appointed his going forth as the morning that is as the Sun riseth and fails not as the Sun goes forth in its light and grows so will Gods appearance to his people be And as the rain comes upon the thirsty Earth and causeth all things to spring afresh so shall the manifestation of Gods love be to those that seek him without ceasing What if God appear not presently and you have not that full answer to your desires Though he come slowly yet he will be sure to come his staying is not a denyal and his not shewing himself is not an hiding himself He is uncovering himself and making way for the appearance of that which you would fain have a sight of He stays a while to make his love the more visible afterward by his absence he raiseth the mind and enlargeth the heart to desire and long after his presence and then his manifestation will be fullest God is as ready nay more ready to open then you are to knock he loves that thirst in you which is after himself he loves to be loved let him be pleased as well as you It may be seeking Christians are not so ingenuous as they should be We are not to seek him only but to please him Psal 119.2 Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies and that seek him with their whole heart That seek him and his Love and keep his Law Or it may be offences have been but not bewailed Impotency is the continuation of sin You are ever doing that evil which you have not been humbled for nothing nulls it but repentance and humbling your selves in the sight of God With what face can you say to God Let thy love O Lord be upon me when as you cannot say to God Lord I love thee That man cannot say he loves God that desires not to please him Can he say his heart is with God who suffers his heart to go out after other things Why should he desire so to impose upon God that God should love him whom he desires not to love and please it is unreasonable What father would be so dealt with that the child walking in stubborn courses would have his father shew nothing but clearness of countenance and love to him David all the while he was under clouds of guilt and sorrow wished that God would shew forth the light of his countenance to him but he suffered many wrackings in his Soul till he confessed his sins Psal 32. What God hath said he will have fulfilled Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one tittle of his Promise If he hear not it is not because he is not a God hearing prayer but because you hear not him Isai 45.19 I said not unto the seed of Jacob Seek ye me in vain I the Lord speak righteousness I declare things that are right I speak as I mean my words and my heart agree in one What ever our offences have been if we be ingenuous in our approaches to God God will not look upon our offences but upon our persons In 2 Chron. 7.14 you have this promise If my people that are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their Land If thy Soul be sick and thou mournest after God that hideth himself from thee and humblest thy self and repentest of thy sins with abasedness of spirit before him he will hear CHAP. X. God hath fully made known whom he loves Christians able to know themselves Gods Spirit strengthens the testimony of our spirits Christians hindered by Slothfulness and Discouragements A Second Fault is That God doth give the manifestation of his Love and we receive it not we accept it not I will for the more full clearing of this lay down these Considerations First That God hath given to his people sufficient means for the knowledg of their Interest in him for he hath told us who they are that he loves whom he hath chosen and called out of this world and made his peculiar people If he had carried on a design of love to particular persons in his own brest no man could have known who was loved of him then we had been left in the dark for no man knows the things of a man but the spirit of a man as the Apostle speaks But as the Angel marked those in Jerusalem that were to be spared so there is a mark that God hath set upon his own by which they may be known to what fold and flock they do belong And indeed the end of the Scripture so discovering and setting forth the marks of the people of God is for this purpose that we may know our Happiness So in 1 Joh. 5.13 this was the end of writing his Epistle These things saith he have I written unto you that beleeve on the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may beleeve on the Name of the Son of God Wherefore was it that he had told them how many ways they might know that God dwelt in them and they in God Wherefore did he make so many descriptions of those whom God had set his love upon but that you may know saith he that you have eternal life because you are such And he hath not only done thus but hath given us understanding also by which we are able to know not only other things but our selves by which we may judg our selves and our actions and what is within us Neither hath he given us an understanding meerly natural but it is raised being illuminated with his own light that we may be able to find out the work of God in us an understanding that can reflect upon it self not only in way of simple vision and apprehension of what is within us but by way of argumentation and reasoning 1 Joh. 2.3 5. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments And whoso keepeth his Word in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby we know that we are in him God hath given us understanding to reflect upon our selves in a way of reasoning to make certain to our selves our Interest in these things Nay he hath given us his Spirit that bears witness to our spirits that we are the sons of God Rom. 8. We must not think that was a special favor given to the Saints then but it 's common to all the people of God The Spirit of Adoption hath a double office of quickening and comforting and whosoever is a son hath the testimony of that Spirit There is a double Testimony A Testimony of the things themselves so that which is of God in us doth bear witness as the effect bears witness of the cause There 's another Testimony and that is of God himself by his Spirit and that Testimony doth help our spirits it helps the testimony of the things
other life appointed for Saints The fulness beauty and satisfaction of this life How Christians offer violence to their relation IN this Chapter I would make Exhortation to all that have Interest in God to live upon it Only first I will shew what it is to live upon God as our God And it is First To cleave to God with joy of heart to live in the affectionate embraces of God in Christ and delightful conversings with him to have God for our life as it is said of Jacob concerning Benjamin His Soul his life was bound up in the life of the child Gen. 44.13 that is they had one lot if one lived the other lived their joys were the same they could not be severed or parted they were but as one So we should be towards God our lives should be so bound up in him we should be one with him Secondly To live upon God is to contract all our desires into God to have none but what are for him and according to him This is the way of life indeed when God is a mans all when the language of his Soul is Whom have I in Heaven but Thee Thus to have desires to God that he rests not in any thing beneath God nor seek any thing besides God that is to live in God Thirdly To live in a faithful real resignation of ones self unto God If you be his you know that he hath taken chosen and set apart the good man for himself Psal 4. And so must we live as sequestred persons as those that are his that as the holy things of the Temple were for no other use so must we be only for God In Hos 3.3 't is said Thou shalt abide with me many days thou shalt not play the harlot thou shalt not be for another man but shalt be unto me so will I also be for thee God will stand close to that spirit and be the comfort stay and life of it that reserves it self for him Fourthly It is to contract and draw all your expectations upon God to lay all your weight there If there be any thing thou promisest thine own heart let it be from the bosom of God if there be any answer that thou makest to the fears doubts and troubles of thy spirit let it be from the voyce of the Lord. Thus David in Psal 62.2 He only is my Rock and my Salvation he is my defence I shall not be greatly moved And he saith at vers 5. My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him He tells you what God is to him and what indeed he looks for from God What God is to him He is my Rock and my Salvation in God is my Salvation and my Glory he is the Rock of my strength He tells you also what he expects from God My Refuge is from him so that if I need safety or refreshing and supply of any good mine eye is upon him and from him I look for all This is to live upon God Having expressed in a few words what it is to live upon God Now take those Considerations which perswade to live such a life as this First There is no other life for you This is appointed for you to this you are called for this you are fitted Fishes may as well live in the ayr as you live in the world You may try and weary out your selves in vain but God is your life This be sure of if you neglect this life either dulness and benumedness will fall upon you so that you will grow sensual brutish and earthly strangers to the joy activity and tenderness of holy Christians or you shall fall into a dis-rest an unsufferable unquietness of spirit while you are as a rouling thing in the wind having no consistence because you are out of your place You shall be afflicted within and this will be your great evil that you lived not in God And now because you seek life in other things you shall dig for your own death And if you have any reason it will work to your own affliction vex and torment your Souls night and day because you did not walk in the counsels of the Most high and the embracements of his Love Your sweetest enjoyments will be all sowred like the waters of Jericho bitterness will be in them not to be endured Secondly This is a life that should be most pleasing and amiable unto our spirits and certainly we are dead and alienated from God if there be not an incomparable sweetness to us in it For 1. It is the fullest life The life of all other things hath something mixed with it the life of your enjoyments your pleasures and relations is a mixt life there is death in all your comforts and you taste it and are sick of it many times you know it well It is true there is nothing that God hath made and appointed for our use but brings in some portion of life our garments give a little and our food a little and friends give something but how little do all these give But now this life is all life the life you have from other things is a short poor narrow life but this life is more compleat Take the life of a man that hath whatsoever his heart can wish his comforts strike but upon his sense or at best have but some light touch upon his spirit Alas the Souls of men cannot drink at these Cisterns Life that comes from these things hath not immortality in it such things are as far from immortality as they are from sufficiency The wisest the richest and most honorable that have the fullest life dye because the life they have by such things cannot hold pace with the Soul nor communicate a life of consistency But the life we have with God extends to the whole course and capacity of the Soul it fills up every corner and leaves no want 2. It is a life that gives perfect satisfaction he can ask no more that hath it 3. It is a life that beautifies the Soul Mens complexions usually are as their dyet is Oh he that feeds on God what a rare complexion is his Soul of It makes him like to God it reduceth a Soul from a miserable separation into a blessed and orderly union Our life being in one God one Good which is all Good he that lives this life would dye ten thousand deaths rather then part with it Thou well knewest Peter what thou saidst in Joh. 6. When Christ said to his Disciples Will ye also go away then Simon Peter answered To whom shall we go Lord Thou hast the words of eternal life Whither dost thou think we can go when we knew thee not we could indeed be without thee but now we know thee whither shall we go When Nature comes to a state of Consistency it rests it seeks no more That man is in such a state that is in God that enjoys him and his Love and rests in him
