art within the sight of home and Heaven is in thine eye and thou art conversing with that God in whose converse the highest Angels do place their highest felicity and delight How little cause then have all the Churches enemies to triumph that can never shut up a true believer from the presence of his God nor banish him into such a place where he cannot have his conversation in Heaven The stones that were cast at holy Stephen could not hinder him from seeing the Heavens opened and Christ sitting at the right hand of God A Patmos allowed holy Iohn Communion with Christ being there in the Spirit on the Lords day Rev. 1.9 10. Christ never so speedily and comfortably owneth his servants as when the world disowneth them and abuseth them for his sake and hurls them up and down as the scorn and off-scouring of all He quickly found the blind man that he had cured when once the Jews had cast him out Ioh. 9.35 Persecutors do but promote the blessedness and exceeding joy of sufferers for Christ Mat. 5.11.12 And how little Reason then have Christians to shun such sufferings by unlawful means which turn to their so great advantage and to give so dear as the hazard of their souls by wilful sin to escape the honour and safety and commodity of Martyrdom And indeed we Judge not we Love not we â—ive not as sanctified ones must do if we judge not that the truest Liberty and Love it not as the Best Condition in which we may Best converse with God And O how much harder is it to walk with God in a Court in the midst of sensual delights than in a prison or wilderness where we have none to interrupt us and nothing else to take us up It is our prepossessed minds our earthly hearts our carnal affections and concupisence and the pleasures of a prosperous state that are the prison and the Jaylors of our souls Were it not for these how free should we be though our bodies were confined to the straightest room He is at Liberty that can walk in Heaven and have access to God and make use of all the Creatures in the world to the promoting of this his Heavenly conversation And he is the prisoner whose soul is chained to flesh and earth and confined to his lands and houses and feedeth on the dust of worldly riches or walloweth in the dung and filth of gluttony drunkenness and lust that are far from God and desire not to be near him but say to him Depart from us we would not have the knowledge of thy ways that Love their prisons and chains so well that they would not be set free but hate those with the cruellest hatred that endeavour their deliverance Those are the poor prisoners of Satan that have not liberty to believe nor to Love God nor converse in Heaven nor seriously to mind or seek the things that are high and honourable that have not liberty to meditate or pray or seriously to speak of holy things nor to love and converse with those that do so that are tyed so hard to the drudgery of sin that they have not liberty one month or week or day to leave it and walk with God so much as for recreation But he that liveth in the family of God and is employed in attending him and doth converse with Christ and the Host of Holy ones above in reason should not much complain of his want of friends or company or accommodations nor yet be too impatient of any corporal confinement Lastly be sure then most narrowly to watch your hearts that nothing have entertainment there which is against your Liberty of converse with God Fill not those Hearts with worldly trash which are made and new-made to be the dwelling place of God Desire not the company which would diminish your heavenly acquaintance and correspondency Be not unfriendly nor conceited of a self-sufficiency but yet beware lest under the honest ingenuous title of a friend a special faithful prudent faithful friend you should entertain an Idol or an enemy to your Love of God or a corrival and competitor with your highest friend For if you do it is not the specious title of a friend that will save you from the thorns and bryars of disquietment and from greater troubles than ever you found from open enemies O blessed be that High and everlasting friend who is every way suited to the upright souls To their Minds their Memories their Delight their Love c. By surest Truth by fullest Goodness by clearest Light by dearest Love by firmest Constancy c. O why hath my drowsie and dark-sighted soul been so seldom with him why hath it so often so strangely and so unthankfully passed by and not observed him nor hearkened to his kindest calls O what is all this trash and trouble that hath filled my memory and employed my mind and cheated and corrupted my affections while my dearest Lord hath been days and nights so unworthily forgotten so contemptuously neglected and disregarded and loved as if I loved him not O that these drowsie and those waking nights those loitered lost and empty hours had been spent in the humblest converse with him which have been dreamed and doted away upon now I know not what O my God how much wiser and happier had I been had I rather chosen to mourn with thee than to rejoyce and sport with any other O that I had rather wept with thee than laughed with the creature For the time to come let that be my friend that most befriendeth my dark and dull and backward soul in its undertaken progress and heavenly conversation Or if there be none such upon earth let me here take one for my friend O blot out every Name from my corrupted heart which hindereth the deeper engraving of thy Name Ah Lord what a stone what a blind ungrateful thing is a Heart not touched with celestial Love yet shall I not run to thee when I have none else that will know me shall I not draw near thee when all fly from me When daily experience cryeth out so loud NONE BUT CHRIST GOD OR NOTHING Ah foolish Heart that hast thought of it Where is that place that Cave or Desert where I might soonest find thee and fullest enjoy thee Is it in the wilderness that thou walkest or in the croud in the Closet or in the Church where is it that I might soonest meet with God But alas I now perceive that I have a Heart to find before I am like to find my Lord O Loveless Lifeless stony heart that 's dead to him that gave it Life and to none but him Could I not Love or Think or Feel at all methinks I were less dead than now Less dead if dead than now I am alive I had almost said Lord let me never Love more till I can Love thee Nor think more on any thing till I can more willingly think of thee But I must suppress that
