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
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
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
the ministration of the Sacraments Now to spoil us of the treasure to rob us of the comfort of this salvation is Satans grand design in his temptations unto sin and his suggestions of distrust for by these he labors to withdraw us from our God and deprive us of communion with Christ who is our love and our life But when the bird is mounted on the wing it is safe from the Fowlers net and the soul raised in communion with Christ is preserved from Satans snare And if through infirmity the soul flag and fall to the earth and so become intangled in carnal and worldly affections yet keeping the eye fixt upon Christ looking to him in his Ordinances to rece ve the quickening power of his grace though corrupt affections may intangle Rom. 8 2. Rom. 6.14 yet shall they not inthral the soul which becomes restored by the power of Christs Spirit a Spirit of life and liberty a Spirit of Grace and holiness delivering from the power of Satan and from the dominion of sin § 2. And this this is Davids practise and experience registred here by the Holy Ghost for our pattern and comfort when to the meditation of Gods promise and the manifestations of his love he joyns this profession of faith saying Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord c. In which profession of Davids faith we have two particulars 1. It s firm affiance 2. It s comfortable assurance 1. It s firm affiance Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord. 2. It s comfortable assurance For he shall pluck my feet out of the net § 3. First The firm affiance of Davids faith Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord. Mine eyes so general and sovereign an influence hath faith into the actual exercise of the divine graces that it does supply the office of the choycest members in the spiritual man therefore is Faith the legs that support the hand that receives the arms that imbrace the pallate that tastes the eye that beholds yea it is the heart of the inward man the seat of spiritual life for so says the Apostle the just shall live by faith and again I live Rom. 1 17. Gal. 2.20 yet not I but Christ that liveth in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God And very apt is this metaphor of faith that it is the eye of the soul whereby it discerns those things which are invisible invisible to the eye of sence and the eye of reason 2 Cor 4.18 yet made evident and visible by an enlightning power of the Spirit to the eye of faith and therefore is faith called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.1 a sacred evidence and divine demonstration of the truth of those things which neither sence nor reason can apprehend § 4. Many indeed there are eminent in Caldean learning and Mathematical science who in the height of their knowledge and with the eye of reason pierce the clouds discern the coelestâ—al motions of the heavenly bodies the inclining not necessitating influence of the Stars and Constellations yet how far short is all this of that Philo calls fides oculata an illuminated Faith the eye of the sanctified soul whereby it pierceth within the vail Heb. 6 19. looks into the holy of holies the most sacred and secret mysteries of grace and glory This is that Eagles eye which can receive the Rays of the Sun of righteousness being ever towards the Lord in the sweetness of his love and the riches of his fulness By this piercing eye of faith it is that Abraham through a bleeding sword and a sacrificed son does see a posterity numerous as the stars in heaven by this piercing eye of faith it is that Israel through a red Sea and a barren Wilderness does see a land of promise a Canaan of rest By this piercing eye of faith it is that David through a despised Crown and a broken Scepter does see a glorious Throne and famous Government yea by this peircing eye of faith it is that Jerusalem a type of the Church through a night of distress and a grave of capcaptivity does see a resurrection of peace and a full Noon of glory § 5. An enlightned faith is not discouraged with difficulties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian in Cyp. nor dampt with dangers knowing well that God oftentimes so orders the administrations of his Providence as that he works his own ends even by contrary means So that man is at a stand to determine whether is greater the wonder or the mercy of his Churches deliverance Now where lies the strength of faith why know not in the habit but in the object even in the Lord the creatures the Word the Sacraments they are good mediums but no full objects we must look thorow them as thorow a glass by which we behold God and Christ as the full and final object whereon to fix the the eye of faith and wherewith to terminate the sight of the soul § 6. Yea the blessings of providence and the graces of the spirit they are but the streams the Lord the Lord he is the fountain so that when all outward hopes fail and all inward comforts faint when there is a perfect vacuum in the creatures a seeming emptiness in the Ordinances even then the poor soul and afflicted Saint doth find rest and comfort in the Lord. Psal 116.7 In him faith sees an Almighty power and an omniscient wisdom an infinite grace and an all-sufficient merit yea an all-compassionating mercy So that were there indeed no life in the Ordinances no comfort in the Promises yet would faith by Christs assistance fetch both life and comfort from this fountain of the Lords fulness § 7. Who art thou then O thou afflicted soul who in thy spiritual desertions walkest in darkness clouded with sorrows Oh in thy greatest dejections lift up thine eyes unto the Lord Psal 123.1 that when the rising Sun appears thou mayst see his refreshing light and however now by reason of thy present anguish thou canst not serve God in alacrity of performance yet do it in sincerity of obedience and this this will be a cranny to convey some beams of light even in the lowest dungeon of thy spiritual distress Wait upon the Lord having thy eye of faith still towards him Psal 27.14 and so shall comforts be redoubled in a life recovered and thy difficulties of obtaining shall the more sweeten thy delights of injoying even of injoying God and Christ in the refreshing comforts of the Spirit conveyed and confirmed in his blessed Sacrament In which blessed Sacrament especially let thine eyes be still towards the Lord in his merits in his grace in his benefits in his love let him have thy fixed heart and thine intent eye yea let him have thy whole man for to this end it is that he here gives thee his whole self § 8. And Oh the sweet converses of the devout
