imperfect state have some warping on their parts and some withdrawing on God's yet their love to God in the lowest ebbe tremblingly hankers after him the soul cannot forget its alone resting-place l Psal 116.7 2. Our Love to God is like the love of the Flower of the Sun to the Sun It springs of a very little seed it is not only our Faith but our Love that is at first like a grain of mustard-seed it growes the fastest of any Flower whatsoever It is not only Faith but Love that grows exceedingly m 2 Thes 1.3 It alwayes turns and bows it self towards the Sun our Love to God is alwayes bowing and admiring alwayes turning to and following after God It opens and shuts with the Suns rising and setting our Love when it is what it should be opens it self to God and closes it self against all other Objects It brings forth seed enough for abundance of other Flowers love to God is the most fruitful Grace that when it blossoms and buds it fills the face of the World with fruit n Isa 27.6 3. Our Love to God is like the love of the Turtle to her Mate God's People are his Turtle o Psal 74.19 I grant they most properly resemble Brotherly Love but why not our Love to God they never associate with other Birds the loving soul keeps fellowship with God and out of choice with him only and those that bear his Image The Turtle never sings and flyes abroad for recreation as other birds but they have a peculiar note for each other the soul that loves God flutters not about for worldly vanities no recreation so sweet as Communion with God the Soul's converse with God is peculiar When one dies the other droops till it dies so that they do as it were live and dye in the Embraces of each other so the soul that loves God his loving kindness is better than life p Psal 63.3 and there 's nothing makes a Saint more impatient of living than that he cannot while he lives have a full Enjoyment of God 4. Our Love to God should be like though exceed Jacobs love to Benjamin q Gen. 42.38 He 'l starve rather than part with Benjamin and when hunger forc'd him from him and he was like to be by a wile kept from him Judah offers to purchase his liberty with his own because his Fathers life was bound up in the Lads life r Gen. 44.30 so the Soul that loves God is not able to bear the thoughts of parting with him his life is bound up in enjoying the presence of God I have been too long but oh that I could affect your Hearts as well as inform your Judgments What it is to love God with the heart what it is to love God Now then let 's reassume the Enquiry what it is to love the Lord our God with all our Heart some referr this to the thoughts s Aâ—g some to the vegetative Soul t Creg Nys some to the Understanding that it may be free from errour u Anselm others q.d. Lay up all these things in your hearts w Origen but the other words will take in most of these and therefore according to Scripture we must understand the Will and Affections and so the word is taken Josh 22.5 Moses the servant of the Lord charged you to love the Lord your God with all your heart As out of the heart proceeds life so from the Will proceeds all Operations the Will ought to be carryed towards God with it's whole force all the Affections of a pure and holy heart are directed to the onely Love of God x Gerhard Harm c. 156. Love riseth from the Will now there 's a two-fold Act of the y Elici us in peratus Will that which is immediately drawn forth of the Will it self the Will own Act and such an Act the Will exerts in loving God and then there is the commanded Act of the Will which is the Act of some other power moved to that Act by the Will where the will is filled with the love of God it moves the understanding to meditate of God whom we love and to enquire after the excellency of the Object loved We must not love God onely with the heart but with the whole heart What it is to love God with the whole heart pray mark this perfect Hatred and perfect Love knows no such thing as the world calls z Judicium rerum non câ—gnoscit Aut. imper operis Prudence if you perfectly hate any one all things about him displease you whatever he says or does though it be never so good it seems to you to be evil so if you perfectly love any one all things about him please you Some expound this totality by this distinction we are to love God with the whole heart Positively and Negatively Positively where all Powers of the will are set to love God and this we cannot perfectly doe while we are travellers till we come to our heavenly Country but Negatively thou shalt so love God that nothing contrary to the love of God shall be entertained in thy heart and this we may attain to a pretty tolerable perfection of in this life a Cajetan The whole heart is opposed either to a divided and dispers'd heart or to a remiss and a sluggish heart God doth as much abominate a partnership in our love as a husband or wife abhor any such thing in their Conjugal Relation we must love nothing but God or that which may please God He that loves God with his heart and not with his whole heart loves something else and not God As the whole heart is opposed to a remiss and sluggish heart the meaning is this the care of our heart should be set upon nothing so much as upon the loving and pleasing of God we must preferr God alone before all other Objects of our love and there must be an ardency of affection whatever we doe it must be for his sake and according to his will b Chemnit Harm c. 105. c. 2. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Soul I forbear to mention the different conjectures of those that try the acuteness of their parts to produce some peculiar Interpretation which others have not By comparing Scripture with Scripture the sensitive life or the sensitive Appetite is here meant Thus c Gen. 34.3 Deut. 12.20 his soul clave unto Dinah and he loved the Damsell again thy d thy sensual a fections soul longeth to eat flesh And because the Soul is in many places taken for Life as Exod. 4.19 all the men are dead that sought thy life Heb. thy soul so Exod. 21.23 Thou shalt give life for life Heb. soul for soul and so we may take it here intensively for the sensitive Appetite and extensively for the Life The soul is here taken for the Animal life which
comprehends both the Vegetative and Sensitive part To love God with the soul is to subject all those works that pertain to an Animal life unto the love of God Plainly and in short it is not enough to love God in our Will but we must not admit any thing contrary to the Love of God in our sensual delights Whatsoever sensualists do for the gratifying of their lusts and desires let those things be drained from the dregs of sin and consecrate them all unto God Whatever use wicked men make of their souls in a way of hatred of God we must make the contrary use in a way of loving of God And then Thou must love God with all thy Soul What it is to love God with all the soul we must be ready to lay down our lives for God d Origen if any one should be ask'd what in all the world was most dear unto him he would answer his life for life-sake tender Mothers have cast off the sence of Nature and fed upon their own children It is Life that affords us being sense motion understanding riches dominions If a man had the Empire of the World he could enjoy it no longer than he hath his soul in his body when that is gone he presently becomes a horrid Carkass or rather a loathsom dunghil Now then if a man love his Life so much why should he not love God more by whom he lives and from whom he expects greater things than this Life God is the soul of our soul and the life of our life he is nearer to us than our very souls e Acts 17.28 in him we live and move and have our being He that doth but indifferently weigh these things will acknowledge that it is no rashness to call that man a Monster that loves not God how then can we think of it without grief that the whole world is full of these Monsters almost all men prefer their Money or Pleasures or their Honours or their lusts before God So oft as you willingly break any Law of God to raise your Credit or Estate you prefer the dirt and dust of the world before God Alas what use do's a wicked man make of his soul but to serve his body whereas both soul and body should be wholly taken up with not only the service but the love of God Then may you be said to love God with all your souls when your whole Life is filled with the love of God when your worldly business truckles under the love of God the love of the dearest Relations should be but hatred when compared with your love to God When you eat and drink to the glory of God sleep no more than may make you serviceable unto God when your solitary musings are about the engaging your souls to God when your social Conference is about the things of God when all acts of Worship endear God to you when all your Duties bring you nearer to God when the love of God is the sweetness of your Mercies and your Cordial under Afflictions when you can love God under amazing Providences as well as under refreshing Deliverances then you may be said to love God with all your Souls What it is to love God with the mind 3. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Mind though Anselm take this for the Memory that we should remember nothing whereby we are hinder'd in our thinking of God yet generally this is taken for the understanding and so the Evangelist Mark expresly interprets it when he renders this Command in these words f Mark 12 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all thy understanding to love God with our Minds is to have the understanding moved and commanded by the love of God to assent unto those things that are to be believed and to admit nothing into the understanding which is contrary to the love of God g Cajetan h Origen nihil cogitantes vel proferentes nisi ea que Dei sunt The Mind should let nothing go in or out but what payes tribute of love to God there 's one interprets the word by the Etymology of the word Mind from Measuring i Mens dicitur a metiendo c. Avendan The Mind must be so full of love to God that love must measure all our works k 1 Cor. 10 31. When we eat we should think how hateful it is to God that we should indulge our Palat and thence shun Gluttony when we drink we should think how abominable Drunkenness is in the sight of God and thence drink temperately l Rom. 14.8 so that whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords our Life and our Death must be measur'd by our Love to God We must love God with all our Mind What it is to love God with all our mind we must alwayes converse with God in our Minds and thoughts our thoughts must kindle our affections of love Love to God makes the hardest Commands easie while our thoughts are immers'd in love to God love to Enemies wlll be an easie Command the keeping under of our Bodies by Mortification will be an easie work Persecution for Righteousness will be a welcome Trial love will change Death it self into Life There 's another word added by Mark which indeed is in Deut. 6.5 whence this is taken Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Strength now because this word doth not express any other species or power of the Soul but only notes the highest and most intense degree of Love that flows from all the Faculties of the Soul I will close this Enquiry with a Word of this We are to love God with all the Powers of our Soul with all the members of our Bodies Our understandings wills inward and outward Senses appetite speech whatever we have whatever we are must be all directed into the Love of God and into Obedience flowing from Love You commonly hear that of Bernard the cause of loving God is God himself and the only measure is to love him without measure We must love God strongly because with all our strength our love to God must get above Interruptions no threatnings calamities or discommodities whatsoever must pull us away from God but that all the Powers of Soul and Body must be taken up into his service that our Eyes beholding the wonderful works of God the Sun Moon and Stars the clear evidences of his Divinity we may be in love with him that our Ears piously hearkning to his Instructions may be in love with him that our Mouth may love to praise him our Hands to act for him that our Feet may be swift to run the way of his Commandments that our Affections may be withdrawn from Earthly things and deliver'd over to the love of God that whatever is within us it may be bound over to
before we meddle with it 2. Contempt of the world As love of the world is a great impediment so contempt of the world is a great promoter of our love to God may not our contempt of the world be best express'd by our worldly diffidence we have no confidence in it no expectation of happiness from it I take both the understanding and will to be the seat of Faith now to have both these against the world is to have our understanding satisfied that the world cannot satisfie us to look upon the world as an empty Drum that makes a great noise but hath nothing in it and therefore the will doth not hanker after it hath no kindness for it That person is a good proficient in divine love that can make the world serviceable to devotion by drawing arguments from his worldly condition be it what it will to promote piety e. g. Have I any thing considerable in the world I will manage it as a Steward blessed be God he hath entrusted me with any thing whereby I may shew my love to him in my love to his Have I nothing in the world Blessed be God for my freedom from worldly snares God knows I need food and raiment and I am of Jacob's mind p Gen. 28.20 21. if God will give me no more he shall be my God and I will be content whatever my condition be in the world 't is better than Christ's was and Oh that I could love God as Christ did 3. Observation of God's benefits to us 't is goodness and beneficence that draws out love God is our infinite Benefactor the very brutes love their Benefactors q Isa 1.3 Qui beneficia invenit compedes invenit Sen. The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his Master's crib but my people doth not consider Who can reckon up the benefits he receives from God the commonest of our mercy deserves a return of love how much more our Spiritual merces those very mercies that are troublesome to us deserve our love e. g. Trouble for Sin though to a degree of horror hungring after Christ though unto languishing disappointments in the world though without satisfaction any where else lamenting after God though with fear we shall never enjoy him Such like throws of anguish make way for spiritual joy and comfort and the Soul that goes through such exercises grows in love to God every day As for other kinds of Benefits I 'le say but this God doth more for us every hour of our lives than all our dearest Friends or Relations on Earth than all the Saints and Angels in Heaven can do so much as once should they do their utmost and can you do less than love him 4. Watchfulness over our own hearts When we love God we are to remember that we love a jealous God This will restrain the stragling of our affections we should keep as careful a watch over our own hearts as we should over a rich Heiress committed to our Guardianship we reckon she 's undone and we shall never be able to look God or Man in the face if she be unworthily match'd through our default Christians your hearts through the condesension of God and Blood and Spirit of Christ are a match for the King of Glory several inferiour objects not worth the naming are earnest suitors we are undone if any but God have our Supream love if you be not severely watchful this heart of yours will be stoln away be perswaded therefore to examine every thing that you have cause to suspect call your selves often to an account be jealous of your hearts and of every thing whereby you may be endangered 5. Prayer All manner of Prayer is singularly useful to enflame the heart with love to God Those that pray best love God best mistake me not I do not say those that can pray with the most florid expressions or those that can pray with the most general applause but they that most feel every word they speak and every thought they think in Prayer they whose apprehensions of God are most over-whelming whose affections to God are most Spiritually passionate whose Prayers are most wrestling and graciously impudent this is the man that prayes best and loves God best I grant these are the Prayers of a great proficient in the love of God but you may pray for this frame when you cannot pray with it The Soul never falls sick of divine love in Prayer but Christ presently gives it an extraordinary visit (r) Cant. 2.5 6. so soon as ever Christ's Spouse sayes she is sick of love the next words she speaks are that his left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me Compare that with those words (s) Cant. 6 5 Turn away thine eyes from me for they have overcome me Christ speaks as of being overcome and conquer'd Rouze up your selves therefore give your selves unto Prayer Pray for a more Spiritual discovery of Gods amiableness did you know God better you could not but love him more and none can discover God to us as he discovers himself so spiritually so powerfully take no denyal God will never be angry with your being importunate for hearts to love him Bradward de causa dei l. 1. p. 118 119. O my God it is thy self I love above all things 't is for thy self in thee my desires are terminated and therefore what wilt thou give me if thou wilt not give me thy self thou wilt give me nothing If I find thee not I find nothing thou dost not at all reward me but vehemently torment me heretofore when I sought thee finally for thy self I hop'd that I should quickly find thee and keep thee and with this sweet hope I comforted my self in all my labours but now if thou deny me thy self what wilt thou give me shall I be for ever disappointed of so great a hope shall I always languish in my love shall I mourn in my languishment shall I grieve in my mourning shall I weep and wail in my grief shall I alwayes be empty shall I alwayes disconsolately sorrow incessantly complain and be endlesly tormented O my most good most powerful most merciful and most loving God thou dost not use so unfriendly and like an enemy to despise refuse wound and torment those that love thee with all their heart soul and strength that hope for full happiness in thee Thou art the God of truth the beginning and end of those that love thee thou dost at last give thy self to those that love thee to be their perfect and compleat happiness Therefore O my most good God grant that I may in this present life love thee for thy self above all things seek thee in all things and in the life to come find thee and hold thee to eternity 6. Meditation A duty as much talk'd of and as little practis'd as any duty of Christianity Did you but once a day In that time of the day which
is so far from forsaking God that he will forsake all things for God yet he may till he recollect himself be more moved with some petty loss In short he may have some violent Gust of Affection after other things but the constant breathings of his Soul is after God 2. We must distinguish between the solidity of our Love and the flashiness of it between a superficial and a lasting Joy e. g. A Covetous man may laugh more when he is tickled than when you give him a thousand pound but he is a thousand times more joyful of his thousand pound than of his being tickled The Souls love to God is Well rooted (b) Eph. 3.18 As a sick man is pleased with one that will sit with him and alleviate his pains by diversion but he is more pleased with that man that shall cure him While our Souls are in a sickly frame we are pleased a little with variety of Diversions but we soon see their emptiness and charge our Souls to return unto God for a perfect cure 3. We must distinguish between our spiritual love and our sensible love while we live in this world such is our weakness through the remainders of Sin and imperfection of Grace that our Animal and Vital spirits are more affected with sensible things than with spiritual The things of the World are neer to us and we cannot live without them but yet he that loves God never sayes upon the Enjoyment of them (c) Luk. 12 i9 Soul take thine ease Oh no he is angry and grieved that he is at all pleased about such things 2. Complaint I hope I am not wholly destitute of this excellent Grace yet I am afraid to own that I have it Is it impossible to get my Heart above this uncomfortable uncertainty O that my heart were more raised and fixed above this anxious temper I 'le close all with an Essay to answer this Complaint onely premise Let not any thing that shall or can be spoken be wrested to give the least encouragement imaginable to any thing of Sin take heed you do not upon any account gratifie your sloth or indifferency of spirit or any sins of Omission keep off this Rock and then thy solicitude about thy fickleness gives thee grounds of hope to get above it Take therefore these short Directions how to get and keep the most certain constant comfortable spiritual frame of Divine love that is to be had upon Earth 1. Keep a severe Watch against all sins yet give not way to drooping Fears because of unavoidable infirmities (d) Psal 130 3 4. If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared 2. Observe your own temper what it is that most draws out your love to any person or thing in this world and improve that very inducement to love God (e) Cant. 5.16 He is altogether lovely that is Imagine or name any thing that is most desirable most worthy to be loved and admired and that 's he 3. Endeavour to love God out of Duty when to your own apprehension you cannot love him out of Grace I would commend this to you for all your gracious carriage towards God and for all the kindness you would receive from God e. g. Repent as 't is a duty even while you fear you want the Grace of Repentance Believe as 't is a duty while you think you cannot act Faith as a Grace So justifie God i. e. acknowledge God to be Righteous though he condemn you when you fear God will not justifie you Sanctifie God i. e. celebrate God's Holiness when you fear he 'l not sanctifie you i. e. not make you holy So set your selves to love God i. e. take heed you do not offend him do all you can to please him take up with nothing on this side himself In short Let God find you in a way of Duty and you 'l find God in a way of Grace 4. Study Christ What Divine love we either receive or return 't is through Christ You may look for encouragement from Christ for every thing but Sin In every thing have recourse to Christ (f) Col. 2.10 for the performance of every Duty for the attaining of every Grace when you fear Grace is withering Christ will revive it (g) Cant. 3.10 In a word pray and strive that you may feel what it is for Christ to be all in all Christians practically mind these four Directions and they will be as the Wheels of Christ's Chariot that 's pav'd with Love to bring his Beloved to Glory How ought we to love our Neighbours as our selves Serm. II. Math. 22.39 Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self THE Apostle bids us consider Christ Heb. 12 3. who indured (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emphati 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posuit declarans magnitudinem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aretius such that is so great contradiction of sinners against himself It was from a great spirit of this kind that his adversaries used to propose so many captious questions to him We find him no less than three times opposed in this one chapter First by the disciples of the Pharisees and the (b) Forsitan in populo tunc qui dicebant oportere dare tributum Caesari vocabantur Herodiani ab his qui hoc facere recusabant Vide Drus com ad voces N. T. L. De Dieu Herodians about the lawfulness of giving tribute unto Caesar again the same day by the Sadduces with a question about the resurrection which they denied When he had so well acquitted himself of both these that the first marvelled and left him and the last were put to silence behold he is again set upon by the Pharisees who seem to have chosen out one of their number to oppose him with a question Then one of them which was a Lawyer asked him a question tempting him ver 35. The same person is by another Evangelist called a Scribe Mark 12.28 One of the Scribes came c. There were two sorts of Scribes among the Jews viz. Scribes of the People who were Actuaries in and about matters of publick concernment and Scribes of the Law whose business was to read and interpret the Law of God unto them such a one was Ezra who is said to be a ready Scribe in the Law of Moses Ezra 7.6 and upon this account they are said to sit in Moses's seat of this last sort was the person in the Text Math. 23.2 as plainly appears by joyning both Evangelists together Mark says he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the Scribes Matthew says he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Lawyer if we put them both together they say he was a Scribe of the Law And the question that he tempted Christ with is concerning the Law Master Luke 2.46.47 which is the great Commandment in the Law v. 36. He who was able at
make such large conquests in the first times look and you will find that it was Faciendo bonum patiendo malum by doing well and suffering evil What made for the restoring the Gospel to England but the patience of the Saints of God under their sufferings and their fervent Charity whereby they prayed ardently for their enemies in the midst of the fire this convinced many and turned them to the profession of the truth The way of Love is an excellent way to edifie the Church which edifies it self in love there is nothing to be done without it this is the (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est res arte compingere ut nexu in dissolubili colaereant Arctius cement and mortar that holds the stones of the building together To conclude It is an excellent way to unite all that is good in the world to promote the interest of God in the world if we did but observe what good is to be found in any sort of men and not only acknowledg it but make use of it for God as we ought we should quickly see another face of things in the world Love saith one is that which reconciles the jarring principles of the world and makes them all chime together How pleasing would this be to God and how delightful to all good men I shall say no more 1 Thess 3 12. but desire that God would make us to encrease and abound in love to one another and towards all men Wherein the love of the world is inconsistent with the love of God Serm. III. 1 John 2.15 Love not the world neither the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him â—ct 1. The explicaâ—ion of the â—â—xt NOt to detain you with the Connexion of these words which are in themselves compleat and entire The better to understand their Theologick sence it will be necessary that we a little inquire into their Gramatick and Logick sence As for the Gramatick sence of the words we may take notice in the general that John the Divine who is generally reputed to be the Author of this Epistle has a pâ—culiar Phraseology Idiom or manner of writing as it will appear to any that diligently considers his writings and particularly this text The first term that occurs and ought to be more diligently inquired into is the Affection and Act prohibited Love not The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admits of a double sence 1 It is taken in a more large and general notion for a simple Act of Love without regard to the measure or degree thereof and so it is of the same import with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 It is taken in a more strict and confined sense for such an Act of Love as proceedeth from a plenitude of will or full Bent of heart and so carries the whole soul with it either in the Prosecution of some chief good when absent or in the fruition of and satisfaction in the same when present For love in this strict notion has two main acts 1 An active vigorous prosecution of its chiefest good when absent In which regard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived by the Greek Etymologist and Phavorinus out of him from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies the Force and Activity of love in the pursuit after its chiefest good 2 Love in this strict notion implies also an Acquiescence repose and satisfaction in its chiefest Good when present and enjoyed In which regard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is made to be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 greatly to acquiesce or rest satisfied in its best beloved when enjoyed which they explicate by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to rest contented and satisfied in any object so as not to seek out for any thing more in point of happiness In this strict and peculiar notion considered as to both its branches we must understand Love here both as to the world and the Father And so the love of the world and the love of the Father are perfectly opposite and therefore inconsistent each with other in this strict notion wherein John takes them This is farther evident from that great Aphorism of our Lord Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two masters For either he will hate the one and Love the other c. Where we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the same strict notion and confined either to God or the world so as both cannot share therein Thence our Lord instructs us that love in this proper limited sense belongs to God alone Mat. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart c. Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt love is taken by our Lord in this strict notion and explicated by what follows with all thine heart c. i. e. with the plenitude or Bent of thy will which in moral estimation passeth for the whole Heart So that when John saith love not the world it must be understood in this proper notion of love as it includes a predominant and prevalent degree and carries with it the Bent and force of the will either in a way of active prosecution of the world if absent or delightful complacential Acquiescence therein if enjoyed Such a love to the world is no other than Concupiscence or lust and so altogether inconsistent with the love of the Father as John argueth All this will be more evident when we come to explicate the things contained under these terms namely Love to God and the World The next thing to be explicated by us is the Object of this prohibition which is the World and the things therein The Greek name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was as it is said first given to the World by Pythagoras from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to adorn it being as it were an house hung with all manner of rich and beautiful ornaments of Divine Wisdom Power and Goodness Rom. 1.20 and in this regard the World is in its kind and measure amiable and love-worthy But John seems to take the World here in a more limited and narrow sense as it is the fuel of Lust and repugnant to and incoherent with the Father For as I before premised it is usual with John to make use of notions which are of a lax and general import in a more strict and confined sense Thus 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin Which must be understood in a strict confined sence i. e. with a plenitude of will as wicked men do So in our text love not i. e. in a strict sense with a plenitude and Bent of heart The world i. e. for it self as the fuel of lust and contrary to God There is a regular and lawful love of the world when it is in an inferior degree and in subordination to God but that which John here prohibits is an
the faculties or rather Acts thereof As the will governs all inferior faculties so is she governed by her love which renders her what she is as to good or evil What the Love is that the man is and where the love is there the man is If thy love be in Heaven there thou art and if thy love be in Hell thou art there For where the Treasure is there the love heart and man is Math. 6.21 And as Love governs the whole soul in general so has she a more particular influence or the Affections both rational and passionate Love indeed is not only the prime but also the original source and spring of all humane affections which owe their Being Life and Motion thereto What are all Affections but the several forms and shape of Love whence have they their tincture and colour but from it for look a-the object beloved is affected with this or that circumstance so is Love proportionably invested with this or that form If the object beloved be absent love goes forth to meet it by Desire if present love solaceth it self therein by Fruition and Delight if it be under hazards love waxeth pale with Fear if the enjoyment thereof be impeded or obstructed by others Love grows angry if it be lost Love clotheth her self with black sorrow if there be a probability or but possibility sometimes of enjoying it love moves towards it by Hope Thus love puts on sundry forms and Aspects which we call affections according to the sundry postures of its beloved In short look as the wife changeth her condition into that of her husband and becomes noble or ignoble according to his condition so love changeth her condition according to that of the object she doth espouse if love espouse God for her husband then doth she become spiritual Noble and Divine according to the quality of God but if she Elect and adhere to the world then doth she become carnal base and worldly So much for the general Idea of Love of which more in what follows Sect. 3. What it is to love the World 2. Quest What it is to love the World Love to the world may be considered as Predominant and so altogether inconsistent with the very being and existence of love to God or else as infirm and in part subdued We shall here treat of it in the former respect only which seems chiefly intended by John And so love to the world may be described A certain habitual pondus or weight of concupiscence and Lust whereby the soul is strongly impelled and inclined towards the fruition of and satisfaction in the world as its last end and chiefest Good In this description of love to the world we find its Object subject end principle Act and measure which will all fall under a more particular consideration in the following propositions The Object of predominant love to the world 1. Prop. To love the world is to affect some private particular inferiour Good for it self as the chiefest Good and last end This proposition states and specifies the proper formal Object of worldly love which is some private particular inferiour good loved for it self as the chiefest supreme good and last end Now the world may be constituted the chiefest good and last end two ways 1 Positively when it is loved for it self as a total supreme good unto which all things are referred 2 Negatively when though it be loved only as a partial good yet it is loved for it self and not referred to God either actually or habitually as the supreme good Such is the cursed love of many worldly professors who love the world only as a partial good yet so as they refer it not to God the supreme good and therefore may be said to love it for it self as their last end and chiefest good negatively though not positively This love to the world for it self as the last end and chiefest good is fully described by John in the verse following our text 1 John 2.16 For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but it is of the world These words give much light and evidence to our text and present subject wherefore we shall a little insist on the explication of them And 1 We are to consider their rational connexion with the words precedent included in the particle For which gives us the genuine reason and cause why the love of the world is inconsistent with the Love of God namely because all that is in the world whether sensible Civil or Mental Goods so far as they are the fuel of Lusts are not of the Father but of the world 2 We are to observe here that John discoursing of worldly goods as the fuel of our Lust expresseth the things themselves by the lust in us He saith not Pleasures Riches Honours though these be the things he means but the Lust of these things because the poison and evil of these things comes not from the things themselves but from our lusts that run into and live upon them as our last end and choicest good And in this sense saith John they are not of the Father but of the World i. e. God never made or appointed these inferiour goods to be our last end chiefest Good or matter of fruition and satisfaction no it is the Lusts of worldly men that have put this Crown upon the Heads of Pleasures profits preferments c. Hence it naturally follows that all love to these lower goods for themselves as our Last end and chiefest Good is but Concupiscence or inordinate Lust For indeed what is Lust but desire to or fruition of the Creature for it self 3 We are to consider likewise the Distribution which John here makes of all that is in the world into the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the eyes and the pride of Life This as they say is the worldly man's Trinity which he doth so much Idolize and Adore (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo in Decalog Philo the Jew who was greatly versed as well in the Grecian as Judaick learning makes all evil to consist in rhe Lust of Pleasures Riches or Glory which seems to answer to John's Distribution here For by the Lust of the flesh is usually understood Pleasures By the Lust of the Eyes Riches and by the Pride of Life Vain Glory or Honours We shall treat concisely of each as the Fuel of Worldly Love 1 To love the world is to Lust after the pleasures of the flesh as our last end or soveraign Good and so amiable for themselves And O! whâ—t a brutish piece of Lust is this And yet Lo how common even among those who would be accounted generous and noble Yea how many great Professors come under this condemnation For by the Lusts of the flesh we must understand all inordinate love to and delight in sensual pleasures of any kind be it in eating
