we joyned to him by the same spirit does he dwell in our hearts by faith is he in us and we in him and abides in us as the hope of our glory our interest in him is a sure and infallible evidence of our interest in the Father He is the only Jacobs ladder whereby we can climb up to communion with the God of Jacob. His foot is on Earth but his top in Heaven The second is our covenant obligation to him I entred into a covenant with thee saith God and thou becamest mine Ezek. 16.8 Isa 55.3 There is a mutual covenant between God and his People as he hath engaged for their salvation so have they for his service O Lord I am thy Servant quoth David and so the Church Micah 4.5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever She gives up her self to God not only in a way of single considence but resolute obedience The relations are mutual between God and his People he becomes theirs and they his They are betrothed in the marriage-covenant to him in judgement righteousness tender mercies and faithfulness and they know the Lord. Art thou then O soul brought into covenant with God hast thou broken off that accursed league with sin and Satan by righteousness and engaged thy soul solemnly to become a faithful servant to him as thy only Liege-Lord and no other Art thou resolved to fear love and serve him in holiness and righteousness all the daies of thy life and to glorifie him in thy soul body and spirit which are his Thy engagement for his glory is an hopeful sign of his engagement for thy good Thirdly Intimate acquaintance and indeared communion with him Abraham had great interest in God and as great acquaintance with him We may see in Sodoms case how boldly he goes to him Friendship with God breeds an holy familiarity So Moses had a large share in Gods favour and God spake to him face to face and he talked with him again as a man with his familiar friend There are sweet communications of counsel between God and a gracious soul Our fellowship is with the Father 1 Joh. 1.3 David was a man after Gods own heart and had intimate acquaintance with God went to him by faith and prayer on all occasions It 's good for me saith he to draw near to God and one daies communion with him is worth a thousand It was said of Charls the great he conversed more with God than men As all communion is founded in union so true union discovers it self by flowing forth in acts of communion Now Christian what communion maintains thy soul with God in prayer private secret in meditation in publick Ordinances Is it thy meat and drink thy joy and rejoycing to work righteousness and meet him in his waies Thou canst have no interest in God if thou livest without him in the world nor canst call him Father truly if thou hast not or dost not know him Fourthly Sympathy and fellowship with him Gods interest and the souls are not two but one they are like two Turtles if one dies the other never lives comfortably after but sorrowing for the loss of her Mate God is sensible of and well-pleased with all the good done to his People his language is Inasmuch as ye have done it to these ye have done it to me And his people are affected with and rejoyce in all the glory is brought to him and had rather lose their comfort than their God should lose his honour They desire he alone should be magnified and are willing to be made stirrups for him to rise by though it be by their utter downfall And as they are satisfied in each others good so sensible of each others evil God sympathizeth with his Peoples sufferings In all their afflictions he is afflicted And they with his affronts and injuries The interest of God lies nearer their hearts than any thing else in the world They count not their own lives dear so they may but save his honour and so he be magnified though they be reproached impoverished imprisoned bamshed pâ—rsecuted they think themselves well apaid What sympathy hast thou with Gods cause and interest dost thou account the glory brought to him as good done to thee and take the injuries he suffers as offered to thy self Canst thou wish thy self a shield to sence off those dishonours which are cast on the face of thy Lord and Master Art thou meek as a Lamb in thy own cause but fierce as a Lion in Gods zealous for the Lord God of Israel how art thou affected when thou hearest his holy Name torn by the black mouths of the wicked and their tongues set on fire from Hell when thou seest his Creatures abused his Ordinances prophaned his People trampled under foot his Truth despised his Attributes blasphemed his Sabbaths unhallowed his Worship polluted If thou beest in the relation of a Son thou wilt not endure to see one spit on thy Fathers face or an ingenuous Servant wilt not bear thy Masters wrong behind his back Fifthly Suitable affections Where there is interest in God all the affections of the soul have their out-goings after him Thou hast First An high esteem and valuation of him Whom have I in Heaven but thee Interest raiseth estimation The Father esteems his Child and the Husband his Wife and so vice versà above all other though they be deformed and others beautiful they weak and others healthful they rich and others poor they ignorant and others learned and knowing because of their propriety in them A Saint values God