conscientious respect unto it Force and Fear rule all This is that Discipline in whose execution the blood of an innumerable company of Holy Martyrs hath been shed that wherein all the vital Spirits of the Papacy do act themselves and whereby it doth subsist and although it be the Image of Jealousie or the Image of the first Beast set up by the Dragon yet it cannot be denyed but that it is very wisely accommodated unto the present State of the Generality of them that are called Christians amongst them For being both blind and carnal and having thereby lost all Sense and Experience of the Spiritual Power of the Rule of Christ in their Consciences they are become an Herd not fit to be governed or ruled any other way Under the Bondage of it therefore they must abide till the vail of Blindness be taken away and they are turned unto God by his Word and Spirit for where the Spirit of the Lord is there and there alone is Liberty SECT VII Unto the foregoing particular Instances with respect unto the Church I shall yet add one more general which is indeed comprehensive of them all or the root from whence they spring a root-bearing Gall and Wormwood And this is concerning the Catholick Church What belongs unto this Catholick Church what is comprized in its Communion The Apostle declares Heb. 12.22 23 24. It is the Recapitulation of all things in Heaven and Earth in Christ Jesus Eph. 1.10 His Body his Spouse or Bride the Lambs Wife the glorious Temple wherein God doth dwell by his Spirit An holy mystical Society purchased and purified by the blood of Christ and united unto him by his spirit or the Inhabitation of the same spirit in him and those whereof it doth consist Hence they with him as the body with its head are mystically called Christ 1 Cor 12.12 And there are two parts of it the one whereof is already perfected in Heaven as unto their spirits and the other yet continued in the way of faith and obedience in this world Both these constitute one family in Heaven and Earth Ephes 3.15 In Conjunction with the holy Angels one Mystical-Body one Catholick Church And although there is a great difference in their present state and condition between these two branches of the same Family yet are they both equally purchased by Christ and united unto him as their Head having both of them effectually the same principle of the life of God in them Of a third part of this Church neither in Heaven nor in Earth in a temporary State participant somewhat of Heaven and somewhat of Hell called Purgatory the Scripture knoweth nothing at all neither is it consistent with the Analogy of Faith or the promises of God unto them that do believe as we shall see immediately This Church even as unto that part of it which is in this world as it is adorned with all the graces of the Holy Spirit is the most beautiful and glorious effect next unto the forming and production of its Head in the Incarnation of the Son of God which Divine Wisdom Power and Grace will extend themselves unto here below But these things the glory of this State is visible only unto the eye of Faith yea it is perfectly seen and known only to Christ himself We see it obscurely in the light of Faith and Revelation and are sensible of it according unto our participating of the graces and privileges wherein it doth consist But that spiritual light which is necessary to the discerning of this Glory was lost among those of whom we treat They could see no reality nor beauty in these things nor any thing that should be of advantage unto them For upon their principle of the utter uncertainty of mens spiritual estate and condition in this world it is evident that they could have no satisfactory perswasion of any concernment in it But they had possessed themselves of the notion of a Catholick Church which with mysterious Artifices they have turned unto their own incredible secular Advantage This is that whereof they boast appropriating it unto themselves and making it a pretence of destroying others what lies in them both temporally and eternally Unto this end they have formed the most deformed and detestable Image of it that ever the world beheld For the Catholick Church which they own and which they boast that they are instead of that of Christ is a company or society of men unto whom in order unto the constitution of that whole society there is no one real Christian grace required nor spiritual Vnion unto Christ the Head but only an outside profession of these things as they expresly contend A Society united unto the Pope of Rome as its head by a subjection unto him and his rule according to the Laws and Canons whereby he will grant them This is the formal reason and cause constituting that Catholick Church which they are which is compacted in it self by horrid Bonds and Ligaments for the ends of Ambition worldly Domination and Avarice A Catholick Church openly wicked in the generality of its rulers and them that are ruled and in its State cruel oppressive and died with the blood of Saints and Martyrs innumerable This I say is that Image of the Holy Catholick Church the spouse of Christ which they have set up And it hath been as the Image of Moloch that hath devoured and consumed the Children of the Church whose cryes when their cruel step-mother pittied them not and when their pretended Ghostly Fathers cast them into the flames came up unto the ears of the Lord of Hosts and their blood still cries for vengeance on this idolatrous generation Yet is this pretence of the Catholick Church pressed in the minds of many with so many Sophistical Artifices through the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive proposed with the allurements of so many secular advantages and imposed oftimes on Christians with so much force and cruelty that nothing can secure us from the Admission of it unto the utter overthrow of Religion but the means before insisted on A spiritual light is necessary hereunto to discern the internal spiritual beauty and glory of the true Catholick Church of Christ Where this is in its power all the paintings and dresses of their deformed Image will fall off from it and its abominable filth will be made to appear And this will be accompanied with an effectual experience of the glory and excellency of that grace in the souls of those that believe derived from Christ the sole head of this Church whereby they are changed from Glory to Glory as by the spirit of the Lord. The Power Life and sweetness hereof will give satisfaction unto their souls to the contempt of the pretended order of dependance on the Pope as an head By these means the true Catholick Church which is the body of Christ the fulness of him that filleth all in all growing
12.1 ult That he formeth the spirit of man within him Which proves its distinction from the Body and its spiritual Nature too and if mans Soul were only as the Soul of a Beast the forming of it would not deserve to be reckoned up with those stupendous Acts of stretching out the Heavens and laying the foundations of the Earth as we see it is in the forecited place Add to this that when our Blessed Saviour dyed the Evangelist says he gave up the Ghost Matth. 27.50 that is his Spirit or Soul And St. Stephen dyed with these last words Lord Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7.59 2. That the Soul is a spiritual substance is evident in that it is not produced out of matter as the Body of Adam was and all our Bodies are as is observed in the Relation we have of mans Creation Gen. 2.7 and in Solomons Observation upon it Eccles 12.7 speaking of Death after his most admired description of Old Age then says he shall the dust i. e. the body return to the Earth as it was there is the Original of that assign'd and the spirit shall return to God that gave it The Spirit or Soul is as certainly made by God out of no praeexisting matter as the Body is made out of matter Gen. 2.23 and if we grant the one why should we doubt of the other To be sure when Eve was brought unto Adam he says she is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh but he does not say she is a Soul of my Soul Whether the Soul be made by God mediante Generatione or by an immediate Creation though I am perswaded of the latter yet I shall not peremptorily determine Nec tum scitbam nec adhuc scio August libr. 1. Retr finding St. Austin in a plainer case concerning the Soul modestly professing his Ignorance 3. My third Argument to prove the Soul is a Spirit is because in it man bears the Image of God God is a Spirit John 4.24 and nothing corporeal as such can be said to be in his Image or Likeness Neither is any bodily thing as bodily capable of Wisdom Holiness Righteousness by which man resembles his Maker Now though these Scripture-proofs are sufficient to any that believe undoubtedly the verity of Scripture and such I speak to yet to name one or two of another Nature Therefore 4. Fourthly The Actions or Operations of the Soul are such as cannot proceed from any bodily Being as intellection and volition To abstract and reflect upon its self and its motions In one thought to meditate on Hell in the next on Heaven No Corporeal Agent can in less than the twinkling of an Eye or turn of a hand move or act on things so vastly distant The Opinion of the motion of the Orbs of the Planets and of the Firmament is antiquated and almost laught at because no Bodies can be conceived to move so swiftly and this motion of the Soul incredibly exceeds theirs 5. And lastly The Soul is a Spirit in that it is in the Body and one Body cannot be in another non datur penetratio corporum The Soul takes up no place as bodies do 't is tota in toto or at least negatively It is not by parts in the Body as material things are part here and part there whereas the Soul is so in any part that it is not the less in the other Thus these being premised 3. In what the Souls Excellency does appear I come now to that which is mainly intended viz. to shew whence we may know the excellency of the Soul For as to some other particulars which may tend to the further explaining the Text. As 1. How a Soul may be said to be lost And 2. What this Phrase giving an exchange for the Soul imports I shall take occasion to speak to them as they will fall with what we are yet to speak unto For I would not make the Porch or Entry too large or wide Though I may suppose that in what I have said enough may be discovered to prove what I am upon and that I have laid down such Principles as the worth of the Soul may easily be inferr'd from them Yet it will not be amiss to be minded of the force of them with the addition of such things as will abundantly serve our present purpose 1. In its Original The first thing that speaks the Souls Prerogative is its Original It is accounted no small priviledge to be nobly born to be descended from Princes or Persons Eminent in any kind yet man in his best Estate is altogether vanity Ps 39.5 Man is a worm Job 25.6 and the Son of man be he who he will is but a Worm his Generation is univocal and like begets its like But the Soul is the Off-spring of God Acts 17.29 In that sense the Heathen Poet and St. Paul from him is to be understood there is no pretence for the Body to be the Off-spring of God who is a Spirit If it be warily understood we may admit of what is ordinarily said of the Soul that it is divinae aurae particula I am sure 't is this part only in man that may be said to partake of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 'T is remarkable that the Soul at its Creation was not made according to any pattern or sampler taken from amongst the herd of the visible Creatures but 't is a kind of an Idea of God as true and as full a one as in matter can be borne and though man be lower than the Angels by reason of his Body which is as a clog upon the Soul or a flaw which this precious Jewel appears with Yet in some respect the Humane Nature may vy with the Angelical Nature and man is the Crown and Topstone of the Creation being added last of all by the all-wise Architect to his building of the World In the End 't is design'd for 2. The Excellency of our Souls appears from the End they are designed for It cannot but speak the dignity of the Soul that it alone of all the Creatures is chosen and set apart by God for such great purposes As 1. To glorify him 2. To enjoy him Men though otherwise of the lowest rank are ennobled when their Prince appoints them to Honourable Employments Now 1. The Soul of Man is made for to bring glory to God Not as the body of Man only as an Instrument which moves as the Soul would have it as the Ax in the hand of the Workman nor as the other visible Creatures who glorifyed God only as they afford us matter for Gods glory but all the Glory that God expects or can reap from all and every one of the Corporal Beings is entrusted with Man Man is the Creatures High Priest and by him they offer up all their Sacrifices of Praise and Thanks When in Psal 148. the Sun and Moon nay Storms and Tempests are call'd upon to praise
thee Lord is the fountain of Life But if this Reward be so Exceeding Great Quest will it not overwhelm us In the other World our Faculties shall be extended Answ and through the Mediator Christ we shall be made capable of receiving this Reward Put a back of Steel to a Glass and you may see your Face in it So Christs Humane Nature being put as a back of Steel to the Divine Gods Glory will be seen and enjoyed by us There is no seeing the Sun in the Circle but in the Beams so whatever of God is made Visible to us will be through the Golden Beams of the Sun of Righteousness Wherein appears the certainty of this Reward Quest God who is the Oracle of Truth hath asserted it Answ A Charter Legally confirmed under the Broad Seal is unquestionable The Publique Faith of Heaven is engaged to make good this Reward Gods Oath is laid at Pledge d Psal 58.11 Nay God hath not only Pawned his Truth the most Orient Pearl of his Crown but he hath given the Anticipation and First-fruits of this reward to his Saints in joy and Consolation Gal. 5.22 e Vae nobis si nec juranti Deo credimus Aug. which assures them of an Harvest afterwards But when shall we be possessed of this Reward Quest The time is not long Revel 22.12 Behold I come quickly Answ and my reward is with me Sence and Reason think it a long Interval but Faith looks at the Reward as near through a Perspective Glass the Object which is at some distance seems near to the Eye So Faith looking through the Perspective Glass of a Promise the Reward seems near Faith as it doth Substantiate so it doth Anticipate things not seen it makes them present Eph. 2.6 But why is this Reward at all deferred Quest 1. God sees it not fit that we should yet receive it Answ Our work is not done we have not yet finish'd the Faith A day Labourer doth not receive his Pay till his work be done Even Christs Reward was deferred till He had Compleated his Mediatory Work and said upon the Cross It is Finished 2. God defers the Reward that we may live by Faith We are taken with the Reward but God is more taken with our Faith No Grace Honours God like Faith Rom. 4.20 God hath given himself to us by Promise Faith trusts Gods Bond and Patience waits for the Payment 3. God adjourns the Reward a while to sweeten it and make it more welcom to us when it comes f Quo longius defertur eò suavins laetatuâ— After all our Labours watchings conflicts how comfortable will the Reward be Nay the longer the Reward is deferred it will be the Greater The longest Voyages have the largest returns If still it be asked When shall the time of this Reward be I say The righteous shall receive part of their reward at Death No sooner is the Soul out of the Body but it is Present with the Lord 2. Cor. 5.8 f Piae animae à Corporibus solutae cum Deo vivunt Calv. And the full Coronation is at the Resurrection when the Soul and Body shall be re-united and perfected in Glory Christians faint not in your Voyage thô troublesome you are within a few Leagues of Heaven Your Salvation is now nearer than when you First believed Rom. 13.11 Several Corollaries follow 1Vse Infomation Hence it is Evident that it is Lawful to look to the future Reward God is our Reward is it not Lawful to look to him Moses had an Branch 1 Eye to the Recompense of reward Hebr. 11.26 What was this Reward but God himself verse 27 As seeing him who is invisible Looking to the Reward quickens us in Religion 'T is like the Rod of Myrtle in the Travellers hand which is said revives his Spirits and makes him walk without being weary who that is subject to fainting-fits will not carry Cordial-water about him Branch 2 If God be such an Exceeding Great Reward then it is not in vain to engage in his Service 'T was a slanderous Speech Mal. 3.14 Ye have said it is vain to serve God The Infinite Jehovah gives a Reward that is as far beyond our thoughts as it is above our deserts How apt are persons through Ignorance or mistake to misjudge the wayes of God! They think it will not quit the cost to be Religious They speak evil of Religion before they have tryed it as if one should condemn a Meat before he hath tasted it besides the Vails g Psal 19.11 which God gives in this life Provision Protection Peace there is a Glorious Reward shortly coming God himself is the Saints Dowry h In uno Deo omnes florent Gemmae ad salutem God hath a true Monopoly He hath those Riches which are no where else to be had the Riches of Salvation He is such a Gold-mine as no Angel can find the bottom Eph. 3.8 The unsearchable Riches of Christ Is it vain then to serve God A Christians work is soon over but not his Reward He hath such an Harvest coming as cannot be fully Inned it will be alwayes Reaping-time in Heaven How great is that Reward which Thoughts cannot measure nor Time finish Branch 3 See the egregious Folly of such as refuse God Psal 81.11 Israel would none of me Is it usual to refuse Rewards If a man should have a vast Summ of Money offered him and he should refuse it his discretion would be call'd in Question God offers an incomprehensible Reward to men yet they refuse Like the Load-stone which refuseth Gold and Pearl and drawes the rusty Iron to it Man by his fall lost his Head-piece He sees not where his Interest lies He flies from God as if he were afraid of Salvation and what doth he refuse God for the Pleasures of the World i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiâ—tetus We may write upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are like Noah's Dove which brought an Olive-branch in her mouth but quickly flew out of the Ark. And to lose God for these Perishableâ— is a Prodigy of Folly worse than that of Lysimachus who for a Draught of Water lost his Kingdom We Read in Scripture of two Cups Psalm 16.8 The Lord is the Portion of my Cup. They who refuse this Cup shall have another Cup to Drink of Psalm 11.6 Vpon the wicked he shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone this shall be the Portion of their Cup. If God be such an immense Reward then see how little cause the Branch 4 Saints have to fear Death are men afraid to receive Rewards There is no way to live but by dying i Aliae haereditates in morte deseruntur sed ad solidam hujus Possessionem per mortem immittimur River Christians would be cloathed with Glory but are loath to be uncloathed they pray Thy Kingdom come and when God is leading them thither they are afraid to go what makes us desirous
some a Dram of Cremor Tartary in broth will do it in the Morning 4. Sit not down nor walk as soon as you rise in the Morning but stand still upright a quarter of an hour when you are drest and as long after Dinner it helpeth the excrements too descend And if you feel the least possibility go to Stool and make not too much haste away 5. If you have no Rheum or cold windiness of Stomach eat sometimes ten or twelve stewed Prunes and sometimes four or five roasted Pippens half an hour before Dinner 6. Take Chio Turpentine or Venice Turpentine if that cannot be had wash it well and make it into hard Pills with Powder of Epithyme as much as you can get it to take up Let the Pills be small and take a Dram or more or less as you are able to get them down all at a swallow covered in a Spoonful of Syrup of Apples or of Balm or of Mallows a little before a late Supper to work the next morning or Turpentine with Liuqorice powder or of it self in an Egg or any way got down may serve 7. If more be needful make the same Turpentine into Pills with Rubarb powdered or Senna powdered or both together and take it before Supper It goeth down easily in a Spoonful of any pleasant Syrupe But use no more Clysters nor purging things when once the Melancholly is overcome then you needs must for it difuseth nature as to its proper office 8. Their drink is of great moment that unless in cold bodies they take no strong Wines nor Claret but either Ale or good Beer with a little white Wine or Possit drink made but with little Milk and some strong Ale and white-Wine or Posset drink made with Syder Ale and a little white Wine Or take a quart of the juice of Balm with a little ground Ivey and put it into a Vessel of good Ale or Beer of about three or four gallons and drink this at meat Or sometimes some Wormwood Ale but not long But cold dull bodies may drink good strong Beer or Ale that is not hard and fat cold persons may endure Sack The Devil hath another cure for the sad and Melancholly than such as I have here prescribed which is to caste away all belief of the immortality of the soul and the life to come or at least not to think of it and for to take Religion to be a superstitious needless fancy and for to laugh at the threatnings of the Scripture and go to Play-Houses and Cards and Dice and to drink and play away Melancholly Honest Recreations are very good for Melancholly Persons if we could get them to use it but alas this Satanical cure is but like the Witches bargain with the Devil who promiseth them much but payeth them with shame and utter misery The end of that mirth is uncureable sorrow if timely repentance cure not the cause the Garrison of Satan in the hearts of Sinners are strongly kept when they are in peace but when they have fool'd away time and Mercy and Hope dye they must there 's no remedy and to go merrily and unbelievingly to Hell after all Gods calls and Warnings will be no abatement of their torment to go out of the world in the guilt of Sin and to end life before they would know the use of it and to undergo Gods Justice for the mad contempt of Christ and Grace will put a sad end to all their mirth for there is no Peace to the wicked saith my God Isa 48.22 and 57.21 But Christ saith to his mourners Mat. 5.4 Blessed are you that mourn for you shall be comforted and John 16.20 Ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejâ—â—câ— and ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy And Solomon knew that the House of Mourning was better than the house of feasting and that the heart of the wise is in the House of Mourning but the heart of Fools in the house of mirth Eccles 7.2 3 4. But holy joy of Faith and Hope is best of all Quest How we may grow in the Knowledge of Christ SERMON XII 2 PET. III. XVIII And in the Knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Petrus Cruci affigitur capite in terram verso elevatisque in sublime pedibus Plat. in vit Pet. p. 14. THE Apostle Peter when he wrote this Epistle lookt upon himself as a Dying Man the Ministers of the Gospel would preach with more Life if Death were but more within their view His Death which was violent for he ended his days upon a Cross had been foretold by Christ himself accordingly he was perswaded that quickly he should be made to put off his earthly Tabernacle But like a good Shepherd before he departed he expresses his care of the flock which he was to leave behind him He commends the Gospel to them as that which is of the Highest Authority of the Greatest Certainty That their Faith might be firm and that they might persevere in their Obedience The Apostle having lookt as far as the Grave he looks farther he beheld his own and likewise the Worlds Dissolution he plainly foresaw the end of all things and tells them to whom he writes That the Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night and that the Heavens will pass away with a great noise the Elements melt with fervent heat the Earth and the Works therein will be burnt up and then most rationally infers seeing all these things shall be dissolved Mali sunt intâ—rpâ—â—â—es qui in arguâ—â—s speculationibus multum consumunt operâ— cum Apostolus totam hanc do â—rinam ad piaâ— exâ—â—rtationes accommodâ—t Ca vin ad loc what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and Godliness He speaks of a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwells Righteousness Interpreters conclude that this refers not to the substance of the World which will remain but to the qualities of it which will be changed and even at last quâ—te purged out of it Calvin thinks meet here to give a caution against Curiosity and too great Inquisitiveness which will be unprofitable which may prove dangerous and tells us that the scope of the Apostle is mainly to be attended which is to awaken and exhort unto serious Holiness since this World must be purged by Fire all that are Christians should endeavour after a greater measure of Purity and ought to be growing in Grace and in the Knowledg of Christ continually In the words we find 1. A growth and Increase urged the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supposes Imperfection but also that perfection ought to be aspired unto and that the Christians growth does make him truly great 2. This growth must be in the Knowledg of Jesus Christ the Object Christ is high and large unto Infiniteness his fulness his riches unsearchable the Knowledg of this Object must not be meerly notional verbum
