but in dependence to that love and relation unto him is fully evident by this Testimony That when this relation of the object unto God ceaseth and when love cannot have footing in such dependence and relation then love desire and the expressions thereof do likewise cease as if it be not Gods gift or cannot be obtained without sin if it make not for his glory or he forbid it if it should be an occasion of withdrawing their affections from that love and duty they owe unto God Job hated not his wife yet when shee tempted him to so high and ungratefull a crime as to curse God he then testifies his disaffection and dislike by giving her the just character of a foolish Woman The many injuries David received from Saul might well have tempted his revenge to a full execution when he had him at an advantage but the very thought and memory of his relation to God in being his anointed locked up all his resentments and he no longer lookes upon him as his Enemie but as a person more sacred and inviolable Nor had the primitive Christians any great reason to love their cruell Idolatrous persecutors whose fury was not satisfied with whole sacrifices of their Bodies in stead of Rebelling they releeve their Emperours bury the dead and returne their Ethnick persecutors offices of love and all for the relation they had to God The powers that were were his ordinance and both they and their Enemies were enlisted together by Christ within the Commandment of that love which men are obliged by to bear and expresse to one another And this is farther observeable in that league which Josuah made with the Gibeonites which though it seemed to carry many flawes in it as being made without any necessity without any direction from God with a people with whom no league was to be made obtained by fraud onely and so prejudiciall in all its concessions that many of the people murmured against it and against the Princes of the congregation for it yet they soon not onely submitted but approved and vindicated it and that 1. because it was done by Josuah and advice of the Princes whom God had placed in Authority and to whom he had given commission for the management of peace and war 2ly It was a Peace confirmed by an oath before the Lord So that now God had relation thereto and was a witnesse thereof which quickly satisfied their resentment and disarmed their mutinous passions in humbler submissions By all which testimonies it is abundantly manifest that the Saints love God first and all other things in reference onely and subordination unto him Give me leave now to recollect a little what hath been spoken and present you in short with the three reasons why the Saints upon Earth may be truly said to chuse God alone with utter refusall of all other things 1. Because they make God the sole object of their desire properly and cheifly desiring to have him alone 2. Because that every thing that is loved is loved in subordination to this love of him 3. Which followes from hence because the love of the creature then ceaseth when it consists not with the love of God And by these three particulars may every man examine the sincerity of his heart and the truth of his love to God if thou lovest him so as that thou desirest nothing in Heaven or Earth besides him if thy affections to all other objects be with Reference and subordination of thy love to him if for his sake thou canst relinquish all that thou callest thine and nobly throw away whatsoever is most pleasing to thee for him But if after the mode of the World thou runnest with open armes after its enjoyments and for a perishing fruition ar't carelesse of thy God or if though thou lovest him yet if thy love of Him and other things like two rivers from diverse fountaines be but separated affections and thou canst not yet forsake thy carnall interests for Him Thou art not yet made perfect in Love nor canst beare a part with the Prophet here in this ravishing profession Whom have I in Heaven but Thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee I shall conclude this point with this one observation more The justice and reasonablenesse of this command That the Commandement in these three particulars is Consonant unto all justice and reason it is as Righteous as it is expresse and peremptory the command of making God alone the object of the desire of our hearts I formerly shewed you and that for the actuall exercise of our love other things are not excluded For we are also commanded to Love our Neighbour as our selves but when by the commandment All the heart All the Soule All the mind All the strength is required this effectually intimatës that God alone is the object of our desire And the reason hereof is likewise powerfull For 1. When other things without Him are desired they shall never be able to satisfy the soule but God can 2. Since desire is the height and perfection of Affection and God as hath been before said is the best of beings it is but just that the most perfect object should meet with the best of our hearts 3. This command of loving God with the whole Soule is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First and greatest Commandement the fountaine and foundation of all the rest all love from this What thing soever hath any truth or goodnesse which renders it desireable it hath it from God and therefore if the effect win our respect it must be with reference to the cause it will be but injustice and ingratitude to tast the streames and disparage the Fountain The benefits of subordination of our desires to God Lastly consider the great benefit and advantage of this dependance and subordination in our desires and affections 1. It will cause the love and affection that is due to other things to be right