above all the world above all things visible or invisible counts all loss dross and dung in comparison of him He alone is to him the Pearl of true price Gods People are precious to him above all others and so is he to them likewise They will part with all for him preferring him before all and venture all rather than lose their hold of him or sacrifice their interest in him omnia levia preterquam quod tui carendum How stands their esteem poised Secondly Thou hast an ardent and affectionate love towards him I will love the Lord my strength saith holy David Psal 18.1 Self-interest makes a man love his own Whom believing we love The applications of faith are alwaies seconded with the imbraces of love He that hath God for his God hath had experience of his love in Christ some tastes of his love shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost and he cannot but love him by whom he was first loved This love constrains him Amor meus Pondus meum Does mercy love misery and shall not misery love mercy beauty affect deformity and shall not deformity re-affect beauty glory shine on dust and they not reflect on glory Nimis durus animus qui etsi amorem non vult impendere tamen non vult rependere Bernard
cause him to exchange his badge of honour for an ignominious Halter 2 Saâ—t 17.23 Though Gebal Ammon and Amalek conspire he can blow on their Confederacies by the breath of his nostrils Antichrist who lets he can remove out of the way and make the little Horn push the Nations and the interest of the Lamb break in pieces the Kingdom of the Beast though his followers be even innumerable Hence it 's worthy our observation that he chooseth to appear for his People in a very low condition Psal 136.23 that so aliquid divini might appear in all his Manifestations He overlooks his People when erect as the Palm or spreading forth themselves as the green Bay-tree and looks upon them when like the Myrtle they dwell in a low place Such is the power of his Providence in his operations for his Servants as in Scripture-phrase it obtains the name of a Resurrection to the performance whereof is requisite no loss than an infinite and omnipotent Arm Ezek. 37. when they are as dry bones and scattered he can command a re-entrance of the spirit a return of life To which metaphor David alludes in his Prayer and Invocation for help Psal 141.7 8. Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth Wood upon the earth But mine eyes are to thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute Fifthly He help them proportionably Divine wisdom dispenseth Mercy by an even ballance unto its receivers by a just proportion and that fourfold To His Peoples wants desires hopes and expectations and their good improvements First To their Wants and Necessities Gods supply ever respects mans indigency The worlds rule is Habenti dabitur The Rich have many Friends The more men have the more they would and shall have But this poor man cried and the Lord heard him He is an helper of the Fatherless Psal 10.14 and so it s said of Christ Psal 72.12 13. He shall deliver the needy when he crieth the poor also and him that hath no helper Poor Orphans who are too commonly the Objects of the Worlds oppression are the Objects of Gods and Christs compassion and commiseration It was Job's testimony of his integrity that he delivered the poor that cried the fatherless and him that had none to help him Job 29.12 cap. 31.21 and it s a Rule of Equity observed in Heaven Gods relief loves to lift up those whom the sense of their own wants hath cast down Necessity hath a loud voice and prevailing with the Almighty Mans inisery it 's ansa divinae misericordiae God pours the Oyl and Wine of Consosolation into broken hearts wounded spirits Drooping and dejected hearts may most confidently expect health from the light of this Heavenly Physitians countenance The World leaves us when we most want it and Creatures forsake us when we have most need but then God stands by us When the hour of sickness comes he alwayes gives his people the sweetest Visits of Love Men commonly take the strongest but God the weakest side What is said of Earthly Monarchs is much more true of him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Potentate Parcit subjectis debellat superbos He pulls down the mighty from their seat and exalts them of low degree He fills the hungry but sends the rich empty away Secondly To their Prayers and Requests Asking is the readyest way of having This depends on the former for Oratio sine malis quasi Avis sine alis He that wants not beggs not or at least ought not so to do But now true seekers are alwayes good speeders The most sturdy Beggars go away with Heavens Alms and the eagerly solliciting Favourites come away with grants from the Throne of Mercy The Apostle plainly insinuates that an holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Throne of Grace a bold suit there is the surest way of obtaining grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. ult Qui timide rogat docet negare A cold suit do's but make way for the stronger denyal but an holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importunity God cannot will not relist Luk. 18. Psal 107.13 They cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of all their distresses He that besieges and beleaguers Heaven with his Prayers shall have what it can afford him The Kingdom of Heaven delights to suffer this holy Violence Let Moses hold down his hands and Amalek prevails let him lift them up and Israel prevails When Jehosophat and all the people of Judah were in a great strait they sent up their united voices in one general shout to heaven to ask help of the Lord 2 Chron. 