ΘεόÏοβοι ΘεόÏιλοι GODS FEARERS ARE GODS FAVOURITES OR AN Encouragement To fear GOD IN The worst TIMES Delivered in several Sermons by that eminent Servant of Christ Nath. Tucker late Preacher of the Gospel in Portsmouth Eccles 8.12 Surely I know it shall be well with them that fear God that fear before him Timor praesens securitatem generat sempiternam August in Psal Timenti Dominum bene erit in extremis Bern. de Tim. Dei London Printed by J.C. for Dorman Newman at the Kings Armes in the Poultry next to Grocers-Ally 1662. To the Christian READER IT was the saying of Abraham to Abimelech Gen. 20.11 Because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place they will slay me for my wifes sake Where the Fear of GOD is wanting what Evil will not Men commit Where this Bank is broken down the Floods of all manner of Wickedness will flow over Hence it is That in our Age many turn Atheists run to all manner of Excess of Riot play the Apostates grow faint-hearted in the Cause of God are afraid of Men and as the Burgundians once were afraid all the Reeds they saw had been Launces so these fear every thing they see yea their own shadows and all this is for want of the Fear of God Meritò omnia timet qui illum non timet It is therefore very proper Work for us to press after this Fear It is called Janitor Animae The Porter to keep out the Soul's Foes and to let in the Soul's Friends It is Principium Praecipuum Sapientiae The Beginning and Perfection of Wisdom therefore fit to be pursued after Remember that speech of the Lord concerning Israel Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me Shall God wish it and shall not men press after it yet such is our averseness to that which is good that Precept upon Precept and Line upon Line will scarce perswade us The Reverend Author of this ensuing Tract hath taken great paines to promote that which the Lord doth so pathetically wish for Read diligently therefore what is here written and thou mayst gain much by it Here thou wilt finde some Discoveries of this Fear some Motives to press after it and some Helps to obtain it all handled in a most affectionate and melting manner and that a Blessing may go along with this Discourse in order to thy eternal Benefit is the desire of Thy souls well-wisher Richard Kentish April 13. 1658. AN EPISTLE To the READER Christian Reader ALthough my Approbation can add little weight to the worth of this ensuing Treatise yet being desired to shew kindness to the Dead in giving a true Testimony to this Posthumous Piece I could not refuse to perform such an Office of Love as by the Rule of Love we are all obliged unto This therefore I may truely say That having over-viewed it I finde nothing in it but that which is sound holy and wholesome fit to inform the Judgement and to raise holy Resolutions and Affections in the Hearts of the Readers fweetly breathing forth Piety in every Passage of it so that whosoever will give it the reading over which will quickly be done shall have cause not to think his Time mis-spent But if his Heart be in a right Disposition he shall finde it hereby more stirred with desire to get to be amongst the number of those true Fearers of God for whom a loving Record and a Book of Merciful Remembrance shall be written for their shelter in evil Times that they may finde Mercy in the evil day for which times our good God fit and prepare us all Farewel Tho. Whitfeld MAL. 3.16 17 18. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare him as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not I Must first give you some light into the context and then come unto the words of the text Then they that feared the Lord. The particle az Then in the front of the text carries us back to the consideration of the coherence The godly here having this character given them They that feared the Lord were as it seems reserved to those last and loosest times of the Jewish Church after the return from Babylon where the seventy years captivity had not much reformed or amended the major part of the Jews Gods correcting hand had lain a long time sore heavie upon them but God had not his end upon this untoward generation these unsanctified persons grew worse and worse with afflictions witness their blasphemous words before my text where they stand stouting it out with the Lord of hosts vers 13. Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord yet ye say What have we spoken so much against thee They stick not to charge God with deep oscitancy and neglect of his best servants vers 14. as if they should reap no fruit from the service of God as if all their labour were in vain yea indeed they tax God of flat iniquity and most unequal administrations vers 15. And now we call the proud happie yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered As if they had said Surely there is no reward for the righteous verily there is not a God that doth judge in the earth the proud who tempt God and trample upon his people they are not onely not punished but even prefer'd and advanced for their labour either things are not ordered by a divine providence but left at random let run at sixes and sevens or else there is not an even or equal hand held over the sons of men but partiality and unrighteousness found in God Thus these miscreants in their madness set their mouthes against heaven and spared not despitefully to spit their venom in the face of God himself At the hearing of which horrid and abhorred blasphemies the godly of these times are much affected they met often about it and not without a great deal of good conference Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another Then when Why whiles the wicked did blaspheme and belch out their impieties against God even at that instant and juncture of time they that feared the Lord spake often one to another Thus briefly of the Coherence The whole text may be divided into these two main or general branches 1. A duty performed 2. A mercy returned upon the performance of it The duty performed lies in the beginning of the text even in these words Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to
subtil Enchantress and rather hearken to the voice of Gods Spirit in the verse immediately following vers 17. Be not over much wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldst thou die before thy time Pray observe the Antithesis or opposition Be not wicked over-much saith he in opposition to the former Be not righteous over-much neither be foolish in opposition to neither make thy self over-wise for why shouldst thou die before thy time in opposition to why shouldst thou destroy thy self This is the voice of heaven wherewith we are to stop the mouth of that wisdom which descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish 2. If you intend to keep in with Christ then deny your selves in your carnal friends and relations who will be ready enough to prompt you as Peter did once Christ Matth. 16.22 they will be ready to bid you to be good to your selves and not to run the hazard of disgrace or disadvantage Now for a counter-poyson let us consider that there is no friend like God and there is no foe like unto him Eli you know paid dear for displeasing the Lord to please his children 1 Sam. 2.29 30 and following verses And it was like to have cost Moses his life for forbearing to circumcise his child lest he should anger his wife Exod. 4.24 Thirdly Deny your selves in your Liberties Micaiah though he were sure to kiss the Stocks and there to be fed with the bread and water of affliction until Ahab returned in peace yet would he not be byassed for any mans pleasure nor vote with the rest of Ahab's Parasitical Prophets 1 King 22.26 27 28. And Then last of all deny your selves in your lives if called unto it What cared the three children for Nebuchadnezzar's wrath though it burned seven times hotter then his furnace Kill them he might possibly but hurt them he could not He that truely sears God and thinks upon his Name dreads no danger fears no colours he will take Christ's cross upon his shoulders a faggot in his arms and his life in his hand and so follow Christ thorow thick and thin thorow fire and water or any thing else that stands in his way And this is the second assistant Direction The third and last is this Let us think sadly and seriously upon our high and heavenly calling and labour to walk worthy of it as the Apostle often exhorts us to do Every calling hath a decorum a seemliness or comeliness appertaining unto it A Gentleman hath another manner of behaviour then a Scullion a Prince then a Peasant so should a Christian too a man that fears God should not behave himself like other men he should demean himself nobly bravely gallantly worthy of God and as becometh a Saint a Citizen of heaven and a Burgess of the new Jerusalem not clownishly basely or cowardly 'T is some singular thing that God looks for from his people and that which is above vulgar and common atchievement And therefore to winde up all in a word you that fear God and think upon his Name look to your selves that you lose not those things which you have wrought but that you receive a full reward The ends of the world you see are come upon us we are cast upon the last and worst times of all even those perilous times which the Apostle long since prophesied of wherein iniquity aboundeth and the love of many is waxen cold How many amongst us are fallen from the love of the Gospel How is Religion turned with many into meer formality and matter of discourse our ancient heat and forwardness to a general coldness in profession lukewarmness in Religion denying the power of it in our lives and conversations Well I shall say but little more unto you then this That which you have already hold fast until Christ comes and seeing you know these things beforehand take heed lest you also be pluckt away with the errour of the wicked and fall from your own stedfastness Beware of turbulencie of spirit of despising dignities and dominion of resisting lawful Authority live peaceably in the State and in your several places but take heed that you prove not men and women of polluted lips by living among a people of polluted lips learn not to swear with Joseph by conversing with Swearers or to curse with Peter by being a while among the ruffianly companions The worse the more corrupt or erroneous yea the less comfortable that any times are the better should we be and the oftener in Gods presence the more religiously should we contend for that faith which was once delivered unto the Saints even then with those fearers of God here in my Text should we speak often one to another And thus much of this Point taken from the copulative or connexive particle Then in the front of the Text. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another c. And thus far of the duty here performed in reference to the first circumstance of it the circumstance of Time included in the connexive particle Then I shall now handle it in relation to its second circumstance the circumstance of Persons who they were or what they were that spake thus often one to another in those corrupted and depraved times and they are described by a double property or periphrasis 1. They were such as feared the Lord. 2. They were such as thought upon his Name This day I shall speak onely of the first of them the fearers of the Lord Then they that feared the Lord c. The fearers of the Lord or which is all one Then they that feared the Lord spake c. Now whereas the Spirit of God by our Prophet makes this the mark note or distinguishing character between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not I observe this Doctrine for our instruction namely That every true and faithful servant of God is a fearer of God Every such a one hath his heart seasoned and possessed with the fear of God And here I shall 1. Open the Point 2. Confirm it And Last of all apply it For the better understanding of the Doctrine I must distinguish of fear There is a threefold fear spoken of in Scripture 1. Natural 2. Carnal 3. Holy and spiritual I shall shew you the nature of each of these and then tell you which of them is to be understood in the Doctrine Natural fear is caused by the apprehension of some evil imminent or at hand 't is such an affection as whereby men are stricken by reason of some dangerous and hurtful evil either real or onely imagined that is the definition of natural fear In it self it is neither good nor evil it was in the man Christ Heb. 5.7 Christs fear was onely a natural passion which he assumed and took upon him when he took upon him our nature Now there are four special effects which this fear worketh upon the body The first is the
desire now that when you come home you would commune with your own hearts and compare your selves with and apply your selves to these sundry probational Notes And this shall suffice to be spoken of the second Use the Use of Examination I shall enter upon the third and proceed as far in it as the ordinary time will permit And that shall be a Use of Exhortation Is it so That every true and faithful servant of God is a fearer of God Learn we then hence these two duties First to get the true fear of God and then secondly to grow up in this grace more and more I begin with the first of these Let every one of us labour to have our hearts seasoned and possessed with this grace in the words of Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 19.7 Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts Give we all diligence for the attainment of this grace Now for the better performance of this duty I shall first lay down some Motives for your encouragement secondly prescribe some Means for your assistance The Motives shall be five or six all which I shall run over with as much convenient brevity as may be 1. 'T is but just equal and reasonable that we should fear the Lord our God seeing he hath so frequently commanded it and so often in his Word called upon us for it Besides what texts have formerly in this discourse been alleadged to this purpose let me at present for your encouragement commend unto you two or three more Psal 22.23 Psal 33.8 Psal 34.59 Luke 12.5 Observe well what Christ saith there But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you Fear him He commands this fear twice you see in one verse Nay as this fear is enjoyned so doth it of right appertain to God 't is his due as he is the proper the sole and onely object of it Job 25.2 Dominion and fear are with him i.e. they are with the Lord or they are the Lord. Psal 76.11 Jer. 10.7 So that you see 't is an act of justice to fear God When we have done the utmost that we can this way we have done but our duty 2. As this duty is just and reasonable in respect of God so 't is a grace needful and necessary for us This is that grace which enableth us unto all Christian duties it frames the heart as you heard before both to the shunning of vice as also to the embracing of vertue 'T is the beginning of wisdom and the instruction of wisdom 't is a fountain of life without it we can neither begin or end any spiritual work 't is the beginning of all and the end of all 't is totus homo all of man without it there can be no compleatness in Christianity and therefore saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.1 that we must perfect holiness in the fear of God The heathen Sages as Seneca Socrates and others they were wise men in their generation they had many excellent and lovely gifts but failing of this coming short of the true fear of God all the other did them no good they found out indeed many excellent things but they missed of this Pearl of great price That wish of the Lord is very observable Deut. 5.29 Oh that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever Intimating thus much that if their hearts were once seasoned with this holy fear then they would be able to do his will and to observe his commandments Without this fear of God we shall never be able to keep one of the commands of God So that you see 't is needful to the Inchoation Continuation and Consummation of of grace 't is the beginning middle and end of true spiritual wisdom 3. As this holy fear of God is needful for us so 't is gainful to us and profitable for us too 'T is true the profane miscreants above my text blasphemed to the contrary vers 14. Ye have said It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts I but the godly in my text were of another minde What the Apostle speaks of godliness is as true of this holy fear of God for why they are the same indistinct thing now saith he 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come This we may verifie and truly say of the fear of God It hath the promise of this life c. 1. Of this life Prov. 19.23 The fear of the Lord tendeth to life and he that hath it shall abide satisfied he shall not be visited with evil Security from evil in general is promised to them that fear God they shall be delivered from the hurt of it though not always I confess from the smart of it They shall be delivered from the evil of sin for why as Solomon speaks Prov. 8.13 the former part of the verse The fear of the Lord is to hate evil They shall be delivered from the evil of pain and sorrow too to which purpose tends such texts as this Psal 91.5 6 7. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terrour by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come night thee So again vers 10 11 12 13. Nay they that fear the Lord shall not onely be delivered out of all evil but they I and theirs too shall be made partakers of all good Eccles 8.12 saith the Preacher there Though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him God will be good to his Israel even to them that are of a pure heart Prov. 22.4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life The fear of the Lord you see doth not want its present reward of riches honour and life One would think this were enough to provoke any man to turn spiritual purchaser I but the Scripture expresseth this reward yet further Psal 34.9 10. Oh fear the Lord ye his saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing I but what shall our poor children do when we are gone may some say well enough Psal 37.25 saith David there I have been young
gone as come like a flash of lighting in the air like the stony ground whose fruit was no sooner ripe then rotten or like the grass upon the house top which the Psalmist speaks of which withereth afore it groweth up And then last of all 5. Try your thoughts by the effects which they work in you Do your thoughts of Gods presence purity and holiness make you to tremble and afraid to sin thoughts of his mercy and patience lead you to repentance the thoughts of his power and all-sufficiency work you to a close even and uniform walking with God the thoughts of heaven wean you from the earth the thoughts of the vanity of life fit you for death Do the thoughts of the instability and uncertainty of temporal things edge and quicken your desire after eternal things Are your meditations driven to that issue which Davids were to make you turn your feet unto Gods Testimonies to have respect to his Ordinances to his Ways and Precepts Are your thoughts thus improved are your thoughts improved to such holy ends purposes as these are I beseech you when you come home to commune with your own hearts endeavor to conclude somewhat of your estate and condition by your thoughts And so much of this Use and for this time I proceed unto the fourth last Use of this Point and that shall be for Exhortation 4. Is it so that it is and should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and the things of God This Doctrine then calls upon all the true fearers of God to be much in meditating and thinking upon his Name And here for the performance and better performance of this great and necessary duty I shall lay down before you in the first place some Motives Secondly some Means and thirdly some Rules or Directions I begin with the Motives and the first shall be taken from the necessity of the duty 'T is necessary in a double consideration 1. in regard of God 2. in regard of our selves 1. In regard of God he requires and commands the duty See what God saith to Joshua Josh 1.8 This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein One would think it should rather have been said