can be delightful to act against inclination or that a forced imitation of that good whereof you want the implanted vital principle can be any more pleasing to you than it is to God whom you cannot mock or impose upon by your most elaborate or specious disguises And therefore since that holy heart-rectitude must be had it must be sought earnestly and without rest Often ought Heaven to be visited with such sighs and longings sent up thither O that my ways were directed to keep thy righteous judgments Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed And it should be sought with expectation of good-speed and without despair remembring we are told If we ask we shall receive if we seek we shall find if we knock it shall be opened unto us yea that our heavenly Father will much more readily give his Holy Spirit to them that ask than you would bread to your Child that calls for it rather than a stone 3. When once you find your spirit is become in any measure well-inclin'd and begins to savour that which is truly good know yet that it needs your continual inspection and care to cherish good principles and repress evil ones Your work is not done as soon as you begin to live as care about an Infant ceases not as soon as it is born Let it be therefore your constant business to tend your inward man otherwise all things will soon be out of course God hath coupled delight with the labour of a Christian not with the sloth and neglect of himself The heart must then be kept with all diligence or above all keeping in as much as out of it are the issues of life All vital principles are lodg'd there and only the genuine issues of such as are good and holy will yeild you pleasure The exercises of Religion will be pleasant when they are natural and flow easily from their own fountain but great care must be taken that the fountain be kept pure There are other springs besides which will be apt to intermingle therewith their bitter waters or a root of bitterness whose fruit is deadly even that evil thing and bitter forsaking the Lord. I wonder not if they taste little of the delights of Religion that take no heed to their spirits Such a curse is upon the nature of man as is upon the ground which was cursed for his sake till the blessing of Abraham through Jesus Christ do take place even the Promise of the Spirit that it brings forth naturally thorns and thistles and mingles sorrows with his bread But that promised blessing that will enable a man to eat with pleasure comes not all at once nor do the encreases of it come on or the pleasant fruits of righteousness spring up but in them that give all diligence to add to their faith vertue and to vertue knowledg and to knowledg temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly-kindness and to brotherly-kindness charity Which would make that we be not barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise look in upon thy Soul when thou wilt and thou wilt have no other than the dismal prospect of miserable wastes and desolation Consider it seriously wretched man who tillest thy Field but not thy Soul and lovest to see thy Garden neat and flourishing but lettest thy Spirit lye as a neglected thing and as if it were not thine We are directed for the moderating of our care in our earthly concernments to consider the Lillies how they grow without their own toil and are beautifully array'd without their spinning But we are taught by no such instances to divert or remit our care of our inward man To these concernments let us then apply and bend our selves That is carefully to observe the first stirrings of our thoughts and desires to animadvert upon our inclinations assoon as they can come in view upon our designs in their very formation and enquire concerning each whence is it from a good Principle or a bad whither tends it to good or hurt will not this design if prosecuted prove an unjustifiable self-indulgence Does it not tend to an unlawful gratifying of the flesh and fulfilling some lusts thereof If so let it be lop't off our of hand and the axe be laid even to the root strike at it favour it not Think with thy self this if spared will breed me sorrow so much as I give to it I take away from the comfort of my life and spend of the stock of my spiritual delight in God Shall I let sin the tormentor of my Soul live and be mantain'd at so costly a rate If any good inclination discover it self cherish it confirm and strengthen it Look up and pray down a further quickening influence Say with thy self now that heavenly Spirit of Life and Grace begins to breath More of this pleasant vital breath thou blessed and holy Spirit Account this a Seed-time Now the light and gladness are a sowing in thy soul which are wont to be for the righteous and upright in heart and do promise ere long a joyful Harvest But if thou wilt not observe how things go with thy Soul despair that they will ever go well 4. Be frequent and impartial in the actual exercise of gracious Principles or in practising and doing as they direct Your actual delight arises from and accompanies your holy actions themselves and is to be perceived and tasted in them not in the meer inclination to them which is not strong enough to go forth into act And as these Principles are more frequently exercised they grow more lively and vigorous and will thence act more strongly and pleasantly so that your delight in doing good will grow with the Principles it proceeds from But then you must be impartial and even-handed herein as well as frequent and run the whole compass of that Duty which belongs to you as a Christian. Exercise your self as we find the direction is unto godliness and in such acts and parts of godliness chiefly and in the first place as may be the exercise of the mind and spirit in opposition to the bodily exercise whether severities imposed upon or performances that require the Ministery of that grosser part to which this nobler kind of exercise is justly prefer'd Turn the powers of your soul upon God Act seasonably the several graces of the Spirit that terminate directly upon him Let none grow out of use At some times Repentance at others Faith now your Love then your Fear none of these are placed in you or are sanctified in vain Retire much with God learn and habituate your selves unto secret converse with him contemplate his Nature Attributes and Works for your excitation to holy Adoration Reverence and Praise And be much exercised in the open Solemnities of his Worship there endeavouring that though your inward man bear not the only it may the principal part
