distresses Eternity is your Religion and the Life of all your holy motions and as without the Capacity of it you would be but beasts so without the Love and Desire of it and title to it you would be but wicked miserable men Set not your hearts on transitory things while you stand near unto Eternity How can you have room for so many thoughts on fading things when you have an Eternity to think on what light can you see in the Candles or Glow-worms of this world in the Sunshine of Eternity Oh remember when you are tempted to please your eyes your tast and sensual desires that these are not Eternal pleasures Remember when you are tempted for wealth or honour to wrong your souls that these are not the Eternal riches Houses and Lands are not Eternal meats and drinks are not Eternal sports and pastimes and jocund sinful company are not Eternal Alas how short how soon do they vanish into nothing But it is God and our dear Redeemer that are Eternal The flower of beauty withereth with age or by the nipping blast of a short disease the honours of the world are but a dream your graves will bury all its glory Down comes the Prince the Lord the gallant and suddenly takes his lodgings in the dust The corps that was pampered and adorned yesterday is a clod to day The body that was bowed to attended and applauded but the other day is now interred in the vault of darkness with worms and moles To day it is corruption and a most loathsome thing that lately was dreaming of an earthly happiness One day he is striving for riches and preheminences or glorying and rejoycing in them that the next day may be snatcht away to hell O fix not your minds on fading things that perish in the using and by their vanishing mock you that set your hearts upon them You will not fix your eye and mind upon every bird that flyeth by you as you will on the houses that you must dwell in nor will you mind every passenger as you will do your friends that still live with you And shall transitory vanity be minded by you above Eternity 3. It is Eternity that must direct you in your estimate of all things It is this that sheweth you the excellency of man above the beasts It is this that tells you the worth of Grace and the weight of sin the preciousness of holy Ordinances and helps and the evil of hinderances and temptations the wisdome of the choice and diligence of the Saints and the folly of the choice and negligent sinful lives of the ungodly the worth of Gods favour and the vanity of mans and the difference between the godly and the unsanctified world in point of Happiness Were noâ— Grace the egg the seed the earnest of an Eternal glory it were not so glorious a thing But O how precious are all those thoughts desires delights and breathings of the soul that bring us on to sweet Eternity Even those sorrows and groans and tears are precious that lead to an Eternal joy Who would not willingly obey the holy motions of the holy Spirit that is but hatching and preparing us for Eternity This is it that makes a Bible a Sermon a holy Book to be of greater value then Lands and Lordships It is Eternity that makes the illuminated soul so fearful of sinning so diligent in holy duties so chearful and resolved in suffering because he believeth it is all for an Eternity A Christian in the holy Assemblies and in his reading learning prayer conference is laying up for Everlasting when the worldling in the Market in the field or shop is making provision for a few dayes or hours Thou gloriest in thy Riches and preheminence now but how long wilt thou do so To day that house that land is thine but canst thou say it shall be thine to morrow Thou canst not But the Believer can truly say My God my Christ is mine to day and will be mine to all Eternity O Death thou canst take my friends from me and my worldly riches from me and my time and strength and life from me but take my God my Christ my Heaven my Portion from me if thou canst My sin is all thy sting and strength But where is thy sting when sin is gone and where is thy strength when Christ hath conquered thee Is it a great matter that thou deprivest me of my sinful weak and troublous friends when against thy will thou bringest me to my perfect blessed friends with whom I must abide for ever Thou dost indeed bereave me of these Riches but it is that I may possess the unvaluable Eternal riches Thou endest my Time that I may have Eternity Thou castest me down that I may be exalted Thou takest away my strength of life that I may enter into Life Eternal And is this the worst that Death can do And shall I be afraid of this I willingly lay by my cloaths at night that I may take my rest and I am not loth to put off the old when I must put on new The bird that is hatcht is not grieved because he must leave the broken shell Nor is it the grief of man or beast that he hath left the womb Death doth but open the womb of Time and let us into Eternity and is the second birth day of the soul. Regeneration brings us into the Kingdom of Grace and Death into the Kingdom of Glory Blessed are they that have their part in the New birth of Grace and the first Resurrection from the death of sin for to such the Natural Death will be Gain and they shall have their part in the second Resurrection and on them the everlasting Death shall have no power O sirs it is Eternity that telleth you what you should mind and be and do and that turneth the seales in all things where it is concerned Can you slâ—ep in sin so neer Eternity Can you play and laugh before you are prepared for Eternity Can you think him wise that selleth his eternal Joy for the ease the mirth the pleasure of a moment and trifleth away the time in which he must win or lose Eternity If these men be wise there are nâ— fools nor any but wise men in Bedlam Dare thy tongue report or thy heart imagine that any holy work is needless or a heavenly life too much adoe or any suffering too dear that is for an Eternity O happy souls that win Eternity with the loss of all the world O bless that Christ that spirit that light that word that messenger of God that drew thy heart to choose Eternity before all transitory things That was the day when thou beganst to be wise and indeed to shew thy self a man Thy wealth thy honour thy pleasure will be thine when the sensual world hath nothing to shew but sin and Hell of all they laboured for Their pleasures honours and all die when they die But thine will
that is able to choose or to refuse and as an universal Cause to concur with the agent to the Act as such But Philosophers indeed are at a loss and are fain to tell us of Privations Modes Relations Denominations Entia Rationis and I know not what that they say are neither Beings nor Nothing but between both they know not what the nature of things in the utmost extremities of the branches being so capâ—llar and spun with so fine a thred that the understanding is not subtil enough to discern them And shall this disturb us in Divinity or be imputed to it If you say That the Will of God is the Cause of all things and therefore of sin I answer If you call sin Nothing as a shaddow darkness death c. are nothing for all that we abhor them then you answer your selves If you call it something we are all agreed that it s but such a something as man can cause without Gods first causing it It sufficeth that God do the part of a Creatour in giving man the free Power of choosing or refusing and the part of a preserver in maintaining that power and as an universal cause concurring to all acts in genere as the sun doth shine on the dunghill and the flowers and that he also do the part of a just Governour in prohibiting and disswading and threatning sinners Object But how can sin Eventually be if God decree it not seeing all Events are from his Will I answer 1. We are agreed that he Causeth it not 2. And that he doth not so much as Will the Event of sin as sin 3. And that he willingly permitteth what is by him permitted 4. And that sin is such a thing as may Evenire be brought forth by a bare permission if there be no Positive Decree for the Event As a Negative in the effects requireth not a Positive Cause so neither a Positive Will for its production There are millions of millions of worlds and individual creatures and species Possible that shall never be And it is audaciousness to assert that there must be millions of millions of Positive Decrees that such worlds or creatures shall not be 5. Nor is it any dishonour to God if he have not a Positive Decree or Will about every Negation as that all the men in the world shall not be called by a thousand possible names rather then their own c. These things being all certain I add 1. Let them dispute that dare that yet de facto God doth Positively Will the Events of all Privations or Negations of acts 2. But when men are once habitually wicked and bent to evil it is just with him if he permit them to follow their own lusts and if he leave before them such Mercies as he foreknoweth they will wilfulfully make occasions of their sin and if he resolve to make use of the sin which he knoweth they will commit for his Churches Good and for his Glory Object But doth not God Will that sin Eventually shall not be Answ. Even as I before said he willeth that obedience eventually shall be If sin come to pass it is certain that God did not simply Will that it should not come to pass For then he must be conquered and unhappy by every sin But he willeth simply that it shall be the Duty of man to avoid it And he may be said to Nill the Event in tantum so far as that he will forbid it and threaten and disswade the sinner and give him the helps that shall leave him unexcusable if he sin and so leave it to his Will Thus far he may be said to Will that sin Eventually shall not be but not simply Though these things are not obvious to vulgar capacities yet they are such as the subject in hand viz. Gods first causation and Creation together with the weight of them and the contentions of the world about them have made needfull 3. If God be the Creator and the cause of all then we must remember that all his works are Good and therefore nothing must be hated by us that hath he made considered in its native Goodness God hateth sin and so must we for that he made it not Rev. 2. 6. Psal. 45. 7. Isa. 1. 14. And he hateth all the works of iniquity as such Psal. 5. 5. and so must we but we must Love all of God that is in them and Love them for it There is somewhat Good and Amiable in every creature yea all of it that is of God Though Toads and Serpents are odious to us because they are hurtful and seem deformed in themselves yet are they Good in themselves and not deformed as parts of the universe but Good unto the common end The wants in the wheels of your watch are as useful to the motion as the nucks or solid parts The night is part of the useful order of the creation as well as the day The vacant interspace in your writing is needful as well as the words Every letter should not be a vowel nor every character a Capital Every member should not be a heart or head or eye Nor should every one in a Commonwealth be a King or Lord So in the Creation the parts that seem base are useful in their places and good unto their Ends. Let us not therefore vilifie or detest the works of God but study the excellencies of them and see and admire and Love them as they are of God It is one of the hardest practical points before us to know how to esteem of all the Creatures and to use them without running into one extream At the same time to Love the world and not to Love it to honour it and despise it to exalt it and to tread it under our feet to mind it and use it with delight and yet to be weaned from it as those that mind it not And yet a great part of our Christian duty lyeth in the doing of this difficult work As the world is the Devils bait and the fleshes Idol set up against God and would tice us from him or hinder us in his service and either be our Carnal end and happiness or a means thereto so we must make it the care of our hearts to hate it despise it neglect it and tread it under foot and the labour of our lives to conquer it But the same creatures must be admired studyed loved honoured delighted in and daily used as they are the excellent work of the Almighty God and reveal to us his Attributes or will being the Glass in which we must see him while we are in the flesh and as they lead us to God and strengthen furnish or help us in his service But to Love them for God and not for themselves O how hard is it To keep pure affections towards them and a spiritual delight in in them that shall not degenerate into a carnal delight is a task for the holiest Saint on Earth to labour
my Wife neither am I her Husband Nay more than this if you are Christians you are members of the body of Christ And therefore how can you withdraw your selves from him and not feel the pain and torment of so sore a wound or dislocation you cannot live without a constant dependence on him and communication from him Joh 15. 1 4 5. I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman Abide in me and I in you I am the Vine ye are the Branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you So near are you to Christ that he delighteth to acquaint you with his secrets O how many mysteries doth he reveal to those that walk with him which carnal strangers never know Mysteries of Wisdome Mysteries of Love and saving Grace Mysteries of Scripture and Mysteries of Providence Mysteries felt by inward experience and Mysteries revealed foreseen by Faith Not only the strangers that pass by the doors but eveâ—â— the common servants of the family are unacquainted with the secret operations of the Spirit and entertainments of Grace and Joy in believing which those that walk with God either do or may possess Therefore Christ calleth you friends as being more than servants Joh. 15. 14 15. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what the Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you It is true for all this that every true Christian hath reason and is apt to complain of his darkness and distance from God Alas they know so little of him and of the Mysteries of his Love and Kingdom that sometimes they are apt to think that they are indeed but utter strangers to him But this is because there is infinitely more still unknown to them than they know what can the silly shallow creature comprehend his infinite Creatour Or shall we know all that is to be known in Heaven before we enjoy all that is to be enjoyed in Heaven It is no more wonder to hear a believer pant and mourn after a fuller knowledge of God and neâ—râ—r access to him than to seek after Heaven where this will be his happiness But yet though his Knowledge of God be small compared with his Ignorance that little Knowledge of God which he hath attained i 〈…〉 ore mysterious sublime and excellent than all the learning of the greatest unsanctified Scholars in the world Walk with him according to the neatness of your Relations to him and you shall have this excellent knowledge of his Mysteries which no Books or Teachers alone can give You shall be effectually touched at the heart with the truths which others do uneffectually hear You shall be powerfully moved when they are but uneffectually exhorted When they only hear the voice without them you shall hear the voice within you and as it were behind you saying This is the way walk in it O that you could duly value such a friend to watch over you and for you and dwell in you and tell you faithfully of every danger and of every duty and teach you to know good and evil and what to choose and what to refuse How closely and delightfully would you converse with such a blessed friend if you rightly valued him 2. MOreover you that are the servants of God have by your Covenant and Profession renounced and forsaken all things else as they stand in any opposition to him or competition with him and have resigned your selves wholly unto him alone And therefore with him must you converse and be employed unless you will forsake your Covenant You knew first that it was your interest to forsake the world and turn to God You knew the world would not serve your turn nor be instead of God to you either in life or at death And upon this Knowledge it was that you changed your Master and changed your minds and changed your way your work your hopes And do you dream now that you were mistaken Do you begin to think that the world is fitter to be your God or Happiness if not you must still confess that both your Interest and your Covenant do oblige you to turn your hearts and minds from the things which you have renounced and to walk with him that you have taken for your God and to obey him whom you have taken for your King and Judge and to keep close to him with purest Love whom you have taken for your everlasting portion Mark what you are minding all the day while you are neglecting God Is it not something that you have renounced And did you not renounce it upon sufficient cause Was it not a work of your most serious deliberation and of as great wisdome as any that ever you performed if it were turn not back in your hearts again from God unto the renounced Creature You have had many a lightning from Heaven into your understandings to bring you to see the difference between them You have had many a teaching and many a warning and many a striving of the spirit before you were prevailed with to renounce the world the flesh and the devil and to give up your self intirely and absolutely to God Nay did it not cost you the smart of some afflictions before you would be made so wise And did it not cost you many a gripe of conscience and many a terrible thought of Hell and of the wrath of God before you would be heartily engaged to him in his Covenant And will you now live as strangely and neglectfully towards him as if those daies were quite forgotten and as if you had never felt such things and as if you had never been so convinced or resolved O Christians take heed of forgetting your former case your former thoughts your former convictions and complaints and covenants God did not work all that upon your hearts to be forgotten He intended not only your present change but your after remembrance of it for your close adhering to him while you live and for your quickning and constant preservance to the end The forgetting of their former miseries and the workings of God upon their hearts in their conversion is a great cause of mutability and revolting and of unspeakable hurt to many a soul. Nay may you not remember also what sorrow you had in the day of your Repentance for your forsaking and neglecting God so long And will you grow again neglective of him Was it then so hainous a sin in your eyes and is it not now grown less Could you then aggravate it so many waies and justly and now do you justifie or extenuate it Were you then ready to sink under the burden of it and were