This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy heart but thou shalt c. of if not so then thus This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt speak of it day and night Meditation is too high a Muse for the mouth But Beloved because there ought to be much meditation about the Law of God before a word of it comes out of the mouth therefore the Lord saith This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night The meaning of it is this As often as thou shalt speak thou shalt meditate thou shalt not speak rashly it shall not be the work of thy tongue alone but of thy minde and tongue together Now as in this text the Lord requires holy conference of which I shall speak God willing in the next Point so doth he likewise require holy meditation Thou shalt meditate therein This carries with it the full force of a command So again Prov. 6.20 21. My son keep thy fathers commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother binde them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck The phrase of speech is borrowed from Garments or Jewels The meaning of it is Lay them up as safe in your thoughts tie them as fast to your hearts by holy meditation as men do their clothes nay as they do their chains and jewels to their bodies or else deal with them by frequent meditating upon them as men do by those things which they set down in their book or table that so they may keep a precise memorandum of them The like injunction you finde given Phil 4.8 the text which I alledged in the confirmation of this Point So again 1 Tim. 4.15 saith Paul there to Timothy Meditate upon these things give thyself wholly to them that thy profitting may appear to all What things why the things of God and bis Gospel So then this duty is necessary in respect of Gods positive and peremptory command Secondly this duty is necessary in respect of God because 't is he that indued us with reasonable souls with thinking faculties 't is he that hath given us an ability this way I mean an ability or faculty to think or meditate The Apostle tells us Acts 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being 'T is in God that we move I and that with the motions of our mindes no less then with the motions of our bodies in him i. e. by and through him through his power and goodness that we are acted and moved in our minds 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God The Apostle you see instanceth in this very duty of thinking and of holy meditation 'T is not in our own power to think much less to think a good thought all our sufficiency this way is from God Now then if it be God as you hear that hath put into us thinking faculties 't is needful then that we should return them back upon him again by thinking seriously and industriously upon his Name Nay you shall finde that upon this very ground because God hath given us our spirits our souls and the several faculties of them therefore we are to glorifie him with them This is evident 2 Cor. 6.20 the later part of the verse Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirits which are Gods q. d. your spirits as well as your bodies are Gods therefore glorifie him in your spirits And can we better glorifie God in and with our spirits then by frequent thinking upon his Name Nay Thirdly consider that God will account with us for our thoughts we must one day be as responsible or answerable to God for our thoughts and meditations as for any other things or talents whatsoever Eccles 12.14 At that day of revelation for so the day of account is sometimes called in Scripture we shall be made like a transparent pellucid and diaphanous body and all shall be laid naked and open the books of Gods Omniscience and mans Conscience shall be opened thy secretest thoughts thy most reserved retired and sequestred meditations shall be as legible in thy forehead as if they were written with the most glittering sun-beams upon a wall of Chrystal Not only mens words and actions but their thoughts are all in print in Heaven and God will in that day read them aloud in the ears of all the World although no heart in the earth be privy to them but
prefer God and the things of God incomparably before all other things whatsoever would we once make supernatural and heavenly things our chief portion and treasure then would our hearts be chiefly set upon them and our thoughts mostly run on them See what our Saviour saith Matth. 6.21 Where your treasure is there will your heart be also 5. And then in the last place to this end make use of Prayer too You know that God is both the heart-maker and the heart-mender desire him to put your souls into a spiritual frame and temper to direct your hearts unto the remembrance of his Name Pray for your selves as David did once for his people 1 Chron. 29.18 Oh Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel our fathers keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare our hearts unto theâ— In like manner let us pray Lord keep thy Name for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of our hearts and prepare our hearts unto thee or as he prays Psalm 19.14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer Pray that God would raise up your hearts and ravish your hearts that you may so meditate upon his Name that you may have respect unto all his ways I should come to give you some Rules or Directions concerning this holy meditation But of them God willing the next time Now because circumstances bear such a weight in every action as that they either make or mar it before I speak of the form and manner of our thinking upon the Name of God I shall deliver a word or two concerning the circumstances of Meditation There are two circumstances to be heeded in this duty 1. The circumstance of Time 2. The circumstance of Place I begin with the circumstance of Time Though it cannot be denied but that a Christian should have dayly converse and communion with God he should be alwayes ejaculating and raising up of his heart to heaven saying with David Psalm 36.4 later part of the verse Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Though he ought to take occasion even from those things which do occur and offer themselves unto his outward senses to aspire and climb up to God in his heart yet without doubt every Christian should redeem some â—it and convenient portion of time and set it apart from other employments that so he may solemaly and seriously think upon the Name of God he must not onely do it occasionally but he must appoint some time or other on set purpose that he may the more thorowly discharge this necessary duty at which time he should concentre and draw as it were into one point all the powers and faculties of his soul and command them to attend this heavenly exercise as much as may be without distaction And I suppose Beloved it were no great task to fetch in the practise of some of the holy men of God this way Isaac went out to meditate at the eventide Gen. 24.63 'T is conceived Isaac did this usually though at this time peradventure more earnestly by reason of that important business he had in hand which was his marriage It seems that Isaac did ordinarily go forth about even-tide which was saith Mr. Ainsworth at the ninth hour of the day with us the third hour in the afternoon about three of the clock to meditate This was Isaac's set-time for meditation as I say 't is generally conceived So David the Name of God and the Word of God was his meditation all the day Psalm 119.97 and in the night Psalm 119.55 yet there are some texts which lead us to think that David had his set and solemn times for this purpose amongst others I will instance onely in that one Psalm 139.18 the last words of the verse When I awake I am still with thee Some indeed refer this to the last resurrection and give out David's meaning to be this When I arise out of my grave I shall be still with thee I shall ever be with the Lord. But we need not to force the text as David had other set-set-times to meditate upon God so the morning was one of them When I awake out of my sleep or as soon as I awake out of my sleep I am with thee in holy meditation So that Beloved ye are not onely to maintain a constant communion with God in this duty but there must be some time laid aside on set purpose for this duty The second circumstance that I shall speak of is the circumstance of Place and here as I spake of the time so I may speak of the place for holy meditation As at all times we should think upon the Name of God so in all places not onely in this place appointed for the publick service of God but in all other places in your houses in your shops and places of trading at board and at bed at home and abroad But yet for preventing of distraction and considering that Satan is ready to take all advantages against us labouring might and main by outward objects to distract and divide the faculties of our souls with impertinent or unprofitable thoughts yea with sinful and corrupt thoughts therefore I conceive it necessary that the place where we meditate most seriously and solemnly should be retired and secret The devil well knows how neer and familiar earthly things are to our senses and how remote and far distant heavenly and supernatural things are therefore he would fain work upon our carnality by presenting earthly objects and by them would fain convey to our hearts earthly-mindedness and so bereave us of the benefit of meditation So that I say to prevent the policie and malice of the devil 't is best whenever we desire in good earnest to set upon this duty to withdraw our selves into some private place into our chambers studies or closets What our Saviour speaks concerning the duty of Prayer we may apply unto the duty of holy meditation Matth. 6.6 When thou prayest enter into thy closet so when thou meditatest enter into thy closet withdraw as much as may be from the noise and clutter of the world do it as privately and reservedly as may be I might give you some instances for this too Isaac did it in the field as you may finde in the text before alledged Gen. 24.63 he was private in meditation and soliloquie Upon this passage of Isaac I finde one to have this observation Domitian saith he about the beginning of his Empire usually sequestred himself from company an hour every day but did nothing the while but catch Flyes and kill them with a pen-knife but Isaac sequestred himself from company to a better-purpose he improved his solitariness for deep meditation and soliloquie David performed this duty in his bed Psalm 63.6 and therefore saith he Psalm 4.4 Commune with your own heart upon your bed And thus