and constant such as it ought to be when men desire or affect the things of the world independantly for reasons meerly taken frō the creature their love proves partiall and languishing neither satisfactory nor lasting but if we take the method to love God first and ohter things with reference unto him we shall find comfort both in the reality and perpetuity of our affections 2. This method being observed we shall in the strength of divine love be able to performe noble things we shall as the Apostle tells us Rom. 5.3 even glory in our tribulations overcome our suffrings with a kind of delight and that which is so difficult to the heart of man to forgive or forget an injurie will be to us a pleasure 3. Without this Method in our love all our enjoiments will quite loose their lustre and become unserviceable and indeed when any thing looseth its relation and subordination unto God it then ceaseth to be any more desireable and becomes an object of neglect
their eyes whilst the true confidents of God whose hopes are seated in him onely shall find if not a perpetuity of happinesse in their enjoyments here yet an enjoyment hereafter more durable and glorious then to be disturbed SECTIO II. I May seem by what hath been deliver'd concerning the Prophets choice of God by way of preheminence and above all things in Heaven and Earth to have given you the full scope of the words and of the Prophets mind expressed thereby I shall aot conceale from you what I have further thought hereon that it is more consonant to the Text The choice of God alone with exclusion of all other things and to the original words in Hebrew to expound this desire of God alone by such a choice as excludes absolutely other things For to this sense run the words in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is nothing upon Earth that I desire by or with thee And first herein I must not hide from you that the phrase of some of these words is very like to them of the first Commandment for the words of the first Commandment translated Thou shalt not have are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non erit tibi and here in this Psalme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quis mihi erit And take away the Rhetorick the sense will be nullus alius erit mihi in coelo None in Heaven shall be to me a God And indeed there was as much or more occasion given for this profession at the time when this Psalme was written as when the Commandment was given That which the Apostle tells us Rom. 1.23 That some changed the glory of God into unworthy similitudes was then too true Idolatry was then in fashion and plurality of Gods their Religion in detestation of which the Prophet might well be thought to professe I have no God in Heaven but thee none that I will worship after the custome of Idolaters Nor was this the first profession made in this kind Jacob vowed it then shall the Lord be my God Gen. 28. vers 21. Josuah made it his profession Jos 24. vers 15. And the Psalmes are full of Davids resolutions in this kind all along and as it was enjoyned by God so was it likewise confirmed by Christ him onely shalt thou serve Math. 4. vers 10. And the reason is as pressing for there being but one God none but he ought to be acknowledg'd or adored and therefore I shall not need to give you any other censure or character of Idolaters then what the Apostle doth calling them Rom. 1.22 fools And the Psalmist here in another place they that make them are like unto them Psal 115.8 But because there is mention made in this verse of Persons and things upon earth as well as in heaven and of desire as well as of having I will not restrain this profession of the Prophet to the sense of the first Commandment but conceive it may be thus enlarged I refuse and absolutely passe by all other things and persons in Heaven and Earth and chuse thee O God for the onely object of my desire A profession not without president saint Paul all in raptures professed he desired to know nothing but Christ Crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 Making the World his scorne Abraham expres't the same when he would sacrifice his Son Moses forsooke Egypt and it's pleasures that he might more nobly suffer with Gods people Whether and how other things may be desired when they come not in competition with our duty to God How many Martyrs hath this made whose deaths have testified their resolutions of sacrificing even a thousand lives to the love of their Maker And if it be objected that in such cases where the things of the World comply not with the duty We owe to God this absolute refusal of all things may and ought to take place and the choice made of God alone But how may We determine it in cases wherein there is no such tryall and wherein both may be retained and consist together I Answer 1. When other things were actually Answer 1 known and might be known besides Christ yet the Apostle resolved to know nothing else 1 Cor. 2. vers 2. There is a difference between the faculties of the soul and the desire of them between knowledge and a desire thereof between love and desire of loving between use and desire of the things used the faculties make men capable of the objects but desire is a lively eminent high ardent Spirit that carries the faculties to the object Through desire a man having separated himself seeketh and intermedleth with all wisdome Prov. 18. vers 1. And even in things which may moderately be used desire is forbidden We may eate but without the desire of an Epicure We may desire riches but not like those whom the Apostle reprooves Jam. 5. That treasured up Impiety and grow rich that they might be more ungodly Every Creature was made for our use and enjoyment but none must be the object of our hopes or maine desire but God alone And therefore Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called the desire of the Nations Hag. 2. vers 7. David sutably in another place all my desire is before thee Psal 39. 