Divine Perfections I. The many Doctrines which more immediately respect the Nature of God his Acts and Modes of Operation 1. More generally they are all such as represent somewhat of him who in all Perfections is infinite and infinitely above us God is a Spirit infinite infinite in his Essence or immense infinite in his existence or external There is according to the Conceptions we must form of God at least quoad nos a difference between Immensity and Externity Immensity denotes the Essence of God to be more large and comprehensive than can be measured but the import of Eternity is to be considered with regard to the Duration of the Divine Essence whence although we must assert the Essence and Existence of God to be so much the same that necessary Existence is included in the very Essence of God yet we may look on the divine Existence to be a pressior conceptus to that of the divine Essence for essence includes somewhat more than meer existence namely other perfections of the divine Nature which when considered as it fills Heaven and Earth and is infinitely beyond all without all bounds or limits 't is said to be immense but considered as enduring from everlasting to everlasting 't is Eternal The like of the other Attributes Thus our finite capacities may form some partial and inadequate Conceptions of these things but comprehend them we cannot If we look into any particular Attribute of God we are swallowed up as in a bottomless Ocean For there is not any one Divine Perfection that includes not in it Infinity the which is so far above us that we cannot reach unto it We cannot know him unto Perfection nor by searching find him out He is higher than the Heavens deeper than Hell longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea we cannot comprehend him His Nature his Attributes all his glorious Perfections being infinite are infinitely above us and seeing the Revelations made of God do after a sort represent somewhat of his glorious Nature they are not fully comprehended by us They point â—nto somewhat that is beyond us But to be more particular 2. God who is a Spirit Infinite is absolutely and simply One he is a pure Act but yet Three One absolutely and simply One God and yet Three Three Persons None can be more concerned in asserting the Oneness or Unity of the Godhead than the Christian how vehement soever the Mahometane Jew or Socinian may be in asserting the Simplicity and Oweness of the Divine Nature they cannot be more so than We are but yet a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead we must also affirm or our Religion is lost Whoever will but seriously acquaint himself with the Essentials of the Christian Religion will find that the believing a Trinity is as necessary to the being of our Religion as the believing the existence of God is to any Religion The Spirit of God has not only here and there expresly asserted the Doctrine of the Trinity but every momentous Doctrine of our Religion which is appropriate unto it as 't is Christian supposes it There are Three Fundamentals of our Faith all which conjunctly considered suppose a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead even God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost There is the Fall of Man his Redemption and Sanctification God at first made man upright and gave him a Holy Just and Good Law which was sanction'd with the Promise of a glorious Reward and with the severe Threat of Divine Wrath and Indignation Do this and Live but in the Day thou eatest thou shalt die Man transgresses this Law and is obnoxious unto the Threatning he must die For God who is Infinite in all Perfections is a God of Truth and must accomplish his Word He is essentially just and righteous and must proportion the punishment to the nature of the Crime An Infinite God is offended his Law is violated and this by Man by Adam the Head of Human Nature and therefore 't is impossible that any escape Infinite which is on finite Worms Eternal Wrath unless the Justice of God be satisfyed by proportionable Sufferings in that nature that sinned But if there had been but One Person as there is but One God there could not be an Infinite Person to undertake for us That one Person who was offended would be alone able to satisfie his own Justice but he is angry he demands satisfaction from another and should he enter into judgment with us we should not be able to stand He demands satisfaction and is ready to consume us unless an Infi-Person interposes on our behalf should he himself begin to capitulate with us singly he would be so far from offering himself to satisfie himself for us that he would immediately let out all his wrath Thus we see that the Doctrines about mans Fall and Redemption do necessarily infer that there is God the Father who gave us a righteous Law and who is highly provoked by the violation of it and as a righteous Judge proceeds to condemn us unless satisfaction be made unto his Justice and that there being God the Son a Person distinct from the Father who is also God sent by the Father and who assumed Humane Nature in which he suffered and satisfied the Justice of the Father whereby fallen man is in a way of recovery thus mans Fall and his Recovery suppose two Persons But whoever will more closely attend unto this Point will find that God being as Holy as he is Just and Righteous is as much concern'd for the Vindication of the Honour of his Holiness as that of his Justice whence our Sanctification becomes as necessary an Antecedent unto our Salvation as our Justification Though Justification and Sanctification are in their own natures formally and really distinct yet are ever in one and the same Subject You may and must distinguish them from each other but cannot separate them And the Reason is because God is as Holy as he is Righteous and as much concern'd for the Glory of his Holiness as for the Glory of his Justice And therefore the Holy as well as the Righteous Will of God must be satisfied But such are the Corruptions of our Nature so strong and powerful and we so weak and feeble that unless some one Almighty be our help we shall remain under the power of Sin unsanctified and no way advantaged by the Redemption of Christ's Death 'T is true Christ has died but not to save us in but from our sins It was never the Design of Christ that men should receive any special Blessings as the fruit of his Death while they continue under the power of Sin Enemies unto him He has made a purchase of Heavens Glories but will give it to none but such as submit themselves unto him He will that we humble our selves before him and be holy or continue in the state of Condemnation in which we are all by Nature but Holy we cannot
the more we are in the dark the more at a loss yea the more perplexed and confused are our Apprehensions This the Transcendency of the Doctrines and Providences of God does evince which is enough to shew how humble we ought to be when we discourse of God and how modest in our Enquiries into his Doctrines and Providences Content thy self therefore with what is clearly revealed and leave what is hid and above thee unto God Be not thou so bold as to measure the boundless Mysteries of God by thy narrow confined Understanding neither do thou presume to reject what thou canst not comprehend What is of God is above thee for God is God he is cloathâ—â— with Honour and Majesty and with that Light which is inaccessible We ought therefore to be modest when we speak of the unsearchable Doctrines and Providences of God for in them we see enough to admire but can never comprehend and when we have spent all our time to find out God and the Infinity of his Being the Mystery of the Trinity the Mode of his Workings or Operations the depth of his Contrivances about the accomplishing fallen mans Salvation and all the great Counsels of God and the Intricacy of his Providences we must come to this Close with the Apostle O! the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out Quest How ought we to do our duty towards others tho they do not theirs towards us SERMON XIX ROM XII 21. Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good WHEN God first made the Heavens and the Earth Gen. 31.1 and all the Host of them looking back upon his Work as taking delight in it He saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good There was an excellent order and sweet harmony every where all the Creatures above and below making then but one Host Gen. 2.1 did conspire to glorifie their Creator and be beneficial one to another So that if man had stood in his integrity the Earth would have been a kind of Heaven to him but when he put forth his hand to take and eat of the tree of knowledg of good and evil which alone of all the great Variety was forbidden him an inundation of sin and misery broke in upon him and all his Posterity For from that one sin of his there sprung in a little time a far greater number of sins than persons out of his loins one sin still begetting another and that another till in a while the earth was filled with violence Gen. 6.11 God not willing to leave things in this woful state designed a Renovation by a Second Adam a Reconciler one that should be our peace both with God and one another that there might be peace above and peace below restored again There were two Songs sung to this purpose the one at Christs coming into the World the other as he was about to depart out of it the former by a multitude of the Heavenly Host saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace the latter by the whole multitude of the Disciples saying Peace in heaven and glory in the highest Luke 2.14 and 29.38 The subordinate means of Reconciliation is the Gospel called the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.19 Eph. 6.15 and the Gospel of peace This is the great Engine in the hand of God to bring men powerfully yet sweetly to God and one another There are no Arguments so powerful to perswade to holiness towards God and righteousness towards men as those drawn from Gospel-Grace The Grace of God which bringeth salvation will teach a man those lessons Tit. 2.11 12. which can never be truly learned otherwise To live soberly righteously and godly Therefore our Apostle like a wise Master-builder in his Epistles usually as may be seen particularly in those to the Ephesians and Colossians lays a good Foundation for Gospel-obedience in the Grace thereof He first sets forth the great mystery of Redemption by Jesus Christ and the Grace of God therein and then concludes with exhortation to all duties both to God and Man from the consideration thereof He doth the like here in this to the Romans For having in the foregoing part of the Epistle convinced both Jew and Gentile and concluded all under sin and shewed the only way to Justification to be by the Grace of God through Jesus Christ he comes in this and the following Chapters to engage them to their duty both to God and Man See how he doth it ver 1. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service Your bodies that is your selves souls and bodies the body being put by a Synecdoche for the whole man He expresseth both elsewhere as due to God upon the account of redeeming-love 1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods He exhorts them to many excellent duties in this Chapter upon all which the word therefore ver 1. hath a powerful influence Altho the duty here exhorted to in the last Verse be so high that it is not easie to reach unto it viz. not to be overcome of evil but overcome evil with good yet the consideration of the mercies of God mentioned above will make this appear to be but a reasonable service The point of Doctrine from this Text is Doct. That every Christian should not only take heed that he be not overcome of evil but endeavour what in him lieth to overcome evil with good It divides it self into Two Branches 1. Every Christian should take heed that he be not overcome of evil 2. Every Christian ought to endeavour what in him lieth to overcome evil with good We shall speak a little to each of these in order and make the Application of both together which done you will see How we ought to do our duty towards others tho they do not theirs towards us I begin with the first 1. Bran. Every Christiaa should take heed that he be not overcome of evil By evil understand any unkind or injurious dealing from others which may be 1. By detaining or withdrawing from us the love or the fruits thereos which by the will of God are due to us either as men or men standing in such or such a special Relation to them Or 2. By speaking or doing that to us or against us which the Law of Love or the special Relation wherein we stand unto them forbids To be overcome of evil is to be drawn by the evil Temper or Carriage of another towards us to be of the like Temper and Carriage towards him To be so provoked by an injury done unto us as to return the like again As when two contraries are put together suppose Fire and Water that
God Man is cited to meditate on and to glorify God for his Wisdom and Power which appear in them And indeed were it not for the Soul of man God should have made all the rest of the Creatures for nought Man is only concern'd in them and benefited by them and his Soul only able to bless God for them All Gods works of Creation nay and of Providence too are matter of praise so done as they ought to be had in remembrance Ps 111.4 When we contemplate or meditate upon them they afford our Souls great cause to be enlarged in our praising of several of the Attributes of God All things are Deo plena All things have a voice as well as day and night The Heavens and the Firmament Ps 19.1 2. They speak God to be Almighty and abundant in goodness they tell us as often as we view or consider them that God who made and preserves them is worthy of all our Fear and Love Service and Obedience It is only the Soul of man that is able to read hear or understand these things and therefore man for his Souls sake as the Priests had have many priviledges allotted to him by God Ps 8.6 who hath put the other Creatures generally under his feet It is sadly true that men rob God of his Honour they are entrusted with Ah whose Soul is a faithful Steward of Gods manifold gifts What Sacriledge do not men commit dayly And may we lay it to heart For God will call Heaven and Earth else to witness against us Every Creature and Providence can testifie they contained matter enough to excite our praises and to perswade our Obedience 2. Again the Soul of man is made capable to enjoy God to see God that is to know him and love him in whose presence there is fulness of joy Ps 16.11 The Sun and Planets with the rest of the spangles of Heaven know not their Maker nor what they are nor to what end they serve they how bright soever are not receptive of that light that shines into the hearts and upon the Souls of the Children of Men if compared with which their brightest beam is thick darkness were it only for our viaticum the repast we have on the road towards Heaven The Soul indeed sees here as through a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13.12 and knows but in part yet this very taste is better than the full meal that any other Creature can make Yet it must be confessed that anima male habitat the Soul is uneasie in this World not only with grieves and cares but because 't is out of its place as a bone out of joynt It was made to be with God and cannot be satisfyed when it is from God But what an excellent Creature must that be whom the King of Heaven and God of Glory should thus delight to honour which God should may I speak such a word choose for his Companion I am sure we are said to have fellowship with him 1 John 1.3 VVhatsoever the Soul was before by choosing and admitting it into his presence God makes it glorious Hence it is that inferiour Creatures are satisfyed with food suitable to them they have saved their End and have gone to the utmost of their line according to the Law of their Creation to their Creators praise But the Soul of man is upon the Rack and hath a thousand torments till it answers his end Irrequietum est cor meum donec venit ad te until it brings actively some Glory unto God and comes in some measure to the enjoyment of God That Life or Soul which inferiour Creatures have keeps indeed their bodies from putrifying but man hath not animam pro Sale His Soul only as salt to keep his Body from stinking but to act and govern it that it may be an Instrument in the service and to the praise of God and by reason of this his Tongue and every Member may be made his Glory when 't is imployed to the Glory of God It is certainly a debasement of the Soul to busy it about Eating and Drinking Dressing or Undressing further than what is necessary to our preservation and our passage through this world as Pilgrims and Strangers as we think Children to imploy their Souls ill whilst they make Pyes of dirt or run after gay pubbles made up of froth or stime Only here is the difference young ones are scarce capable of knowing or doing better the wings of their Souls seem not fledged but afterwards God justly expects that we should fly higher and we are able to soar above the third Heavens and in our Thoughts Meditations and Affections to go to God to taste and see how good that he is Ps 34.8 ◠The Endeavours that are used for to gain Souls The Pretiousness of the Soul appears in the great Endeavours that are used to get it This is the standard that we value all things by What is given for them VVhat is done to obtain them Insomuch that many think there is a great indifferency in Metals and Stone c. and that opinion sets the rate on them by this Gold and Silver are esteem'd before Lead or Iron c. Now though the Soul hath an essential innate worth as appears by what hath been said Yet this if I may call it extrinsecal consideration does further prove it For 'T is mainly desired by God on the one hand and by Satan on the other and though the Devil be a fallen Angel yet he hath the greatest knowledge of the Nature and worth of things and is from thence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But 1. God endeavours to win Souls 1. Gods Endeavours this he condescends to woo and intreat for My son give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 But to be more particular though we are not able to apprehend all the means God uses for our Souls Yet so many will easily come into our view that if we were not the most ingrateful and insensible Creatures in the VVorld we could not deny our Souls to God he so loves and values them he hath done and does dayly so much for them Above all 1. God's parting with his Son and Christ with his Heart-Blood and Life for them Behold how he loved him could they say when our Saviour shed but a few tears for Lazarus but much more when he shed all the blood in his Body for our Souls VVe may well say behold how he loved them VVhen man by sin had incurr'd the displeasure and deserved the Curse and VVrath of God and that the blood of Bulls and Cattle or a thousand Bulls were too mean to atone for the least Transgression God requiring a greater price for the Redemption of a lost Soul Our Blessed Saviour cryes Lo I come to do thy Will Heb. 10.7 that is to give satisfaction and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness that these pretious Souls may not perish Christ never interposed to save the Bodies so many Thousands or
Dead quickned and peeping out of their Graves to see why they are raised as if you saw the wicked come forth fearfully amazed with vile and filthy Bodies like Toads from their holes with pale and gastly countenances with trembling hearts and their knees for horrour knocking one against another tearing their hair smiting on their breasts and crying out what is the matter What meant that loud Alarm that thundring Call that awaked us out of the deep sleep of Death Oh! the Lord is come the slighted Christ is come Come how doth he come How cloathed with vengeance with fury in his face and his wrath like fire burns before him because of his Indignation the Heavens melt over our heads and the Earth burns under our feet and all is in flames round about us Oh terrible day such as this we never saw Oh the storms the storms Oh such burning scorching storms we never saw nor felt before We have been sleeping all the night of Death and the morning is come the day doth dawn Dawn Oh it is broad day all about we were wont to wake and go to work and go to sin to swear and lye to drink and take our pleasure but now we wake and must to Hell to Pain and Punishment Now we must go from God to Devils from the only Saviour to Eternal Torments Oh what day is this What day it seems to be rather night than day for it is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wastness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness a day of the trumpet and alarm against us all Impenitent Sinners and to us all it would prove the great Damnation day When our Souls and Bodies by Death were separated it was a sorrowful parting but this is a sorer meeting the Body with doleful groans doth strangely greet its reunited Soul Oh thou cursed Soul must I be tyed to thee again with a faster knot than ever Death did heretofore part thee and me but all the pains of Hell hereafter cannot do it thou wast Commander over me and shouldst have managed thy Government better thou shouldst have used this Tongue to call upon thy Maker thou shouldest have used these Ears to have hearkned to the calls of Christ to the wooings of Grace to the entreaties of Mercy these feet to have carryed thee to the means of Grace these hands to have been Instruments of good they were all at thy command what thou biddest them do they did and whither thou commandest them to go they went Oh that I might have lyen rotten in my Grave for then I had been at rest for though in the Grave I had no pleasure yet there I felt no pain but since I have been again united to this before-damned Soul I feel intolerable punishment and I now perceive it is past doubt that it will be Eternal the Soul will give no better salutations to the Body Oh cursed flesh what alive again Must I be linked to such a loathsome lump worse than any Carrion thou didst rebel against the commands of reason and thy Appetite was pleased and thy Lusts were obeyed and all the time of Life on Earth was spent and fool'd away in feeding clothing and adorning thee and as I was led away and entic'd by thee to live with thee a sensual flesh-pleasing life so formerly sowing to the flesh now of the flesh we reap that Damnation that shall be Eternal For the Judge is come his Throne is set and all the World is summoned to appear the separation is made the Books are opened all on the right hand are acquitted and called to the possession of an Everlasting Kingdom while we are doom'd down to Eternal Torments Lo they are going with their Blessed Glorious Lord unto Eternal Glory and we with cursed Devils like cursed Wretches to Everlasting shame and pain and banishment from God and Christ and Saints and Angels for ever Look thus believingly on these unseen things as if you saw all these and a thousand times more terrible and more joyful transacted now before your eyes 2. Look directly at unseen Eternal things Many do look indirectly at things Eternal but directly at things Temporal pretending things not seen intending things that are seen in praying preaching and professing seem to have an eye to God and Christ and Heaven but they look asquint to their worldly profits credit and applause Should pray that they might see God but it is that they might be seen of Men Mat. 6.5 Mat. 23.14 But this is to look awry contrary to Solomons advise Prov. 4.25 Let thine Eyes look right on and let thine Eye-lids look straight before thee 3. Let unseen Eternal things be the first that you look at Do not first look at Riches Honours Pleasures and please your selves with purposes after that to look after God and Christ and the happiness of Heaven when sickness cometh and Death approacheth and when near the end of time begin to make preparation for Eternity Men spend their days in getting a visible state while the unseen Eternal God and Glorious Saviour and Heavens Happiness is neglected by them but it would make a considering man to tremble to think what a sight these Sinners shall have after Death hath closed their eyes when the separated Soul shall see an angry God a condemning Judge the Gates of Heaven shut against it and its self in Everlasting misery Unseen Eternal things are first in order of duration for the invisible God was when nothing was besides himself and first in order of dignity and should have the priority of our thoughts care and diligent endeavours Matth. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you When we first take care about Eternity the things of time shall be given to us over and above but the Eternal happiness of Heaven shall never be given over and above to those that primarily look at and seek the things of time for amongst men the overplus doth not exceed in worth the things contracted for But this damnable preferring things Temporal and cursed post-poning things Eternal is the setting of God in the room of the Creature and the Creature in the Throne of God as if they would set the Heavens where the Earth doth stand and the Earth where the Heavens are and so subvert the order of things which God hath appointed to be observed in the Nature of things 4. Look heedfully at Eternity All the things that are only for time are toyes and trifles the things for an Eternal World are the grand concerns we should narrowly look to in time the gathering of Riches in time to the getting of Grace and an interest in Christ for the escaping of Damnation and obtaining of Happiness to Eternity is busie Idleness careful Negligence and laborious Sloth If God that inhabiteth Eternity looks narrowly to all our actions done in time
