he hath chosen him for his Portion his thoughts are on Eternity his desires there his dwelling there he cryes out O that I were there he takes that day for a time of imprisonment wherein he hath not taken one refreshing view of Eternity I had rather dye in this mans condition and have my soul in his souls case then in the case of him that hath the most eminent gifts and is most admired for parts and dutie whose heart is not thus taken up with God The man that Christ will finde out at the last day and condemn for want of a wedding Garment will be he that wants this frame of heart The question will not then be How much you have known or professed or talked but How much have you loved and where was your heart Why then Christians as you would have a sure testimony of the love of God and a sure proof of your title to Glory labor to get your hearts above God will acknowledg that you really love him and take you for faithful friends indeed when he sees your hearts are set upon him Get but your hearts once truly in Heaven and without all question your selves will follow If sin and Satan keep not thence your affections they will never be able to keep away your persons SECT IIII. 2. COnsider A heart in Heaven is the highest excellency of your spirits here and the noblest part of your Christian disposition As there is not only a difference between men and beasts but also among men between the Noble and the Base so there is not only a common excellency whereby a Christian differs from the world but also a peculiar nobleness of spirit whereby the more excellent differ from the rest And this lyes especially in a higher and more heavenly frame of spirit Only man of all inferior creatures is made with a face directed heaven-ward but other creatures have their faces to the earth As the Noblest of Creatures so the Noblest of Christians are they that are set most direct for Heaven As Saul is called a choice and goodly man higher by the head then all the company so is he the most choice and goodly Christian whose head and heart is thus the highest Men of noble birth and spirits do mind high and great affairs and not the smaller things of low poverty Their discourse is of the councels and matters of State of the Government of the Common-wealth and publike things and not of the Countrey-mans petty imployments O to hear such an heavenly Saint who hath fetcht a journey into heaven by faith and hath been wrapt up to God in his contemplations and is newly come down from the veiws of Christ what discoveries he will make of those Superior regions What ravishing expressions drop from his lips How high and sacred is his discourse Enough to make the ignorant world astonished and say Much study hath made them mad And enough to convince an understanding hearer that have seen the Lord and to make one say No man could speak such words as these except he had been with God this This is the noble Christian. As Bucholcers hearers concluded when he had preached his last Sermon being carried between two into the Church because of his weakness and there most admirably discoursed of the Blessedness of souls departed this life Caeteros concio naetores a Bucholcero semper omnes illo autem die etiam ipsum a sese superatum That Bucholcer did ever excel other preachers but that day he excelled himself so may I conclude of the heavenly Christian He ever excelleth the Rest of men but when he is neerest Heaven he excelleth himself As those are the most famous mountains that are highest and those the fairest trees that are talest and those the most glorious Pyramides and buildings whose tops do reach neerest to Heaven so is he the choisest Christian whose heart is most frequently and most delightfully there If a man have lived neer the King or have travelled to see the Sultan of Persia or the great Turk he will make this a matter of boasting and thinks himself one step higher then his private neighbors that live at home What shall we then judg of him that daily travels as far as Heaven and there hath seen the King of Kings That hath frequent admittance into the Divine presence and feasteth his soul upon the tree of life For my part I value this man before the ablest the richest the most learned in the world SECT V. 3. COnsider A heavenly minde is a joyful minde This is the neerest and the truest way to live a life of comfort And without this you must needs be uncomfortable Can a man be at the fire and not be warm or in the Sun-shine and not have light Can your heart be in Heaven and not have comfort The countreys of Norway Island and all the Northward are cold and frozen because they are farther from the power of the Sun But in Egypt Arabia and the Southern parts it is far otherwise where they live more neer its powerful rayes What could make such frozen uncomfortable Christians but living so far as they do from heaven And what makes some few others so warm in comforts but their living higher then others do and their frequent access so neer to God When the Sun in the Spring draws neer our part of the earth how do all things congratulate its approach The earth looks green casteth off her mourning habit the trees shoot forth the plants revive the pretty birds how sweetly sing they the face of all things smile upon us and all the creatures below reioyce Beloved friends if we would but try this life with God and would but keep these hearts above what a Spring of joy would be within us and all our graces be fresh and green How would the face of our souls be changed and all that is within us rejoyce How should we forget our winter sorrows and withdraw our souls from our sad retirements How early should we rise as those birds in the spring to sing the praise of our Great Creator O Christian get above Believe it that Region is warmer then this below Those that have been there have found it so and those that have come thence have told us so And I doubt not but that thou hast sometime tryed it thy self I dare appeal to thy own experience or to the experience of any soul that knows what the true Joys of a Christian are When is it that you have largest comforts Is it not after such an exercise as this when thou hast got up thy heart and converst with God and talkt with the inhabitants of the higher world and veiwed the mansions of the Saints and Angels and filled thy soul with the forethoughts of Glory If thou know by experience what this practice is I dare say thou knowest what spiritual Joy is David professeth that the light of Gods countenance would make his
while thou gavest up thy state thy friends thy life yea thy soul for lost and he opened to thee a Well of Consolation and opened thine eyes also that thou mightest see it How oft hath he found thee in the posture of Elias sitting down under the tree forlorn and solitary and desiring rather to dye then to live and he hath spread thee a Table of relief from Heaven and sent thee away refreshed and encouraged to his VVork How oft hath he found thee in the trouble of the Servant of Elisha crying out Alas what shall we do for an Host doth compass the City and he hath opened thine eyes to see more for thee then against thee both in regard of the enemies of thy soul and thy body How oft hath he found thee in such a passion as Jonas in thy peevish frenzy aweary of thy life and he hath not answered passion with passion though he might indeed have done well to be angry but hath mildely reasoned thee out of thy madness and said Dost thou well to be angry or to repine against me How oft hath he set thee on watching and praying on repenting and beleeving and when he hath returned hath found thee fast asleep and yet he hath not taken thee at the worst but in stead of an angry aggravation of thy fault he hath covered it over with the mantle of Love and prevented thy over-much sorrow with a gentle excuse The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak He might have done by thee as Epaminondas by his Souldier who finding him asleep upon the VVatch run him through with his Sword and said Dead I found thee and dead I leave thee but he rather chose to awake thee more gently that his tenderness might admonish thee and keep thee watching How oft hath he been traduced in his Cause or Name and thou hast like Peter denied him at lest by thy silence whilst he hath stood in sight yet all the revenge he hath taken hath been a heart-melting look and a silent remembring thee of thy fault by his countenance How oft hath Law and Conscience haled thee before him as the Pharisees did the adulterous woman and laid thy most hainous crimes to thy charge And when thou hast expected to hear the sentence of death he hath shamed away thy Accusers and put them to silence and taken on him he did not hear thy Inditement and said to thee Neither do I accuse thee Go thy way and sin no more And art thou not yet transported and ravished with Love Can thy heart be cold when thou think'st of this or can it hold when thou remembrest those boundless compassions Remembrest thou not the time when he met thee in thy duties when he smiled upon thee and spake comfortably to thee when thou didst sit down under his shadow with great delight and when his fruit was sweet to thy taste when he brought thee to his Banqueting House and his Banner over thee was Love when his left hand was under thy head and with his right hand he did embrace thee And dost thou not yet cry ouâ— Stay me comfort me for I am sick of Love Thus Reader I would have thee deal with thy heart Thus hold forth the goodness of Christ to thy Affections plead thus the case with thy frozen soul till thou say as David in another case My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned Psal. 39.3 If these forementioned Arguments will not rouse up thy love thou hast more enough of this nature at hand Thou hast all Christs personal excellencies to study thou hast all his particular mercies to thy self both special and common thou hast all his sweet and neer relations to thee and thou hast the happiness of thy perpetual abode with him hereafter all these do offer themselves to thy Meditation with all their several branches and adjuncts Only follow them close to thy heart ply the work and let it not cool Deal with thy heart as Christ did with Peter when he asked him thrice over Lovest thou me till he was grieved and answers Lord thou knowest that I love thee So say to thy Heart Lovest thou thy Lord and ask it the second time and urge it the third time Lovest thou thy Lord till thou grieve it and shame it out of its stupidity and it can truly say Thou knowest that I love him And thus I have shewed you how to excite the affection of Love SECT VI. 2. THe next Grace or Affection to be excited is Desire The Object of it is Goodness considered as absent or not yet attained This being so necessary an attendant of Love and being excited much by the same forementioned objective considerations I suppose you need the less direction to be here added and therefore I shall touch but briefly on this If love be hot I warrant you desire will not be cold When thou hast thus viewed the goodness of the Lord and considered of the pleasures that are at his right hand then proceed on with thy Meditation thus Think with thy self Where have I been what have I seen O the incomprehensible astonishing Glory O the rare transcendent beauty O blessed souls that now enjoy it that see a thousand times more clearly what I have seen but darkly at this distance and scarce discerned through the interposing clouds What a difference is there betwixt my state and theirs I am sighing and they are singing I am sinning and they are pleasing God I have an ulcerated cancrous soul like the lothsome bodyes of Job or Lazarus a spectacle of pitty to those that behold me But they are perfect and without blemish I am here intangled in the love of the world when they are taken up with the love of God I live indeed amongst the means of grace and I possess the fellowship of my fellow-believers But I have none of their immediate views of God nor none of that fellowship which they possess They have none of my cares and fears They weep not in secret They languish not in sorrows These tears are wiped away from their eyes O happy a thousand times happy souls Alas that I must dwell in dirty flesh when my Brethren and companions do dwell with God! Alas that I am lapt in earth and tyed as a mountain down to this inferior world when they are got above the Sun and have laid aside their lumpish bodyes Alas that I must lye and pray and wait and pray and wait as if my heart were in my knees when they do nothing but Love and Praise and Joy and Enjoy as if their hearts were got into the very breast of Christ and were closely conjoyned to his own heart How far out of sight and reach and hearing of their high enjoyments do I here live when they feel them and feed and live upon them What strange thoughts have I of God What strange conceivings What strange affections I am fain
Glory VVhy think then with thy self If this grain of Mustard seed be so precious what is the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God If a spark of life which will but strive against corruptions and flame out a few desires and groans be so much worth how glorious then is the Fountain and End of this life If we be said to be like God and to bear his Image and to be holy as he is holy when alas we are pressed down with a body of sin Sure we shall then be much liker God when we are perfectly holy and without blemish and have no such thing as sin within us Is the desire after Heaven so precious a thing what then is the thing it self which is desired Is the love so excellent what then is the beloved Is our joy in foreseeing and believing so sweet what will be the joy in the full possessing O the delight that a Christian hath in the lively exercise of some of these affections VVhat good do's it to his very heart when he can feelingly say He loves his Lord what sweetness is there in the very act of loving yea even those troubling Passions of Sorrow and Fear are yet delightful when they are rightly exercised How glad is a poor Christian when he feeleth his heart begin to melt and when the thoughts of sinful unkindness will dissolve it Even this Sorrow doth yield him matter of Joy O what will it then be when we shall do nothing but know God and love and rejoyce and praise and all this in the highest perfection what a comfort is it to my doubting soul when I have a little assurance of the sincerity of my graces when upon examination I can but trace the Spirit in his sanctifying works How much more will it comfort me to finde that this Spirit hath safely conducted me and left me in the arms of Jesus Christ what a change was it that the Spirit made upon my soul when he first turned me from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God To be taken from that horrid state of nature wherein my self and my actions were loathsom to God and the sentence of death was past upon me and the Almighty took me for his utter enemy and to be presently numbred among his Saints and called his Friend his Servant his Son and the sentence revoked which was gone forth O what a change was this To be taken from that state wherein I was born and had lived delightfully so many yeers and was rivetted in it by custom and engagements when thousands of sins did lie upon my score and if I had so died I had been damned for ever and to be justified from all these enormous crimes and freed from all these fearful plagues and put into the title of an Heir of Heaven O what an astonishing change was this Why then consider how much greater will that glorious change then be Beyond expressing beyond conceiving How oft when I have thought of this change in my Regeneration have I cryed out O blessed day and blessed be the Lord that I ever saw it why how then shall I cry out in Heaven O blessed Eternity and blessed be the Lord that brought me to it Was the mercy of my conversion so exceeding great that the Angels of God did rejoyce to see it Sure then the mercy of my salvation will be so great that the same Angels will congratulate my felicity This Grace is but a spark that is raked up in the ashes it is covered with flesh from the sight of the world and covered with corruption sometime from mine-own sight But my Everlasting glory will not so be clouded nor my light be under a bushel but upon a hill even upon Sion the Mount of God SECT XIIII 12. LAstly compare the joyes which thou shalt have above with those foretastes of it which the Spirit hath given thee here Judg of the Lyon by the Paw and of the Ocean of Joy by that drop which thou hast tasted Thou hast here thy strongest refreshing comforts but as that man in Hell would have had the water to cool him a little upon the tip of the finger for thy tongue to taste yet by this little thou maist conjecture at the quality of the whole Hath not God sometime revealed himself extraordinarily to thy soul and let a drop of glory fall upon it Hast thou not been ready to say O that it might be thus with my soul continually and that I might always feel what I feel sometimes Didst thou never cry out with the Martyr after thy long and doleful expectations He is come he is come Didst thou never in a lively Sermon of Heaven nor in thy retired contemplations on that blessed State perceive thy drooping spirits revive and thy dejected heart to lift up the head and the light of Heaven to break forth to thy soul as a morning Star or as the dawning of the day Didst thou never perceive thy heart in these duties to be as the childe that Elisha revived to wax warm within thee and to recover life VVhy think with thy self then what is this earnest to the full Inheritance Alas all this light that so amazeth and rejoyceth me is but a Candle lighted from Heaven to lead me thither through this world of darkness If the light of a Star in the night be such or the little glimmering at the break of the day what then is the light of the Sun at noontide If some godly men that we read of have been overwhelmed with joy till they have cryed out Hold Lord stay thy hand I can bear no more like weak eyes that cannot endure too great a light O what will then be my joyes in Heaven when as the object of my joy shall be the most glorious God so my soul shall be made capable of seeing and enjoying him and though the light be ten thousand times greater then the Suns yet my eyes shall be able for ever to behold it Or if thou be one that hast not felt yet these sweet foretastes for every beleever hath not felt them then make use of the former delights which thou hast felt that thou maist the better discern what hereafter thou shalt feel And thus I have done with the fifth part of this Directory and shewed you on what grounds to advance your Meditations and how to get them to quicken your affections by comparing the unseen delights of Heaven with those smaller which you have seen and felt in the flesh CHAP. XII How to manage and watch over the Heart through the whole Work SECT 1. SIxthly The sixt and last part of this Directory is To guide you in the managing of your hearts through this work and to shew you wherein you have need to be exceeding watchful I have shewed before what must be done with your hearts in your preparations to the work and in your setting upon it I shall now shew
not be Christs Disciple It is the common mark whereby his Disciples are known to all men That they love one another Is it not his last great Legacy My peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you Mark the expressions of that command If it be possible as much as in you lieth live peaceably with all men Rom. 12.18 Follow peace with all men and holiness Heb. 12.14 O the deceitfulness of the heart of man That those same men who lately in their self-examination could finde nothing of Christ so clear within them as their love to the Brethren and were confident of this when they could scarce discover any other grace should now look so strangely upon them and be filled with so much bitterness against them That the same men who would have travelled through reproaches many miles to hear an able faithful Minister and not think the labor ill bestowed should now become their bitterest enemies and the most powerful hinderers of the success of their labors and travel as far to cry them down It makes me almost ready to say O sweet O happy days of persecution Which drove us together in a closure of Love who being now dryed at the fire of Liberty and Prosperity are crumbled all into dust by our contentions But it makes me seriously both to say and to think O sweet O happy day of the Rest of the Saints in Glory When as there is one God one Christ one Spirit so we shall have one Judgment one Heart one Church one Imployment for ever VVhen there shall be no more Circumcision and Uncircumcision Jew and Gentile Anabaptist or Poedobaptist Brownist Separatist Independent Presbyterian Episcopal but Christ is All and in All. We shall not there scruple our Communion nor any of the Ordinances of Divine Worship There will not be one for singing and another against it but even those who here jarred in discord shall all conjoyn in blessed concord and make up one melodious Quire I could wish they were of the Martyrs minde who rejoyced that she might have her foot in the same hole of the Stocks in which Master Philpots had been before her But however I am sure they will joyfully live in the same Heaven and gladly participate in the same Rest. Those whom one house could not hold nor one Church hold them no nor one Kingdom neither yet one Heaven and one God may hold One House one Kingdom could not hold Joseph and his Brethren but they must together again whether they will or no and then how is the case altered Then every man must strait withdraw while they weep over and kiss each other O how canst thou now finde in thy heart if thou bear the heart or face of a Christian to be bitter or injurious against thy Brethren when thou dost but once think of that time and place where thou hâ—pâ—â—t in the nearest and sweetest familiarity to live and rejoyce with them for ever I confess their infirmities are not to be loved nor sin to be tolerated because it s theirs But be sure it be sin which thou opâ—posest in them and do it with a Spirit of meekness and compassion that the world may see thy love to the Person while thou opposest the Offence Alas that Turks and Pagans can agree in wickedness better then Christians in the Truth That Bears and Lyons Wolves and Tygers can agree together but Christians cannot That a Legion of Devils can accord in one body and not the tenth part so many Christians in one Church Well the fault may be mine and it may be theirs or more likely both mine and theirs But this rejoyceth me That my old Friends who now look strangely at me will joyfully triumph with me in our common Rest. SECT XV. 7. WE shall then rest from all our dolorous houres and sad thoughts which we now undergo by participating with our Brethren in their Calamities Alas if we had nothing upon our selves to trouble us yet what heart could lay aside sorrows that lives in the sound of the Churches sufferings If Job had nothing upon his body to disquiet him yet the message of his Childrens overthrow must needs grieve the most patient soul. Except we are turned into steel or stone and have lost both Christian and humane affection there needs no more then the miseries of our Brethren to fill our hearts with successions of sorrows and make our lives a continued lamentation The Church on Earth is a meer Hospital which way ever we go we hear complaining and into what corner soever we cast our eyes we behold objects of pity and grief some groaning under a dark understanding some under a senseless heart some languishing under unfruitful weakness and some bleeding for miscarriages and wilfulness and some in such a Lethargy that they are past complaining some crying out of their pining Poverty some groaning under pains and Infirmities and some bewailing a whole Catalogue of Calamities especially in days of common Sufferings when nothing appears to our sight but ruine Families ruined Congregations ruined Sumptuous Structures ruined Cities ruined Country ruined Court ruined Kingdoms ruined Who weâ—ps not when all these bleed As now our friends distresses are our distresses so then our friends deliverance will be part of our own deliverance How much more joyous now to Joyn with them in their days of Thanksgiving and gladness then in the days of Humiliation in sackcloth and ashes How much then more joyous will it be to joyn with them in their perpetual praises and triumphs then to hear them bewailing now their wretchedness their want of light their want of life of joy of assurance of grace of Christ of all things How much more comfortable to see them perfected then now to see them wounded weak sick and afflicted To stand by the bed of their languishing as silly comforters being overwhelmed and silenced with the greatness of their griefs conscious of our own disability to relieve them scarce having a word of comfort to refresh them or if we have alas they be but words which are a poor relief when their sufferings are real Faine we would ease or help them but cannot all we can do is to sorrow with them which alas doth rather increase their sorrows Our day of Rest will free both them and us from all this Now we may enter many a poor Christians cottage and there see their Children ragged their purse empty their Cubbard empty their belly empty and poverty possessing and filling all How much better is that day when we shall see them filled with Christ cloathed with Glory and equalized with the richest and greatest Princes O the sad and heart-piercing spectacles that mine eyes have seen in four yeers space In this fight a dear friend fall down by me from another a precious Christian brought home wounded or dead scarce a moneth scarce a week without the sight or noise of blood Surely there is none of
wilt not accept them Why dost thou therefore stand whining and complaining that thou art not Pardoned and Adopted when thou shouldst take them being offered thee Were he not mad that would lie weeping and wringing his hands because he is not pardoned when his Prince stands by all the while offering him a pardon and intreating and threatning and perswading and correcting him and all to make him take it What would you say to such a man Would you not chide him for his folly and say If thou wouldst have Pardon and Life why dost thou not take it Why then do you not say the like to your selves Know ye not that Pardon and Adoption are offered you only on the Condition of your Believing And this Believing is nothing else but the Accepting of Christ for thy Lord and Saviour as he is offered to thee with his benefits in the Gospel And this Accepting is principally if not only the Act of thy Will So that if thou be willing to have Christ upon his own terms that is to Save and Rule thee then thou art a Believer Thy willingness is thy Faith And if thou have Faith thou hast the surest of all Evidences Justifying Faith is not thy Perswasion of Gods special Love to thee or of thy Justification but thy Accepting Christ to make thee Just and Lovely It may be thou wilt say I cannot Believe It is not so easie a matter to Believe as you make it Answ. Indeed to those that are not willing it is not easie God only can make them willing But to him that is willing to have Christ for King and Saviour I will not say Believing is easie but it is already performed for this is Believing Let me therefore put this Question to every doubting complaining Soul What is it that thou art complaining and mourning for What makes thee walk so sadly as thou dost Because thou hast not Christ and his benefits Why art thou willing to have them on the forementioned Condition or art thou not If thou be Willing thou hast him Thy Accepting is thy Believing To as many as Receive him that is Accept him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God even to them that Believe on his Name Joh. 1.12 But if thou art not Willing why dost thou Complain Methinks the tongue should follow the bent of the heart or Will And they that would not have Christ should be speaking against him at least against his Laws and Ways and not complaining because they do not enjoy him Dost thou groan and make such moan for want of that which thou wouldst not have If indeed thou wouldst not have Christ for thy King and Saviour then have I nothing to say but to perswade thee to be Willing Is it not madness then to lie complaining that we have not Christ when we may have him if we will If thou have him not take him and cease thy complaints Thou canst not be so forward and willing as he is And if He be Willing and thou be Willing who shall break the Match I will not say as Mr Saltmarsh most horridly doth That we ought no more to Question our Faith which is our first and foundation Grace then we ought to Question Christ the Foundation of our Faith But this I say That it were a more wise and direct course to Accept Christ offered which is Believing then to spend so much time in doubting whether we have Christ and Faith or no. SECT XII 3. ANother Cause of many Christians trouble is Their mistaking Assurance for the Joy that sometime accompanieth it or at least confounding them together Therefore when they want the Joy of Assurance they are as much cast down as if they wanted Assurance it self Doctor Sibbs saith well That as we cannot have Grace but by the work of the Spirit so must there be a further Act to make us Know that we have that Grace and when we Know we have Grace yet must there be a further Act of the Spirit to give us Comfort in that Knowledg Some Knowledg or Assurance of our Regenerate and Justified Estate the Spirit gives more ordinarily but that sensible Joy is more seldom and extraordinary We have cause enough to keep off doubtings and distress of spirit upon the bare sight of our Evidences though we do not feel any further Joys This these complaining Souls understand not and therefore though they cannot deny their willingness to have Christ nor many other the like Graces which are infallible Signs of their Justification and Adoption yet because they do not feel their spirits replenished with comforts they throw away all as if they had nothing As if a Child should no longer take himself for a son then he sees the smiles of his Fathers face or heareth the comfortable expressions of his mouth And as if the Father did cease to be a Father when ever he ceaseth those smiles and speeches SECT XIII 4. ANd yet further is the trouble of these poor Souls increased in that They know not the ordinary way of Gods conveying these expected Comforts When they hear that they are the free gifts of the Spirit they presently conceive themselves to be meerly passive therein and that they have nothing to do but to wait when God will bestow them Not understanding that though these Comforts are Spiritual yet are they Rational raised upon the Understandings apprehension of the Excellency of God our Happiness and of our Interest in him and by the rolling of this blessed Object in our frequent Meditations The Spirit doth advance and not destroy our Reason It doth rectifie it and then use it as its ordinary instrument for the conveyance of things to our Affections and exciting them accordingly and not lay it aside and Affect us without it Therefore our Joys are raised discoursively and the Spirit first revealeth our Cause of Joy and then helpeth us to Rejoyce upon those revealed grounds So that he who Rejoyceth groundedly knoweth why he Rejoyceth ordinarily Now these mistaken Christians lie waiting when the Spirit doth cast in these Comforts into their hearts while they sit still and labour not to excite their own Affections Nay while they Reason against the Comforts which they wait for These men must be taught to know that the matter of their Comfort is in the Promises and thence they must fetch it as oft as they expect it And that if they set themselves dayly and diligently to Meditate of the Truth of those Promises and of the rare excellency contained in them and of their own title thereto in this way they may expect the Spirits assistance for the raising of holy Comfort in their Souls But if they lie still bewailing their want of Joy while the full and free Promises lie by them and never take them and rip them up and look into them and apply them to their hearts by Serious Meditation They may complain for want of Comfort long
part he is assured of them How can you doubt whether you love God in the Act of Loving Or whether you believe in the very Act of Believing If therefore you would be assured whether this Sacred Fire be kindled in your hearts blow it up get it into a flâ—me and then you will know Believe till you feel that you do believe and Love till you feel that you love 3. The Action of the Soul upon such excellent Objects doth naturally bring Consolation with it The very Act of Loving God in Christ doth bring unexpressible sweetness with it into the Soul The Soul that is best furnished with Grace when it is not in Action is like a Lute well string'd and tun'd which while it lieth still doth make no more Musick then a common piece of wood but when it is taken up and handled by a skilful Lutist the melody is most delightful Some degree of comfort saith that comfortable Doctor followes every good Action as heat accompanies fire and as beams and influences issue from the Sun which is so true that very heathens upon the discharge of a good Conscience have found comfort and peace answerable This is Praemium ante Praemium a Reward before the Reward As a man therefore that is cold should not stand still and say I am so cold that I have no minde to Labour but labour till â—is coldness be gone and heat excited So he that wants assurance of the truth of his graces and the comfort of Assurance must not stand still and say I am so doubtful and uncomfortable that I have no minde to duty but ply his duty and exercise his Graces till he finde his Doubts and Discomforts to vanish SECT XIX 10. LAstly another ordinary Nurse of Doubtings and Discomfort is The prevailing of Melancholly in the body whereby the brain is continually troubled and darkened the Fancy hindered and Reason perverted by the distempering of its instruments and the Soul is still clad in mourning weeds It is no more wonder for a Consciencious man that is overcome with Melancholly to doubt and fear and despair then it is for a sick man to groan or a child to cry when he is beater This is the case with most that I have known lie long in doubting and distress of Spirit With some their Melancholly being raised by Crosses or distemper of body or some other occasion doth afterwards bring in trouble of Conscience as its companion With others trouble of mind is their first trouble which long hanging on them at last doth bring the body also into a Melancholly habit And then trouble increaseth Melancholly and Melancholly again increaseth trouble and so round This is a most sad and pitiful state For as the disease of the body is chronical and obstinate and physick doth seldom succeed where it hath far prevailed so without the Physician the labours of the Divine are usually in vain You may silence them but you cannot comâ—fort them You may make them confess that they have some Grace and yet cannot bring them to the comfortable Conclusiâ—ons Or if you convince them of some work of the Spirit upon their souls and a little at present abate their sadness yet as soon as they are gone home and look again upon their souls through this perturbing humour all your convincing Arguments are forgotten and they are as far from comfort as ever they were All the good thoughts of their estate which you can possibly help them to are seldom above a day or two old As a man that looks through a black or blew or red glass doth think things which he sees to be of the same colour and if you would perswade him to the contrary he will not believe you but wonder that you should offer to perswade him against his eye-sight So a Melancholly man sees all things in a sad and fearful plight because his Reason looketh on them through this black humour with which his brain is darkened and distempered And as a mans eyes which can see all things about them yet cannot see any imperfection in themselves so is it almost impossible to make many of these men to know that they are Melancholly But as those who are troubled with the Ephialtes do cry out of some body that lyeth heavy upon them when the disease is in their own blood and humors so these poor men cry out of sin and the wrath of God when the main cause is in this bodily distemper The chief part of the cure of these men must be upon the body because there is the chief part of the disease And thus I have shewed you the chief causes why so many Christians do injoy so little Assurance and Consolation CHAP. VIII Containing an Exhortation and Motives to Examine SECT I. HAving thus discoverd the Impediments to Examination I would presently proceed to direct you to the performance of it but that I am yeâ— jealous whether I have fully prevailed with you wills and whether you are indeed Resolved to set upon the Duty I have found by long experience as well as from Scripture That the main difficulty lieth in bringing men to be willing and to set themselves in good earnest to the searching of their hearts Many love to hear and read of Marks and signs by which they may Try but few will be brought to spend an hour in using them when they have them They think they should have their Doubts resolved as soon as they do but hear a minister name some of these Signes and if that would do the work then Assurance would be more common But when they are informed that the work lies most upon their own hands and what pains it must cost them to search their hearts faithfully then they give up and will go no further This is not only the case of the ungodly who commonly perish through this neglect but multitudes of the godly themselves are like Idle Beggars who will rather make a practice of begging and bewailing their misery then they will set themselves to labour painfully for their relief So do many spend days and years in sad complaints and doubtings that will not be brought to spend a few hours in Examination I intreat all these persons what condition soever they are of to consider the weight of these following Arguments which I have propounded in hope to perswade them to this duty SECT II. 1. TO be deceived about your Title to Heaven is exceeding easie and not to be deceived is exceeding difficult This I make manifest to you thus 1. Multitudes that never suspected any falshood in their hearts have yet proved unsound in the day of Tryal and they that never feared any danger toward them have perished for ever Yea many that have been confident of their integrity and safety I shall adjoyn the proofes of what I say in the Margin for brevity sake How many poor souls are now in Hell that little thought of comming
None in the world hath that interest in their hearts as you You will receive that counsel from an undoubted friend that you would not do from an enemy or a stranger VVhy now your children cannot choose but know that you are their friends and advise them in love and they cannot choose but love you again Their love is loose and arbitrary to others but to you it is determinate and fast nature hath almost necessitated them to love you O therefore improve this your interest in them for their good 3. You have also the greatest authority over them You may command them and they dare not disobey you or else it is your owne fault for the most part for you can make them obey you in your business in the world Yea you may correct them to inforce obedience Your authority also is the most unquestioned authority in the world The authority of Kings and Parliaments hath been disputed but yours is past dispute And therefore if you use it not to constrain them to the works of God you are without excuse 4. Besides their whole dependance is on you for their maintenance and livelihood They know you can either give them or deny them what you have and so punish or reward them at your pleasure But on Ministers or neighbors they have no such dependance 5. Moreover you that are parents know the temper and inclinations of your children what vices they are most inclined to and what instruction or reproof they most need But Ministers that live more strange to them cannot know this 6. Above all you are ever with them and so have opportunity as to know their faults so to apply the remedy You may be still talking to them of the word of God and minding them of their state and duty and may follow and set home every word of advice as they are in the house with you or in the shop or in the feild at work O what an excellent advantage is this if God do but give you hearts to use it Especially you mothers remember this you are more with your children while they are little ones then their fathers be you therefore still teaching them as soon as ever they are capable of learning You cannot do God such eminent service your selves as men but you may train up children that may do it and then you will have part of the comfort and honor Bathsheba had part of the honor of Solomons wisdom Pro. 31.1 for she taught him And Timothe's mother and grandmother of his piety Plutrach speaks of a Spartan woman that when her neighbors were shewing their apparel and jewels she brought out her children vertuous and well taught and said These are my ornaments and Jewels O how much more would this adorn you then your bravery What a deal of pains are you at with the bodies of your children more then the fathers And what do you suffer to bring them into the world and will not you be at as much pains for the saving of their souls You are naturally of more tender affections then men and will it not move you to think that your children should perish for ever O therefore I beseech you for the sake of the children of your bowels teach them admonish them watch over them and give them no rest till you have brought them over to Christ. And thus I have shewed you reason enough to make you diligent in teaching your children if reason will serve as me thinks among reasonable creatures it should do SECT XII LEt us next hear what is usually objected against this by negligent men Object 1. We do not see but those children prove as bad as others that are taught the Scriptures and brought up so holily And those prove as honest men and good neighbors that have none of this ado with them Answ. 1. O who art thou man that disputest against God Hath God charged you to teach your children diligently his word speaking of it as you sit at home and as you walk abroad as you lye down and as you rise up Deut. 6.6 7 8. and dare you reply that it is as good let it alone VVhy this is to set God at defiance and as it were to spit in his face and give him the lye VVill you take it well at your servants if when you command them to do a thing they should return you such an answer that they do not see but it were as good let it alone VVretched worm darest thou thus lift up thy head against the Lord that made thee and must judg thee Is it not he that commandeth thee If thou dost not believe that this Scripture is his word thou dost not believe in Jesus Christ for thou hast nothing else to tell thee that there is a Christ. And if thou do believe that this is the word of God how darest thou say It is as good disobey it This is devillish pride indeed when such sottish sinful dust shall think themselves wiser then the living God take upon them to reprove and cancel his word 2. But alas you know not what honesty is when you say that the ignorant are as honest as others You think those are the honestest men that best please you But I know those are the most honest that best please God Christ saith in Luk 8.15 that an honest heart is that which keepeth the word of God and you say they are as honest that reject it God made men to please himself and not to please you And you may know by his Laws who please him best The Commandments have two Tables and the first is Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and the second Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self First seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness Mat. 6.33 3. And what if some prove naught that are well brought up It is not the generality of them will you say that Noahs family was no better then the drowned world because there was one Chaus in it Nor Davids because there was one Absalom Nor Christs because there was one Judas 4. But what if it were so Have men need of the less teaching or the more you have more wit in the matters of this world you will not say I see many labor hard and yet are poor and therefore it is as good never labor at all you will not say Many that go to School learn nothing and therefore they may learn as much though they never go Or many that are great tradesmen break and therefore it is as good never trade at all Or many great eaters are as lean as others and many sick men recover no strength though they eat and therefore it is as good for men never to eat more Or many plow and sow and have nothing comes up and therefore it is as go 〈…〉 to plow more VVhat a fool were he that should reaso◠thus And is not he a thousand times worse that shall reason thus for mens
