The Inundation of the Old World The Confusion of Languages The doing things against the Course of Nature such as are Raising the Dead to Life Restoring the Blind Or above Nature such as are most of the Plagues that befel Aegypt amply describe his Infinite Power And Rom. 1.20 His Eternal Power and Godhead are there said to be seen in the Creation of the World Seventhly The Measure of himself is Immensity And of all his Attributes is Infiniteness that is They have neither Bounds nor Measure 1. His Immensity is thus set forth by the Holy Ghost in Scripture 1 Kings 8.27 But will God indeed dwell on the Earth Behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee how much less this House that I have builded So 2 Chron. 2.6 to the same purport So Psalm 139.7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell thou art there If I take the wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me So Amos 9.2 3 4. 2. The infinity of all his Attributes Psal 147.5 Great is our Lord and of great power and his understanding is infinite And if one Attribute be infinite needs must all the rest be so and therefore Zophar may well propose it as a Query uncapable of solution Job 11.7 8 9. Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection It is as high as Heaven what canst thou do Deeper than Hell what canst thou understand The measure thereof is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea See Job 37.23 Eighthly His Attributes that result from all these are 1. His Immutability which the Holy Ghost describes James 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights in whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning And Malach. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed Psal 102.27 2. His Greatness which the Scripture thus describeth Psal 145.36 The Lord is great and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable he is to be feared above all Gods And 1 Chron. 15.25 and Jerem. 10.6 There is none like unto the Lord great in might Dan. 9.4 He is the great and dreadful God keeping covenant and mercy to them that love him Psal 77.13 There is none so great as our God Psal 48.1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God in the mountain of his holiness 3. His Majesty is thus described O Lord my God thou art very great thou art cloathed with majesty and honour Psalm 104.1 Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty 1 Chron. 29.11 And Elihu tells us that with God is terrible majesty Job 37.22 and Psalm 96.6 Honour and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his sanctuary And Psal 145.10 11 12 13. All thy works shall praise thee O Lord c. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations 4. His Glory the Scripture thus expresseth Psalm 138.5 Great is the glory of the Lord. And Psal 148.13 Let them praise the Name of the Lord that is the forementioned Creatures for his Name only is excellent and his glory is about the Earth and the Heaven And Isa 6.3 Holy holys holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his glory Exod. 15.11 The Lord is there said to be glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders 5. His Lordship and Dominion over all is thus described Isa 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King Psal 97.5 Thou art the Lord of the whole Earth And Dan. 2.47 He is there said to be a God of Gods a Lord of Kings a revealer of secrets Psal 47.2 The Lord most high is terrible he is a great King over all the Earth Psal 103.19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in heaven and his kingdom ruleth over all Psal 145.13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all ages And Rom. 31.1 The Apostle tells us there is no power but of God Prov. 8.15 16. By him Kings reign and Princes decree justice By him Princes rule the Nobles and Judges of the Earth Matth. 6.13 Thine is the kingdom the power and the glory Lastly His Eternity the Crown of all is thus described Exod. 15.18 The Lord shall reign for ever and ever And Psal 45.6 Thy throne O Lord is for ever and ever the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter Psal 90.2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World thou art God from everlasting to everlasting i. a parte ante and a parte post without beginning and without end Psal 93.2 Thy throne is established of old thou art from everlasting Psal 102.27 Thou art the same viz. in opposition to mutable Creatures and thy years shall have no end Psal 104.31 The glory of the Lord shall endure forever c. Dan. 4.9 His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom Psal 106.10 The Lord shall reign for ever even thy God O Sion throughout all generations Dan. 8.18 His dominion shall be for ever unto the end These glorious Attributes of God especially as they stand in conjunction and shine upon one another calmly considered will mount and elevate an ingenuous and understanding Heart and wing it to this high and honourable imployment Secondly It will help on this blessed heavenly Work and Temper of Joy and Delight in God honourable and thankful thoughts and mention of him to behold his Attributes as they are further displayed in his Works Particularly his Bounty Wisdom Power Towards the 1. Irrational Creatures 2. Rational Creatures 1st It will something advance the dullest heart and dispose it to rejoyce in God and lift it up in praise and thankfulness to him to steep it a little in the meditation of that incomparable wisdom that shineth forth in the Being of every irrational Creature especially in the whole frame and orderly connection of all such Creatures Every Creature in its single existence hath treasure enough to enrich the understanding of the wisest Man on earth if it search into the depth and bottom of it and to imprint admiring reverent and thankful Inclinations towards him in the Heart There 's not a Pile of Grass that shoots up but directs the Eye Heavenward towards which it pointeth up unless it be kept shut by ignorance and inconsideration What excellent skill and cunning is there in
