faith and a keeping firm a good conscience is that Integrity and uprightness which shall preserve us preserve us by fixing us upon God in Christ as the Rock of our salvation § 8. A Rock this is so deep that no floods can undermine it so high that no waves can overtop so strong that no storms can shatter it when the Soul is set upon this Rock it views the swelling waves how they some and break themselves but neither hurt nor hazard it and therefore does the Soul raised by faith triumphantly conclude that neither height nor depth neither the height of wicked violence nor the depth of worldly troubles shall separate it from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8.29 Whereas then amidst the worlds changes and worldlings violences the upright man seems likeliest to be lost yet shall his Integrity preserve him For that this Maxim of sure truth Piety is the best Policy shall confound all Machiavels Principles in the end Ps 94 14.15 So fâ—â—m is that sacred word of promise The Lord will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance but Judgment shall return into Righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it § 9. 2 The Argument of faith wherewith David backs his Petition For I wait on thee As preservation is a continued creation so is waiting a continued trusting for what Trust believes by faith it waits for by hope and thus is Trust a Compound of both When we trust in God we look to the Word of promise and in that 1 Joh. 2.25 to the authority of him that speaks the word and this is the act of faith Again we look to the object of the promise and in that to the goodness of the object and this is the act of hope Yea further when we trust in God we rely upon his promise as from him who is the first Truth and this is faith And we wait for the promise Heb. 6 12 15. as from him who is the chief Good and this is hope Now that God oftentimes suspends the blessings we desire it is to try the trust we profess and if our trust be upright it will be constant the reliance of faith and the expectance of hope make our trust perfect so that the same grace which casts our souls upon God to trust in him will sustain our souls to wait till we enjoy him Ps 27.13 14. § 10. The truth of faith the sincerity of our trust and the integrity of our hope is never more evident then when help is deferred for if any unruliness of passion if any corruption of self love if any base interest of a temporal end if any such thing have tainted our trust our faith our hope it will then appear and our shame will accompany our sin the deserting a good cause by reason of great calamities will manifest to the world our hearts were not upright 1 Ioh. 2 19. however our professions seemed zealous Hereby shall it appear then that we truly trust God when we firmly rest in him Disquiet of mind discovers weakness of trust and a distracting fear argues a disturbed faith § 11. If with integrity we trust God we shall in piety and prudence commit our way to him Ps 37 5. we shall wait patiently the success of our faith and the effects of his providence Thus when the three Children had committed themselves to God Dan. 3 16. they are not careful to answer Nebuchadnezar they know their duty and let God work his will Indeed it is grace in act more then in habit in function more then in affection in use more then in stock that does quicken strengthen support and save And therefore the waiting Saint hath a waking soul his graces are not dormant slugg'd with security presumption or sloth no but still exercised in the duties of holy devotion and a sincere obedience in an active vigor of life and strength § 12. As in nature so in grace motion is the preservatâ—ve of purity and the incentive of heat even life it self is the more lively by action God say the Schools is a pure act and every creature hath the greater excellency of being by how much it hath the greater perfection of working Rev. 7.15 Rev. 4.8 the heavenly bodies have their rest in motion and the heavenly Saints their blessedness in operation the more holy the soul is the more heavenly aâ—d the more heavenly the more active It is then in the exercise of grace and duties of obedience that we wait for the accomplishment of Gods promise his promise of deliverance in time of trouble upon which promise David founds his prayer Psal 50.15 and fixeth his faith when he thus bespeaks God saying Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee § 13. Oh what is the best temper of soul then what the best exercise of grace what the best duties of devotion wâ—en in publick calamities or private distresses we wait for the salv tion of God 1. What the best temper of soul Answ When compos'd to a holy frame of divine patience this resolution we have from our Saviour when he gives the admonition to his chosen amidst the afflictions of his Church that in their patience they possess their souls Luke 21.19 which words compared with the contâ—xâ— admit this Paraphrase As if our Saviour had said though such shall be the persecution of my Church that men rob you of your goods by oppression rob you of your liberty by imprisonment rob you of your lives by cruelty yet let them not rob you of what is more dear and precious then ten thousand worlds your souls and that by sin through impatience of spirit apostatizing from God But in your patience possess your souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possess them so as to preserve them preserve them as your best of treasure even in the profession of faith and a good conscience which is still accompanied with peace and rest in the inward man So that the heart of the upright like the center of the earth amidst all the storms tempests and commot ons of the world Psal 112.7 it remains unmoveable from its stedfastness it is still fixed trusting in the Lord. § 14. 2. What the best exercise of grace Answ The exercise of humility of faith and of hope First humility tâ—is that dispels all secret murmurings at the publick order of Gods providence prompting the soul to an acknowledgment of his Justice and an advancement of his Mercy an acknowledgment of his Justice thus Daniel Dan. 9.7 8. O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off through all the Countries whither thou hast driven them because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee O Lord to
befoâ—e the Divine Tribunal where in the presence of thy God and of his holy Angels do thou delâ—re thy loathing and abhorring of those suggestios together with a disclaiming and renouncing all allowance or willing admittance of them returning them upon Satan as the effects of his malice and fury if hereafter they return upon thy soul in their affrights and terrors 3. Close thy solemn service with this sincere devotion earnestly beseeching God to rebuke Satan and restrain his rage Zech 3.1 and to vouchsafe thy languishing soul his quickening sustaining and restoring Grace and together with this make a total resignation of thy self into the hands of thy Jesus Heb. 13.20 Isa 40.11 1 Pet. 5.8 the great Shepherd of the Flock that he may keep thee as a tender Lamb safe from the paw and teeth of the roaring Lion And here that I may not only point thee thy way but also lead thee by the hand see a Pattern for thy practice a prescrib'd form which thou mayst either use or imitate use in its own words and order of expression or imitate in the like matter and method of devotion O most glorious and most gracious Lord God! who art the Searcher of Hearts the Lover of Souls and the Preserver of Men. Before thee holy Lord before thee so sacred a Majesty I here present my self a polluted oh do thou make me a penitent sinner Polluted I am and loathsom in the filth of mine own corruptions and oh how much more vile and abominable am I through the guilt of that sin which is come upon my soul through Satans suggestions Suggestions so horrid and dreadful that I abhor to set them in mine own sight much more to declare them in thy presence I confess O holy Lord and glorious God! I confess with shame and confusion of face that mine own sin hath betrayed me to Satans buffetings and his suggestions have increased the guilt and horror of my sin Oh my pride and presumption oh my carelesness and curiosity oh my slothfulness and disobedience oh the folly and wickedness of my heart which hath provoked thy wrath and given advantage unto Satan against my soul And oh the murmurings and rep nings oh the diffidence and distrust oh the neglect of thy worship and profaning thy glory oh the deadness and hardness of heart oh the many and great evils of pollution and guilt caused and occasion'd by my foul thoughts all further provoking thy divine wrath and more deeply wounding mine afflicted spirit Woe is me wretched sinner whither oh whither shall I flie for succor unless thou Lord wilt pitty my poor soul must needs perish and oh oh my God! perish from thy presence thy gracious thy glorious presence for ever Wherefore see O thou great and glorious O thou just and righteous Judge Oh see I here prostrate my self at the Bar of thy Justice and lay my mouth in the dust noâ— knowing what to answer thee Oh! oh now that Satan doth accuse me my Conscience witness against me and thy Law condemn me who oh who shall plead for me Oh! wilt not thou blessed Jesus my Surety my Saviour wilt not thou undertake my Cause who art mine Advocate Wilt not thou procure my Pardon who art my Mediator Wilt not thou make mine Attonement who art the High Priest of my salvation O blessed Jesus be now my Jesus and seeing thou art able to save unto the utmost all that come unto God by thee oh save me lost creature undone soul without thy merit and thy mediation lost and undone eternally Oh save me unto the utmost of what my Conscience can accuse or Satans malice aggravate And now O holy Lord God! whilst thou beholdest thy wounded Son pitty oh pitty me wretched sinner See him accused by men to free me from the accusations of Satan see him unjustly condemn'd to free me from the just sentence of condemnation see him suffering death to free me from the judgment of eternal death Oh see Lord his pierced side as the Fountain opened and his streams of blood flowing forth unto his Church to wash in from sin and from uncleanness Oh here bathe my polluted soul wash and wash me thorowly that not the least filth of mine own corruptions or Satans suggestions may now cleave unto me or herâ—after appear in Judgment against me Behold in Jesus Christ my Surety my debt is paid thy justice satisfied Oh blot out then the hand-writing of Ordinances that is against me (i.) The sentence of death in the curse of the Law upon sin discharge Satan and in the presence of thine holy Angels pass sentence of Absolution upon me in the free and full pardon of all my sins And oh of a dreadful Judge be thou now Lord a gracious and reconciled Father behold me justified through the blood of thy Son and the righteousness of my Jesus and as thou makest me partaker of the merit of Christs passion to my justification so make me partaker also of the power of his resurrection even to obtain victory and to triumph over sin and Satan and all those powers of darkness which shall rise up to rob me of the riches of thy grace and to deprive me of my right and title to the inheritance of thy Saints in light Now holy Lord and gracious God! as Satan hath accused me so let me cite him before thy sacred Tribunal And here prostrate at the footstool of thy Majesty looking up unto thee in the mediation of Jesus Christ who is at thy right hand and ever lives to make intercession for me even thus Lord I here declare in thy presence and in the presence of thy holy Angels that I utterly renounce all communion with Satan in his sinful suggestions and therefore do humbly implore thy gracious goodness that whensoever Satan shall renew his suggestions they may be return'd upon himself in his malice not fasten upon my soul or be laid to my charge in their guilt And whatsoever shall be Satans rage do thou Lord Jesus rebuke him and keep me by thine almighty power through faith to salvation making thy strength to appear in my weakness thy grace and mercy in mine unworthiness And as thou art pleas'd O Lord God to quench all the fiery darts of Satan so stir up thy graces in me and enflame my soul with an enlarged fervor of holy devotion So sanctifie me throughout with thy Spâ—rit that my desires may be gracious my thoughts heavenly my life religious my serviâ—es sincere and all my duties of thy Woâ—ship acceptable in thy sight And now having renounced all communion with Satan in his suggestions I here make mine humble resignation in thy presence that so I may be safe under the shadow of thy wing and preserved unblameable unto the day of the Lord Jesus O Lord God! Into thy hands I commit my body soul and spirit my thoughts words and works all that I am all that I have desiring wholly to be thine O my
with Absalom 2 Sam. 14.24 Notwithstanding Absalom hath Davids heart yet must he not see his face Thus when God rebukes the soul for sin though his love be great yet his face shall not appear gracious And this for wise and holy ends most advancing his own glory and the souls good Some of which ends may be these 1. To chastise some stubbornness of spirit and to correct some wilful disobedience Be the Saints of God never so dear to him yet if they put out the light of councel he will put out the light of comfort if they break his bonds of rule he will bind them in chains of distress Wilful disobedience is that cursed bramble Judg. 9.15 from whence as in Jotham's parable there does come forth the fire of divine displeasure to parch and wither the tallest Cedars of Lebanon the devoutest Saints of Christs Church Or 2. It may be we grow wanton with Gods ordinances and he therefore uncloaths them of their quickening vertue and refreshing vigor because we approach them without awful reverence and an holy fear Or 3. It may be the Heart begins to harden and exalt it self and therefore God withdraws his favor and secretly rebukes the soul with terrors to bring the offender upon his knees and lay him low in humiliations melting him like wax thereby fitted as more pliable to receive the impressions of his grace and the seal of his love O the streams of spiritual comforts Jam. 4.6 which water the fruitful vallies of humble souls whilst the lofty mountains of spiritual pride are parch'd with thirst Or 4. It maybe God withdraws himself in his gracious presence from the soul to sweeten enlarge and establish its fuller comforts The toil and troubles of a barren Wilderness make more sweet the milk and honey of a fruitful Canaan As Nature hath its times and seasons so hath Grace the Winter-frosts prepare for Summer-fruits and the pruning furthers a better growth Thus Spiritual afflictions make for the Spirits further consolations Heb. 12 11. and to be exercised with inward distresses helps to the increase of grace and a further strengthening of the inward man It is indeed the method of Gods dealing with a soul first to humble it by a spirit of bondage Rom. 8 15. then to raise it by a spirit of adoption Again he withdraws himself in his spiritual comforts wherewith he cherisht our faith and love that he may try their strength and prove their sincerity further rooting the soul in humility and godly fear and after this Grace having taken deep root in the heart it brings forth the more abundant fruit of peace and comfort to the soul Yea hereby God not only tries our love to him but the more endears his love to us in that when we seem'd in our selves to be wholly lost and quite cast off he then appeared in the Mount in our greatest extremity for succor and salvation turning the signs of his wrath into testimonies of his love and changing our dismal estate of doubts and fears and mournings into a glad condition of holy confidence enlarg'd hope and refreshing comforts Oh how must this needs win the heart to a greater enlargement of love when it feels it self restor'd to so great an enlargement of delight yea so cleer an evidence of Gods favor in having brought us through the fire Mal. 3.2.3 2 Tim 2 21. 1 Pet. 2.9 and purified us to himself a peculiar treasure even vessels of honor Lastly To this end also God hides his face and withholds the light of his countenance even to quicken our longing desires after Christ and to convince the soul of its immediate dependance upon him For by how much we are the more dejected distressed and restless in our selves by so much shall we be the more eager in our longings after and the more zealous in our enjoyments of the Lord Jesus who alone can bring peace and comfort and rest to the inward man The brightest stars in the firmament of heaven the holiest Saints in the Church of Christ derive their light as of grace so of peace as of life so of comfort from Christ the Sun of righteousness Mal. 4 2. and therefore that they may know and own their dependance upon him he oftentimes shuts in his light and then the soul presently finds it self in a dismal and darksom deep of mournful distress And oh what a shop of fears is this gulf of darkness what sad apprehensions amaze the soul But now when Christ breaks forth in his light of comfort and peace oh the transporting joy that attends this return of love The devout Saint as they redeem'd from Babylons Captivity becomes as one that dreams Ps 126 1. he is strangely enwrapt with spiritual rejoycings so that he makes his boast of the Lord and his praise is continually in his mouth his thankfulness is redoubled with his joys Ps 34.1 2. and his duties enlarged with his delights 5. Though God is least in appearance yet is he most in power though he is not chearing and refreshing with his favor yet is he guiding and supporting with his hand making spiritual temptations his chief preparations when he designs any of his Saints to eminent actings or glorious sufferings David's Worthies are best acquainted with the experiences of War the skilful Pilate knows well what it is to be in winds and storms the choise Vessel is the oftner cast into the fire for its refining and certain it is the eminentest Saints in Christ Church have been well tutor'd in his School of temptations Hear Elihu Job 33.22 speaking of a man whose soul draweth near to the grave and his life to the destroyers v. 23. He tels us that Messenger that Interpreter who can shew unto him his uprightness raising him in his dejections 2 Cor. 12.7 he is as rare as excellent one of a thousand That S. Paul was so strongly tempted so fiercely buffeted it was not so much to his personal as to his ministerial advantage that he might the better have the tongue of the learned learn'd by experience in himself how to speak a word in season to him that is weary Isa 50.4 And see what Cordials the Apostle doth administer such as himself had tasted and tryed That he comforts others 2 Cor. 1.4 it is by the same comfort wherewith he himself was comforted of God And as thus spiritual temptations are Gods chief preparations when he designs any of his Saints to eminent actings so secondly when he designs them to glorious sufferings For he who hath been exercised in spiritual afflictions knows well how insufficient and vain the best things of the world are to administer true solace to the soul and therefore he will not be so loth to part with and despise that which he knows by best experience to be empty and vain yea the soul will not fear to grapple with the Worlds fury which hath once wrestled
God being made as so many stops of time to add more grace and sweetness to the musick § 2. This his Book of Psalms it is aptly called the Epitome of the whole Bible and the Anatomie of the Spiritual man yea we may rightly entitle it the Register of sacred History the Ephemeris of the Churches Prophecies the Library of Divine Doctrine the Store-house of Spiritual Comforts and the Treasury of holy Devotion And that Devotion either Penitentiary Invocatory or Eucharistical Penitenitary in deep contrition humble confession and passionate lamentation Invocatory in fervent supplication earnest deprecation and pious intercession Eucharistical in gratulatory thanksgivings laudatory oblations and triumphal songs David totus est in deprecanda venta peccatorum cujusdam sensim quod magnum multum dicit v. 11 hoc de illo cum Bethsabe commisso Kimhi intelligit Sim. de Muis in loc § 3. Here amidst so large a store choice is made of a Penetential Psalm though none of the seven commonly called the Penetentials fitted in its devotion to the sacred solemnity of the blessed Eucharist and could we attain Davids frame of spirit when he composed this Psalm of Penitence O how well how well would it become this holy Sacrament § 4. If any inquire a reason why choice is made of this present Psalm for the constant celebrations of the Lords Supper know I have observed a secret vigor of devotion to diffuse it self into the soul when exercised in prayer or meditation making use of Davids Psalms to draw heat from his flame and administer heavenly matter for so holy an exercise and upon this reason O ye humble suppliants I thought it an apt and profitable service to give at once a pattern whereby to frame your private devotions in your Closet and an help to compose your souls to an higher pitch of devotion in the publick solemnities of the holy Eucharist § 5. Besides the mystery and benefits of this blessed Sacrament they are so many and so various that no one single verse or small portion of Scripture may be a Text large enough for so copious a subject wherefore that many souls might receive something of instruction and devotion see here I have chosen an whole Psalm which divided into parts like those loaves in the Gospel broken into peeces it will so increase in the explication Mark 6.41 as those did in their distribution that whereas this Psalm like one of those loaves may seem in the whole to be but sufficient for one person yet shall it by a blessing of grace like as that by a miracle of power be in its divided parts sufficient for many fifties § 6. That this Psalm is of more then ordinary excellency and worth as penned by a more then ordinary diligence and zeal appears by the Alphabetical order of the Hebrew Letter Ad musicam an ad memoriam pertineat incertum est Ral bâ—ni nihil certi statuunt beginning each verse The Psalm it self is a mixture of various yet devout affections for that here the Psalmist moved with the sence of his sin and the violence of his Enemies he sues to God for the remission of the former and protection from the latter and at last salvation in respect of both even to himself and the Church of God this he does supported by faith and hope of which hope and faith he gives a sure testimony in the commemoration he makes of Gods abundant mercy and faithful promises And in the profession he declares of his sincere confidence in those promises and his firm expectation of that mercy § 7. The Analysis of the Psalm The whole Psalm consists of Four parts 1. The Preface vers 1. Unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul 2. The Prayer 1. Deprecation vers 2. to 4. O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed c. 2. Petition vers 4. to v. 8. Shew me thy ways O Lord teach me thy paths c. 3. The Meditation 1. Laudatory vers 8. to v. 11. Good and upright is the Lord c. 2. Consolatory vers 12. to v. 6. What man is he that feareth the Lord c. 4. The Conclusion 1. Supplication vers 16. to v. 23. Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me c. 2. Intercession vers 22. Redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles § 8. Now O ye devout souls that we may inlarge upon this of Davids Psalm with the inlargement of Davids spirit whilst I shall pass through the several parts in an explicatory application of the particular words and phrases let me revive and raise your sincere devotion as the Prophet did the Shunamites child 2 King 4.35 as the Prophet laid his mouth to the childs mouth his hands to the childs hands so let me lay Davids mouth to your mouth his hands to your hands that is I meâ—n make his prayers your prayers his meditations your meditations And having the same devotion with David we shall find a like acceptance with God whose ear is still open to our prayers whilst our hearts are laid open in his presence the Throne of grace being the only refuge of an humble penitence Vers 1. Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul § 1. BUt O my Soul hast thou not been lift up against the Lord in thy sinful rebellion how then canst thou lift up thy self unto him in a sincere devotion True I have been long dead in sin long buried in the grave of customary iniquity yet I have heard the voice of the Son of God Joh. 5 25. in his Word in his Sacraments this a quickening a reviving voice And therefore unto him that calleth me unto him that quickeneth me unto my God unto my Jesus even unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul § 2. And though heretofore in the state of darkness sin and death though then I have lift up my soul against thee in pride and profaneness the high-way to hell yet now let me lift up my soul unto thee in humility and devotion the high-way to heaven Pride and profaneness they cast me from thee then which what can be lower But humility and devotion they subject me to thee then which what can be higher Thus then raise me by humbling me lay me low in my self and this shall lift me up to thee § 3. Oh how does Sin and Sathan the flesh and the world even the whole Powers of darkness how do they with violence pursue after me Psal 55.6 Oh give me then the wings of a Dove that I may flee away and be at rest Haste haste O my Soul for thy escape hie thee to the holes of the rock to the wounds of thy Jesus and for this shelter and succor for this protection and safety Oh see unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Unto thee in the fulness of thy merits unto thee in the riches of thy grace unto thee in the