tell me what difference between this fools expressions and thy affections I doubt not but thou hast more wit then to speak thy minde just in his language but man remember thou hast to do with the searcher of hearts It may be thou holdst on in thy course of duty and prayest as oft as thou didst before it may be thou keepest in with good Ministers and with godly men and seemest as forward in Religion as ever But what is all this to the purpose Mock not thy soul man for God will not so be mocked What good may yet remain in thee I know not but sure I am thy course is dangerous and if thou follow it on will end in dolor Methinks I see thee befooling thy self and tearing thy hair and gnashing thy teeth when thou hearest thy case laid open by God Thou fool this night shall they require thy soul from thee and then whose are all these things Certainly so much as thou delightest and restest on Earth so much is abated of thy delights in God Thine earthly minde may consist with thy profession and common duties but it cannot consist with this Heavenly duty I need not tell thee all this if thou wouldst deal impartially and not be a traitor to thy own soul thou knowest thy self how seldom and cold how cursory and strange thy thoughts have been of the joyes hereafter ever since thou didst trade so eagerly for the world Methinks I even perceive thy conscience stir now and tell thee plainly that this is thy case hear it man O hear it now least thou hear it in another maner when thou wouldest be full loth O the cursed madness of many that seem to be religious who thrust themselves into multitude of employments and think they can never have business enough till they are loaded with labors and clogged with cares That their souls are as unfit to converse with God as a man to walk with a mountain on his back and till he hath even transformed his soul almost into the nature of his drossie carkass and made it as unapt to soare aloft as his body is to leap above the Sun And when all is done and they have lost that Heaven they might have had upon Earth they rake up a few rotten arguments to prove it lawful and then they think that they have salved all though these sots would not do so for their bodies nor forbear their eating or drinking or sleeping or sporting though they could prove it lawful so to do though indeed they cannot prove it lawful neither They miss not the pleasures of this Heavenly Life if they can but quiet their Consciences while they fasten upon lower and baser pleasures For thee O Christian who hast tasted of these pleasures I advise thee as thou valuest their enjoyment as ever thou wouldst taste of them any more take heed of this gulf of An earthly minde For if once thou come to this that thou wilt be rich thou fallest into temptation and a snare and into divers foolish and hurtful lusts it is Saint Pauls own words 1 Tim 6.9 Set not thy minde as Saul on the Asses when the Kingdom of Glory is before thee Keep these things as thy upper Garments still loose about thee that thou maist lay them by when ever there is cause But let God and Glory be next thy heart yea as the very blood and spirits by which thou livest Still remember that of the Spirit The friendship of the World is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God Jam. 4.4 And 1 John 2.15 Love not the world nor the things in the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him This is plain dealing and happy he that faithfully receives it SECT III. 3. A Third hinderance which I must advise thee to beware is The company of ungodly and sensual men Not that I would disswade thee from necessary converse or from doing them any office of Love especially not from endeavouring the good of their souls as long as thou hast any opportunity or hope Nor would I have thee conclude them to be Dogs and Swine that so thou maist evade the duty of Reproof Nor yet to judg them such at all as long as there is any hope of better or before thou art certain they are such indeed much less can I approve of the practice of those who because the most of the world are naught do therefore conclude men Dogs or Swine before ever they faithfully and lovingly did admonish them yea or perhaps before they have known them or spoke with them and hereupon they will not communicate with them in the Lords Supper but separate from them into distinct Congregations I perswade thee to no such ungodly separation As I never found one word in Scripture where either Christ or his Apostles denied admittance to any man that desired to be a Member of the Church though but onely prosessing to Repent and Believe so neither did I ever there finde that any but convicted Hereticks or scandalous ones and that for the most part after due admonition were to be avoided or debarred our fellowship And whereas it is urged That they are to prove their interest to the priviledges which they lay claim to and not we to disprove it I Answer if that were granted yet their meer professing to Repent and Believe in Christ is a sufficient evidence of their interest to Church member-ship and admittance thereto by Baptism supposing them not admitted before and their being Baptized persons or members of the universal visible Church into which it is that they are Baptized is sufficient evidence of their interest to the Supper till they do by Heresie or Scandal blot that Evidence which Evidence if they do produce yea though they are yet weak in the Faith of Christ who is he that dare refuse to receive them And this after much doubting dispute and study of the Scriptures I speak as confidently as almost any truth of equal moment So plain is the Scripture in this point to a man that brings his Understanding to the model of Scripture and doth not bring a model in his brain and reduce all he reades to that model The door of the visible Church is incomparably wider then the door of heaven and Christ is so tender so bountiful and forward to convey his grace and the Gospel so free an offer and invitation to all that surely Christ will keep no man off if they will come quite over in spirit to Christ they shall be welcome If they will come but onely to a visible Profession he will not deny them admittance there because they intend to go no further but will let them come as neer as they will and that they come no further shall be their own fault and so it is not his readiness to admit such nor the openness of the door of his visible Church
the remaining Work is onely to direct you how to use your hands and mouth to feed your stomack I mean how to use your â—nderstandings for the warming of your Affections and to fire your Hearts by the help of your Heads And herein it will be necessary that I observe this Method First to shew you what instrument it is that you must work by Secondly VVhy and how this way of working is like to succeed and attain its end Thirdly VVhat powers of the soul should here be acted and what are the particular Affections to be excited and what objective Considerations are necessary thereto and in what order you should proceed Fourthly By what acts you must advance to the height of the work Fifthly VVhat advantages you must take and what helps you must use for the facilitating your success Sixthly In what particulars you must look narrowly to your hearts through the whole And I will be the briefer in all left you should loâ—e my meaning in a crowd of words or your thoughts be carried from the VVork it self by an over-long and tedious Explication of it SECT II. 1. THe great Instrument that this Work is done by is Ratiocination Reasoning the case with your selves Discourse of minde Cogitation or Thinking or if you will call it Consideration I here suppose you to know the things to be considered and therefore shall wholly pass over thaâ— Meditation of Students which tends onely to Speculation or Knowing They are known Truths that I perswade you to consider for the grossly ignorant that know not the Doctrine of everlasting Life are for the present uncapable of this duty Mans soul as it receives and retains the Idea's or Shapes of things so hath it a power to chuse out any of these deposited Idea's and draw them forth and act upon them again and again even as a Sheep can fetch up his meat for rumination otherwise nothing would affect us but while the sense is receiving it and so we should be somewhat below the Bruits This is the power that here you must use To this choice of Idea's or subjects for your Cogitation there must necessarily concur the act of the Will which indeed must go along in the whole Work for this must be a voluntary not a forced Cogitation Some men do consider whether they will or no and are not able to turn away their own thoughts so will God make the wicked consider of their sins when he shall set them all in order before them Psal. 50.21.22 And so shall the damned consider of Heaven and of the excellency of Christ whom they once despised and of the eternal joyes which they have foolishly lost But this forced Consideration is not that I mean but that which thou dost willingly and purposely chose but though they will be here requisite yet still Consideration is the instrument of the Work SECT III. 2. NExt let us see what force Consideration hath for the moving of the affections and for the powerful imprinting of things in the heart Why First Consideration doth as it were open the door between the Head and the Heart The Understanding having received Truths layes them up in the Memory now Consideration is the conveyer of them from thence to the Affections There 's few men of so weak Understanding or Memory but they know and can remember that which would strangely work upon them and make great alterations in their spirits if they were not locked up in their brain and if they could but convey them down to their hearts Now this is the great work of Consideration O what rare men would they be who have strong heads and much learning and knowledge if the obstructions between the Head and the Heart were but opened and their Affections did but correspond to their Understandings why if they would but bestow as much time and pains in studying the goodness and the evil of things as they bestow in studying the Truth and Falshood of Enunciations it were the readiest way to obtain this he is usually the best Scholar who hath the quick the clear and the tenacious apprehension but he is usually the best Christian who hath the deepest piercing and affecting Apprehension He is the best Scholar who hath the readiest passage from the Ear to the Brain but he is the best Christian who hath the readiest passage from the Brain to the Heart now Consideration is that on our parts that must open the passage though the Spirit open as the principal cause inconsiderate men are stupid and senseless SECT IV. 2. MAtter 's of great weight which do neerly concern us are aptest to work most effectually upon the Heart now Meditation draweth forth these working Objects and presents them to the Affections in their worth and weight The most delectable Object doth not please him that sees it not nor doth the joyfullest news affect him that never hears it now Consideration presents before us those Objects that were as absent and brings them to the Eye and the Ear of the soul Are not Christ and Glory think you affecting Objects would not they work wonders upon the soul if they were but clearly discovered and strangely transport us if our apprehensions were any wâ—it answerable to their worth why by Consideration it is that they are presented to us This is the Prospective Glass of the Christian by which he can see from Earth to Heaven SECT V. 3. AS Consideration draweth forth the weightiest Objects so it presenteth them in the most affecting way and presseth them home with enforcing Arguments Man is a Rational Creature and apt to be moved in a Reasoning way especially when Reasons are evident and strong Now Consideration is a reasoning the case with a mans own heart and what a multitude of Reasons both clear and weighty are always at hand for to work upon the heart VVhen a Believer would reason his heart to this heavenly work how many Arguments do offer themselves from God from the Redeemer from every one of the Divine Attributes from our former Estate from our present Estate from Promises from Seals from Earnest from the Evil we now suffer from the Good we partake of from Hell from Heaven every thing doth offer it self to promote our joy now Meditation is the Hand to draw forth all these as when you are weighing a thing in the Ballance you lay on a little more and a little more till it weigh down so if your Affections do hang in a dull indifferency why due Meditation will add Reason after Reason till the scales do turn Or as when you are buying any thing of necessity for your use you bid a little more and a little more till at last you come to the sellers price so when Meditation is perswading you to Joy it will first bring one Reason and then another till it have silenced all your distrust and sorrows and your cause to rejoyce lyes plain before you If another mans reasons will
the duty When thou hast perhaps but an hours time for thy Meditation the time will be spent before thy heart will be serious This doing of duty as if we did it not doth undo as many as the flat omission of it To rub out the hour in a bare lazie thinking of Heaven is but to lose that hour and delude thy self Well what is to be done in this case why do here also as you do by a loitering servant keep thine eye always upon thy heart look not so much to the time it spendeth in the duty as to the quantity and quality of the work that is done You can tell by his work whether your servant hath been painful ask what affections have yet been acted how much am I yet got neerer Heaven Verily many a mans heart must be followed as close in this duty of Meditation as a Horse in a Mill or an Ox at the Plow that will go no longer then you are calling or scourging If you cease driving but a moment the heart will stand still and perhaps the best hearts have much of this temper I would not have thee of the judgment of those who think that while they are so backward it is better let it alone and that if meer love will not bring them to the duty but there must be all this violence used to compel it that then the service is worse then the omission These men understand not first That this Argument would certainly cashiere all Spiritual obedience because the hearts of the best being but partly sanctified will still be resisting so far as they are carnal Secondly Nor do they understand well the corruptness of their own natures Thirdly Nor that their sinful undisposedness will not baffle or suspend the commands of God Fourthly Nor one sin excuse another Fifthly Especially they little know the way of God to excite their Affections and that the love which should compel them must it self be first compelled in the same sense as it is said to compel Love I know is a most precious grace and should have the chief interest in all our duties But there be means appointed by God to procure this love and shall I not use those means till I can use them from love that were to neglect the means till I have the end Must I not seek to procure love till I have it already There are means also for the increasing of love where it is begun and means for the exciting of it where it lieth dull And must I not use these means till it is increased and excited Why this reasoning considering-duty that we are in hand with is the most singular means both to stir up thy love and to increase it and therefore stay not from the duty till thou feel thy love constrain thee that were to stay from the fire till thou feel thy self warm but fall upon the work till thou art constrained to love and then love will constrain thee to further duty My jealously least thou shouldst miscarry by these sotish opinions hath made me more tedious in the opening of its error Let nothing therefore hinder thee while thou art upon the work from plying thy heart with constant watchfulness and constraint seeing thou hast such experience of its dulness and backwardness let the spur be never out of its side and when ever it slacks pace be sure to give it a remembrance SECT III. 3. AS thy heart will be loitering so will it be diverting It will be turning aside like a carless servant to talk with every one that passeth by When there should be nothing in thy minde but the work in hand it will be thinking of thy calling or thinking of thy afflictions or of every bird or tree or place thou seest or of any impertinency rather then of Heaven Thy heart in this also will be like the Husbandmans Ox or Horse if he drive not he will not go and if he guide not he will not keep the furrow and it is as good stand still as go out of the way Experience will tell thee thou wilt have much ado with thy heart in this point to keep it one hour to the work without many extravagancies and idle cogitations The cure here is the same with that before to use watchfulness and violence with your own imaginations and as soon as they step out to chide them in Say to thy heart What did I come hither to think of my business in the world to think of places and persons of news or vanity yea or of any thing but Heaven be it never so good what canst thou not watch one hour wouldst thou leave this world and dwell in Heaven with Christ for ever and canst thou not leave it one hour out of thy thoughts nor dwell with Christ in one hours close Meditation Ask thy heart as Absalom did Hushai Is this thy love to thy friend Dost thou love Christ and the place of thy Eternal Blessed abode no more then so When Pharaohs Butler dreamed That he pressed the ripe Grapes into Pharaohs Cup and delivered the Cup into the Kings hand it was a happy dream and signified his speedy access to the Kings presence But the dream of the Baker That the Birds did eat out of the Basket on his head the baked meats prepared for Pharaoh had an ill omen and signified his hanging and their eating of his flesh So when the ripened Grapes of Heavenly Meditation are pressed by thee into the Cup of Affection and this put into the hands of Christ by delightful praises if thou take me for skilful this is the interpretation That thou shalt shortly be taken from this prison where thou liest and be set before Christ in the Court of Heaven and there serve up to him that Cup of praise but much fuller and much sweeter for ever and for ever But if the ravenous fowls of wandring thoughts do devour the Meditations intended for Heaven I will not say flatly it signifieth thy death but this I will say That so far as these intrude they will be the death of that service and if thou ordinarily admit them That they devour the life and the joy of thy thoughts and if thou continue in such a way of duty to the end It signifies the death of thy soul as well as of thy service Drive away these birds of prey then from thy sacrifice and strictly keep thy heart to the work thou art upon SECT IV. 4. LAstly Be sure also to look to thy heart in this That it cut not off the work before the time and run not away through weariness before it have leave Thou shalt finde it will be exceeding prone to this like the Ox that would unyoke or the Horse that would be unburdened and perhaps cast off his burden and run away Thou maist easily perceive this in other duties If in secret thou set thy self to pray is not thy heart urging thee still to cut it short dost thou not
dare to contend in love with thee or set my borrowed languid spark against the Element and Sun of Love Can I love as high as deep as broad as long as Love it self as much as he that made me and that made me love that gave me all that little which I have both the heart the hearth where it is kindled the bellows the fire the fuel and all were his As I cannot match thee in the works of thy Power nor make nor preserve nor guide the worlds so why should I think any moreof matching thee in Love No Lord I yield I am unable I am overcome O blessed conquest Go on victoriously and still prevail and triumph in thy love The Captive of Love shall proclaim thy victory when thou leadest me in triumph from Earth to Heaven from Death to Life from the Tribunal to the Throne my self and all that see it shall acknowledg that thou hast prevailed and all shall say Behold how he loved him Yet let me love thee in subjection to thy Love as thy redeemed Captive though not thy Peer shall I not love at all because I cannot reach thy measure or at least let me heartily wish to love thee O that I were able O that I could feelingly say I love thee even as I feel I love my friend and my self Lord that I could do it but alas I cannot fain I would but alas I cannot Would I not love thee if I were but able Though I cannot say as thy Apostle Thou knowest that I Love thee yet can I say Lord thou knowest that I would love thee but I speak not this to excuse my fault it is a crime that admits of no excuse and it is my own it dwelleth as neer me as my very heart if my heart be my own this sin is my own yea and more my own then my heart is Lord what shall this sinner do the fault is my own and yet I cannot help it I am angry with my heart that it doth not love thee and yet I feel it love thee never the more I frown up on it and yet it cares not I threaten it but it doth not feel I chide it and yet it doth not mend I reason with it and would fain perswade it and yet I do not perceive it stir I rear it up as a carkass upon its legs but it neither goes nor stands I rub and chafe it in the use of thine Ordinances and yet I feel it not warm within me O miserable man that I am unworthy soul is not thine eye now upon the onely lovely object and art thou not beholding the ravishing glory of the Saints and yet dost thou not love and yet dost thou not feel the fire break forth why art thou not a soul a living spirit and is not thy love the choicest piece of thy life Art thou not a rational soul and shouldst not thou love according to Reasons conduct and doth it not tell thee that all is dirt and dung to Christ that earth is a dungeon to the celestial glory Art thou not a spirit thy self and shoulst thou not love spiritually even God who is a Spirit and the Father of Spirits Doth not every creature love their like why my soul art thou like to fleshâ— or gold or stately buildings art thou like to meat and drink or cloathes wilt thou love no higher then thy horse or swine hast thou nothing better to love then they what is the beauty that thou hast so admired canst thou not even wink or think it all into darkness or deformity when the night comes it is nothing to thee while thou hast gazed on it it hath withered away a Botch or Scab the wrinkles of consuming sickness or of age do make it as loathsom as it was before delightful suppose but that thou sawest that beautiful carcass lying on the Bier or rotting in the grave the skull dig'd up and the bones scattered where is now thy lovely object couldst thou sweetly embrace it when the soul is gone or take any pleasure in it when there is nothing left thats like thy self Ah why then dost thou love a skinful of dirt and canst love no more the heavenly Glory What thinkest thou shalt thou love when thou comest there when thou seest when thou dost enjoy when the Lord shall take thy carcass from the grave and make thee shine as the Sun in glory and when thou shalt everlastingly dwell in the blessed presence shalt thou then love or shalt thou not is not the place a meeting of lovers is not the life a state of love is it not the great marriage day of the Lamb when he will embrace and entertain his Spouse with love is not the imployment there the work of love where the souls with Christ do take their fill O then my soul begin it here be sick of love now that thou maist be well with love there keep thy self now in the love of God Jude 21. and let neither life nor death nor any thing separate thee from it and thou shalt be kept in the fulness of love for ever and nothing shalt imbitter or abate thy pleasure for the Lord hath prepared a city of love a place for the communicating of love to his chosen and those that love his Name shall dwell there Psal. 69.36 Awake then O my drowsie soul who but an Owl or Mole would love this worlds uncomfortable darkness when they are called forth to live in light to sleep under the light of Grace is unreasonable much more in the approach of the light of Glory The night of thy ignorance and misery is past the day of glorious Light is at hand this is the day-break betwixt them both Though thou see not yet the Sun it self appear methinks the twilight of a promise should revive thee Come forth then O my dull congealed spirits and leave these earthly Cels of dumpish sadness and hear thy Lord that bids thee Rejoyce and again Rejoyce thou hast lain here long enough in thy prison of flesh where Satan hath been thy Jaylor and the things of this world have been the Stocks for the feet of thy Affections where cares have been thy Trons and fears thy Scourge and the bread and water of Affliction thy food where sorrows have been thy lodging and thy sins and foes have made the bed and a carnal hard unbelieving heart have been the iron gates bars that have kept thee in that thou couldst scarce have leave to look through the Lattices and see one glimpse of the immortal light The Angel of the Covenant now calls thee and strikes thee and bids thee Arise and follow him up O my soul and cheerfully obey and thy bolts and bars shall all fly open do thou obey and all will obey follow the Lamb which way ever he leads thee Art thou afraid because thou knowst not whither Can the place be worse then where thou art Shouldst thou fear to follow
Truth and saved you from the spirit of Giddiness Levity and Apostacy of this age who hath preserved you from those scandals whereby others have so hainously wounded their profession and hath given you to see the mischief of Separation and Divisions and made you eminent for Vnity and Peace when almost all the Land is in a flame of contention and so many that we thought godly are busily demolishing the Church and striving in a zealous ignorance against the Lord. Beloved though few of you are rich or great in the world yet for this riches of mercy towards you I must say Ye are my Glory my Crown and my Joy And for all these rare favors to my self and you as I have oft promised to publish the praises of our Lord so do I here set up this stone of remembrance and write upon it Glory to God in the highest Hitherto hath the Lord helped us My flesh and my heart failed but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever But have all these Deliverances brought us to our Rest No We are as far yet from it as we are from Heaven You are yet under oppression and troubles and I am yet under consuming sickness And feeling that I am like to be among you but a little while and that my pained body is hastening to the dust I shall here leave you my best advice for your immortal souls and bequeath you this counsel as the legacy of a dying man that you may here read it and practise it when I am taken from you And I beseech you receive it as from one that you know doth unfainedly love you and that regardeth no honors or happiness in this world in comparison of the welfare and salvation of your souls yea receive it from me as if I offered it you upon my knees beseeching you for your souls sake that you would not reject it and beseeching the Lord to bless it to you yea as one that hath received authority from Christ to command you I charge you in his name as ever you will answer it when we shall meet at judgment and as you would not have me there be a witness against you nor all my labors be charged against you to your condemnation and the Lord Jesus your Judg to sentence you as rebellious that you faithfully and constantly practise these ten directions 1. Labor to be men of knowledg and sound understandings A sound judgment is a most precious mercy and much conduceth to the soundness of heart and life A weak judgment is easily corrupted and if it be once corrupt the will and conversation will quickly follow Your understandings are the in-let or entrance to the whole soul and if you be weak there your souls are like a Garison that hath open or il-guarded Gates and if the enemy be once let in there the whole City will quickly be his own Ignorance is virtually every error therefore let the Bible be much in your hands and hearts Remember what I taught you on Deut. 6.6 7. Read much the writings of our old solid Divines such as Perkins Bolton Dod Sibbs especially Doctor Preston You may read an able Divine when you cannot hear one especially be sure you learn well the Principles of Religion Begin with the Assemblies lesser Catechism and then learn the greater and next Master Balls with the Exposition and then Doctor Ames his Marrow of Divinity now Englished or Ushers If you see men fall on Controversies before they understand these never wonder if they are drowned in errors I know your povertie and labors will not give you leave to read so much as others may do but yet a willing minde will finde some time if it be when they should sleep and especially it will spend the Lords day wholly in these things O be not ignorant of God in the midst of such light as if the matters of your salvation were less worth your study then your trading in the world 2. Do the utmost you can to get a faithful Minister when I am taken from you and be sure you acknowledg him your Teacher Overseer and Ruler 1 Thess. 5.12 13. Acts 20.28 Heb. 13.7 17. and learn of him obey him and submit to his doctrine except he teach you any singular points and then take the advice of other Ministers in trying it Expect not that he should humor you and please your fancies and say and do as you would have him that is meer Independencie for the people to rule themselves and their Rulers If he be unable to Teach and Guide you do not chuse him at first if he be able be ruled by him even in things that to you are doubtful except it be clear that â—e would turn you from the truth if you know more then he become Preachers your selves if you do not then quarrel not when you should learn especially submit to his private over-sight as well as publike Teaching It is but the least part of a Ministers work which is done in the Pulpit Paul taught them also from house to house day and night with tears Acts 20.20 31. To go daily from one house to another and see how you live and examine how you profit and direct you in the duties of your families and in your preparation for death is the great work Had not weakness confined me and publike labors forbidden me I should judg my self hainously guiltie in neglecting this In the Primitive times every Church of so many souls as this Parish had many Ministers whereof the ablest speakers did preach most impublike and the rest did the more of the less publike work which some mistake for meer Ruling Elders But now Sacriledg and Covetousness will scarce leave maintenance for one in a Church which is it that hath brought us to a loss in the nature of Government 3. Let all your Knowledg turn into Affection and Practice keep open the passage between your heads and your hearts that every Truth may go to the quick Spare not for any pains in working out your salvation Take heed of loitering when your souls lie at the stake Favor not your selves in any slothful distemper Laziness is the damnation of most that perish among us God forbid you should be of the mad opinion of the world That like not serving God so much nor making so much ado to be saved All these men will shortly be of another minde Live now as you would wish you had done at death and judgment Let no scorns dishearten you nor differences of opinion be an offence to you God and Scripture and Heaven and the Way thither are still the same It will do you no good to be of the right Religion if you be not zealous in the exercise of the Duties of that Religion Read oft the fifth and sixt Chapters of the third part of this Book 4. Be sure you make conscience of the great Duties that you are to perform in your families Teach your
necessary That thy Lord had sweeter ends and meant thee better then thou wouldst believe And that thy Redeemer was saving thee as well when he crossed thy desires as when he granted them and as well when he broke thy Heart as when he bound it up Oh no thanks to thee unworthy Self but shame for this received Crown But to Jehovah and the Lamb be Glory for ever Thus as the memory of the wicked will eternally promote their torment to look back on the pleasures enjoyed the sin committed the Grace refused Christ neglected and time lost So will the Memory of the Saints for ever promote their Joys And as it 's said to the wicked Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst Thy good things So will it be said to the Christian Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thine evils but now thou art comforted as they are tormented And as here the Remembrance of former good is the occasion of encreasing our grief I remembred God and was troubled I called to Remembrance my Songs in the night Psal. 77.3 6. So there the Remembrance of our former sorrows addeth life to our Joys SECT VIII BUt Oh the full the near the sweet enjoyment is that of the Affections Love and Joy It 's near for Love is of the Essence of the Soul and Love is the Essence of God For God is Love 1 John 4.8 16. How near therefore is this Blessed Closure The Spirits phrase is God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Vers. 16. The acting of this affection wheresoever carryeth much delight along with it Especially when the object appears deserving and the Affection is strong But O what will it be when perfected Affections shall have the strongest perfect incessant actings upon the most perfect object the ever Blessed God Now the poor soul complains Oh that I could love Christ more but I cannot alas I cannot Yea but then thou canst not chuse but love him I had almost said forbear if thou canst Now thou knowest little of his Amiableness and therefore lovest little Then thine eye will affect thy heart and the continual viewing of that perfect beauty will keep thee in continual ravishments of Love Now thy Salvation is not perfected nor all the mercies purchased yet given in But when the top stone is set on thou shalt with shouting cry Grace Grace Now thy Sanctification is imperfect and thy pardon and Justification not so compleat as then it shall be Now thou knowest not what thou enjoyest and therefore lovest the less But when thou knowest much is forgiven and much bestowed thou wilt Love more Doth David after an imperfect deliverance sing forth his Love Psal. 116.1 I love the Lord because he hath heard my voyce and supplications What think you will he do eternally And how will he love the Lord who hath lifted him up to that Glory Doth he cry out O how I love thy Law My delight is in the Saints on earth and the excellent Psal. 16.3 How will he say then O how I love the Lord and the King of Saints in whom is all my delight Christians doth it not now stir up your love to remember all the experiences of his Love To look back upon a life oâ— mercies Doth not kindness melt you and the Sun-shine of Divine Goodness warm your frozen hearts What will it do then when you shall live in Love and have All in him who is All O the high delights of Love of this Love The content that the heart findeth in it The satisfaction it brings along with it Surely Love is both work and wages And if this were all what a high favour that God will give us leave to love him That he will vouchsafe to be embraced by such Arms that have embraced Lust and Sin before him But this is not all He returneth Love for Love nay a thousand times more As perfect as we shall be we cannot reach his measure of Love Christian thou wilt be then brim full of Love yet love as much as thou canst thou shalt be ten thousand times more beloved Dost thou think thou canst overlove him What! love more then Love it self Were the Arms of the Son of God open upon the Cross and an open passage made to his Heart by the Spear and will not Arms and Heart be open to thee in Glory Did he begin to love before thou lovedst and will he not continue now Did he love thee an enemy thee a sinner thee who even loathedst thy self and own thee when thou didst disclaim thy self And will he not now unmeasurably love thee a Son thee a perfect Saint thee who returnest some love for Love Thou wast wont injuriously to Question his Love Doubt of it now if thou canst As the pains of Hell will convince the rebellious sinner of Gods wrath who would never before believe it So the Joys of Heaven will convince thee throughly of that Love which thou wouldst so hardly be perswaded of He that in love wept over the old Hierusalem neer her Ruines with what love will he rejoyce over the new Hierusalem in her Glory O methinks I see him groaning and weeping over dead Lazarus till he force the Jews that stood by to say Behold how he loved him Will he not then much more by rejoycing over us and blessing us make all even the damned if they see it to say Behold how he loveth them Is his Spouse while black yet comely Is she his Love his Dove his undefiled Doth she ravish his heart with one of her eyes Is her Love better then wine O believing soul study a little and tell me What is the Harvest which these first fruits foretel and the Love which these are but the earnest of Here O here is the Heaven of Heaven This is the Saints fruition of God! In these sweet mutual constant actings and embracements of Love doth it consist To Love and be beloved These are the Everlasting Arms that are underneath Deut. 33.27 His left hand is under their heads and with his right hand doth he embrace them Cant. 2.6 Reader stop here and think a while what a state this is Is it a small thing in thine eyes to be beloved of God to be the Son the Spouse the Love the delight of the King of Glory Christian believe this and think on it Thou shalt be eternally embraced in the Arms of that Love which was from everlasting and will extend to everlasting Of that Love which brought the Son of Gods Love from Heaven to Earth from Earth to the Cross from the Cross to the Grave from the Grave to Glory That Love which was weary hungry tempted scorned scourged buffetted spit upon crucified pierced which did fast pray teach heal weep sweat bleed dye That Love will eternally embrace thee When perfect created Love and most perfect uncreated love meet together O the blessed meeting It will
they disobeyed whose Ministers they abused whose Servants they hated now sitting to judg them When their own Consciences shall cry out against them and call to their Remembrance all their misdoings Remember at such a time such or such a sin at such a time Christ sued hard for thy Conversion the Minister pressed it home to thy heart thou wast touched to the quick with the Word thou didst purpose and promise returning and yet thou casts off all When an hundred Sermons Sabbaths Mercies shall each step up and say I am witness against the Prisoner Lord I was abused and I was neglected Oh which way will the wretched sinner look Oh who can conceive the terrible thoughts of his heart Now the world cannot help him his old companions cannot help him the Saints neither can nor will onely the Lord Jesus can but Oh there 's the Soul-killing misery he will not Nay without violating the truth of his Word he cannot though otherwise in regard of his Absolute power he might The time was Sinner when Christ would and you would not and now Oh how fain would you and he will not Then he followed thee in vain with entreaties Oh poor Sinner what dost thou Wilt thou sell thy Soul and Saviour for a lust Look to me and be saved Return why wilt thou dye But thy Ear and heart was shut up against all Why now thou shalt cry Lord Lord open to us and he shall say Depart I know you not ye workers of iniquity Now Mercy Mercy Lord Oh but it was Mercy you so long set light by and now your day of Mercy is over What then remains but to cry out to the mountains fall upon us and to the hills O cover us from the presence of him that sits upon the Throne But all in vain For thou hast the Lord of Mountains and hils for thine enemy whose voyce they will obey and not thine Sinner make not light of this for as true as thou livest except a through change and coming in to Christ prevent it which God grant thou shalt shortly to thy unconceiveable horror see that day Oh Wretch Will thy cups then be wine or gall Will they be sweet or bitter Will it comfort thee to think of all thy merry days and how pleasantly thy time slipt away Will it do thee good to think how rich thou wast and how honorable thou wast or will it not rather wound thy very Soul to remember thy folly and make thee with anguish of heart and rage against thy self to cry out Oh Wretch where was thine understanding Didst thou make so light of that sin that now makes thee tremble How couldst thou hear so lightly of the Redeeming Blood of the Son of God How couldst thou quench so many motions of his Spirit and stifle so many quickening thoughts as were cast into thy Soul What took up all that Life's time which thou hadst given thee to make sure work against this day What took up all thy heart thy love and delight which should have been layd out on the Lord Jesus Hadst thou room in thy heart for the worâ—d thy friend thy flesh thy lusts and none for Christ Oh Wretch whom hadst thou to love but him What hadst thou to do but to seek to him and cleave to him and enjoy him Oh wast thou not told of this dreadful day a thousand times till the Commonness of that doctrine made thee weary How couldst thou slight such warnings and rage against the Minister and say he preacheth Damnation Had it not been better to have heard and prevented it then now to endure it Oh now for one offer of Christ for one Sermon for one day of Grace more But too late alass too late Poor careless Sinner I did not think here to have said so much to thee for my business is to refresh the Saints But if these lines do fall into thy hands and thou vouchsafe the reading of them I here charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judg the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom that thou make hast and get alone and set thy self sadly to ponder on these things Ask thy heart Is this true or is it not Is there such a day and must I see it Oh what do I then Why trifle I Is it not time full time that I had made sure of Christ and comfort long ago should I sit still another day who have lost so many Had I not at that day rather be found one of the Holy faithful watchful Christians then a worldling a good-fellow or a man of honor Why should I not then choose it now Will it be best then and is it not best now Oh think of these things A few sad hours spent in serious fore-thoughts is a cheap prevention It 's worth this or It 's worth nothing Friend I profess to thee from the Word of the Lord That of all thy sweet sins there will then be nothing left but the sting in thy Conscience which will never out through all eternity except the blood of Christ beleeved in and valued above all the world do now in this day of grace get it out Thy sin is like a Beautiful Harlot while she is young and fresh she hath many followers but when old and withered every one would shut their hands of her she is onely their shame none would know her So will it be with thee now thou wilt venture on it what ever it cost thee but then when mens rebellious ways are charged on their Souls to death O that thou couldst rid thy hands of it O that thou couldst say Lord it was not I Then Lord when saw we thee hungry naked imprisoned How fain would they put it off Then sin will be sin indeed and Grace will be Grace indeed Then say the foolish Virgins Give us of your Oyl for our Lamps are ouâ— Oh for some of your faith holiness which we were wont to mock at But what 's the answer Go buy for your selves we have little enough would we had rather much more Then they will be glad of any thing like Grace and if they can but produce any external familiarity with Christ or Common gifts how glad are they Lord we have eat and drunk in thy presence prophecyed in thy name cast out devils done many wonderful works we have been baptized heard Sermons professed Christianity But alas this will not serve the turn He will profess to them I never knew you Depart from me ye workers of iniquity Oh dead hearted sinner is all this nothing to thee As sure as Christ is true this is true Take it in his own words Math. 25.31 When the Son of man shall come in his Glory and before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats and he shall set the sheep on the right hand and
