get it Why have recourse to the Covenant there it lies for thee But how shall I get it thence why hath the Lord promised to give it thee take the word from his mouth and put it into thine own turn the word of promise into a prayer Doth he say I will give let thy soul answer give Lord give me this new heart I am weary Lord and thou art weary also of this wicked heart at once ease thy self and me Take away this and give me a better heart Turn the word of promise into a prayer and then turn the word of Prayer into a word of Faith He says I will give let thy Faith say thou wilt give I shall have it since thou hast said thy servant also may boldly say Thou wilt do it Thou wilt give me a better heart Farewell my old sins lusts and companions farewell mine old pleasures and ways now for heaven in earnest now welcome the strait gate the new and living way Old things are past away all things shall become new Turn the word of promise into a prayer turn thy prayer into a word of Faith and God will turn the word of Faith into a word of Command Bee it according to thy word Let there be a new light let there bee a new law let there bee a new power let there no more bee a spirit of fear in this heart but a spirit of power of love and of a sound mind And as when he said in the creation of the great world Let there bee light let there bee a Firmament let there bee a Sun and Moon It was so so when he shall say in the new creation of this little world let there bee light let there bee love let there bee power let us again make man in our image after our own likeness It shall be so The Lord hath said I will let thy Prayer say Do it Lord let thy Faith say thou wilt do it and God will say Amen so be it CHAP. X. An heart to know the Lord. 2. AN heart to know the Lord Jer. 24.7 I will give them an heart to know me The knowledge of God is the first excellency of the new heart As in the old so in the new creation as was said before the first word is let there bee light There is not so glorious a preheminence of day above night as of the knowledge above the ignorance of God As the Firmament without a Sun as the body without an eye so is the soul without knowledge What this knowledge of God here promised is will appear if wee consider It s Object Act. 1. The Object of this Knowledge is God not only the Nature or being of God manifested in his Essential Perfections his Glorious Attributes his Infiniteness Eternity Omnipotency c. In his Personal Relations the Subsistences in the Godhead but God in Christ God in Covenant yea the whole Minde and Will of God all that which God hath revealed to us as our Duty or Happinesse God known in the heart is the whole Bible opened The Law opened the Gospel opened Duties Comforts Priviledges made manifest Christ opened in his Sufferings in his Satisfaction in his Spirit in all the Riches of his Glory the whole mystery of Godliness revealed The Heart opened man made known to himself all the depths of the heart all the deceits of the heart all the faculties and powers of the heart with their motions operations inclinations the rectitude or obliquities of them Heaven opened the Crown the Kingdome known everlasting rest glory honour immortality brought to light Hell opened sin known the devil known wrath temptations the curse eternal fire known All this even all that God is and all that hee hath revealed in his Word and Works are the object of this Knowledge of God 2. The Act. To know is to apprehend or understand God and the things of God Jer. 9.24 Let him that glorieth glory in this that hee understandeth and knoweth mee Ephes 3.18,19 That yee may comprehend with all Saints what is the heighth and length and breadth and depth that yee may know the love of Christ This apprehension of God doth not barely note our having received some natural or metaphysical Notions of God and the Truths that are in him But farther it notes 1. An Approbation of him an approving or liking the things that are excellent Phil. 1.9,10 That your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all Judgement that yee may approve the things that are excellent 2. Appropriation The knowing of God as a reconciled God a God and a God to mee good and good to mee wise and wise for mee My Lord and my God To know God in Christ reconciled through Christ propitious through Christ this is saving knowledge To know and not possess to see and not eat to know an angry God a wrathful God a God lost to know goodness mercy loving-kindness compassion alsufficiency and to have the heart recurre what is this to thee this is none of thine the damned thus know and dye 3 Affection As Psal 9.10 Those that know thy Name shall trust in thee So those that know thy Name will love thee and fear thee and rejoyce in thee and bless thy Name to know and hate God to know and contemn God to know and fly from God to know and Blaspheme and curse God the Devils thus know and tremble But especially that which distinguishes this saving from common knowledge is Its Power Savour 1. It s Power the Knowledge of God is mighty my preaching was not weak but mighty in you 2 Cor. 13. It hath A Transforming A Fructifying Power 1. A Transforming Power 2 Cor. 3.18 Wee all with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image Rom. 12.2 Bee yee not conformed to this present world but bee yee transformed by the renewing of your mindes by the renewing of your mindes the renovation of the minde both is this change and works it farther upon the whole soul this new light is the new creature old things pass away all things become new where the minde is savingly enlightned God known in the soul is God united to the soul Christ revealed in the heart is Christ formed upon the heart there 's life in this light it is no other than the light of life The Knowledge of God comprehends in it and is involved in and Spirits and animates every grace and duty as the same soul in the eye sees in the ear hears in the palate tastes as the same juyce which is in the Olive fatness in the Fig-Tree sweetness in the Oake strength in the Rose fragrancy in the Lillie beauty So the same grace which in the minde is light in the heart is love holy desire holy fear holy joy and one says that as feeling is inseparable to all the Organs of sense the eye feels and sees the ear feels and hears the palate feels and tastes
the nostrils feel and smell So knowledge is involved in every grace Faith knows and believes Charity knows and loves temperance knows and abstains patience knows and suffers humility knows and stoops repentance knows and mourns obedience knows and does compassion knows and pitties hope knows and expects confidence knows and rejoyces And therefore wee believe and love and obey and hope and rejoyce because we know God gives us this knowledge as the eye of our souls and by that eye hee enters with all his power and Glory Ephes 3.19 That ye may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge and bee filled with all the fulness of God Day-light is not that light wee receive by reflection from the Moon and Stars at second hand when the Sun is risen and come in among us then it is day When the Sun of Righteousness is risen in the heart there 's the light of life God is and God dwells in this light and where God dwells every unclean thing vanishes can Darkness dwell with the Sun can Death dwell with Life according to the measure of the manifestation of God in us so far forth is sin necessarily vanished Thou art but the carkasse of a Christian the light that is in thee is darkness the life that is in thee is death if thou bee not in the whole man renewed after the Image of him that Created thee If Christ bee not formed in thy heart if the Love the humility the meeknesse the patience the compassion the holiness of the Lord Jesus be not begotten in thee whatever thou knowest thou knowest nothing as thou oughtest to know if thou hast all knowledge and hast not charity and so if thou hast all knowledge and hast not humility meekness holiness thou art nothing thou art but as sounding brass or a tinkling Cimbal Doubting Christian that complainest of and bewailest thine ignorance and fearest that thou knowest not God look upwards where his Glory dwells lift up thine eyes and see or if thou canst not see lift up thy heart for eyes Lord where dwellest thou let mee see thy Face shew mee thy Glory pitty thy blinde let the eyes of this blinde bee opened and the tongue of this dumb shall bee loosed and speak forth thy praise Look upward and if yet thou seest not thy God look inward canst thou see his Face in thy soul canst thou see his Image on thy heart canst thou behold in this Glasse the Glory of the Lord and finde thy self changed into his Image Comfort thine heart how short sighted soever thou seemest to bee how dimme soever thy Candle burns how weak soever in the Knowledge of God thou complainest thou art thou hast seen God thou hast seen his Face in peace God that commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into thine heart and given thee the Knowledge of his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ 2. A Fructifying Power this Sun-shine makes a fruitful soil Colos 1.9,10 my desire for you saith the Apostle is that you may bee filled with the Knowledge of his Will in all Wisdome and Spiritual understanding That yee might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful unto every good work and encreasing in the Knowledge of God Strengthened with all might according to his glorious Power unto all Patience and long suffering with joyfulness and Phil. 1.11 Being filled with the fruits of Righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the Glory and praise of God Full of Light and full of Love of Faith of Patience of Humility and fruitful in every good work Mat. 12.35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things A good man hath a good treasure within him a treasure of Heavenly Wisdome of Divine Truth a treasure of Light God hath shined into his heart Hee 's filled with all the fulness of God And what is laid up within hee brings forth without An evil man hath an evil treasure Satan hath been filling his heart Act. 5.3 Why hath Satan filled thine heart the treasures of darkness are there a treasure of lust and lies Falshood and folly are found with him these treasures of darkness within bring forth darkness dark souls lead dark lives their way is dark their deeds are darkness O how fruitful are sinners in their unfruitful works filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickednesse covetousness maliciousnesse envy murther debate deceit malignity c. Rom. 1.29,30 Their hearts are full and thereupon their mouths full their eyes full their hands full mouths full of cursing eyes full of adultery hands full of violence filled with all unrighteousness O Generation of Vipers how can yee being evil having such hearts speak good things all is evil that comes from you and how can it bee otherwise Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks And in like manner O Generation of Believers How can yee being good but bring forth good things Or how can you say or think there is a treasure of Grace a fountain of light within when no streams spring forth Penury in the life speaks no great plenty in the heart the Truths of God within you are the Seed of God the good seed that hee sows in his fields where there 's good seed sown in good ground you will expect a fruitful Harvest a barren crop speaks a barren soil or no good seed sown there 1 John 2.3 Hereby we do know that wee know him if wee keep his Commandements We know God but are you sure of it are you not mistaken No wee are not mistaken wee know that wee know him But how do you know it Why how are trees known By their fruits ye shall know them How do yee know that this is indeed the Tree of Knowledge Why see what fruits are hanging upon it wee keep the Commandements Here 's Obedience growing here 's Holiness and Righteousness and Mercy Doubtless this is the right Tree for behold all the Commandements the two Tables hanging upon the boughs of it and not broken but kept and observed Wee may as well say Obedience is no Obedience Duty is no Duty Faith and Love and Humility and Patience are not what they are as that the Tree that brings forth this fruit is not the Tree of Knowledge Wee know that wee know him because wee keep his Commandements Yea and the Tree of Life too both in one a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her Prov. 3.18 Where these fruits are not found where are nothing but shews and sounds painted fruits where are nothing but the fruits of unrighteousness contention strife covetousness sensuality and the like he 's very ignorant indeed that is not able to say what ever I am ignorant of this one thing I know that I know not God Christian boast not of what thou hast but consider what thou doest try thy head by thine heart and thy
Prov. 22.3 The prudent man fore-seeth the evil but fools go on the snare is never nearer than to the secure bold venturous sinners never want woe the Devil may spare his cunning when hee hath to do with such nothing that looks like sin offers it self to a tender heart but hee presently suspects it every pleasant morsel every pleasant cup every pleasant companion that comes any thing that tickles and gratifies the flesh hee looks through it e're hee will touch with it least it betray his soul from God there may bee a snare in the dish a snare in my cup a snare in my company and what if there should he feeds himself with fear dwells walks converses works recreates himself vvith a trembling heart and jealous eye 2. In its Caution Fear is warie some Commanders have set their scout watches unarmed that fear might make them watchful a fearful Christian will take heed what and whom hee trusts hee dares not trust himself in such company as may bee a snare unto him hee dares not trust his heart among temptations hee 'l keep the Devil at a distance hee will not come near where his Nets do lye Blessed is hee that thus feareth alwaies O the unspeakable mischief O the multitudes of sins that wee run upon through our secure hearts I never thought of it I never dreamed of any such danger Oh I am undermined I am over-reach'd I am surprized my foot is in the Snare the grin hath taken mee by the heel my soul is among Lyons Sin hath gotten hold on mee mine heart is gone e're I was aware the enemy hath come in and carryed it away hath given it to lust to the world to pleasure to divide it amongst themselves my faith hath failed my conscience is defiled my love is grown cold my grace withered my comforts wasted my peace broken and my God O! where is hee become Woe is mee the evil that I feared not is come upon mee had I feared I had not fallen O that I had been wise had kept my watch had stood upon my guard had I thought had I thought I had escaped all this danger O Christians bee wise in season and take heed of the fools too late had I wist 3. There 's a tenderness of sorrow Sorrow is the melting of the heart the stone dissolved sorrow is the wound of the heart a wound is tender love is tender and therefore Godly sorrow which is the sorrow of love you may call it a love sickness love is both the pain and pleasure of a mourning heart 't is love that wounds and love that heals it is both the weapon and the oyle this sorrow hath its joy the melted is the most joyful heart 't is love that makes it sad it therefore weeps because it loves and 't is love that makes it glad too It therefore joyes because in its sorrows it sees it loves 'T is love that makes the wound the matter of this sorrow being love abus'd what hast thou done Soul who hast thou despised against whom hast thou lift up thy self thou hast sinned thou hast sinned and hast thereby smitten and grieved thy God that loves thee and whom thou lovest Thou hast but one friend in Heaven and earth and him thou hast abused to pleasure thy lust thou hast pierced thy Lord thou hast transgressed his Commandements and trampled upon his Compassions hast broken his Bonds and kick'd at his Bowels his greatness and his goodness his Law and his very Love hath been despised by thee him who loved thee hast thou smitten Is this thy kindness to thy Friend O vile ungratious unkinde unthankful unnatural heart what hast thou done Put all this now together and you have the heart of flesh which the Covenant promises a Tender Heart an heart that is tender of sin and duty that carefully shuns sin or is sure to smart for it that neither slights sin nor duty that sayes not of the one or the other 't is but a little one that can feel sufferings but not fret at them a Tender Conscience that will neither winck at sin nor excuse the sinner that will not hold the sinner guiltless nor say unto the wicked thou art righteous that will not bee smitten but it will smite again that will give due warning and due correction a flexible tractable heart that will not resist and rebel that sayes unto the Lord what wilt thou have mee to do and will not say of any thing hee will have any thing but this A willing ductile heart stiffe against nothing but sin that a word from Heaven will lead to any thing An Heart of Love that bears good will to the Lord and all that hee does or requires in which good will lies radically every good work that saies not of any duties or sufferings this is too great or of any sin this is nothing that would bee any thing or nothing So God may bee all That would rather bee displeased than displease that is not displeased where God is pleased A trembling Heart that fears more than it sees and flies from what it fears whom fear makes to beware A melting Heart a mourning heart that wounds it self in the wounds it hath given to the Lord and his Name that can grieve in love and can love and grieve where it cannot weep In summe 't is an heart that can feel that can bleed that can weep or at least that can yeild and stoop where it cannot weep nor feel but little that will easily bee commanded where it is not sensibly melted this is a soft heart this is the heart of flesh I will take away the stone and give them an heart of flesh Oh what a blessing is such an heart what a plague is an hard heart oh what prisoners are the men of this evil world in prison under Sathan in prison under sin bound under a curse shut up under unbelief and impenitence the hard heart is the iron-gate that shuts them in that they cannot get out Rom. 2. Oh what an hospital is this world become of blind and lame and sick and creeples and wounded creatures whence are all the calamities and distresses that befall them but from the hardness of their hearts the stone in their hearts breeds all their diseases brings all their calamities hath blinded their eyes and broken their bones and wasted their estates there is not one misery that befalls them but they may write up over it this is the hardness of my heart Oh what a Sodom is this world become for wickedness as well as for wrath what drunkenness what adulteries what oaths what blasphemies and all sorts of monstrous sins do every where abound whence is all this but from the hardness of mens hearts if you say 't is from other causes 't is from unbelief from ignorance from impotence from temptations let it bee granted yet still 't is from hardness of heart They are wilfully ignorant wilfully weak vvilfully run into