embraces of thy love and comforts of thy Spirit unto thee that thy thorns may be my crown thy blood my balsom thy curse my blessing thy death my life Coloss 3.3 thy cross my triumph Thus is my life hid with Christ in God and if so then where should be my soul but where is my life And therefore unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul § 4. I lift up my soul unto thee at thy Table who hast been thy self lift up for me on thy Cross thou hast been lift up for me in a propitiatory sacrifice and therefore I here offer my self to thee in a gratulatory oblation Is◠53.10 thou madest thy soul an offering for sin and here I make my soul an offering of thankfulness In this Eucharist then accept my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mine oblation of praise and thanksgiving in which O Lord it is that I lift up my soul unto thee § 5. Unto thee O Lord thy flesh thy blood not unto the outward elements the bread the wine unto thee and thy fulness as the inward grace not unto thee and their use as the outward sign My soul dwells not on those earthly symbols but by them as by a ladder it ascends and lifts up it self unto thy heavenly riches And thus whilst my body feeds on consecrated food oh let my soul be filled with thy consecrating fulness whilst my body tastes their wholsom sweetness let my soul be satisfied with thy saving goodness And to this end it is that unto thee O Lord I lift up my soul § 6. Unto thee O Lord Oh make good thy name of Lord unto me as Lord rebuke Satan and restrain all earthly and carnal affections that they do not once dare to whisper a temptation to my soul a distraction to my thoughts whilst I am in communion with thee in prayer at thine holy ordinance Do thou as Lord rule me by thy grace govern me by thy Spirit defend me by thy power and crown me with thy salvation Thou Lord the Preserver of heaven and earth thou openest thine hand Psal 145.16 and satisfiest the desire of every living thing Oh open now thine hand thy bosom thy bounty thy love and satisfie the desires of my longing soul which I here lift up unto thee § 7. Thou Lord givest bread to man from the earth thou gavest Manna to Israel from heaven give oh give thy self unto me in this Sacrament as the true bread the heavenly Manna the life-giving food of thy Church Thou Lord art now reigning in heaven oh do thou now also set up thy throne in my heart Thou art exalted in heavenly glory oh manifest thy self in thy gracious presence In thy heavenly glory thou art the joy of holy Angels and blessed Saints in thy gracious presence be thou now the reviving of devout souls and humble Penitents O my love my joy my Jesus my Lord be thou present with me in thy Sacrament present more then by inspiration and make me present with thee and that more then by meditation even lift up my soul unto thee in a spiritual real and eternal communion § 8. Oh how does this blessed Sacrament add wings to devout souls and wrap them up with S. Paul unto the third heaven 2 Cor. 1◠2 in an extasie of contemplation and love And what shall my soul now lie groveling on the earth hiding it self with Saul amongst the stuff 1 Sam. 10.22 clogg'd and deprest with worldly thoughts with earthly and carnal affections No it may not it must not Christ is risen Col. 3.1 and therefore sursum corda my heart my spirit that shall rise too and seek those things which are above even unto thee O Lord my Jesus do I lift up my soul § 9. My soul but how shall I call it mine seeing it is thine thine by purchase thine having bought it with thy blood yea is it not thy Spouse whom thou hast wedded to thy self by thy Spirit through faith And is not this holy Sacrament the Marriage-feast If so sure then my Jesus I was lost in my self till found in thee and therefore my soul is now and not till now truly mine in being wholly thine so that I can say with confidence I lift up my soul unto thee § 10. I lift up Oh the load of my sins the burden of my flesh so heavy that I cannot of my self lift up my head how shall I then lift up my soul Wherefore O my Savior do thou add thy strength to my weakness thy supporting grace to my fainting spirit and then I will run after thee and lift up not onely my hands but my heart not onely my eies but my soul unto thee § 11. My soul For it is not indeed the eye or the tongue or the hand or the knee but the soul which makes the acceptable service in prayer and praises unto God the devotion of the soul that is the very soul of devotion Wherefore that I may present my self a living sacrifice at Christs table Rom. 12.1 my best part shall be my first oblation and therefore in the very preparation and entrance of this sacred solemnity See O see unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Vers 2 3. O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed let not mine enemies triumph over me yea let none that wait on thee be ashamed let them be ashamed which transgress without cause § 1. O My God I trust in thee c. My prayer O Lord is founded upon faith my faith upon thy promises so that because thou art my God therefore I trust in thee yea because I trust in thee therefore thou art my God My God otherwise O Christ thou wert not my Jesus but O my Jesus who savest me by thy blood Gal. 3 1. in this thy Sacrament thou art set forth crucified and I behold thy wounds from whence by the hand of faith I pluck forth these comfortable words of life My Lord and my God Joh. 20 28. § 2. My God mine for thou hast partook of my humane nature 2 Pet. 1 4. and thou hast made me to partake of thy divine nature thou hast taken upon thee my flesh and thou hast communicated unto me of thy Spirit yea in this thy Sacrament thou communicates body and blood flesh and spirit thy whole Manhood yea thy very Godhead too thy whole self as Mediator therefore thou art my God and I trust in thee § 3. I trust in thee to make good my right to the Covenant of Grace to make good my claim to the heavenly inheritance yea even to make good my communion with thee in all thy fulness a communion so firm that the Bread and Wine I eat and drink is not more really my food then thou my Jesus in whom I beleeve and trust art my God And for this so great a blessing of thy love for this so great a benefit of thy grace it is
disturbs not that which preserves the quiet of the house the peace of the soul that which does extinguish not that which does inflame our charity that which is a servile not that which is a filial fear To fear because we have sinned against God as an avenging Iudge this servile fear love quiet casts out of doors but not to sin because we fear offending God as a gracious Father this filial fear it is so far from being cast out that it is loves dearest inmate the one mutually sustaining the other so that we may well pray as the Church hath well taught us Collect second Sund af Trin. Lord make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name § 7. However then the external profession of the truly religious may be imitated by that artificial sanctity of the formal hypocrite yet who is' t that can draw out the lineaments of life sense and motion Who can counterfeit the internal forms and active principles of grace secrets not visible to the eye but sensible to the soul from whence we draw an infallible argument of Gods blessing to say with David The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant § 8. The second Medium the manifestations of his love He will shew them his Covenant 1 Cor. 2.14 the natural man knoweth not the things of the Spirit of God and no wonder for he is blind at least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.9 as St. Peter speaks non procul videns one sand-blind that cannot see a far off the good things of Gods Covenant and grace they are deep and in their depth have too much of misterious darkness they are high and in their height have too much of glorious brightness for the purblind eye of the earthly soul and carnal man to search and apprehend And O the refreshings of divine love to the truely penitent when God by his word discovers their sin then by his spirit he withal manifests his grace he shews them his Covenant even life and salvation by Jesus Christ And by this we may know whether the discovery of sin be a temptation or an humiliation whether it be from Satan to tempt to despair or from God to humble in repentance § 9. The spirit of grace and truth laies open sin in the soul as a careful Chyrurgeon doth a wound in the body in a warm room among tender friends and with suppleing remedies his end not being to torture but to heal not to make soar but to make whole but now the spirit of error and wickedness laies open sin as the mischeivous murderer does the wound in the open air and the soul drawn away from Christ and his promises on purpose to torment and kill not to cure and save The promises priviledges and blessings then of Gods Covenant they are not known in their saving truth but by the humble soul even by those who fear the Lord for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Sept. to them the Lord will declare and make known his Covenant even his Covenant of Crace in which are concentred all the promises of the Gospel and this Covenant he will shew to them that fear him especially in that which is the firm foundation of their comforts as to the immutability of his love and the stability of his promise § 10. First The immutability of his love the grace and love of God as the Agent is not founded upon any motives or reasons in man as the object as if merit or worth in man did either beget or continue favor and love in God Rom. 4.5 Rom. 5.10 Ephes 2.5 Rom. 3.24 no he justifies us when ungodly he reconciles us when enemies he quickens us when dead and therefore must it be that we are freely justified and so eternally saved by his grace through the redemption that is in Iesus Christ Now if when enemies by wicked works Col. 1.21 we were reconciled by the death of Christ if when dead in sins we were were quickened by the Spirit of grace how much more being quickened being reconciled shall our infirmities be pardoned our falls repaired our persons accepted and our services rewarded If when we were enemies Gods grace did prevent us to make us his children how much more being Gods children shall the same grace preserve us from becoming his enemies § 11. The love of God in his Covenant of grace Jer. 31.3 it is an everlasting love which everlasting love sure cannot end in an eternal hate So that though we are unworthy yet does he continue gracious though we deserve his wrath yet will he bestow his love his love unchangeable like himself for God is love and as Mal. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed § 12. 2. The stability of his promise In Jer. 32.40 God tells us he will make an everlasting Covenant with his people And how is â—t everlasting why says God I will not turn away from them to do them good But though God be immutable in his grace unchangeable in his love and so constant in his promise yet what if his people through humane frailty fall from him and so make void the Covenant of the Almighty To this God himself gives answer v. 40. for the comfort of all the faithful I will put my fear into their hearts saith the Lord that they shall not depart from me Thus does God give the promise and strengthens man to the condition of his Covenant so that they who are begotten to a lively hope by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.5 are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation And thus our holiness depends upon Gods promise not Gods promise upon our holiness Deus facit ut nos faciamus quae praecepit nos non facimus ut ille faciat quae promisit so S. Aug. God makes us to do what he hath commanded we do not make God to do what he hath promised But as remission of sins is from his grace even his gracious favor accepting so is the obedience of faith from his grace too even the grace of his Spirit sanctifying § 13. So that all our comfort of soul and peace of conscience is firmly fixt upon this sure Basis this firm foundation the immutability of Gods love and the stability of his promise For so Heb. 6.17 God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel and in that his love he confirm'd it by an oath And wherefore Was it to make his obligation more firm No but to make our consolation more full For so v. 18. it was that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation Gods covenant is not made the more firm or sure by oath then by promise for that his truth as his nature it is without variableness or shadow of turning
Jam. 1.17 And it is not any thing that can add to its immutability for as to infinity in respect of extension so to immutability in respect of firmness there can be no accession of parts nor addition of degrees § 14. Wherefore as mans oath adds not to the truth of his word so nor Gods oath to the certainty of his promise So that meerly to shew unto the faithful Heb. 6.17 the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel he confirmed it by an oath which was for the greater testimony of his love in the stronger assurance of our faith being fixt upon the firm stability of his promise from which stability of pâ—omise we draw an infallible argument to prove the blessing of God upon them that fear him He will shew them his covenant Who is it now that feareth the Lord and in that fear approacheth a communion with Christ in his ordinance his holy Sacrament that God may now acquaint him with his Covenant in the manifestations of his love let him first see to this that he be acquainted with his secret in the operations of his grace § 15. And here that we rest not on moral principles or on a formal sanctity do we examine the operations of grace in a real holiness such as meer morality cannot reach nor formal hypocrisie counterfeit See we then what is the secret of the Lord with them that fear him in the operations of grace 1. In respect of their contritions and humiliations 2. In respect of their hungrings and thirstings after righteousness 3. In respect of their holy purposes and godly resolutions 4. In respect of their earnest prayers and fervent supplications 5. In respect of their humble assurance of Gods love and acceptance through Christ § 16. 1. Their contritions and humiliations in which their sight and sense of sin is not only in respect of the general corruption of their nature but also the particular and more enormous transgressions of their life yea they view sin not so much in its horror of guilt Psal 14.3 Col. 1 21. Eph. 2 12. Isa 59.2 as in its pollution of filth not so much as exposing to wrath and hell as setting at enmity with God and estranging the soul from Christ And thus doth Christs grace work upon their hearts with the Laws threatnings tempered with the Gospels promises thereby bruising and breaking them in contritions of soul mollifying and melting them in languishings of spirit Oh this the secret of the Lord these the operations of grace in Contritions and Humiliations § 17. 2. In hungrings and thirstings after righteousness which arise in the soul from faith in the promises of Christ those of Justification by his Blood and those of Sanctification by his Spirit yea that knowledg of God and of Christ which they had formerly being speculative now becomes practical and they find those Scriptures true in experience and trial which before they viewed only in fancy and notion Psal 27.4 So that nothing appears more beautiful to their souâ—s then the worship and service of their God nothing more joyous then communion with Christ and fellowship with his Saints And therefore do they breath forth their longings after righteousness with holy David Oh that our ways were made so direct Psal 119 5. that we might keep thy statutes And as they have no comfort in their souls till God speaks peace unto their consciences so nor have they quiet in their consciences till God give further grace unto their souls that grace of sanctification whereby they may perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 § 18. 3. Holy purposes and godly resolutions which resolutions of their souls are conformable to the admonition of the Apostle Act. 11.23 even with purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord. And whereas the purposes of the Hypocrite they are ab extra from without from Gods judgments or mans perswasions their holy purposes they are ab infra from within from the sense of Gods mercy and Christs love which does so powerfully affâ—ct their souls that they are with David at a Juravi I have sworne Ps 119.166 and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments They make it their solemn vow and sincere resolution to observe the Law of their God and the precepts of their Redeemer And according to the sincerity of their holy resolutions so do they order the integrity of their holy obedience even in an universal and impartial respect to all Gods commandments not allowing not approving yea Ps 119.6 not excusing or indulging themselves in the commission of the least evil of which their conscience is convinc'd that it is a sin against their just and holy God their good and gracious Father § 19. 4. Earnest prayers and fervent supplications How many oh how many are the deep sighs how many the mournful groans how many the secret wishes how many the pantings and longings which they feel in their souls as so many ebullitions of grace so many breathings of the Spirit And all these oft-times before they can in affiance of faith gain wing in prayer to present and enlarge themselves in supplications before the Throne of grace In which supplications they are not more earnest and importunate for justification then they are for sanctification for remission of sins then for newness of life yea they sue with as much fervency and importunity for holiness as for happiness for grace as for glory § 20. 5. Their humble assurance of Gods love and acceptance through Christ And for this know that the Spirit of supplication which gives them words to put up their prayer unto God through Christ the same Spirit doth often bring back word unto their souls that their prayer so put up is accepted whereby with David they taste and see that is Ps 34 8. experimentally find and feel that the Lord is God receiving even whilst they are praying an answer of their prayers returned into their bosom by a secret contentation of soul wrought by a sweet illapse of the Spirit And thus their souls become even transported with a divine joy and heavenly delight the spiritual communion they obtain with God through Christ in humble prayer being an earnest of that eternal communion they expect with God and with Christ in the heavenly presence Joh 17.24 Of which eternal communion and heavenly presence this blessed Eucharist is the Sacramental seals and pledge confirming unto us the truth and comfort of this doctrine and Text That the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Vers 15. Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net § 1. HIs guards are strong his fence is sure whose salvation is Christ which salvation is communicated to us in the promises of grace exhibited in the ministry of the Word and more plentifully conveyed yea more effectually confirmed in
soul when the divine presence of Christ shall fill its Tabernacle possess the heart and so the eye of faith become fixt upon the Lord in devout contemplations of his grace and love So fixt that with holy David When we awake we are still with him yea VVe set the Lord always before our face Psal 139 18. Psal 16.8 he the continual object of our eye as being the onely object of our love of our joy of our delight Indeed where should be our hearts but where is our joy where our eye but where our love and whilst our eyes are on the Lord the Lords eyes will be on us so that lifting up our eyes to him above we shall not fear the snares of our feet beneath but in all our affairs of life in all our conditions of being in all the publick calamities of the Church in all the various changes of the World our firm affiance may have its comfortable assurance that our eyes being ever towards the Lord he shall pluck our feet out of the net § 9. Secondly The comfortable assurance of Davids faith he shall pluck my feet out of the Net that is he shall deliver me from the sinful temptations of Satan the world and the flesh which are as a net to intangle and insnare the soul First such is Satans malice to the sanctified soul that not being able by his temptations to deprive of grace he will not cease his suggestions to rob of comfort so that as Hercules in his cradle so the faithful in his infancy of the new man he does incounter the winding serpent whom he overcomes by the blood of the Lamb through faith in the Lord Jesus § 10. And when Satan thus repulst and beat off departs from him it is but as he did from our Saviour for a while yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a season even till a fitter opportunity to return Luk. 4.13 so that again and again does Satan encounter the humble penitent renewing his terrors to destroy his comforts and if possible to overthrow his faith Oh how does he by subtle insinuations make the soul to argue against it self in many needless scruples and groundless doubtings intermixt with distrustful fears But such is the wisedom and mercy of his God that Satans Wiles they are repelled by Christs truth whose gracious promises do silence his doubtful cavellings and a renewed vigor of grace damp his suggestions of fear so that the soul rests in peace receiving some testimonies of divine love by the Spirit obtained in fervent prayer § 11. And as thus we have seen something of the combate the faithful have with Satan so see Secondly something of the encounter he has with the world in which there is a secret antipathy against the spiritual man as it is observed by our Saviour when he tells his Disciples that if they were of the world the world would love them Joh. 15.19 even as the Mother loves her own Children but because he had called them out of the world therefore did the world hate them Thus then the faithful man in the world and from the world he meets with hatred yea that hatred sharpened with contempt derision and slanders ay mens malice doth increase with his goodness their fury with his piety so that he meets with loss of liberty spoil of goods yea the threatnings if not execution of death and that made more dreadful and formidable through cruelty and tortures § 12. Sometimes again the world turns her violence into allurements her threathings and fury into fawnings and flattery she presents profit proffers pleasure tenders honor and all to allure and deceive and the faithful mans danger is greater from the plausible fairness of the worlds allurements then from the apparent fierceâ—ess of her threatnings But such is the power of divine grace that Christ plucks his feet out of the net 1 Joh. 5.4 making him by faith to overcome the world a sincere faith in the apprehension of Gods love and the assurance of Christs Kingdom will powerfully yea victoriously repulse the world in all her incounters of feat or of favour § 13. As we have seen something of the spiritual conflict which the faithful man has with Satan and the World So thirdly see now something of that he hath with the Flesh which though it be an enemy less violent yet is it more dangerous whose insinuations being secret they are the more hurtful because the less discernable in this conflict with the flesh the sanctified person he feels the bent of nature strugling against the dictates of the Spirit corrupt dispositions against gracious inclinations carnal lusts against spiritual desires earthly affections against heavenly motions thus he feels the spirit lusting against the flesh Gal. 5 17. and the flesh lusting against the spirit in which domestick War he receives many secret blows and some deeply wounding making him to cry out with St. Paul Oh wretched man that I am Rom. 7.24 who shall deliver me from this body of death This body of death in which the inward man is divided against the outward man the old man against the new man that is the same man against himself § 14. And yet O happy soul which is truly sensible of this spiritual war it shall assuredly rest in an eternal peace These several Combates then and conflicts which the faithful have against Satan the World and the Flesh though they often discourage yet do they not quite destroy their holy resolutions though they do for a while damp and discomfort yet do they afterwards much quicken and further their godly conversation Did not indeed the powerful assistance of Christs Spirit give strength to their fainting souls those many assaults of their spiritual enemies would assuredly beat them back from their holy course but being by the same spirit strengthned by which they are sanctified notwithstanding all the oppositions of the World or the Flesh they go forwards in holiness And noâ—withstanding all the suggestions of Satan they resolve and will endeavour to live godly in Christ Jesus being ready in firm affiance and a comfortable assurance to subscribe this profession of Davids faith Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net § 15. But now how may we best fortifie our souls against the sinful temptations of the World and Satan Answer By mortifying the corrupt affections of the flesh For that most certain it is Satan holds intelligence with our lusts and by their treachery does surprize the Cittadel of the heart Satan may tempt but he cannot force the will So that it is not his tempting but our consenting which brings guilt upon the soul Jam. 1.14 properly then indeed every man is tempted when he is drawn away with his own lust and enticed Satan he subtly proportions his sinful temptations to our corrupt dispositions and therefore where he sees the heart set upon covetousness he tempts Balaam with the