rule No Government but that of Christ All things are established Jure Divino No bitter Invectives nor voluminous reproaches The Language of Martin is there a stranger and the sound of his eccho is not heard No Recording our Brethrens infirmities nor raking into the sores which Christ died to heal How many Sermons zealously Preached how many Books studiously compiled will then by the Authors be all disclaimed How many back-biting slanderous speeches How many secret dividing contrivances must then be laid on the score of Christ against whom and his Saints they were committed The zealous Authors dare not own them They would then with the Athenians burn their books Acts 19.19 and rather lose their labor then stand to it There 's no ploting to strengthen our party nor deep designing against our Brethren And is it not shame and pity that our course is now so contrary Surely if there be sorrow or shame in Heaven we shall then be both sorry and ashamed to look one another there in the face and to remember all this carriage on earth Even as the Brethren of Joseph were to behold him when they remembred their former unkinde usage Is it not enough that all the world is against us but we must also be against one another Did I ever think to have heard Christians so to reproach and scorn Christians and men professing the fear of God to make so little conscience of censuring vilifying slandering and disgracing one another Could I have believed him that would have told me five years ago that when the scorners of Godliness were subdued and the bitter prosecutors of the Church overthrown that such should succeed them who suffered with us who were our intimate friends with whom we took sweet counsel and went up together to the house of God Did I think it had been in the hearts of men professing such zeal to Religion and the ways of Christ to draw their swords against each other and to seek each others blood so fiercely Alas if the Judgment be once perverted and error have possessed the supream faculty whither will men go and what they will do Nay what will they not do O what a potent instrument for Satan is a misguided Conscience It will make a man kill his dearest friend yea father or mother yea the holiest Saint and think he doth God service by it And to facilitate the work it will first blot out the reputation of their holiness and make them take a Saint for a Devil that so they may vilifie or destroy him without remorse O what hellish things are Ignorance and Pride that can bring mens souls to such a case as this Paul knew what he said when he commanded that a Novice should not be a Teacher lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil 1 Tim 3.6 He discerned that such young Christians that have got but a little smattering knowledg in Religion do lie in greatest danger of this Pride and Condemnation Who but a Paul could have foreseen that among the very Teachers and Governors of so choice a Church as Ephesus that came to see and hear him that pray and weep with him there were some that afterwards should be notorious Sect-masters That of their own selves men should arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Acts 20.30 VVho then can expect better from any Society now how knowing and holy soever To day they may be Orthodox unanimous and joyned in Love and perhaps within a few weeks be divided and at bitter enmity through their doting about Questions that tend not to edifie VVho that had seen how loving the godly in England did live together when they were hated and scorned of all would have believed that ever they would have been so bitter against one another That when those who derided us for Preaching for Hearing for constant Praying in our Families for singing Psalms for sanctifying the Lords day for repeating Sermons for taking Notes for desiring Discipline c. had their mouthes stopped we should fall upon one another for the very same duties and that Professors of Religion should oppose and deride almost all that worship of God out of Conscience which others did before them through prophaneness Did I not think that of all other the scorning at the worshippers of Christ had been a sure sign of a wicked wretch But I see now we must distinguish between scorners and scorners or else I fear we shall exclude almost all I read indeed in Pagan VVriters That these Christians were as cruel as Bears and Tygers against one another Ammianus Marcellinus gives it as the Reason of Julians policy in proclaiming Liberty for every party to Profess and Preach their own Opinions because he knew the cruel Christians would then most fiercely fall upon one another and so by Liberty of Conscience and by keeping their Children from the Schools of Learning he thought to have rooted out Christianity from the Earth But I had hoped this accusation had come from the malice of the Pagan VVriter Little did I think to have seen it so far verified Lord what Divels are we unsanctified when there is yet such a Nature remaining in the sanctified Such a Nature hath God in these days suffered to discover it self in the very Godly that if he did not graciously and powerfully restrain they would shed the blood of one another and no thanks to us if it be not done But I hope his design is but to humble and shame us by the discovery and then to prevent the breaking forth Object But is it possible such should be truly Godly Then what sin will denominate a man ungodly Answ. Or else I must believe the doctrine of the Saints Apostasie or believe there are scarce any godly in the world O what a wound of dishonor hath this given not onely to the stricter profession of holines but even to the very Christian name Were there a possibility of hiding it I durst not thus mention it O Christian If thou who readest this be guilty I charge thee before the living God That thou sadly consider how far is this unlike thy Copy Suppose thou hadst seen the Lord Jesus girded to the service stooping to the Earth washing his Disciples dirty feet and wiping them and saying to them This I have done to give you an example That if I your Lord and Master have washed your feet you also ought to wash one anothers Would not this make thee ashamed and tremble Shall the Lord wipe the feet and the fellow-servant be ready to cut the throat would not thy proud heart scorn to stoop to thy Masters work Look to thy self it is not the name of a professor nor the zeal for thy opinions that will prove thee a Christian or secure thee from the heat of the consuming fire If thou love not thine enemy much more thy Christian friend thou canst
And seldom doth a Minister live to see the ripeness of his people but one soweth and planteth another watereth and a third reapeth and receiveth the increase Yet were all this Duty delightful had we but a due proportion of strength But to informe the old ignorant sinner to convince the stubborne and worldly wise to perswade a wilful resolved wretch to prick a stony heart to the quick to make a rock to weep and tremble to set forth Christ according to our necessity and his Excellency to comfort the soul whom God dejecteth to clear up dark and difficult Truths to oppose with convincing Arguments all gainsayers to credit the Gospel with exemplary Conversations when multitudes do but watch for our halting O who is sufficient for these things So that every Relation State Age hath variety of Duty Every conscientious Christian cryes out O the burden or O my weakness that makes it so burdensom But our remaining Rest will ease us of the burden Then will that be sound Doctrine which now is false that the Law hath no more to do with us that it becomes not a Christian to beg for pardon seeing all his sins are perfectly pardoned already that we need not fast nor mourn nor weep nor repent and that a sorrowful Countenance beseems not a Christian Then will all these become Truths SECT XVIII 10. ANd lastly we shall Rest from all those sad affections which necessarily accompany our absence from God The trouble that is mixt in our desires and hopes our longings and waitings shall then cease We shall no more look into our Cabinet and miss our Treasure look into our hearts and miss our Christ nor no more seek him from Ordinance to Ordinance and enquire for our God of those we meet our heart will not lie in our knee nor our souls be breathed out in our requests but all concluded in a most full and blessed Fruition But because this with the former are touched before I will say no more of them now So you have seen what we shall Rest from SECT XIX NInthly The ninth and last Jewel in our Crown and blessed Attribute of this Rest is That it is an Eternal Rest. This is the Crown of our Crown without which all were comparatively little or nothing The very thought of once leaving it would else imbitter all our joys and the more would it peirce us because of the singular excellencies which we must forsake It would be a Hell in Heaven to think of once loosing Heaven As it would be a kinde of Heaven to the damned had they but hopes of once escaping Mortality is the disgrace of all sublunary delights It makes our present life of little value were it not for the reference it hath to God and Eternity to think that we must shortly lay it down How can we take delight in any thing when we remember how short that delight would be That the sweetness of our Cups and Morsels is dead as soon as they are once but paâ—â— our taste Indeed if man were as the beast that knows not his suffering or death till he feel it and little thinks when the knife is whetting that it is making ready to cut his throat then might we be merry till death forbids us and enjoy our delights till they shall forsake us But alas we know both good and evil and evil foreknown is in part endured And thus our knowledg encreaseth our sorrows Eccles. 1.18 How can it chuse but spoil our pleasure while we see it dying in our hands how can I be as merry as the jovial World had I not mine eye fixed upon eternity when methinks I foresee my dying hour my friends waiting for my last gasp and closing mine eyes while tears forbid to close their own Methinks I hear them say He is dead Methinks I see my Coffin made my Grave in digging and my Friends there leaving me in the dust And where now is that we took delight in O but methinks I see at the same view that Grave opening and my dead revived Body rising Methinks I hear that blessed voyce Arise and live and die no more Surely were it not for eternity I should think man a silly piece and all his life and honor but contemptible I should call him with David A vain shadow and with the Prophet Nothing and less then nothing and altogether lighter then vanity it self It utterly disgraceth the greatest glory in mine eyes if you can but truly call it Mortal I can value nothing that shall have an end except as it leads to that which hath no end or as it comes from that love which neither hath beginning nor end I speak this of my deliberate thoughts And if some ignorant or forgetful soul have no such sad thoughts to disturb his pleasure I confess he may be merrier for the present But where is his mirth when he lieth dying Alas it s a poor happiness that consists onely in the Ignorance or Forgetfulness of approaching misery But O blessed eternity where our lives are perplexed with no such thoughts nor our joys interrupted with any such fears where we shall be pillars in Gods Temple and go out no more O what do I say when I talk of Eternity Can my shallow thoughts at all conceive what that most high expression doth contain To be eternally blessed and so blessed Why surely this if any thing is the resemblance of God Eternity is a piece of Infiniteness Then O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Days and Nights and Yeers Time and End and Death are words which there have no signification nor are used except perhaps to extol eternity as the mention of Hell to extol Heaven No more use of our Calendars or Chronology All the yeers of our Lord and the yeers of our lives are lost and swallowed up in this Eternity While we were servants we held by lease and that but for the term of a transitory life but the Son abideth in the House for ever Our first and earthly Paradise in Eden had a way out but none that ever we could finde in again But this eternal paradise hath a way in a milky way to us but a bloody way to Christ but no way out again For they that would pass from hence to you saith Abraham cannot A strange phrase would any pass from such a place if they might Could they endure to be absent from God again one hour No but upon supposal that they would yet they could not O then my soul let go thy dreams of present pleasures And loose thy hold of Earth and Flesh. Fear not to enter that estate where thou shalt ever after cease thy Fears Sit down and sadly once a day bethink thy self of this Eternity Among all thine Arithmetical numbers study the value of this infinite Cypher which though it stand for nothing in the vulgar account doth yet contain all our Millions
is out of question seeing Faith and Repentance is every where required of them to make them capable of Baptism and to make it the end of the Ordinance to effect that in Infants which is a prerequisite condition in all others is somewhat a strange fiction and hath nothing that I know considerable to underprop it Yet will it not follow that because Baptism cannot be an instrument of Regenerating Infants that therefore they have no right to it no more then because Circumcision could not confer with Grace therefore they should omit it They are as capable of the ends of Baptism as they were then of the ends of Circumcision Christ himself was not capable of all the ends of Baptism and yet being capable of some for those was he baptized So may Infants be as capable of some though not of all This Regeneration I call Through to distinguish it from those sleight tinctures and superficial changes which other men may partake of and yet Imperfect to distinguish our present from our future condition in Glory and that the Christian may know that it is sincerity not perfection which he must enquire after in his soul. SECT III. THus far the Soul is passive Let us next see by what acts this new Life doth discover it self and this Divine Spark doth break forth and how the soul touched with this Loadstone of the Spirit doth presently move toward God The first work I call Conviction which indeed comprehends several Acts. 1. Knowledg 2. Assent It comprehends the knowledg of what the Scripture speaks against sin and sinners and that this Scripture which so speaks is the Word of God himself Whosoever knows not both these is not yet thus convinced though it is a very great Question Whether this last be an act of Knowledg or of Faith I think of both It comprehends a sincere Assent to the verity of this Scripture as also some knowledg of our selves and our own guilt and an acknowledgment of the verity of those Consequences which from the premises of sin in us and threats in Scripture do conclude us miserable It hath been a great Question and disputed in whole Volumns which Grace is the first in the Soul where Faith and Repentance are usually the onely competitors I have shewed you before that in regard of the principle the power or habit whichsoever it be that is infused they are all at once being indeed all one and onely called several Graces from the diversity of their subject as residing in the several faculties of the soul the life and rectitude of which several faculties and affections are in the same sense several Graces as the Germane French British Seas are several Seas And for the Acts it is most apparent that neither Repentance nor Faith in the ordinary strict sense is first but Knowledg There is no act of the Rational Soul about any object preceding Knowledg Their evasion is too gross who tell us That Knowledg is no Grace or but a common act When a dead Soul is by the Spirit enlivened its first act is to know and why should it not exert a sincere act of Knowing as well as Believing and the sincerity of Knowledg be requisite as well as of Faith especially when Faith in the Gospel-sense is sometime taken largely containing many acts whereof Knowledg is one in which large sense indeed Faith is the first Grace This Conviction implyeth also the subduing and silencing in some measure of all their carnal Reasonings which were wont to prevail against the Truth and a discovery of the fallacies of all their former Argumentations 2. As there must be Conviction so also Sensibility God works on the Heart as well as the Head both were corrupted and out of order The principle of new Life doth quicken both All true Spiritual Knowledg doth pass into Affections That Religion which is meerly traditional doth indeed swim loose in the Brain and the Devotion which is kindled but by Men and Means is hot in the mouth and cold in the stomack The Work that had no higher rise then Education Example Custom Reading or Hearing doth never kindly pass down to the Affections The Understanding which did receive but meer notions cannot deliver them to the Affections as Realities The bare help of Doctrine upon an unrenewed Soul produceth in the Understanding but a superficial apprehension and half Assent and therefore can produce in the Heart but small sensibility As Hypocrites may know many things yea as many as the best Christian but nothing with the clear apprehensions of an experienced man so may they with as many things be slightly affected but they give deep rooting to none To read and hear of the worth of Meat and Drink may raise some esteem of them but not such as the hungry and thirsty feel for by feeling they know the worth thereof To view in the Map of the Gospel the precious things of Christ and his Kingdom may slightly affect But to thirst for and drink of the living waters and to travel to live in to be heir of that Kingdom must needs work another kinde of Sensibility It is Christs own differencing Mark and I had rather have one from him then from any that the good ground gives the good Seed deep rooting but some others entertain it but into the surface of the soyl and cannot afford it depth of Earth The great things of Sin of Grace and Christ and Eternity which are of weight one would think to move a Rock yet shake not the heart of the carnal Professor nor pierce his soul unto the quick Though he should have them all ready in his Brain and be a constant Preacher of them to others yet do they little affect himself When he is pressing them upon the hearts of others most earnestly and crying out on the senslesness of his dull hearers you would little think how insensible is his own soul and the great difference between his tongue and his heart His study and invention procureth him zealous and moving expressions but they cannot procure him answerable affections It is true some soft and passionate Natures may have tears at command when one that is truly gracious hath none yet is this Christian with dry eyes more solidly apprehensive and deeply affected then the other is in the midst of his tears and the weeping Hypocrite will be drawn to his sin again with a trifle which the groaning Christian would not be hired to commit with Crowns and Kingdoms The things that the Soul is thus convinced and sensible of are especially these in the Description mentioned 1. The evil of sin The sinner is made to know and feel that the sin which was his delight his sport the support of his credit and estate is indeed a more loathsom thing then Toads or Serpents and a greater evil then Plague or Famine or any other calamity It being a breach of the righteous
Law of the most high God dishonorable to him and destructive to the sinner Now the sinner reads and hears no more the reproofs of sin as words of course as if the Minister wanted something to say to fill up his Sermon but when you mention his sin you stir in his wounds he feels you speak at his very heart and yet is contented you should shew him the worst and set it home though he bear the smart He was wont to marvel what made men keep such a stir against sin what harm it was for a man to take a little forbidden pleasure he saw no such hainousness in it that Christ must needs die for it and most of the world be eternally tormented in Hell He thought this was somewhat hard measure and greater punishment then could possibly be deserved by a little fleshly liberty or worldly delight neglect of Christ his Word or Worship yea by a wanton thought a vain word a dull duty or cold affection But now the case is altered God hath opened his eyes to see that unexpressable vileness in sin which satisfies him of the reason of all this 2. The Soul in this great work is convinced and sensible as of the evil of sin so of its own misery by reason of sin They who before read the threats of Gods Law as men do the old stories of forraign wars or as they behold the wounds and blood in a picture or piece of Arras which never makes them smart or fear Why now they finde it s their own story and they perceive they read their own doom as if they found their names written in the curse or heard the Law say as Nathan Thou are the man The wrath of God seemed to him before but as a storm to a man in the dry house or as the pains of the sick to the healthful stander-by or as the Torments of Hell to a childe that sees the story of Dives and Lazarus upon the wall But now he findes the disease is his own and feels the pain in his own bowels and the smart of the wounds in his own soul. In a word he findes himself a condemned man and that he is dead and damned in point of Law and that nothing was wanting but meer execution to make him most absolutely and irrecoverably miserable Whether you will call this a work of the Law or Gospel as in several senses it is of both the Law expressing and the Gospel intimating and implying our former condemnation Sure I am it is a work of the Spirit wrought in some measure in all the regenerate And though some do judg it an unnecessary bondage yet it is beyond my conceiving how he should come to Christ for pardon that first found not himself guilty and condemned or for life that never found himself dead The whole need not the Physitian but they that are sick Yet I deny not but the discovery of the Remedy as soon as the misery must needs prevent a great part of the trouble and make the distinct effects on the soul to be with much more difficulty discerned Nay the actings of the soul are so quick and oft so confused that the distinct order of these workings may not be apprehended or remembred at all And perhaps the joyful apprehensions of mercy may make the sense of misery the sooner forgotten 3. So doth the spirit also convince the soul of the creatures vanity and insufficiency Every man naturally is a flat Idolater our hearts turned from God in our first fall and ever since the Creature hath been our God This is the grand sin of Nature when we set up to our selves a wrong end we must needs erre in all the means The Creature is to every unregenerate man his God and his Christ. He ascribeth to it the Divine prerogatives and alloweth it the highest room in his soul Or if ever he come to be convinced of misery he flyeth to it as his Saviour and supply Indeed God and his Christ have usually the name and shall be still called both Lord and Saviour But the reall expectation is from the Creature and the work of God is laid upon it how well it will perform that work the sinner must know hereafter It is His Pleasure his profit and his Honour that is the natural mans Trinity and his Carnal self that is these in unity Indeed it is that Flesh that is the Principal Idol the other three are deified in their relation to our selves It was our first sin to aspire to be as Gods and it s the greatest sin that runs in our blood and is propagated in our nature from Generation to Generation When God should guide us we guide our selves when he should be our Soveraign we rule our selves The Laws which he gives us we would correct and finde fault with and if we had the making of them we would have made them otherwise When he should take care of us and must or we perish we will care for our selves when we should depend on him in daily receivings we had rather keep our stock our selves and have our portion in our own hands when we should stand to his disposal we would be at our own and when we should submit to his providence we usually quarrel at it as if we knew better what is good or fit for us then he or how to dispose of all things more wisely If we had the disposal of the events of Wars and the ordering of the affairs of Churches and States or the choice of our own outward condition it would be far otherwise then now it is and we think we could make a better disposal order and choice then God hath made This is the Language of a carnal heart though it do not always speak it out When we should study God we study our selves when we should minde God we minde our selves when we should love God we love our carnal selves when we should trust God we trust our selves when we should honor God we honor our selves and when we should ascribe to God and admire him we ascribe to and admire our selves And instead of God we would have all mens eyes and dependance on us and all mens thanks returned to us and would gladly be the onely men on Earth extolled and admired by all And thus we are naturally our own Idols But down falls this Dagon when God doth once renew the soul It is the great business of that great work to bring the heart back to God himself He convinceth the sinner 1. That the Creature or himself can neither be his God to make him happy 2. Nor yet his Christ to recover him from his misery and restore him to God who is his happiness This God doth not onely by Preaching but by Providence also Because words seem but winde and will hardly take off the raging senses therefore doth God make his Rod to speak and continue speaking till the
the sinner now enter into a cordial Covenant with Christ. As the preceptive part is called the Covenant â—o he might be under the Covenant before as also under the offers of a Covenant on Gods part But he was never strictly nor comfortably in Covenant with Christ till now He is sure by the free offers that Christ doth consent and now doth he cordially consent himself and so the Agreement is fully made and it was never a match indeed till now 6. With this Covenant concurs a mutual delivery Christ delivereth himself in all comfortable Relations to the sinner and the sinner delivereth up himself to be saved and ruled by Christ. This which I call the delivering of Christ is His act in and by the Gospel without any change in himself The change is onely in the sinner to whom the conditional promises become equivalent to Absolute when they perform the conditions Now doth the soul resolvedly conclude I have been blindly led by flesh and lust and the world and devil too long already almost to my utter destruction I will now be wholly at the dispose of my Lord who hath bought me with his blood and will bring me to his glory 7. And lastly I adde That the believer doth herein persevere to the end Though he may commit sins yet he never disclaimeth his Lord renounceth his Allegiance nor recalleth nor repenteth of his Covenant nor can he properly be said to break that Covenant while that Faith continues which is the condition of it Indeed those that have verbally Covenanted and not cordially may yet tread under foot the blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing wherewith they were sanctified by separation from those without the Church But the elect cannot be so deceived Though this perseverance be certain to true believers yet is it made a condition of their Salvation yea of their continued life and fruitfulness and of the continuance of their Justification though not of their first Justification it self But eternally blessed be that hand of Love which hath drawn the free promise and subscribed and sealed to that which ascertains us both of the Grace which is the condition and the Kingdom on that condition offered SECT VI. ANd thus you have a naked enumeration of the Essentials of this People of God Not a full pourtraiture of them in all their excellencies nor all the notes whereby they may be discerned which were both beyond my present purpose And though it will be part of the following Application to put you upon tryal yet because the Description is now before your eyes and these evidencing works are fresh in your memory it will not be unseasonable nor unprofitable for you to take an account of your own estates and to view your selves exactly in this glass before you pass on any further And I beseech thee Reader as thou hast the hope of a Christian yea or the reason of a man to deal throughly and search carefully and judg thy self as one that must shortly be judged by the righteous God and faithfully answer to these few Questions which I shall here propound I will not enquire whether thou remember the time or the order of these workings of the spirit There may be much uncertainly and mistake in that But I desire thee to look into thy Soul and see whether thou finde such works wrought within thee and then if thou be sure they are there the matter is not so great though thou know not when or how thou camest by them And first hast thou been throughly convinced of an universal depravation through thy whole soul and an universal wickedness through thy whole life and how vile a thing this sin is and that by the tenor of that Covenant which thou hast transgressed the least sin deserves eternal death dost thou consent to this Law that it is true and righteous Hast thou perceived thy self sentenced to this death by it and been convinced of thy natural undone condition Hast thou further seen the utter insufficiency of every Creature either to be it self thy happiness or the means of curing this thy misery and thee happy again in God Hast thou been convinced that thy happiness is only in God as the end And only in Christ as the way to him and the end also as he is one with the Father and perceived that thou must be brought to God by Christ or perish eternally Hast thou seen hereupon an absolute necessity of thy enjoying Christ And the full sufficiency that is in him to do for thee whatsoever thy case requireth by reason of the fulness of his satisfaction the greatness of his power and dignity of his person and the freeness and indefiniteness of his promises Hast thou discovered the excellency of this pearl to be worth thy selling all to buy it Hath all this been joyned with some sensibility As the convictions of a man that thirsteth of the worth of drink and not been only a change in opinion produced by reading or education as a bare notion in the understanding Hath it proceeded to an abhorring that sin I mean in the bent and prevailing inclination of thy will though the flesh do attempt to reconcile thee to it Have both thy sin and misery been a burden to thy soul and if thou couldest not weep yet couldest thou heartily groan under the insupportable weight of both Hast thou renounced all thine own Righteousness Hast thou turned thy Idols out of thy heart So that the Creature hath no more the soveraignty but is now a servant to God and to Christ Dost thou accept of Christ as thy only Saviour and expect thy Justification Recovery and glory from him alone Dost thou take him also for Lord and King and are his Laws the most powerful commanders of thy life and soul Do they ordinarily prevail against the commands of the flesh of Satan of the greatest on earth that shall countermand and against the greatest interest of thy credit profit pleasure or life So that thy conscience is directly subject to Christ alone Hath he the highest room in thy heart and affections So that though thou canst not love him as thou wouldest yet nothing else is loved so much Hast thou made a hearty Covenant to this end with him And delivered up thy self accordingly to him and takest thy self for His and not thine own Is it thy utmost care and watchful endeavor that thou maist be found faithful in this Covenant and though thou fall into sin yet wouldst not renounce thy bargain nor change thy Lord nor give up thy self to any other government for all the world If this be truly thy case thou art one of these People of God which my Text speaks of And as sure as the Promise of God is true this Blessed Rest remaines for thee Only see thou abide in Christ and continue to the end For if any draw back his soul will have no pleasure in them But if all this be
us which is unâ—evealed in the Word and that to be doubtful which is darkly â—evealed Then the Contentions of the Church about the Mysteâ—ies of the Divine Decrees the nature of Internal Grace and way â—nd maner of the Spirits working c. will be more calmly managed Two things have set fire on the Church and been the plagues of it his thousand yeers and more First Englarging our Creed and making more Fundamentals â—hen God hath done Master Parker and Ludovicus Crocius have fully proved That the Creed for a long time contained no more â—hen Christs words in Matth. 28. do teach To beleeve in the Father Son and Holy Ghost and no more were they baptized â—nto Secondly Delivering our Creeds and Confessions in our own Humane phrase When men have learned more maners and humility then to acâ—use the Language of God as too general and obscure and have more dread of God and compassion on themselves then to make those Fundamentals which God never made so And when they reduce their Creed and Confessions first To their due extent or length secondly And to Scripture phrase and take this onely for a Touchstone of the Orthodox then and not tell then shall the Church have peace about Doctrinals If my judgment much fail not It seems to me no hainous Socinian motion which is so cryed out against of Chillingworths making viz. That every man subscribe to the whole Scripture as Gods Word with a promise to do his best for the right understanding of it No doubt many a Heretick would so subscribe and lurk under a false interpretation and so he may do also by their Humane Canons But I forget my self in thus digressing Reader As thou lovest thy Comforts thy Faith thy Hope thy Safety thine Innocency thy Soul thy Christ thine Everlasting Rest Love Read Study Stick close to Scriptures Farewel Jan. 18. 1649. THE SAINTS Everlasting REST. PART II. CHAP. I. SECT I. WE are next to proceed to the confirmation of this Truth which though it may seem needless in regard of its own clearness and certainty yet in regard of our distance and infidelity nothing more necessary But you will say To whom will this endeavour be usefull They who believe the Scriptures are convinced already and for those who believe it not how will you convince them Answ. But sad experience tels us that those thaâ— believe do believe but in part and therefore have need of further confirmation and doubtless God hath left us Arguments sufficient to convince unbelievers themselves or else how should we preach to Pagans Or what should we say to the greatest part of the world that acknowledg not the Scriptures Doubtless the Gospel should be preacht to them and though we have not the gift of miracles to convince them of the truth as the Apostles had yet we have arguments demonstrative and clear or else our preaching to them would be vain we having nothing left but bare affirmations Though I have all along confirmed sufficiently by testimony of Scripture what I have said yet I will here briefly add thus much more That the Scripture doth clearly assert this Truth in these six wayes 1. It affirms That this Rest is fore-ordained for the Saints and the Saints also fore-ordained to it Heb. 11.16 God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor heart conceived what God hath prepared for them that love him which I conceive must be meant of these preparations in heaven for those on earth are both seen and conceived or else how are they enjoyed Mat. 20.23 To sit on Christs right and left hand in his Kingdom shall be given to them for whom it is prepared And themselves are called Vessels of mercy before prepared unto glory Rom 9.23 And in Christ we have obtained the inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after to the counsel of his own will Ephes. 1.11 And whom he thus predestinateth them he glorifieth Rom. 8.30 For he hath from the beginning chosen them to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth 2 Thes. 2.13 And though the intentions of the vnwise and weak may be frustrated and without counsel purposes are disappointed Prov. 15.22 yet the thoughts of the Lord shall surely come to passe and as he hath purposed it shall stand The Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever and the thoughts of his heart to all generations Therefore blessed are they whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance Psal. 33.11 12. Who can bereave his people of that Rest which is designed them by Gods eternall purpose SECT II. SEcondly the Scripture tels us that this Rest is Purchased as well as Purposed for them or that they are redeemed to this Rest. In what sense this may be said to be purchased by Christ I have shewed before viz. Not as the immediate work of his sufferings which was the payment of our debt by satisfying the Law but as a more remote though most excellent fruit even the effect of that power which by his death he procured to himself He himself for the suffering of death was crowned with glory yet did he not properly die for himself nor was that the direct effect of his death Some of those Teachers who are gone forth of late do tell us as a piece of their new discoveries that Christ never purchased Life and Salvation for us but purchased us to Life and Salvation Not understanding that they affirm and deny the same thing in severall expressions What difference is there betwixt buying liberty to the prisoner and buying the prisoner to liberty betwixt buying life to a condemned malefactor and buying him to life Or betwixt purchasing Reconciliation to an enemy and purchasing an enemy to Reconciliation But in this last they have found a difference and tell us that God never was at enmity with man but man only at enmity with God and therefore need not be reconciled Directly contrary to Scripture which tels us that God hateth all the workers of iniquity and that he is their enemy And though there be no change in God nor any thing properly called Hatred yet it sufficeth that there is a change in the sinners relation and that there is something in God which cannot better be expressed or conceived then by these termes of enmity and hatred And the enmity of the Law against a sinner may well be called the enmity of God However this differenceth betwixt enmity in God and enmity in us but not betwixt the sense of the forementioned expressions So that whether you will call it purchasing life for us or purchasing us to life the sense is the same viz. By satisfying the Law and removing impediments to procure us Title to and Possession of this Life It is
make its first entrance at the understanding which must be satisfied first of its Truth secondly and of its goodness before it finde any further admittance If this porter be negligent it will admit of any thing â—hat bears but the face or name of Truth and Goodness But if it be faithfull able and diligent in its office it will examine strictly and search to the 〈◊〉 what is found deceitfull it casteth out that it go no furthâ—◠〈…〉 what is found to be sincere and currant it letteth in to the very heart where the Will and Affections do with wellcome entertain it and by concoction as it were incorporate it into their own substance Accordingly I have been hitherto presenting to your understandings First the excellency of the Rest of the Saints in the first part of this book and then the verity in the second part I hope your understandings have now tasted this food and tryed what hath been expressed Truth fears not the light This perfect beauty abhorreth darkness Nothing but Ignorance of its worth can disparage it Therefore search and spare not Read and read again and then Judge What think you Is it good Or is it not Nay is it not the chiefest good And is there any thing in goodness to be compared with it And is it true or is it not Nay is there any thing in the world more certain then that there remaineth a Rest to the people of God Why if your understandings are convinced of both these I do here in the behalf of God and his Truth and in the behalf of your own souls and their Life require the further entertainment hereof and that you take this blessed subject of Rest and commend it as you have found it to your wills and affections Let your hearts now cheerfully embrace it and improve it as I shall present it to you in its respective Uses And though the Laws of Method do otherwise direct me yet because I conceive it most profitable I will lay close together in the first place all those uses that most concern the ungodly that they may know where to finde their lesson and not to pick it up and down intermixt with Uses of another straine And then I shall lay down those Uses that are more proper to the Godly by themselves in the end Use First Shewing the unconceivable misery of the ungodly in their losse of this Rest. SECT II. ANd first if this Rest be for none but this people of God What doleful tidings is this to the ungodly world That there is so much Glory but none for them so great joys for the Saints of God while they must consume in perpetuall sorrowes Such Rest for them that have obeyed the Gospel while they must be Restless in the flames of hell If thou who Readest these words art in thy soul a stranger to Christ and to the holy nature and life of his people and art not one of them who are before described and shalt live and dye in the same condition that thou art now in Let me tell thee I am a messenger of the saddest tidings to thee that ever yet thy ears did hear That thou shalt never partake of the joyes of Heaven nor have the least tast of the Saints eternall Rest I may say to thee as Eâ—ud to Eâ—gon I have a message to thee from God but it is a mortall message against the very life and hopes of thy soul That as true as the word of God is true thou shalt never see the face of God with comfort This sentence I am commanded to pass upon thee from the word Take it as thou wilt and scape it if thou canst I know thy humble and hearty subjection to Christ would procure thy escape and if thy heart and life were throughly changed thy relations to Christ and eternity would be changed also he would then â—â—â—nowledge thee for one of his people and justifie thee from all things that could be charged upon thee and give thee a portion in the inheritance of his chosen And if this might be the happy successe of my message I should be so faâ— from repining like Jonas that the threatnings of God are not executed upon thee that on the contrary I should bless the day that ever God made me so happy a Messenger and return him hearty thanks upon my knees that ever he blessed his Word in my mouth with such desired success But if thou end thy days in thy present condition whether thou be fully resolved never to change or whether thou spend thy days in fruitless purposing to be better hereafter all is one for that I say if thou live and die in thy unregenerate estate as sure as the heavens are over thy head and the earth under thy feet as sure as thou livest and breathest in this air so sure shalt thou be shut out of the Rest of the Saints and receive thy portion in everlasting fire I do here expect that thou shouldest in the pride and scorn of thy heart turn back upon me and shew thy teeth and say Who made you the door-keeper of heaven when were you there and when did God shew you the Book of Life or tell you who they are that shall be saved and who shut out I will not Answer thee according to thy folly but truly and plainly as I can discover this thy folly to thy self that if there be yet any hope thou mayest recover thy understanding and yet return to God and live First I do not name thee nor any other I do not conclude of the persons individually and say This man shall be shut out of heaven and that man shall be taken in I onely conclude it of the unregenerate in general and of thee conditionally if thou be such a one Secondly I do not go about to determine who shall repent and who shall not much less that thou shalt never repent and come in to Christ These things are unknown to me I had far rather shew thee what hopes thou hast before thee if thou wilt not sit still and lose them and by thy wilful carelesness cast away thy hopes And I would far rather perswade thee to hearken in time while there is hope and opportunity and offers of Grace and before the door is shut against thee that so thy soul may return and live then to tell thee that there is no hope of thy repenting and returning But if thou lye hoping that thou shalt return and never do it if thou talk of repenting and believing but still art the same if thou live and die with the world and thy credit or pleasure nearer thy heart then Jesus Christ In a word If the foregoing description of the people of God do not agree with the state of thy soul Is it then a hard question whether thou shalt ever be saved Even as hard a question as whether God be true or the Scripture be his Word Cannot I certainly tell that