20.4 And he urgeth God with his Promise in prayer which was when evil came upon them as the Sword Judgement Pestilence or Famine if they cried to him in their affliction he would hear and help God commonly gives help as an answer and return of Prayer Prayer enlargeth and expatiateth the Soul desire stretcheth it out for the receiving larger measures of Mercy and it provokes God also to bestow them Observe what God promiseth Jeremiah as to deliverance from the Babylonish Captivity Jer. 29.12 13. Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall goe and pray unto me and I will hearken to you And ye shall seek me and finde me when ye shall search for me with all your heart By Prayer that Legio Fulminatrix that band of Christian Souldiers obrained a refreshing showre when their enemies were broken with a dreadfull storm Thirdly To their Hopes and expectancies God loves to give his People an expected end According to thy Faith be it to thee was our Saviours usual welcom to all comers to him Mercy commonly comes on the wing of Faith Oleum masericordiae saith Bernard non infunditur nisi in tasa fiduciae The Vessel of Faith is that receives the precious Liquor of Mercy Faith is the Bucket that draws the waters of life out of the well of Salvation Faith was that gave Abijah victory over Jeroboam 2 Chron. 13.18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time and the Children of Judah prevailed because they relied upon the Lord God of their Fathers The stay and strength of all states as well as Persons and assurance of all Victories depends on their trust and confidence in the Lord. Faith is a wonder-working grace What was the Instrument of all those heroick actions done by the Patriarchs and primitive Worthies but Faith Through Faith they subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained Promises Heb. 11.23 Faith overcomes lust within and the World without It 's a Shield against and a Sword to all our adversaries it layes hold on divine help engageâ—h Almightiness extorts mercy from Heaven Coelum tundimus preces fundimus misericordiam extorquemus quoth Tertullian Faith removes mountains of pride within and power without It 's an invincible grace and no wonder because the only receiving grace and
your friends and neighbours sometimes at the Tavern you had had something in such an hour to bear up and comfort your spirits withall which I am afraid many of you now want Oh that you would in this your day yet know the things of your peace And before God riseth up to Judgement a second time and the fire of his wrath now smothered breaks out with a seven times more even into a most violent and unquenchable flame Hear the voice of the Rod and him that hath appointed it And by all that God hath done or is doing with you this day learn those fundamental lessons of the vanity and contingency of the creature and the fulness and alsufficiency of the Creator so as to make an utter renunciation of all carnal confidence and engage your souls in a firm and resolute dependance on God alone O that this might indeed be a purgatory fire to refine our souls from all that rust of carnality and worldly affection that is so grown upon us Let us not make gain our godliness but count godliness our greatest and only gain Why should we set our hearts on vanity on a non entity who would love or value that which he cannot long keep but if a fire or plunder comes is upon the wing and takes its flight or give that the chair of state or upper room of preheminence in his heart which very shortly he must part with out of his hands Can you Christians carry your houses and lands your baggs and treasures with you to eternity will they not all shake hands with you at the grave O then make friends by employing for God and his honour to your selves of this Mammon of unrighteousness and use the world as if ye used it not remembring the fashion thereof passeth away And lay up your treasures not on earth but Heaven store up a good foundation against the time to come the top of whose building may reach eternity Mind not so much things seen and temporal as those believed and eternal Make sure of God as your portion and chuse him as your inheritance Now learn to trust to and lean by faith on the arm of an Alsufficient God while ye experience the broken staff of all created beings and comforts When the stream is dried up and all your vessels emptied have recourse to that inexhaustible fountain Learn the Art of living by faith upon an unchangeable and eternal Jehovah under all worldly changes and revolutions To rejoyce in the Lord and be glad in the God of your salvation not only when ye sit under the shadow of your own Vines and Fig-trees but even when they neither blossom nor bring forth fruit Though your goods be gone yet ye have not lost your God he is not gone whose alsufficiency is