To be able no otherwise to say I am thine is but sad In a family the meanest things that are scarce fit to be retained in the house are his to whom the house belongs All things are Gods even the meanest creatures and to have no other relation to God then this is but to be in the condition of things most contemptible In Deut. 10.14 God speaks of a better relation to his people Behold the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lord thy Gods the Earth also with all that therein is Now the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them and chose his seed after them even you above all people as appeareth this day We must be his upon a better account then that of Creation There is a second Interest that God hath in man and that is acquired and that partly by Redemption God having redeemed both by price and power a certain number to himself out of the lump of mankind these in an especial manner are his So Isai 43.1 Thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob and formed thee O Israel Fear not I have redeemed thee I have called thee by name thou art mine I have redeemed thee that is I have delivered thee from the great power of the mighty Ones that bare Rule over thee and under whom thou sufferedst hard things Therefore thou art mine This we know is a Law that is amongst men That those that are conquered and saved from the sword become his by whom they are so subdued There is a second acquired Interest that God hath in man and that is by Contract wherein man engageth himself to a resignation of himself to God In which sence David spake also when he said I am thine The Contract between God and man which is the foundation of this Interest is a mutual engaging to be each others according to their capacities I 'le not insist upon opening this description but will a little hint at some of those strange things that are in this Contract between God and man And First A word as to Gods part It 's a Contract where there is the greatest disparity that is imaginable between the two parties For here is he that is the highest and the other party that is lower then the lowest and meanest creature more contemptible then the worm Princes do not make contracts with beggers and yet they may have need of such though not for their assistance yet as theaters to display their bounty and goodness on God needs not the whole Creation to set forth his glory who is absolute in himself God al sufficient To this add that disparity that is between the things which God requires of man and the things which God engageth himself to do for man Was there ever such a Contract made Saith God Do you but your part which is not a thousand part of what is due and I 'le do my part What is that More then he did at first indent for I 'le give you an eternal immutable life and that in my own Presence and Kingdom You may cast your eyes from that again and wonder more at the Mediator by whom and through whom this Covenant this Contract was made God sends his own Son into the world both to bespeak man to be willing to enter into this Contract and to seal up the Contract with his own blood That part which concerns man his resigning of himself unto God which is an absolute parting with himself and putting himself everlastingly under the power wisdom and soveraignty of God to be commanded ordered and disposed in all things by him according to his Will I shall now set before you certain peculiar things that are proper to this engagement of man and resignation of himself unto God 1. In resigning of our selves to God there is an act springing from the greatest necessity and wherein there is the greatest liberty and freedom of spirit It was ill done to put these two into a contrariety and opposition Necessity and Freedom which do most perfectly agree By how much the more any creature is excellent by so much the more he is necessarily what he is and yet most freely such The Angels love God necessarily and yet most freely Nay God himself is good most necessarily and yet is so and doth good most freely This might be manifested in sundry Instances where there is some degree of necessity and also a very excellent freedom and willingness As for example Take two friends fully suited to each other their hearts are necessarily carried to mutual embraces and yet most freely It is in this case as in flying from evil a man flies from evil by a kind of enforcement and yet freely especially from some great evil when he sees there is a necessity to fly he cannot but fly and yet doth it freely In resigning of our selves to God that which is the fundamental reason of it lays upon the Spirit of a man a strong necessity and yet leaves that spirit in a very sweet and excellent freedome Psal 110.10 You have both these exprest Thy people shal be willing in the day of thy power in the day when thou putest forth thy power who wilt rule in the midst of thine enemies and raise up to thy self a Kingdome not onely among strangers but Rebels in this day of thy power thy people shal be willing yea willingnesses very willing they shall come to thee with all earnestness The will of a man may truly and in good fence be subject to compulsion and yet not limited in its freedom it may be compel'd how Not by meer physicall power acting upon the Spirit of a man but by a moral power by force of Arguments and Reasons proposed and set on the soul so Sauls servants compel'd him to eat bread 1 Sam. 28. And they were sent to command and to compell them to come to the Feast Indeed this inforcing and commanding reason is the great instrument of the power of God whereby he commands the spirits of those whom he loves into obedience to himself This is the key that opens the heart as it is said Acts 16.14 God opened the heart of Lydia Resignation of a mans self to God is from the efficacie of Gods mighty appearance and manifestation of himself to the soul of a man by which he is over powr'd and cannot deny God but notwithstanding this necessity he doth most freely fall under the power that acts upon him 2. A second thing concerning Resignation is that Self is saved by being destroyed it lives â—y death A man finds himself by losing himself and doth best enjoy himself by parting with himself There is a great mistake and it is the fascination and witchery of the powers of darkness upon the spirits of men that by Nature corrupt nature we are apt to think that the giving of our selves to God is the giving of our selves away to our loss whereas it is our making it 's not the straitning
as the word imports He is pleased so to express his deep affection toward his Church He was held in the galleries and captivated with love to his People so that his eye was ever upon them he loved to behold them it satisfied his Soul as marrow and fatness to see them He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isai 53.11 And indeed he saith he cannot get his eyes off them Can a mother forget her child Isai 49.14 No more can I forget you And is Christ so tender in his love toward us that he ever minds us and shall our minds be so loose to him so fluttering and fleeting Shall there be no more care to bind our selves in cords of love to him that we may ever behold him who bears us in his brest before his Father always 4. This is our fault that whatsoever is done in sending bending and binding of our minds towards God yet with some at least O that it might not be true of all it 's not their course and trade Now and then they are awakened and get up into Heaven to see their Father but it is not dayly and here is their failing that it 's not their course as it was Davids Psalm 145 Every day will I praise thee And I am ever thee Psal 73. I beseech you consider it Is this now and then going to Heaven within the vail to live the life of Friends Is this to carry your selves as children to be so strange at home What now and then once a month or week seldom to be where you always should be You should ever dwell with God as the lovely Center and resting place of your Souls and you are seldom with him is this fair Is Christ and the Father of Christ objects that are not worth the looking after such mean things that a visit now and then should serve the turn What said the Queen of Sheba concerning Solomon Blessed are these thy servants that Always stand before thee and hear thy wisdom If she were so taken with Solomon remember that a greater then Solomon is here And will you deprive your selves of that blessedness which you might enjoy by standing always in the presence of your Father to hear his Wisdom and behold his Glory But if this be a fault as indeed it is what shall we say of that voluntary retention of our minds when the voyce of God within