In which Uses I shall proceed so far this day as time will permit I begin with the first the Use of Information 1. Is it so That it is and should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and upon the things of God Take we then hence notice That those who do not habitually daily and diligently think upon God that make not his Attributes Ways Ordinances Worship and Honour the matter of their meditation these I say are excluded out of the number and society of the true fearers of God Yea the want of this holy and heavenly meditation is laid down in holy Writ as the Badge Cognizance or Character of
Latitude and Profundity the love and wisdom of God have Altitude added which is a fourth All these dimensions serve onely to shew the immensity both of the love and wisdom of God Take this onely in passage and so we might that expression too To know the love of God which passeth knowledge the meaning is to know so much of it as is knowable the love of God is past the knowledge not onely of Nature but of Grace because 't is infinite But this is not the thing that I urge this text for the passage which is to my purpose and which I would insist on a little is that in verse 19. the later part of it That ye might be filled with the fulness of God Divines distinguish of a twofold fulness There is say they an universal fulness and there is a modified or qualified fulness For a creature to be universally so full as God is is impossible as he is infinite so his fulness is infinite and a finite creature is not capable or receptive of any such fulness But now take this in a qualified or modified sense so we may and 't is ordinary to be filled with the fulness of God i. e. with all fulness accomplishable or attainable by us thus we ought to be filled with the fulness of God We are not onely enjoyned to get some grace or some fear of God but 't is our bounden duty to aspire to and endeavour after the perfection of it and after augmentation and growth in it And to this end too is that 2 Pet. 3.18 Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This shall suffice to be spoken of those texts which conduce to the growth in grace or in the fear of God in general I shall likewise briefly touch some texts which require an abounding in the several branches of this holy fear as 1. We are commanded to abound in saving knowledge in true spiritual wisdom Col. 1.10 2. We should grow in faith that which is lacking to our faith must be supplied and made up 1 Thess 3.10 2 Thess 1.15 We should labour to grow both in the assurance of faith and in the exercise of it in the full assurance of it using all diligence that we might get and keep the full assurance of faith and hope unto the end labouring to be established rooted and soundly grounded in our particular assurance of Gods favour in Jesus Christ and of our own eternal salvation Col. 2.6 7. Heb. 10.22 And then for the exercise and improvement of faith we should learn every day to live by faith let faith be upon the wing in all the occasions and occurrences of our life holding fast our confidence and striving to be examples one to another in our faith in God according to that 1 Tim. 4.12 3. We must abound in love Phil. 1.10 bearing with and forbearing one another seeking to enlarge our acquaintance with such as fear God and to do them good 4. We must grow in mercy and the fruits of mercy 2 Cor. 8.7 Therefore as ye abound in every thing in saith in utterance in knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this grace also he means tender heartedness or bowels of compassion 5. We should grow in patience meekness and lowliness of minde Jam. 1.4 I might instance contentation heavenly mindedness contempt of the world and several other parts of this fear of God but by these few links you may guess at the whole chain or series of this grace So then the strength of this second Motive lies thus God requires and expects that we should grow up more and more in the fear of his Name he calls for it at our hands In the third place this is the end of our union with and implantation into Jesus Christ namely that we should in all things grow up into him who is the head To which purpose reade Eph. 4.15 16. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it self in love The importance of which words is this namely that we are joyned and united unto the Lord Jesus Christ that so of his fulness we might all receive grace for grace that look as an infant groweth not in one but in every member so we should grow every way in every member and in every particular grace appertaining unto the new creature We must not walk by halfs or obey God with reservation but grow up unto full holiness As from the natural head sense and motion floweth into the body so there is internal influence of grace from Christ the Head into the whole mystical body every true believer receives a vital and quickning power or virtue from Christ even as a graff set into a stock partaketh with it in the sap and life of it Unless we walk in Christ we can never assure our selves that we have received Christ If we shall sit down and rest in a mediocrity and scanty measure of grace and of the fear of God except we are still on the growing hand labouring to arrive to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ we cannot say that we are yet put into Christ A soul as one notes very well that hath union with Christ will not be like Hezekiahs sun which went backward or like Joshua's sun that stood still but like David's sun that great and glorious gyant of the heavens that like a bridegroom comes out of his chamber and as a champion that rejoyceth to run a race If he be joyned to Christ he will joyn grace to grace according to that of the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. And thus briefly of the third Motive In the fourth place as God hath given us his Son to the end we should grow up in his fear so hath be to the same end given us the Spirit of his Son he hath sent forth his Spirit into our hearts not onely for the conveying of grace to us but for the strengthening and increasing of grace in us Observe how the Apostle prays for the Ephesians Chap. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man This is the very office of the Spirit he is sent of God to this purpose not onely to give us a being in grace but to strengthen us in grace he doth not onely make us new men but living men in Jesus Christ As the soul is to the body so is the spirit to the soul the Spirit furnisheth and enableth every faculty it enlightens the Understanding it rectifies the Will it sanctifieth the Affections it filleth a man