able to make up all your losses by plague or fire and recompence you an hundred-fold in whom alone possessing all things you may possess them while you have nothing Though your trade be at present broken ye have now a seasonable gale for Heavens more enduring substance Though ye may be dispersed and scattered as Vagabonds here and there having no certain dwelling-place God will be a little sanctuary to you and though your City hath forsaken ye your God is a Tower yet left which your souls may get upon and a City of Refuge for you to fly to and repose in with greatest security Though ye have nothing but tents to dwell in and with holy Jacob a stone for a pillow to lay your head on God is in this place and he that never slumbers nor sleeps watcheth for your safety while his Angels also are your life-guard and protection He is your arm every morning and your salvation in time of trouble Though all die and leave you relations possessions yet your God lives who is ten thousand times better and able to make it better to you than all the goods and estates in the world Trust in the Lord then for ever in the Lord Jehovah in whom is everlasting strength And then should you fall into the hand of mens violence out of that of Gods vengeance while the enemies of Jacob are your hunters you are sure of the God of Jacob for your help This consideration was that holy David bore up his reeling soul withall under all the reflections of the wickeds prosperity and enmity Whom have I in Heaven but thee my flesh and heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever And in all the weights of his own adversity he incouraged himself in the Lord his God And this was the infallible pillar and foundation with which the Church under all her ruins supported her drooping faith even the eternity of God Lam. 5.19 Thou O Lord remainest for ever thy Throne from generation to generation And Reader it 's the hearty option of my soul that thou and all that read these lines yea all concerned in these fatal strokes from the King on the throne to the beggar on the dung-hill had the same comfort under Londons burning that holy David had once on Ziglags even a God to incourage themselves in who is what and where he was the same God to his for ever and ever when all persons places and creatures shall not be what they once were or be no more This incouragement of all them who fear the Lord is the sole design of this ensuing discourse The Author intending it no other than an anchor to buoy up our finking spirits or crutch the better to inable to step our limping faith A word in season is as apples of gold in pictures of silver And he hopes if you have not already forgotten the hand of God upon you he might find some advantage in this present address our hearts under afflictions being alwaies more pliable and apt to receive divine signatures and impressions In this your helpless and almost hopeless state the providence of God seemed to call to him as once the men of Macedonia to Paul in another case come over and help us And though a stranger to most of your faces yet being a fellow-sufferer with you through the common spirit of Christianity his bowels could not but be inlarged with pity and his heart inflamed with zeal and piety towards you And seeing no other stept before him looked on himself as obliged to open to you some door of hope in this valley of discomfort and afford you what after-help his poor talent could to bear your present condition become to you a plank after shipwrack to bring your souls to a comfortable shore And if his mite may contribute ought to so blessed and happy an end to any of you or the people of God he hath his purpose who is Your Supplicant at the Throne of Grace and Servant in the work of the Gospel F. E. Novemb. 5. 1666. The TABLE or Contents of this Treatise THe general nature of Happiness Page 1 With the common desire of Mankinde towards
deliverances for Jacob. Yea this is a firm coâ—clusion of her faith Isa 33.22 The Lord is oâ— Judge our Law-giver our King he will save 〈◊〉 They are stiled his portion and heritage Isa 54 1â— Deut. 32.9 As he is their so they his portioâ— and he will not suffer that to be wasted and eâ—bezelled His Jewels in comparison of whom aâ— the world besides are but as so much lumbeâ— Mal. 3.17 He will not admit their spoil oâ— plunder His Turtle Psal 74.19 which hath aâ—waies a sympathy with its mates affliction Hiâ— beloved favourites for whom he hath a choicâ— respect and endeared affection in whom hâ— takes singular delight and complacency Psaâ— 18.19 and 60.5 Their heart is set on God and his heart on them and because he loveth them he compasseth them with favour as with a shield Psal 5.12 The apple of his eye Zach. 2.8 Now as the eye is the tenderest part of the body so is the apple of the eye They are his hidden ones for privacy and value worth and excellency more excellent than their neighbours the least meanest of them more worth than all the world a people of whom the world is not worthy Heb. 11.38 His precious ones Isa 43.4 In comparison of whom all other are but vile in his account His holy ones Psal 86.2 which he will not suffer the world to prophane His chosen ones or the people of his choice The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar Treasure Psal 135.4 His redeemed ones or the people of his purchase Isa 43.3 which he will in no wise lose either by fraud or violence his Garden or Paradise wherein he delights Isa 58.18 His Vineyard which he both â—â—ters and watches every moment Isa 27.3 〈◊〉 a word his Jacob and Israel against whom â—â—ere is no inchantment or divination Numb 13. â—nd the work of his hands which he will in â—o case forsake Psal 138. ult And concerning â—hich he will not only be intreated but also comâ—anded Isa 45.11 There is a mutual interest â—â—d propriety between God and his People God â—â—th made over himself to them in the Covenant 〈◊〉 Grace and they have reobliged themselves to 〈◊〉 They are said to have surrendred or given â—o themselves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 He shall â—â—â—se our inheritance for us saith the Psalmist â—sal 47.4 They have a stock of prayers going â—â—th God and he hath a stock of mercy and â—ory going with them Their interests are so â—â—ited and twisted together as they cannot be â—â—vered His cause is concern'd in his People â—â—d his own honour highly ingaged upon their â—ccount yea the vindication of all his Attriâ—utes his Power Wisdom Holiness Mercy and Goodness Truth and Faithfulness is obliged in â—heir sublevation which else would be wholly â—â—â—t and utterly impaired in the world They â—re so linked in an holy league and sacred conâ—â—deracy with him That it 's observable in â—heir addresses to him in prayer against their â—nemies they level them as against Gods interest and not their own and all they need request is only that God may be glorified So Daâ—id Psal 83.2 Lo thine enemies make a tumult and they that hate thee have lift up the head He doubts not to call his Gods enemies And so Asa in his solemn supplications put up to God oâ— the approach of that innumerable host against him 2 Chron. 14.11 O Lord saith he thou art 〈◊〉 God let not man prevail against thee Not us buâ— thee As Gods glory is bound up in the samâ— bundle with his Peoples eternal so is it also witâ— their temporal salvation Secondly In respect of the manifold Promise and Engagements he hath made to them Goâ— hath ingaged for their security and bounâ—â— himself for their protection as well as thâ— provision so far as is necessary They are stiled The People of his Covenant Psal 111.12 And thâ— stipulation is mutual They are in covenanâ— with God obliged to his service and devoted tâ— his fear O Lord truly I am thy Servant I aâ— thy Servant saith David Psal 116.16 They are engaged to walk in his waies and to be founâ— faithful And God is a God in covenant witâ— them and as they never leave him so will he never leave them in their enemies hand Psal 37.33 As they defend his glory so will he their intereâ—â— and cause If God be a God keeping Covenant even with them while in lesser things they some times break with him Psal 89 34. Much more will he keep Covenant with them while aâ— they fear him Though salvation be far from thâ— wicked his salvation is with them that fear him And as they are included in a general Covenant so have they entailed upon them many graciouâ— promises of special protection He hath said He will never leave nor forsake them Heb. 13.5 The same promise he made to all Israel Deut. 31.8 and made good to Joshua in person he also accomplisheth to all Believers He will not forâ—â—ke his People or cast off his Inheritance He will have compassion on his dwelling-place he will comfort Sion and chuse Jerusalem They have Gods promise for help and deliverance in the day of trouble Psal 50.15 which is good security They are under a reserved promise under the Judgements of Sword Famine or Pestilence Amos 9.8 Isa 33. Psal 91.10 Which kind of promises though not absolute engagements yet are seasonable directions and comfortable incouragements 〈◊〉 times of calamity and affliction They are alwaies prisoners of hope for by the blood of the Covenant God will send them out of the pit wherein there is no water Zach. 9.11 Covenants of old were confirmed by Sacrifices Psal 50.5 Jer. 34. Et caesa jungebant faedera porca Virgil The Lord Jesus Christ by the blood of his Covenant hath bought outward and common as well as saving and eternal mercies for his People Thirdly In regard of those conditions of obtaining Divine Help which are ever found in them They are under a fitness and aptitude of disposition to receive it There are four conditions or qualifications especially which make them meet for this divine influence which are to be found in them The first is of Humility or spiritual Poverty Psal 34.8 The Lord is nigh to them that are of a broken heart and saveth them that be of a contrite spirit He beholds the proud afar off as scorning his tuition but he graciously beholds the humble Isa 66.2 In him the fatherless finde mercy A Father of the fatherless and Judge of the Widow is he out of his holy habitation Psal 68.5 6. The Lord helpeth those that are cast down The Lion puts as it were into his bosome those that bow before him or he down at his feet but tears in pieces them that run away from him or bid resistance to him so generous and noble is his nature and disposition satis est prostrasse And so doâ—s the Lion of the Tribe of Judah he