the adjective signifies Esau's insatiable and greedy appetite after Jacob's red potage The like also is implied in his omitting the word potage which notes the hast and greediness of his lust increased by the red colour whence he was called Edom. And what was it that Esau's insatiable lust thus longs for that follows v. 34. potage of Lentiles Which were a kind of pulse much like to Vetches or small Pease very course food such as men in their sorrow and mourning were wont to eat O! what a vile profane wretch was Esau to part with his celestial birth-right and dignity for a mess of such course potage well might Moses conclude thus Esau despised his birth-right An insatiable greedy thirst after any inferior good argues a predominant love to the world 3. Prop. To love the World is to have the heart bound up in and made one with the world All love tends to Union and to have the Heart planted in and incorporated with the World argues a predominant love thereto Thus in our text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love not the world i. e. Let not your hearts be implanted glued or nailed to the world let not your thoughts and affections run so deep into the world as to become one with it The more any love the world the more their hearts are united to and incorporated with it The Alligation and adherence of the heart to the Creature is the natural effect of predominant love thereto Love to the world is the nail or glue whereby the heart is fastened to it Thus Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is fastened or glued so as to become one therewith Whereby the prophet teacheth us that Israel's heart was bound fast by indissoluble bonds to his Idols so that it could not be plucked thence 4. Prop. To have the heart under the Dominion of the World argues predominant love thereto Such is the nature of Love that it subjects the Lover to the thing beloved specially if it be loved for it self It s true love to God gives us a Dominion over all things beneath us but love to the world brings the heart into subjection to it O! what an imperious tyrannick Soveraignty has the world over those that love it what slaves are worldlings to the world through love to it whatever the heart inordinately cleaves unto it is under the dominion of so Hos 4.11 whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart There is a great emphase in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will take away which notes first a contest or conflict and then the conquest which these sensual objects make over the heart that adheres to them 5. Prop. To spend the best of our time thoughts studies care and endeavours for the procuring or conserving worldly goods denotes predominant love to the world This seems to be the case of some carnal Jews after the return from Babylon Hag. 1.4 Is it time for you O ye to dwell in your sieled houses and this house lye wast In your sieled houses or houses curiously wainscotted and adorned not only for use but luxury and pleasure Whence it is aptly rendred by the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if he had said is this time a time for you O ye sensualists to spend so much time study care cost and other expences in trimming and adorning your stately houses not only for use but delight and luxury whiles the house of the Lord lies wast this piece of Love to the world our Lord cautions professors of these last days against Luke 21.34 And take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to overcharge answers to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to harden as it appears by the LXX on Exod. 8.15.32 which is also rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 10.1 so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies such an overcharging of the heart with complacential thoughts and amusements about worldly things as takes away all sense of Divine concerns thence it follows with surfeiting and drunkenness These two denote all sensual pleasures Then follows and cares of this life hereby is signified all distracting distrustful anxious cares about provision for this life which are elsewhere stiled the cares of this world as Mat. 13.22 this part of predominant Love to the world is termed Rom. 8.5 minding the things of the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to mind according to Paul's Phrascologie doth not so much regard the simple act of the mind as the complacential thoughts studious contrivements and sollicitous cares of the heart such as naturally follow a carnal constitution or frame of heart and bespeak the man to be under the Dominion of predominant love to the world For when all a mans thoughts inclinations affections studies and cares pay tribute to the flesh what is he but a slave to the flesh thence it follows ver 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the complacential amusement contrivement study and care of the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 6.5 the figment or contrivement of the heart These carnal world-minders are well described by Paul Phil. 3.19 who mind earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. They amuse themselves in the the complacential thoughts and study of terrene things they have no gust savour or relish but of such they are under the serpent's curse to lick the dust 6. Prop. Another branch of predominant love to the world is to make the Creature the object or matter not only of our use but also of our supreme fruition complacence and satisfaction So much is implied in our text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make not the world the object of your entire contentment acquiescence and satiâ—faction draw not your choicest comforts and delights from terrene goods There is some kind of contentment and complacence in worldly goods which may consist with the love of God but when the heart makes any worldly good the entire or main object of its fruition and satisfaction this denotes predominant love to the world For Divine Wisdom hath put this Law or Order into things that all Creatures are to be the object of our Vse but God himself the supreme object of our fruition and satisfaction whence to make any Creature the chief matter of our fruition and satisfaction what is it but to violate and pervert the order of the Creation and set up the Creature in the place of the Creator and doth not this bespeak predominant love to the Creatures This our Lord elegantly describes in that parable of the rich glutton Luke 12.15.19 you have the scope of the parable v. 15. beware of Covetousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here as elsewhere signifies an avaricious greedy humor or desire of having abundance not only for use but to pamper lust The
Metaphor being taken from the plethora or excess of any humor in the body And our Lord adds the reason of this caution for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth The sense seems this all these lower things which man 's covetous heart doth so much lust after are not the matter of our fruition and satisfaction but Vse only therefore our life doth not consist in the abundance of them but in an ordinate love to and moderate use of them to use them in that measure and with that mediocrity as becomes them whence they who make them the chief matter of their fruition and satisfaction are possest with a predominant love unto them This is exemplified in the following parable of the rich man specially v. 18. all my fruit and my goods He calls them his goods as they were the main object of his complacence and delight so v. 19. I will say to my soul i. e. I will then recreate and satiate mine heart with mine acquired goods whence it follows take thine ease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recreate refresh thine heart acquiesce in them Poor man he had felt sufficient anxiety sollicitude and vexation in the acquirement of his Goods but now he hopes the fruition will crown all with sweet repose rest and satisfaction Thence he adds eat drink and be merry The last term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be merry seems to refer to all manner of sensual pleasures in which voluptuous luxurious persons take so much complacence and delight this fruition of and complacence in worldly goods our Lord doth express in plain naked terms in the reddition of the Parable v. 21. so is he that layeth up treasure for himself i. e. in worldly goods which he makes the main object of his satisfaction and is not rich towards God i. e. and doth not make God his treasure and chief matter of fruition Complacence and satisfaction And what is this but rank predominant love to the world 7. Prop. To be afflicted and troubled for the loss of any Creature-comfort more than for the loss of God and things spiritual denotes predominant love to the world As our love is such is our sorrow for the loss of what we love Immoderate Affliction for the loss of any worldly thing argues Inordinate Affection to it when enjoyed and if the heart be more afflicted and troubled for the loss of the creature than for the loss of God it is a sure sign that the enjoyment of it did more affect and please the heart than the enjoyment of God This was Israel's case Isa 17.10 11. Where the prophet compares the state of Israel in her Apostasie to a curious Lady that delighteth in beautiful flowers choice fruits and pleasant plants But he concludeth the harvest should be an heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow Now this desperate sorrow or deadly pain as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth for the loss of her pleasant Idols argues predominant love to them This also was the case of the young man Luk. 18.23 And when he heard this i. e. v. 22 that he must part with all his riches for a treasure in heaven he was very sorrowful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was sorrowful in a superlative degree for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here in Composition signifies which is not as some conceive a preposition but Adverb intending the sense And what filled him with this extreme desperate sorrow Why surely thoughts of parting with his goodly treasure which he valued and loved more than treasures in Heaven They that cannot support themselves under the privation of any temporal good God calls for but choose rather to part with Heaven than with their beloved Idol are under predominant love to the world But here to obviate mistakes we must distinguish 1 between a predominant Principle or Habit and a prevalent Act of love to the world as 2 between a Rational and Passionate love or Sorrow 1. One that loves God may under a fit of Temptation be under a prevalent Act though not under a predominant Principle or Habit of love to the world 2. Hence his passionate love to and sorrow for the loss of some temporal good may be greater under some distemper of heart when his rational love to and sorrow for the loss of God and things spiritual is greater at least in the root and habit if not in the Act. 3. Qu. What it is to love God Sect. 4. What it is to love God This Question receives much Evidence and Light from what precedes touching Love to the world For Contraries illustrate each other and love to God moves in the same manner as love to the world moves So that to love God is to transfer the Actions and Passions of our Love from the world to God as our last end and chiefest Good In short the love of God implies a superlative preference of God above all lower Goods Luke 14.26 A Divine Weight or Bent of heart towards God as our Centre Deut. 6.5 It s proper Acts are chiefly two 1 An amorous vehement direct motion towards God 2 a complacential fruition of and Repose in God as its Best Beloved Psal 116.7 As for the Adjuncts of this Divine Love it must be 1. Sincere and Cordial Eph. 6.24 2. Judicious and Rational Psal 16.7 3. Intimate and Passionate 4. Pure and Virgin Cant. 5.3 5. Regular and Uniform 6. Generous and noble 7. Permanent and Abiding 8. Vigorous and Active 9. Infinite and Boundless Divine Love thus qualified brings the soul into 1 An inviolable Adherence unto and amorous union with God Eph. 5 31 32. 2 It works the heart to an amorous Resignation of all concerns unto God 3 It commands the whole Soul into the Obedience of God John 14.21.23 4 It is exceeding submissive unto God's Providential afflictive will Lev. 10 3. 5 It is extreme vigilant chearful and diligent in the service of God Luk. 7.37 47. O how officious is love to God! 6 It useth all things in subordination to God Mat. 6.33.34 7 It winds up the soul to a Divine life It transforms the lover into the Image and imitation of God whom he loves Eph. 5.1 These particulars I intended to have handled more fully but understanding that this case touching the Love of God is the proper task of another I shall refer thee to the Resolution of that Reverend Divine's Case 4. Qu. Wherein the love of the world is inconsistent with the Love of God Sect. 5. Wherein the love of the world is inconsistent with the love of God Having explicated the sundry Parts of our Case we now come to the Connexion of the whole namely to demonstrate the Inconsistence of Love to the world with the Love of God What love it is that is inconsistent with the Love of God we have already fully opened in the second Question touching predominant love to the world Wherefore the only thing at present incumbent
on us is to shew wherein predominant Love to the world is inconsistent with the Love of God 1. Prop. Predominant love to the world is contrary to and therefore inconsistent with the love of God This seems evidently implied in our text If any man love the world c. John brings this as a reason of his prohibition namely that predominant love to the world and love to God are perfectly opposite and therefore by the rule of contraries incoherent and inconsistent The like Mat. 6.24 No man can serve two Masters For either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammon These words are a good Comment on our text and clearly demonstrate the Inconsistence of Love to the world with the Love of God I shall therefore a little insist on them The design of our Lord here is the same with that of John in our text namely to take off professors from inordinate predominant love to the world and bring them to a Divine Affection unto and living on God as their portion and treasure as v. 19 20 21 22 23. And v. 24. he shews the inconsistence of love to the world with love to God in that the world and God are contrary Lords who require each the whole heart and man This will more fully appear if we examine the particulars He saith No man can serve It is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serve (q) Intelligendum est hoc proveâ—bium de Dâ—minis Solidum quomodo Juris consâ—lri dicunt non posse duos esse Dominos ejusdem rei Grot. Now to serve another according to the laws and customs of those times and Nations was to have no power or right to dispose of himself or any thing that belonged to him but to live and depend merely on the Pleasure of his Master Such a service could not be given to God and the world Why 1 Because they are two Masters i. e. in Solidum each of which require the whole heart and man 1 Because they are two (r) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost contrary Masters which commands us to esteem love and endeavour after worldly treasures more than heavenly God commands us to esteem love and endeavour after heavenly treasures more than earthly The world commands you to engage no farther in matters of Religion than may consist with its Interest But Christ commands you to part with all worldly Interest for himself The world commands you to take your fill of the creature to suck out the sweets thereof and feed your hearts therewith But Christ commands you to use this world as if you used it not 1 Cor. 7.31 to affect an universal privation of these lower goods even whilst you enjoy them to give perishing things perishing thoughts esteem and desires to bid farewell to all things so far as they are a snare to you or a sacrifice that God calls for Again the world commands you to endeavour the greatning of your names and reputation But Christ commands you to glory in nothing but his Cross to account abasement for Christ your greatest Honour Lastly the world commandeth you not to be scrupulous about small sins but to take your liberry and latitude But Christ commandeth you to dread the least sin more than the greatest suffering Now how contrary and Inconsistent are these Masters in their Commands Is it possible then that we should be Masters of such contrary Loves O! how doth love to the world eat out love to God 2 Predominant Love to the world is inconsistent with the Love of God in that it robs God of that Love and Honour which is due to him as the Soveraign Chiefest Good according to what measure the heart turns to the world and its concerns in the same measure it turns from God and his concerns When the heart is full of the world how soon is all sense of and love to God choaked how is the Mind bemisted an Will charmed with the painted heart-bewitching shadows of the World This was Israel's Case Hos 10.1 Israel is an empty vine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expositors have variety of Conceptions on these words but the most simple sense seems this Israel is (Å¿) vitis evacuans an evacuant luxuriant Vine which seems to bring forth such abundance of fruit as if she would empty her self of all her juice and fruits at once so richly laden with fruit doth she seem to be Ay but what fruit is it Surely fruit unto her self rotten corrupt fruit her heart and love is not bestowed on God but on her Idols So it follows v. 2. Their heart is divided i. e. This beloved Idol hath one part that another and thus God is robbed of that esteem and love which is due to him 3 Love to the World breeds Confidence in the World whereby the heart is turned off from its Dependence on God as its first cause And O! how inconsistent is this with the love of God God as he is our Last End in point of Fruition so also our first principle or Cause in point of Dependence Now love to the world turns the heart from God to the World not only as the last end but also as the First Cause They that love the world cast the weight of their souls and chiefest concerns on the World and so bid Adieu to God This Confidence in worldly things is inconsistent with Salvation and so with the Love of God as Mark 10.24 How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God This Rhetorick Interrogation implies a Logick negation namely that it is impossible for one that in a prevalent degree trusteth in his riches to enter into the Kingdom of God So Psal 52.7 Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthned or fortified himself in his wickedness or substance The like Prov. 11.28 Ezek. 16.15 1 Tim. 6.17 4 Love to the world is flat idolatry and herein also inconsistent with the Love of God So Eph. 5.5 nor Covetous man who is an Idolater The same Col. 3.5 and covetousness which is idolatry Covetousness is in a peculiar manner branded with this black mark of Idolatry in that it doth expresly proclaim a love to the world as its last end and confidence in it as its first cause So Paul saith of voluptuous persons that they make their belly their God Phil. 3.19 because they love pleasures more than God 2 Tim. 3.4 And indeed every lover of the world is a God-maker so many lusts as men have so many Gods The lust of the flesh makes pleasures its God the lust of the eye worships Riches as its God and the lust of pride exalts some created excellence in the place of God O! how do worldlings lose the true God in the croud of false Gods 5
Love to the world is spiritual Adultery and thence incoherent with the Love of God The jealousie of God will not admit of any corrival in the bent of the heart but Oh! how doth love to this world run a whoring after other Lovers so Ezek. 16.17 18 38. and 23.5 11. and Aholah played the harlot when she mas mine c. The like James 4.4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendsh p of the world is enmity with God Which implies that love to and friendship with this whorish world is spiritual Adultery and so hatred against God O! how soon are those that love the world killed by its adulterous imbraces hence 6 Love to the world is a deliberate contrived lust and so habitual enmity and rebellion against God Acts of lust which arise from suddain passions though violent may consist with the love of God but a deliberate Bent of heart towards the world as our supreme interest cannot The single act of a gross sin arising from some prevalent Temptation speaketh not such an inveterate bitter root of enmity against God as predominant love to the world James 4.4 whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God Oh! how much of contempt rebellion and enmity against God is there in friendship and love to the world 7 Love to the world forms our profession into a subservience unto our worldly interest and so makes Religion to stoop unto yea truckle under lust Now what can be more inconsistent with the Love of God than this This was the case of the carnal Jews Ezech. 33.31 With their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness They shew much love in profession but O how little have they of sincere affection and why because their avaricious hearts made the whole of their profession to conform to their worldly interest Thus also it was with unbelieving Jews in our Lords time John 5.42 But I know you that ye have not the love of God in you I know you There lies a great emphase in that you you who profess so much and yet have so little love in you They had much love to God in their mouth but none in their heart this appeareth by v. 43 44. where our Lord tells them in plain terms that their worldly honour and interest was the only measure of their profession This also was the measure of Judas's Religion John 12.5 6. where he pretends much love to the poor but really intends nothing but the gratifying his avaricious humor The like Hos 10.11 Ephraim loveth to tread out the Corn c. because there was profit liberty and pleasure in that but Ephaim loved not plowing work because that brought her under a yoke and brought in no advantage to her Love to the world brings us under subjection to it and so takes us off from the service of God What we inordinately love and cleave unto we are soon overcome by Now subjection to the world and subjection to God are inconsistent Mat. 6.24 8 Love to the world is the root of all sin and therefore what more inconsistent with the love of God To love God is to hate evil Psal 97.10 therefore to love evil either in the cause or effect is to hate God Now love to the world has not only a love for but also a causal influence on all sin And that 1 As it exposeth men to the violent incursion and assaults of every tentation so 1 Tim. 6.9 But they that will be rich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that have their wills biassed with a violent bent or vehement weight of carnal love towards riches This Solomon expresseth Prov. 28.22 By hasting to be rich What befalls such why saith Paul such fall into tentation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction and then he gives the reason and cause of it v. 10. For the love of money is the root of all evil c. i. e. There is no sin but may call the love of money Father whence Philo calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Metropolis of evil 2 Love to the world is the cause of all sin in that it blinds and darkens the mind which opens the door to all sin It is an observation of the prudent moralist (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch that every lover is blind about that he loves which he himself interprets of love to lower goods And oh how true is this of those that love the world what a black veil of darkness is there on their minds as to what they love hence Paul calls such mens love 1 Tim. 6.9 foolish lusts They are indeed foolish not only eventually but causally as they make men fools and sots 3 Love to the world stifles all convictions breaks all chains and bars of restraining grace and so opens a more effectual door to all sin We find a prodigious example hereof in Balaam Numb 22.22 40. where you see at large how his predominant love to the wages of unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2.15 stifled all those powerful convictions of and resolutions against sin he lay under 4 Love to the world is the disease and death of the soul and therefore the life of sin 1 Tim. 5.6 she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth 5 Love to the world (u) Amor est quidam ingressus animi in rem amatam quae si fuerit ipso amante ignobilior polluit Dignitatem ejus Jansen August pollutes our whole Being Animal passions defile the soul inordinate lustings after things lawful pollute the most of professors more or less 6 Love to the world puts the whole soul yea world into Wars Confusion and Disorders so James 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your Members 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of your pleasures i. e. by a Metonymie from your lusts after pleasures and superfluous things that war in your members Hence note that all extern wars and confusions come from the wars and confusions of intern lust in the heart Now all intern wars and disorders are inconsistent with the love of God which is peaceable and orderly In these regards love to the world impedes and hinders the love of God 9 Love to the world is inconsistent with the love of God in that it causeth Apostasie from God The Conversion of the heart to the Creature always implies its Aversion from God He that cannot part with the World will soon part with God The world draws Men from God at Pleasure because it doth engross your best Time Thoughts Affections and Strength in its service How many professors by being bewitched with love to the World have lost many hopeful blossomes and beginnings of love to God How little do Spiritual Suavities savour with Carnal Hearts Yea do not the Flesh-pleasing sweets of this World make all
the Delices of Heaven seem bitter to a Sensual Worldling What makes the heart poorer as to things Divine than the love of worldly Riches How is the Honour of Christ and Religion degraded in that heart which affects worldly Honours what more powerfully stains the Glory of a Christian Profession than an ambitious affectation of Mundane Glory Where is that professor who has his heart engaged in the world without being defiled by it if not drowned in it The world is filled with such a contagious air as that our love is soon poysoned and infected by it Love to the world is the Devil's Throne where he lords it the Helm of the Ship where he sits and steers the Soul Helwards This was the bitter root of Lot's wife her Apostasie from God So Gen. 19.26 But his wife looked back from behind him She had left her heart in Sodom and thence she looks back after it contrary to God's Command v. 17. And what was the Issue of her Apostasie She became a pillar of Salt i. e. She partaked of Sodom's Plague which was brimstone and and salt Deut. 29.23 the storm which fell on Sodom overtook her and turned her into a Pillar of Salt as a standing Monument of God's Justice on Apostates who love the world more than God Whence saith our Lord Luk. 17.32 Remember Lot's wife What made Judas and Demas Apostatize but love to the world As man at first fell from God by loving the world more than God so he is more and more engaged in this Apostasie by love to the world 10 Love to the world transforms a man into the spirit and humour of the world which is inconsistent with the love of God Love makes us like to and so one with what we love For all love aims at Vnity and if it Comes short thereof yet it leaves Similitude which is imperfect Vnity Whence by love to the World men become like to and one with it (w) si terram amas terra es Aug. He that loves the earth is earthly A worldly Man is called Rom. 8.8 9 a fleshly man because his very soul becomes fleshly His heart is drowned in and incorporated with the world his Spirit becomes incarnate with the flesh 11 Yea Love to the world transforms a Man into a Beast and so makes him altogether incapable of Love to God So Psal 49.20 Man that is in honour and vnderstandeth not is like the Beasts that perish This verse is an Epiphonema to the Psalm with which he concludes that a man though never so great in the world yet if his heart cleave unto it he is no better than a Beast albeit he be a man by Nature yet he is a Beast by Affection and Operation Yea what shall I say Love to the world transforms a man into worse than a Beast For it is better to be a Beast than like to a Beast As love to God the Best Good makes us better than the best on other men so Love to the world which is the worst evil makes men worse than the worst of Beasts Love to the world is extatick as well as love to God and the more the heart cleaves to the the world the less power has it to return to God or it self The Application Sect. 6. The Application of the Subject Having Stated and explicated the Case before us we now descend to the several Improvements that may be made thereof both by Doctrinal Corollaries and practick Vses I. As for the Doctrinal Corollaries 1. Doctrinal Corollaries or Inferences that may be deduced from the precedent Discourse they are various and weighty I shall only mention such as more immediately and naturally flow there from 1. By Comparing the Love of God with the Love of the World in their Universal Ideas and Characters we learn How much the love of God doth Excel and transcend the Love of the world Our love is by so much the more perfect by how much the more noble and spiritual its Object is and by how much the more eminent degree it obtains in the subject The greatness of the Object intendeth the Affection And oh how much doth this raise the value of Love to God above worldly Love Is not God the most absolutely necessary Simple Being very Being yea Being it self and therefore most perfect whence is he not also our Last End our Choicest Good every way desireable for himself Then O! what an excellent thing is love to God who is so amiable But as for this world what a dirty whore what an heart-ensnaring thing is it and thence how much is our Love abased by terminating thereon The Love of God is pure and unspotted But O! how filthy and polluted is love to the World What more cordial and sincere than love to God But alas how artificial painted and hypocritick is love to this deceitful world O! how judicious wise and discreet is love to God what abundance of solid deep and spiritual reason has it in its bowels But oh what a brutish sottish passion is love to the world How foolish are all its lusts 1 Tim. 6.9 What a generous and noble Affection is love to God But what more sordid and base than love to this vile world Love to God is Regular and Uniform But O! what Irregularities and Confusions attend love to the World How Masculine puissant and potent is love to God But alas how Effeminate impotent and feeble is love to the World What more solid and Substantial than love to God and what more vain and empty than love to the World It deserves not the name of Love but Lust Worldly-minded men have a world of Lusts but what have they to fill them save a bag of empty wind and vexatious vanities Love to God is most temperate natural and so beautiful But ah what preternatural excessive and prodigious heats are there in Love to the World How is the Mind clarified and brightned by Love to God But oh how is it bemisted and darkened by Love to the World Divine love is the Best Philosopher and master of Wisdome The love of God amplifies and widens the Heart But the Love of the world doth confine and narrow it By Love to God we become Lords over all things beneath our selves But love to the world brings us into subjection to the most base of persons and things Worldly minded men can neither obey nor command their Lusts they cannot obey them because they are infinite and oft contrary they cannot command them by reason of their own feebleness Love to God is tranquil and serene but love to the world tempestuous and turbulent Love to God gives repose and quiet to the soul but love to the world fills it with perpetual agitations inquietude and restless motions without end Worldly love is a laesive passion but Divine love perfective of him that loves In sum love to God is of the same nature with God and therefore the most express Character of