2ly It cannot be denyed but that others things Answer 2 are and lawfully may be in a sort desired and loved with variety but then observe That the love or desire of man is set upon many objects in a double manner 1. In dependently and severally Love is independent or dependent for the severall particular reasons which are in the object Thus David loved his Relations and his friend Jonathan with variety yet independently not one for the other but each of them for several reasons more or lesse 2. Dependently when a man doth love or desire one thing first and other things in relation thereunto and because of it Thus the same David loved Mephibosheth for Jonathans sake and Abiathar for his Fathers Now a true Servant of God doth not desire and love God and other things with a love of independency that is God for himself and other enjoyments for themselves But first the love of God is shed abroad in his heart and from thence diffused to others like rivulets that pleasingly wander from their spring affects other things in dependency to the love he bears to God and for his sake as the things loved or desired have relation unto him namely as they are gifts of God dispensed in providence for our comfort or as they are serviceable to his glory or as he hath put a relation upon them unto us and founded the same in our necessities as food or in our nature as are our relations or in his owne ordinances as marriage and Magistracy or in the blessings by him dispensed by their means or lastly in his own will or command or in any or all these put together And that the Saints of God do love all things in God and nothing
full barne and an overflowing cruse nor can any plenty worke in us a gladnesse in any degree equal to that which the one glance of Gods countenance can fill us with Psal 4.6.7 Conjugall love exceeds all comforts and when the soul injoys here spouse it is not capable of an addition of delight 3. This will worke an affection to Christs Church Love to the Church and highly conduce to a mutual peace and concord My goodnesse extendeth not unto thee cryes David Psal 16.2 But to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight If we consider why every corner is so full of rash peremptory judging of one another why so bitter revilings hard censures mercylesse oppression and bloody persecutions are so much in fashion even with those who pretend otherwise Christ affords us the reason of it Joh. 16.3 Because they know not the Father nor me though their lips may owne yet their heart totally denyes him whereas He whose Spirit hath experimentally tasted Gods goodnesse in it self will never be injurious to others least he may harm those who may be dearly related to God and a touch of whome may be esteem'd a thrust at the apple of Gods eye Thus an experimental knowledge of Gods goodnesse will produce Lenity Meeknesse Justice Charity and Peace towards others Vse 2. Gods goodnesse should perswade us to constancy 2. If Gods especial goodnesse fills once our souls Let us persevere and continue therein Let us consider that that word of Truth which assures us that the Catholique Church invisible shall not faile do's exhort particular Churches unto a Continuance Whether this may arise that a single Arrow is not in that same case with a bundle or that the promise of absolute perseverance is to the universal Church onely I will not now discusse Yet certainly unto perseverance are invited and advised 1. Particular Churches Thus Smirna is advised to be faithfull to the end Revel 2.12 And Thyatira to hold fast till I come Vers 25. The same counsel Individuals are the objects of too Joh. 8.31 If they continue in my love And in many more places Joh. 15. If they abide c. 2 Pet. 3.17 If you fall not from the stedfastnesse Vse 3. From His goodnesse here we may gather the greatnesse of his goodnesse hereafter and Rom. 11.22 Behold Gods goodnesse to thee if thou continuest in his goodnesse Lastly If God be so good unto his Israel here whilest they are in their clayey houses in some respect absent from him whilest they are in their melancholy Pilgrammage here supported by faith the substance of things not seene and breathing in hopes of a better Country How great then how transcendently high shall this goodnesse be to them in the great day of retribution when he shall perfectly accomplish all that ever is promised How great When the fier shall restore that which it's prodigious flames devour'd the earth open it 's vast bosome and the Sea deliuer unto them their consumed bodies when that which was sowne in Corruption shall be rays'd up in incorruption that which was sowne in dishonour appear in honour and that which lay downe in impotency and weaknesse mount up in power 1 Cor. 15.42.43 How great When they carry death about in Triumph challenging it for it's sting or the devouring grave for it's victory How great When the Lord Jesus appearing in all his royalty with the splended equipage of Saints and Angels comes in Majesty and Glory when they shall see Him whom they so stedfastly beleiv'd and sincerly obeyed bringing his Reward with him How great When that comfortable sentence come ye blessed of my Father receive a Kingdome prepar'd for you fills them with joy How great When that which is perfect is come and that which is imperfect be done away when their souls shall be inriched with the most absolute treasures of grace and glory when their understandings Triumph in the full clearnesse of a Divine light How great When they shall