finally to terminate in the Mediator for that the very notion of Mediator resists The name Christ is the proper name of that office and the desire of knowing him under that name imports a desire to know him in his office viz. as one that is to lead us to God and restore our acquaintance with him which was not to be recovered upon other terms So that it is ultimately the knowledg of God that is the so much desired thing and of Christ as the way and our conductor to God That is the knowledg of God not absolutely considered alone though he is even so a very delectable object as hath been said But as he is related to us and from whom we have great expectations our all being comprehended in him It cannot but be very delightful answerably to a certain sort of delectation of which we shall have occasion to speak in its proper place to have him before our eyes represented and revealed to us as the all-comprehending good and that in the way and method whereinto things are now cast may at least become our portion He is some way to be enjoyed even in this view 'T is a thing apt to infer complacency and delight thus to look upon him They who place felicity in contemplation especially in the contemplation of God are not besides the mark If they do not circumscribe and confine it there so as to make it stand in meer eontemplation or in an idle and vainly curious view of so glorious an object without any further concern about it They will then be found to speak very agreeably to the language of holy scripture which so frequently expresses the blessedness of the other state by seeing God And if the act of vision be delicious The representation of the object must have proportionable matter of delight in it It cannot but have so if we consider the nature of this representation Which answerably to the sensible want and desire of such as shall be delighted there-with must have somewhat more in it than the common appearances of God which offer themselves equally to the view of all men Though it is their own as common fault that they are destitute of the more grateful and necessary additions That it hath more in it is evident from Gods own way of speaking of it For we find that his revealing himself in this delectable way 1. Is attributed to the spirit And as a work to be done by it when it shall be given supposing it therefore yet not given and that all have it not yea that such have it not in such a measure as they may have it unto this purpose who yet truly have it in some measure already even as a thing peculiar to them from the unbelieving world For it is prayed for to such as concerning whom it is said that after they believed not before they were sealed by the spirit of promise that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory would give it them and it is mentioned by a name and title proper to the end and purpose for which it is desired to be given them viz. as the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that end and purpose being immediately exprest in or as that particle is some time used for the knowledg of him The eyes of their understanding being enlightened by it which are supposed blind before for the same purpose By which prayer it is supposed a communicable thing Yea and that these had some way a right to the communication of it or that it was a thing proper to their state fit to be prayed for as some way belonging to them they being in a more immediate capacity of such revelation than others But how incongruous had it been with such solemnity of address to make request on their behalf for that which they already sufficiently had as a thing common to all men 2. It is spoken of as a reward of their former love loyalty and obedience He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him Therefore is such manifestation no more to be accounted common than the love of Christ is and keeping his commandments It is spoken of as given discriminatingly and the grace of God admired upon that account In the next words Judas saith unto him not Iscariot it being well understood how little covetous he was of or qualifyed for such manifestations Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us and not to the world What it hath more than common light external or internal answerable to the deeply resented wants and the hearts desires of the regenerate by which it becomes so highly pleasant and delectable to them though it is rather to be felt than told as it is hard to describe the very things we have only immediate sensible perception of may yet in some degree be understood by such characters as these 1. It is much more distinct and clear They are confused and dark glimmerings which other men have of the blessed God so that the light which is in them is darkness 'T is true that an unregenerate person may possibly have clearer acquired notions of God and of the things of God than those may be which are of the same kind only in some who are regenerate So that he may by the advantages he may have above some of the other in respect of better natural abilities more liberal education such circumstances of his condition as may more engage him to study and contemplation and befriend him therein be capable of finding out more of making fuller discoveries and more evident deductions and be able to discourse thence more rationally and satisfyingly to others even concerning God his nature attributes and works than some very pious persons destitute of those advantages may be able to do But these though their candle give a dimmer light than the others have the beams of a Sun raying in upon them that much out-shines the others candle And though they know not so many things nor discern the connexions of things so throughly yet as they do know what is most necessary to be known so what they do know they know better and with a more excellent sort of knowledg proportionably as whatsoever is originally and immediately divine cannot but much excel that which is meerly human Those do but blunder in the dark These in Gods own light do see light And his light puts a brighter hue and aspect upon the same things than any other representation can put upon them Things are by it represented to the life which to others carry with them but a faint and languid appearance and are all covered over with nothing else but dark and dusky shadow so as that may be hid from the wise and prudent which is revealed to babes How bright and