ANd as the damned will have clearer and deeper apprehensions of the Happiness which they have lost so will they have a truer and closer application of this Doctrine to themselves which will exceedingly tend to encrease their torment It will then be no hard matter to them to say This is my loss and this is my everlasting remediless misery The want of this is the main cause why they are now so little troubled at their condition They are hardly brought to believe that there is such a state of misery but more hardly to believe that it is like to be their own This makes so many Sermons to them to be lost and all threatnings and warnings to prove in vain Let a Minister of Christ shew them their misery never so plainly and faithfully and they will not be perswaded that they are so miserable Let him tell them of the Glory they must lose and the sufferings they must feel and they think it is not They whom he means such a Drunkard or such a notorious sinner they think may possibly come to such a doleful end but they little think that they are so neer it themselves We finde in all our Preaching by sad experience that it is one of the hardest things in the world to bring a wicked man to know that he is wicked and a man who is posting in the way to Hell to know that he is in that way indeed or to make a man see himself in a state of wrath and condemnation Yea though the Preacher do mark him out by such undoubted signs which he cannot deny yet will he not apply them nor be brought to say It is my case Though we shew them the Chapter and the Verse where it is written that without Regeneration and Holiness none shall see God and though they know no such work that was ever wrought upon themselves nay though they might easily finde by their strangeness to the new Birth and by their very enmity to Holiness that they were never partakers of them yet do they as verily expect to see God and to be saved as if they were the most sanctified persons in the world It is a most difficult work to make a proud person know that he is proud or a covetous man to know that he is covetous or an ignorant or erronious heretical man to know himself to be such a one indeed But to make any of these to confess the sin and to apply the threatning and to believe themselves the children of wrath this is to Humane strength an impossibility How seldom do you hear men after the plainest discovery of their condemned state to cry out and say I am the man or to acknowledg that if they dye in their present condition they are undone for ever And yet Christ hath told us in his Word That the most of the world are in that estate yea and the most of those that have the preaching of the Gospel For many are called but few are chosen so that it is no wonder that the worst of men are not now troubled at their loss of Heaven and at their eternal misery because if we should convince them by the most undeniable Arguments yet we cannot bring them to acknowledg it If we should Preach to them as long as we have breath we cannot make them believe that their danger is so great except a man rise from the dead and tell them of that place of torments and tell them that their merry Jovial friends who did as verily think to be saved as they are now in hell in those flames they will not believe Nay more though such a Messenger from the dead should appear and speak to them and warn them that they come not to that place of torments and tell them that such and such of their dear beloved worshipfull or honorable friends are now there destitute of a drop of water yet would they not be perswaded by all this For Christ hath said so That if they will not hear Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one should rise from the dead There is no perswading them of their misery till they feel it except the Spirit of the Almighty do perswade them Oh but when they finde themselves suddenly in the land of darkness and perceive by the execution of the sentence that they were indeed condemned and feel themselves in the scorching flames and see that they are shut out of the presence of God for ever it will then be no such difficult matter to convince them of their misery This particular Application of Gods Anger to themselves will then be the easiest matter in the world then they cannot chuse but know and apply it whether they will or no. If you come to a man that hath lost a leg or an arm or a childe or goods or house or his health is it any hard matter to bring this man to apply it and to acknowledg that the loss is his own or that the pain which he feels in his sickness is his own I think not Why it will be far more easie for the wicked in hell to apply their misery in the loss of heaven because their loss is incomparably greater O this Application which now if we should dye we cannot get them to for prevention of their loss will then be part of their torment it self O that they could then say It is not my case But their dolourous voyces will then rore out these forced confessions O my misery O my folly O my unconceiveable unrecoverable loss SECT IV. 4. AGain as the Understandings and Consciences of sinners will be strengthened against them so also will their Affections be then more lively and enlarged then now they are As Judgment will be no longer so blinded nor Conscience stifled and bribed as now it is so the Affections will be no longer so stupified and dead A hard heart now makes Heaven and Hell to seem but trifles And when we have shewed them everlasting Glory and Misery they are as men half asleep they scarce take notice what we say our words are cast as stones against a hard wall which fly back in the face of him that casteth them but make no impression at all where they fall We talk of terrible astonishing things but it is to dead men that cannot apprehend it We may rip up their wounds and they never feel us we speak to Rocks rather then to men the earth will as soon tremble as they O but when these dead wretches are revived what passionate sensibility what working Affections what pangs of horror what depth of sorrow will there then be How violently will they fly in their own faces How will they rage against their former madness The lamentations of the most passionate wife for the loss of her husband or of the tenderest mother for the loss of her children will be nothing to theirs for the loss of heaven O the self-accusing and self-tormenting fury
possessions that thou art willing to have them tryed and fearfull of being deceived that they stir up they desires of enjoying what thou hopest for and the deferring thereof is the trouble of thy heart Prov. 13.12 If thou be sure that thy hopes be such as these God forbid that I should speak a word against them or discourage thee from proceeding to hope thus to the end No I rather perswade thee to go on in the strength of the Lord and what ever men or devils or thy own unbelieving heart shall say against it go on and hold fast thy hope and be sure it shall never make thee ashamed But if thy hope be not of this spiritual nature and if thou art able to give no better reason why thou hopest then the worst in the world may give That God is mercifull and thou must speed as well as thou canst or the like and hast not one sound evidence of a saving work of grace upon thy soul to shew for thy hopes but only hopest that thou shalt be saved because thou wouldest have it so and because it is a terrible thing to despaire If this be thy case delay not an hour but presently cast away those hopes that thou mayest get into a capacity of having better in their stead But it may be thou wilt think this strange doctrine and say VVhat would you perswade me directly to despaire Answ. Sinner I would be loath to have thy soul destroyed by wilful self-delusion The truth is There is a hope such as I have before shewed thee of which is a singular grace and duty and there is a hope which is a notorious dangerous sin So consequentely there is a despaire which is a grievous sin and there is a despaire which is absolutely necessary to thy salvation I would not have thee despaire of the suffiâ—ciency of the blood of Christ to save thee if thou believe and heartily obey him Nor of the willingness of God to pardon and save thee if thou be such a one Nor yet absolutely of thy own salvation because while there is life and time there is some hope of thy conversion and so of thy salvation Nor would I draw thee to despaire of finding Christ if thou do but heartily seek him Or of Gods acceptance of any sincere endeavors nor of thy successe against Satan or any corruption which thou shalt heartily oppose nor of any thing whatsoever God hath promised to do either to all men in generall or to such as thou art I would not have thee doubt of any of these in the least measure much less despaire But this is the despaire that I would perswade thee to as thou lovest thy soul That thou despaire of ever being saved except thou be born again or of seeing God without Holiness or of escaping perishing except thou soundly Repent Or of ever having part in Christ or salvation by him or ever being one of his true Disciples except thou love him above Father mother or thy own life Or of ever having a Treasure in Heaven except thy very heart be there Or of ever scaping eternal death if thou walk after the flesh and dost not by the spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh or of ever truly loving God or being his servant while thou lovest the world and servest it These things I would have thee despair of and what ever else God hath told thee shall never come to passe And when thou hast sadly searched into thy own heart and findest thy self in any of these cases I would have thee despair thy self of ever being saved in that state thou art in Never stick at the sadness of the conclusion man but acknowledg plainly If I die before I get out of this estate I am lost for ever It is as good deal truly with thy self as not God will not flatter thee he will deal plainly whether thou do or not The very truth is This kinde of despair is one of the first steps to Heaven Consider if a man be quite out of his way what must be the first means to bring him in again Why a despair of ever coming to his journies end in the way that he is in If his home be Eastward and he be going Westward as long as he hopes he is the right he will go on and as long as he so goes on hoping he goes further amiss Therefore when he meets with some body who assures him that he is clean out of his way and brings him to despair of coming home except he turn back again then he will return and then he may hope and spare not Why sinner Just so it is with thy soul Thou art born out of the way to Heaven and in that way thou hast proceeded many a yeer Yet thou goest on quietly and hopest to be saved because thou art not so bad as many others Why I tell thee except thou be brought to throw away those hopes and see that thou hast all this while been quite out of the way to Heaven and hast been a childe of wrath and a servant of Satan unpardoned unsanctified and if thou hadst dyed in this state hadst been certainly damned I say till thou be brought to this thou wilt never return and be saved Who will turn out of his way while he hopes he is right And let me once again tell thee that if ever God mean good to thy soul and intend to save thee this is one of the first things he will work upon thee Remember what I say till thou feel God convincing thee that the way which thou hast lived in will not serve the turn and so breaking down thy former hopes there is yet no saving work wrought upon thee how well soever thou mayest hope of thy self Yea this much more If any thing keep thy soul out of Heaven which God forbid there is nothing in the world liker to do it then thy false hopes of being saved while thou art out of the way to salvation Why else is it that God cryes down such hopes in his word Why is it that every faithful skilful Minister doth bend all his strength against the false faith and hope of sinners as if he were to fight against neither small nor great but this prince of iniquity Why alas they know that these are the main pillars of Satans Kingdom Bring down but them two and the house will fall They know also the deceit and vanity of such hopes that they are directly contrary to the Truth of God and what a sad case that soul is in who hath no other hope but that Gods word will prove false when the truth of God is the only ground of true hope Alas it is no pleasure to a Minister to speak to people on such an unwelcome subject no more then it is to a pitifull Physitian to tell his patient I do despair of your life except you let blood or there is no hope of the cure except the gangren'd
of their warning and they have not heard the voice of the rod which hath cryed up and down their streets Yet O England will ye not sanctifie my Sabbaths nor call upon my name nor regard my word nor turn from your worldliness and wickedness God hath given them a lash and a reproof a wound and a warning he hath as it were stood in their blood with the sword in his hand and among the heapes of the slain hath he pleaded with the living and said What say you Will you yet worship me and fear me and take me for your Lord And yet they will not Alas yet to this day England will not Let me here write it and leave it upon record that God may be justified and England may be shamed and posterity may know if God do deliver us how ill we deserved it or if he yet destroy us how wilfully we procured it And if they that passe by shall ask Why hath God done thus to a flourishing and prosperous land You may give them the true though sad answer They would not hear they would not regard He smit them down he wounded them he hewed them as wood and then he beseeched the remainder to consider and return but they never would do it They were weary of his wayes they polluted his Sabbaths they cast his word and worship out of their families they would not be at the pains to learn and obey his will nay they abhorred his Ministers and servants and holy paths and all this to the last breath When he had slain five thousand or eight thousand at a fight the rest did no more reform then if they had never heard of it Nay such a spirit of slumber is faln upon them that if God should proceed and kill them all save one man ask that one man Wilt thou yet seek me with all thy heart he would rather slight it Lord have mercy upon us What is gone with mens understanding and sense Have they renounced Reason as well as Faith Are they dead naturally as well as spiritually Can they not hear nor feel though they cannot believe That sad judgment is falâ— upon them mentioned in Isai. 42.24 25. Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel England to the robbers Did not the Lord He against whom we have sinned For they would not walk in his wayes neither were they obedient to his Laws Therefore he hath poured upon them the fury of his anger and the strength of battel and it hath set them on fire round about yet they knew it not it burned them yet they laid it not to heart Yea this much more let us leave upon Record against England They have been so far from Reforming and taking up the Worship of God with delight after all this that they have contrarily abhorred it at the very heart and fought against it as long as they could stand and when they have been wounded and overthrown in one Fight they have been as forward to the next and when they have been quite subdued in all parts of the Land they are as ready again for another war as if they had never felt the hand of God at all and to root out the sincere Worshippers and Worship of God they are ready to dye to the last man Lord how hast thou deserved so much ill at these mens hands what harm hath praying and reading and preaching painfully and sanctifying the Sabbath and fearing to offend done to England Have they suffered for these or for their enmity to these what evil do these wretches discern in the everlasting Kingdom that they do not only refuse to labor for it but so detest and resist the holy way that leads to it It is wel for them that they live in Gospel times when the patience of God doth wait on sinners and not in those severer days when fire from heaven destroyed the Captaines and their Companies that were commanded by the King to bring but one Prophet before him or when the Lyons destroyed fourty two children for calling a Prophet of God Bald-head Or rather it had bin better for these men to have lived in those times that though their temporal Judgments had been greater yet their eternal plagues might have bin the less Yet this much more let me leave upon Record to the shame of England That all this is not meerly through idleness because they will not be at the pains to serve God but it is out of a bitter enmity to his Word and wayes for they will be at more pains then this in any way that is evil or in any worship of mans devising They are as zealous for Crosses and Surplices Processions and Perambulations reading of a Gospel at a cross way the observation of Holidays and Fasting days the repeating of the Letany or the like forms in the Common Prayer the bowing at the naming of the word Jesus while they reject his Worship the receiving of the Sacrament when they have no right to it and that upon their knees as if they were more revererent and devout then the true laborious servants of Christ with a multitude of things which are onely the traditions of their Fathers I say they are as zealous for these as if eternal life consisted in them Where God forbids them there they are as forward as if they could never do enough and where God commands them they are as backward to it yea as much against it as if they were the commands of the Devil himself and for the discipline of Christ though all parts of the world have much opposed it yet where hath it been so fiercely and powerfully resisted The Lord grant that this hardned wilful malicious Nation fall not under that heavy doom Luke 19.27 But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me SECT IV. 3. THe third sort that fall under this Reproof are those self-couzening formal lazie Professors of Religion who will be brought to any outward duty and to take up the easier part of Christianity but to the inward work and more difficult part they will never be perswaded They will Preach or hear or read or talk of heaven or pray customarily and constantly in their Families and take part with the persons or causes that are good and desire to be esteemed among the godly but you can never bring them to the more spiritual and difficult duties as to be constant and fervent in secret Prayer to be conscionable in the duty of self-examination to be constant in that excellent duty of Meditation to be heavenly minded to watch constantly over his heart and words and wayes to deny his bodily senses their delights to mortifie the flesh and not make provision for it to fulfil its lusts to love and heartily forgive an enemy to prefer his brethren heartily before himself and to think meanly of his own gifts and worth and to take it well
and God should turn you into the world again and try you with another life's time and say I will see whether yet thou wilt be any better What manner of persons would you be If you were to live a thousand years would you not gladly live as strictly as the precisest Saints and spend all those years in prayer and duty so you might but scape the Torment which you suffered How seriously then would you speak of Hell and pray against it and hear and read and watch and obey How earnestly would you admonish the carâ—less to take heed and look about them to prevent their ruine And will you not take Gods Word for the truth of this except you feel it Is it not your wisdom to do as much now to prevent it as you would do to remove it when it is too late Is it not more wisdom to spend this life in labouring for Heaven while you have it then to lie in Torment wishing for more time in Vain 10 Quest. What if you had been possessed but one year of the Glory of Heaven and there joyned with the Saints and Angels in the beholding of God and singing his Praise and afterwards should be turned into the world again What a life would you lead What pains would you take rather then be deprived of such incomparable Glory Would you think any cost too great or diligence too much If one of those that are now in Heaven should come to live on the Earth again what persons would they be What a stir would they make How seriously would they drive on the business of their Salvation The Country would ring of their exceeding Holy and Strict Conversations They would as far excel the Holiest Persons on Earth as they excel the careless world Before they would lose that Blessed Estate they would follow God with cries both day and night and throw away all and suffer every day a Death And should not we do as much to obtain it as they would do to keep it SECT XXV ANd thus I have said enough if not to stir up the lazy sinner to a serious working out his Salvation yet at least to silence him and leave him unexcuseable at the Judgment of God If thou â—anst after the reading of all this go on in the same neglect of God and thy Soul and draw out the rest of thy life in the same dull and careless course as thou hast hitherto done and if thou hast so far conquered and stupified thy Conscience that it will quietly suffer thee to forget all this and to trifle out the rest of thy time in the business of the world when in the mean while thy Salvation is in danger and the Judg is at the door I have then no more to say to thee It is as good speak to a post or a Rock Only as we do by our friends when they are dead and our words and actions can do them no good yet to test me our affections we weep and mourn for them so will I also do for these deplorable Souls It makes my heart sad and even tremble to think how they will stand sad and trembling before the Lord and how confounded and speechless they will be when Christ shall reason with them concerning their negligence and sloath When he shall say as the Lord doth in Jer. 2.5 9 11 12 13. What iniquity have your fathers or you found in me that ye are gone far from me and have walked after vanity c. Did I ever wrong you or do you any harm or ever discourage you from following my service Was my way so bad that you could not endure it or my service so base that you could not stoop to it Did I stoop to the fulfilling of the Law for you and could not you stoop to the fulfilling of the easie Conditions of my Gospel Was the world or Satan a better friend to you then I or had they done for you more then I had done Try now whether they will save you or whether they will recompence you for the loss of Heaven or whether they will be as good to you as I would have been Oh what will the wretched sinner answer to any of this But though man will not hear yet we may have hope in speaking to God Lord smite these Rocks till they gush forth waters Though these ears are deaf say to them Ephata be opened Though these Sinners be dead let that power speak which sometime said Lazarus arise We know they will be wakened at the last Resurrection Oh but then it will be only to their sorrow Oh thou that didst weep and groan in Spirit over a dead Lazarus pity these dead and sensless Souls till they are able to weep and groan for and pity themselves As thou hast bid thy Servant speak so speak now thy self They will hear thy voyes speaking to their hearts that will not hear mine speaking to their ears Long hast thou knocked at these hearts in vain now break the doors and enter in and pass by all their long resistance SECT XXVI YEt I will add a few more words to the Godly in special to shew them why they above all men should be laborious for Heaven and that there is a great deal of Reason that though all the world besides do sit still and be careless yet they should abhor that â—â—â—iness and negligence and should lay out all their strength on the work of God To this end I desire them also to answer soberly to these few Interrogatories 1 Quest. What manner of persons should those be whom God hath chosen out to be Vessels of Mercy and hath given them the very cream and quintescence of his blessings when the rest of the world are passed by and put off with common and temporal and left-hand-Mercies They who have the Blood of Christ given them and the Spirit for Sanctification Consolation and Preservation and the pardon of sins and Adoption to Son-ship and the guard of Angels and the Mediation of the Son of God and the special Love of the Father and the Promise and Seal of Everlasting Rest Do but tell me in good sadness what kind of lives these men should live 2 Quest. What manner of persons should those be who have felt the smart of their negligence so much as the godly have done In the new birth in their several wounds and trouble of Conscience in their doubts and fears in their sharp afflictions on body and state They that have groaned and cryed out so oft under the sense and effects of their negligence and are like enough to feel it again if they do not reform it sure one would think they should be so sloathful no more 3 Quest. What manner of persons should these be in holy diligence who have been so long convinced of the evil of laziness and have confessed on their knees a hundred and a hundred times both in publique and in private and have told God in
acquainted then in their own brests 3. Besides many come to the work with forestalling conclusions They are resolved what to judge before they Try They use the duty but to strengthen their present conceits of themselves and not to find out the truth of their condition Like a bribed Judge who examines each party as if he would Judge uprightly when he is resolved which way the cause shall go before hand Or as perverse disputers who argue only to maintain their present opinions rather then to try those opinions whether they are right or wrong Just so do men examine their hearts 4. Also men are partial in their own Cause They are ready to think their great sins small and their small sins to be none their gifts of nature to be the work of Grace and their gifts of common grace to be the special grace of the Saints They are straight ways ready to say All these have I kept from my youth And I am rich and increased c. Rev. 3.17 The first common excellency that they meet with in themselves doth so dazle their eyes that they are presently satisfied that all is well and look no further 5. Besides most men do search but by the halves If it will not easily quickly be done they are discouraged and leaveoff Few set to it and follow it as beseems them in a work of such moment He must give all diligence that means to make sure 6. Also men try themselves by false Marks and Rules not knowing wherein the truth of Christianity doth consist some looking beyond and some short of the Scripture standard 7. Moreover there is so great likeness betwixt the lowest degree of special grace and the highest degree of Common Grace that it is no wonder if the unskilful be mistaken It is a great Question whether the main difference between special grace and common be not rather gradual then specifical If it should be so as some think then the discovery will be much more difficult However to discern by what principle our affections are moved and to what ends and with what sincerity is not very easie there being so many wrong Ends and motives which may excite the like Acts. Every grace in the Saints hath its counterfeit in the Hypocrite 8. Also men use to Try themselves by unsafe Marks either looking for a high degree of grace instead of a lower degree in sincerity as many doubting Christians do or else enquiring only into their outward Actions or into their inward Affections without their ends motives and other qualifications The sure evidences are Faith Love c. that are Essential parts of our Christianity and that lie neerest to the heart 9. Lastly Men frequently miscarry in this work by setting on it in their own strength As some expect the Spirit should do it without them so others attempt it themselves without seeking or expecting the help of the Spirit both these will certainly miscarry in their Assurance How far the Spirits Assistance is necessary is shewed before and the several Acts which it must perform for us SECT X. FUrther Causes of doubting among Christians Because the Comfort of a Christians life doth so much consist in his Assurance of Gods Special Love and because the right way of obtaining it is so much controverted of late I will here proceed a little further in opening to you some other Hinderances which keep true Christians from Comfortable Certainty besides the forementioned Errors in the Work of Examination Though I would still have you remember and be sensiâ—le That the neglect or slighty performance of that great duty and not following on the seaâ—ch with Seriousness and Constancy is the most common Hinderance for ought I have yet found I shall add now these Ten more which I find very ordinary Impediments and therefore desire Christians more carefully to Consider and Beware of them 1. One Common and great Cause of doubting and uncertainty is The weakness and small measure of our Graces A little Grace is next to None Small things are hardly discerned He that will see a small needle a hair a mote or atome must have clear light and good eyes But houses and Towns and Mountains are easily discerned Most Christians content themselves with a small measure of Grace and do not follow on to spiritual strength and manhood They Believe so weakly and Love God so little that they can scarce find whether they Believe and Love at all Like a man in a swoun whose pulse and breathing is so weak and obscure that it can hardly be perceived whether they move at all and consequently whether the man be alive or dead The chief Remedy for such would be To follow on their duty till their Graces be increased Ply your work Wait upon God in the use of his prescribed means and he will undoubtedly bless you with Increase and Strength Oh that Christians would bestow most of that time in getting more Grace which they bestow in Anxious doubtings whether they have any or none And that they would lay out those Serious Affections in Praying and seeking to Christ for more Grace which they bestow in fruitless Complaints of their supposed Gracelesness I beseech thee Christian take this advice as from God And then when thou Believest strongly and Lovest fervently thou canst not doubt whether thou do Believe and Love or not No more then a man that is burning hot can doubt whether he be warm or a man that is strong and lusty can doubt whether he be alive Strong Affections will make you feel them Who loveth his friend or wife or child or any thing strongly and doth not know it A great measure of Grace is seldom doubted of Or if it be you may quickly find when you seek and try SECT XI 2. ANother Cause of uncomfortable living is That Christians look more at their present Cause of Comfort or Discomfort then they do at their Future Happiness and the way to attain it They look afâ—er Signs which may tell thâ—m what they are more then they do at Pâ—ecepts which tell them what they should do They are very desirous to know whether they are Justified and beloved or not but they do not think what course they should take to be Justified if they be not As if their present Case must needs be their Everlasting Case and if they be now unpardoned there were no Remedy Why I beseech thee consider this Oh doubting Soul What if all were as bâ—d as thou dost fear and none of thy sins were yet pardoned Is not the Remedy at hand May not all this be done in a moment Dost thou not know that thou mayst have Christ and pardon when ever thou wilt Call not this a loose or strange doctrine Christ is willing if thou be willing He offereth himself and all his benefits to thee He presseth them on thee and urgeth thee to accept them He will condemn thee and destroy thee if thou
thither and that were wont to despise their counsel that bid them Try and make sure And to say They made no doubt of their Salvation 2. Yea and many that have excelled in worldly wisdom yet have been befooled in this great business and they that had wit to deceive their neighbours were yet deceived by Satan and their own hearts Yea men of strongest head-pieces and profoundest learning who knew much of the secrets of Nature of the courses of the Planets and motions of the Spheres have yet been utterly mistaken in their own hearts 3. Yea Those that have lived in the clear light of the Gospel and heard the difference between the Righteous and the Wicked plainly laid open and many a Mark for Tryal laid down and and many a Sermon pressing them to Examine and directing them how to do it yet even these have been and dayly are deceived 4. Yea those that have had a whole life's time to make sure in and have been told over and over that they had their lives for no other end but to provide for Everlasting Rest and make sure of it have yet been deceived and have wasted that life-time in forgetful security 5. Yea those that have Preached against the negligence of others and pressed them to Try themselves and shewed them the danger of being mistaken have yet proved mistaken themselves And is it not then time for us to rifle our hearts and search them to the very quick SECT III. 2. TO be mistaken in this great Point is also very Common as well as easie So common that it is the case of most in the world In the old world we find of none that were in any fear of Judgement and yet how few persons were not deceived So in Sodom So among the Jews And I would it were not so in England Almost all men amongst us do verily look to be saved You shall scarce speak with one of a thousand that doth not And yet Christ telleth us That few find the strait gate and narrow way that leads to Life Do but reckon up the several sorts of men that are mistaken in thinking they have title to Heaven as the Scripture doth enumeraâ—e them and what a multitude will they prove 1. All that are ignorant of the Fundamentals of Religion 2. All Heretick who maintain false doctrines against the Foundation or against the necessary means of Life 3. All that live in the practice of gross sin 4. Or that love and regard the smallest sin 5. All that harden themselves against frequent reproof Prov. 29.1 6. All that minde the Flesh more then the Spirit Rom. 8.6.7.13 Or the world more then God Phil. 3.18 19. 1 John 2.15.16 7. All that do as the most do Luk. 13.23 24 25. 1 John 5.19 8. All that are deriders at the Godly and discourage others from the way of God by their reproaches Pro. 1.22 c. 3.34 19.29 9. All that are unholy And that never were Regenerate and born anew 10. All that have not their very hearts set upon Heaven Mat. 6.21 11. All that have a Form of Godliness without the Power 12. And all that love either parents or wife or children or house or lands or life more then Christ. Luk. 14.26 Every on of these that thinketh he hath any Title to Heaven is as surely mistaken as the Scripture is true And if such multitudes are deceived should not we search the more diligently lest we should be deceived as well as they SECT IV. 3. NOthing more dangerous then to be thus mistaken The Consequents of it are lamentable and desperate If the Godly be mistaken in judging their state to be worse then it is the consequents of this mistake will be very sad But if the ungodly be mistaken the Danger and Mischief that followeth is unspeakable 1. It will exceedingly confirm them in the service of Satan and fasten them in their present way of death They will never seek to be recovered as long as they think their present state may serve As the Prophet saith Isa. 44.20 A deceived heart will turn them aside that they cannot deliver their own soul nor say Is there not a lye in my right hand 2. It will take away the efficacy of means that should do them good Nay it will turn the best means to their hardening and ruine If a man mistake his bodily disease and think it to be clean contrary to what it is will he not apply contrary remedies which will increase it So when a Christian should apply the Promises his mistake will cause him to apply the threatenings and when an ungodly man should apply the Threatenings and Terrors of the Lord this mistake of his estate will make him apply the promises And there is no greater strengthener of sin and destroyer of the soul then Scripture misapplyed Wordly delights and the deceiving words of sinners may harden men most desperately in an unsafe way But Scripture misapplied will do it far more effectually and dangerously 3. It will keep a man from compassionating his own soul. Though he be a sad object of pity to every understanding man that beholdeth him yet will he not be able to pity himself because he knoweth not his own misery As I have seen a Physician lament the case of his Patient when he hath discerned his certain death in some small beginning when the Patient himself feared nothing because he knew not the mortal nature of his disease So doth many a Minister or godly Christian lament the case of a carnal wretch who is so far from lamenting it himself that he scorns their pity and biddeth them be sorry for themselves they shall not answer for him and taketh them for his enemies because they tell him the truth of his danger As a man that seeth a beast going to the slaughter doth pity the poor creature when it cannot pity it self because it little thinketh that death is so neer So is it with these poor siners and all long of this mistaking their Spiritual state Is it not a pitiful sight to see a man laughing himself when his understanding friends stand weeping for his misery Paul mentioneth the voluptuous men of his time and the worldlings with weeping but we never read of their weeping for themselves Christ standeth weeping over Jerusalem when they know not of any evil that was towards them nor give him any thanks for his pity or his tears 4. It is in a case of greatest moment and therefore mistaking must needs be most dangerous If it were in making an ill bargain yet we might repair our loss in the next Scipio was wont to say It was an unseemly absurd thing in Military cases to say I had not thought or I was not aware The matter being of so great concernment every danger should be thought of that you may be aware Sure in this weighty case where our everlasting Salvation or
be an Ignorant carnal person that you have to deal with who is an utter stranger to the Mysteries of Religion and to the work of Regeneration on his own Soul the first thing you have to do is to acquaint him with these Doctrines Labour to make him understand wherein mans chief Happiness doth consist and how far he was once possessed of it and what Law and Covenant God then made with him and how he broke it and what penalty he incurred and what misery he brought himself into thereby Teach him what need men had of a Redeemer and how Christ in mercy did interpose and â—ear the penalty and what Covenant now he hath made with man and on what terms only Salvation is now to be attained and what course Christ taketh to draw men to himself and what are the riches and priviledges that Believers have in him If when he understandeth these things he be not moved by them or if you find that the stop lieth in his will and affections and in the hardness of his heart and in the interest that the flesh and the world have got in him Then shew him the excellency of the Glory which he neglecteth and the intolerableness of the loss of it and the extremity and eternity of the torments of the damned and how certainly they must endure them and how just it is for their wilful refusals of grace and how hainâ—us a sin it is to reject such free and abundant mercy and to tread under foot the blood of the Covenant Shew him the certainty nearness and terrors of death and judgment and the vanity of all things below which now he is taken up with and how little they will bestead him in that time of his extremity Shew him that by nature he himself is a child of wrath and enemy to God and by actual sin much more Shew him the viâ—e and hainous nature of sin the absolute necessity he standeth in of a Saviour the freeness of the promise the fulness of Christ the sufficiency of his Satisfaction his readiness to receive all that are willing to be his the Authority and Dominion which he hath purchased over us Shew him also the absolute necessity of Regeneration Faith and Holiness of life how impossible it is to have Salvation by Christ without these and what they are and the true nature of them If when he understandeth all this you find his Soul inthralled in presumption and false hopes perswading himself that he is a true Believer and pardoned and reconciled and shall be saved by Christ and all this upon false grounds or meerly because he would have it so which is a common case Then urge him hard to examine his state shew him the necessity of trying the danger of being deceived the commonness and easiness of mistaking through the deceitfulness of the heart the extream madness of putting it to a blind adventure or of resting in negligent or wilful uncertainty Help him in trying himself Produce some undenyable Evidences from Scripture Ask him Whether these be in him or not Whether ever he found such workings or dispositions in his heart Urge him to a rational answer do not leave him till you have convinced him of his misery and then seasonably and wisely shew him the remedy If he produce some common gifts or duties or works know to what end he doth produce them If to joyn with Christ in composing him a Righteousness shew him how vain and destructive they are If it be by way of Evidence to prove his title to Christ shew him how far a common work may reach and wherein the Life of Christianity doth consist and how far he must go further if he will be Christ's disciple In the mean time that he be not discouraged with hearing of so high a measure shew him the way by which he must attain it be sure to draw him to the use of all means set him a hearing and reading the Word calling upon God accompanying the godly perswade him to leave his actual sin and to get out of all ways of temptation especially to forsake ungodly company and to wait patiently on God in the use of means and shew him the strong hopes that in so doing he may have of a blessing this being the way that God will be found in If you perceive him possessed with any prejudicate conceits against the godly and the way of holiness shew him their falshood and with wisdom and meekness answer his Objections If he be addicted to delay the duties he is convinced of or laziness and stupidity do endanger his Soul then lay it on the more powerfully and set home upon his heart the most piercing considerations and labour to fasten them as thorns in his conscience that he may find no ease or rest till he change his estate SECT IV. BUt because in all works the manner of doing them is of greatest moment and the right performance doth much further the success I will here adjoyn a few Directions which you must be sure to observe in this work of Exhortation for it is not every advice that useth to succeed nor any manner of doing it that will serve the turn Observe therefore these Rules 1. Set upon the work sincerely and with right intentions Let thy Ends be the Glory of God in the parties Salvation Do it not to get a name or esteem to thy self or to bring men to depend upon thee or to get thee followers Do not as many carnal Parents and Masters will do viz. rebuke their Children and Servants for those sins that displease them and are against their profit or their humors as disobedience unthriftiness unmannerliness c. and labour much to reform them in these but never seek in the right way that God hath appointed to save their Souls But be sure thy main end be to recover them from misery and bring them into the way of eternal Rest. SECT V. 2. DO it Speedily As you would not have them Delay their returning so do not you Delay to seek their return You are purposing long to speak to such an Ignorant neighbor and to deal with such a scandalous sinner and yet you have never done it Alas he runs on the score all this while he goes deeper in debt wrath is heaping up Sin taketh rooting Custom doth more fasten him Engagements to sin grow stronger and more numerous Conscience grows seared the heart grows hardened while you delay the Devil rules and rejoyceth Christ is shut out the Spirit is repulsed God is dayly dishonored his Law is violated he is without a Servant and that service from him which he should have the Soul continueth in a doleful state time runs on the day of visitation hasteth away death and judgment are even at the door and what if the man dye and miss of Heaven while you are purposing to teach him and help him to it What if he drop into hell while you are purposing to prevent