see the chained Lyon trod underfoot and their mercilesse persecuters rouling in flames and begging the mountains for a covering and the hills for a sepulcher How great When fears are banisht and sorrw flies away How great When the seate of Divine Majesty shall be their place of residence and habitation when the noble Prophets the blessed Apostles the victorious Martyrs the Holy Angels shall be their dayly companions and when they shall perfectly injoy Him who is the Author and finisher of their faith and salvation How great when God with all his glory Majesty Mercies comforts and beauties incomprehensible shall dwell with them in that fulnesse of perfection How great Lastly when they shall bath themselves in these Ravishing streames possesse all these inutterable glories to all eternity World without end Thus from all this discourse there is a short view given unto us of Gods high eminent goodnesse We have been first lead into the outward Court the Nations abroad and seene there His goodnesse in Atrio Gentium eminently dispens't there We have been next in the inner Court the Church visible where high and comfortable rayes of goodnesse shined upon us We have op'ned the Temple doors and entred into a contemplation of the invisible Church of Christ where still greater expressions of goodnesse appeard before us And Lastly We have been brought within the vail into the sanctum sanctorum The Holy of Holies the Glorious Heavenly Kingdome where goodnesse it self in open full streames communicates it self to the Church Triumphant If to these low concepts and weaker expressions too dull though helpt by an Angels utterance for so high a subject as Gods goodnesse every man please to adde both this discourse and what either a Cherubin can expresse to his own thoughts all will come too short and we may all take up the Psalmists admiration for our conclusion Psal 31.19 How great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that feare thee which thou hast wrought in them that trust in thee before the Sons of Men. CAP. II. VErs 2. But as for me my feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipt V. 3. I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked V. 4. They have no bands in their death but their strength is firme V. 5. They are not in trouble as other Mens neither are they plagued like other Men. V. 12. Behold these are the ungodly who increase in Riches V. 10. Therefore his people returne thither and waters of a full cup are wrung out unto them V. 7. Their eyes stand out with fatnesse they have more then heart could wish CONTENTS The first occasion from without of the Prophets temptation is wicked mens prosperity in 6. degrees 1. Particular discourses upon each Cases of conscience resolv'd How far good men are subject to errour and passion How far there may be a compliance with wicked great Men What
freedome from toile and trouble as it is in it selfe we may finde it to be a great Priviledge hence amongst those Blessings mentioned to Israel one was that they should not toyle for what they did injoy Cities which they builded not Houses full of good things which they filled not and Wells which they digged not Vineyards and Olives which they planted not Deut. 6.10 11 c. And then what can we imagine shall follow those that are thus provided for but jollity mirth pleasure and ease whilst labour and hardship is shut out of doors Yet even in this Priviledge there must not be founded too much of boasting and applause for First as it may fall into the lap of those who are notoriously wicked so Secondly all exclusion of labour gives pleasure ease time oportunity of opening the gate wide unto vice Honest labour preserves the soul from many a temptation for the Divel cannot finde him at leisure Imployment keeps out many an idle fansie and evil object whilst idlenesse and ease betray us to riot wickedness The conscientious performance of our duties in our calling keeps us at our innocent homes and prevents occasions of sinning The soule will not be idle and if it want matter will finde it Even these men here will have their imployments which upon our view of their manners will hereafter appeare The third degree of these mens prosperity is that they are not beaten smitten or plagued like other men Non afficiuntur plagis Jun non patiuntur clades Castel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are not whipt or scourged Jobs Generall rule Man is full of trouble seems to meet with an exception in these men no outward evils of Calamity be falls them no plague overtakes them they seem priviledged exempted from any thing that may harme them as men as Religious for first their Health Ease sheilds them from those troubles which men are subject to The one affords them the freedome from inward distempers and the other gives them the avoidance of all those dangers which they that compasse Sea and Land for maintenance doe daily Run into Secondly Good men because of their Religion and Vertue are liable to many evills The troubles of the Righteous being many Psalm 37. which these men escape as being as mad and wicked as any To be particular Godly mens troubles and calamities doe oft arise from their enemies Sathan and wicked men whose malice raises tempests and persecutions against them But the men described here are well enough secured from these Wolves seldome fight with one another yet will all bend their clutches against the poor sheep Satan is to cunning to cast out Satan for then how will his Kingdome stand nor will the world hate its owne Joh. 5.19 Suppose the storme seeme General yet these can shift well enough and coast about They can imbrace any religion al 's alike to them they will never loose for that they will readily Joine