8.36 All they that hate me Love death i. e. in its Causes Oh! how cursed are such as cry up the world and cry down Christ 10. Lastly this Case as before stated is a good Key to open some dark and hard sayings in Scripture As that Mat. 19.24 It is easier for a camel to go thorow an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God Which is a proverbial speech denoting how difficult a thing it is for any rich man but how impossible it is for him that has a predominant love to his riches and so confidence in them to enter into the Kingdom of God as Mark 10.24 2. But to close up this discourse with a few Practick Improvements and Vses Practick Uses 1. This Case as before stated serves for the Conviction and Condemnation of such who profess love to God and yet love the world more than God Our Apostle saith Love not the world and yet what do these love but the world where is the Love which these owe to God And what hopes can such have of God's Love to them Alas how poor and narrow is the love of most Professors to God If they have some good liking to him yet how far short do they come of fervent love to him perhaps their Light and Profession is broad but O! how narrow is their Love to Christ And do not such as want love for Christ fall under the most dreadful curse that ever was even an Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 which was the formule of the highest Excommunication among the Jews mentioned in Enoch's prophesie Jud. 14. and imports a binding over to the great day of Judgment at the coming of our Lord. And Oh! how soon will Christ meet such in a way of Judgment who will not now meet him in a way of love Alas what an hungry paradise have they whose love feeds not on Christ but the things of time Is there not a sting in every creature our love dotes on O! what abundance of Ingratitude and Injustice lies wrapped up in this Love to the world Can there be greater ingratitude than this to spend our choicest love on love-tokens conferred on us by God to wind up our hearts to the love of himself Is it not also the greatest Injustice to give that measure of Affection to the creature which is due to none but the creator Having so fair an opportunity I cannot but enter this solemn Protestation against all such as under a Profession of Love to God concele an adulterous Affection to this world O! think how soon this world will hugg you to death in its arms if your hearts attend to its bewitching charms Alas why should sick dreams run away with your hearts What are all those things your hearts lust after but the Scum Froth Dross and Refuse of the Creation Ah poor fools why are your hearts so much bewitched with the night-visions whorish Idols or Cursed nothings of time Remember how dear you pay for your Beloved Idols how much they are salted with the curse of God 2. Here is matter of doleful Lamentation that in days of so much Light and Profession of love to God Men should so much abuse themselves and the world by over loving of it O that painted shadows and dirty clay should run a way with our love is it not a deplorable case that the golden pleasures of this Idol world should find so much room in our hearts yea what matter of humiliation is this that professors of Love to God should lavish away so much time study care and affection on this perishing world Would it not make any serious heart to bleed when it considers how much the professors of this age are conformable to the fashions humors and lusts of this world O! what an abominable thing is it that professors should fall down and worship this great Idol the world that the sons of God should commit folly with this old Whore which the sons of men have lusted after so many thousand years alas what chains and fetters are there in the world's blandishments what real miseries in all her seeming felicities what do all her allurements serve for but to hide Satan's baits who are they that are most in love with the world but those that least know it Alas how little can this world add to or take from out happiness what hath this world to feed our Love but smoak and wind 3. Here is also a word of caution for professors to take heed how they make Religion and the concerns thereof subservient to worldly interest O! what a curse and plague is this to make the highest excellence subserve the vilest lusts and yet how common is it I tremble to think how far many professors will be found guilty hereof at the last day 4. But that which I mostly design as the close of this Discourse is some few words of Exhortation and Direction unto Christians 1 To labour after an holy contempt of this dirty soul-polluting world O! what an essential obligation do we all lye under to contemn the Grandeur and sun-burnt glory of this fading world What is there in this world you can call yours can you be content to have your Heaven made of such base mettal as mire and clay O what a transient thing is all the glory of this perishing world consider the argument which our Apostle useth in the words following our text 1 John 2.17 and the world i. e. all the splendor pomp beauty pleasures and grandeur of the world passeth away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a scene whereon men acted their parts and then passed away as 1 Cor. 7.31 alas were the world guilty of no other defect but this that it passeth away what a strong argument is this for the contempt thereof again remember this world is but your prison and place of pilgrimage and oh how scornful and disdainful is the pilgrims eye with how much scorn doth he behold other Countries and ought not Christians with a more generous disdain cry out fie fie this dirty world is not like my celestial Canaan Alas what have we here to rejoyce in but fetters and chains how soon doth the fashion of this world pass away 1 Cor. 7.31 i. e. the pageant or scene of worldly glory 2 As for you who are rich in this world consider seriously the exhortation of Paul 1 Tim. 6.17 18 19. where having closed his Epistle he has this Divine Inspiration injected by the Spirit Charge them that are rich in this world that they he not high-minded nor trust in uncertain tiches but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good works c. There were many rich Merchants at Ephesus where Timothy was who needed this exhortation as I think many among us 3 Here is a more particular word for Merchants Tradesmen and all such as are much engaged in the affairs of
fear Death and 31. Grace thus in Exercise Sermon 31 is but one degree from Glory Now Christians though there are many particular Cases wherein you 'l need Direction yet let me close with this Request Try your utmost what the practical Transcript of these Directions into your Hearts and Lives will produce ere you complain for more That these may be useful to you whoever else censures them as useless shall be the hearty Prayer of June 19. 1674. Your worthless Servant Samuel Annesley The CONTENTS Dr. Annesley Serm. 1 HOw may we attain to love God with all our hearts souls and minds Mat. 22.37 38. Mr. Milward Serm. 2 How ought we to love our Neighbour as our selves Mat. 22.39 Mr. Gale Serm. 3 Wherein the love of the world is inconsistent with the love of God 1 Joh. 2.15 Mr. Jenkyn Serm. 4 How may we improve the present season of grace 2 Cor. 6.1 2. Mr. Veal Serm. 5 What spiritual knowledg they ought to seek for that desire to be saved c. Isa 27.11 Mr. Case Serm. 6 How ought the Sabbath to be sanctified Isa 58.13 14. Mr. Senior Serm. 7 How may we hear the Word with profit James 1.21 Mr. Watson Serm. 8 How may we read the Scriptures with most spiritual profit Deut. 17.19 Mr. Wells Serm. 9 How may we make melody in our hearts with singing of Psalms Eph. 5.19 Dr. Manton Serm. 10 How ought we to improve our Baptism Acts 2.38 Mr. Lye Serm. 11 By what spiritual rules may catechising be best manag'd Prov. 22.6 Mr. Wadsworth Serm. 12 How may it appear to be every Christian 's indispensable duty to partake of the Lord's Supper 1 Cor. 11.24 Mr. Barker Serm. 13 A Religious fast Mark 2.20 Mr. Lee Serm. 14 How to manage secret Prayer that it may be prevalent with God to the comfort and satisfaction of our Souls Mat. 6.6 Mr. Doolitle Serm. 15 How may the Duty of Family-prayer be best manag'd Josh 24.15 Mr. Steele Serm. 16 What are the Duties of Husbands and Wives towards each other Eph. 5.33 Mr. Adams Serm. 17 What are the Duties of Parents and Children Coloss 3.20 21. Mr. Janeway Serm. 18 What are the Duties of Masters and Servants Eph. 6.5 6 7 8 9. Mr. S. C. Serm. 19 The sinfulness and cure of thoughts Gen. 6.5 Mr. West Serm. 20 How must we govern our tongues Eph. 4.29 Mr. Poole Serm. 21 How may detraction be best prevented or cur'd Psal 15.3 Mr. Baxter Serm. 22 What is that light which must shine before men in the works of Christ's Disciples Matth. 5.16 Dr. Wilkinson Serm. 23 How must we do all in the Name of Christ Col. 3.17 Mr. Cole Serm. 24 How may we steer an even course between Presumption and Despair Luke 3.5 6. Mr. Fowler Serm. 25 How Christians may get such a faith as may not only be saving at last but comfortable and joyful at the present 2 Pet. 1.8 Dr. Jacomb Serm. 26 How Christians may learn in every state to be content Phil. 4.11 Dr. G. Serm. 27 How we may so bear afflictions as neither to despise them nor faint under them Heb. 12.5 Dr. Owen Serm. 28 How may we bring our Hearts to receive Reproofs Psal 141.5 Mr. T. Vincent Serm. 29 Wherein doth appear the blessedness of forgiveness and how it may be attained Psal 32.1 Mr. Silvester Serm. 30 How may we overcome the inordinate love of Life and fear of Death Acts 20.24 Mr. Hook Serm. 31 What gifts of Grace are chiefly to be exercis'd in order to an actual preparation for the coming of Christ by Death and Judgment Mat. 25.10 Quest How may we attain to love God with all our Hearts Souls and Minds Serm. I. Matth. 22.37 38. Jesus said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind This is the first and great Commandment IT is fit this Exercise should begin with a general Introduction that may indifferently serve every Sermon that shall be Preach'd I should be much mistaken and so would you too should we think this Text unsuitable let 's therefore not only in the fear but also in the love of God address our selves to the management of it This Command you have in Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might This Command is not found in Exodus nor in Leviticus but only in Deuteronomy i. e. the second Law of Moses which as some express it bore a Type of the second Law viz. the Evangelical to which this Command is proper for the Old Law was a Law of fear tending to bondage and therefore Moses mentions the incussion of terror in the giving of it which when he hath dispatch'd he begins the following Chapter with Love noting that the Holy Ghost will cause the Law of Love to succeed the Law of Fear And 't is observable that the Jews read this place with the highest observation and their Scribes write the first and last words of the Preface to it with greater Letters than ordinary to amplifie the sense and to note that this is the beginning and the end of the Divine Law and they read this Scripture morning and evening with great * Jansen Harmon The Occasion Religion The occasion of Christ's pressing this command upon them at this time was this when the Pharisees heard how he had baffled the Sadduces and stopped their mouths with so proper and fit an answer that they had no more to say they consult how they may shew their acumen and sharpness of wit to diminish Christ's credit concerning his Doctrine and Skill in Scripture and therefore they chuse out one of their most accomplish'd Interpreters of the Law captiously to propose an excellent question They call him Master whose Disciples they will not be they enquire after the Great Commandment who will not duely observe the least they thought Christ could not return such an answer but that they might very plausibly except against it * Cartw. Harm Auth. imperfect op If Christ should have named any one command to be the greatest their exception was ready why not another as great as that but Christ's wisdom shames their subtilty Christ doth not call any command Great with the lessening of the rest but he repeats the summe of the whole Law and distinguisheth it into two Great Commands according to the subordination of their Objects Thou shalt love c. Though the excellency of the subject calls for the enlargement of your hearts yet the copiousness of it requires the contracting of my discourse To save time therefore let me open my Text and Case both together The Case is this The Case What is it to love God with all the heart
and with all the soul and with all the mind and how may we be able to do it In short we must love God as near as it is possible infinitely For directions in this Case I shall follow this method 1. Shew you what it is to love God with all the heart and with all the soul and with all the mind 2. I shall endeavour to demonstrate that it is our unquestionable and indispensable duty so to love God 3. I shall acquaint you what Abilities are requisite for the well-discharging of this duty and how to attain them 4. I shall give you directions how to improve and augment all the abilities we can get that we may have a growing love to God 5. I shall close with the best perswasives I can think of that you would be graciously ambitious of such qualifications and vigorously diligent in such duties 1. What is it to love God with all the heart soul and mind We must not be too curious in distinguishing these words the same thing is meant when the words are used singly as a 1 King 14.8 David is said to follow God with all his heart and doubly b 2 King 23.3 Josiah made his people as well as himself to covenant to walk after the Lord with all their heart and all their soul and where three words are used as c Deut. 6 5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and when four words are used as d Mark 12.30 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength Love to God must go through and possess our whole nature and all the powers of it The mind must think of God the will must delight in God in short e Bucer our whole strength must be employ'd to please him We must love nothing more than God nothing equal with God we must love God above all and that for himself but all other things in God and for God We must be willing to lose all yea life it self rather than to admit any thing contrary to the love of God * Gerhard Harm All these expressions denote the intensness of our affections the unexpressibleness of our obligation and the contemptibleness of every thing that shall challenge a share in our love All these expressions admonish us of our infirmity provoke us to humility and set us a longing after a better life 'T is a notable expression of one g Auth. impers operis The love of the heart is not understood but felt the love of the soul is not felt but understood because the love of the soul is its judgment He that loves God as he is here commanded believes that all good is in God and that God is all that is good and that without God there is no good he believes that God is All Power and Wisdom and that without God there 's neither Power nor Wisdom c. But notwithstanding all that hath been spoken no doubt but there is a singular emphasis in the words and the Holy Ghost intends a more full declaration of the manner of our love by these several expressions Though to be over-critical in the distinguishing of these words will rather intricate than explicate this great command yet to follow a plain Scriptural interpretation will give light into the duty Let 's enquire therefore 1. What it is to love 2. What it is to love God 3. What it is to love God in that manner here express'd 1. What is love Love is an affection of union whereby we desire What love is or enjoy perpetual union with the thing loved h Mar. L. It is not a carnal love I am now to speak of the Philosopher could observe that there can be no true love among wicked men It is not a natural love for that may as well be brutish as rational and divine love is transcendently rational It is not a meerly moral love for that consists in a mean but divine love is alwayes in an extream Divine love is a compound of all the former but it adds infinitely more to them than it borrows of them Divine love is supernaturally natural it turns Moral virtues into Spiritual graces It engageth men to attempt as much for the glorifying of God as all the creatures besides from the highest Angel to the most insensible Stone 2. What it is love to God Methinks a lax description best suits my design This Divine love 't is the unspeakable enlargement of the heart towards God What it is to love God 't is the extasie and ravishment of the heart in God 't is the Soul's losing its self in God 't is the continual working of the heart towards God every faculty of the Soul is actually engaged The Mind is musing and plodding how to please God and enjoy him the Will is graciously obstinate the policy of hell cannot charm it off it's object the Affections are all Passions in their eager motions towards God the Conscience is a busie-body necessitating the whole man to a jealous watch I said this love 't is the enlargement of the heart towards God when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart 't is as the breaking of a Ball of lightning it sets all on a flame immediately It is the unspeakable enlargement of the heart towards God the highest Rhetorick is too flat to express it as is obvious in that Song of Songs that Song of loves I have no way to set this out unto you but by words the plainest and most intelligible expressions I can give you shall be by several similitudes which I shall pursue till they leave me to admiration I shall borrow Metaphors from things without life from Plants from sensitive Creatures from Man 1. The Soul's love to God may be a little shadow'd forth Metaphors to illustrate what it is to love God by the love of the Iron to the Loadstone which ariseth from a hidden quality though to say so is but the hiding of our ignorance the motion of the Iron toward the Loadstone is slow while at a distance but quick when near and when it but touches it it clings so fast that unless forc'd 't will never part and when it is parted 't will to the farthest part of the World retain the vertue of its touch so the soul while at a distance from God it moves slowly but as the Father draws it runs and when once it comes to be graciously united the Apostle asks i Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of God not only who shall hinder us from partaking of Gods love but who can take us off from our loving of God Christ gives the answer k John 10.28.29 their union with God their enjoyment of God is inseperable and though they may as sometimes they will in their
Whatever you say of God you may put an onely to it God so loves every gracious Soul as if he had no other Person to bestow his Love upon therefore thou must so love God as if there were nothing else in the world to bestow thy love upon Alas what 's thine to day as to outward things may be none of thine to morrow thou canst not say so of God God once thine and for ever thine But perhaps you will say Were God mine you should need to say no more to inflame my heart to love him Propriety in God! could I attain this I had enough This is it I wait for I pray for I think nothing too much for it I onely fear I shall never attain it the very comforts of my Life are imbitter'd for want of it To this I answer we cannot shake off God's Soverainty over us nor Propriety in us this you will grant God is and will be Thy God Thy Lord thy Sovereign Thy Commander let thy carriage be what it will the vilest wretches in the World cannot sin themselves from under God's dominion But there 's no comfort in this Well then I will therefore add thou that mournest after propriety in God God is thy God thy gracious God and Father thy God in Covenant thy God in mercy and loving kindness Do'st thou unfeignedly desire to love God then thou may'st be sure God loves thee for God loves first u 1 Joh. 4.19 Do'st thou not out of choice prefer the Service of God before all other Service then you shall abide in the love of God w Joh. 15.10 Brethren Love God as if he were peculiarly yours and you 'l thereby have an evidence that he is peculiarly yours It is reported of one that continued a whole night in Prayer and said nothing but this x Deus meus omnia mea Avend p. 382. My God and my All or God is Mine and all is Mine repeating this a thousand times over Let this be the constant breathing of thy Soul to God My God my All. 2 Ratione ordinis dignitatis 2. This is the first and great command in respect of order and dignity This is the great command because we must place this before all others in the very y In intimo cordis Anselm yelk of the heart as the only foundation of piety whatsoever is taught in the Law and in the Prophets flows from this as from a fountain grows upon this as upon a root z â— use If I forget not this is somewhere Augustin's Metaphor this is to the other commands as the needle to the thred it draws all after it 3 Ratione debiti 3. This is the first and great command in respect of obligation To love God is so indispensable that let me with Reverence say God cannot dispence with it As God first bestows his love upon us before any other gift and then whatever he gives afterwards he gives it in love So God requires that we first give him our hearts our love and then do all we do out of love to God Sometimes God will have mercy and not sacrifice divine duties shall give place to humane nay sometimes duties to God must give way to duties to a beast a Luk. 14.5 but however duties to God and Men may be justled to and fro yet there is not any duty can warrant the intermitting of any love to God so much as one moment 4 Ratione materiae 4. This is the first and great command in respect of the matter of it Love to God is the most excellent of all graces b 1 Cor 13.13 love among the graces is like the Sun among the Stars which not only inlightens the lower world but communicates light to all the Stars in the Firmament So love to God does not only its own office but the offices of all other Graces The Apostle names four graces that are necessary to government which love doth all their offices e. g. beareth all c 1 Cor. 13.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 candâ—r lenitas patientia Melanc in loc things i. e. love parteth with something of its right beareth the weaknesses of friends to preserve concord believeth all things i. e. candidly makes the best interpretation of all things is not distrustful or suspicious upon light and frivolous occasions hopeth all things that is gently waits for the amendment of that which is faulty endureth all things that is patiently bears injuries c. If you except this is spoken of love to men I readily answer that surely love to God for whose Image in men and command concerning men we love them will do greater things 5 Ratione amplitudinis 5. This is the first and great command in respect of the largeness of it This requires the whole man the whole heart the whole soul the whole mind the whole strength whatever else we entertain some other room may be good enough for it let the heart be kept for Gods peculiar presence Chamber God requires the whole Soul all the inferior powers of the Soul our whole life must be spent in the love of God This command reaches the whole mind God expects that we should in Judgment reason down every thing into contempt that should pretend a loveliness to justle out God 6. This is the first and great command in respect of its capacity 6 Ratione capacitaâ—â— because it contains all commands no man can love his Neighbour unless he love God and no man can love God but he must observe all his Commandments Origen makes enquiry how the Commands about legal purification may be reduced to the love of God every command of God hath its peculiar obligation but this Law of love hath a super-ingagement over them all e. g. Men may accept and commend several duties to them that have not one drop of love in them e. g. If I give bread to one that is ready to famish or Physick to one that is dangerously sick these things do good according to their own Natures and not according to the good will of the giver Alas Man needs relief and catcheth at it and never examines the heart or and whence it comes but now God is infinitely above needing any thing from us it is his gracious condescention to receive any thing from us and therefore God never accepts of any thing we do but what is done out of love to him 7. This is the first and great command in respect of the difficulties of it 7 Ratione difficultatis because through our infirmities not to mention worse we cannot presently love God the prime difficulty is the spirituality of it This wisdom (d) Prov. 24.7 is too high for foolish Sinners Though it is most rational yet it is the most spiritual and consequently the most difficult part of Religion Some commands may be observed without special grace as all the outside of Religion Yea
conformity with the will of God which is the highest liberty where the x 2 Cor. 3.17 spirit of the Lord is there is liberty It is a poor liberty that consists in an indifferency Do not the Saints in heaven love God freely yet they cannot but love him As the only Efficient cause of our loving God is God himself so the only procuring cause of our loving God is Jesus Christ that Son of the Father's love who by his Spirit implants and actuates this grace of love which he hath merited for us Christ hath a Col. 1.20 made peace through the blood of his Cross Christ hath as well merited this grace of love for us as he hath merited the reward of glory for us Plead therefore Dear Christians the merit of Christ for the inflaming your hearts with the love of God that when I shall direct to rules and means how you may come to love God you may as well address your selves to Christ for the grace of love as for the pardon of your want of love hitherto Bespeak Christ in some such but far more pressing language Lord thou hast purchased the grace of love for those that want and crave it my love to God is chill do thou warm it my love is divided Lord do thou unite it I cannot love God as he deserves O that thou would'st help me to love him more than I can desire Lord make me sick of love and then cure me Lord make me in this as comfortable to thy self as 't is possible for an adopted Son to be like the Natural that I may be a Son of God's love both actively and passively and both as near as it is possible infinitely Let 's therefore address our selves to the use of all those means and helps whereby love to God is b Fovetur augetur excitatur exeritur nourished encreased excited and exerted I will begin with removing the impediments we must clear away the rubbish e're we can so much as lay the Foundation Impediment 1. Self-love Impediments of our love to God this the Apostle names as Captain general of the Devil's Army whereby titular Christians manage their enmity against God in the dregs of the last dayes this will make the times dangerous Men shall be lovers of their own c 2 Tim. 3.1 2. selves When men over-esteem themselves their own endowments of either body or mind when they have a secret reserve for self in all they do self-applause or self-profit this is like an errour in the first concoction get your hearts discharg'd of it or you can never be spiritually healthful the best of you are too prone to this I would therefore commend it to you to be jealous of your selves in this particular for as conjugal-jealousie is the bane of conjugal love so self-jealousie will be the bane of self-self-love Be suspicious of every thing that may steal away or divert your love from God Imped 2. Love of the world this is so great an obstruction that the most loving and best beloved Disciple that Christ had said (d) 1 Joh. 2.15 love not the world nor the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him and the Apostle James makes use of a Metaphor (e) Jam. 4.4 calling them Adulterers and Adulteresses that keep not their conjugal love to God tight from leaking out toward the world he chargeth them as if they knew nothing in Religion if they knew not this that the friendship with the world is enmity with God and 't is an universal truth without so much as one exception that whosoever will be a friend of the world must needs upon that very account be God's enemy the Apostle Paul adds more weight to those that are e'en press'd to Hell already (f) 1 Tim. 6.9 10 11. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves thorow with many sorrows but thou O man of God flee these things c. when men will be some-body in the world they will have Estates and they will have honours and they will have pleasures what variety of vexatious distractions do unavoidably hinder our love to God when our hearts are hurried with hopes and fears about worldly things and the world hath not wherewithall to satisfie us how doth the heart fret under its disappointments and how can it do otherwise we would have happiness here Sirs I 'le offer you fair name me but one man that ever found a compleat happiness in the world and I dare promise you shall be the second but if you will flatter your self with dreams of impossibilities this your way will be your folly though 't is like your posterity will approve your sayings (g) Psal 49.13 and try experiments while they live as you have done but where 's your love to God all this while 't is excluded by what Law by the Law of Sin and Death by the love of the world and destruction for Christ tells us all that hate him love death (h) Prov. 8.36 Imped 3. Spiritual sloath and carelessness of Spirit when men do not trouble themselves about Religion nor any thing that is serious Love is a busie passion a busie grace love among the passions is like Fire among the Elements Love among the Graces is like the Heart among the Members now that which is most contrary to the nature of love must needs most obstruct the highest actings of it the truth is a careless frame of Spirit is fit for nothing a sluggish lazy slothful careless person never attains to any excellency in any kind what is it you would intrust a lazy person about let me say this and pray think on 't twice e're you censure it once Spiritual sloath doth Christians more mischief than scandalous relapses I grant their grosser falls may be worse as to others the grieving of the Godly and the hardning of the wicked and the Reproach to Religion must needs be so great as may make a gracious heart tremble at the thought of falling but yet as to themselves a sloathful temper is far more prejudicial e. g. those gracious persons that fall into any open sin 't is but once or seldom in their whole life and their repentance is ordinarily as notorious as their sin and they walk more humbly and more watchfully ever after whereas Spiritual sloath runs through the whole course of our life to the marring of every duty to the strengthning of every sin and to the weakning of every grace Sloath I may rather call it unspiritual sloath is a soft moth in our spiritual wardrobe a corroding rust in our spiritual Armory an enfeebling consumption in the very vitals of Religion Sloath and
carelessness without an Epithete bare sloath without any thing to aggravate it ordinarily doth the Soul more hurt than all the Devils in hell yea than all its other sins Shake off this and then you will be more than Conquerors over all other difficulties shake off this and there is but one sin that I can think of at present that you 'l be in danger of and that 's spiritual pride You 'l thrive so fast in all grace you 'l grow up into so much communion with God that unless God sometimes withdraw to keep you humble you will have a very Heaven upon Earth Imped 4. The love of any sin whatsoever the love of God and the love of any Sin can no more mix together than Iron and Clay every Sin strikes at the being of God (i) Deicidium The very best of Saints may possibly fall into the very worst of pardonable Sins but the least of Saints get above the love of the least of Sins we are ready to question Gods love unto us as Dalilah did Sampson's love to her if he do not gratifie us in all we have a mind to but how could Dalilah pretend love to Sampson while she comply'd with his mortal enemy against him how can you pretend to love God while you hide Sin his enemy in your hearts as it was with the grand-child of Athaliah (k) 2 King 11.1 2 c. stoln from among those that were slain and hidden though unable at present to disturb her e're long procures her ruine so any Sin as it were stoln from the other Sins to be preserv'd from Mortification will certainly procure the ruine of that Soul that hides it can you hide your Sin from the search of the Word and forbear your Sin while under the smart of affliction and seem to fall out with Sin when under gripes of Conscience and return to Sin as soon as the storm is over never pretend to love God God sees through your pretences and abhors your hypocrisie (l) Job 34.21 22. His eyes are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings there 's no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Come Sirs let me deal plainly with you you are shameful strangers to your own heart if you do not know which is your darling Sin or Sins and you are Traytors to your own Souls if you do not endeavour a through Mortification and you are wilful Rebels against God if you do in the least indulge it never boggle at the Psalmist's counsel (m) Psal 97.10 ye that love the Lord hate evil Imped 5. Inordinate love of things lawful and in some respect here 's our greatest danger here persons have Scripture to plead for their love to several persons and things that it is a duty to bestow some love upon them and the meer stones are not so plainly set as easily to discern the utmost bounds of what is lawful and the first step into what is sinful and here having some plausible pretences for the parcelling out of their love they plead not guilty though they love not God with all their hearts souls and minds whereas they should consider that the best of the world is not for enjoyment but use not our end but means conducing to our chief end Here 's our sin and our misery our foolish transplacing of end and means Men make it their end to eat and drink and get estates and injoy their delights and what respect they have to God I know not whether to call love or Service they shew it but as means to flatter God to gratifie them in their pitiful ends Having warned you of some of the chief Impediments I shall propose some means to engage your hearts in love to God which you may confidently expect to be effectual through the operation of the Holy Ghost and you may likewise expect the operation of the Spirit in the use of such means The means are either Directing Promoting or Conserving Means to attain love to God 1. Directing and that is Spiritual Knowledge this is beyond what can be spoken in its commendation A clear and distinct knowledge of the love and loveliness of God in the amazing yet ravishing methods of its manifestations and the clear understanding of the heavenly priviledge of having our hearts inflam'd with love to God this will do I would fain perswade you to try I am not able to say how much to direct you in this case plainly get and exercise this twofold knowledge 1. The knowledge of Spiritual things did we but perfectly know the Nature of the most contemptible insect nay did we but know the Nature of Atoms this would lead us to admire and love God but then to know those things that no graceless person in the world cares for the knowledge of e. g. the inward workings of Original Sin and how to undermine it the powerful workings of the Spirit of grace and how to improve it what are the joys of the Holy Ghost and how to obtain them would not such things insinuate the love of God into you add then 2. The knowledge of ordinary things in a Spiritual manner so as to make the knowledge of Natural things serve Heavenly designs Thus Christ in all the Metaphors in all the Parables he used To value no knowledge any further than it is reducible to such an use this would lead us into the loving of God Thus I name but one directing means promoting means are various not but that Spiritual knowledge doth singularly promote the love of God but it 's proper work lyes in directing The several things I shall name for inward means your way of managing must make them so 1. Self-denyal this is so necessary that no other grace can supply the want of it It is among the graces of the Soul as among the members of the Body one member may supply the want of another the defect of the Lungs may be supplied by other parts The want of prudence may be supplied with Gospel-simplicity which looks like quite another thing but nothing can supply our want of love to God nor can any thing supply our want of Self-denyal in order to our loving of God We can never have n Fo◠fotidissimus suo 〈◊〉 horribilissimum stercus vermis nequis simus Bonavent stimul Amor. p 153. too low thoughts of ourselves provided we do not neglect our duty and let go our hold of Christ Those very things that not only we may love but we must love 't is our duty to love them and our sin not to love them yet all these must be denyed when they dare to stand in competition with our love to God o Luk. 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Christ would have us count what Religion will cost us