lest they should be thought proud As if a Schoolmaster should let his Scholars do what their list or a Pilot let the Seamen run the Ship whither they will for fear of being thought proud in exercising their authoritie Secondly But a far greater clog then this yet doth lie upon the Ministers which â—ew take notice of and that is The fewness of Ministers and the greatness of Congregations In the Apostles times every Church had a multitude of Ministers and so it must be again or we shall never come neer that Primitive patern and then they could preach publikely and from house to house But now when there is but one or two Ministers to many thousand souls we cannot so much as know them much less teach them one by one It is as much as we can do to discharge the publike Work So that you see you have little reason to cast your Work on the Ministers but should the more help them by your diligence in your several families because they are already so over burdened SECT XIV 3. BUt some will say We are poor men and must labor for our living and so must our children and cannot have while to teach them the Scriptures we have somewhat else for them to do Answ. And are not poor men subject to God as well as rich and are they not Christians and must they not give account of their ways and have not your children souls to save or lose as well as the rich cannot you have while to speak to them as they are at their work have you not time to instruct them on the Lords day you can finde time to talk idlely as poor as you are and you can finde no time to talk of the way to Life you can finde time on the Lords day for your children to play or walk or talk in the streets but no time to minde the life to come Me thinks you should rather say to your children I have no Lands or Lordships to leave you nothing but hard labor and povertie in the world you have no hope of great matters here be sure therefore to make the Lord your portion and to get interest in Christ that you may be happy hereafter if you could get riches they would shortly leave you but the riches of Grace and Glory will be everlasting Me thinks you should say as Peter Silver and gold I have none but such as I have I give you The Kingdoms of the world cannot be had by beggers but the Kingdom of Heaven may O what a terrible reckoning will many poor men have when Christ shall plead his cause and judg them May not he say I made the way to worldly honors unaccessible to you that you might not look after it for your selves or your children but Heaven I set open that you might have nothing to discourage you I confined riches and honors to a few but my Blood and Salvation I offered to all that none might say I was not invited I tendered Heaven to the poor as well as the rich I made no exception against the meanest begger that did not wilfully shut out themselves Why then did you not come your selves and bring your children and teach them the way to the eternal Inheritance Do you say you were poor Why I did not set Heaven to sale for money but I called those that had nothing to take it freely onely on condition they would take me for their Saviour and Lord and give up themselves unfeignedly to me in obedience and love What can you answer Christ when he shall thus convince you Is it not enough that your children are poor and miserable here but you would have them be worse for everlasting too If your children were beggers yet if they were such beggers as Lazarus they may be conveyed by Angels into the presence of God But beleeve it as God will save no man because he is a Gentleman so will be save no man because he is a begger God hath so ordered it in his providence that riches are exceeding occasions of mens damnation and will you think poverty a sufficient excuse The hardest point in all our work is to be weaned from the world and in love with heaven and if you will not be weaned from it that have nothing in it but labor and sorrow you have no excuse The poor cannot have while and the rich will not have while or they are ashamed to be so forward the young think it too soon and the old too late and thus most men in stead of being saved have somewhat to say against their salvation and when Christ sendeth to invite them they say I pray thee have me excused O unworthy guests of such a blessed feast and most worthy to be turned into the everlasting burnings SECT XV. 4. BUt some will object We have been brought up in ignorance our selves and therefore we are unable to teach your children Answer Indeed this is the very sore of the Land But is it not pitty that men should so receive their destruction by tradition would you have this course to go on thus still 〈◊〉 parents did not teach you and therefore you cannot teach your children and therefore they cannot teach theirs By this course the knowledge of God should be banished out of the world and never be recovered But if your parents did not teach you why did not you learn when you came to age The truth is you had no hearts to it for he that hath not knowledge cannot value it or love it But yet though you have greatly sinned it is not too late if you will but follow my faithful advice in these 4. points 1. Get your hearts deeply sensible of your own sin and misery because of this long time which you have spent in ignorance and neglect Bethink your selves sometime when you are alone Did not God make you and sustain you for his service should not he have had the youth and strength of your spirits Did you live all this while at the door of Eternity What if you had dyed in ignorance Where had you been then What a deale of time have you spent to little purpose Your life is near done and your work all undone You are ready to dye before you have learned to live Should not God have had a better share of your lives and your souls been more sadly regarded and provided for In the midst of these thoughts cast down your selves in sorrow as at the feet of Christ bewaâ—â— your folly beg pardon recovering grace 2. Then think as sadly how you have wronged your children If an unthrift that hath sold all his lands will lament it for his childrens sake as well as his own much more should you 3. Next set presently to work and learn your selves If you can read do if you cannot get some that can and be much among those that will instruct and help you be not ashamed to be seen among learners though it
chiefly pressed those Duties which must be used for the attainment of this Everlasting Rest. In this I shall chiefly handle those which are necessary to raise the heart to God and to our Heavenly and comfortable life on Earth It is a Truth too evident which an inconsiderate Zealot reprehended in Master CULVERWELL as an Error That many of Gods Children do not enjoy that sweet Life and blessed Estate in this World which God their Father hath provided for them That is Which he offereth them in his Promises and chargeth upon them as their duty in his Precepts and bringeth even to their hands in all his Means and Mercies God hath set open Heaven to us in his Word and told every humble sincere Christian That they shall shortly there live with himself in unconceiveable Glory and yet where is the person that is affected with this Promise whose heart leaps for joy at the hearing of the news or that is willing in hopes of Heaven to leave this World But even the godly have as strange unsavory thoughts of it as if God did but delude us and there were no such Glory and are almost as loath to die as men without hope The consideration of this strange disagreement between our Professions and Affections caused me to suspect that there was some secret lurking unbelief in all our hearts and therefore I wrote those Arguments in the second Part for the Divine Authority of the Scripture And because I finde another cause to be the carelesness forgetfulness and idleness of the Soul and not keeping in action that Faith which we have I have here attempted the removal of that cause by prescribing a course for the daily acting of those Graces which must fetch in the Celestial Delights into the heart O the Princely joyful blessed Life that the godly lose through meer idleness As the Papists have wronged the merits of Christ by their ascribing too much to our own Works so it is almost incredible how much they on the other extream have wronged the safety and consolation of mens Souls by telling them that their own endevors are onely for Obedience and Gratitude but are not so much as Conditions of their Salvation or Means of their increased Sanctification or Consolation And while some tell them That they must look at nothing in themselves for Acceptation with God or Comfort and so make that Acceptance and Comfort to be equally belonging to a Christian and a Turk And others tell them That they must look at nothing in themselves but onely as signes of their good Estate This hath caused some to expect onely Enthusiastick Consâ—lations and others to spend their days in enquiring after signes of their sincerity Had these poor Souls well understood that Gods way to perswade their wills and to excite and actuate their Affections is by the Discourse Reasoning or Consideration of their Vnderstandings upon the Nature and Qualifications of the Objects which are presented to them And had they bestowed but that time in exercising holy Affections and in serious Thoughts of the promised Happiness which they have spent in enquiring onely after Signes I am confident according to the ordinary Workings of God they would have been better provided both with Assurance and with Joyes How should the Heir of a Kingdom have the comfort of his Title but by fore-thinking on it It s true God must give us our Comforts by his Spirit But how by quickening up our souls to beleeve and consider of the promised Glory and not by comforting us we know not how nor why or by giving men the foretasts of Heaven when they never think of it I have here prescribed thee Reader the delightfullest task to the Spirit and the most tedâ—ous to the Flesh that ever men on Earth were imployed in I did it first onely for my self but am loath to conceal the means that I have found so consolaâ—ory If thou be one that wilt not be perswaded to a course so laborious but wilt onely go on in thy task of common formal duties thou mayest let it alone and so be destitute of delights except such as the World and thy Forms can afford thee but then do not for shame complain for want of comfort when thou dost wilfully reject it And be not such an Hypocrite as to pray for it while thou dost refuse to labor for it If thou say Thy comfort is all in Christ I must tell thee it is a Christ remembred and loved and not a Christ forgotten or onely talked of that will solidly comfort Though the Directory for Contemplation was onely intended for this Part yet I have now premised two other Uses The heart must be taken off from Resting on Earth before it will be fit to converse above The first Part of saving Religion is the taking God onely for our End and Rest. CHAP. I. USE VI. Reproving our Expectations of Rest on Earth SECT I. DOth this Rest remain How great then is our sin and folly to seek and expect it here Where shall we finde the Christian that deserves not this Reproof Surely we may all cry guilty to this accusation We know not how to enjoy convenient Houses Goods Lands and Revenues but we seek Rest in these enjoyments We seldom I fear have such sweet and heart contenting thoughts of God and Glory as we have of our earthly delights How much Rest do the voluptuous seek in Buildings Walks Apparel Ease Recreations Sleep pleasing Meats and Drinks merry Company Health and Strength and long Life Nay we can scarce enjoy the necessary Means that God hath appointed for our Spiritual good but we are seeking Rest in them Do we want Minister Godly Society or the like helps O think we if it were but thus and thus with us we were well Do we enjoy them O how we settle upon them and bless our selves in them as the rich fool in his wealth Our Books our Preachers Sermons Friends Abilities for Duty do not our hearts hug them and quiet themselves in them even more then in God Indeed in words we disclaim it and God hath usually the preheminence in our tongues and professions but it s too apparent that it s otherwise in our hearts by these Discoveries First Do we not desire these more violently when we want them then we do the Lord himself Do we not cry out more sensibly O my Friend my Goods my Health then O my God! Do we not miss Ministry and Means more passionately then we miss our God Do we not bestir our selves more to obtain and enjoy these then we do to recover our communion with God Secondly Do we not delight more in the Possession of these then we do in the fruition of God himself Nay be not those mercies and duties most pleasant to us wherein we stand at greatest distance from God We can read and study and confer preach and hear day after day without much weariness because in these we have to do with
If God were not more willing of our company then we are of his how long should we remain thus distant from him And as we had never been sanctified if God had stayed till we were willing so if he should refer it wholly to our selves it would at least be long before we should be glorified I confesse that Death of it self is not desirable but the souls Rest with God is to which death is the common passage And because we are apt to make light of this sin and to plead our common nature for to patronize it let me here set before you its aggravations and also propound some further considerations which may be useful to you and my self against it SECT II. ANd first consider What a deal of gross infidelity doth lurk in the bowels of this sin Either paganish unbelief of the truth of that eternal blessedness and of the truth of the Scripture which doth promise it to us or at least a doubting of our own interest or most usually somewhat of both these And though Christians are usually most sensible of the latter and therefore complain most against it yet I am apt to suspect the former to be the main radicall master sin and of greatest force in this business O if we did but verily believe that the promise of this glory is the word of God and that God doth truly mean as he speaks and is fully resolved to make it good if we did verily believe that there is indeed such blessedness prepared for believers as the Scripture mentioneth sure we should be as impatient of living as we are now fearful of dying and should think every day a yeer till our last day should come We should as hardly refrain from laying violent hands on our selvs or from the neglecting of the means of our health and life as we do now from overmuch carefulness and seeking of life by unlawful means If the eloquent oration of a Philosopher concerning the souls immortality and the life to come could make his affected hearer presently to cast himself head long from the rock as impatient of any longer delay what would a serious Christians belief do if Gods Law against self murder did not restrain Is it possible that we can truly believe that death will remove us from misery to such glory and yet be loth to dye If it were the doubts of our own interest which did fear us yet a true belief of the certainty and excellency of this Rest would make us restless till our interest be cleared If a man that is desperately sick to day did believe he should arise sound the next morning or a man to day in despicable poverty had assurance that he should to morrow arise a prince would they be afraid to go to bed Or rather think it the longest day of their lives till that desired night and morning come The truth is though there is much faith and Christianity in our mouths yet there is much infidelity and paganisme in our hearts which is the maine cause that we are so loth to dye SECT III 3. ANd as the weakness of our Faith so also the coldness of our Love is exceedingly discovered by our unwillingness to dye Love doth desire the neerest conjunction the fullest fruition and closest communion Where these desires are absent there is only a naked pretence of Love He that ever felt such a thing as Love working in his brest hath also felt these desires attending it If we love our friend we love his company his presence is comfortable his absence is troublesome when he goes from us we desire his return when he comes to us we entertain him with welcome and gladness when he dyes we mourn and usually over-mourn to be separated from a faithful friend is to us as the renting of a member from our bodyes And would not our desires after God be such if we really loved him Nay should it not be much more then such as he is above all friends most lovely The Lord teach us to look closely to our hearts and take heed of self-deceit in this point For certainly what ever we pretend or conceit if we love either Father Mother Husband Wife Childe Friend Wealth or life more then Christ we are yet none of his sincere Disciples When it comes to the tryall the question will not be Who hath preached most or heard most or talked most but who hath loved most when our account is given in Christ will not take Sermons Prayers Fastings no nor the giving of our goods nor the burning of our bodies in stead of love 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3 4 8 13. 16.22 Ephes. 6.24 And do we love him and yet care not how long we are from him If I be deprived of my bosom friend me thinks I am as a man in a wilderness solitary and disconsolate And is my absence from God no part of my trouble and yet can I take him for my chiefest friend If I delight but in some Garden or Walk or Gallery I would be much in it If I love my Books I am much with them and almost unweariedly poaring on them The food which I love I would often feed on the clothes that I love I would often wear the recreations which I love I would often use them the business which I love I would be much employed in And can I love God and that above all these and yet have no desires to be with him Is it not a far likelier sign of hatred then of love when the thoughts of our appearing before God are our most grievous thoughts and when we take our selves as undone because we must die and come unto him Surely I should scarce take him for an unfeigned friend who were as well contented to be absent from me as we ordinarily are to be absent from God Was it such a joy to Jacob to see the face of Joseph in Egypt and shall we so dread the sight of Christ in glory and yet say we love him I dare not conclude that we have no love at all when we are so loth to die But I dare say were our love more we should die more willingly Yea I dare say Did we love God but as strongly as a worldling loves his wealth or an ambitious man his honor or a voluptuous man his pleasure yea as a drunkard loves his swinish delight or an unclean person his bruitish lust We should not then be so exceeding loth to leave the world and go to God O if this holy flame of love were throughly kindled in our brests in stead of our pressing fears our dolorous complaints and earnest prayers against death we should joyn in Davids Wilderness-lamentations Psal. 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God The truth is As our knowledg of God is exceeding
yet remember the heart is deceitful God is oft pretended vvhen our selves are inâ—ended But if this be it that sticks vvith thee indeed consider VVilt thou pretend to be vviser then God doth not he knovv hovv â—o provide for his Church Cannot he do his vvork vvithout thee or finde out instruments enough besides thee Think not too highly of thy self because God hath made thee useful Must the Church needs fall when thou art gone Art thou the foundation on which its built Could God take away a Moses an Aaron David Elias c. and finde supply for all their places and cannot he also finde supply for thine This is to derogate from God too much and to arrogate too much unto thy self Neither art thou so merciful as God nor canst love the Church so well as he As his interest is infinitely beyond thine so is his tender care and bounty But of this before Yet mistake me not in all that I have said I deny not but that it is lawful and necessary for a Christian upon both the forementioned grounds to desire God to delay his death both for a further opportunity of gaining assurance and also to be further serviceable to the Church But first This is nothing to their case who are still delaying and never willing whose true discontents are at death it self more then at the unseasonableness of dying Secondly Though such desires are sometimes lawful yet must they be carefully bounded and moderated to which end are the former considerations We must not be too absolute and peremptory in our desires but cheerfully yield to Gods disposal The rightest temper is that of Pauls to be in a streight between two desiring to depart and be with Christ and yet to stay while God will have us to do the Church the utmost service But alas we are seldom in this streight Our desires run out all one way and that for the flesh and not the Church Our streights are onely for fear of dying and not betwixt the earnest desires of dying and of living SECT XXIV OBject But is not death a punishment of God for sin Doth not Scripture call it the King of fears And Nature above all other evils abhor it Answ. I le not meddle with that which is controversal in this Whether Death be properly a punishment or not But grant that in it self considered it may be called Evil as being naturally the dissolution of the Creature Yet being sanctified to us by Christ and being the season and occasion of so great a Good as is the present possession of God in Christ it may be welcomed with a glad submission if not with desire Christ affords us grounds enough to comfort us against this natural Evil And therefore endues us with the principle of Grace to raise us above the reach of nature For all those low and poor Objections as leaving House Goods and Friends leaving our children unprovided c. I pass them over as of lesser moment then to take much with men of Grace SECT XXV LAstly Understand me in this also That I have spoke all this to the faithful soul. I perswade not the ungodly from fearing death It s a wonder rather that they fear it no more and spend not their days in continual horror as is said before Truly but that we know a stone is insensible and a hard heart is dead and stupid or else a man would admire how poor souls can live in ease and quietness that must be turned out of these bodies into everlasting flames Or that be not sure at least if they should die this night whether they shall lodg in Heaven or Hell the next especially when so many are called and so few chosen and the Righteous themselves are scarcely saved One would think such men should eat their bread with trembling and the thoughts of their danger should keep them waking in the night and they should fall presently a searching themselves and enquiring of others and crying to God That if it were possible they might quickly be out of this danger and so their hearts be freed from horror For a man to quake at the thoughts of death that looks by it to be dispossessed of his happiness and knoweth not whether he is next to go this is no wonder But for the Saints to fear their passage by Death to Rest this is an unreasonable hurtful Fear CHAP. III. Motives to a Heavenly Life SECT I. WE have now by the guidance of the Word of the Lord and by the assistance of his Spirit shewed you the nature of the Rest of the Saints and acquainted you with some duties in relation thereto We come now to the close of all to press you to the great duty which I chiefly intended when I begun this subject and have here reserved it to the last place because I know hearers are usually of slippery memories yet apt to retain the last that is spoken though they forget all that went before Dear friends its pity that either you or I should forget any thing of that which doth so neerly concern us as this Eternal Rest of the Saints doth But if you must needs forget something let it be any thing else rather then this let it be rather all that I have hitherto said though I hope of better then this one ensuing Use. Is there a Rest and such a Rest remaining for us Why then are our thoughts no more upon it why are not our hearts continually there why dwell we not there in constant contemplation Sirs Ask your hearts in good earnest what is the cause of this neglect are we reasonable in this or are we not Hath the Eternal God provided us such a Glory and promised to take us up to dwell with himself and is not this worth the thinking on Should not the strongest desires of our hearts be after it and the daily delights of our souls be there Do we beleeve this and can we yet forget and neglect it What 's the matter will not God give us leave to approach this light or will he not suffer our souls to tast and see Why then what means all his earnest invitations why doth he so condemn our earthly-mindedness and command us to set our affections above Ah vile hearts If God were against it we were likelier to be for it When he would have us to keep our station then we are aspiring to be like God and are ready to invade the Divine Prerogatives But when he commands our hearts to Heaven then they will not stir an inch like our Predecessors the sinful Israelites When God would have them march for Canaan then they mutiny and will not stir either they fear the Gyants or the walled Cities or want necessaries or something hinders them but when God bids them not to go then will they needs be presently marching and fight they will though it be to their overthrow If the fore-thoughts of glory were forbidden
heart more glad then theirs that have Corn and VVine and Oyl Psal. 4.6 7. Act. 2.28 out of Psal. 16. Thou shalt fill me full of Joy with thy countenance If it be the countenance of God that fills us with Joy then sure they that draw neerest and most behold it must needs be fullest of these Joyes Sirs if you never tryed this Art nor lived this life of heavenly contemplation I never wonder that you walk uncomfortably that you are all complaining and live in sorrows know not what the Joy of the Saints means Can you have comfort from God and never think of him Can Heaven rejoyce you when you do not reâ—member it Doth any thing in the world glad you when you think not on it Must not every thing first enter your judgment and consideration before it can delight your heart and affection If you were possest of all the treasure of the earth if you had title to the highest dignities and dominions and never think on it sure it would never rejoyce you Whom should we blame then that we are so void of consolation but our own negligent unskilful hearts God hath provided us a Crown of Glory and promised to set it shortly on our heads and we will so much as think on it He holdeth it out in the Gospel to us and biddeth us Behold and Rejoyce we will not so much as look at it And yet we complain for want of Comfort What a perverse course is this both against God and our own Joyes I confesse though in fleshly things the presenting of a comforting object is sufficient to produce an answerable delight yet in spirituals we are more disabled God must give the Joy it self as well as afford us matter for Joy But yet withal it must be remembred that God doth work upon us as men and in a rational way doth raise our comforts He enableth and exciteth us to minde and study these delightful objects and from thence to gather our own comforts as the Bee doth gather her honey from the flowers Therefore he that is most skilful and painful in this gathering Act is usually the fullest of this spiritual sweetness Where is the man that can tell me from experience that he hath had solid and usual Joy in any other way but this and that God worketh it immediatly on his affections without the means of his understanding and considering It is by beleeving that we are filled with Joy Peace Rom. 15.13 and no longer then we continue our believing It is in hope that the Saints Rejoyce yea in this hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 and no longer then they continue hoping And here let me warn you of a dangerous snare an opinion which will rob you of all your comfort some think if they should thus fetch in their own comfort by believing and hoping and work it out of Scripture promises and extract it by their own thinking and studying that then it would be a comfort only of their own hammering out as they say and not the genuine Joy of the Holy Ghost A desperate mistake raised upon a ground that would overthrow almost all duty as well as this which is their setting the workings of Gods Spirit and their own spirits in opposition when their spirits must stand in subordination to Gods They are conjunct causes cooperating to the producing of one and the same effect Gods Spirit worketh our comforts by setting our own spirits awork upon the promises and raising our thoughts to the place of our comforts As you would delight a covetuous man by shewing him gold or a voluptuous man with fleshly delights so God useth to delight his people by taking them as it were by the hand and leading them into Heaven and shewing them himself and their Rest with him God useth not to cast in our Joys while we are idle or taken up with other things It is true he sometime doth it suddenly but yet usually in the foresaid order leading it into our hearts by our judgment and thoughts And his sometime sudden extraordinary casting of comforting thoughts into our hearts should be so far from hindring our endeavors in a meditateing way that it should be a singular motive to quicken us to it even as a tast given us of some cordial or choiser food will make us desire and seek the Rest. God feedeth not Saints as birds do their young bringing it to them and putting it into their mouths while they lye still in the nest and only gape to receive it But as he giveth to man the fruits of the earth the increase of their land in Corn and wine while we plow and sow and weed and water and dung and dress and then with patience expect his blessing so doth he give the joys of the soul. Yet I deny not that if any should so think to work out his own comforts by meditation as to attempt the work in his own strength and not do all in subordination to God nor perceive a necessity of the Spirits assistance the work would prove to be like the workman and the comfort he would gather would be like both even meer vanity Even as the husband mans labor without the sun and rain and blessing of God So then you may easily see that close meditation on the matter and cause of our Joy is Gods way to procure solid Joy For my part if I should finde my joy of another kinde I should be very prone to doubt of its sincerity If I finde a great deal of comfort in my heart and know not how it came thither nor upon what rational ground it was raised nor what considerations do feed and continue it I should be ready to question how I know whether this be from God And though as the Cup in Benjamins sack it might come from Love yet it would leave me but in fears and amazement because of the uncertainty As I think our love to God should not be like that of fond lovers who love violently but they know not why so I think a Christians Joy should be a grounded rational Joy not to rejoyce know not why Though perhaps in some extraordinary case God may cast in such an extraordinary kinde of joy yet I think it s not his usual way And if you observe the spirits of most forlorn uncomfortable despairing Christians you shall finde the Reason to be their ungrounded expectation of such unusual kinde of joys and accordingly are their spirits variously tossed and most unconstantly tempered Sometime when they meet with such Joys or at least think so then they are cheerful and lifted up but because these are usually short-lived Joys therefore they are strait as low as hell and ordinarily that is their more lasting temper And thus they are tossed as a vessel at sea up and down but still in extream whereas alas God is most constant Christ the same Heaven the same and the Promise the
same and if we took the right course for fetching in our comfort from these sure our comforts would be more setled and constant though not always the same Whoever thou art therefore that Readest these lines I intreat thee in the name of the Lord and as thou valuest the life of constant Joy and that good conscience which is a continual feast that thou wouldest but seriously set upon this work and learn this Art of Heavenly-mindedness and thou shalt finde the increase a hundred fold and the benefit abundantly exceed thy labor But this is the misery of mans Nature Though every man naturally abhorreth sorrow and loves the most merry and joyful life yet few do love the way to Joy or will endure the pains by which it is obtained they will take the next that comes to hand and content themselves with earthly pleasures rather then they will ascend to heaven to seek it and yet when all is done they must have it there or be without it SECT VI. 4. COnsider A heart in heaven will be a most excellent preservative against temptations a powerful means to kill thy corruptions and to save thy conscience from the wounds of sin God can prevent our sinning though we be careless and keep off the temptation which we would draw upon our selves and sometime doth so but this is not his usual course nor is this our safest way to escape When the minde is either idle or ill imployed the devil needs not a greater advantage when he finds the thoughts let out on Lust Revenge Ambition or Deceit what an opportunity hath he to move for Execution and to put on the Sinner to practise what he thinks on Nay if he finde the minde but empty there 's room for any thing that he will bring in but when he finds the heart in heaven what hope that any of his motions should take Let him entice to any forbidden course or shew us the baite of any pleasure the soul will return Nehemiaes Answer I am doing a great work and cannot come Neh. 6.3 Several ways will this preserve us against Temptations First By keeping the heart imployed Secondly By clearing the Understanding and so confirming the Will Thirdly By prepossessing the Affections with these highest delights Fourthly And by keeping us in the way of Gods blessing First By keeping the heart employed when we are idle we tempt the devil to tempt us as it is an encouragement to a Thief to see your doors open and no body within and as we use to say Careless persons make Theeves or as it will encourage an High-way Robber to see you unweaponed so may it encourage Sathan to find your hearts idle but when the heart is taken up with God it cannot have while to hearken to Temptations it cannot have while to be lustful and wanton ambitious or worldly If a poor man have a suit to any of you he will not come when you are taken up in some great mans company or discourse that 's but an ill time to speed If you were but busied in your lawful Callings you would not be so ready to hearken to Temptations much less if you were busied above with God Will you leave your Plow and Harvest in the Field or leave the quenching of a fire in your houses to run vvith children a hunting of Butterflies vvould a Judg be perswaded to rise from the Bench vvhen he is sitting upon life and death to go and play among the Boys in the streets No more will a Christian vvhen he is busie vvith God and taking a survey of his eternal Rest give ear to the alluring charms of Sathan Non vacat exiguis c. is a Character of the truly prudent man the children of that Kingdom should never have vvhile for trifles but especially vvhen they are imployed in the affairs of the Kingdom and this employment is one of the Saints chief preservatives against temptations For as Gregory saith Nunquam Dei amor otiosus est operatur enim magna si est Si verò operari renuit non est amor The Love of God is never idle it vvorketh great things vvhen it truly is and vvhen it vvill not vvork it is not love Therefore being still thus working it is still preserving Secondly A heavenly minde is the freest from sin because it is of clearest understanding in spiritual matters of greatest concernment A man that is much in conversing above hath truer and livelyer apprehensions of things concerning God and his soul then any reading or learning can beget Though perhaps he may be ignorant in divers controversies and matters that less concern salvation yet those truths vvhich must stablish his soul and preserve him from temptation he knows far better then the greatest Scholars he hath so deep an insight into the evil of sin the vanity of the creature the brutishness of fleshly sensual delights that temptations have little power on him for these earthly vanities are Satans baites which though they may take much with the undiscerning world yet with the clear-sighted they have lost their force In vain saith Salomon the net is spread in the sight of any bird Pro. 1.17 And usually in vain doth Satan lay his snares to entrap the soul that plainly sees them when a man is on high he may see the further we use to set our discovering Centinels on the highest place that 's neer unto us that he may discern all the motions of the Enemy In vain doth the Enemy lay his Ambuscado's when we stand over him on some high Mountain and clearly discover all he doth When the heavenly-minde is above with God he may far easier from thence discern every danger that lyes below and the whole method of the devil in deceiving Nay if he did not discover the snare yet were he likelier far to escape it then any others that converse below A net or baite that 's laid on the ground is unlikely to catch the bird that flyes in the Air while she keeps above she 's out 〈◊〉 of the danger and the higher the safer so is it with us Sathans temptations are laid on the earth earth is the place and earth the ordinary baite How shall these ensnare the Christian who hath left the earth and walks with God But alas we keep not long so high but down we must to the earth again and then we are taken If conversing with wise and learned men is the way to make one wise and learned then no wonder if he that converseth with God become wise If men that travel about the earth do think to return home with more experience and wisdom how much more he that travels to heaven As the very Air and Climate that we most abide in do work our bodies to their own temper no wonder if he that is much in that sublime and purer Region have a purer soul and quicker sight and if he have an understanding full of light who liveth with
sea and land and no difficulty can keep them back when they think of an uncertain perishing treasure O what life then would it put into a Christians endeavors if he would frequently forethink of his everlasting Treasure We run so slowly and strive so lazily because we so little minde the prize When a Christian hath been tasting the hidden Manna and drinking of the streams of the Paradise of God what life doth this Ambrosia and Nectar put into him How fervent will his spirit be in prayer when he considers that he prayes for no less then Heaven If Henoch Elias or any of the Saints who are now in Heaven and have partaked of the vision of the living God should be sent down to the earth again to live on the tearmes as we now do would they not strive hard and pray earnestly rather then lose that blessed Rest No wonder for they would know what it is they pray for It s true we cannot know it here so throughly as they yet if we would but get as high as we can and study but that which may now be known it would strangely alter both our spirits and our duties Observe but the man who is much in heaven and you shall see he is not like other Christians There is somewhat of that which he hath seen above appeareth in all his duty and conversation Nay take but the same man immediatly when he is returned from these views of Bliss and you shall easily perceive that he excels himself as if he were not indeed the same as before If he be a Preacher how heavenly are his Sermons what clear descriptions what high expressions what savory passages hath he of that Rest If he be a private Christian what heavenly conference what heavenly prayers what a heavenly carriage hath he May you not even hear in a preachers Sermons or in the private duties of another when they have been most above When Moses had been with God in the mount he had derived so much glory from God that made his face to shine that the people could not behold him Beloved friends if you would but set upon this employment even so would it be with you men would see the face of your conversation shine and say surely he hath been with God As the body is apt to be changed into the temper of the air it breaths in and the food it lives on so will your spirits receive an alteration according to the objects which they are exercised about If your thoughts do feed on Christ and heaven you will be heavenly if they feed on Earth you will be earthly It s true a heavenly Nature goes before this heavenly imployment but yet the work will make it more heavenly There must be life before we can feed but our life is continued and increased by feeding Therefore Reader let me here inform thee That if thou lie complaining of deadness and dulness that thou canst not love Christ nor rejoyce in his Love that thou hast no life in prayer nor any other duty and yet never tryedst this quickning course or at least art careless and unconstant in it Why thou art the cause of thy own complaints thou deadest and dullest thine own heart thou deniest thy self that life which thou talkst of Is not thy life hid with Christ in God Whither must thou go but to Christ for it and whither is that but to Heaven where he is Thou wilt not come to Christ that thou maist have life If thou wouldst have light and heat why art thou then no more in the Sunshine If thou wouldst have more of that Grace which flows from Christ why art thou no more with Christ for it Thy strength is in Heaven and thy life in Heaven and there thou must daily fetch it if thou wilt have it For want of this recourse to heaven thy soul is as a candle that is not lighted and thy duties as a sacrifice which hath no fire Fetch one coal daily from this Altar and see if thy offering will not burn Light thy candle at this flame and feed it daily with Oyl from hence and see if it will not gloriously shine Keep close to this reviving fire and see if thy affections will not be warm Thou bewailest thy want of love to God and well thou maist for its a hainous crime a killing sin why lift up thy eye of Faith to Heaven behold his beauty contemplate his excellencies and see whether his amiableness will not fire thy affections and his perfect goodness ravish thy heart As the eye doth incense the sensual affections by its overmuch gazing on alluring objects so doth the eye of our Faith in meditation inflame our affections towards our Lord by the frequent gazing on that highest beauty Whoever thou art that art a stranger to this imployment be thy parts and profession never so great let me tell thee Thou spendest thy life but in trifling or idleness thou seemest to live but thou art dead I may say of thee as Seneca of idle Varia Scis latere vivere nescis Thou knowest how to lurk in idleness but how to live thou knowest not And as the same Seneca would say when he passed by that sluggards dwelling Ibi fitâ—s est Varia so may it be said of thee There lies such a one but not there lives such a one for thou spendest thy days liker to the dead then the living One of Draco's Laws to the Athenians was That he who was convict of idleness should be put to death Thou dost execute this on thy own soul whilest by thy idleness thou destroyest its liveliness Thou maist many other ways exercise thy parts but this is the way to exercise thy Graces They all come from God as their Fountain and lead to God as their ultimate End and are exercised on God as their chiefest Object so that God is their All in All. From Heaven they come and heavenly their nature is and to Heaven they will direct and move thee And as exercise maintaineth appetite strength and liveliness to the body so doth it also to the soul. Vse limbs and have limbs is the known Proverb And use Grace and Spiritual Life in these heavenly exercises and you shall finde it quickly cause their increase The exercise of your meer abilities of Speech will not much advantage your graces but the exercise of these heavenly soul exalting gifts will unconceivably help to the growth of both For as the Moon is then most full and glorious when it doth most directly face the Sun so will your souls be both in gifts and graces when you do most neerly view the face of God This will feed your tongue with matter and make you abound and overflow both in Preaching Praying and Conferring Besides the fire which you fetch from Heaven for your Sacrifices is no false or strange fire As your liveliness will be much more so will it be also more sincere A man may have a
thou walk without thy strength how long dost thou think thou art like to endure SECT IX 7. COnsider It is he that hath his conversation in heauen who is the profitable Christian to all about him with him you may take sweet counsel and go up to the celestial House of God When a man is in a strange Countrey far from home how glad is he of the company of one of his own Nation how delightful is it to them to talk of their Countrey of their acquaintance and the â—â—â—airs of their home why with a heavenly Christian thou maist have such discourse for he hath been there in the Spirit and can tell thee of the Glory and Rest above VVhat pleasant discourse was it to Joseph to talk with his Brethren in a strange Land and to enquire of his Father and his brother Benjamin Is it not so to a Christian to talk with his Brethren that have been above and enquire after his Father and Christ his Lord when a worldling will talk of nothing but the world and a Politician of nothing but the affairs of the State and a meer Scholar of Humane learning and a common Professor of Duties and of Christians the Heavenly man will be speaking of Heaven and the strange Glory which his Faith hath seen and our speedy and blessed meeting there I confess to discourse with able men of clear Understandings and piercing Wits about the controverted difficulties in Religion yea about some Criticisms in Languages and Sciences is both pleasant and profitable but nothing to this Heavenly discourse of a Beleever O how refreshing and savory are his expressions how his words do peirce and melt the heart how they transform the hearers into other men that they think they are in Heaven all the while How doth his Doctrine drop as the Rain and his Speech distil as the gentle Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the showers upon the Grass while his tongue is expressing the Name of the Lord and ascribing greatness to his God Deut. 32.2 3. Is not his feeling sweet discourse of Heaven even like that box of precious oyntment which being opened to pour on the head of Christ doth fill the house with the pleasure of its perfume All that are neer may be refreshed by it His words are like the precious oyntment on Aarons head that ran down upon his beard and the skirts of his Garments Even like the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descendeth from the Celestial Mount Zion where the Lord hath commanded the blessing even life for evermore Psal. 133.3 This is the man who is as Job When the Candle of God did shine upon his head and when by his light he walked through darkness When the secret of God was upon his Tabernacle and when the Almighty was yet with him Then the ear that heard him did bless him and the eye that saw him gave witness to him Job 29.3 4 5 11. Happy the people that have a Heavenly Minister Happy the children and servants that have a Heavenly Father or Master Happy the man that hath Heavenly Associates if they have but hearts to know their happiness This is the Companion who will watch over thy ways who will strengthen thee when thou art weak who will chear thee when thou art drooping and comfort thee with the same comforts wherewith he hath been so often comforted himself 2 Cor. 1.4 This is he that will be blowing at the spark of thy Spiritual Life and always drawing thy soul to God and will be saying to thee as the Samaritan woman Come and see one that hath told me all that ever I did one that hath ravished my heart with his beauty one that hath loved our souls to the death Is not this the Christ Is not the knowledg of God and Him Eternal life Is not it the glory of the Saints to see his Glory If thou come to this mans house and sit at his Table he will feast thy soul with the dainties of Heaven thou shalt meet with a better then Plato's Philosophical feast even a taste of that feast of fat things Of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wine on the lees well refined Isai. 25.6 That thy soul may be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and thou maist praise the Lord with joyful lips Psal 63.5 If thou travel with this man on the way he will be directing and quickning thee in thy Journey to Heaven If thou be buying or selling or trading with him in the world he will be counselling thee to lay out for the inestimable Treasure If thou wrong him he can pardon thee remembring that Christ hath not onely pardoned greater offences to him but will also give him this unvaluable portion If thou be angry he is meek considering the meekness of his heavenly Pattern or if he fall out with thee he is soon reconciled when he remembreth that in heaven you must be everlasting friends This is the Christian of the right stamp this is the servant that is like his Lord these be the innocent that save the Iland and all about them are the better where they dwell O Sirs I fear the men I have described are very rare even among the Religious but were it not for our own shameful negligence such men we might all be What Families what Towns what Commonwealths what Churches should we have if they were but composed of such men but that is more desirable then hopeful till we come to that Land which hath no other inhabitants save what are incomparably beyond this Alas how empty are the speeches and how unprofitable the society of all other sorts of Christians in comparison of these A man might perceive by his Divine Song and high Expressions Deut. 32. and 33. that Moses had been oft with God and that God had shewed him part of his Glory Who could have composed such spiritual Psalms and poured out praises as David did but a man after Gods own heart and a man that was neer the heart of God and no doubt had God also neer his heart Who could have preached such spiritual Doctrine and dived into the precious mysteries of Salvation as Paul did but one who had been called with a light from heaven and had been rapt up into the third heavens in the Spirit and there had seen the unutterable things If a man should come down from heaven amongst us who had lived in the possession of that blessed State how would men be desirous to see or hear him and all the Countrey far and neer would leave their business and crowd about him happy would he think himself that could get a sight of him how would men long to hear what reports he would make of the other world and what he had seen and what the blessed there enjoy would they not think this man the best companion and his discourse to be of all most profitable Why sirs Every true