things which if it were at present universally and perfectly good and as most rationally it might be wish'd Love could have no exercise but in Delight Not being so Desire that it might be so in reference to our selves and others whom we love comes duly to have place together with other acts or exercises of Love which it belongs not so much to our present purpose to mention For instance Whatsoever we can love is either Things or Persons whatsoever things we love is for the sake of Persons either our selves or others whom also we love either supreamly or subordinately And whomsoever we love supreamly as it is certainly either God or our selves we love whatsoever else Person or Thing either for Gods sake or our own Be it now the one or other or wheresoever we can place our love we find things in reference to any object of it not yet as we would have them and as they shall be in that setled state which shall be permanent and last always whereunto this is but preparatory only and introductive The Creation is indigent every creature wants somewhat even whereof it is capable and our own wants in many respects we cannot but feel Nothing is perfect in its own Kind in respect of all possible accessories thereto even the state of glorify'd Spirits above is not yet every way perfect much is wanting to their full and compleat felicity the Body and Community whereto they belong the General Assembly is not yet entire and full Their common Ruler and Lord is not acknowledg'd and had in honour as he shall be In the mean while their consummate blessedness which much depends on these things and the solemn Jubilee to be held at the close and finishing of all Gods work is defer'd Yea and if we go higher The blessed God himself the Author and Original of all things although no-thing be wanting to the real perfection of his Being and Blessedness hath yet much of his Right with-held from him by his lapsed and apostate Creatures so that which way soever we turn our selves there remains to us much matter of rational yea and holy desire and most just cause that our love place we it as well and duly as we can have its exercise that way we have before us many desiderata according as things yet are Desire is therefore Love suted to an imperfect state of things wherein it is yet imperfect And because it 's suted to such a state of things it cannot therefore but be imperfect love or love tending to perfection Pure and simple delight is love suted to a state of things every way perfect and whereto there is nothing lacking Wherefore Delight appears to be the perfection of Love or Desire satisfied But now because this present state is mixed and not simply evil or such wherein we find no present good therefore the love which is suted thereto ought consequently to be mixed of these two especially unto which two the present discourse is both extended and confin'd because these two affections only are mentioned in the Text Desire and Delight So far as things are otherwise than we practically apprehend 't is fit they should be with our selves or others whom we love our Love is exercised in desire wherein they are as we would have them in delight for then our desire is so far satisfied and desire satisfied ceases though love do not cease Or it ceases not by vanishing into nothing but by being satisfy'd that is by being perfected in the Delight which now takes place The one of these is therefore truly said to be Love exercised upon a good which we behold at a distance and are reaching at The other Love solacing it self in a present good They are as the wings and arms of love Those for pursuits these for embraces Or the former is love in motion the latter is love in rest And as in bodily motion and rest that is in order to this and is perfected in it Things move not that they may move but that they may rest whence perpetual progressive motion is not to be found so it is also in the motion and rest of the mind or spirit it moves towards any object with a design and expectation to rest in it and according to the course and order which God hath stated and set can never move forward endlesly towards a good in which it shall not at length rest though yet Desire and Delight have a continual vicissitude and do as it were circularly beget one another And thus hath God himself been pleased to express his own Delight or the Joy which he takes in his people even by the name of Rest viz. that of Love He will rejoice over thee with joy he will rest in his love Wherefore delight hath not been unfitly defined The repose or rest of the desiring faculty of the thing desired It is true that Love as such hath ever somewhat of delectation in it for we entertain the first view of any thing we apprehend as Good with some pleasedness therein so far as it is loved it is grateful to us and we are gratified some way by it yea there is somewhat of this before any emotion by desire towards it For we would not desire it if it were not pleasing to us which desire is then continued as far as love is in exercise till it be attained for our selves or others according as the object of our love i. e. the object for whom as we may call it is Nor is that a difficulty how yet there may be somewhat of delectation and even of rest in this love of desire For the Soul doth in that case while it is thus desiring rest from the indetermination of desire that is if it have placed Love upon any one it self or another upon whom therefore it doth with a sort of pleasedness stay and rest it doth first in the general desire it may be well with such a one and then if any thing occur to its notice that it apprehends would be an advantage to the person loved though it cease not desiring it yet it ceases from those its former hoverings of desire being pitch'd upon this one thing as satisfied that this would be a good to him it loves The appetite stays and insists upon this thing As the Psalmist One thing have I desired It hath here as it were a sort of hypothetical rest q. d. How well-pleased should I be if this were compast and brought about Or it hath an anticipated and pre-apprehended rest a rest in hope by which the object is some way made present as it is said We rejoice in hope of the glory of God For there is no rational desire which is not accompani'd with hope Despair stifles Desire That which appears simply impossible passes for nothing and goodness goes not beyond the compass of being But whatsoever appears to us a good whether for our selves or another that is sutable and possible That if
