from this holy Table this blessed Sacrament yet feareth to come unprepared to it That man shall be as blessed in his coming as he is rare to find Blessed shall he be 1. in the sacred knowledg of Christs will Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose 2. Blessed shall he be in the quiet peace of a good conscience his soul shall dwell at ease 3. Blessed he shall be in the present comfort of an hopeful progenie his seed shall inherit the earth § 8. 1. Blessed in the knowledg of Christs will him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose He that feareth the Lord let him in this Sacrament commit his way unto the Lord Psal 37.5 as for the blessings of his Providence so for the instruction of his Spirit and the guidance of his hand that so the way which he shall walk may not be so much of his own as of Gods choice and not so much of his election as of Gods approbation So shall the Lord teach him in the way not only direct him to find it in the knowledg of his Word but also enable him to walk in it in a conformity to his will sanctifying him throughout the understanding to discern the will to embrace the affections to pursue the whole man to act what is holy and just and good § 9. And thus we know then which is the right way amidst the many now Cross-paths of Heresie and Schism we know which is the right way of truth and holiness not that which we devise but which God doth choose for it is God alone who must prescribe the rule by which we are to square our lives the form by which we are to order his Worship And therefore the Church from the beginning hath still worshipp'd God according to Divine revelation not humane discretion acknowledging as one true God so one true manner of Worship of which God himself is the Author the Author in his Word his Word of truth the glass of his Divinity from which Word declared in his holy Gospel and by his Spirit conveyed in the blessed Sacrament he that feareth the Lord shall be taught in the way that he shall choose to the making him blessed in the saving knowledg of his sacred will § 10. 2. Blessed in the quiet peace of a good conscience His soul shall dwell at ease His soul happily he may with S. Paul Gal. 6.17 bear in his body the marks of the Lord Iesus in his sufferings for his name his person imprisoned his estate seised his name defamed yet his soul enjoys its peace its ease its rest And when the World shall curse and condemn O the blessed peace of that mans soul whose conscience in the name of God shall acquit and absolve Sweet peace the peculiar blessing of the truly sanctified yea the special benefit of this blessed Sacrament which as it seals the Covenant of grace so of peace in a perfect reconciliation with God by Christ § 11. In this peace of conscience sure we are to find ease of soul yea pernoctabit anima the soul shall dwell or lodge all night in rest all the night of the Churches distress the dark and doleful night of heresies and schisms of oppression and violence the soul that is at peace with God being instructed in his truth and sanctified with his grace shall have its light in darkness its easeful rest of spiritual comforts amidst the tumultuous changes of temporal troubles Yea pernoctabit in bono when with others either their designs of mischief or their horror of guilt shall keep them waking the holy innocence of him that feareth the Lord shall have its bed of rest § 12. And it is not worldly calamity that shall so dismay his soul as to fright him from the profession of a true faith no the holy fear of God shall destroy all such sinful fears of men even as Moses's Serpent devoured all those Serpents of the Magicians efficit timor Dei ut caetera non possint timeri the fear of God hath this good effect that it makes other things not to be feared so that the soul of him who feareth the Lord doth dwell as in rest so in goodness as in peace so in patience till this moment of time be swallowed up in the fulness of eternity and he change his earthly dwelling for an heavenly Mansion and his spiritual peace for an everlasting blessedness And when he that feareth the Lord shall be translated to that eternal bliss of which spiritual peace is the earnest and the blessed Sacrament the pledge that God whom he feared shall take care of his children that they by the blessing of his Providence as his seed shall inherit the earth which is the third blessedness the present comfort of an hopeful progeny § 13. His seed so near and dear are children especially good children to their parents that they are their very seed as if themselves were but as chaff or straw without them and to them as well as unto the Parents belong the promises for so saith God to Abraham Act. 2.39 Gen. 17.7 I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee true it is temporal promises were the reward of legal obedience but now spiritual and eternal mercies are the incouragements of our Evangelical righteousness yea Canaan being a type of Heaven the temporal promises under the Law were the typical figures of those spiritual blessings given us in promise under the Gospel So that though the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Psal 112.2 yet may a righteous generation lose the inheritance of their fathers their just possessions by unjust violence and this without breach of this promise that the seed of those who fear the Lord shall inherit the earth § 14. For that to inherit the earth as spoken of Canaan in the type doth represent us the Evangelical promise of inheriting Heaven as the thing typified of which heavenly inheritance they cannot be deprived by an earthly violence who are the righteous seed of him who feares the Lord Thus have we seen the blessedness of him that feareth the Lord blessed in the saving knowledge of Christs sacred will in the quiet peace of a good conscience and in the present comfort of a hopeful progeny all which is implied when David here says VVhat man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse his soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the earth § 15. To sum up all then what man is he that feareth the Lord that feareth lest he offend and feareth till he obtain pardon of his offences And therefore now that mercy comes down from heaven in this blessed Sacrament and rests upon this Ordinance as a sacred Mercy-seat he does not with Adam in the garden withdraw and hide himself in a distrustful fear but as Aaron in the Temple Gen. 3.6 he draws near in an
implore its deliverance And when when more seasonably help the Church with our prayers then now when her Prayers are violently wrested from the Church § 22. But more especially 2 to mind us of the fit season and service to pray for Israels deliverance even the celebration of the blessed Eucharist Seeing so great wrath is come upon us from the Almighty do we this day lay hold on the horns of the Altar do we in the celebration of this blessed Sacrament deeply sigh and contritely mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the Land that so Ezek. 9.4 with those Penitentiaries in Ezekiel we may receive our mark even that blood of Christ upon out souls that so the destroying Angel may yet pass over us and in the behalf of this our Israel do we in our most enlarged devotions make this or the like intercession unto God in the holy Eucharist Look down oh look down heavenly Father from the height of Heaven thy celestial Sanctuary and behold the sacred Hoast the blood of our Jesus speaking better things then that of Abel Heb. 12.24 even things of grace and of mercy of pardon and of peace of reconciliation and of restauration And seeing in him thy justice is satisfied let thy wrath be appeased and through the merit of his blood oh let the bleeding wounds of our fainting Land be healed and the faintâ—ng heart of our languishing Church reviv'd § 23. And here let the outward distractions of our Israel minde us of the inward distempers of our hearts the great profanations in the Church prompt us to a strict purifying of our Consciences yea our longing desires after better days quicken our holy endeavours after better lives So shall we find by an happy experience God who did watch for our deliverance when we knew not our danger In the Powder-plot 1605. he will not sleep now we know our danger and pray for our deliverance No as for the Enemies of Sion evil shall fall upon them and sudden desolation Isa 47.11 nescient ortum ejus they shall not know from whence it ariseth But as for the Israel of God he shall deliver them as a bird out of the Fowlers net Ps 124 6 7. and as a prey out of the Lyons teeth at once making it the praise of our faith then to believe when our trust seems to be against hope Rom. 4.18 and the glory of his power then to save when our condition seems to be past succor And thus for the share we have in the sorrow of Israels troubles we shall have our portion in the joy of Israels deliverance Is 35.10 if not whilst the Church is militant on earth yet most assuredly then when triumphant in heaven of which this blessed Sacrament is the seal and pledge confirming the Royal grant of this humble Petition to every faithful soul that prays with David Deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles Halleluiah THE Preacher's Tripartite BOOK II. To administer COMFORT BY CONFERENCE with the SOUL IN ITS Spiritual Conflicts Reduced to particular CASES of CONSCIENCE Viz. 1. The importunate Crowd of Vain Thoughts 2. The frightful Suggestions of Foul Thoughts 3. Some late Relapses into Sin 4. Daily Conflicts with Sin 5. A Distrust of the Graces sincerity in general of Faith and of Repentance in particular 6. The sense of Barrenness in holy Duties 7. The misapprehension of Gods withdrawing the Comforts of his gracious presence 8. The misinterpretation of the Order of Gods Providence as to the Tribulations of the Godly and as to the Prosperity of the Wicked 9. The long Continuance of Temptations and Afflictions By ROBERT MOSSOM LONDON Printed by Thomas Newcomb 1657. TO THE Right Honorable Lady FRANCES Marchioness of HERTFORD c. MADAM I Acknowledge it mine ambition that I seek your Honor's Patronage but dare adventure upon this guilt in confidence of a Favorable Pardon as well as an Honorable Protection to your Suppliant I know no vice in Morals unpardonable like that of Ingratitude and therefore to avoid the sin and censure of this Apostacy I declare it Madam your Reward of Goodness exceeding the Merit of a former Present which hath obliged the duty of this Dedication What are the charitable supplies of your Eleemosynary bounties notwithstanding Modesty is at once the Vail and Ornament of your Vertues there is a Trumpet of Honorable Fame that proclaims it That I have my self received an encouragement of my Studies by your Nobleness I willingly embrace this opportunity thankfully to acknowledge and record Besides Madam it were improper to intitle the SOUL'S CONFERENCE to any other then an experienced Piety whose Spiritual Conflicts sustained can give testimony to the Comforts administred which not Greatness but Goodness can best approve and Patronize Here then Madam to your Goodness as great in Honor and to your Honor as great in Goodness is humbly presented this Freewill-offering the Work and the Author and no Votary can do more then make his whole Possession one Oblation as ambitious to bear the name and attribute of being NOBLE MADAM Your Honors Faithfully Devoted Servant R. MOSSOM CONFERENCE WITH THE SOUL In its Spiritual Conflicts THE INTRODUCTION IT is the great design of Satan in a malicious envy to Man if he cannot spoil us of our Crown Lam. 3.17 18. then to rob us of our Comfort If he cannot deprive us of Grace then to bereave us of our Peace Which thing he doth not only attempt but often attain by raising in our hearts an infernal fog of diffidence and distrust Ps 77.8 9. Ps 88.5 6. begetting such doubts and fears and affrighting terrors as do make the Soul against all the light of counsel and of comfort in the Word conclude against it self to have lost all interest in Gods love Job 38.2 and Christs merits Lam 5.22 Isa 49.14 all Communion with the Spirit of grace and of life pleading with much vehemencie of passion and impatience that its former hopes have been but deceitful presumptions and its exercises of holiness hypocritical delusions Oh the thick darkness which this mist and fog of Satans suggestions casts upon the inward man How doth it become the very shop of fears the womb of terrors Ps 23 4. yea the valley and shadow of death the cheering light of the Sun of Righteousness being thereby eclipsed from the Soul Now there is no greater advantage unto Satan in his temptations then the ignorance and error of the mind when the Understanding is darkened or deceiv'd darkened through want of knowledge or deceiv'd with a false light For Satan he works still contrary unto God and yet in imitation of him too And therefore as God in his operations of grace to beget life Eph. 1.17 18. he first enlightens and illuminates so Satan in his temptations unto sin to destroy grace he first darkens and deceives 2 Cor. 4.4 Eph. 4.18 Luk. 22.64 He doth with the
fast to them and to their doctrine keep firm to that profession of Faith which the Orthodox Clergy have preached in their Sermons and still preach in their sufferings such as never yet renounced or contradicted their subscriptions The sum of our Churches Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government contained in the Liturgy in the Thirty nine Articles the Book of Homilies and of Ordination These every Minister did subscribe to even those Ministers did set to their hands in subscription to justifie them who after lift up their hands in Covenant to destroy them But God grant them Repentance and us Perseverance them Repentance of their Revolt and us Perseverance in the Faith that at the last day the Church may say to us what Christ said to his Apostles Luâ— â— 28 Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations and then shall Christ in the view of the whole World reward our Patience and crown our Constancy making it manifest fully manifest That we are approved Thus have we done with the several particulars of the Explication and of the Application what remains but your practice Halleluiah THE FIRST SERMON UPON Matth. 28. V. 19. and part of the 20. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Introduction IF we who serve in the Sanctuary do as men intrusted in greatest Affairs and Imployments should do often view our Commission from our Saviour as his Ministers 1 Cor. 4.1 Matth. 10.24 2 Cor. 5.20 from our Lord as his Stewards from our Master as his Servants yea from our King as his Ambassadors This frequent view will animate our Ministry with a zealous vigor encouraged in our Service by the authority and presence of our Lord and Master See the Preface to my Text and we finde our Saviour victoriously risen from the Grave and before he triumphantly ascends into Heaven he orders the affairs of his Church on Earth speaking unto his Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things concerning the Kingdom Acts 1.3 The Kingdom of which he is Soveraign All power being given unto him in Heaven and in Earth which power he hath promised shall never fail his Church For so says Christ unto his Apostles and all their Successors in the close and compline of the Text Behold I am with you unto the end of the World I am with you in the work of your Ministry with you to prosper your labors and protect your persons To prosper your labors making Disciples not to your selves but to me You I have deputed to the Office of Preaching my Word and administring my Sacraments and therefore they who own me their Master shall acknowledge you my Ministers But further I am with you Matth. 