the house of Eli and he did it As a fundamental assistance to all this Look to the setling of your Souls in a firm belief of the Gospel for so far only as we beleeve the words of eternal life they are of power to us Remember that in Heb. 4.2 The Gospel came to the Jews but it did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith The weight of words lies in the truth of them and not only in the worth of them For if you speak of mountains of Gold of heaps of Pearls though these are rich words yet if there be not as much truth in them they are but an empty sound and take not the heart Converse much with all the witnesses of the Scriptures truth converse with and call to mind frequently that inward Seal which is upon your own spirits that living and effectual force and vertue which the Word of God hath had upon your hearts unto a thankful embracing of it to a holy subjection to it to a couragious and chearful dependance upon it to the melting of your hearts and the pouring out of your spirits unto God Remember these things for Gods appearances in his Word are as so many seals and witnesses from above Rest not till you can say with that Angel Rev. 19.19 These are the true sayings of God And with the Apostle in Joh. 21.2 We know that his testimony is true For while this is not done our comforts and rejoycings in God cannot be high they cannot exceed our faith Then let no dark clouds remain upon your spirits so far as you can if you have received a little light make it to encrease more and more to the perfect day Observe the language of the people of God I know that my Redeemer lives I know that thou art with me How often have you these expressions in the first Epistle of John 2.3.4 and 5. Chapters We know that we are of God We know that God dwells in us We know that we have passed from death to life We know that we are in the truth Endeavor to come to this Again Be frequent in drawing comfortable and reviving inferences from your Interest in God Mark what inference the Church makes I will wait upon God my God will hear me Faith and a lively enjoyment of God is full of argumentation and that is the life of the Soul It is not maintained by a speculation of God but by arguments reasonings and such conclusions as are meat and drink indeed to the Soul CHAP. XX. Our Apostacy hath made us unapt for divine Life and Converse with God through a Mediator and willing to conform to the lowest Patterns HAving said much to this Point I will shew now what great need there is that so much should have been said and much more also for the furtherance of this life in God take therefore into your hearts these few things First We are naturally in greater affinity and capacity as to the things of the creature then to the things of God It is was not so from the beginning but our Apostacy cast us into this unhappy state that whereas we were nearest unto God now all things are nearer unto us then God we are grown strangers to that life As the child of a Prince that goes away in his childhood and is trained up in a beggers house he contracts a beggers spirit and grows a stranger to a Princes life So it hath been with us As Nebuchadnezzar lived like a beast and forgot the life of a Prince yea of a man so we are strangers from the life of God What God saith in Hosea 8.10 is true of us all We account his things as strange things as things that we are not acquainted with we have neither a pleasing sight of them nor a pleasing taste of them but they are to us as meat that we cannot relish that suits not with us Nothing was more natural to man then to live in God as we came out of Gods hand It was not more natural for the fish to live in the water then for us to live in God and that was a blessed state The brest is not more natural to the child then that life was to us that was our first life and it was sweet though it was short It was a blessed life for God let out himself in so much fulness as took the heart up into intimate acquaintance We were made upright that is such as God delighted in such as we should be now we are altered our spirits are divided and scattered In as much then as we have not altogether cast off our depraved natures we have need to be thus called upon we being more enclined to the creature then unto God Secondly Naturally we have a greater propensity to observe the Law then the Gospel to do what we are bid then to take what is offered and given to us in the Gospel For the Law is natural to us it is written in our hearts the things that are revealed in the Gospel are above Nature This disposition the Apostle found in those Rō 9. latter end Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness did not attain unto the Law of Righteousness Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone It was a stumbling stone indeed to them they rather chose to make their way to life by the Law then to accept of life according to the propositions of the Gospel because the Law was more near to them it was more natural to them but the Gospel is supernatural Children are nearer to and more apt to receive those things which are by Nature then those things which are by instruction and appointment It is natural for a child to eat he need not be taught it but for a child to learn that is hard he is at more distance from it So it is more easie for us to form our selves to the obedience of the Law then to the Gospel Thirdly We are naturally more apt to converse with God immediately then by a Mediator Because this is still according to the natural course and original appointment of God in the first Creation of Man Though then there was a very great disproportion an infinite disproportion between God and us yet because there was no Conscience of guilt no matter of offence this poor Creature though but dust and ashes could come to God and did converse with him immediately But now since his going away from God God hath declared that man should come no more immediately to him but by the Door which he hath appointed He hath made Jesus Christ that Door and whosoever entereth by him hath life and none else You may knock at the door of Mercy and spend your days in tears and prayers but not be heard unless your way be through Christ Therefore 1 Pet. 1.21 the Apostle speaks thus Through Him we beleeve in God And
given Pag. 190 Chap. 17. What it is to live upon God as our God No other life appointed for Saints The fulness beauty and satisfaction of this life How Christians offer violence to their relation Pag. 199 Chap. 18. Heavenly life nearest at hand Christians are to live up to the height of it and to maintain it in every condition Pag. 208 Chap. 19. Further Considerations to promote the forementioned life of its incomparable worth Those that will not live the life of Faith shall not A firm belief of the Gospel the foundation of this Life Pag. 214 Chap. 20. Our Apostacy hath made us unapt for divine Life and Converse with God through a Mediator and willing to conform to the lowest Patterns Pag. 222 Chap. 21. Several Questions concerning the forementioned Doctrine answered Saints not always equally strong Some afflictions sweetened more then others Sometimes God will have his Rod smart Pag. 230 Chap. 22. How it comes to pass that deformities creep into the Conversation of Christians since they have so high a principle of life Whence it is that those which enjoy not God seem to go through afflictions with strength Pag. 239 Chap. 23. A Comparison of Interest and Enjoyment and the excellency of Enjoyment evinced from Interest What is requisite to make full Enjoyment An affectionate Close to all the foregoing Discourses Pag. 251 III. Treatise on PSALM 119. vers 4. Chap. 1. Gods Interest in man natural and acquired this latter twofold Of holy Resignation Of true and false Mourning Pag. 1 Chap. 2. The Will of God is the Bounds and Rule of a Resigned Spirit Pag. 21 Chap. 3. Resignation necessary in Prayer Prayer without it hath no truth in it is non-sence and imposeth upon God absurdly The true Advantage of a spirit of Resignation as to Prayer Pag. 34 Chap. 4. Wicked mens prayers not to be dreaded The sins of those that pray greatest Some out-live the contests of the Spirit Three things to be still done by those who have resigned themselves to God Pag. 41 Chap. 5. The knowledg of Interest in God doth much further our approaches to God It begets propensions carries the spirit in a due frame fits it for all divine determinations Pag. 67 Chap. 6. How the knowledg of divine Interest doth promote Holiness sets Judgment and Nature against Sin keeps the heart from inordinate reaching after and holding fast present things Faith binds the Soul and keeps it bound makes all a Christians ways easie Assurance gives a double advantage to our great meeting with God Pag. 82 THE FIXED EYE OR THE Mindful Heart PSAL. 25.15 Mine Eyes are Ever towards the Lord. CHAP. I. Eyes of Saints set upon God In what sence Ever and how many ways THis Psalm is a Psalm of speciall excellency and hath this mark on it that as some others its form'd in Verses of it according to the Hebrew Alphabet David was a man of a heavenly spirit and truly he breaths much life in every word This Psalm is a Prayer David complains of Enemies good men shal never want them but this is their advantage that as the world wil be sure to be their enemie so God wil be more sure to be their friend He had one to go to and could tel him how it was with him and how men dealt with him and that 's but a bad business to the world but it s a great relief to the Spirits of the Saints that they can go to God and speak their hearts And in his Prayer observe his spirit He doth not after