minds from Gods holy worship Indeed our natures are too weak to bâ—held always intent upon holy duties and therefore Gods woship hath its necessary intermissions in which intermissions the works of our callings are ordain'd for the keeping our minds innocent in their thoughts and renewed in their vigor for his more holy service Here then O thou afflicted soul who complainest of the secret trouble and vexing importunity of thy Vain thoughts here thou hast thy Grounds of Comfort and Rules of Direction God give thee his Spirit of Grace and Truth to order thy practice and administer thee Consolation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! CHAP. II. The Souls Conflict from the frightful Suggestions of Foul Thoughts GReat is the activity of the Soul discovered by the Thoughts which are more quick in their motion then Lightening darting forth in a moment from Earth to Heaven Ps 139.17 18. Phil. 3.20 and back again from Heaven to Earth Which excellencie of Man in the activity of the Mind was given of God for this end that he might turn away from sin at the first appearance of evil But now oh how hath the guilt of sin laid fetters upon this freedom of the mind and made it servile unto Satan if not to act his suggestions yet to suffer his buffetings 2 Cor. 12.7 So that those very thoughts of sin which the soul abhors those the imagination receives and the mind cannot free it self from horror Ps 19 4. through fear of guilt knowing well that as Devout meditations are acceptable so Foul imaginations must needs be abominable abominable to that God Hab. 1.13 who is of most pure eyes and such as cannot behold iniquity Besides whereas our Thoughts present the Idols which our hearts worship and that the Israelites bowing the knee to Baalim and Ashtaroth were not more truly Idolaters Judg. 2.13 Col. 3.5 then the Covetous the Ambitious the Voluptuous who bow the heart to Riches to Honors to Pleasures and the like Therefore the afflicted soul dreads the guilt of the vilest Idolatry even lest by its blasphemous thoughts it fall down to Satan Mat. 4.9 and worship him Oh! how doth the sad experience of many pious souls witness a dreadful horror in their sudden and frequent thoughts of Infidelity Atheism and Blasphemy calling into question the Truth of Gods Word the Order of his Providence and the very Being of his Deity yea such thoughts as for their foulness are not fit to be uttered And therefore many souls languish in dejection asham'd to declare their grief These the Cogitationes onerosae in the language of S. Bernard the burdensom thoughts which load the soul with an unsupportable weight of mournful distress and press it down with an inconceivable anguish of spiritual dejections In which Dejections and Distress hear and compassionate the Souls Complaint The Words of Complaint Oh! oh the Dunghil of mine unclean Heart which sends forth such filthy vapors Needs must my soul be a very Sink of sin whilst there ariseth from thence such a noisom stench of corrupt Thoughts Sure if ever I had been wash'd with the least drop of my Saviours blood or purified with the least spark of his Spirit and grace so great a filth and so foul a corruption could never cleave unto my soul But oh wo is me I see I am so far from being the Temple of the Lord that I am become the very Den of the Devil the flames of Hell already flash in my face and the amazing terrors of cursed Blasphemies torture my soul and wound my Conscience even unto death yea I could rather chuse to die ten thousand deaths then undergo the fears and frights and bitter pangs of my amazing thoughts and dreadful imaginations Ah what what shall I do with these Egyptian frogs my foul Suggestions which are still croaking In every place and in every action in the Church and in the Closet in my meditations and in my prayers still they crawl in and dead my heart yea their noisom stink makes me loath my self and all my services Oh I faint I die I perish whilst asham'd to speak what I abhor to think I must needs despair of cure not knowing how to lay open my sore The Grounds of Comfort 1. The horrid Blasphemies which affright thy soul though they are thy thoughts yet are they Satans suggestions and not having thy consent of will they bring no guilt upon the conscience Jam. 1.44 15. Non nocet sensus ubi non est consensus is the resolution of S. Bernard agreeable to the truth of Gods Word and the judgment of all both Antient and Modern Divines that where the Will yields no consent there the soul may suffer a temptation but act no sin Yea 2 Cor. 12.7 Quod resistentem fatigat vincentem coronat saith the same Father The importunity and frepuencie of the suggestions which weary the soul resisting shall bring the greater crown of glory in its overcoming True it is He that is born of God keepeth himself 1 Joh. 5 18. and that wicked one toucheth him not But how toucheth him not Is it meant of wicked temptations No sure but of wilful transgressions He toucheth him not tachi qualitativo we say and that aright not so touch as to make like himself in an impress of sin and guilt upon the soul Now then that it is no sin to be tempted is more then evident from this one argument That otherwise our Lord and Saviour himself Heb. 4.15 who was tempted had also finn'd Wherefore this is sin to admit the temptation wish allowance or delight 2. That these foul and frightful suggestions have not thy consent of will appears by this that thou hast a loathing and an abhorring of them which speaks the greatest aversion Desst 7.26 Rom. 22.9 and so is far from a consenting of the will As when the stomach loaths any meat though it be forceably cast into the belly yet can it not be said to be receiv'd with rppetite So when the Will abhorrs any suggestion though forcibly cast into the mind yet can it not be said to be receiv'd with Consent And know we are less able to keep the Mind free from Satans suggesting thoughts we abhor then we are to keep the stomach free from anothers forcing meats we loath Thy thoughts then O distressed soul being injected not inbred thoughts cast in from some suggestion without not rais'd up from some corruption within they are only brats laid at thy door not children of thine own begetting they are Satans buffetings in which the soul is meerly passive a sufferer not a doer 2 Cor. 12.7 And therefore as much need of patience as of penitence of fortitude to resist as of contrition to bewail Obj. 1 Ay but thou sayest Sure it is the corruption of my heart from whence these foul thoughts are rais'd and so though the Devil in his malice be the Father yet my corrupt flesh
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