10.40 as to prosper your labors so to protect your persons I will plead your right vindicate yo r authority punish your contempt and avenge your injury If any sleight and despise the office of your ministry if any question or doubt the efficacy of mine Ordinances my Word my Sacraments see my power behold my presence maugre all the malice and rage of men and devils of earth and hell the ministry of my Gospel and Grace shall stand let this then be your encouragement and comfort let this be your assurance and establishment I will justifie your Office and make good your Commission for All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth and lo I am with you unto the end of the World And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go ye teach all Nations c. The words they are the very basis and foundation of the Gospels Ministry to us Gentiles Observe in them three parts a Mission Division a Commission and particular Instructions for the exercising that Commission First The Mission delivered in an usual Grecism of the Participle for the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go ye Secondly The Commission not barely no nor properly teach but more fully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make Disciples Dìscipulas facìte omnes gentes as Beza Disciple ye all Nations Thirdly The particular instructions for the exercising this Commission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptising and Teaching admitting into the School and Church of Christ by Baptism and then tutoring and training up by Doctrine which Baptism is instituted as to the form of its ministration to be In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and the Doctrine is prescribed as to the extent of its object to be All things whatsoever Christ hath commanded the end of wh ch Doctrine is obedience even to observe and do Thus Go ye disciple all Nations baptising them in the Name of thâ— Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you 1. The Mission Go ye The three Offices of Christ as Mediator Explic. his Prophetick Priestly and Regal Office These he now exerciseth in his Church on Earth in the outward Ministry by her Pastors and in the inward Ministraâ—ion by his Spirit In the outward Ministry of the Church her Pastors do expound the Word of God Preach the Gospel of Truth unfold the Mysteries of Grace which is that part of their Ministry committed to them of Christ in the execution of his Prophetical Office Again they offer up the Sacrifices of Prayers and Thanksgivings Baptize and bless in the Name of Christ and celebrate the Sacramental solemnity of the holy Eucharist which is that part of their Ministry committed to them of Christ in the execution of his Priestly Office Further yet they bind the unbelieving and loose the Believer they excommunicate the scandalous and absolve the penitent they govern by Discipline and correct by censure which is that part of their Ministry committed to them of Christ in the execution of his Regal Office Now no part nor portion of this Ministry may any man take upon him Heb. 5.4 but being called as was Aaron that is called even with an inward and outward call as thus A man hath been brought up in the Schools of the Prophets or else where devoted himself to the study of Divinity whereby he is become in a competent measure fitted for the service of the Church 1 Pet. 5.2 when now he findes St. Peter's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a willingness of spirit and readiness of minde to employ his gifts this is the inward call of God But further to testifie and declare this there must be the outward call of the Church Christ receiving him into the Office of the Ministry by the regular Ordination of his Substitutes who alone in this representing his person can give us our Mission of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go ye But alas the disorder and confusion of Sacriledge and Schism What was the Prophets complaint is now our Churches groan
of mens persons some are his elect and chosen Luke 18.7 Ezek. 44 24 Psal 105.15 Mal. 3.8 John 2.16 2 Sam. 7.5 of times and seasons some are his Sabbaths and feasts of servants and attendants some are his Prophets and Ministers of goods and chattels some are his Tithes and Oblations And thus of places and habitations some are his Temples some are his Houses in which Houses and Temples places dedicated to Gods worship and service he vouchsafes to dwell not as thereby confining his presence but therein declaring it For most true it is God hath no bounds of himself but himself his essence is infinite for immensity and omnipresence as well as for majesty and omnipotence He hath heaven for his Throne and earth for his footstool Isai 66.1 and therefore is not contained in Temples made with hands Seeing God then is not inclosed within walls nor confined by place how is he said to be in his Temple as in his house Why it is not to denote him contained but present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Philo Judaeus gives the short yet full resolution God is present every where as containing all things not contained himself And so though in the immensity of his Omnipresence his being is in all places yet in the manifestation of his gracious presence his dwelling is more especially in his Temple and this in the holy ministrations of his Word and Sacraments And thus hath God his house on earth as well as his house in heaven which two have so good a correspondency in a communion of things Psal 102.19 that they have their analogy in a communication of Names And therefore as we finde in Scripture heaven is called Gods sanctuary so Gods Sanctuary may be called Heaven And thus however men despise the house of Gods worship yet is it the place where his honour dwelleth Psal 26.8 yea as his house above is coeleste solum earth in heaven so his house below it is terrestre coelum heaven on earth But now to attribute holiness to places and call our Churches Gods houses is not this superstitious and Jewish No sure we are otherwayes taught by our Saviour who saith expresly of his Fathers house Mark 11.17 that it shall be called the house of prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all Nations it shall be called that is palà m erit habebitur it shall so every where be and be accounted as Beza himself gives the glosse And observe We finde not our Saviour using any severities so much as in zeal for Gods house that being prophaned he takes the whip in his hand as well as the Text in his mouth and scourgeth as well as reproveth he whips the oxen and those men more beasts then they the money-changers out of the Temple and justifies his Zeal by a Scriptum est it is written My house shall be called the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of theeves Now that part of the Temple where our Saviour did this was not Atrium populi the Peoples court that wherein the Jewes worshipped but that Atrium gentium the Gentiles court wherein those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 17.4.17 those Grecians and other devout persons spoken of in the Acts Acts 8.27 were admitted and worshipped For we may not think the Jewes who were so zealous for their Temples holiness we may not think they would suffer the Oxen to tread where themselves set foot so charily neither would they suffer shops and stalls and trade and traffick where themselves did not approach bâ—t cleansed and purified It was that court which was made a thorow-fair Mark 11.16 as appears by the peoples carrying vessels thorow it which none was but that of the Gentiles as being void of legall sanctity and without the first bounds of the Temple yet this being a place of publick prayer our Saviour will have it esteemed as Gods house whereby he establisheth the relative holiness of our Christian Churches The Jewes so zealous that nothing might come within their bounds of the Temple to profane them they were regardless of the Gentiles bounds as not so capable of profanation Our Saviour at once to convince the Jewes error as evill and vindicate the place of the Gentiles worship as holy he sayes of that court where the Gentiles did pray that it is his Fathers house and thereby establisheth the holiness of Christian Oratories to all Nations Wherefore if we be Christians we must approve of the publike places of Gods worship which publike places must be accounted houses of Prayer and if houses of Prayer the houses oâ— God and what is his is holy And now upon this our Saviours ground have all our Christian Churches been erected and as erected so consecrated Thus when Christianity gained first acceptance with the Imperial authority that famous Church at Jerusalem was consecrated by Eusebius and that at Alexandria by Athanasius And we may observe it was the Churches persecution by Heathens which hindred the building her Temples and sure then to pull down her Temples must be a persecution if not heathenish But why will our Saviour have his Fathers house called the house of prayer why not as well the house of sacrifice and of the Sacraments Quest or the house of prophesying and of preaching I answer Because without prayer all the rest are nothing Answ either as to Gods worship or our benefit And that hereby we see the excellency of prayer above all other duties and of publike prayer above all private devotions Thus I have opened unto you the house of the Lord and we shall proceed further to shew you how David dwells there and discover to you the length of his lease even for term of life so says the Psalmist One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life 1. How David is said to dwell in the house of the Lord. The dwelling David here speaks of is not such as if he would have the pallace of the King to be in the Temple of the Lord or as another Samuel himself continually to attend the Priest no his dwelling is not meant of a proper and continued habitation there but of a frequent and constant repair thither even in the mornings and in the evenings on the Sabbaths and on the Feasts dayes then to attend the publick solemnities of Gods worship and service Psal 84.4 And O blessed are they Lord that thus dwell in thy house they will be still praising thee And it 's worth our observing how Davids desire and resolution answers that of God himself who says of Zion This shall be my rest for ever Psal 132.15 here will I dwell for I have desired it The Lord delights himself in Communion with his Saints and well may his Saints then delight themselves in Communion with their God God dwels with the faithful as in his
have deaded your affections so that either you do not see what is visible to the Spiritual eye or do not desire what is delightful to the devout Heart Such a heart as that of Davids who makes it his unum petii One thing have I desired of the Lord c. But further yet well does David make this the end and reason of his dwelling in the Lords House That he may behold his Beauty for how many are there who never behold the Lords beauty whilst they are in his House They are happily as forward to come to Gods Temple as David they desire it ay and seek it too but what is it to see God or rather to be seen themselves is it to behold the Beauty of the Lord or is not rather O the bewitching folly and cursed Atheism of some mens hearts is it I say to behold the Beauty of the Lord or not rather to behold the Beauty of some Lady Tell me O thou prophane wanton Is it not some Mistress that masters thy Devotion Tell me thou gaudy Minion is it not more to shew thy self then serve thy God is it not more that others may see thy beauty then that thou maist see the Beauty of the Lord Are not these the Motives and Reasons of too too many who resort to Gods House I appeal to your own bosoms and if so no wonder if they who are blinded with the filth and folly of their own lusts cannot see the Beauty and Loveliness of Gods house The Beauty of the Lord as it is not the prospect of every place so nor is it the object of every eye 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned No wonder then if they taste not the sweetness of Davids delight who see not the beauty which ravisheth him which beauty is not seen by the Eye of Sense but the Eye of Faith And this Eye is set in the heart not in the head for so David taken and ravished with this Beauty of the Lord Psal 57.7 he cries out My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Oh Beloved Know that when an humble penitent and enlarged suppliant feels a secret ardor of Divine love and then comes to bear a part in that holy Worship which is presented before the Throne of Grace holds Communion with the Saints and Angels and is accepted by the God of Heaven as perfumed by the Incense of Christs Merits Oh this this is more beautiful and lovely more pleasing and joyous to the devout Soul then to sway the Scepter of the Universe and command a confluence of all this Worlds delights Confident I am Rev. 4.10 those four and twenty Elders in the Revelations had more joy and delight in casting down their Crowns and Worshiping the Lamb then ever Monarch had in wearing his Crown though Domitian-like he were adored by men And here to restrain mens irreverence in the Church Let me use alike argument to that of Lycurgus to restrain a desired parity in the State It is said of Lycurgus That when the Lacedemonians required an equality in their Government he wished them first to begin it in their Houses and this did presently instruct them to know That par in parem non habet imperium where there is parity there can be no good rule As thus Lycurgus to restrain the Lacedemonian parity in the State so to restrain mens irreverence in the Church I say Beloved do ye when ye serve God here as ye require them to do who serve you at home that is as you expect they should give you a civil respect in your houses so do you give God a Religious reverence in his Temple otherwise it will be apparent you are more sensible of your own honor then of Gods and esteem more of your own houses then his Or else it will appear you prophanely think the Church not to be Gods House nor the Service there his Worship A prophaneness diametrically opposite to Davids Devotion in his Unum petii One thing have I desired c. 2. Be we exhorted acrording to Davids example Aperto vivere vâ—to openly to profess our devotion and zeal to Gods House declare our judgment and affection for Gods Worship even then when we cannot give our presence and attendance in his Sanctuary There is none but thinks the Churches present pressure to be the Clergies tryal and true indeed it is so yet to be driven from Pulpit and Altar from Sanctuary and Service is no new thing to us that hath been our tryal again and again in all which we have to the eye and ear of the whole world witnessed by our sufferings our hearty good will and zeal to Gods House Wherefore know Beloved this tryal is also and more especially the peoples to prove their sincerity whether they have had a respect to the presence of God or of men in attending the service of his Sanctuary for Fashion or for Conscience If for Conscience they will then follow the Lamb whither soever he goes Rev. 4.14 they will follow Christ wheresoever he presents himself in his Ordinances even in private Communion with a desire and longing after the Publick Congregation We say the presence of the King makes the Court and as it was told Commodus ibi Roma ubi Augustus There is Rome Herodian l. 1. where is the Emperor so there is the Church where is Christ Christ in hâ—s Ordinances there is his Sanctuary where is his service And it is no new thing to have the Ark brought into the house of Abinadab 1 Sam. 7.1 changing its publick seat for a private habitation Now I bless God for this opportunity of vindicating the honor of his House that as the Jews when driven from Jerusalem yet prayed with their faces towards the Temple so ye if God shall suffer you to be deprived of his service may still pray with your desires fixt upon his Sanctuary longing to visit his Temple and behold the beauty of his Holiness And here seeing we are come into Gods house and that to feed at Christ Table do we so behold his beauty as to adore his presence adore it with the humblest reverence of a devout heart so worshipping God in his Sanctuary as Christ hath taught us to petition him in our Prayers even Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven See then what is our pattern in the Mount Rev. 4.10 11. 5.8 c. what is the precedent Angels and Saints give us in Heaven Why we have it in St. Johns Vision where the heavenly Spirits the Angels and Saints they worship they fall down and sing praise and this with consent of will and of worship keeping order and unity one posture of adoration one form of praise as one heart of devotion and one fire of love Now what better way in our aspirings after perfection then to imitate those who are perfect and so whilst Sojourners on Earth to have our conversation in Heaven whereas a multitude met together in the Church without Order and Discipline Non populus sed turba est It is not a Congregation but a tumult not an assembly but a rout Babilonem exhibet Bern. in dedicat Eccle. Ser. 5. de Hierusalem nihil habet as Bernard well Such a meeting speaks men of Babylon not of Jerusalem not Jerusalem which is above whose order and unity we have seen in St. Johns Vision and ought to imitate in Gods House To close As you behold the Beauty of the Lord in the form of the Churches ministration so above all behold it in the excellency and glory of the things ministred Behold we that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that good pleasure of the Lord wherewith he loveth us in Christ bringing life and salvation to our Souls in the death and passion of his Son See here that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Church calls it that portentum amoris that stupendous wonder and astonishing mystery of Divine love that God should give his Son and the Son give himself to be the Sacrifice for our sin on his Cross and the Food of our Souls at his Table And here O thou humble penitent and devout suppliant When thou hast tasted the sweetness and delights behold the beauty and glory of the Lord in this Contemplation of his Love with St. Austin I say unto thee Aliud desidera si majus si melius si suavius inveneris Go consider and desire contemplate and enjoy something else if any thing thou canst finde greater or better or sweeter greater in glory better in worth or sweeter in delights But if here thou beholdest a beauty to which all other excellency is a foil a glory to which all other lustre is a stain a delight to which all other pleasure is a bitterness If so then here center thy desires and take up Davids Unum petii One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple Halleluiah FINIS