Creature that is your danger and which detaineth your thoughts and affections from himself If you could but learn to walk with him and to take up your pleasure in his Love appearing to you in his Creatures and to make their sweetness a means to your apprehension of the sweetness of his favour and of the everlasting joyes then you might say the Creature doth you good and then it 's like you might be permitted to possess and use it for such pleasure The jealous God will watch your hearts though you watch them not and he will make you know that he seeth which way they run out from him and what Creature it is that is minded and delighted in while he is neglected as if he were unsuitable and scarce desirable And you must never look that he should long permit you those prohibited delights or let you alone in those idolatrous inclinations If he Love you he will cure that Carnal Love and recover your Love to himself that hath deserved it If he intend not your salvation he may let you go and try again whether the Creature will prove better to you than himself But you cannot think that he will thus let go his Children that must live with him for ever Have you not perceived that this is the design and meaning of his afflicting and disappointing providences even to leave you no comfortable entertainment or converse but with himself and with his servants and with those means that lead you to himself If you begin to desire to lodge abroad in strange habitations he will uncover those houses and will not leave you a room that 's dry to put your head in or he will throw open the doors and leave all open to the lust of ravenous beasts and robbers He will have thy heart and he will have thy company because thou art his child and because he loveth thee He will allow thee neither thy carnal Delights or Hopes If he perceive thee either taking that Pleasure in thy Prosperity which thou shouldest take in him alone or Hoping at least that the world may hereafrer prove more amiable and delightful to thee the more he loveth thee the more his Providence shall conspire with his Grace to change thy mind by depriving thee of thy unwholsome dangerous delights and of all thy Hopes of such hereafter Use the world as a traveller for the ends to which it was ordained to the service of God and the furtherance of thy salvation and then thou shalt find that God will furnish thee with all that is necessary to these necessary ends But if the world must have your Love and Care and must be your chiefest business and delight and your excuse for not attending upon God murmure not nor marvel not if he dispose of it and you accordingly If you are yet too healthful to think with seriousness on your eternal state If you are too Rich to part with all for Christ or openly to own his Cause If you are too much esteemed in the world to own a scorned slandered Religion If you are so busie for Earth that you cannot have time to think of Heaven If you have so much delight in House or Land or in your employments or recreations or friends that God and Godliness can have little or none of your delight Marvel not then if God do shake your Health or waste your Riches or turn your Honour into contempt and suffer men to slander and reproach you and spit in your sace and make you of no reputation Marvel not if he turn you out of all or turn all to your grief and trouble and make the world a desert to you and the inhabitants as wolves and bears The great Lesson that Christ hath undertaken to teach you is the difference betwixt the Creatour and the Creature and the difference betwixt Heaven and Earth The great work that Christ hath undertaken to do upon you is to recover your hearts from the world to God And this Lesson he will teach you and this work he will do upon you whatever it cost you For it must be done Yet is not the world unjust enough or cruel or vexatious enough to you to teach you to come home and take up your content and rest in God It may then prove more cruel and more vexatious to you till you have better learned this necessary Lesson Yet is not your condition empty enough of carnal delusory pleasures to weâ—n you from the world and make you look to surer things Yet are you keeping up your worldly hopes that the world will again prove better to you and that you shall have happy daies hereafter It seems you are not yet brought low enough you must yet take another purge and perhapâ— a sharper than you took before You must have more blood letting till your delâ—ration cease and your feaverish thirst after creature-comorts do abate It is sad that we should be so foolish and unkind as to stay from God as long as any preferments or pleasures or profits in the world will entertain us But seeing it is so let us be thankful both to that Grace and that Providence which cureth us If you perceive it not better to dwell with God than with a flattering prospering world he will try whether you can think it better to dwell with God than with a malicious cruel persecuting world And whether it be better to have your hearts in Heaven than in poverty prison banishment or reproach If you find it not better to converse with God than with those that honour you please you or prefer you he will try whether you can think it better to converse with him than with those that hate revile belye and persecute you And are these the wise and wholsome methods of our great Physician And shall we not rather be ruled by him than by our brutish appetites and think better of his counsels than of the blind concupiscence of the flesh Let this be the issue of all our sufferings and all the cruelties and injuries of the world to drive us home to converse with God and to turn our desires and labours and expectations to the true felicity that never will forsake us and then the Will of the Lord be done Let him choose his means if this may be the end Let us kiss the Rod and not revile it if this may be the fruit of his corrections Who will not pray that God would deny us those contents which keep us from seeking our content in him And that he would deny us all those hurtful pleasures which hinder us from pleasing him or from making him and his waies our chiefest pleasure And that he would permit us no such creature-converse as hinderth our converse with him It is best living there be it in prison or at liberty where we may live best to God Come home O suffering Christian to thy God! take up thy Content and Rest in him be satisfied with him as thy Portion and
or life to them We should know what is Gods prerogative and that we should keep entirely for him A subordinate esteem and love and desire the Creature may have as it revealeth God to us or leadeth to him or helpeth us in his work But it should not have the least of his part in our esteem or love or desire This is the Chastity the Purity the Integrity of the soul. It is the mixture impurity corruption and consusion of our souls when any thing is taken in with God See therefore Christian that in thy heart thou have no God but ONE and that he have all thy heart and soul and strength as far as thou canst attain it And because there will be still in imperfect souls some sinful mixture of the Creatures interest with Gods let it be the work of thy life to be watching against it and casting it out and cleansing thy heart of it as thou wouldst do thy food if it fall into the dirt For whatever is added to God in thy Affections doth make no better an increase there then the adding of earth unto thy gold or of dung unto thy meat or of corrupted humours and sickness to thy body Mixture will make no better work It may be thy Rejoycing if thou have the testimony of a good conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity and not in fleshly wisdome but by the grace of God thou hast had thy conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1. 12. It is the state of Hypocrisie when One God is openly professed and worshipped and yet the creature lyeth deepest and nearest to the heart 2. The Invisibility of God also must have its due effects upon us And 1. It must warn us that we picture not God to our eye sight or in our fancies in any bodily shape Saith the Prophet Isa. 40. 18. To whom will you liken God or what likeness will ye compare unto him so 25. No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of his Father he hath declared him Joh. 1. 18. and therefore we must conceive of him but as he is declared Joh. 6. 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father save he which is of God he hath seen the Father If you ask me How then you should conceive of God if not in any Bodily shape I answer Get all these Attributes and Relations of God to make their proper Impress upon thy soul as now I am teaching you and then you will have the true Conceiving of God This Question therefore is to be answered at the end of this Discourse when you have seen all the Attributes of God together and heard what impression they must make upon you 2. This must teach us to think most highly of the things that are Invisible and meanlier of these visible things Let it be the property of a Beast and not of a man to know nothing but what he seeth or hath seen Let it be the mark of the bruitish Insidels and not of Christians to doubt of the invisible things because they are invisible or to think that things visible are more excellent or sure As the senses are more ignoble then the Intellect a beast having as perfect senses as a man and yet no reasonable understanding so the objects of sense must proportionably be below the Objects of the understanding as such The grossest and most palpable objects are the basest It is the subtle part that 's called the Spirits which being drawn out of plants or other vegetables is most powerful and excellent and valued when the earthly dregs are cast away as little worth It is that subtle part in our blood that 's called the Spirits that hath more of the virtue of life and doth more of the works then the feculent gross and earthly part The aire and wind have as true a Being as the Earth and a more excellent nature though it be more gross and they invisible The Body is not so excellent as the invisible soul. Invisible things are as real as visible and as suitable to our more noble invisible part as visible things to our fleshly baser part 3. The invisibility of God must teach us to Live a life of Faith and to get above a sensual life And it must teach us to value the faith of the Saints as knowing its excellency and necessity Invisible objects have the most perfect excellent Reality and therefore Faith hath the preheminence above sense Natural Reason can live upon things not seen if they have been seen or can be known by natural evidence subjects obey a Prince that they see not and fear a punishment which they see not and the nature of man is afraid of the Devils though we see them not But Faith liveth upon such invisible things as mortal eye did never see nor natural ordinary evidence demonstrate but are revealed only by the Word of God though about many of its invisible objects Faith hath the consent of Reason for its encouragement Value not sight and sense too much Think not all to be meer uncertainties and notions that are not the objects of sense We should not have heard that God is a spirit if Corporal substances had not a baser kind of Being then Spirits Intellection is a more noble operation then sense If there be any thing properly called sense in Heaven it will be as far below the pure Intellective Intuition of the Lord as the glorified Body will be below the glorified soul. But what that difference will be we cannot now understand Fix not your minds on sensible things Remember that your God your home your portion are unseen And therefore live in hearty Affections to them and serious prosecution of them as if you saw them Pray as if you saw God and Heaven and Hell Hear as if you saw him that sends his Messenger to speak to you Resist all the Temptations to lust and sensuality and every sin as you would do if you saw God stand by Love him and Fear him and Trust him and Serve him as you would do if you beheld him Faith is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Believing must be to you in stead of seeing and make you as serious about things unseen as sensual men are about things sensible In every thing that you see remember it is he that is unseen that appeareth in them He lighteth you by the sun he warmeth you by the fire he beareth you by the earth See him in all these by the eye of Faith 3. The Immortality Incorruptibility and Immutability of God must 1. Teach the soul to rise up from these Mortal Corruptible Mutable things and to fix upon that God who is the immortal incorruptible portion of his Saints 2. It must comfort and encourage all Believers in the consideration of their felicity and support them under the failings of all mortal corruptible things Our Parents and Children and Friends are mortal They are ours to day
32. The Great the Mighty the terrible God Psal. 136. 4. To him therefore that alone doth Great wonders we must give the Greatest Praise O how Great are his works and his thoughts are very deep Psal. 92. 5. Great is our Lord and of Great Power Psal. 147. 5. And therefore in Zion must â—e be Great Psalm 99. 2. And his Great and terrible Name must be Praised 3. In the Church where he is known must his Name be Great Psal. 76. 1. For we know that the Lord is Great and our God is above all Gods Psal. 135. 5. His Saints delight to praise his Greatness Psal. 104. 1 2 3 4. Bless the Lord O my soul O Lord my God thou art very Great thou art cloathed with honour and Majesty who coverest thy self with Light as with a garment who stretchest out the Heavens like a Curtain who layeth the beams of his Chambers in the waters who maketh the clouds his Chariot who walketh upon the wings of the wind who maketh his Angels Spirits his Ministers a flame of fire c. From Almightiness all things have their being and therefore must honour the Almighty Rev. 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Rev. 15. 3. They that magnifie the Lord with the song of Moses and of the Lamb say Great and Marvellous are thy works O Lord God Almighty Just and True are thy wayes thou King of Saints 3. The Almightiness of God must imprint upon our souls a strong and stedfast confidence in him according to the tenour of his Covenant and promises Nothing more certain then that Impotency and Insufficiency will never cause him to fail us or to break his word O what an encouragement is it to the Saints that they are built on such an impregnable Rock and that Omnipotency is engaged for them And O what a shame is this to our unbelief that ever we should distrust omnipotency If God be Almighty 1. Remembe in thy greatest wants that there is no want but he can easily and abundantly supply 2. Remember in thy greatest sufferings pains or dangers that no pain is so great which he cannot mitigate and remove and no danger so great from which he is not able to deliver thee The servants of Christ dare venture on the flames because they trust upon the Almighty Dan. 3. 16 17 18. In confidence on Omnipotency they dare stand against the threatnings of the greatest upon earth We are not careful said those three Believers to the King to answer thee in this matter If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us c. He that is afraid to stand upon a slender bow or upon the unstable waters is not afraid to stand upon the earth And he that is afraid of robbers when he is alone is bolder in a conquering Army what will man Trust if he distrust Omnipotency Where can we be safe if not in the Love the Covenant the hands of the Almighty God When storms and winds had feared the Disciples lest they should be drowned when Christ was in the ship their sin was aggravated by the presence of their Powerful Lord whose mighty works they had often seen Why fear ye saith he O ye of little faith Mat. 8. 26. Cannot he rebuke our winds and waves and will not all obey the rebukes of the Almighty when thou hast a want that God cannot supply or a sickness that he cannot cure or a danger that he cannot prevent then be thou Fearful and distrust him and spare not 3. Remember also in thy lowest state and in the Churches greatest sufferings or dangers that the Almighty is able to raise up his Church or thee even in a moment If you say that Its true God can do it but we know not whether he will I answer 1. I shall shew you in due place how far he hath revealed his Will for such deliverances In sum we have his promise that all things shall work together for our good Rom. 8. 28. and what would we have more Would you have that which is evil for you 2. At present see that Omnipotency do establish thy confidence so far as it is concerned in the cause As 1. Be sure that no work is too hard for the Almighty Do not so much as in the thoughts of thy heart make question of his Power and say with those unbelievers Psal. 78. 19 20. Can God furnish a Table in the wildernest Can he give Bread also Can he provide Flesh If really thou distrust not the Power of God believe then the most difficult or improbable things as well as the easiest and most probable if God reveal or promise them The Resurrection seemeth improbable to impotent man But God hath promised it And nothing is difficult to Omnipotency The calling of the Jews the ruine of the Turk the downfall of the Pope the unity of Christians do all seem to us unlikely things But all things to God are not only possible but easie He is at no more labour to make a world then to make a straw or make fly Whatsoever pleased the Lord that did he in heaven and earth in the sea and in the depths Psal. 135. 6. Dost thou think it improbable that ever all thy sins should be conquered and that ever thy soul should live with Christ among the holy Saints and Angels and that ever thy Body that must first be dust should shine as the stars in the firmament of God And why doth it seem to thee improbable Is it not as easie to God as to cause the earth to stand on nothing and the â—un to run its daily course If God had promised thee to live a day longer or any small and common things thou couldst then believe him And is it not as easie to him to advance thee to Everlasting Glory as â—o cause thee to live another hour or to keep a haire of thy head from perishing sin is too strong for thee to overcome but not for God Death is too strong for thee to conquerâ— but not for Christ. Heaven is too high for thee to reach by thy own strength but he that is there and prepared it for thee can take thee thither Trust God or trust nothing He that cannot Trust in him shall despair for ever for all other confidence will deceive him Psal. 9. 10. They that know his Name will put their Trust in him for the Lord hath not forsaken them that seek him All those that Trust in him shall Rejoyce and ever shout for joy because he defendeth them Psal. 5. 11. Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his Trust and respecteth not the Proud nor such as turn aside to lies Psal 40. 4. â— Who so putteth his Trust in the Lord shall be safe Prov. 29. 25 O what hath Almightiness done in the world and what for the Church and what for thee and yet