doth God mean to give me such a command as never to any one else in this world He consults not his Wife Oh what will Sarah say He sticks not at what might expose Religion What will the Heathen say You may well suppose great struglings between Nature and Grace but God seemed to press upon him with this Question Whether dost thou love me or thy child most Abraham doth as it were answer Nay Lord if that be the question it shall soon be decided how and where thou pleasest Another instance we have in Moses (k) Exod. 3.13 and 33.15.18 if you will compare two or three Scriptures Moses at first he enquires of God as we do of a stranger what is his Name upon Gods further discovery he begs more of his special presence and upon God's granting of that his Love grows bold and he said I beseech thee shew me thy Glory upon his finding God propitious he begs that God would remove the cloud and shew him as much of his Glory as he was possibly able to bear the sight of Take one instance more and that is of Paul who thinking God might have more glory by saving of many than by saving of him was willing to quit the happiness of salvation for not the least Grace much less grace in the height of it could possibly choose a necessity of hating and blaspheming God which is the venom of Damnation but his Love to God is greater than his love to himself and so he 'l reckon himself happy without Glory provided God may be more glorified And thus I have produced three Examples of one before the Law one under the Law and one under the Gospel How will you receive it if I shall venture to say We have in some respect more cause to love God than any than all these Persons put together What singular gleams of warm Love from God they had more than we are in some respects exceeded by the noon-day light and heat of Gospel-love that we have more than they What love-visits God was pleased to give them are excelled by Christs as to them extraordinary presence among us What was to them a Banquet is to us our daily bread God opens the windowes of heaven to us God opens his very heart to us We may read more of the Love of God to us in one day than they could in their whole Life 2. Angels that unweariedly behold the face of God (l) Mat. 18.10 they refuse nothing that may evidence their love to God 'T is ordinarily the Devils work to be the Executioners of Gods wrath it is said (m) Psal 78.49 he cast upon them the fierceness of his anger wrath and indignation and trouble by sending evil Angels among them but the good Angels will not stick at it when God requires it (n) 2 King 19.35 The Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians 185000. But now we have more cause to love God than the Angels God hath expressed greater Love to us in Christ than he hath to them He took no hold of Angels c. (o) Heb. 2.16 not any one of them receiv'd so much as the pardon of any one sin God would not bear with them in so much as the least tittle So soon as they ceased to love God with a perfect love God hated them with a perfect hatred And for the blessed Angels (p) Heb. 1.14 are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation but none of the Saints are to minister to the Angels in any thing How should we love such a Master but I have a Pattern to commend to you above the Angels 3. Christ and oh that the mention of Christs Love to his Father might transport us though Christ did nothing but (q) Joh. 8.29 what pleased his Father Christ suffered every thing that might please him ( ) Phil. 2.8 Christ obeyed every Command endured every Threatning that it was possible to endure and that to the intensive extent of them yet God dealt more hardly with Christ than ever he doth with any of us (s) Isa 53.10 It pleased the Father to bruise him and to put him to grief whereas the Church in the midst of her Lamentations must acknowledge (t) Lam. 3.33 he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of men yet Christ pray'd (u) Joh 17.23 that the world may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me Should not we then pray and strive to love God as near as it is possible as Christ loved him Christ had not one hard thought of Gods severe Justice no not when he endur'd what was equivalent to the eternal torments of the Damned and shall our love shrink at Gods fatherly Chastisements Christs love to God did not abate while God poured out his Wrath and shall ours abate under Medicinal Providences whatever our outward condition is in this World 't is better than Christ's Thus I have endeavoured to acquaint you what Abilities are requisite and how to attain them that you may love God c. How to improve and augment our love to God 4. How to improve and augment all our possible abilities to love God with all our Heart Soul Mind and Strength and for this I shall give you one general yet singular direction though I must inform direct and press several things under it and that is set your selves to love God Set upon it as you are able do for the engaging of your love to God as you would do for engaging your hearts in love to a person commended to you for marriage Here 's a person commended to you which you never saw nor before heard of All the report you can hear speaks a great suitableness in the person and consequently happiness in the match you thereupon entertain the motion and a treaty to see whether reports be true and affections feasible though at first you find no affection on either side yet if you meet with no discouragements you continue converse till by a more intimate acquaintance there ariseth a more endearedness of affection at length a non-such love becomes mutual Do something like this in spirituals I now solemnly bespeak your highest love for God Perhaps God and thy soul are yet strangers thou hast not yet met with him in his ordinances nor savingly heard of him by his spirit Don't slight the overture for from thy first entertainment of it thou wilt be infinitely happy Every thing of Religion is at first uncouth the work of mortification is harsh and the work of holâ—ness difficult but practice will facilitate them and make thee in love with them so the more thou acquaintest thy self with God the more thou canst not but love him especially considering that God is as importunate with thee for thy love as if his own happiness was concern'd whereas he is infinitely above receiving benefit
from us but seeing he is so earnest with thee for thy love Beg it of him for him God is more willing to give every grace than thou canst be to receive it Acquaint (w) Job 22.21 26. thy self therefore with God and thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty and shalt lift up thy face unto God Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee What though thou beginnest at the lowest step of Divine love thou mayst through grace mount up to the highest pinnacle I willingly wave so much as mentioning the several methods proposed and shall from a modern Author commend to you these five steps or degrees of love to God Degrees of love to God Psal 31.23 1. Degree is to love God for those good things which we do or hope to receive from him to love God as our Benefactour O love the Lord all ye his saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful Though I name this as the lowest degree of our loving of God yet the highest degree of our loving God is never separated from the loving of God as our benefactour It is mention'd in Moses's (a) Heb. 11.26 commendation of that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of reward To love God for hopes of heaven is not a mercenary kind of love it is not only lawful that we may but it is our duty that we must love God for the glory that is laid up for us Where is the man that will own the name of Christian who dare charge Christ with any defect of love to God while the Scripture saith expresly (b) Heb. 12.2 that for the joy set before him he endured the cross despising the shame and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God Is it not no question but it is an infinite kindness of God to make promises and is it not grosly absurd to say it is a sin to believe them when our love shall be perfected in heaven shall we then love God and shall not we then love God as well for our perfect freedom from sin for our perfection of grace for the society of Saints and Angels as for himself If you question this surely you will startle more at what I shall farther assert viz. To love God for temporal benefits does infallibly evidence us eminently spiritual nay further yet I shall commend to the consideration of the most considerate Christian Whether our loving of God for the good things of this life doth not evidence a greater measure of love to God than to love God onely for the gracious communication of himself unto the soul I speak of truely loving God not of bare saying you love him now I evidence it thus God's gracious communications of himself naturally tend to the engaging of the soul to love him but the things of the world do not so God's gracious communications of himself speak special love on God's part and that draws out love again but alas common mercies speak no such thing Now then that soul that is so graciously ingenuous as to love God for those lower kinds of mercies that do not of themselves speak any love from God to us that love of God looks something like though it is infinitely short of it for it is impossible to prevent God in his loving of us but it looks somewhat like our being before-hand with God in the way of Special love To love God spiritually for temporal mercies how excellent is this love though to love a Benefactor may be but the love of a brute yet to love God Thus as our Benefactor cannot but be the love of a Saint you see therefore that though you begin your love to God at below what is rational it may insensibly grow up to what is little less than Angelical 2. The second step of our love to God is to love God for himself because he is the most excellent good you may abstract the consideration of his beneficence to us from his excellency in himself and then when the Soul can rise thus Lord though I should never have a smile from thee while I live and should be cast off by thee when I dye yet I love thee Alas why is this named as the second step surely there are but few can rise so high Pray Christians mind this There 's many a gracious Soul loves God for himself who dare scarce own it that he loves God at all e. g. when the Soul is in perplexing darkness and cannot discern any Covenant-interest in God but as the Church bemoans her self God hath (c) Lam. 3.8.15 18 c. filled me with bitterness he hath made me drunken with wormwood My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord when I cry and shout he shutteth out my prayers c. In short 't is the case every Soul that is under sore temptations or long desertions yet mark you while they thus walk in darkness and see no light yet then a discerning Christian may see his love to God like Moses's face shine to others observation though not their own as may be particularly thus evidenced when God smites them they love him for they are still searching what sin it is that he contends for that they may get rid of it not hide it nor excuse it when they fear God will damn them then they love him for they then keep in the way of holiness which is the way of Salvation yea they will not be drawn out of it though carnal Friends like Job's Wife bid them curse God and dye though Satan tell them they strive in vain though their discouragements are multiplyed and their diligence is disappointed yet they are resolved like Job who said (d) Job 27.2 5 6 10. Though God hath taken away my judgment and the Almighty hath vexed my soul I will not remove my integrity from me my righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live q. d. I will delight in the Almighty or nothing I will alwayes call upon God though he should never regard me Or though the Soul under trouble will not own so much goodness in it self as to say thus yet the conversation of such Christians speaks it plainly and can such a frame proceed from any thing but love to God doth not grace work in the Soul like Physick in the Body the Mother gives her Child Physick the Physick in its working makes the Child Sick the Child when sick instead of being angry with the Mother for the Physick makes all its moan to the Mother hangs about her layes its head in her bosome Is not this love to the Mother though she gave this Sick-physick So my Brethren God deals with his Children what though some of his dealings makes them heart-sick yet they cling to him fearing nothing but Sin and can bear any
thing but his displeasure Is not here love and do not these love God for himself 't is true God's love to them all this while is great but they perceive it not 3. The third step is to love nothing but for God's sake in him and for him and to him It is said to be Teresia's Maxime All that is not God is nothing indeed the very word that Solomon uses for (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vanitas quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nâ—n Deuâ— Merc. Pagn vanity which he indorseth upon the best of Creature-happiness in the very notion of it proclaims it It is not God therefore it is vanity 't is a noble employment to try experiments upon every lovely object to reduce our love to them to the love of God To be still musing upon spiritual cases still supplying of spiritual wants still longing for spiritual enjoyments that I may not only love others things in subordination to God but to love nothing but for God e. g. In all outward enjoyments have I an estate I will honour God with my substance because I love him Have I any thing pleasant or delightful in this world I 'le run it up to the fountain O how pure and satisfying are the loving Soul's delights in God Have I any esteem in the world I am no way fond of it but so far as it may make my attempts for the honour of God more successful I 'le improve it and upon all other accounts decline it Nearer yet My Relations are dear unto me I truely love them but yet my love to God shall animate my love to them e.g. I truly love my friend but this shall be my love's exercise to perswade him to love God I dearly love my Parents but Oh no Father like God my Soul is overcome with that expression of Christ's (p) Mat. 12.50 whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother My conjugal relation is dearest to me but my heart is passionately set upon this that we may both be infallibly espoused unto Christ my heart yearns towards my children but I had rather have them God's Children than mine Nearer yet as to inward qualifications e. g. for natural parts I bless God that I am not an Idiot that I have any capacity of understanding but I am resolved to the utmost of my capacity to endeavour the convincing of all I converse with that to love and enjoy God is most highly rational and most eminently our interest Have I any acquired endowments of Learning or Wisdom I bless God for them but I count all Wisdom folly and all Learning dotage without the knowledge of God in Christ (q) 1 Cor. 8.2 3. If any man thinks that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know but if any man love God the same is known of him Higher yet for gracious qualifications that capacitate me for glory I love grace the best of any creature wherever I see it but 't is for the sake of the God of all grace without whom my grace is inconsiderable Once more higher yet and higher than this I think we cannot go To love those things that are not lovely meerly for God's sake or out of love to God e.g. How many have you heard complain for want of afflictions for fear God does not love them though by the way those betray their weakness who thus complain for did they but observe their want of evidence of divine love and did they more sympathize with the Church of Christ under the Cross they would find they need not complain for want of afflictions But be it so complain they do and that for want of afflictions Afflictions are no way lovely we are no where bid to pray for them but 't is our duty to pray for preventing and removing them and yet the gracious Soul is through love to God in some respect in love with them Here 's a notable degree of divine love that the Soul would upon any terms experiment the love of God and engage the heart in love to God again and to love nothing but for God 4. The fourth step of our love to God is for our highest love of every thing to be hatred in comparison of our love to God The truth is we can never so plainly know to what a degree we love God as by weighing it against whatever stands in competition with it Why should I so far debase my love to God as to weigh it in the same ballance with love to sin but alas why do besotted Sinners so dote upon sin as if love to God were not worthy to be compar'd with it Methinks I may a little more than allude to that passage of Isaiah (h) Isa 46.6 they lavish Gold out of the bag and weigh Silver in the ballance and hire a Goldsmith and he maketh it a God c. they give out their Gold by handfuls without weighing for matter of their Idols but they will be good Husbands in their expences about the workmanship of them Man cares not at what rate he loves his Idols those lusts upon which they bestow their affections due to God alone though in all other things they are wary enough But why should I wast time in speaking to these they have not yet gone one step towards the love of God and therefore are so far behind that they are not within learning of what is spoken to good proficients in the love of God Let me only leave with them this parting word From a person's first sincere and ardent love to God he can neither speak nor think of sin without abhorrency From the first infusion of grace there 's a graciously natural antipathy against sin Sin receives its death's wound 't is too true it may struggle for life and seem to be upon recovery but grace will wear it out and will never leave the conflict till it has obtain'd the conquest But this is not the thing I intended to speak to in this particular it is other-guess things than Sin that the Soul that loves God is afraid to spill his love upon he prizeth those Ordinances wherein he meets with Communion with God but is afraid his love should terminate there he values them but as Windows to let in the light though something excellent may be written there as with the point of a Diamond yet it is neither writing nor window is prized but the light when that 's gone shut up the window as if it were a dead wall that 's no more regarded till the light returns 'T is the light of God's countenance that is better than life it self Perhaps you 'l say this comes not up to what I asserted that our highest love to every thing is to be hatred in comparison of our love to God Well let this be warily considered one whose love to God is at this height is exactly curious in the
quoad modum tendâ—nd in objectam 1 Cor. 13.8 Voet. ibid. Love never faileth the same kind of love the same Numerical love that was in gracious Persons on Earth shall be continued in Heaven and receive it's perfection presently after its delivery from the Body of Death There will be a greater change in all our Graces than in our Love A great part of our Life is taken up in the Exercise of those Graces that I may in some respect say dye with us The one half of our Life is or should be spent in Mortification The whole of our time needs the exercise of our Patience Our Life at best is but a Life of Faith much of our sweet Communion with God is fetch'd in by secret Prayer But now in Heaven there shall be no sin to be mortifi'd nothing grievous to be endured Faith shall be swallow'd up in Enjoyment and your Petitions shall be all answer'd So that now Christians set your selves to love God and you shall no way lose your labour Other Graces are but as Physick to the Soul desirable for something else which when obtained they are useless but Love to God is the healthful Constitution of the Soul there 's never any thing of it in any sence useless Most of the Graces of the Spirit do by our Souls as our Friends by our Bodies who accompany them to the Grave and there leave them But now love to God is the alone Grace that is to our Souls the same that a good Conscience our best Friend in both Worlds 4. This Divine Love is so unknown to the World that when they behold the Effects and flames of it in those that love God in an extraordinary manner they are ready to explode it as meer Vanity Folly Madness Ostentation and Hypocrisie When Paul manag'd his Audience more like a Sermon than a Defence Festus cries out upon him as mad (h) Acts 26.24 Yea when Christ himself in love to God and Souls is more hungry after Converts than Food his nearest Relations think him craz'd and the multitude cometh together again Mark 3.20 21 32. so that they could not so much as eat bread and when his Friends heard of it they went out to lay hold on him for they said he is beside himself But were they any other but his carnal and graceless Relations that did this See behold thy Mother and thy Brethren without seek for thee (i) 1 John 3.13 No marvel then that Enemies reproach you Friend forsake you Relations slight you and the World hate you Christ tells us (k) Joh. 15.18 23. if the World hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you But how can the World hate Christ who in love to it came to dye for it Christ tells his Hearers the true Reason (l) Joh. 5.40 42. I know you this is no groundless surmise nor censorious rashness but I know you that you have not the love of God in you Let what will appear at the top this lies at the bottom And therefore judge I pray you who more phanatick those that hate God when they pretend to love him or those that are counted phrantick for their serious Love to God I shall neither name more nor enlarge further on this first rank of Characters but be brief also in the second The Absolute Properties of Love to God are among many some of them such as these 1. It is the most ingenious of all Graces In poor inconsiderable Loves not worth the mentioning how do persons contrive wayes for the expressing and exciting of Love and there 's no way to prevent it Oh how much more when the Soul loves God there 's nothing meliorates the parts like Grace Divine Love makes the best improvement of Wit Parts Time when a Person loves to pray though he can scarce speak sence to men he can strenuously plead with God a person that loves to meditate though he knows not how to make his thoughts hang together in other things they multiply on his hand with a spiritual and profitable consistency In short to do any thing that may engage the Heart to God what gracious stratagems doth Love abound with That (m) Nieremberg de art Vol. p. 114. as he that beholds his Face in a Glass makes the Face which he sees his very look is the Pensil the Colour the Art so he that loves God sees such a Reflexion of God's love to him that a proud person doth not more please her self in her own fancyed beauty than this gracious Soul is graciously delighted in the mutual dartings of Divine Love Keep from Will-worship and humane Inventions in the things of God especially from imposing upon others your Prudentials of Devotion and then I will commend it to you to try all the Experiments which the Scripture will warrant to encrease the flame of your Divine love 2. Love to God is the most bold strong constant and daring Grace of all the Graces of the Spirit of God (n) Cant. 8.6 Love is strong as Death every one knows what work Death makes in the World It is not the Power of Potentates nor the Reverence of Age nor the usefulness of Grace can prevent its stroke it conquers all So doth love to God Nothing can stand before it what dare not love to God attempt It designs impossibilities viz. Perfection and is restless for the want of it I may in some sence say it would fain have contradictions true viz. to be without the Body while in it the Body's being a clog is so wearisome Love to God not only baffles Satan but through God's gracious condescension it even prevails with God himself that God will deny nothing to the Soul that loves him 3. Love to God is the onely self-emptying and satisfying Grace (o) Nieremb p. 322 c. spaâ—siâ— Love 't is self's egress 't is a kind of Pilgrimage from self he that loves is absent from himself thinks not of himself provides not for himself But oh how great is the gain of renouncing our selves and thereby receiving God and our selves we are as it were dead to our selves and live to God nay more by love we live in God (p) 1 John 4.16 God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him By Faith we live upon God by Obedience we live to God but by Love we live in God It is herein alone that we can give something like a carnal though 't is indeed an highly spiritual answer to Nicodemus his question (q) Joh. 3.4 How can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mothers Womb and be born We have our Soulâ— immediately from the Father of Spirits by Regeneration we return to God again from whom by Sin we are estranged and by love we live in him in some little resemblance to the Child's living in the Mother's womb what the mother loves the
taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes Again O let not the Lord be angry and I will speak (z) Psal 89.7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him Methinks that passage of Christ to his Disciples with the circumstance of time when he spake it just upon the most servile action of his life may for ever keep an awe upon our hearts (a) Joh. 13 12 13. Know ye what I have done unto you Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for so I am When God deals most familiarly with us as with friends let us carry it reverently as becomes servants 3. Obedience to the commands of God and to those commands which would never be obeyed but out of love to God (b) 1 Joh. 5.3 For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous e. g. to obey those commands that are unpleasing and troublesome Those commands that thwart our carnal reason and so part with things present for the hopes of that we never saw 1 Joh. 2.5 nor any man living that told us of them Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby we know that we are in him Once more hear what Christ saith 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 unto him Joh. 14.21 23 And again if any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him 4. Resignation of our selves to God whereby we devote our selves wholly to God to be wholly his (e) quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be every way disposed of as he pleaseth (f) 2 Cor. 5.14 15. The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead And that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them c. This resignation is like that in the conjugal relation it debars so much as treating with any other it as it were proclaims an irreconcileable hatred to any that would partake of any such love God doth not deal with us as with slaves but takes us into that relation which speaks most delight and happiness and we are never more our own than when we are most absolutely his 5. Adhesion and cleaving unto God in every case and in every condition (g) Psal 63.7 8. in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce my soul followeth hard after thee Methinks we may say of the law concerning (h) Deut. 22.6 birds what the Apostle saith of the law concerning oxen doth God take care of birds for our sakes no doubt 't is written to instruct us against cruelty but may we not learn a further lesson the bird was safe while on her nest our onely safety is with God Now to cleave to God in all conditions not onely when we fly to him as our onely refuge in our pressures but in our highest prosperity and outward happiness when we have many things to take to whence the world expects happiness this is a fruit of great and humble love this demonstrates an undervaluing of the world and a voluntary choosing of God this is somewhat like heavenly love 6. Tears and sighes through desires and joys when the spiritual love-sick soul would in some such but an unexpressable manner breath out it's sorrows and joys into the bosom of God Lord why thus loving to me and why is my heart no more overcome with divine love those that never receiv'd so much from thee love thee more O I am weary of my want of love O I am weary of my distance from God! O I am weary of my unspiritual frame we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life i Here when the heart is ready to dye away through excess of love 2 Cor 5.4 't is passionately complaining of defects Dear Lord what shall I say what shall I do what shall I render O for more endearing communications of Divine love O for more answerable returns of love to God! Thus much of effects as to God The onely effect I shall name as to us is a seeking of heaven and things above with contempt of the world and all worldly excellencies One that loves God thinks he can never do enough in heavenly employments A person that abounds in love to God is too apt to neglect secondary duties which are in their places necessary they are apt to justle out one duty with another e.g. those duties wherein they have most sensible communion with God bear down lesser duties before them whereas could we keep within Scripture-bounds and mind every duty according to it's moment then this is an excellent effect of divine love e. g. to be afraid of worldly enjoyments lest they should steal the heart from God yet at the same time not to dare to omit any worldly duty lest I should prove partial in the work of Christianity To make conscience of the least duties because no sin is little but to be proportionably careful of the greatest duties lest I should prove an hypocrite such a carriage is an excellent effect of divine love this is fruit that none who are not planted near the tree of life can bear Mutual effects are these and such like as these 1. Vnion with God Union is the foundation of communion and communion is the exercise of union The Spirit of God is the immediate efficient cause of this union and faith is the internal instrument on our part but love is the internal instrument both on God's part and ours (k) Eph. 3.17 Christ dwells in our hearts by faith we being rooted and grounded in love This union is most immediately with Christ and through him with the Father and Holy Ghost It is an amazing and comfortable truth that our union with Christ does much resemble the personal union of the two natures in Christ I grant 't is unlike it in more considerations because of the transcendency of the mystery but yet there 's some resemblance e. g. the Humane Nature in Christ is destitute of it's subsistence and personality by it's union with and it's assumption to the divine so the gracious soul hath no kind of denomination but what it hath from its union with Christ It 's gracious being is bound up in its union with Christ Other men can live without Christ but so cannot the gracious soul Again in Christ there 's a communication of properties that is thâ—t which