upon A word or two of each and so I shall come to the Observation First then what are we to understand by the Name of God Beloved the Name of God among other significations in Scripture hath four special ones 1. 'T is taken for God himself the name of a thing is put for the thing named Psal 44. Through thy Name will we tread them down that rise up against us Through thy Name i. e. through thee Through thee and through thy Name are here the very same Through thy Name here in this verse is added meerly exegetically to expound the meaning of through thee in the beginning of the verse And so again Psal 48.10 According to thy Name so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth The sense of the words is this Thou art praised like thy self as thou art in thy self so thou art or at least oughtest to be praised by thy people 'T is frequent in Scripture to put the Name for the Person you have it clearly Acts 1.15 The number of Names together were about an hundred and twenty i. e. the number of persons so many persons because numbred by their names 2. The Name of God is in Scripture often put for the Attributes of God and essential properties for the power of God wisdom of God mercy of God justice of God and the rest as we could easily shew you from Scripture But I would hasten to the Points 3. The Name of God signifies his Ways Ordinances or Worship Jer. 7.12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my Name at the first c. What is that i. e. where I first set up my publike worship And the reason why the Name of God is put for his Ordinances Worship is because as a man is known by his proper name so is God known by his proper Worship And hence 't is that often times false worship is called the setting up of a strange god this is evident Psal 81.9 and so elswhere in many places And then 4. And lastly the Name of God signifies that reverence esteem and honour which angels and men give unto God as you know amongst us the report and reputation that a man hath among men is a mans name what men speak of him that is his name suâ—h a one we say hath a good name such a one hath an ill name i. e. men speak well or ill of â—uch persons Gen 6.4 when Moses describes the gyants he saith they were men of renown in the later part of the vers the Hebrew is an sa hashem they were men of name men of name by an Hebraism â—re men of renown Num. 16 2. Famous in the congregation men of renown the Hebrew is These are men of name in the congregation Because the name of a man is the opinion he hath amongst men as a man is esteemed so his name is carried and himself is accepted in the world Thus I say the Name of God is that high esteem those honorable apprehensions which good angels and good men have of God Such as the thoughts and speeches of men are for the celebration of Gods glory and praise such is his Name in the world Well then now the question will be which of all these is intended in the text when 't is said of these fearers of God that they thought upon his Name Truly I know not how to exclude any of theâ—e four I suppose all of them are here intended they thought upon God and all other things which had any print or image of God stamped upon them his Attributes Ways Ordinances Worship Honour all these they thought upon Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was writter before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name And thus much of the Objects I shall speak a little of the Act which was conversant about the Object and then give you the Observation The Act you see is thinking upon And that thought upon his Name The word in the Original is put participially 't is koshebka uleko sheba shemo And for them thinking upon his Name Now the root or verb hashabh whence this participle comes is rendered by Calvin two ways 1. To have in esteem or great price These godly ones here in my text were such as had an high and honourable esteem of the Name of God This I confess is well expounded and the Original is clear enough for it But yet in the second place 't is as well if not better expounded according to our Translation They excogitated or they thought upon his Name And because this is fully as clear if not clearer from the Original text as the other I shall not vary from our English Translation And this word hashabh doth not signifie simply or nakedly to think but to set the head and heart on work to finde our something and carries the intention of the minde with it as I could shew you from Jer. 18.18 Ezek. 38.10 and other places Well then in fine take the meaning of the Prophet to be this That thought upon his Name i.e. that seriously meditated that busied and bended their best thoughts upon God and the things of God upon God and upon the things that were of divine concernment Thus succinctly and briefly without any further enlargement So that now having opened this property of these holy ones take the Doctrine or Observation thus It is and it should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and upon the things of God All such whose hearts are possest with the true fear of God will be excogitating and thinking upon his Name I shall clear this from Scripture and then come to the Grounds and Reasons of it Reade Prov. 11.23 The desire of the righteous is onely good Taavah Haddikim The desire of the righteous or the affection of the righteous is onely good i. e. so far as he is righteous or spiritual he delights in the law of God after the inward man the main stream of his desires the course and current of his heart runs upon God and godliness Although when the flesh gets the winde and hill of the spirit all is not so well carried 't is oftentimes with a Christian as 't is with a Ferry-man he plies the Oar and eyes the shore homeward where he would be yet there comes in the interim a gale of wind that carrieth him back again So I say although a Christian in this viatorous condition is not so happy as to have his heart altogether empty of evil thoughts and desires yet that is the thing he strives unto and breathes after and God looks more upon the desires of his servants then upon their performances every man is in the account of God as good as he desires to be So that in this sense well might Solomon say The desire
wicked men You may finde it Psal 10.4 The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts i. e. he doth not regard or care for God he doth not willingly meditate or think of God he maintains no correspondency or communion with him in his inner man peradventure God like an unbidden or unwelcome guest may put himself in his thoughs and move in his minde he may present to his minde some manifestations of himself in his justice and holiness yea of his truth long suffering and goodness but this proves a trouble and becomes a pain unto a wicked man Wicked men neither desire or accept acquaintance with him in any of these Wicked men are weary of the presence of God so Job describes them Chap. 21.14 they think it best for them when God departeth 'T is true indeed Saints know not how to live a comfortable day much less to be happy without him but now wicked men know not how to live a comfortable hour much less to be happy with him The Church indeed saith to God Leave us not Jer. 14.8 and God saith to her Wo to you when I depart Hos 9.12 I but wicked men say to God Depart from us trouble us not when shall we be eased and disburdened of his presence As there is nothing so joyous to the righteous so there is nothing so grievous to the wicked as to have God neer them If they can once banish the thoughts of God then they think they live indeed and till then they reckon their lives as a kinde of death Thus the Apostle