more fit for Meditation Shall I name Four or Five 1. Look when the Lord hath made any deep Impression upon your soul by word or work then is a time for your meditation for Impression calls for meditation 2. The Morning is a fit time for Meditation before the World come in What more fit for God than the best of time the Morning is the best of time therefore a fit time for Meditation on God 3. The Sabbath Day is a fit time also for Meditation therefore the 92th Psal is appointed for the Sabbath A Psalm for the Sabbath Day saith the Title to the Psalm 4. The time of Gods special dispensations is a fit time for it Look when there is a special dispensation of God abroad either of Mercy or Judgment then is a fit time for Meditation In the 9th Psal The Lord is known by the Judgement which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah what 's that it comes from the Heb. Hagah which signifies to Meditate When the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands here 's woâ—k for meditation Look I say when there is a special dispensation of God either in Mercy or Judgment that 's a fit time for meditation 5. Look what time that is that lies next or near or close to any great work or service that 's a fit time for meditation As for example Suppose we be to receive the Lord's Supper The time that lies next before it is a fit time for meditation Suppose a man be to be call'd out for some great service or Imployment The time that goes close before it is a fit time for him to sit down and meditate with himself upon the work For the more a man doth prepare for a work the more likely he is in reason to perform it well Now Meditation is a good preparation Look therefore what that time is that immediately before or close to the work of the Lord that 's a fit time for Meditation Thus now you see what the special times are for the work of Meditation The time of Impressions The morning time The Sabbath day The time of special dispensations either of Mercy or Judgment And the time tha goes Immediately or next or close before the great work and service of the Lord. And If you would meditate rightly observe what the fit times for Meditation are and be sure you lay hold thereon 7. I 'le name but one more Though there is a great deal of profit and sweetness to be found in this work of meditation and it 's every dayes work yet take heed that you don't so meditate on one of Gods excellencies as to neglect another nor don 't so spend your whole time in the work of meditation that this work of meditation should eat up other dutyes God would have us rise from this work of meditation as from any other duty with an hungry appetite Friends God would have us rise hungry from every duty and not glutted variety is refreshing he hath given many duties that we may not pore upon one In case therefore you have bin at the work of meditation either God hath come in upon you with his speciall Influence or not if he hath praise the Lord for his AYtance it 's mercy that you have had one good thought of God but Meditation is more than a thought meditation is thought upon thought praise God that 's the way to have more And In case that God hath not come in upon you in the work of meditation then yet be not discouraged for God would not have you glutted and God would lead you to some other work and one duty one work is not to eat up and devour another I say with one Let not your time be the measure or rule of your Meditation but your Meditation the rule of your time Yet take heed that you don't spend so much time in musing and considering and meditating as that this work of Meditation should eat up any other Duty but quicken thereunto And thus you see some means some helps to this work of Meditation Some Rules and Directions for the right carrying it on sweetly What now remains but that you up and be doing turn your hand to it You have heard the duty proved You have heard the sweetness and profitableness thereof cleared You have heard what Objects we are to lay our Thoughts out upon And you have heard some means as helps unto the Work And some Rules and Directions for the carrying of it on O then you that never spent hour in meditation all your dayes if there be any such here Now bethink your selves and now give up your Thoughts to God You that have gone one year after another and one week after another and never spent any time in meditating on God or the things of God O now bethink your selves And that you may do so and be provoked hereunto give me leave to lay down some Arguments and Motives to press both your souls and mine unto this great work of Meditation The Arguments are divers Thus First Friends The more acquaintance you have with this work of Meditation the more time you will get and the lesse you will lose A man that hath the skill on 't need never lose an hour Who knows the worth of time This little spot of time doth our Eternity depend upon Yet Lord how many are there that lose their precious hours and time But what 's the reason They have no hand at this work of Meditation When their business is over they might otherwise turn their hand to this work and lose no time The more acquaintance you have with this work of Meditation the more time you will get and the lesse you will