children or lands for my sake and the Gospel but that he shall receive an hundred fold Now in this time an hundred fold more comfort in parting with all for Christ than he could have had in keeping all and denying of him But why should I name particulars there 's enough in one Scripture whence to form many incentives to love God (y) Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are called according to his purpose Pray mark this place We 'T is not only the Apostle but all Believers Know 't is not we only Think or Hope but we Know that all things all those afflicting providences which are most grievous to be born all those dark providences which we know not what to make of work together though we cannot presently anatomize every particular providence yet in their contexture we can't but say they are gracious and for good for the spiritual and eternal good of all them that love God O but here I stick I cannot say I love God Read on the next clause is the best Interpreter of this To them that are the called according to his purpose that is plainly to those that obey Christ's call in his Word to all that are converted to all that are willing to be taught and rul'd by Jesus Christ And though thou darest not own thy conversion yet thou darest not deny this evidence of it viz. That thou wouldst fain comply with Christ in every thing 2. Love to God enobles all other graces I will not meddle with the controversie about faith's being informed by love or love being as it were the Soul of faith The Scripture tells that faith works by love (z) Gal 5.6 and 't is by loving nothing so much as God Love is the most ingenuous grace the most heavenly grace the most God-like grace all other graces are more or less excellent as they are enlivened with love to God Sales (a) Sales of the love of God p 670 c. Spaâ—sim illustrates it thus The General of an Army having gain'd some renowned victory will have all the glory of it for he ordered the Battel and led them on we name the Services of the several parts of the Army both the Vanguard the Body the Wings the Rear So here some Christians are singular for Faith others for Alms deeds some for Prayer others for Humility but Love to God commands all these Love commands Patience to bear and Hope to wait and Faith to believe Elsewhere he compares love to Scarlet which is a Royal cloath not for the wool but for the dye so a Soul as it were double dip'd in love to God is the most excellent Christian 3. Love to God rectifieth all other loves and keeps them in due bounds The same Author hath this other illustration viz. I may love my servant but if I doe not love my child better than I love my Servant I am defective in my love Well then I must love my child but if I do not love my wife better than I love my child I am defective in my love Well then I must love my wife but if I do not love God infinitely more than I love my wife I am defective in my love You shall see saith he a Mother so busie about her child as if she had no love for any one else as if her Eyes were for nothing else but to look upon it and her Mouth for nothing else but to kiss it But now if she must lose her child or her husband her love to her Husband is so great as if she had no love for her child at all So when God and those we most dearly love stand in competition you may soon see the subordination of our love Though let me add this for your encouragement God never calls for the hating of other things for love to himself but he doth most singularly make up in himself whatever any one parts with for him when God requires the banishment of other Objects it is to communicate himself more fully more clearly more sweetly Look over what Martyrology you please I think you will scarce find so much as One dying for Christ any other way than Triumphing whereas many of as eminent Graces as they dye in their Beds little less than despairing What encouragement may this be for the worst of times 4. Our love to God doth more sensibly quiet our hearts than God's love to us for though God's love to us be infinitely greater than our love to God yet till his love to us have drawn out our love to him we do more abuse his kindness than other persons do whom he doth not so love This is most evident in a person just upon the borders of conversion but yet unconverted God is abundant in his love of Benevolence he is now engag'd upon the making of means effectual for his through-regeneration but now in this work there are several things to be done which though they speak greater love on Gods part than ever he before shewed him yet while God is at work the person quarrels with God more than about any former providences of his Life God to tame him brings him under great Afflictions upon which he either flyes in his face or lies sullen at his feet and thinks he may well do so well but God will not thus leave him God follows him with terrors of Conscience the arrows of God stick fast in him and the poyson thereof drinketh up his spirits but he will not yet yield he holds fast his iniquity which he 's as loth to part with as his life and rather hates than loves God for all this kindness so that till he is brought to love God God's love to him doth no way quiet him by which you may plainly see that let Gods love to us be never so great we misinterpret all till we love God again and then let God do what he will Da mihi Domine Sanctum amorem tuum mitte me si vis in ignem inferni Stell de amore dei p. 314 c. he is quiet let his sufferings be next to Hell torments he 'l not allow one hard thought of God Therefore be perswaded to get encrease and exercise this Love to God with all your hearts souls and minds I have been too long already and therefore will be as brief as may be in answering these two Complaints 1. Complaint All that hath been said makes me fear I have no true love to God at all I cannot say I love God more than the Creature I feel my heart more sensibly warping towards the World in the Service of God than springing towards God in my worldly affairs To this I answer by these Distinctions Distinction 1. We must distinguish between the Estimation of our love and the Commotion of it the Commotion may be greater where the Estimation is less One whose love is fixed upon God though he
under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him Doth God take care for Oxen for mans sake doubtless this is written and so it appears plainly in the text Thou shalt surely help with him thou shalt bring it back again to him it was to be done not only in mercy to the beast but in love to the man Besides how can we think that God would require us to bring back a straying Ox and to relieve an Asse oppressed with his burden and lay no duty on us to a Man in such a condition doubtless if we are bound to bring back an Ox that goeth astray we are much more obliged to bring back a Man when we find him going astray from God and if we are to help an Asse that lyeth under his burden much more a Man when we see him oppressed with His. We see then whom we are to account our Neighbour any man whomsoever Friend or Enemy that lives nigh to us or at a greater distance from us 2. We come now to speak of the second thing propounded and that is the lawfulness of a mans loving himself Every man may yea it is a Duty lying on every man to love himself This may seem strange when we see self-love every where branded in the Scripture so that there is hardly any sin described in so black a character as this It is a sin indeed that includes many others in the bowels of it we may say of it James 3.6.8 as the Apostle James doth of the tongue It is a fire a world of iniquity it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison Unbelief and self-self-love are the immediate parents of all the mischiefs and abominations that are in the world and therefore we have this set in the front of all the evils that make the last times perillous 2 Tim. 3.1.2.3 In the last days perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false-accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitors heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God c. And if you can find a larger catalogue of abominations than you have here set down to your hand self-self-love is the mother of them all it is this that makes all the stir that is in the world It is this that disturbs Families Churches Cities Kingdoms in a word this is the grand Idol that is set up to be worshipped all the world over greater by far than Diana of the Ephesians Act. 19.27 whom yet all Asia and the world were said to worship It is that Idol which every man must endeavour to take down for until that be done we shall find little peace within our selves or quietness among men Notwithstanding this we must say that it is lawful and a duty incumbent on every man to love himself There is a two-fold self 1. A natural Self 2. A sinful Self This is to be hated the other loved We cannot hate sinful self too much though it be to the destruction of it this is that which we are bound to kill mortifie and utterly destroy Christ came into the world purposely to help and assist us in the destruction of it 1 John 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil But we may lawfully love natural self soul and body because these are the works of God and therefore good He that came to destroy the works of the Devil came to save the soul and body Luke 19.10 the works of God The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost 1. A man may love his own body and is bound to preserve the life of it no man ever yet hated his own flesh Eph. 5.29 Mark 5.5 1 Kings 18.28 We read indeed of one out of the tombs who was day and night in the Mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones and of the Idolatrous Baalites who sacrificed to the Devil and not to God that they cut themselves after their manner with knives and launcers till the blood gushed out upon them but who in his right wits ever did such a thing or where did God require it at any mans hands The Lord forbids the Israelites to make such barbarous cuttings and manglings of their flesh after the manner of the heathen because they were his servants Lev. 19.28 A man may sin against his own body many ways as by excessive labour neglecting to take necessary food or physick intemperance and the like He that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body 2. A man may and ought chiefly to love his own Soul Every mans care should be that it may be well with his better part both here and hereafter And to this purpose it is every ones great concern 1 To get into Christ who is that ark in which only Souls can be safe They who after all the calls invitations and beseechings of God in the Gospel will persist and go on in impenitency and unbelief are murderers of their own Souls and their blood will be upon their own heads He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul Prov. 8.36 all they that hate me love death 2. John 15.4 Prov. 19.8 He that hath closed with Christ must endeavour to abide in him by putting forth fresh and renewed acts of Faith He must feed daily on the promises which are the food of his Soul and look to it that he keep alive the grace which is wrought in his heart The new nature or spiritual self is the best self we have and should be most of all loved by us They that have the charge of others Soules are a Part of their own charge Take heed to your selves and to all the flock Act. 20.28 They who are under the inspection of others must look to themselves also so John chargeth that Elect Lady and her Children Rom. 14.12 to whom he wrote his second epistle ver 8. look to your selves As Pastors must give an account of their flock so every sheep of the flock must give an account of himself Every one of us shall give an account of himself to God Quest If love to our selves be not only lawful but a duty why is there no direct and express command for it it in the Scripture 1. Answ (f) Nunquid est ullus hominum qui non omnia quae facit vel salutis suae vel certe militatis gratiaÌ„ facâ—at Omnes enim ad affectum a que apperitum utilitatis suae naturae ipsius magisterio atque impulsione ducuntur Sâ—lviâ—nus contra Avar. lib. 2. Prov. 22.3 Heb. 11.7 Mar. 3.6.7 Joh. 8.59 There is no such need of an express command for this Though the Law of Nature since the fall be very much defaced and obscured that much
so he must minister the same to the souls and bodies of others 1 Pet. 4.10 Jam. 2.15.16 1 Joh. â— 13 If a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them Go in peace he you warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not the things that are needful to the body what doth it profit A man would find little profit in it himself if he should feed himself only with good words and wishes True love is not in Word and Tongue only but in Deed and in Truth Contrary to this endeavouring others good is to stand up in the way and stop the passage wherein good should flow in upon them and to be (a) Invidentia est aeg iâ—udo iuscepta p opter alterius res secundas quae nihil nocent invidenti Cic. Tuâ—t qu. l. 4. envious at the prosperity of others if they be able without our help to attain it Many men think themselves not well unless it be ill with others (b) Novum ac inaestimabile nunc in plutimis malum est parum alicui est si ipse sit felix nisi alter sec in infelix Salvianus de Gub. Dei it is not enough for them to be happy unless they see their brethren miserable 2. We have seen now in what things we do and may shew love to our selves we come now to speak of the manner of loving our selves and to shew that after the same manner we ought to love others also 1. We do or should love our selves holily i. e. in and for God we may not have a divided interest from God though God allows us to love our selves it must be in order to him and to his Glory Our love to our selves as it must be regulated by the will of God and extended or restrained according to that So God must be our utmost end in it whether it be exercised about the obtaining things temporal or spiritual for body or soul Salvation it self although it be our end must not be our last or utmost end but that God by it as by all things else may be glorified Therefore in this manner we must love others as God hath an interest in them and is or may be glorified by them and there is no man in the world but God is or may be glorified by him Every man is a creature upon whose Soul there is in a sort the Image of God and doth him some service in the place wherein he stands Isa 44.28 and 45.1 God calleth Cyrus a heathen his Shepherd and his Anointed and he did him eminent service in his generation The same may be said of every other man in some degree and proportion God hath given him some gifts whereby he is and may be serviceable to him at least in the affairs of his providential kingdom Besides all men having immortal souls within them are capable of blessedness with God for ever in the kingdom of Glory they who are at present enemies to God may be reconciled and made friends what was the most glorious Saint now in heaven but an enemy to God once when here on earth We our selves saith the Apostle were sometime foolish disobedient deceived Tit. 33.4 serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another but after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Obj. How could David then say do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee and am I not grieved with these that rise up against thee Psal 139.21.22 I hate them with a perfect hatred He says that he hated them perfectly and approves himself to God in the thing Do not I hate them O Lord Ans There is a twofold hatred Odium simplex Odium redundans in personam as the Schooles speak a simple hatred and a hatred redounding to the person A simple hatred which is of the Sin of any man is our duty Psal 97.10 ye that love the Lord hate evil but to hate the Person of the sinner would be our sin as we are to abhor that which is evil Rom. 12.9 so we must cleave to that which is good David who was a man after Gods own heart knew how to distinguish between the sin and the person See how he expresseth himself elsewhere I hate the work of them that turn aside not them but the work of them Psal 101.3 he hated their sin saying it shall not cleave to me Hear him again I hate every false way this shews us plainly Psal 119.104 that he hated sin perfectly he hated sin so as that it should not cleave to him he hated it where ever he found it Every false way For what is perfect hatred Austin describes it very well He est perfecto odio odisse ut nec homines propter vitia oderis nec vitia propter homines diligas This is to hate with perfect hatred not to hate men for their Sins sake nor to love the sin for the mens sake This is one manner how we ought to love our Neighbour as our selves it must be holily 2. Our love to our selves is or should be orderly we must first and chiefly love our souls and then our bodies The Soul is of far greater worth than the body A world of things for the body will stand a man in no stead if his soul be lost and where the soul goes either to a place of bliss or torment the body must follow after and therefore when we are charged to take heed to our selves we are charged to keep our souls diligently only take heed to thy self Deut. 4 9. and keep thy soul diligently if the soul be safe all is safe if the soul be lost all is lost In like manner we ought to love our Neighbour we must desire and endeavour that it may be well with him in every respect both as to his body and outward estate but chiefly that his Soul may prosper and his outward concerns as they may be consistent with that third Epistle John ver 2. I wish above all things that thou mayst prosper and be in health as thy soul prospereth 1. We must seek the conversion of those that are unconverted lest their souls be lost for ever If we can be instrumental in this we shew the greatest love imaginable to give a man bread when he is hungry or cloathing when he is naked is somthing but to convert a soul to God is a greater kindness by much Brethren Jam. 5 19.20 if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death He speaks of it as a great thing when he says Let him know that he
shall save a soul from death 2. We should shew our love to the souls of others by seeking and endeavouring the encrease of their Faith Holiness and comfort as we should not be content to go to heaven alone but carry along with us as many as we can so we should not satisfie our selves to see them creep lamely thither but gird up the loins of their minds for them that they may more strenuously and with the more chearfulness and comfort walk thither Thus John endeavoured to bring the Saints to higher degrees of fellowship with God 1 John 1.3 That which we have seen said he and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ they had this fellowship before in measure and degree but he would bring them to higher degrees of it as doth appear by what follows These things I write unto you that your joy might be full 3. Our love to our selves goes out freely what we have at hand we are ready to take Eccle. 3.13 Eccl. 5.19 when we stand in need of it The wise man observed it to be a Gift which God ordinarily gives the Children of men to eat and to drink and to enjoy the fruit of all his labour that he taketh under the Sun all the days of his life In the like manner we should go forth to others (c) Quomodo in quotidiana prece unquii diximus dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris animo discrepante cum verbis oâ—atione dissidenâ—e cum sactis Hieron ad Castorinam If our Neighbour stands in need of forgiveness we should forgive freely as we expect that God or man should forgive us if he need a gift from us we should give freely and open our hearts readily to supply his wants according to the ability God hath given us as we expect that God or man should give to us if we were in the like necessity The Apostle commends the Macedonians for this that when their brethren stood in need of their Charity to their power yea and beyond their power 2 Cor. 8 3. they were willing of themselves To (d) Multum detrahit beneficio qui nolentem tribuisse se ipsa Cunctatione testatus est ac non tam dedisse quam non retinuiste Sen. de Ben. 1 Tim. 6.18 Psal 5.6 give freely and readily adds much to the goodness of a good work the way to be rich in good works is to be ready to distribute willing to communicate 4. We love our selves unfeignedly no man useth to dissemble with himself or endeavours to feed himself with good words only but is very real and cordial to himself in all things And thus it is required we should be to others God desireth truth in the inward parts he would have us true to him and true to one another 1 John 3.18 My little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth Rom. 12.9 Let love be without dissimulation Outward and dissembled love is little better than inward and real hatred If blessing be only in the mouth cursing is not like to be far from the heart Psal 2.4 They bless with their mouth but they curse inwardly Such a blessing with the mouth had Christ from the Pharisees in this chapter Master we know thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth ver 16. neither carest thou for any man for thou regardest not the person of men very well said but Jesus perceived their wickedness ver 18. They came with words of love and respect to cover the wickedness of their hearts and wanted that inward affection that Titus is commended for toward the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7.15 5. We do not only love our selves truely and sincerely but with some fervency there is always some heat as well as heart in love to our selves you may observe it ordinarily that when self is concerned in any thing that affection which is moved about it hath some heat in it if it be anger there is heat in anger if it be love there is heat in love Indeed all men are very apt to exceed and go much beyond their bounds when self is concerned as if they were to love themselves with all their hearts with all their soul 1 Sam. 18.1 and with all their mind however it is allowable that a man be warm in love to himself especially to his soul which is the best part of himself Well then our love to others must not be cold when the matter of love is good it is good to be zealously affected in it 2 Cor. 7.7 Gal. 4.18 When Paul understood the fervent mind of the Corinthians towards him as he was a servant of Christ for the good of their souls it did affect him with great joy Let our love to others be first pure and then it is not like to be too fervent 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently 6. We love our selves very tenderly No man ever yet hated his own flesh Eph. 4.29 but nourisheth it and cherisheth it If the body be wounded or pained how tender are we of it the eye will look to it very carefully and it may be weep over it the hand will diligently keep off any thing that might hurt or offend it and is ready to apply any thing to it for the cure of it with the greatest tenderness that may be After the same manner we ought to express our love to others it is required of us that we be kind one to another Eph. 4 32. tender-hearted 1 When others are under sufferings we should be so tender as to have a quick sense of them in our selves Rom. 12.15 Heb. 13.3 Others sufferings should work compassion and cause a fellow-feeling in us so as to make us weep with them that weep and to be bound with them that are in bonds When Nehemiah heard of the affliction of his people though he himself was in a better condition he sate down and wept Neh. 1.4 and mourned certain days We see that Beasts themselves are touched with the sufferings of any of their kind if one of the herd make an outcry or declare his sufferings by his moaning how sensible are the rest of it How do they come about him and shew their readiness to yield him help if it were in their power How much more should humanity cause men to shew what a tender regard they have of the sufferings and afflictions of other men 2 We should be tenderly affected towards others when they are overtaken in a fault and not be too (e) Solemus propriorum clementes esse judices alienorum verò stricti inquisitores Greg. Nezianz Gal. 6.1 rigid and severe in dealing with them and the more tender
irregular and inordinate love to the world for it self in competition with or opposition to the love of the Father as v. 16. Hence it follows neither the things that are in the World 1 Here we are again to take notice of another peculiar Idiom frequent with John both in his Gospel and Epistles namely to reiterate the same thing under different expressions partly by way of Exegesis and partly to give an Emphatick plenitude It might have sufficed that he had said love not the world But the more fully to explicate his mind as also to give an Emphase and Accent to what he had said he adds neither the things that are in the world He contents not himself with Generals but descends to Particulars which he more fully specifies v. 16. 2 By things that are in the world we may in a more strict and confined notion understand those things which worldly men do most magnifie and Idolize Mundane Grandeur Pomp Glory Riches Pleasures Honours Friends whatever else may Captivate the hearts of degenerate men In sum by the world and the things that are in the world must be understood all sensible natural civil yea mental Goods or whatever is inferior to God so far as it may stand in Opposition to or Competition with him and so prove matter of abuse and fuel for Lust as ver 16. It follows If any man love the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If here is causal and rational signifying as much as For or Because if and so it points out and ushers in the main Cause or Reason why we are not to love the world namely because he that Loves the world hath not the love of the Father in him As if he had said Alas are not the World and the Father perfectly opposite Do they not both require the whole Heart yea the whole man as Mat. 6.24 Is it possible then that he who loves the world at such a rate can love the Father Or we may take the words thus If any man Love the world c. i. e. so far as any man loves the world the love of the Father is not in him And in this sense it will reach all both Saints and Sinners Though I take the words chiefly to be understood of predominant love to the world which is altogether inconsistent with love to God Lastly there lies something peculiar in that phrase The Love of the Father is not in him 1 Here we find another Idiom or manner of speech proper to John who frequently makes use of Antitheses and that both of Things Words and Sentences for Illustration and Confirmation whereof many Instances might be given as John 1.5 13 17 20 c. So here he opposeth the Father to the World And then the Love of the Father to the Love of the world which gives great Illustration and Demonstration to his discourse For opposites illustrate and demonstrate each other 2 Another thing to be considered herein is the object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Father Where the Article THE deserves a peculiar regard and so in deed do the various Articles in this text The world the Things c. For albeit these Articles sometimes in other parts of Scripture are not significative or emphatick yet here they seem to give some emphase So that The Father is here mentioned to specifie both the proper Object and Formal Reason of Evangelick Love as distinct from that Natural Love which Adam in Paradise had towards God as Creator First by the Father here is specified the proper object of Evangelick love namely that it must terminate on God as a gracious Father in and through Christ whereas Adam's natural love in Innocence terminated on God only as Creator Secondly by the Father also the formal Reason of Evangelick Love is specified namely that God's love towards us in Christ ought to be the formal reason or proper motive of our love to him 3 As for the Act the love it may be taken either passively and Octjectively for the Father's Love shed abroad in the heart as Rom. 5.5 or else subjectively and actively for our Love to the Father This latter I take to be primarily intended The words thus explicated admit this Logick Division We find in them first a prohibition and then the reason thereof annext In the prohibition we have 1 The Act Love not 2 The Object and this 1 In the General the World 2 In its Particularities neither the things that are in the world The chief whereof are specified v. 16. As for the reason of the prohibition it is wrapped up in an Hypothetick proposition which is easily reduced to a Catagorick Syllogism thus two loves perfectly opposite cannot consist together in one and the same heart but love to the world and love to the Father are perfectly opposite therefore he that loves the world hath not the love of the Father in him What love in its general Idea imports Sect. 2. A general Character of Love The words thus explicated contain in them this great Truth That a prevalent predominant Love to the World is altogether inconsistent with the Love of God Hence also there is offered to us this practick case of Conscience wherein the love of the World is inconsisent with the love of God The resolution of this so weighty a case depends much on the explication of its parts which we shall endeavour to examine and open under these three Questions 1. What Love in its general Idea or nature doth import 2. What it is to Love the world 3. What it is to love God these questions being explicated the resolution of our case will be facile and obvious 1. Quest What Love in its general Idea or Nature doth import this question being more Philosophick than Theologick we shall not much insist thereon But to clear up our way to the following questions we may take up this concise Character or Idea of Love as abstracted from this or that subject Love is the most vigorous potent imperious and soveraign affection of the humane soul which has its Royal seat in the Will or rather in the soul as willing what is Good For albeit I cannot conceive how the Will and Understanding may be really distinguished more than by their formal Objects and Acts yet I can easily grant the soul as willing what is good to be the proper Subject and seat of Love Not but that there is also passion of Love or something analogous to Love in the sensitive soul or Animal part But this is more Passionate that in the humane soul more Rational this more rash that more deliberate this more superficial and transient that more rooted and fixed this more confused and difform that more uniform and equal this more carnal that more spiritual in its objects and motions this more brutish and servile that more humane and voluntary specially if regular Now love thus seated in the will or soul as willing governs the whole soul with all
the Image of God the first-born of Faith the soul of other graces the Rule of our actions a summary of the Law an Angelick life a prelibation of Heaven a lively mark of a child of God for we may read God's Love to us in our love to him But O! how opposite and black are the characters of Love to the world nothing deserves the name of Love but that to God 2. Hence also infer that Love to God and Love to the world divide all mankind There is no middle state between these two opposites neither can they ever consist together in their perfect degrees If thou art a lover of the world in John's sense thou art a hater of God and if thou lovest God thou art an hater of the world Hereby then thou mayest make a judgment of thy state whether thou art a Saint or a sinner a Godly or worldly man And remember this that to love any worldly good more than God is in the Scripture's sense to hate God Mat. 6.24 3. This also instructs us that all natural irregenerate mens Love is but concupiscence or Lust Do not all men in their natural state prefer the creature before the Creator are not the pleasures profits and Honours of this world the worldly man's Trinity which he adoreth and sacrificeth unto Have not all men by nature a violent impetuous bent of heart towards some one or other worldly Idol are not their souls bound up in something below God Do not all men naturally esteem love use and enjoy the creature for it self without referring it to God and what is this but Lust 4. We are hence likewise taught that a regular and ordinate love to and use of this world's goods is very difficult and rare Alas how soon doth our love to creatures grow inordinate either as to its Substance Quantity Quality or Mode yea how oft and how soon doth our love to things lawful grow irregular and unlawful what an excess are most men guilty of in their love to and use of things indifferent how few are there who in using this world do not abuse it as 1 Cor. 7.31 where is that person that can say with Paul Phil. 4.12 Every where and in all things I am instructed both to abound and suffer want 5. This also informs us that where predominant Love to the world is notorious visible and manifest we cannot by any rule of judicious Charity count such a Godly man It was a Canon common among the Jews mentioned by Rabbi Salome that (x) Populus terrae non vocatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hasid the people of the earth are not called Godly i. e. the Lovers of the world may not be called Saints And Oh! how many worldly professors are cut off from the number of visible Saints hereby It is to me a dismal contemplation to consider how many follow Christ in profession and yet have the black mark of worldlings on there foreheads O! how much love to the world lies hid under the mask and vizard of professed love to God It is not the having or possessing of the world's goods but the over-loving of them that bespeaks you worldlings It 's true a Saint may fall under many preternatural heats yea fevers of Love to the world yet in time love to God as a sttonger fire expels such violent heats and noxious humors 6. Hence in like manner we may collect That worldly minded professors are composed of a world of Contradictions and Inconsistences Such Love God in profession but hate him in truth and Affection Their tongues are tipt with Heaven but their hearts are drencht in the Earth They pretend to serve God but they intend nothing but to serve their Lusts They make a shew of confidence in God but place their real confidence in the world They make mention of God in Name but exalt the world in Heart They Conform to the Laws of God in outward shew but Conform to yea are transformed into the world in Spirit Finally they hate sin and love God in appearance but they hate God and love sin in reality Ezech. 33.31 7. This also instructs thus That for professors of love to God to be deeply engaged in the love of this world is a sin of deep Aggravation O! what a peculiar Malignity is there in this sin How much Light and Love do such sin against What a reproach and disparagement is cast on God hereby Are not profane worldlings justified in their earthly-mindedness by the worldly love of Professors Yea do they not hereby take occasion to blaspheme the holy Name of God Lo say they these are your professors who are as covetous as over-reaching in their dealings as much buried in the Earth as any other And is not God hereby greatly dishonoured Do not such worldly professors live below their principles profession convictions covenant-Obligations and the practice of former Professors 8. This gives us the genuine Reason and Cause Why the word of God and all the good things contained therein find so little room in the Hearts of many great Professors It is to me a prodigious thing to consider among the croud of notional Professors and Hearers of God's Word how few entertain the same in an honest heart And where lies the main bitter root of this cursed Infidelity but in love to the world So Mark 4.18 19. And these are they which are sown among thorns Such as hear the Word and the cares of this world and the Deceitfulness of Riches and the Lusts of other things entring in choke the word and it becometh unfruitful It deserves a particular remark that the Thorny-ground hearers here characterised are ranked in the highest form of notional Hearers as much surpassing the Highway-ground or Stony-ground Hearers For in these thorny-ground Hearers the word takes some root yea with some depth and so springs up into a blade and green ears and so endures a cold winter yea a scorching summer's heat and yet after all it is choaked How so why by the cares of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the amorous distracting anxious cares and the deceitfulness of Riches O! what Deceitful things are Riches how soon do they choke the word and the Lusts of other things Namely Pleasures which deserve not to be named (y) Solenne fuit Hebraeis uti voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alius quoties cunque rem abominandam tacitè innuunt Horting Thesaur Philolog p. 51. For so the Hebrews were wont to express vile abominable things by other things Thence they termed Swine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other things 9. Hence also conclude That such as love the world hate God and their own souls That predominant Love to the world in its proper notion includes the hatred of God is evident from the whole of our discourse That it implies also hatred of our selves is manifest because the hatred of God includes love to death and so by Consequence the hatred of our own souls as Prov.