embraces of thy love and comforts of thy Spirit unto thee that thy thorns may be my crown thy blood my balsom thy curse my blessing thy death my life Coloss 3.3 thy cross my triumph Thus is my life hid with Christ in God and if so then where should be my soul but where is my life And therefore unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul § 4. I lift up my soul unto thee at thy Table who hast been thy self lift up for me on thy Cross thou hast been lift up for me in a propitiatory sacrifice and therefore I here offer my self to thee in a gratulatory oblation Is◠53.10 thou madest thy soul an offering for sin and here I make my soul an offering of thankfulness In this Eucharist then accept my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mine oblation of praise and thanksgiving in which O Lord it is that I lift up my soul unto thee § 5. Unto thee O Lord thy flesh thy blood not unto the outward elements the bread the wine unto thee and thy fulness as the inward grace not unto thee and their use as the outward sign My soul dwells not on those earthly symbols but by them as by a ladder it ascends and lifts up it self unto thy heavenly riches And thus whilst my body feeds on consecrated food oh let my soul be filled with thy consecrating fulness whilst my body tastes their wholsom sweetness let my soul be satisfied with thy saving goodness And to this end it is that unto thee O Lord I lift up my soul § 6. Unto thee O Lord Oh make good thy name of Lord unto me as Lord rebuke Satan and restrain all earthly and carnal affections that they do not once dare to whisper a temptation to my soul a distraction to my thoughts whilst I am in communion with thee in prayer at thine holy ordinance Do thou as Lord rule me by thy grace govern me by thy Spirit defend me by thy power and crown me with thy salvation Thou Lord the Preserver of heaven and earth thou openest thine hand Psal 145.16 and satisfiest the desire of every living thing Oh open now thine hand thy bosom thy bounty thy love and satisfie the desires of my longing soul which I here lift up unto thee § 7. Thou Lord givest bread to man from the earth thou gavest Manna to Israel from heaven give oh give thy self unto me in this Sacrament as the true bread the heavenly Manna the life-giving food of thy Church Thou Lord art now reigning in heaven oh do thou now also set up thy throne in my heart Thou art exalted in heavenly glory oh manifest thy self in thy gracious presence In thy heavenly glory thou art the joy of holy Angels and blessed Saints in thy gracious presence be thou now the reviving of devout souls and humble Penitents O my love my joy my Jesus my Lord be thou present with me in thy Sacrament present more then by inspiration and make me present with thee and that more then by meditation even lift up my soul unto thee in a spiritual real and eternal communion § 8. Oh how does this blessed Sacrament add wings to devout souls and wrap them up with S. Paul unto the third heaven 2 Cor. 1◠2 in an extasie of contemplation and love And what shall my soul now lie groveling on the earth hiding it self with Saul amongst the stuff 1 Sam. 10.22 clogg'd and deprest with worldly thoughts with earthly and carnal affections No it may not it must not Christ is risen Col. 3.1 and therefore sursum corda my heart my spirit that shall rise too and seek those things which are above even unto thee O Lord my Jesus do I lift up my soul § 9. My soul but how shall I call it mine seeing it is thine thine by purchase thine having bought it with thy blood yea is it not thy Spouse whom thou hast wedded to thy self by thy Spirit through faith And is not this holy Sacrament the Marriage-feast If so sure then my Jesus I was lost in my self till found in thee and therefore my soul is now and not till now truly mine in being wholly thine so that I can say with confidence I lift up my soul unto thee § 10. I lift up Oh the load of my sins the burden of my flesh so heavy that I cannot of my self lift up my head how shall I then lift up my soul Wherefore O my Savior do thou add thy strength to my weakness thy supporting grace to my fainting spirit and then I will run after thee and lift up not onely my hands but my heart not onely my eies but my soul unto thee § 11. My soul For it is not indeed the eye or the tongue or the hand or the knee but the soul which makes the acceptable service in prayer and praises unto God the devotion of the soul that is the very soul of devotion Wherefore that I may present my self a living sacrifice at Christs table Rom. 12.1 my best part shall be my first oblation and therefore in the very preparation and entrance of this sacred solemnity See O see unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Vers 2 3. O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed let not mine enemies triumph over me yea let none that wait on thee be ashamed let them be ashamed which transgress without cause § 1. O My God I trust in thee c. My prayer O Lord is founded upon faith my faith upon thy promises so that because thou art my God therefore I trust in thee yea because I trust in thee therefore thou art my God My God otherwise O Christ thou wert not my Jesus but O my Jesus who savest me by thy blood Gal. 3 1. in this thy Sacrament thou art set forth crucified and I behold thy wounds from whence by the hand of faith I pluck forth these comfortable words of life My Lord and my God Joh. 20 28. § 2. My God mine for thou hast partook of my humane nature 2 Pet. 1 4. and thou hast made me to partake of thy divine nature thou hast taken upon thee my flesh and thou hast communicated unto me of thy Spirit yea in this thy Sacrament thou communicates body and blood flesh and spirit thy whole Manhood yea thy very Godhead too thy whole self as Mediator therefore thou art my God and I trust in thee § 3. I trust in thee to make good my right to the Covenant of Grace to make good my claim to the heavenly inheritance yea even to make good my communion with thee in all thy fulness a communion so firm that the Bread and Wine I eat and drink is not more really my food then thou my Jesus in whom I beleeve and trust art my God And for this so great a blessing of thy love for this so great a benefit of thy grace it is
sweet is thy mercy let be the more eager my longings that so my whole life on earth may be a continued breathing after that eternal fellowship and communion with thee in Heaven thus thus let me wait even all my life all the day Vers 6 7. Remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses for they have been ever of old Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake O Lord. § 1. O My God thy former mercies are pledges to me of thy future grace Wherefore remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses which have been ever of old Psal 90.2 exhibited by thy Spirit in this Sacrament Are not thy mercies O Lord like thy self from everlasting to everlasting thy mercies they have been ever of old and sure the streams cannot fail where the fountain is inexhaustible and such is thy good goodness § 2. But how is it then that my soul dwels in darkness if thou be light how is that I remain disconsolate and miserable if thou Lord art so gracious and merciful thou lovest to be importuned in prayer Isa 43.26 and thereby as it were minded of thy mercy not that that thou art forgetful of thy love but that thou wouldst have us sensible of our wants Wherefore least thou shouldst do as my sins have deserved cast me out of thy thoughts let my humble suit mind thee of thy mercies Thy tender mercies for it is no ordinarie medicine that will cure my soar no mean mercy that will save my soul the sadness of my affl ctions requires the tenderness of thy compassions wherefore Remember O Lord thy tender mercies Psal 42.7 § 3. Mercies O how does one deep call upon another the depth of my multipli'd miseries calls loudly calls upon the depth of thy manifold mercies even that mercy whereby thou dost pardon my sin and help mine infirmities that mercy whereby thou dost sanctifie me by thy Grace and comfort me by thy Spirit that mercy whereby thou dost quicken me with life and preserve me from death that mercy whereby thou dost deliver me from Hell and possess me of Heaven Remember O Lord all those thy mercies thy tender mercies which as they have been of old unto thy Saints so now seal them unto thy servant in this blessed Sacrament § 4. And as thou seals me thy tender mercies so convey unto me thy loving kindnesses even those enligthning gifts those beautifiing graces those refreshing comforts those divine manifestations of thy presence those secret aspirings of the soul those devout raptures of the Spirit those divine meltings of the heart that peace of conscience that joy in the holy Ghost all these thy loving kindnesses let me in some proportion of measure taste if not in some measure of fulness enjoy in a blessed communion with thee my Jesus in this sacred solemnity § 5. Thy Saints of old how have they come from this thy Table satisfied with good things and like Giants refreshed with wine Psal 65.4 furnished to every good work and strong to resist the temptations of Satan having been made partakers of thy precious blood which thou shedest for them how have they been animated in the profession of faith to shed their dearest blood for thee Yea remember those thy former mercies to mine own soul when I have come with sorrow and returned with joy come trembling in fear and returned exulting through faith come fainting and weak returned strengthened and confirmed And what Lord hath thy Table been so sweet a refreshing and shall it not be so still to my soul if I come the oftner shall I return the sadder and by how much I am the more eager in my desires wilt thou be the further off in thy fulness § 6. This indeed my sins have deserved but thy mercies they are tender and will not deal with me according to my deserts wherefore remember then thy old mercies not my old sins thy tender compassions not my present transgrssions call not to mind the sins of my youth to visit them upon the years of my riper age wean me from my youthful sins and give me not over by a just judgement upon their provocation to more manly more stubborn impieties Just it were that the sins of my greener years should deprive me of thy blessing in my riper age but whilst my sins move thee to wrath let thy compassions move thee to mercy that so my former unworthiness with-hold not from me the blessing and grace of thy present Ordinance remember thou me in this according to thy mercy for thy goodness sake O Lord. § 7. According to thy mercy not mine for I have forsaken those mercies thou madest mine own in being cruel to my self by my sin Jon. 2 8. Psal 59.10 17 through distrust of thy promise upon presumptions in thy mercy yea let it be for thy goodness sake not mine for in me Rom 7.18 that is in my flesh dwelleth no manner of thing that is good let thy goodness then be the motive thy mercy the rule of all that grace and of all those blessings thou vouchsafest unto my soul Vers 8 9 10. Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way The meek will he guide in judgement and the meek will he teach his way All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies § 1. GOod and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way The true knowledge then O God of thy will is the gracious manifestation of thy goodness Good is the Lord in the graciousness of his promises upright is the Lord in the truâ—h of his performances and this grace and truth which is the habitation of his Throne is the refuge of the sinner the sanctuary of the penitent whom he teacheth in the way even the way of truth the way of holiness the way of life § 2. The Lord is good And where Oh my soul canst thou better tast the goodness of the Lord then in this blessed Eucharist Psal 34 8. the sacred feast of the Lords goodness and as his goodness doth invite thee so let his uprightness encourage thee for that faithful is he who hath p omised faithful to give according to his promise healing for thy wounds strengthning for thy weakness comfort for thy sorrow yea give that which is the compendium of all spiritual good things Rom 5.1 2 Peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost § 3. Why art thou so heavy O my soul and why art thou so cast down within me Psal 42.11 Is it because thou hast broken the Covenant of thy God even the Covenant of reconciliation sealed thee by the Sacrament and that thus by thy sin thou art become at enmitie with thy maker Be it so yet will not the Lord who is good be as gracious