in their Shops before they have been in Heaven and many desires after visible Temporal gain before they have had one desire after the Invisible Eternal God and Treasures that are above What do they do all the day long What is it that hath their Endeavours all their labour and travel Their most painful Industry and unwearied diligence Alas their Consciences will tell themselves and their practices tell others when there is Trading but no praying Buying and Selling but no Religious Duties performed the shop-book is often opened but the sacred book of God is not looked into all the week long O Lord Forgive the hardness of my Heart that I can see such insufferable folly among reasonable Creatures and can lament this folly no more Good Lord forgive the want of compassion in me that can stand and see this distraction in the World as if the most of Men had lost their wits and were quite besides themselves and yet my Bowels yearn no more towards immortal Souls that are going to unseen miseries in the Eternal World to see distracted men busie in doing things that tend to no account is not such an amazing sight as to see men that have reason for the World to use it not for God and Christ and their own Eternal good to see them love and embrace a present Dunghil World and cast away all serious affecting and effectual thoughts of the Life to come to see them rage against the God of Heaven and cry out against Holiness as foolish preciseness and serious Godliness as Madness and Melancholy Alas These Men are Brutes in the shape of Men for like the very Beasts they live by sense and are led away by a sensitive appetite The Brute takes pleasure in his present Provender and feels the smart of the present Spur or Goad and so do sensual Sinners find sweetness in their present pleasures and profits and do complain of present pain and sickness but of pains to come and joyes to come that are Eternal they have no care nor serious thoughts Better such had been Toads and Serpents than rational Creatures for as they mind no future things in the other World so they are not Subjects capable of Eternal Punishment or Everlasting Happiness they are not so provident as the Ant that in Summer lays up for Winter and while the warm Sun doth shine provides for a cold and stormy day but Men that have Immortal Souls are only for this present World but do not provide for a stormy day that is a coming nor for an Eternal state to which they are hasting Let us call the whole Creation of God to lament and bewail the folly of Man that was made the best of all Gods visible works but now by such wickedness is bad beyond them all being made by God for an Everlasting state and yet minds nothing less than that for which he was principally made O Sun Why is it not thy burden to give light to men to do those works and walk in those wayes that bring them to Eternal Darkness O Earth Why dost thou not groan to bear such burdensome Fooles that dig into thy Bowels for Gold and Silver while they do neglect Everlasting Treasures in the Eternal World O ye Sheep and Oxen Fish and Fowl Why do ye not cry out against them that take away your present Life to maintain them in being but only mind present things but forget the Eternal God that gave them Dominion over you to live upon you while they had time to mind Eternal things but do not O ye Angels of God and Blessed Saints in Heaven were ye capable of grief and sorrow would not ye bitterly lament the sin and folly of poor mortals upon Earth Could ye look down from that Blessed place where ye do dwell and behold the Joy and Glory which is to us unseen and see how it is basely slighted by the Sons of Men if ye were not above sorrow and mourning would not ye take this up for a bitter lamentation O ye Saints on Earth whose Eyes are open to see what the blind deluded World doth not see do ye bitterly take on let your Heads be Fountains of Water and your Eyes send forth Rivers of Tears for the great neglect of Eternal Joyes and Happiness of Heaven Can you see Men going out of time into Eternity in their Sin and in their Blood in their Guilt and Unconverted state and your Hearts not moved your Bowels not yearn Have ye spent all your tears in bewailing your own sin that your Eyes are dry when ye behold such monstrous madness and unparallel folly of so many with whom dayly ye converse Ye sanctifyed Parents have ye no pity for your ungodly Children nor sanctifyed Children for ungodly Parents O my Father my Father by whom I had my Being is going to Eternal Darkness Alas for my Mother my dear Mother that carryed me in her womb that dandled me upon her knees that suckled me at her breasts that did delight to break her sleep to quiet me when I was froward to look to me when I was sick that bound my head when it was pained that wiped mine eyes when I did weep and my face when I did sweat because of my Disease this my Mother is forgetful of her own Immortal Soul was more troubled for me when she thought I was near my Grave than for her self though near to Hell when I was young she took care for me for things Temporal but for her self neither young nor old for things Eternal Ere long she will be dead and I am afraid and damned too Ere long she must go out of time and for any thing I can perceive being Ignorant and fearless of God and unmindful of Eternity her Soul will go into Eternity of Torments O how loath am I to have such thoughts of one so near so dear unto me Oh it is the cutting of my Heart it is bitterness to my Soul I had rather dye than she be damned and yet it is my feares she is hasting to Eternity of Wo for to my observing Eye she is taken wholly up with the cares and pride and vanity of this Life and apparently regardless of that Eternal World Why do not also ye that are Parents that have a belief of an Everlasting State take on and bewail the doleful state of your ungodly Children that in their sinful courses are posting to Eternal pains What my Son the Son of my Loins the Son of my Womb Did I bear him with so much sorrow and shall he be a castaway Did I travail with him with so much pain and brought and nursed him up with so much labour and must he be for ever fuel for the Flames of Hell Have I brought forth a Child to be a prey to Devils and a Companion with them to all Eternity Oh my Son my Son what shall I do for thee my Son my Son Thus whatever Relation Neighbour Friend or Acquaintance you have
't is next to impossible to be too shye of Sin unless when Satan frights us into the omission of some duties for fear of the Sins that inevitably cleave to them In short I would have you understand this Instance to referr to Sins past not future to Sins already committed that there 's no other possible way of undoing what 's done but by Repentance not of Sins not yet committed as if I gave so much as the least encouragement to so much as the least Sin Thus understanding the instance I dare say it over again Serious Godliness will force something of good out of the Evil of Sin These are the Persons that cannot forget the Wormwood and the Gall of their Mortification x Lam. 3.19 20. their Soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in them These are the Persons that put a due estimate upon pardoning Mercy and love Christ the more for the more Sins he hath forgiven them As Christ said of Mary Magdalen y Luke 7.47 Her Sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same love little The Blessed Apostle that brands himself for the chief of Sinners z 1 Tim. 1.15 before Conversion dare own it that a 1 Cor. 15.20 he laboured more abundantly than all the Apostles after his Conversion and 't is peculiar to him to coyn words b Rom. 5.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 1 Tim. 1.14 to magnifie the Grace of God in Christ Christians I beseech you let not any one take encouragement hence to Sin but let the worst of Sinners take encouragement hence to repent What thô thou hast been one of the vilest wretches upon earth thou mayest through Grace be one of the highest Saints in Heaven and the sense of what thou hast been may promote it The rising ground of a Dunghill may help to raise thy flight towards Heaven Once more Thô to your own Apprehension you have no Faith at all to believe any one word of all this nor any skill at all to know what to do yet Serious Godliness will make all this good to thee Here you see I take it for granted that one may be seriously godly who in his own present Apprehensions hath no Faith at all nor skill at all for any thing that is Spiritually good many may be in this like Moses their Faces may shine their Grace may shine to others and they themselves not c Exo. 34.29 know it Many that are dear to God live many years in the growing Exercise of Grace and yet dare not own it that they have any at all God bestows the Faith of Assurance upon those of his Children that are not able to bear up without it mistake me not as if it were not every ones duty to seek it and a great Priviledge to have assurance when others of his Children which have a stronger Faith live and 〈◊〉 without it To give you an Instance beyond all instances Our 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ who 't is certain could not want assurance yet died in as great desertion as 't was possible to befall him d Mark 15.25 with Mat. 27.46 When he had hung six hours upon the Cross He cried with a loud Voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me q. d. This is beyond all my other Torment And when he had cryed again with a loud Voice with a vehement affection and a strong Faith e Verse 50. he lay'd down his Soul But what was that he spake with such vehemency the second time f Luke 23.46 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Father into thy hands I will commend my Spirit I will depose my Soul with thee I will thrust it into thy hands Now that Jesus Christ was under this unexpressible Desertion during the three hours preternatural Darkness 't is more than for the best of Christians to be so during their whole life which doth more than prove what I asserted That a Person of great Grace may be so much in the dark as not to see he hath any But what must he do in this case Can Serious Godliness afford any Relief Christians pray mark it these Persons they are and through Grace cannot but be seriously Godly and their serious Godliness finds 'em work enough and support enough to keep 'em from sinking They daily do what they complain they can't do g Isa 50.10 They do fear the Lord they fear nothing more than sinning against him they do obey the voice of his servants there 's none receive Instructions more Obediently thô they walk in Darkness they 'l never follow a false Fire if they have no light from God they 'l have none from any else They do trust in the name of the Lord they lye at Gods foot let him do what he will with them they do stay upon their God they come up from h Cant. 8.5 the Wilderness of the World leaning upon their beloved Religion is the whole business of their life and comparatively they do nothing else And thô they have not ravishing Comforts they have that Peace that exceeds i Phil. 4.7 all understanding that is meerly humane and that doth guard their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus against all the Stratagems and Fiery Darts of Satan Their State is good their Souls are safe and they can't but be happy in both Worlds And thus I have endeavoured to be so practical in the Doctrinal part that there needs but little to be added for the Application the Lord make that little to be like Chymical Spirits to be more effectual than a greater quantity Rouze up your selves to do your part that it may be so Vse 1 Set your hearts upon Serious Godliness This must be the first Use for you can make no Use at all of this Doctrine till you have made this Use of it Every thing without this is but an abuse of it you do not only wrong the truth but you wrong your selves what ever you say or do about it till you make it your business to experiment the truth of what hath been spoken in its Commendation and this I can assure you never any one repented of his down-right Godliness Therefore live in the practice of those plain Duties without which 't is in vain to pretend to Religion e. g. Daily read some Portion of the Old and New Testament not as your Child reads it for his Lesson but as 〈◊〉 Child reads it for his Profit Be more frequent in Prayer not as those that pass their Prayers by number but as those that pour out their Hearts to God in Holy fervour Let your thoughts be so fill'd with Heavenly Objects that you may in some respect make all things such you think of Discourse of the things of God not in a captious or Vain-glorious manner but as those that feel the Truths they speak of Receive the Sacrament not as a Civil Test but as sealing that Covenant
plundered him of all lifting up his Eyes to Heaven said Lord thou knowest where I have laid up my Treasure * By this delighting in God we may undoubtedly know he is our Reward What shall we do to get God to be our Reward Quest Let us see our need of God We are undone without him Lift not Direct 1 not up the Crest of Pride Beware of the Laodicean temper Revel 3.17 Thou saist I am rich and have need of nothing God will never bestow himself on them that see no want of him Let us beg of God to be our Reward 'T was Austin's Prayer Lord Direct 2 give me thy self b Da mihi te Domine Aug. O do not put me off with Common Mercies Give me not my Portion in this life †Psal 17.14 Make over thy self by a Deed of Gift to me Be earnest Suitors and God cannot find in his Heart to deny you Prayer is the Key of Heaven which being turned by the hand of Faith opens all Gods Treasures Live every day in the Contemplation of this Reward Be in the Altitudes Branch 3 Think what God hath prepared for them that love Him c Nihil in hac vita dulcius sentitur nil ita mentem ab amore mundi seperat nil sic animam contra tentationes roborat nil hominem ita ad omne bonum opus excitat quam Gratia contemplationis Bern. O that our thoughts could ascend The higher the Bird flies the sweeter it sings Let us think how Blessed they are who are possessed of their Heritage If one could but look a while through the chinks of Heaven-door and see the Beauty and Bliss of Paradise if he could but lay his Ear to Heaven and hear the Ravishing Musick of those Seraphick Spirits and the Anthems of Praise which they Sing how would his Soul be Exhilerated and Transported with Joy O Christians meditate of this Reward Slight transient thoughts do no good They are like breath upon Steel which is presently off again but let your thoughts dwell upon Glory till your Hearts are deeply affected What Lord is there such an Incomprehensible Reward to be bestowed upon me Shall these Eyes of mine be blessed with Transforming Sights of thee O the love of God to Sinners Stand at this Fire of Meditation till your Hearts begin to be warm How would the reflection on this inmense Reward conquer Temptation and behead those unruly Lusts that have formerly conspired against us What is there a Reward so sure so sweet so speedy and shall I by sin forfeit this Shall I to please my Appetite lose my Crown O all ye pleasures of Sin be gone let me no more be deceived with your sugered Lies wound me no more with your Silver Darts Th◠stolen Waters are sweet yet the Water of Life is sweeter No stronger Antidote to expell Sin than the Fore-thoughts of the Heavenly Remunerations It was when Moses was long out of sight that Israel made an Idol to worship Exod. 32.1 So when the future Reward is long out of our mind then we set up some Idol-lust in our Hearts which we begin to worship Branch 4 This may content Gods People though they have but little Oyl in the Cruse and their Estates are almost boyled away to nothing their Great Reward is yet to come Thô your Pension be but small your Portion is large If God be yours by Deed of Gift this may rock your hearts quiet God lets the wicked have their Pay before-hand Luk. 6.24 Ye have received your Consolation A wicked man may make his Acquittance and write Received in full Payment But the Saints Reward is in reversion the Robe and the Ring is yet to come May not this tune their Hearts into contentment Christian what thô God denies thee a Kid to make merry f Luk. 15.31 if he will say Son all I have is thine is not this sufficient Why dost thou complain of the Worlds emptiness who hast Gods Fulness Is not God Reward enough Hath a Son any cause to complain that his Father denies him a Flower in the Garden when he makes him Heir to his Estate g Quid ultrà quaerit cui omnia suus conditor fit Prosper The Philosopher comforted himself with this that thô he had no Musick or Vine-Trees yet he had the Houshould Gods with him * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Christian thô thou hast not much of the World yet thou hast God and he is an inexhaustible Treasure It was strange that after God had told Abraham I am thy exceeding great Reward yet that Abraham should say vers 2. Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I go Childless Shall Abraham ask Lord what wilt thou give me when he had given himself Was Abraham troubled at the want of a Child who had a God was not God better than Ten Sons h Quid homini sufficit cui ipse conditor non sufficit Aug. Who should be content if not he who hath God for his Portion and Heaven for his Haven Let this exceeding Great Reward stir up in us a Spirit of Activity for God Our Head should Study for him our Hands work for him our Feet run in the way of his Commandements Alas how litle is all we can do Our Work bears no Proportion with our Reward Mercedi an tantae par Labor esse potest †Verinus The thoughts of this Reward should make us rise off the Bed of Sloth and Act with all our might for God i Spes proemii solatium fit laboris Hierom. It should add Wings to our Prayers and Weight to our Alms. A slothful Person stands in the World for a Cipher and God writes down no Ciphers in the Book of Life Let us abound in the work of the Lord. 1 Cor. 15.58 As Aromatical Trees sweat out their precious Oyls So should we Sweat out our strength and Spirits for Christ Saint Paul knowing what a Splendid Reward was behind brought all the Glory he could to God 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more abundantly than they all He outwrought all the other Apostles Saint Pauls Obedience did not move slow as the Sun on the Dial but Swift as the Sun in the Firmament * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Did Plato and Demosthenes undergo such Herculean Labours and Studies who had but the dim Watch-light of Nature to see by and did but Fancy the pleasures of the Elizian Fields after this Life and shall not Christians much more put forth all their Vigour of Spirit for God when they are sure to be Crowned nay God himself will be their Crown If God be so great a Reward let such as have an Interest in him Branch 5 be chearful God loves a Sanguine Complection k Acceptior est Deo grata laetitia quam querula tristitia Bucholcer Chearfulness credits Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 causeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The goodness of the
Conscience is seen in the gladness of the Countenance Let the Birds of Paradise sing for joy Shall a Carnal man rejoyce whose hopes lean on earthly Crutches and shall not he rejoyce whose Treasure is laid up in Heaven Be Serious yet Chearful A dejected Melancholy temper as it unfits for Duty especially Praising God so it disparageth Heaven will others think God is such a great Reward when they see Christians hang the wing and go drooping in Religion 'T is a sin as well not to rejoyce as not to repent But how can I be chearful I am reduced to great Straits Object Let God take away what he will from thee Answ he will at last give thee that which is better As Pharaoh said Gen. 45.20 Regard not your Stuff for the good of all the Land of Egypt is yours So I say Regard not your Stuff be not too much troubled at the diminution of these earthly things for the good of all the Land of Heaven is yours In the Fields of Sicily there is a continual Spring and Flowers all the Year long an Emblem of the Jerusalem above where are Flowers of Joy alwayes growing There you shall tread upon Stars be Fellow-commoners with Angels and have Communion with the blessed Trinity Let the Saints then be glad in the Lord in God are Treasures that can never be emptied and Pleasures that can never be ended If God be an exceeding great Reward let such as have hope in Branch 6 him long for Possession Though it should not be irksom to us to stay here to do Service yet we should have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an holy longing till the Portion comes into our hand l Veni Domine Jesu ut ad te veniam veni dulcedo mea emancipato Animam hanc ut te Marito suo fruaatur Roll. This is a temper becoming a Christian content to live desirous to dye Phil. 1.23.25 Doth not the Bride desire the day of Espousals m In Visione Dei ut primi veri amore Dei ut summi boni consistit Corona Aug. Rev. 22.17 Did we but seriously consider our Condition here We are compassed with a body of Sin we cannot pray without wandring we cannot believe without doubting should not this make us desire to have our Pass to be gone Let us think how happy those Saints above are who are solacing themselves in God while we live far from Court they alwaies behold the smiling face of God while we drink Wormwood they swim in Honey while we are perplexed between Hope and Fear they know their Names are enrolled in the Book of Life while we are tossed upon the unquiet Waves they are gotten to the Haven Did we but know what a Reward God is and what the joy of our Lord means we should need Patience to be content to stay here any longer Let such as have God for their exceeding great Reward be living Organs Branch 7 of Gods praise n Gratias agere possumus referre non possumus Aug. Psal 118.28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee Themistocles thought he was well required by the Graecians for his Valour when they took such notice of him in the Olympicks saying This is Themistocles God counts it Requital enough for all his Love when we are grateful and present him with our Thank-Offering and well may we stand upon Mount Gerizim Blessing and Praising if we consider the Greatness of this Reward that we should be made Heirs of God and that this surpassing Reward is not a Debt but a Legacy and that when many are passed by the Lot of free Grace should fall upon us let this make us ascribe Praise unto the Lord. It is called the Garment of Praise Isa 61.3 The Saints never look so comely as in this Garment Praise is the Work of Heaven Such as shall have Angels Reward should do Angels work The word Praise comes from an Hebrew Râ—dix that signifies to shoot up p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Godly should send up their Praises as a Volley of shot towards Heaven shall you live with God and partake of his Fulness in Glory break forth into Doxologies and Triumphs long for that time when you shall join in Consort with the Angels those Quiristers of Heaven in sounding forth Hallelujah's to the King of Glory Such as are Monuments of Mercy should be Patterns of Thankfulness 3Vse Consolation Will God himself be his Peoples Reward this may be as Bezar-stone to revive and Comfort them 1. In Case of losses they have lost their Livings and Promotions for Conscience sake but as long as God lives their Reward is not lost Heb. 10.34 I cannot be poor faith Bernard as long as God is rich for his Riches are mine Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia Whatever we lose for God we shall find again in him We have left all say the Disciples and followed thee Mark 10.28 Alas what had they left a few sorry Boats and Tackling what were these to their Reward they parted with movable goods for the unchangable God All losses are made up in him we may be losers for God we shall not be losers by him 2. It is Comfort in Case of Persecution the Saints Reward will abundantly compensate all their Sufferings Agrippa being laid in Chains for Caius when he came after to the Empire released Agrippa out of Prison and gave him a Chain of Gold bigger than his Iron Chain So God will infinitely remunerate them that suffer for him for their Waters of Marah they shall have the Wine of Paradise The Saints Sufferings are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a while 1 Pet. 5.10 their Reward is for ever they are but a while in the Wine-press ever in the Banqueting-house q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys The Hebrew Word for Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Weight the weight of Glory should make Affliction light the enjoying of God eternally will cause Christians to forget all their Sorrows One Beam of the Sun of Righteousness will dry up their Tears after Trouble Peace after Labour Rest Then God will be all in all to his People 1 Cor. 15.28 Light to their Eye Manna to their Tast Musick to their Ear Joy to their Heart O then let the Saints be comforted in the midst of their Trials Rom. 8.18 I reckon that the Sufferings off this present time are not Worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed in us 4 Vse Terror to the Wicked Here is a Gorgons head to affright them They shall have a Reward but vastly different from the Godly the one shall be rewarded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the Plagues in the Bible are their Reward Prov. 10.29 Destruction shall be to the Workers of Iniquity God is their Rewarder but not their Reward Rom. 6.23 The Wages of sin is Death They who did the Devils work will tremble to