love stir in reference to it becomes the object of complacential desire that is it pleases us first upon sight or upon such an apprehension of it the appetite pitches centers and rests upon it and then we pursue it with desire But then our delectation therein grows as our hope doth it will be attained and still more if we find it to answer its first appearance as by degrees it is attained actually till being fully attain'd our desire as to that thing ends in all the delight and satisfaction which it can afford us so that the delight and rest which follows desire in the actual fruition of a full and satisfying-good is much more intense and pure than that which either goes before or doth accompany it and is indeed the same thing with fruition or enjoyment it self only that this term hath been by some more appropriated to signifie the delectation which is taken in the last End unto which yet it hath no more native designation than divers other words We have then thus far some general notion of Delight and also of Desire which is taken in here only on the by and as tending somewhat to illustrate the other whereof yet what we now say may be of some use hereafter We are next to speak of this Delight in special which is here to be placed upon God About which we are are to consider both What it is we are called to And how we are to reckon our selves called to it And 1 That we may shew What we are called to Having in this general account spoken only of humane delight or of delight as it is to be found among men It will now be necessary to distinguish this unto Meerly Natural And Holy And when we thus distinguish it is to be understood that by natural we mean what is within the sphere of Nature in its present corrupted state otherwise what was natural to man did taken in a large sense include holiness in it and so the addition of holiness doth but make up purely natural delight as it was at first But as the case now is the distinction is necessary And the latter of these only will be the subject of our following discourse as being only sutable to the blessed Object whereon it must terminate and only capable of being apply'd thereto When therefore our delight is to be placed and set on God this must be understood as presupposed that it be purify'd drain'd from the pollution and impure tinctures which it hath derived from our vitiated Natures and further contracted by our converse with impure mean and vile things For only that delight is to be placed on God which can be so placed and delighting in God being duly designed that is by consequence designed which is necessary thereto And thereto is necessary not meerly the direction of one such particular act towards God but an holy principle as prerequisite to the right doing even of that also Unholy love declines God and indeed it is unholy in as much as it doth so Whence therefore it is as impossible it should be set on God remaining unholy as that it should be another thing from it self and yet be still wholly what it was Although it cannot be another thing in its general nature as it is not necessary it should it must be a much altered thing by the accession of holiness thereto And this coming upon the whole Soul even upon all its faculties and powers doth therein spread it self unto its delight also Delight in God is not the work of an unholy heart And as may be collected from what hath been said Holiness consisting in a right disposition of heart towards God a divine Nature participated from him conform to him and which works and tends towards him and in it self so delightful a thing It may thence be seen what holy delight is or wherein the holiness of it stands It must to this purpose be considered that this holy delight is twofold according to a two-fold consideration of the delectable object into which what was formerly said about it may be reduced All delight in God supposes as hath been said some communication from him That communication is either of light whereby his Nature and Attributes are in some measure known or of operative influence whereby his Image is imprest and the Soul is fram'd according to his will And so 't is partly mental or notional I mean not meerly notional but that hath with it also an aptitude to beget a correspondent-impression on the Soul and not engage it in some speculations concerning him only and partly real that actually begets such an impression it self It is partly such as may be understood and partly such as may be felt the manifestation of his Love partly belongs to the one of these and partly to the other Answerably hereto the delight that is taken in him is either more Open and explicite and wherein a person reflects upon and takes notice of his own act and whereupon it is exercised Or more latent implicite and unobserv'd when his delight lies folded up in other acts and dispositions which have another more principal design though that also is involved in them The former way the Soul delights in God more directly applying it self thereto on purpose and bending the mind and heart intentionally thereto its present views of him having that very design and aim The latter way it delights in him rather collaterally when its present action as well as the disposition leading to it hath another more direct scope and aim And the delight only adheres to the act as being in it self delightful as for instance the acts of Repentance Trust Self-denial c. which have another end than delight though that insinuates into them The former of these may be called contemplative delight The Soul solacing it self in a pleasant meditation of God whereby its delight in him is excited and stirred up The latter understanding sense spiritually as it belongs to the new creature and is taken Phil. 1. 9. Heb. 5. ult may be called sensitive delight whereby the Soul as it were tastes how gracious the Lord is Which though it doth by the other also yet the distinction holds in respect of the way wherein the delight is begotten and begun if not in respect of the thing it self begotten or wherein the matter ends In the former way the Soul more expresly reflects upon its own present exercise which it directly intends In the latter it may not reflect expresly either upon its actual delight which it hath nor actually consider God as the object that yeilds it that pleasure as I may be delighted by the pleasant taste of this or that food without considering what the things is I am feeding on nor have distinct reflection on the pleasure I take therein having another and more principal design in eating the recruiting of my strength and that delight being only accessory and accruing on the by The former is less