describes the Gentiles before their conversion they were such as were without God in the world Eph. 2.11 12. All wicked and unregenerate men with these Gentiles live without God in the world Nay Beloved be informed from the Doctrine in hand That to be weary of the presence of God and to expel God and the remembrance of his Name out of the heart is one of the strongest arguments and highest demonstrations that a man is wicked Onely to love and pray for the presence of God is the surest sign of a gracious heart but to desire and wish the absence and departure of God must needs conclude and positively argue the heart to be most ungracious See what David saith Psal 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I mar dwell in the house of the Lord â—ll the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after i e. I will earnestly pursue I will indefatigably and unweariedly prosecute the grant or concession of this desire that I may dwell in the house of the Lord c. In these sacred strains of divinest Rhetorick was David's soul carried out after God God and his Name was the one thing the onely thing he longed for without God all was nothing with him in him he had all his presence was enough and sufficient for him all companies multitudes throngs and crouds of men yea of Saints or good men was but solitariness and widowhood to him without the presence of God And this was the highest ascent of David's holiness well then pray tell me is it not the lowest descent of unholiness the greatest brand and argument of wickedness to be troubled at the presence of God Is it not a full and plenary conviction of a carnal minde of a wicked man to think it long until God be gone to deprecate his presence and to urge his departure Oh I must acquaint you that this frame of heart is the very blackness of hellish darkness 't is the express image and character of the devils person Though peradventure such are not possest with yet are they under the possession of the evil spirit Reade that relation Matth. 8 28 29. It is the devils torment to be neer Christ or to have any appearance of God in him and certainly they are neerest the devil they live next door to him to whom the thought of God and the remembrance of his Name is a torment or who like those Gaderenes to Christ in verse 34. of the fore-named Chapter come and beseech him that he will depart out of their coasts that so if it were possible they might never more either hear or think of him But you will reply Why do you think that any are so wicked as to thrust God from them or to banish him out of their thoughts or if they would were it possible for them so to do I might I confess frame two Objections upon what hath been said in this Use and for the more methodical improvement of the Point I don't care if I do and to these onely I shall speak at present and so conclude First then concerning the impossibility of Gods departure from a wicked man the Apostle arguing with those at Athens saith Acts 17.27 28. He is not far from any of us good or bad how then can wicked men put God from them To this I answer Though wicked men cannot put themselves far from the eye and knowledge of God he being Omniscient and Omnipresent yet may they put God far from their thoughts though they may see God in their Consciences yet they never found him in their Affections As wicked men are far from the favour and love of God so are they far from love and affection to God God may be and is neer them in regard of his common and general presence but they do not desire the special presence of God in their hearts that is a burden to them and hence 't is that they say in their hearts that there is no God Psal 14.1 The fool i. e. the vile wicked and worthless person saith in his heart that there is no God A fools bolt we say is soon shot it may be he doth not always speak it with his mouth but his heart speaks it he thinks there is no God with these wicked ones before my text he denies the Attributes Ways Ordinances Providence and Service of God whatsoever is included in the whole Name of God he saith 'T is in vain to serve the Lord and there is no profit in seeking to him So that I say 't is clear that though wicked men cannot put themselves out of the intuition and inspection of God yet they may and do put themselves far from the thoughts of God and from the remembrance of his Name But then secondly it will be objected Are any so wicked as to forget God are there any so vile as to put the Name of God out of their thoughts Yes Beloved that there are every wicked man doth it more or less so Job speaks in the fore-mentioned text Job 21.14 They say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways He speaks of wicked men indefinitely of all yea of every wicked man every
ΘεόÏοβοι ΘεόÏιλοι GODS FEARERS ARE GODS FAVOURITES OR AN Encouragement To fear GOD IN The worst TIMES Delivered in several Sermons by that eminent Servant of Christ Nath. Tucker late Preacher of the Gospel in Portsmouth Eccles 8.12 Surely I know it shall be well with them that fear God that fear before him Timor praesens securitatem generat sempiternam August in Psal Timenti Dominum bene erit in extremis Bern. de Tim. Dei London Printed by J.C. for Dorman Newman at the Kings Armes in the Poultry next to Grocers-Ally 1662. To the Christian READER IT was the saying of Abraham to Abimelech Gen. 20.11 Because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place they will slay me for my wifes sake Where the Fear of GOD is wanting what Evil will not Men commit Where this Bank is broken down the Floods of all manner of Wickedness will flow over Hence it is That in our Age many turn Atheists run to all manner of Excess of Riot play the Apostates grow faint-hearted in the Cause of God are afraid of Men and as the Burgundians once were afraid all the Reeds they saw had been Launces so these fear every thing they see yea their own shadows and all this is for want of the Fear of God Meritò omnia timet qui illum non timet It is therefore very proper Work for us to press after this Fear It is called Janitor Animae The Porter to keep out the Soul's Foes and to let in the Soul's Friends It is Principium Praecipuum Sapientiae The Beginning and Perfection of Wisdom therefore fit to be pursued after Remember that speech of the Lord concerning Israel Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me Shall God wish it and shall not men press after it yet such is our averseness to that which is good that Precept upon Precept and Line upon Line will scarce perswade us The Reverend Author of this ensuing Tract hath taken great paines to promote that which the Lord doth so pathetically wish for Read diligently therefore what is here written and thou mayst gain much by it Here thou wilt finde some Discoveries of this Fear some Motives to press after it and some Helps to obtain it all handled in a most affectionate and melting manner and that a Blessing may go along with this Discourse in order to thy eternal Benefit is the desire of Thy souls well-wisher Richard Kentish April 13. 