the manner of the world breathe out Affections moved meerly from the smart of the stroke without sense of the cause but cries out more of his sin then of his suffering and speaks more against himself then against his enemies and begs more that he might walk in the sight of Gods countenance and have his favor then to be delivered from his enemies And as all Prayer the more spiritual the more argumentative it is Prayer that is full of Affection is full of Arguments so this But while David was drawing down mercy upon himself he was catcht up Love fires in Prayer His Faith is quickened in Prayer and then Love 's inflam'd In the midst of his Prayer he breaks out and tells God in the words of the Text that his eyes were ever towards him While he was begging the eye of God toward him he tells God Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord. Ever You cannot understand that actually and uncessantly his thoughts and heart were towards God and his mind taken up with him for by the necessity of this life and the Law of it he was sometimes to be taken up with other things But when he says Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord he means these three things 1. That the disposition of his Soul was such that he could be always looking upon God he could wish that when he is departed out of himself and got up that he might never come down more and never have any other work in the world but this to behold God Thus always is taken in the Scriptures In Acts 10.2 Cornelius is said to pray always that is he had a disposition his heart was ready to pray always Acts 7.51 It 's said of the Jews They were stiff-necked and hard-hearted always to resist the Holy Ghost this was their temper like a stone that resists the hand of the workman takes in no impression but is wholly shut up to it self 2. When he saith Mine eyes are always towards the Lord he means this That upon all occasions in every condition in all places his eyes were towards God In Luke 18.1 Christ teacheth to watch and pray always that is upon all occasions when ever Prayer is called for watch to see the season and have your hearts open Making mention of you Always in my prayer saith the Apostle Rom. 1.9 and not seldom elsewhere that is as I have occasion I do intercede for you as I pray for my self it s my dayly work So in Psal 88.9 Every day will I praise thee Psal 145.2 Every day will I bless thee So here Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord that is it 's my every days work 3. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord that is continually it is not only my ordinary work and dayly course but it 's a work that shall last while I live a work for life 2 Sam. 9.10 David saith concerning Mephibosheth He shall Always eat bread at my table that is while he lives he shall sit at my table And in Psal 146.2 While I live he speaks in the sence of the Text I will praise thee So that now here you have the temper and practise of a godly man his eyes are Ever toward the Lord. The Text holds forth these three things to us 1. What it is upon which the eyes of Saints are set upon what they are terminated upon God 2. Their great diligence and assiduity in this work
means indeed the means lie in the way to the end yea they are the way it self and the end is in them I will therefore offer some means to you First Entertain the Rule in the power of it When any Command of God comes armed with his own strength it makes man weak he cannot make resistance but falls down conquered in the assault The heart naturally stands out against and is estranged to every voyce of God it will give him the hearing and admit the sound but not the strength it will keep the Word at a distance either by non-attending or by voluntary diversions and forgetfulness Indeed the things of God are very strange to us though they were our best and nearest acquaintance in our primitive state and therefore now we are hardly brought to own them and receive them The not entertaining of the Truth in the power of it is that which frustrates so many thousand Sermons so that though everyday one thing or other is called for and pressed yet matters are as they were God speaks but few regard he cals but few answer He saith Do this and do that but all is undone still Then the Word and Counsel of God is received in its power when a man doth acknowledg it and hath the sense of the weight and efficacy of it and this was the commendation of them 1 Thes 1.5 that they receive the Gospel not in word only but in power and what was the effect of it see vers 6. And they became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction And observe John 8.37 what the Reason was that the Jews were in so desperate a course against Christ that they sought to slay him Christ himself gives the Answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My word hath no place in you Christ had preached unto them as he doth unto us but that word which he then spake had little entrance or little abode at least in the spirits of men And so at this day either the door is shut against the Word or it is soon cast out of doors again It is not a faint yielding of your spirits unto the call of God when he speaks of such a thing as this is The thorny ground had much of this When the Gospel came and call'd on them to look to God and Jesus Christ they were very yielding there was a sprouting of many affections and great appearances of the efficacious working of the Word on them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all came to nothing Many while they are under the ministration of the Word are under some operation of the Spirit that attends it and they are ready to say as they in Exod. 19. We will do whatsoever the Lord saith But I may take up that wish O that there were such a heart to do even this one thing now call'd for to walk in more mindfulness of God and that it might be said of you as it is of them Rom. 6.17 Thanks be to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that you have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine into which you were delivered The receiving of the Counsels of God in their power is not as you may think only a present entertaining of them nor is it the present taste of the sweetness and vigor of them in your spirits but it is the abiding of this Word in the power of it upon your hearts There are many that are much struck in their spirits by the Word but yet what saith the Scripture of them They cast the Word of God behind their backs and no more look after it therefore they are unfruitful hearers of it all their days 1 John 2.24 see what the Apostle John saith Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye shall also continue in the Son and in the Father Men know not what they do when they let their hearts depart from the Word many invaluable Counsels from Heaven in which their Souls are bound up are lost and made nothing of as to them This is Satans gathering of the Corn that is sowed before it come to maturity Those whom God carries through obedience to eternal life he doth cause to lay up his Word to be their companion and unto them as the Covenant that was layd up in the Ark of God I have hid thy Word in my heart saith David Psal 119.11 It is such a hiding as men are wont to use when they hide their treasure that by no means it may be lost God writes on the minds of those whom he loves his Law and he leaves impressions of himself that he will be minded He that is our Pattern hath said that the Law of God was in his heart Psal 40.9 And it is the name that the Prophet gives unto the people of God Isa 51.7 that they are such in whose heart is his Law This then you should do lay up the Word and have often recourse to it and lay your selves and your practises to this Rule and often say Where am I where is my mind whither is my understanding wandering what path hath my Soul been treading in have I been walking with God have I been minding him have I been serious in my spirit in the contemplation of him Thus often have recourse unto the Word it is a dangerous thing to let our minds go far without a check It was the great fault charged upon those that were near to destruction Jer. 6.8 No man repented saying What have I done This Commandment of minding God is a Commandment backed not only with Authority and Reason from the equity and excellency of it which all Precepts have but it is also accompanied with special Ordinances besides the natural Ordinance of the Creation which is a memorial of God that you may be ever promped unto the fountain of it There are special instituted Ordinances appointed to this end that you may remember him What is Baptism and what is the Lords Supper but the representation of Jesus Christ to us memorials of him that in the celebration of them you might remember him Therefore labour to make your hearts sensible of the Authority and Majesty that is in this Command when God speaks from Heaven unto you that you would walk in all mindfulness of him and that is the first thing The second thing that I would commend to you is this To get and keep your hearts in a meetness and fitness for this work As God hath put work on his people so he doth expect that there should be a fitness in them for it as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 2.21 A vessel made meet for his Masters use and service I will express this meetness in a few particulars One is to keep the mind as free as you can Our understandings though they are mighty things yet they are limited When they are held much