Love further than they subserve this greatest Work Come home then O my Soul to God Converse in Heaven Turn away thine eyes from beholding Vanity Let not thy affections kindle upon straw or bryars that go out when they have made a flash or noise and leave thee to thy cold and darkness But come and dwell upon celestial beauties and make it thy daily and most diligent Work to kindle thy affections on the infinite everlasting Good and then they will never be extinguished or decay for want of Fewel but the further they go and the longer they burn the greater will be the Flame Though thou find it hard while Love is but a Spark to make it burn and complain that thy cold and backward heart is hardly warmed with the love of God yet when the whole pile hath taken fire and the flame ascendeth fire will breed fire Love will cause Love and all the malice of Hell it self shall never be able to suppress or quench it unto all Eternity 6. And it is a great Encouragement to my converse with God that no misunderstanding no malice of Enemies no former sin or presentâ— frailty no nor the infinite distance of the most holy glorious God can hinder my access to him or turn away his Ear or Love or interrupt my leave and liberty of converse If I converse with the poor their wants afflict me being greater than I can supply Their complaints and expectations which I cannot satisfie are my trouble If I would converse with Great ones it is not easie to get access and less easie to have their Favour unless I would purchase it at too dear a rate How strangely and contemptuously do they look at their inferiours Great Friends must be made for a word or Smile And if you be not quickly gone they are aweary of you And if you seek any thing of them or would put them to any cost or trouble you are as welcom to them as so many Vermin or noisom Creatures They please them best that drive you away With how much labour and difficulty must you clime if you will see the top of one of these Mountains And when you are there you are but in a place of barrenness and have nothing to satisfie you for your pains but a larger prospect and vertiginous despect of the lower grounds which are not your own It is seldom that these Great Ones are to be spoken with And perhaps their Speech is but a denyal of your Requests if not some snappish and contemptuous Rejection that makes you glad when you are got far enough from them and makes you the better like and love the accessible calm fruitful Plains But O how much greater encouragements hath my Soul to converse with God! Company never hindereth him from harkning to my Suit He is Infinite and Omnipotent and as sufficient for every individual Soul as if he had no other to look after in the World When he is taken up with the attendance and praises of his heavenly Host he is as free and ready to attend and answer the groans and prayers of a contrite Soul as if he had no nobler Creatures nor no higher Service to regard I am oft unready but God is never unready I am unready to pray but he is not unready to hear I am unready to come to God to walk with him and to solace my Soul with him but he is never unready to entertain me Many a time my Conscience would have driven me away when he hath called me to him and rebuked my accusing fearful Conscience Many a time I have called my self a Prodigal a companion of Swine a miserable hard-hearted Sinner unworthy to be called his Son when he hath called me Child and chid me for my questioning his Love He hath readily forgiven the Sins which I thought would have made my Soul fuel of Hell He hath entertained me with Joy with Musick and a Feast when I better deserved to have been among the Dogs without his Doors He hath embraced me in his sustaining consolatory Arms when he might have spurned my guilty Soul to Hell and said Depart from me thou worker of Iniquity I know thee not O little did I think that he could ever have forgotten the Vanity and Villany of my Youth yea so easily have forgotten my most aggravated sins When I had sinned against Light when I had resisted Conscience when I had frequently and wilfully injured Love I thought he would never have forgotten it But the greatness of his Love and Mercy and the blood and intercession of his Son hath cancelled all O how many Mercies have I tasted since I thought I had sinned away all Mercies How patiently hath he born with me since I thought he would never have put up more And yet besides my sins and the withdrawings of my own heart there hath been nothing to interrupt our converse Though he be God and I a worm yet that would not have kept me out Though he be in Heaven yet he is near to succour me on Earth in all that I call upon him for Though he have the praise of Angels he disdaineth not my Tears and Groans Though he have the perfect Love of perfect Souls he knoweth the little Spark in my Breast and despiseth not my weak and languid Love Though I injure and dishonour him by loving him no more though I oft forget him and have been out of the way when he hath come or called me though I have disobediently turned away mine ears and unkindly refused the entertainments of his Love and unfaithfully plaid with those whose company he forbad me he hath not divorced me nor turned me out of doors O wonderful that Heaven will be familiar with Earth and God with Man the Highest with a Worm and the most Holy with an unconstant Sinner Man refuseth me when God will entertain me Man that is no wiser or better than my self Those that I never wronged or deserved ill off reject me with Reproach And God whom I have unspeakably injured doth invite me and intreat me and condescendeth to me as if he were beholden to me to be saved Men that I have deserved well of do abhor me And God that I have deserved Hell of doth accept me The best of them are Briars and as a thorny Hedge and he is Love and Rest and Joy And yet I can be more welcom to him thoâ—gh I have offended hâ—m than I can to them whom I have obliged I have freer leave to cast my slef into my Fathers Arms than to tumble in those Briars or wallow in the Dirt. I upbraid my self with my sins but he doth not upbraid me with them I condemn my self for them but he condemns me not He forgivetâ— me soâ—nâ—r than I can forgive my self I have peace with him before I can have peace of Conscience O therefore my Soul draw near to him that is so willing of thy company That frowneth thee not away unless it