duely on it and then walk worthy of it Now this Love of God I cannot more compendiously declare than by that of the Apostle Ephes 1.3 c. Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ c. In which ye are to observe six remarkable things in Gods blessing of us for which we are to bless him 1. That God the Father of Christ is the Author of all our Blessings especially of Spiritual Blessings Election Redemption and all that flow from thence are given us upon the account of Christ by whom God becomes our Father that is by Adoption by which we have the right of Inheritance that is Salvation 2. That by the word Blessings he includes all things pertaining to Salvation because he saith with all spiritual Blessings alluding to Gods Promise made to Abraham in Christ saying In thee shall all the Nationss of the earth he blessed And therefore he will give the consummation of this Blessing at the day of Judgment to his Elect saying Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you i. e. from his Everlasting Love ver 6. 3. That the Father loves and blesseth us that is his Chosen ones and none else Vers 4 5. who declare themselves such by their Faith and Holiness and Love vers 4. 4. That these Blessings are principally Spiritual Blessings such as the Elect only receive in a peculiar and distinguishing way and that under two Considerations 1. They are not carnal Blessings though the Father denyes not these to his Children for which his Child must bless him but here they are called spiritual because chiefly such 2. They are not common spiritual Blessings neither such are temporary Faith Heb. 6. 1 Cor. 13. a great degree of Knowledge even in Spiritual things yea a taste also of the Holy Ghost and the Beginning of a pious Life c. But only saving Grace and Eternal Glory the Fruit of Eternal Election for all other spiritual Blessings follow and flow from that as the true Knowiedge of God a living Faith effectual Calling Justification Sanctification a Christian Life Love to the Saints and Life Eternal this the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Blessing as containing and comprehending all fully and perfectly 5. But there is one thing more to be noted from that word in heavenly places For as carnal Blessings have their Beginning in the Earth and there they end so heavenly Blessings come from Heaven and terminate there in Glory without end Therefore we render it in heavenly places because it notes the Place of it which is Heaven where Christ is exalted in Glory as our Head to communicate and accumulate all spiritual Blessings on his elected and redeemed Members There it 's said Cap. 1.19 to Vers ult in heavenly places in Christ All this is amplified in this first and more particularized in the second where he saith He hath quickned us together Ephes 2.4 5 6. and raised us up together and made us sit together with Christ in heavenly places All this is an high act of Divine Love toward us By which three things here and in Heaven all Grace and Glory is meant and that Saints do partake of them with and by Christ And this leads to a 6. Sixth thing wherein the Love of God to us is declared in the place afore cited Ephes 1.3 4 5. viz. in Christ by which is assigned the material Cause of all Spiritual Blessings namely Christ as Mediator and High-Priest 1. We are blessed in Christ i. e. for Christs sake and upon his account 2. In Christ by the Merits of Christ by his Obedience Passion and Death 3. In Christ as our Head from whom as such all our Blessings flow in our Souls and Bodies therefore is he called the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 1 Cor. 1.30 That is in the Person of Christ We are raised with him and sit in Heaven with him i. e. We are counted raised and sitting there by his Dignity and Glory as our Head By this Imputation the Papists Justification by Inherent Righteousness is fully confuted Also we have infinite Priviledge and Comfort that the Lord Jesus is made to us his members Righteousness and Holiness which can never be had any other way either within us or without us but in Christ our Head only and there only it is perfect and sure and all this in love For the Father hath demonstrated his love to Christ for this his undertaking and his love to us because he appointed him for us and accepts us in him Ephes 1.3 4 5 6. This is the first Branch of the fifth Use of Studying the Love of God to us in Christ in all the Causes of it and in all the Parts of it For this is a strong Motive to keep us in this Love to understand it and to believe it and to walk up to it 2. The second Branch To understand and practise our Love to the Lord answering his Love to us 1. Understand what Love that is wherewith we are to love the Lord and whereby we keep our selves in his Love to us Matth. 22.36 37. In order unto this ye are to know that the whole Worship of God consists in the Love of God Hence Ambrose saith The Love of God is the form of all Vertue yea the Head and Foundation of all true Religion The end of the Law is Love out of a pure heart a good Conscience 1 Tim. 1.5 and Faith unfeigned There are three things that are in true Love 1. To be affected with a desirable Object upon our knowledge of it to be good 2. To be carryed out strongly in our Desires after it that we may be united with it 3. When we enjoy it to Rejoyce in it and to rest in it as in our End and Center of our Desires This the word signifies in the Original Hebrew and Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To rest greatly in the enjoyment of the thing beloved as Etymologists have it Phavorinus c. So true Love contains in it Affection Desire Joy as the Beginning Progress and End of it and this will be perfect in Heaven and our Perfection and Happiness In this Love outvyes all other Grace 1 Cor. 13. We have an excellent Saying of St. Augustin to this purpose Tom. 4. libro de substantiâ dilectionis Cap. 6. This is then the rest of the Soul when it is fixed by the Love of God as to its desire nor desires any thing or Object besides but having got possession of that which it desires is wholly taken up with the Delight of it and is happy in the secure enjoyment of it Whence we are to learn wherein the true Nature of our Love of God stands that the Heart rest in the enjoyment of what it desires which it can do in nothing else And only our Love to God is true
glorious and that in an eminent manner above all the outward Worship of the Old Testament in the Tabernacle and Temple whose Glory was great and as unto external Pomp inimitable To this purpose the Apostle disputes at large 2 Cor. 3.6 7 8 9 10. This therefore is agreed that there ought to be Beauty and Glory in divine Worship and that they are most eminently in that which is directed and required in the Gospel But withal the Apostle declares in the same place that this Glory is Spiritual and not Carnal so did our Lord Jesus Christ foretel that it should be and that unto that end all distinction of places with all outward advantages and Ornaments belonging unto them should be taken away John 4 20 21 22 23 24. It belongs therefore unto our present Design to give a brief Account of its Glory and wherein it excels all other ways of divine Worship that ever were in the world even that under the Old Testament which was of divine Institution wherein all things were ordered for Beauty and Glory And it may be given in the Instances that ensue 1. The express Object of it is God not as absolutely considered but as existing in three Persons of Father Son and Holy Spirit This is the principal Glory of Christian Religion and its Worship Under the Old Testament the Conceptions of the Church about the Existence of the Divine Nature in distinct Persons were very dark and obscure for the full Revelation of it was not to be made but in the distinct actings of each Person in the works of Redemption and Salvation of the Church that is in the Incarnation of the Son and Mission of the Spirit after he was glorified John 7.39 And in all the ways of Natural Worship there was never the least shadow of any respect hereunto But this is the foundation of all the Glory of Evangelical Worship The Object of it in the Faith of the Worshipper is the Holy Trinity and it consists in an Ascription of Divine Glory unto each Person in the same individual Nature by the same Act of the Mind where this is not there is no Glory in Religious Worship 2. It s Glory consists in that constant respect which it hath unto each Divine Person as unto their peculiar work and actings for the salvation of the Church so it is described Eph. 2.18 Through him that is the Son as Mediator we have our access by one Spirit unto the Father This is the immediate Glory of Evangelical Worship comprehensive of all the Graces and Priviledges of the Gospel And to suppose that the Glory of it doth consist in any thing but the Light Graces and Privileges which it doth it self exhibit is a vain Imagination It will not borrow Glory from the Invention of men we shall therefore a little consider it as it is here represented by the Apostle 1. The Vltimate Object of it under this consideration is God as the Father we have an access therein unto the Father And this Consideration in our worship of God as a Father relating unto the whole dispensation of his Love and Grace by Christ Jesus as he is God and our God his Father and our Father is peculiar unto Gospel-worship and contains a signal part of its glory We do not only worship God as a Father so the very Heathens had a Notion that he was a Father of all things but we worship him who is the Father and as he is so both in relation to the eternal Generation of the Son and the communication of Grace by him unto us as our Father so no man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him John 1.18 This Access in our worship unto the Person of the Father as in Heaven the holy Place above as on a Throne of Grace is the glory of the Gospel See Mat. 6.9 Heb. 4.16 châ—p 10.19 20 21. 2. The Son is here considered as Mediator through him we have this access unto the Father This is the Glory that was hidden from former Ages but brought to light and display'd by the Gospel So speaks our blessed Saviour himself unto his Disciples Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name ask and ye shall receive Iohn 16.23 24. To ask God expresly in the Name of the Son as Mediator belongs unto the Glory of the Gospel-worship The chief of them may be reduced to these three Heads 1. It is he who makes both the persons of the Worshippers and their Duties accepted of God See Heb. 2.17 18. chap. 4.16 chap. 10.19 2. He is the Administrator of all the worship of the Church in the holy place above as its great High Priest over the House of God Heb. 8.2 Rev. 8.3 3. His Presence with and among Gospel-worshippers in their worship gives it Glory This he declares and promises Mat. 18.19 20. If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them All Success of the Prayers of the Church dependeth on and ariseth from the presence of Christ amongst them He is so present for their assistance and for their consoâ—ation This presence of a Living Christ and not a dead Crucifix gives Glory to Divine worship He who sees not the Glory of this Worship from its relation unto Christ is a stranger unto the Gospel with all the Light Graces and Privileges of it 3. It is in one Spirit that we have Access unto God in his Worship and in his Administration doth the Apostle place the glory of it in opposition unto all the glory of the Old Testament as doth our Lord Jesus Christ also in the place before referred unto for 1. The whole Ability for the observance and performance of it according to the Mind of God is from him alone His communication of Grace and Gifts unto the Church is that alone which makes it to give glory to God in his Divine Service If this should cease all acceptable Worship would cease in the world To think to observe the Worship of the Gospel without the Aid and Assistance of the Spirit of the Gospel is a lewd imagination But where he is there is Liberty and Glory 2 Cor. 3.17 18. 2. By him the sanctified Minds of Believers are made Temples of God and so the principal Seal of Evangelical worship 1 Cor. 3.16 chap. 6.8 This Temple being of God's own framing and of his own adorning by his Spirit is a much more glorious Fabrick than any that the hands of men can erect 3. By him is the Church led into internal Communion and Converse with God in Christ in Light Love and Delight with holy boldness the glory whereof is expressed by the Apostle
and they have it not to pay them its hard to keep all this from going too near the heart and hard to bear it with obedient quiet submission to God especially for Women whose Nature is weak and liable to too much Passion 2. And this Impatience turneth to a setled Discontent and Vnquietness or Spirit which affecteth the Body it self and lieth all day as a Load or continual Trouble at the Heart 3. And Impatience and Discontent do set the Thoughts on the Rack with Grief and continual Cares how to be eased of the troubling Cause they can scarce think of any thing else and these Cares do even feed upon the Heart and are to the Mind as a consuming Feaver to the Body 4. And the secret Root or Cause of all this is the worst part of the Sin which is too much Love to the Body and this World Were nothing ovâ—â—loved it would have no power to torment us if Ease and Health were not overloved Pain and Sickness would be the more tolerable if Children and Friends were not overloved the Death of them would not overwhelm us with inordinate sorrow if the Body were not overloved and worldly wealth and Prosperity overvalued it were easie to endure hard Fare and Labour and Want not only of Superfluities and Conveniences but even of that which is necessary to Health yea or Life it self if God will have it so at least to avoid Vexations Discontents and Cares and inordinate Grief and Trouble of mind 5. There is yet more Sin in the root of all and that is it sheweth that our Wills are yet too selfish and not subdued to a due submission to the Will of God but we would be as Gods to our own chusing and must needs have what the Flesh desiâ—◠〈…〉 â—â—â—t a due Resignation of our selves and all our Concerns to God and 〈…〉 as Children in due dependance on him for our daily Bread but â—â—â—t needs be the keepers of our own Provision 6. And this sheweth that we be not sufficiently humbled for our sin or else we should be thankful for the lowest state as being much better than that which we deserved 7. And there is apparently much Distrust of God and Vnbelief in these troubling Discontents and Cares could we trust God as well as our selves or as we could trust a faithful friend or as a Child can trust his Father how quiet would our minds be in the sense of his Wisdom All-sufficiency and Love 8. And this Unbelief yet hath a worse Effect than worldly Trouble it sheweth that men take not the Love of God and the Heavenly Glory for their suffâ—cient portion unless they may have what they want or would have for the Body this world unless they may be free from Poverty and Crosses and Provocations and Injuries and Pains all that God hath promised them here or hereafter even everlasting Glory will not satisfie them and when God and Christ and Heaven are not enough to quiet a mans mind he is in great want of Faith Hope â—nd Love which are far greater matters than Food and Rayment III. Another great cause of such trouble of mind is the guilt of some great and wilful sin when conscience is convinced and yet the foul is not converted sin is beloved and yet feared Gods wrath doth terrifie them and yet not enough to overcome their sin some live in secret fraud and robbery and many in drunkenness in secret fleshly lusts either self-pollution or fornication and they know that for such things the wrath of God cometh on the Children of disobedience and yet the rage of appetite and lust prevaileth and they despair and sin and while the sparks of Hell fall on their consciences it changeth neither heart nor life there is some more hope of the recovery of these then of dead hearted or unbelieving sinners who work uncleanness with greediness as being past feeling and blinded to defend their sins and plead against holy obedience to God Bruitishness is not so bad as Diabolisme and malignity But none of these are the persons spoken of in any Text Their sorrow is not overmuch but too little as long as it will not restrain them from their sin But yet if God convert these persons the sins which they now live in may possibly hereafter plung their souls into such depths of sorrow in the review as may swallow them up And when men truly converted yet dally with the bait and renew the wounds of their consciences by their lapses it is no wonder if their sorrows and terrours are renewed Grievous sins have fastened so on the consciences of many as have cast them into uncurable melancholly and distraction IV. But among people fearing God there is yet another cause of Melancholly and of sorrowing overmuch and that is Ignorance and mistakes in maâ—â—â—â— which their peace and comforts are concerned in I will name some particulars 1. One 〈◊〉 Ignorance of the tenor of the Gospel or Covenant of Grace as some Libertines called Antinomians more dangerously mistake it who tell men that Christ hath Repented and believed them and that they must no more question their Faith and Repentance than they must question the righteousness of Christ so many better Christians understand not that the Gospel is tidings of unspeakable joy to all that will believe it and that Christ and Life are offered freely to them that will accept him and that no sins how great or many soever are excepted from pardon to the soul that unfeignedly turneth to God by faith in Christ that whoever will may freely take the water of life and all that are weary and thirst are invited to come to him for ease and rest And they seem not to understand the conditions of forgiveness which is but true consent to the pardoning saving baptismal Covenant 2. And many of them are mistaken about the use of sorrow for sin and about the nature of hardness of heart they think that if their sorrow be not so passionate as to bring forth tears and greatly to afflict them they are not capable of pardon though they should consent to all the pardoning Covenant and they consider not that it is not our sorrow for it self that God delighteth in but it is the taking down of pride and that so much humbling sense of sin danger and misery as may make us feel the need of Christ and mercy and bring us unfeignedly to consent to be his Disciples and to be saved upon his Covenant terms Be sorrow much or little if it do this much the sinner shall be saved And as to the length of Gods sorrow some thinks that the pangs of the new birth must be a long continued state whereas we read in the Scripture that by the penitent sinners the Gospel was still received speedily with joy as being the gift of Christ and pardon and everlasting life humility and self-loathing must continue and increase but our first great sorrows may be swallowed up with
would perswade you to submissive patience Especially make conscience of a setled discontent of mind have you not yet much better than you deserve And do you forget how many years you have enjoyed undeserved mercy Discontent is a continued resistance of Gods disposing will that I say not some rebellion against it Your own wills rise up against the will of God It is Atheistical to think that your sufferings are not by his providence and dare you repine against God and continue in such repining to whom else doth it belong to dispose of you and all the world And when you feel distracting cares for your deliverances remember that this is not trusting God Care for your own duty and obey his command but leave it to him what you shall have tormenting care do but add to your afflictions It is a great mercy of God that he forbiddeth you these cares and promiseth to care for you Your Saviour himself hath largely though gently reprehended them Math. 6. and told you how sinful and unprofitable they are and that your father knoweth what you need and if he deny it you it is for just cause and if it be to correct you it is yet to profit you and if you submit to him and accept his guift he will give you much better than he taketh from you even Christ and everlasting life III. Set your selves more diligently than ever to overcome the inordinate love of the world It will be a happy use of all your troubles if you can follow them up to the Fountain and find out what it is that you cannot bear the want or loss of and consequently what it is that you overlove God is very jealous even when he loveth against every Idol that is loved too much and with any of that love which is due to him and if he take them all away and tear them out of our hands and hearts it is merciful as well as just I speak not this to those that are troubled only for want of more faith and holiness and communion with God and assurance of Salvation These troubles might give them much comfort if they understood aright from whence they come and what they signifie For as impatient trouble under worldly crosses doth prove that a man loveth the world too much so impatient trouble for want of more holiness and Communion with God doth shew that such are lovers of Holiness and of God Love goeth before desire and grief That which men love they delight in if they have it and mourn for want of it and desire to obtain it The will is the love and no man is troubled for want of that which he would not have But the commonest cause of passionate melancholly is at first some worldly discontent and care either wants or crosses or the fear of suffering or the unsuitableness and provocation of some related to them or disgrace or contempt do cast them into passionate discontent and selfwill cannot bear the denial of something which they would have and then when the discontent hath muddied and diseased a mans mind temptations about his soul do come in afterwards and that which begun only with worldly crosses doth after seem to be all about Religion Conscience or meerly for sin or want of Grace Why could you not patiently bear the words the wrongs the losses the crosses that did befal you Why made you so great a matter of these bodily transitory things Is it not because you overlove them were you not in good earnest when you called them vanity and covenanted to leave them to the will of God would you have God let you alone in so great a sin as the love of the world or giving any of his due to creatures If God should not teach you what to love and what to set light by and cure you of so dangerous a disease as a fleshly earthly mind he should not sanctifie you and fit you for heaven souls go not to Heaven as an arrow is shot upward against their inclination but as fire naturally tendeth upward and earth downward to their like so when holy men are dead their souls have a natural inclination upward and it is their love that is their inclination they love God and Heaven and Holy company and their old godly friends and holy works even mutual love and the joyful praises of Jehovah And this Spirit and Love is as a fiery nature which carrieth them heavenward and Angels convey them not thither by force but conduct them as a Bride to her marriage who is carryed all the way by love And on the other side the souls of wicked men are of a fleshly worldly inclination and love not heavenly works and company and have nothing in them to carry them to God but they love worldly trash and sensual beastial delights though they cannot enjoy them as poor men love riches and are vexed for want of what they love and therefore it is no wonder if wicked souls do dwell with Devils in the lower regions and that they make Apparitions here when God permits them and if holy souls be liable to no such descent Love is the Souls poise and spring and carrieth souls downward or upward accordingly Away then with the earthly fleshly Love How long will you stay here And what will Earth and Flesh do for you So far as it may be helpful to Holiness and Heaven God will not deny it to submissive Children but to overlove is to turn from God and is the dangerous Malady of Souls and the poise that sinks them down from Heaven Had you learnt better to forsake all for Christ and to account all but as Loss and Dung as Paul did Phil. 3.8 you could more easily bear the want of it When did you see any live in discontent and distracted with Melancholy Grief and Cares for want of Dung or of a Bubble a Shadow or a merry Dream If you will not otherwise know the world God will otherwise make you know it to your Sorrow IV. If you are not satisfyed that God alone Christ alone Heaven alone is enough for you as matter of felicity and full content go study the Case better and you may be convinced Go learn better your Catechism and the Principles of Religion and then you will learn to lay up a Treasure in heaven and not on Earth and to know that its best to be with Christ and that death which blasteth all the glory of the world and equalleth the rich and the poor is the common Door to Heaven or Hell And then Conscience will not ask you whether you have lived in pleasure or in pain in riches or in want but whether you have lived to God or to the Flesh for Heaven or for Earth and what hath had the preheminence in your hearts and Lives If there be shame in Heaven you will be ashamed when you are there that you whined and murmured for want of any thing that the flesh desired upon