comparison between our spiritual eternal Life and him though he and that can never be in opposition as there may be often an opposition between him and this present life so that the one is often quitted for the other yet neither is there a co-ordination but the less worthy must be subordinate to the more worthy We are to desire the enjoyment of him for his own glory And yet here is a strange and admirable complication of these with one another For if we enjoy him delight and rest in him as our best and most satisfying Good we thereby glorifie him as God We give him practically highest acknowledgments we confess him the most excellent one 'T is his glory to be the last term of all desires and beyond which no reasonable desire can go further And if we seek and desire his glory supreamly sincerely and really beyond and above all things when he is so glorified to the uttermost or we are assured he will be our highest desire is so far satisfied and that turns to or is our own contentment So that by how much more simply and sincerely we pass from and go out of our selves so much the more certainly we find our own satisfaction rest and full blessedness in him As it is impossible the Soul that loves him above it self can be fully happy while he hath not his full glory so it is for the same reason equally impossible but it must be so when he hath 2. Our delight must be sutable to the Object the Good to be delighted in In respect of the permanency of it This is the most durable and lasting Good In this blessed Object therefore we are to rejoice evermore As in the matter of Trust we are required to Trust in the Lord for ever because in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Everlasting strength gives sufficient ground for everlasting Trust. So it is in the matter of delight A permanent everlasting excellency is not answered but by a continual and everlasting delight Therefore is it most justly said Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I say to you rejoice alway and still on If through a long tract of time you have been constantly alway rejoicing in the Lord begin again I again say to you rejoice or rather never give over The Object will warrant and justifie the act let it be drawn forth to never so vast a length of time You will still find a continual spring unexhausted fulness a fountain never to be drawn dry There will never be cause of diversion with this pretence that now this Object will yield no more It is drained to the uttermost and is now become an empty and gustless thing With other things it may be so and therefore our delight doth not answer the natures of such things but when we rejoice in them as if we rejoiced not They are as if they were not All the things of this world are so For even the fashion of this world passeth away as it is afterwards added Therefore no delight can fitly be taken in them but what is volatil and unfixed as they are lest otherwise it over-reach and run beyond its Object And how absurd and vain is it to have our hearts set upon that which is not That takes wing and leaves us in the dirt This Object of delight is the I am yesterday and to day the same and for ever without variableness and shadow of change Therefore the nature of it cannot allow us a reason wherefore if we be delighted therein yesterday we should not to day or if to day why not to morrow and so on to for ever Whence then we may see no one can say he hath answered the import of this Exhortation Delight thy self in the Lord by having delighted in him at sometime It is continual as well as highest delight we are here called to We see then thus far what we are called to when we are here directed to delight our selves in the Lord. 2. We are next to shew How we are called to it And the matter it self will answer the enquiry we are called to it according to what in it self it is Now it is Both a Priviledg And Duty We are therefore called to it and accordingly are to understand the words 1. By way of gracious invitation to partake of a priviledg which our Blessed Lord would have us share and be happy in no longer to spend our selves in anxious pursuits and vain expectations of Rest where it is not to be found but that we retire our selves to him in whom we shall be sure to find it Pity and Mercy invite us here to place our delight and take up our Rest. And concerning this there is no question or imaginable doubt 2. By way of authoritative Command For we must know That delight in God is to be considered not only under the notion of a priviledg unto which we may esteem our selves entitled but also of a duty whereto we are most indispensibly obliged This is a thing not so much not understood as not considered and seriously thought on by very many and the not-considering it proves no small disadvantage to the life of Religion It occurs to very many more familiarly under the notion of a high favour and a great vouchsafement as indeed it is that God will allow any of the Sons of men to place their delights in himself but they at least seem to think it's only the priviledg of some special favourites of whom because they perhaps are conscious they have no cause to reckon themselves they are therefore very secure in the neglect of it And thus is the pretence of modesty and humility very often made an umbrage and shelter to the vile carnality of many an heart and a want of fitness is pretended and cherished at the same time as an excuse That whereas they do not delight in God they never may For he that is unfit to day and never therewithal applies himself with seriousness to the endeavour of becoming fit is likely to be more unfit to morrow and so be as much excused always as now and by the same means at length excuse himself from being happy but never from having been the Author of his own misery But what is it indeed no duty to Love God Is that become no Duty which is the very sum and comprehension of all duties or can they be said to Love him that take no pleasure in him that is to Love him without loving him It is indeed wonderful grace that there should be such a contexture of our happiness and duty that by the same thing wherein we are obedient we also become immediately in the same degree blessed And that the Law of God in this case hath this very import an obligation upon us to Blessedness But in the mean time we should not forget that Gods Authority and Honour are concerned herein as it is our duty as well as our own happiness