No soul so unworthy as not to return love for love Thirdly Thou hast an earnest desire and longing after him How does the young heir having interest in his minority long for the time when he shall be actually invested in his estate and inheritance O how does the gracious soul pant and breathe and hunger and thirst look and long for God! Never did the hungry man more desire bread the hydroptical drink the barren wilderness rain the thirsty traveller water the pursued Hart the water-brooks the longing woman the hour of her delivery than it doth the presence and enjoyment of God All my desire Lord is before thee saith our David Psal 38.9 10. My heart panteth my strength faileth My soul hath fainted for thy salvation and it breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgements at all times Psal 119. It is athirst for God for the living God not siti miserae indigentiae but copiosioris fruitionis Parthian-like the more the soul hath imbib'd of this Helicon fountain the more it thirsts Oh the secret breathings earnest longings importunate cravings vehement ejaculations restless inquietations of a gracious soul after its God! By these wings of desire the soul like Davids Dove would flie up to Heaven Others may desire gold and silver friends and relations pleasures and preferments comforts and conveniencies in the world but the desire of the Churches soul is only to his Name and to the remembrance of him Isa 26.9 Could we be privy to the private devotions of the Saints how many affectionate oh's and options should we hear breath'd forth how many even unutterable sighs and groans sent up for this to Heaven Fourthly Thy delight is wholly placed in God and thou findest sole satisfaction in him The soul is wrapt up into an holy joy and rejoycing drawn up to an exceeding complacency in him God alone is the feast of the Saints delight and with the one dish of the light of his countenance he is infinitely more satisfied than the worldling is with his most largely spread and fully furnisht table His Attributes are the souls chear and his Promises his choice delicacies He is abundantly satiated with the goodness of his house and drinks of his pleasures as a River his communions are meat and musick too Because thou hast been my help saith David therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness Psal 63.5 7. The enjoyment of God is to the carnal wretch but a dry husk but to the Saint a feast of fat things and as Wines well refined on the Lees. Though a thousand Torches of creature-comforts be light its night dark with his soul till this Sun of Righteousness shines but one smile of his face and beam of his countenance puts more gladness than could all Corn Wine and Oyl or does to those who daily suck out their vertues and sweetnesses God is his Peoples portion and the only Paradise of their pleasures and while carnal men sit chirping on the dunghill of outward felicities he with the winged Lark sings never so merrily as when mounting up to Heaven His heart greatly rejoyceth in him and his Song doth praise him Psal 28.7 The Joy of the Lord is his strength and it is so lively and vigorous as even in Winter time it buds and blossoms forth from the God of his salvation A Fifth might be added of Faith and Confidence it 's his Periphrasis in the Text whose hope is in the Lord his God in his Name doth he lift up his Banners As propriety is the ground of delight so of dependance Though he kills me I will trust in him though he damns me I will love him The just shall live by Faith But not to prevent what follows A Fifth and last character or impression of due affection flowing from an Interest in God is resolution to cleave to him with full purpose of heart to live and die with him and whatsoever befalls him not to forget him or deal falsiy in his Covenant his heart starts not back neither doth he decline a step from his Law Whatsoever opposition he meets withall in the way of his duty he leaps over it all being resolved though Princes speak against him to meditate in his statures and seeing him that is invisible he fears not with Moses to venture on the wrath of Man rather than forfeit the love and favour of God but with holy Daniel will continue in his Supplications and abide in the way of his duty though it costs him his life And as good old Jacob when to part with his Benjamin If I be bereaved I am bereaved and Queen Esther If I perish I perish A Fifth character of one interested in God is a renouncing and abandoning all other interests for him of sin Satan or the World The Soul that hath once steept and bathed it self in this Ocean of delights yea tasted once of divine sweetness will never relish those waters of bitterness again that hath been fed with the bread and dainties in his Fathers House will never return with the Swine of the World to feed on husks That hath eaten of that heavenly and delicious Manna will never fall to the Leeks and Onyons of this worldly Egypt again Ad majora nata es O ansina mea Regular apprehensions of God raise and advance the Soul above the World None in Heaven but thee The Servant who engages with his new Master takes a Release from his old a discharge from his former service Lord other Lords saith the Church have ruled over us but now we will make mention only of thy