this blessed Sacrament § 7. In the close observe the strange yet strong argument of faith and repentance Pardon mine iniquity for it is great what does the humble penitent pray and plead for pardon from the heinousness of the offence and the multitude of the sins yea and an inforcing plea it is too when uttered from a broken heart and contrite spirit for that then even then is God most affected with mercy when he sees man most afflicted with misery This cry then of the humble penitent unto God pardon my iniquity for it is great is like that of the languishing patient unto the Phisitian help me for I am dangerously sick this we are sure the greater the sense of sin the greater the sincerity of repentance where then there is true penitence it will be a good argument to pray as David here does For thy name sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great Vers 12 13 What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse His soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the earth § 1. OH the water-floods of ungodliness which over-flow the world as another deluge in a general apostacy from truth and righteousness yet who is it that fears drowning who is it that in sense of sin and remorse of soul fears humbly and contritely fears the just wrath and vengeance of God Many there are in deed who plead for Reformation and pretend the fear of the Lord but what do they but cast out Devils by Beelzebub cast out prodigality by covetousness superstition by prophaneness Popery by Atheism and the like Yea as the Psalmist speaks whilst the vilest of men are exalted exalted to Moses Chair and Aarons Altar needs must it follow that the wicked walk on every side Psal 12.8 ambulant in circuitu as the vulgar Translation reads it they walk about in a circle pursuing their worldly interest they tread a large circumference of sins of which Hell it self is the Center § 2. See their character from the pen of an Apostle Rom. 3.13 Their throat is an open sepulchre with their tongues they have used deceipt the poison of Asps is under their lips And what is the true orginal as well as the high aggravation of all this wickedness what but that vers 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes So that in wonder at the rarity of a person truely religious we may well say Quis ille vir What man is he that feareth the Lord But it is not onely the rarity but more especially the excellency of the truly religious that David here in devout meditations so much admires § 3. He had said vers 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies and now reflecting upon himself he seems to make this the meaning of his here registred meditation Oh how does my conscience accuse me and my sin testifie against me that mine iniquity is great so that though all the waies of God be mercy and truth Vers 10. yet seeing it is to them that keep his covenant and his testimonies I cannot find comfort in his promises whilst I continue in my sins I cannot joy in his mercy whilst I languish in my guilt but as for him who hath God always before his face to over-aw his soul from trangressing his commands Psal 4 4. thereby injoying him in his love and the light of his countenance thereby preserving intire his claim to the promises of grace and life his hope of glory and blessedness Oh the excellencie and greatness Oh the beauty and loveliness Oh the bliss and happiness of such a soul of such a Saint O quis ille vir what a man is he he who thus feareth the Lord § 4. Whilst others fear those who kill the body the truly religious fears him who can kill both body and soul Mat. 10.28 and kill not only as wicked oppressors per modum potentiae by way of power but as a righteous Judge per modum justitiae by way of justice Many there are obstinately wicked who yet fear when they have offended struck with the horror of their guilt but it is the devoutly religious who fear to offend struck with the hatred of the sin It is one thing to fear because we have sinned another thing not to sin because we fear The former is oftentimes from the earth earthly the latter is alwaies from heaven heavenly the former does arise oft-times from the love of our selves the latter only from the love of God Cant 5.5 § 5. Fear is the Spouses myrrh which when it is lest we offend like the myrrh flowing of its own inclination it is much the better but when it is because we have offended like the myrrh of the second flowing which comes not without incision some smart and anguish upon the soul the former is the preservative the latter is the plaister the former prevents the malady the latter helps to the cure Of both we may say by way of excellencie though of the former in the greater excellencie What man is he that thus feareth the Lord Feareth for what why not so much for his judgments as his mercies To fear him for his judgments that is servile to fear him for his mercies that is true filial fear When his Judgments of wrath are upon us Isa 26.9 Psal 90.11 who is it that will not fear It was of old Thereafter as a man feareth so is thy displeasure But now the tables are turn'd and it is the direct contrary Thereafter as is thy displeasure so is mans fear § 6. Gods judgments and mans fear unless it be with those desperately wicked who are even fearless of Gods judgments they keep pace If he severely inflict his wrath then a seemingly devout fear is upon us but if he take off his rod we presently cast off our fear whereas the devout and truly pious soul will say as the Psalmist does Psal 130.4 There is mercy wâ—th thee O Lord therefore shalt thou be feared Indeed to the Godly all the ways of God are mercy so that we cannot tread the path of holiness but we must set foot in the way of mercy especially when we come to Gods house and approach the Lords table there there the Lord receives us into Covenant confirming to us his grace both the grace of Justification in the remission of sins and the grace of Sanctification by the spirit of holiness yea here he communicates the fulness of his benefits the riches of his blessings the sweetness of his love here he strengthens us in spiritual life and gives us the pledge of eternal glory And who is it that will not fear lest by unworthiness he deprive himself of all this mercy or by unthankfulness sin against all this love § 7. What man is he then that feareth the Lord that feareth to be absent
the ministration of the Sacraments Now to spoil us of the treasure to rob us of the comfort of this salvation is Satans grand design in his temptations unto sin and his suggestions of distrust for by these he labors to withdraw us from our God and deprive us of communion with Christ who is our love and our life But when the bird is mounted on the wing it is safe from the Fowlers net and the soul raised in communion with Christ is preserved from Satans snare And if through infirmity the soul flag and fall to the earth and so become intangled in carnal and worldly affections yet keeping the eye fixt upon Christ looking to him in his Ordinances to rece ve the quickening power of his grace though corrupt affections may intangle Rom. 8 2. Rom. 6.14 yet shall they not inthral the soul which becomes restored by the power of Christs Spirit a Spirit of life and liberty a Spirit of Grace and holiness delivering from the power of Satan and from the dominion of sin § 2. And this this is Davids practise and experience registred here by the Holy Ghost for our pattern and comfort when to the meditation of Gods promise and the manifestations of his love he joyns this profession of faith saying Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord c. In which profession of Davids faith we have two particulars 1. It s firm affiance 2. It s comfortable assurance 1. It s firm affiance Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord. 2. It s comfortable assurance For he shall pluck my feet out of the net § 3. First The firm affiance of Davids faith Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord. Mine eyes so general and sovereign an influence hath faith into the actual exercise of the divine graces that it does supply the office of the choycest members in the spiritual man therefore is Faith the legs that support the hand that receives the arms that imbrace the pallate that tastes the eye that beholds yea it is the heart of the inward man the seat of spiritual life for so says the Apostle the just shall live by faith and again I live Rom. 1 17. Gal. 2.20 yet not I but Christ that liveth in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God And very apt is this metaphor of faith that it is the eye of the soul whereby it discerns those things which are invisible invisible to the eye of sence and the eye of reason 2 Cor 4.18 yet made evident and visible by an enlightning power of the Spirit to the eye of faith and therefore is faith called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.1 a sacred evidence and divine demonstration of the truth of those things which neither sence nor reason can apprehend § 4. Many indeed there are eminent in Caldean learning and Mathematical science who in the height of their knowledge and with the eye of reason pierce the clouds discern the coelestâ—al motions of the heavenly bodies the inclining not necessitating influence of the Stars and Constellations yet how far short is all this of that Philo calls fides oculata an illuminated Faith the eye of the sanctified soul whereby it pierceth within the vail Heb. 6 19. looks into the holy of holies the most sacred and secret mysteries of grace and glory This is that Eagles eye which can receive the Rays of the Sun of righteousness being ever towards the Lord in the sweetness of his love and the riches of his fulness By this piercing eye of faith it is that Abraham through a bleeding sword and a sacrificed son does see a posterity numerous as the stars in heaven by this piercing eye of faith it is that Israel through a red Sea and a barren Wilderness does see a land of promise a Canaan of rest By this piercing eye of faith it is that David through a despised Crown and a broken Scepter does see a glorious Throne and famous Government yea by this peircing eye of faith it is that Jerusalem a type of the Church through a night of distress and a grave of capcaptivity does see a resurrection of peace and a full Noon of glory § 5. An enlightned faith is not discouraged with difficulties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian in Cyp. nor dampt with dangers knowing well that God oftentimes so orders the administrations of his Providence as that he works his own ends even by contrary means So that man is at a stand to determine whether is greater the wonder or the mercy of his Churches deliverance Now where lies the strength of faith why know not in the habit but in the object even in the Lord the creatures the Word the Sacraments they are good mediums but no full objects we must look thorow them as thorow a glass by which we behold God and Christ as the full and final object whereon to fix the the eye of faith and wherewith to terminate the sight of the soul § 6. Yea the blessings of providence and the graces of the spirit they are but the streams the Lord the Lord he is the fountain so that when all outward hopes fail and all inward comforts faint when there is a perfect vacuum in the creatures a seeming emptiness in the Ordinances even then the poor soul and afflicted Saint doth find rest and comfort in the Lord. Psal 116.7 In him faith sees an Almighty power and an omniscient wisdom an infinite grace and an all-sufficient merit yea an all-compassionating mercy So that were there indeed no life in the Ordinances no comfort in the Promises yet would faith by Christs assistance fetch both life and comfort from this fountain of the Lords fulness § 7. Who art thou then O thou afflicted soul who in thy spiritual desertions walkest in darkness clouded with sorrows Oh in thy greatest dejections lift up thine eyes unto the Lord Psal 123.1 that when the rising Sun appears thou mayst see his refreshing light and however now by reason of thy present anguish thou canst not serve God in alacrity of performance yet do it in sincerity of obedience and this this will be a cranny to convey some beams of light even in the lowest dungeon of thy spiritual distress Wait upon the Lord having thy eye of faith still towards him Psal 27.14 and so shall comforts be redoubled in a life recovered and thy difficulties of obtaining shall the more sweeten thy delights of injoying even of injoying God and Christ in the refreshing comforts of the Spirit conveyed and confirmed in his blessed Sacrament In which blessed Sacrament especially let thine eyes be still towards the Lord in his merits in his grace in his benefits in his love let him have thy fixed heart and thine intent eye yea let him have thy whole man for to this end it is that he here gives thee his whole self § 8. And Oh the sweet converses of the devout
calls a breaking forth Eruperunt instar diluvii Hos 4.2 So the Chalde and Vatable They have broken forth as a flood So violent are the water-floods of ungodliness as no bounds of Law or Equity civil or divine can keep them in thereby men become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as no bounds of Oaths or Covenants can restrain but what is most sacred Rom. 1.31 by the rage of mens lusts is violated § 11. Many at their first contrivances of Ambition and Pride or the like predominant lusts they set bounds to their desires so far to pursue their profit or their pleasure or their preferment and no further But experience tels us that the actings of sin are like the flowings of a River which the further it runs the wider is the channel and the fiercer is the stream Hab. 2.6 Wo to him that loadeth himself with thick clay The covetous man may heap up enough to load but ne'r lay up enough to fill he may load his house yea his heart but never fill his hell his lust he may have enough to sink his soul but not to satisfie his desires He then who prescribes his lusts their limits and resolves after so much gain or honor or pleasure to take up as having had his fill he shall find that the pursuits of lusts are more violent and fierce in their conquest then in their assault in their after-desires then in their first motions § 12. When ever yet did Ambition or Covetousness or the like bottomless and boundless lusts find a centre to rest in any Hercules pillars a Ne plus ultra to confine them Elijah's Cloud no bigger then a hand at first yet after a while it spreads and covers the whole face of the heavens And why it riseth from the sea 1 King 18 44. and is driven with the wind Thus our lusts at first of lesser size spread themselves after a while to a larger extent to a covering the whole heaven a clouding all righteousness And why they arise from a sea of concupiscence and are driven with the wind of Satans temptations But further yet in the very Saints of God when lust breaks forth there is in it this fierce and intemperate rage See it in those two remarkable Examples so eminent for sanctity and sin Jonah and Peter Jonah a Prophet and Peter an Apostle § 13. Jonah though an holy Prophet so eminent in grace and office yet when a lustful passion breaks loose a greater tempest and rage then that of the Sea swells his breast so that in pursuit of his own vain glory lest he should be accounted a false Prophet he is angry with the Almighty Lord because he is a merciful God yea exceeding angry And see the contumacious impudence of Lust Gods argument and expostulation is answered yea outfac'd with a daring reply of an I do well to be angry Jon. 4.9 even unto death Agaâ—n S. Peter so eminent in the profession of Christ the Messias and so confident in the opinion of his own faithfulness yet how does the breath of a woman shake this rock that against the very evidences of his own heart and bosom the consciousness of his own promise and profession he denies his Master and when now the lust of self-love and fear had stept into the throne of the heart and snatcht the scepter see its tyranny and rage the denial swells into an oath and that oath multiplies into execrations Mat. 26.74 so that he does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even renounce Christ with direful imprecations upon himself according to the â—xposition of the learned Diodate § 14. Thus Lust like a River when stopt in its current it swells and fomes and if it force a passage its violence and rage is the greater The habitual malice of sin is great in the heart of the wicked which are under its dominion and power but its actual malice is greater far in the souls of the sanctified who have dispossest it of its throne and broken its scepter for that the malice of lust is excited by the opposition of grace and so like the Enemy in the battel it is more violent and fierce In which battel and spiritual confl ct if lust prevail so cruel is its hate that no opposition can put stop to its fury but the Spirit of Christ And therefore in all our contests with sin and combates with our lusts David here presents us with a pattern for our practice even to flie unto our God with th s complaint and prayer in our mouths Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with a cruel hatred O keep my soul and deliver me § 15. Second General the Method in its gradation the first step or ascent Consider mine enemies Consider how they are furnished with policie and power with number and malâ—ce with provisions and arms with all the auxiliary succors that principalities and powers Eph. 6.12 and spiritual wickednesses even the gates of hell can contribute to supply Ps 22.6 and what shall I weak I a worm and no man what shall I do against so great a force how shall I conquer or withstand so huge an host who am not able to master not to mortifie the smallest lust Oh consider Lord in this cause in this combate thy glory is engaged and in my weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 in mine insufficiencie thy strength is perfected Thou art the Captain of my salvation and the service I am upon is thine wherefore so consider the multitude and violence of mine enemies that through the succor and supplies of thy grace I faint not and perish § 16. But know as we would have God to consider our enemies so God would have us to consider his Saints that as they were men of like passions with us so that we be men of like patience with them Jam 5.17 and as of like humble patience so of like faithful practice See we that Cloud of witnesses the Church of the first-born Heb 12 1. those Saints of Christ with palms in their hands as tokens of victory Rev. 7 9. And consider we aright that as we have the same combate so if we faint not we shall have the same conquest yea and the same crown only then we must fight with the same weapons faith love meekness patience hope and the like yea with the same importunity of supplications sincerity of humiliations and exercise of all holy devotions especially the frequent solemnity of the blessed Eucharist And when thus we consider Gods Saints to imitate them God will consider our enemies to subdue them § 17. But 2. O keep my soul my soul so precious as no price save that of the blood of the Son of God could make its purchase 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Wherefore Lord amidst the worlds changes and thy Churches trials howsoever thou disposest of my body or of my goods of my liberty or of my life O keep my soul for