as it is our priviledg And that we cannot injure our selves in this matter without also robbing God Delight in God is a great piece of homage to him a practical acknowledgment of his sovereign excellency and perfect all comprehending goodness when we retire from all the world to him we confess him better than all things besides That we have none in Heaven or Earth that we esteem worthy to be compared with him But when our hearts are averse to him and will not be brought to delight in him since there is somewhat in the mean while wherein we do delight we do as much as say yea we more significantly express it than by saying that whatever that is 't is better than he Yea that such a thing is good and he is not For as not-believing him is a denial of his Truth the making him a liar not delighting in him is equally a denial of his Goodness and consequently even of his Godhead it self And since we find the words are here laid down plainly in a preceptive form Delight thy self in the Lord Can any think themselves after this at liberty to do so or not 'T is true that they who are in no disposition hereto have somewhat else to do in order to that of which hereafter but in the mean time how forlorn is their case who have nothing to excuse their sin by but sin and who instead of extenuating their guilt do double it Yea and we are further to consider that it is not only commanded by a meer simple precept but that this Precept hath its solemn sanction and that not only by promise here expresly annexed of which hereafter but also of imply'd threatning That we shall not else have the desires of our hearts but be necessarily unsatisfied and miserable which is also in many other places expressed plainly enough Great penalty is due upon not delighting in God even by the Gospel-constitution it self which is not so unreasonably form'd as to require more in this matter than is sutable to the object it self and is framed so indulgently as to accept much less than is proportionable thereto and yet within the capacity also of a reasonable Soul so that though the very nature of the thing doth plainly dictate a rule by which this matter is to be estimated and judged yet this other rule gives considerable abatement and allowance That is it being considered what the Object claims and challenges as by its own proper excellency due to it and what the Subject is by its own nature capable of Not only doth it hence appear that delight in God is a duty but that the Soul ought to rise to that highest pitch of delight in him i. e. unto the highest the Soul is naturally capable of The very Law of Nature resulting from the reference and comparison of our nature unto Gods own requires so much That we Love or delight in him with all our heart with all our mind with all our might and with all our strength He deserves from us our very uttermost Yet this is by the Gospel-constitution required with indulgence and abatement not as to the matter required but as to the manner of requiring it The matter required is still the same so as that the purest highest delight in God doth not cease to be a duty or any gradual defect thereof cease to be a sin The Gospel doth make no change of the natures of things makes nothing cease to be due to God from us which the Law of Nature made due nor renders any defect innocent which is in its own nature culpable and faulty Therefore the same pitch of delight in God is still due and required that ever was But that perfection is not finally and without relief required in the same manner and on the same terms it was that is it is not by the Gospel required under remediless penalty as it was For the Law of Nature though it made not a remedy simply impossible yet it provided none but the Gospel provides one Yet not so but the same penalty also remains in it self due and deserved which was before For as the Gospel takes not away the dueness of any part or degree of that obedience which we did owe to God naturally so nor doth it take away the natural dueness of punishment for disobedience in any kind or degree of it Only it provides that upon the very valuable consideration which it makes known it becomes to us a remissible debt and actually remitted to them who come up to the terms of it Not that it should be in it self no debt for then nothing were remitted Nor yet when it so provides for the remission of defects in this part of our duty doth it remit the substance of the duty it self or pardon any defects of it to any but such who are found sincere in this as well as the other parts of that obedience which we owe. Others who after so gracious overtures remain at their former distance and retain their aversion enmity and disaffection to God it more grievously and most justly threatens and punishes as implacable and who will upon no terms return into a state of friendship and amity with their Maker whom they hated without cause and do now continue strangers and enemies to him without excuse so that the very blood of the reconciling Sacrifice cries against them And surely since as was formerly said it is God in Christ that is the intire Object of this Delight or Love 'T is a fearful penalty that is determined upon them that do not so place it when it is said If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha And when also it is said Grace be upon all them that do it is plainly imply'd that the penalty belongs to all them that do not love him in sincerity Of which sincerity therefore of delight in God to keep within the compass of our present Theam it is necessary we be well informed as we may be from what hath been said before that is 1. That we delight in him supreamly and above all things else viz. with our highest and deepest complacency of will For it is not necessary nor ordinarily possible that our delight in him should be ever accompany'd with such sensible agitation of the corporeal Spirits as we find in reference to meerly sensible objects Which is not essential to such delight but an accident that follows union with the body and more frequently and to a greater degree in some tempers of body than others But it is necessary there be that practical estimation of him and propension towards him as the best and most excellent good as that we be in a preparation of mind and heart to forego whatever can come into any competition with him for his sake That though we do not thus delight in him so much as we should yet we do more than in any thing else 2. That we continue herein