special fruit which springs from that goodly tree The Fear of God Now to visit the fatherless Beloved is more then to look upon them and to ask them how they do to visit them is to help and succour them it 's like that visit in its proportion which Christ made unto the distressed world Luke 1 68. where 't is said Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people or he visited his people to redeem them And then the fatherless to whose visit Religion and the fear of God leads us are not onely poor children and orphans whose parents are lately dead and they not able to shift for themselves but the fatherless are all the afflicted who want our help or patronage every helpless and comfortless soul is an orphan without parents and as a widow without a husband and to relieve such is pure Religion herein standeth much of the fear of God Job 6.14 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty I finde a variety of reading upon these words but this one reading to my minde gives the sense most fair and easie To him that is afflicted c. otherwise he forsakes the fear of the Almighty whereas our Translation saith But he forsaketh this saith Otherwise he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty i.e. If a man do not shew love and pity to his afflicted brother that man sheweth that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty As love to God so the fear of God is made exceeding visible in love to men As he that saith he loves God and hateth his brother is a lyer according to that 1 Joh. 4.20 so he that saith he feareth God and hateth his brother is a lyer also What cares Nabal the churl though David die at his door as long as he may sit warm within eating the fat and drinking the sweet Nabal hath Logick to conclude for himself 1 Sam. 25.11 Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be But the fear of God would have taught the fool more wit 2. The true fear of God as it will teach a man to love his brother so it will teach him not to vex oppress or brew beat his brother An instance of this you have in God-searing Joseph see what he tells his breâ—hren Gen. 42.18 This do and live for I fea God q. d. I intend you to hurt although you are fallen into my hands I fear God and â—hat is your security it stands not with the fear of God which hath taken up my heart to oppress or wrong you I fear God and therefore dare not to do you any hurt I fear the true God the proper object of fear and therefore you need not to doubt of fair dealing To the same purpose see what Nehemiah saith to those merciless Usurious Israelites that had exacted upon their brethren Neh. 5.9 10. Also I said It is not good that ye do ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies I likewise and my brethren and my servants might exact of them money and corn I pray let us leave off this usury q. d. Oppression and the fear of God will not stand together it 's an argument that there is little or no fear of God in their hearts who do oppress others Levit. 25.17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another but thou shalt fear thy God for I am the Lord your God Whereby is fully intimated that if they oppressâ—d they did not fear God And when Amalek fâ—ll upon the Jews and smote some of them passing thorow his Country it is said He feared not God Deut. 25.17 18. This evil is an unnatural evil and so can never consist with the true fear of God And then 3. This fear of God will teach men to honour and obey lawful Authority and therefore you shall finde them both joyned together 1 Pet. 2.17 later part of the verse Fear God Honour the king q d. Where there is not due honour and obedience yeelded to lawful Authority there is no true fear of God Nay Beloved I may adde that this fear of God will teach a man how to carry and behave himself in every estate and condition whatsoever Nay it will teach all estates and degrees whatsoever it will teach the Poor how to carry themselves in adversity and the Rich how to carry themselves in prosperity the Poor it will teach to be contented with their estate and condition as knowing that of Solomon Pr. 15.16 Better is little with the fear of the Lord then great treasure and trouble therewith it will teach him to know that contented godliness is great riches It is not the great Cage that makes the bird sing it is not the great estate that always brings inward joy or cordial contentment And then as it will teach the Poor contentment so it will teach them not to envie the Rich seeing God in his providence hath meted out unto every one the portion of his allowance and with this condition too that where much is given much shall be required Hence is that Prov. 23.17 Let not thine heart envie sinners but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long Solomon you see describes this fear of the Lord as an antidote or preservative against that evil disease And then in the last place this fear of God will likewise teach the Rich how to carry themselves in prosperity it will teach them to behave themselves humbly according to that of the Wise man Prov. 22.4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life By humility the fear of the Lord so the Original runs without the Grammatical copulative and to note unto us that there is such a neer affinity between humility and the fear of God as if they were one and the very same thing they seem to be predicated one of the other as if they were convertible terms The Rich if they fear God will not be proud or disdain their brethren because poor And then as this grace will teach them to walk humbly so will it teach them to walk thankfully too You may observe this Jer. 5.24 Neither say they in their heart Let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth rain both the former and the later in his season he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest One would think that the Lord should rather have blamed them for not saying Let us praise the Lord our God c. but Beloved the former includes the later he that truly fears God will not fail to be thankful And thus you have heard several Notes whereby you may come to know whether or no with these godly ones here in my text you are men and women truly fearing God I
irreligious persons having not the fear of God before your eyes your heads hearts and hands must needs be full fraught with sin there can be nothing but wickedness in you and wickedness issuing from you and believe it unless God shew you the more mercy and put his fear into your hearts before you die you must expect for indeed nothing else can be expected but all the miseries torments and tortures which are the just reward of all such graceless persons and profane wretches as want this holy fear From all which you are utterly unable to free your selves You will be able neither to abide it no nor yet to avoid it And this is your very condition if there be any truth in this Book of God here in my hand I could out of this Book lay out your estate into several branches your present and future miserable estate I profess unto you in the presence of God a man would not be in your case for a million of worlds if there were so many and this you your selves would confess if God should ever season your hearts with his fear But I won't at present trouble you with particulars Do but go a little part from your families when you come home and set your hearts upon the meditation of what hath been spoken unto you in general as to your condition being without the fear of God and this very cogitation or meditation upon your present case may be a means if God will but bless it to any of you to pull you out of it and of your procurement of this grace But then secondly as you are to reflect upon your selves so likewise should you meditate upon God let your thoughts be busied about him and consider how he is 1. Represented unto you in his Word 2. How he stands described in his works You will say it may be What is spoken of God in his Word that may perswade our hearts to fear his Name Friends there are divers things recorded of God in this Book that should prevail with you to fear before him As first of all he is transcendent supereminent and surpassing in majesty and glory And hence 't is that the Psalmist infers a necessity of his fear Psal 76.4 saith Asaph there Thou art more glorious and excellent then the mountains of prey or the mountains of triumph as 't is in the Hebrew i e the kingdoms of this world which tear spoil and prey upon one another like wilde beasts or more particularly the flourishing Assyrians with their goodly Monarchy Thou art more illustrious glorious and excellent then all these What then see verse 7. Thou even thou art to be feared And again verse 11. Vow and pay unto the Lord your God let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared Let you hearts then in the first place stand in a holy awe of God because of his great glorious and terrible Majesty Secondly consider God as armed with infinite power and might the Word bespeaks him able to reward you if you do fear him and able to punish you if you fear him not Servants you know fear their masters because they have power over their flesh over their bodies I but God hath power not onely over your bodies but over your souls too and therefore you should fear him You have this inference to the fear of God implied if not expressed Mat. 10.28 God is said to be able to consume your body and soul in hell-fire Oh therefore fear him upon this consideration Thirdly consider God as Omnipresent and Omniscient as one that beholds and takes knowledge of all that we think speak or do Prov. 5.21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord he pondereth all his goings God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one saith all eye to him all things are naked and open Heb. 4.13 Psal 139.8 9 10. and following verses Jer. 12.27 29 23. It was this very meditation that kept Joseph in a holy fear of sinning against God Gen. 39.9 And then lastly consider God too as infinitely just and singularly careful to punish sin and this may be a means to beget this holy fear of God in your hearts who would not fear before this just and impartial God! See to this purpose that sweet song of the triumphant Saints Rev. 15.3 4. Nay yet a little further if you would have your hearts seasoned with the holy fear of God consider him as he is presented to you in his works his hanging the heavy and massie body of the earth upon nothing Job 26.7 his setting bounds to the proud waves of the sea Hithereto shall you come and no further Upon this account would the Psalmist have us to fear God You may reade it Psal 33.5 6 7 8 9. 