Earth and went thither grieving because your bodies suffered here Study more to live by Faith on hope on the unseen promised Glory with Christ and you will patiently endure any Sufferings in the way V. And study better how great a Sin it is to set our own Wills and Desires in a discontented opposition to the wisdom will and providence of God and to make our Wills instead of his as Gods to our selves Doth not a murmuring heart secretly accuse God All accusation of God hath some degree of blasphemy in it For the accuser supposeth that somewhat of God is to be blamed and if you dare not open your mouths to accuse him let not the repineings of your hearts accuse him know how much of Religion and Holiness consisteth in bringing this rebellious self-will to a full resignation submission and conformity to the Will of God Till you can rest in Gods Will you will never have rest VI. And study well how great a Duty it is wholely to Trust God and our blessed Redeemer both with Soul and Body and all we have Is not infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness to be trusted Is not a Saviour that came from Heaven into flesh to save sinners by such incomprehensible ways of Love to be trusted with that which he hath so dearly bought To whom else will you trust Is it your selves or your friends Who is it that hath kept you all your Lives and done all for you that is done Who is it that hath saved all the Souls that are now in Heaven what is our Christianity but a Life of Faith And is this your Faith to distract your selves with cares and troubles if God do not fit all his Providences to your Wills Seek first his Kingdom and Righteousness and he hath promised that all other things shall be added to you and not a hair of your head shall perish for they are all as it were numbred A Sparrow falls not to the ground without his Providence and doth he set less by those that fain would please him Believe God and trust him and your Cares and Fears and Griefs will vanish O that you knew what a mercy and comfort it is for God to make it your Duty to trust him If he had made you no promise this is equal to a promise If he do but bid you Trust him you may be sure he will not deceive your Trust If a faithful friend that is able to relieve you do but bid you trust him for your relief you will not think that he will deceive you Alass I have friends that durst trust me with their Estates and Lives and Souls if they were in my power and would not fear that I would destroy or hurt them that yet cannot trust the God of Infinite Goodness with them though he both command them to trust him and promise that he will never fail them nor forsake them It is the refuge of my Soul that quieteth me in my fears that God my Father and Redeemer hath commanded me to trust him with my Body my health my liberty my estate and when Eternity seemeth strange and dreadful to me that he bids me trust him with my departing Soul Heaven and Earth are upheld and maintained by him and shall I distrust him Obj. But it is none but his Children that he will save Answ True And all are his Children that are truly willing to obey and please him If you are truly willing to be holy and to obey his commanding Will in a godly righteous and sober Life you may boldly rest in his disposing Will and rejoyce in his rewarding and accepting Will for he will pardon all our Infirmities through the Merits and Intercession of Christ VII If you would not be swallowed up with sorrow swallow not the Baits of sinful Pleasure Passions and Dulness and defective Duâ—ies have their degrees of guilt but it is pleasing Sin that is the dangerous and deep wounding Sin O fly from the Baits of Lust and Pride and Ambition and Covetousness and an unruly Appetite to Drink or Meat as you would fly from guilt and grief and terror The more pleasure you have in Sin usually the more sorrow it will bring you and the more you know it to be Sn and Conscience tells you that God is against it and yet you will go on and bear down Conscience the sharplier will Conscience afterward afflict you and the hardlier will it be quieted when it is awakned to Repentance yea when a humbled Soul is pardoned by Grace and believeth that he is pardoned he will not easily forgive himself The remembrance of the wilfulness of sinning and how poor a Bait prevailed with us and what Mercies and Motives we bore down will make us so displeased and angry with our selves and so to loath such naughty hearts as will not admit a speedy or easie reconciliation Yea when we remember that we sinned against knowledge even when we remembred that God did see us and that we offended him it will keep up long doubts of our Sincerity in the Soul and make us afraid lest still we have the same hearts and should again do the same if we had the same Temptations Never look for Joy or Peace as long as you live in wilful and beloved Sin This Thorn must be taken out of your hearts before you will be eased of the pain unless God leave you to a senceless heart and Satan give you a deceitful peace which doth but prepare for greater sorrow VIII But if none of the forementioned Sins cause your Sorrows but they come from the meer perplexities of your mind about Religion or the state of your Souls as fearing Gods wrath for your former sins or doubting of your Sincerity and Salvation then these foregoing Reprofs are not meant to such as you but I shall now lay you down your proper Remedies and that is the Cure of that Ignorance and those Errors which cause your Troubles 1. Many are perplexed about Controversies in Religion while every contending party is confident add hath a great deal to say which to the ignorant seemeth like to Truth and which the Hearer cannot answer and when each party tells them that their way is the only way and threatneth Damnation to them if they turn not to them The Papists say There is no Salvation out of our Church that is to none but the Subjects of the Bishop of Rome The Greeks condemn them and extol their Church and every Party extols their own Yea some will convert them with Fire and Sword and say Be of our Church or lie in Gaol or make their Church it self a Prison by driving in the uncapable and unwilling Among all these how shall the ignorant know what to chuse Answ The Case is sad and yet not so sad as the case of the far greatest part of the world who are quiet in Heathenism or Infidelity or never trouble themselves about Religion but follow the Customs of their Countreys and the
Col. 2.14 but withal it did direct them to the Lord Jesus who was to appear once in the end of the World to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself The Moral Law discovered their duty convinced them of Sin and declared the necessity of a Mediator to make an Atonement The Apostle when he witnessed that Christ should suffer and be the first that should rise from the dead and shew Light to the People and to the Gentiles he sticks not to affirm that he said no other things â—â—an what Moses and the Prophets did say should come Act. 26.22 23. Moses saw Christ and his Cross and esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches thâ—â— the Treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 Abraham rejoyced to see his day hâ— saw it and was glad Joh. 8.56 Nay several thousands of years before the actual rising of this Sun of righteousness there was some Light which caused a day break presently after the fall That promise the seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head shews that the First Adam was not altogether ignorant of the Second 5. The Revelation of Christ under the new Testament is more clear therefore to be ignorant of him is the more without Apology the veil upon the Face of Moses did signifie the obscurity of the Mosaick Dispensation but that vail is done away in Christ and we all may now with open Face behold as in a Glass the Lords Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 The New Testament helps us to understand the Old and adds de novo a far more glorious Light than ever shined before God spake more by his Son than he had done by his Servants the Prophets that lived in the Ages before his Manifestation in the flesh Such a clear Discovery of things which before were but darkly intimated is a priviledg which should be taken notice of and thankfully improved Mat. 13.16 17. Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your ears for they hear for verily I say unto you that many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them 6. All true Believers in Christ have some Knowledg of him Rom. 10.14 How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard As it was in the first Creation God said let there be Light and there was Light so it is in the New Creation Darkness overspreads the Soul but God does shine into the heart and gives the Light of the Knowledg of Jesus Christ And Christ being thus revealed the heart is taken with him gladly opens and receives him relies and believes in him to Life everlasting Let the Church of Rome boast of the conveniences of Ignorance and the sufficiency of implicite Faith we shall shew our selves Children of Light by pleading for Light and it shall be our desire That God would deliver us from the Ignorance of the Church of Rome as well as from the Tyranny of the Bishop there 7. Those that know most of Christ know him but in part therefore are to be urged to grow in Knowledg The Apostle Paul who equalled James Cephas and John for in conference they added nothing to him Gal. 2.6 who was caught up to the third Heaven and there had abundance of revelations and heard words which was not lawful to utter yet humbly acknowledges that he knew in part and prophesied in part 1 Cor. 13.9 and that he saw but through a Glass darkly v. 12. Knowledg in this World is imperfect as well as Holiness and where both these are true there will be an industrious longing that both may be still carried on towards perfection These things being premised I shall tell you what it is to grow in the Knowledg of Christ in these particulars I. Growing in the knowledg of Christ implies a fuller apprehension of his Godhead Here is Majesty Immensity Glory that may presently amaze and overwhelm us Alas 't is but a small portion of this that we can understand but this must be known that the self same perfections which are in the Father are likewise in the Son for He and his Father are one Christ is the true God and Eternal Life 1 John 5.20 't is a destructively heretical Gloss to say he is styled God only by a Figure He is affirmed to be over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 He created all things in Heaven and in Earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or Principalities or Powers and he is before all things and by him all things consist Col. 1.16 17. And those excellent Creatures all the Angels of God are commanded to worship him Heb. 1.6 This Truth that Christ is God is more and more to be lookt into He that denyes it loses his Christianity according to * Necessarium est credere confiteri articulum de divinitate Christi quem ubi Arrius negavit necesse fuit etiam negare articulum Râ—demptionis vincere enim peccatum mundi mortem maledictionem iram lei in semetipso â—on est ullius â—reaturae sed â—ivinae potentiae opus Quare negantes divinitatem Christi amittunt tandem totum Christianismum fiuntque prorsus Gentiles Luther Tom. 4. p. 92. b. Luther and the prop and foundation of his Faith Here is the Rock upon which the Church is 〈◊〉 so as the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 16.18 The Godhead of Christ makes his blood a price of infinite value full satisfaction has been made to divine Justice by the payment of it The Godhead of Christ puts merit into his obedience and sufferings so that believers cannot ask for more than he has deserved they should receive The Godhead of Christ gives efficacy to Ordinances so that the dead are quickned the blind are enlightned the weak are strengthened and confirmed The Godhead of Christ puts life and vigour into the Christians Faith he may safely be trusted who is God only wise who is the Lord Almighty whose mercy and faithfulness endure for ever 2. Diabolus lapsus est invidia illa qua invidit hominibus tantam dignitatem quod Deus futurus esset homo Bernard Growing in the knowledge of Christ implies a clearer sight of his humanity how often is he called the Son of Man as well as the Son of God One of the Fathers imagined that this was the fault and the fall of the reprobate Angels a proud enviousness at the forethought of the Son of God his advancing by taking upon him the humane nature And Luther supposed this was the occasion upon which Satan suggested to Mahomet in his Alcoram that many of the good Angels became Divels because they refused to worship Adam 'T is a great Mystery of Godliness that God is manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 Videtur Diabolus ipse autori Alcorani suggessisse quod id o Daemones facti essent ex bonis Angelis quia
to face the Vail shall be taken away 't is true even then somewhat will transcend our Understandings for the Reasons suggested in the first Consideration We must not think that God can divest himself of his Divinity or make any thing that has not in one regard or other some Impresses that discover its Author to be infinite neither must we imagine that man shall cease to be man or cease to be a Finite weight neither hope that his capacity shall be enlarged to comprehend Infiniteness but this we may safely conclude That we shall know more hereafter than now and that the present Darkness with which we are now surrounded is no more than what is suited to the state in which we now live They that are born of God are encompassed with those Remainders of old Corruptions which greatly indispose us for the receiving greater Light There is an admirable Order to be observed in the Works and Providences of God First that which is Natural then that which is Spiritual firrst that which is less perfect then that which is more perfect first a dark Evening then a glorious Morning first Star-light that is Light shining in dark places then the Day-Star from on high the Sun of Righteousness arises to enlighten our darkness first the Knowledge the World had of God and Christ was very little then some shadowy Representations were made of heavenly Truths and now the Image but not yet the heavenly things themselves Under the Law was the Shadow of Heavenly things i. e. a draught of Heavenly things in Water-colours now the Image of Heavenly things Heb. 10.1 that is a more lively Representation or Portraiture of them Under the Law there was a Vail over the Peoples Faces they could see but the Shadow but we all with open face 2 Cor. 3.10 i. e. with a face unvail'd behold the Glory of the Lord but as in a Glass in which we have but the Image for Christ though he brought us a clearer discovery of things yet considered our state and therefore spake but of earthly things John 3.12 That is the discovery that now we have is very dark to what it shall be in Heaven when we are capable of receiving Heavenly discoveries and look into the Heavenly things themselves Now we see that the discoveries that are made unto us are of God for the Signatures of infinite wisdom are found on them but then the discovery will be more full more clear distinct and satisfying Now we know but just enough to quicken us to look for further Knowledge about the Doctrines and Providences of God and the more we know the more we desire to know and such as have form'd any right Conceptions about them cannot but conclude there is somewhat excellent in the knowledge of these things and though the more we pry into them now the more unsatisfied we are because we know no more yet this is some Relief That we shall know more hereafter whence 't is that a Judicious and Understanding Christian is the more inclin'd to leave this dark State looking for that State of Vision in which we shall know and see more of God his Ways and Workings Really there is an extraordinary satisfaction that will attend us in that state wherein we shall be filled with as much and as distinct a Knowledge as our Understandings are capable of receiving the which satisfaction is too great an happiness for sinful Mortals here 't is a Felicity reserv'd for hereafter The like may be said of the Providences of God which may be considered as a curious Work a part of which only is within our view and because we see not the whole we are at a loss concerning what we see for we find most of the several Parts that are before us to be without any Order or Comliness the which must necessarily be so because 't is but a Part of the work that we see and the Beauty which is the Result of that admirable Connection that is to be between part and part in the putting all things together cannot be seen till the end of all for which we must both hope and patiently wait 'T is true many Instances can be given wherein the several parts of Providence with respect to this or the other godly man seem very strange and surprizing and yet put together render the highest satisfaction Joseph was a good man and had a Right to the Promise That all things should work together for his good but yet if you consider some Providences relating to him distinctly you will find all things against him namely that he should be sold by his Brethren that he should be carried into Egypt and when in Potiphars House be falsly accused by his Mistris and cast into Prison and there continue for a long time but yet put these Providences together and you will see what dependance the one had on the other and how all are joyned together for Joseph's Advancement for had not Joseph been sold by his Brethren how could he have been brought down to Egypt and placed in the capacity of a Servant with Potiphar and if he had not been with Potiphar how could he by the false Accusation of his Mistris be imprisoned and if not imprisoned how could he have had the opportunity of interpreting the Chief Butler's Dream which was the occasion of his being call'd before Pharaoh by which means Joseph was so highly advanced as to be made Ruler over all the Land of Egypt Many other Instances might be given but this is sufficient to shew that the great reason why many providences so far transcend our understandings that we cannot find out the Consistency the admirable Order and Harmony that is in them is this namely we see not the End if we could see the End we should have a fuller satisfaction but till then we must patiently wait By this 't is evident that the Correspondency of these Doctrines and Providences is an excellent Expedient to excite those Graces that are necessary to Salvation and therefore our Minds may very well be quieted without it So much to the first Improvement I 'le proceed to a Second IMPROVEMENT II. The Second Improvement is this We may from the Transcendency of these Doctrines and Providences fetch an unanswerable Argument to confirm and establish us in the Truth of the Christian Religion From what has been already urged for the quieting of our Minds about these insoluble Difficulties 't was shewn that the Transcendency that is in these Doctrines and Providences was but the footsteps of God's Transcendency Let us then but take this for granted and compare the Impresses or Footsteps that there are of God's Transcendency in these Doctrines with those on the things that are made and to be seen in the Providences of God I say compare the Doctrines of the Gospel the things made and his Providences together and we shall find an excellent Harmony between them even in this respect that the footsteps