1658. AN EPISTLE To the READER Christian Reader ALthough my Approbation can add little weight to the worth of this ensuing Treatise yet being desired to shew kindness to the Dead in giving a true Testimony to this Posthumous Piece I could not refuse to perform such an Office of Love as by the Rule of Love we are all obliged unto This therefore I may truely say That having over-viewed it I finde nothing in it but that which is sound holy and wholesome fit to inform the Judgement and to raise holy Resolutions and Affections in the Hearts of the Readers fweetly breathing forth Piety in every Passage of it so that whosoever will give it the reading over which will quickly be done shall have cause not to think his Time mis-spent But if his Heart be in a right Disposition he shall finde it hereby more stirred with desire to get to be amongst the number of those true Fearers of God for whom a loving Record and a Book of Merciful Remembrance shall be written for their shelter in evil Times that they may finde Mercy in the evil day for which times our good God fit and prepare us all Farewel Tho. Whitfeld MAL. 3.16 17 18. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare him as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not I Must first give you some light into the context and then come unto the words of the text Then they that feared the Lord. The particle az Then in the front of the text carries us back to the consideration of the coherence The godly here having this character given them They that feared the Lord were as it seems reserved to those last and loosest times of the Jewish Church after the return from Babylon where the seventy years captivity had not much reformed or amended the major part of the Jews Gods correcting hand had lain a long time sore heavie upon them but God had not his end upon this untoward generation these unsanctified persons grew worse and worse with afflictions witness their blasphemous words before my text where they stand stouting it out with the Lord of hosts vers 13. Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord yet ye say What have we spoken so much against thee They stick not to charge God with deep oscitancy and neglect of his best servants vers 14. as if they should reap no fruit from the service of God as if all their labour were in vain yea indeed they tax God of flat iniquity and most unequal administrations vers 15. And now we call the proud happie yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered As if they had said Surely there is no reward for the righteous verily there is not a God that doth judge in the earth the proud who tempt God and trample upon his people they are not onely not punished but even prefer'd and advanced for their labour either things are not ordered by a divine providence but left at random let run at sixes and sevens or else there is not an even or equal hand held over the sons of men but partiality and unrighteousness found in God Thus these miscreants in their madness set their mouthes against heaven and spared not despitefully to spit their venom in the face of God himself At the hearing of which horrid and abhorred blasphemies the godly of these times are much affected they met often about it and not without a great deal of good conference Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another Then when Why whiles the wicked did blaspheme and belch out their impieties against God even at that instant and juncture of time they that feared the Lord spake often one to another Thus briefly of the Coherence The whole text may be divided into these two main or general branches 1. A duty performed 2. A mercy returned upon the performance of it The duty performed lies in the beginning of the text even in these words Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to
way of Consectary That all such as are void of the holy spiritual and reverential fear of God are no better then graceless and irreligious persons And hence 't is that in Scripture you finde this often made the Note or Character of a childe of Belial That there is no fear of God before his eyes Abraham looks upon Gerar as a place or people that was destitute of all goodness as a place wherein he could not be safe upon this account because the fear of God was not amongst them Gen. 20.11 where he saith Because I thought Surely the fear of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wifes sake Thus David describes the whole man Psal 36.1 There is no fear of God before his eyes They have no impediment in the way of their lust who have once cast off the fear of God As they are unready to do or say any thing that is good so are they ready to do or say any thing that is evil As they can easily restrain themselves from duty so have they no restraint upon them from iniquity This Abraham knew and so he could not think himself secure there The profession I confess of some wicked men may say that they fear God but their transgressions or trade of sin saith that there is no such matter We may interpret this text of the wicked mans saying thus three ways Some say it with their mouthes and are not ashamed to utter their defiance against the fear of God 2. All wicked men yea the most modest of them say it in their hearts they are inwardly enemies to the fear of God And very many in the third place say it in their lives Now all these saith David are wicked men if once the fear of God be cast off all wickedness is let in at the same door at which the fear of the Lord goes out any sin or abomination may enter Nay you shall finde yet further that after a large enumeration of other abominations found in mens hearts and lives the Spirit of God names the want of this holy fear of God as the mother and cursed root of them all You may see this in Mal. 3.5 What are not men yea what woâ—nt they be when once they are destitute of the fear of God Sorcerers Adulterers Swearers Oppressors and what not The judge spoken of Luke 18.2 is therefore termed unjust because he feared not God There was in a city a judge which feared not God Wanting the fear of God what should keep him from injustice So again Rom. 3.11 12 13 and the following verses There is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Their throat is an open sepulchre with their tongues they have used deceit c. Now mark the conclusion in the 18 verse There is no fear of God before their eyes This brings up the rere as it were as to entertain the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom Prov. 1.7 The word here used for beginning signifieth not onely the beginning but the top the chief the head and highest perfection of a thing now as the fear of God is both first and last the beginning and end of holiness so to cast off the fear of God is the beginning and ending of all wickedness the upshot of all wickedness a man that hath cast off the fear of God is desperately wicked But you will say Are there any people so barbarous is there any person so brutish that feareth not God Beloved I confess there is nothing more natural then to stand in awe of a Deity Hence it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in the Greek tongue hath his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear as some derive