and empty And will you suffer your Souls against Nature to live out of God when you are called to live on him who is the Fountain of Life I may say unto you as Eliphaz spake in Job 15. Are the Consolations of God small to you And is it so light a matter to have the knowledg of the love of God and your Interest in him In Jer. 14.18 the Prophet speaks of spoiling and wasting but if it doth come saith he thy ways and thy sins have procured these things unto thee therefore know that it is an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord. You may thank your selves if a day come wherein there will be bitterness to your hearts and the pangs of death upon you because you know not that God is your God know that this is your wickedness because you will not now look after it and so you rob your Souls That is one thing 2dly When you are not sedulous and industrious in this thing to make sure that God is your God you leave your selves in the high way of Apostacy What is that which will make us able to stand the Apostle Peter tells us 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall You expose your selves to offences to stumbling and falling when you are content to live in the dark not knowing what Interest you have in God For consider you are now out of the shine of the Sun you are in the cold evening shade your life is much weakened and your strength abated It is the knowledg of divine Love that is the spirit and strength of our love this lays bonds upon our spirits by which we become one with God it is the wing of our Souls the spring of our activity by which we are born up to an enjoyment of God The joy of the Lord is your strength saith Nehemiah And by this Paul was more then a Conqueror yet Paul had many Enemies Through this Abraham was able to do so great things by this Moses was able to despise the wrath and favor of Pharaoh and all the pleasures and riches of his Court While a man walks in the shine and sense of divine Love he will feel a strength in two Principles of great use 1. To cleave fast to the chief good now that chief good is God to that man that enjoys him he hath the truest taste that sees God to be his God and no man else hath such a taste as he this will hold him to God Where the Creatures have but a Judgment of Sense they will not depart from what they find good A Beast will not change his pasture for gold that is best for him It 's the astonishment of the world that the Angels should fall from their state of Glory and it 's matter of amazement that man should fall from his Creator when he had a full enjoyment of him It 's that which God calls Heaven and Earth to tremble at Jer. 2.13 That men should depart from him the Fountain of living Water c. The sense of acceptation with God makes a man that he cannot go from God Whither shall we go saith Peter Joh. 6. Thou hast the words of eternal life That Soul that lives under the influence of divine Comforts cannot but say Lord it 's good for me to be here he desires no change it cannot be better with him Change proceeds from want for if want were not the creature would not change That Soul that enjoys God is pleased and he saith with David Psal 16. He hath a good portion and his lines are fallen in a good place Nothing is dear to that man to part with that he may enjoy God he bids all things stand by and saith I charge you wife and friends estate and all things do not molest me in my enjoyment of the light of Gods face let all the world go which way it will let me enjoy this blessedness to know assuredly that God is my God When a man lives without this knowledg his life is but a poor shadow of life all without God is but a dead thing to him Another Principle receiving strength from the knowledg of Gods Love and our Interest in him is That a man should be friendly to his friend that he should walk with an harmony of spirit to his friends desire Love pleaseth not it self Now when a man enjoys the sweetness of friendship with God this makes him true to his Maker and to cleave close to God as to his Father Indeed the sense of this constrains the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.14 saith The love of Christ constrains us How can I do this evil saith Joseph and sin against my God But now if thou be careless and canst make a shift to live I know not how a dull stupid dark sensless kind of life thy heart not witnessing that thou endeavorest to make good thy Interest in God thou art not under the bond of Love and then what art thou under Other Lovers have taken away thy heart but as for God thou art a stranger to him and art contented to be without him this is a woful state And as a man that lives out of the shine of divine Love starves and wastes away so fears in this case are apt to turn into hatred when the Soul is gall'd and tormented with fears of the displeasure of God against him this is apt to turn to hatred Naturally whom we fear we hate and naturally the stronger fear is the more men hate The Devils hate God to the full being past doubting of his displeasure What the Soul fears it flies from and what is the flight of the Soul but hatred Judas would chuse rather to go out of the world and sink into nothing then endure his condition when he saw God not to be his God I 'l shut up this Argument with these few things All that is in a Christian makes to this that he would get a clear knowledg of his Interest in God Hath he Faith why by that he believes God to be his Happiness and that will put him on Hath he Love Love is restless but in clear enjoyment Hath he desire and thirst what are they but the Souls sickness till it hath health and life in the enjoyment of God Hath he Fear what is that but the Soul seeking to be secure and safe in God Hath he Reason what 's that but the voyce of God calling him unto God Hath he a sense of the sweetness of God what 's that but the comfort of divine Love drawing the Soul to himself So that all that is in a Christian puts him on to this to make this clear that God is his God And therefore they that can rub out their days and make a shift to busie themselves in other things without the knowledg of God to be their God have great cause to pronounce this heavy sentence upon themselves that surely
Reasons of both BEfore I propound the Directions how they who are sincere and ingenious toward God and indeed have him for their God may know that they have a sure Interest and Propriety in him I will premise two things of moment First That our Interest in God is more knowable then any other Interest in the world There is no Interest that a man hath which is so discernable Whatsoever it is that belongs to an Interest in any thing or any friend and doth discover it is much more here Examine it in a few particulars 1. Where there is an Interest with men there is a mutual closing of their spirits by which they know one another and come to rest secure in each others good intentions and hearty wishes Here also is this mutual closing and in a far more high and excellent degree then is or can be with any creature For that affection and love which God discovers to his people and which he doth act upon them is a Love that is transcendent that is not only beyond all other love but beyond all understanding That entire closing that is between a Beleever and God in Jesus Christ is above all that which can be found in any other his whole Soul runs this way In Psal 119.10 I have sought thee saith David with my whole heart That is the proportion which God hath cut out for himself Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy Soul and with all thy might Christ challenges the same proportion and indeed it should not be less less would not fulfil his end which is the solid peace and satisfaction of his people in the enjoyment of him and also the subjecting and subduing of their spirits to his government No proportion of love loss then the greatest could work these things But besides this there is such a through change by reason of this Interest as no Interest in the world doth work though the closest and the nearest For the habit and disposition of the spirit of a man is altered in closing with God and he becomes a new creature he is not what he was It is true that in all friendship that is with men there is a kind of change on both sides because there must be a due and necessary application of themselves to each others spirits but that change is unspeakably inferior to this in those who have been wrought upon to beleeve and have obtained this mercy to close with God for they are changed to the proportion of as great a distance as death is distant from life and darkness from light for they are brought off from the love of all that on which their hearts were set even to a hatred of it and are subjected subordinate and conformed to the Will of God There is another thing in this Interest which belongs to the nature of it and so discovers it and that is a mutual conversing with each other with contentment Jonathan and David had much pleasure in their mutual conversings with each other and in drawing forth their spirits one to another This is much more strong in Beleevers then can be in any relation between husband and wife or between the father and child This must needs be so For first The love wherewith they love God is the highest love Therefore many will not go for Christians that pretend to be such because their hearts are not brought up to this The highest Love acts highest it takes the highest delight and contentment in its Object In Cant. 2.3 As the Apple trees among the trees of the Forrest so is my Beloved among the sons I sat down under his shadow with great delight c. In Psal 73. saith David It is good for me to draw near to God That look as others find contentment in the things they love and draw near to them so the Saints find much more contentment with God and therefore draw near to him Again Friends cannot always enjoy these Converses Oftentimes they are parted and so cannot have this felicity of expressing mutual love but God is ever with them In Psal 73. Thou art my strong habitation to whom I may have a continual resort I may always come to thee 3. There is a third thing in Interest and that is mutual Communication Love is a spring which flows forth it doth enjoy what it hath rather for its friend then for it self Gods Love hath this excellency more abundantly and transcendently Take the dearest friends that live at the highest rate of love they cannot maintain a constant Communication partly because there is not always an equal necessity and capacity partly because there is not always the same power to give forth But our necessities are always very great and vast and Gods power is always the same so that here is always a perfect Communication of Love that ceaseth not but flows forth as beams of light from the Sun Now as effects discover their causes so then especially when they are most full and perfect As you may better know any tree by its fruit then when it is in the bud and blossoms and you may better know it when the fruit is in its fulness and in more abundance then when there are but a few if there be but one or two upon a tree they may be hid but when there are many the testimony is the more abundant Abundant are the testimonies of the fruits of Gods Love in what he hath done for his So that upon this account no Interest is more knowable then that of a Beleever in his God Secondly A second thing to be propounded is this That though no Interest be more knowable yet ordinarily no Interest is less known then this This we need not prove I think it 's a Question out of question with us all The unevenness of the holiness of Beleevers in their walkings the inconstancy of their rejoycing are two strong demonstrations of this that they do know but little of their Interest in God It springs from such unhappy Causes as these That abiding Unbelief that bitter root that hath taken such strong hold of the nature of man that till the whole house be pull'd down it will not be wholly eradicated and destroyed This is that weight the Apostle speaks of in Heb. 12. that hangs on us so fast as is manifest by the Apostle's scope who perswading unto faith and the workings of faith this is that saith he that so suppresseth and bears us down from those heights of heavenly joy from that sweet contentment and rest of spirit whereto we are called Beleeving is the first stone that is layd in a Christian He that comes to God must beleeve that he is and that he is a Rewarder of those that seek him Hebr. 12. And as there is a spirit in all Beleevers that tends to the setling of them upon a sure foundation that they may stedfastly beleeve so there is a spirit that works