more is the Lord loved by us and the more hee is our own the more love hee hath Now in Christ the Lord is our God Our own God even our own God Psal 67.6 O God thou art my God and I will praise thee Thou art my God and I will love thee The Lord is God and wee therefore love him the Lord is good gracious merciful and wee therefore love him yea and ought to love him whether he bee ours or no but when both meer hee is God and our God hee is good and our good gracious merciful all-sufficient and all this to us hence is our love made perfect in us 4 Possession wee can love a distant an absent good A good that 's only possible there 's love in hope but by how much the nearer good is to us that is really so by so much the more attractive and acceptable ' t is 'T is then most in our hearts when 't is most in our hands Indeed those things which have only speciem boni that are fancied good or those things that are finite good and good over-rated that are judg'd better than they are are lov'd most at a distance because when they come to hand wee see our mistake But that which is what it seem'd much more that which is above our thoughts beyond our expectations infinite good by how much the nearer 't is ever the dearer to us All worldly good is most valued at least by carnal hearts at a distance they promise themselves more contentment in it than it hath to pay them their possession is their disappointment Whilest they lusted they idoliz'd they ador'd but when they have tasted and eaten it comes out at their nostrils Or else they sit down with the shame of the disappointed they are either surfeited or hungry still Is this all all you can do for mee all the pleasure and comfort I shall have of you is all my expectation of delight and satisfaction come to no more but this Miserable comforters are you all possession and fruition is the proof of all things And vanity proved is the less loved But God being an all-sufficient incomprehensible good by how much the nearer to us by how much the more hee is ours by so much the more wee prize and love because now wee find when wee have him wee enjoy him that before the one half was not told us Now in Christ wee have not onely a propriety in God but in some degree a present possession Hee that hath the Son hath the Father also We see his light wee feel his love wee taste of his goodness wee enjoy his presence wee have God with us wee have God in us wee have fellowship with him he dwelleth in us and wee in him and hence wee love and herein wee rejoyce 3. God in all the things of God in his Word Ordinances Sabbaths Saints in graces duties in all his waies the Saints love God and love his word 't is God in the word they love they love God and they love Ordinances and Sabbaths and Saints 't is God in all these they love They love the waies and works and all the dispensations of God and 't is God in them all they love they see God in every thing and they love God where ever they see him They look on all these things with another eye and therefore embrace them with another heart then other men The Saints love to the things of God is their love to God for 't is God in them as was said that they love their love to them is founded either on their participation of God or relation to God Or else you may say they love the things of God because they are the Off-spring the Images the Chariots of God 1. The things of God are the Off-spring of God as the Saints are born from above so all the things of God are 〈◊〉 they come down from above and therefore may also bee called as the Apostle stiles them 〈…〉 things above Phil. 3.1,2 If yee bee risen with Christ seek those things that are above set your affections on things above things above and the things of God come all to one whatsoever is from God and belongs to his Heavenly Kingdome is divine and heavenly and hee that loveth him that begets therefore loveth those which are begotten and whatsoever proceedeth from him 2. The Word and the Saints are the Images of God the character and impresse of God are upon them the Grace in the Saints and the holy truths in the Word are the very face of Christ who is full of Grace and Truth and this is their Rule love God and love his Image 3. The things of God are the Chariots of God Hee that makes the Clouds his Chariots makes also his Word and his Ordinances and his Ministers his Chariots wherein he rides down into these lower parts to give the World a meeting When Ministers come and the Word comes down God comes down in them to visit his people as 't was said of Paul So 't is true of Apollos and Cephas and all the dispensers of the Gospel they are chosen Vessels to bear his Name before the Sons of men and as they are the Chariots in which God comes down so are they also the Wagons which hee hath sent them to fetch them up to himself The Saints send up their hearts in their duties their hearts in their prayers in their praises unto God Old Israel's heart leap'd when hee saw the Wagons which Joseph had sent Oh what love doth the Psalmist expresse to the House and Courts of the Lord O how amiable are thy Tabernacles I was glad when they said unto mee let us go up into the House of the Lord. Hee was glad to go thither because thence hee hoped to bee carried higher from the Mountain to the Mansion from Mount Zion here below to Jerusalem which is above It 's the duty and the delight of the Saints to bee ascending Heaven-wards they are dead with Christ they are risen with Christ and 't is not as they would with them but when they are ascending up with Christ they are dead with Christ by repentance and humiliation they are risen with Christ by faith and sanctification and they ascend with Christ by love and holy affection this is their Chariot of fire a Chariot within a Chariot that through Duties and Ordinances rides up in its own flames to the God of Love Or if you will the Ordinances of God are our Jacobs Ladder reaching from Heaven to Earth by which Angels descend and souls ascend God comes down and hearts go up praises go up and blessings come down thou hast not prov'd what an Ordinance is what Prayer means or Preaching means or Sacraments mean that hast not seen God coming down nor felt thine heart ascending by them hee that hath felt this will say here let mee dwell let others bee where they will amongst their flocks amongst their herds upon their beds or at
are over and wee make our returns from Heaven to Earth How much work have wee to keep our hearts by the Lord how do they slink away e're wee are aware and whilst wee are in his Presence how seldome do wee rejoyce in his Presence What hungry meals what jejune feasts do wee make before the Lord Wee relish not his Daintys his Wine is but lees his Marrow and his fat things are but leanness to our Souls a little love would sweeten every drop would season every morsel that comes from his Table would make our very Fasts to bee pleasant bread Wee feed upon the dish or the trencher and not the meat on the bone and not the marrow Ordinances and the external Exercises of Religion are but the bone or the shell or the dish it is God that is the Kernel the Marrow and Fatness How little Communion have wee with the Lord in our approaches to him and how little sweetness do wee finde in the little wee have Communion is the pleasure of Love and Love is the sweetness of Communion Now I am where I would bee O! how amiable are thy Tabernacles very pleasant art thou to mee O Lord that is the voice of Love Had wee more love wee should bee more spiritual and spiritual things would bee more grateful to spiritual hearts Divine Love is like the fire it rarifies and changes hearts into its own likeness and then there 's sweetness O we are carnal and that 's enough to evidence that there 's little of the love of God abiding in us Consider these things and you will see that love is a rarity there 's but little true love in the world O prize the love of God let its want make it prized shall it bee so rare and yet so cheap prize it and press on after it What do these hearts below are they not still below so cold such clods of clay and yet above so carnal so sensual and yet in Heaven so hungry and so greedy in sucking the juice of this earth in taking in its pleasures so busy in digging out the Wealth of the earth and searching for its treasures hearts so busy this way and yet not here how canst thou say I am walking with the God of Glory when thou art still worshipping the Gods of the Earth how canst thou say this heart is risen it is not here when it may bee said to thee behold the place where it lyes it is still in the field in the ridges and furrows thereof it is still in the Mines in the heart of the earth see the place where it lyes we sow our hearts with our seed we send them down to dig in the heart of the Earth But what do these hearts below sursum corda get you up get you up leave nothing but the Mantle here your carkasses Earth to Earth Dust to Dust Come heave these souls Heaven-ward let them take the wing and be gone O that I had the wings of a Dove that I might fly up and be at rest Be lower than ever by humility but let love be on high Behold those cords of love that are let down in every Ordinance in every Providence there 's a cord let down to gather up hearts hearken to those calls of love come up hither come up hither we come Lord thou bid'st us come O lend us thy hand and lift us up Come on Christians come let 's be happy if wee love wee are happy Come let 's rejoyce if wee love wee joy come let 's live wee dye wee dye while wee linger on this earth if wee love wee live let 's live and let our life bee love let our works bee labours of love our sufferings seals of love our sorrows the sorrows of love our wounds loves scars our prayers the cryes of love our praises love songs to our Lord and God Let every duty every exercise let every member every power let our bodies let our souls bee loves Sacrifices as we see in all his so let the Lord see love in all our waies Canst thou not love look till thou canst look up to thy God send up thy thoughts thither let thy Meditations bee of him these will not bee long before the Throne e're they fetch up thy heart Look on thy Jesus behold his hands and his feet come and put thy finger into the print of the Nails and thrust thine heart into his side and there let it lie till thou feel it warm Look up to thy Jesus lift up a prayer Lord let mee love thee if thou lovest let mee love thee I will seek till I can see let mee see till I can love What have I here Lord my all is with thee my help my hope my treasure my life is hid with Christ in God And yet behold this all is nothing to mee while mine heart is no more with thee take it Lord take it up where my treasure is there let mine heart bee also Doubting Christian who because thou lovest so little fearest thou lovest not at all cry for more but bee thankful for what thou hast bee ashamed thou lovest no more but bee not dismayed thou complainest thou canst not love God but dost thou love his Image his Saints his Word his Works his Waies Whilst thou sayest thou lovest not God dost thou love Godliness if thou canst not love can'st grieve can'st lament after him hast thou chosen dost thou hang upon trust in the Lord If thou canst not love can'st fear and follow the Lord If he be not sensibly in thy affection is he in thy thoughts in thy mouth in thine eye Is hee thy aim and thy scope doth thy course bend towards him Comfort thine heart in these things thou mayest see though thou canst not feel thou lovest CHAP. XIV An heart to fear the Lord. AN heart to fear the Lord Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me I shall proceed to the opening of this by these steps I shall shew 1. That the Lord God is a dreadful God 2. That the Lord hath put the dread of himself upon the hearts of all the earth 3. That yet by sin the heart of man is much hardned from the fear of the Lord. 4. That God will recover his Honour and again put his fear into the hearts of his people 5. What this fear of the Lord is that he will put into them 1. The Lord God is a dreadfull God he is dreadfull in the Excellency and Glory of his Majesty Job 13.11 Shall not his Excellency make you afraid and his dread fall upon you His Power is dreadfull Fear ye not me saith the Lord Will ye not tremble at my presence Which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree that it cannot pass it and though the Waves thereof toss themselves yet they cannot prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it Fear ye not me saith
hath it in the greatest excellency and perfection of it that doth pertingere ad summum gratiae Aquin. 2. Ex parte habentis gratiam in respect of the person that hath it and thus a person is said to be full of grace that hath as much grace as he is capable of Christ is full of grace in both respects that grace which is in him is grace in the highest perfection of it and as much as his vessel can hold 3. That this fulness of Christ is ours and for us John 1.16 Of his fulness do we receive grace for grace Coloss 3.3 Your life is hid with Christ in God Your life that is both your spiritual life grace and your eternal life glory 1 John 5.11 This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son Our life is said to be in Christ in three respects 1. It s hid in Christ as the effect in the cause As the life of the branches is hid in the root so is the life of a Christian in Christ He is our root 2. It is deposited with Christ it is laid up with him committed to his trust and custody with him it is secured and put into safe hands 3. The dispensation of it is committed to him from him it is at his pleasure to be derived to us Of his fulness we receive The Son hath life in himself and he giveth it to whom when and in what measure soever he pleaseth Christian art thou nothing in thy self Thou hast enough in thy Jesus Art thou dark He 's a Fountain of light Art thou dead He 's a fountain of life Art thou poor and low weak in knowledge in faith in love in patience c He 's a treasure of all grace and what he is he is for thee Is he wise he is wise for thee Is he holy He is holy for thee Is he meek merciful humble patient He is so for thee Is he strong is he rich is he full 'T is for thy sake as he was empty for thee weak for thee poor for thee so for thee he is mighty he is rich and full Whilest thou bewailest thine own poverty and weakness Oh bless thy self in thy Lord in his riches righteousness and strength 2. A complication of interests As the head and body as the Husband and Wife so Christ and his Saints are mutually concerned are rich or poor must stand and fall live and die together As the husband conveyes to the wife a title to what he hath as the wife holds of the husband so is it betwixt Christ and his Church they have nothing but through him their whole tenure is in capite they hold of the Head they have nothing but through him and whatsoever is his is theirs His God is their God his Father is their Father his blood his bowels his merits his spirit his victories all the spoils he hath gotten all the revenue and income of his life and death all is theirs For them he obey'd suffered liv'd died rose ascended is set down in glory at the right hand of God He obeyed as their head died as their head rose ascended reigneth as their head and hath in their names taken possession of that inheritance which he purchased for them This is that Jesus which is given to us and thus is he granted and made over to all his Saints in this Covenant of God CHAP. III. The Spirit in the Covenant 3 GOd hath put his Spirit into the Covenant the Almighty the Eternal Spirit the Holy Spirit the spirit of Glory and of God This Holy and eternal Spirit is first poured forth on our head the Lord Jesus to annoint him our Redeemer to furnish and qualifie him for that great undertaking Isa 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon mee because hee hath annointed mee to preach good tidings to the meek c. Isa 11.2,3,4 I will put my Spirit into him the spirit of Wisdome and Vnderstanding and of the fear of the Lord Isa 11.2 And hee is promised to each member Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit within you To all these hee is granted 1. As a Spirit of VVisdome and Revelation 2. As a Spirit of Holiness and Sanctification 3. As a Spirit of Truth and Direction 4. As a Spirit of Comfort and Consolation 1. As a Spirit of Wisdome and Revelation Ephes 1.17,18 To enlighten them to open their blinde eyes and to shine into their hearts to give them the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that they may know what the hope of his calling is and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints To counterwork the spirit of this world whose work is to blinde mens eyes lest the light of the glorious Gospel should shine unto them 2 Cor. 4.4,5,6 This is hee by whom the Father hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 the light that the spitit brings in is a marvellous light and that in three respects 1. It is a marvellous thing that ever light should come into such dark souls That those that were born blinde and upon whom the god of this world had for many years together been trying his skill to thicken their darkness to encrease and seal them up under it that ever such eyes should bee opened and the light of life should shine in upon such hearts this is a marvellous thing When our Lord Jesus in the dayes of his flesh opened the eyes of those that had been born blinde the people ran together and wondred at the sight If you should see stones to live if you should see dead stocks or dry bones to walk up and down the streers if you should see Trees or Houses or Mountains full of eyes this were not more full of wonder than to behold blinde sinners receiving their sight Thou wert once darkness art thou now light in the Lord stand and wonder at thy cure 2. They are marveâ—lous things which this light discovers 'T is a wonder that such eyes should ever see and they see wonders The Gospel is a Mystery full of wonders There are heights and depths and lengths and breadths Wee have seen strange things to day Strange love strange grace wonderful wisdome wonderful pitty patience mercy wonderful providences wonderful deliverances incomprehensible excellencies unspeakable joy and glory 't is a wonder there should bee such things every day before our eyes and yet wee could not see them till now and 't is a wonder that when wee did not see them before wee should ever see them now that those things which wee despised derided mocked at stumbled at as meer foolishness and fancy wee should now see and admire even to astonishment that that Jesus which was to the Jews a stumbling block to the Greeks foolishness should bee to the same men when called the Wisdome of God and the Power of God O the deep things of God!