it and sometime the Scripture useth the word fear or terrour for God as you heard in the morning and the reason is because of the fear that is confessedly due unto him But that all fear not the true God or that they do not fear him with a holy spiritual and filial fear and so consequently are none of his is more then evident I shall clear these things unto you distinctly 1. All men fear not the true God but something else which they substitute and set up in the room place and stead of God Some fear idols and devils 1 Cor. 10.20 some the Queen of heaven Jer. 44.17 Some fear disgrace so Saul 1 Sam. 15.30 some danger and displeasure of great ones as Pilate who feared if he released Christ according to his conscience Cesar would pull his Purple over the ears and kick him off the bench Some fear the loss of goods as the rich young man who went away sorrowful when he was required to sell all that he had Some fear the loss of their liberty as those who forsook Paul the prisoner and were ashamed of his chain 2 Tim. 4.16 where Paul saith At my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me And then some again fear the loss of life shrinking in the shoulder when call'd to bear the cross of Christ Thus I say men fear any thing besides what they should fear I mean God the proper object of this and of our other affections Well then 't is clear you see that all men fear not the true God that God who is alone to be feared And the second is as evident Those that profess to fear the true God how few of them are there to be found who fear him in truth who fear him with this noly filial and spiritual fear which is the fear I now speak of If so what means the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen which we hear what mean the Oaths Drunkenness the Sabbath-breaking the Uncleanness the Pride that we see and hear to be amongst us Beloved if the true fear of God were amongst us all do you think that these vices could rule and reign amongst us as they do Doubtless they could not these sins are inconsistent and incompatible with a true and holy fear Alas how little of this reverential fear of God is there in the hearts of most men The Psalmist in the fore-mentioned 36 Psalm in the beginning of it makes this good both in respect of evil to be avoided and of good to be performed My minde gives me saith he and I am verily perswaded having taken some observation of the wicked mans way that there is no fear of God in his heart The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes But what is the ground of this perswasion may it not be a rash and uncharitable censure that David passeth upon him No saith he I will prove what I say both from his thoughts words and actions 1. From his Thoughts He makes no scruple or conscience at all of evil thoughts he
of the righteous is onely good So again Pro. 12.5 The thoughts of the righteous are right What is that why the meaning is that he feeds his thoughts upon the best objects and if worse break in as sometimes they will he justles them out again rids the room of them and will not suffer vain thoughts to take up their residence or lodging within him An instance hereof you have in David Psal 119.113 David was a man as you may finde thorowout the Book of the Psalms whose heart was much set upon God Psal 16 8. he was a man very much busied in holy and heavenly meditation the ways and words and works of God were the chief objects of his meditation as you may finde almost every where Another example of this you have in the Church Isa 26 8. 'T is said of these godly ones in my text that they feared the Lord and thought upon his Name and saith the Church here The desire of our soul is to thy Name and to the remembrunce of thee i.e. to all the signs gages and testimonialls which thou bast given us of thy grace by thy words works or the like the desire of our soul is to the remembrance of these or we desire to remember these in our whole souls To the same purpose is that of the Church Psal 44.17 18 19 20. So that now from all these Scriptures and many more it appears clearly that it is and should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and upon the things of God Take one text more which shews that this should be the practice of all that fear God as it is so it ought to be their practice they are enjoyned to it by command as namely Phil. 4.8 whence you may perceive what the objects of our thoughts ought to be the things that we think upon must be true honest just pure lovely and of good report they must be heavenly and spiritual things And so again Col. 3.2 Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth The word for set your affections in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we may render it minde or think upon supernatural things upon things that are above things that are of a heavenly and celestial concernment And thus you have heard the Point made good from Scripture I shall in the next place give you the grounds and reasons of it and proceed therein further as far as time will permit Well then in the first place they that fear God will be thinking upon his Name their thoughts will be taken up with and exercised about the things of God because they know that God knows the secrets of their hearts as he that makes a Watch knows every winding and turning in the Watch so he that made our spirits and is the father of our spirits knows all the motions and contrivances of our spirits Nay 't is the sole priviledge of God to know the thoughts the heart is his peculiar which none can unlock or look into but the most High Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the heart I try the reins Now what is the heart that God searcheth or what doth God search for in the heart The heart is nothing else but the treasury of our thoughts and God searcheth for nothing else there but our thoughts either simple as they are in our meditations or compound as they are in our affections David you shall finde ascribes this glory to the Lord Psal 139.2 O Lord thou hast searched me and known me thou knowest my down sitting and mine up rising thou understandest my thought a far off i. e. thou knowest all my outward motions but is that all no saith he thou knowest my thoughts afar off Our thoughts are evident to God even before they are Our thoughts are said to be afar off when they are not thought yet then they are as nigh to God as they are to us when we are thinking them even actually present to him Nay our thoughts are as audible to God as our words are to men he hears the language of our spirits and what our hearts say when our tongues are silent One man knows not the meaning of another mans thoughts while he is speaking unless he speak his thoughts as some do not but now let the tongues of men be never so cross to their hearts and what they speak not a light to discover but a shadow to darken their thoughts yet God knoweth them 'T is said of Christ in the Gospel Matth. 