seized Zech. 12.2 how doth the Churches portion prove a cup of poison making them to vomit up not only the meat they have swallowed but their own bowels also even bring ruine upon themselves and their posterities § 2. And now Oh what shame and confusion shall be upon the soul when this guilt flies in the face and men find by sad experience Obad. 4. that though with Edom they have made their nest among the stars Ezek. 28.14 and become in the language of the Prophet speaking of Tyre tanquam Cherub extentus protegens as a Cherub spreading their wing and enlarging their power and protection over People and Nations yet having Tyres guilt they meet with Tyres doom their great glory does consume to ashes and their ruine's sealed with a non eris in perpetuum Vers 19. Thou shalt not be any more for ever Wherefore when we behold Riches heaped up by oppression and sacriledge Honor founded upon usurpation and violence worldly glory built upon the sandy foundation of a successful impiety then say we with Jacob Gen. 49 6. Psal 141.4 My soul come not thou into their secret And with David Let me not eat of their dainties lest partaking of their sin and guilt we partake with them in their shame and punishment Yea as the best guard of the soul against the suggestions of Satan and seductions of men make we Davids prayer our petition invocating God in all fervor of devotion as the Psalmist here does Let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee § 3. This the second part of Davids petition Let integrity and uprightness preserve me Integrity of heart like Elisha's salt it purgeth the spring and purifieth the streams it seasons our duties and keeps the soul sound under all its infirmities and failings The least grace sincere and saving it is like seed of a growing and an increasing nature and though hid under a heap of corruptions yet does it spring up to everlasting life Joh. 4.14 Take we a view of this uprightness and integrity as to its subject its end and its object 1. The subject the inward man without which all outward performances they are Pharisaical obedience for God is a Spirit Joh 4.23 and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth And thus the Apostle I delight in the law of God after the inward man Rom. 7.22 In religious services then the integrity is that of the heart so that in what the heart does not act God does not accept Isa 29 13 14. the performance of the outward duty without the concurrence of the inward man being as a body without a soul and meet formal professors though they wear Christs livery yet do they serve themselves § 4. 2. The end the principal and ultimate is Gods glory to which there are many subordinate and subservient as the good of his Church the salvation of our souls the welfare of our Country the benefit of our families and the like But now we must observe it is too low a judgment of integrity to take its measure from the more near and immediate ends of actions we must eye therefore the principal and ultimate end the glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 A sincere aim at which sacred end does lay the soul level and eaven in its desires which otherwise would warp and bend according to the sway of some base lusts and vile affections But notwithstanding this pure aim at Gods glory Heb. 11.26 seeing Moses hath a respect to the recompense of reward Heb. 12.2 and our Saviour himself had an eye to the joy that was set before him It will be no hypoâ—ritical affection but a devout encouragement to quicken our pace in the way of holiness from this Scripture-motive our own salvation and happiness I call it a Scripture-motive then which nothing is more frequently urged in sacred Scripture § 5. And indeed whether Gods glory or Mans happiness be considered as co-ordinate one with another or as subordinate one to another sure I am they are inseparable one from another no man can rightly aim at his own happiness without a respect to Gods glory nor yet aim at Gods glory without a respect to his own happiness For what is it to attain happiness but fully to enjoy God Psal 36.6 Psal 17.16 Psal 16.11 and what is it fully to enjoy God but to attain happiness So then Gods glory is mans felicity and mans felicity is Gods glory true it is some pious souls and learned pens have made it a note of integrity to love God though theâ—e were no heaven But besides the nicety of the Metaphysical abstraction if rightly considered it implies a contradiction 1 Joh. 4 8. for seeing God is love what is there in heaven which is not contained in the love of God And whereas hereby they think to cleer pure love from the stain of being mercenary it is but a needless attempt for that omnis amor mercedis non est mercinarius Ps 16.5 Lam. 3.24 Gen. 17.1 all love of reward is not mercenary love for that God who is our portion is our reward and if so to love our reward is to love God § 6. 3 The object whatsoever God commands which is to be done ut mandavit quia mandavit according to his will and because of his soveraignty To do what but not as God commands is disobedience 1 Sam. 15.19 as with Saul in the case of Amalek Again to do as God commands but not because he commands is hypocrisie as with Jehu in the case of Baal Jehu 2 King 10.30 31. he is zealous in reforming yet not to advance Gods glory but his own greatness But further of those things which God hath commanded Integrity respects the credenda as well as the agenda the doctrines of faith as well as the duties of obedience For it is easie to observe how the Apostles in their several Epistles are as zealous in their reproofs and as hot in their zeal against evil doctrines as against evil lives against false Teachers as against lewd Livers yea and accordingly in their exhortations and instructions they join the necessity of a true faith with that of a good conscience § 7. To practise holiness and profess heresie and to profess truth but practise prophaneness are both opposite to Davids integrity and uprightness for sincere faith can no more dispense with any doctrines revealed then holy life with any precepts declared in Gods word Yea Gal. 5.19.20 2 Pet. 2 1. ask the Apostles and they will tell us Heresies as well as Prophanenesses they are works of the flesh they are damnable yea bring swift damnation False teachers as well as lewd livers they deny the Lord that bought them Jud. 4. and are prepared of old to destruction Wherefore a holding fast the true
minds from Gods holy worship Indeed our natures are too weak to bâ—held always intent upon holy duties and therefore Gods woship hath its necessary intermissions in which intermissions the works of our callings are ordain'd for the keeping our minds innocent in their thoughts and renewed in their vigor for his more holy service Here then O thou afflicted soul who complainest of the secret trouble and vexing importunity of thy Vain thoughts here thou hast thy Grounds of Comfort and Rules of Direction God give thee his Spirit of Grace and Truth to order thy practice and administer thee Consolation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! CHAP. II. The Souls Conflict from the frightful Suggestions of Foul Thoughts GReat is the activity of the Soul discovered by the Thoughts which are more quick in their motion then Lightening darting forth in a moment from Earth to Heaven Ps 139.17 18. Phil. 3.20 and back again from Heaven to Earth Which excellencie of Man in the activity of the Mind was given of God for this end that he might turn away from sin at the first appearance of evil But now oh how hath the guilt of sin laid fetters upon this freedom of the mind and made it servile unto Satan if not to act his suggestions yet to suffer his buffetings 2 Cor. 12.7 So that those very thoughts of sin which the soul abhors those the imagination receives and the mind cannot free it self from horror Ps 19 4. through fear of guilt knowing well that as Devout meditations are acceptable so Foul imaginations must needs be abominable abominable to that God Hab. 1.13 who is of most pure eyes and such as cannot behold iniquity Besides whereas our Thoughts present the Idols which our hearts worship and that the Israelites bowing the knee to Baalim and Ashtaroth were not more truly Idolaters Judg. 2.13 Col. 3.5 then the Covetous the Ambitious the Voluptuous who bow the heart to Riches to Honors to Pleasures and the like Therefore the afflicted soul dreads the guilt of the vilest Idolatry even lest by its blasphemous thoughts it fall down to Satan Mat. 4.9 and worship him Oh! how doth the sad experience of many pious souls witness a dreadful horror in their sudden and frequent thoughts of Infidelity Atheism and Blasphemy calling into question the Truth of Gods Word the Order of his Providence and the very Being of his Deity yea such thoughts as for their foulness are not fit to be uttered And therefore many souls languish in dejection asham'd to declare their grief These the Cogitationes onerosae in the language of S. Bernard the burdensom thoughts which load the soul with an unsupportable weight of mournful distress and press it down with an inconceivable anguish of spiritual dejections In which Dejections and Distress hear and compassionate the Souls Complaint The Words of Complaint Oh! oh the Dunghil of mine unclean Heart which sends forth such filthy vapors Needs must my soul be a very Sink of sin whilst there ariseth from thence such a noisom stench of corrupt Thoughts Sure if ever I had been wash'd with the least drop of my Saviours blood or purified with the least spark of his Spirit and grace so great a filth and so foul a corruption could never cleave unto my soul But oh wo is me I see I am so far from being the Temple of the Lord that I am become the very Den of the Devil the flames of Hell already flash in my face and the amazing terrors of cursed Blasphemies torture my soul and wound my Conscience even unto death yea I could rather chuse to die ten thousand deaths then undergo the fears and frights and bitter pangs of my amazing thoughts and dreadful imaginations Ah what what shall I do with these Egyptian frogs my foul Suggestions which are still croaking In every place and in every action in the Church and in the Closet in my meditations and in my prayers still they crawl in and dead my heart yea their noisom stink makes me loath my self and all my services Oh I faint I die I perish whilst asham'd to speak what I abhor to think I must needs despair of cure not knowing how to lay open my sore The Grounds of Comfort 1. The horrid Blasphemies which affright thy soul though they are thy thoughts yet are they Satans suggestions and not having thy consent of will they bring no guilt upon the conscience Jam. 1.44 15. Non nocet sensus ubi non est consensus is the resolution of S. Bernard agreeable to the truth of Gods Word and the judgment of all both Antient and Modern Divines that where the Will yields no consent there the soul may suffer a temptation but act no sin Yea 2 Cor. 12.7 Quod resistentem fatigat vincentem coronat saith the same Father The importunity and frepuencie of the suggestions which weary the soul resisting shall bring the greater crown of glory in its overcoming True it is He that is born of God keepeth himself 1 Joh. 5 18. and that wicked one toucheth him not But how toucheth him not Is it meant of wicked temptations No sure but of wilful transgressions He toucheth him not tachi qualitativo we say and that aright not so touch as to make like himself in an impress of sin and guilt upon the soul Now then that it is no sin to be tempted is more then evident from this one argument That otherwise our Lord and Saviour himself Heb. 4.15 who was tempted had also finn'd Wherefore this is sin to admit the temptation wish allowance or delight 2. That these foul and frightful suggestions have not thy consent of will appears by this that thou hast a loathing and an abhorring of them which speaks the greatest aversion Desst 7.26 Rom. 22.9 and so is far from a consenting of the will As when the stomach loaths any meat though it be forceably cast into the belly yet can it not be said to be receiv'd with rppetite So when the Will abhorrs any suggestion though forcibly cast into the mind yet can it not be said to be receiv'd with Consent And know we are less able to keep the Mind free from Satans suggesting thoughts we abhor then we are to keep the stomach free from anothers forcing meats we loath Thy thoughts then O distressed soul being injected not inbred thoughts cast in from some suggestion without not rais'd up from some corruption within they are only brats laid at thy door not children of thine own begetting they are Satans buffetings in which the soul is meerly passive a sufferer not a doer 2 Cor. 12.7 And therefore as much need of patience as of penitence of fortitude to resist as of contrition to bewail Obj. 1 Ay but thou sayest Sure it is the corruption of my heart from whence these foul thoughts are rais'd and so though the Devil in his malice be the Father yet my corrupt flesh
not but in due time thy heart thus melted like wax when softened or metals dissolv d shall become pliable and yielding to some new impressions of grace and gracious formings of the Spirit to an enlarging thy delight and quickening thy zeal in the duties of holiness 2. Consult the judgment of some faithful Minister as thy spiritual Guide for the better ordering thy duties of devotion For as there are some who careless of offending God rob him of his due through unseasonable recreations unnecessary imployments or needless ease willing to admit any excuse to stop the mouth of conscience in theâ—r neglect of their daily devotions So again others there are who very tender of offending God become much disquieted in conscience and afflicted in mind because they are taken off from the frequencie and cool'd in the fervor of their religious performances though it be by the urgencie of their lawful imployments the change of their worldly condition the sickliness of their bodily temper or some other just consideration and warrantable avocation Yeâ— some there are Coâ— 2.18.23 whom Superstition hath made prodigal of Devotion such Devotion as Fancy not Faith Humane opinion not Divine institution hath prescrib'd and warranted and therefore do such persons entangle themselves in their own nets disquiet themselves with their own inventions engaging themselves in such rules and forms such methods and performances as their present estate and condition will not admit Wherefore for the case of thy Conscience and the improvement of thy Devotions consult some Spiritual Guide to assist thee in the better regulating thy duties of Holiness Mal. â—â— Heb. 13.17 3. Beware of a misguided Zeal it being that whereby Satan through his subtlety hath prevail'd upon the consciences of many religious dispositions to involve them in a maze of perplexities By this misguided Zeal Satan prompts many to a tyring and a wearying themselves with duties secretly perswading them that all time is lost which is not religiously imploy'd and thereby how have many wasted their estates impair'd their health neglected their callings and even ruin'd their families carried away with this misguided zeal of being still religiously imploy'd But what Can a man be too religious Yes in the outward action not in the inward affection A man may give alms to his undoing yet never be undone with charity he may fast to his famishing yet never hurt his soul with devotion But what is it not a Paradox think you that Satan should prompt men to be religious that the Devil should spur a man on to fastings to watchings to Sermons c. Yes know even in the zealous and unadvised prosecution and performance of these holy duties 2 Cor. 11.14 there may be much of Satan transformed into an Angel of light and especially when those duties of piety are inconsistent with the duties of charity or of justice To instance in some particulars When watchings and fastings destroy the body though rightly ordered they are holy duties yet thus disordered as they are not profitable to the soul so nor are they acceptable to God