bids us go and visit Heaven but we sit still in a voluntary reluctancy to the voyce that speaks What shall we say to that voluntary diversion of mind when God sets himself in our eyes and our minds turn off from God and pitch on other things and have no content in beholding him But above all what shall we say to that voluntary effusion and vile expence of mind and strength of understanding upon vanities when we send out thoughts in whole troops towards vanities and do not spare one toward Heaven Certainly this is a crime of a very high nature You see in part what is your fault and to know that is a great advantage I have endevored to shew you it in the several degrees of it I shall now shew you the Causes of it CHAP. V. How the Soul comes to wander from God Of divine Permission in this Case Discouragements pretended The heart pleased with something else more then God 1. THe first is Divine Permission God pleaseth to leave his people much to themselves for ends best known to himself and oh what work is made when this wilde Boar is let into the Garden How doth he trample and tread down What spoil doth he make when he is got into the place where he most gladly would be How did God let him in upon Job so that his thoughts by visions in the night troubled him how was he tost in his spirit Solomon how did the Devil run away with his understanding and carry him almost into a total forgetfulness of God that no good man I think ever since the Creation did run so desperate a race as he did God was rooted out of his heart as it were he giving himself up to fulfil the lusts of his eyes and of his mind with all his might but in the end he cries out Vanity of vanities all is vanity and vexation of spirit Certainly it were better the Devil had power to run away with our estates and liberties then with our thoughts keeping them in captivity and as the steers-man of our minds ordering their motions at his pleasure Some mens understandings by the mighty workings of these principalities and powers are as swiftly carried to imaginations of evil as Eagles when they fly to dead bodies or as any creatures when they make haste to their prey You shall see a man when he is in this case all his thoughts are beneath Heaven and they roul up and down the world and pitch sometimes here sometimes there as things suit but are separated from God and he cannot get off but as Jael strook a nail into the head of Sisera and fastened him to the ground so mens thoughts and minds are fastened to something in the world that they cannot deliver themselves This is a woful day indeed when God will not be seen when God saith of a man as David of Absalom Let him not see my face Truly if this be the condition of any that their understandings are ridden by the Devil and carried away from God go to Christ confess and humble your selves seek his face who is the Father of spirits and hath command and power over Devils that as by permission he hath suffered the unclean Spirit to enter so by his commanding word he may say to them Come forth that your understandings may be free for their proper work for he only can cast down imaginations and every thing that exalteth it self against the knowledg of God and bring into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Many may complain as Job in another case Chap. 17.11 My days are passed my purposes are broken off even the thoughts of my heart or as it is in the Margin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the possessions of my heart are broken off as if a man should say I had thoughts of Jesus Christ I was wont to have sweet apprehensions of my Father which took me much God was wont to take up my Soul and my mind was wont to be contentfully possest with the meditation of him now these possessions are gone and broken off Pray then as David Psal 119.37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity or make mine eyes to pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they be not held to gaze upon vanity but that I may run with freedom the Race that is set before me having God still in mine eyes 2. A second cause of this great fault not having our eyes bent and fixt on God is Discouragements Indeed Discouragements
is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redire faciam ad cor and in the Margin This I made return to my heart Things are apt to be gone with most men they are apt to lose the sight of God but he did recall again the thoughts that were vanisht and sunk This then is one thing that belongs to the work That Eying of God is not onely a turning of the minde towards God and setting it upon God but a fastening and holding it towards him 2. Minding of God is a willing work the will is in it there be many thoughts fly at random they get out of the Mind but are not sent out The Mind of a Man is a most profuse thing and nothing in the world spreadeth it self into so many actings as the Mind doth The Sun is not so full of beams as the Mind is full of thoughts which spreads it self more then a thousand Suns But these acts of the Mind which flow forth as Bees from their hive are not this work but when the Mind is sent out upon this errand the heart putting forth the understanding upon advice and makes it mind God when the heart puts the mind upon the wing to fly upwards within the vail to see him that fits upon the Throne this is somewhat And it 's a chearful minding of God a man is pleased in it when he is himself It 's good for me to draw near to thee Psal 73. ult Good how good better then perfume My meditation of him shall be sweet Psal 104.34 My meditation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or my word of thee is sweet it signifies a word secretly spoken the heart speaks of God and those words are musick in the Soul the word imports a sweetness with mixture like compound Spices or many flowers such a sweetness this thought of God yields to him whose heart is towards him every thought is pleasant and the whole working of the Mind makes up a sweet delight Again It 's better then wine Cant. 1.4 We remember his love more then wine There is more content in contemplating on God more refreshing to the spirit then wine gives to the body Psal 63.5 My Soul is filled as with marrow and fatness when or if I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches When I do this I am as one satisfied with marrow and fatness Psal 139.17 David tells you there is a preciousness in the thoughts of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifieth to be of weight authority or in honor that word signifies precious in every sence Look in what kind soever you account a thing precious so precious are the thoughts of God to a man whose heart is in a right frame Some thoughts are driven out toward God as a messenger sent and driven out upon an unwelcome message in a way and to a person whom he loves not Many cast an eye sometime upon God because they think they must not always live in forgetfulness of him they do it as a duty not a refreshment to them as a work not wages because they must do it not because they love it Yet by some men God will be thought on though they would not The Devils cannot forget God God hath made such a stamp of himself upon their natures that they cannot forget him that 's their unhappiness they wish they could be out of Gods sight and God out of theirs and if it could be their misery would be the less So God will be in the eyes of some men that they cannot cast him out of their thoughts but the impression of God fastens and abides upon their Souls so the sight of God followed Judas to a continual amazement and distraction of his mind But the more a man that is right finds a conjunction of God and his mind the more sweet it is to him he reckons this like the gate of Heaven such a day is as one of the days of Heaven When the Soul is thus taken with God it loves every glance of God the more it sees the more it loves Abraham saw my day afar off and was glad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifies a rejoycing with gesticulation as much as Luke 6.13 Rejoyce and leap or highly rejoyced Joh. 8.56 This work then of eying and minding of God is a willing work not a work whereto the heart is drawn and driven and wherein it hath no content but such a work that is both work and wages CHAP. III. Holy thoughts of God are mixed with awful love leave deep impressions transform the spirit and are the Trade of good Souls IT 's not only a serious setling of the mind toward and upon God but a holy pointing and fastening of the mind upon him holy in the manner and holy in the end of it 1. In the manner not like the bold practise of men that know not God who cast an eye upon him with