Praises of the Lord. The Goodness of God should be a daily feast to a gracious soul and should continually feed our cheerful Praises as the spring or cistern fills the Pipes I know no sweeter work on earth nay I am sure there is no sweeter then for faithful sanctified souls rejoicingly to magnifie the Goodness of the Lord and joyn together in his cheerful Praises O Christians if you would tast the Joys of Saints and live like the redeemed of the Lord indeed be much in the exercise of this Heavenly work and with holy David make it your employment and say O how great is thy Goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal. 31. 19. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord Psal. 33. 5. What then are the Heavens Thy Congregation hath dwelt therein thou O Lord hast prepared thy Goodness for the poor O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men For he satisfyeth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness Psal. 107. 8 9. The goodness of God endureth continually Psal. 52. 1. Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Psal. 73. 1. O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him Psal. 34. 8. The Lord is good his mercy is Everlasting his truth endureth from generation to generation Psal. 100. 5 The Lord is good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his works Psal. 145. 9. O Praise the Lord for the Lord is good sing Praises to his name for it is pleasant Psal. 135. â— Call him as David My goodness and my fortress my high tower and my deliverer and my shield and he in whom I trust Psal. 144 2. Let men therefore speak of the glorious honour of his Majesty and of his wonderous works Let them abundantly utter the memory of his great goodness and sing of his Righteousness Psal. 145 5 7. If there be a thought that is truly sweet to the soul it is the Thought of the Infinite Goodness of the Lord. If there be a pleasant word for man to speak it is the mention of the Infinite goodness of the Lord And if there be a pleasant hour for man on earth to spend and a delightful work for man to do it is to meditate on and with the Saints to Praise the Infinite goodness of the Lord. What was the glory that God shewed unto Moses and the tast of Heaven that he gave him upon Earth but this I will make all my Goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and I will be gracious on whom I will be gracious and will shew Mercy on whom I will shew Mercy Exod. 33. 19. And his proclaimed Name was The Lord the Lord God Merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Exod. 34. 6. These were the holy Praiâ—es that Solomon did consecrate the Temple with 2 Chron. 6. 41. Arise O Lord God into thy resting place thou and the Ark of thy strength let thy Priests O Lord God be cloathed with salvation and let thy Saints rejoyce in Goodness See Isai. 63. O Christians if you would have joy indeed let this be your employment Draw neer to God and have no low undervaluing thoughts of his Infinite Goodness For How great is his Goodness and how great is his Beauty Zach. 9 17. Why is it that Divine Consolations are so strange to us but because Dive Goodnesâ— is so lightly thought upon As those that think little of God at all have little of God upon their hearts so they that think but little of his Goodness in particular have little Love or Joy or Praise 6. Moreover the Goodness of God must possess us with desire to be conformed to his goodness in our measure The Holy perfection of his Will must make us desire to have our Wills conformed to the will of God We are not called to Imitate him in his works of Power nor so much in the paths of his Omniscience as we are in his goodness which as manifested in his work and word is the Pattern and standard of Moral Goodness in the sons of men The Impress of his goodness within us is the chief part of his Image on us and the fruits of it in our Lives is their Holiness and Vertue As he is Good and doth Good Psal. 119. 68. so must it be our greatest care to be as good and do as much good as possibly we can Any thing within us that is sinful and contrary to the Goodness of God should be to our souls as griping poyson to our bodies which nature is excited to strive against with all its strength and can have no safety or rest till it be cast out And for Doing Good it must be the very study and trade of our lives As worldlings study and labour for the world and the Pleasing of their flesh so must the Christian study and labour to improve his masters talents to his use and to do as much good as he is able and to please the Lord. Prov. 11. 23. The desire of the Righteous as such is only Good To depart from evil and do good is the care of the just Psal. 34. 14. We must please our neighbours for Good to their Edification Rom. 15. 2. While we have time we must do good to all men as we are able but especially to them of the houshold of faith Gal. 6. 10 Not only to them that do good to us but to our enemies Luk. 6. 32 33 34. Mat. 5. 44. This is it that we must not forget Heb. 13. 16. and which by Ministers we must be â—ut in mind of 1 Tim. 6. 18. which all that love life and would inherit the blessing must devote themselves to 1 Pet. 3. 10 11 12. In this we must be like our heavenly Father and approve our selves his Children Mat. 5. 45 46. 7. From the perfect Infinite goodness of God we must learn to judge of Good and Evil and in all the Creatures To this must all be reduced as the standard and by this must they be tryed It is a most wretched absurdity of sensual men to try the will or word or wayes of God by themselves and by their own interests or wills and to judge all to be Evil in God that is against them And yet alas how common is this case Every man is naturally â—oth to be miserable suffering he abhors and therefore that which causeth his suffering he calleth evil And so when he hath deserved it himself by his sin he thinks that the Law is Evil for threatning it and that God himself is Evil for inflicting it so that Infinite Goodness must be tryed and judged by the vicious creature and the Rule and standard must be reduced to the crooked line of humane actions or dispositions and if God will please
it is a more sweet and excellent state of life to be the Spouse of Christ and his members and serve God as friends and children with Love and Thankfulness then to serve him meerly as the most loyal subjects or with an obedience that hath less of Love 9. In the way of Redemption Holiness is more admirably exemplified in Christ then it was or would have been in Adam Adam would never have declared it in that eminency of Charity to others submission to God contempt of the world self-denyal and conquest of Satan as Christ hath done 10. And in the way of Redemption there is a double obligation laid upon man for every duty To the obligations of Creation all the obligations of Redemption and the new Creation are superadded And this threefold cord should not so easily be broken Here are moral means more powerfully to hold the soul to God 11. And in this way there is a clearer discovery of the everlasting state of man and life and immortality are more fully brought to light by the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10 then for ought we find in Scripture they were to innocent man himself No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son that is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1. 18. For no man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven even the son of man which is in heaven Joh 3. 13. 12. Man will be advanced to the judging of the ungodly and of the conquered Angels even by the good will of the Father and a participation in the honour of Christ our head and by a participation in his Victories and by our own Victories in his strength by the right of Conquest we shall judge with Christ both Devils and men that were enemies to him and our salvation as you may see 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. And there is more in that promise then we yet well understand Rev. 2. 26 27. He that overcometh and keepeth my words unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron as the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my Father 13. And that which Augustine so much insisteth on I think is also plain in Scripture that the Salvation of the Elect is better secured in the hands of Christ then his own or any of his posterities was in the hands of Adam We know that Adam lost that which was committed to him But we know whom we have believed and are perswaded that he is able to keep that which we commit to him against that day 1 Tim. 1. 12. Force not these Scriptures against our own Consolation and the glory of our Redeemer and then judge Joh. 7. 2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him Joh. 6. 3. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Ver. 39. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day Joh. 10. 26 27 28 29. But yee believe not because yee are not of my sheep as I said unto you My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish and none shall take them out of my hands My Father which gave them me is greater then all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hands Eph. 1. 3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love Having predestinated us to the adoption of his children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved Being predestinated according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Ver. 11. And if Faith and Repentance and the right disposition of the will it self be his resolved gift to his Elect and not things left meerly to our uncertain wills then the case is past all question 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves our of the snare of the Devil Eph. 2. 8. By grace yee are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the spirit is Love Faith Phil. 1. 29. To you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him Act. 13. 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Jer. 24. 7. And I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart Ezek. 11. 19 20. And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God Ezek. 36. 26 27. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes See also Heb. 8. 6 7 8 9 10. where this is called the new and better Covenant I will put my Laws in their minds and write them in their hearts Jer. 31. 33. And Jer. 32. 39 40. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them and I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who makes thee to differ and what hast thou that thou didst not receive Much more may be produced from which it is evident that Christ is the Author and finisher of our Faith and that the certainty of the salvation of his Elect doth lie more on his undertaking and resolution infallibly to accomplish their salvation then upon our wisdom or the stability of our mutable free-wills and that thus we are better in the hands of the second Adam then we were in the hands of the first
is called a new begetting or new birth without which none can enter into heaven Joh. 3. 3 5 6. A renewing us and making us new men and new creatures so far as that old things are past away and all become new Eph. 4. 23 24. Col. 3. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 17. It is a new creating us after the Image of God Eph. 4. 24. It maketh us Holy as God is Holy 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. yea it maketh us partakers of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. It giveth us repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that we may recover our selves out of the snare of the Devil who were taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. It giveth us that Love by which God dwelleth in us and we in God 1 Joh. 4. 16. We are redeemed by Christ from all iniquity and therefore it is that he gave himself for us to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. It is an abundant shedding of the Holy Ghost on us for our renovation Tit. 3. 5 6. and by it a shedding the Love of God abroad in our hearts Rom. 5. 5. It is this Holy Spirit given to believers by which they pray and by which they mortifie the flesh Jud. 20. Rom. 8. 26. 13. By this Spirit we live and walk and rejoyce Rom. 8. 1. and 14. 17. Our joy and peace and hope is through the power of the Holy Ghost Rom 15. 13. It giveth us a spiritual mind and taketh away the carnal mind that is enmity against God and neither is nor can be subject to his law Rom. 8. 7. By this Spirit that is given to us we must know that we are Gods children 1 Joh. 3. 24. 4. 13. For if any man have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his Rom. 8 9. All holy graces are the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5. 22 23. It would be too long to number the several excellent effects of the sanctifying work of the spirit upon the soul and to recite the Elogies of it in the Scripture Surely it is no low or needless thing which all these expressions do intend Quest. 3. If you think it a most hainous sin to vilifie the Creator and his work and the Redeemer and his work why should not you think so of the vilifying of the sanctifier and his work when God hath so magnified it and will be glorified in it and when it is the applying perfecting work that maketh the purchased benefits of Redemption to be ours and formeth our Fathers Image on us Quest. 4. Do we not Doctrinally commit too much of that sin if we undervalue the Spirits sanctifying work as a common thing which the ungodly world do manifest in practice when they speak and live in a contempt or low esteem of grace And which is more injurious to God for a prophane person to jest at the Spirits work or for a Christian or Minister deliberately to extennate it especially when the preaching of grace is a Ministers chief work sure we should much fear partaking in so great a sin Quest. 5. Why is it that the Scripture speaks so much to take men off from boasting or ascribing any thing to themselves Rom. 3. 19. That every mouth may be stopped and why doth not the Law of works exclude boasting but only the Law of faith Rom. 3. 27. Surely the actions of nature except so far as it is corrupt are as truly of God as the acts of grace And yet God will not take it well to deny him the glory of Redemption or Sanctification and tell him that we paid it him in another kind and ascribed all to him as the author of our free will by natural production For as Nature shall honour the Creatour so Grace shall also honour the Redeemer and Sanctifier And God designeth the humbling of the sinner and teaching him to deny himself and to honour God in such a way as may stand with self abasement leaving it to God to honour those by way of reward that honour him in way of duty and deny their own honour Quest. 6. Why is the Blaspheming and sinning against the Holy Ghost made so hainous and dangerous a sin if the works of the Holy Ghost were not most excellent and such as God will be most honoured by Quest. 7. Is it not exceeding ingratitude for the soul that hath been illuminated converted renewed quickened and saved by the Holy Ghost to extenuate the mercy and ascribe it most to his natural Will O what a change was it that Sanctification made what a blessed birth day was that to our souls when we entered here upon Life Eternal Joh. 17. 3. And is this the thanks we give the Lord for so great a Mercy Quest. 8. What mean those texts if they consute not this unthankful opinion Phil. 2. 13. It is God that worketh in you to Will and to do of his good pleasure Eph. 2. 7 8 9 10. God hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might shâ—w the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus For by Grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Not of works lest any man should boast For we are his workmanship Created to Good works in Christ Jesus The like is in Tit. 3. 5 6. 7. Joh. 15. 16. Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain 1 Joh. 4. 10. Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us 1 Cor. 4. 7. For who maketh thee to differ and what hast that thou that thou didst not receive Joh. 6. 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can be know them because they are spiritually discerned Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit that is plainly the fleshly birth produceth but flesh and not spirit if any man will have the spirit and so be saved it must be by a spiritual begetting and birth by the Holy Ghost Act. 16. 14. The Lord opened Lydia's heart that she attended to the things that were spoken of Paul c. Was the Conversion of Paul a murdering persecuter his own work rather then the Lords when the means and manner were such as we read of Act. 22. 14. The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will and see that just one and hear the voice of his mouth c. He was chosen to the Means and to faith and not only in faith to salvation When Christ called his Disciples