O the unsearchable Riches of Christ that hee that searcheth all things reveals unto the Saints O the hidden treasures they now discover in this deep Mine To you that beleeve hee is pretious a Praise an Honour all Fair all Glorious and you have seen his Glory as the Glory of the only begotten Sonne of God full of Grace and Truth Again there are marvellous evils as well as good things that by this light are brought to light Sin with all the hidden things of darkness that lay below in those chambers of death the secrets of the evill heart of man Sin appears a wonder to the savingly enlightened soul Exceeding sinful a world of wickedness There 's Death and Hell and the Devil in every sin unkindness unthankfulness folly enmity rebellion spite and the blackness of darkness What once appeared as a pleasure a delight a beauty or at least if an evill yet but a trifle a matter of nothing is become a plague a terrour a burthen a bondage bitterness shame sorrow and such an high provocation that whereas once hee swell'd and murmur'd and cryed out of rigour feverity cruelty in the least punishment of it now hee wonders at the clemency and patience and forbearance of God that such an affront and provocation had not long since turned the whole earth into an Hell Christian thou complainest thou canst not see thou canst not feel thou canst not mourn thou canst not break under all the guilt that lies upon thee thine heart is hard thine eyes are dry not a tear not a groan scarce a sigh will all this evill fetch out from thee O this blinde and sottish minde O this dead and senseless heart what shall I do what would I not do to get mee a melting mourning broken spirit but I cannot I cannot I cannot see I cannot bleed nor break O beg the light of this Holy Spirit and if the sight that that will present thee with of this wonderfull evill do not rend thy heart and turn thy stomack and open all thy sluces and let out thy soul in sighs and groans in shame and sorrow thou mayest then well be a wonder to thy self But be nor discouraged bee not dismayed do not say this Rock will never break this Iron will never melt I may go sighing for sighs mourning after tears groaning after groans but all in vain it will never bee past feeling past feeling sorrow flies still from mee repentance is hid from mine eyes do not thus discourage thy self wait for this spirit open to it and thou shalt see flowing in such streames of self-shaming self-confounding light as shall flow forth in self-abasing self-abhorring streames of tears 3. These marvellous things are revealed with marvellous clearness That is in comparison of what they are to the purblinde world and in comparison of what they themselves once saw They come to see the glory and the beauty and the reality of the wonderful things of God Wee have seen his glory saith the Apostle Joh. 1. The kindness of God our Saviour appeared But we all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord. 2 Cor 3.18 Out of Zion hath hee appeared in perfect beauty It 's Prophesied Isa 53. of the unbeleeving world that when they should see Christ they should see no beauty in him Strange though hee were all beauty yet they should see him and yet see no beauty That is they shall see him and yet not see him They see not wood for trees What is thy Beloved more than other beloveds VVhat is Christ more than an ordinary man VVhat is the Gospel more than an ordinary Story VVhat is the Spirit What is Truth VVhat is there in this Faith and Love in this Holiness and Righteousness in this Peace of Conscience and Joy of the Holy Ghost VVhat substance is there in them VVhere 's the Glory and wherein is the Excellency of them Which way came the Spirit of the Lord from mee to thee Thou shalt know in that day when thou shalt call to the Mountains to fall on thee and the Rocks to hide thee from the face of God and the Lamb. Wee know whom wee have beleeved Wee know that wee know him Wee speak that which wee know and testify what wee have seen Wee have an Vnction from the Holy one wee know all things God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God Now wee have received not the spirit of this world but the Spirit which is of God that wee might know the things that are freely given to us of God VVee have a clear and certain sight VVee do not see men as Trees walking with our eyes half open wee see men as men Christ as Christ Truth as Truth in its naked lustre and evidence This wee have seen and do testify neither deceiving nor being deceived VVee thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes And as they see Truth and Holiness and Goodness in their wonderful Glory and Beauty so also Folly and Falshood and Sin in its wonderful uglâ—ness and deformiâ—y Sin appears to bee sin to them Rom. 7. Folly to bee folly falshood to bee falshood they see men as men Christ as Christ Truth as Truth Holiness as Holiness and they see beasts as beasts fools as fools sin as sin devils as devils hell as hell They see all things as they are temptations as they are delusions as they are they see what 's under them the hook under the bait the sting in the Locust's tail the warre in the Devils heart carried on under his fawning face Wee are not ignorant of his Devices Sinners cease your wondring at the Saints let them bee no longer for signs and for wonders in Israel cease your wondring at the Saints come and wonder with them Wonder not that they say not as you live not as you run not with you after the same follies and vanities Oh! if ye once come to see what they see you will bee a wonder to your selves Mock not at their blessedness Blessed are their eyes for they see The blinde envy but do not disdain the seeing Say not these men are in a dream or drunken or mad take heed blaspheme not the Holy Spirit call not his light darkneâ—s put not your darkness for light Would you know when these men testifie what they have seen and heard whether they are sober or beside themselves Come and see I say not stand and see you cannot see at that distance you stand come near come in and you shall see see your blindness first if ever you will see the light Oh! bewail your darkness and seek light seek and you shall see it Son of David have Mercy on mee Why what wilt thou man Lord that I may receive my sight Shall that bee thy cry O pitty thy blinde soul O pray
wise Physician hath respect both to the need and to the strength of the Patient Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth lest the Spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made The Apostle tells the Saints Heb. 10. that they have need of patience and their experience tells them they have need of something to exercise their patience And their needs are different some are knotty pieces and need more others are tender and upon them less will serve The stubborn Childe must have more stripes the shaking of the rod will do more on some spirits then the smart of it on others but all need something Let him onely that is without sin say I have no need of shame and sorrow The Lord will neither over nor under do every one shall have his load and no more No more than they can bear and no less than their need requires The Lord delights not in his childrens tears he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men but yet he had rather they cry then perish Wonder not Christians that your tender Lord puts you to pain and that your pains are so sharp and so many Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things It 's a mercy that he will chastise you may put your corrections among your mercies His breakings of you are his blessings his woundings are your cures and by your own as by your Lords stripes you are healed And when you shall review and read over all his darker providences and behold the wisdome tenderness which is attempered with his severities evidenced in his laying on so much and yet no more than was needful you will then write down with the Psalmist Thou in very faithfulness hast afflicted me O my Lord let me not want thy staff nor thy rod neither a friend nor an enemy neither a calm nor a storm neither food nor medicine if my disease be too strong for my Physick let me have yet a stronger potion if my wanton heart will not yet be tamed put on more fetters an heavier load load upon load weight upon weight and till thou seest let me never say it is enough Let me never be sick of my remedy till I be cured of my disease Let me rather suffer by the hand of a Devil than perish by the hand of a lust Spare not Lord cease not Lord to smite thy servant till thou hast thereby smitten down all mine enemies Peace plenty ease what that I may have to spend upon my lusts to wax wanton against my God hanc pacem nolo Pain trouble want any thing rather than peace upon such terms Correct me O Lord yet in judgment but not in thy fury lest I be consumed and brought to nothing 4. The Cross hath its special comforts 2 Cor. 1.3,4,5,6,7 Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ And whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and salvation and our hope of you is stedfast knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings so shall ye be also of the consolation The comforts of the Cross are often the sweetest and the fullest that the Saints ever taste on this side the crown The first draught is often bitter the green cross is heavy and 't is necessary it should be so As 't is with some medicinal waters it works by its weight it must be an heavy yoke that will tame an unruly neck if it gall not it will not heal 't is the smart of the rod that stills the Childe Think not your burthens will lie easie when first laid on and think not much if they do not The first conflict with temptations may put you to an harder brunt then you are aware It must be so that it may be for your good afterward So my Physick will work I am content it make me sick Tribulation worketh patience that it cannot do unless it pains It is observable that 't is not said the cross worketh patience but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tribulation the pinching of the cross or the pain the cross puts us to this is patience a quiet bearing that pain which the flesh when touched puts us to When we feel the thorns and the nails when the iron enters into our souls when it pricks and smarts then 't will work The green cross is heavy a prison or a wilderness will look uncouth at the first but when your Lord comes in and visits you then the sweet the pleasure comes and the more frowns at the threshold the more kisses you may expect afterwards Christ doth not always meet his Saints in the Porch the Devils Parlour the inner prison is his banquetting house the Dungeon his Wine-cellar there they drink and are satisfied The Stocks and the Rack are the organs that make them the sweetest Musick Many a Saint hath been sadly disappointed at the first hoping to meet with Christ at the door but behold a dreadful fight behold sin lieth at the door all his sins all that ever he did against Christ all his unthankfulness unfaithfulness unkindness rebellion against his Lord stand forth and stare him in the face Christians beware of sin now it will meet you in the day of adversity the cross will tell you all that ever you did I remember my faults this day now I remember all my pleasant things my Sabbaths my Ordinances my Liberty the dear society I once enjoy'd but trifled and wasted away O my pride and my wantonness my idleness my earthliness my hypocrisie wherefore are you come thus to affright and torment me Lord whether am I come O how dreadful is this place Is this my prison-entertainment Are these my prison-consorts O what an hard lodging am I like to have with such companions O the wormwood and the gall a dark habitation a bitter cup indeed is now given unto me Is this the comfort of the cross are these the sweets so much talked of Yet be not dismayed as roughly as thou art handled at the door 't is better within the Devil is going out in this storm thy sins meet thee now but 't is only to shake hands and part after this agony expect the Angels to come and minister to thee Complain not if thou yet find no sweet thou hast not drank deep enough the next draught the sugar may come in the next room thou maist meet thy Lord and then tell me if it be short of all that hath been told
head never so many stars appear nor with such lustre as in a frosty night grind the spices and their fragrancy flows out Saints are never more Saints than in the house of bondage or the Land of their pilgrimage our Winter-weather makes us warm at heart As our outward man perishes our inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 Persecution is the time of life We are delivered to death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our mortal flesh 2 Cor. 4.11 Decayed soul comfort thine heart the cross comes now thou shalt live now thou shalt recover This weakness will strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die Now faith and love and patience and courage that have so long hung the wing now lift up the head the day of your redemption draweth nigh this night is your day of hope 2. A more clear revelation of special Love Lovest thou me Lord there 's enough Let me hear thy voice let me see thy face Kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth Thy loving kindness is better than life send forth thy light and thy truth let these tell me thou lovest me Thy love-sick Spouse is sick for love O when wilt thou say Thou knowest that I love thee Why come up with me on the cross that withered tree bears more blossomes of love than all the green trees of the field The whole Gospel is hung upon the cross Where our Lord hung there 's sin nail'd the curse vacated death vanquished pardon peace joy glory shewed forth in open sight There 's love with all its tokens go up and take Fear not to be baptized with thy Lords Baptism nor to drink of his cup this cup also is the communion of the blood of Christ Come with me into the wilderness there will I speak comfortably to thee When thou most wantest it where thou wilt most value it there will I shew thee my loves Our Lord loves not to have love slighted the full soul loathes the honey-comb thou hast yet too many Lovers to bid thy Lord welcome he keeps his best Wine till all thine own be sowred then it will relish and then thou shalt have it His oyl is for thy wounds The Childe never knows so much of the Parents heart and bowels as when 't is sick or in distress then every look is love every word is pity and compassion O the soundings of Christs bowels towards his swooning children when thou knowest hatred then look to know love When thou art persecuted when thou art cast out and trodden under foot of men then will he take thee in and cherish thee 3. A more full manifestation of glory There 's not a prison into which the Saints are cast but hath a window into the palace Calvary becomes a Tabor where they have a sight of their Lord in his glory Golgotha becomes a Pisgah where they may look over Jordan into the land of promise Hast thou known little of heaven thou hast not yet been in the deep Of Stephen the first Gospel-Martyr its said Acts 7.55 He looked up stedfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God And Chap. 6.15 All that sate in the Council saw his face as the face of an Angel Such an admirable splendor and serenity in his countenance as spake him rather an Angel then a man O what an heaven was there within that cast out such a divine lustre on his face His joy was too big for his heart his face must have its share yea his very adversaries at second hand beheld the glory of God He looked up and saw heaven opened Looking down he might see hell opened all his tormentors about him the jaws of death ready to devour and swallow him up but looking up he saw heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God O there he is for whose sake is all this My beloved my beloved is yonder Behold the region of light whither this dark tempest is wasting me his hell and his heaven meets but the light swallows up the dark Hell ceases to be hell where heaven appears to bee heaven This is the portion of suffering Saints When you read what 's written of those armies of Martyrs that have gone before of their unspeakable joys their undaunted courage their admirable boldness of their chearing their friends confounding their foes their rejoycing in their stripes singing in their stocks leaping in their chains boasting of their bonds kissing their stakes embracing the flames riding up in triumph in their chariots of fire not repenting of their Faith nor accepting of deliverance what doth this speak but that their eyes as well as their anchor are within the vail whither Christ their fore-runner is gone before them Oh who would not be with them who would fear sufferings Soul what art afraid of whither art thou running from what art thou hiding thy self what is thine ease or thy liberty or thy quiet why so loth to loose from this shore lanch forth into the deep Fear not transportation into thine house of bondage when thou art once there 't is but look up and thou art in Paradise Such are the sufferings of Christ This is the cross of the Covenant 4. In summe as that which comprehends all the rest a more manifest exhibition of Christs special presence Jer. 30.11 I am with thee to save thee Isa 43.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Through fire and water thou must go we went through fire and water into a wealthy place but whither ever thou goest he will go with thee When the bush was on fire the Lord was in the bush when the three children were in the furnace the Son of God was there with them Isa 63.9 In all their afflictions he was afflicted he saved them by the Angel of his presence in his love and his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the dayes of old Though all men forsook me the Lord stood with me and strengthened me 2 Tim. 4.16,17 The Saints shall never have this to charge upon the Lord I was in prison and thou visitedst me not He is ever with them to bear their burthens and ease their shoulders to plead their cause and maintain their innocence to wash their stripes to wipe off their tears to heal their wounds to bind up their broken bones to revive their weary spirits to perfume their prisons to lighten their dungeons to lead them in their wandrings to converse with them in their solitudes to give down from above in divine smiles in illapses of spiritual joys assurances of dearest love tenderest care melting sympathie gracious acceptance to give down from above what-ever is wanting beneath In fine to preserve them