The Christians CONVERSE with GOD OR THE Insufficiency and Vncertainty OF Human Friendship And the Improvement of SOLITUDE IN CONVERSE with GOD With some of the AUTHOR's Breathings after him By Richard Baxter Recommended to the Reader 's serious thoughts when at the House of Mourning and in Retirement By Mr. Matth. Silvester LONDON Printed for John Salusbury at the Rising Sun over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1693. TO THE READER· THis Excellent Discourse breathing the Excellence of it's now Deceased Authors Spirit craves thy most serious perusal and it will plentifully reward the hours which shall be spent thereon It greatly savours of deep thoughts strict observations and long and great experience of God of Things and Persons Creatures look best when at a distance and in prospect but when nearer to us they are then easily looked through and seldom found to correspond with their Appearances to us and with our expectations from them But God is such a deep and boundless Abyss of Perfection as most delightfully will endure and recompence all the severity and closeness of our eternal Thoughts about him Perfected Spirits are all thought concerning God and find their Hearts enflamed and all their Powers invigorated thereby eternally to inexpressible Satisfaction And what varieties of pleasant Thoughts the Innumerable Instances and Mirrours of Divine Excellencies in the Heavens will endlesly Minister unto I do not know nor dare I guess too boldly at them But how those Souls can look for Heaven or truly be accounted gracious who never retire solemnly to converse with God I know not Surely where God is not more than all to us he can be comfortably nothing And our religious Exercises and Pretences must needs be mean and dull whilst God is triflingly and seldom thought on and conversed with by us Can holy Walking be preserved and promoted without love Can love to God and Christ and to the invisible State be kindled cherished and continually advanced without Faith Can Faith be any thing but Fancy and Presumption without Thought and Knowledge And can the Life of Faith Hope Love and holy Walking be fixt and vigorous and proficient without our serious and frequent representations of God unto our selves by solemn Contemplations of his excellent Perfections free Communications plentiful Provisions and glorious Designs whereto he hath entitled us seeing our Religion and Devotions in all the parts thereof can have no Life and Soul but this What is it to converse with God in Solitude but to actuate our Thoughts of what we know concerning God in Christ and to accomodate them to all the needful and useful Purposes of Religion and Devotion and to make Thoughts solemnly serviceable to the great Ends thereof viz. our due and seasonable Representations of our God to us and of our selves to him in Christ pursuant to the stated and occasional Ends and Interests of Christian Godliness as the matter may require Conversing thus with God wants not its great Advantages in life and death And if these Thoughts contained in this Book which did so greatly reconcile the Author to the Thoughts of his then approaching but now experienced Death were more in Exercise at Funeral Solemnities and this Book then put into the hands of Mourners it would be no matter of Repentance that I know of These are the hasty Thoughts and Sentiments of thine in and for the Lord whilst Matthew Sylvester London Sept. 12. 1692. THE CONTENTS· THE Context opened p. 1 Why Christ was forsaken by his Disciples p. 6. Use 1. Expect by the forsaking of your Friends to be conformed unto Christ Reasons for your Expectation p. 12 The Aggravations of their forsaking you p. 34 Some quieting Considerations p. 38 The Order of Forms in the School of Christ. p. 51 The Disciples scattered every Man to his own p. 57. Selfishness contrary to friendly fidelity p. 58. Considerations to quiet us in the death of faithful Friends p. 60 Whether we shall know them in Heaven p. 71 Whether Creatures be any matter of our Comfort in Heaven p. 73. Quest. Shall I have any more Comfort in present friends than in others p. 76 Doct. 3. When all forsake us and leave us as to them alone we are far from being simply alone because God is with us p. 80. The advantages of having God with us p. 81 Quest. How he is with us p. 82 Use. 1. Imitate Christ Live upon God alone though men forsake you yet thrust not your selves into Solitude uncalled p. 91 In what cases Solitude is lawful and good p. 92 Reasons against unnecessary Solitude p. 94 The Comfort of Converse with God in necessary Solitude The Benefits of Solitude The Reasons from God Improved largely in some Meditations p. 102.111 Directions for Conversing with God in Solitude p. 149 Concluded in further Meditation p. 160 A Caution p. 166 Books Printed for John Salusbury in Cornhill THE certainty of The Worlds of Spirits fully evinced by unquestionable Histories of Apparitions and Witchcrafts Operations Voices c. Proving the Immortality of Souls the Malice and Miseries of the Devils and the Damned and the Blessedness of the Justified By Richard Baxter An End of Doctrinal Controversies which have lately troubled the Churches by â—econciling explication without much Disputing By Richard Baxter The Protestant Religion truly stated and justified by the late Reverend Divine Mr. Richard Baxter Whereunto is added by way of an Epistle some Account of the Learned Author never before published By Mr. Matth. Sylvester and Mr. Daniel Williams The Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the contrivance and accomplishment of Mans Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. By William Bates D. D. The Changableness of this World with respect to Nations Families and particular Persons with a practial Application thereof to the various conditions of this Mortal Life By Timothy Rogers M. A. The Christian Lover or a discourse opening the Nature of Participation with and Demonstrating the necessity of Purification by Christ. By T. Cruse The Duty and blessing of a Tender Conscience plainly stated and earnestly recommended to all that regard acceptance with God and the prosperity of their Souls By the same Author Five Sermons on various Occasions By the same Author The Mirrour of Divine Love unvail'd in a Paraphrase on the High and misterious Song of Solomon By Robert Fleming V. D. M. The Mourners Memorial in two Sermons on the death of the truly Pious Mrs. Susannah Some With some Account of her Life and death By T. Wright and Robert Fleming V. D. M. A new Examination of the Accidence and Grammar in English and Latin wherein all the Rules of Properi quae Maribus Que Genus As in presenti Sintax and Praesodia are made plain and easie that the meanest Capacity may speedily learn the Latin Tongue OF CONVERSING WITH God c. Joh. XVI 32 Behold the hour cometh yeâ— is come that ye shall be scattered every Man to his own and shall leave me alone And yet