to unbelief perplexity and dissettlement While unbelief works in us it must needs be that there will be a great want of that through knowledg of Interest Another Cause of this great misery of man is That Gods communications of himself to us and entertainments of us are not always in intelligible forms so that we cannot presently take them up and understand the meaning and good-will of God in them The fault is in our minds The print is good but cannot be read because the eye is dull and dark Sometimes God comes to us wrapt up in Clouds and indeed he varies his dispensations that he may attain his End His End is this that he may work his people to a strength of Faith and Love mixt with Fear that 's the proper constitution of a Christian and the truest temper of one that is marked out to eternal life Therefore God sometimes displays his greatness in the sight of his people far above all the manifestations of the sweetness of his mercy that the spirit of a poor man is overborn shakes and trembles at the presence of God So it was with Moses Heb. 12.21 The sight was so terrible though God meant no ill to Moses that Moses shakes and quakes for fear he was sore afraid Sometimes God comes with the manifestations of his fatherly displeasure and dislike and then how can it be but the Soul must dwell in bitterness mourning heaviness and trembling must needs possess us A third Cause why so little is known of this Interest that God is our God though he be so is our unhappy diversions We are oftentimes turned off from that one thing necessary and our spirits run otherways out of light into darkness Alas Solomon minded not this matter or to little purpose when he poured out his Soul after vanities and for this God pleaded with him 1 King 11.9 that he had departed from him The Lord was wrath with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel who had appeared to him twice CHAP. XVI How the knowledg of blessed Interest in God may be attained Desires to have the question determined A spirit free to yield to the determination Arguments proper for the deciding of the question Those that have an Interest in God are much in holy resignation Of taking answers when they are given THese things being premised now I come to shew you how we may attain this blessed knowledg that God is ours and so quiet our hearts in this assurance that he is our Portion First Let it be the true desire of thy Soul to have this question determined and concluded that God is thy God Certainly many are careless concerning this business that never much debate the matter whether God be their God or no. Others there are that have care enough but it is a perplexed care a care sowred with unbelief there is a desire indeed raised but it 's mixed with perturbation the Soul is indeed in motion after it but it is a very disorderly motion working with fretting and such disturbing fears that they leave themselves without judgment Exod. 6.9 It is said concerning the Children of Israel that when Moses spake to them they would not hear him for their anguish of spirit and for their cruel bondage for the shortness and straitness of their spirits Fears do straiten Secondly A second Means is this Come with a spirit free to yield to the determination of truth one way or other take your answer from God as he shall give it Certainly there are a generation that know that they are very partial and foolish in this business that fly from the decision and determination of this question from a secret strong suspicion that all is not well with them and therefore they will rather flatter themselves with the uncertainty of their own estate then affright themselves with the clear knowledg of their unhappy condition As a guilty prisoner fears to think of the time of Judgment because he knows there is just cause of suspicion that it shall go ill with him Poor man what shall it profit thee to carry things thus If God be not thy God what hurt is it for thee to know it He that lives thus refuseth the judgment of God and as much as in him lies hates the judgment of God There can be no greater evidence of a right spirit then for a man to put the question home whether God be his for that man is not willing to be the Lords that is not willing to have it determined whether he be his or no. Some again are so possessed and overcome with fears so ready to self-condemnation to what ever may afflict and oppress them that they wrap themselves up in thick clouds lest any light should spring forth upon them These are like unjust Judges that are precipitant in their proceedings that hear only one party It is a dangerous thing for a man to mistake in Judgment as the Wise-man speaks concerning Civil Judgment Prov. 17.15 He that justifies the wicked and condemns the just even they both are an abomination unto God You displease God and sin against Truth and Righteousness when you bear down your selves and pronounce a sentence of death upon your own Souls when God hath passed the sentence of life and peace upon you You cross the design of Jesus Christ which is a design of love and peace You offer violence to that light reason and spirit which God hath set up in you You tempt God to say as you do and to make good your words Be therefore willing to hear what God shall say to you as they in Acts 10. said to Peter We are all here ready to hear the things that are commanded thee of God Thirdly A third Means is To proceed and argue by proper Mediums by such Arguments as are proper to the Question Some work themselves into a good opinion by false discourses concluding upon insufficient grounds that God is their God either from an empty appearance of good or else from a real presence of the life of such things as may flow from other principles then the spirit of Adoption as the fear of God mourning for sin subjection of spirit to the Commands of God which things indeed are good but may flow from another spring then the spirit of Adoption But if you would conclude in a right way of reasoning that God is your God argue then by such things as are proper to that state and relation wherein you suppose your selves to be toward God and that is in one word a spirit of true Love You shall find that working thus it will carry thy Soul in propensions towards God equal to thy consolations The Soul that loves is carried unto God with desires equal to its refreshings yea and more for when it cannot taste the comforts of the Almighty yet it is carried after him in desires and saith Lord I will love thee though thou wilt not love me This love
he lives in an holy contentment and a glorious rest in all things that are according to God and in a hatred of all things that are in opposition to God If any thing come into the ballance with God if it be like God he loves it but if it be contrary to God he hates it having once drunk of the new wine he desires not the old harsh spiritless wine You may remember the Catalogue of Saints in Hebr. 11. when you are come to their pitch then God will be dear to you and there will be a flatness upon all things else The life of every thing is according to its compass and the thing by which it is maintained Men have a better life then beasts for they have better things to live on Princes live better lives then beggers and Angels then men because they have better things to live on Now then if your life be in God you have the best and sweetest life We judg of lives in the world by the contentment they have that live in them now in this life you find innumerable Angels the spirits of just men made perfect Jesus Christ lives this life and thinks it enough he desires no better life God himself lives this life he lives in himself Thirdly A third thing is That if you do not maintain this life you offer unspeakable violence to that blessed station and happy relation wherein God hath set you One of these two things you must needs acknowledg 1. If you live not on God God is not your portion you have not taken him for your God you have not clos'd with him and then you are undone 2. Or this must be granted If you have closed with him you wrong God and your selves extreamly because you live not on him Hath God taken you and have you taken him Hath he said to thee My Spouse and hath thy Soul said to him My Lord and my Husband And shall we live upon other things and not upon our Husband Shall the child live on strangers bread and not upon his Father Shall the son of a Prince hang as a begger upon others doors and be a stranger to his Fathers love to his Fathers house and fulness This is certain that so far as you do this you are not children but Prodigals in Luke 15. last dead and lost While you are out of God and your hearts set on other things you are in a state of dead men in an absolute indisposedness and incapacity either to the fulfilling of that which lies upon you as the Law of your relation unto God or to the enjoyment of that which is the sweetness priviledg and comfort of your relation unto God Is she a wife think you or doth she not offer violence to the Law of her Relation that refuseth bed and board with her husband You should drink water out of your own Cistern from your own Head and Spring who is that but your Lord and Head whom you have chosen God will not endure that you should wander He will hedg up your way as he speaks in Hos 2. and those hedges will teer you He is pleased with you when you lean on him and take of his Love and then his joy is fulfilled in you you do what he loves he takes contentment in it Other comforts are stoln sweet they may be in the taste but they will be bitterness in your bowels it must be so for when you live any where but in God you cross his great design which is to make himself your Center wherein your Souls should rest He hath appointed no place for thy Soul to rest in but his own bosom You despise him when you suffer the joys of your Souls to be clouded If Elkanah could say to his wife Am not I better to thee then ten sons Surely God may say much more Am not I better to thee then ten such things as these that thou art troubled at So that if your hearts go out any other way it is against all reason Christ in John 4.10 made account that the Soul hath enough that tastes of this for he saith he shall never thirst more Go no more then to the hedges and high ways thou that hast such a God and such a Friend be quiet and rest in his Love He rests in his love to you Zech. 3.17 And will not you rest in it and lie down in his arms and embracements and say It is sweet it is enough Is not he always embracing you and cheering you and holding forth the brests of his consolation to you wooing and winning you and using all means to fill your Souls with himself and to make you blessed in the enjoyment of him If then you have any fear of his displeasure if you have any sweetness and comfort of the Love of God if you have tasted and known how good the Lord is then keep fast to him and maintain your Souls in