wages of iniquity 2 Pet. 2.15 to curse Israel he tempts Judas with horrid treason to betray his Master Luk. 22.2 3. he tempts Annanias Act. 5.3 4. with cursed sacriledge to alineate to his own use what he had dedicated to Gods service Thus also when he sees the heart set upon ambition Numb 16.1 he tempts Corah with desperate rebellion he tempts Absolon with unnatural treason 2 Sam. 15.10 he tempts Arrius with blasphemous Heresie he tempts Julian with horrid Apostacy § 16. But now on the contrary as an Arrow shot against a Rock may be broken but cannot enter thus temptation to the soul it shall be repell'd where no lust is within to give admittance Wherefore though Satan tempt our Saviour yet are the darts of his temptations shot in vain He finds nothing in him Joh. 14.30 nothing in Christ of carnal or earthly affection whereon his temptation might fasten it self In us then it is the treacherous correspondencie of the flesh with Satan and the World which betrays our souls to their assaults So that to fortifie the soul against their sinful temptations the surest means is to mortifie the flesh in its corrupt affections Rom. 8.13 § 17. Now when the solemnity of the holy Eucharist is celebrated Job 1.6 it is a day when the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord and we may be sure Satan will also come among them not only to accuse every unworthy Receiver but even to tempt the worthiest that receives tempt him with wandring and worldly thoughts with flat and dull affections yea it may be with spiritual pride with formal hypocrisie or impure imaginations Wherefore it will be a second Case seasonably proposed How we may best attend this sacred solemnity that we be not entangled in Satans net Answer By having our eyes ever towards the Lord our souls fixt and intent upon Christ in the sufferings of his Passion the power of his Resurrection the glory of his Ascension and the benefit of his Intercession And this with the enlargements of contrition of faith of love of prayer and of praises § 18. This a fit exercise for the whole solemnity of Administring but especially in the very act of receiving when the Minister comes towards thee O thou devoted soul with the Sacramental pledges of Christs body and blood raise thy self in this or the like ejaculation of fervent prayer O my Jesus thou boundless mercy and glorious purity by thy Spirit pierce into every faculty of my soul cleanse out every corner of my heart and so sanctifie and enlarge me that I may become a fit temple an holy habitation for thee the Lord of life and Prince of glory This done when the sacred bread is administred to thee with a Take eat the body of our Lord Jesus Christ then in thy silent meditations by a commemoration of faith behold Christ in the garden Luk. 22.44 and see him in his anguish of soul and agony of blood prest under the weight of mans sin and Gods wrath This being over behold him betrayed by Judas apprehended by the Jews and dragged away to the High-Priests palace where Mat. 26 67. in thy commemorations of faith behold him spit upon blindfolded and buffeted and after that hurried away to Pilate's Judgment-hall where being falsely accused see him unjustly condemned and after he is scourged with whips Mat. 27.2.11 crown'd with thorns and sceptred with a reed mock'd and despightfully used behold him in thy meditations bearing his cross till he faints under it § 19. At last coming to Mount Calvary see his limbs stretcht and violently distorted his hands and feet digg'd and bor'd and at length his precious body nail'd to his Cross where fix thy meditations of faith in an exercise of contrition and love that as S. Paul thou mayest become crucified with Christ Gal. 2.20 and with good Ignatius in a Pathos of devotion cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh my love and therein my life my joy my Jesus he is crucified And in this melting extasie of contrition and love continue till the Cup be presented thee with a Drink this the blood of our Lord Lord Jesus Christ which thou receiving as from Christ in an awful and devout reverence in a renewed contrition of heart and devotion of love renew thy meditations of faith and in them whilst thou beholdest thy Saviour hanging upon his Cross seeing thou canst not conceive his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his unknown sufferings as the Greek Church calls them seeing thou canst not conceive the Sea of sorrows which overwhelmed his soul see oh see those Rivers of blood which overflowed his body And life flowing out with the blood see him seal a Consummatum est to his Passion and our Redemption with a giving up the ghost § 20. And here say within thy self Who is it in a challenge to the Law and Sin and Satan who is it that condemns seeing it is Christ that dyed Rom. 8.34 my Surety my Saviour who thus offers up himself a sacrifice for my sins And therefore presenting thy self in the presence of thy God and his holy Angels raise thy soul in this apprehension of faith That whatsoever is the guilt of Sin the accusation of Satan or the curse of the Law all is taken away cancelled and abolish'd by the merit of Christs passion And therefore in thy meditation of holy faith send forth this ejaculation of fervent prayer Look down oh look down heavenly Father from thy celestial sanctuary and behold the sacred Hoast the death the passion of my crucified Saviour whose blood of sprinkling speaks better things then that of Abel's even things of grace and mercy of pardon and peace Eph. 4 8. Col. 2.15 § 21. And here from the Passion of thy Saviour proceed in thy meditations of faith to his Ressurection and behold him leading Captivity captive triumphing gloriously over sin and Satan death and hell From his Resurrection follow him to his Ascension and raised by faith Heb. 7.25 behold him at the right hand of the Father in glory where He ever lives to make intercession for us And therefore presenting thy self before the Throne of grace powre out thy soul in prayer in the mediation of Christ Jesus that God would make good to thee the institution of this holy Sacrament as the seal of his Covenant of grace giving thee a communion with the Lord Jesus in all his benefits that so the pardon of thy sins being sealed a supply of grace exhibited and the earnest of glory confirmed thy whole man may be further sanctified and eternally blessed And now let the close of all be lauds and praises even Halleluiah salvation be unto our God and unto the Lamb for ever Rev. 7.10 Vers 16 17. Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted The troubles of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of
my distresses § 1. GOD being an Infinite Good as he hath his being from himself so hath he his contentment in himself He hath his Paradise in his own bosom his perfect bliss in the eternity of his own fulness And O the immensity of Gods love unto man in ordaining him no other felicity then himself enjoys giving himself to be mans end mans happiness This then is the comfortable rest of mans soul Communion with God in Christ which yet in this life is neither full nor fixt the godly mans comforts being always sweet yet often short his communion with God having its frequent interruption Psal 30.7 though not a total dissolution § 2. So that did we lay our ears to the devout mans closet how might we hear the Turtle-moans of his sobbing sorrows the deep sighs of his broken heart Oh how are his prayers bedewed with tears which drop from the bleeding wounds of his anguisht soul His sad complaint how is it often that of mournful Sion Isa 49.14 The Lord hath forsaken me my God hath forgotten me Every word hath its accent of woe and emphasis of sorrow The Lord rich in his goodness dear in his love the Lord infinite in his power glorious in his majesty faithful in his truth even the Lord my God my God by covenant and communion the stay and strength of my soul the desire and delight of my heart the life of my joy and the joy of my life He hath forsaken me § 3. Yea he hath not only cast me out of his arms but also out of his heart he hath not only taken away his hand but hath also hid his face I am no more his love I am no more his care He hath forgotten me Now this state of spiritual desertion though excluding comforts yet is it consisting with grace And therefore the devout Saint of God notwithstanding his languishments of sorrow does not lie down in distrust but raised by faith he powres forth his complaint unto God in prayer Thus holy David Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted the troubles of my heart are enlarged oh bring thou me out of my distresses § 4. Here we have the Case and the Cure of a deserted soul the Case rightly stated in a mournful complaint and the Cure fitly applied in a fervent prayer The Case rightly stated in a mournful complaint 1. In its spiritual dereliction I am desolate 2. It s secret anguish I am afflicted 3. It s high aggravation The troubles of my heart are enlarged In the Cure fitly applied in fervent prayer 1. To the Spiritual dereliction is applied the manifestation of Divine love Turn thee unto me 2. To the secret anguish is applied a soveraign balm Have mercy upon me 3. To the high aggravation is applied a full deliverance Oh bring thou me out of my distresses Thus turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted c. § 5. 1. The case of a deserted soul rightly stated in its spiritual dereliction I am desolate The devout soul in its neer approaches unto God through Christ Psal 34.8 oftentimes tastes and sees much of heavenly sweetness and divine love yet those comforts though of heavenly stock like plants carried out of their native soil and proper climate they keep not their sweetness in a continued strength God oft-times withdrawing himself from his dearest Saints in the comforting influence of his grace and love The cheering vigor then of Grace in its triumphant power over sin and the satisfying peace of conscience in the cleer testimony of the Spirit they are not always the portion of the truly sanctified Grace and Peace indeed they are happy Mates Eph. 1.2 Phil. 1.2 but not inseparable companions Grace may be without Peace though Peace cannot be without Grace The soul then is often desolate and forsaken of God in the refreshing influence of peace and comfort when yet he is most intimately present with the soul in the quickening power of life and grace § 6. Now the spiritual dereliction we here speak of it is none other then a stop of that gracious effusion of Gods love a shutting up those streams of sweet refreshments which were wont to flow forth from the fountain of Christs fulness upon the soul A truth this so well known by sad experience to Gods Saints that who is he that hath drunk of the waters of life that hath not tasted those waters of Marah that hath not tasted at least some drops of that full cup of Christ when in bitter anguish of soul he cryed out upon the Cross Mat. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me This then of Gods withdrawing himself in the comforts of his Spirit it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the language of the Apostle a temptation common to men 1 Cor. 10.13 the best of men even to men of the divinest tempers and devoutest souls § 7. Yet these spiritual derelictions of the godly though they are real they are not total not final for that God is faithful in his promise whose promise is full and emphatical Heb. 13.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Est in loc Est negationis conduplicatio ut sit vehementior pollicitatio The promise is doubled in the expression that our faith might be confirmed in its assurance Yea here are five Negatives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as if God had said I will not no I will not no most assuredly I will not for ever leave thee for ever forsake thee his compassions may be restrained but cannot be extinguished § 8. Know then in the spiritual desertions of comfort Gods love is not interrupted in him but the acts of his love intermitted to us he withdraws himself indeed in his love but it is not amor benevolentiae but amor beneficentiae as the School speaks his love of benevolence wherewith he loveth us in Christ this love like himself it is unchangeable but now the actings of this love which is the love of beneficence that is often suspended in its measure and degrees according to Gods wisdom and will this love of benevolence and beneficence may aptly be illustrated by lux and lumen the inherent and the radiant light of the Sun Gods love of benevolence like the Suns inherent light it varies not but his love of beneficence like the Suns radiant light it is often clouded yet not totally eclipsed And when Gods love is clouded his face hid then is the soul desolate which dereliction brings not onely a sudden fit of heaviness but very often a continued estate of discomforts sharpened and imbittered with inward afflictions for so saith David in his desertion I am desolate and afflicted § 9. 2 The secret anguish I am afflicted Indeed what soul can be desolate and not be afflicted Psal 30.6 Thou Lord didst hide thy face and I was
of fears but the Light of the Spirit brings comfort of soul in a discovery of Gods love in Christ which discovery being permanent our comforts shall not be transient Whereas cursory views and passing glances of divine objects leave the heart unsatisfied being more troubled for their absence then pleased with their sweetness It is the rising then of the Sun of righteousness Mal. 4 2. which gives day to the inward man and his continued beams bring the soul its renewed joys Wherefore then let the deserted soul present its self in all its languishings and thus bespeak God and Christ in this blessed Sacrament O my God! my soul seeks what it has lost oh let it find what it seeks even comfortable communion with thee in the Lord Jesus For this for this it is that I here call and cry Turn thee unto me § 17. 2. To the secret anguish is applied a soveraign balm Have mercy upon me Such are the wounds of an afflicted soul as no balm can cure but that of a compassionating mercy Misericordia â—eliaâ—uata mercy which melts to supple and to heal Though then the deserted soul hath the same promises the same Mediator the same God which it had before its desertion yet it does not find comfort till it have the same mercy And therefore does St. Paul happily joyn the Father of mercies and the God of all consolations 2 Cor. 1.3 For that indeed God were not the God of consolation were he not the Father of mercies all remission of sins all power of grace all manifestations of love yea the earnest of glory are all the of-spring of mercy brought forth of her womb brought up in her lap yea nourished with the milk of her breasts and cherished with the warmth of her bosom § 18. Who art thou now that languishest in desertions Know the door of mercy is not shut because thou shouldst not enter but because thou shouldst knock if thou wouldst obtain mercy then it must be by prayer and that through Faith in the promise Faith I say in the promise for how know we Gods good will but by his holy Word So that the truth of his promise presents us the sweetness of his mercy and seeing the fathers mercies melts at the Sons mediation Heb. 2.17 Bern. de grad hum go unto God by Christ by Christ as a merciful and faithful High Priest a merciful High Priest compassiâ— cum impossibilitate perdurat though Christ be now gloriously impâ—ssible yet is he still graciously compassionate yea he is one that proportions his pitty to our misery Heb. 5.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his compassion to our affliction such compassion as is a Soveraign balm to cure the secret anguish of a deserted soul applied here by David when he cries unto God in prayer Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted the troubles of my heart are inlarged c. § 19. 3 To the high aggravation is applied a full deliverance O bring thou me out of my distresses Now the soul begins to recover her former taste of heavenly sweetness now she begins to feel the warmth of those sweet imbraces from the everlasting arms of her dearest Jesus And therefore does she pursue this begun recovery to a full deliverance even a deliverance from all her distresses of doubts and fears and terros which deliverance from those distresses is by the sacred testimony of Christs spirit evidencing the sincerity and truth of grace and thereby a personal interest in the promises of life and love Joh. 14.26 § 20. To make it appear how the Spirit is the Comforter and by his testimony to the soul free 's it from its distress observe this gradation 1. The Gospel proposeth salvation through Christ in the free promise and now press this grape examine this truth and the wine of comfort is no more but this that salvation may be mine if I beleeve But then 2. A further progress is made by faith in casting the soul upon Christ for salvation according to this promise and in this the foundation of comfort is laid firm the root is fixt yet the fruit is not grown this is sufficient to life and salvation in the end but is not effectual yet to peace and consolation in the way wherefore to all this that salvation through Christ is offered in the promise and that the promise of Christ for salvation is received through faith to all this must be added this testimony of the Spirit that that faith is sincere and so that salvation sure And this testimony it is that confirms the souls peace and gives inlargement to its sweetest comforts § 21. Thus Faith in the habit it is medium incognitum say the Schools it is often hid in the soul and the quickenings of the Spirit it is which bring it into act And by the actings of faith come the renewings of comfort thorow communion with Christ When the Sun of righteousness then appears with healing in his wings Mal. 4 2. the clouds of fears are scattered the storms of terrors cease the night of unbelief doth vanish yea Psal 24.8 when Christ the King of glory sets up his Throne in the heart and rules with the golden Scepter of his grace then do proud lusts stoop then do the powers of darkness fly and so the deserted and afflicted soul is brought out of all its distresses Thus have we seen the case and the cure of a deserted soul the case rightly stated and the cure fitly applied the case rightly stated I am desolate and afflicted the troubles of mine heart are inlarged the cure fitly applied Turn thee unto me have mercy upon me O bring thou me out of my distresses § 22. Who art thou now that looks upon what is said of spiritual desertion as strange doctrine Let me tell thee thou hast had little acquaintance with God if thou knowest not yet what it is to lose him to lose him in the comforts of his Spirit thou hast room I question not for profit for pleasure for sin for Satan but no room for God for Christ and so not having injoyed the comforts of the divine presence thou knowest not the discomfort of his absence O what is it that we see daily some men lose their Estates and they grieve heavily some men lose their Friends and they go mournfully some men lose their Health and live sadly But how many lose their God their Saviour their soules and yet neither grieve nor mourn nor are heavy for it Oh ye who are guilty of this self and soul-murder did the day break upon your souls 2 Pet. 1.19 the Spirit of truth enlighten and awaken your consciences Oh how would amazement seize you and the terrors of death fall upon you § 23. But who is it that having Sions sorrow in his heart and her tears in his eyes comes unto me with her complaint in his mouth Oh my God hath forsaken
as Lord of the creatures hath redounded to the misery and mortality of all his retinue yea the womb of sin hath added as one iniquity so one mortality to another making the best of earthly beings to be momentany and vanishing That alone which gives fixedness and permanencie is trusts in God However then the Stars may sometimes be eclipsed yet have they a fixed and permanent subsistencie in their own heavenly Orbs whereas Comets which rise with a greater train and stream of light at last vanish into ashes and are seen no more Thus the Saints of God however clouded or eclipsed as to a worldly splendor yet have they a fixed estate of peace and rest in their own heavenly souls whereas the wicked which flourish in a greater pomp of outward glory are at last covered with shame and buried in everlasting ignominy § 2. To give a particular instance of this truth see it in the ambitious man and the humble Saint The ambitious man when he hath outclimb'd the modest designs of his first wishes he then mounts his aim higher and ventures to break down every hedg of Property and Right which stops his way and force many a gap through Law and Conscience to shorten his passage But when now he hath obtained the height of his hearts desire the Imperial crown of all his hope how does he find his promised fruition seised with an unexpected ruine 〈◊〉 2.18 19 his person name and family as stain'd with blood so covered with dishonor and cloathed with confusion But as for the humble Saint which hath made God his stay his trust whatsoever are his temporal changes 〈◊〉 10. his soul is fixt upon an eternal rest his integrity and uprightness shall preserve him that so neither shame nor confusion overtake him For however he lose an earthly yet does he hold fast an heavenly crown however disgrace amongst men may be his affliction yet a Diadem of glory in the hand of God and of Christ and in the sight of Angels and of Saints shall be his reward and the reward of all those who in the integrity of their hearts put their trust in the Lord Lam. 3.26 and wait for his salvation And therefore is David right in his prayer when he makes supplication unto his God saying Let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee c. § 3. As if the Psalmist had said O my God! that I profess is thy truth that I maintain is thy cause and my trust is in thee that by the wisdom and power of thy providence the cause I maintain thou wilt defend and the truth I profess thou wilt justifie so shall not the scorn of men Ps 39.8 or the reproach of sinners make me ashamed but that still with faith and confidence I will hold fast mine integrity and uprightness in a sincere aim at thy glory and thy Churches good And oh let this integrity of my heart Ps 119.116 and uprightness of my cause preserve me which is that I expect by hope and wait for with patience And oh let not my patience be disappointed of its hope seeing I wait on thee on thee whose wisdom can find out the way and whose power can effect the means of my salvation notwithstanding all the difficulties and seeming impossibilities of my deliverance Thus let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee c. § 4. Or to give the paraphrase of the words according to the subject matter of our ensuing discourse holding conformity with the order of our former method and the solemnity of the blessed Eucharist O my God and Saviour I put my trust in thee I build my salvation upon the sure rock of thy saving merits let me not be ashamed as if I had builded it on the sandy foundation of mine own works I cannot plead for my self a perfection of holiness Isa 38.3 but this I can plead through thy grace an integrity and uprightness my faith and repentance though they are not full and perfect yet are they sound and sincere Let then mine integrity and uprightness beg by prayer what it cannot challenge as debt the preservation of my soul this is that I wait for in the longings of hope and the expectations of patience And I thus wait on thee who as thou findest me vessels so also powre in oil as thou makest me capable of salvation by integrity and uprightness so make me to be saved in thy goodness and love Thus let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee § 5. In the words we observe a twofold Petition of prayer set on with a twofold Argument of faith The former Petition is this Let me not be ashamed The Argument of faith For I put my trust in thee The latter Petition Let integrity and uprightness preserve me The Argument of faith For I wait on thee § 6. The former Petition Let me not be ashamed Sin is the mother of shame for that our first parents in their primitive state of integrity when they had none other clothing save that of Innocencie they were no less void of shame then sin For see Gen. 2. v. ult They were both naked and were not ashamed The Chaldee paraphrase is very expressive and emphatical They knew not what shame was Shame saith the Philosopher it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fear of ignominy or disgrace which could not possibly befall man so noble and soveraign a creature whilst he preserved entire the glorious image and likeness of his Maker for within his soul was arrayed with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that splendent robe of perfect righteousness S. Chrysost hom 17. in Gen. without his body was deckt with an admirable beauty and exact harmony both of parts and composition And thus whilst man was without stain of sin he was without spot of deformity and so without blush of shame § 7. Yer as for the shame of the Cross which Christ did despise Heb. 12 2. Gal 6.14 Coâ— 1 11. Phâ—â— 3.10 S. Paul makes it his glory and we must bear it with patience yea with joyfulness having fellowship with Christ in his sufferings But that shame which is the consequent of guilt the effect of sin when the conscience checks the soul for deserting the faith of Christ for transgressing his law or apostatizing from the truth of God this this is the shame which every true Saint abhorrs and dreads and against this David here prays Let me not be ashamed § 8. 2. The Argument For I put my trust in thee A wicked man deprived of worldly comforts is wholly at a loss and amaz'd in himself as a naked man in a storm or an unarm'd man in the battel he has no shelter no defence but the godly man when spoil'd of all earthly succors finds then a shelter to flie to a defence to trust in a God to rely