you can thankfully take your Food from any hand that your Father sends it by it is a Correction very suitable to your sin 9. Do you so highly value your Friends for God or for them or for your selves in the final consideration If it was for God what reason of trouble have you that God hath disposed of them according to his wisdom and unerring Will should you not then be more pleased that God hath them and employeth them in his highest service than displeased that you want them But if you value them and love them for themselves they are now more lovely when they are more perfect and they are now fitter for your content and joy when they have themselves unchangeable content and joy than they could be in their sin and sorrows But if you valued and loved them but for your selves only it is just with God to take them from you to teach you to value Men to righter ends and upon better considerations And both to prefer God before your selves and better to understand the nature of true Friendship and better to know that your own felicity is not in the hands of any Creature but of God alone 10. Did you improve your Friends while you had them or did you only love them while you made but little use of them for your Souls If you used them not it was just with God for all your Love to take them from you They were given you as your Candle not only to Love it but to work by the Light of it And as your Garments not only to Love them but to wear them and as your meat not only to Love it but to feed upon it Did you receive their Counsel and hearken to their Reproofs and pray with them and confer with them upon those holy Truths that tended to elevate your minds to God and to inflame your Breasts with sacred Love If not be it now known to you that God gave you not such helps and mercies only to talk of or look upon and Love but also to improve for the benefit of your Souls 11. Do you not seem to forget both where you are your selves and where you must shortly and for ever live Where would you have your Friends but where you must be your selâ—es Do you mourn that they are taken hence Why if they had staid here a thousand years how little of that time should you have had their Company When you are almost leaving the World your selves would you not send your treasure before you to the place where you must abide How quickly will you pass from hence to God where you shall find your Friends that you lamented as if they had been lost and there shall dwell with them for ever O foolish Mourners would you not have your Friends at home at their home and your home with their Father and your Father their God and your God Shall you not there enjoy them long enough Can you so much miss them for one day that must live with them to all Eternity And is not Eternity long enough for you to enjoy your Friends in Obj. But I do not know whether ever I shall there have any distinct knowledge of them or love to them and whether God shall not there be so far All in All as thâ—t we shall need or fetch no comfort from the Creature Answ. There is no reason for either of these doubts For 1. You cannot justly think that the knowledge of the Glorified shall be more confused or imperfect than the knowledge of natural Men on Earth We shall know much more but not so much less Heaven exceedeth Earth in knowledge as much as it doth in joy 2. The Angels in Heaven have now a distinct particular knowledge of the least Believers rejoycing particularly in their conversion and being called by Christ himself Their Angels Therefore when we shall be equal to the Angels we shall certainly know our nearest Friends that there dwell with us and are employed in the same attendance 3. Abraham knew the Rich Man in Hell and the Man knew Abraham and Lazarus Therefore we shall have as distinct a Knowledge 4. The two Disciples knew Moses and Elias in the Mount whom they had never seen before Though it is possible Christ told them who they were yet there is no such thing expressed And therefore it is as probable that they knew them by the Communication of their irradiating glory Much more shall we be then illuminated to a clearer knowledge 5. It is said expresly 1 Cor. 13.10 11 12. That our present knowledge shall be done away only in regard of its imperfection and not of it self which shall be perfected when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away As we put away childish thoughts and speeches when we become men The change will be from seeing in a glass to seeing face to face and from knowing in part to knowing even as we are known 2. And that we shall both Know and Love and rejoyce in creatures even in Heaven notwithstanding that God is all in all apeareth further thus 1. Christ in his glorified humanity is a Creature and yet there is no doubt but all his members will there Know and Love him in his glorified humanity without any derogation from the glory of the Deity 2. The Body of Christ will continue its unity and every member will be so nearly related even in Heaven that they cannot choose but Know and Love each other Shall we be ignorant of the members of our Body and not be concerned in their felicity with whom we are so nearly one 3. The state and felicity of the Church hereafter is frequently described in Scripture as consistent in Society It is a Kingdom the City of God the Heavenly Ierusalem and it is mentioned as part of our happiness to be of that society Heb. 12.22 23 24 c. 4. The Saints are called Kings themselves and it is said that they shall judge the world and the Angels And Judging in Scripture is frequently put for Governing Therefore whether there will be another world of mortals which they shall Govern as Angles now Govern men or whether the Misery of damned men and Angels will partly consist in as base a subjection to the glorified Saints as Dogs now have to men or wicked reprobates on Earth to Angles or whether in respect of both these together the Saints shall then be Kings and Rule and Judge or whether it be only the participation of the Glory of Christ that is called a Kingdom I will not here determine but it is most clear that they will have a distinct particular Knowledge of the world which they themselves must judge and some concernment in that work 5. It is put into the description of the Happiness of the Saints that they shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of