a constant living communion with him If you keep near him you shall find that there is life in him Psal 69.32 They shall live that seek the Lord. CHAP. XVIII Heavenly life nearest at hand Christians are to live up to the height of it and to maintain it in every condition A Fourth Argument is That this life we speak of is most present it is nearest at hand most attainable being wholly mental and spiritual and those works are quickest done All other life comes in by parcels and pieces If a man would live in honor what a deal ado is there what a compass must he fetch to maintain good thoughts with this man and with that man and his honor riseth by degrees The like may be said concerning pleasures and riches Nay naturally what a course doth the Soul take to bring in that meat which supplies our life in eating concocting and digesting it and carrying it to every part The labour of Nature is great But this life is maintained by a sweet and silent working of Spirit it is a life that is got kept and cherished by the sweetest actings of the Soul In Psal 63.6 saith David I shall be fill'd as with marrow and fatness when I remember thee upon my bed And in Psal 20.7 you have this exprest by the like words Some trust in Charets and some in Horses Great preparations they make but what is his trust I will remember the Name of the Lord our God This is life to remember the Name of the Lord our God It is the best exercise of the most noble part of a man towards the most excellent Object And what should we love more to look upon and to remember then God Do not you find how a few affectionate thoughts of him come down in showres of spiritual blessing and consolation Both the Goodness of God and the Love of God makes this work sweet He that seeks to live this way hath not only sweetness in his end but in the way to it Remember how successful you have found this
course What unspeakable effusions of inward refreshing have you found upon turning of your spirits unto God upon the very cast of your eye upon the Father of Mercies Alas for those poor Souls those wandering Beggers even all men that do not come in and that have not God for their God in Christ It is pity and grief to see what a poor life they live and they know it not How do they sweat and toyl for that which they never get They get but the image of what they aim at For what do they work For life they think but they work themselves out of life not into life they are knocking always at that door where nothing is where vanity and emptiness dwells they are digging pits that will hold no water they are seeking grapes on thorns and figs on thistles But this way is sure and sweet you are sure to find and your sweetness is as well in seeking as in finding Let Christians then endeavor to live this life How can we without shame complain that we are dead and broken in spirit that a weight lies upon our Souls that we are empty when life is so near us when the Well is not deep and we might take of the water of Life and drink freely Men will not improve the activity and nimbleness of their Souls to enrich themselves We oftentimes charge God with hiding his face from us but wrongfully he turns not away his face from us we turn from him we go out of the Sun-shine into the cold shade and then we shake by reason of cold But those looks of God which are easily had in Jesus Christ warm and chear the Soul Have not such a thought in your hearts that holy Consolations are hardly gotten You wrong the Fountain of Life if you think that you may draw and find nothing or that you may let down your bucket and bring it up empty these are blasphemies which our unbeleeving hearts form against God Certainly God is easie to be entreated and to be found of those that seek him David in Psal 32. had hard thoughts of him but when he once tryed him though he came in the blackness and dread of his Soul covered over with shame and confusion yet he found God to be to him according to all his Name and according to all his Word his tears were wiped away and his broken bones were set again and he was satisfied I would yet a little more clearly express this thing and winde up the Exhortation to its just height in two words 1. That we endevor to live this life in the highest degree that is to live very much in God not only to have a true life but a life proportionable to our relation unto him Princes should feed as Princes and their life should be like their place So should Christians have their life proportionable to what God is What God is in himself he is to us if we have accepted Salvation by Jesus Christ Meer peace is too low a temper for a Christian he is never like himself except he live in joy his principles reach to all joy and for that the Apostle Paul pray'd Col. 1.11 Saints might as well live like Princes in faith and joy as with feeble hopes some weak consolations they might as well drink a full draught as taste of the goodness and kindness of God Who straitens you What is your life but a continual espousing of your selves unto God and should not there be much joy on the Marriage day Therefore the Apostle prays in Rom. 15. The God of peace fill you with all peace and joy always All peace and always 2. A second word is That you maintain this life in every state No variation of our outward estate in this life should be any diminution of the glory of this life The rejoycing you have by Faith and spiritual enjoyments should not be dampt by any thing Is our fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Can we say so Then what should all the turnings of this world be to us How unsuitable to this Communion is it to have our spirits turned and our joys changed with outward things Suppose it be well with us in the world and we be pleased yet is it fit for the Expectants of eternal life who have also a sense of the sweetness of enjoying God to be much taken with these things Is there not a Crown prepared for us Is not God our God Can we be content to be so taken with the dishes at a feast as to forget our friend at the table and that our best friend Suppose it be ill with us as we commonly account ill though the truth is it is never ill with a good man it doth but appear ill it seems ill but it is all good and well for all is from goodness and love therefore though it be ill with us in this sence yet let us be in our own temper that is rejoyce in God Though nothing be the same yet if God be the same let us be the same Meditate upon that famous place Habak 3.17 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation This is that which God calls for that you live in him always Whatsoever fails say as the Psalmist Psal 73.26 God is my portion for ever I have a Father in Heaven and so though I find things bad enough here yet it is well it is well well above and well within CHAP. XIX Further Considerations to promote the forementioned life of its incomparable worth Those that will not live the life of Faith shall not A firm belief of the Gospel the foundation of this Life LEt us now take a few things more into consideration to promote our living in God for we have need of all cords to draw us and bind us to this life 1. The first is the unutterable difference that is between this life and any other attainable or imaginable Harken to all that can judg every thing speaks in the Case especially take the testimony of God and of those whom he hath blessed with the best enjoyment of himself You know what God saith of himself and what glorious descriptions he hath made of that absoluteness and incomprehensible goodness which is in him You know what he hath said of all things else that they are broken Cisterns Ask the Saints also and the spirits of just men made perfect take the Angels too they live in God and are confined in that life they go no further yet their confinement is no imprisonment but it 's a confinement of love and liberty it 's from the satisfaction of their Souls You know that perfect rest is from a perfection of
Child that hath the brest doth not enjoy it when he cannot draw the milk A Garden is not enjoyed by him whose it is that hath neither flowers nor fruits from it That which we have of God here though it be more then we had reason to look for and is that which the Angels wonder at yet it is very little to that which we look for in Heaven it 's called the first fruits it is but the infancy of that blessed state whereto we are adopted All the enjoyment we have of God in this world is not effectual to the removing of its contrary that is to cast out all fear and heaviness all sorrow and dejection out of the mind That enjoyment of God which Christ himself had here on Earth did not keep out all fear and sorrow Fulness is reserved for Heaven 2. A second thing is A mind enlightened and enabled to a just comprehension of the excellency of God and of the sweetness of the presence and love of God By comprehensive I mean as much as the faculty can reach and extend unto But now the mind cannot have an observation of all the emanations of divine Love more then a Child can count the drops of milk which it sucks We may as well tell the drops of rain in a showre as tell the particulars of the love of God poured forth upon us Our minds cannot extend to a just comprehension of that sweetness and love that is in God It is with us as 't is with a child that hath a Jewel put into his hand of exceeding great value for the matter of it and of greater worth for the signification being the Seal of a Crown to him but the child knows it not So the mercies of God are more in their nature and in their end then we can comprehend they are far above our reach Our minds are so straitened that we cannot have a full enjoyment of God here but if in this life we find so much sweetness in what we do enjoy what will it be when our Light shall be like the Sun at noon-day 3. There is requisite a lively sense of the presence of God The Soul hath its sense as well as the body nay more for it 's the fountain of sense to the body In Phil. 1.9 the Apostle prays that they may abound in all knowledg and sense of the things of God As the body receives its life from things by the senses so doth the Soul also receive its life in the sweetness and comfort of the presence of God by its spiritual sense Take away sense and a man is as a dead thing and all things are dead to him and the presence of God would be a dead thing to the Soul if it were not for the Souls sense of it I mean the spiritual sense which the Church speaks of Cant. 2.3 I sat under his shadow and his fruit was pleasant to my taste But now the sense of the Soul hath here a dulness upon it it 's short of that quickness to which it was appointed therefore we cannot have that full enjoyment of God here as hereafter But if what we do enjoy now be so sweet what will the enjoyment be when the Soul shall be so full of sense 4. A perfect love of God is required to a full enjoyment of God Love must be in its utmost height and heat if the Soul have a compleat and full enjoyment of God Take two persons never so qualified and furnished to