on when all temporal supplies fail and all humane help is gone then does the religious heart see a fulness and allsufficiencie in its God 2 Cor 3.5 9.8 To put our trust in God is an act and exercise of faith whereby we take our souls off from all carnal and worldly props and devolve them upon God through Christ to obtain present support and future salvation And we thus devolve our souls upon God through Christ in his Word of promise and in his Works of providence 1 In his Word of promise without which neither the goodness of God nor the fulness of Christ would administer firm rest and solid comfort to the soul of man for that we can no further extend our faith then God reveals his will nor draw our line of hope beyond his rule of promise 2 Cor. 1.20 § 9. Now the sure foundation of all the promises is the love of God in Christ So that in their nature they are free and gracious in their vertue quickening and purifying in their value rich and precious Yea the all-glorious Majesty in a gracious condescendment of mercy hath obliged himself unto his creature He hath past his word not only promissory but also federal He hath made his word a word of promise his promise the promise of a covenant his covenant a covenant confirmed by oath that oath and covenant sealed with blood even the blood of the Lamb yea of the Son of God and that word promise covenant oath blood and all we have confirmed yea sealed over again in the blessed Sacrament And wherefore is all this but that with David we may with the greater confidence of faith put our trust in him 2 His works of providence Jer. 23.24 in which he is powerfully present by an immediate and intimate operation at all times and in all places with all things § 10. For that God does not do with the World as the Workman with a Watch that is when by the divine art of his all-powerful hand he hath finished each wheel and fitted each part then to winde it up by a Law of Nature and set it by him to observe how the time spends how the ages pass no Gods providence is not a bare and naked view but an actual and efficacious administration so that rather he does with the World as David with his Harp when artificially made and accurately strung he tunes the Creatures as so many strings unto an unisone consent of divine harmony by an obediential power to his holy will And then by his hand of providence he strikes each string in its due place whereby it hath a particular Note in the universal Melody of the Worlds Hallelujah Ps 103.22 § 11. Now our trust in God as to his works of providence is an act of faith eyeing that infinite power and wisdom whereby he preserves and governs all things in order to his glorious mercy and justice And hence it is that no extremity of danger or of distress can nonplus the Saints faith in establishing their trust because they know nothing can pose Gods wisdom Jer. 32.17 27. or puzzle his power to accomplish their deliverance for that either by an absolute power he can create succors out of nothing or by a wonderful wisdom of his providence he can bring light out of darkness Isa 45.5.7 comforts out of discomforts life out of death salvation out of destruction As in the Red sea he can make the swelling waves a fencing wall Exod. 14.22 and the swallowing Deep a Champian plain In the fiery furnace Dan. 3.25 Jon. 2.10 he can make the consuming flames a refreshing heat and in the raging Ocean a devouring Whale a safe Port. This this the wisdom and power of his providence Isa 28.29 who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working § 12. Now that God doth work oftentimes without means and oftentimes against means it is to teach us to trust in him even when we see no means for that hereby as God declares his soveraignty so does he exercise our dependance and encourage our faith encourage I say our faith this being the chief Basis of all our comfort that Gods powerful providence serves his gracious purpose even his purpose in Christ of saving us Rom. 8.28 so that all things work together for good to them that fear him all things all gifts and graces all blessings and benefits yea all crosses and calamities all afflictions and persecutions and to go further all their infirmities and failings Satan and his instruments all are awed and ordered all are overswayed and overruled by the wisdom and power of Gods providence to further his intendment of grace and love unto his Saints § 13. Thus faith overlooks the Creatures and fixeth it self purely and perfectly wholly and solely upon the Creator And this is the reason that in all changes in all extremities in the deepest of the worlds distress and of worldly mens despair the Saint and Servant of God he hath his heart fixed trusting in the Lord trusting in him Ps 112.7 in his word of promise and in his works of providence Wherefore now O God let the mercy and truth of thy promise let the wisdom and power of thy providence attract the force and quicken the vigor of my faith that when I see nothing in the Creature for temporal safety nothing in my self for eternal salvation I may then see all things in thee and thy Christ for both And thus shall my faith be the more pure and firm and thy glory the more perfect and full § 14. Wherefore make we God the object of our trust Isa 12.2 26 4. Exod. 34.6 7. God the great Jehovah who hath his being from himself and himself gives being unto all things He a God gracious and merciful just and holy powerful and wise wonderful and glorious and that which is incommunicable even to the best of creatures he is eternally infinitely and immutably such God alone then is the fit object of our trust earthly objects have no proportion with the heavenly soul As soon may the chest be filled with grace as the heart be satisfied with wealth and assoon may we fat the belly with â—ir as fill the soul with honor Indeed we may not trust in the Creature which is none otherwise good then in not being trusted in Nothing we say can act beyond its sphere what then can outward comforts of the world do to solace spiritual griefs of the soul § 15. Yea look we inward to the gifts of Nature and those streams we find can ascend no higher then their Spring-head and as for the gifts of Grace take the whole New creature yet it is but a creature and therefore no fit object of our trust God alone then who is the Author of our life is fit to be the object of our trust as being the fountain and fulness of all our comfort and strength all our grace and
fulness here set open in this Ordinance Psal 36.8 9. may satisfie and fill them here behold the promises of life sealed here feel the riches of grace communicated here see the earnest of salvation and glory confirmed yea here shall the soul find Davids double petition of prayer accepted and his twofold argument of faith approved O let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee Vers ult Redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles § 1. AS there is no greater incentive of divine wrath then sin so nor is there any greater obstructive of devout prayer in removing that wrath then impenitence impenitence clogs yea clips the wing of devotion so that it cannot mount aloft it cannot reach the Throne of Grace and of this David himself gives us his profession from his experience saying Psal 66 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Quantum à praeceptis tantum ab auribus Dei longè summ So Tertul. Look how far our lives are from Gods precepts to obey them so far are Gods ears from our prayers to hearken to them The person then must be accepted before the petition and so a sincere penitent is the best suppliant for that our Lord Jesus Christ being the Priest that offers Heb. 4.14.15.16 and the Altar that sanctifies all our services there can be no acceptation without his mediation and sure I am he will not be our Advocate unless he be our Lord he will not be our Priest unless he be our King he will not present God our prayers unless we present him our persons and whom faith and repentance consecrates through the spirit him grace and mercy accepts through Christ § 2. Very aptly then doth David in his penitence as put up supplications for himself so make intercession for the Church the guilt of his transgressions he knew well did add to the heap of the Churches afflictions and therefore when he bewails his sin with penitent tears he remembers her trouble in a compassionate sorrow And that he might make the Church some amends whereas his guilt did help to the heightenâ—ng her distress his prayers shall contribute to the hastening her deliverance and for this reason doth he close this penitential Psalm with this pathetical petition Deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles Which words are Davids intercession for Gods Church And in them we have first the subject matter of his intercession Israels deliverance deliver Israel which deliv rance is set forth in its Author and its extent its Author God and its extent out of all trouble Redeem or deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles § 3. 1. The subject matter Israels deliverance deliver Israel God in a gracious vouchsafement of love will have hâ—s Saints to be his Remembrancers Isa 62.6 7. by the importunity of their prayers minding him of his promises Not giving him rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem even his Church a praise in the earth And therefore hear the Prophets zealous devotion well worthy our devoutest imitation For Zions sake will I not hold my peace Isa 62.1 and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest untill the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth even made visible and glorious in the sight of mâ—n and of Angels § 4. But what in the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in her fixt season and determined method of deliverance is not the decree past Dan. 8.19 Hab. 2.3 Psal 102.13 and the time set And so as that we cannot hasten the time nor alter the decree by our prayers and if so to what purpose is it to importune God for the Churches deliverance I answer True it is that Gods will being immutable in its determinations his providence must needs be infallible in its administrations yet neither the deliberations of councels the industry of endeavours nor the importunity of prayers are taken away or made void but rather confirmed and made good by the infallibility of God providence in the determinations of his will For that God determining the end doth also order the means means proportionable and agreeable to that end which maketh much for the strengthning our faith quickening our obedience and confirming our hope hope of obtaining the end as determined by Gods will when we observe the means as appointed in Gods word § 5. So that to establish the means and deny the providence of God determining the end is a part of Atheism to establish the providence of God determining the end and despise the means is great prophaneness but to use the means so as withall to trust and attend Gods providence for obtaning the end Hab. 2.3 this this is the way of truth and a work of righteousness knowing this that prayers and councels and endevours they are appointed of God not whereby we should alter his Will but perform it not whereby we should change his Decree but fulfill it and in what we as yet obtain not our desires we testifie our obedience Wherefore God having past the Decree and given the promise of his Churches deliverance through his will be unchangeable and his Decrees immutable Heb. 6.17 18. yet are not our prayers fruitless our supplications needless for that the Decrees of Gods counsel and the Prayers of Gods chosen they are subordinate and we say Subordinata non inter se pugnant Things subordinate in their being oppose not each other in their working The wâ—mb of all Gods blessings to his Church it is his gracious Decree and the Midwife to bring them forth is the Prayer of the faithful § 6. Further yet whereas God hath given many promises of deliverance to his Church we must know that his promises to us they are the very ground of our prayers to him Thus Dan. 9. and thus Psal 102. Yea God having given the Promise it is an implied Condition that we ask by Prayer thereby testifying that his Promises are of free grace not of due debt of mercy in him not of merit in us Yea as we subscribe to the acknowledgment of his mercy and goodness in giving the Promise so we submit to the dispose of his wisdom and power in ordering the performance And thus whatsoever blessing it is of life of grace or of glory of supply of support or of deliverance upon our selves in particular or upon the Church in general whatsoever blessing I say it is which we receive from Gods hand it must be on our knees as an effect of his Promise so a fruit of our Prayer § 7. Thus God having promised to build the ruin'd places Ezek. 36.36.37 and to plant the desolate he tels the house of Israel that for this he will be enquired of to do it for them And again hear the promise God makes unto Israel by the Prophet Jeremy Thus saith
the Lord After seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you Jer. 29.10 11. and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return to this place For I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end But how shall this gracious Promise be brought to full performance Why it is by fervent prayer for so saith God v. 12.13 14. Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart and I will be found of you saith the Lord and I will turn away your captivity and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you saith the Lord and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive This then emboldens the confidence and enlargeth the comfort of our prayers that what we ask is according to Gods will made ours in the promise by which we have a right of grace from our God and may thereby make good our claim by faith in Christ in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 2 20. most sure and firm § 8. And thus whether we look upon the purposes of Gods will or the promises of Gods word this is a requisite condition and means of their execution and performance even our prayers Wherefore though the Decree be past and the time be set for the Churches deliverance yet not to alter to execute that decree not to shotten but to accomplish that time we must be instant in our prayers and then most instant in our prayers when most earnest in our penitence interceding for the Church as David here does when he closeth his devotion with the fervor of this Petition Deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles § 9. 2 The Author of Israels deliverance God Deliver Israel O God As we acknowledg none other Mediator of intercession but Christ none other Master of our requests but the Spirit so none other Author of salvation but God who alone is all sufficient to save Jer. 3.23 Thus the Prophet Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Where by hills and multitude of mountains is meant in an Allegory the strongest defence and surest protection which shall certainly betray us to ruine unless Gods strength make that protection strong and his power give safety to that defence O the inconstancy solly weakness and vanity of all worldly supports and carnal succors without God whether it be for salvation temporal or eternal § 10. 1 Salvation temporal O the inconstancy of Popular esteems various as the wind To day Hosanna to morrow Crucifige O the folly of Carnal wisdom whilst the subtilest Achitophelt clash in their counsels Luk. 19 38. 25.21 and become puzzel'd with intricacies hamper'd in different designs and divers interests O the weakness of worldly force The strongest Armies having Reubens sate and character unstable as the water Gen. 49.4 they have their tide and ebbe they sometimes flow to an inundation and then again sink away to nothing And O the vanity of the vastest Treasures more matter of prey to the mighty then means of help to the miserable they betray to ruine rather then protect from danger As all men so all creatures in themselves are lyers Ps 116.11 Lyers either through impotencie or through imposture either through imposture deceiving in what they promise or through impotencie failing in what they undertake This the insufficiencie of all the Creatures for salvation temporal § 11. And 2 much more insufficient are they for salvation eternal Sure we are he who cannot span his own length shall never be able to grasp the heavens He who cannot with Sampson bear away the Gates of Gaza Judg. 16.3 shall never be able with Atlas to support the Universe If the Creatures I mean be all insufficient to work that salvation which is temporal they shall never be able to effect that which is eternal Ps 49 7 8. It is not then the wealth of worldlings nor the merits of Saints no nor the power of Angels that can save a sinner Wherefore when we make the deliverance the Church the subject of our prayers it must be to him who is stiled The God that heareth prayers Ps 44 4. and who alone can command deliverances for his Church § 12. But here some may say Alas I have often prayed for the deliverance of the Church but God either hears not or he answers not yea he rather contradicts by his providence what I importune by prayer involving his Church in greater distress rather then delivering it out of all its troubles But to this I answer The stay of our faith and so the ground or our prayer is the word of Gods promise which word of promise is most certain though the means of performance is not so evident And to measure the truth of Gods word by the strength of our reason is to wrong his power and debase his wisdom And therefore when we eye God in his promises or deliverance to his Church we must look beyond all secendary causes and view his wisdom infinite in contriving and his power omnipotent in effecting the execution of his will and performance of his word § 13. The unbelief of the Churches restauration and the Bodies resurrection are both from one and the same principle of error and misapprehension even a not knowing the Scriptures and power of God Mat. 22.29 And therefore we observe how aptly God speaks concerning Israels deliverance from Babylons Captivity Israel had said that by reason of their desperate estate their bones were dryed their hope lost and they cut off for their parts But now Thus saith the Lord God Ezek. 27.11 Behold O my people I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel v. 12 13. and then ye shall know that I am the Lord. Ye shall know it how why in the experience of mine omnipotent power § 14. Wherefore what St. Augustine speaks concerning the resurrection of the body we may apply to the restauration of the Church Considera Authorem tolle Dubitationem Consider the Author to whom nothing is impossible and this will take away all doubting of what seems incredible Consider the Author it is the Lord Jehovah He is the Original of all being who not only does work but also can command and not only does command but also can create deliverance for his people yea he can bring light and salvation out of darkness and desolation no estate so miserable and no misery to desperate which can either pose
the incense of his merits offered up before the Mercy-seat Rev. 8.3 the Throne of Grace And indeed our fervor being that of faith not of vision we may not expect the fire of our sacrifice to burn so clear as to have no smoke upon the Altar no Judg. 13.20 it is purely Angelical to ascend in a flame to heaven Whilst we are here Pilgrims and Sojourners dwelling in the earthly Tabernacles of our bodies 2 Cor. 5 1. vain Thoughts will still attend if not accompany our divinest services and devoutest supplications and when our supplications are most devout it is not the raised affection of the heart or fixt attention of the mind but the blessed mediation of our holy Jesus which makes the enlarged Suppliant to be accepted Let this then quiet thy soul amidst all the distractions of thy disturbing thoughts thou hast the mediation of Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 to make the secret desires of thine heart accepted of thy God 5. As thou hast the gracious Mediation of an alsufficient Saviour to supply thy defects so hast thou the strengthening power of his holy Spirit to help thine infirmities Rom. 8.26 2 Cor. 12.9 which strength is made perfect in weakness And when thou art emptied it shall fill thee when thou art stumbled it shall raise thee when thou art lost in thy self it shall by a secret evidence of divine love discover thee to be found in Christ who treading Satan under thy feet Rom. 16.20 Rom. 8.37 Phil. 3.10 shall make thee more then conqueror by fellowship with him in his death and in his victory The experience of Gods Saints will tell thee that they have many moneths ay some many years languished under this cross of vain thoughts and earthly distractions yet after long conflict have obtained a joyful conquest Ezek 7.16 Isa 40 31. and their mourning as Doves hath been changed into mounting up as Eagles in sweet enlargements yea ravishments of spirit by the grace of supplication and in their raised communions wiah God through Christ in the sacred duties of his holy Worship Know then O thou afflicted soul know assuredly that bearing thy Cross with patience waiting upon God in hope and relying upon Christ by faith thy vain thoughts resisted with diligence and bewail'd with sorrow shall neither deprive thee of Gods blessing nor declare thee void of his grace The Rules of Direction 1. In the duties of Gods worship affect thy soul with a rais'd apprehension of Gods sacred presence and an awful fear of his divine Majesty so mighty in power so excellent in purity his perfections infinite his presence glorious For this this is the main reason why the elect Angels and blessed Saints are so fixt in their thoughts so intent in their service Rev. 7.15 not liable to any the least wanderings even because their thoughts their hearts their whole selves are concentred in an heavenly contemplation of the majesty purity and holiness of Gods infinite essence Mat. 18 10. Rev 4 8. Ay and amongst men who is it that will play with a feather whilst he is speaking with a King This know then assuredly by how much the soul doth receive the deeper impressions of an awful reverence Heb. 12.28 by so much it shall find the less prevailings of worldly distractions 2. Keep thy faith fixt upon Christs mediation especially in the close of thy devotions Rev. 8.3 beholding his incense when thou offers thy sacrifice and though distractions have drawn thee from thy self yet let not distrust drive thee from thy Jesus But remember when vain Thoughts have taken off thy minds attention in Gods service then to breath forth some secret sighs and send them up to God as the winged messengers of thy Souls desires which shall certainly have their audience and acceptance at the Throne of Grace when their access is from the hand of Christ Eph. 2.18 It may be God suffers thy Thoughts to be loose that thy faith may be fixt Wherefore by how much Satan is the more busie to distract thy thoughts by so much be thou the more zealous to quicken thy devotions not being discouraged by any difficulties from the sincere though weak performance of thy holy duties especially closing still with an eye of faith Heb. 7.25 fixt upon Christ in his intercession And when Satan sees his suggestions help to increase the flame not put out the fire of thy devout zeal he will then in policie withdraw the temptation which in malice he hath continued to withdraw thee from thy God thy Jesus and thy devotion 3. Get an increase of saving knowledge as a sure means of sanctified thoughts The mysteries of Grace and sacred truths of the Gospel Mat 12.35 Luk. 6 45. they enrich the mind and become a good treasure which laid up in the heart doth still furnish the soul with sacred matter for divine meditation The Mind is a Mint continually going and whatsoever metal is cast in receives its stamp is form'd and fashion'd into thoughts of good or evil Mat 15.19 according to the matter which is administred Hereby then we give weight and worth to our thoughts by fixing them upon heavenly objects which heavenly objects are presented to the mind according to the knowledg of God and of Christ laid up in the Heart which when we are awake Deut. 6.7 Pro. 6.22 is said to talk with us For there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Soliloquy of Thoughts as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Conference of the Tongue yea by those we talk with God and with Christ So David When thou saidst Seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek Ps 27.8 As the best communion is that of the Spirit so the best communication is that of the Thoughts which are spiritual 4. Mortifie vile affections and inordinate passions as availing much to the restraining evil thoughts and vain imaginations For as wet wood when stirr'd so are our passions when mov'd Mat. 9.4 Luk. 11.17 Jer. 4.14 they send forth an whole crowd of thoughts which rise like thick vapors and fumes to cloud and oppress the mind The better then to subdue our passions we must strongly guard our senses for that a rebellion of affections within is oftentimes from an invasion of objects without Thus David he sees and then lusts and Job that he might not lust 2 Sam. 11.2.3 Job 31.1 he would not see And here O man whilst thou guardest thy senses and restrainest thine affections as to external objects beware oh beware of acting over that sin in inward speculation which thou hast formerly committed in outward action This speculative wickedness is the most polluting filth and most provoking guilt To have the outward enjoyments of sin is a committing fornication with the creature but to beget imaginations of sin and then pollute our selves with the brats of our own bosoms the children of