Name Isa 26. None of us saith the Apostle live to our selves but to the Lord Rom. 14.8 They are men of another Spirit Hebr. 11.24 Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season A Sixth mark or evidence is earnest Endeavour and vehement pursuit after God The Soul makes it his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to follow after him My soul presseth hard after thee saith David even as the Hunter after his prey Psal 63.8 He follows God fully Numb 14.24 full chase he drives after God more knowledge and experience of him more communion and acquaintance with him He sets himself to seek the Lord. His heart does not hang down but he is lift up in the way of the Lord and to his Commandments which he hath loved He sings in the ways of the Lord. He walks in them and is not weary runs in them and is not faint he exerciseth himself to Godliness makes Religion his trade and business He walks with God and worthy of the Lord in all well-pleasing and 't is his meat and drink to do the will of his Father in Heaven He thinks nothing too much all too little for God spares no labour cost or pains to acquaint himself more with him He prays he hears he reads he meditates he
afflictions though oft-times not so sincerely at least not throughly God will come in for their help as Judg. 10. 2 Chron. 12. Especially where there is a spirit of true humiliation Faith and Prayer that conjunction is a sure Prognostick of mercy and sign of deliverance Zach. 12.10 compared with cap. 13.1 No sooner Daniel begins his Prayer but the Captivity makes its end Hos 5. ult I will goe to my place till they acknowledge When they come to seeking God soon comes to saving God never puts his people hard on begging or inclines them to asking but he stands ready handed with and fully bent and disposed to mercy When the Sea gets into the Ship and Peter cryes out Christ reacheth out his arm to save him Sixthly Let this be a ground of adherence and firm conjunction and cleaving to God at all times always cleave to this God who is such an help with full purpose of heart As Ruth to Naomi going where he goes and living where he lives Let nothing separate you from your God Like the Spaniel couch close to your Master It 's good for you to draw near to God lose all rather than lose him part with all the World before him Better God your Friend to stand by you than all the World without him God is faithfull to you be you so to him and though all else do do not you forsake him Forget your Kindred and Fathers house love not father or mother wise or children house or land but hate them if coming in competition with him Throw off your Father as holy Jerom said though he hangs about your neck and trample on your mother though she lay in the way to go out unto him Give not up the cause of God to Satan or the common Enemy because ye meet with a little trouble Though the Captain hath not present relief he will not deliver up the City if in any hope or expectation of it but hold out if possible he knows not how nigh he is relief Sacrifice not God's interest help may come before you expect it Christians on your first coming in you gave your selves up to the Lord and indeed as that Noble person said In undertaking Religion you might be deceived if you thought to save any thing but your Souls Oh take heed of making a breach of promise Take heed of using any sinister course any unlawfull and indirect means to evade the sufferings of the Gospel never accept a deliverance which is worse than bondage better have help Gods way than your own as finding it than as making it Infinitely farr better that trouble which ends in peace than that peace which ends in trouble Fight therefore the good fight of Faith so as at last ye may lay hold on the Crown of eternal life So run as ye may obtair Go on securely and couragiously in the way of your duty whatsoever occurres fear the Lord only and keep his way Esther though under strict interdiction yet ventures to approach the King having fasted and prayed with her Maydens in hope of divine benediction The Apostles though under a prohibition if not a suspension to preach chuse to obey God before man Act. 5.29 Be neither drawn or courted by the fawning allurements of the world nor yet frighted by it's terrours to give up or in in your profession Take our Saviours advice Luk. 12.4 Fear not him that can only kill the body but rather him that can destroy both body and soul in Hell Lastly A word to sinners and strangers from God and his hope and help concludes all This offers first a word of direction to poor sinners whether they must go for help They are all lapsed fallen creatures plunged into a state of guilt and corruption brought under the supremacy and dominion of Satan and have no power or sufficiency of themselves to recover but God alone is their help Hos 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help to be found Man fell by his own free will but cannot recover without Gods free grace Homo libertatem quam accepit nisi Christo liberante non recipit as Saints therefore must bless him so sinners go to him as their only help go to him for light life by Prayer in the use of Ordinances which are media cultus and gratiae too and though God will not hear you as sinners he may as creatures