make the life of both comfortable if there be not love there cannot be a happy enjoyment of these two As a man loves a thing so he enjoys it when he hath it So as a man loves God so he will cleave to him and pour out himself in a blessed fruition of him As our love is so is our life and enjoyment Though our enjoyment of God here be imperfect and weak yet it 's of that strength that it conquers and bears up the heart against all afflictions whatsoever Therefore there must needs be a far greater sweetness in the fulness of this Enjoyment Thirdly A third Consideration is this Let our enjoyment here be what it will it is mixt with many sorrows many wants many straits both within and without our life is such here that our afflictions many times seem to out-weigh our enjoyments they strike quick upon the sense and come too near the spirit Hence it is that you sometimes find good men complain more of one affliction then they mention a thousand mercies Our life here is mix'd 1 Thes 1.6 You have received the Word with much affliction and with joy they are mingled Now I say If the Consolations of God from that little enjoyment of him here in the midst of many sufferings be so sweet and precious that it bears the Soul up above all what then will the full enjoyment of God be in that Land of Rest where is light and no darkness life and no death all good and no evil Fourthly The enjoyment of God here is subject to many interruptions Sometimes by our sinful diversions from God the Soul goes out from the bosom of the Father minding other things and so our hearts are taken and brought into an estrangedness from God to a poor kind of delight in other things As a bird that wanders from her nest so is a man that is out of his place Prov. 27.8 Surely a man is never more out of his place then when he goes out from God and then he is like a bird that is gone from her nest she knows not where to rest but is troubled to find the way home again and to recover the loss that she hath brought upon her self by her foolish wandering Sometimes there is an interruption by the appointment of God God will not always have you lie at the brests of Consolation nay saith God when his people are sitting by the Well of the Water of Life This must not be all your work I 'le have you about this business and that employment Now these interruptions do lessen our life and our happiness but the time will come when we shall always live in the presence of our Father and our minds shall be encumbred with nothing else but we shall be filled and blessed with the vision of God Sometimes this interruption is caused by Gods going out from us there be recesses and retreats of God he sometimes out of his wisdom shadows his love and favour but in Heaven there will be always a full visible and clear presence Fifthly The enjoyment of God must needs be sweet because it is such as fills the whole capacity of the Soul and when there is fulness there is rest When a man hath what he can wish he can go no further At thy right hand are Rivers of pleasure and in thy presence is fulness of joy for evermore Psal 16. ult The Apostle in Acts 2.28 something alters the expression that is used in the Psalms
my self from thee Hast thou who art so great done all this for me and shall I stand out against thee He will willingly acknowledg himself to be his the Saints often do this David above twenty times comes with this acknowledgment in this Psalm and in Psal 116.16 I am thy servant I am thy servant To say it once was not enough he saith it again to shew the sincerity of his spirit and to witness that his heart was fully pleased with this that he was not his own but the Lords 2. There must be a perfecting and compleating of our Resignment All beginnings are but cold yet there are some excellencies in our primitive and first resigning of our selves to God which without great wariness are not preserved till after times In the day of love when God first comes with terms of peace O how freely doth the Soul go out and how willingly doth it offer it self to him The flower and beauty of this first love how hardly are they maintained But what ever spirit there is in our first love it is certain that it 's imperfect and we therefore live to make it compleat Compleat extensively as our spirits and minds come to be enlarged in the knowledg of the Will of God as God makes himself more known I saith the Soul I will do that and that too And so intensively the heart and Soul cleaves unto God in more height and vigor of affection as it is said of Jehosaphat who walked with God before and was the Lords yet in 2 Chron. 13.6 Jehosaphats heart was lifted up in the ways of God His spirit was raised before towards God but now raised to an higher pitch and greater strength he did encourage and fortifie himself in the ways of God A third thing that must be done is this After any unfaithfulness treachery or base departing from God there must be a renovation of our Resignation We must again give our selves to him Having offered this injury to God to deny him his right we cannot again come to him but we must restore it and acknowledg our selves to be his It was good counsel given Job by that friend of his Job 34.31 Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any more that which I see not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I 'le do no more With such a spirit you must come to God I confess I have offered violence to that right thou hast in me but I 'le do so no more and here I am a straying sheep I have a foolish rebellious heart I offer my self again to thy Government and to the Conduct and and Command of thy spirit There must be in those that have given themselves to God a resigning and giving up of themselves in prayer Consider it in vain else do we pray God hath given us leave to come to him and hath engaged himself to hear us but upon condition there must be a hearing on both sides He hath said that if any man come to him in the stoutness of his spirit he will not regard him he hath abundantly in the Scripture disliked such and their prayers he hates In Jer. 11.13 14. you have a full expression of this Concerning this resigning of our selves to God it cannot be dispensed with God hath sworn this shall be done Rom. 14.11 As I live saith the Lord Every knee shall bow before me God will have it done He hath put conditions upon prayer partly because he loves his people he knows there is no greater happiness to them then to cease to be their own and become his As a father pities his child that wanders abroad in the desart and tells him Except he will submit himself to him he will never take him into his house He doth this because he knows the happiness of his child lies in a subâ—rdination to his father Again God doth it to put his people into a capacity of having and enjoying the things they ask For what art thou fit for O man If thou comest to God as a petitioner and come with thy heart lifted up against him either the good thou desirest cannot come to thee or it will come as a rod and a snare at the best it will be be bitterness to thy Soul Consider Not to come in sincerity to yield your selves to God is not to come after the Law of Prayer When you come to ask of God God then asks of you the requests are mutual and reciprocal when you come to God it is not your business alone but God hath something to treat with you about It is fit if you ask and would have God hear you to have God grant your things but you should grant him his especially considering he is free He needs not give what thou askest but thou art bound to give what he asketh there is no proportion between that which thou askest of God and that he asks of thee God asks of thee to give up thy self and what art thou fit for A creature more contemptible then a rotten Carkass that lies in a ditch Wel saith God as bad as thou art let me have thee give up thy self to me And what dost thou ask of God Pardon and eternal life Besides God spake first You come indeed and ask but God spake first Thou sayst Lord hear my prayer but saith God My words are gone out first hear me God prevents thee with requests and hath been long waiting upon thee that thou wouldst come in and give up thy self to him Consider what it is that you come for what do you plead with God for You would have God to be yours to do you good to the utmost not to withhold any good thing from you then will you grant God this one request when you ask so many of him You ask a thousand things of God God asks but this one of you Give up your selves to him You would have God to be yours for ever if you ask so great things is it not meet that you should restore God his ancient Right Surely God is full of grace and mercy unto his people they can set their seals to this that he is a God hearing prayer See what an ingenuous acknowledgment the Apostle makes of the goodness of God 1 Joh. 5.15 We know that he hears us what ever we ask of him and we know that we have the petition that we desire of him It 's in effect as much as this we can have what we will of God You that walk with him what is it that you may not get of him You never come for any thing and go away empty he hath not denyed you even to himself therefore it much concerns you when you come to God to give up your selves to him Certainly this Resignation is a work of a sad import we must resign our selves we must be Gods we were his before this imports that dreadful violence that man hath exercised upon Gods