as little regard as upon a post or pillar This minding of God must be according to the nature of God You cannot look upon a friend a stranger and a Prince with one and the same eye You cannot look upon God as he is god but you will love him nor as powerfl but you will fear him nor as he is excellent but you will admire him c. These things will work with you either in a way of assimilation or delectation or admiration c. 2. Holy in the end of it a man may do think much of God and yet do no work of holiness There is a meditation of God that we may call the meditation of a Student who studies God as he studies other things by which means he heaps together many notions concerning God but hath no impression of the holiness of God upon his heart but is a stranger to God and hath no communion with him But this work is holy in the end of it A man eyes God that he may have more of God He that minds God truly hunts and seeks after something of God he would have more of his presence light favor and Image he is seeking the beloved of his Soul and the love of his beloved therefore would fain be near him and looks toward him that he may receive that from him which his Soul so much prizeth he minds God and as one that desires to present as an offering to him those fruits of his love which by the love of God are begotten in his heart so that this work is holy 4. This minding of God is a work of course not to be done now and then and layd down again but it 's the trade of that man that doth it right It is his every days work and his constant employment to be mindful of God David describes the good man thus Psal 1.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et adhuc His meditation is in the Law of the Lord day and night Psal 139.17 When I awake I
command over his spirit which he should have so that his mind either stands still as a lake or if it move it runs at waste as indeed a mans mind doth if it be not toward God and for God A great fault it is when men take not pains with themselves as the Prophet complains Isai 64.7 No man stirs up himself to take hold on God It 's said in Exod. 35.28 They came every one whose heart stir'd him up Your hearts had need be stir'd up else they will not do their work Is it fit that so noble a faculty then which there is none under Heaven more glorious as that understanding which God hath entrusted you withall should be no more improved Was this golden Candlestick given you for any other light then that which is from above that may shew you the way to union with God and enjoyment of him Were these golden Cabinets given you and have you the keys of them that you should keep them empty when you might fill them with heavenly treasure which is invaluable David calls his Soul his glory you stain the crown of your glory when you make such glorious creatures to lacquey after every creature which should be in attendance upon God like Angels in the presence of their Father When the mind runs after vanity you become vain Jer. 2. What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they run far from me and walk after vanity and are become vain The vain out-goings of your minds and spirits will make you vain yea worse then nothing What injury do you do your selves that have such nimble winged messengers that can mount up to the highest Heavens can walk with Angels can lodg themselves in the bosom of the glorious God can present all your Cases to him can bring back again reports of mercy to you if you use them not Do you not see how God is sending out to you continually The thoughts of his heart are Love eternal Love and the fruits of his Love are always sent out like the beams of the Sun He hath sent out his own Son and will not you send out your thoughts towards him Will not you order your thoughts toward him who hath directed his greatest Love towards you What is your life but a continual emanation and emission of divine Love And is God thus flowing forth to you and will you stand still and not have your minds runing out to him 2. In the next place As this is a fault that there is not that sending out of the thoughts toward God and that setting of the mind to this work so this is another fault that there is not a bending of the mind in this work Oftentimes the mind looks up but it 's so feeble that a mans thoughts are like an arrow shot from a Bow weakly bent which reacheth not the mark It 's wise counsel that the Wise-man gives Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might I am sure in nothing more it concerns us to act with all our might then when we act towards God in whom all our life is 1 Chron. 22.19 Now set your hearts and souls to seek the Lord your God This is our work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 give your hearts to act with life and vigor when you go to take into your eyes the greatness of that glory which you hear of God The Apostle's phrase is Have the loyns of your mind girt when you are upon this work I ask you that question which Christ put to some in another case What went you out to see When you crawl and move as if you had no heart nor spirits whom go you forth to see What him that is the Lord of Glory the only Potentate What are such heavy and lazy aspects to take in such a Glory You see in what large streams your thoughts fly forth to other things and are you only languishing weak and feeble in things of so great concernment Mal. 1.14 Cursed be the deceiver that hath in his flock the sound and the strong but offers the blind and lame Certainly this is the way to procure a curse to be so exceeding remiss in your addresses to God hence it is you get no more Then God comes most to the heart when the eyes are most set upon him The child that draws with strength is soonest filled The Brests of Consolation are full but therefore you are empty and complain because you bend not your selves to draw from the Wells of Salvation You take not pains with your selves to make your way to God lively 3. As this is a fault not to send our your minds toward God and not to bend your minds to the work so this is another the not binding of your minds to it You should not only go to God but stay with him The right minding of God is not a transient glance and sudden cast of the eye that is presently wheel'd off from God again Psal 143.5 I remember the days of old I meditate on all thy works I remember them and not only bring them to remembrance but I meditate on them my mind talks of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the force of the word I muse and stand looking on the works of thy hands this is that which fires the heart when a mans eye is fixed on God Psal 39.4 5. My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire kindled then spake I with my tongue c. Indeed that is a season of kindling when the mind is musing but when the mind is fleeting and floating little impression is made little good comes of it There are many days at Court wherein strangers come to see and are soon gone and what get they Nothing But they that abide in the presence of the Prince live by him It 's not a pointing and casting of your eye towards Heaven that makes God your portion If you do not dwell with him he useth you like strangers Think well of it Certainly where the Eye abides not it 's because either the thing displeaseth or there is some better thing that draws away your hearts What is there in Heaven or in Earth should draw away your minds from these Visions When you look upon him who is most glorious is he not worthy on whom your Souls should dwell and your minds rest themselves with all their might Certainly what we love that will hold us that will be in our thoughts we need not call out our minds and if once the eye be set upon it it holds as the Loadstone having drawn the Iron keeps it fast to it self Christ himself acknowledgeth such an operation of love upon himself Cant. 6.5 Turn away thine eyes Or taken away mine heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excordiasti me for they have overcome me And in Cant. 4.9 Thou hast ravisht my heart my Sister my Spouse with one of thine eyes Christ was as one that had lost his heart