lose 2. Hereby even by this work of Meditation you shall get into the Secrets of divine things There is a Secret and a Mystery in ever Trade A man don't know the Trade till he knows the Secret and the Mystery of it It 's said The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Knowledge brings us to the door of Truth But Meditation hath us into the House and into all the Rooms thereof Thereby I say you shall get into the Inwards and the Secrets of the things of God 3. Thereby also you shall suck out the sweetnesse of all those divine and precious things that you know As a man by musing on his Sins sucks out the sweetness thereof so by meditating on the things of God you suck out the sweetness of the things of God into your own souls 4. By this work of Meditation you shall have a Testimony in your own Souls that you are truly godly Every man is what he is most in private A good mans work lies most under-ground lies most out of sight In the time of Moses the beasts were clean that chewed the Cud and unclean that did not chew the Cud. In the time of David 't is made
And the more sensible we are of the loss of our thought-pâ—ssessions and of our Meditations the more fit we shall be for this work of Meditation First therefore be very sensible of your want and neglect of this work of Meditation thus long 2. If you would meditate indeed on God and the things of God labour more and more for a Serious Spirit A frothy leight and giggling disposition is never fit for Meditation Labour therefore to be serious And there are three or four things that will poise and make your hearts serious The sight of the glorious Majesty of God The sense of your Eternal Condition Eternity Eternity Humiliation for Sin And converse with those that are serious Be serious and you will be more fit for Meditation That 's the Second 3. If you would indeed meditate on God and the things of God labour more and more for a Fixed Spirit Fixation of Spirit is a great friend to meditation An unsettled an unfixed soul cannot meditate Fix therefore first And there are many things that may fix your Spirits The great and weighty Judgments of God that are upon us may help to fix us and hang lead upon our heels In case you are to come to Meditation or any other Work come free and don 't leave any businesse standing at the Door for a hundred to one but your hearts will step out unto it at the time of your Work whether Meditation or Prayer or any thing else Therefore come free unto every Duty if you would be fixed And labour for Intention of Affection In Meditation Prayer or any other Work be Intense We use to say when the Candle burns the Mouse doth not nibble but when the Candle is out then the Mouse nibbles when our hearts are warm and lively in Prayer and Meditation we are free from distractions the Mouse nibbles not And in case you meet with any distraction in Meditation or other duty don't stand to Correct your heart in the time of the duty but go on with your work If a woman carries a Child abroad among friends and the Child cries and makes a disturbance the mother don't then correct the Child there but calls the Child to an account when she comes at home for saith she Else would my correction be a further disturbance to the company So here when you meet with distractions in duty if you call your hearts to an account then it will be a further disturbance but on with your present duty correct afterward and thus shall your hearts be the more fixed and fixation of heart is a great help to Meditation 4. If you would indeed meditate on God and the things of God be sure that you lay out such objects as may give entertainment to your thoughts For if there be no Corn in the Quern what grinding will there be Have therefore objects laid out to exercise your thoughts withal upon all occasions And so when you have any spare time your Objects lying by you will be presently upon the work of Meditation only let those Objects be such as are drawing alluring thought-begetting Objects and Thought-entertaining Objects But then 5. If you would meditate on God and the things of God strengthen your Love and Delight for Meditation grows upon the stalk of Love and Delight And the more a man doth love God and the things of God the more he meditates thereon Psal 119. O how I love thy Law what then It is my Meditation all the day this was much his meditation all the day What 's the reason Why his Love was beyond expression O how I love thy Law It is my meditation all the day Love loves to be thinking on the person loved It carries the Picture of the Person or thing loved up and down in its bosome the more you love the more you meditate and the more you delight the more you meditate Can a Woman forget her Child no why because she loves it Can a Worldly man forget the World his Money and his House or Land can he forget this no why because he loves them What 's the reason we meditate no more but because we love God no more Do but strengthen your love to God and the things of God and your delight in God and the things of God and you will meditate more This is the fifth means unto the work of Meditation Strengthen your love to and your delight in the Lord And then 6. If you would meditate on God and the things of God Then labour