our own hearts this is a kind of spiritual incest most hateful to God and destructive to the soul Know Satan is often tempting with this bait even thoughts of pleasure of profit or the like 1 Joh. 2.16 he makes the Thief thrust in at the window or slipping by the door and when the Master of the house is still and at rest thinking all safe Mat. 12.34 this opens to those without and lets in that number and crowd of thoughts which bind the spiritual man and spoil his goods even rob the soul of its precious treasure its divinest comforts 5. As suppress and mortifie vile and carnal so stir up and cherish holy and spiritual affections For the clearer is the fire the less will be the smoke and the more divine is our love the more devout will be our thoughts Thus it was with David Ps 119.97 Oh how do I love thy Law Upon this it follows It is my meditation all the day From this power of love then do thou exercise thy self to collect divine observations from providential dispensations and extract holy thoughts from secular occurrences As the Philosophers stone turns all metals into gold so does the sanctifying grace of Love convert every occasion into devotion raising pious meditations in the Closet of the Heart from those many objects presented to the eye in the throng of the World Thus David contemplating the sweet order and various acts of divine providence he makes this thedevout Epiphonema to every Series Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness Ps 107.8.15 and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men Yea as the Sun exhales sweet dews from the brackish Ocean so does the devout Soul gracious meditations from the Worlds tumults and distractions Now these thoughts of thankfulness and praise rais'd by some strong affection of delight and love they possess that room in the heart which otherwise thoughts of vanity and folly are ready to take up The most Atoms are in the open air and the greatest Crowd of vain Thoughts is in empty minds 6. Beware of that great subtlety of Satans casting in good thoughts on purpose by that bait to draw us from our present duties Thoughts unseasonably offer'd though ne'r so seemingly holy are not to be entertained Like Soldiers out of rank though ne'r so valiant like Meteors in the air though ne'r so radiant like one out of his way though ne'r so swift such are thoughts not suitable and seasonable to the duty in hand though ne'r so pious and good they are disorderly wandring and destructive destructive of comfort if not of grace Gal. 3.1 For Satans subtilty takes advantage at our folly We think because the thoughts are good therefore we must not repel them But when they are entred to divert the Heart from the present service then are vain and vile thoughts too let loose upon the mind and the soul becomes surprised with a maze of distractions To instance Suppose something we have read in a Book or heard of a Sermon or receiv'd by Conference suppose this come into the mind when busied by prayer 2 Cor. 11.14 it being some good motion how does it find a ready acceptance Whereas it is indeed like a person of best repute sent before to bespeak admission and procure reception for worse company after Wherefore in prayer or any other holy service what thoughts are not praying thoughts helps to devotion and proper to the present duty shut them out of doors they are not motions from Gods Spirit but snares from the Evil Spirit And know them by this that when we have ended our prayers and are ready then to bid them welcome they are not to be found they are withdrawn when it is a fit time to give them entertainment By this it appears Satan had a designe to take off from duty rather then the Holy Spirit purpose and intention to affect the Mind 2 Cor. 2 11. 7. Put thy self in order as a sure means to regulate thy thoughts in their inordinacie Ps 139.18 1 With David when thou awakest be still with God let thy first flight be to heaven thy soul fixt upon God in his attributes his promises and his graces This will season thee for the day Ps 34 8. and happily make thy heart taste of the Lords goodness yea like something solid upon the stomach which keeps out windiness such are early thoughts of holiness to the heart to keep out vanity Besides there is a secret disposition in men like that sordid superstition in the Egyptians who did worship that for their God all day which they first see eye on in the morning Thus is it with the Idols of mens Hearts commonly that they most dote on if not adore which they first entertain into their minds in their Morning-meditations Wherefore there is no surer rule of godliness Ps 57.8 Ps 108.1 2. Gen. 5.22 Mark 13.37 1 Thess 5.6 1 Pet. 4.7 then to begin with God 2. As careful to begin with God so be watchful to walk with him and if we keep this Watch strict upon our ways wanderers will not be so busie vagrant thoughts will not be so ready to meet or to follow us much less to haunt ou◠houses or keep their rendevouz in our hearts if we strictly examine them and their Pass and finding them idle and unprofitable we give them their correction and send them packing this will weary and wear them away in time But if thou be remiss and careless pleasing thy self for the day with vain curiosities or encumbring thy mind with perplexing cares Isa 32 9 10 11. Isa 47.8 no wonder if thy thoughts become loose and licentious when thou appliest thy self to thy wonted devotions Indeed if we would not have the birds to flutter about our sacrifices Gen. 15.11 we must be careful of this that we do not disturb their nests And thus if we would not have vain thoughts to crowd in upon our hearts and distract our holy services we must be sure not to engage our selvs too actively in worldly affairs or too busily in prying curiosities For it is no wonder if he who hath a crowd of worldly business or nice notione in his head doth find a crowd of earthly thoughts and vain imaginations in his prayers An heart overcharg'd with cares or curiosities Luk. 21.34 is as unfit for devotion as when stufft with surfeiting and drunkenness 3. Whatsoever is the duty of thy calling do it with diligence For they who become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5.13 men being idle in what they ought to do become busily intent upon what ought not to be done Surely the main end of Gods employing men in Vocations is to busie their thoughts which are ever restless and in motion that they may be innocently entertain'd finding themselves work in the vacation of their
able to save unto the uttermost all those that come unto God by him Let thy Conscience then O dejected Penitent object the hainousness of thy sins and raise them to the greatest height by all aggravating circumstances as being committed against the dictate of reason and the light of knowledge as being reiterated again and again after solemn resolutions and the gracious enlightenings of the Spirit here thou being truly sensible of thy sin mayst not despair of mercy seeing Christ is not only able Heb 2.17 but also willing to save those who come unto God by him Rev. 12.10 even unto the utmost of what their Consciences can accuse or Satans malice aggravate The Rules of Direction 1. Raise thy faith and this by a frequent meditation upon the promises of grace and life By which meditation the soul shall the better suck out the sweetness and digest the nourishment of Gods mercy and truth And because Pattern prevails above Precept take this Instance for thy imitation Suppose thou fixest thine eye and thoughts upon that blessed truth and comfortable Text of S. Paul's This is a faithful saying 1 Tim. 1.15 and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of which I am chief Upon this let thy soul dwell a while by serious meditation and in these or the like expostulating thoughts let thy faith gather strength and renew its vigor How Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners What was this the very end and purpose of Christs coming in the flesh and suffering on the Cross that he might bring men sinful men to salvation O divine Cordial to an afflicted soul O sweet comfort to a penitent Sinner I am convinc'd the words are gracious but how shall I be assured the saying is true Why it is the Word of God and shall I then distrust its truth Vain heart be not so deceitful it is a faithful saying this a saying as firm as God is holy as true as Truth it self But what right have I I so vile a Wretch to so divine a Truth Why my right lies in Gods mercy which here extends to all That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners it is a saying worthy of all men to be received Of all men sure then in that all I am included my particular is involv'd in this general Ps 78.41 Isa 59.1 for who shall limit the Holy one of Israel Ay but will God have respect to so hainous a sinner Have not my grievous sins made me unworthy of so gracious mercy Jam. 2 13. Yes unworthy but not uncapable It is the glory of Gods mercy to forgive sins the greater then my sins the greater his glory in their forgiveness Though then I be the chief of sinners I will rely upon my God in my Jesus for his chief of mercies and so resolve to apply the truth and comfort of this Evangelical doctrine delivered by the Apostle that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of which I am chief Thus in thy greatest dejections endevour to raise thy faith by meditation on the Promises to the greatness of thy sins opposing the riches of Gods mercy to the horror of thy guilt the fulness of Christs merits both unmeasurably infinite and gracious And as the skill of a Physician is the more eminent in curing a dangerous sickness Rom. 5.20 so is the goodness of Gods mercy more glorious in pardoning and the power of his grace more evident in healing hamous sins Bonitas invicta non vincitur infinita misericordia non finitur Gods invincible goodness is not by sin conquered nor his boundless mercy by guilt limited And therefore may he alone despair of pardon who can be more wicked then God is gracious And as for the merit of Christ it is a superabundant merit Though the purity of all the Heavenly Host is not able to wipe off the stain nor their death sufficient to expiate the guilt of the least transgression Joh. 1 29. 1 Joh. 1.7 2.2 yet is the least drop of the blood of the Son of God an expiatory sacrifice for the whole World how much more then shall these his streams of blood be sufficient in their fulness of merit for the most hainous sins of a relapsed Saint There may be then some disease of body which is opprobriū medicorū past the Physicians skil to cure but no wound no distemper of soul can pose or puzzle the mercy of God or merits of Christ to heal We cannot then dishonor Christ more then to distrust his grace and love to undervalue his merits and blood Joh. 15.13 Rom. 5.8 especially he having given so great a testimony of his love by his death and made so firm a Conveyance of the merits of his death in his promises yea and vouchsafed so sure a seal of those promises and of that merit in his Sacraments Be it so then O thou dejected and afflicted soul be it so that thy troubled Conscience does rage as the sea with uncessant accusations be it so that sin and hell besiege thee round with the bitter terrors of everlasting death and that now the waves and surges of temptations swell and overflow thee yet shalt thou not faint not sink not perish 1 Pet. 1.5 whilst the Son of God supports thee through faith in his merits a faith fixt upon the promises of grace and life in which promises thou mayst behold thy sins thy hainous sins thy mountain-sins swallowed up in the Sea of his blood yea thou mayst behold thy guilt thy horrid guilt long since cancell'd on Golgotha Col. 2.14 and expiated by the death of thy Redeemer 2. Renew thy Repentance and this in a deep contrition of heart and sincere humiliation of soul There being no flying from God but by flying to him no flying from his wrath but by flying to his mercy for which we have the comfort and encouragement of a gracious Advocate of a perfect Mediator 1 Joh. 2 1. 1 Tim. 2.5 Christ Jesus blessed for ever This of Contrition and Humiliation is that God calls for from revolting Judah Joel 2.12 and which he requires of all backsliding children even that they turn unto him with all their heart with fasting weeping and mourning Sighs and tears they are the Penitents best oratory for so saith David Ps 6.8 The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping Know then O thou afflicted soul though thy relapses into sin may hide Gods countenance yet upon repentance renewed they shall not banish thee from his presence though they beget a strangeness for a time yet shall they not beget a parting for ever And so however Satan aggravating thy sin may cloud the Joy yet shall he not take away the God of thy salvation Now to further thy raising thy faith and renewing thy repentance look upon the
it deprives of communion with God is the most afflicting Ps 61.11 12. In which affliction these are the words of Complaint The Words of Complaint Oh! how how can mine heart be right with God which so often revolts from him How can mine heart be sound which is continually sore When with sighs and groans in humiliation I have confess'd and bewail'd my sin presently upon temptation I commit and repeat it Thus my wounds daily bleed afresh and thereby my spirit faints and my hope fails I shall one day perish by the hand of sin as David complain'd he should do by the hand of Saul for that daily my strength decays my grace diminisheth my comforts fade mine Evidences for Heaven ar blotted my seals defac'd my life is become my trouble and death it is my terror I fear to die and yet have no joy to live Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin and of death The Grounds of Comfort 1. The holy dispensation of the all-wise God according to which it is that neither the merit of Christs blood nor the sanctification of Christs Spirit doth yet so far prevail as to root out the being of corruption though it wipe off the guilt and weaken the power of sin Damnatum est peccatum sed non extinctum Christ hath condemn'd sin in the flesh condemn'd but not extinguished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom 8 3. Cajet in loc he hath condemn'd The word is metaphorical for that Condemnation implies a depr vation of all preceding priviledges and power Thus our Lord Jesus Christ he hath dealt with sin he hath so disanull'd it in the faithful that it hath no more place to appear in judgment Col. 2.14 no more guilt to bind over unto death Rom. 8.1 there being no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus 2. Our nature is pure and perfect in Christ in which he h th satisfied the justice of our God Joh. 2.29 as being the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world even the sin of nature as well as of our lives our original as well as our actual sin Col. 1 19. Joh. 1.16 And seeing it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell He will communicate to us of his fulness till he hath wholly destroyed the Serpents seed 1 Joh 3.3 1 Pet. 1.16 till he hath made us pure even as he is pure not only subduing the dominion and reign of sin by grace but also destroying the life and being of sin by glory 3. No man is sensible of sickness but who hath life and therefore sense of sin is a sure symptome of the life of grace So that O thou afflicted soul in thy conflict with sin thy very grief is a ground of comfort this being a sure testimony of true Sanctification Gal. 5.16 17 18. that thou canst not endure the close workings of thy secret corruption but art still sollicitous to cast out the enemy to establish the peace to vomit up the poison to preserve the health of thy soul 4. It is a free and willing subjection to the commands of sin Rom. 6.12 14. which declares the soul to be under the power and dominion of sin but by our opposing and resisting our lamenting and bewailing our sin we manifest plainly sin does rebell but does not reign prevails as a Tyrant but rules not as a King And where Grace hath the Throne of the heart and sways the Scepter theâ—e Christ rules by his Spirit and will in the end make us to overcome by his power The battel is the Lords and the victory shall be ours notwithstanding all oppositions of sin and Satan of the flesh and the world of earth and of hell 1 Pet. 1.5 we shall be kept by the power of God through faith to salvation For what hath our Lord Jesus Christ begun and shall he not perfect the work of grace Hath he made the purchase Phil. 1.6 and shall he not make us to possess the inheritance of glory Lastly Seeing thou cleavest unto the Lord with purpose of heart though thou servest him not in perâ—ection of holiness these infirmities and failings which are thy burden they shall not be thy bane If the ravisht Virgin cry out Deut. 22.27 she is in the censure of rhe Law guiltless by her cry having prov'd her rape And thus a sure testimony it is Sin hath committed a rape upon our souls and ravish'd our hearts when we cry out in our trouble unto the Lord And sure God who commanded indulgence unto the ravish'd Virgin will vouchsafe pardon to the ravish'd Soul The Rules of Direction 1. Be constant in thy Conflict in the sense of thine own wants looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ in his fulness and in the weakness of thine own strength Phil 4 13. Joh. 15.5 relying upon the almightiness of Christs power Be not dishearten'd by some losses not discourag'd by some foils not dismayed by some wounds but by fasting and prayer renew thy strength and then by diligence and Zeal renew the combat Thus shalt thou gain by thy losses get ground by thy falls increase thy graces by thine infirmities Phil. 1 9 10. 2. Preserve the judgment of thy mind clear and the frame of thine heart tender that so the Understanding may discover to thee what is evil by its light and the Heart restrain thee from it by its tenderness Restrain by some secret checks of Conscience upon the first risings of corruptions Psal 19.13 Eph. 4.30 that so they get not head by any rebellious wickedness to grieve Gods Spirit and to disquiet yea wound thine own Let it be thy pious policie to fight thine Enemy when he is at the weakest Thus set upon Sin in its first motions quell it in its first risings for indeed that which increaseth our guilt and destroyeth our peace is our willing entertainment of sinful motions our ready cherishing corrupt desires Prov. 4.23 3. Keep up an holy jealousie over thine own heart for it is not in the power of Satan to hurt the soul but by its self it s own weapons must wound it it s own treacherous affections must betray and destroy it Jer. 17.9 And such is the Hearts deceitfulness that those corruptions lurk in it which we think have no affinity with our nature but are most contrary to our frame and disposition As who could have imagin'd Moses's his meekness could have become guilty of murmuring Ps 106.32 33. Psal 51.14 Matth. 26.24 or David's tenderness guilty of murder or Peter's zeal of denying his Master Wherefore in this holy jealousie over thy self search diligently and examine frequently the state of thy soul the temper of thine heart and know assuredly this strict examination will weary the soul of sin thereby subduing thy heart from allowing approving or delighting in it And thus however with the Sheep thou slip
from an impulse of love as a delight I make mine Obedience a legal debt not a free-will offering a necessitated service aw'd with fear not an Eucharistical sacrifice mov'd with love Yea I am not what I was in stead of improving my Talent of Grace I have forsaken my first love I am not at all ready and cheerful willing and constant in holy duties as formerly so that I fear I have received the grace of God in vain Time was when with David I made Gods Word my portion and heritage gold and silver not so precious liberty and life not so dear mine heart seem'd then to be fill'd with God and with Christ holy services were so sweet to my soul that I counted my very work wages But oh now my delightful Paradise is turn'd into a barren Wilderness holy duties and religious performances they are as the ways of thorns and briars even wearisom and unpleasant paths and oh how can I then believe God accepts my person in Christ when I feel no quickenings of his Spirit in an holy life The Grounds of Comfort 1. It is the wise dispensation of our gracious God sometimes to suffer our devotion to decay and our corruptions to prevail on purpose to advance the dignity and discover the necessity of his grace Joh. 15.5 that so knowing our dependance we may become the more sincere in our obedience and being humbled in the sense of our own emptiness and vanity we may be the more intent upon the fulness of his Alsufficiencie The goodliest fabrick of an holy life Phil. 4.13 Jud. 24 25. if God withdraw the props and pillars of his supporting and strengthening grace how will it soon shake and sink and fall to ruine If David then be continually with God it is because God holds him by his right hand Ps 73.23 As it was grace which wrought effectually to our conversion and regeneration so it is grace that worketh still in the like efficacie to our further sanctification and final perseverance And therefore it is Davids prayer unto God saying Hold up my goings in thy paths Ps 17.5 1 Pet. 1.5 that my footsteps slip not And that we are kept it is by the power of God through faith to salvation So that as fuel to the fire as food to the body as showers to the corn such is Grace to devotion and an holy life without which it faints it dies it withers away 2. That there is a less active vigor in our holy life and religious conversation may proceed from weakness of nature not of grace The soul follows much the temperature of the body if that be sickly and weak the soul cannot act its gracious operations with that vigor and zeal as when healthful and strong A decay of spirits in the body will certainly make an abatement of vigor in the soul the unaptness of the Instrument takes much from the art and excellencie of the Workman and the body that 's the souls instrument whereby it acts its motions and therefore if the body be more dull the soul must needs be less vigorous and so the duties of devotion the less active and lively Rev. 2.4 3. Whereas many complain as thou dost that they are fallen from their first love because not so affected with the enlargements of devotion and therein not so quickened with the life of grace as at their first conversion when they first gave up their names unto Christ they may haply find if rightly examined those enlargements and delights of their first conversion did proceed as much from the novelty as the piety of their estate Their love and in that their delights more sensible but not more solid more passionate but not more sincere right like the love and delight of first Espousals Jer. 2.2 Cant. 3 11. whereas we question not but that a long married Couple are as dear in their love though not so frequent in their embraces Yea it may be an excess of love which begets this affliction of soul for true love is so enlarg'd in dispositions and resolutions of doing more service to God and Christ that all it does seems still too little And therefore many complain their present duties are short of former services and their present vigor less then former zeal which yet is not so indeed but in appearance Before small love thought little to be much and now great love thinks much to be but little To close then Whereas it is ordinary with God to deal with the penitent Convert as the Father did with his prodigal Son even entertain him with feasting and mirth receive him with much of spiritual solace and delight Luk. 15.23 And this he does the better to encourage him in the way of holiness yea and to fortifie him against the days of trial and temptation which shall after come upon him in which days of temptation and trial he may not think but that though his former joys and delights do cease yet the sincerity and strength too of grace may continue yea and be increased The Rules of Direction 1. Breathe forth thy complaints unto Christ in prayer for the life thou hast is from the quickening power of his grace and therefore he who died that thou mightest live will preserve the life which he hath given But then thou must beg it by prayer And at once to quicken thy prayer and strengthen thy faith hear his promise and own his love Mat. 5 6. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled What parent is it who hearing his child hungry and fainting cry out for bread Luk. 11.11.13 that can restrain his bowels from pitty or his hand from relief And far more compassionate is thy Saviour far more tender is his love He is indeed love it self 1 Joh. 4.16 He the fountain as of life so of love The love thou bearest to him proceeds from him and certainly he would not make thee to love him if thou wert not first belov'd of him Wherefore take heart in thy dejections convert his promise into prayer plead with thy God in the right of his own bond and his Sons blood urge the grace of his own promise the Law of his own Covenant say with David Make good O Lord thy word unto thy servant Ps 119 4â— upon which thou hast caused me to hope Yea let me bespeak thee as the Prophet does Zion Let tears run down like a river Lam 2 18. not in the impatience of distrust but the importunity of devotion In this Ne taceat pupilla oculi tui let not the apple of thine eye keep silence Ps 6.8 every tear every sigh hath a voice to implore mercy and to importune grace Yea seeing thou canst not follow Agnum immaculatum sine macula the spotless Lamb without thy spots of sin Joh. 1.29 thy daily tears shall obtain the blood of the Lamb to cleanse thy guilt And doubt