heart by thine hand Judge of thy light by thy love and thy love by thy life say not that God hath shined into thine heart unless thy light shine thy works shine before men The path of the just shineth Prov. 4. 'T is but a forme of Knowledge that brings forth but a forme of Godlinesse hee that holdeth the Truth in unrighteousness hath not the Truth in truth in him thou sayest thou knowest the Lord but what say thy waies do these speak the same things Action is the best Interpreter of the inner man feel the pulses of thy heart what watchfulness what holiness hath thy Knowledge brought forth hast thou received the spirit who yet walkest in the flesh what Heaven in thine heart and nought but Earth in thy hand Truth in thine heart and Lies in thy mouth Holiness in thy heart Glory in thine heart and in thy tongue nothing but filth or froth What an heart so full and a life so empty how can these things bee Hath the light in thine heart given laws only to thine heart or doth thine heart submit whilest thy tongue rebells and thou kickest with the heel Woe to us Christians that sinners should be so full and Saints to empty that they should speak what they have seen with their Father and we should speak no more what wee have seen with our Father that oaths and lyes and blasphemies and scoffs and cursing should be so rife in theirs and that truth and goodness and holiness blessings and praises should be no more in our mouths that there should be so much guile in theirs and so little grace in our lips that the shade should be more fruitful than the Sun that the good should be only the barren ground that their habitations should be so full of violence and oppression and wantonness and no more mercy and righteousness and sobriety in ours Woe to us that we know so much to so little purpose that we should be bushels to hide and not rather candlesticks to hold forth the candle of the Lord he hath lighted up in us Oh how many dark souls might our candle lead on to the Sun The light that is in Israel might do much to the turning Egypt into a Goshen speak Christians speak what you have seen and testifie what you have believed bring forth out of your treasure pitty the blinde world or at least be more helpful one to another Instruct as you have been instructed convince as you have been convinced comfort as you have been comforted of God Out-vie sinners let not their mouths be so full of cursing as yours of blessing whilest theirs are so full of blasphemies let it be said of you as of your Lord full of grace are their lips Good words are not wind you may reckon them not amongst the leaves but the fruit Whilest you are speaking of the things of God you are therein doing the will of God I confess the Proverb is true The greatest talkers are not alwaies the greatest doers But 't is true also he is seldome a great doer that hath nothing to say There is a speaking which is our doing There is a speaking in a way of boasting to magnifie and set up our selves beware of that and there is a speaking to the use of edifying to build up our brethren When we are thus speaking to instruct to convince to awaken and whet on our own and others spirits to our work wee are then in doing our work Speak Christians and speak often the things that you know onely let me adde let your lives speak also and not onely your lips If you would not bee vain-talkers bee all tongue let your lips speak and your hands speak and your feet speak let your works and your ways speak the wonderful things of God Bring forth what you have received hee that 's all inside and hee that 's all outside are equally nothing The one is a shadow without substance the others substance is but a shadow The one is a deceiver the other a deceived soul The one boasts himself the other thinks himself something but neither is any thing Christians bee full of good fruits and you will make full proof that your wisdome is from above If yee know these things happy are yee if yee do them Weakling Christian that knowest but little of God and callest that little nothing whilest thou doubtest the light hath not shined into thee dost thou walk in that little light thou hast dost thou shine as a light in the world dost thou know how to be holy and humble and harmless and honest dost thou live under the power of those truths thou knowest dost thou fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servants trust in the Lord and stay thy self on thy God thou art a childe of light though through thy trembling heart thou walkest in darkness Having not seen thou lovest and believing thou shalt rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 2. It s favour 2 Cor. 2.14 And maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place The Knowledge of God is sweet-sented it casts forth a fragrancy where it comes It hath a gratefulness to the heart leaves sweet impressious on the senses of the Saints They taste that the Lord is gracious As their breathings go up as sweet incense so his beams come down with like sweetness to them As 't was said of Christ so of God Cant. 1.3 The Name of the Lord is an ointment poured forth Why what is his Name Exod. 34.6 This is his Name The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Oh what a bundle of myrrhe what a garden of spices is here enclosed what a sweet smelling savour doth it send forth to them who have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil The Name of the Lord is a precious ointment and the knowledge of God is this ointment poured forth Where God is known in the soul there his sweet savour is shed abroad The thoughts of God are pretious the wayes of God are pleasant to them that understand them His fruit was sweet unto my taste O the ineffable pleasures of Religion the carnal world count it a jejune and insipid thing they cannot taste and no wonder for they do not see the things of God nor can they because they are spiritually discerned Let God be savingly known and then you will find what the savour of his Knowledge is This light is sweet it is a pleasant thing to behold this Sun O my soul let thy walks let thy dwellings bee in this garden of the Lord let the Sun shine and the smell of his spices shall flow forth unto thee O my Lord shed abroad thy sweet ointments let the smell of thy garments refresh my soul Let mee taste and see let me see and I shall taste that the Lord is gracious Vanish all yee
carnal pleasures and sensual delights these rose-buds rot the flowers of your gardens wither dead Flyes are in all your ointments the light of the Lord hath shined all your glories into darkness The waters of the Sanctuary have made all your waters brackish there remains no pleasure in them Hee that hath known the Lord hath more or less according to the measure of his knowledge received in the relish and sweetness of it and what hee hath received in hee sends forth before men he hath received and hee is a sweet savour As the Preachers so the Practitioners of piety are a sweet savour of Christ unto God and hand down the sweetness of God unto men They are of savoury lips and of savoury lives the savour of their graces is shed abroad in the Churches of Christ Carnal hearts send forth a stench instead of a sweet smell they are all rottenness the savour of a sepulchre is all they have Their waies stink their words stink their very breath smells of a rotten heart Yea the very best they have their pleasures stink their garments their gallantry their powders and perfumes and sweet odours stink of their proud and vain and sensual hearts But O what a sent do their ulcers and their excrements their oathes and their curses and their scoffs and their lyes send forth Sinners learn to know the Lord and this will quickly change your savour And you that know any thing of God think not that your knowledge is saving till your souls have received in and your waies do send forth the savour of his Knowledge The last of these the savour of this Knowledge the pleasure that it brings in to the soul though taken alone it is but of uncertain signification there may bee some pleasure and joy arise from the common Knowledge of God and sometimes but little taste where there is the truth of Religion But taken in conjunction with the former where is found both the power and the savour the evidence of its soundness will be more full Find all together this transforming this fructifying this savoury Knowledge and you may rest satisfied that this is the saving Knowledge of God And of this is the promise I will give them an heart to know me Oh! how much need have wee still to wait and beg for the accomplishment of this Promise how little sound Knowledge is there found among us Some are weak in Knowledge who have been long taught of God and yet are not taught of God God hath been teaching them but they have not learned of him They have had a good Master but have been ill Schollars weak men so wee call a man of low understanding a weak man Oh! how many weak Souls are there even among professing Christians who though for their time they might have been teachers of others had yet need bee taught the first Principles of the Oracles of God Some men have not knowledge of God I speak this to their shame 1 Cor. 15. Others are men of Knowledge but of weak Knowledge who know much but to little purpose their great Knowledge hath little power in them their Lusts are too strong for their Light Isa 8.11 I spake unto thee with a strong hand and instructed thee If God have spoken to these men yet his hand hath not instructed them the nail hath not been struck deep enough it dwells in the head onely it hath not reached their heart they have an eye but far enough from having an heart to know the Lord their Knowledge doth not lead them on to Religion but must serve them instead of Religion it is all the Religion they have to know what it is 't is made to serve and not suffer'd to guide and govern to serve their turns to serve their interest to serve their pride and their covetousness Their Knowledge of God makes them Devils it helps them to play the Hypocrites to bee Deceivers of others yea and of their own souls It will seek them out acceptable words put prayers into their mouths praises into their lips spirituallize their language furnish them with savoury discourses carry them plausibly through Duties wherein though God hath the Name though Souls have the Name yet are they all but sacrifices to their Lusts The Knowledge of God humbleth but this Knowledge puffeth up and lifteth up puffeth them â—p in their own and lifteth them up in others thoughts and when it hath done this it hath done them all the service they have for it to do unlesse it may bee they have some worse work for it To make rents and divisions in the Church of Christ to maintain disputes to cavel and quarrel to divide and make parties to make twenty Religions out of one till at length they make that one to bee none Whilest the Apostle saies some men have not the Knowledge of God I speak this to your shame I may say also some men have the Knowledge of God I speak this to their shame What the Knovvledge of God and no more Humility the Knowledge of God and no more Charity I speak this to your shame Have the Faith of Christ in respect of persons have the Knowledge of God in respect of Parties Know God and yet divide and scatter and confound them that are of God yea and contend and quarrel about such small differences as somtimes is seen here is God and not there with us and not with you when it may bee a little Charity would tell you for the main hee may bee with both and so much uncharitableness makes it a question whether with either The more such men pretend to the Knowledge of God the greater their shame Friends beware you bee not undone either by your Ignorance or your Knowledge Love not darkness and call not darkness light call not that the Knowledge of God which is not mis-use not that which is hast thou no Knowledge What and such a Promise before thee I will give them an heart to know mee they shall all know me What and such a Gospel before thee the work whereof is to open blinde eyes and to turn from darknesse to light open thy mouth sinner and God will open thine eyes ask and thou shalt have seek and thou shalt finde See wink not at the light that shines round about thee Love not darkness if thou love not death This is Eternal Life to know thee What then is ignorance there 's death in thine heart if there bee no light in thine eye Hast thou Knowledge bee thankful and bee humble bee not high minded but fear prize it but do not abuse it Hast thou received the Knowledge of the Truth Live under the Power of the Truth thou Knowest resign up thy self to it to its transforming Power give it leave to work and to change thee into its own Image Let this new light make thee a new man to its governing Power let it teach thee and rule thee let it teach as one that hath Authority let
heart 2. The power of the end the end hath a four-fold power it draws directs governs rewards 1. It draws the heart to it God who is a Christians end is also his beginning Our first step heaven-ward wee owe to the influence of heaven upon us Draw mee wee will run after thee Cant. 1. No man can come unto mee unless the Father which hath sent mee draw him Nothing but God will do it as nothing will draw the soul another way the pleasures of sin the wages of unrighteousness are poor and low baits to entice a soul away from God that is so far as 't is renewed so 't is nothing but God that draws the soul on its way and he will do it God draws the soul not by an act of power onely but by moral swasion that 's the proper casuality of the end Not by efficiency onely but by sympathy as by the water the thirsty soul is drawn to the water-brooks It is God that draws hearts after him there are instruments as his Word and Ministers and and there are arguments by which God draws but whatever the instruments or arguments are 't is God that does it What is the work of either Word or Ministers but to set God before them and this draws Instruments can do nothing unless God bee the Preacher by them arguments can do nothing unless hee bee the medium of them as 't was said concerning the peoples following Saul so much more concerning those that follow the Lord. Those onely follow him whose hearts God hath touched 'T is not mans teaching but Gods touching the heart that draws it heaven-ward The tongue of man may touch the ear 't is God onely that touches the heart And when he touches then the heart will follow As you know the needle when it s touched with a Loadstone then it turns after it The Loadstone is not more naturall attractive of the needle than God is of that heart which he hath touched Cant. 5.4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door and my bowels were moved in mee He did but touch the door and her heart felt him and moved tovvards him O Christians when you have been waiting upon God in prayer hearing or any other spiritual duty or ordinance consider hath mine heart been touched this day my tongue hath been touched mine ear hath been touched mine heart hath been treated with but hath the Lord touched it hath there vertue come forth from him which hath enticed and drawn my soul after him Sometimes by a message or visit from heaven the Lord hath drawn a good word from the lip a tear from the eye but O for touches upon souls for turning of bowels for the flowings out of hearts after the Lord Hee is the only load-stone that prevails on gracious souls Others that have many hearts have many attractives every heart hath its peculiar god twenty gods it may be in one man because so many hearts Their pleasures are their Gods their profits their gods their belly their god their wives or their children their gods and so many gods so many ends And every end is a loadstone to draw them after them Every heart will after its God A Christian that hath but one heart hath but one God and this is he that draws it on its way Thou sayest the Lord is thy God thou acknowledgest thou ownest thou hast chosen him for thine but what doth thy God whom thou hast chosen do upon thine heart what will the sight of God or thy love to God or thy hope in God do upon thee how far will it carry thee which way runs thy heart which way dost bend thy course dost feel thy God drawing thee and is thy heart running after him running notes motion and a swift or violent motion I shall lay before you these six or seven expressions the Scripture uses to note the running of those hearts after God whom he hath drawn 1. The desiring of the soul after God Isa 26.8.9 The desire of our soul is to thy name with my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek theee early Desire is the soul in motion God-wards Towards him are their desires and they come deep ab intimis ab imo pectore from their inwards from the bottom of the heart With my soul have I desired thee with my spirit within mee will I seek thee Psal 38.9 Lord all my desire is before thee 't is not all my desires but my desire thou seest all and 't is all but one desire Hee desires pardon hee desires peace hee desires help and the heealing of his wounds but all this is but one desire God is all One thing have I desired Psal 27.4 2. The thirsting of the sout Psal 42.2 My soul thirsteth for God for the living God Thirsting is the extremity of desire hunger and thirst are the appetite or desire heightened violent and painful appetites my soul thirsteth and is in pain till it be satisfied 3. The longing of the soul Psal 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is Longing causeth languishing and abortions if it be not satisfied Psal 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longing desire it hath to thy judgments My heart panteth my flesh faileth the light of mine eyes is gone from me Psal 38.10 4. Calling after God Psal 4.1 Hear mee when I call O God of my righteousness Calling upon God is the voice of desires The desiring soul will not keep silence the tongue the eye the ears the hands the knees must all be oratours when the flame is once kindled within 5 Crying after the Lord. This is an expression answering the thirsting of the soul Crying is a passionate and importunate praying I cryed unto the Lord with my whole heart Psal 119.145 6. Crying out after God This is the manner of the longing soul Crying out notes more than bare crying loud cryes strong cryes forced out by a paroxisme of love or an agony the soul is in Psal 84.2 My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living Lord. 7. Following hard after the Lord Psal 63.8 My soul followeth hard after thee This expression is more comprehensive it notes both all the workings and breakings and breathings of the soul within and its diligent pursuing in the use of all outward means and pressing on after the Lord. All those labourings and watchings and runnings all that holy violence wherewith a Saint presses into the Kingdome of God Put all this together and you will see the power and influence the Lord hath on holy Souls to the drawing of them after him they are in motion Heaven-vvard desiring thirsting longing calling crying crying out follovving hard after him What aileth these souls vvhat 's the matter vvith them