2. Turn your thoughts upon those particular judgements God hath executed upon others for our warning and caution Psal 119.120 saith the Prophet there My flesh trembleth for fear of thee I am afraid of thy judgements When one childe is whipt in a School the rest will tremble Thus should it be with you when you see others punished This is the second particular meditation which may serve as a means to bring you unto this holy fear which I have so much spoken of I come to the third and last and with this I shall conclude this present discourse 3. All you that are yet void of this holy fear of God meditate in the third place upon the general judgement and the unconceivable terrour of that last and dreadful day when as the Apostle speaks the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the element shall melt with fervent heat the earth also with the works that are therein shall be burnt up Knowing the terrour of the Lord in that day I do earnestly perswade you to fear the Lord in this Felix though a Pagan trembled when Paul discoursed of this great day Acts 24.23 nay the devils themselves shake and tremble when they think of it and won't you How is it that you can think of that day wherein the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them who know not God and who do not fear before him The Preacher upon this very ground namely because then God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness perswades us to fear God 't is Eccless 12 13 14. And thus have I shewed you what means you should improve for your obtainment of this holy fear And truly if God had revealed unto me any more excellent way then you have already heard I do so much desire your everlasting good as that I should not conceal it from you Let this therefore suffice for the first branch of the Exhortation which hath been directed to those who are yet without a holy fear of God in their hearts I should proceed unto the second and reflect then upon you whose hearts are already seasoned
with this holy fear you I should exhort to grow up more and more in this grace and lay before you likewise to this end some motives and some means But I shall put these things over unto the next opportunity I proceed unto the second Duty and that shall be prest and inculcated upon you whose hearts are already seasoned with this holy fear of God And you I do earnestly exhort to abound and to grow up in this grace more and more It is not enough for you to get this fear planted into you but you must increase therein with the increase of God you must go on perfecting holiness in the fear of God And here by way of Motive and Inducement I shall refer four or five particulars unto your most serious consideration Pray attend them diligently The first shall be taken from the nature of this holy fear The true fear of God is of a growing of an increasing nature He that grows not and goes not forward in this grace had never yet this grace in truth Pro. 4.18 The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more more unto the perfect day A man truly fearing God sets forth betimes in the morning and travels to meet the day he proceeds from vertue to vertue from knowledge to knowledge from grace to grace until he become a perfect man in Christ Jesus Being once possest with this grace he â—â—ill waxeth brighter and brighter until at length he come to shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars in heaven for ever and ever It may be as the fairest sun may sometimes be overcast and darkned with clouds so the piety and holiness of a man truly fearing God may upon occasion be over-clouded through violence of outward temptation and strength of inward corruption but yet through mercy these mists are dispelled and he shines afterward far more brightly and runs a more swift and setled course in the practise of sanctification Job 17.9 The righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger The words are a circumlocution describing the same person who was before called fearing God upright innocent holy now saith Job he shall hold on his way he continues his course both in the holy motions of his Spirit towards God and in the holy actings of his life towards man And as a man fearing God is in a good estate so shall he go on in a good way The goodness indeed of hypocrites is as the morning cloud and goeth away as the early dew Hos 6.4 the wind scatters the morning cloud and the rising sun exhales the early dews thus the goodness of the hypocrite is gone but the goodness of the righteous and of the man truly fearing God like the goodness of God of whom it is endureth in its proportion continually nay such a man holds on not onely in fair way and good weather but in stormy weather and ragged ways when his way lies among sharp stones ragged rocks thorow briers and thorns yea I may say when his way lies among bears and lions he will on The righteous shall hold on his way and then it follows And he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger The words are a circumlocution ut prius he shall saith Job be stronger and stronger in the Hebrew it is he shall adde strength he shall proceed from one degree or step unto another What strength why spiritual strength answerable to that Psal 84.7 They go from strength to strength or from company to company i.e. from one good company to another still gathering goodness and they go as the best go from Duty to Duty from Ordinance to Ordinance from Praying to Hearing to gather grace and strength every grace hath strength and the more grace the more strength till we come to that which is more strictly called strength of grace Nay as it was said of the Israelites that the more the Egyptians afflicted them the more they multiplied and grew Exod. 4.12 they multiplied in number they grew in strength and stature their oppression was their addition in temporals 't is even so Beloved with all true Israelites in spirituals the more they are afflicted and troubled the more they increase And then as this is the nature and quality of men and women truly fearing God so 't is the nature of the true fear of God where ever this is put into the heart it will grow and therefore in Scripture you shall finde it compared to things of a growing and increasing nature as 1. to waters issuing out from the sanctuary Ezek. 47.1 2 3 4 5. Now this saith Mr. Deodate in his Annotations represents the progress and increases of grace and true fear of God in believers of small beginnings 2. It is compared to a grain of Mustard-seed which proves a great tree Mat. 31.31 32. They likewise resemble it to the Stone that smote the Image which became a great mountain and filled the whole earth Dan. 2.34 35. So then this is the first Incentive to the Duty in hand grow up in this grace of the fear of God because if true 't is growing By this you may come to know whether you fear God with a true and lively fear the true fear of God lives and therefore it must needs grow But then in the second place this is that which God requires and commands yea that which he expecteth and looketh for from our hands namely that we should grow up more and more in this grace Hitherto I may refer all those Scriptures wherein we are exhorted to grow in grace in general or in any particular or individual grace whatsoever because as I have often told you in the former part of this Discourse the fear of God is an extensive or comprehensive word including all and every grace For texts referring to our growth in grace or in the fear of God in general reade 1 Cor. 14.12 Even so ye forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so 't is in the Greek 'T is a metaphor taken from rivers of water which the further they run the broader they are Seek that ye may excel in spiritual gifts and graces i. e. that ye may abound in them So 1602. 15.58 Always abounding in the work of the Lord In the work of the Lord i. e. in all actions belonging to your heavenly vocation and to the true service of God See how the Apostle prays for the Ephesians Eph. 3.18 19. that they may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they might be filled with all the fulness of God Many Wits run riot in Geometrical notions about these Moral dimensions and whereas Naturalists give us but three dimensions of a Body Longitude