imagine that ever he can be pleased or esteem himself glorify'd by the everlasting miseries of any one that truly loves him We ought to abhor the mention or imagination of such a thing as a blasphemy against his infinite goodness the denial whereof were to deny his Godhead And it were also an absurd and self-contradicting supposition For none can be in the state of the damned but they must be also in a state of extream enmity to God and of all wickedness and malignity arrived and grown up to its highest pitch Which indeed is the very horrour and immost center of Hell Wickedness and eternal misery differing for the most part but in degree as grace and glory do So that to put our selves upon this trial of sincerity towards God were to ask ourselves Whether we would be willing to express our sincere love to God by everlasting hatred of him and the Truth of our grace by being as maliciously wicked as the Devil and his Angels The expressions of Moses and Paul so frequently alledged can be wiredrawn to no such sense This is no place to discuss the importance of them But iâ— were certainly most imprudent whatsoever they import to seek marks of sincere love to God thence which may be fetcht from so many plain texts of Scripture But it is out of question that we may and ought to mind and take complacency in our own blessedness in a degree inferior and subordinate to that which we take in the glory of the blessed God without making the sinful and absurd supposition of their inconsistency Or that we can ever be put to choose the absence or privation of the one as a means to the other And such complacency and delight in God as arises upon such grounds is of the right stamp and kind See then that yours be a well-complexion'd delight and such as inwardly partakes of the true nature of Religion i. e. that hath in it entire devotedness to God as the very life Soul spirit of it And if this be not the thing but meerly self-satisfaction which you chiefly have in pursuit under the name of delight in God you beat the air and do but hunt after a shadow For there is no such thing as real solid delight in God any-where existing or ever will be separately and apart from a supream love and addictedness of heart to him and his interest as our chief and utmost end Which temper of spirit towards him must be maintained and improved by our fixed intuition and view of his glorius greatness and absolute excellency and perfection and the congruity and fitness which we thereupon apprehend that we and all things as all are of him should be wholly to him that he alone may have the glory 5. And though you are not to prefer the consideration of your own interest in God as a good sutable to you or to give it the highest place in your delight yet also you must take heed of neglecting it or of denying it any place at all For though we may plainly observe as hath been said That it was the usual temper of holy Men of Old to be most taken up in admiring God upon the account of his own Excellency and Glory in it self considered and may thence collect that to be the genuine right temper of a gracious heart when it is most it self Yet also 't is as evident That they were far from neglecting their own interest in God and that they counted it not a small matter Yea that it had though not the principal a very great influence upon their delight and joy in him No one can read the Bible and not have frequent occasion to take notice of this For how often do we find him spoken of under the names of their Portion Heritage c And in what raptures of Joy do we often find them upon that account So the Psalmist considers him when he says The lines are fallen to him in pleasant places and he had a goodly heritage How often do we find them glorying in their relation by Covenant and making their boasts of him as their God I will love thee O Lord my strength c You have my no less than nine times repeated in the beginning the first and second verses of that Psalm My strength my rock my fortress my deliverer my God c. And afterwards How glorious a triumph is there raised and in what exultation do we behold them upon this Who is God save the Lord and who is a Rock save our God And again The Lord liveth and blessed be my Rock and let the God of my Salvation be exalted And this was some of the last holy breath uttered by that anointed one of the God of Jacob and the sweet Psalmist of Israel He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure And this is all my Salvation and all my Desire With this How well satisfied and pleased did he expire and go down to the grave And the People of God are sometime represented as so taken with this apprehension of their peculiar relation to God that they cannot be content to know but they proclaim it nor was it enough the present age should know but they must have it told the following generation Let Mount Sion rejoice c. Mark That ye may tell the generation following For this God is our God See their ostentation of him This God! q. d. Behold what a God have we View him well and take notice how glorious a God he is And as they glory in the greatness of the God to whom they were related so they do in the eternity of the relation This God is our God for ever and ever c. And how unexpressible was the inward pleasure wherewith we may suppose those words to have been uttered God even our own God shall bless us How delightful an appropriation as if it were intended to be said The blessing it self were less significant it could not have that savour with it if it were not from our own God Not only therefore allow but urge your spirits thus to look towards God that you may both delight in him as being in himself the most excellent one also as being yours for know you are not permitted only but obliged to eye accept and rejoice in him as such It is his first and great Law and the form of his Covenant which he requires you to enter into with him To take him for your God Herein to be shie and decline is to rebel And when he offers himself in all his rich fulness to be your Portion and your God How vile ingratitude were it to neglect and overlook the kindness of the overture It is his glory to have indigent souls satiating themselves in him drawing from him their vital breath living upon him as their All Confessing they cannot live but by his vouchsafed communications And if you should say you love