nothing but love to restrain us from sin and constrain and quicken us to duty Christians have wee but one thing to do in all wee do sometimes wee are busie in doing nothing Though there bee a Prayer in our mouths the praises of God in our mouths Christ heaven holiness glory a new heart a new life upon our tongues there 's nothing within no prayer no praise no Christ nor heaven what have we been often doing in the closet in the family in the congregation when wee seemed to have been praying nothing nothing but sowing wind and good words Sometimes we have too many things in our hearts what a world of carnal devices and fleshly projects have wee wrapt up in the garment of our Religion Peter's sheet had not a more heterogeneous miscellany of creatures four-footed beasts wilde beasts creeping things and fowls of the air than our religious duties have of designes and ends Wee have men to please our pride our bellies to offer sacrifice to wee bring our farms and our oxen and our trades before the Lord are not our hearts which should bee the houses of prayer the houses of merchandise are wee not talking or pursuing or in a journey or a sleep or driving bargains O Christians if wee were privy to one anothers hearts as God is privy to them what abominations should wee see brought into the holy places What monsters would our most sacred services appear VVhich whilst the out-side is onely viewed are applauded and admired Is this our singleness of heart Oh! for shame and blushing and confusion of face Oh! for a Vail to hide such hearts from the jealous eyes of the holy God a varnish a fair out-side hides all from men but nothing but a dark Vail of shame and sorrow and tears and repentance a Vail dipt in Blood in the blood of Christ will hide them from the eyes of the Lord. Oh how little plainness and singleness of heart is there in our ordinary course in our dealings and conversings in the VVorld how little faith or truth is there in us how little trust is there to us what doubling what deceitful dealing defrauding over-reaching undermining are wee guilty of how false are wee in our promises how insignificant are our words what an uncertain sound do they give our yea may often stand for nay and our nay for yea Psal 12.2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour with flattering lips and a double heart do they speak trust yee not in a friend put not confidence in a guide Blessed bee God the Lord hath a Generation on whom this cannot bee charged Children that will not lye nor deceive though Satan and this evil world binde up all in a bundle they are all naught they are all false vain boasters and deceitful workers there 's none up-right no not one but thanks bee to God Satan is a lyer the accuser of the Brethren is a false accuser God hath his children that will not lye But woe bee to those professours by reason of whom the offence cometh Christians hath God promised to give you one heart Let it bee once said this day is this Scripture fulfilled O may you bee the accomplishment of this good word Hath God promised to give you one heart Do not you say but I will not take it two are better than one I have found so much the sweet of deceit that there 's no life like it Hath God said I will give one heart let not any one among you say But I fear he will not Make not the promise of God of none effect either by your impiety or unbelief Doth God promise to give this one heart hee that promised it doth also require it Bee thy self Christian Let it bee said thou art what thou art bee true bee but one have but one heart and let thy one heart have but one tongue but one face and but one thing to do Beware of hypocrisie beware of carnal policy make not thy God to serve thy flesh call not the serving of thy flesh a serving of God and make not thy serving of God to bee a serving of the flesh Bee not divided betwixt God and the World O how easie would our lives bee did we finde our whole souls running one way taking up w th God as the adequate object of all our powers the marke of all our motions and the reward of all our labours did all our streams empty themselves into this Ocean and all our lines meet in this one center Did God onely draw and allure our hearts and the sincerity of our hearts give motion to all our wheels Guide our eyes govern our tongues order our steps animate our duties direct and quicken us in all our goings Oh how sweet oh how beautiful were such a life the Sympathy betwixt our hearts and end there 's sweetness the harmony of our hearts and waies there 's beauty O how sweet are the drawings of love the free and full closure of our Spirits with God dissolving themselves into his Will acquiessing resting satisfyed in his goodness is a sweetness which no man knows but hee that tastes it the harmony of the power of the soul within its self of its motions and actions in the life there 's the beauty which will eclipse the glory of the world Christian bee it thus with thee and thou hast the blessing that covenant blessing which the Lord hath promised in saying I will give them one heart CHAP. XII An Heart of Flesh 4. AN Heart of Flesh Ezek. 36.26 I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an Heart of Flesh The old heart is a stone cold as a stone dead as a stone hard as a stone but I will take away the stone and give an heart of flesh An heart of flesh is a soft and tender heart Flesh can feel any thing that 's contrary to it puts it to pain Sin makes it smart it cannot kick but it is against the pricks by its rebellion and resistance against the Lord it receives a wound it cannot hit but it hurts it self A soft hand gets nothing by laying on on an hedge of thorns A soft heart when it hath been medling with sin is sure to smart for it It can neither escape the pain nor yet endure it and what it cannot bear 't will take warning to avoid it Flesh will bleed A soft heart will mourn and melt and grieve when hard hearts are moved at nothing Flesh will yield It s apt to receive impressions The power of God will awe it his justice fear it his mercy melt it his holiness humble it and leave the stamp and image of it upon it And as the Attributes so the Word and Works of God will make sign upon it Who sets a seal upon a stone or what print will it receive upon the wax the print will abide God speaks once and twice but man hardned man will not regard it Neither his
Word nor his rod neither his speaking nor his smiting will make any signe on such hearts 'T is the heart of flesh that hears and yields And with such hearts the Lord delights to bee dealing Acts 28. The heart of this people is waxed gross they will not hear they will not understand and the next word is away to the Gentiles they will hear Hee will no more write his Law on tables of stone hee 'l write in flesh there the impression will take and go the deeper and therefore where-ever hee intends to write hee prepares his table makes this stone flesh and then engraves upon it Particularly this tenderness admits of a double distinction 1. Respecting the object of it so there is a tenderness 1. Of Sin 2. Of Duty 3. Of Suffering 1. Of Sin and tha't 's twofold such as discovers it self ante factum post factum 1. Ante factum Or before the commissiion Whilest it is under a temptation or feels the first motion to sin A tender heart startles starts back at the sight of a sin as at the sight of a devil Gen. 39.9 How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God the manner of the speech presents Joseph as a man in a fright startled at the ugliness of the motion So David when hee had an opportunity and a temptation to slay Saul 1 Sam. 26.11 rejects it with an absit God forbid The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lords anointed And that not onely at the higher and greater but it resists the little ones the smallest of sins Is it not a little one is no plea with it Little or great 't is a sin and that 's enough 2. Post factum After the Commission if it hath been brought on upon sin yet it cannot go out with it The skirt of Saul's garment was too heavy for David's heart to bear His heart smote him ptesently 1 Sam. 24.5 Sin in the review looks dreadfully It s pleasant flowers quickly turn to thorns it pricks the heart how much soever it pleas'd the eye It ordinarily enters by the eye and often runs out the same way it came in runs out in tears When hee thought thereon hee wept At least it warns and makes more watchful after Thou seest what 't is take heed take it for a warning and do no more The pain of sin if it do not force a tear 't will set a watch 2. Of duty A tender heart will neither slight a sin nor neglect a duty It 's loth to grieve and offend and careful to serve and please the Lord. It would not that he should suffer by it nor so much as lose his due It watches against sin and unto duty It cares how to please the Lord and its care is tender It would not displease by its neglects or performances all must bee done that ought and as it ought to be done It will neither stand out with its offering nor will it offer an unclean thing It considers not onely what but how Both matter and manner substance and circumstance all must bee right or 't is not at ease It will keep time and as much as may bee keep touch with the Lord in every point It is not satisfied that it prayes sometimes it would not lose a praying time God will not and it cannot lose a duty It would neither lose by non-performance nor lose what is performed It would neither leave undone nor do amiss any failing not onely in the matter but in the principle end affection intention any failing pains 3. In point of suffering A soft heart will not bee careful what or how much but why and upon what account hee suffers Will neither sinfully shun the cross nor run upon it unwarrantably He waits for a call and then follows Hee is patient under the hand of the Lord but not insensible can be touched with an affliction though not offended at it The hand of the Lord hath touched mee Hee suffers more than his own his brethrens sufferings His brethrens burthens all lie on his shoulders Hee weeps in their sorrows bleeds in their wounds his heart is bound in their chains As the care so the trouble of all the Churches come daily upon him Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burn not hee espouses all the sufferings of Christ as his own In all his afflictions hee is afflicted 2. Tenderness may bee distinguished in respect of the subject of it and so there is a tenderness of the conscience the will the affections 1. Tenderness of conscience stands in these three things 1. Clearness of Judgment 2. Quickness of sight 3. Uprightness or faithfulness 1. Clearness of judgment When it s well instructed and understands the rule and can thence discern betwixt good and evil Heb. 5.14 There is a tenderness that proceeds from cloudiness scrupulosity that fears every thing stumbles at straws starts at shaddows makes sins picks quarrels at duties and so sometimes dare not please for fear of offending God This is the sickness or soreness of conscience not its soundness 'T is the sound conscience that is truly tender 2. Quickness of sight and watchfulness I sleep but my heart waketh It can espie the least sins and smallest duties It can see sin in the very temptation it can discover the least sin under the fairest face and the least duty under the foulest vizor Call it singularity nicety cloud it with reproaches yet conscience can discover light shining through all the clouds duty within whatsoever unhandsom face it bee presented in the former stands in consciences understanding the rule as was said this in strait applying the rule to cases and distinguishing of them by it The truly tender hath his eyes in his head and his eyes open to discover and discern all that comes bee it good or evil little or great If but a thought comes in what comes there saies conscience what art thou a friend or an enemy whence art thou from God or from beneath 't will examine whatever knocks before any free admission O what a croud of evils do thrust into loose and careless hearts the devil comes in in the croud and is never discovered If the eye bee either dim or asleep there 's entrance for any thing Little do wee think oft-times who hath been with us what losses and mischiefs wee have sustained while our hearts have been asleep which had they been wakeful and watchful might have been prevented 3. Uprightness and faithfulness Which discovers it self 1. In giving charge concerning duty 2. In giving warning of sin 3. In giving check for sin when committed 1. In giving charge concerning duty look to it soul there 's a duty before thee which God calls thee to do not say 't is no great hurt to let it alone 't is no great hurt to do it it is questionable whether it bee a duty or no Many wiser than I think otherwise do not say
't is a nicety 't is but a punctilio 't is meere folly and preciseness and there will bee no end of standing upon such small matters see to it 't is thy duty beware thou neglect it not the baulking of the least duty is the neglecting of the great God of Glory 2. In giving warning of Sin Take heed to thy self sin lyes at the door thou art under a temptation the Devil is entring upon thee do not say 't is but a little sin as little as 't is there 's Death and Hell in the bowels of it look to it 't is sin have thou nothing to do with it keep thy self pure and though it run upon thee shake it off 3. After commission it gives check for it reproving judging and lashing the soul for it where hast thou been Gehazi say not thou hast been no where went not this heart with thee and saw thee running out after thy covetousnesse gadding after thy pleasures feeding thy pride dandling thy lusts playing the Hypocrite playing the Harlot from thy God pampring thy flesh pleasing thine appetite and where hast thou been What hast thou done soul think not to excuse or mince the matter it cannot be excused thou hast sinned against thy God and now bear thy shame This is our heart smiting of us 2 Sam. 24. Our hearts condemning of us 1 John 3.20 If our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things 2. Tendernesse of the Will that stands in its flexiblenesse and pliableness unto the Will of God And this is that tenderness wherein chiefly stands the blessing of a soft heart an hard heart is stubborn and obstinate thy neck is as an Iron sinew and thy brow Brasse Thou wilt not bee rul'd there 's no bending thee or turning thee out of thy course thy Iron is too hard for the fire it will not bee melted and for the Hammer it will not bee broken there 's no dealing with thee thou art an untractable piece thou wilt go neither led nor driven thine heart is set in thee to do evil thy will is set upon sin and thou art set upon thine own will The word which thou hast spoken to us in the Name of the Lord wee will not do but wee will do whatever proceeds out of our own mouth Jer. 44.16,17 Wee will do what we will do who is Lord over us Psal 12. and Jer. 2.25 Thou saidst there is no hope no for wee have loved strangers and after them we will go come what will of it say what thou wilt against it Be silent Scriptures hold thy peace Conscience 't is to no purpose to speak more there is no hope of prevailing wee are at a point wee will take our own course These are hard hearts stubborn obstinate hearts When the Iron sinew is broken when the rebellion and stubbornnesse of the Spirit is subdued and tamed and made gentle and pliable then it becomes a tender heart There may bee some tenderness in the Conscience and yet the will bee a very stone and as long as the will stands out there is no broken heart Conscience may bee scared and frighted Conscience may fly upon the Sinner what dost thou mean soul whither are thy rebellions carrying thee look to thy self hearken or thou wilt bee lost e're thou art aware But however God hath gotten conscience on his side yet the Devil still rides the Will and there sin takes up its rest There 's a double resting of sin in the soul In Peace In Power 1. In Peace when it dwells and rules in the soul without disturbance or contradiction when it carries all smoothly before it when God lets it alone and conscience speaks not a word against it When notwithstanding those Armies of lusts fighting against the soul there 's not so much as one weapon lift up against them not a prayer nor a tear nor a wish for freedome nor the least fear concerning the issue this is the most dreadful hardness 2. In Power When though it can have no Peace yet it hath still a Place in the heart Though it can have no quiet but conscience is still quarrelling with it and warning it away yet it still holds its power over the Will the Master of the house is content to bee its Servant O how many persons are there even amongst the Professors of Religion who cannot sin in quiet they are proud or passionate or intemperate or covetous or false in their words in their dealings they are formal and hypocritical and slight in their duties but they cannot go out with it with any quiet Conscience smites them for it they feel many a pang and deadly twinge in their heart insomuch that sometimes they cry and groan and roar in their spirits O for redemption O for deliverance from this false this proud this covetous and wicked heart and yet after all this the Will remains a captive still Sin holds its power there though it cannot carry it on in peace though it cannot bee proud or play the Hypocrite or be covetous or an oppressour without some galls and gripes in the soul yet on it goes the same trade is kept up the same course is held on God commands cast yee out cast yee out come off from all your wickednesse and evil waies and I will receive you No though Conscience would the Will cannot come whatever rendings and tearings whatever terrours and torments and worryings such souls are at any time under whatever stings and plagues and fires they find their sins to be in their souls and bones what-ever wishings and wouldings they wring forth that they were well rid of these plagues whilest the will is still for them there 's an hard heart damnably hard there 's none of this heart of flesh When the will is once broken loose from sin when it will be content to let all go and give up its self to the dominion of the Lord there 's a broken heart Now speak Lord and I will hear Now call Lord and I will answer Now command me impose on mee what thou wilt I will submit None but the Lord none but Christ no other Lord nor lover I am thine Lord thine own do with thine own demand of thine own what-ever thou pleasest What God will have mee bee vvhat God vvill have mee do that vvill I do and bee No longer vvhat I vvill but the Will of the Lord bee done When 't is come to this there 's a tender heart there 's the blessing of a broken spirit the stone hee hath taken away hee hath given an heart of flesh Christians never trust to tears never talk of terrours trouble of conscience of the passionate workings and meltings which at any time you feel upon your spirits though there be something in these as you shall see more by and by yet these are not the things you are to look at A subdued tractable willing obedient heart that 's the tender heart Isa 1.19 If yee