judgment may be passed upon other Nations if this great Relation every Soul stands in to God were well thought upon and all things that have a power to inchant the mind and controll the mighty power of this truth upon the soul were in a good measure disgraced and turned out of the heart It could not be that heart and mouth and life should be so intollerably backward to any serious service of God as they are in the most 2. Secondly They forget God that overlook his Sovereignty and forget that he is the holy just and righteous Governour of Mankind 1. That he is the absolute and universal Sovereign that hath the most unquestionable authority to command and govern the Creatures he hath made 2. The greatest wisdom to contrive the most perfect Laws for the good of all his Subjects 3. And the most irresistible power to see them executed 4. And the highest justice to see that neither Law nor Subject shall receive any detriment or damage And if this were believed and considered would men either desire or dare to cast off such a Yoke and transgress such a Law and provoke such impartial justice What a monstrous pride must it needs be that makes a man unwilling to submit to such a Government And what a presumptuous befooled lying heart must that be that can promise it self indemnity and think to speed well in a state of disobedience Let the deceived heart that hath turned thee aside from such an honourable gainful service tell thee whom thou canst serve to better purpose and under whose command thine own welfare would be better promoted I know thou wouldst abhor the thought of being his servant who is the first-born of all pride insolence and cruelty and yet there is no possible way of escape if the Yoke of thy rightful Sovereign be too heavy for thee May be thou mayst be so void of understanding as to think if thou hadst none to controll thine actions but wert thine own Lord and accountable to none other but thy self and that thou mightst let out thy heart with a full Rein to all that it desireth it were a condition to be desired above any other but hast thou wit enough to manage all thy affairs strength enough to protect thy self soresight enough to keep out of a thousand evils that thy own blindness and nakedness would expose thee to Thy Lusts and thy Passions would make worse work with thee than all thy other enemies when they were under no restraint and thou couldst not long keep out of the fore-mentioned Tyrants hands the mention of whose dominion over thee made thee so much to start before But it may be thou meanest that this State were the most desirable if thou hadst wisdom enough to direct thee and power enough to protect thy self and fulness enough to supply all thine own wants and art thou not now ashamed of such a prodigious pride as would sit down in the Throne of God and aspire to the divine perfections Thou seest whither this inclination leadeth and what a symtom of destruction it must needs be and yet be thy case never so bad and desperate they that will habitually overlook that divine right and sovereignty and their necesssity of subjection and both from the wisdom and justice of the Laws and power of the Law-giver and that there is no wisdom nor happiness like theirs that chearfully obey must needs entangle themselves in these woful consequences fall into the absurdest sins that will but humour and gratifie this proud inclination 3. They forget God that are not prevailingly under the power of this thought that God is their happiness and that if all the world were theirs and God should deny the light and beatifical presence of himself they could never find rest or satisfaction Let the honour and Majesty of a King and the Glory of a Kingdom be given unto David and let him have all the assistance that such a power can afford to compass the pleasures that the heart of man can wish for yet this will not do In the midst of this fulness and sufficiency he is in streights Job 20.22 If God withdraw When thou hidest thy face I am troubled Psal 30.7 And when this was wanting his moisture was turned into the draught of Summer and his bones were broken hence he prayeth to God to restore the joy of his salvation and uphold him with his free spirit and to make him to hear of joy and gladness that the bones that he had broken might rejoyce Psal 51.8 12. Who that hath any experience in the world can be fool enough to believe that his soul will be quieted with such a Weathercock and Rattle as the world is and popt off with noise instead of substance and listen with full contentment to the Sounding Brass and Tinkling Cymbal Alas The Bias of a Mans Soul is after something that the world hath not