They will admire God but little that admire themselves much And take little pleasure in him who are too much pleased with themselves And how sweet a relish have his love and grace to an humble lowly soul that esteems it self less than the least of his mercies With what ravishing delight will Divine mercy be entertain'd when it is so unexpectedly vouchsafed when this shall be the sense of the Soul now caught into the embraces of Gods love What I vile creature impure worm what beloved of God! Expectation grounded especially upon an opinion of merit would unspeakably lessen a favour if it were afforded as also expected evils seem the less when they come But the lowly soul that apprehends desert of nothing but Hell is surprized and overcome with wonder and delight when the great God expresses kindness towards it Besides that he more freely communicates himself to such To this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit c. And he looks to such with a design of habitation Heaven and Earth are not to him so pleasant a dwelling Down then into the dust there you are in the fittest place and posture for delightful converse with God 8. Reckon much upon an eternal abode in that presence where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Enjoy by a serious believing foresight the delights of heaven labour to rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Look beyond this your present state Confine not your eye and delight to what is now to be enjoyed but think of what shall be Set before your eyes the glorious prospect of the blessed God communicating himself to that vast Assembly of Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect in clearest discoveries of his glory and richest effusions of his goodness The best appearance of things in this world makes but a dull scene in comparison of this If you look towards God according to what now appears of his glory in the frame of the universe and the course of his administrations and government over his Creatures He hath not 't is true left himself without witness And you may behold much that would be to you the matter of delightful admiration If your eye be clear and can pierce through clouds and darkness and a manifold veil He hath made this world and is every-where in it but it knows him not His light shines in darkness that doth not comprehend it Beams of his glory do every-where break forth through every Creature Providence Law and Ordinance of his But much of his glory that shines in the Creation is hid by a train of second causes through which few look to the first His Laws men judg of according to their interests and inclinations while the holy glorious Majesty that enacted them is out of sight His work in the world is carried on in a mystery His interest lives but is deprest They who are most devoted to him are supported indeed by his invisible hand but are in the mean time low for the most part and afflicted If you now limit and confine your apprehensions of him to his present appearances the matter of your delight is real but much diminish't But conceive of him as your Faith can behold him at a distance in that posture wherein having setled the eternal State of things he will finally shew himself Conceive him as having now gathered home all that that have been recovered to him out of the apostacy and joined them to those numberless legions of innocent and pure spirits about his throne that never offended Conceive him as dispensing rewards pouring out blessings upon the loyal heads and hearts of them that expressed fidelity and duty to him in the time and state of trial and temptation Letting his Glory shine out with bright and direct beams to so many beholding and admiring eyes Giving forth the full and satisfying communications of his love and making Rivers of pleasure flow perpetually to the replenishing the vast enlarged capacities of so innumerable a multitude of grateful adoring spirits to whom it is now sensibly to be perceived how his fulness filleth All in all Take this view of him and let your Faith and Hope thus enter into that which is within the veil And remember there is only a little time between you and that blessed state That then you are to enter into the joy of your Lord so that the very element and region wherein you are to live for ever shall be nothing else but delight and joy In this way of believing foresight and by this lawful and allowed prepossession of future blessedness much surely would be added to your present delight in God Should not the thoughts of him be pleasant to you from whom you are expecting so great things If your delight in him be any at all upon what you have already found and experienced of his goodness It should be abundantly the more upon what you are by his Word encouraged to look for And having thus given some account in what way delight in God is to be exercised and improved It were a charitable hope that there would be little need to propound arguments to perswade unto it But it were an hope not grounded upon common experience which too plainly tells us that though such directions as these are plain and obvious not unknown to Christians but only less considered whence it was not needless here to recommend them yet delight in God obtains little place in the practice of the most There will therefore too probably be still much need of excitation to it And yet because it is not multitude of words that is likely to do the business but the weight of things urged on by a more powerful hand than that of man and that much may be collected to this purpose from what hath been said of the sinfulness of the omission I shall with great brevity offer these things only to be considered Is it not a merciful vouchsafement that the holy God allows you to place your delight on him and invites you to it How much Grace and Love breaths in these words Delight thy self also in the Lord Trust in him was recommended before and now this being added also How plain is it that your ease and rest is the thing designed Is it fit to receive so much kindness with neglect Again He delights in you I speak to such of whom this may be supposed And it is indefinitely said His delights were with the sons of men Think what he is and what you are And at once both wonder and yield And what else have you to delight in what thing will you name that shall supply the place of GOD or be to you in the stead of him Moreover Who should delight in him but you his friends his sons those of his own house Think what life and vigour it will infuse into you and that The joy of the Lord will be your strength How