bee willing and obedient yee shall eat the good of the Land but if yee refuse and rebel yee shall bee slain with the sword the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it 3. Tenderness of the affections I shall instance onely in three viz. Love Fear Sorrow The tenderness of love is seen in its Benevolence Jealousie 1. In its benevolence Our goodness extends not to the Lord but our good will does Our love can add nothing to him can a man bee profitable to God Job 22. If thou bee righteous what givest thou to him chap. 35.7 Yet though it can adde nothing it would not that any thing be detracted from him whilest hee can have no more it would that hee should have his own all that is due his due praise his due honour and homage and worship and subjection from every creature it would have no abatement not the least spot or stain upon all his glory What 's an affront to God is an offence to love Love beareth all things saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. all things from God all things from men And yet there are two things the love of God cannot bear his dishonour his displeasure 1. His dishonour Love would have God to bee God to live in the glory of his Majesty in the hearts and eyes of all the world His reproach is grievous to him that loves for this is the cloud that takes God out of sight Hee loves and honours and would that God should bee loved and honoured of all hee fears and would that the whole world should fear him Hee would receive in his own breast every arrow that 's shot against his maker hee would that his own name and soul might stand betwixt his God and all reproach and dishonour Hee would bee vile so the Lord may bee glorious so God may increase he 's content to decrease Hee 's not so tender of his own heart and bowels as of the holiness of his God Hee would suffer and die and bee nothing rather than that God should not bee all in all Hee would rather never think nor speak nor bee rather then not bee in word and thought and life holiness to the Lord. But O what or where would hee bee rather than his own hand should bee lift up against him To see the Lord robb'd of his holiness wrong'd in his wisdome or his truth or his soveraignty to see sin that devil to see the world that Idol set up in the throne and the God of glory made to stand aside as insignificant to hear that blasphemy God is not worth this lust or not worthy this labour and what is said less in every sin is a sword in his breast The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon mee Love hath tasted of God it hath fed on his fulness it hath its nourishment from his sweetness it hath been warmed in his bosom all his goodness hath passed before it upon this it lives and feeds and having found and felt what the Lord is its impatient that all this goodness should be clouded or belyed Love kindled from heaven is keen and the keen is a tender edge the least touch of what offends will turn it Lam. 1.20 I am in distress my bowels are troubled mine heart is turned within mee for I have grievously rebelled Psal 42.3 My tears have been my meat continually while they daily say unto me where is thy God! Where is that care and help and that salvation of thy God thou trustedst in thy God is not such an one as thou boastedst him to bee when I remember when I hear such things my soul is poured out within mee Love is large hee that loves hath a large heart hee can never receive or do too much hee would have all hee can and he would give all hee hath to the Lord. Hee 's tender how any thing bee withheld that is due how any thing bee wasted elsewhere that might bee useful to the Lord. 2. His displeasure The displeasure of men it bears and rejoyces the wrath and rage of Sathan it bears and triumphs though all the world and hell to boot bee displeased and provoked so God smiles 't is well enough Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon mee and mine heart is glad Psal 4. Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Psal 30.7 Let him correct mee but O not in fury let him smite but not frown let him kill mee so hee will but love mee And though hee smite though hee kill mee yet will I love and trust in him O my God let mee rather die in thy love then live in thy displeasure there 's life in that death this life is death to me Let mee not be dead whilest alive turn away thine anger which kills my heart It is impatient of divine displeasure and thence 't is grievous to it that it does displease thence it quarrels with sin and falls so foul with it self for it Is this thy kindness to thy friend lovest thou God soul what and yet provokest him thus daily love and yet neglect to seek and follow thy God love and yet so lame and so slow and so heavy and so sparing in thy services to him Is this all thy love will do not deny thine ease or thy pleasure or thy liberty or thine appetite or thy companion for the sake of the Lord chuse rather to pleasure thy friend or thy flesh than to please God Is this thy love Is this thy kindness to thy friend O false heart O unworthy unworthy spirit how canst thou look thy God in the face how canst thou say I love thee when thine heart is no more with him 2. In its Jealousie Hee that loves the Lord is jealous and Jealousie hath a tender edge hee is Jealous not of but for the Lord not of his God but of himself least any thing should steal away his heart from God Love would bee chaste would not bestow it self elsewhere and yet is in great Jealousie it may bee enticed and drawn away Hee that loves the Lord there is not any thing whether Wife or Childe or Friend or Estate or Esteem that gets near his heart but hee 's jealous of them least they steal it away Get you down keep you lower this heart is neither yours nor mine O my God 't is thine 't is thine Lord take it wholly to thee keep it to thy self let no other Lovers bee sharers with thee 2. There 's a tenderness of fear The tender heart is a trembling heart the tenderness of fear is manifested in its Suspition Caution 1. In its Suspition the fearful are suspitious they look farther then they see hee that is in dread will bee in doubt what may befall him hee suspects a surprizal every bush is a theef every bait he doubts may have an hook under There is a foolish and a causeless fear and there is a prudent and an holy fear this fear is a principle of wisdome Psal 111.10
their cups amongst their Harlots or in their houses It is good for mee to bee here No wonder Christians that carnal hearts are such strangers to the Word can so well fit out at Duties and can want Ordinances Preaching and Praying and Sabbaths they can spare and not feel their want what wonder What is Heaven to Earth what is God to flesh these Chariots would carry them away from their Gods carry them out of their own Country into a strange Land where they have neither possession nor acquaintance But oh what a sad wonder is it that Saints should go up so often into the Chariots and yet be gotten no nearer home that they should be still so much on the Earth that have been so often mounted for Heaven that those hearts should still bee on the dunghils whose feet are so often on the mountain of the Lord that the Wagons should bee so often sent down and go up empty scarce an heart sent up in them yea that they should be so far from God when God is among them Where 's your love Christians how is it that it is still below what have you here your City is above your home is above your God your Jesus your treasure is above oh how is it that where your treasure is your hearts bee not also hear from God and not God with the messenger send up to heaven your eyes your hands your prayers your complaints your promises and still leave your hearts below send up hearts to heaven and let them return again down to this earth remain earth and flesh and filth and vanity after so much converse or pretence to it with the holy God of spirits lovest thou God when thou canst so often go where hee is and not care to see him or if thou meet him canst let him go without a blessing or if he bless thee canst go presently and exchange thy Fathers blessing for a mess of pottage canst lose a duty in a dinner the comforts and revivings of a Sermon of a Sacrament of a Sabbath in an hours carnal converse in the world did wee love our God more certainly wee should bee more with him and to better purpose His meetings would bee more precious and the fruits of them more lasting Wee should neither go away without his blessing nor throw it away when wee had gotten it Thus much for the object of love 2. It s Act. Love is a natural Affection The love of God is the souls clasping or closing with the Lord. It is the expansion or going out of the heart in its strength after God the uniting or knitting of the soul vvith God vvith a complacency and acquiescence in him There are three things included in this love 1. The strength of the heart making out after God This is that vvhich is commonly called our amor desiderii or our love of desire the breathing or thirsting or panting of the heart after God Psal 42.1 The hearts vvorking God-vvards with its might loving him above all things desiring him above all things and that both Intensivè vvith the greatest vigour and intention and adaequatè as its compleat and adequate object God is its All. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee 2. The uniting of the soul with God Our cleaving to him By love heart cleaves to heart soul cleaves to soul It s said of Shechem Gen. 34.3 that his heart clave unto Dinah Hee loved her vvith his heart shee vvas gotten into his heart and there his heart holds her Acts 11.23 Barnabas exhorts the Church that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. It is the knitting of the soul vvith God Its said 1 Sam. 1.18 That the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul And of Jacob Gen. 44.30 to express his tender love to Benjamin 't is said his life was bound up in the lads life Of the multitude of believers wee read Act. 4.32 that they were all of one heart and of one soul Their love had knit them up all into one By love wee are one with God and hee with us It is the souls willing of God as I may so speak Willing of God to it self and willing it self and all to God All praises all honour all blessedness to him Bee thou mine Lord nothing less nothing else Bee thou mine I need no less I desire no more Let mee bee thine be to thee bee for thee thy servant thy sacrifice or what thou wilt and let all mine bee thine mine heart and my hand and my tongue and my time and mine interest Let all thine bee to thee thy heavens and thy earth with every person with every creature in them Let every heart every mouth every limb every creature bee a praise to the Lord. Let the Lord live and blessed bee my rock let the God of my salvation bee exalted Let every knee bow let every tongue confess unto God This is the amor unionis our love of union as 't is called And 't is the heart the very essence of saving love wherein are included both our accepting of God and our surrender or resignation of our selves unto God Amor non est nisi donum amantis in amaetum And our wishing and willing all glory dominion and blessedness to him And so here also is our amor benevolentiae our love of benevolence All these may bee included in that opening of the heart mention'd Acts 16.14 It s there said that the Lord opened Lydia's heart The heart is then savingly opened when it freely lets out it self upon God all its streams run in to the Lord and when it takes in and takes down God into the depth of the soul The heart thus opened to the Lord when God is come in will close upon him Abide with me thou hast entred upon thine habitation oh let this bee thy dwelling for ever Onely this must bee farther added that with God it takes in all the things of God his Word his Ordinances his waies and all his dispensations With his love his laws with his comforts his counsels with his counsels his corrections with thee I accept of all that 's thine both thy staff and thy rod both thy yoke and thy cross thy self Lord thy love Lord and what thou wilt with thee 3. The souls talking pleasure and taking up its rest in him This is call'd our Amor complacentiae Where wee love there will bee a delightful stay or immoration of the mind upon God Ubi amor ibi oculus The object dwells in the eye we are still looking where we love Anima est ubi amat When I awake I am still with thee there his thoughts are of him is his meditation all the day long My meditation of him shall bee sweet Hee that loves dwelleth in God I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever And why there why there his
the Lord He that did this what can he not do His wrath is a dread Jer. 10.10 At his wrath the earth shall tremble and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Yea his Holiness his Truth his Righteousness and all his Name Deut 28.58 That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearfull Name the Lord thy God The Lord God is a dreadful God 2. The Lord God hath put the dread of himself upon the hearts of all the earth Not the best onely but the worst of the sons of men I am a great King saith the Lord and my Name is dreadful among the Heathen This dread of the Lord breaks forth upon them 1. From the impress of God upon the natures of all men As the Law so the being of God is written in their hearts he hath his witness in their Consciences If the Atheists of the Earth could answer all the Arguments from without proving that there is a God yet they can never confute their own Consciences If the works of God do not their Reins shall instruct them If they will not see whether they will or no they shall feel that there is a God and where ever God is felt he is feared Even when their mouth speaketh proud things their heart shall meditate terror and when nothing else is they shall be a terror to themselves 2. It is increased by the great works of God his Wonders that he doth in the world his Thunder and his Hail his Wind and his Waves and his Earth-quakes make an Earth-quake in hearts 3. It s further heightned by his Judgments which he executeth on the Earth The Judgements of God are God revealing himself from Heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and do then strike most terror 1. When he smites suddenly and makes quick work with sinners as when Herod was smote by an Angel of God Nadab and Abihu consumed by fire from God immediately upon their sin Sudden strokes shake secure hearts 2. When he executes strange judgments makes a new thing as in the case of Korah and his company he made the Earth to open her mouth upon them and swallow them up so he made the flies and the froggs and the lice c. to be the Executioners of his Wrath on Pharaoh 3. When he executes great Wrath for little Sins as men account them as in the case of Uzzah whom he struck dead for but touching the Ark when it shook 4. When he exercises great severity on his own on those that are near him If he spareth not his Sons what will he do with his Enemies If these things be done on the green Tree what shall be done on the dry 4. Yet further By their Conscience of guilt and their binding over to the judgment to come The sin of Judah is written with a Pen of Iron with the point of a Diamond it is graven upon the tables of their heart The sin of Judah is written yea and the sin of the Gentile also Rom. 2.15 Their Conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing And where their sin is written there their judgment is written which even nature it self will teach doth inevitably follow upon sin and this is the great dread that is upon them The very mention of judgment to come made a Felix tremble at the face of a poor Prisoner This is the terror of the Lord mentioned by the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10,11 We must all appear before the Judgment-seat Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men Death is said to be the King of terrors and this is the terror of death after that the judgment All these the impress of God upon their hearts the wonders of God in the worâ—d the vengeance of God executed on sin the sence of guiâ—t and of a judgment to come do preach to the Consciences of sinners that It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God 3. Yet by sin the heart of man is much hardned from the fear of the Lord. Sin blinds the eye and hardens the heart brings into danger and puts out of fear Who in such danger and yet who so bold as the blind sinner When the understanding is darkned the next word we read is Past feeling Eph. 4.19 There is included in the very nature of sin a slighting of God and by once slighting we learn to slight him more Slight the Command and you will quickly slight the Curse Laugh at duty and 't will not be long ere you laugh at tear And when sin hath thus hardned God will also harden le ts the sinner alone suspends his judgments smites the sinner with judicial blindness and gives him up to a Reprobate mind Rom. 1.28 And when once they come to this then Hell is broke loose For what follows ver 29. Being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness malitiousness and what not Psal 36.1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart there is no fear of God before his eyes Gen 20 When Abraham had such a thought Surely the fear of God is not in this place what thought he was there then Murther Adultery Rapes all manner of villany What sawest thou amongst us that thou hast done this thing What hurt what evill didst thou see among us What evill Evill enough to make me afraid I thought the fear of God was not here and there needs no more to make me afraid Say of any Person The fear of God is not in this man and you therein say The Devil is in him here dwels sin and all manner of wickedness Say of any place The fear of God is not in this place and if you find it an Egypt or Sodom for abominations you will not wonder Psal 19.9 The fear of the Lord is clean That is not only Formaliter but Effectivè it cleanseth Where this is not every unclean thing may dwell The reason why this world is such a world as 't is such a wicked world such a treacherous deceitful ungodly world why there is so little Faith or Truth or Mercy or Charity or Sobriety is because there is so little of the fear of God Sin hath cast out fear and this hath brought forth sin in abundance The Law is nothing Threatnings are nothing Conscience is nothing God is nothing to men because he is not their fear Wickedness is as righteousness villany as honesty prodigality debauchery as temperance and sobriety yea and hath gotten the start of it it faceth the Sun it lifts up the head it wears the Garland it paints it self Vertue Generosity Gallantry the beauty and ornament of the World where the fear of God is departed God may promise threaten command Hearken to my voice turn at my reproofs cast away your transgressions Awake from your wine be chaste sober be humble let your merriment be turned into mourning your jollity into heaviness Remember your Creator remember your souls why
Let the fear of the Lord be in thee habitually in thy heart but actuate and stir up this holy fear keep up an holy awe a deep sence of God alwaies upon thee let the fear of the Lord be before thine eyes be possessed and swallowed up of this fear all the day long where ever thou art with whomsoever thou hast to do remember thou hast still to do with God A Christian should stand alwaies pro tribunali every day should be as the last day the day of judgment to him So speak ye and so do as those that shall be judged Jam. 2.12 The Judge stands at the door yea and thou mayest see him through every window yea through every wall every wall is a window through which God may see and be seen A Christian when he is as he should be cannot wink God out of sight can look no where but he beholds that eye that strikes an awe upon his spirit This abiding reverence of God what an influence will it have upon the whole course we shall then serve God acceptably when we fear we shall please God That we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear We shall then serve God universally in every thing When we fear we shall watch unto every duty against every sin Gen. 42,18 This do and live for I fear God said Joseph to his brethren as if he should have said Do not you fear to find falshood or any evil dealing from me for I fear God I dare not be false to you you may trust me you may take my word for I fear God We shall then walk before the Lord steadily When we fear we shall fix and hold in an even frame and course Fear will be our Ballast whilest Love fills our Sails Fear will Ballast our Vessell How are slight and frothy spirits tossed up and down Whither do they wander How many hearts and faces and frames have they every day What contradictions are they to themselves The reverence of God upon them would fix them and hold them in a more even and equal poise We should then serve the Lord more Honourably When we fear we shall shew forth the vertues of God before the world so much of the reverence so much of the holiness of God upon us The presence of a Christian walking in the fear of the Lord is as the presence of God the reverence of God upon his heart casts a beam of Divine Majesty into his face and oftentimes begets an awe and reverence of him in the hearts of the worst of sinners they reverence even whilest they revile and persecute him Iohn Baptist who was a man of a just and holy and austere life 't is said of him Mark 6,20 That Herod feared him and observed him The austerity and holiness of his life commanded a respect from an Herods heart Such Christians their waies are a conviction and their very countenances are a rebuke to the wanton world they speak with authority they exhort with authority they reprove with authority and sin often hides it self from them even as from the face of God 2 Especially in our drawing nigh to God Psal 89.7 God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him I will be sanctified in them that draw nigh me He that fears God trembles at the word of God And God loves he should Isa 26.2 To this man will I look that trembles at my word That which makes him tremble is that he sees the Word carrying upon it The Holiness The Authority of God He reads the word as the Epistle of God sent down to the world his Epistle Commendatory that sets forth the Excellency and the Glory of God and his Letters Mandatory that charge subjection and obedience upon him he takes every word as comming from the mouth of the holy One of Israel he lies prostrate before the Lord his soul bowes the knee his heart falls down at the feet of the Almighty The word by how much the more it 's considered as the word of God by so much the more awe it works upon him Every look he casts upon his Bible is a looking into Heaven He that fears God fears when he comes to worship reverences his Sanctuary In thy fear will I worship Psal 5.7 That which works this fear is that he looks upon the Duties and Ordinances of worship as The Institutions of God His Application unto God This is that which the Lord hath sanctified behold his Image and Superscription here he hath appointed me to wait for him here he hath appointed to meet my soul now I am going up to the Mount of God the Mount of God is every where where the worship of God is My soul where art thou I am before the Lord of the whole Earth Put off thy shoes from off thy feet the place where thou standest is holy ground I am before the High and holy One the God of all the Earth and upon transactions of Eternal consequence to do my homage to the everlasting King to kneel before the Lord my maker to kiss the golden Scepter to begg my life at his hands to behold his goings in his Sanctuary his wisdom and his mercy and his goodness are all passing before me How dreadfull is this place This is none other but the House of God and the gate of Heaven Gen. 28.17 How dreadfull is this word This is none other but the word of God How dreadfull is this Ordinance This is no other but the door of glory Tremble thou heart at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob. 2. Abhorrence of evill for the Lords sake Here we shall consider its Object Ground 1. The Object of this abhorrence in general is evill Rom. 12.9 Abhorre that which is evil cleave to that which is good Good is the Object of Love evill of Fear Evill is twofold Present or to come The former is the Object of Grief the latter of Fear Particularly the Object of this abhorrence is The wrong of God The loss of God 1. The wrong of God The great and onely wrong of God is sin Sin is the turning away of the heart from God The great thing in all the world which God respects and requires as his own is Hearts My son give me thiâ—e heart Keep thine heart with all diligence Prov. 4.23 Keep thine heart that is Keep it for me keep it clean for God and keep it safe for God see that it be not defiled nor carried away When the heart 's gone all 's gone with it If the VVorld hath gotten hearts if Satan hath gotten hearts let them take all saith God let me have either an heart or nothing and all they are like to have that have the heart The heart where-ever it goes carries all with it VVhere we bestow our hearts we bestow all that we have Sin is the turning away