to get a deep Impression of the things of God upon your heart and soul 'T is deep impressions that calls for meditation A man reads the word of God and it may be understands it but he don't meditate Why because the word made no impression upon his heart as he went along But if he read it and understand it and hath an impression made upon his soul as he reads it then he thinks on 't afterwards As in hearing the Word of God a man hears the Word of God in Publick or in Private and he meditates not thereupon Why Why because it has no impression upon him Possibly a man may think of the free grace of God yet if it make no impression upon his soul he don't go away and meditate on it If a man think on the Wrath of God and it make an impression upon him he goes away and is still in the thoughts thereof What 's the reason that many poor souls troubled in Conscience are alwayes thinking of Hell and Judgement and Wrath but because the Wrath of God hath made a deep impression upon their souls and the more deep the impression is upon your soul the more full will your meditation be You see how it was in former times when they went in procession at the end of the Parish they would take up a Boy and whip him Why that he might remember the bounds of the Parish for Passion is the best Door-keeper of Memory And as passion is the Door-keeper of Memory so Impression is the Door-keeper of Meditation 7. If you would meditate on God and the things of God Take heed that your hearts and your hands be not too full of the world and the employments thereof The more full your hand is of worldly imployments the more you will think thereon and the more you think thereon the less you will think of Gâ—d and the things of God And what is the reason that many meditate and think so little of God and the things of God but because their hearts are so full of the World Where their treasure is there will their hearts bâ— O saith one I would think on God and I would meditate on God with all my heart but meditation-work is a work of time it will cost time and I have no time my hands are so full of business and so full of imployment I have no time for this work Meditation is not a transient Thought but it is a work of
I shall not run through all these differences priviledges only fall in with this 24 verse And to Jesus that is ye are come to Jesus tâ— Mediator of the New Covenant and to the bloâ— of sprinkling that is ye are come to the blood sprinkling that speaketh better things then that Abel From which two Priviledges with the connection I take up these Observations Observ 1. That there is a New Covenant strickâ— with the children of men 2. That Jesus is the Mediator of this New Câ—venant 3. That now in these Gospel times we are 〈◊〉 come to Moses the Mediator of the Old but unâ—â— Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant And 4. That thus coming unto Jesus the Mediatâ— of the New Covenant we are also come unto tâ—â— blood of sprinkling that speaketh better thing then that of Abel Doct. I shall begin with the first There is new Covenant stricken with the children of meâ— It was alwayes Gods way to deal with man iâ— the way of a Covenant that is the most suitablâ— to man the most honourable for man and the moâ— amicable and friendly from the beginning therefore so it was no sooner was man made but Goâ— entred into Covenant with him In the day thâ—â— thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death And then a Covenant he made with the World by Noah And then a Covenant he made with Abraham And then a Covenant he made with the Jews at Mount Sinai It hath alwayes been Gods way to deal with man in the way of a Covenant but now in these latter dayes he hath stricken a New Covenant with the children of men A New Covenant will I make with the house of Israel saith the Lord by way of promise Jer. 31. A New Covenant hath the Lord made with the house of Israel by way of fullfilment and accomplishment Heb. 8. So that there is a New Covenant stricken with the children of men For the opening of which Argument 1. We must enquire what this Covenant is 2. Why and upon what account it is called a New Covenant And 3. What are the wayes and properties of this New Covenant 4. Who are the Subjects of this Covenant and persons that God doth strike this Covenant with 5. We will a little inquire into the benefits thereof 6. Labour to shew you what a man should do to get into Covenant with God and in case he be in Covenant with God how he should walk as becometh one that is in Covenant with the great God Here is matter enough to discourse on many exercises but though with difficulty I shall dispatch all in this one 1. And first of all if you aske me what this Covenant is take this description of the Covenant that now we are in It is that mutual agreement between God and Man whereby God the Father doth ingage himself to shew mercy love and kindness to Christ anâ— to his Seed Christ ingaging both for himself anâ— for his Seed to be obedient unto God the Father First I say it is a mutual agreement and herein a Covenant differs from a Law A Law properly is a commandment with penalty No sooner waâ— man made but he was under a Law to be obedient unto God his Maker and in case he broke it God by the Law of Nature might punish him But then when God said unto him In the day thaâ— thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death then God entered into Covenant man accepting thereof Thâ— Child is obliged by the Law of Nature to obey hiâ— Parents yet this is no Covenant but a law of Nature for here is no agreement But the Wife is obliged to obey her Husband and this is a Covenant why because it is by mutual agreement So that I say this Covenant First is a mutual agreement between God and Man But 2. It is that agreement whereby God the Father doth ingage himself to shew kindness grace and mercy to Christ and to his Seed Unto Christ himself he doth ingage Isa 42. 