are called a weakening of the hands in Jer. 38.4 Melting of the heart Deut. 1.28 Breaking of the heart Numb 32.7 All to shew that a man under discouragements is made unfit and unmeet for service 1. Says one I like this well and you speak to my heart when you speak of this eying and minding of God and my wishes keep pace with the Rule I am ready to say I would it were so with me but the work is too hard for me I find no strength to it Answ Suppose you do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed commonly the best things are hard though this be hard yet it 's a necessary work and you must never plead necessity against Duty You are bound to it all Law requires this Is it hard but is it not good doth not the work pay you wages My meditation of him shall be sweet saith David Again You say it 's hard but not so hard as is pretended and all the hardship that is in it we have brought into it let us not then complain though we sweat at the work let us be willing to do it And remember what I tell you though you have lost the command you had over your spirits yet if you be in Christ it 's in part restored to you You see how you can send out your understandings and how they can shout out thoughts upon other things and will you not use a command over them in this in directing them toward God for the beholding of him What is the renewing of your mind but the giving it a powerful propensity to move towards God and the things of God If then you are in part renewed the difficulty is in part removed You have reason therefore in regard of the necessity and sweetness of the work to set your minds to it Besides Your minds are swift of motion you should not speak of difficulty when in an instant you can start from Earth to the highest Heavens Again When you look to God and Jesus Christ you look to one that opens to you If you draw near to God he will draw near to you If the Journey be long he will meet you more then half way Isai 64. He meets them in the way that rejoyce and work righteousness So that if you set to the work you are not like to be as one that launcheth out into the deep Sea where he sees no bounds or like one in a Desart wandering alone on foot but you go forth to one that comes forth to you CHAP. VI. False Meditation subdueth not the heart A wicked heart hath no joy in the thoughts of God What 's done and not according to Rule is as if it were undone The heart which mindeth not God in a constant course is not right THere is a generation of men 3 Exercise whose course is quite cross to Davids Whereas he saith Mine eyes are Ever towards the Lord they may say Mine eyes are Never towards the Lord God is not in all their thoughts Psal 10.4 God reckons a thing as not done in several respects 1. When it 's not done to purpose when a work is done but reacheth not its end Jer. 8.6 No man repents saying What have I done Yet Isai 59.12 God acknowledgeth something upon record to be done they confest that their transgressions were multiplied before him and their sins testified against them yet he complains No man repents c. because it was not done to purpose the work was not home Psal 119.59 I considered my ways and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Testimones Here was a work to purpose Then a man looks toward God to purpose when the thoughts of God are the possessions of his heart when the eye is so set on God that the heart is changed into the likeness of God Though a man should give a thousand glances every day toward Heaven if there be no effectual impression upon the heart God takes it as if a man ever lookt from him and never cast an eye toward him Psal 50. They are called a people that forget God Surely 't was not a total forgetfulness for the Law of God was in their mouths and they had made a Covenant with him by sacrifice but their remembrance of God was not effectual it did not subdue their hearts to God therefore though they talkt of him yet God chargeth them with forgetfulness of him 1 John 3.6 the Apostle saith that they that live in sin have not seen God neither known him A true sight o◠God separates a man from himself it 's the the destruction of the sins he lived in as ignorance and forgetfulness of God is the strength of sin Forgetting and not regarding are put one for another in Scripture I forget saith the Apostle Phil. 3. those things that are behind i.e. they were of no weight with him he regarded them not So when men forget God it argues they regard him not at all as God is said to forget men when he will do nothing for them then a man is as forgotten as a thing that is not Jer. 23.39 See how this is exprest I even I will utterly forget you Obliviscendo obliviscar or in forgeting I will forget you and I will utterly forsake you and cast you out of my presence and bring everlasting reproach upon you and perpetual shame that shall not be forgotten A terrible place for all forgetters of God 2. God reckons that as not done which men would not have done Sometimes men think of God but they know not how to shun it God breaks in upon their spirits but their natural temper is to suffer themselves to be drunk up and diverted by other objects A natural man abhors the thought of God nothing so sweet to a Saint My meditation of thee shall be sweet A good man could be content to live out of himself to live in God It 's a good work the work of Angels they who once have been used to this employment know not how to wish to change One Eudoxius wisht that he might be admitted to come near the body of the Sun to have a full view of it though it devour'd him He was something rash in his wish But there is something proportionable in a godly spirit he so loves God that he could be content to be swallowed up in the beholding of him 'T is said of some Rom. 1.28 That they liked not to retain God in their knowledg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haimo and God gave them up to a Reprobate Mind They liked not that is they not only neglected but despised it seemed not good to them so the Syriac It was a very unpleasing thing to them to know and to mind God It 's usual in Scripture that verbs negative are put for their contraries Zech. 8.7 Love not a false Oath Love not that is hate it Heb. 13.2 Forget not to entertain strangers that is
place but the acts of the Soul may be done in any place at any time you may start into Heaven when no eye sees you you may be on the wing towards God though among a croud of men no business is such but you may be with God and yet your business not suffer Again It 's an eternal faculty and the work of it is everlasting A contemplative life is the life of Heaven it 's that which Angels do they ever behold the face of your Father in Heaven If you like not this work how will you live in Heaven The dislike of it is a bar against your entrance The life of blessedness is a life of Vision and seeing God which if you take no delight in Heaven is no place for you Again It 's a faculty very active your minds must be somewhere else if they be not with God and if they be not on God they are upon something of less concernment Why should you follow after drops and neglect the Fountain Why should you fly after shadows and neglect him who is the true Substance Truly if the mind have its current from God towards other things these things are not only of less concernment but destructive and from whence you will reap nothing but corruption and depravation and defilement of spirit you will grow worse and worse into the form of the Devil by how much your minds stray from God and pitch upon other things Jer. 2.5 They are gone far from me and have walked after vanity and are become vain Again It 's a faculty that hath received in the Saints a tendency towards God You do extreamly wrong your selves when you make not use of that propensity and put not forth your selves to have communion with God whereby you might bless your selves in the enjoyment of him See how David expresses the propensity of his spirit towards God Psal 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsts for thee my flesh longeth for thee When shall I come and appear before thee to behold thy Glory as I have seen it in the Sanctuary This is the course of the spirits of the children of God in whom that propensity which was natural is now in part restored so that they are bent towards God they thirst after God as a man thirsts for water in a dry and thirsty Land Again There is a blessing in this work God blesseth what he likes as he curseth what he hateth He likes it well Mal. 3.16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought on his Name He will be sure to mind those that mind him and be a friend to those that seek after him When you are bid to look upon him it is but to receive from him Is it any thing else but to call and invite you to look on the most pleasing and delightful Object that in the beholding of it it may convey it self unto you and you be delighted and filled with it It is all one as if he should bid you sit down by a Well of Life and drink and to be as Christ and the Angels are who are blessed in the beholding of him as if he should bid you come and pluck Apples off that Tree of Life that is in the midst of Paradise God loves this work Cant. 2.14 Let