the girdle of truth And would you have all in one Then put on the Lord Jesus Christ This is the counsel of Eloquent Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God looked down from Heaven and saw the whole World naked not naked as to the body but despoil'd of Vâ—â—ue He saw the sin that they had committed and he had mercy on them in the transgression they had transgress'd and to these miserable naked ones he bestow'd a garment even himself Here then is your real Ornament your truly gorgeous Apparel if you have but faith to apply it skill to use it decently to put it on and comely to wear it In a word Would you have the faithful Mirrour that will impartially discover all your spots all your stains and help you to judg whether they be the spots of his people such as are consistent with the truth and power of godliness and which will not only reveal them but wash them away Deut. 32.4 Then take the Glass of Gods Word therein view James 1.22 23. and dress your souls every day but be sure you forget not what manner of persons that Glass has represented you to your own consciences but be doers of the Word not hearers only deceiving your selves V. Nor let it be forgotten who they were in all Ages recorded for the most curious and profuse in the mystery of Ornamentals We find Jezabel painting her face and attiring her head and immediatly eaten by the Dogs 2 Kings 9.30 only out of civility or loathing they left some Fragments of her abominable Carcase Amongst the rest I could wish her Scull were set in a Ring to serve as a Deaths-Head to mind our painting Ladies of their Mortality The Prophet Ezekiel represents the spiritual Whoredoms of Judah under the Terms of their Corporeal Luxury For whom she painted her eyes Ezek. 23.40 washed her self and decked her self with Ornaments That great Nothing Berenice had got a stock of Impudence that she durst face a Court of Judicature and came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with abundance of Pomp Acts 25.23 and fantastical bravery We must not forget that great Strumpet Cleopatra who wore an Union or Pearl worth Fifty thousand pound which in a prodigal Frolick and Bravado she dissolved in Vinegar and in a Glass of Wine drunk off at one draught And it might cool the fervor of our Ladies to their Braveries Rev. 17.1 when they read of a Woman array'd in Purple and Scarlet decked with Gold precious Stones and Pearls and presently hear that she was the Mother of Harlots And when Platina their own Historian informs us that Pope Paul the 2d painted his face a shame in a Woman a greater in a Man and yet greater in him that would be stiled the Head of the Catholick Church I hope they will not condemn the Protestants of incivility if they now and then stile his Successors The Whore of Babylon St. Hierome tells us That Maximilla the pretended Prophetess but really the Whore of Montanus painted her eyes with Stibium And History rings with the Effeminate Luxury of the Monster of Men Heliogabalus who never wore one Suit twice and studded his Shooes with Pearls and Diamonds Poppaea the Infamous Wife of Execrable Nero had the Bridles and all the Furniture of her Mules of pure Gold and with the same Metal or at least Silver were they shod But let these be Patterns not to provoke your imitation but stir up your indignation VI. And how heinous is that sin to endeavour to procure the acceptation of Men by that which is an abomination to God And must it not highly provoke His Majesty to see the Criticks of artificial Beauty put out Gods Work in a Second Edition auctiorem non emendatiorem as if it had been incompleat as it came first out of Gods hands Yet such is the operose study of our Fashionists what Nature made black they will make white what Age has made white they will have black Time has made them bald but by false hair they will restore Youth as if they would commit a Rape upon Nature alter her course make Rivers run up to their Fountains God gave thee short hair but thou perverse Man wilt cross him and make it long and what thou canst not really do yet thou wilt pretend to do and counterfeit at least contradiction and opposition to his will the worst sort of Hypocrisie certainly in the World when Men would seem more wicked than they are nay than they can be and because neither Nature gave or God allows this extravagant length of Main Contra Helvid they will supply Nature by Art to the affront of God! St. Hierome smartly rubs these painted Butterflies Haec ad speculum pingitur in contumeliam Creatoris conatur pulchrior esse quam nata est Here is a Lady says he that paints her face by the advice of her Glass and to the reproach of her Creator would appear fairer in the eyes of men than ever Nature made her How displeasing is it to God to be displeas'd with what he has done Tert. that they may please the worst of Men Displicet illis nimirum plastica Dei They are angry with or ashamed of Gods handy-work who in Cyprian's Cypr. Language may disown these wretches for any of his handy-work Haec non sunt membra quae Deus fecit sed quae Diabolus infecit These are not the limbs the members which God made but such as the Devil has marr'd and metamorphosed I know both Painting and Periwigs have their Palliations and Excuses 1. They that ruffle in their waving Perukes and look like the Locusts that came out of the smoak of the bottomless pit Rev. 9.8 whose faces were as the faces of women and had their hair as the hair of women do plead that they wear them upon good advice for their healths sake to divert Catarrhs to prevent Consumptions Ans 1. And is it indeed so that the Nation is become almost one great Hospital Are the generality of Men among us just dropping into Consumptions Then what other Lust what Debauchery has introduced a sinful Necessity and then taught them to plead it But is it not evident that the corruption is much larger than the pretended occasion 2. But if cutting off the hair be in some degree useful for that end are Periwigs therefore so Can no other thing substitute the place of hair but such a Vanity 3. But if this Vanity be any ways useful what does the curling contribute to it and what does the change of the colour conduce to that effect Is it no colour but one contrary to the natural that will do the deed Or if it must be so what does the immoderate length signifie to that end How much more ingenuous had it been to have confessed the sin and yet persist in it than to palliate it with such slender thin excuses 2. They that are for painting the face do
an abomination Oh bury her out of my sight says Abraham of his beloved Sarah Gen. 23.4 What do men take pains and care about What are they at cost and charge upon rising early and going to bed late but only for such things as may serve and please the Body VVhich very Body must be beholden to the Soul for to keep it from becoming worms meat and rottenness VVe might value our Bodies and their concerns as much as we do or as we list to do would it but cause us so much the more to esteem our Souls as they deserve for keeping our Bodies in a capacity for our care and kindness 6. Our Bodies follow their Condition 6. It is in the last place very considerable as to us to enhance our opinion of the Soul that our Bodies follow the condition of our Souls As our Souls are so shall our Bodies be when raised up to all Eternity and therefore St. Stephen when he was a dying commends only his Soul to our Saviour Acts 7.59 and our Saviour himself in his last breath commends his Spirit or Soul to his Father Luke 23.46 neither making any mention of their Bodies as knowing that their Bodies by consequence would be happy that they would be cared for by God and raised up in Gods time to be blessed with their Souls to all Eternity If our Souls be found unbelieving and impenitent without Gods Image and favour all the rich attire and sumptuous fare will not keep our Bodies no more than they did Dives his Body from being tormented in those flames that shall burn and none can quench them on the other side if our Souls be sanctified and accepted notwithstanding any present poverty disease or misery they shall hereafter sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Shall I carry this a little further it may be more home and close unto you The welfare of the Body even in this life depends upon the Soul As the case of thy Soul is so are all those very things that befal thy Body even in this world VVe judge amiss and call good evil and evil good take all things together and stay till the conclusion and you will then see that all the prosperity that befel a man his riches health friends reputation c. were all evil if his Soul be evil that is unpardoned unregenerated oh very evil Isa 3.10 11. Psal 7.11 God is angry with the wicked every day In his healthful prosperous days he hath the wrath of God the least drop whereof will imbitter all his sweets and this is mixt in the Cup and is as death in the Pot But one that hath his Soul pardoned and purged from sin by the Blood and Spirit of the Son of God All his very torments and Miseries if any such befall him are what God in wisdom hath chosen for him Rom. 8.2 8. and in faithfulness hath layd upon him they are the very best providences that God could find out for him thus to the pure all things are pure c. Titus 1.15 And now I hope that the pretiousness of the Soul being manifest although I have all a long enforc'd my Argumenes as practically as I could I may yet have room for the remaining Application which I am now come unto APPLICATION Informaâ—â—â—â— 1. If the Soul be so pretious we have heard enough to make us abhor sin for ever Sin must needs be the most mischievous thing to us It being that only which can ruine our Souls whereby only we can lose our Souls Other Evils can but bereave us of our Estates or at most of our Lives but they have no more mischief which they can do but sin does deservedly cast Body and Soul into Everlasting Fire Isa 59.2 they are only our iniquities which separate betwixt God and us not tribulation and anguish c. no loss or cross these can and do work for good but sin is such a bitter root that it can bring forth nothing but bitter fruits Sin is the Souls sickness nay its death causing a divorce betwixt it and God the fountain of its life Hence it is said to war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 and to pierce the Soul through 1 Tim. 6.10 I appeal to any whether they would not detest and oppose those that should do such things to their Bodies O fools and slow of heart to believe Luk. 24.25 If ye will not believe God who hath said there is no peace nothing truly good no Salvation to be sure to the wicked believe at least your selves who cannot but find that as sin grows stronger your Souls grow weaker and that by it you forsake your own Mercies and get Boiles and Ulcers nay the Plague in your Souls 2. This does recommend and endear our Blessed Saviour to us who is the Saviour of our Souls and the Shepheard of our Souls and therefore only it is that they do not want he washed them in his blood 1 Pet. 2.25 and quickens them by his Spirit and keeps them by his power and crowns them with his glory to them which believe these things he is pretious 1 Pet. 2.7 If ye value your Souls above the World ye will value our Saviour above all the world too for had it not been for his love and care your Souls had been the miserablest things in it 3. This commends Holiness in all its parts to us Holiness is nothing else but the right Temper and Healthful Constitution of the Soul 't is the beauty of the Soul without which 't is most deformed and loathsome in God's sight To be Heavenly and Holy is to be as God is and to have the Spirit of Glory rest upon you Heb. 12.14 nay without Holiness none shall see God For though there was no defect in the price that Christ pay'd he did and suffered till all was fulfill'd yet if we be wanting in our applying of it we may perish and it will be our sore condemnation that light is come into the World and we love darkness Colos 1.27 't is Christ within us that is our hope of Glory I must not take occasion to commend those comprehensive Graces Faith and Repentance unto you but in a word as ye love your Souls value and esteem them they are to you as tabula post naufragium a plank to get safely to shoar withal If you do not make timoâ—s use of it your Souls will be drowned and perish Everlastingly Godliness is the Souls food ye cannot live a day without it or your Souls will be weak and faint nay expire and dye It is indeed the Souls Life as Jacobs Life was bound up in Benjamins life so is the Souls Life bound up in Godliness where Godliness decays there the Soul goes down with sorrow to the Grave nay to Hell Where Godliness thrives the Soul exults and cryes out Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace Luk. 2.29 nay in this world What a Feast does Godliness
and unwise to endure so much and lose so much and say they have been losers by obeying God and by their holy walking for there is no happiness after Death to be hoped for wherefore I do repent that I did not take my pleasures while I might but did you ever here a serious godly man when dying utter such words But on the contrary on their dying beds do grieve and groan mourn and lament that they have been no more holy and obedient and in suffering times if they had Gold as Dust they would count it all as Dross and if they had a thousand lives they would lose them all to keep in the favour of God and to gain the Crown of Everlasting Life 4. Then would the Floodgates of sin and profaneness be plucked up to let in an Inundation of all manner of gross abominations for if men will not be afrighted from their sin with all the threatnings of the sorest pains of Hell nor allured to leave them with all the promises of the sweetest pleasures of Heaven if they were sure there were no torments of Hell to be adjudged to nor Glory in Heaven to be rewarded by they would run with greater greediness to the commission of the worst of sins that the Devil should tempt them or their wicked hearts incline them to Quest 2. How should we Eye Eternity or look at unseen Eternal things They are said to be unseen as they are not the objects of our external sense for in this sense they are not to be seen but we must look at Eternal things that are unseen with an Eye that also is unseen and the several things denoted by the Eyes in Scripture will give some light to see with what Eyes we must look at unseen Eternal things viz. with an Eye of Knowledge Faith Love Desire Hope Our looking at Eternal things comprehends these acts of the Soul 1. It includes a sure and certain Knowledge of them as things not understood are said to be hid from our Eyes so what we know we are said to see Eccles 2.3 I sought in my heart-till I might see what was that good for the Sons of men taking away of Knowledge is called the putting out of the Eyes Numb 16.14 and the inlightening the Mind the opening of the Eyes Acts 26.18 and Looking is put for certain Knowing Job 13.27 1 Pet. 1.12 and expressed by Seeing Act. 7.34 so that the Looking at and Eying of Eternal things with the Eyes of the Understanding includes 1. The bending of the mind to study them as when a man would look at any Object he bends his Head and turns his Eyes that way 2. The binding of the mind to them as a man when he looks earnestly at any thing fixeth his Eye upon it 3. The Exercise of the mind thus bent and bound to Eternal things that it is often thinking on the unseen Eternal God Christ Heaven and the Life to come 2. This Looking is by an Eye of Faith Looking is believing Numb 21.8 Make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live The Object and the Act are both expounded by Christ John 3.14 As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up 15. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Eternal Life 3. This Looking is with an Eye of Love Though in Philosophy the Affections as well as the Will are blind Powers yet in Divinity the Eyes are put for the Affections Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine Eyes upon that which is not and the Eye of the Lord denotes his Love Psal 33.18 and Believers that love the coming of the unseen Saviour 1 Tim. 4.8 are said to look for it Phil. 3.20 ubi amor ibi oculus We love to look at what we love 4. This Looking is with an Eye of Desire which is exprest by the Eye Numb 15.39 That ye seek not after your own Heart and your own Eyes 1 King 20.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thing desirable in thine eyes Job 31.16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire or have caused the eyes of the Widow to fail The Eye is an Index of the desires of the Heart 5. This Looking is with an Eye of Hope The Eye is put for Hope Job 11.20 Lam. 4.17 2 Chro. 20.12 Psal 145.15 and 25.15 and things not seen are looked for by Hope Rom. 8.24 25. and things hoped for are the Objects of our Looking Tit. 2.13 Looking for the blessed Hope In short the sum is as if it had been said While we have a certain knowledge of unseen Eternal things a firm belief of them fervent love unto them ardent desires after them lively hope and patient expectation of them we faint not in all our tribulations Having opened the Eyes with which we are to look at Eternal things I proceed to the manner of our Looking There is a Looking unto them Psal 34.5 Mic. 7.7 There is a Looking into them by studying the Nature of them to know more of the reality necessity and dignity of them 1 Pet. 1.12 Which things the Angels desire to look into If Angels do Men should There is a looking for them either as we look for things that we have lost look till we find as the Man for his lost Sheep or the Woman for her lost Silver Luc. 15.4.8 or to look for a thing that is yet to come Tit. 2.13 Isa 8.17 and there is a looking at them which is not an idle gazing at the unseen Eternal World but a practical lively affecting look in this manner following 1. We should look at Eternal things with such an Eye of Faith that should presentiate them unto us though they are yet to come Hence Faith is said to be the substance or subsistence of things not seen and the evidence of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 Faith so looks at things that are far off that they have a kind of mental intellectual existence though absent as if they were present being promised as sure as if they were already possessed Faith convinceth and assureth the heart of a Believer most strongly of the truth of a thing while it looks to the Revelation and Testimony of God than any argument brought forth from Natural reason could do and doth give as firm assent to the certainty and reality of Eternal things though unseen as to any thing he beholdeth with his eyes or perceiveth by the apprehension of any Sense because our Eyes may be deceived but God neither can deceive nor be deceived Look then e. g. at the coming of Christ with such an Eye of Faith as if with your bodily Eyes you saw him descending from Heaven in flaming fire with glorious attendance as if you heard the Trumpet sounding and the Cry made arise ye Dead and come to Judgment at which command as if you saw the
Job 13.27 how narrowly should we look to our own when every one is a step to Everlasting Happiness or Eternal Misery We should look narrowly that we do not walk in the broad way that leads unto the one but in the narrow that will bring us to the other Matth. 7.13 14. 5. Look Earnestly with a longing look at unseen Eternal things Let your Hearts be filled with greatest intense desires after them as one that looks and thinks it long till the desire be accomplished as the Mother of Sisera looked out at a Window and cryed through the Lattice Why is his Chariot so long in coming Why tarry the Wheels of his Chariot Jud. 5.28 Why doth time make no more haste to be gone and flee away that when it is gone and past I might enter into Eternal joyes that never shall be past and gone Why doth the Sun that by its alternate presence and absence is the measure of my nights and dayes make no swifter speed in its diurnal Motion If it be as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race why doth it seem to my longing Soul as in the days of Joshua to stand still If the Sun in the Firmament be so slow let the Sun of Righteousness make more haste and come and lighten my passage to the other Eternal World that I might see him as he is and be more like unto him then at this distance I can be Return Return O Shulamite return return that I might look upon thee Make haste my Beloved and be thou like unto a roe or to a young hart upon the Mountains of spices that my looking for and after thee might be turned into looking upon thee Didst thou say a little while and ye shall see me and again a little while and ye shall not see me Why dearest Lord shall I count that a little while in which I do not see thee hast thou left it upon record yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Sweetest Saviour to my thirsty panting Soul it seems a great while while thou dost tarry and not come time seems long till I do see thee but when I shall see thee in looking on thy lovely glorious Self Eternity shall not seem long I will mind thee of thy promise surely I come quickly and make it matter of my prayer and in confidence of the performance of thy promise and audience of my Prayer will say Amen even so so quickly come Lord Jesus for according to my earnest expectation and my hope I groan and am travelling in pain until I see thee who to me art now unseen that then I might live by sight and no longer walk by Faith 6. Look though with Earnest yet with Patient expectation at unseen Eternal things He that walketh now by Faith that he shall hereafter live by sight will not make undue untimely haste though what he seeth by Faith in unseen Eternal Joyes and Glory doth fill his Soul with longing desires after them yet hope doth help with Patience to wait for them Rom. 8.25 For the beatifical Vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end of Temporal Life it will be given though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry though it tarry beyond some Moneths or Years that you desire to be there yet it shall not tarry one moment beyond the time that God hath appointed to take you to it therefore in the mean time live by Faith and see in things unseen what can be seen by Faith till things unseen shall clearly and with open face be seen by you 7. Look with a fixed stedfast Eye at unseen Eternal things if you give a glance or cast of the Eye towards things seen and temporal the Eye and Heart too is ready to fix upon them if you would fix your Eye upon Eternity upon God and Christ and the Joyes above Satan Sin the Flesh and World will be diverting of it that now in time comparatively you can but glance upon Eternity If you look that way many Objects will interpose themselves to hinder your sight and to turn your Eyes from things Eternal to things Temporal from God to the Creature from things above to things below But yet if we were full of the Holy Ghost as Stephen was we might look up stedfastly into Heaven as Stephen did and though not with the same Eye yet to the same effect and purpose see the Glory of God and Jesus standing on his right hand Act. 7.55 Though the thoughts are immanent yet in this respect they are too transient that they do no longer dwell upon Eternity But if the Devil and the World find your thoughts tyed to this subject and go about to loosen them say why do ye this for not my Lord but I have need of them Or if you are at any season seasonably got up into the Mount viewing Eternity and they send Messengers to you to come down reply for they think to do you mischief I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down Why should the work cease whilest I leave it and come down to you And though they send more than four times after this sort yet answer them still after the same manner 8. Look unweariedly at unseen Eternal things The Eye might be fixed for a while upon an Object and after a while be weary in looking at it can you look unweariedly at the vanities of this World and will you be so soon tired in beholding the Glorious things in the other World Do you look on things Temporal where seeing is not satisfying and yet are never satisfyed with looking And will you not look on things Eternal where seeing would be such a filling of your heart with satisfactory content that looking would not be tedious to your eye There is so much in God in Christ in all Eternal things in Heaven so much Beauty Glory Fulness that methinks we might stand looking at them night and day without any irksomness at all But alas when the Spirit is willing the Flesh is weak and whilest the Soul must look out of Flesh to see those Glorious things and so clogged with Corruption that is like dust within its Eyes that makes it weep because it can look no longer but yet in time we should endeavour to be more like to them that are already in that Eternity where they look at God and Christ unweariedly and though their looking is not measured by Days or Moneths or Years but by immensurable Eternity yet they shall never be weary of looking at them to all Eternity 9. Look with a joyful pleasant Eye at unseen Eternal things Look till you feel your Heart to leap for joy look till you find your Spirit is reviv'd within you look till the sight of your Eye affect your Heart Is Christ unseen yet not unknown Do not you now see him with