something like it self and cannot be truly satisfied with these things because they have no proportion with it self They are flesh and that is spirit nor thoroughly comforted with these shews because the time is at hand when it shall be truly said as Rachel said of her Children they are not Give the Child that cryes for the Breast what you will and it gives not over because this is the only thing it wants The Soul will never be still nor give over its muttering and complaints till it hath the very thing that fully supplies its want and that only is God and they that live not under the power of this perswasion will run after every shadow and be ticed into mortal sin and yet at last lose their labour and hope and all this because they forget that God is their Rest and that their Happiness is bound up in him Jog thy self a little and consider what it is to be God but to have All-sufficiency and to have all Satisfying Ravishing Excellency in the greatest Transcendency without any Bounds or Ends what it is to be God but to have all imaginable Perfection And therefore to think we remember God when we forget those Perfections which are his very Being is a lie with a witness and will prove one with a vengeance if thou dost not pray to God and prevail with him to have thy Memory restored and to heal this defect thereof 4. They forget God that live not under a daily sense of his Omniscience and forget that his Eye pierceth the thickest darkness and that nothing is hid from his distinct Observation For he that denieth this denieth God and he that forgetteth this forgets that without which God cannot be God Tell me thou that abhorest Atheism with thy Tongue why art thou so notoriously guilty of it in thy practice Why dost thou with-draw from the Eyes of Men when thou hast some filthiness to commit which thou art ashamed they should see or know Why dost thou shut thy self up in thy Closet that there thou mayest hide thy Vanity
amongst the Forgetters of Gods Word For Faith or Subjection to the Person of Christ and Obedience to his Laws and abrenunciation of all that would hinder this Subjection of our Hearts and Obedience of our Lives are Three great ends for which the Word of God was ordained and appointed and a high Reverence of its Authority and deep Sense of its Importance and firm perswasion of its certainty would most undoubtedly bring to pass For it is most unquestionable that God would not fail these his own means 1. First They must read or hear these Instructions slightly and unworthily that are not deeply wrought upon by the consideration of their Author and the Divinity that is instamp'd upon them It 's not enough that you believe and acknowledge this but that you be frequently under the thought of it And it is a weighty truth worthy your remembrance That the Soul is never wrought upon to any purpose either in its Understanding Will or Affections but by frequent serious and repeated Acts. The main difficulty therefore in the work of Conversion and a saving change on our part lies here in bringing our thoughts to a devout and frequent meditation of these Objects which God hath resolved shall do the work if ever it be done And though he can change the Heart by a word and in a moment if he please yet he hath told us flatly he will not do it ordinarily without these means And therefore he awakens every Soul to such Meditations whom he will shew mercy to A Mans Thoughts are the means that God makes most use of in renewing his Heart Do thou not presume whoever thou art that God will infuse Sanctification into thy Heart by a miracle when thou art thinking all the day yea all the week long upon meer vanity if not doing worse But this by the way He that doth not strike his heart into superlative Reverence of this Word by thinking often of that Holy Spirit by whom it was word for word inspired will never be made fit to take it into his heart and chew upon it when he lies down and riseth up to curb every base Inclination of his Soul by it and to resolve they shall bend to this Word or have no quiet The Heart is so prone to Earth and Vanity and the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts are so strong and masterless that they will never obey unless such Authority be produced Yea there 's none that are well vers'd in their own Hearts but will find how they will slight such Authority and sometime venture to contemn it But as he that doth wisely govern a Family or other Society much more a Kingdom will not suffer his Authority to be trampled on nor his Laws to stand for Ciphers but will vindicate them with the greatest Power and Majesty that he can put on much more will the Lord of Heaven and Earth stand up in the behalf of his own Authority and vindicate the best Laws that ever were made from contempt And if any sinner be so sottish as to think that his Wit or Pedigree or Riches or Esteem in the World will bear him out in such irreverence let me say to such a one as once Samuel said to Saul 1 Sam. 15.16 Stay and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said of such a one Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall lightly be esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 Be as wise and as great as thou wilt the Lord will shame thee sooner or later and kick thee down into Scorn and Disgrace 2. Secondly They are forgetful of the Word of God