me see thy face my Beloved and hear thy voyce for thy voyce is sweet and thy countenance comely In one act you may do that which pleaseth God and makes you blessed Set your eye towards him and his eye will be more towards you and he will refresh you as with Manna there is enough in him come and take freely Reflect upon your own experience have you ever found this way like a wilderness If it be a blessed work why will you unbless your selves If the work will exalt you why will you debase your selves in not closing with it And if you might live above in Heaven why will you live below Let all the sweetness you have ever found in this work provoke you to enlarge your self toward it When thoughts of God are moving in you God himself is not far off he will come and enter too and how sweet is it for God to come and take up his habitation in the Soul CHAP. IX Jesus Christ a Pattern of Eying the Father Greatest mindfulness of God due God our best Friend All we have is in his hands and of his gift All Religion founded upon a due mindfulness of God Anguish awails wandering hearts ANother Argument is from the Example of our Lord Jesus whom we are to mind and imitate He is your Pattern What saith Christ Learn of Me And Be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect How can you follow Christ the Captain of your Salvation if you mind him not When the Apostle perswades them in Heb. 12. to run the race that is set before them he bids them look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of their Faith Mariners at Sea that they may run a right course keep an eye on that ship that bears the light Your course cannot be right when your eye is not upon Jesus Christ your Pattern Would it be with us as it is when the forgetfulness of God lodgeth in our hearts if we did more mind Christ We should say in our selves Is this the course that he steered David tells us of Christ Psal 16.8 that he set the Lord always before him or as Luke expounds it applying those words to Christ Acts 2.25 I foresaw the Lord always before my face The Father was Ever in his eye whatsoever came into his sight he ey'd him first and fix'd upon him Now Christ is not only appointed to be our Pattern in this thing but he takes notice of us whether we imitate or no His eye is upon us to see whether our eye be upon the Father as his was and is for ever It was the counsel of Seneca that when men are about to do evil they should think on Plato or some such eminent man as present to behold them Certainly if Christ were more minded as such a Pattern God would be more the object of our most affectionate thoughts Again If we consider the Object it is the greatest reason in the world that our eye should be upon God God is our friend he loves us he bears us in his heart and shall not he be in our thoughts This is ill requiting of him whose eye is always on us seldom or never to eye him This is a great contradiction to the Law of Friendship which consists in reciprocation of loves Jer. 29.11 I know my thoughts toward you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end Oh that we could say so I know my thoughts towards God are thoughts of love and care to please him Job 19.14 See how hainously
but he loseth so much of his own life because they are one therefore crossness and untowardness between them strikes them dead In unequal relations the inferior is more dependant and so should be more subordinate In the relation between the father and the child the child is the lower part and lives more upon the father and therefore ought to live more according to the Father according to his Will or else he acts against himself he offends his father to his own hurt And the goodness of Superiors is of greater influence and force then that of Inferiors Take a child in the goodness of a child be it never so high that cannot work so much to the good of the father as the goodness of the father doth for the child The love goodness and mercy of God who is infinitely greater then we is of unspeakable influence to our good and therefore to be tendered and preserved Sin in the nature of it is a violation of the Law that is of the Will of God the effect of sin is a provocation of wrath and anger Hence it is that the Wise-man speaks so in Prov. 8. He that sins against me wrongs his own Soul He offers violence he spoils his own Soul he becomes a robber of himself The nature of sin aims at the destruction of that against which it is set although it do not attain this effect because of the power of him against whom it is for it 's a denying of all that God is as that he is infinitely wise infinitely good c. Therefore the Apostle speaks of some in Tit. 1.16 that profess they know God but in works they deny him how is that that is by their works they declare that they do not acknowledg him as he is Men therefore that seek not to please God do no otherwise then as if men in a Ship should with Axes or such like Instruments seek to cut holes in the Ship wherein their lives lie To act therefore against God is to act most desperately against our own good and by this we see how we are engaged to please him Again take this in that God will more easily be pleased with his people then with others therefore they are the more bound He takes that well from some hands that will not pass from others It is true we are all under one Law and Rule God did not destroy the Law by taking his people into a Gospel state but established it nay the Law binds more then it did before only as the binding power of it is encreased so the rigor of it is abated that is the terms of obedience required are changed God said before If you do not this and this and every thing to the height of it you shall dye but he doth not hold his people to those terms now that we are reconciled to him all is due that is commanded but he accepts of what we can perform so that here is the difference The Law speaks to one sort to those that are in the flesh that are out of Christ as in Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Law to do them To the other sort whom God accepts in Christ he speaks as in 2 Cor. 8.12 He accepts according to what a man hath if there be a willing mind Now if less will pass with God and be well taken from thine hand then from others thy sin is greater then others if thou dost it not Further You are engaged much because you have had tastes of the sweetness of walking with God This is that which made that aggravation of their sin which God hath said he will not forgive Heb. 6. That they had tasted of the powers of the world to come But it 's a greater engagement to have a taste of God himself then to have a taste of the things of God to have a taste of that excellency and goodness that is in him is far a greater bond then to taste of all his favors Nay you have had a taste of the bitterness of wandering from God and neglecting him witness the blows and stripes of your own spirits and the frowns of God upon you How hath your unwary walking led you into a wilderness of darkness and fears and will you yet sin thus against God Have you not said in those dismal days as in Hos 2.7 I 'le return to my first husband for then it was better with me then now And have you given your selves to God again and again and do you now neglect him Will you not endevor to fulfil your promises Mark how God carried himself to his people that neglected him Jer. 2.20 Of old time I broke thy yoke and burst thy bonds and thou saidst I will not transgress thou saidst thou wouldst not but thou didst for under every green tree and upon every high hill thou wanderest playing the harlot Yet I planted thee a noble vine How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me It is a dangerous thing to break promise with God he will plead your own words against you That then is one main Consideration why such as plead an Interest in God should labor to walk in all pleasing to him from that Engagement that lies upon such to God A second Consideration is this Otherwise you will weaken the comfort of your hope and expectation in prayer How can you rationally with any satisfaction to your own spirits expect that God should fulful your will that are not willing to fulfil his How dis-ingenious and base is it for a man to wish in his heart that God would act so as to please him when in the mean time he is not careful to please God It doth horribly impose upon God it argues a most vile and base spirit it imposes upon Gods Wisdom upon his Goodness and indeed upon all that God is and God takes it very ill to be thus dealt with as he expresseth himself Mic. 3.11 The heads thereof judg for reward and the Priests teach for hire and the Prophets divine for mony yet they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us none evil can come upon us What followed Therefore Zion for your sakes shall be plowed like a field God will not be so put off This sin borders upon that in Deut. 29.20 If any man say I shall have peace though I walk after the imaginations of mine own heart my wrath and jealousie shall smoke against that man and I will strike out his name from under Heaven You come to me saith God and say O Father arise and save us in Jer. 5.3 but you do all the evil against me that you can or as some read it you do evil and you can or and you prevail that is Whereas before I told you how ready I was to do you all good you have now so tempted me and provoked me with your sins as to prevail with me