faith let not that man think he shall receive any thing of the Lord Jam. 1.7 And can he think to receive any thing that neither believes nor prayes That neither prayes in faith nor prays at all Phil. 2.12,13 It 's God works in you both to will and to do What then Therefore sit you still and do nothing No such matter therefore work out your salvation with fear and trembling saith the Apostle The promise of God was never intended to make the command of God of none effect God in promising grace promises a power for duty and as he doth not give so we must not receive â—hat power or grace of God in vain Whilst he gives what he requires he still requires what he gives That promise of God ye shall be my people though he undertake to make it good yet it is also the matter of our stipulation And in this promise wherein the Lord assures us what de facto we shall be is included a Precept wherein we may understand what de jure we ought to be In undertaking to give us a new heart a tender and obedient a persevering heart the Lord doth promise both to make us what we should be and to help us in what we are bound to do and gives us at once a clear hint both of our mercy and our duty This is the sence and summ of that Promise The Lord will work all that in us and will help and cause us to perform all that which is required unto salvation and so the Promissum on Gods part doth not make void but establish the Debitum on ours Do we then make void the Law through Faith Nay we establish the Law Though it be certain as to the event that all that 's necessary to salvation shall be accomplished in us God hath undertaken that yet it is altogether as certain that God hath made our loving him fearing him obeying his whole will and our sincerity and perseverance herein so necessary that we cannot otherwise be saved Christians mistake not nor abuse the grace of the Gospel The Lord never meant your mercy should make void your Obligation to duty Redemption from sin was never intended as a toleration of sin He gives not his Spirit in favour of the flesh What he undetakes to work for you was never with a mind to maintain you in idleness Tit. 2.11,12 The grace of God that bringeth salvation teacheth us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Though you are saved by grace yet you are still in a sense debtors to do the whole Law Perfect Obedience to the whole Law even to the utmost Iota is still due from you and if it be not in your hearts to pay all that you owe that is if there be any duty commanded in the whole book of God that you must be dispensed with that you will not set your hearts to observe and obey if there be any one sin that you must be excused in and will not part with if there be any the highest pitch of holy Care Activity Industry Zeal for God and Holiness that you will not be perswaded to press hard after this is an evidence of such an unsound heart as hath no part in the Gospel or the salvation thereof Perfection is still due though sincerity will be accepted Sincerity shall be accepted but what is sincerity less then an hearty willingness to be perfect attested by a striving and pressing on to that mark which is set before us O admire and bless the Lord the Lord for grace but do not turn the grace of God into licentiousness Shall we continue in sin because grace that abounded Will ye thus requite the Lord Will ye thus deceive your selves O foolish people and unwise Will you slight him because he hath loved you Kick at him because he hath cared for you Shake off his Yoke because he hath secured you the Crown Will you serve his enemies because he hath saved you from them Will you nourish your diseases because he hath said he will cure you Will you live and not eat Reap and not Plough Will you not eat because he hath given you meat Will you not run because he hath given you Leggs Nor work because he hath given you hands Nor watch because he hath given you eyes Or will you tempt the Lord and call that your trust in him Awake from such madness Christians say not If God will I shall whether I take care or no believe or no repent or no be obedient or rebellious whether I wake or sleep work or be idle my unbelief my disobedience my negligence shall not make the faith of God of none effect But rather since God hath said you shall let thine heart answer I will walk in his statutes Arise O my soul up and be doing work out thy salvation because its God that worketh in thee to will and to do Shake off thy sloth set to thy work run out thy race since God hath said thou shalt not run nor labour in vain And look to it for however thy Idleness or greatest Unfaithfulness will not make void the Covenant of God yet will it make manifest that thou hast no part nor lot in it But to all these glorious things that have been spoken possibly some will reply O if all this be so then happy Saints indeed Happy are the people that are in such a case yea blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. But will the Lord indeed do all these things for Mortals Will he take notice of Worms Shall such dry bones live Will he set such vile dust as the Apple of his eye Is not this too good to be true Too great to be believed Are we not all this while but in a Dream or a fools Paradise Oh that I were sure the one half were as it hath been told me Too great to be believed As if it must be questioned whether the Sun light because it dazles our eyes But what certainty would you have Is all this too great for the great and Almighty God to do who hath said Isa 55.9 As the Heavens are higher then the Earth so are my wayes higher then your wayes and my thoughts then your thoughts Can he not do it who can do all things Will he not do it when he hath said he will Will the Lord mock Can God deceive Shall his Word yea and his Oath too those two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lye can these fail If you should hear the Lord himself speaking to you from Heaven with audible voice My Covenant I make with thee and it is my intent and purpose to perform every word that is written in it according to the plain import and meaning thereof there shall not a tittle fail neither will I alter the thing that is gone forth of my lips Heaven and Earth shall fail but my word shall not fail
to be God as forget to be gracious c c Psa 77.9 While my name is Jehovah merciful gracious long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth I will never forget to shew mercy to you d d Ps 103.17 with Ex. 34.6,7 All my waies towards you shall be mercy and truth e e Psa 25.10 I have sworn that I would not be wroth with you nor rebuke you for the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from you neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on you His omnisciency as our Overseer Mine Omnisciencie shall be your overseer mine eies shall be ever open observing your wants to relieve them and your wrongs to avenge them f f 1 Pet. 3.12 Ex. 3.7 Mine ears shall be ever open to hear the prayers of my poor the cries of mine oppressed the clamours calumnies and reproaches of your enemies g g Psal 34.15 Exod. 2.24,25 Zeph. 2.8,9,10 Surely I have seen your affliction and know your sorrowes And shal not God avenge his own Elect I will avenge them speedily h h Luk. 18.7,8 I see the secret Plots and Designes of your enemies against you * * Jer. 18.23 and will disannul their Counsels i i Esay 8.10 with 29.14,15 Psal 33.10 I see your secret integrity and the uprightness of your hearts towards me while the carnal and censorious world condemn you as Hypocrites k k Job 1.8,9,10,11 2 Chron. 15.17 Your secret Prayers Fasts and Tears which the world knoweth not of I observe them and record them l l Matt. 4.6,18 Act. 10.4 Your secret care to please me your secret pains with your own hearts m m Mat. 25.34,35,36 2 Chron. 34.27 your secret self-searchings and self denyal I see them all and your Father which seeth in secret shall reward them openly His wisdom as our Counsellor My wisdom shall be your Councellor If any want wisdom n n Jam. 1.5 let him ask of me and it shall be given him I will be your Deliverer When you are in darkness I will be a light to you o o Mic. 7.8 I wil make your way plain before you p p Esay 43.19 and 57.14 You are but short sighted but I will be eyes to you q q Esay 42.6,7 and 49.6 I will watch over you to bring upon you all the good I have promised r r Jer. 31.28 with 32.24 and to keep off the evil you fear or to turn it into good Å¿ Å¿ Psal 91.10,14 Jer. 24.5 You shal have your food in its season and your Physick in its season Mercies Afflictions all suitable and in their season t t Psal 23.2,3 1 Pet. 1.6 Esay 27.7,8,9 I will outwit your Enemies and make their Oracles to speak but folly u u Esay 19.11,12,13,14 The old Serpent shal not deceive you I will acquaint you with his devices w w 2 Cor. 2.11 The deceitful hearts you fear shal not undoe you I will discover their wiles I know how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished x x 2 Pet 2.9 Trust in me with all your hearts and lean not to your own understanding y y Prov. 3.5,9 I am God that performeth all things for you z z Psal 57.2 I will forfeit the reputation of my wisdom if I make you not to acknowledge when you see the end of the Lord a a Jam. 5.11 though at present you wonder and reach not the meaning of my proceedings b b Jer. 12.1 that all my works are in Weight and in Number and in Time and in Order c c Ecc. 3.14 If I force you not to cry out Manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all d d Psal 33.4 145.10 Psal 104.24 His Justice as our Avenger and Rewarder My Justice shall be your Revenger and Rewarder e e 2 Thess 1.6 2 Tim. 4.8 Fear not to approach fury is not in me f f Esay 27.4 My Justice is not onely appeased towards you but engaged for you I am so fully satisfied in the sacrifice of my Beloved that Justice it self that was as a flaming sword drawn against you shall now greatly befriend you and that which was an amazing confounding Terror shall now become your relief and consolation g g Eccles 3 16,17 and 5.8 Psal 96.10,11,12,13 Psal 97.1 with 99.1 Under all your Oppressions here shal your refuge be h h Psal 6.9 and 103.6 Let me know your grievances my Justice shall right your wrongs and reward your services i i Psal 146.7 Heb. 6.10 You may conclude upon your Pardons conclude upon your Crowns conclude upon Reparations for all your injuries and all from the sweet consideration of my Justice k k 1 Joh. 1.9 2 Tim. 4.8 2 Thess 14.5 1 Pet. 2.23 the thought of which to others is as the horrour of the shadow of death If you sin despair not remember I am just to forgive you If you are at any pains or cost for me do not count it lost for I am not unrighteous to forget you I am the righteous Judge that have laid up for you and will set on you the Crown of righteousness Are you reviled persecuted defamed Forget not that I am righteous to render tribulation to them that trouble you and to you that are troubled rest with me Though all your services and sufferings deserve not the least good at my hands yet as I have freely passed my promise to reward them so I will as justly keep it His Omnipresence as company for us Mine Omnipresence shall be company for you l l 1 Chro. 22.18 Josh 1.5.9 Esay 41.10 Surely I will be with you to bless you m m Gen. 26 24. I will never leave you nor forsake you No Bolts nor Bars nor Bonds nor Banishment shal remove you from me nor keep my presence and the influences of Heaven from you n n Gen. 3â— 21.23 I am alwaies with you o o Matt. 28 20. In your darkest nights in your deepest dangers I am at hand with you a very present help in the time of trouble p p Psal 46.1 and 34.18 I am not a God afar off or asleep or in a journey when you need my counsel mine ear or mine aid I am alwaies nigh unto them that fear me q q Psal 145 18. No Patmos no Prison shall hinder the presence of my grace from you r r Rev. 1.9,10 Act. 16 25,26 My presence shall perfume the noysomest Wards and lighten the darkest Dungeons where you can be thrust Å¿ Å¿ Act. 12.7 Esay 58.10 His Holiness as a Fountain of grace to us My holiness shall be a fountain of grace to you
established in Heaven and in the Volume of the Book it is written of me My evidence cannot be lost It is recorded in the Court above and enrolled in the sacred leaves of the Word and entred upon the Book of my Conscience and herein I do and will rejoyce Now my soul wipe up thine eyes and go away with Hannah and be no more sad What though mine House be not so with God so happy so prosperous as I could wish What though they be encreased that trouble me and my temptations and afflictions be like the rolling Billows riding on one anothers backs for haste Yet shall my soul be as a rock unmoved and sit down satisfied in the security and amplitude of my portion For God hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and herein is all my salvation and all my desire And now what remaineth O Lord but that I should spend the remainder of my daies in loving praising and admiring thee But wherewith shall I come before the Lord or bow my self to the most High God What shall I give thee to express my thankfulness though not to requite thy bounty Alas my poor little soul Alas that thou art so little How narrow are thy capacities How disproportionate are thy powers Alas that my voice can reach to no higher a note But shall I do nothing because I cannot do all Lord I resign to thee With the poor Widow I cast my two mites my soul and body into thy Treasury All my powers shall love and serve thee All my members shall be weapons of Righteousness for thee Here is my good will Behold my substance is thy stock mine interest is for thy service I lay all at thy feet There thou hast them they are thine My Children I enter as thy Servants My possessions I resign as thy right I will call nothing mine but thee All mine are thine I can say My Lord and my God and that is enough I thankfully quit my claim to all things else I will no more say My House is mine or my Estate mine I my self am not mine own Yet it is infinitely better for me to be thine then if I were mine own This is my happiness that I can say my own God my own Father And O what a blessed exchange hast thou made with me to give me thy Self who art an infinite Sum for my self who am but an insignificant Cypher And now Lord do thou accept and own my claim I am not worthy of any thing of thine much less of thee But sith I have a Deed to shew I bring thy Word in my hand and am bold to take possession Dost thou not know this hand wilt thou not own this name wilt thou not confirm thine own grant It were infidelity to doubt it I will not disparage the faithfulness of my Lord nor be afraid to averre and stand to what he hath said and sworn Hast thou said Thou art my God and shall I fear thou art mine enemy Hast thou told me Thou art my Father and shall I stand aloof as if I were a stranger I will believe Lord silence my fears and as thou hast given me the claim and title of a Child so give me the confidence of a Child Let my heart be daily kept alive by thy promises and with this staffe let me pass over Jordan May these be my undivided companions and comforters When I go let them lead me when I sleep let them keep me when I awake let them talk with me And do thou keep these things for ever upon the imaginations of the thoughts of the hearts of thy people and prepare their hearts unto thee And let the heart of thy Servant be the Ark of thy Testament wherein the sacred records of what hath passed between thee and my soul may for ever be preserved Amen Thus far my Friend So be it CHAP. XIX An Exhortation to Sinners O Earth earth earth hear the word of the Lord Ye men of this world ye spirits that are in Prison held captive to iniquity under the Prince of this world in a Covenant with Death at an agreement with Hell without Christ Alians from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope without God in the world who have said We will not have this man to rule over us let us break his Bonds asunder and cast his Cords from us who are joyned to Idols have chosen you other gods are following after other Lovers who walk after the course of this world according to the Prince of the Power of the Ayr the spirit that now worketh in the children of Disobedience having your conversation in the Lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and being still as you were by nature the children of Wrath in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity O ye sons of death ye children of the night and of darkness Hear and your souls shal live to you also is the word of this salvation sent even the strangers and those that are afar off that will lay hold on the Covenant and chuse the thing that pleaseth God these also shal have a name in his house even the glorious name of Sons and Daughters The Lord hath sent a word into Jacob and it shal light upon Edom and Amaleck and the uncircumcised Philistines even as many of them as the Lord our God shal call Act. 2.39 Hearken O people you that are polluted in your blood written in the Earth free among the dead come in let your Covenant with death be made void and your agreement with Hell be disanulled strike a League with the Almighty and your names also shal be written amongst the living in Jerusalem Stand ye before the Lord come and let us reason together Where are you What is your Portion and Inheritance Ye are cursed with a Curse Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest this shall be the portion of your cup Psal 11.6 What are you seeking whither are you travelling After a few years of your vanity are over where must your dwelling be Who can dwell with the devouring fire Who can dwell with everlasting burnings Look before you behold that smoaking Furnace that burning Lake that bottomless Pit that 's gaping for you and at your next step may swallow you up Escape for your lives why will ye dye Turn and live Do you believe the Resurrection from the dead the Judgment to come and the invisible World Is it to the spirit of a man as to the spirit of a beast Doth it perish with his carkase Dieth a Man as a Dogg dieth Dieth a wise man as a fool dieth Fall all things alike to all just and unjust good and bad after this life as well as in it Do you believe the Scriptures Are they but a Fable If you hope they are are you sure they are Dare you venture your souls upon it Whilest the Saints