It is spoken concerning the time when they should be restored to a better state Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their King and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days Shall fear the Lord and his goodness No father is more feared of his child then the best father that walks towards his child in the greatest wisdom goodness meekness and bounty So that the kindness of God and tastes of his Love do not lift up the Soul and make it proud That man is the most humble man in the world that hath the most knowledg of the Love of God towards him in Jesus Christ This Fear and Faith do so stand together that they cannot be separated In Act. 9.31 They walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost It 's the right temper of a true Christian to have the comforts of God in his Soul and yet to be with fear and trembling It 's a fear that doth inevitably arise upon a rectified nature from a sight of the disproportion that is between God and us This is in Heaven it self where the Angels in glory beholding God so infinitely lifted up above them cannot but have reverence fear and dread in their Souls towards him And it 's a fear likewise of danger not the danger of eternal death for from that they are saved the knowledg of the Love of God assures them for that but from the danger of other things which to them are as bitter as death is to the world and those are the frowns of God the rebukes of God the suspensions of Love and estrangedness of God towards them the stripes of God these things when God doth as a Father to his that know him they are most grievous and smarting and their Souls groan under these more then worldly men under worldly danger Therefore he that knows God and what it is to be in the light of his Countenance he that hath tasted the bitterness of the loss of this lives in fear lest he should provoke God as a Father to deal thus in severity with him And I speak all this the rather because some do blaspheme that which is the spring of life and peace to the Saints saying That for a man to have the knowledg of God to be his God and everlasting Portion is a snare to bring that man into a forgetfulness of God and his Duty and to blow up the spirit with pride and lull him into a sinful sleep Such like things as these have been and still are not without much cause of grief cast upon this blessed Doctrine of the knowledg of our abode with God Whereas the true knowledg of God being ours is that which doth effectually and firmly work the heart to all diligent watchfulness tenderness and sedulity Thirdly It disposeth a mans spirit to the best entertainment of all divine Determinations that are upon a mans addresses to God upon any occasion Let the answer be what it may be what seems good to God that man that knows God to be his God is best enabled to receive his answer be it I or No whether his prayer succeed or not he is put into such a frame that he can say Amen to the Will and Word of God and go from God without murmuring and repining If God hear him he is glad but yet not so glad of the thing as of his Interest he is not so taken with any thing he obtains but God takes him more If therefore he receives any thing he rejoyceth in it as the fruit of Love and makes a grateful return to God again In Psal 119.137 Save my Soul and it shall praise thee He rejoyceth in this to see how welcome he is to God and that his prayer is accepted others come and are not regarded but he hath audience The things that God gives out to him have another form and taste then to the world they come all with tastes of love to him In love to my Soul saith Hezekiah hast thou delivered me in Isai 38.17 And whatsoever he hath he hath a better enjoyment of it then others by reason of his Interest in God he hath nothing from God as a meer gift but he hath God with it God saith to that man that hath Interest in him There take that which thou askedst for and me with it that is thine and I am thine and the enjoyment of God is more to him then all the world This spirit is upon all that he hath My Father gave me it it is the fruit of the love of the God of my life therefore I must use it in order according to order from him and not after my mind only All things are best enjoyed when they are enjoyed according to Rule We spoil the sweetest things when we take them according to our wills and so use them then they become another thing When a man can sit in his enjoyment of all things and see God this is a drop from the Fountain of Life and it is more then they have that seem to enjoy a thousand times more of the things of this life whose corn and oyl increase And if he be denyed if God see it not good to give him the things he desires yet he is satisfied he doth not contend with God nor doth his spirit rise up against his Maker he hath a word ready in his spirit Not my will but thy Will be done he saith If my God will not give me this it is well that he will give me himself I may be without this but I could not be without him and seeing he hath given himself to be my Portion I will wait with patience and be content all the days of my life In Eccless 5. ult saith Solomon If God give a man the joy of his Soul he shall not much remember the days of his vanity When God denies him any thing he remembers that he comes not to God for this particular thing but for the best good We come not to God for any thing but that which is for our good A good man saith If I had this thing it may be it would not do me good and herein his spirit is satisfied he saith God knows better then I what is good for me and if he thinks not such a thing meet for me I must think so too So you see how the knowledg of a mans Interest furthers his approaches to God and helps him in these three respects that we have mentioned CHAP. VI. How the knowledg of divine Interest doth promote Holiness sets Judgment and Nature against Sin keeps the heart from inordinate reaching after and holding fast present things Faith binds the Soul and keeps it bound makes all a Christians ways easie Assurance gives a double advantage to our great meeting with God IN this Chapter I shall in some particulars shew how the knowledg of our Interest in God doth promote and
Heb. 10. He saves those that come unto God through Him We are very apt rather to come to God as he is the great God our Creator then to come to him through a Mediator Therefore since there is no other way of life but this we had need be taught it Fourthly We are apt to think it almost impossible to live such a life as this Oh how do we greaten the matter of our duty We make mountains of mole-hills The fault is not in God but in us Certainly we might have more What saith the Gospel Doth it not call us to all joy all peace and to rejoyce always What 's the meaning of this Doth not God speak realities Shall we rather have hard thoughts of God then of our selves No no it is because we will not we thirst not It is not because water is not to be had but because we will not take the pains to draw it We say the Well is deep and the water will not come but he hath said he will meet those that rejoyce and work righteousness and that he will draw near to those that draw near to him and he will be as good as his word Certainly the fault lies either in our not seeking or not seeking as we should or in our not taking what is offered to us Do you not find that when you come to the door of grace it stands open and that God is ready to give the comfort and refreshings of a Father when you come overwhelmed with sorrows Is not he always the same Will he hear one prayer and not another If you did continue in prayer and seeking might you not have more It is very ill to fancy such impossibilities Why do you set bounds where God hath set none and make that so hard to get which God is so willing to give and so straiten your selves when you have license to ask Lastly We are apt to live much by patterns and examples We see how Christians live at the common rate it 's neither night nor day with them they have a trembling hope a mingled joy a mourning life sometimes bright sometimes clouded and this sight doth form other Christians to the same life and makes them say Seeing others live so I 'le live so too Examples are mighty Of what force was Peter's example of to the Galatians in another case Beggers form one anothers spirits to beggery and a poor kind of life Remember that counsel of the Apostle in Rom. 12. Be not conform'd unto this world Make no patterns to your selves further then they agree with the Rule that you are to go by How low did the Jews bring themselves by the traditions of their Fathers Their Fathers did so and so That 's a poor beggerly life Shall I say one thing more We are subject to slothfulness It 's strange that a Christian should be slothful of all men Should we not wonder if we saw a man slothful to gather up Pearls and Jewels of great worth Was ever any man so slothful that he would not take the pains to eat his meat when he was hungry Can a poor man be so slothful that he will not dig a Myne of Gold when he may have it What should make a Christian slothful What is it the difficulty of this Life Certainly if we say so we speak evil of God and his goodness as those Spies did of the good Land What is there difficulty in eating and drinking Our way all along is pleasure even the pleasure of living in God and enjoying of him Or is the work unsuccessful Dare you say you have let down your bucket and drew up nothing Dare you say that you went sincerely to God and could not procure him to hear you No you cannot for when his servants have come to him in their worst conditions he hath received and embraced them Could a man come to God in a worse condition then David did Psal 32. When he had run from God desperately and stayed out a great while you may well think how often he quenched the spirit in that time and contended with God and yet when he returned and came home God did not despise him God did not say to him Away wretch what hast thou to do to expect mercy but pardoned refreshed and cheered him and David tells it abroad For this saith he shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayst be found Say not then with thy self that thy coming shall be unsuccessful To that which hath been said we may add these pertinent Considerations 1. If we live in God and fetch all our peace strength and satisfaction from him we shall have the best enjoyment of all things else The taste of Gods love sweetens all enjoyments 2. This puts the Soul into a secure state against all dangers it cannot be ill with him that enjoys God It puts a man into a state of conquest and victory over all things When a man enjoys God and lies upon his Love he is above all things 3. This fulfils the end of our Creation For this was Gods appointment that we might be for the demonstration of his infinite Excellency and to the enhappying of our selves in the enjoyment of him 4. This keeps the Soul in a preparedness to all holy walkings and obedience When a man lives in God his heart is tuned to all duties CHAP. XXI Several Questions concerning the forementioned Doctrine answered Saints not always equally strong Some afflictions sweetened more then others Sometimes God will have his Rod smart I Proceed now to answer two or three Questions which concern this Doctrine and Truth 1 Quest Seeing the Saints have this way for Life and that their Interest in God doth so ballance their Souls whence is it that they are so frequently dejected so under hatches 2 Quest If Interest in God be so effectual to lift up Christians spirits whence is it that there are so many weaknesses deformities and contrarieties to God in their spirits 3 Quest Whence is it that they who have no Interest in God oftentimes seem to go through very great troubles with much strength 1 Quest If the Saints life springs from their Interest in God how is it then that they are so often broken in spirit that there dwells with them heaviness confusion and distraction oftentimes as with others Answer In the first place let us know that the Saints do not all live this life equally they have not all received such measures of grace that they can with equal magnanimity pass through their troubles in this world Some pass through trouble with a spirit of glory being highly lifted up above their sufferings So Paul in Rom. 5. We glory in tribulation In Heb. 10.34 They sâ—ffered joyfully the spoiling of their goods And Acts 5. when the Apostles were scourged they went away rejoycing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for the Name of Jesus Others go not on triumphantly but stedfastly though