Inimica est multorum conversatio I never bring home well from a Crowd the manners which I took out with me Something is disordered of that which I had set in order Something of that which I had banished doth return The conversation of many I find an enemy to me O how many vain and foolish words corrupt the minds of those that converse with an ungodly World when your Ears and Minds who live in Solitude are free from such Temptations You live not in so corrupt an Air as they You hear not the filthy ribbald Speeches which fight against modesty and chastity and are the bellows of Lust You hear not the discontented complaining words of the impatient nor the passionate provoking words of the offended nor the wrangling quarrelsom words of the contentious nor the censorious or slanderous or reproachful words of the malicious who think it their interest to have their Brethren taken to be bad and to have others hate them because they them selves hate them and who are as zealous to quench the Charity of others when it is destroyed in themselves as holy persons are zealous to provoke others to Love which dweâ—â—eth and ruleth in themselves In your Solitude with God you shall not hear the lyes and malicious revilings of the ungodly against the generation of the just Nor the subtile cheating words of Hereticks who being themselves deceived would deceive others of their Faith and corrupt their lives You shall not there be distracted with the noise and clamours of contending uncharitable professors of Religion endeavouring to make odious first the Opinions and then the persons of one another one saying here is the Church and another there is the Church One saying This is the true Church Government and another saying Nay but that is it One saying God will be worshipped thus and another not so but thus or thus You shall not there be drawn to side with one against another nor to joyn with any faction or be guilty of divisions You shall not be troubled with the Oaths and Blasphemies of the wicked nor with the imprudent miscarriages of the Weak with the Persecutions of Enemies or the falling out of Friends You shall not see the cruelty of proud Oppressors that set up lyes by armed violence and care not what they say or do nor how much other men are injured or suffer so that themselves may tyrannize and their wills and words may rule the World when they do so unhappily rule themselves In your solitude with God you shall not see the prosperity of the wicked to move you to envy nor the adversity of the just to be your grief You shall see no Worldly pomp and splendor to be fool you nor adorned beauty to entice you nor wasting calamities to afflict you You shall not hear the laughter of Fools nor the sick mans groans nor the wronged mans Complaints nor the poor mans murmurings nor the proud mans boastings nor the angry mans abusive ragings As you lose the help of your gracious friends so you are freed from the fruits of their peevishness and passions of their differing opinion and ways and tempers of their inequality unsuitableness and contrariety of minds or interests of their levity and unconstancy and the powerful temptations of their friendship to draw you to the errors or other sins which they are tainted with themselves In a word you are there half delivered from the VANITY and VEXATION of the world and were it not that you are yet undelivered from your selves and that you take distempered corrupted hearts with you O what a felicity would your solitude be But alas we cannot overrun our own diseases we must carry with us the remnants of our corrupted nature our deadness and dulness our selfishness and earthly minds our impatience and discontents and worst of all our lamentable weakness of faith and love and heavenly mindedness and our strangeness to God and backwardness to the matters of eternal life O that I could escape these though I were in the hands of the cruellest enemies O that such a heart could be left behind How gladly would I overrun both house and land and honour and all sensual delights that I might but overrun it O where is the place where there is none of this darkness nor disaffection nor distance nor estrangedness from God! O that I knew it O that I could find it O that I might there dwell though I should never more see the face of mortals nor ever hear a human Voice nor ever taste of the delights of flesh Alas foolish Soul such a place there is that hath all this and more than this But it is not in a Wilderness but in Paradise not here on Earth but above with Christ And yet am I so loath to die yet am I no more desirous of the blessed day when I shall bâ— uncloathed of flesh and sin O death what an Enemy art thou even to my Soul By affrighting me from the presence of my Lord and hindring my desires and willingness to be gone thou wrongest me much more than by laying my flesh to rot in darkness Fain I would know God and fain I would more love him and enjoy him But O this hurtful love of life O this unreasonable fear of dying detaineth my desires from pressing on to the happy place where all this may be had O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death this carnal unbelieving heart that sometime can think more delightfully of a Wilderness then of Heaven that can go seek after God in desert solitude among the Birds and Beasts and Trees and yet is so backward to be loosed from flesh that I may find him and enjoy him in the World of glory Can I expect that Heaven come down to Earth and that the Lord of glory should remove his Court and either leave the retinue of his Celestial Courtiers or bring them all down into this drosly World of flesh and sin and this to satisfie my fleshly foolish mind Or can I expect the translation of Henoch or the Chariot of Elias Is it not enough that my Lord hath conquered Death and sanctifyed the passage and prepared the place of my perpetual abode Well! for all this though a Wilderness is not Heaven it shall be sweet and welcom for the sake of Heaven if thence I may but have a clearer prospect of it and if by retiring from the crowd and noise of Folly I may but be more composed and better disposed to converse above and to use my Faith alas my too weak languid Faith until the beatifical Vision and Fruition come If there may be but more of God or readier access to him or more heart quickning flames of Love or more heart-comforting intimations of his Favour in a wilderness than in a City in a Prison than in a Palace let that Wilderness be my City and let that Prison be my Palace while I must abide on Earth If in