9.4 that he knew their thoughts and this was an unanswerable argument of his Divinity or that he was God Onely God or as Christ was God man can reach the thoughts of man and he knows as well what is in them as what is without And this the godly well know and hence 't is in the first place that they are so thoughtfull of his Name But then secondly Psal 44.17 18 19 20. the godly will be thinking upon God out of love and strength of affection to his Name 'T is the nature and property of love to set the thoughts awork upon the thing or object beloved according to that in the Proverb Animus est ubi amat non animat the minde of a man is not where it lives but where it loves Pray observe that passage Cant. 1.3 the later part of the verse Thy Name is as oyntment powred forth therefore do the virgins love thee Christ hath his name both in Hebrew and Greek from ointments and these three words Messiah Christ and Anointed are all one in signification Now when the holy Ghost in the mouth and ministery of his faithful servants shall take of Christs excellencies as it is his office you know to do and hold them out to the world when he shall hold up the Tapestry as it were and shew men the Lord Jesus Christ with an ecce virum behold the man that one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus when they shall see him in his Natures in his Offices Works and in the blessed effects of all when his Name as oyntment is poured forth this cannot but stir up wonderful love in all good souls therefore do the virgins love him By virgins we are to understand the faithful so called for their spiritual chastity They love him for the odours of his good oyntments and out of their dear love and respect which they bear to him they will be continually thinking upon him they have tasted and seen how good the Lord is they have heard it not onely by the hearing of the ear but their hearts are experimented in it God hath shed abroad his love that part of his Name in their hearts by the holy Ghost and therefore they cannot chuse but love him back again and loving him be much in contemplation or meditation about him 3. The Saints are set upon thoughts of Gods Name because they are instructed and enabled thereunto
the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth of our mouth Thus Beloved and many other ways which I might name do wicked men think dishonourably of God Now as I told you in the beginning of this Use the Doctrine which I have in hand looks very wishly and sowrely upon all these As it excludes them out of the society of the fearers of God so it brings them under heavy wrath guilt and punishment God will one day discover and lay open before the whole world angels and men those vile thoughts that wicked men have had of him and against him in their hearts he will set their iniquities in order before them and their secret sins in the light of his countenance as 't is Psal 90.8 he will bring every one of these secret thoughts into judgement Eccl. 12.14 And that none might be ignorant of this he makes proclamation thereof as it were in open Court by the voyce of his holy Prophet Jer. 6.19 I desire all those that are guilty of sinful thoughts against God to observe this text well and to lay it home unto and upon their hearts this evening Hear O earth behold I will bring evil upon this people even the fruit of their thoughts The heavy wrath and vengeance of Almighty God is both the just desert and the certain issue and event of evil thoughts inward distempers and mental abominations shall not go unpunished And this shall suffice to be spoken of the second Use the Use of Increpation I proceed to a third and shall make what progress in it the ordinary time will give me leave and that shall be a Use of Trial and examination to every one that hears me this evening 3. Is it so that it is and ought to be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and upon the things of God Let then every man and woman learn hence to make an estimate of his and her spiritual estate by the quality and disposition of their thoughts For 't is most certain that as the man is such are his thoughts and as the thoughts are habitually and ordinarily whether good or evil so is the man Thoughts are called the possessions of the heart Job 17.11 The thoughts of my heart in the Original 't is the possessions of my heart Now they are called possessions of the heart two ways 1. In a passive and 2. in an active sense Passively because thoughts are possessed by the heart the heart doth inclose and hold our thoughts the heart is the proper vessel and receptacle of thoughts the heart naturally is the soil and seat of thoughts there they are planted and there they dwell And then they are the possessions of the heart actively for as thoughts are possessed by the heart so thoughts do possess the heart Thoughts are full of activity they trouble and they comfort the heart Look what our thoughts are such is the estate of our hearts if our thoughts be quiet our hearts be quiet if our thoughts be unquiet our hearts be unquiet if our thoughts be joyful our hearts rejoyce if our thoughts be sad our hearts are sorrowful And therefore 't is said in the Gospel Luk. 24.38 Why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts i.e. Why do troublesome disconsolate thoughts arise in your hearts 'T is as natural for thoughts to arise in the heart as 't is for water to rise in a spring or fountain Christ did not chide because thoughts but because such thoughts did arise in their hearts We cannot hinder our thoughts from thinking no more then we can hinder the fire from burning or water from wetting They are the possessions of our hearts and being the possessions of our hearts we may easily judge of our estate and condition by them Purity in the inward parts is the most sound and infallible evidence of our fearing God Whatever evil is practised or committed in the life proceeds from the heart Mat. 15.9 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts c. So again on the other side whatever good is acted in the life proceeds from the heart Out of the heart says Solomon are the issues both of life and death And therefore I say again Examine your estate by your hearts and by your thoughts which are the possessions of your hearts Now there are two ways how a man may try his thoughts 1. By the causes of them and 2. By the effects of them A word or two of each and so I shall conclude 1. Try your thoughts by the Causes of them Are they put in by God and his Spirit doth the Spirit of God raise them up in your hearts or else are they injected and cast in by the devil And so I might enlarge my self in shewing when our thoughts are formed and framed in us by the Spirit of God and when thrust in by the devil but that would be a field too large for me and therefore I briefly pass it by 2. Try your thoughts by the matter and substance of them Are they holy heavenly and gracious Carnal men are projecting how to spend their days and moneths in buying in selling and getting gain the fool in the Gospel is thinking of enlarging his barns of pulling down his houses and building greater Luk. 12.17 18. this is that which engrossed all his thoughts One Apostle describes such men thus Minding earthly things Phil. 3.19 another thus Having an heart exercised with covetous practices 2 Pet. 2.14 With covetous practices i.e. with