believing Saint shall be there in person and is frequently there in Spirit and hath seen it also in the Glass of the Gospel Why then do you value their company no more and why do you enquire no more of them and why do you relish their discourse no better Well for my part I had rather have the fellowship of a Heavenly minded Christian then of the most learned Disputers or Princely Commanders SECT X. 8. COnsider There is no man so highly honoreth God as he who hath his conversation in Heaven and without this we deeply dishonor him Is it not a disgrace to the Father when the Children do feed on Husks and are cloathed in rags and accompany with none but Rogues and Beggers Is it not so to our Father when we who call our selves his Children shall feed on Earth and the garb of our souls be but like that of the naked World and when our hearts shall make this clay and dust their more familiar and frequent company who should always stand in our Fathers presence and be taken up in his own Attendance Sure it beseems not the Spouse of Christ to live among his Scullions and Slaves when they may have daily admittance into his presence Chamber he holds forth the Scepter if they will but enter Sure we live below the rates of the Gospel and not as becometh the Children of a King even of the great King of all the World We live not according to the height of our Hopes nor according to the plenty that is in the Promises nor according to the provision of our Fathers house and the great preparations made for his Saints It is well we have a Father of tender Bowels who will own his Children even in dirt and rags It is well the foundation of God stands sure and that the Lord knoweth who are his or else he would hardly take us for his own so far do we live below the honor of Saints If he did not first challenge his interest in us neither our selves nor others could know us to be his people But O when a Christian can live above and rejoyce his soul in the things that are unseen how doth God take himself to be honored by such a one The Lord may say Why this man beleeves me I see he can trust me and take my Word He rejoyceth in my promise before he hath possession he can be glad and thankful for that which his bodily eyes did never see This mans rejoycing is not in the flesh I see he loves me because he mindes me his heart is with me he loves my presence and he shall surely enjoy it in my Kingdom for ever Because thou hast seen saith Christ to Thomas thou hast beleeved but blessed are they that have not seen and yet have beleeved John 20.29 How did God take himself honored by Caleb and Joshuah when they went into the promised Land and brought back to their Brethren a taste of the Fruits and gave it commendation and encouraged the people And what a promise and recompence do they receive Numb 14.24 30. For those that honor him he will honor 1 Sam. 2.30 SECT XI 9. COnsider If thou make not conscience of this duty of diligent keeping thy heart in Heaven First thou disobeyest the flat commands of God Secondly Thou losest the sweetest parts of Scripture Thirdly And dost frustrate the most gratious discoveries of God God hath not left it as a thing indifferent and at thy own choice whether thou wilt do it or not He hath made it thy duty as well as the means of thy comfort that so a double bond might tie thee not to forsake thy own mercies Col 3 1 2. If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above set your affections on things above not on things on earth The same God that hath commanded thee to believe and to be a Christian hath commanded thee to set thy affections above The same God that hath forbidden thee to murder to steal to commit adultery incest or Idolatry hath forbidden thee the neglect of this great duty and darest thou wilfully disobey him Why makest thou not conscience of the one as well as of the other Secondly besides thou losest the most comfortable passages of the VVord All those most glorious descriptions of heaven all those discoveries of our future blessedness all Gods Revelations of his purposes towards us and his frequent and pretious promises of our Rest what are they all but lost to thee Are not these the stars in the Firmament of the Scripture and the most golden lines in that Book of God Of all the Bible Me thinks thou shouldest not part with one of those Promises or Predictions no not for a world As Heaven is the perfection of all our mercies so the Promises of it in the Gospel are the very soul of the Gospel That VVord whâ—ch was sweeter to David then the honey and the honey comb and to Jeremy the Joy and rejoycing of his heart Jer. 15.16 The most pleasant part of this thou losest Thirdly Yea thou dost frustrate the preparations of Christ for thy Joy and makest him to speak in vain Is a comfortable word from the mouth of God of so great worth that all the comforts of the world are nothing to it and dost thou neglect and overlook so many of them Reader I intreat thee to ponder it why God should reveal so much of his Counsel and tell us before hand of the Joyes we shall possess but onely that he would have us know it for our Joy If it had not been to make comfortable our present life and fill us with the delights of our foreknown blessedness he might have kept his purpose to himself and never have let us know it till we come to enjoy it nor have revealed it to us till death had discovered it what he meant to do with us in the world to come yea when we had got possession of our Rest he might still have concealed its Eternity from us and then the fears of losing it again would have bereaved us of much of the sweetness of our Joyes But it hath pleased our Father to open his Counsel and to let us know the very intent of his heart and to acquaint us with the eternal extent of his Love and all this that our Joy may be full and we might live as the heirs of such a Kingdom And shall we now over-look all as if he had revealed no such matter Shall we live in earthly cares and sorrows as if we knew of no such thing And rejoyce no more in these discoveries then if the Lord had never writ it If thy Prince had sealed thee but a Patent of some Lordship how oft wouldst thou be casting thine eye upon it and make it thy daily delight to study it till thou shouldst come to possess the dignity it self And hath God sealed thee a Patent of Heaven and dost thou let it
lye by thee as if thou hadst forgot it O that our hearts were as high as our Hopes and our Hopes as high as these infallible Promises SECT XII 10. COnsider It is but equal that our hearts should be on God when the heart of God is so much on us If the Lord of Glory can stoop so low as to set his heart on sinful dust sure one would think we should easily be perswaded to set our hearts on Christ and Glory and to ascend to him in our daily affections who vouchsafeth to condescend to us O If Gods delight were no more in us then ours is in him what should we do what a case were we in Christian dost thou not perceive that the Heart of God is set upon thee and that he is still minding thee with tender Love even when thou forgettest both thy self and him Dost thou not finde him following thee with daily mercies moving upon thy soul providing for thy body preserving both Doth he not bear thee continually in the arms of Love and promise that all shall work together for thy good and suit all his dealings to thy greatest advantage and give his Angels charge over thee And canst thou finde in thy heart to cast him by and be taken up with the Joyes below and forget thy Lord who forgets not thee Fye upon this unkinde ingratitude Is not this the sin that Isaiah so solemnly doth call both heaven and earth to witness against The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but Israel doth not know my People doth not consider If the Ox or Ass do straggle in the day they likely come to their home at night but we will not so much as once a day by our serious thoughts ascend to God When he speaks of his own respects to us hear what he saith Isai. 15.16 When Zion saith The Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking childe that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me But when he speaks of our thoughts to him the case is otherwise Jer. 2.32 Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attire yet my People have forgotten me days without number As if he should say you would not forget the cloathes on your backs you will not forget your braveries and vanities you will not rise one morning but you will remember to cover your nakedness And are these of more worth then your God or of more concernment then your eternal life and yet you can forget these day after day O brethren give not God cause to expostulate with us as Isai. 65.11 Ye are they that have forsaken the Lord and that forget my holy Mountain But rather admire his minding of thee and let it draw thy minde again to him and say as Job 7.17 What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him and that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment ver 18. So let thy soul get up to God and visit him every morning and thy heart be towards him every moment SECT XIII 11. COnsider Should not our interest in Heaven and our Relation to it continually keep our hearts upon it Besides that excellency which is spoken of before VVhy there our Father keeps his court Do we not call him our Father which art in Heaven Ah ungratious unworthy children that can be so taken up in their play below as to be mindless of such a Father Also there is Christ our Head our Husband our Life and shall we not look towards him and send to him as oft as we can till we come to see him face to face If he were by Transubstantiation in the Sacraments or other ordinances and that as gloriously as he is in Heaven then there were some reason for our lower thoughts But when the Heavens must receive him till the restitution of all things let them also receive our hearts with him There also is our Mother For Jerusalem which is above is that mother of us all Gal. 4.26 And there are multitudes of our elder Brethren There are our friends and our ancient acquaintance whose society in the flesh we so much delighted in and whose departure hence we so much lamented And is this no attractive to thy thoughts If they were within thy reach on earth thou wouldst go and visit them and why wilt thou not oftner visit them in Spirit and rejoyce beforehand to think of thy meeting them there again Saith old Bullinger Socrates gaudet sibi moriendū esse propterea quod Homerum Hesiodum alios praestantissimos viros se visurum crederet quanto magis ego gaudeo qui certus sum me visurum esse Christum servatorem meum aeternum Dei filium in assumtâ carne praeterea tot sanctissimos eximios Patriarchas c. Socrates rejoyced that he should die because he believed he should see Homer Hesiod and other excellent men how much more do I rejoyce who am sure to see Christ my Saviour the eternal Son of God in his assumed flesh and besides so many holy and excellent men When Luther desired to dye a Martyr and could not obtain it he comforted himself with these thoughts and thus did write to them in prison Vestra vincula mea sunt vestri carceres ignes mei sunt dum confiteor praedico vobisque simul compatior congratulor Yet this is my comfort your Bonds are mine your Prisons and Fires are mine while I confess and Preach the Doctrine for which you suffer and while I suffer and congratulate with you in your sufferings Even so should a Believer look to heaven and contemplate the blessed state of the Saints and think with himself Though I am not yet so happy as to be with you yet this is my daily comfort you are my Brethren and fellow Members in Christ and therefore your joyes are my joyes and your glory by this neer relation is my glory especially while I believe in the same Christ and hold fast the same Faith and Obedience by which you were thus dignified and also while I rejoyce in Spirit with you and in my daily meditations congratulate your happiness Moreover our house and home is above For we know if this earthly house of our Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Why do we then look no oftner towards it and groan not earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 2. Sure if our home were far meaner we should yet remember it because it is our home You use to say Home is homely be it never so poor and should such a home then be no more remembred If
that makes men Hypocrites but their own wickedness Christ will not keep such out among Infidels for fear of making Hypocrites but when the net is drawn unto the shore the fishes shall be separated and when the time of Harvest comes then the Angels shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that work iniquity Matth. 13.41 There are many Saints or sanctified men that yet shall never come to heaven who are onely Saints by their separation from Paganism into fellowship with the visible Church but not Saints in the strictest sense by separation from the ungodly into the fellowship of the mystical body of Christ Heb. 10 29. Deut. 7.6 and 14 2 21. and 26.19 and 28.9 Exod. 19.6 1 Cor. 7.13 14. Rom. 11.16 Heb. 3.1 compared with ver 12. 1 Cor. 3.17 and 14.33 1 Cor. 1.2 compared with 11.20 21 c. Gal. 3.26 compared with Gal. 3.3 4. and 4.11 and 5.2 3 4. Joh. 15.2 Thus far I have digressed by way of Caution that you may not think that I disswade you from lawful converse but it is the unnecessary society of ungodly men and too much familiarity with unprofitable companions though they be not so apparently ungodly that I disswade you from There are many persons whom we may not avoid or excommunicate out of the Church no nor out of our private society judicially or by way of penalty to them whom yet we must exclude from our too much familiarity in way of prudence for preservation of our selves It is not onely the open prophane the swearer the drunkard and the enemies of godliness that will prove hurtful companions to us though these indeed are chiefly to be avoided but too frequent society with dead-hearted Formalists or persons meerly civil and moral or whose conference is empty unsavory and barren may much divert our thoughts from heaven and do our selves a great deal of wrong as meer idleness and forgetting God will keep a soul as certainly from Heaven as a profane licentious fleshly life so also will the usuall company of such idle forgetful negligent persons as surely keep our hearts from heaven as the company of men more dissolute and profane Alas our dulness and backwardness is such that we have need of the most constant and powerful helps A clod or a stone that lyes on the earth is as prone to arise and fly in the Air as our hearts are naturally to move toward heaven you need not hold nor hinder the earth and Rocks to keep them from flying up to the skies it is sufficient that you do not help them And surely if our spirits have not great assistance they may easily be kept from flying aloft though they never should meet with the least impediment O think of this in the choice of your company when you spirits are so powerfully disposed for heaven that you need no help to lift them up but as the flames you are alwayes mounting upward and carrying with you all that 's in your way then you may indeed be less careful of our company but till then as you love the delights of a heavenly life be careful herein As it s reported of a Lord that was neer to his death and the Doctor that prayed with him read over the Letany For all women labouring with childe for all sick persons and young children c. From lightning and tempest from plague pestilence and famine from battel murder and sudden death c. Alas saith he what is this to me who must presently dye c. So maist thou say of such mens conference who can talk of nothing but their Callings and vanity Alas what 's this to me who must shortly be in Rest and should now be refreshing my soul with its foretastes what will it advantage thee to a life with God to hear where the Fair is such a day or how the Market goes or what weather is or is like to be or when the Moon changeth or what news is stirring why this is the discourse of earthly men What will it conduce to the raising of thy heart God-ward to hear that this is an able Minister or that an able Christian or that this was an excellent Sermon or that is an excellent book to hear a violent arguing or tedious discourse of Baptism Ceremonies the power of the Keyes the order of Gods Decrees or other such controversies of great difficulty and less importance Yet this for the most part is the sweetest discourse that thou art like to have of a formal speculative dead-hearted Professor Nay if thou hadst newly been warming thy heart in the contemplation of the blessed Joys above would not this discourse benum thine affections and quickly freez thy heart again I appeal to the Judgment of any man that hath tryed it and maketh observations on the frame of his spirit Men cannot well talk of one thing and minde another especially things of such differing natures You young men who are most lyable to this temptation think sadly of what I say Can you have your hearts in Heaven on an Ale-house bench among your roaring singing swaggering companions or when you work in your Shops with none but such whose ordinary language is oaths or filthiness or foolish talking or jesting Nay let me tell you thus much more that if you choose such company when you might have better and finde most delight and content in such you are so far from a Heavenly conversation that as yet you have no title to heaven at all and in that estate shall never come there For were your Treasure there your heart would not be on things so distant Mat. 6.21 In a word our company will be part of our happiness in heaven and its a singular part of our furtherance to it or hinderance from it And as the creatures living in the several Elements are commonly of the temperature of the Element they live in as the fishes cold and moist like the water the worms cold and dry as the earth and so the rest So are we usually like the society which we most converse in He that never found it hard to have a heavenly minde in earthly company it is certainly because he never tryed SECT IIII. 4. A Fourth hinderance to a heavenly conversation is Too frequent disputes about lesser truths and especially when a mans Religion lyes only in his opinions a sure sign of an unsanctified soul. If sad examples be doctrinal to you or the Judgments of God upon us be regarded I need to say the lesse upon this particular It s legibly written in the faces of thousands It is visible in the complexion of our diseased nation This facies Hypocritica is our facies Hipocratica He that hath the least skill in Physiognomy may see that this complexlon is mortal and this picture-like shaddow-like visage affordeth our state a sad prognostick You that have been my companions in Armies and Garrisons in Cities and Countreyes I know have been
but looks upon it afar off Psal. 138.6 The proud he resisteth and the proud resisteth him but to the humble he gives this and other Graces 1 Pet. 5.5 A proud minde is a high minde in conceit self-esteem and carnal-aspiring A heavenly minde is a high minde indeed in Gods esteem and in higher yet holy aspiring These two sorts of high-mindedness are more adverse to one another then a high minde and a low As we see that most wars and bloodshed is between Princes and Princes and not between a Prince and a Plowman A low spirit and a humble is not so contrary to a high and heavenly as is a high and a proud A grain of Mustard Seed may come to be a tree A small Acorn may be a great Oake The sail of the windmil that is now down may presently be the highest of all A Subject that is low may be raised high and he that is high may be yet higher as long as he stands in subordination to his Prince who is the fountain of honor but if he break out of that subordination and become a competitor or will assume and arrogate honor to himself he will finde this prove the falling way A man that is swelled in a Dropsie with winde or water is as far from a sound well fleshed constitution as he that is in a consuming Atrophy Well then art thou a man of worth in thine own eyes and very tender of thine esteem with others Art thou one that much valuest the applause of the people and feelest thy heart tickled with delight when thou hearest of thy great esteem with men and much dejected when thou hearest that men sleight thee Do thou love those best who most highly honour thee and doth thy heart bear a grudg at those that thou thinkest do undervalue thee and entertain mean thoughts of thee though they be otherwise men of godliness and honesty Art thou one that must needs have thy humors fulfilled and thy judgment must be a rule to the Judgments of others and thy word a law to all about thee Art thou ready to quarrel with every man that lets fall a word in derogation from thy honor Are thy passions kindled if thy word or will be crossed Art thou ready to judg humility to be sordid baseness and knowest not how to stoop and submit and wilt not be brought to shame thy self by humble confession when thou hast sinned against God or injured thy brother Art thou one that honourest the godly that are rich and thinkest thy self somebody if they value and own thee but lookest strangely at the godly poor and art almost ashamed to be their companion Art thou one that canst not serve God in a low place as well as in a high and thinkest thy self the fittest for offices and honors and lovest Gods service when it stands with preferment Hast thou thine eye and thy speech much on thy own deservings and are thy boastings restained more by wit then by humility Dost thou delight in opportunities of setting forth thy parts and lovest to have thy name made publike to the world and wouldst fain leave behinde thee some monument of thy worth that posterity may admire thee when thou art dead and gone Hast thou witty circumlocutions to commend thy self while thou seemest to debase thy self and deny thy worth Dost thou desire to have all mens eyes upon thee and to hear men observing thee say This is he Is this the end of thy studies and learning of thy labors and duties of seeking degrees and titles and places that thou maist be taken for somebody abroad in the world Art thou unacquainted with the deceitfulness and wickedness of thy heart or knowest thy self to be vile only by reading and by hear-say but not by experience and feeling of thy vileness Art thou readier to defend thy self and maintain thine innocency then to accuse thy self or confess thy fault Canst thou hardly hear a close reproof and dost digest plain dealing with difficulty and distaste Art thou readier in thy discourse to teach then to learn and to dictate to others then to hearken to their instructions Art thou bold and confident of thy own opinions and little suspitious of the weakness of thy understanding but a sleighter of the judgments of all that are against thee Is thy spirit more disposed to command and govern then it is to obey and be ruled by others Art thou ready to censure the Doctrine of thy Teachers the actions of thy Rulers and the persons of thy brethren and to think if thou were a Judg thou wouldst be more just or if thou were a Minister thou wouldst be more fruitful in Doctrine and more faithful in overseeing Or if thou hadst had the managing of other mens business thou wouldst have carried it more honestly and wisely If these Symtomes be undeniably in thy heart beyond doubt thou art a proud person I will not talk of thy following the fashions of thy bravery and comportment thy proud gestures and arrogant speeces thy living at a rate above thy abilities Perhaps thy incompetency of estate or thy competency of wit may suffice to restrain these unmanly fooleries perhaps thou maist rather seem sordid to others and to live at a rate below thy worth and yet if thou be guilty of the former accusations be it known to thee thou art a person abominably proud it hath seized on thy heart which is the principall Fort there 's too much of hell abiding in thee for thee to have any acquaintance at heaven thy soul is too like the devil for thee to have any familiarity with God A proud man is all in the flesh and he that will be heavenly must be much in the Spirit Is it likely that the man whom I have here described hath either will or skill to go out of Himself and out of the Flesh as it were and out of the world that so he may have freedom for converse above A proud man make himself his God and admires and sets up himself as his Idol how then can he have his affections set on God As the humble godly man is the Zealot in forward worshipping of God so the Ambitious man is the great zealot in Idolatry for what is his Ambition but a more hearty and earnest desire after his Idol then the common and calmer Idolaters do reach And can this man possibly have his heart in heaven It s possible his invention and memory may furnish his tongue both with humble and heavenly expressions but in his spirit theâ—â— is no more heaven then there is humility I intreat you Readers be very jealous of your souls in this point There 's nothing in the world will more estrange you from God I speak the more of it because it is the most common and dangerous sin in Morality and most promoting the great sin of Infidelity you would little think yea and the owners do little think what humble
shall now lay thee down some positive helps and conclude with a Directory to the 〈◊〉 in duty it self But first I expect that thou resolve against the forementioned impediments that thou read them seriously and avoid them faithfully or else thy labor will be all in vain thou dost but go about to reconcile Light and Darkness Christ and Belial and to conjoyn Heaven and Hel in thy spirit thou maist sooner bring down Heaven to earth then do this I must tell thee also that I here expect thy promise faithfully to set upon the helps which I shall prescribe thee and that the Reading of them will not bring heaven into thy heart but in their constant practice the Spirit will do it It were better for thee I had never written them and thou hadst never seen this Book nor read them if thou do not buckle thy self to the duty As thou valuest then the delights of these foretastes of Heaven make conscience of performing these following duties SECT II. 1. KNow Heaven to be the onely Treasure and labor to know also what a Treasure it is be convinced once that thou hast no other happiness and then he convinced what happiness is there If thou do not soundly believe it to be the chiefest good thou wilt never set thy heart upon it and this conviction must sinke into thy affections for if it be onely a notion it will have little operation And sure we have reason enough to be easily convinced of thiâ—â—s as you may see in what hath been spoken already Read over the Description and Nature of this Rest in the beginning of this Book and the Reasons against thy Resting below in Chapter First and conclude That this is the onely Happiness As long as your judgments do undervalue it your affections must needs be cold towards it If your judgments do mistake Blear-eyed Leah for Beautiful Rachel so will your affections also mistake them If Evah do once suppose she sees more worth in the forbidden fruit then in the love and fruition of God no wonder if it have more of her heart then God If your judgments once prefer the delights of the Flesh before the delights in the Presence of God its impossible then your hearts should be in heaven as it is the ignorance of the emptiness of things below that makes men so overvalue them so it is ignorance of the high delights above which is the cause that men so little minde them If you see a purse of gold and believe it to be but Stones or Counters it will not intice your affections to it it is not a things excellency in it self but it s an excellency known that provokes desire If an ignorant man see a Book containing the secrets of Arts or Sciences yet he values it no more then a common piece because he knows not what is in it but he that knows it doth highly value it his very minde is set upon it he can pore upon it day and night he can forbear his meat and drink and sleep to read it As the Jews enquired after Elias when Christ tells them that verily Elias is already come and ye knew him not but did unto him whatsoever ye listed so men enquire after Happiness and Delight when it is offered to them in the promise of Rest and they know it not but trample it under foot and as the Jews killed the Messiah while they waited for the Messiah and that because they did not know him For had they known him they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Acts 13.27 1 Cor. 2.8 So doth the world cry out for Rest and busily seek for Delight and Happiness even while they are neglecting and destroying their Rest and Happiness and this because they throughly know it not for did they know throughly what it is they could not so sleight the everlasting Treasure SECT II. 2. LAbor as to know Heaven to be the onely happiness so also to be thy happiness Though the knowledg of excellency and suitableness may stir up that love which worketh by desire yet there must be the knowledg of our interest or propriety to the setting awork of our love of complacency We may confess Heaven to be the best condition though we despair of enjoying it and we may desire and seek it if we see the obtainment to be but probable and hopeful But we can never delightfully rejoyce in it till we are somewhat perswaded of our title to it What comfort is it to a man that is naked to see the rich attire of others or to a man that hath not a bit to put in his mouth to see a feast which he must not taste of What delight hath a man that hath not a house to put his head in to see the sumptuous buildings of others Would not all this rather increase his anguish and make him more sensible of his own misery So for a man to know the excellencies of Heaven and not to know whether he shall ever enjoy them may well raise desire and provoke to seek it but it will raise but little joy and content Who will set his heart on another mans possessions If your houses your goods your cattel your children were not your own you would less minde them and delight less in them O therefore Christians rest not till you can call this Rest your own sit not down without assurance get alone and question with thy self bring thy heart to the bar of tryal force it to answer the interrogatories put to it set the conditions of the Gospel and qualifications of the Saints on one side and thy performance of those conditions and the qualifications of thy soul on the other side and then judg how neer they resemble Thou hast the same word before thee to judg thy self by now by which thou must be judged at the great day Thou art there before told the questions that must then be put to thee put these questions now to thy self Thou mayst there read the very Articles upon which thou shalt be tryed why try thy self by those Articles now Thou mayst there know beforehand on what terms men shall be then acquit and condemned why try now whether thou art possessed of that which will acquit thee or whether thou be upon the same terms with those that must be condemned and accordingly acquit or condemn thy self Yet be sure thou judg by a true touchstone and mistake not the Scriptures description of a Saint that thou neither acquit nor condemn thy self upon mistakes For as groundless hopes do tend to confusion and are the greatest cause of most mens damnation so groundless doubtings do tend to discomforts and are the great cause of the disquieting of the Saints Therefore lay thy grounds of tryal safely and advisedly proceed in the work deliberately and methodically follow it to an issue resolutely and industriously suffer not thy heart to give thee the â—lip and get away before a judgment
thou risest off thy knees when thou openest thy Bible or other Books let it be with this hope to meet with some passage of Divine truth and some such blessing of the Spirit with it as may raise thine affections neerer Heaven and give thee a fuller taste thereof when thou art setting thy foot out at thy door to go to the publike Ordinance and Worship say I hope to meet with somewhat from God that may raise my affections before I returne I hope the Spirit will give me the meeting and sweeten my heart with those celestial delights I hope that Christ will appear to me in that way and shine about me with light from heaven and let me hear his instructing and reviving voyce and causa the scales to fall from mine eyes that I may see more of that glory then I ever yet saw I hope before I return to my house my Lord will take my heart in hand and bring it within the view of Rest and set it before his Fathers presence that I may return as the Shepherds from the heavenly Vision glorifying and praising God for all the things that I have heard and seen Luke 2.20 and say as those that behold his Miracles We have seen strange things to day Luke 5.26 Remember also to pray for thy Teacher that God would put some Divine Message into his mouth which may leave a heavenly relish on thy spirit If these were our ends and this our course when we set to duty we should not be so strange as we are to heaven When the Indian first saw the use of Letters by our English they thought there was sure some spirit in them that men could so converse together by a paper If Christians would take this course in their duties they might come to such holy fellowship with God and see so much of the Mysteries of the Kingdom that it would make the standers by admire what is in those Lines what is in that Sermon what is in this praying that fils his heart so full of joy and that so transports him above himself Certainly God would not fail us in our duties if we did not fail our selves and then experience would make them sweeter to us SECT VI. 6. ANother help is this Make an advantage of every object thou seest and of every passage of Divine providence and of every thing that befals in thy labor and calling to minde thy soul of its approaching Rest. As all providences and creatures are means to our Rest so do they point us to that as their end Every creature hath the name of God and of our final Rest written upon it which a considerate believer may as truly discern as he can read upon a post or hand in a cross way the name of the Town or City which it points to This spiritual use of creatures and providences is Gods great End in bestowing them on man And he that overlooks this End must needs rob God of his chiefest praise and deny him the greatest part of his thanks The Relation that our present mercies have to our great Eternal mercies is the very quintessence and spirits of all these mercies Therefore do they loose the very spirits of their mercies and take nothing but the huskes and bran who do overlook this Relation and draw not forth the sweetness of it in their contemplations Gods sweetest dealings with us at the present would not be half so sweet as they are if they did not intimate some further sweetness As our selves have a fleshly and a spiritual substance so have our mercies a fleshly and spiritual use and are fitted to the nourishing of both our parts He that receives the carnal part and no more may have his body comforted by them but not his soul. It is not all one to receive six pence meerly as six pence and to receive it in earnest of a thousand pound though the sum be the same yet I trow the relation makes a wide difference Thou takest but the bear earnest and overlookest the maine sum when thou receivest thy mercies and forgettest thy crown O therefore that Christians were skilled in this Art You can open your Bibles and read there of God and of Glory O learn to open the creatures and to open the several passages of providence and to read of God and Glory there Certainly by such a skilful industrious improvement we might have a fuller tast of Christ and Heaven in every bit of bread that we eat and in every draught of Beer that we drink then most men have in the use of the Sacrament If thou prosper in the world and thy labor succeed let it make thee more sensible of thy perpetual prosperity If thou be weary of thy labors let it make thy thoughts of Rest more sweet If things go cross hard with thee in the world let it make thee the more earnestly desire that day when all thy sorrows and sufferings shall cease Is thy body refreshed with food or sleep Remember thy unconceivable refreshings with Christ. Dost thou hear any news that makes the glad Remember what glad tydings it will be to hear the sound of the trump of God and the absolving sentence of Christ our Judg. Art thou delighting thy self in the society of the Saints Remember the Everlasting amiable fraternity thou shalt have with perfected Saints in Rest. Is God communicating himself to thy spirit Why remember that time of thy highest advancement when thy Joy shall be full as thy communion is full Dost thou hear the raging noise of the wicked and the disorders of the vulgar and the confusions in the world like the noise in a crowd or the roaring of the waters Why think of the blessed agreement in Heaven and the melodious harmony in that Quire of God Dost thou hear or feel the tempest of wars or see any cloud of blood arising Remember the day when thou shalt be housed with Christ where there is nothing but calmness and amiable union and where we shall solace our selves in perfect Peace under the wings of the Prince of Peace for ever Thus you may see what advantages to a Heavenly Life every condition and creature doth afford us if we had but hearts to apprehend and improve them As it s said of the Turkes that they 'l make bridges of the dead bodyes of their men to passe over the trenches or ditches in their way So might Christians of the very ruines and calamities of the times and of every dead body or misery that they see make a bridge for the passage of their thoughts to their Rest. And as they have taught their Pigeons which they call carriers in divers places to bear letters of entercourse from friend to friend at a very great distance so might a wise industrious Christian get his thoughts carried into Heaven and receive as it were returns from thence again by creatures of slower wing then Doves by the assistance of the Spirit the Dove of God
delight thereof and taking up in the tune and melody and suffering the heart to be all the while idle which must perform the chiefest part of the work and which should make use of the melody for its reviving and exhilerating SECT VIII 8. IF thou wouldest have thy heart in Heaven keep thy soul still possessed with true believing thoughts of the exceeding infinite love of God Love is the attractive of love No mans heart will be set upon him that hates him were he never so excellent nor much upon him that doth not much love him There is few so vile but will love those that love them be they never so mean No doubt it is the death of our heavenly life to have hard and doubtful thoughts of God to conceive of him as a hater of the Creature except onely of obstinate Rebels and as one that had rather damn us then save us and that is glad of an opportunity to do us a mischief or at least hath no great good will to us This is to put the Blessed God into the similitude of Satan And who then can set his heart and love upon him When in our vile unbelief and ignorance we have drawn the most ugly picture of God in our imaginations then we complain that we cannot love him and delight in him This is the case of many thousand Christians Alas that we should thus belie and blaspheme God and blast our own joyes and depress our spirits Love is the very essence of God The Scripture tells us That God is Love it telleth us That Fury dwelleth not in him that he delighteth not in the death of him that dieth but rather that he repent and live Much more hath he testified his love to his chosen and his full resolution effectually to save them O if we could always think of God but as we do of a friend as of one that doth unfeignedly love us even more then we do our selves whose very heart is set upon us to do us good and hath therefore provided us an everlasting dwelling with himself it would not then be so hard to have our hearts still with him Where we love most heartily we shall think most sweetly and most freely And nothing will quicken our love more then the belief of his love to us Get therefore a truer conceit of the loving Nature of God and lay up all the experiences and discoveries of his love to thee and then see if it will not further thy heavenly-mindedness SECT IX 9. ANother thing I would advise you to is this Be a careful observer of the drawings of the Spirit and fearful of quenching its motions or resisting its workings If ever thy soul get above this earth and get acquainted with this living in heaven the Spirit of God must be to thee as the Chariot to Elijah yea the very living principle by which thou must move and ascend O then grieve not thy Guide quench not thy Life knock not off thy Chariot-wheels if thou do no wonder if thy soul be at a loss and all stand still or fall to the earth you little think how much the life all your Graces and the happiness of your souls doth depend upon your ready and cordial Obedience to the Spirit When the Spirit urgeth thee to secret prayer and thou refusest obedience when he forbids thee thy known transgressions and yet thou wilt go on when he telleth thee which is the way and which not and thou wilt not regard no wonder if heaven and thy soul be strange if thou wilt not follow the Spirit while it would draw thee to Christ and to thy duty how should it lead thee to heaven and bring thy heart into the presence of God O what supernatural help what bold access shall that soul finde in its approaches to the Almighty that is accustomed to a constant obeying of the Spirit And how backward how dull and strange and ashamed will he be to these addresses who hath long used to break away from the Spirit that would have guided him Even as stiffe and unfit will they be for this Spiritual motion as a dead man to natural I beseech thee Christian Reader learn well this lesson and try this course let not the motions of thy body onely but also the very thoughts of thy heart be at the Spirits beâ—k Dost thou not feel sometimes a strong impulsion to retire from the world and draw neer to God O do not now disobey but take the offer and hoâ—se up sail while thou mayst have this blessed gale When this wind blows strongest thou goest fastest either forward or backward The more of this Spirit we resist the deeper will it wound and the more we obey the speedier is our pace As he goes heaviest that hath the wind in his face and he easiest that hath it in his back SECT X. 10. LAstly I advise as a further help to this heavenly work That thou neglect not the due care for the health of thy body and for the maintaining a vigorous cheerfulness in thy spirits nor yet over-pamper and please thy flesh Learn how to carry thy self with prudence to thy body It is a useful servant if thou give it its due and but its due It is a most devouring tyrant if thou give it the mastery or suffer it to have what it unreasonably desireth And 〈◊〉 as a blunted Knife as a Horse that is lame as thy Ox that is famished if thou injuriously deny it what is necessary to its support When we consider how frequently men offend on both extreams and how few use their bodies aright we cannot wonder if they be much hindered in their heavenly conversing Most men are very slaves to their sensitive appetite and can scarce deny any thing to the flesh which they can give it on easie rates without much shame or loss or grief The flesh thus used is as unfit to serve you as a wilde colt to ride on When such men should converse in Heaven the flesh will carry them to an Alehouse or to their sports to their profits or credit or vain company to wanton practices or sights or speeches or thoughts It will thrust a whore or a pair of Cards or a good bargain into their mindes in stead of God Look to this specially you that are young and healthful and lusty As you love your souls remember that in Rom. 13.14 which converted Austin Make not provision for the flesh to fulfil its desires and that Rom. 8.4 5 6 7 8 12 13 14. Some few others do much hinder their heavenly joy by over rigorous denying the body its necessaries and so making it unable to serve them But the most by forfeiting and excess do overthrow and disable it You love to have your knife keen and every instrument you use in order when your horse goes lustily how cheerfully do you travel As much need hath the soul of a sound and cheerful body If they who