of the righteous is onely good So again Pro. 12.5 The thoughts of the righteous are right What is that why the meaning is that he feeds his thoughts upon the best objects and if worse break in as sometimes they will he justles them out again rids the room of them and will not suffer vain thoughts to take up their residence or lodging within him An instance hereof you have in David Psal 119.113 David was a man as you may finde thorowout the Book of the Psalms whose heart was much set upon God Psal 16 8. he was a man very much busied in holy and heavenly meditation the ways and words and works of God were the chief objects of his meditation as you may finde almost every where Another example of this you have in the Church Isa 26 8. 'T is said of these godly ones in my text that they feared the Lord and thought upon his Name and saith the Church here The desire of our soul is to thy Name and to the remembrunce of thee i.e. to all the signs gages and testimonialls which thou bast given us of thy grace by thy words works or the like the desire of our soul is to the remembrance of these or we desire to remember these in our whole souls To the same purpose is that of the Church Psal 44.17 18 19 20. So that now from all these Scriptures and many more it appears clearly that it is and should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and upon the things of God Take one text more which shews that this should be the practice of all that fear God as it is so it ought to be their practice they are enjoyned to it by command as namely Phil. 4.8 whence you may perceive what the objects of our thoughts ought to be the things that we think upon must be true honest just pure lovely and of good report they must be heavenly and spiritual things And so again Col. 3.2 Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth The word for set your affections in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we may render it minde or think upon supernatural things upon things that are above things that are of a heavenly and celestial concernment And thus you have heard the Point made good from Scripture I shall in the next place give you the grounds and reasons of it and proceed therein further as far as time will permit Well then in the first place they that fear God will be thinking upon his Name their thoughts will be taken up with and exercised about the things of God because they know that God knows the secrets of their hearts as he that makes a Watch knows every winding and turning in the Watch so he that made our spirits and is the father of our spirits knows all the motions and contrivances of our spirits Nay 't is the sole priviledge of God to know the thoughts the heart is his peculiar which none can unlock or look into but the most High Jer. 17.10 I the Lord search the heart I try the reins Now what is the heart that God searcheth or what doth God search for in the heart The heart is nothing else but the treasury of our thoughts and God searcheth for nothing else there but our thoughts either simple as they are in our meditations or compound as they are in our affections David you shall finde ascribes this glory to the Lord Psal 139.2 O Lord thou hast searched me and known me thou knowest my down sitting and mine up rising thou understandest my thought a far off i. e. thou knowest all my outward motions but is that all no saith he thou knowest my thoughts afar off Our thoughts are evident to God even before they are Our thoughts are said to be afar off when they are not thought yet then they are as nigh to God as they are to us when we are thinking them even actually present to him Nay our thoughts are as audible to God as our words are to men he hears the language of our spirits and what our hearts say when our tongues are silent One man knows not the meaning of another mans thoughts while he is speaking unless he speak his thoughts as some do not but now let the tongues of men be never so cross to their hearts and what they speak not a light to discover but a shadow to darken their thoughts yet God knoweth them 'T is said of Christ in the Gospel Matth. 9.4 that he knew their thoughts and this was an unanswerable argument of his Divinity or that he was God Onely God or as Christ was God man can reach the thoughts of man and he knows as well what is in them as what is without And this the godly well know and hence 't is in the first place that they are so thoughtfull of his Name But then secondly Psal 44.17 18 19 20. the godly will be thinking upon God out of love and strength of affection to his Name 'T is the nature and property of love to set the thoughts awork upon the thing or object beloved according to that in the Proverb Animus est ubi amat non animat the minde of a man is not where it lives but where it loves Pray observe that passage Cant. 1.3 the later part of the verse Thy Name is as oyntment powred forth therefore do the virgins love thee Christ hath his name both in Hebrew and Greek from ointments and these three words Messiah Christ and Anointed are all one in signification Now when the holy Ghost in the mouth and ministery of his faithful servants shall take of Christs excellencies as it is his office you know to do and hold them out to the world when he shall hold up the Tapestry as it were and shew men the Lord Jesus Christ with an ecce virum behold the man that one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus when they shall see him in his Natures in his Offices Works and in the blessed effects of all when his Name as oyntment is poured forth this cannot but stir up wonderful love in all good souls therefore do the virgins love him By virgins we are to understand the faithful so called for their spiritual chastity They love him for the odours of his good oyntments and out of their dear love and respect which they bear to him they will be continually thinking upon him they have tasted and seen how good the Lord is they have heard it not onely by the hearing of the ear but their hearts are experimented in it God hath shed abroad his love that part of his Name in their hearts by the holy Ghost and therefore they cannot chuse but love him back again and loving him be much in contemplation or meditation about him 3. The Saints are set upon thoughts of Gods Name because they are instructed and enabled thereunto
wicked men You may finde it Psal 10.4 The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts i. e. he doth not regard or care for God he doth not willingly meditate or think of God he maintains no correspondency or communion with him in his inner man peradventure God like an unbidden or unwelcome guest may put himself in his thoughs and move in his minde he may present to his minde some manifestations of himself in his justice and holiness yea of his truth long suffering and goodness but this proves a trouble and becomes a pain unto a wicked man Wicked men neither desire or accept acquaintance with him in any of these Wicked men are weary of the presence of God so Job describes them Chap. 21.14 they think it best for them when God departeth 'T is true indeed Saints know not how to live a comfortable day much less to be happy without him but now wicked men know not how to live a comfortable hour much less to be happy with him The Church indeed saith to God Leave us not Jer. 14.8 and God saith to her Wo to you when I depart Hos 9.12 I but wicked men say to God Depart from us trouble us not when shall we be eased and disburdened of his presence As there is nothing so joyous to the righteous so there is nothing so grievous to the wicked as to have God neer them If they can once banish the thoughts of God then they think they live indeed and till then they reckon their lives as a kinde of death Thus the Apostle describes the Gentiles before their conversion they were such as were without God in the world Eph. 2.11 12. All wicked and unregenerate men with these Gentiles live without God in the world Nay Beloved be informed from the Doctrine in hand That to be weary of the presence of God and to expel God and the remembrance of his Name out of the heart is one of the strongest arguments and highest demonstrations that a man is wicked Onely to love and pray for the presence of God is the surest sign of a gracious heart but to desire and wish the absence and departure of God must needs conclude and positively argue the heart to be most ungracious See what David saith Psal 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I mar dwell in the house of the Lord â—ll the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after i e. I will earnestly pursue I will indefatigably and unweariedly prosecute the grant or concession of this desire that I may dwell in the house of the Lord c. In these sacred strains of divinest Rhetorick was David's soul carried out after God God and his Name was the one thing the onely thing he longed for without God all was nothing with him in him he had all his presence was enough and sufficient for him all companies multitudes throngs and crouds of men yea of Saints or good men was but solitariness and widowhood to him without the presence of God And this was the highest ascent of David's holiness well then pray tell me is it not the lowest descent of unholiness the greatest brand and argument of wickedness to be troubled at the presence of God Is it not a full and plenary conviction of a carnal minde of a wicked man to think it long until God be gone to deprecate his presence and to urge his departure Oh I must acquaint you that this frame of heart is the very blackness of hellish darkness 't is the express image and character of the devils person Though peradventure such are not possest with yet are they under the possession of the evil spirit Reade that relation Matth. 8 28 29. It is the devils torment to be neer Christ or to have any appearance of God in him and certainly they are neerest the devil they live next door to him to whom the thought of God and the remembrance of his Name is a torment or who like those Gaderenes to Christ in verse 34. of the fore-named Chapter come and beseech him that he will depart out of their coasts that so if it were possible they might never more either hear or think of him But you will reply Why do you think that any are so wicked as to thrust God from them or to banish him out of their thoughts or if they would were it possible for them so to do I might I confess frame two Objections upon what hath been said in this Use and for the more methodical improvement of the Point I don't care if I do and to these onely I shall speak at present and so conclude First then concerning the impossibility of Gods departure from a wicked man the Apostle arguing with those at Athens saith Acts 17.27 28. He is not far from any of us good or bad how then can wicked men put God from them To this I answer Though wicked men cannot put themselves far from the eye and knowledge of God he being Omniscient and Omnipresent yet may they put God far from their thoughts though they may see God in their Consciences yet they never found him in their Affections As wicked men are far from the favour and love of God so are they far from love and affection to God God may be and is neer them in regard of his common and general presence but they do not desire the special presence of God in their hearts that is a burden to them and hence 't is that they say in their hearts that there is no God Psal 14.1 The fool i. e. the vile wicked and worthless person saith in his heart that there is no God A fools bolt we say is soon shot it may be he doth not always speak it with his mouth but his heart speaks it he thinks there is no God with these wicked ones before my text he denies the Attributes Ways Ordinances Providence and Service of God whatsoever is included in the whole Name of God he saith 'T is in vain to serve the Lord and there is no profit in seeking to him So that I say 't is clear that though wicked men cannot put themselves out of the intuition and inspection of God yet they may and do put themselves far from the thoughts of God and from the remembrance of his Name But then secondly it will be objected Are any so wicked as to forget God are there any so vile as to put the Name of God out of their thoughts Yes Beloved that there are every wicked man doth it more or less so Job speaks in the fore-mentioned text Job 21.14 They say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways He speaks of wicked men indefinitely of all yea of every wicked man every