the flesh less danger and damage in overworking then in too much indulging the outward man For where one man sails his course of piety with too full a gale of zeal an hundred lie becalm'd with lukewarmness Rev. 3.16 In the Close Beware of attributing to duties what is proper to Christ A chief reason doubtless though little notice be taken of it a chief reason it is of dryness and barrenness in holy performances that we have an overprising opinion an overvaluing esteem of them For the softning and melting the raising and enlarging the comforting and reviving the heart Ps 11â— 32 Isa 57 18. 2 Cor. 1.3 Ps 34 15. these are all the works of Christ and his Spirit not to be attain'd by labour and toil but by humility and faith Hear David The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry First Gods eyes are upon their persons and then his ears are open unto their prayers It is not the duty we perform but the promise Christ gives or rather Christ in the Promise which brings rest to the soul And he vouchsafe thee O thou afflicted soul a gracious portion of this spiritual rest as a pledg and earnest of that full inheritance even rest eternal Amen CHAP. VII The Souls Conflict from the misapprehension of Gods withdrawing the Comforts of his gracious presence SUch is the deceitfulness of mans heart and the subtlety of Satans suggestions that many there are who forsake God yet think they have him and many that have him yet think themselves forsaken of him Many are so enlighten'd that they come near to the Kingdom of Heaven which yet are cast down to Hell Again many there are so dejected as to come nigh to Hell which yet are received to Heaven The discomforts of the faithful through their frailty do cause their great dejection Isa 49 14 Isa 14.12 13. but the enlightenings of the wicked through their pride make for their greater condemnation Such is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the exceeding craft and cunning of Satan Eph. 6.11 in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his arts and methods of temptations made the more expert by many thousand years experience such I say is Satans art and cunning that he suits his suggestions to our affections and tempers his temptations to our dispositions And therefore the va n Enthusiast who prides himself in his fancied converses with God and conceiteâ— raptures of his spirit him Satan heightens in his presumption But the afflicted Saint from whom God hath hid his face and withdrawn the comforts of his gracious presence him Satan presseth down in his dejections He heightens the Enthusiast in his presumption by feeding his fancy with renewed delusions of false joys and the imagined ravishments of Gods love Again he depresseth the afflicted Saint in his dejection by filling his heart with renewed jealousies of false fears and imagined terrors of Gods wrath Thus there is none more near or dear unto man then himself yet none more a stranger more an enemy For what man is he that can fadom the depth Jer 17 9. and so know the deceitfulness of his own heart Again what man is he that doth not cause the wounds and destroy the comforts of his own soul by diffidence impatience throwing off the healing balm and casting away the reviving cordials of grace and mercy Ps 143 9. So that well might S. Bernard cry out in a devout gloss upon the Psalmists text Libera me Domine ab inimico meo id est à me ipso Deliver me O Lord from mine enemy that is from my self See this true in the afflicted Saint dejected in soul distressed in conscience deep in desertions Oh! how doth his soul become cruel to it self refusing to be comforted With him Mourning observes no method but his full sorrow poures out its Complaints as a bottle doth its liquor in sudden and disordered eruptions rather thâ—n effusions Thus then complains the languishing Soul The Words of Complaint Oh! what a misery is it to have been happy The thoughts of those comforts I once felt sharpen the sense of those sorrows I now feel Time was when from the Mount Nebo of Divine Contemplation I could by the Perspective of Faith take a view of the Heavenly Canaan in the riches pleasure and glory of it But now my belly cleaveth unto the dust I lie down in the valley and shadow of death clouds of darkness cover me and the light of all heavenly comforts is hid from mine eyes Those holy duties Ordinances and Promises which have been as honey sweet to my soul at once feeding and delighting mine inward man they are all become bitterness and barrenness anguish and distress misery and mourning Oh what were those quickening beams from the Sun of Righteousness those refreshing those ravishing delights in communion with God through Christ Alas O my soul those blessed delights were but pleasant dreams and now thy fancied Paradise is become a real Wilderness And oh how do I wander and weary my self in a maze of perplexities the bitter waters of Marah flowing in upon my soul and the fiery Serpents of hellish fears stinging my Conscience All my streams of Comfort are turn'd into floods of Sorrow and oh that I could drown my sorrow in tears But my misery is beyond moans my grief beyond tears yea my torments beyond death For I have lost that treasure those joys that bliss which I would willingly redeem with the loss of life O sweet and joyful presence O sad and dreadful absence of my Jesus and oh the filthy lusts of my foul heart which have made him quit his lodging and be gone and with him all peace all comfort all joy all life all bliss are fled from my soul Woe is me that I should receive mercy to make miserable once enjoy a Saviour and after cast him off to the loss of all salvation yea to the heightning the horror of my condemnation Oh he came in love and he is gone in anger and woe is me I not only lose his favor but also bear his displeasure He is gone and I fear never oh this this the deep wound more deadly then death it self He is gone and I fear never to return more In his favor is life and therefore when he hides his face in wrath needs must my soul be in death Oh! my spirits waste my strength faints my flesh consumes mine whole man languisheth yea my stroke is heavier then my groans my sorrow more bitter then my complaints so that with Job My soul is weary of my life and yet though my life be full of torment death is full of terror lest be everlastingly shut out from Gods presence Oh Eternity Eternity how does this gulf swallow up my soul how does this weight more heavy then a mountain press down my drooping heart and crush my fainting spirits yet whilst there is life there is hope though my
indulgences for that S. Paul suffered for the Churches sake yet not by way of satisfaction but of edification the better to confirm the Church in the faith of Christ And therefore when he says that he suffered for the Church he subjoins of which I am made a Minister not of which I am made a Mediator Wherefore now thou that complainest of thy afflictions and persecutions and troubles tell me doest thou think to be Christs disciple and not follow him or doest thou think to follow him and not take up thy cross Was the Captain of thy salvation made perfect through sufferings and doest thou think to be partaker of salvation by him and not have fellowship of the sufferings with him Was he himself crown'd with thorns and doest thou expect that he should here crown thee with rose-buds No sure it were proud presumption with the sons of Zebedee to aspire to Christs throne Mar. 10.37 unless we drink of Christs cup. Wherefore let all the children of God look upon their Saviour and elder brother Christ Jesus and so shall his example of patience be a sure ground of comfort in all their afflictions 4. The pattern of Gods Saints Christ Joh 6.33 as he promiseth his Disciples peace in him so he foretels them of tribulations in the world which we find fulfilled when the Apostle tels us that they were become in their sufferings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Theatre unto the woald and to Angels and to men The sufferings of the Apostles became a wonder to the very Angels Sen. l. de provid Optimi milites ad durissima mittuntur The stoutest Soldiers are put upon the hottest service and so the holiest Saints upon the sharpest sufferings And therefore S. Paul he would have no man moved from the stedfastness of his faith Act. 14 22. by the greatnes of his troubles for that we are thereunto appointed of God Ad hoc destinati it is the ordinance and appointment of God that through much tribulation we should enter into the kingdom of God No passage into Paradise but under the Cherubims flaming sword no wearing of the Crown without bearing of the Cross no reigning with Christ in heaven without first suffering with or for Christ on earth 2 Tim. 3.12 And therefore S. Paul is positive and plain All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions persecutions either from a reviling tongue or an oppressing hand either from the world without or the flesh within and from Satan in both Wherefore whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth Heb 12.6 and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth We say Unicum habuit Deus filium sine flagitio sinc flagello nullum God he hath only one Son without transgression but no one Son without affliction Wherefore so far ought afflictions to be from damping that they should be arguments of confirming our assurance of Gods love v. 8. for that if we be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are we bastards and not sons formal Hypocrites but not true Children of God 5. The spiritual benefit of afflictions It is said Schola crucis schola lucis Affliction gives instruction either for the mortifying some sin or the quickening of some grace And therefore God as an indulgent Father Heb. 12.10 he chastens his children for their profit that they may be partakers of his holiness Afflictions to a faithful heart are as the waters to Noah's Ark to raise it higher towards Heaven Hear David Ps 11.4 The Lord is in his holy temple the Lords throne is in heaven his eyes behold his eye-lids try the children of men Why his eye-lids and not his eyes Quia oculos claudendo c. saith the Expositor Because by leaving us a while in our necessities and troubles fidem probat amorem he tries the sincerity of our faith and truth of our love Wherefore though no affliction for the present is joyous but grievous yet let not the children of God have such a sense of the suffering that they be deâ—ected with sorrow for that afterwards it brings forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness Heb. 12.11 So that the sweet peace of a good Conscience shall outvie the bitter grief of an affl cted Condition the miseries of this life weaning the soul from the love of the world and enflaming the heart with holy desires and longings after Christ and his Kingdom 2 Cor. 4.17 6. The eternal reward of suffering patiently Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Observe the Apostles Antithesis For affliction here is glory for light affliction a weight of glory and for momentany eternal And now if we take in the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then have we an excellencie of glory beyond all hyperboles Therefore well might the Apostle say that the sufferings of this life Rom. 8 18. they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Observe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Apostle I reckon And indeed none could reckon so well as he for that we find he suffered more of present afflâ—ctions 2 Cor. 11. 2 Cor. 12. and he saw more of the future glory then any other whatsoever And therefore well might he come in with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and say After right reckoning I thus gather the sum or after long reasoning I thus determine the question that the sufferings of this life they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us A thousand years sufferings for Christ with a thousand years service in his Church cannot merit one days being in Gods Courts one days enjoyment of heavenly bliss Yea though every trouble which attends the profession of holiness were a strugling death and every temptation a present hell yet were the reward of glory infinitely transcending the proportion of our sufferings And therefore Mat. 5.11 12. Blessed are ye saith our Lord and Saviour when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly or my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven In heaven is life and that eternal a Crown Rom 6.23 1 Pet. 5.4 1 Pet. 1.4 and that of glory an inheritance and that of a kingdom Tell me then O man what is more desireable then life what life more excellent then that of glory what glory more glorious then that of a Kingdom what Kingdom more firm then that by inheritance Now know then that life and eternal life glory and a Crown of glory a Kingdom and a Kingdom by inheritance is the reward of those who suffer in the way of righteousness for the name of Christ This that which made that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that cloud of witnesses Heb 11. Heb. 1.1 those many Worthies of whom the world
greatest then do they vanish and come to nothing 1 King 13.4 The arm of flesh like Jeroboams hand shall suddenly wither Deut. 33.27 but the arms of the Almighty are everlasting stretcht out to all eternity for the defence of his chosen Water then of the River may be more ready but that of the Fountain is the more pure We may look upon mans help as nearest at hand but it is Gods succor which brings safety in the end Wherefore the patient expectation of Gods people must be for Gods help being assured The Lord will not cast off his people Ps 94.14 15. neither will he for sake his inheritance but judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it Know afflictions they have their set time and deliverance its appointed season Thus Israels bondage in Egypt the Jews Captivity in Babylon both were determined and our Saviour when laid hold on to be carried away to his passion he tells the Jews Luk. 22 53. that was their hour and power of darkness And as thus afflictions have their appointed time so hath deliverance its appointed season Ps 102.13 So the Psalmist Thou O Lord shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come Ps 110.3 And again Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Which is spoken prophetically of Christ who notwithstanding his enemies hour and power of darkness yet hath he his prefixed and determined time for victory and conquest Every thing is beautiful in its season The husbandman will not expect his harvest in the Spring nor mow down his Corn in the blade but doth wait the appointed time of the year for the precious fruit of the earth Jam. 5.7 as is S. Iames's Simile Thus be it so that the people of God opprest with misery seem to be laid dead in their graves yet are they but as seed cast in the furrows Light is then sown for the righteous Ps 97.11 and they must wait till harvest the set time of their restauration and deliverance Yea shall we not allow that in God we approve in men Does humane authority constitute the appointed seasons of Civil Judicature so that the greatest injuries and most violent oppressions must wait their legal process and men may not prescribe their own times of hearing or of sentence And what Isa 34 8. shall not God then much rather appoint his day or year his time and season of recompences for the controversies of Sion We must therefore wait not prescribe the time of being heard in our suit and eas'd of our trouble Ps 102.13 seeing God hath his day of visitation a set time wherein he will have mercy upon Sion To close then if afflictions have their set time and deliverance its appointed season seeing our Saviour hath told us Act. 1.7 That times and seasons are in Gods hand let this be a sure Rule of direction to all Gods children even a patient expectation of Gods help 5 To the patient expectatoin of Gods help join a firm resolution of enduring unto the end And when the expectation of help does fail this resolution to endure will hold good knowing the premonition and promise too of our Saviour who having premonisht us that in these latter days Brother should betray brother to death and the father the son and the children should rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death Mâ—â— â—3 12 13. and that the faithful should be hated of all men for his name sake our Saviour presently subjoins to this premonition this promise He that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved Finis coronat opus the evening crowns the day Constancie it is that gives the garland to all vertuous actions A Believer is not conquered till his spirit be subdued whilst he retains a calm conscience and a resolute mind even in the loss of goods liberty and life it self he conquers through patience his cause prevails in his constancie and grace in his perseverance Let this then be the confident resolution of thy soul O distressed Saint and servant of Christ That neither death nor life nor Angels Rom. 8.38 39. nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate thee from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. What though afflictions be great yet is this life but short and the more we do sow the more we shall reap the more we here sow in tears Ps 126.5 the more we shall hereafter reap in joy for that the more excellent is our grace of patience the more abundant shall be our reward of glory A patient suffering of afflictions it is the right way-mark in our passage and pilgrimage to heaven And who will not the better pass the dirt and mire that knows his way is right Yea Gal. 2.14 he that will according to S. Pauls phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk with a right foot it must be in this strait path He that will walk with a right foot according to the truth of the Gospel it must be in this strait path of suffering afflictions the way of Gods chosen hedg'd with thorns Wherefore Hos 2.6 Jam. 5.8 Rev. 22.12 be patient and stablish your hearts O ye afflicted souls for the coming of the Lord draweth nighâ— yea Behold says Christ behold I come quickly and my reward is with me Now then Mat 24.42.46 as our Saviour bids watch and pray for blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing So again Be patient and endure for blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so suffering as doing of his will so suffering for his name Imitate we David who neither murmurs against God nor inveighs against his enemies nor cryes out of his troubles Ps 42.11 but chides and complains of himself to himself Why art thou so troubled O my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me I can bear all sorrows but thine all afflictions but thine O be not thou cast down and I shall stand firm be not thou dejected and I shall be comforted do not thou shrink and I shall prevail See O see a crown attends thy constancie and songs of deliverance thy faithfulness and perseverance 2. The Grounds of Comfort as to the Prosperity of the Wicked 1. Wicked men are in a certain instability notwithstanding their present prosperity For that dignity pomp and peace cannot stand firm which is founded upon sin though ne'r so successful True it is though men generally regard not Religion indeed yet they all plead Religion in pretence and Piety is still made a drudge to base ends and the Lacquey to attend all politique designs But as there is nothing more reproachful to Gods name so is