that are not considerably moved with the most important matters which it sets before them If thou readest it not frequently thou forgetest it in the grossest sense and thine own Conscience will fall upon and condemn thee And if thou dost read it yet if thy very Heart be not affected with those matters in the Word which more concern thee than all the World so as to shew it in thy Life I would not for all the World hear that Judgment that thou shalt shortly hear Doth it so much concern thee what thou shalt Eat and what thou shalt Drink and wherewithal thou shalt be cloathed and how thou shalt Sleep or enjoy thy Health much more how thou shalt visit this or that Friend do this or that petty business as how thou shalt save thy Soul how thou mayst get thy Heart affected with its Sin and Misery and set a value upon Christ as he deserveth this is not easily done how thou mayst break off thine Affections from these things that will abuse them and certainly blast every good work in thy Heart and turn thy Religion into meer Hypocrisie For it is impossible that the Love of God should be in that Heart where the love of any worldly thing doth prevail Hearken therefore and listen attentively what necessity the Word of God layeth upon Self-denial 〈◊〉 mortification of the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts He that will be my Disciple must deny himself take up his Cross and follow me Luke 9.23 And if ye live after the Flesh ye shall die Rom. 8.13 If thine Estate Life or Credit only were here concerned thy neglect would not prove thee so perfectly mad and distracted as now it doth when the Eternal Life and Welfare of thy Soul is so much concerned 3. Thirdly They that live not under any serious thoughts of the certain accomplishment of all that is threatned or promised in the Word cannot but forget the Word The things that are contained in the Scripture if they were liable to some doubt yet were worthy to be thought on because they concern so much if they should prove true And this is an Argument that will stop their Mouths that chuse a Romance or vain Ballad before the Word of God to be the matters of their thoughts But when God will certainly make good every Judgment he hath threatned to the impenitent sinner and when every wicked person that dies in his sin shall as certainly feel those dreadful Woes as now he hears or may hear them pronounced O what an advantage is here to beget a Resolution to withstand every Temptation that would draw us to those things that are thus threatned Though it were a pleasing and profitable Lust it 's stark madness to fulfil it O if we had 〈◊〉 or felt the wrath of God in another World it would be Armour of Proof against all wilful presumptuous sin for ever afterwards and would awaken the Soul to any pains or diligence to escape it And is it not as certain as if we had seen or felt it Hath the Lord said that he will laugh at the destruction of a sinner and mock when his fear cometh Prov. 1.26 Hath he said that he will shortly come with his Fan in his hand and thorowly purge his Floor and gather his Wheat into the Garner but that he will burn up the
by a satisfying ravishing sight and intuition Were the Soul it self loosned from this bodily Prison it would be a Spectacle worth your beholding and a most delectable glorious sight and your curiosity to behold such a sight as this would be far more excusable than theirs whom our Saviour taxed in that question What went you out for to see a Reed shaken with the wind But what went you out for to see a man cloathed in Purple and soft rayment such are in Kings houses Mat. 11.8 And if then the Soul of man be such a beautiful taking sight what a blessed sight will that be when God shall display the fulness of his glory If a Spirit be so bright and glorious what is the Father of Spirits to whom all created beauty is but a drop What a goodly sight will that be to behold the company of Prophets Martyrs and Apostles cloathed in shining rayment with Crowns on their Heads and Palms in their hands And what a ravishing pleasure must it needs be to see Sun and Stars under our feet and to behold the order and beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem and to joyn in that Heavenly Consort to be admitted into his presence that hath made the Soul and Body out of nothing that hath fulness of joy at his right hand and pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Happy are the persons indeed that after a few miserable days here on Earth shall be translated thither into that Heavenly Palace with long life will he satisfie them and shew them his Salvation Psal â— 16 Talk no more so exceeding proudly O ye Sons of men of your worldly Dignity and Honour what a Dream and meer Imagination is all Earthly felicity to this of the Saints in Heaven Your riches if they were worthy to be named when we are discoursing of the riches of the Inheritance of the Saints Eph. 1.12.18 yet they may be corrupted and your garments may be Moth-eaten James 5.1 But the glory of the Saints endureth for ever for the Lord himself hath prepared a City for them Heb. 11.16 Though they were contemn'd here on Earth yet they shall have glory enough in Heaven Then shall that great Soveraign of the World command the best Robe to be brought forth and put it on them and call for the fatted Calf to entertain them and they shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in his Eternal Kingdom and they shall have an Everlasting Feast of joy and gladness Luke 15.22 23. Here they have but a Tast and do but sip now and then but there they shall have â—uch a draught that shall satisfie their Souls with Eternal pleasure a Cup that shall be ever going down O the joys of that state that no tongue can utter no mortal man did ever comprehend But yet mistake me not I do not intend by these borrowed expressions to intimate a Turkish Paradise to you of carnal delights and pleasures neither would I pervert your judgment by that which is meant for the Excitation and advancement of your affections It 's very material that your apprehensions of that glory be as right as we can attain to in such a place of darkness and distance from it where we live if you should mistake a Fleshly for a Spiritual felicity to be enjoyed hereafter it 's very possible that even a voluptuous Epicure may think himself in the Suburbs of that Kingdom already and that his Heaven is already begun here on Earth These forms of Speech therefore taken from eating and drinking and feasting whereby the Scripture represents to you the transcending pleasures of the other life are but Spectacles for weak eyes and a help for humane infirmity We are uncapable in this life of true and proper Conceptions of the happiness of that state only in general that it will be spiritual and not like these fleshly pleasures that here we tast of whilst we are in this Prison of the Body we are not able to understand the liberty that there we shall enjoy whilst we are here below in this Dungeon of the body we are not capable of beholding the light and brightness of that glory But you may safely use these Spectacles to help the dulness of your sight when Heaven is proposed to you and take the benefit of these gross expressions if they will but help to attract your desires and to raise your hopes and expectations more Heavenwards whilst you do but remember that the pleasures of that state are incomparably greater than all the pleasures here on Earth and quite of another kind that here we want a faculty to express because we want a faculty to tast You know a Horse or a Cow would take little pleasure in that food that is most delicious to us yea and many a man hath pleasure unintelligible to another man because he wants his tast and experience And it 's very hard to describe pleasure that depends upon a tast and experience that we our selves have not The sweetness of Honey would never be understood by all the definitions in the world if we had never tasted it Marvel not therefore if I tell you that the joys of that state are not to be properly understood here on Earth because we have now neither the tast nor the Meat that then we shall feed on I mean neither the faculty nor the object And certain it is that all pleasure is founded in the suitableness of the Faculty to the Object Since therefore neither Faculty nor Object shall be then the same that here we have the glorious pleasures of the perfected Saints must needs be beyond our Comprehensions But if you shall reply and say that Grace and Glory differ only gradually and not specifically and that they are the same in kind though not in the height of degree and therefore that the Regenerate and such as are truly enlightned and partakers of the Holy Ghost may taste the Heavenly gift and the Powers of the world to come Heb. 6.4 5. I answer they may better understand than others can that want their imperfect grace but yet there is so vast a difference between Faith and Sight perfect and imperfect Knowledge the Mustard-seed and the Tree that grows up from it that you may well say it is at the best far beyond their compleat and adequate comprehension And will not such a happiness as this be worthy thy frequent consideration Thou dost not soundly believe it saith Drexelius if thou dost but seldome and slightly think on it It cannot be that such as penetrate and search into this blessedness with lively active and piercing thoughts should venture the loss of it upon any terms Thou would'st have little list to part with thy hopes of future happiness for the gain of all Earthly delights if Consideration had once taught thee what Heaven is or if the Devil or the world should surprize thee before thou hast well considered what it is and befool thee to let go the hopes of Eternal Life
the Nails afresh into his Side and Hands and to persecute him whom God hath wounded yea and that for thy sin Hast thou the Heart of a Man or fierce Savage Beast that canst add Sorrow to such Afflictions Is it Nothing to thee that he was such a Man of Sorrows and so despised of Men and smitten of God What when thou thy self art the Person for which he hath borne all this Is it no matter to thee though he was led as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep dumb before the shearer Isa 53.7 Wo to thee that ever God made thee a Man if thou art become such a hard-hearted Rock He submitted to all this that he might prevail with God on the one side to be reconciled unto sinners and that he might prevail with sinners on the other side to repent and be reconciled unto God The former part of his Work he hath already done He hath gained his Father's Consent And wilt not thou Consent to lay by thine Enmity to God to confess thy former sins and to