wicked man saith to God Depart from me This I could evidence to you in sundry passages and practices of wicked men but for brevity sake I will exemplifie onely in that one set down in that text Job 21.12 Wicked men make it appear that God is not in all their thoughts because they desire not the knowledge of his ways As the ways of a wicked man are always grievous to God so are the ways of God always grievous to wicked men therefore they desire no acquaintance with no knowledge of them they are a very loaching to their souls they are rough sharp sad and unsuitable to their spirits and genius Wicked men as they think are provided of better ways of ways more easie smooth plain pleasant and therefore they have no manner of desire to Gods ways we desire not the knowledge of thy ways The word in the Hebrew signifying desire is rendred also to take pleasure or delight in because those things which we delight in are most desired by us and when they say We desire not the knowledge of thy ways more is intended then the bare negative of their desire we may resolve this Negative into an Affirmative thus We dislike yea we hate the knowledge of thy ways But what are those ways of God which finde so little acceptance entertainment with wicked men In general by the ways of God he intendeth not those ways in which God walketh but those which God hath made for man to walk in as namely the ways of his providence and outward administrations the ways of his commandments or those rules of life in and by which we ought to walk and regulate our whole course the ways of his Works the ways of his Word the ways of his Worship wicked men desire not the practical or experimental knowledge of these And thus much of the first Use I come to a second Use and that shall be a Use of Increpation 2. Is it so that it is and should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and upon the things of God This Point looks sadly and sowrely upon such as think basely unworthily and dishonourably of God upon such who in stead of holy and heavenly entertain atheistical blasphemous unbelieving and rebellious thoughts I shall give a touch upon each of these and so come to a third Use Some have gross earthly and terrene conceits of God they become vain in their imaginations about him as those spoken of by the Apostle Rom. 1.23 Thus ignorant persons who fancy God to be some old man sitting in heaven with a Crown on his head and a Scepter in his hand administring his kingdom as an earthly Prince Others though they conceive God to be a spirit and not a bodily substance yet they in their thoughts rob him of his essential and inseparable Attributes 1. Some deprive him of his Omnipresence thinking that God is not present in all places David could say Psal 139.7 8 9 c. 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 behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea c. but now wicked men on the other side are brought in speaking of God as if he were shut up in heaven and had nothing to do in the world Job 22.12 13. Is not God in the height of heaven and behold the height of the stars how high they are And thou sayest How doth God know can he judge thorow the dark cloud So again Psal 44 7. Some deny in their hearts his Omniscience as if God did not know all the transactions of men Psal 10.11 David speaking of the wicked mans thoughts tells He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he hideth his face he will never see it So much the Prophet Isaiah insinuateth in that wo which he denounceth against wicked men Isa 29.15 Wo unto them that seek deep to hide counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark and they say Who seeth us and who knoweth us Some deprive God of his justice thinking that although they proceed in the practice and often repetition of sin yet God will not punish them according to the cominations and threatnings of his Word If you doubt whether or no there be any such imagination in mans heart reade Deut. 29.19 where Moses saith And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine heart to adde drunkenness to thirst Nay saith David Psal 10.3 The wicked boasteth of his hearts desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth or we may reade it The covetous blesseth himself So much is implied in that of the Lord unto the Jews Jer. 7.9 10. Will ye steal murther and commit adultery and burn incense unto Baal and walk after other gods whom ye know not and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my Name and say We are delivered to do all these abominations Some again think unworthily of God by denying his providence whereby he ordereth and disposeth of all things in the world as if God regarded not his people as if he cared not which way things go So did these wicked ones above my text so did they of whom the Prophet Zephaniab speaks Zeph. 1.12 that say in their heart The Lord will not do good neither will he do evil Others again rob God of his purity and holiness they conceive God to be wicked as themselves are because he keeps silence at their sins Psal 50.21 or else because he doth not presently execute wrath upon sin and sinners Eccles 8.11 Others and not a few conceive God to be made up altogether of mercy they think he will save them and not destroy the works of his own hands though they live never so wickedly Others deny the truth of God and make him a lyer as if God would not accomplish either what he hath promised to his people or threatned against his enemies so did those wicked ones of whom the Apostle Peter speaks 2 Pet. 3.3 4. Others in the last place do not onely think basely and unworthily of God but they think thoughts against him such thoughts as are directly opposite to his Name they take up high and haughty imaginations such as exalt themselves against the knowledge of God and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ of which thoughts you reade 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Nay they have thoughts of high treason and open rebellion against heaven saying as Pharaoh did Exod. 5.2 Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice or as they Psalm 12.4 With our tongue we will prevail our lips are our own who is lord over us or as they Jer. 44.15 16 17. As for
the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth of our mouth Thus Beloved and many other ways which I might name do wicked men think dishonourably of God Now as I told you in the beginning of this Use the Doctrine which I have in hand looks very wishly and sowrely upon all these As it excludes them out of the society of the fearers of God so it brings them under heavy wrath guilt and punishment God will one day discover and lay open before the whole world angels and men those vile thoughts that wicked men have had of him and against him in their hearts he will set their iniquities in order before them and their secret sins in the light of his countenance as 't is Psal 90.8 he will bring every one of these secret thoughts into judgement Eccl. 12.14 And that none might be ignorant of this he makes proclamation thereof as it were in open Court by the voyce of his holy Prophet Jer. 6.19 I desire all those that are guilty of sinful thoughts against God to observe this text well and to lay it home unto and upon their hearts this evening Hear O earth behold I will bring evil upon this people even the fruit of their thoughts The heavy wrath and vengeance of Almighty God is both the just desert and the certain issue and event of evil thoughts inward distempers and mental abominations shall not go unpunished And this shall suffice to be spoken of the second Use the Use of Increpation I proceed to a third and shall make what progress in it the ordinary time will give me leave and that shall be a Use of Trial and examination to every one that hears me this evening 3. Is it so that it is and ought to be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and upon the things of God Let then every man and woman learn hence to make an estimate of his and her spiritual estate by the quality and disposition of their thoughts For 't is most certain that as the man is such are his thoughts and as the thoughts are habitually and ordinarily whether good or evil so is the man Thoughts are called the possessions of the heart Job 17.11 The thoughts of my heart in the Original 't is the possessions of my heart Now they are called possessions of the heart two ways 1. In a passive and 2. in an active sense Passively because thoughts are possessed by the heart the heart doth inclose and hold our thoughts the heart is the proper vessel and receptacle of thoughts the heart naturally is the soil and seat of thoughts there they are planted and there they dwell And then they are the possessions of the heart actively for as thoughts are possessed by the heart so thoughts do possess the heart Thoughts are full of activity