with any faction and sweare any oath serve the time comply alwaies with the strongest and turne which way you will for their owne advantage with the cat they will alwaies light upon their feet and secure themselves 3. The Godly may be chastized by their heavenly father that corrects them Heb. 12.6 7. c. which is both an act and testimony of his love unto them As many as I love I chasten Revel 3.19 which God oft times refuses to doe to such as these not condescending to correct them Hos 4.14 I will not punish your daughter when they commit whoredome And whereas it may be pleaded How to still our thoughts that wicked men are not visibly punisht alwaies That their Impieties deserve a Visible Punishment It may be answered That though this be true yet God is pleased oft to defer and withhold it nor would we as it is too usuall with many be troubled and think much at this if we heartily reflect upon what we ought to believe of God as 1. That he is Independent and Soveraigne who may doe with his owne as he please either punish or not as he thinks fit 2. That he is most good and therefore that this deferring of the punishment of ungodly men proceeds not from any liking or love to sin 3. That he is omniscient and therefore it cannot proceed from want of notice of these mens behaviour 4. That he is most wise and therefore the time when to punish or when to forbeare must be left to his discretion Providence must not be limited to our faint narrow apprehension Let us consider that God may forbeare for their amendment Rom. 2.3 and may lead them to Repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 and in case of their stiff-neckt continuance in their perversenesse they will be more inexcusable when they are called to an account Lastly this may assure us That exemption from Temporary punishment is no infallible signe of especiall election That sins are not the lesse in guilt because God forbeares and therefore that no prosperity or Impunity should win us to consent with the thief partake with the Adulterer or strike hands with them that are given to change The fourth degree of their prosperity Wealth without trouble The Fourth height of prosperity described the 12. verse containes They increase in Riches the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they lay hold on wealth The Hebrew They multiply or as our Translation renders it they increase in riches It is observable that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew signifies also strength vigor munition force because of that high opinion men court riches withall in accounting them a sure stay a defence which may help best at a pinch and wherein they may safely confide There is nothing that carries an higher Ascendent on our thoughts then this for experience tells us that 1. The very hope and desire thereof makes men adventure very far run about the world hazard their lives and their consciences too refuse no hardship gaspe out their spirits and multiply their cares 2. And if once successe answer their Indeavours then with Jacob seaven yeares hard labour will be esteemed but a petty service of a a few daies for the love of his Rachel The shrewdest Pangs are forgot when a child is borne and if once their Riches be heapt up then they conceive all travell and paines well imployed forgetting those great perplexities and dangers they have run through The Rich mans thoughts were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of perplexed doubtings What shall I doe because I have no roome where to bestow my fruit Luk. 12.17 his labour of pulling down and building up though very cumbersome and vexatious yet all is quieted in the successe and his gladded heart forgetting all sings a requiem to his soule soule take thy ease If therefore this be the common disposition of the wicked to think so highly of and act so vigorously for Riches though the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.9 assures us That they that
leave O Christian soul to warm thy affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to enkindle this coale of desire into a brighter flame It is a command from God by these few following considerations 1. Will a command from God be any motive this was usually ever prevalent with men of reason and piety and indeed deservedly for what is more fully and justly binding then the will of God which in this is expresse and full 1. Thou art commanded to know and acknowledge God 1 Chron. 28.9 Know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect heart And Act. 17.30 God hath cammanded all men to repent of what but ignorance and Atheisme they were so much guilty of 2. An injunction of his service and obedience Eccles 12.13 Fear God and keep his commandments And Deuter. 10.12 Serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul 3. To beleeve love confide and hope in him Deuter. 30.20 Love the Lord thy God and cleave unto him for he is thy life c. and therefore called the great commandment and in the Judgement of a Pharisee more then whole burnt Offerings and Sacrifices the holy Scripture is full of precepts in this kind and I might be endlesse 2. Will the Answer of the object to the desire of the soule prevail with thee 2. Because there is in God what answers the desires of the Soul This is the great magnetisme of the world the powerful motive of all humane actions the enjoyment of our desires One glories in his treasures another in his wit or strength because of this thought or seeming of correspondency This attracts the eye to beauty the eare to Musick and the mind to pleasure ties the knot both of marriage and friendship faster the hopes of this quickens the World and makes mens endeavours lively how many cold Winters and parching summers did