no truer nor greater cause then their ignorance and unconscionable neglect of Meditation If a man have the Lientery that his meat pass from him as he took it in or if he vomit it up as fast as he eates it what strength and vigor of body and senses is this man like to have Indeed he may well eat more then a sounder man and the small abode that it makes in the stomack may refresh it at the present and help to draw it out a lingering languishing uncomfortable unprofitable life And so do our hearers that have this disease perhaps they hear more then otherwise they needed and the clear discovery and lively delivery of the Truth of God may warm and refresh them a little while they are hearing and perhaps an hour or two after and it may be it may linger out their Grace in a languishing uncomfortable unprofitable life But if they did hear one hour and meditate seven if they did as constantly digest their Sermons as they hear them and not take in one Sermon before the former is well concocted they would finde another kinde of benefit by Sermons then the ordinary sort of the forwardest Christians do I know many carnal persons do make this an Argument against frequent preaching and hearing who do it meerly from a lothing of the word and know far less how to Meditate then they know how understandingly to hear Only they pretend Meditation against often hearing because that beeing a duty of the minde you cannot so easily discern their omission of it These are sick of the Anorexia and Apepsy they have neither appetite nor digeston the other of the Boulimos they have appetite but no digestion SECT III. 2. BUt because Meditation is a general word and it is not all Meditation that I hear intend I shall therefore lay thee down the difference whereby this Meditation that I am urging thee to is discerned from all other sorts of Meditation And the difference is taken from the Act and from the object of it 1. From the Act which I call The set and solemn acting of all the powers of the soul. 1. I call it the Acting of them for it is Action that we are directing you in now and not relations or dispositions yet these also are necessarily presupposed It must be a soul that is qualified for the work by the supernatural renewing grace of the spirit which must be able to perform this Heavenly exercise It s the work of the Living and not of the dead It s a work of all others most spiritual and sublime and therefore not to be well performed by a heart that 's meerly carnal and terrene Also they must necessarily have some relation to heaven before they can familiarly there converse I suppose them to be the sons of God when â— perswade them to love him and to be of the family of God yeâ— the spouse of his Son when I perswade them to press into his presence and to dwell with him I suppose them to be such as have title to Rest when I perswade them to rejoyce in the Meditation of Rest. These therefore being all presupposed are not the duty here intended and required But it is the bringing of their sanctified dispositions into Act and the delightful reveiwing of theiâ— high relations Habits and Powers are but to enable us to Action To say I am able to do this or I am disposed to do it doth neiâ—ther please God nor advantage our selves except withal we really do it God doth not regenerate thy soul that it may be able to know him and not know him or that it may be able to believe and yet not believe or that it may be able to love him and yet not love him But he therefore makes thee able to know to believe and love that thou mayest indeed both know believe and love him What good doth that power which is not reduced into Act Therefore I am not now exhorting thee to be an able Christian but to be an Active Christian according to the degree of that ability which thou hast As thy store of money or food oâ— rayment which thou lettest lye by thee and never usest doth theâ— no good but to please thy fancy or raise thee to an esteem in the eyes of others so all thy gifts and powers and habits which lye still in thy soul and are never Acted do profit or comfort thee little or nothing but in satisfying thy fancy and raising thee to the repute of an able man so far as they are discernable to the standers by SECT IV. 1. I Call this Meditation The acting of the powers of the Soul meaning the soul as Rational to difference it from the cogitations of the soul as Sensitive the Sensitive soul hath a kinde of Meditation by the common sense the Phantasie and Estimation The fleshly man mindeth the things of the flesh If it were the work of the Ear or the Eye or the Tongue or the Hands which I am setting you on I doubt not but you would more readily take it up but it is the work of the soul for bodily exercise doth here profit but little The soul hath its labor and its ease its business and its idleness its intention and remission as well as the body And diligent students are usually as sensible of the labor and weaâ—â—ness of their spirits and brain as they are of that of the members of the body This action of the soul is it I perswade thee to SECT V. 3. I Call it the acting of All the powers of the soul To difference it from the common Meditation of Students which is usually the meer imployment of the Brain It is not a bare thinking that I mean nor the meer use of Invention or Memory but a business of a higher and more excellent nature when Truth is apprehended only as Truth this is but an unsavory and loose apprehension but when it is apprehended as Good as well as True this is a fast and delightful apprehending As a man is not so prone to live according to the Truth he knows except it do deeply affect him so neither doth his soul enjoy its sweetness except Speculation do pass to Affection The Understanding is not the whole soul and therefore cannot do the whole work As God hath made several parts in man to perform their several Offices for his nourishing and life so hath he ordained the faculties of the soul to perform their several Offices for his spiritual life the Stomack must chy lisy and prepare for the Liver the Liver and Spleen must sanguify and prepare for the Heart and Brain and these must beget the vital and animal spirits c. so the Understanding must take in Truths and prepare them for the Will and it must receive them and commend them to the Affections The best digestion is in the bottome of the Stomack the Affections are as it were the bottome of the soul and
therefore the best digestion is there While Truth is but a speculation swimming in the Brain the Soul hath not half received it nor taken fast hold of it Christ and Heaven hath various Excellencies and therefore God hath formed the soul with a power of divers wayes of apprehending that so we might be capable of enjoying those divers Excellencies in Christ even as the creatures having their severall uses God hath given us several senses that so we might enjoy the delights of them all What the better had we been for the pleasant oderiferous flowers and perfumes if we had not possessed the sense of Smelling or what good would Language or Musick have done us if God had not given us the sense of hearing or what delight should we have found in meats or drinks or sweetest things if we had been deprived of the sense of tasting Why so what good could all the glory of Heaven have done us or what pleasure should we have had even in the goodness and perfection of God himself if we had been without the affections of Love and Joy whereby we are capable of being delighted in that Goodness so also what benefit of strength or sweetness canst thou possible receive by thy Meditations on Eternity while thou dost not exercise those Affections which are the senses of the soul by which it must receive this sweetness and strength This is it that hath deceived Christians in this business They have thought that Meditation is nothing but the bare thinking on Truths and the rolling of them in the Understanding and Memory when every School-Boy can do this or persons that hate the things which they think on Therefore this is the great task in hand and this is the work that I would set thee on to get these Truths from thy head to thy heart and that all the Sermons which thou hast heard of Heaven and all the notions that thou hast conceived of this Rest may be turned into the blood and spirits of Affection and thou maist feel them revive thee and warm thee at the heart and maist so think of heaven as heaven should be thought on There are two accesses of Contemplation saith Bernard one in Intellection the other in Affection one in Light the other in Heat one in Acquisition the other in Devotion If thou shouldst study of nothing but Heaven while thou livest and shouldst have thy thoughts at command to turn them hither on every occasion and yet shouldst proceed no further then this this were not the Meditation that I intend nor would it much advantage or better thy soul as it is thy whole soul that must possess God hereafter so must the whole in a lower measure possess him here I have shewed you in the beginning of this Treatise how the soul must enjoy the Lord in Glory to wit by knowing by loving and joying in him why the very same way must thou begin thy enjoyment here So much as thy Understanding and Affections are sincerely acted upon God so much dost thou enjoy him And this is the happy Work of this Meditation So that you see here is somewhat more to be done then barely to remember and think of Heaven as Running and Ringing and Moving and such like labors do not onely stir a hand or a foot but do strain and exercise the whole body so doth Meditation the whole soul. As the Affections of Sinners are set on the world and turned to Idols and faln from God as well as the Understanding so must the Affections of men be reduced to God and taken up with him as well as the Understanding and as the whole was filled with sin before so the whole must be filled with God now as St. Paul saith of Knowledg and Gifts and Faith to remove mountains that if thou have all these without Love Thou art but as sounding Brass or as a tinkling Cymbal so I may say of the exercise of these If in this work of Meditation thou do exercise Knowledg and Gifts and Faith of Miracles and not exercise Love and Joy thou dost nothing thou playest the childe and not the man the Sinners part and not the Saints for so will Sinners do also If thy Meditation tends to fill thy Note-Book with notions and good sayings concerning God and not thy heart with longings after him and delight in him for ought I know thy Book is as much a Christian as thou Mark but Davids description of the blessed man Psal. 1.3 His delight is in the Law of the Lord and therein doth he meditate day and night SECT VI. 4. I Call this Meditation Set and Solemn to difference it from that which is Occasional and Cursory As there is Prayer which is solemn when we set our selves wholly to the duty and Prayer which is sudden and short commonly called Ejaculations when a man in the midst of other business doth send up some brief request to God so also there is Meditation solemn when we apply our selves onely to that work and there is Meditation which is short and cursory when in the midst of our business we have some good thoughts of God in our mindes And as solemn Prayer is either First See when a Christian observing it as a standing duty doth resolvedly practise it in a constant course or secondly Occasional when some unusual occasion doth put us upon it at a season extraordinary so also Meditation admits of the like distinction Now though I would perswade you to that Meditation which is mixt with your common labors in your callings and to that which special occasions do direct you to yet these are not the main thing which I here intend But that you would make it a constant standing duty as you do by Hearing and Praying and Reading the Scripture and that you would solemnly set your selves about it and make it for that time your whole work and intermix other matters no more with it then you would do with prayer or other duties Thus you see as it is differenced by its act what kinde of Meditation it is that we speak of viz. It is the set and solemn acting of all the powers of the Soul SECT VII THe second part of the Difference is drawn from its object which is Rest or the most blessed estate of man in his everlasting enjoyment of God in Heaven Meditation hath a large field to walk in and hath as many objects to work upon as there are matters and lines and words in the Scripture as there are known Creatures in the whole Creation and as there are particular discernable passages of Providence in the Government of the persons and actions through the world But the Meditation that I now direct you in is onely of the end of all these and of these as they refer to that end It is not a walk from Mountains to Valleys from Sea to Land from Kingdom to Kingdom from Planet to Planet But it is a walk from Mountains
circumstances though to some they may seem small things doth much conduce to our hinderance or our help Christ himself thought it not vain to direct in this circumstance of private duty Mat. 6.4 6 18 If in private prayer we must shut our door upon us that our Father may hear us in secret so is it also requisite in this Meditation How oft doth Christ himself depart to some mountain or wilderness or other solitary place For occasional Meditation I give thee not this advise but for this daily set and solemn duty I advise that thou withdraw thy self from all society yea though it were the society of godly men that thou mayest a while enjoy the society of Christ If a student cannot study in a crowd who exerciseth only his invention and memory much lesse when thou must exercise all the powers of thy soul and that upon an object so far above nature When thy eyes are filled with the persons and actions of men and thine ears with their discourse its hard then to have thy thoughts and affections free for this duty Though I would not perswade thee to Pythagoras his Cave nor to the Hermets Wilderness nor to the Monks Cell yet I would advise thee to frequent solitariness that thou mayest sometimes confer with Christ and with thy self as well as with others We are fled so far from the solitude of superstition that we have cast off the solitude of contemplative devotion Friends use to converse most familiarly in private and to open their Secrets and let out their affections most freely Publike converse is but common converse Use therefore as Christ himself did Mark 1.35 to depart sometimes into a solitary place that thou maist be wholly vacant for this great employment See Mat. 14.23 Mark 6.47 Luke 9.18 36. John 6.15 16. We seldom read of Gods appearing by himself or his Angels to any of his Prophets or Saints in a throng but frequently when they were alone And as I advise thee to a place of retiredness so also that thou observe more particularly what place and posture best agreeth with thy spirit Whether within doors or without whether siting still or walking I beleeve Isaacs example in this also will direct us to the place and posture which will best suit with most as it doth with me viz. His walking forth to meditate in the field at the eventide And Christs own example in the places forecited gives us the like direction Christ was used to a solitary Garden that even Judas when he came to betray him knew where to finde him John 18.1 2. And though he took his Disciples thither with him yet did he separate himself from them for more Secret devotions Luke 22.41 And though his meditation be not directly named but onely his praying yet it is very clearly implied Matth. 26.38 39. His soul is first made sorrowful with the bitter meditations on his death and sufferings and then he poureth it out in prayer Mark 14.34 So that Christ had his accustomed place and consequently accustomed duty and so must we Christ hath a place that is solitary whither he retireth himself even from his own Disciples and so must we Christs meditations do go further then his thought they affect and pâ—erce his heart and soul and so must ours Onely there is a wide difference in the object Christ meditates on the suffering that our sins had deserved that the wrath of his Father even passed through his thoughts upon all his soul But the meditation that we speak of is on the glory he hath purchased that the love of the Father and the joy of the Spirit might enter at our thoughts and revive our affections and overflow our souls So that as Christs meditation was the sluce or flood-gate to let in Hell to overflow his Affections so our meditation should be the sluce to let in Heaven into our affections SECT IX SO much concerning the Time and Place of this duty I am next to advise thee somewhat concerning the preparations of thy heart The success of the work doth much depend on the frame of thy heart When mans heart had nothing in it that might grieve the Spirit then was it the delightful habitation of his Maker God did not quit his residence there till man did expel him by unworthy provocations There grew no strangeness till the heart grew sinful and too loathsom a dungeon for God to delight in And were this soul reduced to its former innocency God would quickly return to his former habitation yea so far as it is renewed and repaired by the Spirit and purged of its lusts and beautified with his Image the Lord will yet acknowledg it his own and Christ will manifest himself unto it and the Spirit will take it for his Temple and Residence So far as the soul is qualified for conversing with God so far it doth actually for the most part enjoy him Therefore with all diligence keep thy heart for from thence are the issues of life Prov 4.23 More particularly when thou fettest on this duty First Get thy heart as clear from the world as thou canst wholly lay by the thoughts of thy business of thy troubles of thy enjoyments and of every thing that may take up any room in thy soul. Get thy soul as empty as possibly thou canst that so it may be the more capable of being filled with God It is a work as I have said that will require all the powers of thy soul if they were a thousand times more capacious and active then they are and therefore you have need to lay by all other thoughts and affections while you are busied here If thou couldst well perform some outward duty with a piece of thy heart while the other is absent yet this above all I am sure thou canst not Surely if thou once address thy self to the business indeed thou wilt be as the covetous man at the heap of Gold that when he might take as much as he could carry away lamented that he was able to bear no more So when thou shalt get into the Mount in contemplation thou wilt finde there as much of God and Glory as thy narrow heart is able to contain and almost nothing to hinder thy full possession but onely the uncapableness of thy own Spirit O then wilt thou think that this understanding were larger that I might conceive more that these affections were wider to contain more it is more my own unfitness then any thing else which is the cause that even this place is not my Heaven God is in this place and I know it not This Mount is full of the Angels of God but mine eyes are shut and cannot see them O the words of love that Christ hath to speak O the wonders of love that he hath to shew But alas I cannot bear them yet Heaven is here ready at hand for me but my uncapable heart is unready for Heaven Thus wouldst thou lament that the
work so powerfully with us though we are uncertain whether his heart do concur with his speeches and whether his intention be to inform us or deceive us how much more should our own Reasons work with us when we are acquainted with the right intentions of our own hearts Nay how much more rather should Gods Reasons work with us which we are sure are neither fallacions in his intent nor in themselves seeing he did never yet deceive nor was ever deceived Why now Meditation is but the Reading over and repeating Gods reasons to our hearts and so disputing with our selves in his Arguments and terms And is not this then likely to be a prevailing way What Reasons doth the prodigal plead with himself why he should return to his fathers house And as many and strong have we to plead with our affections to perswade them to our Fathers Everlasting habitations And by Consideration it is that they must all be set a work SECT VI. 4. MEditation putteth reason in its Authority and preheminence It helpeth to deliver it from its captivity to the senses and setteth it again upon the throne of the soul. When Reason is silent it is usually subject For when it is asleep the senses domineer Now consideration wakeneth our reason from its sleep till it rowse up it self as Sampson and break the bonds of sensuality wherewith it is fettered and then as a Gyant refreshed with wine it bears down the delusions of the flesh before it What strength can the Lyon put forth when he is asleep What is the King more then another man when he is once deposed from his throne and authority When men have no better Judg then the flesh or when the joyes of heaven go no further then their fantasie no wonder if they work but as common things sweet things to the eye and beautiful things to the ear will work no more then bitter and deformed every thing worketh in its own place and every sense hath its proper object Now it is spiritual reason excited by Meditation and not the fantasie or fleshly sense which must favor and judg of those superior Joyes Consideration exalteth the objects of faith and disgraceth comparatively the objects of sense The most inconsiderate men are the most sensual men SECT VII 5. MEditation also putteth reason into his strength Reason is at the strongest when it is most in action Now Meditation produceth reason into Act. Before it was as a standing water which can move nothing else when it self moveth not but now it is as the speedy stream which violently bears down all before it Before it was as the still and silent air but now it is as the powerful motion of the wind and overthrows the opposition of the flesh and the devil Before it was as the stones which lay still in the brook but now when Meditation doth set it awork it is as the stone out of Davids sling which smites the Goliah of our unbelief in the forehead As wicked men continue wicked not because they have not reason in the principle but because they bring it not into Act and use so godly men are uncomfortable and sad not because they have no causes to rejoyce nor because they have not reason to discern those causes but because they let their reason and faith lye asleep and do not labor to set them a going nor stir them up to action by this work of Meditation You know that our very dreams will deeply affect What fears What sorrowes What Joy will they stir up How much more then would serious Meditation affect us SECT VIII 6. MEditation can continue this Discouâ—sive imployment That may be accomplished by a weaker motion continued which will not by a stronger at the first attempt A plaister that is never so effectual to cure must yet have time to do its work and not to be taken off as soon as it s on Now Meditation doth hold the plaister to the sore It holdeth Reason and Faith to their work and bloweth the fire till it throughly burn To run a few steps will not get a man heat but walking an hour together may So though a sudden occasional thought of Heaven will not raise our affections to any spiritual heat yet Meditation can continue our thoughts and lengthen our walk till our hearts grow warm And thus you see what force Meditation or consideration hath for the effecting of this great elevation of the soul whereto I have told you it must be the Instrument CHAP. IX What Affections must be Acted and by what Considerations and objests and in what order SECT I. THirdly To draw yet neerer the heart of the work The third thing to be discovered to you is What Powers of the soul must here be acted What affections excited What considerations of their objects are necessary thereto and in what order we must proceed I joyn all these together because though in themselves they are distinct things yet in the practice they all concurre to the same Action The matters of God which we are to think on have their various qualifications and are presented to the soul of man in divers relative and Modal considerations According to these several considerations of the objects the soul it self is distinguished into its several faculties powers and capacities That as God hath given man five senses to partake of the five distinct excellencies of the objects of sense so he hath diversifyed the soul of man either into faculties powers or ways of acting answerable to the various qualifications and considerations of himself and the inferior objects of this soul And as if there be more sensible excellencies in the creatures yet they are unknown to us who have but these five senses to discern them by so whatever other excellencies are in God and our happiness more then these faculties or powers of the soul can apprehend must needs remain wholly unknown to us till our souls have senses as it were suitable to those objects 〈◊〉 as it is unknown to a tree or a stone what sound and light 〈◊〉 sweetness are or that there are any such things in the world 〈◊〉 Now these matters of God are primarily diversifyed to our consideration under the Distinction of True and Good accordingly the primary Distinction concerning the soul is into the faculties of Understanding and Will the former having Truth for its object and the latter Goodness This Truth is sometime known by evident Demonstration and so it is the object of that we call knowledg which also admits of divers distinctions according to several ways of demonstration which I am loth here to puzzle you with Sometime it is received from the Testimony of others which receiving we call belief When any thing else would obscure it or stands up in competition with it then we weigh their several evidences and accordingly discover and vindicate the Truth and this we call Judgment Sometime by the strength the clearness
canst and say to it Behold the Ancient of days the Lord Jehovah whose name is I am This is he who made the Worlds with his Word this is the Cause of all Causes the Spring of Action the Fountain of Life the first Principle of the Creatures Motions who upholds the Earth who ruleth the Nations who disposeth of events and subdueth his foes who governeth the depths of the great Waters and boundeth the rage of her swelling Waves who ruleth the Winds and moveth the Orbs and causeth the Sun to run its race and the several Planets to know their courses This is he that loved thee from Everlasting that formed thee in the Womb and gave thee this Soul who brought thee forth and shewed thee the Light and ranked thee with the chiefest of his earthly Creatures who endued thee with thy understanding and beautified thee with his gifts who maintaineth thee with life and health and comforts who gave thee thy preferments and dignified thee with thy honors and differenced thee from the most miserable and vilest of men Here O here is an object now worthy thy love here shouldst thou even pour out thy soul in love here thou maist be sure thou caust not love too much This is the Lord that hath blest thee with his benefits that hath spred thy table in the sight of thine enemies and caused thy cup to overflow This is he that Angels and Saints do praise and the Host of Heaven must magnifie for ever Thus do thou expatiate in the Praises of God and open his Excellencies to thine own heart till thou feel the life begin to stir and the fire in thy brest begin to kindle As gazing upon the dusty beauty of flesh doth kindle the fire of carnal love so this gazing on the Glory and Goodness of the Lord will kindle this Spiritual love in the-soul Bruising will make the Spices odoriferous and rubbing the Pomander will bring forth the sweetness Act therefore thy soul upon this delightful object toss these cogitations frequently in thy heart rub over all thy Affections with them as you will do your cold hands till they begin to warm What though thy heart be Rock and Flint this often striking may bring forth the fire but if yet thou feelest not thy love to work lead thy heart further and shew it yet more shew it the Son of the living God whose name is Wonderful Counsellor The Mighty God The Everlasting Father The Prince of Peace shew it the King of Saints on the Throne of his Glory who is the first and the last who is and was and is to come who liveth and was dead and behold he lives for evermore who hath made thy peace by the blood of his Cross and hath prepared thee with himself an Habitation of Peace His office is to be the great Peace-Maker his Kingdom is a Kingdom of Peace his Gospel is the Tydings of Peace his Voice to thee now is the Voice of Peace Draw neer and behold him Dost thou not hear his voyce He that called Thomas to come neer and to see the print of the Nailes and to put his finger into his Wounds He it is that calls to thee Come neer and view the Lord thy Saviour and be not faithless but believing Peace be unto thee fear not It is I He that calleth Behold me behold me to a rebellious people that calleth not on his Name doth call out to thee a Believer to behold him He that calls to them who pass by to behold his Sorrow in the day of his Humiliation doth call now to thee to behold his Glory in the day of his Exaltation Look well upon him Dost thou not know him why it s He that brought thee up from the pit of hell It s He that reversed the sentence of thy Damnation that bore the Curse which thou shouldest have born and restored thee to the blessing that thou hadst forfeited and lost and purchased the Advancement which thou must inherit for ever And yet dost thou not know him why his Hands were pierced his Head was pierced his Sides were pierced his Heart was pierced with the sting of thy sins that by these marks thou mightest always know him Dost thou not remember when he found thee lying in thy blood and took pitty on thee and drest thy wounds and brought thee home and said unto thee Live Hast thou forgotten since he wounded himself to cure thy wounds and let out his own blood to stop thy bleeding Is not the passage to his heart yet standing open If thou know him not by the face the voyce the hands if thou know him not by the tears and bloody sweat yet look neerer thou maist know him by the Heart That broken-healed heart is his that dead-revived Heart is his that soul-pittying melting Heart is his Doubtless it can be none 's but his Love and Compassion are its certain Signatures This is He even this is He who would rather dye then thou shoulst dye who chose thy life before his own who pleads this blood before his Father and makes continual intercession for thee if he had not suffered O what hadst thou suffered what hadst thou been if he had not Redeemed thee whether hadst thou gone if he had not recalled thee there was but a step between thee and Hell when he stept in and bore the stroak He slew the Bear and rescued the prey he delivered thy soul from the roaring Lyon And is not here yet fuell enough for Love to feed on Doth not this Loadstone snatch thy heart unto it and almost draw it forth of thy breast Canst thou read the History of Love any further at once Doth not thy throbbing heart here stop to ease it self and dost thou not as Joseph seek for a place to weep in or do not the tears of thy Love bedew these lines Go on then for the field of Love is large it will yield thee fresh contents for ever and be thine eternal work to behold and love thou needest not then want work for thy present Meditation Hast thou forgotten the time when thou wast weeping and he wiped the tears from thine eyes when thou wast bleeding and he wiped the blood from thy soul when pricking cares and fears did grieve thee and he did refresh thee and draw out the Thorns Hast thou forgotten when thy folly did wound thy soul and the venomous guilt did seize upon thy heart when he sucked forth the mortal poyson from thy soul though therewith he drew it into his own I remember it s written of good Melancthon that when his childe was removed from him it pierced his heart to remember how he once sate weeping with the Infant on his knee and how lovingly it wip't away the tears from the fathers eyes how then should it pierce thy heart to think how lovingly Christ hath wip't away thine O how oft hath he found thee sitting weeping like Hagar
is the Fathers good pleasure to give thee this Kingdom Seest thou this astonishing Glory above thee Why all this is thy own inheritance This Crown is thine these pleasures are thine this company this beauteous place is thine all things are thine because thou art Christs and Christ is thine when thou wast married to him thou hadstall this with him Thus take thy heart into the Land of Promise shew it the pleasant hills and fruitful valleys Shew it the clusters of Grapes which thou hast gathered and by those convince it that it is a blessed Land flowing with better then milk and honey enter the gates of the holy City walk through the streets of the New Jerusalem walk about Sion go round about her tell the towers thereof mark well her bulwarks consider her palaces that thou mayest tell it to thy soul Psal. 48.12 13. Hath it not the Glory of God and is not her light like to a stone most precious See the twelve foundations of her walls and the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb therein The building of the walls of it are of Jasper and the City is of pure gold as cleer as glass The foundation is garnished with pretious stones and the twelve gates are twelve pearls every several gate is of one Pearl and the street of the City is pure Gold as it were transparent glass There is no temple in it for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it It hath no need of Sun or Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it These sayings are faithful and true and the Lord God of the holy Prophets hath sent his Angels and his own Son to shew unto his servants the things that must shortly be done Rev. 21.11 12 13. c. to the end 22.6 What sayest thou now to all this This is thy Rest O my soul and this must be the place of thy Everlasting habitation Let all the sons of Sion then rejoyce and the daughters of Jerusalem be glad for great is the Lord and greatly is he praised in the City of our God Beautiful for scituation the Joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion God is known in her palaces for a refuge Psal. 48.11 1 2 3. Yet proceed on Anima quae amat ascendit c. The soul saith Austin that loves ascends frequently and runs familiarly through the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem visiting the Patriachs and Prophets saluting the Apostles admiring the Armies of Martyrs and Confessors c. So do thou lead on thy heart as from street to street bring it into the Palace of the Great King lead it as it were from chamber to chamber say to it Here must I lodge here must I live here must I praise here must I love and be beloved I must shortly be one of this Heavenly Quire I shall then be better skilled in the musick Among this blessed company must I take my place My voice must joyn to make up the Melody my teares will then be wiped away my groans are turned to another tune my cottage of clay will be changed to this Palace and my prison rags to these splendid robes my sordid nasty stinking flesh shall be put off and such a Sun-like spiritual body put on For the former things are done away Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God There it is that trouble and lamentation ceaseth and the voice of sorrow is not heard O when I look upon this glorious place what a dunghil and dungeon me thinks is earth O what a difference betwixt a man feeble pained groaning dying rotting in the grave and one of these triumphant blessed shining Saints Here shall I drink of the river of pleasure the streams whereof make glad the City of our God For the Lord will create a New Jerusalem and a New Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde we shall be glad and rejoyce for ever in that which he creates for he will create Jerusalem a rejoycing and her people a joy And he will rejoyce in Jerusalem and joy in his people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying there shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes Isa. 65.17 18 19 20. Must Israel on earth under the bondage of the Law serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart because of the abundance of all things which they possess sure then I shall serve him with joyfulness and gladness who shall have another kinde of service and of abundance in Glory Deut. 28.47 Did the Saints take joyfully the spoiling of their goods Heb. 11.34 and shall not I take joyfully the receiving of my good and such a full reparation of all my losses Was it such a remarkable celebrated day when the Jews rested from their enemies because it was turned to them from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a good day Est. 9.22 What a day then will that be to my soul whose Rest and change will be so much greater When the wise men saw but the Star of Christ they rejoyced with exceeding great Joy Mat. 2.10 But I shall shortly see the Star of Jacob even himself who is the bright and morning Star Numb 24.17 Rev. 22.16 If they returned from the Sepulchre with great Joy when they had but heard that he was risen from the dead Mat. 28.8 What Joy then will it be to me when I shall see him risen and reigning in his glory and my self raised to a blessed communion with him Then shall we have Beauty for ashes indeed and the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Isa. 61.3 When he hath made Sion an eternal excellency a joy of many generations Isa. 60.15 Why do I not then arise from the dust and lay aside my sad complaints and cease my doleful mourning note Why do I not trample down vain delights and feed upon the foreseen delights of Glory why is not my life a continual Joy and the favor of Heaven perpetually upon my spirit And thus Reader I have directed thee in Acting of thy Joy SECT X. HEre also when thou findest cause thou hast a singular advantage from thy Meditations of Heaven for the acting of the contrary and more mixed passions As 1. Of thy hatred and detestation of sin which would deprive thy soul of these immortal Joyes 2. Of thy godly and filial Fear least thou shouldest either abuse or hazard this mercy 3. Of thy necessary grief for such thy foolish abuse and hazard 4. Of thy godly shame which should cover thy face for the forementioned folly 5. Of thy unfeigned repentance for what thou hast done against thy Joyes 6. Of thy holy anger or
make use of discovering Signs drawn from the Nature Properties Effects Adjuncts c. 4. So far as this Trial hath discovered thy neglect and other sins against this Rest proceed to the reprehension and censuring of thy self chide thy heart for its Omissions and Commissions and do it sharply till it feel the smart as Peter Preached Reproof to his Hearers till they were pricked to the heart and cried out And as a Father or Master will chide the childe till it begin to cry and be sensible of the fault so do thou in chiding thy own heart This is called a use of Reproof Here also it will be very necessary that thou bring forth all the aggravating Circumstances of the sin that thy heart may feel it in its weight bitterness and if thy heart do evade or deny the sin convince it by producing the several Discoveries 5. So far as thou discoverest that thou hast been faithful in the duty turn it to Incouragement to thy self and to Thanks to God where thou maist consider of the several aggravatiors of the mercy of the Spirits enabling thee thereto 6. So as it respects thy duty for the future consider how thou maist improve this comfortable Doctrine which must be by strong and effectual perswasion with thy heart First By way of Dehortation from the forementioned sins Secondly By way of Exhortation to the severall duties And these are either first Internal or secondly External First Therefore admonish thy heart of its own inward neglects and contempts Secondly And then of the neglects and trespasses in thy practice against this blessed state of Rest. Set home these severall Admonitions to the quick Take thy heart as to the brink of the bottomless pit force it to look in threaten thy self with the theatnings of the Word tell it of the torments that it draweth upon it self tell it what joyes it is madly rejecting force it to promise thee to do so no more and that not with a cold and heartless promise but earnestly with most solemn asseverations and engagements Secondly The next and last is to drive on thy soul to those positive duties which are required of thee in relation this to Rest As first to the inward duties of thy heart and there first To be diligent in making sure of this Rest secondly To Rejoyce in the expectation of it This is called a use of Consolation It is to be furthered by first laying open the excellency of the State and secondly the certainty of it in it self and thirdly our own interest in it by clearing and proving all these and confuting all sadning objections that may be brought against them thirdly So also for the provoking of Love of Hope and all other the Affections in the way before more largely opened And secondly press on thy heart also to all outward duties that are to be performed in thy way to Rest whether in worship or in civil conversation whether publike or private ordinary or extraordinary This is commonly called A use of Exhortation Here bring in all quickning Considerations either those that may drive thee or those that may draw which work by Fear or which work by Desire These are commonly called Motives but above all be sure that thou follow them home Ask thy heart what it can say against them Is there weight in them or is there not and then what it can say against the duty Is it necessary is it comfortable or is it not when thou hast silenced thy heart and brought it to a stand then drive it further and urge it to a Promise As suppose it were to the duty of Meditation which we are speaking of Force thy self beyond these lazy purposes resolve on the duty before thou stir Enter into a solemn Covenant to be faithful let not thy heart go till it have without all halting and reservations flatly promised thee That it will fall to the work write down this promise shew it to thy heart the next time it loiters then study also the Helps and Means the Hinderances and the Directions that concern thy duty And this is in brief the exercise of this Soliloquy or the Preaching of Heaven to thy own Heart SECT III. BUt perhaps thou wilt say Every man cannot understand this Method this is for Ministers and learned men every man is not able to play the Preacher I Answer thee First There is not that ability required to this as is to the work of publike Preaching here thy thoughts may serve the turn but there must be also the decent Ornaments of Language here is needful but an honest understanding heart but there must be a good pronunciation and a voluble tongue here if thou miss of the Method thou maist make up that in one piece of Application which thou hast neglected in another but there thy failings are injurious to many and a scandal and disgrace to the Work of God thou knowest what will fit thy own heart and what Arguments take best with thy own Affections but thou art not so well acquainted with the dispositions of others Secondly I answer further Every man is bound to be skilful in the Scriptures as wel as Ministers Kings and Magistrates Deut. 17.18 19 20. Josh. 1.8 And the people also Deut. 6.6 7 8. Do you think if you did as is there commanded Write it upon thy heart lay them up in thy soul binde them upon thy hand and between thine eyes meditate in them day and night I say if you did thus would you not quickly understand as much as this See Psal. 1.3 Deut. 11.18 6.6 7. Doth not God command thee to teach them diligently to thy children and to talk of them when thou sittest in thy house when thou walkest by the way when thou lyest down and when thou risest up And if thou must be skilled to teach thy children much more to teach thy self and if thou canst talk of them to others why not also to thine own heart Certainly our unskilfulness and disability both in a Methodical and lively teaching of our Families and of our selves is for the most part meerly through our own negligence and a sin for which we have no excuse You that learn the skil of your Trades and Sciences might learn this also if you were but willing and painful And so I have done with this particular of Soliloquy SECT IV. 2. ANother step to arise by in our Contemplation is from this speaking to our selves to speak to God Prayer is not such a stranger to this duty but that ejaculatory requests may be intermixed or added and that as a very part of the duty it self How oft doth David intermix these in his Psalmes sometime pleading with his soul and sometime with God and that in the same Psalme and in the next verses The Apostle bids us speak to our selves in Psalms and Hymns and no doubt we may also speak to God in them this keeps the soul in minde of the Divine Presence