this world That they would take diligent heed that the world do not insinuate and wind it self into their hearts O! I beseech you keep your hearts far from the walls of this pest-house this love-polluting world keep your love in Heaven while your persons are ingaged in the world Let not your hearts smell of the smoke of this lower house but of Heaven beware that your love do not make its nest in this world but let it take wing and rest no where short of Heaven where its Treasure is Follow not the guises of this soul-polluting world Let this Idol world be nothing to you but God be all in all Take heed that the multiplicity of worldly affairs choak not the sense of God remember your best riches consist in the poverty of your desires Make use of prosperity to prepare you for afflictions know the dearest things must be parted with when God calls for them and therefore keep your hearts loose from them bring your natural desires into a narrow compass but let your hearts be enlarged towards God amuse not your hearts as children at the glistering outside of things but fear a snare in every comfort feed much on Spiritual delights and that will kill carnal pleasures Let your hearts be as the Mother-pearl which they say receives no water but what comes from Heaven let your hearts be open towards Heaven but shut against the world let not this great Idol enter into God's Temple 4 Lastly let us all be exhorted to be in nothing more curious than about the right placing of our Love that it be fixed on its right Object and in a right Manner Let us get a stamp of Grace on all our love and then it will become Divine Let us love nothing greatly but what we shall love for ever It was the saying of a serious Jansenist I would never begin to love that which one day I must cease to love Let us labour after the highest strain of love to God which is to love God for himself and to love our selves in God Our best Being lies in God and therefore our best love is to love our selves in God As one extreme heat burns out another so let our love to God burn out our love to the World Now is the time OR Instructions for the present improving the season of Grace Serm. IV. 2 Cor. 6.1 2. We then as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the Grace of God in vain for he saith I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of Salvation have I succoured thee behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of Salvation Sect. 1 PAul's Epistles excell both in matter and in method Their matter is principally reconciliation through Christ What subject so sweet so profitable Their method is by way of Doctrine and use a method which if it be despised Paul's writings cannot be duly valued In the fore-going verse the last words of it he positively asserted the great doctrine of Reconciliation through Christ and doctrinally propounded it in these words He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him This was his Doctrine In these two verses immediately following he applieth the doctrine We then as workers together with him beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain for he saith I have heard thee in a time accepted c. In which two verses there are contained these three parts 1. The first is an exhortation that they would not receive the Grace of God in vain or a caution against their receiving it in vain 2. Secondly the reasons that the Apostle produceth to back the exhortation Those reasons are two The first is the reason of his propounding this exhortation that is because he was a worker together with God The second is the reason of their imbracing this exhortation and that is in the 2 verse For he saith I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of Salvation have I succoured thee as it is in Isa 49.8 3. Thirdly you have here the accommodation or the application of this second reason unto the present state of the Corinthians behold now saith the Apostle is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation that God of old promised unto Christ Ye enjoy it ye live under it and therefore you must now improve it to the best advantage of your souls Now we shall go over these three parts in the way of explication that so we may the more profitably handle that part which I principally design to insist upon 1. We shall explain the exhortation or the caution that he layeth down which is Not to receive the Grace of God in vain Here we shall explain two hings 1. We shall shew you what is meant by the grace of God 2. What is meant by receiving or not receiving the grace of God in vain First what is meant by the Grace of God You are here to understand by grace the Doctrine of the Gospel frequently Sect. 2 and fitly in the Scripture called grace as in Eph. 3.2 Col. 1.6 Act. 20.32 Tit. 2.11 and in sundry other Scriptures the doctrine of the Gospel is called grace And it is called by that name for these three reasons 1. Because it is graciously and out of the free favour of God bestowed Why it is bestowed at all 't is from grace why it is bestowed upon one age or place rather than other 't is only from God's free grace and favour Rom. 16.25 26. It is there said to be a mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest And that in Isa 65.1 I said Behold me to a nation that was not called by my name To these God was pleased by the gospel to say Behold me He was found of those that sought him not God 's argument to bestow the gospel of life upon a person or a family or a place is merely from his own free good will 2. The gospel is called grace because the subject matter of the gospel is grace Whatever it is the gospel promiseth whatever priviledge or saving benefit is contained in the gospel is all from grace we are justified freely by his grace Rom. 3.24 Forgiveness of sin it is said to be from his rich grace Eph. 1.7 Eternal life it is the free gift of God Effectual vocation saving conversion is meerly from grace We are called according to his purpose and grace not according to our works 2 Tim. 1.9 To you it is given to believe Phil. 1.29 God giveth repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 he called me by his grace Gal. 3.15 1 Pet. 3.7 the Saints are heirs of grace Christ himself that obtained all the priviledges of the gospel for us was sent as a token of free grace free favour through the tender mercy of God Luk 1.7.8 Joh 3.16 whereby the day-spring from on high hath
in looking after riches and honour and the vanities of the World Oh! but now now now pursue Salvation It is a must-be and if the present time be gone you may be undone for ever 2. Salvation is that which imports rest and satisfaction Salvation it is the Soul's quietation and ease Heaven is that center of the Soul you are never at rest till you come there Now the object of rest is speedily to be pursued How doth every thing hasten to its rest its center how doth the stone with eagerness hasten to the Earth when thrown from the top of an high steeple how swiftly doth the fire fly upwards to its rest to its center with what a rapid motion with what a fierce career do the Rivers run into the Sea they are going to their place the place of waters Is Heaven thy rest is Heaven thy center why is thy tendency to it so sluggish You owe unto life Eternal all those propensions and all those inclinations wherewith all the things of the World are carried to the centers The speed that the wicked make in getting to Hell proclaims that Hell is their proper place and center though not for rest but restlessness Shall every thing hasten to rest but thy Soul it was the speech of Naomi to her Daughter my Daughter shall I not seek rest for thee Oh that every one would say unto his Soul my Soul shall I not look after rest for thee in the bosom of God and the eternal fruition of himself the little Infant that cryes for sleep will rise up in judgment against a sinner that doth not look after the rest of his Soul That little Infant that cryes for sleep out-goeth thee in wisdom 3. It is a day of Salvation and the pursuing of Salvation is Opus grande a great work a vast employment many things are required to accomplish it many lusts to be subdued many duties to be discharged many temptations to be resisted many relations to be filled Now a great work must be begun betimes If you had but a little to do in the day you might lie in bed a great while in the morning but you have a vast work to do and therefore get up early Some poor Creatures will rise up early to washing a pitiful work to the cleansing of thy Soul a far greater work surely than to wash clothes If you had a thousand Souls they might all be employed for the obtaining of Salvation If every singer were a hand they might all be employed in getting of Salvation He that hath many Children to look after and a small Estate many to feed and cloath he saith I must rise early and sit up late None have so much business as a Christian The work of Christianity is never at an end The art of Religion is never learned There is still an c. still something remaining to be done Blessed Paul thought himself far from perfection I do not look upon my self as having attained the best have much more to be done than they have already done I have read of a famous Limner who when he had wrought his picture in the best and most curious manner would never write at the bottom feci but faciebam I did it not I have done it because he judged he had never wrought any picture so well but he might work it better and add something more of art to it A Christian's art is never complete while he liveth in this world nor ever did a Saint think himself a complete Artist How exceeding large are the commands of God! how little is our most and how bad is our best compared with the rule 4. This delaying in the pursuit of Salvation is a delaying to be freed from the greatest evil What is that the wrath of God guilt damnation hell Delaying to be freed from extreme miseries is confuted by constant experience what condemned Malefactor will delay to get free from his chains from his dungeon from the sentence of death what tormented person upon the rack will say I must consider before I accept of ease and when ease and riddance from the rack are offered if instantly he will accept thereof will say I will consider of it I will give answer of it hereafter if a dust fly into the eye thou hastest to get it out and wilt thou not hast to ease thy soul who ever deliberated whether he would come out of the fire or no 't is more mad to deliberate whether thou wilt be saved or no and get out of the state of damnation Here is no place for deliberation 't is no measuring cast 5. Salvation it is our Own concern it is Opus proprium our own business it is not another's It may be a slothful apprentice will be backward to rise in the morning when he is to do his Master's business but when he sets up for himself and is to gather an Estate for himself he will go about his business speedily Salvation is a work for your selves the gain thereof is your own gain Whatever you get here goes into your own purse Here if you are wise you are wise for your selves Prov. 9.12 Oh that we had more true self-self-love the common self-self-love in the world is imployed about our bodily self the shell the sheath of the true self which is the body Few men truly love their true self 't is a common proverb interest will not lye yet the Soul that delays Salvation his interest lyes He walks contrary to it and neglects that wherein all his blessedness doth consist make sorts of his own Salvation 6. It is a day of Salvation and Salvation recompences for all earliness and earnestness Salvation maketh amends for all the sufferings and services of time How poor how short and slight is our work compared with our wages If there could be any trouble in Heaven it would be this that we have laboured for it no more and no sooner upon Earth Thou hast no more to live on to Eternity than what thou layest up here As our obedience is small compared with our rule prescribed so it is very small compared with our recompence promised Though nothing can recompence for the neglect of Salvation yet Salvation can recompence for the neglecting of all other things Nor only doth it recompence for our neglecting of all things but for our being neglected of all persons and for all our reproaches for our early pursuing it all which will easily be confuted with this answer 't is better to be reproached and derided for being too speedy than damned for being too slow in entring into Heaven's way 't is more easy to bear the scorns of the World than the scourges of Conscience I conclude We can never regard Salvation too soon for we can never either injoy it or think we can enjoy it too long What Spiritual knowledge they ought to seek for that desire to be saved and by what means they may attain it Serm. V. Isaiah 27.11
Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever And when they began to sing and to praise the Lord set ambushments against the Children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir which came against Israel and they were smitten Israel's success follows Israel's singing If the people of Israel will look to their Duty God will look to their Enemy and lay that Ambush which shall ensnare and overthrow their power 3. With Evident Miracles This we find upon Record Acts 16.25 26. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard them and suddenly there was a great Earth-quake so that the Foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately the doors were opened and every ones hands were loosed Behold here an eminent Miracle Prisons saluting the Prisoner's Liberty Paul and Silas singing set God on working and if their Tongues were loosed in Duty their hands shall be loosed for Liberty Singing like praying can work wonders Lorinus observes Angelicà peculiari â—peâ—d Sâ—lâ—tio Vinculorum accidit Lorin Case that the prisoners Chains were taken off and their bands loosed by the peculiar power and work of Angels And now I come to the main Case How we may make melody in our hearts to God in Singing of Psalms Answ 1. We must sing with understanding We must not be guided by the Tune but the Words of the Psalm we must mind the Matter more than the Musick and consider what we sing as well as how we sing The Tune may affect the fancy but it is the Matter affects the heart and that God principally eyes The Psalmist adviseth us in this particular Psalm 47.7 and so doth the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.15 Otherwise this sweet Duty would be more the work of a Chorister than of a Christian and we should be more delighted in an Anthem of the Musician's making then in a Psalm of the Spirit 's making A Lapide observes that in the Text 1 Cor. 14.15 the word understanding is Maschil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profound judgment We must sing wisely if we will sing gratefully we must relish what we sing In a word we must sing as we must pray now the most rude Petitioner will understand what he prays 1 Cor. 14.15 If we do not understand what we sing it argues carelesness of Spirit or hardness of Heart and this makes the Service impertinent Upon this the worthy Davenant cries out Facessunt Boatus Papistarum qui Psalmos in Templis reboant sed linguà non intellectu Dav. Non clamans sed amans cantat in aure Dei Aug. Adieu to the bellowing of the Papists who sing in an unknown Tongue God will not understand us in this Service which we understand not our selves One of the first Pieces of the Creation was Light and this must break out in every Duty 2. We must sing with affection Love is the fulfilling of this Law It is a notable saying of Augustine It is not Crying but Loving sounds in the Ears of God In Isa 5.1 It is said I will sing to my Beloved The pretty Child sings a mean Song but it delights the Mother because there is love on both sides It is love not skill makes the Musick and the Service most pleasing When we go about this Work we must lay our Book before us a heart full of love The Primitive Christians sang Hymns to Christ whom they entirely loved Love indeed is that ingredient which sweetens and indulcorates every Service 3. We must sing with real Grace This the Apostle admonishes us Col. 3.16 It is Grace not Nature sweetens the Voice to sing We must draw out our Spices our Graces in this Duty The Hundred forty four thousand which were Elected and Glorified Saints sang the New song Rev. 14.3 Singing is the tripudiating of a gracious Soul Gratia est devotionis radix Gorran Gorran well notes That Grace is the Root of true Devotion Wicked men only make a noise they do not sing they are like crackt Strings of a Lute or a Viol they spoil they do not make Musick The Righteous rejoice in the Lord Psal 33.1 The Raven croaks the Nightingale sings the Tune As God will not hear Sinners when they pray so neither when they sing the singing of Wicked men is disturbance not obedience Indeed the Saints singing is a more solemn Ovation Praising Him who causeth them to triumph in Christ 2 Cor. 2.14 The Saints above sing their Hallelujahs in Glory and the Saints below must sing their Psalms with Grace Fashion Puppets as you please they cannot sing it is the alive Bird can chirrup that pleasing noise 4. We must sing with excited Grace Not only with Grace habitual but with excited and actual the Musical Instrument delights not but when it is plaid upon In this Duty we must follow Paul's advice to Timothy 1 Tim. 4.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up the Grace that is in us and cry out as David Psalm 57.8 Awake Love awake Delight The Clock must be pluckt up before it can guide our Time the Bird pleaseth not in her Nest but in her Notes the Chimes only make Musick while they are going Let us therefore beg the Spirit to blow upon our Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out when we set upon this Joyous Service Cant. 5.16 God loves active Grace in Duty that the Soul should be ready trim'd when it presents it self to Christ in any Worship 5. We must sing with spiritual joy Indeed singing only makes joy articulate it is only the turning of Bullion into Coyn as the Prophet speaks to this purpose Isa 65.14 Isa 65 14. Singing is only the triumphant gladness of a gracious heart a softer Rapture We must sing as David danced before the Ark 2 Sam. 6.15 with shouting and rejoycing in God We sing to Christ And Dr. Bound observes There is no joy comparable to that we have in him this is joy unspeakable and full of glory Joy must be the Selah of this Duty 6. We must sing with Faith This grace only puts a pleasingness upon every service if we hear the Word must be mixt with Faith Heb. 4.2 if we pray it must be the prayer of Faith Jam. 5.15 We must bring Faith to Christ's Table or else as Austin saith Dormit Christus si dormit Fides Dormit Christus si dormit Fides Aug. if Faith sleeps Christ is likewise asleep and so Faith must carry on this Ordinance of Singing especially there must be a credence in the Hallelujahs above we must believe that the Saints here are only tuning their Instruments and the louder Musick will be above that in glory there will be such pleasing sounds which the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 2.9 No Ear ever heard 7. We must sing in the Spirit As we must pray in the Spirit Jude v. 20. so we must sing in the Spirit the Spirit must breathe as well as Grace act or the Voice sound in this Duty
even until he present his Church a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle ver 27. many a weary day hath he and many an unkind put off yet he doth not cast her off Here is a copy for Husbands They must not for every fault repent their bargain and curse the time of their meeting they must not be meditating a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Omnibus rebus est permutatio excepta uxore juventutis Buxt ex Sanâ—ed change upon any dislike but bear and forbear and overcome evil with good 6. His is an active and fruitful Love for ver 29. he nourisheth and cherisheth his Church His poor Church is always wanting he supplies her she is in trouble he protects her she is ready to sink but he awakes to save her Such must be an Husbands Love He must spare no cost no pains to do his Wife good she now leans only upon him he must not fail her she hath left all her friends for him he must not leave her She hath a (r) Quae molestia per singulos menses cùm velut sentina uteri purgatur quae praegnantium fastidia quam praesentia enitentium discrimina quanta enixarum jam puerperarum quà m illinc discedunt fractae quot casibus periculis obnoxiae ut mirandum sit sanam ullam illarum unquam vivere Vniversa autem vita quid aliud quam serviunt nobis sive virgines parentibu sive nuptae mariâ—is sive liberis matres Lud. Viv. de off mar succession of many infirmities pains and perils he must nourish her no Nurse like a good Husband he must cherish her no Cordial or Comforter like a wise and loving Husband Thus the Husband must love his Wife as Christ loveth his Church And again 2. The husband ought to love his Wife as himself So saith my Text. The Apostle had said ver 28. so ought men to love their Wives as their own bodies and lest that should not be sufficient he goes on in my Text and says let every one of you in particular love his wife even as himself And whereas it might be said why so we are to love all the world thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self now saith the Apostle ver 28. he that loveth his wife he loveth himself which is more than as himself Now though this Love to a mans self is less then that of Christ to his Church yet it is more plain and sensible to us for as was said at first he that doth not know with what manner of Love Christ doth love his Church yet knows with what love he loves himself And that is besides what was last instanced in 1. Tenderly No one can touch or handle a mans () Innumera eveniunt cuâ—que nostrum à corpore suo incommoda nemo tamen corpus suum odit aut non diligit non indulget quantum potest si aliquando illi irascitur continuo post tamen redit cum illo in gratiam Lud. Vives de off mar sores and griefs so tenderly as himself ver 29. No man ever yet hated his own flesh how unlovely soever but nourisheth and cherisheth it Such ought the Husbands love to be towards his Wife accompanied with the greatest tenderness For they are like Chrystal Glasses soon broken if not tenderly handled Their Constitutions are such as inevitably make them lyable to (t) Est etiam meticulosa quandequidem calor animosos facu avaâ—a â—nctu ne d sit tacito naturae admoniâ—s infirmam invalidam se esse cui multa sint oput Suspicax ex metu querula invida I quâ—ei as illis partim ex varieta e cogitationum affectionumque proficiscitur partim ex suspitione mâ—tu Id. ib. fears and passions and griefs innumerable and therefore the Husband must deal as tenderly with his Wife as a man would deal with himself 2. Chearfully No man is so ready to help a man as himself His best friends sometimes falter and are weary at length but every man is next to himself Let the business be never so hard or hazardous a man will venture when it is for himself So must the Husband most readily and chearfully assist comfort and help his Wife If a cloud arise between them yet the Husbands Love must dissolve it quickly for no man is long angry with himself In a word she should need she should use no Mediator to her Husband in any case for he should have his ear open his hand his heart ready to pity help and gratifie her even as he is ready to help himself 3. And this brings us to the Effects of the Husbands Love to his Wife which is the third thing to be described And they are 1. In Word 2. In Deed. 1. In Word and this more principally 1. By diligent Instruction of his Wife wherein she is ignorant He ought to dwell with his Wife according to knowledg 1 Pet. 3.7 And she ought to ask her Husband at home when she would learn and not speak in the Church 1 Cor. 14.35 Yea the (u) Plutarch pâ—aec conjug who gives this Reason out of Homer Namque es ei pater frater verecundáque mater Heathen could tell the Husband that he must gather like a Bee wisdom and knowledg abroad and then communicate it to his wife at home For this the Husband hath excellent opportunity and woe to him if he want will or skill They should strive whether she should be more ready to ask him questions or he to offer the occasion This is certain if he can do her (x) Hoc maximum est veri amoris indicium curare ut uxor unà secum ritè colat Deum in hac vita quo unà frui Deo possint in futura Dav. in Col. p 341. Soul good he lays an eternal obligation upon her to love and honour him and if he neglect his indeavours she will be like to curse him for ever in Hell 2. The Husband demonstrates his Love by gentle Reproof of his wife when she doth amiss He must indeed overlook many Infirmities 〈◊〉 Love covereth a multitude of sins and as he that is always using his sword will make it dull at length so he that is continually reproving shall have the less regard given to his reproofs But yet he cannot love her if he do not when need is reprove her but then let it be with all the wisdom and tenderness imaginable Not before strangers and rarely before the family not for natural defects seldom for inadvertencies and when he does it let him make way for his reproof by commending in her what is good and when he hath done back it with a (y) Breven oportet esse mariti reprehensionem velut ictui praeceleri simillimum addenda reprehensionis ratio c. Lud. Viv. de off mar Reason He must be sure to mingle the oyl of kindness with the myrrhe of reproof for if he give her this
mind be tired with sucking one object it can with the bee presently fasten upon another Senses are weary till they have a new recruit of spirits as the poor horse may sink under his burden when the rider is as violent as ever Thus old men may change their outward profaneness into mental wickedness and as the Psalmist remembred his old songs * Psal 77.5 6. so they their calcin'd sins in the night with an equal pleasure So that you see there may be a thousand thoughts as ushers and lacqueys to one act as numerous as the sparks of a new lighted fire 2. In regard of the Objects the mind is conversant about Such thoughts there are and attended with a heavy guilt which cannot probably no nor possibly descend into outward acts A man may in a complacent thought commit fornication with a woman in Spain in a covetous thought rob another in the Indies and in a revengeful thought stab a third in America and that while he is in this Congregation An unclean person may commit a mental folly with every beauty he meets A covetous man cannot plunder a whole Kingdom but in one twinkling of a thought he may wish himself the possessor of all the estates in it A Timon a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot cut the throats of all the world but like Nero with one glance of his heart he may chop off the heads of all mankind at a blow Ambitious men's practices are confined to a small spot of land but with a cast of his mind he may grasp an Empire as large as the four Monarchies A beggar cannot ascend a throne but in his thoughts he may pass the Guards murder his Prince and usurp the Government Nay further an Atheist may think there is no God Psal 14.1 i. e. as some interpret it wish there were no God and thus in thought undeifie God himself though he may sooner dash heaven and earth in pieces than accomplish it The body is confined to one object and that narrow and proportionable to its nature but the mind can wing it self to various objects in all parts of the earth Where it finds none it can make one for phancy can compact several objects together coyn an image colour a picture and commit folly with it when it hath done It can nestle it self in cobwebs spun out of its own bowels 3. In respect of Strength Imaginations of the heart are only i. e. purely evil The nearer any thing is in union with the root the more radical strength it hath The first ebullitions of light and heat from the Sun are more vigorous than the remoter beams and the steams of a dunghil more noysom next that putrified body than when they are dilated in the air Grace is stronger in the heart-operations than in the outward streams and sin more soul in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart than in the act In the Text the outward wickedness of the world is passed over with a short expression but the Holy Ghost dwells upon the description of the wicked imagination because there lay the mass Mans * Psal 5 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inward part is very wickednesses a whole nest of vipers Thoughts are the immediate spawn of the original corruption and therefote partake more of the strength and nature of it Acts are more distant being the children of our thoughts but the Grand-children of our natural pravity Besides they lye nearest to that wickedness in the inward part sucking the breast of that poysonous dam that bred them The strength of our thoughts is also reinforced by being kept in for want of opportunity to act them as liquors in close glasses ferment and encrease their spriteliness Musing either carnal or spiritual makes the †Psal 39.3 fire burn the hotter as the fury of fire is doubled by being pent in a furnace Outward acts are but the sprouts the sap and juice lies in the wicked imagination or contrivance which hath a strength in it to produce a thousand fruits as poysonous as the former The members are the instruments or * Rom. 6.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons of unrighteousness now the whole strength which doth manage the weapon lyes in the arm that wields it the weapon of it self could do no hurt without a force imprest Let me add this too that sin in thoughts is more simply sin In acts there may be some occasional good to others for a good man will make use of the sight of sin committed by others to encrease his hatred of it but in our sinful thoughts there it no occasion of good to others they lying lock'd up from the view of man 4. In respect of Alliance In these we have the nearest communion with the Devil The understanding of man is so tainted that his †Jam. 3.15 wisdom the chiefest flower in it is not only earthly and sensual it were well if it were no worse but devillish too If the flower be so rank what are the weeds 1 Cor. 2.11 2 Cor. 10.5 Satan's devices and our thoughts are of the same nature and sometimes in Scripture exprest by the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As he hath his devices so have we against the authority of God's law the power of the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ The Devils are call'd spiritual wickednesses because they are not capable of carnal sins Ephes 6.12 Prophaneness is an Uniformity with the world and intellectual sins are an Uniformity with the God of it 1 Ephes 2.2.3 v. 3. There is a double walking answerable to a double pattern in v. 2. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh is a walking according to the course of this world or making the world our copy and fulfilling the desires of the mind is a walking according to the Prince of the power of the air or a making the Devil our pattern In carnal sins Satan is a tempter in mental an actor Therefore in the one we are conformed to his will in the other we are transformed into his likeness In outward we evidence more of obedience to his laws in inward more of affection to his person as all imitations of others are Therefore there is more of enmity to God because more of similitude and love to the Devil a nearer approach to the Diabolical nature implying a greater distance from the Divine Christ never gave so black a character as that of the Devil's children to the prophane world but to the Pharisees who had left the sins of men to take up those of Devils and were most guilty of those high imaginations which ought to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 5. In respect of contrariety and odiousness to God Imaginations were only evil and so most directly contrary to God who is only good Rom. 8.7 Our natural enmity against God is seated in the mind The sensitive part aims at its own gratification and in mens serving their