resist all thy sins but art thou in earnest What course dost mean to take Wilt thou take Gods way He bids thee hear believe pray fast mourn strive fight watch c. Wilt thou hearken to his Counsels wilt thou be healed of thy diseases But wilt thou take the counsel of the Physition Wilt thou use his Medicines Thou wilt overcome thine enemy but wilt thou take heed of him Wilt thou fight against him Wilt thou take in all the help that 's offered thee Wilt thou not onely believe and lean upon God for his help but wilt thou pray and lift up thy heart for his help Wilt thou not onely pray against thy sins but watch against them against the occasions temptations and beginnings of sin Wilt thou use all Gods means and against all thy sins shall not thine eyes spare any of them wilt thou make thorough work with them root and branch old and young Shall there be neither the lowing of the Oxen nor the bleating of the sheep heard with thee Wilt thou destroy the greater and dash the little ones also against the stones Wilt thou avenge thy self of thine Advetsaries and wilt thou never again agree with thine Adversaries Wilt thou never again say Is it peace Jehu is it peace Jezabel So if thy sins say to thee Is it peace soul wilt thou answer What have you to do with peace get you behind me Wilt thou neither make a truce with sin nor embrace a parley nor entertain a Treaty for peace with it Wilt thou not draw back thine hand nor put up thy Weapons nor give over thy watch nor go off thy Guard till all thine enemies become thy footstool all this is included in the renouncing of sin Beware you be not mistaken here this is the damnation of the world their mistakes about repentance They easily say I repent of my sins I forsake the Devil and all his works and they as easily perswade themselves that they do as they say But did they understand what there is in this repentance a searching out their sins dividing their souls from them a painful and watchfull shunning and resisting them in their whole course did they know what their particular sins are how near they are to their hearts how they have been nursed in their bosomes and how hard t will be now to part even this Covetousnesse must go even this sensuallity must go these dear pleasures these beloved gains these pleasant companions must all be sent away not one to be spared nor so much as once more did they understand this they would then see what wind all their good words be They as much mean to pluck their eyes out of their heads to tear their flesh off their bones as to repent if this be repentance Well now say wilt thou repent Wilt thou now renounce sin Wilt thou renounce the world also By the world understand all the substance of the world Houses Lands Money and whatsoever worldly Possessions all the shadowes of the world its Honours Pleasures Pomps with all its glory The men of this world the friendship of the world all fleshly Relations Fathers Mothers Brothers Sisters Children all sinful Companions and societies whatsoever is in and of the world These are then renounced when we are resolved that they shall neither be Our gods or Idols Our devils or Tempters 1. Not our gods Then we make the world a god to us when we make it out happiness or end When we bless our selves in it and count that our very life consists in the abundance of the things which we possess When we devote our selves to it making it as the blessedness so the great business of our life He that can want the world and yet be blessed he that can want or have the world and yet not serve it he hath renounced it even whilest he hath it though t is his still yet t is not his God 2. Not our devils or Tempters The world tempts in a double way 1. Per modum Objecti as Objects which by somthing that is apprehended desireable in them entices and invites out the heart after them or by somthing apprehended as formidable affrights us out of our way Thus pleasant meats tempts the Glutton and wine the Drunkard and a Lyon in the streets the Coward 2. Per modum causae Instrumentalis as under devils or the devils Instruments or Agitators by which he betrayes and beguiles unstable souls In the former sence the things of the world in the latter the men of the world are temptations and Tempters to us He renounces the world that will not be tempted by the world that takes up with Christ and will not be brib'd off by worldly advantages nor proslyted by worldly companions He that is resolved for Christ though with the loss of all and with the displeasure of all the world He that can be poor for Christ that can be vile for Christ that can go hungry and naked with Christ that can go alone with Christ and that even then when 't is but turning away from Christ and he may be rich and honourable and be clothed and be filled and have company enough as much as he desires he forsakes the world He that can renounce the world whenever it comes to be a case either Christ must be forsaken or all things for Christ he that can whose heart is brought to it he hath renounced the world What sayest thou now Soul Thou wilt have Christ but what if thou must leave all behinde thee VVhat if he say to thee sâ—…l all that thou hâ—st and follow me Canst thou be poor Canst 〈◊〉 be naked Canst thou be hungry for Christ Thou wilt have Christ but how wilt thou leave thy Companions What will all thy carnal friends say of thee He 's a fool he 's mad he 's besides himself How wilt look thy Father or thy Mother or thy Wife in the face who are all against it who will be perswading beseeching thee weeping over thee hanging upon thy neck or it may be scoffing and reviling and spitting in thy face to discourage and hold thee back What sayest thou now Art thou yet for Christ VVilt thou forsake them all cast off all that stands in thy way VVilt thou forsake the devil also But I need not now ask thee that that 's done already farewell Devil when once sin and the world are cast out If thou wilt not be tempted to sin if the world ceases to be a temptation the Devil were as good cease to be a Tempter There be many that say I defie the Devil and yet defie not sin and the world wise men They like not the Devil but yet will lick up his Excrements they hate the Devil and yet are never well longer then they are dancing in his chains Defie the Devil and yet love sin such defiance is his delight Let sin be defied let the world be despised and the Devil is conquered 4. And lastly Wilt thou cleave unto
will they not prove themselves so to be but specially graces will be their own evidence Things outward fall alike to all No man knowes love or hatred by ought that befalls him Eccles 9.1 Thou mayest be a son or a bastard notwithstanding all that thou enjoyest or sufferest here but not one of the fore-mentioned graces but is a childes portion Gods mark upon the heart to distinguish children from strangers Prove that thou truly knowest the Lord hast one heart a tender heart c. and thou therein provest thy self to be a child of Promise Read over the descriptions that have been given of these graces observe diligently where the main differenâ—e lyes betwixt common and special grace compare thine heart with it and thereby thou mayest give a judgement of thy state If it be yet questionable whether it be sound or no sit not down till thou hast obtained but having obtained 2. Keep your evidences clear Have you peace maintain it carefully The hidden Manna will never breed worms by long keeping Content not your selves that you once had peace 't will be but a poor livelihood you will get out of what 's wasted and lost Get you good evidences that God is yours and keep them by you till you need them no more Grace is your best evidence cherish and preserve it Get a seeing eye and keep your eye open get a single heart and let it not be again divided get a tender heart and keep it tender let the love and fear of God be acted in holy Obedience An obedient gracious watchful active life will keep grace in heart and flourishing grace will speak for it self and you Look not that the Lord should so far countenance your declinings to a more fleshly careless state as to smile upon you in such a state God will not be an Abettor to sin Count upon it that your grace and peace your duty and comfort will rise and fall together suspect those comforts that accompany you into the tents of wickedness and forsake you not when you forsake your God Keep up your spirits and then lift up your heads keep heedfully on your way and your joy shal no man take from you Particularly 1. Keep close by God 2. Keep hold on Christ 3. Keep touch with the Spirit 4. Keep in with Conscience 1. Keep close to God Keep thy self under his eye and influences Both thy grace and thy comforts as they had their birth so must they have their nourishment from Heaven Lose the sight of the Sun and darkness follows Let thine eyes be towards the hills Let divine love be the pleasure of thy life Let it be thy Lords cord upon thine heart let it binde thee to him be loves Captive let thine ear be bor'd to the threshold be familiar in Heaven keep thine acquaintance there and be at peace chide back thy gadding heart Soul whither art thou going who hath the words of eternal life let the interviews of love betwixt thy Lord and thee be constant let them not be onely on some few holy days of thy life Count not thou hast lived that day in which thou hast not liv'd with God Keep close to God by keeping close to duty Keep close to duty and keep close to God in duty Call not that a duty which thou canst not call communion with God Make not duty to do the work of sin to take God out of sight Let not Prayer or Hearing or Sacraments be instead of a God to thee Such praying and hearing there is amonst many but know not thou any thing for Religion wherein thou meetest not with God Behold the face of God but behold his face in righteousness Psal 17.15 'T is ill looking on God with a blood-shot eye Guilt upon the heart will be a cloud that will make the Sun as darkness to thee Walk in the light of the Lord. Walk in the light as he is in the light In thy light the holiness of thy life thou shalt see his light The light of his holiness in thee will be attended with the light of his countenance upon thee By the light of his countenance thou wilt both see thy self in thy way to thine hopes and learn thy way more perfectly Psal 119.135 Make thy face to shine upon thy Servant and teach me thy statutes God hath many ways of teaching he teaches by Book he teaches by his Finger he teaches by his Rod but his most comfortable and effectual teaching is by the light of his Eye Send forth thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me to thy holy Hill 2. Keep hold on Christ He is thy peace Appear not before God but in the blood of the Lamb let him carry up thy duties and own not that for a comfort which is not brought thee by his hand Let him be thy way to the Father and thy Fathers way to thee Keep fresh upon thine heart the memory of his death and satisfaction and let that be thy life and thine hope Hast thou cast Anchor on this Rock lose not thy hold hang upon the horns of the Altar Thou canst not live but there if thou must dye say but I will dye here Put forth fresh Acts of faith everyday and hour Believe believe believe and thou shalt be established Fall not into Unbelief then thou art gone thou departest from the living God Heb. 3.12 3. Keep touch with the Spirit Observe and obey his motions when he excites get thee on when he checks get thee back know the holy from the evil spirit by its according or differing with the Scriptures reject that spirit in the heart that is not the same with the Spirit in the word Try the Wind what and whence it is by thy Card and Gompass To the Law and to the Testimony And when thou perceivest it s from above hoise up thy sails and get thee on Quench not the Spirit Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby thou art sealed to the day of Redemption 4. Keep in with Conscience Make not thy witness thine enemy Deal friendly with it thou wilt need its good word which thou canst not have if it receive blowes from thee it will not learn this Lesson to speak good for evil or if thou shouldest beat it into it thou art undone if an abuse conscience speak peace it becomes thy Traytor Give due respect to Conscience Let it abide with thee in Peace and in Power Keep up its Authority as Gods Vicegerent Next under God commit the keeping of thy soul to conscience as the Lord hath so do thou make it superintendent in thy soul the Judge and Over-seer of all thy motions and actions Let conscience counsell thee and tell thee thy way let conscience quicken thee and put thee on in thy way let conscience watch thee that thou turn not out of thy way let conscience check thee and reduce thee into thy way Whither ever thou goest carry conscence along with thee carry
temptations they shut their eyes and stop their ears they wil not see they will not believe Oh what losses do they sustain how many Sabbaths are lost how many Sermons are lost how many reproofs counsels corrections are lost a Gospel lost and souls thereby like to bee lost for ever oh what prodigies are they become under all this sin and misery and yet merry jolly laughing and singing and sporting and feasting and braving it out as if nothing ail'd them Feeling nothing of all that is come upon them and fearing nothing of all that is coming Warn them reprove them beseech them 't is all but preaching to a stone It may bee you have sometimes wondred to see a company of thieves in prison to bee drinking and carousing and milking merry when they know that in a few daies they must bee brought out and hanged When thou wondrest at these wonder at thy self What bitter complaints do wee sometimes hear even from the best of Saints oh this hard heart oh this stubborn spirit I cannot mourn I cannot stoop I cannot submit Isa 63.17 Why hast thou hardned our heart from thy fear Or why hast thou left us or given us up to an hard heart why hast thou not softened and humbled and broken us thou hast humbled us and wee are not humbled broken us and wee are not broken thou hast broken our land broken our peace broken our backs but the stone is not yet broken oh for one breach more Lord our hearts our hearts let these bee once broken our streets mourn the Cities of our solemnities mourn the wayes of Sion mourn oh when wilt thou give us a mourning spirit Oh what sorrow-bitten souls are the Saints for want of sorrow I mourn Lord I lament I weep but 't is because I cannot mourn or lament as I should If I could mourn as I ought I could bee comforted if I could weep I could rejoyce if I could sigh I could sing if I could lament I could live I die I dye mine heart dies within mee because I cannot cry I cry Lord but not for sin but for tears for sin I cry Lord my calamities cry my bowels cry my bones cry my soul cries my sins cry Lord for a broken heart and behold yet I am not broken The Rocks rent the Earth quakes the Heavens drop the Clouds weep the Sun will blush the Moon bee ashamed the foundations of the earth will tremble at the presence of the Lord but this heart will neither break nor tremble O for a broken heart If this were once done might my soul have this wish thenceforth my God might have his Will what would bee hard if my heart were tender Labour would bee easie pains would bee a pleasure burthens would bee light Neither the Command nor the Cross would bee any longer grievous nothing would bee hard but sin Fear where art thou come and plough upon this Rock Love where art thou come and thaw this Ice come and warm this dead lump come and enlarge this straitned spirit then shall I run the way of his Commandements Oh Brethren how little how very little of this tenderness is there to bee found amongst the most of Christians The sacrifice of God is a broken heart Oh how far must the Lord go to finde himself such a Sacrifice wee do but cast stones up to Heaven when wee lift up our hearts 'T is a wonder that such hearts as wee carry do not break themselves that our marble weeps not that if nothing else will do it our hardness doth not make us relent that wee should so labour under and complain of and yet not bee sick of the Stone Broken hearts yeilding and relenting spirits tender consciences Oh where are they afraid of sin tender of transgressing or mourning under it when shall it once bee our lusts no more broken our pride our passion our envy our earthliness no more broken So venturous on temptation so bold on sin such liberty taken to transgress such mincing and palliating and excusing of sin as wee finde Is this our brokenness wee are tender 't is true but of what of dishonouring God of abusing Grace of neglecting Duty of defiling Conscience of vvounding of our Souls No 't is of our flesh that wee are so tender tender of labour tender of trouble tender of our carkasses of our credits of our Names and reputations a tender shoulder a tender hand a tender foot they can bear nothing nor do nothing nothing can touch our flesh nothing can touch our Idols our ease or our estates but wee shrink and smart and are put to pain God may bee smitten and wee feel it not the Gospel may bee smitten the Church may bee smitten conscience may bee smitten and it moves us not Wee can fear an affliction fear a reproach Oh did wee so much fear a temptation or a sin wee cannot want bread but wee feel it wee cannot want cloathes or an house or a friend but wee feel it Wee cannot want our sleep our quiet our pleasure our respects from men but wee feel it any thing that pinches upon our flesh pierces our hearts Wee cannot pine or languish in our bodies but wee feel it a feaver or an ague or a consumption or a dropsie or any bodily sickness Oh it makes us sick at heart a froward yoak-fellow an unthrifty servant an ill neighbour a scoffe a sleight cannot bee born but Oh! how much sin can bee born while our flesh will bear nothing Oh! how can conscience bear and never complain Christians consider when our flesh must be thus tendred what ever come of it must be tenderly fed must have soft rayment soft lodging soft usage deal gently with it though to maintain it Conscience must bee racked and wracked and wasted When our Wills cannot bee crossed our appetites cannot bee denied but a tumult follows the soul is in an uproar and conscience mean while must be denied rated and must go away in silence When the Word works no more when the prints of it are not received the power of it is resisted when the rod works no more when our stripes make no sign when the lashes on our backs fall all besides our hearts when wee remain so vain and so wanton so wilful and so carnal and so earthly after the Lord hath been preaching and whipping of us into a better frame when wee stand upon our terms keep our distances our animosities our heats and heighths of spirit our censurings our quarrellings one with another Christian with Christian Professour with Professour after the Lord hath been beating us together to make us friends and all to learn us more humility and charity Is this our brokenness is this our tenderness when upon any the Lords rougher dealing with us spitting in our faces throwing us on our backs trampling us in the dirt wee are yet no more brought on our knees Is this our brokenness when the Lord hath been awakening us out of sleep putting his