to come and follow him was there no prevailing inward power that made them leave all and follow him And was it not the power of the Holy Ghost that Converted three thousand Jewes at a Sermon of them that by wicked hands had Crucified and slain the Lord Jesus Act. 2. 23 41. When the Preaching and Miracles of Christ Converted so few his Brethren and they that saw his Miracles believed not on him Joh. 12. 37. 5. 38. 6. 36. 7. 5. but when the Holy Ghost was given after his Ascension in that plenty which answered the Gospel and promise his words were fulfilled Joh. 12. 32. And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me I pass by abundance more such evidence Quest. 9. Doth it not tend to bring sin into credit which holiness is contrary to and to bring the love of God into discredit and to hinder mens Conversion and keep them from a holy life when holiness is taken for so low and natural or common a thing Quest. 10. And consequently doth it not tend to the vilifying of the Attribute of Holiness in God when the Image and effect of it is so extenuated Quest. 11. And doth it not tend to the contempt of Heaven it self whose state of felicity consisteth much in perfect Holiness And if Sanctification be but some common motion which Cain and Judas had as well as Paul sure it is less Divine and more inconsiderable then we thought Quest. 12. Doth it not speak very dangerous suspicion of a soul that never felt the special work of grace that can make light of it and ascribe it most to his own will And would not sound Humiliation do more then Arguments to cure this great mistake I never yet came neer a throughly-humbled soul but I found them too low and vile in their own eyes to have such undervaluing thoughts of grace or to think it best for them to leave all the efficacy of grace to their own wills A broken heart abhors such thoughts Quest. 13. Dare any wise and sober man desire such a thing of God or dare you say that you will expect no other Grace but what shall leave it to your selves to make it effectual or frustrate it I think he is no friend to his soul that would take up with this Quest. 14. Do not the constant Prayers of all that have but a shew of godliness contradict the doctrine which I am contradicting Do you not beg of God to melt and soften and bow your hearts and to make them more holy and fill them with light and faith and Love and hold you close to God and duty In a word do you not daily pray for effectual grace that shall infallibly procure your desired ends I scarce ever heard a prayer from a sober man but was orthodox in such points though their speeches would be heterodox Quest. 15. Do you not know that there is an enmity in every unrenewed heart against sanctification till God remove it Are we not greater enemies to our selves and greater resisters of the Holy Ghost and of our own conversion and sanctification and salvation then all the world besides is woe to him that feeleth not this by himself And is it likely that we that are enemies to holiness should do more to our own Sanctification then the Holy Ghost Woe to us if he conquer not our enmity Quest. 16. Is it probable that so great a work as the destroying of our dearest sins the setting our hearts and all our hopes on an Invisible glory and delighting in the Lord and forsaking all for him c. should come rather from the choice of a will that loveth those sins and hateth that holy heavenly life then from the spirit of Christ sure this is much above us Quest. 17. Whence is it that so often one man that hath been a notorious sinner is Converted by a Sermon when a civiler man of better nature and life is never changed though he have that and ten times more perswasions Quest. 18. Doth not experience tell impartial observers that the high esteemers of the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost are ordinarily of more holy heavenly lives then they that use to ascribe the differencing work to their free wills In my observation it is so Quest. 19. Should not every gracious humble soul be more enclined to magnifie God then himself and to give him the Glory then to give it to our selves especially in a case where Scripture and experience telleth us that we are more unlikely then God to deserve the praise Our destruction is of our selves but in him is our help Hos. 13. 9. When we see an effect and know it and the causes that are in question it is easie to conjecture from the quality which is the true cause If I see a Serpent brought forth I will sooner think that it was generated by a Serpent then a Dove If I see sin in the world I shall easily believe it is the spawn of this corrupted will that is so prone to it But if I find a divine nature in me or see a holy heavenly life in any I must needs think that this is liker to be the work of the blessed God then of such a naughty heart as mans that hath already been a self-destroyer Quest. 20. What motive hath any man to exalt himself and sin again the Holy Ghost by such an extenuation of his saving grace It is a causeless fruitless sin The only reason that ever I could hear for it was lest the doctrine of differencing grace should make God a respecter of persons or the author of sin of which there is no reason of a suspicion We all agree that no man perisheth or is denyed Grace but such as deserve it And when all deserve it it is no more respect of persons in God to sanctifie some only of those ill deservers then it is that he makes not all men Kings nor every dog or toad a man nor every star a Sun or every man or Angel To clear all objections concerning this would be but to digress 3. Lastly Our knowledge of the Holy Ghost must raise us to an high estimation of his works and a ready reception of his graces and cheerful obedience to his motions He Sanctified our Head that had no sin by preventing sin in his conception and he annointed him to his office and came upon him at his Baptism He Sanctified and anointed the Prophets and Apostles to their offices and by them endited the holy Scripture He illuminateth converteth sanctifieth and guideth all that are to be the heirs of life This is his work Honour that part of it that is done on Christ on the Prophets Apostles and the Scriptures and value and seek after that which belongeth to your selves Think not to be Holy without the Sanctifier nor to do any thing well without the spirit of Jesus Christ who is Christs internal invisible Agent here on earth as
6. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake For so is the will of God 1 Pet. 2. 13 15. Deut. 1. 16 17. Judge righteously between every man and his brother ye shall not respect persons in judgement but shall hear the small as well as the great you shall not be afraid of the face of man for the judgement is Gods 2 Chron. 19 5 6 7. And he said to the Judges Take heed what ye do for you judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgement wherefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you But our Atheistical Politicians would teach Rulers that they are none of the Ministers of God and that they judge for man only and not for him The nature of all true obedience is such as Paul describeth in children and servants Eph. 6. 1 6 7 8. that setcheth its rise and motives from the Lord Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye-service as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with good-will doing service as to the Lord and not to men So Colos. 3. 22 23. 7. Hence also you must learn that Gods authority is the highest authority and there is indeed no such thing in the world as true authority that is against him or not subordinate unto him And therefore if men command us to disobey God by neglecting that which is hic nunc a duty or by sinning against him their commands are from a disobedient will of their own but from no Authority and it is better in such cases to obey God then man Act. 5. 29. so many Prophets Apostles and other Martyrs would not have been sacrificed by the fury of Persecutors if they had thought it just to obey them before God God never gave any man Authority against him Nor to nullifie his laws The acts of a Justice or Constable against the King or beyond their power are private or rebellious acts and not Authoritative And so are the Laws of men that are against God Yet note well that though we must rather disobey men then God yet we may not forcibly Resist when we may not obey them And in some cases as if a King would ravish a woman or the like when it is lawful to Resist his fact it is not lawful to Resist his State and disturb the Government of the Commonwealth Obey men chearfully when God forbids it not but see that God be your Absolute Soveraign whose Laws can be dispensed with by none If Parents or Masters command you to break the Laws of God obey them not Despise them not but humbly deprecate their displeasure and obey them in all other things but in the unlawful thing obey them not no not if they were the greatest Princes upon earth But say as the three witnesses of God Dan. 3. 16 17. We are not careful to answer thee in this matter If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thy hands O King But if not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy Gods nor worship thy golden Image which thou hast set up What I have said of Magistrates in the two last cases I mean also of Pastours of the Church They must be obeyed in and for the Lord but not against the Lord. Saith Paul of the Churches of Maceâ—onia 2 Cor. 8. 5. They gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God See Act. 20. 28. 1 Thes. 5. 12. Luk. 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And yet the leaven of the Pharisees must be avoided and an Angel from Heaven be held as accursed if he should preach another Gospel Gal. 1. 8. And I would not have flatterers to set either Princes or Pastours above the Angels of Heaven Though yet in other respects we may be still obliged as I said before to hear and to obey them 8. And the Knowledge of Gods soveraignty must teach us to fear his righteous Threatnings and reverence his Justice and prepare our selves to be judged by him He ruleth by his Laws and so by Threatnings and Promises which he will make good It is not a painted fire that he Threatneth Judgement is a part of Government Laws are but shadows if there be no execution O worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness fear before him all the earth Say among the Heathen that the Lord reigneth Psal. 96. 9 10 As his promises so his peremptory threatnings shall be fulfilled He will not revoke his stablished Laws for fear of hurting willful sinners that will not fear his judgements till they feel them Psal. 33. 8. Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in aw of him for he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast Mark also the present judgements of the Lord and rush not on his indignation For the Lord is known by the judgements which he executeth the wicked is oft snared in the work of his own hands Psal. 9. 16. Though the wicked contemn God and say in his heart Thou wilt not require it Psal. 10. 13. yet they shall find that he beholdeth mischief to requite it with his hand and that he is the helper of the fatherless and poor that commit themselves unto him ver 14. The Lords throne is in heaven his eyes behold his eyelids try the children of men the Lord tryeth the Righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth Psal. 11. 4 5. 9. The Soveraignty of God is a comfort to his loyal subjects They may be sure that he will protect them and make good his word Behold he cometh and his reward is with him Rev. 22. 12. The righteous Judge at his appearing will give the Crown of Righteousness to all them that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 18 7 8. O let the Nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the Nations upon earth Psal. 67. 4. Let the Heavens rejoyce and the earth be glad before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth Psal. 69. 11. 13. 10. Lastly the Knowledge of God as our Soveraign King must cause us to desire and pray for and promote the glory of his Kingdome and the obedience of his subjects in the world that his Name may be hallowed by the coming of his Kingdom and the doing of his will on earth as it is in Heaven must be the matter of our daily requests to God It must be the grief of every subject of the Lord to
be alwaies actually upon God but he that doth manage his calling in Holiness doth all in obedience to Gods commands and sees that his work be the work of God and he intendeth all to the glory of God or the pleasing of his blessed will and he oft reneweth these actual intentions and oft interposeth thoughts of the presence or power or love or interest of him whom he is serving He often lifteth up his soul in some holy desire or ejaculatory request to God He oft taketh occasion from what he seeth or heareth or is doing for some more spiritual meditation or discourse so that still it is God that his mind is principally employed on or for even in his ordinary work while he liveth as a Christian And it is not enough to think of God but we must think of him as God with such respect and reverence and love and trust and submission in our measure as is due from the Creature to his Creator For as some kind of speaking of him is but a taking his Name in vain so some kind of thinking of him is but a dishonouring of him by contemptuous or false unworthy thoughts Most of our walking with God consisteth in such affectionate apprehensions of him as are suitable to his blessed Attributes and Relations All the day long our thoughts should be working either on God or for God either upon some work of obedience which he hath imposed on us and in which we desire to please and honour him or else directly upon himself Our hearts must be taken up in contemplating and admiring him in magnifying his Name his Word and Works and in pleasant contentful thoughts of his benignity and of his Glory and the Glory which he conferreth on his Saints He that is unskilful or unable to manage his own thoughts with some activity seriousness and order will be a stranger to much of the holy converse which believers have with God They that have given up the Government of their thoughts and turned them loose to go which way phantasie pleaseth and present sensitive objects do invite them and to run up and down the world as masterless unruly vagrants can hardly expect to keep them in any constant attendance upon God or readiness for any sacred work And the sudden thoughts which they have of God will be rude and stupid savouring more of prophane contempt than of holiness when they should be reverent serious affectionate and practical and such as conduce to a holy composure of their hearts and lives And as we must walk with God 1. In our communion with his servants 2. And in our affectionate Meditations so also 3 In all the ordinances which he hath appointed for our Edification and his Worship 1. The Reading of the Word of God and the explication and application of it in good Books is a means to possess the mind with sound and orderly and working apprehensions of God and of his holy Truths So that in such Reading our understandings are oft illustrated with a heavenly Light and our hearts are touched with a special delightful rellish of that truth and they are secretly attracted and engaged unto God and all the powers of our souls are excited and animated to a holy obedient life 2. The same Word preached with a lively voice with clearness and affection hath a greater advantage for the same illumination and excitation of the soul. When a Minister of Christ that is truly a Divine being filled with the Knowledge and Love of God shall copiously and affectionately open to his hearers the excellencies which he hath seen and the happiness which he hath foreseen and tasted of himself it frequently through the co-operation of the Spirit of Christ doth wrap up the hearers hearts to God and bring them into a more lively knowledge of him actuating their graces and enflaming their hearts with a heavenly Love and such desires as God hath promised to satisfie Christ doth not only send his Ministers furnished with Authority from him but also furnished with his Spirit to speak of spiritual things in a spiritual manner so that in both respects he might say He that heareth you heareth mee and also by the same Spirit doth open and excite the hearts of the hearers so that it is God himself that a serious Christian is principally employed with in the hearing of his heavenly transforming Word And therefore he is affected with reverence and holy fear with some taste of heavenly delight with obediential subjection and resignation of himself to God The Word of God is powerful not only in pulling down all high exalting thoughts that rise up against God but also in lifting up depressed souls that are unable to rise unto heavenly knowledge or communion with God If some Christians could but alwaies finde as much of God upon their hearts at other times as they finde sometimes under a spiritual powerful Ministry they would not so complain that they seem forsaken and strangers to all communion with God as many of them do While God by his Messengers and Spirit is speaking and man is hearing him while God is treating with man about his reconciliation and everlasting happiness and man is seriously attending to the treaty and motions of his Lord surely this is a very considerable part of our walking and converse with God 3. Also in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ we are called to a familiar converse with God He there appeareth to us by a wonderful condescension in the representing communicating signs of the flesh and blood of his Son in which he hath most conspicuously revealed his Love and Goodness to Believers There Christ himself with his Covenant-gifts are all delivered to us by these Investing signs of his own institution even as Knighthood is given by a sword and as a House is delivered by a Key or Land by a Twig and Turf Nowhere is God so near to man as in Jesus Christ and nowhere is Christ so familiarly represented to us as in this holy Sacrament Here we are called to sit with him at his Table as his invited welcome guests to commemorate his sacrifice to feed upon his very flesh and blood that is with our mouths upon his Representative flesh and blood and with our applying Faith upon his real flesh and blood by such a feeding as belongs to Faith The Marriage-Covenant betwixt God â—ncarnate and his espoused ones is there publickly sealed celebrated and solemnized There we are entertained by God as friends and not as servants only and that at the most precious costly feast If ever a believer may on earth expect his kindest entertainment and near access and a humble intimacy with his Lord it is in the participation of this sacrifice-feast which is called The Communion because it is appointed as well for our special Communion with Christ as with one another It is here that we have the fullest intimation expression and communication of the wondrous Love of God