Jacob passe for his Rachel how much doth the ambition of learning and knowledge invite us to Some plough the Ocean others the ground no industry will prove idle if once set a worke and encouraged by either actual possible or probable hoped-for-correspondence of the object presented to its desires And yet how oft are men deceived how often is the event of much reading sorrow when the things learned prove false or vaine how often do men chuse that which is bad or love that which is but a meer outside a painted beauty confide in a broken reed and find nothing but breach of hopes which then prove either vanity or vexation But now O Christian this object God will not deceive thee there is in him that fullnesse and excellency of perfection as shall answer all the faculties of thy soul and the vast desires thereof Doest thou desire to know him he is truth it self and a truth so far revealed as shall content thy understanding and settle thy Judgment doth thy will chuse him and by a pious resolution resigne it self to his service and obedience He is goodnesse it selfe and all his commands discover it full of righteousnesse and life is thy love and hope in him onely He can fill thy hopes with abundant mercies and answer thy love in raptures of perfection fruition and glory there is in him that which will not onely satisfy but transcend all thy desires 3ly Because God loves man 3ly Will love beget love this is usuall sympathy meetes with it's like and as face answers face in a glasse so doth affection and proves mutuall This then seemes even to confirme us for Gods desire and delight is in the Children of Men. The Lord delights to shew judgment righteousnesse and loving kindnesse in the Earth Jer. 9.24 Except such of thy affections as carry imperfection such as are hope fear c. Which in respect of man are not attributed to God take all those that are more noble and excellent and these are from God to man he knowes and foreknowes his Rom. 8.29 Elects and and chuseth them Ephes 1.11 Praedestinates them unto good and loves them with a love of heighth depth and breadth incomprehensible in token of which love he sent his Son to be our Saviour and deliverer a great love for God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten Son Joh. 3. vers 16. A commended love God commendeth his love towards us in that whilest we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5. vers 8. A manifest love in this was manifest the love of God toward us 1 Joh. 4.9 From whence the Apostle confidently concludes that if we ought to love one another much more God 4ly Will benefits procure love common gratitude 4ly Because God is good and beneficial to Man which every man in reason is obliged to proclaime this here is then an infinit obligation me thinks Gods goodnesse to the Creatures in general and his various disbursments of his favour and bounty towards them may well represent him a fit object of humane desires I am sure the Psalmist argues Psal 36.5 6 7 8. Because Heaven and Earth and the very brutes are regarded by God Man may well trust in him But if this seeme an argument of too remote a concernment draw neerer look upon thy self as a Man remember it was from God thou received'st that life which thou now so mis-employest from him it was he that formed thee so curiously in the wombe that fenced thee with bones and sinewes and covered thee with skin and who hath ever since preserved that life from those dangers it deserved and strengthened it under those infirmities it still labours with But a powerfull gracious God 2. Look upon thy self a Christian by profession and recollect the blessings thou art thereby a partaker of the Gospell of Christ a Mystery the wisest in the World never knew the Sacraments which are the seals of his love a forme of worship enjoyned in the Church neither burdensome as was the Ceremonial yoke of the Jewish Law nor superstitious as were the customes of the gentiles 2. Reflect upon and view they self as a beleiver and therewithall consider that he that spared not his owne Son but gave him will with him give unto thee all other things weigh well thy praedestination unto glory choice and appointment unto salvation thy justification remission of sins the fatherly corrections support in adversity guidance by counsell first fruites of the spirit and assurance of future glory if these things will not mold thy heart and transport it to the love of God I know not what will And now consider what temper are their souls made of who have not God in all their thoughts flinty Marble hearts are too good an expression to call them fools brutes or prodigies in nature is likewise too mild there is somewhat in them worse then that the very Divels are composed of and that is Atheisme But I hope I shall not need to be bitter in this kind every soul will I hope consider these things
and say with saint Augustine Domine Deus meus da cordi meo te desiderare desiderando quaerere quaerendo invenire inveniendo amare and with our Psalmist here whom have I in heauen but thee And there is none upon Earth I desire besides thee The third part of the Profession the Kind of desire elective I come now to the third part of the Prophets profession which is the species of the Act or the kind of this desire and if you marke it you shall find it an Elective desire of God whereby the soul chuseth God with passing by of all other things if a mā have but one way to goe he cannot be said to chuse it but when of two or three he takes one this is properly election Here two points are to be touch't upon 1. the things passed by 2. the modus eligendi or manner of choice For the 1. Three common receptacles there are of entities and beings Heaven Earth and Hell as for Purgatory and