Secondly Labour all to get an interest in God that he may be your help Time may nay will come when you will stand in need of an help You may have many storms in your journey to eternity It 's good in a Sun-shine to provide for a storm A day of affliction may come of death and dissolution must come A sword a plague a fire a famine a captivity may come and what will ye do in the evil day All worldly helps will then be in vain ye may kindle a fire of your own sparks but the end will be to lye down in sorrow You may with him that took up an hand-full of Gloworms in a dark night hope to warm your fingers with them but it will be a false fire and afford no heat with its light These Gloworms may shine till you come to the light of Sun or Candle These fair-fac'd nothings may please till you come to be convinced of a better beauty but then will vanish What will it profit to have a little comfort from them for a moment and at last be cast into the hellish dungeon Though ye have all creatures for you and God against you your case is as sad and miserable as had you God for you and all the world against you it were comfortable Time may come too that you may have all the world against you and the Devil too yea your own consciences and what will ye do if ye have not a God a Christ to stand for you Created-comforts cannot help you if God hath once forsaken you though he can supply their absence who is the Sun of Righteousness and make day though there be not the star of any creature visible yet they cannot his If the Sun be gone down it 's night for all the stars They have no Oyl for themselves much less can afford to others There is no trust in riches friends men Angels they are all a vain hope The Parent may leave his Child the Husband his Wife the friend his friend when time of trial comes God hath stood on Mount Ebal and blasted all carnal confidence as well as on Mount Gerizim and blessed confidence in himself Yea he may justly give us up to our own trust and those things we have confided in if we repose in any thing short of himself so he did them Jer. 2.28 And will the creatures Mantle be a sufficient covering to us Will the great Tree of outward mercies profession priviledges protect us under the soaking and lasting storm of Gods wrath The whole 49 Psalm is a conviction of the vanity of all the Pageantry of this world They are as birds or a string that at one time or other will deceive us And is not God in the mean time a necessary free universal sole sufficient help Who ever trusted in the world and was not deceived and who ever trusted in God and was disappointed The ends of the earth look to him and are saved O cease then from these lying vanities and endeavour to make God your God that so he may become your help And if you would do so labour first to get an humble sense of your own helpless and hopeless condition by nature Bethink your selves and see the plague of your own hearts As long as the soul hath any crutch to lean on it will never go alone while it knows whither to run it will never go to its God O labour to be weary and heavy laden in your selves and disclaim all creature-dependance as Paul did Phil. 3.7 8. Renounce all for Christ and Gods free grace and mercy in him And when in this wilderness lean on the arm of your Beloved Secondly Fly to Gods Name and Covenant by faith in Christ If ever God be yours it must be through Christ For there is no other Name God hath laid help on his almighty arm you must lay your hope there All Gods help runs through Christ he hath determined never to pardon one guilt or give out one dram of grace but through his blood He is the only daismen the true Sampson by whose strength the heavy weights of sin and wrath may be removed your souls All the souls fresh springs are in him He is the well head of salvation Without union no interest or influence No flying or abiding Gods presence escapeing or enduring his wrath unless your souls get under the skirt of his love He that would have interest in God by any other proxy must expect salvation by a deputy only O come to him then by faith venture on him as the Lepers did on the Camp 2 King 7 s. Do not only take Ropes about your necks and put Sackcloth about your loyns but come before this King of Heaven he is a merciful King And thirdly and lastly Strike Covenant with God enter into a confederacy with him Kings keep those confederate and in league with them The wickeds is a vain a strumpets confidence that challenge God as their Father and Husband and yet wantonize from him and care not for his company and communion Jer. 3.4 A good conscience only is the ground of a good hope and conndence 1 Pet. 3.16 God may help and save by the wicked but never will he be the Saviour of them Break off from sin then by righteousness and engage in yea keep covenant with God There 's a league both offensive and defensive between God and his People and the Promise made to Abraham observing the conditions stands good to all his faithful children Gen. 15.1 If we walk before God and be perfect he will be our shield and our exceeding great reward To conclude all with the Apostles options Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost And 2 Thes 2.16 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work FINIS