and therefore it is here that we have the loudest call and best assistance to make a large return of Love And where there is the most of this Love between God and man there is most Communion and most of Heaven that can be had on Earth But it much concerneth the members of Christ that they deprive not themselves of this Communion with God in this Holy Sacrament through their miscarriage which is too frequently done by one of these extreams Either by rushing upon holy things with a presumptuous careless common frame of heart as if they knew not that they go to feast with Christ and discerned not his body or else by an excess of fear drawing back and questioning the good will of God and thinking diminutively of his love and mercy By this means Satan depriveth many of the comfortable part of their communion with God both in this Sacrament and in other waies of grace and maketh them avoid him as an enemy and be loth to come into his special presence and even to be afraid to think of him to pray to him or to have any holy converse with him When the just belief and observation of his Love would stablish them and revive their souls with joy and give them experience of the sweet delights which are opened to them in the Gospel and which believers finde in the Love of God and the foretast of the everlasting pleasures 4. In holy faithful servent Prayer a Christian hath very much of his converse with God For Prayer is our approach to God and calling to mind his presence and his attributes and exercising all his graces in a holy motion towards him and an exciting all the powers of our souls to seek him attend him reverently to worship him It is our treating with him about the most important businesses in all the world a beâ—ging of the greatest mercies and a deprecating his most grievous judgments and all this with the nearest familiarity that man in flesh can have with God In prayer the Spirit of God is working up our hearts unto him with desires exprest in sighs and groans It is a work of God as well as of man He bloweth the fire though it be our hearts that burn and boil In Prayer we lay hold on Jesus Christ and plead his merits and intercession with the Father He taketh us as it wereby the hand and leadeth us unto God and hideth our sins and procureth our acceptance and presenteth us amiable to his Father having justified and sanctified us and cleansed us from those pollutions which rendered us loathsome and abominable To speak to God in serious prayer is a work so high and of so great moment that it calleth off our minds from all things else and giveth no creature room or leave to look into the soul or once to be observed The mind is so taken up with God and employed with him that creatures are forgotten and we take no notice of them unless when through the diversions of the flesh our prayers are interrupted and corrupted and so far degenerate and are no prayer so far I say as we thus turn away from God So that the soul that is most and best at Prayer is most and best at walking with God and hath most communion with him in the Spirit And to withdraw from Prayer is to withdraw from God And to be unwilling to pray is to be unwilling to draw near to God Meditation or Contemplation is a duty in which God is much enjoyed But Prayer hath Meditation in it and much more All that is upon the mind in Meditation is upon the mind in Prayer and that with great advantage as being presented before God and pleaded with him and so animated by the apprehensions of his observing presence and actuated by the desires and pleadings of the soul. When we are commanded to Pray it includeth a command to Repent and Believe and Fear the Lord and Desire his Grace For Faith and Repentance and Fear and Desire are altogether in action in a serious prayer And as it were naturally each one takes his place and there is a holy order in the acting of these graces in a Christians prayers and a harmony which he doth seldome himself observe He that in Meditation knoweth not how to be regular and methodical when he is studiously contriving and endeavouring it yet in Prayer before he is aware hath Repentance and Faith and Fear and Desire and every grace fall in its proper place and order and contribute its part to the performance of the work The new nature of a Christian is more immediately and vigorously operative in Prayer than in many other duties And therefore every Infant in the family of God can pray with groaning desires and ordered graces if not with well-ordered words When Paul began to live to Christ he began aright to pray Behold he prayeth saith God to Ananias Act. 9. 11. And because they are Sons God sends the Spirit of his Son into the hearts of his Elect even the Spirit of Adoption by which they cry Abba Father Gal. 4. 6. as children naturally cry to their Parents for relief And Nature is more regular in its works than Art or humane contrivance is Necessity teacheth many a beggar to pray better for relief to men than many learned men that feel not their necessities can pray to God The Spirit of God is a better Methodist than we are And though I know that we are bound to use our utmost care and skill for the orderly actuating of each holy affection in our Prayers and not pretend the sufficiency of the Spirit for the patronage of our negligence or sloth for the Spirit makes use of our understandings for the actuating of our wills and affections yet withall it cannot be denied but that it was upon a special reason that the Spirit that is promised to Believers is called a Spirit of Grace and Supplication Zech. 12. 10. And that it is given us to help our infirmities even the infirmities of our understanding when we know not what to pray for as we ought Rom. 8. 26. And that the Spirit it self is said to make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered It is not the Spirit without that is here meant such intercession is nowhere ascribed to that How then is the Prayer of the Spirit within us distinguished from our Prayer Not as different effects of different causes as different prayers by these different parties But as the same prayer proceeding from different causes having a special force for quality and degree as from one cause the Spirit which it hath not from the other cause from our selves except as received from the Spirit The Spirit is as a New Nature or fixed inclination in the Saints For their very self-love and will to good is sanctified in them which works so readily though voluntarily as that it is in a sort by the way of Nature though not excluding Reason and
what it is to be Godly and to walk with God and what it is to be an Atheist or Ungodly you may easily see that Godliness is more rare and Atheism more common than many that themselves are Atheists will believe It is not that which a man calls his God that is taken by him for his God indeed It is not the Tongue but the Heart that is the man Pilate called Christ the King of the Jews when he crucified him The Jews called God their Father when Christ telleth them they were of their father the Devil and proveth it because what ever they said they would do his lusts Joh. 8. 44. The same Jews pretended to honour the name of the Messiah and expect him while they killed him The question is not what men call themselves but what they are Not whether you say you take God for your God but whether you do so indeed Not whether you profess your selves to be Atheists but whether you are Atheists indeed or not If you are not look over what I have here said and tell your consciences Do you walk with God who is it that you submit your selves willingly to be disposed of by To whom are you most subject and whose commands have the most effectual authority with you who is the Chief Governour of your hearts and lives whom is it that you principally desire to please whom do you most fear and whose displeasure do you principally avoid from whom is it that you expect your greaetest reward and in whom and with whom do you place and expect your happiness whose work is it that you do as the greatest business of your lives Is it the goodness of God in himself and unto you that draweth up your hearts to him in Love Is he the ultimate End of the main intentions design and industry of your lives Do you trust upon his Word as your security for your everlasting hopes and happiness Do you study and observe him in his works Do you really live as in his presence Do you delight in his Word and meditate on it Do you love the Communion of Saints and to be most frequent and familiar with them that are most frequent and familiar with Christ Do you favour more the particular affectionate discourse about his Nature Will and Kingdom than the frothy talk of empty wits or the common discourse of carnal worldlings Do you love to be employed in thanking him for his Mercies and in praising him and declaring the glory of his attributes and works Is your dependence on him as your great benefactor and do you receive your mercies as his gifts If thus your principal observation be of God and your chief desire after God and your chiefest confidence in God and your chiefest business in the world be with God and for God and your chifest joy be in the favour of God when you can apprehend it and in the prosperity of his Church and your hopes of glory and your chiefest grief and trouble be your sinful distance from him and your backwardness and disability in his love and service and the fear of his displeasure and the injuries done to his Gospel and honour in the world then I must needs say you are savingly delivered from your Atheism and Ungodliness you do not only talk of God but walk with God you are then acquainted with that spiritual life and work which the sensual world is unacquainted with and with those invisible everlasting excellencies which if worldlings knew they would change their minds and choice and pleasures You are then acquainted with that rational manly saintly life which ungodly men are strangers to and you are in the way of that well grounded Hope and Peace to which all the Pleasures and Crowns on earth if compared are but cheats and misery But if you were never yet brought to walk with God do not think that you have a sound belief in God nor that you acknowledge him sincerely nor that you are saved from heart atheism Nor is it Piety in the Opinion and the Tongue that will save him that is an Atheist or ungodly in heart and life Divinity is an affective-practical science Knowing is not the ultimate or perfective act of man but a means to holy Love and Joy and service Nor is it clear and solid knowledge if it do not somewhat affect the heart and engage and actuate the life according to the nature and use of the thing known The soundness of Knowledge and Belief is not best discerned in the intellectual acts themselves but in their powerful free and pleasant efficacy upon our choice and practice By these therefore you must judge whether you are Godly or Atheistical The question is not what your Tongues say of God nor what complemental ceremonious observances you allow him but what your Hearts and your endeavours say of him and whether you glorifie him as God when you say you know him Otherwise you will find that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who held the truth in unrighteousness Rom. 1. 18 21. And now alas what matter of lamentation is here before us To see how seriously men converse with one another and how God is overlookt or neglected by the most How men live together as if there were more that is considerable and regardable in these particles of animated dust then in the Lord Almighty and in all his graces service and rewards To see how God is cast aside and his interest made to give place to the interest of the flesh and his services must stay till men have done their service to their lusts or to worldly men that can do them hurt or shew them favour And his will must not be done when it crosseth the will of sinful man How little do all the commands and promises and threatnings of God signifie with these Atheistical men in comparison of their lusts or the laws of men or any thing that concerneth their temporal prosperity O how is the world revolted from their Maker How have they lost the knowledge of themselves and forgotten their natures capacities and obligations and what it is to be indeed a man O hearken sinners to the call of your Redeemer Return O seduced wandering souls and know at last your resting place why is not God in all your thoughts or why is he thought on with so much remisness unwillingness and contempt and with so little pleasure seriousness or regard Do you understand your selves in this Do you deal worthily with God Or wisely for your selves Do you take more pleasure with the Prodigal to feed swine and to feed with swine then to dwell at home with your heavenly Father and to walk before him and serve him in the world Did you but know how dangerous a way you have been in and how unreasonably you have dealt to forsake God in your hearts and follow that which cannot profit you what haste would you make
though all your carnal friends and superiors be against it though the devil will do all that he can against it yet all this must be done or you are lost for ever And all this must be done by the Spirit of God for it is his work to make you New and Holy And can you think then that the business is not great which you have with God when you have tryed how hard every part of this work is to be begun and carryed on you will finde you have more to do with God than with all the world 9. Moreover in order to this it is necessary that you read and hear and understand the Gospel which must be the means of bringing you to God by Christ This must be the instrument of God by which he will bring you to Repent and Believe and by which he will renew your Natures and imprint his Image on you and bring you to Love him and obey his will The Word of God must be your Counsellor and your delight and you must set your heart to it and meditate in it day and night Knowledge must be the means to reclaim your perverse misguided Wills and to reform your careless crooked Lives and to bring you out of the Kingdom of darkness into the State of Light and Life And such Knowledge cannot be expected without a diligent attending unto Christ the Teacher of your souls and a due consideration of the truth By that time you have learnt what is needful to be learnt for a true Conversion a sound Repentance a saving Faith and a holy Life you will finde that you have far greater business with God than with all the world 10. Moreover for the attaining of all this Mercy you have many a prayer to put up to God You must daily pray for the forgiveness of your sins and deliverance from temptations and even for your daily bread or necessary provisions for the work which you have to do You must daily pray for all the supplies of Grace which you want and for the gradual mortification of the flesh and for help in all the duties which you must perform and for strength against all the spiritual enemies which will assault you and preservation from the manifest evils which attend you And these prayers must be put up with unwearied constancy fervency and Faith Keep up this course of fervent prayer and beg for Christ and Grace and Pardon and Salvation in any measure as they deserve and according to thy own necessity and then tell mee whether thy business with God be small and to be put off as lightly as it is by the ungodly 11. Moreover you are made for the Glory of your Creator and must apply your selves wholly to glorifie him in the world You must make his service the trade and business of your lives and not put him off with something on the by You are good for nothing else but to serve him as a knife is made to cut and as your cloaths are made to cover you and your meat to seed you and your horse to labour for you so you are made and redeemed and maintained for this to Love and Please your great Creator And can you think that it is but little business that you have with him when he is the End and Master of your lives and all you are or have