who saith Mat. 12.7 I will have mercy and not sacrifice As then to be immoderately indulgent to nature is sluggish and prophane so to be immoderately oppressing nature is merciless and cruel Again to run after Sermons and daily to post from one side of the Country to another as the manner of some is to godly meetings as they call them in the mean time to have the Calling neglected and the Family pin'd this is so far from godliness that the Apostle brands it with worse then Heathenism He who provideth not for his own family 1 Tim 5.8 is worse then an Infidel One instance more It is a temptation of Satan and a snare to the soul for a servant to rob his master of that time he justly owes his service and in a blind zeal to bestow it upon Gods worship This is to sacrifice unto God a Lamb that is stolne to offer what is not our own a thing God is so far from accepting that he hates it We must not then cause the duties of the First Table to make a breach upon the duties of the Second our duty to God must not thwart or suppress our duty to our neighbor Though Communion with God be the Souls delight and so Closet-devotions the sweetest services yet as a part of self-denial we must with Moses quit the Mount when God hath work for us in the Valley Mar. 7.11 And therefore the Jewish Corban is no Christian plea Piety and Charity may yea must consist together like the two wings of the Eagle Isa 40 31. with both together not one alone we take our flight to heaven 4. Let thy Piety be regulated by Prudence and Discretion become Tutress to Devotion What is the reason we see so many Monsters in Religion Is it not because Zeal brings forth before Knowledge hath form'd the conception Ps 112.5 A good man says David will order his affairs much more his duties of holiness with discretion Eph. 1.17 18. Phil 19.10 Col. 1.9 10. And S. Paul is very careful in the behalf of his Ephesians Philippians Colossians c. that God would give them knowledg and judgment and wisdom and a spiritual understanding and all to this end that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing so approving those things that are excellent as that they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prove those things that are different Now in the exercise of our Christian prudence as to the duties of holiness a respect is to be had to the temper of body to the quality of condition to the opportunity of time to the benefit of means and the like Knowing this that where much is given much shall be required And again Luk â—2 48. 2 Cor. 8 1â— God accepts according to that a man hath not according to that he hath not They whose birth breeding and estates have freed them from what is servile God requires of them more expence of time in his service Devotion must be their trade and their Closet their shop where freed from the drudgery of the World Isa 55.1 Rev. 3.18 they are to traffique for Heaven and so hold a more frequent commerce with the Angels Further a respect is to be had to extraordinary occasions that we do something all of us according to our ability in an extraordinary service whether it be under private afflictions or publick calamities particular disquiets or general distresses At such times Act. 12.5 Esth 4.16 Prayer without ceasing then fastings and watchings and what other holy duties may be most suitable to the occasion and consistent with our condition will be all seasonable and requisite in their performance Further yet it will be a part of our Christian prudence to observe that excess in the outward duties of Religion is the right-hand error less danger there is in pinching then in pampering
with Gods displeasure Thus how often is it that God prepares man to become some excellent structure even when he seems to be turning him into a ruinous heap As men intending to repair seem to demolish the building they take away some beams but it is to put in stronger they stop up some lights but it is to make larger Thus is it with the faithful who are Gods building 1 Cor. 3 9. He removes their props of sense to fix the pillars of faith He darkens the light of their spiritual joys but it is to enlarge their fuller comforts The Rules of Direction 1. Search what root of bitterness it is that hath taken away the taste of all heavenly sweetness what guilt of sin that hath depriv'd thee of the comforts of the Spirit Enter the Court of thy Conscience where God hath set up his tribunal and hear what charge is there laid against thee Is it not some stubbornness of spirit some unrepented disobedience which God chastiseth with those rebukes of conscience and terrors of soul For commonly God deals with his backsliding Saints as a King with his rebellious Subjects when neither the proffers of grace nor the promises of pardon when neither the edicts of command nor the threatenings of wrath when neither gracious counsel nor a bearing patience can prevail then does God arm himself to the battel letting flie the arrows of his indignation into their soul Job 6.4 as Job complains The arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselvs in array against me This is certain upon all known experience that disobedience and impenitence they are the bitter springs of much spiritual distress And truly God need not go far for a rod to chastise our disobedience if he withdraw his comforting Spirit we shall soon find and feel our own will become an afflicting Spirit our own dreadful thoughts will be our sorest scourges 2. Is it not some spiritual lethargy of remisness and sloth that hath seised thine inward man If so no wonder if the Physitian of thy soul prescribe thee so sharp a medicine administer thee so strong a potion all being little enough to rouse thy drowsie spirits and quicken thy dead heart Holy performances whether in the Closet or in the Church they are not only debts we pay to Gods justice but also oblations we owe to Gods mercy Ps â—1 18 19. and therefore either wholly to omit them or slightly to slubber them over is not only unfaithfulness but also unthankfulness both the majesty and the mercy of God being despised and where his majesty and mercy is despised no wonder if his favor and presence be withheld 3. Is it not the want of reverence and godly fear And therefore by the rebukes of his Spirit God severely tutors thee to what he requires of thee to serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb 12.23 Heb. â— 16 God likes well that we come with boldness to the throne of grace yet a boldness of humble confidence not of a careless irreverence The awe of Majesty is much preserv'd by avoiding too much familiarity and therefore some Monarchs have withdrawn themselves from vulgar eyes to keep up the more sacred esteem and awe of their Soveraignty Thus God he deals with his Saints when much indulg'd they become wanton proud and irreverent God intermixeth Majesty with Mercy and tempers their favours with frowns he withholds his comfortable presence and awes their souls with secret rebukes that they may learn to put in practice what the Church gives in pattern even to walk in the fear of the Lord Act. 9 31. Phil. 2.12 and comfort of the Holy Ghost yea work out their salvation with fear and trembling This is indeed a sure Maxim that he who bears his spiritual afflictions with a distrustful impatience it is more then probable that he stains his devout enlargements with spiritual pride and pride and irreverence go together 4. Is it not thy heart playing false with thy God leaning in its affections too much to the world For that then God usually comes with bitterness to wean the soul when we are upon making the world our Home which should be our Inne when we are upon taking our rest in these earthly things then God brings on an evil day of temptation and trial upon us to discover how vain Earth is when Heaven is clouded how insufficient to sanctifie which cannot comfort When the soul will prove disloyal Jâ—m 4.4 and enter an adulterous league with the World then comes God with his Bill of Divorce that she may know what is the vanity and folly the guilt and curse of her falling off to such wretched beggerly and worthless lovers for that in a day of terrors the soul will know that there is none but Christ none but he that can bring comfort peace and safety Thus then search whether it be not some stubbornness and disobedience some lethargie of sloth some wantonness irreverence or spiritual pride some love of the world Search whether they are not these or some other enormous iniquities which have separated betwixt thee and thy God Isa 59.2 whether they are not these or some such hainous sins which have hid his face from thee and if so no wonder if he who does the works of the Devil find an Hell in his Conscience And to still the clamor and quench the flashes of this Hell observe the second Rule of Direction which follows 2. Confess and bewail thy sin in the deepest of humiliations The reason indeed oftentimes why God puts the soul to the rack it is because it will not confess it is so loth to leave that it is unwilling to acknowledg its sin But as there is no full discovery of sin without examination Prov. 28.13 so nor is there any full pardon of sin without confession Wherefore set thy sins in order before thee and if thy Conscience pleads guilty to none other impiety yet thine ignorance diffidence passion and impatience in thy trial of spiritual afflictions do bring guilt enough for the deepest of humiliations Job 40.4 Thus it was with Job he confesseth unto God saying I am vile what shall I answer I will lay my hand upon my mouth And humbly submitting to the justice of Gods plea Job 42.36 and the reproof of his conviction in the sense of his impatience and pride he abhors himself and repents in dust and ashes And after God gives testimony of his love in accepting a sacrifice from his hands Thus then having set thy sins in order before thee let their guilt affect thine heart with sorrow that sorrow affect thine eyes with tears and then in the anguish of thy soul do thou crouch and crawl to the Throne of Grace solliciting earnestly with strong cries the mercies of thy God through the merits of thy Saviour for the pardon of thy sin the peace
there nothing more hateful to Gods nature and what Gods soul perfectly hates his hand will most severely punish however it may seem to prosper for the present Let David's advice then be as acceptable as it is seasonable Fret not thy self because of evil doers Ps 37.1 neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity v. 2. And the reason is good for they shall be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb Sometimes the wicked like the green herb they wither in their spring they fall in their rise they perish in the beginnings of their mischievous designs but if they do come to a full growth they grow but to harvest the fit season of their cutting off See another Simile very emphatical The w cked shall perish v. 20. and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs they shall consume into smoke shall they consume away The Metaphor is very expressive and full The thriving worldlings like the fatted lambs God reserves them for the sacrifices of his vengeance and they shall consume even as the smoke so shall they consume away as the smoke when it is at its highest ascent so the wicked when at their highest advancement they then suddenly vanish and come to nothing The wicked of the world though ne'r so high and mighty they shall be written in the earth Jer. 17 13. Luk. 10.20 Ps 17.14 opposite directly to that of the godly though ne'r so low and weak whose names are written in heaven The men of this world they have their portion in this life but as for the Citizens of heaven their inheritance is eternal As the godly then are made blessed in an heavenly happiness so sometimes the wicked in an earthly But as the men of the world are said to have their names written in the earth for their temporal felicitie so also for their certain instability yea their sudden destruction For how suddenly are their names wip'd out by the hand of Providence who are only written in the earth whose foundation of felicity is no more then vanity yea is sin it self Further yet what we prize and would preserve in memory we engrave in marble or in brass but what we lightly esteem Prov. 10 7 quasi per lusum as it were in a sport we write it in the dust or upon the ground Thus the godly shall be had in everlasting remembrance but the memory of the wicked shall rot The former are written in heaven the latter in the earth The godly though temporally miserable yet shall they be eternally happy the wicked though temporally happy yet shall they be eternally miserable Away then with all envious repinings or murmuring impatience at the flourishing prosperity of the wicked What! dost thou wonder that so just a God should suffer so horrid injustice to go unpunâ—shed Know'st thou not that God oft-times deals with men of a reprobate sense as the Physitian with his Patient in a desperate sickness He gives them over and permits them to have whatsoever they desire A condition this sure not to be envied at in thy worst of enemies And thus Magna yea maxima ira est Hier. ep 33 in Ps 140. quando peccantibus non irascitur Deus God is most severe when being provoked by sin he withholds from punishing and is then most angry when he least discovers his wrath leaving men to their own wills and so to work their own perdition by their own profaneness The liberty of lust is the greatest bondage and uncontroll'd prosperity the sorest plague which made Tertullian say Tert. de pat c. 11. O servum illum beatum cujus emendationi Dominus instat cui dignatur irasci O blessed is that servant with whom the Lord will vouchsafe to be angry that he may amend him 2. The Churches assured preservation notwithstanding her present persecution Which assurance is founded upon Gods promise and her own experience 1. This assurance is founded upon Gods promise and that confirm'd by oath when speaking of the Royal Prophet as a Type of Christ who alone in person and kingdom is eternal of him saith God once and that once for all Ps 89 35 36. yea for ever once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not fail David but his seed shall endure for ever and his throne as the sun before me His seed that is Christ and Christ in his Saints begotten of God through the Spirit they shall endure for ever And however the throne of Christ in his Church like the body of the Sun in the heavens may sometimes be clouded yet is not the power of Christ any more then the light of the Sun extinguished but at length He shall arise and the enemies of the Lord shall be scattered Ps 68.1 like clouds before the sun they shall suddenly vanish and utterly be dispel'd And as we have heard the promise of God unto Christ so hear we the promise of Christ unto his Church That the gates of hell shall not prevail against her The gates For the understanding of this Mat. 16.18 it is easie to observe even in Scripture how of old in the gate was held the Court and the Guard the Judgment and the defence of the City there the Soldier kept his watch his guard for defence and there the Judge had his Tribunal his Court for Judgment So that by the gates of hell is meant in a Figure all the power and policie of hell all which saith Christ of his Church they shall not prevail against it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non superabunt eam so Beza they shall not overcome her yea they shall be overcome by her for so the word as Scultetus observes it is verbum bellicum a warlike word which signifies the combat and contest of enemies till one party be subdued and overthrown The power and policie then of Satan and hell they may valere but they cannot praevalere they may vertere but they cannot subvertere they may shake the Church but being founded upon the rock Christ Jesus they cannot throw her down they cannot do with the Church as with her Temples rase her foundation no Christ will preserve her from levelling We may observe the Fabrick of the Universe was not fram'd but that the Church might be constituted and therefore God did not rest from his works of creation till he came to a Church to worship him the Creator Seeing then the end of forming the world was to constitute a Church easier it is to shatter in pieces the frame of Nature then bring to ruine the Church of God 2. The Churches assurance of preservation founded upon her own experience 2 Cor. 1.10 The Church frames her argument of faith with S. Paul God hath deliver'd me and doth deliver me and I trust also he will deliver me And therefore if we be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen speaks Naz. stilit 1. Ps