temptations of the world the flesh and the devil and have more tender care of their Souls than of their bodies that so the Church may have a succession of Saints And when children love honour and obey their Parents and comfort them by their forwardness to all that is good and their avoiding the ways and company of the ungodly Eph. 6.1 Col. 3.20 Psal 1.1 2. 3. When Masters rule their Servants as the Servants of God and Servants willingly obey their Masters and serve them with chearful diligence and trust and are as careful and faithful about all their goods and business as if it were their own Eph. 6.5 9. Col. 3.21 and 4.1 1 Pet. 2.18 When the Houses of Christians are Societies of Saints and Churches of God and live in love and concord together and all are laborious and faithful in their Callings abhorring idleness gluttony drunkenness pride contention and evil speaking and dealing justly with all their Neighbours and denying their own right for love and peace this is the way to glorifie Religion in the world II. Well ordered Churches are the second sort of Societies which must glorifie God and propagate Religion in the world 1. When the Pastors are Learned in the holy Scriptures and skilful in all their sacred work and far excel all the people in the Light of Faith and knowledge and in love to goodness and to mens Souls and in lively zealous diligence for God and for mens Salvation thinking no labour cost or suffering too dear a price for the peoples good when no sufferings or reproaches move them nor account they their lives dear to them that they may but finish their course and Ministry with joy when their publick Preaching hath convincing light and clearness and powerful affectionate application and their private over-sight is performed with impartiality humility and unwearied diligence and they are able to resolve the peoples Cases of Conscience solidly and to exhort them earnestly with powerful reason and melting love This honoureth Religion and winneth Souls When they envy not one another nor strive who shall be greatest or uppermost but contrariwise who shall be most serviceable to his Brethren and to the peoples Souls When they over-see and feed the Flock of God which is among them not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over God's Heritage but being ensamples to the Flock and seeking not theirs but them are willing to spend and be spent for their sakes yea though the more they love them the less they are beloved not minding high things but condescending to men of low estate This is the way for Ministers to glorifie God 1 Pet. 5.1 2 3 4. 2 Tim. 2.14 15. 1 Tim. 4.10 Heb. 4.11 13. Act. 20.24 1 Thes 2.8 2 Tim. 4.1 2 3. Luke 22.24 25 26. 2 Cor. 12.14 15. Rom. 12.16 When Ministers are above all wordly interest and so teach and live that the people may see that they seek not the honour which is of men but only that which is of God and lay not up a treasure on Earth but in Heaven and trade all for another world and are further from pride than the lowest of their stock when they have not only the cloathing of sheep but their harmless profitable nature and not the ravenousness or bloudy jaws of destroying Wolves when they use not carnal weapons in their warfare but by an eminency of light and love and life endeavour to work the same in others when they are of more publick spirits than the people and more self-denying and above all private interests and envyings and revenge and are more patient in suffering than the people through the power of stronger Faith and Hope and Love when they are wholly addicted to holiness and peace and are zealous for the Love and Unity of Believers and become all things to all men to win some in meekness instructing opposers abhorring contention doing nothing in strife or vain-glory but preferring others before themselves not preaching Christ in pride or envy nor seeking their own praise but thirsting after mens conversion edification and salvation Thus must Christ be honoured by his Ministers in the world When they speak the same things being of one mind and judgement uniting in the common Faith and contending for that against Infidels and Hereticks and so far as they have attained walk by the same rule and mind the same things and where they are differently minded or opinioned wait in meekness and love till God reveal to them reconciling truth when they study more to narrow Controversies than to widen them and are skilful in detecting those ambiguous words and verbal and notional differences which to the unskilful seem material when they are as Surgeons and not as Souldiers as skilful to heal differences as the proud and ignorant are ready to make them and can plainly shew the dark Contenders wherein they agree and do not know it when they live in that sweet and amicable concord which may tell the world that they love one another and are of one Faith and Heart being one in Christ This is the way for Ministers to glorifie God in the world And with thankfulness to God I acknowledge that such for many years I had my conversation with of whom the world that now despiseth them is not worthy Phil. 2.21 Matth. 6.19 20 21. John 5.44 2 Cor. 10.4 2 Tim. 2.25 26. 1 Cor. 9.19 20 22. and 10.33 Phil. 2.1 2 3. 1 Tim. 6.3 4. Jam. 3.14 15 16. 2 Tim. 2.14 24. Phil. 3. 15 16 17. John 17.24 Eph. 4.3 4 5. 1 Cor. 1.10 James 3.17 18. And the maintaining of sound Doctrine Spiritual Reasonable and Reverent Worship without ludicrous and unreverent trifling or rudeness or Ignorance or Superstition or needless singularity much honoureth God as is aforesaid And so doth the Exercise of Holy Discipline in the Churches Such Discipline whereby the precious may be separated from the vile and the holy from the profane by Authority and Order and not by popular usurpation disorder or unjust presumptions Where the cause is fairly tryed and judged before men are cast out or denyed the priviledges of the Church Where Charity appears in embracing the weakest and turning away none that turn not away from Christ and condemning none without just proof And justice and holiness appeareth in purging out the dangerous leaven and in trying and rejecting the obstinately impenitent Heretick and gross sinner after the first and second admonition and disowning them that will not hear the Church Mat. 18.15 16. Tit. 3.10 1 Cor. 5.11 When the neglect of Discipline doth leave the Church as polluted a Society as the Infidel World and Christians that are owned in the publick Communion are as vitious sensual and ungodly as Heathens and Mahometans it is one of the greatest injuries to Christ and our Religion in the World For it is by the purifying of a peculiar people zealous of good works that Christ is
Apostle had shewed the Ephesians their Race and Course of Duties which they had to run in Eph. 4.5 6. 1.9 He acquainteth them also what oppositions they might expect and what Enemies they had to grapple with and what a Panoply or Armour they must put on and use Eph. 6.10 18. that so their Course might be successful 3. By finishing the Course with joy is meant to have it managed and compleated so as that the Comforts Prize and Glory of it might be theirs who run to discharge Trust and Duty with all Activity Prudence Constancy and Delight to face and conquer Difficulties with such masculine courage and success as best becomes the Spirit Hopes and Furniture of a Christian to make our matchless estimation of approaching Glory remarkable in all our strokes and steps No man is crowned that strives not lawfully 2 Tim. 2.5 Our Motions must be persevering swift and even and herein answerable to the great ends of God Christ in calling us to our Trust and Care and all our warrantable ends in our voluntary undertaking to be Combatants and Racers to hold Integrity so fast to prize the Crown so much to watch over Hearts so strictly and discipline the whole Man so exactly as that the Gospel may not be ashamed to own us nor Christ ashamed of us Our Trust nor Talents must not be imbezeled nor managed with slightness nor falshood nor any way abused by us lest those Comforts should be lost that are before us as the determined recompence of faithful Racers For God resolves to render to every man as his work shall be Rom. 2.6 10. 2 Cor. 5.10 Jer. 17.10 We know the Apostle's Care and Counsel 1 Cor. 9.24 27. Phil. 2.12 He knew all running would not serve the turn and he was apprehensive of all those Dangers Snares and Oppositions which called for universal Watchfulness Resolution Care and Courage and knew the Crown of Life could never fit the Sluggard's or Coward 's Temples Nor will God prejudice the Interest of Religion nor restrain and mortifie all those awakening Arguments which are to be derived from this Principle and Topick viz. That only faithful Racers must be Crowned with Life and Joys Query 2. How far must love to Life be conquered and subdued and every thing be disregarded for the right finishing of our course with joy 1. These things must be distinguished in order to the understanding of the Nature and Measure of this Duty and Attainment 1. It is one thing what may be loved and valued simply and abstractedly as only considered in it self and 't is another thing what may be loved and valued as compared with something else And 2. It is one thing what degree of value of Love and Care may suit the excellency and importance of the Object and another thing what may exceed it 3. It is one thing how I may love a thing when consistent with and conducing to our best Concernment and 't is another thing how I may love what is withdrawn from and set against it And 4. It is one thing to have Affections to be Snares and Hindrances and another thing to have them Helps and Furtherances to something better And 5. A moderate and subordinate love is one thing and a supreme and co-ordinate love is another And 6. It is one thing to love with true submission to God's commanding and disposing Will and another thing to love to the prejudice of God's Prerogative and Providence so as to murmur and quarrel with the great Jehovah for what he doth 2. And upon these Distinctions may we ground these following Propositions and Conclusions 1. Life and the Comforts of it are eligible and desirable as they are considered in themselves and in this sense God hath not forbidden the loving of them They come from God as emanations and expressions of his Goodness They are good and perfect gifts and lovely in their kind and plaees for had not Life been lovely it could have been no punishment to dye for all punishment is Malum Physicum propter Malum Morale and when it is laid in a privation the want cannot be evil if the thing we are deprived of be not good and lovely nor could the promise of long life have been a quickning Argument to Holiness and Duty as it is 1 Pet. 3.10 11. Exod. 20.12 had we not loved it Nor would God have promised to us as a Mercy what is not good and lovely Adam in Innocence had the love of Life implanted in him he did ill in that he feared the loss of Life too little to make him regularly careful to preserve it And it had been no argument of awful cogency that he should dye upon transgression had not the love of Life been deeply rooted and implanted in him for who can rationally fear the loss of what he cares not for It is plain that Adam's love to Life was the result of God's Creation and therefore good for it was in him in his Innocence And the Argument was framed to prevent Transgression as something possible but not yet existent and God was never angry with him till he through sin had forfeited his Life and this proved his love to Life to be every way consistent with a state of Innocence And for all the Comforts of Life they are desirable in themselves and lovely As Relation Eph. 5.25 Liberty 1 Cor. 7.21 and Birth-priviledges Acts 22.28 Credit Prov. 22.1 Outward Supplies Prov. 30.8 Yea Plenty of them Eccl. 7.11 10.10 And it is impossible and inhumane for any man simply to desire and attempt his own personal Misery and Destruction yea it is his sin to do it See Acts 26.29 Neither doth Grace it self mortifie or correct our love to Life and all its Comforts as simply considered in themselves for if it did it could neither be the trial nor the commendation of a gracious sober Christian to part with Life and Comforts since it would only be demanding from him what he cared not for Gen 22.1 2 12. 2. Life and the Comforts of it have their subserviency to better things and thus it is more our Duty not to disregard them Life makes us capable of serving God and of the enjoyment of him Our spiritual and eternal Life suppose natural Life and further 't is our state of usefulness and trial We cannot actually serve God any further or our Generation longer than we have our Lives and Beings here The usefulness and comforts of Relations are reciprocal How can I see or serve God with what I have not They are my helps and trust and trials Relations may be mutually won and ripened for eternal Glory by each others Conversation 1 Pet. 3.1 Credit is valuable because of usefulness to others and our own necessary confidences and encouragements 1 Tim. 3.7 Places of Honour and important Trust must not be disregarded Joseph Mordecai and Daniel were greatly serviceable through their great interest and estimation in their respective Princes Courts
embraces which our true happiness deserves and should we thus embrace them our Idols arms and hearts would certainly be broken altogether Our lawful comforts and delights are hereby embittered and polluted and melt away to nothing and bid farewel with dreadful gripes and bitter relishes and fly away upon the wings we give them for indeed the great affections of our enflamed hearts cannot but turn them all to smoak It is their subservient usefulness and relation to God our present work and future glory that make and speak them excellent and if you change their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you rob the cluster of its best juice and blessing and if your lives and comforts turn God's competitors and enemies you Spin them into snares and ruines And were but this the rule and measure of all our fears and love there would be joy in keeping and resigning them God would be with them in their stay and in their stead and places when they are gone in Psal 73.24 26. Oh! how disgracefully is this world reflected on in holy Writ 2 Cor. 4.18 Mat. 6 19 1. Rom. 8.18 And when you do compare it with that above and cast them both into an equal balance in your considerate and serious thoughts and pauses then think which is noblest in its nature most indisturbed in its possessions most uniform in its constitution most enduring in its excellence most adequate in its proportions and most desirable in its full dimensions 1 Pet. 1.4 And what advantages herein are others testimonies in the Case Would you but measure the good and evil of both worlds by the experiences and apprehensions of dying and awakened persons how vast a difference would you see betwixt the life and comforts of them both yea and their sorrows too Where have you any thing in this world that can preponderate or equal the comforts of God's blessed Face and Favour especially when all clouds and frowns are gone what is this world more apt to do than to deface God's Image in us or prevent it darken his Glory obstruct his comfortable emanations and addresses to us and to foment our Jealousies and suspitions about his present interest in us and his eternal kindness to us O what a difference is there betwixt the mantle of our mortal life which falls upon that dark and sluggish world where purblind man delights to be and those more glorious and enduring Robes of Righteousness Salvation Praise and Immortality which our Redeemer hath provided for us where by our death he calls and takes us What therefore but our inconsiderateness can make us love our Prisons Chains and Rags or the pretences of ensnaring Cheats Impostures and Delusions Direct 3. Look upon life and all its Comforts as a probationary state for something else and use them so Prov. 9.12 Eccles 9.10 2 Cor. 5.10 Rom. 2.6.10 Heb. 9.27 Trifle not here for it is your time of trial we are all designed to live elsewhere and future retributions must be answerable to our present carriage This is our trading season and would you be always in the Shop or Market Would you be always travelling homeward and never reach your Fathers house 2 Cor. 5.6 9. We must not dream of being always on the Stage we have our parts to act our work to do and must be called off ere long that others may succeed us and after a few successive Acts the Theatre must be taken down and can we fancy shadows representations and resemblances to be everlasting What! hath God sent us hither to doat upon those Lives and Comforts which are built upon the weak uncertain Sands and spend themselves in triflings upon the hasty streams of short uncertain Time Or is it not rather that we should be acting and ripening for eternal joys and exercises This is our time of Discipline Exercise and education for the Prince's Court to fit us for our everlasting Ministrations before the great Jehovah Now we are learning Principles and labouring to understand and try what it is to love and honour God what to be ruled and taught that so we might be saved by Christ to thrive upon and under preparatory quicknings counsels and consolations of the Spirit what it is to receive reflect refract God's Holiness and Image in his instituted ways and methods and can we terminate our Affections Pleasures and Desires upon these preliminary elements and prelusions to those more lofty Exercises and enjoyments that wait for us when we have regularly finished our probationary Course Surely our dark discoveries slender attainments cold affections frequent and great disturbances and faint attempts to get near God our mean proficiency and the true prospect of what we want as to both our accomplishments and enjoyments should make us easily resolve our value care and love into this one single aim and enterprize namely to see that Comforts Lives and Time be most effectually managed and improved for the securing of these joys before us for there is nothing that we are and have below but it is a Talent for the Market not the Napkin and therefore neither Life nor Comforts should lie as dead Goods upon our hands nor be as Idols in our hearts Have we but one thing needful to secure and are we upon our tryal for it and shall we turn our trust and helps to snares and hinderances by doating on them and by fixing and abiding where we should be in motion Are not we called to labour in the Vineyard in order to our reckoning and reward at night and is it not to day that we must work Heb. 3.12 15. John 17.4.5 Will not our Crop and Harvest be answerable to our Seed Gal. 6.7 9. What wonder is it that the guilty Drone so much desires to live and fears to die or that he rages frets and trembles to hear his Hour and the Judge is come When men have trifled all the day 't is a most frightful sight to see the lengthned shadow and declining Sun Stupefaction is no conquest of the fear of Death or love of Life But when the awakened soul expects and sees the King of Terrors in the head of his whole Army and on his hasty March what then can steell that countenance whose heart and life have been expended and embezled in trifling dotages and mistakes yea and gross neglects of what the man was sent into the world to do He that was sent into the world to please his God and save his Soul and to grapple with and trample on the twisted strength and subtilties of Earth and Hell and to acorn and propagate Religion by an exact and exemplary conversation and so under Christ to make all clear within and sure above when he hath neglected all cannot be comfortably furnished to sacrifice or part with life for the Concernments of Eternity with chearfulness and out of choice or to conquer the Exercises Fears and Challenges of a dying hour And besides did we but carry as upon our trial weaning our hearts
A SUPPLEMENT TO THE Morning-Exercise At CRIPPLE-GATE OR Several more Cases of Conscience Practically Resolved by sundry Ministers The Second Edition Our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and Godly sincerity not with fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our conversation in the World 2 Cor. 1.12 Conscientia est nescio quid divinum nunquam perit officium nostrum nobis semper ad memoriam revocat Doroth. Bibl. Pat. T. 4. p. 769. Quaerimus quomodo animus semper aequalis secundoque cursu eat propitius sibi sit sua laetus adspiciat hoc gaudium non interrumpat sed placido statu maneat nec attollens se unquam nec deprimens Seneca de Tranq anim p. 678. LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill at the Sign of the Atlas in Cornhil near the Royal-Exchange MDCLXXVI To that part of Christ's Flock to which I am more specially related Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour Beloved Christians AS I called in a Contribution of Help for the composing of a Legacy for others before my Civil Death so I now tender you A Supplement to that Exercise for your better liveliness of Spiritual Life I shall say nothing to commend these Sermons to you my Brethren are all herein unanimous to seek the Church's Profit not their own Applause only this I must say to prevent mistake viz. If any curious Reader shall find matter of Exception besides the Errors of Printing which I confess are too many the blame must be Personal because this joynt-work is no otherwise Social than as single Pearls strung together make one Neck-lace I easily grant here 's not yet a stating of all important Cases yet be this known to you whoever shall follow these Directions shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the work of the Lord nor miss of an abundant entrance into his Everlasting Kingdom Live up to what you have attained and you may be confident that what is further wanting God will as you want it supply it Be assur'd of this that you will get more skill and strength for all necessary Graces and Duties by an humble serious constant Course of Godliness than you possibly can do by captious Criticismes and wrangling Contentions about lesser things in which too many spend their Lives I herein appeal to your Consciences should not these Sermons answer expectation but according to your judgment either the Cases are ill chose or not well stated in that the Matter is either defective or redundant the Language too curious or too careless the Directions too common or too singular I appeal from your Passions to your Consciences and down-right charge you in the Name of my Master who must be your Judg that you read with other Spectacles These are not calculated to humour you but to better you These are not Duties to be cavil'd at but to be practised O that you may be effectually perswaded 1. That your Love to God Sermon 1 must be predominant and growing or you degrade your selves below the Beasts 2. That your Love to Man must be universal and spiritual Sermon 2 Sermon 3 or you can't evidence your Love to God 3. That your Love to the World must truckle under both be subservient to both and never be otherwise for if the World master you 't will â—â—in you Oh that your awakened Sermon 4 Consciences may now allarm you 4. To catch at Salvation while it is Sermon 5 offer'd lest you perish for ever Though 't is a vexed Problem 5. What Knowledg is necessary to Salvation yet can you satisfie your Consciences without diligent Endeavours to proportion your Knowledg to the Means you enjoy And to bring forth Fruits every day as those that in some Sermon 6 measure feel 6. What 't is to be in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and Sermon 7 8. that the Word 7. Preach'd and 8. Read may be so impress'd upon Heart and Life that it may be an infallible Evidence you are taught of God And when through weakness of the Flesh your Duties may prove Sermon 9 wearisom 9. Learn to refresh your selves with the Songs of Zion But would you have more particular Directions They are before you Sermon 10 Here you may learn true Christianity 10. In the daily Improvement of Sermon 11 your Baptism Here you may learn 11. How to propagate Religion to Posterity by riveting Truth upon your own Hearts and teaching it to Sermon 12 others but while you are giving Milk to Babes 12. Excuse not your selves upon any account whatsoever from frequent and hungry feeding upon stronger Meat Be you as willing to seal to the Conditions of the Covenant as you are desirous God should seal to the Promises of it But who is sufficient for these things Pour out your Hearts therefore and Sermon 13 list up your Souls to God in all manner of Prayer 13. Let extraordinary Sermon 14 Prayer answer that title 14. Your secret Prayer speak secret Communion Sermon 15 with God 15. Let your Family prayer bring down Blessings upon your Family that you be neither Holy nor Happy alone but that when your Family-relations shall cease they may bless God to Eternity that ever there were such Relations between you Now therefore Sermon 16 16. Let Husbands and Wives be the liveliest Emblems in the World of Sermon 17 Christ and his Church 17. Let Parents and Children be the Evidences and Pledges of God's special presence with this and the next Sermon 18 Generation 18. Let Masters and Servants adorn the Gospel by their exemplary Faithfulness to their Heavenly Master Thus doing Sermon 19 19. Your Thoughts will be cured and in them you 'l enjoy God Sermon 20 20. Your Tongues will in some sense be God's glory as well as yours But Sermon 21 then 21. You must cautiously avoid the catching Canker of Detraction Sermon 22 22. So you shaâ—l by your Conversations convince the World there 's an Excellency in Christianity And that all this may be as well acceptable Sermon 23 to God as approved of Men 23. Do all in the Name of Christ and Sermon 24 while you thus embarque with Christ 24. He 'l steer you safe between Presumption and Despair those Rocks upon one of which most perish Hereby also 25. You 'l make your Port with the chearing Joys of an Sermon 25 Heroick Faith 26. And keep above all Vexing Discontents with your Sermon 26 Worldly Condition 27. And what Afflictions God's wise Love shall Sermon 27 inflict you 'l be able to bear them with more than a Roman Courage 28. And though reproachful Reproofs may bear hard upon you you 'l not Sermon 28 fret but welcome them as a precious Balm But when you have done your best yet through the Remainders of Corruption Guilt will be contracted 29. You can't but be restless till it be removed 30. Then you Sermon 29 30. may rather hope for than
the service of God m Idomne Deo obsequio mancipâ—tâ—e Chem. c. He that thus loves God need not trouble himself how to order and dispose the several words here used his Heart Soul Mind Will whatever he is hath knows understands obtains is all due to God neither is there any thing in the whole world to be valued before God and thus I have given you a lame account what it is to love God c. The Third thing I undertook was demonstratively to prove that it is our indispensible Duty thus to love God It is our indispensible duty thus to love God To love God is our great Natural duty Man would more Naturally love God than himself were it not for Sin Neither Angels nor Men were at first commanded to love God Nature wanted no spur to this Duty The Law of Love was implanted in Nature Thou hast made me O Lord saith Aug. and my heart is unquiet till it come to thee O my heart saith he every Creature expells thee from them and that not without shame that thou mayest goe to God they doe as it were say O miserable wretch why dost thou adhere to me I am not the good which thou requirest O my Soul why dost thou goe thirsting among the Creatures to beg some drops that will rather provoke than quench thy thirst why dost thou leave that everlasting Fountain where thou mayst be perfectly satisfied What canst thou desire that is not fully and perfectly to be had in God n Stella de amore â—ei I shall at present urge no other Demonstration than Christ's Reason in the following verse This is the first and the great Commandment This is the great Command not that any Command of God is small the Commands in Scripture are like the Stars in the Firmament which though to ignorant Persons they are but like twinkling Candles yet are greater than the whole Earth so these Commands that careless persons overlook as inconsiderable are such as without respect unto them there is no salvation I grant there is a difference in the Commands e. g. o Deut. 21.12 and 5.7 The Command about paring the Nayls is of lesser moment than that of having no other God nay in the same kind Christ threatens the Scribes and Pharisees for their Hypocrisie p Mat. 23.23 that they were so exact in tything their Gardens and so remiss in looking to their Hearts but among the Commands and the diversity of them Christ tells us this is the greatest The Jews some of them counted the Command about Sacrifice to be the greatest as is hinted in the Scribe's saying q Mark 12.33 this Command of loving God is more than all whole Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices others counted that of Circumcision to be the the greatest others that of the Sabbath r Engl. Annot. Origen observes 't is well that Christ decides the controversie though the truth is he that willingly breaks the least Commandment will not stick to break the greatest While onely one sin makes us to forbear another for mens lusts cross one another when occasion serves that sin will be ventur'd upon that is now forborn But this upon a manifold account is The great Command Ratione objâ—cti 1. In respect of the Object it is God the chiefest Being the first and chiefest Good What am I Lord saith Augustine that thou commandest me to love thee and threatnest me with misery if I do not love thee This is no small aggravation of the Devil's torments that he cannot love God God may require many things of us but he requires nothing like this of our Love because this is the onely thing wherein we can answer God s Et vicem licet non ex aequo reddere in other things we cannot or we may not render God like for like God created us and gave us our Being but we can do nothing like this for God God preserves us in safety and daily confers innumerable Benefits upon us God delivers from innumerable dangers both of Soul and Body there 's none of all this to be done for God God is infinitely above all such Returns and there are other things wherein we may not render God like for like If God be angry with us we may not be angry with him if he reprove us we must not quarrel with him if God judge us we must not censure him But now God loves us and through Grace we are able to love him again and he loves us and God commands us to love him again 'T is true there 's no equality between God's loving of us and our loving of God God's Love does infinitely overcome ours t Raymundus but yet our love to God speaks Interest and Union the thing loved gives the name to the love Love is but an indifferent Passion till it be united to the thing loved and then it gets a denomination e. g. If the Object be earthly it is an earthly love if sensual it is a brutish love if it be man 't is an humane love if God 't is a Divine love so that by our love we are changed and transformed into a thing more noble or more vile we therefore debase our selves in loving any thing but God there 's nothing else worthy of our love whatsoever we love we give it a kind of dominion over us so that the will loseth its dignity and excellency when it loves inferiour things we are as it were married to that we love Suppose saith Raymundus a poor man of mean stock and no reputation have six daughters they are all equal by birth as to reputation and esteem but they are all differenced by their marriage the eldest marries a Farmer the next a Citizen the third a Knight the fourth a Duke the fifth a King the sixth at Emperour by these marriages there 's a very great inequality So here by the Object of your love you are dignified or debased But there is more yet in God's being the Object of our Love thou shalt love the Lord thy God thy God and therefore thou must love him Give me leave to enlarge a little on this and I will be the briefer in the other Considerations how this is the great Command thou shalt love the Lord Thy God Those things that are ours though they are not alwayes lovely yet we love them our own Children whether of our Bodies or our Minds our own Estates we are more troubled at the loss of any thing wherein our own Propriety is concerned than in all the World besides a small thing of our own is a thousand times more to us than a thousand times as much of anothers we are more concern'd for the cutting off our own Finger than the cutting off another mans Head Propriety doth exceedingly heighten Love But then when there is a specialty upon the Propriety that it is impossible to have the want repair'd e. g. my Child and mine onely Child