is for him 12. And for the due performance of his service you have all his Talents to employ To this end it is that he hath entrusted you with reason and health and strength with time and parts and interest and wealth and all his mercies and all his ordinances and means of Grace and to this end must you use them or you lose them And you must give him an account of all at last whether you have improved them all to your Masters use And can you look within you without you about you and see how much you are trusted with and must be accountable to him for and yet not see how great your business is with God 13. Moreover you have all the graces which you shall receive to exercise and every grace doth carry you to God and is exercised upon him or for him It is God that you must study and know and love and desire and trust and hope in and obey It is God that you must seek after and delight in so far as you enjoy him It is his absence or displeasure that must be your fear and sorrow Therefore the soul is said to be sanctified when it is renewed because it is both disposed and devoted unto God And therefore Grace is called Holiness because it all disposeth and carryeth the soul to God and useth it upon and for him And can you think your business with God is small when you must live upon him and all the powers of your soul must be addicted to him and be in serious motion towards him and when he must be much more to you than the Air which you breath in or the Earth you live upon or than the Sun that gives you light and heat yea than the soul is to your bodies 14. Lastly you have abundance of temptations and impediments to watch and strive against which would hinder you in the doing of all this work and a corrupt and treacherous heart to watch and keep in order which will be looking back and shrinking from the service Lay all this together and then consider whether you have not more and greater business with God than with all the creatures in the world And if this be so as undeniably it is so is there any cloak for that mans sin who is all day taken up with creatures and thinks of God as seldome and as carelesly as if he had no business with him And yet alas if you take a survey of high and low of Court and City and Country you shall find that this is the case of no small number yea of many that observe it not to be their case it is the case of the prophane that pray in jeast and swear and curse and rail in earnest It is the case of the malignant enemies of holiness that hate them at the heart that are most acquainted with this converse with God and count it but hypocrisie pride or fancy and would not suffer them to live upon the Earth who are most sincerely conversant in Heaven It is the case of Phariseâ—s and Hypocrites who take up with ceremonious observances as touch not taste not handle not and such like traditions of their forefathers instead of a spiritual rational service and a holy serious walking with the Lord. It is the case of all ambitious men and covetous worldlings who make more ado to climb up a little higher than their brethren and to hold the reins and have their wills and be admired and adored in the world or to get a large estate for themselves and their posterity than to please their Maker or to save their souls It is
Being of a Holy state as that God be so much in our thoughts as to be preferred before all things else and principally beloved and obeyed and to be the end of our lives and the byas of our wills And there are some thoughts of God that are necessary only to acting and increase of grace 7. So great is the weakness of our Habits so many and great are the temptations to be overcome so many difficulties are in our way and the occasions so various for the exercise of each grace that it behoveth a Christian to exercise as much thoughtfulness about his end and work as hath any tendency to promote his work and to attain his end But such a thoughtfulness as hindereth us in our work by stopping or distracting or diverting us is no way pleasing unto God So excellent is our end that we can never encourage and delight the mind too much in the forethoughts of it So sluggish are our hearts and so loose and unconstant are our apprehensions and resolutions that we have need to be most frequently quickening them and lifting at them and renewing our desires and suppressing the contrary desires by the serious thoughts of God and Immortality Our Thoughts are the bellows that must kindle the flames of Love desire hope and zeal Our thoughts are the spur that must put on a sluggish tired heart And so far as they conduce to any such works and ends as these they are desireable and good But what Master loveth to see his servant sit down and Think when he should be at work Or to use his Thoughts only to grieve and vex himself for his faults but not to mend them to sit down lamenting that he is so bad and unprofitable a servant when he should be up and doing his Masters business as well as he is able Such Thoughts are sins as hinder us from duty or discourage or unfit us for it however they may go under a better name 8. The Godly themselves are very much wanting in the holiness of their thoughts and the liveliness of their affections Sense leadeth away the thoughts too easily after these present sensible things while faith being infirm the Thoughts of God and heaven are much disadvantaged by their invisibility Many a gracious soul cryeth out O that I could think as easily and as affectionately and as unweariedly about the Lord and the life to come as I can do about my friends my health my habitation my business and other concernments of this life But alas such thoughts of God and Heaven have far more enemies and resistance then the thoughts of earthly matters have 9. It is not distracting vexatious thoughts of God that the holy Scriptures call us to but it is to such thoughts as tend to the healing and peace and felicity of the soul and therefore it is not to a melancholy but a joyful life If God be better then the world it must needs be better to think of him If he be more beloved then any friend the thoughts of him should be sweeter to us If he be the everlasting hope and happiness of the soul it should be a foretast of happiness to find him nearest to our hearts The nature and use of holy thoughts and of all Religion is but to exalt and sanctifie and delight the soul and bring it up to everlasting Rest And is this the way to melancholy or madness Or is it not liker to make men melancholy to think of nothing but a vain deceitful and vexatious world that hath much to disquiet us but nothing to satisfie us and can give the soul no hopes of any durable delight 10. Yet as God is not equally related unto all so is he not the same to all mens thoughts If a wicked enemy of God and godliness be forced and frightened into some thoughts of God you cannot expect that they should be as sweet and comfortable thoughts as those of his most obedient children are While a man is under the guilt and power of his reigning sin and under the wrath and curse of God unpardoned unjustified a child of the devil it is not this mans duty to think of God as if he were fully reconciled to him and took pleasure in him as in his own Nor is it any wonder if such a man think of God with fear and think of his sin with grief and shame Nor is it any wonder if the justified themselves do think of God with fear and grief when they have provoked him by some sinful and unkind behaviour or are cast into doubts of their sincerity and interest in Christ and when he hides his face or assaulteth them with his terrors To doubt whether a man shall live for ever in Heaven or Hell may rationally trouble the thoughts of the wisest man in the world and it were but sottishness not to be troubled at it David himself could say In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak Will the Lord cast off for ever Psal. 77. 2 3 4 5 7. Yet all the sorrowful thoughts of God which are the duty of either the godly or the wicked are but the necessary preparatives of their joy It is not to melancholy distraction or despair that God calleth any even the worst But it is that the wicked would Seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near that he would forsake his way and the unrighteous man his Thoughts and return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God and he will abundantly pardon Isa. 55. 6 7. Despair is sin and the thoughts that tend to it are sinful thoughts even in the wicked If worldly crosses or the sense of danger to the soul had cast any into melancholy or overwhelmed them with fears you can name nothing in the world that in reason should be so powerful a remedy to recover them as the Thoughts of God his Goodness and Mercy and readiness to receive and pardon those that turn unto him his Covenant and Promises and Grace through Christ and the everlasting happiness which all may have that will accept and seek it in the time of grace and prefer it before the deceitful transitory pleasures of the world If the Thoughts of God and of the Heavenly everlasting joyes will not comfort the soul and cure a sad despairing mind I know not what can rationally do it Though yet its true that a presumptuous sinner must needs be in a trembling state till he find himself at peace with God And mistaken Christians that are cast into causeless doubts and fears by the malice of Satan are unlikely to walk comfortably with God till they are resolved and recovered from their mistakes and fears CHAP. V. Obj.
that hath rightly and resolvedly determined of his end hath virtually resolved a thousand controversies that others are unsatisfied and erroneous in He that is resolved that his End is to Please and Glorifie God and to enjoy him for ever is easily resolved whether a holy life or a sensual and worldly be the way whether the way be to be Godly or to make a mock at Godliness whether Covetousness and Riches Ambition and Preferment Voluptuousness and Fleshly pleasures be the means to attain his End whether it will be attained rather by the studying of the Word of God and meditating on it day and night and by holy conference and fervent prayer and an obedient life or by negligence or worldliness or drunkenness or gluttony or cards and dice or beastly filthiness or injustice and deceit Know once but whither it is that we are going and its easie to know whether the Saint or the Swine or the Swaggerer be in the way But a man that doth mistake his End is out of his way at the first step and the further he goes the further he is from true felicity and the more he erreth and the further he hath to go back again if ever he return Every thing that a man doth in the world which is not for the right end the Heavenly felicity is an act of foolishness and errour how splendid soever the Matter or the Name may make it appear to ignorant men Every word that an ungodly person speaketh being not for a right End is in him but sin and folly however materially it may be an excellent and useful Truth While a miserable soul hath his back upon God and his face upon the world every step he goeth is an act of folly as tending unto his further misery It can be no act of wisdome which tendeth to a mans damnation When such a wretch begins to enquire and bethink him where he is and whither he is going and whither he should go and to think of turning back to God then and never till then he is beginning to come to himself and to be wise Luk. 15. 17. Till God and Glory be the End that he aimeth at and seriously bends his study heart and life to seek though a man were searching into the mysteries of nature though he were studying or discussing the notions of Theology though he were admired for his earning and wisdome by the world and cryed up as the Oracle of the Earth he is all the while but playing the fool and going a cleanlier way to Hell than the grosser sinners of the world For â—s he wise that knoweth not whether Heaven or Earth be better whether God or his Flesh should be obeyed whether everlasting joyes or the transitory pleasures of sin should be preferred or that seemeth to be convinced of the truth in these and such like cases and yet hath not the wit to make his choice and bend his life according to his conviction He cannot be wise that practically mistakes his End 3. He that walketh with God doth know those things with a deep effectual heart-changing knowledge which other men know but superficially by the halves and as in a dream And true wisdome consisteth in the Intensiveness of the knowledge subjectively as much as in the extensiveness of it objectively To see a few things in a narrow room perspicuously and clearly doth shew a better eye-sight than in the open Air to see many things obscurely so as scarce to discern any of them aright â—â—ke him that saw men walk like trees The clearness and 〈◊〉 of knowledge which makes it effectual to its proper use 〈…〉 greatness and excellency of it Therefore it is that unlearned men that love and fear the Lord may well be said to be incomparably more wise and knowing men than the most learned that are ungodly As he hath more riches that hath a little Gold or Jewels than he that hath many load of stones so he that hath a deep effectual knowledge of God the Father and the Redeemer and of the life to come is wiser and more knowing than he that hath only a notional knowledge of the same things and of a thousand more A wicked man hath so much knowledge as teacheth him to speak the same words of God and Christ and Heaven which a true Believer speaks but not so much as to work in him the same affections and choice nor so much as to cause him to do the same work As it is a far more excellent kind of knowledge which a man hath of any Country by travel and habitation there than that which cometh but by reading or report or which a man hath of meat of fruits of wine by eating and drinking than that which another hath by hearsay so is the inward heart-affecting knowledge of a true believer more excellent than the flashy notions of the ungodly Truth simply as Truth is not the highest and most excellent object of the mind But Good as Good must be apprehended by the Understanding and commended to the Will which entertaineth it with Complacency adhereth to it with Choice and Resolution prosecuteth it with Desire and Endeavour and Enjoyeth it with Delight And though it be the Understanding which apprehendeth it yet it is the Heart or Will that rellisheth it and tasteth the greatest sweetness in it working upon it with some mixture of internal sense which hath made some ascribe a knowledge of Good as such unto the Will. And it is the Wills intention that causeth the Understanding to be denominated Practical And therefore I may well say thâ—t it is Wisdom indeed when it reacheth to the heart No man knoweth the Truth of God so well as he that most firmly Believeth him And do man knoweth the Goodness of God so well as he that Loveth him most No man knoweth his Power and Mercy so well as he that doth most confidently Trust him And no man knoweth his Justice and Dreadfulness so well as he that feareth him No man knoweth or believeth the Glory of Heaven so well as he that most esteemeth desireth and seeketh it and hath the most Heavenly Heart and Conversation Ho man believeth in Jesus Christ so well as he that giveth up himself unto him with the greatest Love and Thankfulness and Trust and Obedience As James saith Shew mee thy Faith by thy works so say I Let me know the measure and value of my knowledge by my Heart and Life That is wisdome indeed which conformeth a man to God and saveth his soul This only will be owned as wisdome to eternity when dreaming notions will prove but folly 4. He that walketh with God hath an infallible Rule and taketh the right course to have the best acquaintance with it and skill to use it The Doctrine that informeth him is Divine It is from Heaven and not of Men And therefore if God be wiser than man he is able to make his Disciples wisest and Teaching will more certainly and