knowledge do write to communicate it and by writing to communicate it do improve their knowledge O how much precious truth should we have wanted in the Treasury of the Churches stock especially concerning the great Mystery of the Blessed Trinity and Personal Unity and of the Catholick Church if the Sabellians Photinians Arians Eunomians Nestorians Eutycheans Donatists Novations and the like if these and others ejusdem farinae of the same Leaven if they had not rose up by their oppositions of Heresie and Schism to stir up the Study Prayer Zeal and Argumentations of the Holy Learned and Orthodox Fathers Yea let us look home a while and upon an easie observation we may finde That this benefit and advantage our Church hath gained by the eager contentions of spightful Tongues and perverse Mindes That her holy Form of Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government hath been more fully discussed and more clearly vindicated against all the false Imputations and strongest Arguments of her Schismatical and Heretical opposers So that if God shall please to repair the Churches unity and peace and restore her purity and splendor as that he will do it in his due time you helping forward by your Prayers I nothing doubt and I would not you should distrust If God I say shall please to repair the Churches unity and peace and restore her purity and splendor those stale calumnies and unjust cavils of Bishops being Antichristian our Liturgy the Mass our Litany Conjuring our Doctrine Popish our Ceremonies Superstitious our Temples Idolatrous our Ministers Baal 's Priests these and the like clamors of Error and Ignorance of Malice and Madness These I say If God pleaseth to repair and restore our Church they will become then as odious and hateful as they are now acceptable and useful with the vulgar then as much hist down as now cried up then as vain and insufferable as now unjust and unreasonable But if for the sins of the people God shall unchurch the Nation if for our contempt of the light and truth of his Word Rev. 2 5. he shall remove the Candlestick and deprive us of his Ordinances Such is the full conviction of Errors to a confirming all sober mindes in the Faith that I doubt not to say There are many which hear me this day would rather chuse to die and fall with truth then live and flourish with Heresie This the first particular of our first general part the Apostles fore-arming his Corinthians with constancy in the Faith that they be approved 2. With comfort in their Tryal That being approved they shall be made manifest Manifest on Earth and manifest in Heaven 1. Manifest on Earth The furious Zeal and violent Persecution of Heresie is the Furnace Mal. 3.3 4. wherein God oftentimes purifies the faith and faithful separating the dross from the Gold it is that strong wind which shakes down the rotten boughs and corrupt fruit severing it from the strong and sound it is that overflowing floud which overturns the sandy foundation whilst the rocks stand firm or lastly Matth. 7.25 it is that fan which severs the chaff from the Corn men of light fancies Matth. 3.12 and loose affections from those of solid judgments and established hearts How is it with many mens hearts as with musical instruments They are in good tune and temper whilst the pleasant and fair season of peace and prosperity lasts But as upon change of weather the strings do either slack or break so upon change of times do their resolutions either yeeld or faint But oh Beloved an heart established a spirit resolved a minde stedfast Oh how is it the honor and ornament of our Christian Faith By this it is That the Confessors Graces like Lebanons Spices have the sweeter smell in being bruised and in their tryal of Faith they become as more acceptable Sacrifices of Obedience offered unto God so more choice examples of Holiness manifest and set forth in the Church Had it not been then for the Heresies Schisms and Apostacies of the former ages those antient Fathers Irenaeus Athanasius Hilary Nazianzen Basil Chrysostome Hierome Augustine and others They had not been Stars of so great a magnitude in the Firmament of Christs Church And indeed were it not for the Heresies Schisms and Apostacies of these latter days our Church would not have so much to glory of her Cranmer Tindal Whitaker Whitgift Bancroft Bilson Andrews Hooker and others Men famous in their Generations yea our Jewel would not have had his lustre nor our Laud his praise our Dypticks and Church Records of Learned Worthies yea of Royal Patriots would not be so large so venerable and so glorious These and all other Strenui propugnatores fidei stout Champions of the Churches faith They are by a blessing of God made manifest and observe made manifest not onely in the Orthodoxes love but also in the Hereticks hate it is with them as with St. Augustine whose industry and piety in quelling and extinguishing the Pelagian Heresie Hieron ep 80. St. Hierome thus congratulates telling him That his name was venerable in the City and honorable in the Church as the Founder again of the ancient Faith and Quod signum majoris gloriae est omnes Haeretici detestantur and which was a signal of greater glory all the Heretical did hate him However then black-mouthed malice doth spit calumny upon the whitest innocence yet that encomium St. Paul gives the ancient Heroes Heb. 11.39 the Patriarchs Prophets and Martyrs of old the same we may justly give our Protestant Worthies of late That by Faith they have obtained a good report a name that shall out-live all Heresie and Schism a name precious and honorable in the memory of the faithful Thus they who in their oppositions of Heresie become constant in the Faith they are made manifest on Earth But further 2. Manifest also in Heaven For this then observe The Church on Earth is Militant and therefore the Church in right order is said to be terrible as an army with banners Cant. 6.4 Though in disorder an army with banners becomes terrible to the Church The then I say on Earth is Militant 1 Cor. 15.32 and St. Pauls fighting with Beasts at Ephesus was not a combate more honorable and glorious then that of contending for the Faith Jude 3. against the rage of Heresies This this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certamen illud praeclarum as Beza renders it that good 2 Tim. 4.7 that honorable fight of Faith which hath for its reward a Crown of life Rev. 2.10 or if a Crown of life be the reward of Faith to all the blessed yet then the stout Champions of the Faith shall have some special Jewels in their Crown some particular glory in that blessed life and so being manifest on Earth they are manifest also in Heaven being manifest in the Church Militant for their eminent Grace they shall be manifest also in
applied in Scripture that of St. Peter to the Jews that of Philip to the Eunuch and the rest To close then Baptism coming in place of Circumcision as the initiating Seal of Gods Covenant Col. 2.11 12. there must needs be this Analogy in the administration That as Abraham first believed and then was circumcised and Isaac he first circumcised and after believed so in the conversion of the Gentiles and discipling of the Nations the Parents first believe and then are baptized but their children first are baptized and after believe And thus want of actual Faith does no more exclude Infants now from Baptism then it did of old from Circumcision Secondly They are not capable of teaching and our Saviours Object 2 commission runs Go teach and baptize I answer We have already blunted the edge of this weapon Answ repelled the force of this Argument and Objection having made it plain from the propriety of the word and the congruity of the sense that our Saviour bids Go disciple all Nations which discipling refers not to teaching before but after a receiving and admitting into Christs School to be taught And thus the Argument is retorted seeing it is our Saviours express precept to disciple all Nations by Baptism and that all men in all ages account children one part of the Nations they being capable of discipling in its proper notion either they must be plainly excepted or necessarily implied Thirdly They are not liable to Precept not having the use of Object 3 Reason I answer The Precept obligeth the Parents Answ and the Promise reacheth the Children as administring the proper remedy of their original guilt and contagion As when a Medicine is prescribed as the onely cure of the sick Patient though the sick know not the Medicine and so is not obliged to the prescription yet the friends of the sick are bound to prepare what is prescribed otherwise they make breach of charity and duty and if the sick die thorow their neglect of means and contempt of the remedy they bring the guilt of blood upon themselves And observe however it is most certain the Parents sin in the neglect of Baptism does not bring a punishment upon the Infant yet may it yea doubtless does it deprive him of a blessing if of no greater blessing sure we are of that which issues from the benefit of the Churches Prayers Notwithstanding then Infants are now no more capable of Precept as to Baptism then before as to Circumcision yet is the obligation as great to Parents and the benefit as great to Infants now and under the Gospel as before and under the Law To close then Notwithstanding all the Objections of the Adversary Mark 10.15 seeing men must receive the Kingdom of Heaven as little children it is most infallible little children do receive the Kingdom of Heaven as well as men Again seeing Infants are capable of the blessings it is an injury to Gods goodness as well as their Souls to deprive them of the Ordinance of Baptism And whereas the Anabaptists urge us to instance in any Infant baptized in the Scripture we urge them to shew in all Scripture or in any other History where or when any Infant of believing Parents was past by and not baptized till years of discretion let all Records be searched and the account of times examined from that period John Baptist begun his Ministry to that John the Evangelist ended his in all about eighty years in which time we doubt not many millions of Infants of believing Parents grew up to full manhood In all this time I say shew one Infant of believing Parents past by and not baptized till years of discretion and this being done there would be some plausible plea against Infants Baptism But there being no instance as to Fact nor Argument as to Reason no Proof as to Scripture to exclude Infants from Baptism We may confidently aver our Saviours Commission and Instruction extends to Infants as well as Parents Go disciple all Nations baptising them c. 3. Whereas woful experience especially that of the German miseries gave occasion to this Proverbial Speech That the Anabaptists Waters turn to Blood how much sad truth we can witness to this unhappy Proverb I had rather bewail then dispute deplore then declare And Oh! that we were Beloved so deeply so devoutly affected with our sins and sufferings both as to Church and State as to turn our late Baptism of Blood into a Baptism of Waters even of mournful Tears In which it will be piety to become all Anabaptists quenching the fire of Heaven with the waters of Siloam Gods wrath I mean by our penitence and his indignation by our contrition 4. Be we exhorted to testifie our holy Communion by an holy Conversation our Communion with Christs Church which we entred by Baptism Remember we then that innocence meekness peace patience purity and the like which are the silver feathers of the sacred Dove Matth. 3.17 Eph. 1.22 23. that holy Spirit which descended upon Christ the Head and still rests upon those who hold Communion with the Church his Body These these our virtutes Baptismales the Baptismal vertues of our new Birth let them be the continued practise of our whole life chuse we to lose the Humidum radicale the radical moysture of our natural constitution rather then that of our Baptismal Regeneration part we with our lives rather then with Faith and a good Conscience for that hereby it is we hold fast our Communion with Christ and our Communion with his Church sealed us by his Sacrament the Sacrament of our initiation and new birth concerning which our Saviour gives in Commission and Instruction to his Apostles Go ye Disciple all Nations Baptising them c. THE FOURTH SERMON UPON Matth. 28. V. 19. and part of the 20. Go ye Disciple all Nations Baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. Introduction WHen Faith is so much corrupted and Souls are so many subverted who can be silent and be faithful I observe as the receiving of Baptism is the entrance into all the priviledges and blessings of the Covenant and of the Church so the renouncing of Baptism is the open door to the greatest enormities and impieties of this day's Apostates In uno Caesare multi Marii and in one Anabaptist are many Hereticks a Sect as pregnant and fruitful of error and those monstrous too as that Holland-Lady was of children whose numerous brood is said to equal the days in the year It is easie to observe how men first turn Anabaptists despising the Ministry of the Gospel then they become Antinomians rejecting the rule of the Law then Enthusiasts making their fanatick revelations to outvie Gods word then Libertines casting off all Magistracie and Government and then Ranters destroying the very being of humane society yea by their disorders and confusions their blasphemies and execrations making a very
blessed be his holy Name that he is pleased to vouchsafe us here the visible face of a Church amidst the Churches so many blind-foldings and buffetings in this her enemies hour Luke 22.53 and power of darkness But because I know many of you come from far having your habitations where are no Churches no Churches as to the right Administration of the Word and Sacraments therefore let me minde you of what St. Paul admonisheth you Heb. 10.25 Not to forsake the assembling your selves together but to meet in a private participation and communion of the Ordinances where you cannot have them in publick And in so doing fear not the guilt or reproach of a Conventicle for be assured That it is not a Conventicle where Religious persons meet in private Administrations of Publick Forms but where Faction meets in the Administration of Private Forms opposite to Publick Order John 20.19 The Apostles we finde in a Private Meeting With the doors shut for fear of the Jews yea the Primitive Saints had their Crypta their secret places for Private Worship for fear of their Persecutors It is not then so much the place of worship as the form of service which makes the Conventicle even when that service is opposit to the established order of the Church whether the place be private or publick Be it so then that we are reduced to the persecuted condition of the Primitive Saints when their salutations run to Aquila and Priscilla Rom. 16.19 and the Church in their House Be it so that we are forced to celebrate the Eucharist as our Saviour did institute it Mark 14.15 in some inward or upper Room Be it so that whilst Heresie declaims in the Pulpit Truth be driven to the Desk yet know wheresoever we finde the Word truly preached the Faith sincerely profest the Sacraments rightly administred there we finde a visible Church with which we are to hold communion For that Christ hath there promised his gracious presence Matth. 