Catastrophe How being set in slippery places v. 18 19. God casts them down to destruction and they are brought to desolation as in a moment Tolluntur in altum c. they are lifted up to the greater height that they may be crusht in their greater fall and by how much their precipice is the more steep by so much is their ruine the more desperate Yea which is most dreadful be the wicked ne'r so lofty and high yet is there but a trap-door betwixt them and hell which when death throws open they drop into the infernal lake where nothing remains of their glorious pomp their vast wealth their large dominion their high dignity nothing remains but the worm and the fire Mar. 9.44 the guilt and the punishment It may be for the present presumption and pride have made them secure in their sin and they see no danger they feel no misery but when they come to be awakened from their security oh the weight of that milstone that mountain that lies upon their backs oh the piercings of that sharp sword that poison'd arrow which sticks in their hearts oh what are the stings the flames the furies of a guilty Conscience how do their knees tremble their lips quiver their tongues falter their throats roar their hearts languish and their whole man become fill'd with horror and amazement Who art thou then that find'st thy self gtiev'd at the prosperity of the wicked Let this still thy murmurings and quell thine impatience that entring the Sanctuary of the Lord thou understandest their latter end 2. Mortifie sin by a sincere repentance This this shall weaken the force quell the pride and blast the prosperity of the Churches enemies for that as S. Hierom of old Nostris vitiis Barbari facti sunt fortes c. The sins of the Christians did strengthen the Barbarians And even now without all doubt the sins of the Orthodox do give strength and success to the present Heresies and Schisms The best purging then of the waters is with the Prophet Elisha 2 King 2 21. at the spring-head the best curing a wound is with the skilful Chyrurgion at its festered root The best healiâ—g of a Nations miseries is by removing the cause in mortifying the sin and so seeking reconciliation with God by repentance Thus Moses when he stands in the gap to divert Gods wrath and recover his love Num. 14.19 he does it by confessing the sin and bewailing its guâ—lt And so when David seeks to stay the violence of the plague 2 Sam. 24. he does it by an attonement on the Altar God indeed still directs his arrows of wrath against the mark of sin and therefore if sin be in us no wonder if wrath be upon us For where indeed should the arrow stick but where the mark is fastened If then we will divert the arrow we must remove the mark if we will turn away wrath we must take away sin Sin it is which corrupts our best of duties and taints our best of blessings Corrupts our best of duties like leaven it turns a solemn Passover into a very pollution it makes our very prayers unprofitable God covering himself as with a thick cloud Lam. 3. â—4 through which they cannot pass to the Throne of grace Yea our sin it is that taints our best of blessings blessings temporal turning our sweetness of earthly comforts into the bitterest of earthly curses even honor wealth wit learning plenty peace which should make us more serviceable unto God how does sin make them even tributary unto Satan in the advancement of his kingdom Wherefore in the calamities of our Church and Nation be we no longer like the silly Hart to mourn and bleed and faint and yet take no care for what would happily be our cure the plucking out the fatal dart that sticks in our side the removing the sinful guilt that cleaves unto our souls which gu lt is none other way to be removed but by a sincere repentance Which repentance is sincere when free and full 1. When free not so much extorted by the rack or compell'd by horror as being the willing purpose of a relenting heart Oh how is it with some They are won with the Gospels sweetness and Mercy 's allurements Others they are driven with the Laws curse and Judgments terrors The former is like water from a Spring it flows with freeness the latter like water from a Still which is forc'd with fire And when men repent as Pharaoh in Egypt Exod 9.27 34 35. Ps 78.34 35 36 c or as Israel in the Wilderness only on the rack of judgment and wrath it is much to be suspected when once the scourge is taken off the judgment respited they then will return to their former pride and impenitence What metal is it that will not melt in the furnace and what heart so hard which in the furnace of divine wrath will not melt in mournful penitence But hereby is their insincerity and hypocrisie discovered that when taken out of the fire they return to their former obduracie Thus formal and hypocritical persons they melt in the heat and harden in the cold Clem. Alex. Strom. l 2. they thaw in the sun and freeze in the shade These repentings Clemens of Alexandria aptly calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when men ring Changes as it were they sin and are punish'd being punish'd they repent And as upon the duty of repentance their punishment is removed so upon the removal of their punishment their sin is renewed If our Repentance then be sincere it is free the willing and resolved purpose of a relenting heart 2. Full as extended to all sin whatsoever Even the smallest sin in its degree is deadly in its nature Of Vipers the least is poisonous and to coin pence is a treasonable act as well as to coin pounds Every degree of sin as every degree of treason is a violation of the Soveraign Majesty and therefore Capital Yea as one leak in the Keel one breach in the bank unrepair'd is enough to sink the ship and drown the Country so one sin allowed of is enough to destroy the man and one sin generally unrepented of is enough to ruine a Kingdom Indeed who can think to obtain his Princes favour whilst he harbours a Rebel against him in his house Who can think to partake of the merit of Christs blood whilst he hugs the murderer of him in his bosom Who can think to avoid Gods wrath whilst he cherisheth the sin that provokes him Had Christ been our Saviour as most men are his servants had he dyed for sin as most men die to sin that is to the halfs or in part our whole salvation had only been a less damnation But if we expect Christ should save us to the utmost of a gracious deliverance we must serve him to the utmost of a faithful repentance crucifying sin as he was crucified for sin not in some members
lest that should stay him from striking Thus he bespeaks the Prophet Jeremy Pray not for this people Jer. 7.16 neither lift up cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not hear thee But now on the contrary when the Church is in distress the hearts of the faithful rais'd in devotion is a sure sign of Gods arising to judgment his peoples approaching near unto him in prayer Ps 102. Dan. 9 is the forerunner of his approaching near to his people in deliverance Indeed we may be assured Luk. 18 4.7 if the petition of an importunate Widow could prevail with an unjust Judge much more shall the prayers and sighs and tears of a widow'd Church prevail with the most holy God 5. To fervent Prayer join faithful obedience â—am 3 41. S. Hier. in loc Thus the Church of old Let us lift up our hearts say they with our hands to the Lord in the heavens Upon which S. Hierom gives this gloss Cor cum manibus levat qui orationem operibus roborat He lifts up his heart with his hands who strengthens his prayers with his works The zeal of obedience quickens the fervor of our prayers and the fervor of our prayers quickens the zeal of our obedience Which obedience if it be sincere it will be universal in an impartial respect unto all Gods commandments not allowing the commission of any one sin nor quitting the obligation of any one duty desirous to please God in all things And where there is a breach of this obedience Col. 1.10 Phil. 3 9. the soul applies it self unto Christ by faith for a supply of his righteousness Without this sincerity of obedience no man is upright in his conversion and so not in a fit capacity of temporal deliverance or eternal salvation O consider this all ye that in the bargain of salvation and traffick of heaven stand upon your abatements with Christ the abatement of such a darling lust such a temporal ininterest such a worldly gain such an hard duty or such an irksom task Thus the flesh barters with the spirit and the carnal man turns Huckster with his Saviour But oh consider consider the purchasing Heavens happiness is like a buying the Sybils Prophesies the longer you stand off in dispute of the price the dearer every day will be its purchase it will cost the more difficult task of repentance the more large expence of tears the more deep moans of sorrow the more bitter cryes of prayer the more sharp combats of spiritual conflicts the more painful throws of the new birth and the more strict watchfulness of an after-obedience Vain men ye certainly know not how to value the price of a soul nor the worth of a Saviour who would gain life and salvation upon so easie conditions Ah! this this is the great sin of the Land unfruitfulness under the means of grace Like Rebekah's womb Gen. 25.21 22 23. we have been a barren Nation and therefore God in just wrath hath brought upon us pain in our own bowels the strugling contests of profane Esaus and supplanting Jacobs in the very womb of the Church and Nation Wherefore all ye who own your selves sons and daughters of the Church be faithful unto God and your souls in the duties of a sincere obedience knowing this that the sins of professed enemies are not so much provoking God to temporal judgments as the sins of his people in that they are committed against the testimonies of greater love and exposing Gods truth name and worship to greater contempt Amos 3.2 Thus saith God to Israel by his Prophet You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities It is worth our observation that if we consult the sacred Scriptures the Annals of the Church and the Histories of Nations we find that God bears longer with the sinful provocations of a strange Nation then with those of his chosen people The sins of the Amorites are not so soon full as the sins of Israel nor at this day is the measure of the Turkish iniquity so soon fill'd up as that of the Graecian Churches And the reason is those fruits are soonest ripe which are nearest the sun and fattest in soâ—l and such are sins against blessings of mercy and under the means of grace Amos 8.2 Jer. 1.11 which are therefore call'd by the Prophet the first ripe fruits and the judgment on Gods people is resembled by the rod of an Almond-tree Ezek. 9.6 1 Pet. 4.17 which first puts forth its branches And thus Judgment first begins at the Sanctuary the house of God Indeed where the sun shines hottest there the fruits ripen fastest and fall soonest Unfruitfulness then under the means of grace exposeth to further destruction but sincerity of obedience prepares to a speedy restauration such as shall confute and silence all murmuring complaints in this spiritual conflict arising from the m sinterpretation of the order of Gods providence in the tribulations of the godly and the prosperity of the wicked CHAP. IX The Souls Conflict from the long continuance of its afflictions and temptations O The wonder of divine grace 2 Cor. 12 9. that Gods strength does so gloriously appear in mans weakness as to sustain him against all the malicious oppositions of Satan all the treacherous beguilements of the Flesh and all the various temptations of the World it is the astonishment this of the Angels and that for which Chrâ—st shall one day be so much admired in his Saints See 2 Thess 1.10 see the spiritual estate of a man truly sanctified whilst he is in his earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem He bears in his flesh the law of sin Rom. 7.23 Mat. 16.24 Eph. 6.12 and on his shoulder the Cross of Christ he walks in a narrow path pusht at by many potent enemies the powers of darkness to throw him down to which end they adde subtlety to their malice policie to their power they spread a net for his feet So that how is it possible without a miracle of grace and of mercy of life and of love of power and of peace how is it possible weak and fainting man should tread so strait a path as the way of righteousness and break through all spiritual difficulties to attain an heavenly rest This is that beaten path which the Patriarchs Kings and Prophets the Apostles Martyrs and Saints have trod before us And if any man shall conceit some other way to heaven then this of difficulties and dangers of afflictions and temptations Secr. schol hist eccl we may say to him as Constantine did to Acesius Erige scalam ascende solus Raise thy self a ladder and climb up alone never any went that way thou dream'st of before thee neither shall any go it after thee But it is no wonder vain man if thou lose thy self when thou takest an unknown
him the Head to the skirts of his clothing to the meanest of the faithful Which oil of grace as it heals our wounds so it cleanseth our natures and consecrates our persons thereby evidencing in a conformity to Christ in holiness that we have a communion with him in his fulness 2. How may we best confirm this our communion with him Quest 2 Answ We confirm our communion with Christ Answ by strengthening our faith in him For that faith it is by which as Christ exhibits and communicates himself unto us so do we in a reciprocal act adhere and wholly give up ourselves unto him so that the stronger is our faith the firmer is our union and by how much our union is more firm by so much is our communion the more full This this is that which gives faith its excellency as it is in other graces Theological and Moral even its object and its act its object Christ in the price he gives for satisfaction to Gods justice the purchase he makes of salvation to his chosen and the promises he tenders for application of both All which though secondarily indeed they are the objects of love and hope yet primarily and in a precedencie the objects of faith Those Officers are in highest honor who are nearest to the Kings person and thus is Faith a chief grace in dignity as being nearest in place to the person of Christ And as thus Faith hath its excellency from its object so from its act Rom. 3.25 and 5.1 whose peculiar office it is to be the instrument of justification and salvation in an applicatory act conveying the righteousness and life of Christ to the soul and person of the Believer Faith then it is which unites us unto Christ and gives us possession of him Eph. 3.17 who is therefore said to dwell in our hearts by faith Wherefore if we would confirm our communion we must strengthen our faith and how is this but by a frequent exercise of fervent prayer a devout meditation upon the Gospels promises and a worthy partaking the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist yea all the duties of an holy obedience Thus even thus we confirm our communion with Christ in his fulness as our Head Applicat 1. By way of Expostulation the more forcibly to woe and win the soul to Christ Were it so O man that thou didst now possess all secular contentments in the greatest confluence of this Worlds fulness whether it be for riches honor pleasures or whatsoever worldly men and carnal minds count most precious yet how far are all these from sustaining the soul against the fears of an approaching death the terrors of an accusing guilt and the horrors of a future Judgment all which the truly penitent and faithful soul can happily calm and silence by vertue of that communion he hath in the righteousness and life of Christ The creature then is insufficient to make man happy seeing it is full of vanity and man is insufficient to make himself happy seeing he is full of sin Needs therefore must he be involved in an eternal guilt and misery unless Christ the Fountain of grace and happiness uniting us to himself by his Spirit doth give us a communion with him in his fulness And now O man that thou mayst be united to him and obtain a communion with him hear what is the command of thy God 1 Joh. 3.23 it is even this that thou believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ yea hear Christ himself in the Ministry of his Word lovingly inviting thee with a Come unto me Yet further he hath made the Ministry of his Word to be an embassage of peace in which he not only lovingly invites but more graciously intreats 2 Cor. 5.20 so says the Apostle As though God did intreat you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God And if now O man neither the command of thy God will awe thee nor the invitation of Christ move thee nor yet his intreaties prevail upon thee hear at last his pathetical expostulation by his Prophet Ezek. 18.30 31 32. if not to thy conversion yet to thy conviction O house of Israel repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God Wherefore turn your selves and live ye In the meditation of which words suppose you heard Beloved this expostulary Dialogue betwixt Christ and the Sinner Thus saith Christ See see O man I who am thy Judge proffer my self thine Advocate I against whom thou hast sinned proffer my self thy Saviour and therefore why wilt thou die The Sinner answers I die because the Law the Minister of death condemns me for my sin Ay but I who have satisfied the Law promise thee absolution upon repentance therefore why wilt thou die I die because I have made a league with hell and a covenant with death and my soul is so fast in fetters and in prison that I cannot come forth Ay but I have vanquish'd and triumph'd over death and hell and offer thee power to break that covenant and dissolve that league and so return and live and therefore yet why wilt thou die I die because I carry about with me a body of sin a law in my members which presseth me forwards into all impieties Ay but I bring thee a regenerating grace to make thee a new heart and a new spirit and therefore yet again why wilt thou die I die because I was of old ordained of God to this condemnation reprobated in his eternal decree Ay but O foolish and perverse soul I give thee my word my oath I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked And therefore search not my Decrees which are secret but see the truth of my Gospel revealed which tells thee that I came into the world to save sinners And therefore whilst I stretch forth mine arms flie not my embraces of love whilst I tender thee my grace resist not my Spirit And if yet thou continue thy rebellion I will not yet withdraw my compassion but shall still bespeak thee and all obstinate sinners in the Ministry of my word saying Why will ye die seeing I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth Wherefore turn your selves and live cast away from you all your transgressions and make you new hearts and new spirits so iniquity shall not be your ruine Now then O man be thou drawn from thy self unto Christ by a gracious resignation of a holy faith Cast off O cast off the sollicitations of thy dearest and closest corruptions the strongest temptations of the World and the Flesh and yield O yield up thy will unto Christs scepter captivate thy lusts to
his power dedicate thy soul to his Worship and submit thy whole man to his sway and government So shall his Spirit of Union be unto thee a Spirit of Unction 1 Joh 2.27 as of Union to incorporate thee into himself so of Unction to consecrate thee to his service yea of Consolation too to assure thee of thine heavenly inheritance by vertue of thy Communion with him in his Fulness 2. Administer we Comfort to the Faithful amidst their private troubles of Soul and amidst the publick calamities of the Church 1. Amidst their private troubles of Soul That Isa 50.10 howsoever they may for a while walk in darkness Mal. 4 2. clouded with some distress of conscience yet shall Christ the Sun of righteousness arise upon their souls with healing in his wings and in a communion of his fulness their souls shall be calm'd with a serenity of peace crown'd with the joy of faith refreshed with the preapprehensions of Gods glorious presence and this as the clusters of the heavenly Canaan Rom 8.23 as the earnest of their future inheritance as the pledge of their eternal redemption In all the faintings and languishings then of soul this is the sustaining comfort of the faithful that they have Christ neer at hand to succor and save them Eph. 3.8 with him they have a sacred communion in his unsearchable riches of grace and love riches unsearchable not as if they could not be found but because they cannot be fathomed an inexhaustible treasure Of which as Christ is the Depositary so is he the Dispenser Jam. 15 6. giving liberally to them that ask by prayer and pray in faith 2. Amidst the publique calamities of the Church of which calamities that of spiritual captivity is the greatest Thus when Jeroboam had usurp'd the Throne this was Israels captivity in their own land 1 King 12.26 27 c. that they must worship the Calves lest going up to Jerusalem worshipping God according to his Word should mind them too much of their revolt and so bring them back in their allegiance to the house of David Yea the slavery of Soul was that made Babylons captivity more grievous to the Jews then that of Egypt In Egypt their Religion was free Dan. 3.15 though their Persons were in bondage In Babylon they must either fall down and worship the Image or be cast into the fiery furnace Now in this or any other publique calamities of the Church behold the comfort of the faithful That sure they are by vertue of the Churches communion with Christ as the Head in his wisdom and power grace and mercy by how much her distress is the more grievous and mournful by so much her deliverance shall be the more glorious and joyous Thus when the Lord brought back the captivity of Sion Ps 126.1 saith the Church in her Song of praise then were we like unto them that dream The deliverance was so sudden and so strange that it seemed to be not a vision of the day but a dream of the night The manner and method of Gods providence so wonderful that as if none could imagine it being awake they are rhetorically said to dream it being in a sleep And as this deliverance of the Church was wonderful and strange so glorious and joyous glorious to the astonishment of her enemies joyous to the exultation of her friends v. 2. these acknowledging with praise those confessing with envy the Lord hath done great things for them 3. Do we hereby declare we have communion with Christ by denying our selves by denying our own strength of reason seeing he is our wisdom denying our own merit of works seeing he is our righteousness denying our own lustful affections seeing he is our Sanctification and denying our whole selves seeing he is our Redemption Yea see we to this that we declare our heavenly communion by our heavenly conversation Live we as such whose life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3 3. live as such who profess a fellowship with the faithful and expect society with the Angels as such who are fellow-citizens with the Saints Eph. 2.19 and of the houshold of God yea live we as such who wait for the glorious appearing of the Son of God and to be received into the heavenly Jerusalem that City of Holiness Rev. 21.27 into which no unclean thing shall enter Lastly do we with enlarged desires and ravished affections even with all the holy vigor of inflamed hearts recount the great love and extoll the due praises of our God and of our Jesus and of the good Spirit of grace for all the great work of our eternal salvation effectually applied in our Spiritual communion with Christ as He is the Head of the body the Church the beginning the first-born from the dead c. THE SECOND SERMON UPON Coloss 1. v. 18 19. He is the Head of the Body the Church who is the beginning the first-born from the dead c. Introduction Acts 1.10 OUR Lord Jesus Christ he is ascended and whilst we in devotion as his Apostles in admiration do gaze after him see the solemnity of his triumph Sin and Satan Death and Hell his and our mortal enemies whom he vanquished in his Passion and whom he scattered in his Resurrection Eph. 4.8 those he leads captive in his Ascension It was indeed the manner of the Nations most frequently and most solemnly practised by the Romans to take the spoil of the enemy in the field and after victory to ride in triumph thorow the City Heb. 2.10 And thus the Apostle speaks of Christ the Captain of our Salvation having spoiled principalities and powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 2.15 he made a shew of them openly leading them about in publick triumph and then it was that Christ did spoil Satan and the Infernal spirits of all their principality and power when he disarmed them of their weapons and brake in pieces their ensigns even the strength of sin the curse of the Law and the sting of death of these he spoiled them in the open field of his Passion where the battel was fought he not giving up the ghost till he had cancelled the hand-writing of Ordinances Vers 14. and nailed it to his Cross And Christ having thus vanquished and spoiled his enemies in campo victoriae in the field of Victory his Passion he after Triumphs in his Cross as in sella Regia or curru Triumphali his Chair of State or Triumphal Chariot in his Ascension And being Triumphantly ascended see him royally entertained into the heavenly places see a Celestial Chore of holy Angels leading the host of Heaven to the Gates of Sion Where they welcome their Lord and our Jesus into the heavenly Jerusalem with that or the like divine Anthem Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up Psal 24.7 8 c. ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory
Temple O let the faithful then still joy to dwell with God in his Sanctuary 2. See the length of Davids lease for term of life that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life So much is mans nature in love with liberty and change that not having variety of objects and freedom of enjoyments a Palace becomes a Prison and the sweetest dainties a loathed bitterness But O the perfect freedom of Gods service and ravishing sweetness of his Sanctuary which never begets loathing or dislike to the devout soul but the more enjoyed still the more desired So that Gods house is not Davids desire for change but for constancy not for a small spurt but for a long space he measures his own dwelling in Gods Sanctuary according to the time of his souls dwelling in the body even all the dayes of his life All the dayes The godly mans Kalender is from the Son of righteousness he numbers his times by his aspect and influence and and therefore he thinks it no day with his soul but when Christs face doth shine and accounts no happy houres but what are spent in his service So that should the Sun have run his round and David not have repaired to Gods house he would have cryed out as Titus the Emperor upon a less occasion after did O amici diem perdidi O my friends I have lost a day and as with David so with every good Christian that day is lost as to an happy account which makes not an account of Gods holy worship But further David renews his Lease and resolves to have it for perpetuity or rather makes Gods house his inheritance I will dwell saith he in the house of the Lord for ever Psal 23.6 David is not willing to live except in Gods house and when he departs the world he would not depart the Temple but by an happy change of earthly for heavenly enjoying the same holy presence in a more glorious beauty even that of the beatifical vision Thus we have done with the object of Davids petition 1. As emphatically asserted to be unum one thing 2. As that one thing is expresly described to be this a dwelling in the house of the Lord all the dayes of his life From the Object we proceed to the Acts which are two The former speaks Davids inward affection that of desire the latter speaks the eager prosecution of what he desired in seeking after it One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after c. 1. The Act which speaks Davids inward affection that of desire One thing have I desired Desires are the Ecchoes of our loves what we most ardently affect we most eagerly covet If our love then be spiritual and fixt on God our desires will keep the tincture of our loves and become holy and spiritual too And there are no enjoyments so full nor contentments so great that desires are not excited for what is desire but the hearts flame which does not by emission spend the stock but by reflexion quicken the vigor of our loves So that Testimonium gustatae gratiae est esuries saith S. Bernard grace desired is a sure testimony of grace received and to hunger after Christ Ps 34.8 is a good argument of having tasted with David how good the Lord is Thus it is with Gods Saints on earth but see the same with the very Seraphims in heaven who clap their wings that is Isa 6.2 agitate their loves and actuate their joyes by their desires yea no heart is so earthy that breaths not forth the air of this region Ps 145.16 and God alone it is that can satisfie the desire of every living thing And therefore is David right in his Unum petii One thing have I desired of the Lord. For indeed seeing the fruition of God is the last end of the souls creation so infinite an object as God supposeth an infinite desire in man And though David confines his desires to one Object yet can he not contain them in one Act for like Number they are infinite none so great but is still capable of addition so that mans desire cannot be satisfied but by his fulness who is Naz. in Naâ—al as Nazianzen elegantly calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sea of Being which hath neither bottome nor shore a fulness as inexhaustible as it is unsearchable All that splendor which attracts the desires of the most lofty Heroes all those miseries which suspend the admiration of the most learned Sages all that beauty which inflames the hearâ—s of the most passionate Lovers yea take all the whole Wardrobe and Magazine of nature the whole stock of this worlds glory Theaters Thrones Empires and Arms Scepters and Triumphs Isa 40 15. what are they all but stilla situlae as a drop of the Bucket compared with the vast Ocean of Gods fulness What art thou then but ungrateful unto God and unfaithful unto thine own soul What art thou but a Rebel to his Soveraign Majesty and a traitor to thine own repose and glory whosoever thou art that seeks for any other felicity then that of God who hath h s paradise in his own bosome and offers to make thee blessed in his embraces O that thou wouldst now collect thy scattered thoughts vain man and reduce thy wandring desires into this period and center of Unity Communion with God in Christ fixing thy delights in the beauty of his holiness the worship of his Sanctuary and the joy of his presence Thus doth David in his Unum petii One thing have I desired Thus we have done with the former Act which speaks Davids inward affection that of desire 2. The latter which speaks his eager prosecution of what he desired in seeking after it One thing have I desired and that will I seek after In earthly pleasures desires faint upon enjoyment but in spiritual once enjoyed they are the more desired and as the more hotly desired so the more eagerly pursued In carnal delights we say Vilescit adeptum quod accendit desideratum That which we hotly pursue for the attaining when sped we as carelesly despise after enjoying and our own experience tells us That qui satietati occurrit satietatem incurrit A man is satiated with that which he took as a remedy against satiety Thus how many are eagerly mad upon their carnal pleasures till they feel their sting and then they hate them but it is far otherwise with our spiritual delights we have no such appetite to them as when we have tasted them and are never glutted with their sweetness but the more inflamed in our desires by their enjoyments True it is divine raptures and spiritual ravishments they are our heavenly refreshings given not for food but for cordials and therefore are not so frequent Bern. in Cant. ult nor so continued which begot S. Bernards complaint heu hora rara mora parva O how few sweet Jesus
are thy heavenly visits and how short their stay given they are either to comfort after affliction or strengthen against temptation 1 Kings 19.8 Yea like Elijahs repast they are to sustain the soul for many dayes Ye then that do not know the pleasures of Gods Sanctuary do but get them and ye cannot but love them and by their taste the more ardently long after them yea your inward affection will break forth into an eager prosecution by prayers and meditation by frequent humiliations of soul by daily mortification of sin and by a worthy participation of the Blessed Sacrament by these and all other holy means diligently seeking what you so earnestly desire even the blisse and joy of Gods Sanctuary and service And indeed we must know to have desires without endeavours is to be like him that lies at anchor expecting a winde but never hoiseth sail Many there are which have a secret ardour desires fly from their hearts as sparks from a furnace they break forth in heaps but suddenly dye Thus they are strong in desires but sluggard-like weak in endeavours and so presently quench the Spirit which gives them motion They desire much to be saved but they like not to practise S. Pauls precept Phil. 2.12 To work out their salvation But David he is of a right temper and in a right order His hands second his heart his eager prosecution his inward affection he seeks what he desires So are the words of his Petition in his Unum petii One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life c. Know then Beloved we have spiritual delights in their sacred source no where so full so free as in the house of God Applic. as in the service of the Sanctuary One day in thy Courts saith David are better then a thousand Ps 84.10 I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord then to dwell in the tents of wickedness The delights of Gods Sanctuary like the waters of Bethlehem they are pure but the pleasures of the World like the puddles of Egypt they are polluted Whilst the Tradesmen then hie them to their Shops Merchants to their Change Mariners to their Ships Wantons to their Chambers Covetous men to their Chests Revellers to the Taverns all men to their delights David too will haste to his but it is to the Temple to the Sanctuary there 's the object of his joy there 's the Theatre of his delight there 's the Center of his desires even the Beauty of the Lord and the glory of his Worship Wherefore then O ye wretched souls how are you become enemies not only to the Cross of Christ but also to the Comforts of his Spirit Enemies to Reason and Religion Enemies to Gods Sanctuary and his Ordinances Enemies to Christs Church and chosen O how are you enemies to all these Ye that prefer a Tavern before a Temple and a Strumpets arms before your Saviours imbraces ye that prefer Bacchus Bowls before the Cup of Salvation and carousing healths before your Saviours blood Oh how are ye become the shame of Christians and the reproach of Protestants 〈◊〉 the scandal of the Churches cause and service Oh how is it that for the cursed carrion of bestial delights ye renounce the communion of holy joys O profane and licentious wretches which delight to live with that mad Legion in the filthy Sepulchres and dark Tombs of carnal concupiscence Mat. 5.2 3. and this with a sordid and sottish contempt of Angels fellowship Saints communion heavenly dainties and holy delights all which are the bliss of Gods Sanctuary and the Ravishments of his holy Worship 2. Be we exhorted so to give up our selves unto God at his Altar that he may make us to dwell with him in his Temple so resign up our selves to him in his Sacrament that if it be his blessed will he may continue his Service to us in his Sanctuary resign we up our selves to him in his Sacrament that blessed Sacrament of the holy Eucharist And when we come to Gods Altar prepare we our Sacrifice aright Act. 15.9 P. 26.6 purifying our hearts by faith in sincere humiliation and washing our hands in innocency by fervent supplication And thus compassing Gods Altar he will accept our Offering even through the merits of the Lamb Christ Jesus which was offered up for us Heb. 11.4 In this oblation of himself it was that Abel◠offered a more excellent sacrifice then Cain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more full sacrifice Plurimam hostiam so the Vulgar but how this Why Rupertus tells us Rupert l. 4. in Gen. c. 2. Abel primo cor suum deinde rem suam offerendo plurimam hostiam per fidem obtulit Abel by faith offered as a more excellent so a more plentiful sacrifice then Cain in that he offered himself as well as his Lambs whereas Cain offered sua but not se his goods but not himself Abel offered his heart and himself as well as the Firstlings of his Flock And thus if we will be accepted as Abel was we must offer as Abel did our Hearts unto God these the Firstlings of our Flock indeed the Heart being the primum vivens the first that lives in grace and the chief that is accepted in prayer And that coming to Gods house and his Altar we may bring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more plentiful sacrifice we must remember that the Measures of the Sanctuary are double to those of common use Exod. 16.22 Wherefore with double diligence do we prepare our hearts our devotions join we eager prosecution to our inward affection seek as well as desire So does holy David in his unum petii One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after c. Now to close this Sermon observe that of the Preacher Look to thy foot when thou goest into the house of God Eccles 4 1. Look to thy foot that is order thy affections even with humility reverence and devotion Ps 22.6 1. With humility Bow thy knee low with David I am a worm Gen. 18 27. and no man Fall down even to the ground with Abraham I who am but dust and ashes have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Ezod 4.5 2. With reverence Put off thy shoes says God to Moses for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground Holy ground because of Gods holy presence which must not be approached but with holy fear Ps 99.1 God that sitteth between the Cherubims he here hearkens to our prayers and speaks to us in his Word and his Majesty then requires our reverence Ps 122.1 3. With devotion That of David's I was glad when they said unto me We will go into the house of the Lord. And as we come with chearfulness so continue we with watchfulness not letting the fire
go out upon the Altar not letting our devotion cool in Gods presence especially when we present our selves at the Table of the Lord that sacred solemnity of the blessed Eucharist Oh that we could here compose our Souls to Davids frame That seeing God in Christ is the Center of all holy delights we may make the enjoyment of his presence and communion the Center of all hearty desires and then say in an humble faith and ardent fervor of devotion One thing have I desired of the Lord and that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life c. THE SECOND SERMON UPON PSAL. 27.4 To behold the Beauty of Lord and to enquire in his Temple Introduction Psal 87.2 GOD that loveth the Gates of Sion above all the habitations of Jacob he prefers the Publick Services of the Church before the Private Worship of the Closet 2 Sam. 7.16 Zech. 3.8 Wherefore Davids zeal to the Building and Zorobabels to the rebuilding the Temple and House of God it was rewarded and incouraged by the promise of the Messiah issuing from their loyns And if the holy zeal of building and restoring the House of God had the promise of Christ in the flesh sure I am the blinde zeal of prophaneing and destroying Gods House can have no communion with Christ in the Spirit For observe we how the Prophet Haggai foretels That Hag. 11.9 the glory of the latter House should be greater then that of the former the glory of Zorobabels Temple greater then that of Solomons which could not be meant as to the outward structure or the inward ornaments the latter House wanting what gave the excellency to the former even the Ark of the Covenant the Heavenly Fire the overshadowing Cloud the Urim and Thummim and the gift of Prophecy which gift of Prophecy was onely supplied by an Eccho which the Hebrews call Bath Kol the Daughter of a Voice revealing sometimes something of the Will of God Such a Voice was heard in the Temple before Titus besieged Jerusalem Joseph Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 12. Migremus hinc Let us be gone hence Now all that glory being wanting in the latter Temple What made it more glorious then the former I answer It was the presence and manifestation of Christ in the flesh who was the substance of those Figures the Body of which the Temples glory was but a shadow And if this was the glory of the Jews Temple That Christ in the flesh was there manifested and presented unto God shall it not be much more the glory of our Christian Oratories That there Christ in his Word and Sacraments is preached and exhibited unto us Christ is present in all places Rev. 2.1 but is said To walk in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks Present he is in the Congregation of the Saints by a special ministration of the Spirit declaration of his Will and communication of his Grace there his Power is evidenced his Arm revealed his Body and Blood exhibited Who is it then but will delight to dwell in that House where the refreshing Food is Christs Body and the chearing Wine his Blood the ravishing Beauty the light of his countenance and the sweet repose his Arms of Love yea where the blest Fellowship is that of Angels and Saints and the onely service Gods holy worship However then the ambitious mindes sore aloft and with restless wing pursue their wordly glory yea how ever voluptuous Epicures set themselves to the injoyment of their sensual delights whatsoever they cost them though body and soul and all yet fix we our desires on Davids one thing which is as much beyond comparison as it is above exception even To dwell in the House of the Lord This the centre of Davids Prayer the main object of his longing desires and eager importunities the thing he sues and seeks for so says the Psalmist One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple We proceed to the second General part The Divine Reason of Davids Petition which is twofold of Delight and of Devotion First Of Delight To behold the Beauty of the Lord Secondly Of Devotion To enquire in his Temple We begin with the first particular that of Delight To behold the Beauty of the Lord. To behold the Beauty of the Lord Why what commerce hath Earth with Heaven finite with infinite flesh with spirit dust and ashes with majesty and glory man with God O the gracious sweetness of divine love God descends to exalt man the Creator humbles himself to a communion with his Creature and to so near a communion as to make his Spirit mans life his grace mans comliness his wing mans shadow his hand mans strength his heart mans rest his beauty mans delight and his embraces mans repose This Beauty of the Lord is of too glorious a ray to be beheld otherways then under avail and therefore it is the goodness of our Maker to exhibite himself not according to the strength of his glory but according to the weakness of our capacity The object is proportioned to the faculty the Creatures are as the Waters and his Word and Sacraments as the Mirrors which represent God by reflexion whose glory we cannot look upon in a direct Beam And thus did David behold the Beauty of the Lord in his Sanctuary Heb. 9.2 3 c. as represented in Types and Figures for we finde in the first Tabernacle called Holy the Candlestick and the Table and the Shew-bread and in the second Tabernacle called The Holy of Holies we finde the Golden Censer the Ark the Manna Aarons Rod the Tables of the Covenant the Cherubims of Glory and the Mercy Seat Now this Tabernacle and Sanctuary did aptly represent the Church of Christ whose Militant part through the vail of Faith does contemplate the glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Great High Priest Heb 4.14 by whom we have access unto the Father in the Holy of Holies that is the Highest Heavens The Brazen Laver did signifie our Baptism and Repentance the Sacrifice of Burnt offerings the Mortification of our Lusts the Altar of Incensé our Oblations of Prayers the Golden Candlestick the Preachers of the Gospel and the Lights thereof their holy Doctrine the Table of Shew-bread did prefigure the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Communion of Saints The Holy of Holies did represent the Heavenly State of the Church Triumphant there being the Ark of the Covenant the Personal and Corporal presence of Christ the Golden Propitiatory his glorious Humanity and the Table of the Law his perfect Obedience the Cherubims wings did represent the Ministry of Angels from above which heavenly Spirits God shews forth his glory in a beatifical
have deaded your affections so that either you do not see what is visible to the Spiritual eye or do not desire what is delightful to the devout Heart Such a heart as that of Davids who makes it his unum petii One thing have I desired of the Lord c. But further yet well does David make this the end and reason of his dwelling in the Lords House That he may behold his Beauty for how many are there who never behold the Lords beauty whilst they are in his House They are happily as forward to come to Gods Temple as David they desire it ay and seek it too but what is it to see God or rather to be seen themselves is it to behold the Beauty of the Lord or is not rather O the bewitching folly and cursed Atheism of some mens hearts is it I say to behold the Beauty of the Lord or not rather to behold the Beauty of some Lady Tell me O thou prophane wanton Is it not some Mistress that masters thy Devotion Tell me thou gaudy Minion is it not more to shew thy self then serve thy God is it not more that others may see thy beauty then that thou maist see the Beauty of the Lord Are not these the Motives and Reasons of too too many who resort to Gods House I appeal to your own bosoms and if so no wonder if they who are blinded with the filth and folly of their own lusts cannot see the Beauty and Loveliness of Gods house The Beauty of the Lord as it is not the prospect of every place so nor is it the object of every eye 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned No wonder then if they taste not the sweetness of Davids delight who see not the beauty which ravisheth him which beauty is not seen by the Eye of Sense but the Eye of Faith And this Eye is set in the heart not in the head for so David taken and ravished with this Beauty of the Lord Psal 57.7 he cries out My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Oh Beloved Know that when an humble penitent and enlarged suppliant feels a secret ardor of Divine love and then comes to bear a part in that holy Worship which is presented before the Throne of Grace holds Communion with the Saints and Angels and is accepted by the God of Heaven as perfumed by the Incense of Christs Merits Oh this this is more beautiful and lovely more pleasing and joyous to the devout Soul then to sway the Scepter of the Universe and command a confluence of all this Worlds delights Confident I am Rev. 4.10 those four and twenty Elders in the Revelations had more joy and delight in casting down their Crowns and Worshiping the Lamb then ever Monarch had in wearing his Crown though Domitian-like he were adored by men And here to restrain mens irreverence in the Church Let me use alike argument to that of Lycurgus to restrain a desired parity in the State It is said of Lycurgus That when the Lacedemonians required an equality in their Government he wished them first to begin it in their Houses and this did presently instruct them to know That par in parem non habet imperium where there is parity there can be no good rule As thus Lycurgus to restrain the Lacedemonian parity in the State so to restrain mens irreverence in the Church I say Beloved do ye when ye serve God here as ye require them to do who serve you at home that is as you expect they should give you a civil respect in your houses so do you give God a Religious reverence in his Temple otherwise it will be apparent you are more sensible of your own honor then of Gods and esteem more of your own houses then his Or else it will appear you prophanely think the Church not to be Gods House nor the Service there his Worship A prophaneness diametrically opposite to Davids Devotion in his Unum petii One thing have I desired c. 2. Be we exhorted acrording to Davids example Aperto vivere vâ—to openly to profess our devotion and zeal to Gods House declare our judgment and affection for Gods Worship even then when we cannot give our presence and attendance in his Sanctuary There is none but thinks the Churches present pressure to be the Clergies tryal and true indeed it is so yet to be driven from Pulpit and Altar from Sanctuary and Service is no new thing to us that hath been our tryal again and again in all which we have to the eye and ear of the whole world witnessed by our sufferings our hearty good will and zeal to Gods House Wherefore know Beloved this tryal is also and more especially the peoples to prove their sincerity whether they have had a respect to the presence of God or of men in attending the service of his Sanctuary for Fashion or for Conscience If for Conscience they will then follow the Lamb whither soever he goes Rev. 4.14 they will follow Christ wheresoever he presents himself in his Ordinances even in private Communion with a desire and longing after the Publick Congregation We say the presence of the King makes the Court and as it was told Commodus ibi Roma ubi Augustus There is Rome Herodian l. 1. where is the Emperor so there is the Church where is Christ Christ in hâ—s Ordinances there is his Sanctuary where is his service And it is no new thing to have the Ark brought into the house of Abinadab 1 Sam. 7.1 changing its publick seat for a private habitation Now I bless God for this opportunity of vindicating the honor of his House that as the Jews when driven from Jerusalem yet prayed with their faces towards the Temple so ye if God shall suffer you to be deprived of his service may still pray with your desires fixt upon his Sanctuary longing to visit his Temple and behold the beauty of his Holiness And here seeing we are come into Gods house and that to feed at Christ Table do we so behold his beauty as to adore his presence adore it with the humblest reverence of a devout heart so worshipping God in his Sanctuary as Christ hath taught us to petition him in our Prayers even Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven See then what is our pattern in the Mount Rev. 4.10 11. 5.8 c. what is the precedent Angels and Saints give us in Heaven Why we have it in St. Johns Vision where the heavenly Spirits the Angels and Saints they worship they fall down and sing praise and this with consent of will and of worship keeping order and unity one posture of adoration one form of praise as one heart of devotion and one fire of love Now what better way in our aspirings after perfection then to imitate those who are perfect and so whilst Sojourners on Earth to have our conversation in Heaven whereas a multitude met together in the Church without Order and Discipline Non populus sed turba est It is not a Congregation but a tumult not an assembly but a rout Babilonem exhibet Bern. in dedicat Eccle. Ser. 5. de Hierusalem nihil habet as Bernard well Such a meeting speaks men of Babylon not of Jerusalem not Jerusalem which is above whose order and unity we have seen in St. Johns Vision and ought to imitate in Gods House To close As you behold the Beauty of the Lord in the form of the Churches ministration so above all behold it in the excellency and glory of the things ministred Behold we that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that good pleasure of the Lord wherewith he loveth us in Christ bringing life and salvation to our Souls in the death and passion of his Son See here that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Church calls it that portentum amoris that stupendous wonder and astonishing mystery of Divine love that God should give his Son and the Son give himself to be the Sacrifice for our sin on his Cross and the Food of our Souls at his Table And here O thou humble penitent and devout suppliant When thou hast tasted the sweetness and delights behold the beauty and glory of the Lord in this Contemplation of his Love with St. Austin I say unto thee Aliud desidera si majus si melius si suavius inveneris Go consider and desire contemplate and enjoy something else if any thing thou canst finde greater or better or sweeter greater in glory better in worth or sweeter in delights But if here thou beholdest a beauty to which all other excellency is a foil a glory to which all other lustre is a stain a delight to which all other pleasure is a bitterness If so then here center thy desires and take up Davids Unum petii One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple Halleluiah FINIS