me the strength and number of temptations and my ignorance unwatchfulness and weakness to resist and yet not know that my greatest business is with God Can I feel my afflictions and lament them and think my burden greater than I can bear and find that man cannot relieve me can I go mourning in the heaviness of my soul and water my Bed with Tears and fill the air with my groans and lamentations or feel my soul overwhelmed within me so that my words are intercepted and I am readier to break than speak and yet not perceive that my greatest business is with God Can I think of dying Can I draw near to judgment Can I think of everlasting joys in Heaven and of everlasting pains in Hell and yet not feel that my greatest business is with God O then my soul the case is easily resolved with whom it is that thou must most desirously and seriously converse Where shouldst thou be but where thy business is and so great business Alas what have I to do with man what can it do but make my head ake to hear a deal of senseless chat about preferments lands and dignities about the words and thoughts of Men and a thousand toys that are utterly impertinent to my great imployments and signifie nothing but that the dreaming world is not awake What pleasure is it to see the busles of a Bedlam world what a stir they make to prove or make themselves unhappy How low and of how little weight are the learned discourses about syllables and words and names and notions and mood and figure yea or about the highest Planets when all are not referred unto God Were it not that some converse with men doth further my converse with God and that God did transact much of his business by his messengers and servants it were no matter whether ever I more saw the face of man were it not that my Master hath placed me in society and appointed me and much of my work for others and with others and much of his mercy is conveyed by others man might stand by and solitude were better then the best society and God alone should take me up O nothing is so much my misery and shame as that I am no more willing nor better skilled in the management of my great important business That my work is with God and my heart is no more with him O what might I do in holy meditation or Prayer one hour if I were as ready for prayer and as good at prayer as one that hath so long opportunity and so great necessity to converse with God should be A prayerless heart a heart that flyeth away from God is most excusable in such a one as I that hath so much important business with him It is work that must be done and if well done will never be repented of I use not to return from the presence of God when indeed I have drawn near him as I do from the company of empty men repenting that I have lost my time and trembled that my mind is discomposed or depressed by the vanity and earthly savour of their discourse I oft repent that I have prayed to him so coldly and conversed with him so negligently and served him so remisly but I never repent of the time the cares the afflictions or the diligence imployed in his holy work Many a time I have repented that ever I spent so much time with man and wisht I had never seen the faces of some that are eminent in the world whose favour and converse others are ambitious of But it is my greif and shame that so small a part of all my life hath been spent with God and that fervent prayer and heavenly contemplations have been so seldom and so short O that I had lived more with God though I had been less with my dearest of my friends How much more blameless regular and pure How much more fruitful and answerable to my obligations and professions How much more comfortable to my review How many falls and hurts and wounds and greifs and groans might I have escaped O how much more pleasing is it now to my Remembrance to think of the hours in which I have lain at the feet of God though it were in tears and groans than to think of the time which I have spent in any common converse with the greatest or the learnedest or the dearest of my acquaintance And as my Greatest business is with God so my daily-business is also with him He purposely leaveth me under wants and suffers necessities daily to return and enemies to assault me and affliction to surprize me that I may be daily driven to him He loveth to hear from me He would have me be no stranger with him I have business with him every hour I need not want employment for all the faculties of my Soul if I know what it is to converse in Heaven Even Prayer and every holy thought of God hath an Object so great and excellent as should wholly take me up Nothing must be thought or spoken lightly about the Lord. His Name must not be taken in vain Nothing that is common beseemeth his Worshipers He will be sanctified of all that shall draw near him He must be loved with all the Heart and Might His Servants need not be wearied for want of employment nor through the lightness or unprofitableness of their employment If I had Cities to build or Kingdoms to govern I might better complain for want of Employment for the Faculties of my Soul than I can when I am to converse in Heaven In other Studies the delight abateth when I have reached my desire and know all that I can know But in God there is infinitely more to be known when I know the most I am never satiated with the easiness of knowing nor are my desires abated by any unusefulness or unworthiness in the Object but I am drawn to it by it's highest Excellencies and drawn on to desire more and more by the infiniteness of the Light which I have not yet beheld and the infiniteness of the Good which yet I have not enjoyed If I be idle or seem to want employment when I am to contemplate all the Attributes Relations Mercies Works and revealed perfections of the Lord it 's sure for want of Eyes to see or a Heart enclined to my business If God be not enough to employ my Soul then all the Persons and Things on Earth are not enough And when I have Infinite Goodness to delight in where my Soul may freely let out it self and never need to fear excess of Love how sweet should this employment be As Knowledge so love is never stinted here by the narrowness of the Object can never love him in any proportion either to his Goodness and amiableness in himself or to his Love to us What need have I then of any other company or business when I have infinite Goodness to delight in and to