house made a shift to live on husks and such trash for a time so do many now but the day will come when God will take these husks away from you wives children pleasures and estates and what ever it is that gives you some refreshment in this world and then you will be left worse then nothing you shall neither have God nor the world Yea such a necessity there is to look after this that you have indeed no true interest in any thing till you get aâ— Interest in God though you think you have That man that hath not God hath nothing it is most sure for he is under sentence A condemned man loseth all his estate Men will perswade themselves they are Lords and that they have this and they have that but indeed they have nothing what they have is but prisoners allowance something is allowed to condemned men till the stroke comes and this is the case of all men that have not God for their God Know also that a man is not said to have any interest in any thing that doth not add something to him if it be not something that contributes to his well-being A man doth not reckon his sickness diseases pains and such evils and miseries to be his interest in these things no man accounts of it is unhappiness Whatsoever adds not to a man stands for a cypher is nothing Interest in nothing is nothing That which we claim Interest in must have some good in it to give out unto us But now the real good of a man is no way promoted by any thing while he lives without God in the world It is the priviledg of Saints that all things work together for their good Rom. 8.28 And it 's as true otherwise that nothing works for the good of those that love not God Children and estate may tend to the goodness of one mans condition there may be good working out of them to one man and yet may prove to the hurt of another as the best good may be evil to this or that man to a man that is under the Curse all turns to bitterness and death The truth is that which kills life doth less hurt the senses then that which only destroys the peace and rest of a man A man feels more by a stroke sometimes then he doth by a Consumption or an Apoplexy That which destroys most effectually is oftentimes least felt and therefore what men feel not because of their outward enjoyments they consider not they lay not to heart But if God be your God then all is yours 1 Cor. 3. Then comes an Interest in all As he that marries the heir becomes Lord of the estate servants and cattel and lands are his he commands all the family So if God be our God the whole Creation becomes ours Men come to have much by coming to God The Apostle gives some account of this in Heb. 12. where he saith We are come to Mount Zion to the City of the living God to an innumerable company of Angels to the spirits of just men made perfect c. We come to all these to communion with these when God becomes ours We begin therefore at the wrong end when we seek any thing in this world and seek not God first for saith Christ Mat. 6.33 Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be given to you When therefore you seek estates and the accommodations of this life and do not indeed seek to make God yours you act very crosly to your own good There is a simple necessity to look after this for besides what hath been said you all live and are in a state of absolute dependance upon God who hath the power of life and death we are all in his hands and that Key by which he shuts and none can open you shall see put forth one day when you shall know what a loss it is to miss an Interest in him who hath all power in Heaven and in Earth That 's one thing which should make us serious to get an Interest in God that it 's simply necessary CHAP. VIII Interest in God most attainable Goodness and Fulness the Springs of Communication Desire easily and with most success revealed to God Poor strangers impotent persons not bar'd from God as from men Interest in God incomparable in the enjoyment A Second Argument is That it is an Interest most attainable for it is Goodness and Fulness by which we come to have Interest in any thing these are the Springs of all Communication between one and another and where these are greatest there is a wider door opened a fuller easier and sweeter entrance into Communion and the enjoyment of each other It 's the nature of goodness to be communicative and the more goodness the more ready to communicate Look through the whole Creation and you shall find it so that as any Creature is more noble and excellent so it is the more hospitable and bountiful the more ready to give out it self The Sun the Air the Sea how liberal are they Things of a more confin'd and straitened nature are but like a small Cottage into which one or two or a few may enter but it cannot give habitation to many But as Creatures abound in the goodness of God and his fulness they become like a stately Palace that gives open ready and liberal entertainment to many Now God is greatest in all Excellencies and therefore his Propensions to Mercy and Goodness towards his Creatures are unspeakably unconceiveably greater then any Propensions in the Creature can be In these two Glories God infinitely transcends all Creatures in the glory of his Being and the glory of his Working Nothing more sets out God and exalts him then his readiness to do good and communicate himself to his Creatures He hath said It 's a more blessed thing to give then to receive Indeed it 's sometimes a more blessed thing to give then to have and enjoy Take one that hath great power to do good and no love what is he but like a meer Iron Chest a Fountain sealed Now God is most ready to do good it 's his glory It 's said in Prov. 19.23 That the desire of a man is his kindness The desire of a man that is that which is most to be desired the most precious thing in a man that thing which makes him desireable that renders him glorious and beautiful is his kindness that he is a kind man such an one wears a Crown and Garland upon his head This Crown God wears above all the desire of God is his kindness And to make it yet more apparent that an Interest in God is most attainable Consider That by which we come to have an Interest in another is usually the manifestation of our desire with the tender of our love and affections to him and this is best done and with most efficacy with God for the breathings and operations of a mans spirit lie
estate This life and the wants of it always breed motion the spirit is still moving out of one condition unto something better The constant Rest of those glorified spirits in God is a plain demonstration that there is no Life like that They know the life that we live in this world they know what honours pleasures and such things are but they are so beneath them that they do no less overlook these then a Prince doth overlook the poorest Cottage or the vilest things of this world Nay the Saints on Earth too when they are themselves do not only prefer a Life in God before all things but with contempt of all things Paul puts a note of superexcellency upon the knowledg of Christ and pronounceth all things else but dross and dung Phil. 3. In Heb. 10.34 They suffered the loss of all things for this life with joyfulness it did not grieve them to see their goods and estates taken from them because they saw this loss make for the further enlargement of their life in God And those in Rev. 12.11 loved not their lives to the death for Christs sake When Solomon had traversed all these things and I make no doubt but he had many that traversed them with him you know what he saith of them Vanity of vanities all is vanity and vexation of spirit But why should I dwell upon outward testimonies Make use of your own understands give them full scope to search and then think what proportion there is between that life that is upon things finite mixed mutable and of short continuance and that life that is in him that is infinite and all good always the same abiding for ever Descend