so hardly perswaded that it would be forgiven you and now do you make so small a matter of it Did you then so much wonder at your folly that could so long let out your thoughts and affections upon the creature while you neglected God and Heaven and do you begin to look that way again Do you now grow familiar with a life so like to that whirh was once your state of death and bear that easily that once was the breaking of your heart O Christians turn not away from that God again who once fetcht you home with so much smart and so much grace with such a twist of Love and Fatherly severity Methinks when you remember how you were once awakened you should not easily fall asleep again And when you remember the thoughts which then were in your hearts and the tears that were in your eyes and the earnest prayers which you then put up that God would receive you and take you for his own you should not now forget him and live as if you could live without him Remember that so far as you withdraw your hearts from God and let them follow inferiour things so far you contradict his works upon your hearts so far you violate your Covenant with him or sin against it so far you are revolters and go against the principal part of your profest Religion Yea so far you are ungodly as you thus withdraw your hearts from God Cleave to him and prosecute your Covenant if you will have the saving benefits of his Love and Covenant 3. MOreover the servants of God are doubly obliged to walk with him because they have had that experience of the goodness the safety and the sweetness of it which strangers have not Do you not remember how glad you were when you first believed that he pardoned and accepted you And how much you rejoyced in his Love and entertainment And how much better you found your Fathers house than ever you had found your sinful state And how much sweeter his service was than you did before believe It 's like you can remember something like that which is described in Luk. 15. 20 22 23 24. And he arose and came to his Father But when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him And the Son said unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son But the Father said to his servants Bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his hand and Shooes on his feet and bring hither the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my Son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found What would you have thought or said of this Prodigal if after all this he should have been weary of his Fathers house and company and have taken more pleasure in his former company Would you not have said he was a forgetful and unthankful wretch and worthy never more to be received I do not speak to you now as to Apostates that are turned ungodly and have quite forsaken God and Holiness But I beseech you consider what it is after such experiences and obligations as these so much as to abate your love and grow remiss and mindless and indifferent as if you were aweary of God and were inclined to neglect him and look again to the world for your hope and satisfaction and delight As you love your souls and as you would avoid the sorrows which are greater than any that ever you felt take heed of fleighting the Love that hath done such wonders for you and of dealing so unthankfully with the everliving God and of turning thus away from him that hath received you Remember whilst you live the Love of your espousals Was God so good to you at the first and holiness so desirable and is it not so still And I am sure that your own experience will bear witness that since that time in all your lives it never was so well with you as when you walked most faithfully with God If you have received any falls and hurts it hath been when you have stragled from him If ever you had safety peace or joy it hath been when you have been nearest to him your wounds and grief and death hath been the fruit of your own waies and of your forsaking him Your recovery and health and life have been the fruit of his waies and of your adhering to him Many and many a time you have confessed this and have said It is good for me to draw near to God He hath helped you when none else could help you and comforted you when none else could comfort you How far are you above the worldlings happiness when you are nigh to God One lively thought of his Greatness and Excellency and of his Love to you in Jesus Christ will make the name of wealth and honour and favour and preferment and sensual pleasures to seem to you as words of no signification How indifferent will you be as to your prosperity in the world when you feel what it is to walk with God If you are lively experimental Christians you have found this to be true Have you not found that it is the very Health and Ease and proper employment of your souls to walk with God and keep close to him And that all goes well with you while you can do thus however the world doth esteem or use you And that when you grow strange or disobedient to God and mindless of his Goodness his presence and his authority you are like the stomach that is sick and like a bone that is out of joynt that can have no ease till it be healed and restored to its proper place No meats or drinks no company nor recreation no wealth or greatness will serve to make a sick man well or ease the dislocated bones Nothing will serve a faithful holy soul but God This is the cause of the dolour of his heart and of the secret groans and complainings of his life because in this life of distance and imperfection he finds himself so far from God and when he hath done all that he can he is still so dark and strange and cold in his affections when persecution driveth him from the Ordinances and publick Worship or when sin hath set him at a greater distance from his God he bemoaneth his soul as David in his banishment from the Tabernacle Psal. 42. 1 2 c. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God When shall I come and appear before God My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me Where is thy God And it is no wonder if with his greatest joy he be yet clouded with these sorrows because he yet
whom their husbands have dealt more kindly have been drawn away with them into pernicious paths Therefore still I must say we were undone if we had the disposing of our own conditions If would be long before we should have been willing our selves to be thus unkindly dealt with by our friends And yet God hath made it to many a soul a notable means of preserving them from being undone for ever Yea the unfaithfulness of all our friends and the malice and cruelty of all our enemies doth us not usually so much harm as the Love and Temptation of some one deluded erring friend whom we are ready to follow into the gulf 7. Lastly consider that it is not desirable or suitable to our state to have too much of our comfort by any creature Not only because it is most pure and sweet which is most immediately from God but also because we are very prone to overlove the Creature and if it should but seem to be very commodious to us by serving our necessities or desires it would seem the more amiable and therefore be the stronger snare The work of mortification doth much consist in the annihilation or deadness of all the Creatures as to any power to draw away our hearts from God or to entangle us and detain us from our duty And the more excellent and lovely the creature appeareth to us the less it is dead to us or we to it and the more will it be able to hinder or ensnare us When you have well considered all these things I suppose you will admire the wisdome of God in leaving you under this kind of tryal and weaning you from every creature and teaching you by his providence as well as by his word to Cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of And you will see that it 's no great wonder that corrupted souls that live in other sins should be guilty of this unfaithfulness to their friends and that he that dare unthankfully trample upon the unspeakable kindness of the Lord should deal unkindly with the best of men You make no great wonder at other kind of sins when you see the world continually commit them why then should you make a greater or a stranger matter of this than of the rest Are you better than God Must unfaithfulness to you be made more hainous than that unfaithfulness to him which yet you daily see and sleight The least wrong to God is a thousandfold more than the greatest that can be done to you as such Have you done that for your nearest friend which God hath done for him and you and all men Their obligations to you are nothing in comparison of their great and manifold obligations to God And you know that you have more wronged God your selves than any man ever wronged you And if yet for all that he bear with you have you not great reason to bear with others Yea you have not been innocent towards men your selves Did you never wrong or fail another Or rather are you not apter to see and aggravate the wrong that others do to you than that which you have done to others May you not call to mind your own neglects and say as Adonizebeck Judg. 1. 7. Threescore and ten Kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off gathered their meat under my table As I have done so God hath requited me Many a one have I failed or wronged and no wonder if others fail and wrong me Nay you have been much more unfaithful and injurious to your selves than ever any other hath been to you No friend was so near you as your selves None had such a charge of of you None had such helps and advantages to do you good or hurt And yet all the enemies you have in the world even in Earth or Hell have not wronged and hurt you half so much as you have done your selves O methinks the man or woman that knoweth themselves and knoweth what it is to Repent that ever saw the greatness of their own sin and folly should have no great mind or leisure to aggravate the failings of their friends or the injuries of their enemies considering what they have proved to themselves Have I forfeited my own salvation and deserved everlasting wrath and sold my Saviour and my soul for so base a thing as sinful pleasure and shall I ever make a wonder of it that another man doth me some temporal hurt Was any friend so near to me as my self Or more obliged to me O sinful soul let thy own rather than thy friends deceit and treachery and neglects be the matter of thy displeasure wonder and complaints And let thy Conformity herein to Jesus Christ be thy holy ambition and delight Not as it is thy suffering nor as it is caused by mens sin but as it is thy Conformity and fellowship in the sufferings of thy Lord and caused by his Love I have already shewed you that sufferers for Christ are in in the highest form among his Disciples The order of his followers usually is this 1. At our entrance and in the lowest form we are exercised with the fears of Hell and Gods displeasure and in the works of Repentance for the sin that we have done 2. In the second form we come to think more seriously of the remedy and to enquire what we shall do to be saved and to understand better what Christ hath done and suffered and what he is and will be to us and to value him and his love and grace And here we are much enquiring how we may know our own sincerity and our interest in Christ and are labouring for some assurance and looking after signs of grace 3. In the next form or order we are searching after further knowledge and labouring better to understand the mysteries of Religion and to get above the rudiments and first principles And here if we scape turning bare Opinionists or Hereticks by the snare of controversie or curiosity it 's well 4. In the next form we set our selves to the fuller improvement of all our further degrees of knowledge and to digest it all and turn it into stronger Faith and Love and Hope and greater Humility Patience Self-denial Mortification and contempt of earthly vanities and hatred of sin and to walk more watchfully and holily and to be more in holy duty 5. In the next form we grow to be more publick-spirited to set our hearts on the Churches welfare and long more for the progress of the Gospel and for the good of others and to do all the good in the world that we are able for mens souls or bodies but especially to long and lay out our selves for the conversion and salvation of ignorant secure unconverted souls The counterfeit of this is An eager desire to proselyte others to our opinions or that Religion which we have chosen by the direction of flesh and blood or which is not of God nor
on their Love but upon God and therefore desire their Company but for His and if thou have His be content if thou have not theirs He wants not man that enjoyeth God Gather up all the Love and Thoughts and Desires which have been scattered and lost upon the Creatures and set them all on God himself and press into his presence and converse with him and thou shalt find the mistake of thy present discontents and sweet experience shall tell thee thou hast made a happy change 5. If God be with me I am not alone because he is with me with whom my greatest business lyeth And what company should I desire but theirs with whom I have my daily necessary work to do I have more to do with God than with all the world Yea more and greater business with him in one day than with all the world in all my life I have business with man about house or lands or food or rayment or labour or journying or recreations about society and publick peace But what are these to my business with God! Indeed wâ—â—h holy men I have holy business but that is but as they are Mâ—ssengers from God and come to me on his business and so they must be dearly welcome But even then my business is much more with God then with them with him that sent them then with the Messenger Indeed my business with God is so great that if I had not a Mediatour to encourage and assist me to do my work and procure me acceptance the thoughts of it would overwhelm my soul. O therefore my soul let man stand by It is the Eternal God that I have to do with and with whom I am to transact in this little time the business of my endless life I have to deal with God through Christ for the pardon of my sins of all my great and grievous sins and wo to me if I speed not that ever I was born I have some hopes of pardon but intermixt with many perplexing fears I have evidences much blotted and not easily understood I want assurance that he is indeed my Father and reconciled to me and will receive me to himself when the world forsaketh me I have many languishing graces to be strengthened and alas what radicated obstinate vexatious corruptions to be cuâ—ed Can I look into my heart into such an unbelieving dead and earthly heart into such a proud and peevish and disordered heart into such a trembling perplexed self-accusing heart and yet not understand how great my business is with God! Can I peruse my sins or feel my wants and sink under my weaknesses and yet not discern how great my business is with God! Can I look back upon all the time that I have lost and all the grace that I unthankfully resisted and all the mercies that I trod under foot or fool'd away and can I look before me and see how near my time is to an end and yet not understand how great my business is with God! Can I think of the malice and diligence of Satan the number power and subtilty of mine enemies the many snares and dangers that are still before me the strength and number of temptations and my ignorance unwatchfulness and weakness to resist and yet not know that my greatest business is with God! Can I feel my afflictions and lament them and think my burden greater then I can bear and find that man cannot relieve me can I go mourning in the heaviness of my soul and water my bed with tears and fill the air with my groans and lamentations or feel my soul overwhelm'd within me so that my words are intercepted and I am readier to break then speak and yet not perceive that my greatest business is with God Can I think of dying Can I draw near to judgement Can I think of everlasting joyes in Heaven and of everlasting pains in Hell and yet not feel that my greatest business is with God O then my soul the case is easily resolved with whom it is that thou must most desirously and seriously converse Where shouldst thou be but where thy business is and so great business Alas what have I to do with man what can it do but make my head ake to hear a deal of sensless chat about preferments lands and dignities about the words and thoughts of men and a thousand toyes that are utterly impertinent to my great imployments and signifie nothing but that the dreaming world is not awake What pleasure is it to see the bussles of a Bedlam world what a stir they make to prove or make themselves unhappy How low and of how little weight are the learned discourses about syllables and words and names and notions and mood and figure yea or about the highest planets when all are not referred unto God Were it not that some converse with men doth further my converse with God and that God did transact much of his business by his messengers and servants it were no matter whether ever I more saw the face of man were it not that my Master hath placed me in society and appointed me much of my work for others and with others and much of his mercy is conveyed by others man might stand by and solitude were better then the best society and God alone should take me up O nothing is so much my misery and shame as that I am no more willing nor better skilled in the management of my great important business That my work is with God and my heart is no more with him O what might I do in holy meditation or Prayer one hour if I were as ready for prayer and as good at prayer as one that hath so long opportunity and so great necessity to converse with God should be A prayerless heart a heart that flyeth away from God is most unexcusable in such a one as I that hath so much important business with him It is work that must be done and if well done will never be repented of I use not to return from the presence of God when indeed I have drawn near him as I do from the company of empty men repenting that I have lost my time and trembled that my mind is discomposed or depressed by the vanity and earthly savour of their discourse I oft repent that I have prayed to him so coldly and conversed with him so negligently and served him so remisly but I never repent of the time the care the affections or the diligence imployed in his holy work Many a time I have repented that ever I spent so much time with man and wisht I had never seen the faces of some that are eminent in the world whose favour and converse others are ambitious of But it is my grief and shame that so small a part of all my life hath been spent with God and that fervent prayer and heavenly contemplations have been so seldom and so short O that I had lived more with God though I