18 20. who hath said That where two or three are thus met together in his Name he will be in the midst of them Thus we have done with the Explication of the first general part The description of Christ in the Dignity and Office of Mediator As the Head of the Body the Church I should proceed to the Twofold Relation from which this Description is raised that of Creator As the beginning of all things and that of Redeemer As the first-born from the dead And having opened unto you the Twofold Relation from whence the Description is raised I should proceed to the Threefold Reason whereby it is argued First From the final moving cause That in all things he might have the pre-eminence Secondly The efficient ordaining cause the good will and pleasure of the Father And thirdly The formal constituting cause the fulness of perfection dwelling in Christ These particulars seeing I cannot enlarge upon in Explication give me leave lightly to open by way of Paraphrase that so I may proceed to Application Know then Christ is the Head of the Body the Church as he is the beginning the first-born from the dead that is the Author of nature grace and glory the Fountain as of life natural so of life spiritual and life eternal not onely the Creator and Preserver of the living but also the Raiser and Restorer of the dead The first that rose to an immortal and incorruptible life and the Author as well as the Exemplar of all that shall rise to the like life incorruptible and immortal And wherefore this but that In all things he might have the pre-eminence Tam in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well in the Creation and natural estate of the World as in the Redemption and Spiritual estate of the Church Whether it be in Creation or Redemption in Conservation or Restauration in Grace or in Glory in Earth or in Heaven in Time or in Eternity in all Primas tenet He hath the pre-eminence But by what ordaining Power and Authority doth he obtain and possess this Dignity Why it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good will and pleasure of the Father who to this very end that Christ might be King and Head of his Church Lord Paramont above all principalities and powers he hath communicated to him all fulness All fulness of wisdom grace power and of the Divinity it self and this fulness is not that of the Vessel but of the Fountain it dwells in him So that though of his fulness do we all receive John 1.16 yet is not his grace to be exhausted he imparts his grace as the Sun his light without diminution of his fulness which fulness he hath as Head of the Body the Church c. 1. By way of Admonition that Applic. as in the Body there is a diversity of Members and in the Members a diversity of Functions Rom. 12.4 1 Cor. 12.12 c. yet in those divers Functions and different Members there is a mutual communion and a perfect concord the less honorable not invading the office of the more noble nor the more noble contemning the use of the less honorable So ought it to be in the Church where every one of the Faithful as a member hath his office his gift his function from Christ not so much in a regard to himself as in a relation to the whole community in which he hath his proper station order and degree appointed him of God which whosoever by emulation disturbs or by ambition violates he prophanes the Ordinance of God and sins against the goodness and wisdom of his Providence And as the hand usurping the office of the Eye or the Foot invading the Function of the Hand this Schism must needs tend both to each Members and the whole Bodies destruction Thus is it in the Church of Christ if the Mechanick shall invade the office of the Minister the Subject usurpe the office of the Soveraign Psal 77.23 Epis Winton If instead of the people led like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron wicked men shall invert the order and make Moses and Aaron to be led like sheep by the hand of the people Sure this Schism in the Body Mystical to say no worse like that in the Body Natural it must needs be dangerous and destructive to the whole even destructive to the people as well as to Moses and Aaron to Magistracy and Ministry even the State Civil and Ecclesiastical 2. Whatsoever is others Schism see we to our own sincerity that we be true Members of Christs Body which Body of Christ admits of no withered hands no wooden legs no prophane persons no formal Hypocrites but such as are truly justified through the Blood of Christ and sanctified by his Spirit of Grace Quid facit in demo fidei perfidum pectus so St. Cyprian What hath an Apostate to do with the houshold of Faith What hath a stranger
Temple O let the faithful then still joy to dwell with God in his Sanctuary 2. See the length of Davids lease for term of life that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life So much is mans nature in love with liberty and change that not having variety of objects and freedom of enjoyments a Palace becomes a Prison and the sweetest dainties a loathed bitterness But O the perfect freedom of Gods service and ravishing sweetness of his Sanctuary which never begets loathing or dislike to the devout soul but the more enjoyed still the more desired So that Gods house is not Davids desire for change but for constancy not for a small spurt but for a long space he measures his own dwelling in Gods Sanctuary according to the time of his souls dwelling in the body even all the dayes of his life All the dayes The godly mans Kalender is from the Son of righteousness he numbers his times by his aspect and influence and and therefore he thinks it no day with his soul but when Christs face doth shine and accounts no happy houres but what are spent in his service So that should the Sun have run his round and David not have repaired to Gods house he would have cryed out as Titus the Emperor upon a less occasion after did O amici diem perdidi O my friends I have lost a day and as with David so with every good Christian that day is lost as to an happy account which makes not an account of Gods holy worship But further David renews his Lease and resolves to have it for perpetuity or rather makes Gods house his inheritance I will dwell saith he in the house of the Lord for ever Psal 23.6 David is not willing to live except in Gods house and when he departs the world he would not depart the Temple but by an happy change of earthly for heavenly enjoying the same holy presence in a more glorious beauty even that of the beatifical vision Thus we have done with the object of Davids petition 1. As emphatically asserted to be unum one thing 2. As that one thing is expresly described to be this a dwelling in the house of the Lord all the dayes of his life From the Object we proceed to the Acts which are two The former speaks Davids inward affection that of desire the latter speaks the eager prosecution of what he desired in seeking after it One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after c. 1. The Act which speaks Davids inward affection that of desire One thing have I desired Desires are the Ecchoes of our loves what we most ardently affect we most eagerly covet If our love then be spiritual and fixt on God our desires will keep the tincture of our loves and become holy and spiritual too And there are no enjoyments so full nor contentments so great that desires are not excited for what is desire but the hearts flame which does not by emission spend the stock but by reflexion quicken the vigor of our loves So that Testimonium gustatae gratiae est esuries saith S. Bernard grace desired is a sure testimony of grace received and to hunger after Christ Ps 34.8 is a good argument of having tasted with David how good the Lord is Thus it is with Gods Saints on earth but see the same with the very Seraphims in heaven who clap their wings that is Isa 6.2 agitate their loves and actuate their joyes by their desires yea no heart is so earthy that breaths not forth the air of this region Ps 145.16 and God alone it is that can satisfie the desire of every living thing And therefore is David right in his Unum petii One thing have I desired of the Lord. For indeed seeing the fruition of God is the last end of the souls creation so infinite an object as God supposeth an infinite desire in man And though David confines his desires to one Object yet can he not contain them in one Act for like Number they are infinite none so great but is still capable of addition so that mans desire cannot be satisfied but by his fulness who is Naz. in Naâ—al as Nazianzen elegantly calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sea of Being which hath neither bottome nor shore a fulness as inexhaustible as it is unsearchable All that splendor which attracts the desires of the most lofty Heroes all those miseries which suspend the admiration of the most learned Sages all that beauty which inflames the hearâ—s of the most passionate Lovers yea take all the whole Wardrobe and Magazine of nature the whole stock of this worlds glory Theaters Thrones Empires and Arms Scepters and Triumphs Isa 40 15. what are they all but stilla situlae as a drop of the Bucket compared with the vast Ocean of Gods fulness What art thou then but ungrateful unto God and unfaithful unto thine own soul What art thou but a Rebel to his Soveraign Majesty and a traitor to thine own repose and glory whosoever thou art that seeks for any other felicity then that of God who hath h s paradise in his own bosome and offers to make thee blessed in his embraces O that thou wouldst now collect thy scattered thoughts vain man and reduce thy wandring desires into this period and center of Unity Communion with God in Christ fixing thy delights in the beauty of his holiness the worship of his Sanctuary and the joy of his presence Thus doth David in his Unum petii One thing have I desired Thus we have done with the former Act which speaks Davids inward affection that of desire 2. The latter which speaks his eager prosecution of what he desired in seeking after it One thing have I desired and that will I seek after In earthly pleasures desires faint upon enjoyment but in spiritual once enjoyed they are the more desired and as the more hotly desired so the more eagerly pursued In carnal delights we say Vilescit adeptum quod accendit desideratum That which we hotly pursue for the attaining when sped we as carelesly despise after enjoying and our own experience tells us That qui satietati occurrit satietatem incurrit A man is satiated with that which he took as a remedy against satiety Thus how many are eagerly mad upon their carnal pleasures till they feel their sting and then they hate them but it is far otherwise with our spiritual delights we have no such appetite to them as when we have tasted them and are never glutted with their sweetness but the more inflamed in our desires by their enjoyments True it is divine raptures and spiritual ravishments they are our heavenly refreshings given not for food but for cordials and therefore are not so frequent Bern. in Cant. ult nor so continued which begot S. Bernards complaint heu hora rara mora parva O how few sweet Jesus
go out upon the Altar not letting our devotion cool in Gods presence especially when we present our selves at the Table of the Lord that sacred solemnity of the blessed Eucharist Oh that we could here compose our Souls to Davids frame That seeing God in Christ is the Center of all holy delights we may make the enjoyment of his presence and communion the Center of all hearty desires and then say in an humble faith and ardent fervor of devotion One thing have I desired of the Lord and that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life c. THE SECOND SERMON UPON PSAL. 27.4 To behold the Beauty of Lord and to enquire in his Temple Introduction Psal 87.2 GOD that loveth the Gates of Sion above all the habitations of Jacob he prefers the Publick Services of the Church before the Private Worship of the Closet 2 Sam. 7.16 Zech. 3.8 Wherefore Davids zeal to the Building and Zorobabels to the rebuilding the Temple and House of God it was rewarded and incouraged by the promise of the Messiah issuing from their loyns And if the holy zeal of building and restoring the House of God had the promise of Christ in the flesh sure I am the blinde zeal of prophaneing and destroying Gods House can have no communion with Christ in the Spirit For observe we how the Prophet Haggai foretels That Hag. 11.9 the glory of the latter House should be greater then that of the former the glory of Zorobabels Temple greater then that of Solomons which could not be meant as to the outward structure or the inward ornaments the latter House wanting what gave the excellency to the former even the Ark of the Covenant the Heavenly Fire the overshadowing Cloud the Urim and Thummim and the gift of Prophecy which gift of Prophecy was onely supplied by an Eccho which the Hebrews call Bath Kol the Daughter of a Voice revealing sometimes something of the Will of God Such a Voice was heard in the Temple before Titus besieged Jerusalem Joseph Bel. Jud. l. 7. c. 12. Migremus hinc Let us be gone hence Now all that glory being wanting in the latter Temple What made it more glorious then the former I answer It was the presence and manifestation of Christ in the flesh who was the substance of those Figures the Body of which the Temples glory was but a shadow And if this was the glory of the Jews Temple That Christ in the flesh was there manifested and presented unto God shall it not be much more the glory of our Christian Oratories That there Christ in his Word and Sacraments is preached and exhibited unto us Christ is present in all places Rev. 2.1 but is said To walk in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks Present he is in the Congregation of the Saints by a special ministration of the Spirit declaration of his Will and communication of his Grace there his Power is evidenced his Arm revealed his Body and Blood exhibited Who is it then but will delight to dwell in that House where the refreshing Food is Christs Body and the chearing Wine his Blood the ravishing Beauty the light of his countenance and the sweet repose his Arms of Love yea where the blest Fellowship is that of Angels and Saints and the onely service Gods holy worship However then the ambitious mindes sore aloft and with restless wing pursue their wordly glory yea how ever voluptuous Epicures set themselves to the injoyment of their sensual delights whatsoever they cost them though body and soul and all yet fix we our desires on Davids one thing which is as much beyond comparison as it is above exception even To dwell in the House of the Lord This the centre of Davids Prayer the main object of his longing desires and eager importunities the thing he sues and seeks for so says the Psalmist One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple We proceed to the second General part The Divine Reason of Davids Petition which is twofold of Delight and of Devotion First Of Delight To behold the Beauty of the Lord Secondly Of Devotion To enquire in his Temple We begin with the first particular that of Delight To behold the Beauty of the Lord. To behold the Beauty of the Lord Why what commerce hath Earth with Heaven finite with infinite flesh with spirit dust and ashes with majesty and glory man with God O the gracious sweetness of divine love God descends to exalt man the Creator humbles himself to a communion with his Creature and to so near a communion as to make his Spirit mans life his grace mans comliness his wing mans shadow his hand mans strength his heart mans rest his beauty mans delight and his embraces mans repose This Beauty of the Lord is of too glorious a ray to be beheld otherways then under avail and therefore it is the goodness of our Maker to exhibite himself not according to the strength of his glory but according to the weakness of our capacity The object is proportioned to the faculty the Creatures are as the Waters and his Word and Sacraments as the Mirrors which represent God by reflexion whose glory we cannot look upon in a direct Beam And thus did David behold the Beauty of the Lord in his Sanctuary Heb. 9.2 3 c. as represented in Types and Figures for we finde in the first Tabernacle called Holy the Candlestick and the Table and the Shew-bread and in the second Tabernacle called The Holy of Holies we finde the Golden Censer the Ark the Manna Aarons Rod the Tables of the Covenant the Cherubims of Glory and the Mercy Seat Now this Tabernacle and Sanctuary did aptly represent the Church of Christ whose Militant part through the vail of Faith does contemplate the glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Great High Priest Heb 4.14 by whom we have access unto the Father in the Holy of Holies that is the Highest Heavens The Brazen Laver did signifie our Baptism and Repentance the Sacrifice of Burnt offerings the Mortification of our Lusts the Altar of Incensé our Oblations of Prayers the Golden Candlestick the Preachers of the Gospel and the Lights thereof their holy Doctrine the Table of Shew-bread did prefigure the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Communion of Saints The Holy of Holies did represent the Heavenly State of the Church Triumphant there being the Ark of the Covenant the Personal and Corporal presence of Christ the Golden Propitiatory his glorious Humanity and the Table of the Law his perfect Obedience the Cherubims wings did represent the Ministry of Angels from above which heavenly Spirits God shews forth his glory in a beatifical