Limbus I remit them to their superstitious Coyners and too credulous beleevers Of Hell the Prophet speakes not here that being indeed the receptacle of woe a place of terrour not desire Heaven and Earth contain something besides or distinct from God himself The whole creation is comprehended under this notion Gen. 2. Of which the Lord God pronounced that all was good yea exceeding good The Prophet then contemplates the great volume of the World viewes the Heaven above the Earth beneath and all the Hosts of them and refuses passeth by them all and makes God the onely object of his desire whom have I in Heaven but thee c. This is first point The second point is how this chusing of God with the passing by of all other things is to be understood and wherein doth the excellency of this Act consist In what manner doth the soul of a saint chuse God with refusal of all the World This is to be understood of such an election as prefers appretiative as the Schoolemen speak God before other things and desires him comparativè more then all other things or such a choice as takes God alone with exclusion of all other According to the first notion we may conceive of the Prophets disposition thus The choice of God above and before all other thing Appretiative He denies not but that in the Creatures there is and may be some good that is discernable but of all objects presented God is most ravishing and delightful to them and if all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth should conspire together to court his affection he perfers God before them all which actually are or possible to be enjoyed by him Though he rejects not the knowledge of nature the contemplation of the Heavens and it 's illustrious furniture the glorious productions of omnipotence or any other science that might adorne his nature yet he passionately prizes the knowledge of the onely true God above all Though he refuses not the benefits the Creatures reach him yet he uses the World without confiding in it Gods goodnesse being the chief object of his will and choice though he disdaines not the the ordinances of men yet he counts it better to obey God proposing his Commandments for the rule of his life Lastly though nature teach him to love his relations and generosity his Eenemies yet piety and conscience have taught him to place his best and noblest affections on God alone And this indeed is that which the true Servants of God have ever really professed and zealously declared Abraham made Nature stoop to it's maker and had rather sacrifice his onely Son then seeme backward in love to God Moses was tender enough of the peoples good but more of Gods glory It was often the saying of David that he prized Gods Commands before the greedy glittering temptations of gold and precious stones you cannot read the example of an Holy man but you will also read this in his life and actions but most conspicuously and eminently did this desire shine in our B. Saviour above all men whose respects for his supposed parents though great enough gave place to the higher concernments of his heavenly Father whose buisnesse took up all his time and care and the execution of whose commands was his delight which he abundantly testified when the bitterest death could not fright his performance nor terrifie his obedience Nor yet must he think this a matter arbitrary We have a command of exalting the Lord above all Exalt the Lord and worship all his footsteps Psal 99. vers 5. And memorable also are the words of our Saviour Math. 10. vers 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more then me is not worthy of me And there is reason for it because there is nothing in the Creature desirable which is not in God in an infinitely-full eminent manner and measure unto all perfection nay there is no Creature though never so lovely that can fill the desires of the soul but God is and hath all that can possibly satisfy unto all fulnesse of content and if all the Creatures receive that which is good or desirable in them from him who is the Father of lights then is all that goodnesse and beauty of the Creature more eminently excellently and perfectly in God the Fountain Which doth well deserve our serious thoughts for although I will not say that all disrespect of men unto God is founded in a plain direct immediate undervaluing of God for it must be an heart prophane indeed that sayes it cares not at all for God yet I may truly say it comes from an overvaluing of the Creature which by consequence brings men to a disesteem undervaluing of God Did we but weigh the creature in a true ballance and look upon it as it is we would neither hope from it more then it can effect nor attribute to it more then it doth deserve we should not prefer it so much before God as we too unhappily do how many are there of whom it may be said that they honour their Sons more then God That with the Pharisees love the praise of men more then the praise of God that serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the time more then God and complying with their vainer ends adore their interest not their maker unreasonable unrighteous men that dare deal so unworthily with their Creator as to make him their after-desires and put him in a ranke below the creatures let these men remember the judgement that lighted on Eli's Person and family let them consider the end of the Scribes and Pharisees and the terrour of that sentence he that dispiseth me shall be dispised 1 Sam. 2. vers 30. When besides that punishment which their contempt shall receive from God himself the very Creatures they so much trusted loved and delighted in shall prove their ruine become to them as the Cananites to Israel thornes in their sides and pricks in