frequently finde a motion to have done art thou not ready to be up as soon almost as thou art down on thy knees Why so it will be also in thy contemplations of Heaven As fast as thou gettest up thy heart it will be down again it will be weary of the work it will be minding thee of other business to be done and stop thy Heavenly walk before thou art well warm Well what is to be done in this case also why the same authority and resolution which brought it to the work and observed it in the work must also hold it to it till the work be done Charge it in the Name of God to stay do not so great a work by the halves say to it VVhy foolish heart If thou beg a while and go away before thou hast thy alms dost thou not lose thy labor if thou stop before thou art at the end of thy journey is not very step of thy travel lost Thou camest hither to fetch a walk to Heaven in hope to have a sight of the glory which thou must inherit and wilt thou stop when thou art almost at the top of the Hill and turn again before thou hast taken thy survey Thou camest hither in hope to speak with God and wilt thou go before thou hast seen him Thou camest to bathe thy self in the streams of Consolation and to that end didst uncloath thy self of thy Earthly thoughts and wilt thou put a foot in and so be gone Thou camest to spie out the Land of Promise O go not back without the bunch of Grapes which thou maist shew to thy Brethren when thou comest home for their Confirmation and Encouragement till thou canst tell them by experience That it is a Land flowing with Wine and Oyl with Milk and Honey Let them see that thou hast tasted of the Wine by the gladness of thy heart and that thou hast been anointed with the Oyl by the cheerfulness of thy countenance Let them see that thou hast tasted of the Milk of the Land by thy feeding and by thy milde and gentle disposition and of the Honey by the sweetness of thy words and conversation The views of Heaven would heal thee of thy sinfulness and of thy sadness but thou must hold on the Plaister that it may have time to work This Heavenly fire would melt thy frozen heart and refine it from the dross and take away the earthy part and leave the rest more spiritual and pure but then thou must not be presently gone before it have time either to burn or warm Stick therefore to the work till something be done till thy graces be acted thy affections raised and thy soul refreshed with the delights above or if thou canst not obtain these ends at once ply it the closer the next time and let it not go till thou feel the blessing Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall finde so doing Matth. 24.46 CHAP. XIII The Abstract or Sum of all for the use of the weak SECT I. THus I have by the gracious assistance of the Spirit directed you in this work of Heavenly Contemplation and lined you out the best way that I know for your successful performance and lead you into the path where you may walk with God But because I would bring it down to the capacity of the meanest and help their memories who are apt to let slip the former particulars and cannot well lay together the several branches of this method That they may reduce them to practice I shall here contract the whole into a brief sum and lay it all before you in a narrower compass But still Reader I wish thee to remember that it is the practice of a duty that I am directing thee in and therefore if thou wilt not practise it do not read it The sum is this As thou makest conscience of praying daily so do thou of the acting of thy Graces in Meditation and more especially in meditating on the joyes of Heaven To this end Set apart one hour or half hour every day wherein thou maist lay aside all worldly thoughts and with all possible seriousness and reverence as if thou were going to speak with God himself or to have a sight of Christ or of that blessed place so do thou withdraw thy self into some secret place and set thy self wholly to the following work If thou canst take Isaacs time and place who went forth into the Field in the Evening to meditate But if thou be a servant or poor man that cannot have that leisure take the fittest time and place that thou canst though it be when thou art private about thy labors When thou setst to the work look up toward Heaven let thine eie lead thee as neer as it can remember that there is thine Everlasting Rest study its excellency study its reality till thy unbelief be silenced and thy Faith prevail If thy judgment be not yet drawn to admiration use those sensible helps and advantages which were even now laid down Compare thy heavenly joyes with the choicest on earth and so rise up from Sense to Faith If yet this meer consideration prevail not which yet hath much force as is before expressed then fall a pleading the case with thy heart Preach upon this Text of Heaven to thy self convince inform confute instruct reprove examine admonish encourage and comfort thy own soul from this Celestial Doctrine draw forth those several considerations of thy Rest on which thy several affections may work especially that Affection or Grace which thou intendest to act If it be Love which thou wouldst act shew it the loveliness of Heaven and how suitable it is to thy condition if it be Desire consider of thy absence from this lovely object if it be Hope consider the possibility and probability of obtaining it if it be Courage consider the singular assistance and encouragements which thou maist receive from God the weakness of the enemy and the necessity of prevailing if it be Joy consider of its excellent ravishing glory of thy interest in it and of its certainty and the neerness of the time when thou must possess it Urge these considerations home to thy heart whet them with all possible seriousness upon each affection If thy heart draw back force it to the work if it loyter spur it on if it step aside command it in again if it would slip away and leave the work use thine authority keep it close to the business till thou have obtained thine end Stir not away if it may be till thy Love do flame till thy Joy be raised or till thy Desire or other Graces be lively acted Call in assistance also from God mix Ejaculations with thy Cogitations and Soliloquies Till having seriously pleaded the case with thy heart and reverently pleaded the case with God thou have pleaded thy self from a clod to a flame from a forgetful sinner to a mindful lover from a lover of
tryal of this world Dost thou finde it agree with thy nature or desires are these common abominations these heavy sufferings these unsatisfying vanities suitable to thee or dost thou love for interest and neer relation Why where hast thou better interest then in heaven or where hast thou neerer relation then there Dost thou love for acquaintance and familiarity Why though thine eyes have never seen thy Lord yet he is never the further from thee If thy son were blinde yet he would love thee his father though he never saw thee Thou hast heard the voice of Christ to thy very heart thou hast received his benefits thou hast lived in his bosome and art thou not yet acquainted with him It is he that brought thee seasonably and safety into the world It is he that nursed thee up in thy tender infancy and helped thee when thou couldst not help thy self He taught thee to go to speak to read to understand He taught thee to know thy self and him he opened thee that first window whereby thou sawest into heaven Hast thou forgotten since thy heart was careless and he did quicken it and hard and stubborn and he did soften it and made it yeeld when it was at peace and he did trouble it and whole till he did break it and broken till he did heal it again Hast thou forgotten the time nay the many very many times when he found thee in secret all in tears when he heard thy dolorous sighes and groans and left all to come and comfort thee when he came in upon thee and took thee up as it were in his armes and asked thee Poor soul what doth aile thee dost thou weep when I have wept so much Be of good cheer thy wounds are saving and not deadly It is I that have made them who mean thee no hurt Though I let out thy blood I will not let out thy life O me thinks I remember yet his voice and feel those embracing armes that took me up How gently did he handle me how carefully did he dress my wounds and binde them up Me thinks I hear him still saying to me Poor sinner though thou hast dealt unkindly with me and cast me off yet will not I do so by thee though thou hast set light by me and all my mercies yet both I and All are thine what wouldst thou have that I can give thee and what dost thou want that I cannot give thee If any thing I have will pleasure thee thou shalt have it If any thing in heaven or earth will make the happy why it is all thine own Wouldst thou have pardon thou shalt have it I freely forgive thee all the debt wouldst thou have grace and peace thou shalt have them both wouldst thou have my self why behold I am thine thy friend thy Lord thy brother thy husband and thy head wouldst thou have the Father why I will bring thee to him and thou shalt have him in and by me These were my Lords reviving words These were the melting healing raising quickening passages of love After all this when I was doubtful of his love me thinks I yet remember his overcoming and convincing Arguments Why sinner have I done so much to testifie my Love and yet dost thou doubt Have I made thy believing it the condition of enjoying it and yet dost thou doubt Have I offered thee my self and love so long and yet dost thou question my willingness to be thine VVhy what could I have done more then I have done At what dearer rate should I tell thee that I love thee Read yet the story of my bitter passion wilt thou not believe that it proceeded from love Did I ever give thee cause to be so jealous of me Or to think so hardly of me as thou dost Have I made my self in the Gospel a Lyon to thine enemies and a Lamb to thee and dost thou so over-look my Lamb like nature Have I set mine arms and heart there open to thee and wilt thou not believe but they are shut why if I had been willing to let thee perish I could have done it at a cheaper rate what need I then have done and suffered so much what need I follow thee with so long patience and intreating what dost thou tell me of thy wants have I not enough for me and thee and why dost thou foolishly tell me of thy unworthiness and thy sin I had not died if man had not sinned if thou wert not a sinner thou wert not for me if thou wert worthy thy self what shouldst thou do with my worthiness Did I ever invite the worthy and the righteous or did I ever save or justifie such or is there any such on earth Hast thou nothing art thou lost and miserable art thou helpless and forlorn dost thou believe that I am a sufficient Saviour and wouldst thou have me why then take me Lo I am thine if thou be willing I am willing and neither sin nor devils shall break the match These O these were the blessed words which his Spirit from his Gospel spoke unto me till he made me cast my self it his feet ye into his arms and to cry out My Saviour and my Lord Thou hast broke my heart thou hast revived my heart thou hast overcome thou hast wone my heart take it it is thine if such a heart can please thee take it if it cannot make it such as thou wouldst have it Thus O my soul maist thou remember the sweet familiarity thou hast had with Christ therefore if acquaintance will cause affection O then let out thy heart unto him it is he that hath stood by thy bed of sickness that hath cooled thy heats and eased thy pains and refreshed thy weariness and removed thy fears He hath been always ready when thou hast earnestly sought him He hath given thee the meeting in publike and in private He hath been found of thee in the Congregation in thy house in thy chamber in the field in the way as thou wast walking in thy waking nights in thy deepest dangers O if bounty and compassion be an attractive of Love how unmeasurably then am I bound to love him All the mercies that have filled up my life do tell me this all the places that ever I did abide in all the societies and persons that I have had to deal with every condition of life that I have passed through all my imployments and all my relations every change that hath befaln me all tell me That the Fountain is Overflowing Goodness Lord what a summ of love am I indebted to thee and how doth my debt continually increase how should I love again for so much love But what shall I dare to think of making thee requital or of recompencing all thy love with mine will my mite requite thee for thy golden Mines my seldom wishes for thy constant bounty or mine which is nothing or not mine for thine which is infinite and thine own shall I
mercies which I here received then shall behold the glory enjoyed there which was the End of all this O what a blessed view will that be O glorious prospect which I shall have on the celestial mount Zion Is it possible that there should be any defect of joy or my heart not raised when I am so raised If one drop of lively faith were mixed with these considerations O what work they would make in my brest and what a Heaven-ravished heart should I carry within me Faine would I believe Lord help my unbelief Yet further consider O my soul How sweet have the very ordinances been unto thee What raptures hast thou had in prayer and under heavenly Sermons What gladness in dayes of thanksgiving after eminent deliverances to the Church or to thy self What delight do I finde in the sweet society of the Saints To be among my humble faithful neighbors and friends To joyne with them in the frequent worship of God To see their growth and stability and soundness of understanding To see those daily added to the Church which shall be saved O then what delight shall I have to see the perfected Church in Heaven and to joyne with these and all the Saints in another kinde of worship then we can here conceive of How sweet is it to joyne in the high praises of God in the solemn assemblies How glad have I been to go up to the house of God Especially after long restraint by sickness when I have been as Hezekiah released and readmitted to joyne with the people of God and to set forth the praises of my great deliverer How sweet is my work in Preaching the Gospel and inviting sinners to the marriage feast of the Lamb and opening to them the treasures of free Grace Especially when God blesseth my endeavors with plenteous success and giveth me to see the fruit of my labors even this alone hath been a greater joy to my heart that if I had been made the Lord of all the riches on earth O how can my heart then conceive that joy which I shall have in my admittance into the Celestial Temple and into the Heavenly Host that shall do nothing but praise the Lord for ever When we shall say to Christ Here am I and the children thou hast given me and when Christ shall present us all to his Father and all are gathered and the Body compleated If the very Word of God were sweeter to Job then his necessary food and to Jeremy was the very joy and rejoycing of his heart and to David was sweeter then the Hony and Honicomb so that he cryeth out O how I love thy Law it is my meditation continually and if thy Law had not been my delight I had perished in my troubles O then how blessed a day will that be when we fully enjoy the Lord of this Word and shall need these written precepts and promises no more but shall in stead of these love-letters enjoy our beloved and in stead of these promises have the happiness in possession and read no book but the face of the glorious God! How far would I go to see one of those blessed Angels which appeared to Abraham to Lot to John c. Or to speak with Henoch or Elias or any Saint who had lived with God especially if he would resolve all my doubts and describe to me the celestial habitacions How much more desirable must it needs be to live with those blessed Saints and Angels and to see and possesse as well as they It is written of Erastus that he was so desirous to learn that it would be sweet to him even to dye so he might but be resolved of those doubtful questions wherein he could not satisfie himself How sweet then should it be to me to dye that I may not only be resolved of all my doubts but also know what I never before did think of and enjoy what before I never knew It was a happy dwelling that the twelve Apostles had with Christ to be always in his company and see his face and hear him open to them the mysteries of the Kingdom But it will be another kinde of happiness to dwell with him in Glory It was a rare priviledg of Thomas to put his fingers into his wounds to confirme his faith and of John to be called the Disciple whom Jesus loved on whose brest at supper he was wont to lean But it will be another kinde of priviledg which I shall enjoy when I shall see him in his glory and not in his wounds and shall enjoy a fuller sense of his Love then John then did and shall have the most hearty entertainment that Heaven affordeth â—f they that heard Christ speak on earth were astonished at his Wisdome and answers and wondered at the gratious Words which proceeded from his mouth How shall I be affected then to behold him in his Majesty Rowse up thy self yet O my soul and consider Can the foresight of this glory make others embrace the stake and kiss the fagot and welcome the cross and refuse deliverance And can it not make thee cheerful under lesser sufferings Can it sweeten the flames to them and can it not sweeten thy life or thy sickness or naturall death If a glympse could make Moses his face to shine and Peter on the mount so transported and Paul so exalted and John so rapt up in the spirit Why should it not somewhat revive me with delight Doubtless it would if my thoughts were more believing Is it not the same Heaven which they and I must live in Is not their God their Christ their Crown and mine the same Nay how many a weak woman or poor despised Christian have I seen mean in parts but rich in faith who could rejoyce and triumph in hope of this inheritance And shall I look upon it with so dim an eye So dull a heart So dejected a countenance some small foretastes also I have had my self though indeed small and seldome thorow mine own belief and how much more delightful have they been then ever was any of these earthly things The full enjoyment then will sure be sweet Remember then this bunch of Grapes which thou hast tasted of and by them conjecture the fruitfulness of the Land of Promise A Grape in a wilderness cannot be like the plentiful Vintage Consider also O my soul What a beauty is there in the imperfect Graces of the spirit here so great that they are called the Image of God and can any created exceellencie have a more honorable title Alas how small a part are these of what we shall enjoy in our perfect state O how pretious a mercy should I esteem it if God would but take off my bodily infirmities and restore me to any comfortable measure of health and strength that I might be able with cheerfulness to go through his work How pretious a mercy then will it be to have all
my corruptions quite removed and my soul perfected and my body also raised to so high a state as I now can neither desire nor conceive Surely as health of body so health of soul doth carry an unexpressible sweetness along with it VVere there no reward besides yet every gracious act is a reward and comfort Never had I the least stirring of Love to God but I felt a heavenly sweetness accompanying it even the very act of loving was unexpressibly sweet VVhat a happy life should I here live could I but love as much as I would and as oft and as long as I would Could I be all love and always loving O my soul what wouldst thou give for such a life O had I such true and clear apprehensions of God and such a true understanding of his words as I desire Could I but trust him as fully in all my streights Could I have that life which I would have in every duty Could I make God my constant desire and delight I would not then envy the world their honors or pleasures nor change my happiness with a Caesar or Alexander O my soul what a blessed state wilt thou shortly be in when thou shalt have far more of these then thou canst now desire and shalt exercise all thy perfected graces upon God in presence and open sight and not in the dark and at a distance as now And as there is so much worth in one gracious soul so much more in a gracious society and most of all in the whole body of Christ on earth If there be any true beauty on earth where should it be so likely as in the Spouse of Christ It is her that he adorneth with his Jewels and feasteth at his table and keepeth for her always an open house and heart he revealeth to her his secrets and maintaineth constant converse with her he is her constant guardian and in every deluge incloseth her in his Ark He saith to her Thou art all beautiful my beloved And is his Spouse while black so comely Is the afflicted sinning weeping lamenting persecuted Church so excellent O what then will be the Church when it is fully gathered and glorified VVhen it is ascended from the valley of tears to Mount Sion VVhen it shall sin no more nor weep nor groan nor suffer any more The Stars or the smalest candle are not darkened so much by the brightness of the Sun as the excellencies of the first Temple will be by the celestial Temple The glory of the old Jerusalem will be darkness and deformity to the glory of the New It is said in Ezr. 3.12 that when the foundations of the second Temple were laid many of the ancient men who had seen the first house did weep i.e. because the second did come so far short of it what cause then shall we have to shout for joy when we shall see how glorious the heavenly Temple is and remember the meaness of the Church on earth But alas what a loss am I at in the midst of my contemplations I thought my heart had all this while followed after but I see it doth not And shall I let my Understanding go on alone or my tongue run on without Affections what life is in empty thoughts and words Neither God nor I finde pleasure in them Rather let me turn back again and look and finde and chide this lazy loytering heart that turneth off from such a pleasant work as this Where hast thou been unworthy heart while I was opening to thee the everlasting Treasures Didst thou sleep or wast thou minding something else or dost thou think that all this is but a Dream or Fable or as uncertain as the predictions of a presumptuâ—ous Astrologer Or hast thou lost thy life and rejoycing power Art thou not ashamed to complain so much of an uncomfortable life and to murmur at God for filling thee with sorrows when he offereth thee in vain the delights of Angels and when thou treadest under foot these transcendent pleasures Thou wilfully pinest away in grief and art ready to charge thy Father with unkindness for making thee onely a vessel of displeasure a sink of sadness a skinful of groans a snow ball of tears a channel for the waters of affliction to run in the fuell of fears and the carcass which cares do consume and prey upon when in the mean time thou mightest live a life of Joy Hadst thou now but followed me close and believingly applyed thy self to that which I have spoken and drunk in but half the comfort that those words hold forth it would have made thee revive and leap for joy and forget thy sorrows and diseases and pains of the flesh but seeing thou judgest thy self unworthy of comfort it is just that comfort should be taken from thee Lord what 's the matter that this work doth go on so heavily Did I think my heart had been so backward to rejoyce If it had been to mourn and fear and despair it were no wonder I have been lifting at this stone and it will not stir I have been pouring Aqua Vitae into the mouth of the dead I hope Lord by that time it comes to heaven this heart by thy Spirit will be quickned and mended or else even those Joyes will scarce rejoyce me But besides my darkness deadness and unbelief I perceive there is something else that forbids my full desired Joyes This is not the time and place where so much is given The time is our Winter and not our Harvest The place is called the Valley of tears there must be great difference betwit the Way and the End the Work and Wages the small foretastes and full fruition But Lord Though thou hast reserved our Joyes for Heaven yet hast thou not so suspended our Desires They are most suitable and seasonable in this present life therefore O help me to desire till I may possess and let me long when I cannot as I would rejoyce There is love in Desire as well as in Delight and if I be not empty of Love I know I shall not long be empty of Delight Rowse up thy self once more then O my soul and try and exercise thy spiritual Appetite though thou art ignorant and unbelieving yet art thou reasonable and therefore must needs desire a Happiness and Rest Nor canst thou sure be so unreasonable as to dream of attaining it here on earth Thou knowest to thy sorrow that thou art not yet at thy Rest and thy own feeling doth convince thee of thy present Unhappiness and dost thou know that thou art restless and yet art willing to continue so Art thou neither happy in deed nor in Desire Art thou neither well nor wouldest be well when my flesh is pained and languisheth under consuming sickness how heartily and frequenly do I cry out O when shall I be eased of this pain when shall my decaying strength be recovered Ther 's no dissembling nor formality in these Desires
go before to prepare so glorious a Mansion for such a wretch and art thou now loth to go and possess it must his blood and care and pains be lost O unthankful unworthy foul Shall the Lord of glory be willing of thy company and art thou unwilling of his are they fit to dwell with God that had rather stay from him Must he crown thee and glorifie thee against thy will or must he yet deal more roughly with thy darling flesh and leave thee never a corner in thy ruinous cottage for to cover thee but fire thee out of all before thou wilt away Must every Sense be an inlet to thy sorrows and every friend become thy scourge and Jobs Messengers be thy daily intelligencers and bring thee the Curranto's of thy multiplied calamities before that Heaven will seem more desireable then this Earth Must every joynt be the seat of Pain and every Member deny thee a room to rest in and thy groans be indited from the very heart and bones before thou wilt be willing to leave this flesh Must thy heavy burdens be bound upon thy back and thy so-intolerable Paroxysms become incessant and thy intermittent agueish woes be turned into continual burning Feavers Yea must Earth become a very Hell to thee before thou wilt be willing to be with God O impudent soul if thou be not ashamed of this what is loathing if this be love Look about thee O my soul behold the most lovely Creature or the most desireable State and tell me Where wouldst thou be if not with God Poverty is a burden and riches a snare Sickness is little pleasing to thee and usually health as little safe the one is full of sorrow and the other of sin The frowning World doth bruise thy heel and the smiling World doth sting thee to the heart VVhen it seemeth ugly it causeth loathing when beauteous it is thy bane when thy condition is bitter thou wouldst fain spit it out and when delightful it is but sugered misery and deceit The sweetest poyson doth oft bring the surest death So much as the world is loved and delighted in so much it hurteth and endangereth the lover and if it may not be loved why should it be desired If thou be applauded it proves the most contagious breath and how ready are the sails of Pride to receive such winds so that it frequently addeth to thy sin but not one cubit to the stature of thy worth And if thou be vilified slandered or unkindly used methinks this should not entice thy love Never didst thou sit by the fire of prosperity and applause but thou hadst with it the smoke that drew water from thy eyes never hadst thou the Rose without the pricks and the sweetness hath been expired and the beauty faded before the scars which thou hadst in gathering it were healed Is it not as good be without the honey as to have it with so many smarting stings The highest delight thou hast found in any thing below hath been in thy successful labors and thy godly friends And have these indeed been so sweet as that thou shouldst be so loth to leave them If they seem better to thee then a life with God it is time for God to take them from thee Thy studies have been sweet and have they not been also bitter My minde hath been pleased but my body pained and the weariness of the flesh hath quickly abated the pleasures of the Spirit VVhen by painful studies I have not discovered the truth it hath been but a tedious way to a grievous end discontent and trouble purchased by toilsom wearying labors And if I have found out the truth by Divine assistance I have found but an exposed naked Orphan that hath cost me much to take in and cloath and keep which though of noble birth yea a Divine off-spring and amiable in mine eyes and worthy I confess of better entertainment yet from men that knew not its descent hath drawn upon me their envy and furious opposition and hath brought the blinded Sodomites with whom I lived at some peace before to crowd about me and assault my doors that I might prostitute my heavenly Guests to their pleasure and again expose them whom I had so gladly and lately entertained yea the very Tribes of Israel have been gathered against me thinking that the Altar which I built for the interest of Truth and Unity and Peace had been erected to the Introduction of Error and Idolatry And so the increase of Knowledg hath been the increase of Sorrow My heart indeed is ravished with the beauty of naked Truth and I am ready to cry out I have found it or as Aquinas Conclisum est contra c. But when I have found it I know not what to do with it If I confine it to my own brest and keep it secret to my self it is as a consuming fire shut up in my heart and bones I am as the Lepers without Samaria or as those that were forbidden to tell any man of the works of Christ I am weary of forbearing I cannot stay If I reveal it to the world I can expect but an unwelcome entertainment and an ungrateful return For they have taken up their standing in religious knowledg already as if they were at Hercules Pillars and had no further to go nor any more to learn They dare be no wiser then they are already nor receive any more of Truth then they have already received lest thereby they should accuse their Ancestors and Teachers of Ignorance and Imperfection and themselves should seem to be mutable and unconstant and to hold their opinions in Religion with reserves The most precious Truth not apprehended doth seem to be Error and fantastick novelty Every man that readeth what I write will not be at the pains of those tedious studies to finde out the truth as I have been but think it should meet their eyes in the very reading If the meer writing of Truth with its clearest Evidence were all that were necessary to the apprehension of it by others then the lowest Scholar in the School might be quickly as good as the highest So that if I did see more then others to reveal it to the lazy prejudiced world would but make my friends turn enemies or look upon me with a strange and jealous eye And yet Truth is so dear a friend it self and he that sent it much more dear that what ever I suffer I dare not stifle or conceal it O what then are these bitter sweet studies and discoveries to the everlasting views of the face of the God of Truth The Light that here I have is but a knowing in part and yet it costeth me so dear that in a temptation I am almost ready to prefer the quiet silent night before such a rough tempestuous day But there I shall have Light and Rest together and the quietness of the night without its darkness I can never now have the
delight in God and heavenly Things it would rectifie their judgments better then all the arguments in the world Lose this delight once and you will begin to quarrel with the Ordinances and Ways of God and to be more offended at the Preachers imperfections then profited by the Doctrine Sixthly And it is the want of these Heavenly Delights in God that makes men so entertain the delights of the flesh This is the cause of most mens voluptuousness and flesh-pleasing The Soul will not rest without some kinde of delights If it had nothing to delight in either in hand or in hope it would be in a kinde of Hell on Earth vexing it self with continual sorrow and despair If a Dog have lost his Master he will follow somebody else Men must have their sweet Cups or delicious Fare or gay Apparel or Cards or Dice or Fleshly Lasts to make up their want of delight in God How well these will serve in stead of God our fleshly youths will be better able to tell me when we meet at Judgment If men were acquainted with this Heavenly Life there would need no Laws against Sabbath breaking and riotousness nor would men need to go for mirth to an Alehouse or a Tavern They would have a far sweeter pastime and recreation neerer hand Seventhly also This want of Heavenly Delights will leave men under the power of every Affliction they will have nothing to comfort them and ease them in their sufferings but the empty uneffectual pleasures of the flesh and when that is gone where then is their delight Eighthly Also it will make men fearful and unwilling to die For who would go to a God or a place that he hath no delight in or who would leave his pleasure here except it were to go to better O if the people of God would learn once this Heavenly Life and take up their delights in God whilest they live they would not tremble and be disconsolate at the tidings of death Ninthly Yea this want of Heavenly Delight doth lay men open to the power of every Temptation A little thing will tice a man from that which he hath no pleasure in Tenthly Yea it is a dangerous preparative to total Apostacy A man will hardly long hold on in a way that he hath no delight in nor use the means if he have no delight in the end But as a Beast if you drive him a way that he would not go will be turning out at every gap If you be Religious in your actions and become over to God in your outward Conversaâ—ion and not in your delight you will shortly be gone if your trial be strong How many young people have we known who by good education or the perswasion of friends or for fear of Hell have been a while kept up among Prayers and Sermons and good company as a Bird in a Cage when if they durst they had rather have been in an Alehouse or at their sports and at last they have broke loose when their restraint was taken off and have forsaken the way that they never took pleasure in You see then that it is not a matter of indifferency whether you entertain these Heavenly Delights or not nor is the loss of your present comfort all the inconvenience that follows the neglect And now Christian Friends I have here lined you out a Heavenly precious Work would you but do it it would make you men indeed To delight in God is the work of Angels and the contrary is the work of devils If God would perswade you now to make conscience of this duty and help you in it by the blessed influence of his Spirit you would not change your lives with the greatest Prince on the Earth But I am afraid if I may judg of your hearts by the backwardness of my own that it will prove a hard thing to perswade you to the work and that much of this my labor will be lost Pardon my jealousie it is raised upon too many and sad experiments What say you Do you resolve on this Heavenly course or no Will you let go all your sinful fleshly pleasures and daily seek after these higher delights I pray thee hear shut the Book and consider of it and resolve on the duty before thou go further Let thy Family perceive let thy Neighbors perceive let thy Conscience perceive yea let God perceive it that thou art a man that hast thy daily Conversation in Heaven God hath now offered to be thy daily delight Thy neglect is thy refusal What Refuse delight and such a Delight If I had propounded you onely a course of Melancholy and Fear and Sorrow you might better have demur'd on it Take heed what thou dost Refuse this and refuse all Thou must have Heavenly Delights or none that are lasting God is willing that thou shouldst daily walk with him and fetch in consolations from the Everlasting Fountain if thou be unwilling even bear thy loss And one of these days when thou liest dying then seek for comfort where thou canst get it and make what shift for contentment thou canst Then see whether thy fleshly delights will stick to thee or give thee the slip and then Conscience in despight of thee shall make thee remember That thou wast once perswaded to a way for more excellent pleasures that would have followed thee through death and have lasted thee to Everlasting What man will go in rags that may be clothed with the best or feed on pulse that may feed of the best or accompany with the vilest that may be a companion to the best and admitted into the presence and favor of the greatest And shall we delight so much in our clothing of flesh and feed so much on the vain pleasures of Earth and accompany so much with sin and sinners When Heaven is set open as it were to our daily view and God doth offer us daily admittance into his presence O how is the unseen God neglected and the unseen Glory forgotten and made light of and all because they are unseen and for want of that Faith which is the Substance of things hoped for and the Evidence of things that are not seen But for you sincere Beleevers whose hearts God hath weaned from all things here below I hope you will value this Heavenly Life and fetch one walk daily in the New Jerusalem I know God is your Love and your desire and I know you would fain be more acquainted with your Saviour and I know it is your grief that your hearts are not more neer him and that they do no more feelingly and passionately love him and delight in him As ever you would have all this mended and enjoy your desires O try this Life of Meditation on your Everlasting Rest Here is the Mount Ararat where the fluctuated Ark of your Souls must Rest. O let the World see by your Heavenly Lives That Religion lieth in something more then Opinions and Disputes and a
unjust aspersions and the Church from her reproach and confusion Have not Ministers work enough of their own to do O that you knew what it is that lieth on them And if besides this you wil cast upon them the work of every Master and Parent in the Parish it is like indeed to be well done How many sorts of Workmen must there be to the building of an house and if all of them should cast it upon one and themselves do nothing you may judg how much were like to be done If there be three or four Schoolmasters in a School amongst three or four hundred Scholars all the lower that should fit them for the higher Schools should do nothing at all but send all these Scholars to the highest Schoolmaster as ignorant as they received them would not his life be a burden to him and all the work be frustrate and spoiled Why so it is here The first work towards the reforming and making happy of Church and Commonwealth lies in the good education of your children the most of this is your work and if this be left undone and then they come to Ministers raw and ignorant and hardned in their sins alas what can a Minister do whereas if they came trained up in the Principles of Religion and the practice of godliness and were taught the fear of God in their youth O what an encouragement would it be to Ministers and how would the work go on in their hands I tell you seriously this is the cause of all our miseries and unreformedness in Church and State even the want of a holy education of children Many lay the blame on this neglect and that but there is none hath so great a hand in it as this what a School must there needs be where all are brought raw as I said to the highest School what a house must there needs be built when Clay is brought to the Masons hands in stead of Bricks What a Commonwealth may be expected if all the Constables and Justices should do nothing but cast all upon King and Parliament And so what a Church may we expect when all the Parents and Masters in the Parish shall cast all their duty on their Ministers Alas how long may we Catechise them and preath to them before we can get them to understand the very Principles of the Faith This this is the cause of our Churches deformities and this is the cause of the present difficulty of Reformation It s in vain to contend about Orders and Disciâ—pline if the persons that live under it be not prepared Perhaps you 'l say the Apostles had not their hearers thus prepared to their hands Is not the word the first means of conversion Answ. 1. The Apostles preached to none at first but Infidels and Pagans And are you no better Will you do no more for your children then they 2. All the success of their labors was to gather here and there a Church from among the world of unbelievers but now the Kingdoms of the world are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ. 3. And yet the Apostles were extraordinarily qualified for the work and seconded it by Miracles for the convincing of their hearers 4. I do verily believe that if Parents did their duty as they ought the word publikly preached would not be the ordinary means of Regeneration in the Church but only without the Church among Infidels Not that I believe Doctor Burges and Master Bedfords doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration But God would pour out his grace so upon the children of his people and hear prayers for them and bless such endeavors for their holy education that we should see the promises made good to our seed and the unthankful Anabaptists that will not confesse that the children of the Saints are any neerer God or more beholden to him then Pagans so much as for the favor to be visible Church-members should by sweet experience be convinced of their error and be taught better how to understand that our children are holy II. I intreat you that are parents also to consider what excellent advantages you have above all others for the saving of your children 1. They are under your hands while they are young and tender and flexible But they come to Ministers when they are grown elder and stiffer and settled in their wayes and think themselves too good to be catechised and too old to be taught You have a twigg to bend and we an oake You have the young plants of sin to pluck up and we the deep rooted vices The consciences of children are not so seared with a custome of sinning and long resisting grace as others You have the soft and tender earth to plow in and we have the hard and stony wayes that have been trodden on by many yeers practice of evil When they are young ' their understandings are like a sheet of white paper that hath nothing written on and so you have opportunity to write what you will But when they are grown up in sin they are like the same paper written over with falshoods which must all be bloted out again and truth written in the place and how hard is that We have a double task first to unteach them and then to teach them better but you have but one We must unteach them all that the world and flesh and wicked company and the divel have been diligently teaching them in many yeers time We have hardened hearts to beat on like a Smiths Anvile that will not feel us We may tell them of death and Judgment heaven and hell and they hear us as if they were asleep or dead you have the soft clay to mold and we the hardened burned bricks You have them before they are possessed with prejudice and false conceits against the truth but we have them to teach when they have many yeers lived among those that have scorned at godliness and taught them to think Gods wayes to be foolish preciseness Custome hath not enâ—nared and engaged your little ones to contrary wayes But of old sinners the Lord himself hath said that if the Aethiopian can change his skin and the Leopard his spots then may those that are accâ—stomed to do evil learn to do well Jer. 13.23 Doth not the experience of all the world shew you the power of education What else makes all the Children of the Jews to be Jews and all the Children of the Turks to be Mahometans and of Christians to be in profession Christians and of each Sect or party in Religion to follow their parents and the custom of the place Why now what an advantage have you to use all this for the furtherance of their happiness and possess them as strongly beforehand against sin as else Satan would do for it and so Satan should come to them upon some of those disadvantages that now Christ comes on 2. Consider also that you have the affections of your Children more then any others