earnest contrivances how to promote their gain and earthly aims But now men and women fearing God they are for gracious projects they are thinking how they may be more thankful saying with David Psal 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me They are thinking how they may be more holy and spiritual how they may be more useful and serviceable to God how they may be more fruitful in every good word and work So that I say in the second place try your thoughts by the matter of them 3. Try them from the form and fashion of them Are they notional floating and accidental or are they studious sollicitous and diligent thoughts Do you sit as it were in the door of your hearts on set purpose to entertain good thoughts as Abraham was wont to sit in the door of his tent to entertain strangers or do they fall in onely by the by collaterally and besides the intention These holy men in my text did not onely think upon Gods Name casually or by chance but they did it seriously and in good earnest and stayed up their hearts against all discouragements 4. Examine your thoughts by the duration and continuance of them Are your good thoughts fixed setled constant and permanent or are they flitting fugitive transient and temporary onely as soon
mine But this acceptation of the words is not for my present turn and therefore in the second place you may take them thus with Mr. Ainsworth in his Annotations upon the place How precious are thy thoughts i. e. The thoughts that I have of thee the thoughts that are raised out of my heart up to thee Oh how precious are they Divine meditation Beloved is a very heaven upon earth 't is an having of one foot already if I may so speak in the porch of heaven 't is a fore-taste of eternal life 't is to the Saints as the fiery chariot was to Elijah by it they are transported from earth to heaven in their spirits nay so far ravished in their thinking upon Gods Name as that sometimes they know not those things that are before them they minde not those persons that are about them but being in the body they are as it were carried out of the body with spiritual ravishment they taste such incomparable sweetnesses in the good Name of God as that they are not able to express them even as the chewing of our meat makes us to taste much more sweetness in it so this heavenly practise of meditation causeth us to feel much more sweetness in the Name of God Meditation ever brings with it delight therefore see how David doth knit them together Psalm 119.15 16. I will meditate in thy precepts and will have respect unto thy ways I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy Word That holy object about which a mans thoughts are much conversant he cannot but take much delight and complacencie in As it argues love to the object Psalm 119.97 so I say it argues delight in the object And then in the last place to conclude the Motives this is an exceeding profitable and advantageous duty and that divers wayes I will name onely two or three of them 1. Meditation turns the promises into marrow it not onely tasteth but cheweth the promises and manifestations of God unto his people and therefore 't is not onely sweet and comfortable as I told you before but it is profitable too Read Psalm 63.5 6. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night-watches As there is all manner of pleasure so is there all manner of profit in the believing meditations of God they make the promises as a Royal feast to faith Meditation is not onely an effect of faith but 't is an excellent means to strengthen faith 2. 'T is profitable for the avoiding of evil Meditation prevents the intrusion of vain and sinful thoughts of foul and fleshly lusts which otherwise would swarm in the soul it leaves the devil no room for his black and hellish suggestions for his blasphemous injections It defeats the world which otherwise would be ready to catch us to get in to defile our hearts Nay 3. It promotes our spiritual good hereby we get into acquaintance with God the fountain of all goodness hereby we attain unto a greater measure of spiritual wisdom grace holiness we prove tall and experienced Christians filled with all knowledge Nay this holy meditation in a word is profitable to others for why it fits us for holy and Christian conference Thus and many other ways is this Exercise profitable Well then you have heard what an encouragement there is to the practise of this dudy I come in the next place to shew you the means whereby you may be enabled to the performance of it The Means shall be of two sorts 1. Negative 2. Positive By Negative I intend those sins or impediments which we must labor against if we will fruitfully think upon the Name of God In the first place avoid Pride and a conceitedness of a sufficiencie in your selves to conceive of God or to think of any thing else that is good You have heard before what the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 3.5 Pride hinders the right improvement of every holy duty and communion with God in every holy duty God indeed hath promised to impart himself and his secrets to the humble Psalm 25.9 but God will have no acquaintance with proud persons he looks upon them afar off as the Psalmist speaks This causeth a mans going out from God indeed but it hinders his drawing nigh to God as in other exercises so in this of holy contemplation God commonly leaves such to doat and busie their brains about Questions and vain Disputations which tend to nothing but strife and ostentation See what the Apostle speaks of a proud and self-conceited man 1 Tim. 6.4 5. He is proud what follows knowing nothing but doating about questions and strifes of words whereof cometh envie strife railings evil surmisings perverse disputings of men of corrupt mindes and destitute of the Truth supposing that gaine in godliness From such withdraw thy self It is just with God to leave proud hearts to unprofitable studies 2. If you will religiously meditate upon the Name of God take heed as of Pride so of Passion Passion carries us out of our selves and carries us too from the business and duty before us As an angry mans discourse runs wilde so his thoughts and cogitations run wilde also As the passions of the Concupiscible appetite and intemperancies of youth carry a man beyond his bounds and therefore the Prodigal repenting is said to come to himself Luk. 15.17 so likewise do the passions of the Irascible appetite Anger disorders and discomposeth the spirit Passions in the minde are like a tempest in the air which do exceedingly disturb the minde Many a man like a ship at sea hath been over-set and sunk with the violent gusts and whirlwindes of his own spirit As a turbulent heart can neither hear nor pray as it ought so so neither can it think or meditate as it ought Passion unfits the heart to and for any religious duty Well may such a one exact folly as Solomon speaks but I warrant you while he is thus distempered he wo'n't lift up many holy thoughts these do require a sedate and quiet spirit free from the confused hurrie of troublesome passions And therefore in the second place see that you eschew passion And then 3. If you would conscionably perform this duty beware of earthly-mindedness Worldliness or earthly-mindedness divides and distracts the heart fills it with noysome lusts but indisposeth it to the thinking of God or upon the things of God This corruption if nourished will eat all manner of goodness out of the heart The Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 7.32 33. But I would have you without carefulness He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord how he may please the Lord but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world how he may please his wife Implying that an excessive and an immoderate engaging of the heart in the world is