bodily Eyes yet you do with an Eye of Faith and Love and therefore may rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.8 When you look up unto the Heavens and see and say yonder is the place of my Everlasting abode there I must dwell with God there I must be with Christ and joyfully joyn with Angels and Saints in praising of my Lord and Saviour the foresight of this will make you joyful for the present and pleasant in your looking at it 10. Look fiducially at unseen Eternal things with an Holy Humble Confidence by Jesus Christ upon the performance of the conditions of the Gospel they shall be all your own that by turning from all your Sin by Repentance and Faith in Christ you trust you shall be possessed of them that when you see there are Mansions now unseen there are Eternal Joyes an Immoveable Kingdom an Incorruptible Crown the Eternal God to be enjoyed and for all this you have a promise and you know this promise is made to you by the performance of the Conditions annexed to the promise you trust in time to come unto it or rather when you go out of time into Eternity you shall be blessed in the Immediate Full Eternal Enjoyment of all the Happiness that God hath prepared in Heaven to give you wellcome joyful entertainment in that unseen Eternal World that you so eye that World while you live in this that when by Death you are going out of this World into that you might have this well-grounded confidence to say I have fought a good fight I have finished my course henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day 2 Tim. 4.7 8. If you get such a sight as this as now hath been set forth before you upon such Eternal Objects as before were propounded to you you will be able from your own experience to answer the third question contained in the general case but yet I will proceed unto that branch Q. 3. What influence will such an Eying of Eternity have upon us in all we do In all we do Will its Influence be so Universal Will the efficacy of such a sight be so extensive to reach forth its virtue in all we do yes in all we do Whether we Eat or Drink or go to Sleep whether we Trade or Work or Buy or Sell. Whether we Pray or Hear or search our Hearts or Meditate or Receive or Study or Preach or Sin or Suffer or Dy it will have a mighty influence upon us in any thing wherein we are active or passive culpable or praise-worthy in any condition be it Poverty or Riches Health or Sickness in any Relation be it of Husband and Wife of Parents and Children of Masters and Servants In any Office and Imployment Sacred or Civil out of such an heap because I am limited I will take an handful and because I have not room to speak of all I will not cast them into method according to their nature connexion and dependance one upon another but take them as they come in some few particulars only 1. Such an Eyeing of Eternity in all we do would make us careful to avoid Sin in any thing we do or however we might fail in all we do yet that we suffer it not to Reign or have Dominion over us Look at Eternity with a believing Eye and you will look at sin with an angry Eye you will cast a deadly look at Sin when you have a lively look at Eternity of Joy or Misery 1. Sin would deprive me of Eternal Life therefore I will be its Death it would keep me from Eternal Rest therefore I will never rest till I have conquered and subdued it nothing in the World would bring upon my Eternal Soul the Eternal loss of the Eternal God his Glorious Son and Holy Spirit of the Company of his Holy Angels and Saints of Eternal Treasures of a Blessed Kingdom and Incorruptible Crownâ— but cursed Sin Poverty Sickness Men Death Devils cannot nothing but Sin therefore I will be its bane that shall not Reign in me that would not suffer me to live in Everlasting Happiness 2. Sin would plunge me into unseen Eternal Torments into Endless Flames and Everlasting Burnings If you could speak with a Soul departed but a Moneth ago and ask him what do you now think of the delights of Sin of sporting on the Sabbath day of your pleasant Cups and Delightful Games of pleasing of the Flesh and gratifying of its Lusts What a sad reply would he return and what a doleful answer would he make you Sin Oh that was it that was my ruine that was it which hath brought me miserable wretch to Everlasting Torment that was it which shut me out of Heaven that sunk me down to Hell O ye foolish Sons of Men that are yet in time be not mad as I was mad and do not do as I did let not the seen pleasures and profits of the World which I have found were but for a time deceive you and bewitch you the Devil shewed me the seen delights of Sin but concealed from me the Extremity and Eternity of the pain that it hath brought me to the pleasure is past and the pain continues and I am lost for ever and all this Sin hath brought me to Let your eyeing of Eternity whilst you are standing in time be instead of ones speaking to you in time that hath been in Eternity for the Eternal God doth tell you as much as any Damned Soul can tell you and would you believe one from Hell and not the Son of God that came from Heaven Oh look and view Eternity in the Glass of the Scripture and firmly believe it and it will make slaughtering work amongst your Sins and destroy that which would damn you 2. Such Eyeing of Eternity would be a mighty help to quiet your hearts under the dispensations of Providence here to Men on Earth When you look at the seen Afflictions Distresses Disgraces Stripes Imprisonments Persecutions and Poverty of the People and Children of God and the Riches Ease Honours Pleasures and the seen flourishing prosperity of the worst of Men that by the Swearing Drinking Whoring hating of Godliness being patterns of wickedness proclaim themselves the Children of the Devil and you are offended and your Mind disquieted except in this you have a better heart than Job cap. 21.6 to 16. or David a Man after Gods own heart Psal 73.2 to 16. or Jeremiah cap. 12.1 2. or Habakkuk cap. 1.13 14. Now amongst the many helps to allay this Temptation the eyeing of the last yea Everlasting things is not the least Look upon these two sorts of Men which comprehend all in the World as going to Eternity and lodged there and then you will rather pity them because of their future Misery then envy them for their present Prosperity What if they have their Hearts desire for a
Christ and converse with him if he were on Earth it is better to see this pretious Christ in Eternal Glory it is worth the while to dy to have a view of your Lord-Redeemer in the highest Heavens Oh the wonderful transporting Joyes the Soul is filled with when it first cometh into the unseen but happy World when it hath the first Glorious view of its dearest Lord. Do you think it would desire to return to live in flesh upon Earth again Do you know what you do when you are so loth to dy Do you understand your selves when you are so backward to be taken out of time It is to be loth to go into Everlasting Happiness to go and take possession of unseen Eternal Glory 5. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would make us more patient constant joyful in all our sufferings for Christs sake When we poar upon our seen troubles and do not look at rest after trouble when we see and feel what is inflicted upon us but do not look what is laid up in Heaven for us when we see the rage of men and do not look at the love of God our Hearts and Flesh do fail but if we set unseen Eternal things over against things seen and Temporal it will be strength unto us Against the power of Men which is Temporal set the Power of God which is Eternal and then you will see their power to be weakness Against the Policy of Men which is Temporal set the Wisdom of God which is Eternal and then you will see all their Policy to be Foolishness Against the Hatred of Men which in its effects to you is Temporal set the Love of God which is both in its self and in its effects to you Eternal and you will see their hatred to be no better than raging unreasonable madness Keep your Eye upon the unseen Torments in the other World and you will rather endure Sufferings in this than venture upon Sin and expose your selves to them Keep your Eye upon the unseen Eternal Crown of Glory and it will carry you through Fire and Flames Prisons and Reproaches for the sake of Christ Heb. 11.26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward 27. by Faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible 6. This Eyeing of Eternity will be a powerful preservative against the temptations of Men or Devils a Sovereign Antidote against the Poyson of Temptation I see the Invisible God looks at me shall I then yield to the suggestions of the Devil or the sollicitations of men to sin I see there is an Everlasting state of Joy or Torment that I must be shortly in as sure as I am in this place and Satans design is to bring me to that state of Torment and if I follow him I shall be excluded from yonder glorious place from God and Christ and Saints above therefore by the Grace of God I will not yield to this Temptation but strive I will and Watch and Pray I will against the assaults of this deceitful Adversary for why should I be so foolish to lose Eternal Glory for momentary Pleasures and run my Immortal Soul into Eternal pain for short delights I do plainly see what will be the end if I do yield Damnation without end banishment from God without end I do clearly see that Stealing and Murder is not a more ready road to a place of Execution upon Earth than yielding to a tempting Devil is to Everlasting Misery 7. Such Eyeing of Eternity would wean our hearts from the things of time A sight and view of Heavens Glory would darken the Glory of the World as looking at the shining Sun over your Head doth obscure in your Eyes the things under your Feet after a believing view of the invisible God and the Glory of the place above this World would appear as a very Dunghil in your Eyes Phil. 3.7 8. as where we love there we look so the more we look the more we shall love and the more we love the Eternal things that are above the less we shall love the Temporal things that are below 8. Such Eyeing of Eternity would make us more like to God and Jesus Christ it will be a transforming and assimilating look 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore when we shall see Christ who is now out of sight we shall be perfectly like unto him 1 Joh. 3.2 But we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 9. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would fill our Souls with Holy admirations of the Goodness Grace and Love of God to us When Paul had a sight of such unseen things he was in an Holy Extasie and Divine Rapture 2 Cor. 12.2 3 4. When we consider the Eternal Happiness of Heaven we shall stand as Men amazed that God should prepare such things for such men and bear such Love and shew such Mercy to such as we that are so vile and full of sin and say Lord what am I that might for ever have howled in the lowest Hell that I should hope to praise thee in the highest Heavens Lord what am I that might have been in Everlasting Darkness that there should be prepared for me Everlasting Light and Joy Why me Lord why hast thou designed me and wrought upon my heart and made me in any measure meet to be partaker of such Eternal Glory Oh! the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Rom. 11.33 How pretious are thy thoughts to me how great is the sum of them Psal 139.17 Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee Psal 31.19 10. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would have this influence sure upon us to set our selves under a painful skilful serious Ministry It doth much concern you for you are going to an endless Life and Preaching is the appointed means to fit you for an endless happy Life then do you choose the most lively searching powerful Preaching it is for the life of your Souls for the Everlasting life of your Everlasting Souls If you were sick and in danger of Death when your Life lies upon it you would have the advice of an able Physitian that is serious and afraid that he no way become guilty of your Death Would you like that Physitian that seems to be unconcerned and cares not whether you live or dy if he might but have his fee Or that should merrily jest with you when you are sick at Heart and near to Death if you be not
cured Would you take Pleasure in his witty sayings and be jested into your Grave Or if you go unto a Lawyer about your whole Estate though it were in Leases that will expire would you choose one that you think did not care whether you win or lose your cause Would you be pleased with some witty sayings impertinent to the pleading of your cause Would you not say Sir I am in danger of losing all I am worth my Estate lyes at stake deal plainly with me and be serious in your undertaking for me and tell me in words that I can understand the plain Law by which my case must be tryed And will you be more careful about the Temporal Life of a Body that must dy and about a Temporal Estate which you must leave when you dy and not about your Soul that must ever live and never dye No! not so much as to set your selves under faithful Preachers that shall in words that you can understand plainly tell you the Laws of Christ by which you must be tryed for your Life and according to them be Eternally damned or saved 11. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would make you serious and lively in all your spiritual duties in all your approaches unto God If you have no Grace the serious thoughts of the unseen Eternal World would stir you up to beg and cry and call for it if you have to desire more and to exercise what you have to confess your sins with such contrite broken penitent hearts as though you saw the fire burning which by your sins you have deserved to be cast into To beg for Christ and Sanctifying Grace and pardoning Mercy with that lively Importunity as if you saw the Lake of boiling Brimstone into which you must be cast if you be not sanctifyed and pardoned to hear the Word of God that sets this Eternal World before you with that diligent attention as Men hearkning for their Lives to commemorate the Death of Christ with such life while you are at the Lords Supper while you do as it were see the Torments you are delivered from and the Eternal Happiness by Faith in a crucifyed Christ you have a Title to it will cause a fire and flame of Love in your Hearts to that Lord that dyed for you ardent desires after him complacential delight in him thankfulness hope of Heaven hatred to sin resolution to live to or dye for him that dyed for you If your Hearts are dead and dull and out of frame go and look into the unseen Eternal World take a believing view of Everlasting Joyes and Torments on the other side of time and you shall feel warmth and heat and lively actings to be produced in you Particularly this Eyeing of Eternity would make Ministers sensible of the weightiness of their work that it calls for all possible diligence and care our utmost serious study and endeavours our fervent Cryes and Prayers to God for ability for the better management of our work and for success therein for as much as our imployment is more Immediately about Eternal matters to save under Christ Eternal Souls from Eternal Torments and to bring them to Eternal Joyes When we are to Preach to people that must live for ever in Heaven or Hell with God or Devils and our very Preaching is the means appointed by God to fit men for an Everlasting state when we stand and view some Hundreds of Persons before us and think all these are going to Eternity now we see them and they see us but after a little while they shall see us no more in our Pulpits nor we them in their Pews nor in any other place in this World but we and they must go down unto the Grave and into an Everlasting World when we think it may be some of these are hearing their last Sermon making their last publique Prayers keeping their last Sabbath and before we come to Preach again might be gone into another World if we had but a firm belief of Eternity our selves and a real lively sense of the mortality of their Bodies and our own and the Immortality of the Souls of both of the Eternity of the Joy or Torment we must all be quickly in how pathetically should we plead with them plentifully weep over them fervently pray for them that our words or rather the word of the Eternal God might have Effectual Operation on their Hearts This Eyeing of Eternity should 1. Influence us to be painful and diligent in our studies to prepare a message of such weight as we come about when we are to Preach to men about Everlasting matters to set before them the Eternal Torments of Hell and the Eternal Joyes of Heaven Especially when we consider how hard a thing it is to perswade Men to leave their sins which do endanger their Immortal Souls when if we do not prevail with them to hearken to our message and obey it speedily and sincerely they are lost Eternally when it is so hard to prevail with men to accept of Christ the only and Eternal Saviour on the conditions of the Gospel You might easily see that Idleness either in young Students that are designed for this work or in Ministers actually engaged in it is an intolerable sin and worse in them than in any men under Heaven Idleness in a Shop-keeper is a sin but much more in a Minister in a Trader much more in a Preacher bear with me if I tell you an Idle Cobler that is to mend mens Shooes is not to be approved but an Idle Preacher that is to mend mens Hearts and save their Souls shall be condemned by God and Men for he lives in dayly disobedience of that charge of God 1 Tim. 4.13 Give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine 15. Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them 16 continue in them 2. It would provoke us to be faithful in delivering the whole counsel of God and not to daub with untempered mortar not to flatter them in their sin or to be afraid to tell them of their evils least we should displease them or offend them Is it time to sooth men up in their Ignorance in their neglect of duty when we see them at the very door of Eternity on the very borders of an Everlasting World and this the fruit that they shall dye in their sins and their Blood be required at our hands Ezek. 33.1 to 10. but so to Preach and discharge the Ministerial Function that when dying might be able to say as Act. 20.25 And now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more 26. Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men 27. For I have not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God 3. To be plain in our speech that every capacity of the weakest in the Congregation that hath an Eternal Soul that
walk in Strife Envy Debates Emulation Contention they will not hereby be only hindred in their Communion with one another but with God also 7. And Lastly Let the People of God walk in Fellowship with one another Let them be all united to some particular visible Church where they may enjoy all those Ordinances of Divine Worship which God hath instituted for Communion with himself Besides the Catholick Church whereof Christ is the Supream Head and Pastor there are particular Churches under the praesidency and care of particular Pastours to some of which all professed Christians ought to belong in order to their Communion with God and one another But upon this third General I shall speak somewhat further in the Application IV. I shall now come to the Fourth and last General I proposed to General IV speak to and that is the Consequences or Consectaries that arise from this whole Discourse 1. It follows hence that Communion with God is a very comprehensive Consect 1 duty It comprehends much in it It consists not in one single Grace or one single Act of the Soul or one single Duty of Religion but it comprehends the Exercise of many Graces reacheth to manifold Duties of Religion and consisteth of manifold Acts and Operations of the Soul 2. It is also a constant Duty which we are to maintain in a constant Consect 2 course and not only now and then at some solemn times or at some solemn Ordinance Not as if we ought to do nothing else but worship God which is the Communion reserved for Heaven but it is to be our dayly practise and to set some time apart for it every day and as much as we can to carry this Communion with God through the several Affairs Conditions and Actions of our Life Acquaint thy self with God said Elihu to Job chap. 22. v. 21. The Heb. is Accustome thy self with God which importeth some frequent course of approaching to God and converse with him And when it is said of Noah and Enoch that they walked with God It implies a constant course of Religion and Communion with God And when the Apostle saith Phil. 3.20 our Conversation is in Heaven it implies more than the performance now and then some Religious Worship but some constant converse with God and the things of Heaven as Citizens of the same civil Body or Society have among themselves in their civil Commerce and Conversation with one another as the Greek word there used doth import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. No Creatures are capable of Communion with God but Angels Consect 3 and Men. The Beasts were not made for it nor are capable of it not being rational and intelligent Beings This Communion with God requires the exercise of Reason and Understanding and that in the highest improvements of them If we consider it either in the Active or Passive part of it the Beasts are not capable of it Though God hath Communicated something of himself to all his Creatures and as the Poet expresseth it Jovis omnia plena all things are full of God and his Infinite Being is in all Finite Beings yet no Creatures have Communion with him but Angels and Men Other Creatures have a Natural instinct or sagacity to preserve and propagate their respective Natures or Beings but have no sense of their Creator no impression of a Deity upon their Nature nor no rational faculties whereby they might be capable of Communion with God The Angels have Communion with God in Heaven they alwaies behold the face of God as our Saviour speaks So the Spirits of just men departed are with Christ and in nearer Communion with God than when they dwelt in their Tabernacles of Flesh And the Saints upon Earth also are not without it though in a lower degree whereby the Church Militant hath Communion with the Church Triumphant in this Communion that both have with God Heb. 12. whieh shews the excellency of rational Creatures above all others that they alone are capable of this high Employment and Priviledge Consect 4 4. The Supreme felicity of Angels and Men lies in Communion with God As they alone are capable of it so their felicity consisteth in it God hath provided a good suitable to the Natures of all his Creatures in the enjoying of which is their chief happiness but the happiness of rational and intelligent Creatures lies in himself And therefore in their first Creation they were made happy in their Communion with him And herein consisteth the chief misery of fall'n Angels and fall'n Man that they both fell from their Communion with God The Angels so fell as never to be restored to it again And man so fell also as not to be able of himself to return to it But God hath provided a way for man by Christ to be brought back again to him which if he neglects or refuseth he will then be cast into the same hopeless Condition with the Devil and his Angels Consect 5 5. The highest improvement of the faculties of the Soul are to Employ them in Communion with God They are then in their highest Operation upon the highest Object Though they are Employed about things of this lower World and ought so to be in their proper bounds yet these are not their highest Operations which they are capable of As the highest use that could be made of Beasts under the Law was to make them Sacrifices to God and when the Israelites brought Gold Silver Purple Scarlet and precious Stones for the use and service of the Sanctuary they devoted them to the highest service they were capable of So when the faculties of the Soul are made a Sanctuary to God and employed in Communion with him they receive their highest improvement Lastly Communion with God is the Life of Religion It is but a dead thing without it All Religion hath respect to a Deity either to confer Honour upon it or to have Communion with it especially the true Religion without the former it finds no acceptance with God without the latter it is unprofitable to our selves yea we may grow worse under all our profession What the Body is without the Soul and what the matter without the form that is Religion where men find no Influence from Heaven upon their Hearts and have no Communion with God I next proceed to the Application I. Take notice with an holy admiration of the condescending goodness Vse I of God to admit any of the Sons of Men into fellowship with himself That there should be fellowship where there is such infinite inequality such infinite distance yea with such as had provok't him and disobliged him by their wilful departure from him To assume our Nature into Union and Communion with God was great condescent and so it is to receive any of our persons Will God indeed dwell on Earth said Solomon when he had built God an House for him to dwell in amongst his people For God to approach in wayes of such