〈◊〉 the Lord have called thee in Righteousness and will bold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles If thou wilt undertake the work of the Mediator I do ingage and promise to thee I the Lord have called thee in Righteousness and I will hold thine hand and I will keep thee And the Father doth ingage unto Christ and his Seed too for saith he unto Christ If thy children forsake my Law and walk not in my Judgements If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their transgression with the Rod and their iniquity with stripes nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take away which is plainly spoken unto Christ as you read in the 89 Psalm from the 26. v. unto the 30. So that I say it is that agreement whereby God the Father doth ingage himself to shew kindness grace and mercy unto Christ and his Seed On the other side Christ ingages both for himself and for his Seed to be obedient unto God the Father Christ ingages for himself and therefore saith he in the 40. Psalm verse 6. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire c. Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart They are the words of Christ Then said I that is then promised I. Paulus Fagius observes that the Hebrew hath no one proper word for Promise but where God is said to Promise the word in the Hebrew is onely so God said God spake And indeed if any man will take the pains to consult the Hebrew and our English Translation together he shall find it true I 'le give you some instances and so pass over Deut. 1.11 The Lord God of your Fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are and bless you as he hath promised you Heb. as he hath said So in the 1 Kings 8.56 Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he promised Heb. according to all that he hath said So in the 2 Chron. 6.10 The Lord therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken for I am risen up in the room of David my Father anâ— am set on the Throne of Israel as the Lord hatâ— promised Heb. as the Lord hath said So aâ— the 16. verse Now therefore O Lord God of Israel keep with thy Servant David my Father thaâ— which thou hast promised him Hebr. that whicâ— thou hast said to him So here in the 40. Psalm Then said I that is then promised I then ingageâ— I unto God the Father saying Lo I come in thâ— the Volume of the Book it is written of me herâ— Christ ingages for himself And he ingaged also for his Seed therefore Psâ— 16. O my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord saiâ— by way
to an outward holy Conversation Now then As ever you desire that the holiness of your Conversation may be advanced That you may be as godly now in your thoughts as ever you have been ungodly That God may take nothing unkindly from you That you may have a constant relief against all afflictions both inward and outward That you may live on God That your hearts may be subdued into God That God may give out his Loves unto you That you may be very godly That you may have a Testimony in your own souls that you are truly godly That you may suck out the sweetness of all the things you know That you may be let into the secret of Godliness and not stand at the door of Knowledg onely That you may never lose a pretious hour but redeem your time Now to the work of Meditation And you that have neglected it so long be not ashamed to begin it at last Gods Return to the Soul or Nation SERM. IX Psal 90.13 Return O Lord how long and let it repent thee Concerning thy Servants This Psalm is a Psalm of Moses the man of God Saith the title Wherein he doth strengthen his Faith and the Israelites Faith in God And shews the misery and frailty of mans life petitions God for his mercy He sets down the misery and frailty of mans life in the body of the Psalm But before in the beginning of the Psalm he doth strengthen his own and others Faith in God A man is never fit to look upon the troubles of this World and the miseries thereof till his heart be establisht in God by beleeving This therefore he doth in the first place by several Arguments of Comfort First drawn from their interest in God v. 1. Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all Generations As if he should say We are now in the Wilderness and so no abiding place well Thou hast bin our dwelling place in all Generations Faith finds that in God which we want here below and that 's the way to true Comfort The Second is drawn from the eternity of Gods essence and beeing v. 2. Before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God The Third is drawn from our Resurrection Though now we die and are destroyed yet at the 3. v. Thou turnest man to destruction and sayâ—st Return ye Children of men Our Resurrection is an easy work with God it is but saying Thou sayest Return ye Children of men The Fourth is drawn from the shortness of the time that lies between our Death and the Resurrection for it will be said There 's a great deal of time between our Death and the Resurrection But saith he you must account as God accounts for at the 4th v. A Thousand yeers in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past And as a watch in the night These things being thus premised Now you may read over the miseries and troubles of this World Which you have at large from the 5. v. unto the 12. v. But what then what is the work and Duty of the Psalmist then Why then he Petitions God He petitions first for Wisdome That by all the troubles and miseries of this life he may provide and lay in for eternity So teach us to number our Daies that we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom v. 12. And then he petitions for the return of Gods love Returne O Lord how long and let it repent thee concerning thy Servants Where you have the matter of the Petition The explication And the reason thereof The Matter of the Petition in those words Return O Lord. The Explication thereof And let it repent thee concerning thy Servants And the Reason How long Thou hast been long absent O Lord how long wilt thou be absent how long wilt thou be angry Return O Lord how long And let it repent thee concerning thy Servants God is said To return when after some Judgments for sin he doth shew forth some fresh tokens of his love and favour God is said To Repent when he doth change his dispensations of Anger into Love And this is that which the Psalmist doth here most desire From whence I take up this Doctrine or Observation Obs When God is in any measure departed from his people it is their great desire that God would return unto them and repent him concerning his Servants For the clearing and prosecuting of which First I shall labour to shew you that God doth sometimes forsake desert and depart from his own people for a time 2. That they are very sensible of such departures and think it long 3. That then in the time of those departures their great desire is that God would return and 4. That when God doth return unto his people then he doth repent him concerning his Servants and 5. What we should do in case God should be in any measure departed from us that he may return again unto us First As for the first God doth sometimes desert and forsake and depart from his people for a time Not in regard of their Union so he never departs But in regard of Communion and manifestation so sometimes he doth Though nothing is hid from the heat of this Sun yet our souls may be hid from the light of this Sun God doth sometimes depart from his own people For first He is the Sovereign Lord over all And what if God will to make his power and sovereignty known among his own people sometimes withdraw forsake and depart from them Two times you read in the Book of the Canticles that Christ withdraws from the Spouse Once upon occasion of her sin and security And then she meets with blows Cant. 5. Once upon an account of his meer pleasure Cant. 3. As whom God will he shews mercy to and whom he will he hardens So whom God will he is present with and whom he will he is absent from He is the Sovereign Lord over all But Secondly What if God will that his people should have a taste of hell in this life that so they may be sensible of and very thankful for their deliverance from hell and the wrath to come There are three things in hell Torment of Body Horror of Conscience Loss of God By our Pains and Torments Gouts and Stone we think of the Torments of Hell or may think By the horror of Conscience that we meet withall we may think of the horror of Conscience there And by Gods withdrawing and Gods departing from us here we may think of the losse of God for ever there These things are not in perfection here In heaven there is nothing but the presence of God and all the comforts there flow from that Fountain In hell there 's nothing but the absence of God and all the miseries there flow from that Fountain This life lyes between both And what if God will that we may be sensible
dispensation then God is said to repent So it repented the Lord that he had made man in the 6. of Gen. 2. Secondly If you ask Whether God doth or will at any time repent I Answer yes Expressly in the 32 Exod. 14. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people 'T is a direct Answer of prayer to the very words At the 12. v. Moses prayes Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil agâ—inst thy people And at the 14. v. The Lord repented of the â—vâ—l which he thought to do unto his people God doth and will some times repent Onely you must know God will more easily repent of his Judgments than of his Mercies And you must know that the gifts of God are of two sorts Ordinary and Common gifts and so God repents of them and he takes them away It repented the Lord that he had made man Of the gifts of God that concern effectual vocation so God repenteth not For the gifts and callings of God are without repentance Those gifts that concern our effectual Vocation those God repents not of 3. But then Thirdly how may it appear that when the Lord doth return unto his people that then he will repent him concerning his Servants Why that appears by the thing it self If a man say he will go from such a Town and never return again and then do return he doth repent him concerning the thing by his return And so concerning God In the 18th Jer. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pul down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them Well 4. But then 4thly How shall we know in case God be absent or God be departed how shall we be able in the time of Gods absence or departure to know that God will return again Suppose that God be withdrawn from my soul in particular I am this day under a spiritual desertion how shall I know that God will return again to me Or suppose that God have forsaken and departed much from the Nation how shall we know whether God will return again or no Indeed it is a very hard thing to bear the departures of God But yet if I did know that God would return again I should be comforted How therefore shall I know both in reference to my own soul in particular and in reference to the Nation that God will return again Here are two cases and I shall speak all along to both If your Question do relate unto your own particular case and soul I Answer thus You may know it by your Relations If you be in Covenant with God God will return again to you though now he be absent Though he afflict you with Rods his loving kindness will he not take away nor suffer his faithfulness to fail Will a Father or Mother leave their Child no I am sure God will not Joseph was under a great displeasure with his Brethren yet notwithstanding at the last he could hold no longer but he bursts out and saith I am your Brother Joseph And so though you be under some great displeasure from Christ yet there is a time when Christ will break forth and say unto you I am yous Brother Jesus And I say if you be in Covenant with God you may conclude it for so doth the Psalmist Psal 42. ult I shall yet praise him My soul thou art cast down and disquieted but be quieted for I shall yet praise him Why he is the health of my Countenance and my God You may know it then by your Relations But 2. Though God or Christ be gon and in a great measure departed from your souls yet If you cannot leave God God cannot leave you In our conversion God comes to us before we come to him But in Apostasie we depart from God before he departs from us How is it therefore with you Can you say truly My soul cannot leave God then conclude and say God will return again and cannot leave you But 3. Though God be very much gon and departed from you in a great measure Yet if in the time of his absence he doth send you letters and tokens of love you may know for certain he will return again Possibly God or Christ may appoint an affliction to bring you a token or to bring you a message of love in the time of his absence Possibly he may appoint or order some providence to bring you a Token or some message of love Possibly he may order and appoint upholding mercy to be a pledge to you of delivering mercy And believe it upholding mercy is alwaies a pledge of delivering mercy How is it therefore with you are you deserted is Christ gon yet have you not had the upholding presence of God all this while then be of good Comfort Christ is not gon but he will return again 4. If your case and condition be such that although you cannot find Christ Christ is gon though Christ be gon and departed from you and you cannot find him yet If you can direct others to the finding of him when you cannot find him then certainly he is not gon but he will return again unto you The Spouse in the Canticles seeks after Christ saith she he hath withdrawn himself and I cannot find him Chap. 5. The Daughters of Jerusalem say whither is thy beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee my Beloved is gon down into his Garden to the beds of spices Mark she could not find him her self and yet she can direct others to the finding of him What doth this signifie but plainly teach us thus much that though Christ be gon and we cannot find him yet if we can direct others to the finding of him he is not quite gon but he will return again Now is it thus with you when Christ is gon cannot you direct others to the finding of him If you can then build upon it he is not so gon but he will return again But then Secondly suppose that the Lord be departed from this Nation much we are under a very great displeasure of the Lord this day God is departed from us how shall we know now in the time of Gods departure that he will return again to this Nation First you know how it is with a man that doth leave his house though he go away yet if his Children be there and his goods be there his Plate and his Jewels there he will either come again to them or send for them to himself Believe it Christians God hath a very great Cupbord of Plate in this Nation Christ hath much plate in England as much as in any Nation in the World and he will not lose his plate There are three things very pretious in the eies of God His truth His worship His