be when thou hast fallen into the dirt that thoâ— mayst wash thee from thy filthiness and the fitter for his converse Draw near to him that will not wrong thee by believing misreports of Enemies or laying to thy charge the things thou knewest not but will forgive the Wrongs thou hast done to him and justifie thee from the sin that Conscience layeth to thy charge Come to him that by his Word and Spirit his Ministers and Mercies calleth thee to come and hath promised that those that come to him he will in no wise shut out O walk with him that will bear thee up and lead thee as by the right hand Psal. 73.23 and carry his Infants when they cannot go O speak to him that teacheth thee to speak and understandeth and accepts thy Stammering and helpeth thine Infirmities when thou knowest not what to pray for as thou oughtest and giveth thee Groans when thou hast not words and knoweâ—h the meaning of his Spirit in thy Groans that cannot be contained in the Heaven of Heavens and yet hath respect to the contrite Soul that trembleth at his word and feareth his displeasure That pityeth the Tears and despiseth not the sighing of a broken heart nor the desires of the sorrowful O walk with him that is never weary of the converse of an upâ—ight Soul That is never angry with thee but for flying from him or for drawing back or being too strange and refusing the kindness and felicity of his presence The day is coming when the proudest of the Sons of Men would be glad of a good look from him that thou hast leave to walk with Even they that would not look on thee and they that injured and abused thee and they that inferiours could have no access to O how glad would they be then of a Smile or a word of hope and mercy from thy Father Draw near then to him on whom the whole Creation doth dâ—pend whose favour at last the proudest and the worst would purchase with the loudest cries when all their pomp and pleasure is gone and can purchase nothing O walk with him that is Love it self and think him not unwilling-or unlovely and let not the Deceiver by hideous misrepresentations drive thee from him when thou hast felt a while the storms abroad me thinks thou shouldst say How good how safe how sweet is it to draw near to God! 7. With whom should I so desirously converse as with him whom I must live with for ever If I take pleasure in my House or Land or Country my walks my books or friends themselves as cloathed with flesh I must possess this pleasure but a little while Henceforth know we no man after the flesh Had we known Christ himself after the flesh we must know him so no more for ever Though his Glorified spiritual Body we shall know Do you converse with Father or Mother with Wives or Children with Pastors and Teachers Though you may converse with these as Glorified Saints when you come to Christ yet in these Relations that they stand in to you now you shall converse with them but a little while For the time is short It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use the World as not abusing it or as though they used it not for the fashion of this World doth pass away 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. Why then should I so much regard a converse of so short continuance Why should I be so familiar in my Inn and so in love with that familiarity as to grieve when I must but think of leaving it or talk of going home and look forward to the place where I must dwell for ever shall I be fond of the company of a passenger that I travel with yea perhaps one that doth but meet me in the way and goeth to a contrary place and shall I not take more pleasure to remember home I will not be so uncivil as to deny those I meet a short salute or to be friendly with my fellow-Travellers But remember O my Soul that thou dost not dwell but travel here and that it is thy Fathers House where thou must abide forever Yea and he is nearer thee than Man though invisible even in thy way O see him then that is invisible Hearken to him when he speaâ—eth Obey his voice Observe his way Speak to him boldly though humbly and reverently aâ— his Child about the great concernments of thy State Tell him what it is that aileth thee And seeing all thy smart is the fruit of thy own sin confess thy folly and unkindness crave his forgiveness and remember him what his Son hath suffered and for what Treat with him about thy future course Desire his Grace and give up thy self to his Conduct and his Cure Weep over in his Ears the History of thy misdoings and unthankful course Tell it him with penitential tears and groans But tell him also the advantage that he hath for the honouring of his grace if it may now abound where sin aboundeth Tell him that thou art most offended with thy self for that which he is most offended with That thou art angry with thy disobedient unthankful heart That thou art even a weary of that heart that loveth him no more And that it shall never please thee till it love him better and be more desirous to please him Tell him of thy Enemies and crave the protection of his Love Tell him of thy frailties infirmities and passions and crave not only his tender forbearance but his help Tell him that without him thou canst do nothing and crave the Grace that is sufficient for thee that through him that strengtheneth thee thou mayest do all things When thou fallest despair not but crave his helping hand to raise thee Speak to him especially of the everlasting things and thank him for his Promises and for thy Hopes For what thou shalt be and have and do among his Holy ones for ever Express thy joys in the promise of those joys that thou must see his Glory and love him and praise him better than thou canst now desire Begin those praises and as thou walkest with him take pleasure in the mention of his perfections be thankful to him and speak good of his Name Solace thy self in remembring what a God what a defence and portion all believers have And in considering whither he is now conducting thee and what he will do with thee and what use he will make of thee forever Speak with Rejoycing of the glory of his works and the righteousness of his judgmenâ—s and the holiness and evenness of his ways Sing forth his praises with a joyfull heart and pleasant and triumphing voice and frown away all slavish fears all importune malicious suggestions or doubts all peevish hurtful nipping griefs