and Bitternesses lie deep within it self and they are not be intermedled with by Strangers Prov. 14.10 The Countenance of a Man is but the Index of his Spirit 't is in the Soul that Joys and Sorrows Center and Seat themselves Prov. 15.13 Many Infirmities or Distresses may easily be undergone by a sound Heart but if the Spirit it self be wounded how dreadful are its Wounds Prov. 18.14 The Spirit of Man is Gods Vicegerent and a great Mirrour of himself and as it Accuses and Condemns when it well understands and minds it self so it is the Vail and Representative of its God unto it self in Rom. 2.15 1 John 3.19 21. It can you see both Summon in and Search it self It can both Challenge and Discourse it self It can Command Reprove Exhort Encourage Enlarge Restrain it self It can Arraign its Temper Principles Purposes Actions Sufferings and Designs and make it self Inquisitor Judg Jury Witness and Executioner to it self It can look every way and make both Heaven and Earth good things and bad some way or other Serviceable to its own Concern and turn all the Memorials and Notices of its God to Self-improvements and Relief It is capable of Moral Government and of full Joys and Sorrows Congenial with its Contracted Principles Temper and Behaviour here It is capable of Converse and Communion with its God of Grace and Comfort Heaven or Hell It can perceive its own Distresses and Concerns Enjoy the best things and Improve the worst and so Consider all things as to Accept Refuse Approve Condemn and so resolve upon or wave a matter as it sees to be most fit nor needs it to truckle under any thing but Guilt and Wrath when plunged thereinto by its own Folly and Neglect The Text here shews you what the Soul of Man can do and if it be replyed That David's Soul it was Gracious and that Grace only brought it thus to be Disciplined and Tutoured by it self 'T is Answered That Grace can have no such effects on Stones and Bruits which Grace and diligent Care might make good use of And all Souls might do thus with and by themselves did they not by Sin degrade themselves For all Souls have Imperative Directive and Active Powers Infer II. Graceless Sinners are under dreadful Circumstances when Troubles comes upon them Rom. 2.8 9. Isa 50.11 57.20 21. 10.3 33.14 For when their Miseries surprise and overflow them should they then say Why so disquieted and cast down They have that within them which will rather say Oh why disquieted no more seeing there is so little ground of Hope from God 1 Thes 5.3 All is so Vile and Foul within them and all so Frightful and Amazing to them whether they look within about them or above them as that the greatest wonder is How they escape Distractions Souls so neglected and degraded and every way Devoted to the Will and Service of the Devil Such manifold and mighty Sins abounding in and from them and such great Wrath to be Inflicted on them such clear and numerous Presages of fearful Storms approaching towards them such an Inhabitant and Tyrant as Satan to make them do be lose and slight even any thing but what they should A God so much Incenst against them and every way so Resolved and Engaged to Ensnare and Ruin them And their own Spirits amidst all this so much estranged from uneasie in so frightful to and so much at variance with themselves so as that they never can be Reconciled to themselves again Why should not these Souls be disquieted and cast down when Troubles come upon them like Messengers with these heavy Tidings from the God of Heaven That they shall see his Face no more What Succour Hope or Refuge hath the Dejected Soul but God What Sanctuary is there for it in its Storms and Chases but the All-sufficient Jehovah And how can Mercy and Redresses be expected from him whom they can no way comfortably call their God whilst as yet unconverted Persons They have neither Encouragement nor an Heart to seek him acceptably and successfully Prov. 1.24 31. Their present Troubles are but the Harbingers and Foretasts of Eternal and Unmixed Wrath to come Providence serves the Writ and gives the Summons Conscience confounds and holds the Prisoner fast under the seizures of Gods Providence Justice draws up the Bill against them and Vengeance fixes them to their Wracks and they have nothing left them but their Fearful Expectations and Reproaches Heb. 10.26 31. Deut. 32.37 Let these Men Read Job 18.7 21. 27.8 9. Infer III. Excellent is the Case and Temper of Gracious Souls in 2 Cor. 1.12 Phil. 1.20 Isa 41.10 17. A good Heart within them A clear Way before them A good God for them A good Understanding of their Case and State And such Encouraging Refreshments and Supports so ready for them at their Call when truly needful to them What greater requisites than these can we mention and propose unto our selves to render our Condition easie safe and happy here What need we more to calm and cheer up our disturbed Spirits with Rom. 8.31 39. 2 Cor. 12.7 9. The God! my God! the health of my Countenance and One that yet is to be praised by me And therefore One that I must fully and may safely Hope in Why may not these things bear a Gracious Spirit up and quicken and embolden it to bid defiance to all Attempts which Earth or Hell can make to ruin and unhinge it The Gracious Soul as such is fit for any thing and it is Entitled to the greatest Blessings from its God and in due Season shall possess them what God by Grace hath made and brought it to renders it fit for Gods great Blessings and Supports And what God promises it may safely trust to and confidently relie upon The Text here shews you what the Gracious Soul can do it can restrain it self from its immoderate Sorrows by its faithful dealing with it self and by making a right Judgment upon whatever doth at any time befal it and as there is something in it apt to raise Storms and vexatious Resentments of its Pressures and Afflictions So are there certain Principles and a Seed of God within them and that in God above them and before them which will not always suffer their Sorrows and Dejections to transgress their stated Bounds and Rules because the composed and still Soul is fittest for Communion with God Hope in him Service to him and Consolation from him See here how narrowly David observed himself How skilfully he discoursed himself how powerfully he restrained himself and how readily he could and did Enlarge Encourage and Exalt himself you may discern in him that Grace will not admit of nor Countenance any unfit Reflections upon God it will not fall heavily with its Censorious Carpings upon his Providence nor in an Angry Pet of Frowardness and Impatience fall out with him It threatens no Revenge to Evil Men it
done all its work there which he sent it to do 2. By them That they may have opportunity for doing what God appointed them to do Were they taken off with others they should not have time for their Work were they continually under Pressures always loaded with Afflictions they might be disheartned in it were the means of Grace gone they might want quickning to it nay should God take away the whole Set of Wicked Men from them they should want much matter for their Graces to work upon Much of the Grace of the Saints respects their Enemies Love to them Meekness and Gentleness in dealing with Patience in bearing Injuries from them Courage in reproving their Vices and Zeal in opposing or hindering their Wickedness c. And God may spare them sometimes that they may be matter on which the Graces of the Saints may be exercised and thereby the Excellency of a true Christian Spirit discovered 3. On what account the Religious of a Nation may be said to be its strength or what Influence they have on the welfare and security of a People and this will yet farther Evidence the truth of the Doctrine 1. As they are Gods Favourites his Children his Jewels Mal. 3.16 His Treasure Exod. 19.5 His Portion Deut. 32.9 They are most nearly Related to him most dearly Beloved by him And though several of these Titles are Attributed to the Body of a People yet they primarily belong to the truly Religious among them and either are given to the rest with respect to them or only according to what they appear to be though in reality they are not The Godly have the greatest Interest in God as well as he hath an Interest in them and therefore they can do most with him and he doth most upon their account Men will many times use their Servants well for their Childrens sake be kind to a stranger whom they know not for the sake of a Friend whom they do know save their Bags or Trunks though little worth if their Jewels or Treasure be in them and Princes will gratifie whole Societies for the sake of some particular Favourites God is not less concerned for his Friends and Favourites than Men are for theirs and many a Boon so to speak he gives to others out of the respect he bears to them Men are Ambitious of being great and those that have an Interest in Princes to be Members of their Communities and Corporations because they reckon the whole will fare the better for their sakes and many special Privileges may be Indulged them in Favour to such Honourable Members Why should they not Judg the same in the Case before us Is not God wont to do as much for those he Loves as Men do for those they Love Happy is that Society where God hath many Friends if Men be but so wise as to be Friendly to them It is pity but that the Favourites of Heaven should be their Favourites too Abimelech King of Gerar thought so though an Heathen when he would make a Covenant with Isaac because he saw that the Lord was him Gen. 26.28 2. As they Improve their Interest with God for a People They are they that Intercede with God for them stand in the Gap and make up the Hedg Ezek. 22.30 when by other means they cannot yet by Prayer that so God may not destroy them Thus Moses interposed with God for Israel when under Gods great displeasure Psal 106.23 And Abraham Pray'd for Abimelech's Houshold Gen. 20. And Samuel for the Israelites 1 Sam. 12.24 God forbid that I should Sin against the Lord in ceasing to Pray for you And still the Religious part of a People are the Praying part of them and thereby do most for them they Pray most and best and to best purpose 1. Most Psal 109.4 I give my self to Prayer the Hebrew hath only I Prayer as if he had said I am all Prayer Prayer is my business my whole work Prayer indeed is the very breath of the New Man a Prayerless Person is never a Religious One no more than a Child can be Alive which doth not Breath No sooner did Paul cease Persecuting the Godly and came to be in the number of them himself but he fell a Praying Acts 9.11 And generally the most Eminent in Holiness are most Eminent in Prayer but still they that are really Gods People are a Praying People Others may Pray by fits but they constantly others may visit him in their trouble and when his chastening is upon them Isa 26.16 But they do it even when the greatest Blessings are upon them others Cry to him when they need him most but they even when they seem to need him least they Pray always Ephes 6.18 Without ceasing 1 Thes 5.17 And that not only for themselves only but for others for their Enemies Matth. 5. And much more for their Neighbours and those of the same Community with themselves And that not only 1. Because they are themselves concern'd in their welfare as being of the same Body and so count it their Interest the welfare of the whole being the welfare of the Members 2. But because they love others and pity them and out of Compassion Pray for them they are Friends and Well-wishers to them and would have them partake of their Mercies they grudg them not the Enjoyment of the greatest good things would have them be as good as themselves as much in the Favour of God as themselves and every way as Happy and therefore Beg that they may be so It grieves them to see the Misery of others when they themselves are most secure most free from it 3. They have tried Prayer most both for themselves and others and experienced the sweetness and efficacy of it They Pray because they have Pray'd and their Prayers have not been in vain and they Pray for others because they have been heard for others as well as Pray for themselves because they have been heard for tthemselves 2. They Pray best Grace will out Pray nature In Carnal Men Prayer is but the Voice of Nature or Conscience but in the Godly it is the Language of Grace Others make Prayers these only Pray Prayers Others Pray either in their Forms or in their Gifts or their Parts these only Pray in the Holy-Ghost Jude 1.20 And this too I understand not only of their Praying for themselves but likewise for others For 1. They have most to plead with God for others or know best what to plead They that are best acquainted with the Word have most Observed the Operations of Gods Hands Ps 28.5 the Methods of his Providence the Issue of his various Dispensations in the World those that are most Publick Spirited so as to concern themselves most for the welfare of others especially of Gods People and for the Glory of his Name have most to plead with God on their behalf and so most Materials and Furniture for Prayer and most Arguments for Faith to present
in reforming Religion and destroying Idolatry wherewith the Land was so universally polluted had a great influence on the keeping off Gods judgments from it while he lived 6. Lastly God may sometimes spare a People for the sake of his Children among them that they may be useful and helpful to them in his work This end God had in sparing the Gibeonites he intended they should be hewers of Wood and drawers of Water for his Sanctuary and so assistant to the Priests and Levites in their Service So Isa 61.5 6. Strangers shall stand and feed your Flocks and the Sons of Aliens shall be your Plowmen and Vine-dressers but ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord Men shall call you the Ministers of our God Not that Saints are to be all Officers or all Rulers and carnal Men their Slaves and Drudges for as to their worldly State worldly Men may be above them and they may owe subjection to them but that they shall be in their worldly Employments and Callings useful and serviceable to the Saints in the things of God and either of their own accord or as overruled by Divine disposal be assistant to them in maintaining and promoting the interest of true Religion God can make even Moab hide his out-casts Isa 16.3 4. the Earth helps the Woman Rev. 12.16 Ahab favours a good Obadiah that may hide the Lords Prophets 1 Kings 18.3 4. an Heathen Cyrus let go his Captives and build his City Isa 45.13 a Darius an Artaxerxes an Ahasuerus countenance and prefer a Daniel a Nehemiah a Mordecai publick instruments of good to his People sometimes God may raise up such on purpose as he did Cyrus sometimes preserve and maintain them in their power and places for his Servants sake and that they may be helpful to them Nay sometimes he may so twist and combine the interest of worldly Men with the interest of his Children that they cannot promote their own without helping on the others Sometimes religious and civil Liberties may be both together struck at so that if the former go down the latter will be ruin'd too and then it is the Wisdom of those that are not truly religious yet to favour those that are it being as it were in their own defence and for their own securities and in such a case God may help them out of respect to his own and keep some from civil slavery that he may keep others from spiritual Use 1. By way of information If the religious of a Nation are the Strength and Defence of it then the same may be said of the religious of the World they are the substance of it the support the strength of it The World it self is preserved chiefly for the sake of the godly in it the Holy Seed The World is a great Field in which the good Grain bears but a small proportion to the abundance of Tares and that God doth not pluck up the Tares and burn them it is lest the good Corn should be plucked up with them What is Gods end in preserving the World and holding it up in its being but the glorifying himself in his several attributes Wisdom Power Goodness but especially his Holiness in the Service he enables his Saints to do him and his Grace is the Salvation he affords them that therefore he may have that Glory it is needful there should be a continuance of some to serve him and that may be the subjects of his Mercy and Grace and they are this Elect those Vessels of Mercy whom he hath before prepared unto Glory Rom. 9.23 The World therefore shall stand so long as there be any of Gods Elect in it to be brought in by actual conversion or their Graces to be completed in further degrees of Sanctification but when the number of those whose Names are written in Heaven is filled up and they themselves fitted for Heaven then shall the end of all things come It cannot be thought that God would ever endure so much wickedness as he sees in the World every day committed or so long bear its manners with so much patience had he not a further design in it viz. the gathering together the whole Body of those he hath given to Christ He never made this great Fabrick for the lusts and pleasures of wicked Men that they might enjoy their ease and gratifie their sences and devour their neighbours but for his own Glory and he will have some still in it to glorifie him by serving him and living according to his Laws as well as he glorifies himself in saving them and were there none in it to serve him he would not suffer others continually to dishonour him were it not for the Holy Seed he hath scattered abroad in it he would soon set the Field on a Flame 2. The Religious of a Nation are not its Enemies not the troublers of a Nation not the Pests of a State the disturbers of a Peace as some count them Ahab indeed reviled Elijah as one that troubled Israel 1. Kings 18.17 but David would not have said so he was a godly King and had other thougts of his godly Subjects he calls them the excellent of the Earth and his delight was in them Psal 16.3 the Jews said of the Apostles Acts 17.6 that they had turned the world upside down but they were unbeleiving Jews that saw it The same Apostles were counted the Off-scouring of all things and the Filth of the Earth 1 Cor. 4.13 but it was by those that rather were such themselves The Idolatrous Heathens were wont to condemn the Christians as the cause of all their publick calamities that befel them but they were Heathens that did so Yet sometimes we shall find wicked Men themselves under a conviction of the contrary and clearing them of this imputation so Joash King of Israel calls Elijah the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof Sometimes as before they beg their Prayers sometimes wish themselves in their condition and whatever they esteem them while they live they would be like them when they die wicked Baalam would die the death of the righteous Numb 23.10 Thus Conscience absolves whom Malice had condemned and when Men come to be cool and sober they purge the godly from those crimes with which while they were heated with passion or intoxicated with a concern for some contrary interest they had groundlesly aspersed them True indeed the Religious of a People almost every where are the occasion of Divisions and Distractions and so was Christ himself Luke 12. he came to send Fire on the Earth verse 49. and not to give Peace but rather Division verse 51. nay a Sword Matth. 10.34 to set a Man at variance against his Father c. verse 35. And yet nor Christ nor his Saints are really the troublers of the World nor the direct and proper causes of those broyls and confusions which many times have been made on their accounts which indeed proceed from the lusts of
People shouted and Jerico fell down to the ground Our Amens must not drop like a cold Bullet of Lead out of the mouth of a Musquet bowing to the ground but they must be Fired by preparations of the Heart and warm affections they must be Discharged and Shot off with the utmost valde of the Soul and fervency of the Spirit Samuel Thundred in Prayer and God Thundred upon Israels Enemies So David Prays Psal 144.5 that God would bow the Heavens and come down c. Ps 1.8 9. he did bow the Heavens and come down verse 13. the Lord Thundred in Heaven the highest gave his Voice Hailstones and coals of Fire When Gods People can unite in one Voice God gives his Voice with them and for them Use The First Inference then is of Reproof for our deep silence and too much neglect of this hearty Amen which proceeds from these Four ill Causes 1. From thence whence all ill things come in upon us even from Popish ignorance and darkness When Men grew dull and stupid and neither understood or cared to understand either the word of God to us or ours to him in Prayer Religion was looked upon as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a By-business or troublesome laborious and needless curiosity It was enough to Beleive as the Church Beleived and to Pray as the Church Prayed and so they devolved all their Devotions on a pack of idle Monks and Friers whom they called Religious Omers who should serve God supererogate and merit for them yea not only procure a freedom from Purgatory and Pardons but Paradice also for their Moneys And as soon as their Silver did chink in the Bason of the Priest out springs the Soul from Purgatory as if the sound of Money was powerful in Purgatory as true Amens are in Heaven 2. The Divisions among Christians of the reformed Religion is another Cause of this defect and neglect 1 Cor. 14.26 when ye come together every one hath a Psalm a Doctrine a Tongue a Revelation an Interpretation One was for Singing another for Reading a Third for Preaching one for Prophesying another for Interpreting the Apostle gives two Rules to oppose this and Womens talking in the Church let all things be done distinctly and in order to edification natural decency forbids all confusion In our days some have such Schismatical Phrases Notions and Doctrines in Preaching Praying and Praising that a sober Christian cannot say Amen Some so zealous for Forms that nothing else must be a Prayer but the Lords Prayer as if because Cyprian calls it a Legitimate Form all others were spurious when 't is the Sense that is the Prayer and not the words which are differently set down in Luke from Mathew as Chemitius well observes Others are so vehement against all Forms that they would reduce all Devotion to an invisible Spirituality as if they had drop'd their Bodies and were crouded within the Vail into the Triumphant Quire of Spirits in Heaven But certainly while we are in the Body we ought to glorifie God with our Bodies as well as our Spirits and with our Tongues as the Bodies Instruments in publick Worship Verbo deus laudandus quia deus verbum says Lactan God was made Flesh to speak to us therefore we ought to speak to him Psal 16.9 the Tongue is Mans Glory as it differenceth us from Beasts so it make us Priests to God Rev. 1.6 to offer up our own and the dumb Creatures Sacrifices of Praise to God to him be Glory and Dominion for ever Amen 3. Another rate of this defect is the degenerating of Assemblies from their first Constitution and Plantation For these as all Bodies contracted defilements both in Ministers and People Formality hath over-run that Zeal Piety and Charity which formerly burned among them So that many Assemblies are run down so into the Spirit of the World that they differ little from Papists How have some Ministers been thrust in upon the Assemblies by a secular hand who never understood how to preach or pray a live Prayer and many Congregations full of such ignorance and prophaness that the Arches and Vaults in the Building give as good an Eccho as their dead Amens One comes in his Drink another pipeing hot out of their Wordly Businesses a Third in huffing Finery and Bravery to be gazed on another is heavy laden with Sleep and comes for a Nap. How can they that are not concerned for Gods Glory his Church his Word the pardon of their Sins nor think themselves beholden to God for Daily-Bread or that they need daily Grace say either Our Father or Amen with any Sense When either Ministers or People Drink and Swill and Swear and roar with one another at the Tavern all the Week and yet will be the most Vocal and Loud in their responsals on the Lords Day it turns Mens Stomacks and Consciences from publick expressions as something to rankly of Hypocritical Formality That with the wise Heathen in the Ship when a Company of wicked Persons cried and prayed hold your peace sad he least the Gods know you are here and so destroy us D. Laer. Roaring at the Ale-house and bellowing at the Church are both alike beastly and ugly to be heard 4. Worldly Peace Plenty and Prosperity dirty and dull the Wheels of the Soul so as Activity and Fervency are Bird-limed 'T is unreasonable yet too true that those Tenants who have the best Farms pay God his Rent worst When Christians were kept warm by the Zeal of their Persecutors they met in Caves and Woods with the hazard of their Lives they had a Zeal for God and the Gospel they heard and Prayed as for their lives and for the life of Religion it might be their last Sermon or Prayer they might joyn in and so they had a fervent hearty love for one another which made them not only seal their Prayers with warm Amens but they sealed one another also with an holy kiss not knowing whether they should ever see one anothers Faces again in the Flesh or no they fell on one anothers Necks and kissed at parting Rom. 16.16 another expression springing naturally from strong affection truly Christian in those times which if practised in this dirty Age would be perhaps proved as well as judged a piece of wretched carnality But their Flesh was kept under by poverty and persecutions so as such filthy tentations were burnt up by the love of God and each other And we have cause to fear God hath some such Irons in the Fire to fear of that dead yet proud Flesh which in these days is bred in the hearts of many professors In the mean time this Flesh hinders our very lips from closing in a sound Amen Use 2. This then informs us that if ever the Church recover primitive purity and fervency it must have such administrations as 1. The whole Worship of God must be in a known Tongue that so all may say Amen in the