they trouble and they comfort the heart Look what our thoughts are such is the estate of our hearts if our thoughts be quiet our hearts be quiet if our thoughts be unquiet our hearts be unquiet if our thoughts be joyful our hearts rejoyce if our thoughts be sad our hearts are sorrowful And therefore 't is said in the Gospel Luk. 24.38 Why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts i.e. Why do troublesome disconsolate thoughts arise in your hearts 'T is as natural for thoughts to arise in the heart as 't is for water to rise in a spring or fountain Christ did not chide because thoughts but because such thoughts did arise in their hearts We cannot hinder our thoughts from thinking no more then we can hinder the fire from burning or water from wetting They are the possessions of our hearts and being the possessions of our hearts we may easily judge of our estate and condition by them Purity in the inward parts is the most sound and infallible evidence of our fearing God Whatever evil is practised or committed in the life proceeds from the heart Mat. 15.9 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts c. So again on the other side whatever good is acted in the life proceeds from the heart Out of the heart says Solomon are the issues both of life and death And therefore I say again Examine your estate by your hearts and by your thoughts which are the possessions of your hearts Now there are two ways how a man may try his thoughts 1. By the causes of them and 2. By the effects of them A word or two of each and so I shall conclude 1. Try your thoughts by the Causes of them Are they put in by God and his Spirit doth the Spirit of God raise them up in your hearts or else are they injected and cast in by the devil And so I might enlarge my self in shewing when our thoughts are formed and framed in us by the Spirit of God and when thrust in by the devil but that would be a field too large for me and therefore I briefly pass it by 2. Try your thoughts by the matter and substance of them Are they holy heavenly and gracious Carnal men are projecting how to spend their days and moneths in buying in selling and getting gain the fool in the Gospel is thinking of enlarging his barns of pulling down his houses and building greater Luk. 12.17 18. this is that which engrossed all his thoughts One Apostle describes such men thus Minding earthly things Phil. 3.19 another thus Having an heart exercised with covetous practices 2 Pet. 2.14 With covetous practices i.e. with earnest contrivances how to promote their gain and earthly aims But now men and women fearing God they are for gracious projects they are thinking how they may be more thankful saying with David Psal 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me They are thinking how they may be more holy and spiritual how they may be more useful and serviceable to God how they may be more fruitful in every good word and work So that I say in the second place try your thoughts by the matter of them 3. Try them from the form and fashion of them Are they notional floating and accidental or are they studious sollicitous and diligent thoughts Do you sit as it were in the door of your hearts on set purpose to entertain good thoughts as Abraham was wont to sit in the door of his tent to entertain strangers or do they fall in onely by the by collaterally and besides the intention These holy men in my text did not onely think upon Gods Name casually or by chance but they did it seriously and in good earnest and stayed up their hearts against all discouragements 4. Examine your thoughts by the duration and continuance of them Are your good thoughts fixed setled constant and permanent or are they flitting fugitive transient and temporary onely as soon
their own That is worth your diligent observation to this purpose which you finde 1 Cor. 4.5 Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will manifest the counsels of the hearts What are more dark or hidden then mens inward thoughts we may call them hidden things of darkness yet even these will God bring to light these will he make manifest at that day The Apostle as I conceive speaks this for the encouragement of the Saints he encourageth them to the very duty I am now upon though they have been called hypocrites and disgraced though they have had the dirt of a thousand scandals cast in their faces yet there is a day coming when God will take an account of your thoughts your reproaches shall be wiped away and your thinking upon the Name of God shall be brought in open view And then fourthly as God will in justice recompense wicked men for the evil and sinful managing so he will in mercy reward the fearers of his Name for the right and holy management of their thoughts When David entertained but a thought or purpose of building an house for God although God forbade him to do it yet he rewarded that thought and determination of David in his seed 2 Sam. 7.16 So when the Prodigal purposed with himself to return home to his Father you may see how it was rewarded Luk. 15.18 19 c. and therefore saith the Apostle in the text before alledged 1 Cor. 4.5 later part of the verse Then shall every man have praise of God What every man Will God praise those who are praiseless will he praise the proud and covetous the drunkards and unclean will he flatter men in their sin and sow pillows of commendation under their elbows No the Apostles meaning is every man that is praise worthy every good and faithful man every true believer all sincere and honest hearts whose thoughts counsels and meditations have been aright every such a man shall have praise of God And thus you see that this duty is necessary as also how many ways 't is necessary in respect of God This is evident likewise in the text that I am now upon But then in the second place this thoughtfulness upon the Name of God is needful in regard of our selves Hereby in the first place we shall evidence unto our own souls and consciences that we are men and women truly fearing God This is in my text set down as the property or distinguishing character of holy and godly men that they thought upon his Name Nay they are conjoyned inseparably they were such as feared God and thought upon his Name Those beasts under the Law which chewed not the cud and divided not the hoof were not to be eaten of they were unclean I could give you divers significations and applications of dividing the hoof and chewing of the cud Willet in his eleventh Question upon this Chapter alledging many I shall at present speak onely of that which conduceth to my purpose The parting the hoof in twain signifieth the right discerning of the Word and Will of God when we are able to judge of it not carnally but spiritually 2. Chewing of the cud signified the serious meditation of the Name and Law of God day and night which is the food of our souls Well then as those beasts were unclean which divided not the hoof and chewed the cud so those men and women are spiritually unclean unholy and unsanctified who do not discern spiritual things and often recal them to their mindes to meditate or to ruminate upon them 2. This duty is needful in respect of our selves because thoughts are the original and principles of action meditation is the rise and fountain both of communication and conversation of words and of practices it causeth the stream or current of both these to run either clear or muddy The progress or method to action is you must know in this manner 1. The Thoughts do excite and stir up the Affections Affections do kindle upon Thoughts as Tinder doth upon the striking of a spark of fire 2. The Affections they carry and command the Will even as windes do the ship 3. The Will commands all the inferior powers to execute or to put in act that which the Thoughts have suggested the Affections seconded and it self accepted Now then forasmuch as thoughts carry such an influence and tendencie unto action good Reason why we should holily and religiously employ them Thus far of the second Motive to the duty I shall run over the rest with more brevity and proceed as far in them as the remaining time will give me leave Well then in the second place serious and diligent meditation upon the Name of God as 't is a needful so 't is an excellent duty such a duty as will transform us into the image of God from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 saith the Apostle there But we all with open face bebolding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. As we by looking upon the glory holiness and excellencie of God so likewise by meditating upon the glory holiness and excellencie of God are changed into the same image i. e. we are made conformable unto him we receive as it were the engravings of holiness upon our souls by meditating upon the holy One. As by a good concoction and digestion our meat is incorporated into and assimilated unto us so by meditation which is spiritual concoction we are assimilated and made like unto that Name upon which we meditate We read Exod. 34.29 that when Moses had been with the Lord upon the mount his face did so shine that Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him Beloved as long as a man is in the duty of holy meditation as long as he is thinking upon the Name of God he is with God he is in communion and fellwoship with him and Oh this will set a glistering lustre and brightness upon his heart it will cause the face of his heart to shine Let me tell you for your encouragement that the way to be an excellent Christian is to be a holily contemplative Christian Holy meditation will render you with the Kings daughter all glorious within I shall enlarge no more upon this In the third place and so I shall conclude for the present Holy meditation is a sweet and comfortable exercise David met with marrow and fatness honey and honey-comb yea with surpassing delight and pleasure in this duty and therefore saith he Psalm 139.17 How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the sum of them We may take the words two ways 1. How precious are thy thoughts i.e. how sweet and precious are these thoughts of mercy which flow from thy heart to me which pass from thy soul to