had been less with the dearest of my friends How much more sweet then would my life have been How much more blameless regular and pure How much more fruitful and answerable to my obligations and professions How much more comfortable to my review How many falls and hurts and wounds and griefs and groans might I have escaped O how much more pleasing is it now to my Rememberance to think of the hours in which I have lain at the feet of God though it were in tears and groans than to think of the time which I have spent in any common converse with the greatest or the learnedest or the dearest of my acquaintance And as my Greatest business is with God so my daily business is also with him He purposely leaveth me under wants and suffers necessities daily to return and enemies to assault me and affliction to surprize me that I may be daily driven to him He loveth to hear from me He would have me be no stranger with him I have business with him every hour I need not want employment for all the faculties of my soul if I know what it is to converse in Heaven Even prayer and every holy thought of God hath an Object so great and excellent as should wholly take me up Nothing must he thought or spoken lightly about the Lord. His name must not be taken in vain Nothing that is common beseemeth his worshippers He will be sanctified of all that shall draw near him He must be Loved with all the Heart and Might His servants need not be wearied for want of employment nor through the lightness or unprofitableness of their employment If I had Cities to build or Kingdoms to govern I might better complain for want of employment for the faculties of my soul than I can when I am to converse in Heaven In other studies the delight abateth when I have reached my desire and know all that I can know But in God there is infinitely more to be known when I know the most I am never satiated with the easiness of knowing nor are my desires abated by any unusefulness or unworthiness in the Object but I am drawn to it by its highest excellencies and drawn on to desire more and more by the infiniteness of the Light which I have not yet beheld and the infiniteness of the Good which yet I have not enjoyed If I be idle or seem to want employment when I am to contemplate all the Artributes relations mercies works and revealed perfections of the Lord its sure for want of eyes to see or a Heart enclined to my business if God be not enough to employ my soul then all the persons and things on earth are not enough And when I have Infinite Goodness to delight in where my soul may freely let out it self and never need to fear excess of Love how sweet should this employment be As Knowledge so Love is never stinted here by the narrowness of the Object We can never Love him in any proportion either to his Goodness and amiableness in himself or to his Love to us What need have I then of any other company or business when I have infinite Goodness to delight in and to Love further than they subserve this greatest work Come home then O my soul to God Converse in Heaven Turn away thine eyes from beholding vanity Let not thy affections kindle upon straw or bryars that go out when they have made a flash or noise and leave thee to thy cold and darkness But come and dwell upon celestial beauties and make it thy daily and most diligent work to kindle thy affections on the infinite everlasting Good and then they will never be extinguished or decay for want of fewel but the further they go and the longer they burn the greater will be the flame Though thou find it hard while Love is but a spark to make it burn and complain that thy cold and backward heart is hardly warmed with the Love of God yet when the whole pile hath taken fire and the flame ascendeth fire will breed fire Love will cause Love and all the malice of Hell it self shall never be able to suppress or quench it unto all eternity 6. And it is a great encouragement to my converse with God that no misunderstanding no malice of enemies no former sin or present frailty no nor the infinite distance of the most Holy Glorious God can hinder my access to him or turn away his Ear or Love or interrupt my leave and liberty of converse If I converse with the poor their wants afflict me being greater than I can supply Their complaints and expectations which I cannot satisfie are my trouble If I would converse with Great ones it is not easie to get access and less easie to have their favout unless I would purchase it at too dear a rate How strangely and contemptuously do they look at their inferiours Great friends must be made for a word or smile And if you be not quickly gone they are aweary of you And if you seek any thing of them or would put them to any cost or trouble you are as welcome to them as so many vermine or noisome creatures They please them best that drive you away With how much labour and difficulty must you clime if you will see the top of one of these mountains And when you are there you are but in a place of barrenness and have nothing to satisfie you for your pains but a larger prospect and vertiginous despect of the lower grounds which are not your own it is seldome that these Great ones are to be spoken with And perhaps their speech is but a denyal of your requests if not some snappish and contemptuous rejection that makes you glad when you are got far enough from them and makes you the better like and love the accessible calm and fruitful plains But O how much greater encouragements hath my soul to converse with God! Company never hindereth him from hearkening to my suit He is infinite and Omnipotent and as sufficient for every individual soul as if he had no other to look after in the world when he is taken up with the attendance and praises of his Heavenly Host he is as free and ready to attend and answer the groans and prayers of a contrite soul as if he had no nobler creatures nor no higher service to regard I am oft unready but God is never unready I am unready to pray but he is not unready to hear I am unready to come to God to walk with him and to solace my soul with him but he is never unready to entertain me Many a time my conscience would have driven me away when he hath called me to him and rebuked my accusing fearful conscience Many a time I have called my self a prodigal a companion of Swine a miserable hard-hearted sinner unworthy to be called his Son when he hath called me Child and chid me for my questioning
leaving it or talk of going home and look forward to the place where I must dwell for ever shall I be fond of the company of a passenger that I travel with yea perhaps one that doth but meet me in the way and goeth to a contrary place and shall I not take more pleasure to remember home I will not be so uncivil as to deny those I meet a short salute or to be friendly with my fellow-travellers But remember O my soul that thou dost not dwell but travel here and that it is thy Fathers house where thou must abide for ever yea and he is nearer thee than man though invisible even in thy way O see him then that is invisible Hearken to him when he speaketh Obey his voice Observe his way Speak to him boldly though humbly and reverently as his child about the great concernments of thy State Tell him what it is that aileth thee And seeing all thy smart is the fruit of thy own sin confess thy folly and unkindness crave his forgiveness and remember him what his Son hath suffered and for what Treat with him about thy future course Desire his Grace and give up thy self to his conduct and his cure Weep over in his ears the history of thy misdoings and unthankful course Tell it him with penitential tears and groans But tell him also the advantage that he hath for the honouring of his grace if it may now abound where sin aboundeth Tell him that thou art most offended with thy self for that which he is most offended with That thou art angry with thy disobedient unthankful heart that thou art even aweary of that heart that loveth him no more and that it shall never please thee till it love him better and be more desirous to please him Tell him of thy enemies and crave the protection of his love Tell him of thy frailties infirmities and passions and crave not only his tender forbearance but his help Tell him that without him thou canst do nothing and crave the Grace that is sufficient for thee that through him that strenghteneth thee thou maist do all things when thou fallest despair not but crave his helping hand to raise thee Speak to him especially of the everlasting things and thank him for his Promises and for thy hopes for what thou shalt be and have and do among his Holy Ones for ever Express thy joyes in the promise of those joyes that thou must see his Glory and love him and praise him better then thou canst now desire Begin those praises and as thou walkest with him take pleasure in the mention of his perfections be thankful to him and speak good of his Name Solace thy self in remembring what a God what a desence and portion all believers have and in considering whither he is now conducting thee and what he will do with thee and what use he will make of thee for ever Speak with Rejoycing of the glory of his works and the righteousness of his judgements and the holiness and evenness of his wayes sing forth his praises with a joyful heart and pleasant and triumphing voice and frown away all slavish fears all importune malicious suggestions or doubts all peevish hurtfull nipping griefs that would mar or interrupt the melody and would untune or unstring a raised well composed soul. Thy Father loveth thy very moans and tears but how much more doth he love thy Thanks and Praise Or if indeed it be a winter time a stormy day with thee and he seem to chide or hide his face because thou hast offended him let the cloud that is gathered by thy folly come down in tears and tell him Thou hast sinned against Heaven and before him and art no more worthy to be called his Son but yet fly not from him but beg his pardon and the priviledges of a servant And thou wilt find embracements when thou fearest condemnation and find that he is merciful and ready to forgive Only return and keep closer to him for the time to come If the breach through thy neglect be gone so far as that thou seemest to have lost thy God and to be cast off and left forsaken despair not yet for he doth but hide his face till thou repent He doth not forsake thee but only tell thee what it is to walk so carelesly as if thou wouldst forsake him Thou art faster and surer in his Love and Covenant then thou canst believe or apprehend Thy Lord was as dear as ever to his Father when he cryed out My God why hast thou forsaken me But yet neglect him not and be not regardless of his withdrawings and of thy loss Lift up thy voyce and cry but Father in despight of unbelief cry out My Father my Saviour my God and thou shalt hear him answer thee at last My Child Cry out O why dost thou hide thy face and why hast thou forsaken me O what shall I do here without thee O leave me not lose me not in this howling wilderness Let me not be a prey to any ravening beast to my sin to Satan to my foes and thine Lift up thy voyce and weep and tell him they are the tears and lamentations of his Child O beg of him that thy wanderings and childish folly may not be taken as acts of enmity or at least that they may be pardoned and though he correct thee that he will return and not forsake thee but still take thee and use thee as his child Or if thou hast not words to pour out before him at least smite upon thy breast and though thou be ashamed or afraid to look up toward heaven look down and say O Lord be merciful to me a sinner and he will take it for an acceptable suit that tendeth to thy pardon and justification and will number such a sentence with the prayers which he cannot deny Or if thou cry and canst not hear of him and hast long called out upon thy Fathers Name and hearest not his voyce and hast no return enquire after him of those thou meetest Ask for him of them that know him and are acquainted with his way Make thy moan unto the watchmen and ask them where thou maist find thy Lord. And at last he will appear to thee and find thee first that thou maist find him and shew thee where it was that thou didst lose him by losing thy self and turning from him I seek him and thou shalt find him wait and he will appear in kindness For he never faileth or forsaketh those that wait upon him This kind of Converse O my soul thou hast to prosecute with thy God Thou hast also the concernments of all his servants his afflicted ones his broken hearted ones his diseased enes his persecuted ones to tell him of Tell him also of the concernments of his Kingdome the fury of his enemies the dishonour they cast upon his Name the matters of his Gospel cause and interest in the world But still let his
thou art upon A mind that is drowned in ambition sensuality or passion will scarce find God any sooner in a wilderness than in a croud unless he be there returning from those sins to God whereever he seeth him God will not own and be familiar with so foul a soul. Seneca could say Quid prodest totius regionis silentium si affectus fremunt What good doth the silence of all the Country do thee if thou have the noise of raging affections within And Gregory saith Qui corpore remotus vivit c. He that in body is far enough from the tumult of humane conversation is not in solitude if he busie himself with earthly cogitations and desires and he is not in the City that is not troubled with the tumult of worldly cares or fears though he be pressed with the popular crouds Bring not thy house or land or credit or carnal friend along with thee in thy heart if thou desire and expect to walk in Heaven and to converse with God Direct 5. Live still by Faith Let Faith lay Heaven and Earth as it were together Look not at God as if he were far off set him alwaies as before you even as at your right hand Psal. 16. 8. Be still with him when you awake Psal. 1 39. 18. In the morning thank him for your rest and deliver up your self to his conduct and service for that day Go forth as with him and to do his work Do every action with the Command of God and the Promise of Heaven before your eyes and upon your hearts Live as those that have incomparably more to do with God and Heaven than with all this world That you may say with David Psal. 37. 25 26. as aforecited Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee And with Paul Phil. 1. 21. To me to Live is Christ and to Dye is gain You must shut up the eye of sense save as subordinate to Faith and live by Faith upon a God a Christ and a World that is unseen if you would know by experience what it is to be above the brutish life of sensualists and to converse with God O Christian if thou hadst rightly learned this blessed life what a high and noble soul-conversation wouldst thou have How easily wouldst thou spare and how little wouldst thou miss the favour of the greatest the presence of any worldly comfort City or Solitude would be much alike to thee saving that the place and state would be best to thee where thou hast the greatest help and freedome to converse with God Thou wouldst say of humane society as Seneca Unus pro populo mihi est populus pro uno Mihi satis est unus satis est nullus One is instead of all the people to me and the people as one One is enough for me and none is enough Thus being taken up with God thou mightest live in prison as at liberty and in a wilderness as in a City and in a place of banishment as in thy native Land For the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and everywhere thou mayest find him and converse with him and lift up pure hands unto him In every place thou art within the sight of home and Heaven is in thine eye and thou art conversing with that God in whose converse the highest Angels do place their highest felicity and delight How little cause then have all the Churches enemies to triumph that can never shut up a true believer from the presence of his God nor banish him into such a place where he cannot have his conversation in Heaven The stones that were cast at holy Stephen could not hinder him from seeing the Heavens opened and Christ sitting at the right hand of God A Patmos allowed holy John Communion with Christ being there in the Spirit on the Lords day Rev. 1. 9 10. Christ never so speedily and comfortably owneth his servants as when the world disowneth them and abuseth them for his sake and hurls them up and down as the scorn and off-scouring of all He quickly found the blind man that he had cured when once the Jews had cast him out Joh. 9. 35. Persecutors do but promote the blessedness and exceeding joy of sufferers for Christ Mat. 5. 11 12. And how little Reason then have Christians to shun such sufferings by unlawful means which turn to their so great advantage and to give so dear as the hazard of their souls by wilful sin to escape the honour and safety and commodity of Martyrdome And indeed we judge not we Love not we Live not as sanctified ones must do if we judge not that the truest Liberty and Love it not as the Best Condition in which we may Best converse with God And O how much harder is it to walk with God in a Court in the midst of sensual delights than in a prison or wilderness where we have none to interrupt us and nothing else to take us up It is our prepossessed minds our earthly hearts our carnal affections and concupiscence and the pleasures of a prosperous state that are the prison and the Jaylors of our souls Were it not for these how free should we be though our bodies were confined to the straightest room He is at Liberty that can walk in Heaven and have access to God and make use of all the Creatures in the world to the promoting of this his Heavenly conversation And he is the prisoner whose soul is chained to flesh and earth and confined to his lands and houses and feedeth on the dust of worldly riches or walloweth in the dung and filth of gluttony drunkenness and lust that are far from God and desire not to be near him but say to him Depart from us we would not have the knowledge of thy waies that Love their prison and chains so well that they would not be set free but hate those with the cruellest hatred that endeavour their deliverance Those are the poor prisoners of Satan that have not liberty to believe nor to Love God nor converse in Heaven nor seriously to mind or seek the things that are high and honourable that have not liberty to meditate or pray or seriously to speak of holy things nor to love and converse with those that do so that are tyed so hard to the drudgery of sin that they have not liberty one month or week or day to leave it and walk with God so much as for a recreation But he that liveth in the family of God and is employed in attending him and doth converse with Christ and the Host of Holy ones above in reason should not much complain of his want of friends or company or accommodations nor yet be too impatient of any corporal confinement Lastly be sure then most narrowly to watch your hearts that nothing have entertainment there which is against your Liberty of converse with God Fill not those Hearts with