wish for Life will act And the mercies and motions of Nature are necessary to those of Grace And therefore in the life of Nature and in the glimmerings of thy Light I will wait for more of the Celestial life My God thou hast my consent It is here attested under my hand Separate me from what and whom thou wilt so I may but be nearer thee Let me Love thee more and feel more of thy Love and then let me Love or be beloved of the world as little as thou wilt I thought self-love had been a more predominant thing But now I find that Repentance hath its anger its Hatred and its Revenge I am truly Angry with that Heart that hath so oft and foolishly offended thee Methinks I hate that Heart that is so cold and backward in thy love and almost grudge it a dwelling in my breast Alas when Love should be the life of Prayer the life of holy Meditation the life of Sermons and of holy Conference and my soul in these should long to meet thee and delight to mention thee I straggle Lord I know not whether or I sit still and wish but do not rise and run and follow thee yea I do not what I seem to do All 's dead all 's dead for want of Love I often cry O where is that place where the quickening beams of Heaven are warmest that my soul night seek it out But whether ever I go to City or to Solitude alas I find it is not Place that makes the difference I know that Christ is perfectly replenished with Life and Light and Love Divine And I hear him as our Head and Treasure proclaimed and offered to us in the Gospel This is thy Record that he that hath the Son hath Life O why then is my barren soul so empty I thought I had long ago consented to thy offer and then according to thy Covenant both He and Life in him are mine And yet must I still be dark and dead Ah dearest Lord I say not that I have too long waited but if I continue thus to wait wilt thou never find the time of Love and come and own thy gasping worm wilt thou never dissipate these clouds and shine upon this dead and darkened soul Hath my Night no Day Thrust me not from thee O my God! For that 's a Hell to be thrust from God But sure the cause is all at home could I find it out or raâ—her could I cure it It is sure my face that 's turned from God when I say His face is turned from me But if my Life must here be out of sight and hidden in the Root with Christ in God and if all the rest be reserved for that better world and I must here have but these small beginnings O make me more to Love and long for the blessed day of thine appearing and not to fear the time of my deliverance nor unbelievingly to linger in this Sodom as one that had rather stay with sin then come to thee Though sin hath made me backward to the fight let it not make me backward to receive the Crown Though it hath made me a loiterer in thy work let it not make me backward to receive that wages which thy Love will give to our pardoned poor accepted services Though I have too oft drawn back when I should have come unto thee and walked with thee in thy ways of Grace yet heal that unbelief and disaffection which would make me to draw back when thou callest me to possess thy Glory Though the sickness and lameness of my soul have hindered me in my journy yet let their painfulness help me to desire to be delivered from them and to be at home where without the interposing nights of thy displeasure I shall fully feel thy fullest Love and walk with thy Glorified onâ—s in the Light of thy Glory triumphing in thy Praise for evermore Amen BUT now I have given you these few Directions for the improvement of your solitude for converse with God lest I should occasion the hurt of those that are unfit for the Lesson I have given I must conclude with this Caution which I have formerly also published That it is not malencholly or weak-headed persons who are not able to bear such exercises for whom I have written these Directions Those that are not able to be much in serious solitary thoughtfulness without confusions and distracting suggestions and hurrying vexatious thoughts must set themselves for the most part to those duties which are to be done in company by the help of others and must be very little in solitary duties For to them whose natural faculties are so diseased or weak it is no duty as being no means to do them the desired good but while they strive to do that which they are naturally unable to endure they will but confound and distract themselves and make themselves unable for those other duties which yet they are not utterly unfit for To such persons therefore instead of ordered well-digested Meditations and much time spent in secret thoughtfulness it must suffice that they be brief in secret Prayer and take up with such occasional abrupter Meditations as they are capable of and that they be the more in reading hearing conference and praying and praising God with others untill their melancholly distempers are so far overcome as that by the direction of their Spiritual Guides they may judge themselves fit for this improvement of their Solitude FINIS Books Printed for Iohn Salusbury in Cornhill 〈…〉 opened 〈…〉 Supper of the Parable discovered 〈◊〉 several Sermons By Ioseph Hussey Pastor in Cambridge An Inquiry after Religion or a Veiw of all Religions and Sects in the World By a Member of the Royal Society A Word to poor ignorant and careless people that mind not the Salvation of their precious souls containing Directions for a Holy Life with a Catechism and Prayers for Families and Graces before and after Meat