return to thy Obedience It shall be more tolerable surely for the Devils themselves that never had such Mercy offered them in the Day of Judgment than for such hard-hearted impenitent sinners But this is not all that Christ does for them he bears with them in wonderful patience sometimes he casts a gracious Look upon them as once he did upon Peter as if he would melt them in despight of all their obstinacy And seems to say to them What sinner shall I suffer and wilt thou suffer too rather than repent and live Shall I bleed to the very death to save thee from destruction and wilt thou have no Mercy upon thy self Turn thee Turn thee Why wilt thou dye O impenitent sinner Sometimes he frowns upon the sinner and threatens him with a sorer and heavier Condemnation if he will not repent and all that he might gain his Consent He assaults him on all sides that he might recover him by Repentance unto that happy state which he doth so much desire to see him possessed of He sets the Motives of Eternal Life and Death before him and gives him many a precious Hour to ponder and consider them He sends his Spirit also to knock at the door of his Heart that he may be let in Wo a thousand Times to that Man that will not be invited to Repentance by all these Means Good it had been for that Man or Woman if they had never been born Sixthly It is the End of all the Ordinances of God and every Providence to work this Godly Sorrow in our Minds and Hearts and bring us to Repentance It is the First intention of the Ministry of the Word to kill sin in us by Repentance and then to bring us on to the Life of Faith and Holiness And all the Doctrines that are taught and delivered to us in the Ministry of the Word are to drive on this Design The Doctrine of God's Attributes and Perfections is but the better to inform us of our Duty and what Service is due to such a Majesty so related to us and to qualifie and prepare our Hearts to a reverend and humble Performance of our Duty And to shew us what a sin it is either to neglect it or slight it over And consequently to bring us to judge abhor and condemn our selves when we have any of this Guilt upon us All the Doctrines that concern our selves and that teach us what we were by Nature and what we are by Practice and what we may be through the Grace of God and the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus serve effectually to shame and humble us and to break our very Hearts in the sense of that Misery that sin hath brought upon us If God made us such beautiful lovely Creatures and we have made our selves such deformed loathsome sinners doth it not become our Duty and highly beseem us to afflict our souls with the bitter remembrance thereof especially when God offereth Mercy to such penitent afflicted sinners All the Doctrines that concern our Brethren what do they serve for but to teach us the Extent of our Duty to them and the hainousness of our sin that have so much failed in all the respects that we owe to God and Men That so the more distinct sight and knowledge of our sin may make our Repentance more sound and compleat To what end are all the Terrible Threatnings of God's Word against Sin and Sinners but either to prevent the Sin or else to humble the Sinner after he is fallen under the Threatning and to work upon the Passion of Fear that by it the sinner may be awakened to consider what he hath done And whither to serve all the Promises but to perfect that work more kindly which the Fear of Judgment hath begun There 's not a Doctrine that 's Preached and Published to us by the Ministry of the Word but what comes on this very Errand and hath a subserviency to this End and should be effectually managed to such a purpose by all that are intrusted with this Sacred Office Some helpful Considerations to provoke to the Sublime and Excellent Duty of Joy and Delight in God To Sing his Praise and to be Thankful to him Judaei dicunt prohibitum esse homini ulla refrui in hoc Mundo sine benedictione Et quicunque fruitur re aliquâ ex hoc Mundo sine benedictione perinde est acci spotiaret Deum Berach fol. 35. Scriptures enjoyning Joy and Delight in God with Thankfulness and Praise First Joy and Delight in God Psal 37.4 Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart Deut. 28.47 Because thou servedst not the Lord God with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies in hunger and thirst c. Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord always yea and again I say rejoyce Hab. 3.17 18. Although the Fig-tree should not blossom neither should Fruit be in the Vine though the labour of the Olive should fail and the Field should yeild no Meat although the Flock should be cut off from the Fold and there should be no Herd in the Stalls v. 18. Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Psal 68.3 But let the righteous be glad let them rejoyce before God yea let them exceedingly rejoyce Isa 64.5 Thou meetest them that rejoyce and work righteousness Rom. 14.17 The kingdom of God is said there to consist in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost John 15.11 These things have I spoken that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full 1 Thess 5.16 Rejoyce evermore Nehem. 8.10 The joy of the Lord is our strength Psal 32.11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal 66.1 2. Make a joyful noise