lower then your understandings Call in the sense and experience of those several states of life which you have passed through in the world as that of childhood of manhood of a single estate of a married estate of a meaner and of a fuller condition take the best of them what did you find in them in comparison of that life that you have in God Remember all the sense you have had of the sweetness that is in the enjoyment of God and then upon the verdict of your sense and inward experience you will find that there is no comparison between the one and the other How often have you said when you have been hunting after and wearied your selves in the vanity of this world I will return to my first Husband for then it was better with me then now Hos 2.2 2. What a deplorable loss to our spirits is it when we suffer a day to pass without living in God That day we dye when as we might have been as they in Heaven What shadows of death have covered your Souls when you have been out of God! What bondage and weight are cast upon mens spirits how are they as reeds of no strength shaken with every wind with the turnings of the things in this world if their hearts be out of God We are chargeable with many sorrows and heart-breakings and God might put them upon our account God may visit us for many of our tears and complaints What will not the Fountain give water will not the full brest give milk It is a wrong to say so of God We are the cause of our own harms and losses The rest and chearful vigor of a mans Soul is of more worth then a world and that we lose whilest our spirits roul up and down Who can utter what those joys are what that sweetness of the taste of the Soul is which it hath in its sincere and secret addresses to the Father of Life in its secret conversings with him and enjoyment of him What a holy forgetfulness of all things hath this wrought what a holy magnanimity what peace passing all understanding what joy unspeakable and glorious And shall we lose all this by not maintaining our life in God Our experience and knowledg of these things should be as an attractive Load-stone and the sadness of our Souls under the heavy loss of this should be an enforcement upon us to keep near unto God The Apostle Hebr. 12.5 gives this as a reason why they were so weak You have forgotten saith he the exhortation or consolation that speaks to you as children 3. A third Consideration is The sweet and powerful attractions and invitations of the Spirit How often may that be said to us which Christ saith to them Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man will open to me I will come in and sup with him How often and how strongly hath Wisdom cryed from Heaven and uttered her voyce saying I have built my house I have prepared my feast come my friends all is prepared for you come and eat and rejoyce in the fulness of my Love Christ hath followed us as the waters followed them in the desart mercy and goodness hath followed us all our days Hath not God by his Spirit urged us from all things from all conditions and relations from every thing that strikes upon our senses or that comes within the compass of our knowledg As his design is by all things to work us to himself so hath he not by all things pleaded with us to come home and to stay at home that we might be blessed in the enjoyment of the sweetness of his presence He hath layd up something even in death it self to bring us to him A Crown was once found in a thorny bush Surely then if God be so ready to meet us and doth so seek us if he have so richly prepared for us and set things before us we should provoke our Souls to feed on these precious things and to live that life of the enjoyment of God which only is Life 4. If we will not live this life in God it may be we shall not If nothing will prevail but we will live in the flesh and pour out our Souls upon vanities and will be wandering in this world travelling in the desart and forsaking the fulness and sweetness that is in God surely it may be that shall be our portion all our days God may and he doth hide himself from the Soul when the Soul hides it self from him God calls and they will not hear he invites and they are careless Well saith God seeing they will not come they shall not come but shall live like servants and strangers and shall have no more of the Childrens bread then will maintain them in a state of life but not maintain them in a state of peace Sorrows and troubles will seize upon men because they would not embrace sweet mercies Do you think we can violate all the mercies and goodness of God and be born with No no Remember that example in 1 Sam. 2. Eli had many and great manifestations of Gods love but his sin of fond love to his wicked children would not be done away with sacrifice or burnt-offering God said he would bring evil upon
in his heart an inward inclination and strong propension to make his addresses to God and converse with him Secondly The knowledg of this Interest carries the spirit of a man to God in a due frame and posture that is it maintains the Soul in its addresses to God in joy and confidence cheerfulness and hope yet with intermixtures of awful fear A man that knows God to be his God when he goes to him he goes not as he to whom Augustus said What dost thou come to me as to a Lion He comes not with that astonishment dread and amazement that men do when their Consciences are defiled and in whose spirits the fire of Hell is He is not afraid notwithstanding the infinite distance between God and him to lift up his face before the Almighty He comes with boldness and confidence when once he is in the sight of this that his name is written in the Book of Life and that God hath taken him into the number of those whom he hath chosen out of the world He comes and speaks to God and his language is as to one with whom he hath power Psal 104.6 I will say unto the Lord Thou art my God hear the voyce of my supplication O Lord. He tells you what language he useth to God I said Thou art my God therefore hear me when I come unto thee and this argument is very strong So in Micah 7.7 you have the Church expressing her self thus Therefore will I look to the Lord and wait for the God of my Salvation my God will hear me The conclusion is very strong So in Psal 67.6 God even our own God shall bless us When a man once comes to know that God hath taken him into the number of his into his flock and fold now saith he God is mine my own God shall bless me That faith which makes a man see his Interest in God makes him see that it 's more to have an Interest in him then to obtain all things from him he therefore goes with courage to God because he hath obtained that already which is more then all comes to that he shall have by asking It was a greater favor for God to give us himself to be ours then for him to give us a portion among the Angels in the glory of Heaven God being our God stands engaged he is not his own but ours also therefore when a man sees this he comes to God for all things as to his own and he comes for his own As a child that is in want speaks to his father for supplies he speaks to him as one in whom he hath Interest and pleads with such a spirit as knowing that he likewise hath interest in his fathers estate Indeed this Interest is the best of all it 's founded upon all Reason Which ways soever a man comes to have Interest in another so many ways hath God exprest our Interest to be in him and more also By Creation He hath made us we are not our own Psal 100.3 or He hath made us we are his It 's founded in Redemption in Isai 43.1 Thus saith the Lord that formed thee O Jacob and created thee O Israel Fear not I have redeemed thee I have called thee by name thou art mine I have made thee and I have bought thee It 's likewise founded in that Union that we have with Jesus Christ God is become ours because Christ is become ours The Sons Wife calls his Father her Father he is become a Father to her in his Son If God takes notice of Israel upon this account that they were the seed of Abraham his friend how much more will he own his people that are members of the body of his own Son In Isai 41.8 Thou Israel art my servant whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend We become his and he ours by his actual admission of us into the number of those that are his own and of the houshold of God Ephes 2.19 They are said to be a people near unto him Psal 148.14 All Souls are mine saith God in Ezek. 18.4 But those whom he admits into his family he takes peculiar notice of and they are in a more especial manner his And also by actual Communion he becomes ours As the wife becomes the husband's not only by contract and marriage and