one main cause why a man cannot take care for the things of the Lord as he ought to do such a man such a woman cannot attend upon the Lord in any duty without distraction Mat. 6.24 saith our Saviour there No man can serve two masters i. e. two masters of contrary interests and who issue forth contrary commands Every wicked man serves more masters then two he is a servant to lust yea he serves divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 but yet he serves not that One who is infinitely better and more deserving our service then all and serving Mammon he cannot serve God as he ought in any service and therefore not in that which I am now speaking of Col. 3.2 Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth q. d. If your thoughts run upon the things of the earth they wo'n't carry you out after things above And thus much of the Negative means or rather the hinderances of this holy meditation I come in the next place to speak of the Positive helps and with them I shall conclude this days publick Exercise 1. If you desire to think upon the Name of God then begin the day with the thoughts of him and of his mercies renewed upon you not onely every morning but every moment This seems to be Davids constant course from such texts as these are Psal 5.3 Psal 59.16 Psal 88.13 and the like you may finde in many other places that to begin with the thoughts of God in the morning is the way to put the soul into an heavenly frame and temper the whole day following We have a saying amongst us that the morning is a friend to the Muses Aurora Musis amica i. e. the morning is a good studying time I am sure the morning is a great friend to the Graces 't is the best time to begin our thoughts and meditations it will dispose the heart to and for communion with God all the day after And withal remember to close up the heart with God when you go to bed at night and if possibly you can fall asleep out of some heavenly meditation So will your heart be in a better plight when you awake He that thus raketh up fire over-night as one saith shall finde fire again in the morning That is the first Means to the Duty in hand 2. Guard and watch over your hearts all the day long that they be not drawn from God or from the thoughts of him either by any corruption from within or temptation from without Prov 4.23 Keep thy heart with all diligence defend it from all inroads and incursions from the flesh world and devil Keep but the heart well in tune and then it will not so easily go out from God Beloved if you suffer your hearts to be scattered up and down upon earthly vanities it will be far to seek when you should wait upon God either in Prayer or Meditation as a wilde horse turn'd to range up and down into a wilde Common that can hardly be taken when he should be sadled As you should be in the fear of the Lord all the day long so should you be raising elevating and winding up your hearts to God all the day long You should hold communion with God even in the duties of your particular callings and civil employments Phil. 3.20 saith the Apostle there Our conversation is in heaven The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conversation in the Greek is properly rendred thus Our civil life or our civil conversation is in heaven q. d. we exercise our general callings in our particular we go about earthly businesses with heavenly mindes extracting by a Divine Alchymie heavenly mediâ—â—â—ionâ— out of earthly objects and occasions And I conceive there is something to this purpose in that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.39 where he saith Brethren let every man wherein he is earth abide with God How doth a man abide with God in his particular calling not onely by keeping within the bounds and limits of that calling wherein God hath placed him but also executing the duties of it as in the sight of God by minding God in the several passages and occurrences of it This also is to abide with God in our calling and this we must do if we will be conscionable to the duty enjoyned 3. Would you have your thoughts to be set upon the right object upon God and goodness with these godly ones here in my text Then hold a strict hand over your thoughts be often in and upon the examination of them Evils you must know begin first in the thoughts Mat. 15.19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies First evil thoughts and what then murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies Evil thoughts are set in the front of this black Roll. When God would express the wickedness of the old world he saith Gen. 6.5 That every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was onely evil continually The imagination gives shape to every thing that the minde works upon The reason of Atheism is Blasphemy in the thoughts the reason of worldliness is some wicked thought that lies hid in the bosome and therefore saith God Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts You must not onely mark your way but your thoughts trace every corrupt desire every inclination every affection every transient motion whatever passeth thorow your hearts in the whole day call it to an audit set upon the tryal of it Our thoughts are even infinite nimble slippery and therefore we had the more need to watch them and to set upon the search of them and having found of what nature they are and of what tendencie they are cherish the good and check the bad One evil thought one sinful cogitation being uncontrolled and given way to O how may it vex and disquiet our hearts when we come to lie upon our death-beds As David dealt with his wayes so do you with your thoughts I considered my wayes saith he so do you your thoughts 4. If you would think of God and the things of God then heighten your love to God and the things of God Strong affections make strong impressions and cause great thoughts of heart A man cannot but think much of that which he loves much and therefore saith David in Psalm 119. verse 97. O how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day q. d. I do abundantly love thy law I do love it so greatly as that I cannot well express how greatly I love it O how I love thy law and therefore 't is that I am so much in the meditation of it Be sure of it that our infinite wandrings and woful trifling away of our golden hours in idle and evil thoughts is caused very much by our coldness and luke-warmness in our love to God and the things that are of divine concernment Would we but