receiving her to his habitation but by actual communion so we are the Lords because of that actual converse that we have with God and by his communication of those fruits of his Love which he reserves for his own Thus then the knowledg of our Interest with God clothes the spirit with fit dispositions and affections in addresses unto God as to joy and confidence Now on the other side it works also in the Soul an awful reverential respect such as becomes the relation of a poor creature to his Maker and that infinite distance that is between the high and holy One and a lump of dust which also belongs to the true temper of a man in communion with God Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Psal 2. And Mal. 1.6 If I be a Master where is my fear It 's a dangerous thing for a man upon presumption of his Interest in God to have a boldness without a mixture of this fear and awfulness Such joys are not from above nor is it the Spirit of Truth that bears witness to them when they do not lay the Soul much under God Of all men they come with the greatest fear of God that have the fullest knowledg of their Interest in God and who have their hearts most spread with joy and gladness because God is become their Portion In Heb. 12.28 Wherefore receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear That seems a strange Inference Having received a Kingdom therefore serve God with fear I saith the Apostle therefore and God looks for it and know if it be not done there will be hazard in it for our God is a consuming fire A stranger passeth by a man and takes no notice of him but a child that knows him to be his father comes toward him with respect and honour the very interest he hath in him and the relation wherein he stands strikes on his spirit an awe towards his father So it is with those that call God Father See what account Nehemiah gives of his just walking in Nehem. 5.15 Other Rulers did so and so but I did not for I feared God The assurance of the Love of God and of a mans eternal life begets fear not that fear which hath torment as the Apostle speaks but it begets an awful caution and wariness as is meet in a business of so great concernment He is more afraid to offend God that knows God to be his God then that man is whom God threatens every day with everlasting death Mark that of the Prophet Hos 3.5
further our walking with God in all holiness In the first place When a man hath tasted those comforts that flow from this Interest Sin to that man is sin indeed it 's out of measure sinful An assurance of our propriety in God represents sin in its deepest colour and causeth it with the most afflicting resemblance to reflect upon the spirit The knowledg of our pardon doth not put an end to our sorrows it rather begins them The sight of God reconciled doth not work that peace that is without sorrow but makes those streams run deeper and purer The more a man knows that he shall not dye for sin the more he is under a necessity of bewailing his sin and it 's as natural an effect of the sight of God to have the heart pierced and wounded as healed David when Nathan told him that he had sinned and when he knew that his sin was done away then was he most candid most serious and strong in his humiliation before God Those men that pretend to have their joys from their pardon and reckon God to be theirs and yet can pass over their sins with dry eyes drink their refreshing waters not from him who is the Well of Life but from beneath and are under a spirit of depravation and delusion and such a spirit as will seal them up to everlasting condemnation Nothing becomes the Saints more then mourning The proper working of love in Heaven is joy because there is nothing but good but the proper working of love here is joy with grief because though God be good to us yet we are evil against him In Ezek. 36.31 you have this expression by God himself Then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves for your iniquities and for your abominations Then When If you look in the verses before it is when God should come to do them the greatest good when he would cause his face to shine upon them and make his footsteps to drop down blessings Then saith God when I have you upon the knee and satisfied your Souls with goodness then shall you remember your own evil ways and your doings that have not been good and you shall loath your selves for all your abominations The knowledg of absolution in Heaven breeds the severest condemnation in the hearts of the Saints the more they see they are accepted the more that voyce sounds in their ears Thou art comely and fair my Beloved the more do they point at their spots and have an eye upon their own spirits I am black saith the Church the Sun hath stained my beauty though God said she was all fair and comely Christ saith to Paul Thou art a chosen Vessel What saith Paul of himself all along I was a Persecutor and a Blasphemer c. He read it as if it were wrote in a table always before his eyes Not only sin in act but sin in temptation the very solicitations to sin are grievous to that man that hath received a testimony from Heaven that his name is written in the Book of Life and that God whose Name is God blessed for ever is his God and Father Remember Joseph what he said Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great evil and sin against God Above all sin in their nature as it dwells in them and acts in them incessantly and renders them in such a contrariety to the Nature and Will of God this is that which doth mightily humble and abase them not only as it is displeasing to God but also as it puts them into an incapacity of serving him and having communion with him The more sin is in us the less we see of God Matthew 5. vers 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God See him not only in Heaven but as they are pure and are sanctified as they are more filled with the spirit of holiness so they shall have clear visions of God and more full acquaintance with God here Now the assurance of our Interest in God making sin to be thus vile and setting the Soul at such a distance from it is a great furtherance to holiness It sets the judgment against it and not only the judgment for so it may be in the worst of men but it puts the nature of the man against it A child knows in his judgment he ought not to wound his father but there is something in his nature that he cannot do it besides the over-powering force of his judgment As Esther in Chap. 8.6 expresseth this natural force How can I endure to see the evil that shall come upon my people or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred See how resolution wrought with her How can I endure how can I endure to see these things So saith the Soul that hath a sight of God How can I do thus against God That 's one thing In the second place The knowledg of this blessedness that God is become ours calms quiets and moderates the heart towards all things So that there is neither that inordinacy of reaching after or holding fast these present things as there was before Besides this it works an holy contentment in our present estate an holy indifferency to any future possible condition according to the Will and Wisdom of God When once a man hath tasted of this Interest and hath seen the favour of the great God in the face of Jesus Christ he looks no more after other Lovers but shakes them off according to the measure he hath attained As in a house more noble things take place and dust and things of no value are cast out so when this Pearl of infinite worth takes place in the Soul when once a man lives in an enjoyment of God he dyes so far to all things else In Gal. 6.14 saith the Apostle having said before that Christ lived in him I am crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me The world looks on me as a dead thing with whom it would not converse and I look on the world as a dead corps and have nothing to do with it it is of no value with me When Ruth was married to Boaz she forsook the field and gleaned no more when she had got Boaz's estate she minded no more to gather handfulls of Corn by gleaning If any man saith Christ drink of these waters he shall never thirst he shall not need to dig any other pits these waters shall content him his desires shall be so confined contented and contracted to this one thing A mans interest in one is according to the person in whom it is He that hath interest in a Prince will not be drawn away by beggers When Saul had found a Kingdom he minded no more the Asses which he was seeking When the people of God had freedom to come to Jerusalem they were willing to leave Babylon This is a great piece of holiness for a man