I love nothing but for thy sake extensively when I compare thee Lord with all other great and good things and had rather they and my self also had no being than once to offend my good God But yet most loving Lord when I consider a proportion of love I am greatly troubled If love should be according to the worth of the Object by how much thou art better than I am and more profitable to me than I am to my self I should love thee more than thou lovest me but that I never can O Lord I beseech thee how much dost thou love me is it weakly and remisly according to my goodness that be far from thee Lord. Thou lovest thine incomparably more than thou art loved of them as thou art incomparably greater and better than they But O great and good God that fillest heaven and earth yea the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee Why dost thou not fill my poor little soul O my soul why dost thou not open all thy little doors why doest not thou extend thy utmost capacity that thou may'st be wholy possest wholy satiated wholy de-ebriated with the sweetness of so great love especially when though thou art so little yet thou canst not be satisfied with the love of any lesser good Many questions might be proposed to expostulate my soul into a flame of love But I see Lord 't is easie to speak and write these things but 't is hard to doe and perfect them in effect Thou therefore most good and Almighty Lord to whom nothing is difficult grant I pray thee that I may more easily doe these things with my heart than profess them with my mouth c. And thus having after my poor manner put you upon practice and pointed you the way from the lowest to the highest step of divine love I am sensible that both good and bad have their exceptions ready against what I have delivered The humble trembling Christian he fears that if the lowest degree of love to God hath such heights in it he shall never be able to reach it and he is grieved whom God would not have made sad On the other hand those that call themselves Christians though there 's no reason for their usurping that title without any consideration of either the duty or themselves will bear you down that they love God with all their hearts souls and minds and that they have always done so and they are unworthy to live that doe not love God and if you enquire into any particulars whatsoever about their love to God they 'l rather quarrel with you than give you any satisfying answer If I could therefore propose any thing that would apply it self i. e. by its own evidence work it self into the conscience I might hope to dissolve their self-flatteries I cannot at present think of a more compendious way of undeceiving both these and of further perswasively urging the love of God than by plainly naming the infallible Properties and constant Effects of this love hereby those that despondingly fear they want it will find they have it and those that groundlesly boast of it will find they want it and both be instructed what must be done to evidence and exert it I shall begin with the properties of our love to God Properties of love to God And here as in all the rest I must study contraction and therefore dare not particularly mention Gerson's fifty properties of Divine Love I shall rather follow Voetius's method who ranks the properties of Divine Love thus They are partly Negative and Privative partly Positive and Absolute partly Comparative and Transcendent I shall speak briefly of each of these your Consciences may manage it as if it were a Use of Examination Negative Properties or Adjuncts are such as these and these may prevent the mistakes of drooping Christians and alas a great part of Christ's Family are such upon one account or other 1. This Divine Love is not at all in the unregenerate unless onely in shew and imitation that Soul that is solicitous about loving of God that Soul loves him This is proper and peculiar to all those and onely those that are born of God that are the adopted Children of God Let it be considered whether the Devil can counterfeit Love to God as he can other Graces their Faith works by Fear not by Love (a) Jam. 2.19 The Devils believe and tremble 'T is true he doth not only suffer but (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 promote an hypocritical Divine Love in some and he may appear in a Love-mask (c) Luva amoris to others as to Adam in Paradise (d) Gen. 3.5 God doth know that in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods He pretends he hath more kindness for them than God himself and the like to Christ (e) Mat. 4.3 c. but did he himself ever pretend so much as to love God I grant wicked men pretend to love God but the ridiculousness of their Discourse plainly evidences they neither understand what they say nor whereof they affirm And whereas thou complainest that thou fearest thy Love is not sincere because 't is selfish be not discouraged while thou studyest to please God fearest to offend him prizest his presence mournest for his absence thy love to God is infallibly sincere though there be an ingredient of self in it nay let me say more it could not be sincere if thou didst not mind thy self as in the very quintessence of Conjugal Love 't is impossible to abstract it from self-love so the more we love God the more we cannot but love our selves yea even then when we most deny our selves out of love to God 2. This Divine Love is far from perfection 't is subject to more sensible languishments and infirmities than any other grace though it can never be totally and finally extinguisht What though sometimes to thy own Apprehension thou canst not tell whether thou lovest God at all and what though at all times thou complainest of fickleness and inconstancy what though the time of thy Fear be longer than the time of thy Love yet while thine heart can say 't is unquiet in this temper and it is thy restless desire to love God more perfectly These very complaints speak Love we never complain of want of Love to those persons whom we do not already love This as well as other graces is here but in part (f) 1 Cor. 13.10 while we are in this lower World our very Graces will have their Nepe as well as their Spring-Tides We cannot yet be so wise as to foresee all our hinderances nor so watchful as to avoid all Satan's Ambushes nor so perfect as to maintain a spiritual frame of heart Though this Grace is alwayes in motion yet it doth not alwayes nor equally go forward 3. Our love to God shall never be abolished g Non quoad formam nec
is proper to the divine nature is attributed to the humane and contrarily that which is proper to the humane nature is attributed to the divine so here in the soul's union with Christ Christ is made sin for us and dealt with as if he were a sinner we are made the righteousness of God in him and priviledged as righteous persons Christ's riches are ours and our poverty his yea more the offices of Christ are attributed to Believers (l) 1 Pet. 2.5 they are an holy and a royal priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ and Christ hath made (m) Rev. 1.6 us Kings and Priests unto his father Christ hath a stock of created grace 't was for us (n) Joh. 1.16 2 Tim. 2.1 of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace The Apostle bids us be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus What shall I say is Christ the natural Son of God they are the adopted Is Christ the beloved Son of God Believers in their measure are so too They are dead with Christ buried with Christ risen with Christ sit together in heavenly places with Christ fellow-heirs with Christ In short as there never was such another union in the world as the union of the two natures in Christ So there never was nor ever can be such another union in the world as between Christ and the believer It is beyond what any metaphors from art or nature can fully express That of a Foundation and Building of a Vine and Branches of Head and Members of Soul and Body are but dark shadows of this union But I must not enlarge 2. Communion with God Communion consists in communication (o) Cum res unius sit alterius when there is a kind of community of propriety I might run over the former particulars and enlarge them but the subject is not so barren that I need name one thing twice Christians I beg of you that you would be careful of receiving because I can be but brief in delivering a few hints of the communication of divine love between God and us e. g. (p) 2 Pet. 1.4 God communicates the divine Nature to us through his fulfilling exceeding great and precious promises We make returns as those that are born of God in obeying his commands Because God loves us he communicates unto us his communicable properties of holiness wisdom goodness Seeing we have nothing to return we prostrate our selves at his feet ingenuously acknowledge our unholiness folly and badness God and the Soul holds communication in all gracious actions God communicates strength to the doing of those things which he cannot do (q) Through his perfection not defect but we must to repent believe obey God these are our actions through his strength Again we exercise our graces upon God for those his actions which we cannot do but we may through his covenant engagement with humble thankfulness say he must e. g. for the pardon of sin speaking peace to the Conscience giving out of gracious influences c. for these we admire God we praise him rejoyce in him Once more in those things wherein we can make no return to God but may to others for God's sake our love to God necessitates us to do it e. g. God pities us is merciful and kind to us God is infinitely above all such returns Ay but so are not the Members of Christ who are the best visible Image of God in the world I 'le give them not only my alms but my very bowels c. In short in this communication God and the gracious Soul have the same interest drive on the same design the advancement of Christ and the Gospel have the same friends and the same enemies They communicate secrets to each other none but the loving Soul knows the secrets of divine love and none but God hears all the secrets of the Soul without a reserve Among the dearest friends in the world there 's some reserve Some things we 'll rather speak to a stranger than to our dearest bosome-friend we think them not fit to mention or we are loath to trouble them but there 's none of this between God and the Soul God tells us all that may benefit not overcharge us we tell God all the very worst of our own hearts which we are ashamed to mention to those that most love us God deals with us according to our capacities our bottles would break should God over-fill them but we deal with God according to the utmost of our active graces God is both compassionate to pity and pardon what 's no way acceptable and even incredibly condescending to accept of what none but his infinite grace would accept 3. Familiar love-visits When God makes sad visits to the disquieting of Conscience and the breaking of our peace yet even then the Soul under trouble of Conscience would not change its spiritual trouble for the best of the worlds peace no not for its former peace with which 't was so well pleas'd before conversion the Soul that loves God cannot construe that to be a visit which others count so The Soul never goes to God as we go to visit those we care not for that we are glad at their being from home so the visit be but pay'd we care not Pray compare some passages in that Song of loves one while you have the Spouse enquiring of Christ (r) Cant. 1.7 Tell me O thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy Companions q. d. Tell me O Lord my love and life where I may have both instruction and protection in an hour of trouble lest through thy absence I be seduced by those that only pretend to love thee Christ gives a present answer and quickly after returns an invitation O my dove (s) Cant. 2.14 that art in the clefts of the Rock in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely q. d. O my mourning dove that darest not stir out of thy secret place stir up thy faith hold up thy face with comfort let me hear thy prayers and praises though others censure them I esteem them though others count thee deformed thou art in my eyes beautiful Here 's something of affection but see more (t) Cant. 4.16 Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits q. d. O my Lord what I have from thee I return to thee accept I beseech thee the fruits of obedience and praise Christ presently accepts the invitation (u) Cant. 5.1 I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse I have gathered my Myrrh with my Spices I have eaten my Honey-comb with my honey I have drunk up my Wine with my Milk eat O friends drink
This is Christ's counsel Cast out the beam out of thine own eye then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote out of thy Brother's eye Math. 7.5 Mine eye is not capable of having a beam in it but a mote in mine own eye should be to me as a beam in comparison of what it is in anothers Take a few Scripture instances for this had need to be inculcated in the present age in case of dishonour done to God and your selves compare Moses his carriage (g) Numb 12.2 Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses hath he not spoken also by us and the Lord heard it but Moses was as if he heard it not for he was very meek above all men that were upon the face of the earth He was so indeed but it was only in his own cause when the glory of God is concerned you 'l find him of another temper As soon as he saw the Calf and the Dancing Moses's anger waxed hot and he took the calf which they had made and burned it in the fire and ground it to powder Exod. 32.19 20 22 27. and strewed it upon the water and made the Children of Israel drink of it And Moses stood up in the gate of the Camp and said who is on the Lord's s de let him come unto me and he said put every man his Sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbour c. Here is one ice-cold in his own cause fire-hot in God's Take another instance of Paul (h) Gal. 4.12 Brethren I beseech you be as I am for I am as ye are you have not injured me at all q d. the wrong you have done me I count as nothing but to Elimas that would hinder the entertainment of the Gospel he saith thou Child of the Devil thou Enemy of all Righteousness Acts 13.10 c. and he strikes him blind I instance in these now because I mentioned them before as singularly eminent for their love to God For Zeal about duties I commend unto you this rule In every duty you take in hand endeavour to do it above your strength not only to the uttermost of your strength but above it I bottom this rule upon the commendation given to the Churches of Macedonia (i) 2 Cor. 8.3 For to their power I bear record yea and beyond their power they were willing of themselves My Brethren It becomes us in every thing of Piety to pant after the utmost perfection attainable (k) Phil. 3.12 13 14. Not as though I were already perfect but I labour after forgetting those things that are behind reaching forth to those things which are before c. And David saith (l) Psal 69.9 The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up In a word we must not only be sometimes zealous under pangs of Conscience but always in the whole frame of our conversation (m) Gal. 4.18 It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing and not only when a Minister or some other is present who may commend you The last thing I first proposed was to urge some perswasives to be graciously ambitious of such qualifications and as graciously diligent in such exercises And here I must pass by more arguments than I can so much as mention For the truth is you can name nothing in the world but it may be an Argument to promote our love to God 1. Consider God is our great Benefactour I mention this twice that it may be often in your thoughts Who can reckon up the benefits we receive from God If love be to be recompenc'd with love greater love was never shown than this that God hath given his Son to dye for his Enemies If love be to be purchas'd at any rate who can give more for it than eternal life If love be to be bestowed gratis who more worthy of it than God and canst thou then do less than love him It is commended as an expedient to overcome the worst of our enemies (p) Rom. 12.20 If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head Oh what hearts have we that mercies will not melt them Reflect a little upon your selves we use to indent with little Children for their love if we give them but an apple or a plumb we presently ask will you love me and if they promise to love us we then enquire where will you love me Oh dear Christians turn in upon your own hearts a little O how many how great mercies do you receive from God (q) Prov. 17 8. Solomon tells us that a gift whithersoever it turneth it prospereth shall God's gifts be the only exception to that Proverbial Maxime For shame Christians let us strive who shall be first in crying O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker (r) Psal 95.6 Know ye that the Lord is God (s) Psal 100.3 It is he that made us and not we our selves we are his People and the sheep of his pasture (t) Psal 31.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful God is pleased to give us in actual possession of what his wise love thinks fittest for us and God is pleased to give us promises suitable to every condition we can be in in this world e. g. In case of want (u) Mat. 6.31 32 33. Take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be cloathed surely if we may be sollicitous about any worldly concern it is about food and raiment but Christ chargeth us upon our Christianity not to be thoughtful about them For after all these things do the Gentiles seek But if we do not take care for food and raiment we may starve Christ doth as it were say nay there 's no danger of that for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things Were this believed men would lay aside their Callings No warrant for that Christ layeth down a rule for our practice as the condition of the promise Seek ye first not onely but first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and then in a way of diligence not negligence all these things shall be added to you This in respect of want Take another in case of danger The name of the Lord is a (w) Prov. 18.10 strong Tower the Righteous runneth into it and is safe O how safe is that person that is as it were garrison'd in the divine Attributes in case of suffering (x) Mark 10.29 30. Verily I say unto you there 's no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or
drinking recreations or unclean objects What (b) Laâ—rtius in Empedoc Empedocles said of the Agragantines holds too true of many now adays They give themselves to Luxury as though they would die tomorrow and yet they build houses as if they were to live for ever O! how happy would it be for England if those Sumptuary Laws commended by Plato (c) Plato Repub 3. in his Commonwealth were establisht amongst us for regulating our excesses in feasts Habits Houses and other sensual pleasures O! what seeds and causes of sorrow are there in sensual pleasures How is the Love of sensual Sinners inveigled with the worlds Golden Pleasures Such there were in the Apostles times even in the Churches So Jam. 5.5 Ye have lived in Pleasures i. e. as the Fish liveth in the water Pleasures have been your Element the food of your sensual life your hearts have been steeped immersed drowned in them as the spring of your life and happiness Thence it follows Ye have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter Or we may by a metonomie read it as in the day of Feasting So the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which answers to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred And so it alludes to the Solemn Feasts after Sacrifices so common among the (d) See court of the Gent. part 1. Book 2. c. 9. Sect. 10. Gentiles as well as Jews Their great days both of slaughter and Feasting For when the sacrifice was slain and offered they Feasted on part thereby to denote their communion with the God they sacrificed unto And so the sense is this you nourish your sensual Appetites daily with Feasting as those that feast on part of the Sacrifice in the day of slaughter O! how much doth this pampering of the flesh tend to the starving of the soul And what is this but to make pleasures our God So Phil. 3.19 whose belly is their God and 2 Tim. 3.4 lovers of pleasures more than of God Which refers to sensual professors in these last perillous days Unto which also our Lord seems to refer Matth. 24.38 39. 2 To love the world is to lust after Riches for themselves as our Last end and choicest Good This John includes under the Lust of the Eyes which is well interpreted by that Character which Solomon gives of the avaricious man Eccle. 4.8 neither is his eye satisfied with Riches O! how greedy is the covetous man's eye after gold and silver and other Riches and what Complacence doth he take in the view thereof It 's true Riches do not immediately affect or pamper the flesh yet are they the Caterers of the flesh they lay in provision for it For money is the measure of all things And albeit Riches are remote as to the flesh yet are they the proper object of the eyes lusting which takes in things remote 3 To love the World is to lust after or pride our selves in any worldly Grandeur or Finite Excellencc as our Last end and best good So much the pride of life denotes Aristoteles Rhet. l. 2. describeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When any boast what they have and rashly promise great things of themselves arrogating to themselves the deeds of others For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 primarily signifies a vain gloriation or boasting of having or doing great things from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Boaster which Grammarians derive from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wandring and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liver Such as your Mountebanks and Vagabonds are who go from place to place boasting what great things they can do It here signifies a vain-glorious affecting or assuming to our selves some created excellence as the chief matter of our happiness This is the great lust of more elevated refined generous Spirits who peradventure scorn to defile themselves with sensual pleasures or Riches yet are not without violent and impetuous lustings after some worldly Grandeur or humane Excellence Under this pride of life we may comprehend also the mind's lusting after Knowledge or any other Mental perfection for it self as our last end Jans August Tom. 2. l. 2. c. 8. fol. 132. which is the grand lust of Philosophers School-men and other great wits of the world This Jansenius rangeth under the former particular the lust of the eye 2. Prop. Predominant Love to the world in regard of its subject consists in an habitual pondus weight or violent Bent of heart toward some inferior good for it self Look as in nature there is a Centre of Gravity unto which all ponderous weighty bodies by their Gravity and weight naturally tend So in corrupt Nature Love to the world or Concupiscence is that lustful Pondus or weight whereby the heart is violently impelled and inclined towards the world as its centre of Gravity This seems lively exprest Hebr. 12.1 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us This verse with the three following are wholly agonistick alluding to the Grecian games as it appears by the several terms They who ran in the race were to lay aside every thing that might burden or hinder them therein Thence saith the Apostle let us lay aside every weight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a ponderous weighty gross heavy body and it is here applied as (e) Grotius and Hammond out of him the learned conceive to the love of the world which as a great pondus or weight presseth down the heart towards the earth as its centre of gravity and so hinders its Christian race heaven-ward O! what an infinite weight is love to this dirty world with what an impetuous and violent force doth it press the heart downward even unto Hell this also is well expressed by a Bent Hos 11.7 And my people are bent to back-bsliding from me i. e. Their heart stands strongly bent towards their beloved Idols and worldly allies Their hearts were in suspence as to God so the word signifies but strongly bent towards the world How doth the voluptuous man's heart stand bent towards his pleasures the avaricious man's heart towards his riches the ambitious man's heart towards his honors as his God this bent of the heart towards the world discovers it self in an insatiable infinite thirst after worldly good for it self This we find greatly exemplified in profane Esau Hebr. 12.16 Or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right What birthright was it that Esau sold why it was his birth-right to the promised land Canaan in the type but Heaven in the Antitype And for what did he sell Canaan and Heaven for a morsel of meat or a poor sensible pleasure which his greedy lust thirsted after You find the story at large Gen. 25.30.34 v. 30. And Esau said unto Jacob feed me I pray thee with that same red potage It is in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that red that red namely potage note here that the repetition of
death and the grave and Hell and the Devil in chains after him as conquerors in war were wont to lead their vanquished enemies whom they had taken prisoners in chains of Captivity after them exposing them to the publick scorn of all spectators Thus we are to ascribe the glory of the work of Redemption to Jesus Christ the Son of God and thereby do honour God in our sanctifying of his holy Sabbath Thirdly We likewise glorifie the Holy Ghost when we ascribe to Him the honour of the work of Sanctification Whether we look upon it in that first miraculous effusion of the spirit which our Lord Jesus as the King and Head of his Church did first purchase by the blood of his cross and afterward ascended into heaven and obtained of his Father when he took possession of his Kingdom and lastly did abundantly pour down upon the Apostles and other officers and members of his Evangelical Church in the day of Pentecost Acts 2.1 Which was as it were the Sanctification of the whole Gospel-Church at once in the first-fruits Or whether we understand that work of sanctification which successively is wrought by the Holy Ghost in every individual elect Child of God happily begun in their first conversion and mightily upheld and carried on in the sâ—ul to the dying day This is a glorious work consisting in these two glorious branches of it mortification of corruption which before the Holy Ghost hath done shall end in the total annihilation of the body of sin that blessed priviledge groan'd for so much by the blessed Apostle Rom. 7.24 and the erecting of a beautiful fabrick of grace holiness in the soul which is the very Image of God Heb. 1 3â— an erection of more transcendent wonder and glory than the six days workmanship which the Holy Ghost doth uphold and will perfect unto the day of Christ And this is the great end and design of the Sabbath and of the Ordinances of the Gospel according to the word which the great maker and appointer of Sabbaths speaketh I give them my sabbath to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth them Here then is the third branch of our sanctifying the Sabbath namely the ascribing to God the Holy Ghost the glory of the work of sanctification And this is proper work for Christians in the intervals and void spaces between the publick Ordinances to sit down and first seriously and impartially to examine the work of grace in our souls 1. For the truth of it 2. For the growth of it And then if we can give God and our own Consciences some Scriptural account concerning this matter humbly to fall down and to put the Crown of praise upon the head of Free-grace which hath made a difference where it found none And so much for this Text at this time How we may hear the Word with profit Serm. VII Jam. 1.21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls THese Jews to whom the Apostle writes were guilty of many foul and scandalous sins but their master sin was the love of this world c. 4. ver 4. (a) Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God and from this sin arose many other Evils wherewith they are charged in this Epistle as 1. Their tickling joy in hopes to get gain ch 4.13 (b) Go to now ye that say To day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain 2. Their Hoarding up of riches ch 5.3 (c) Your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last daies 3. With-holding the pay of the labouring man chap. 5.4 (d) Behold the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the cries of them which have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath 4. Their fightings and Contentions one with the other yea their killing one the other to get their Estates ch 4.1 2. (e) From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not even from your lusts that war in your members ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have cannot obtain their desiring to have made them kill one the other as Ahab did Naboth 5. Their Admiring the rich and villifying the poor ch 2.3 (f) If there come into your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile rayment And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and lastly to name no more Hence arose their unprofitable hearing of the word ch 1.22 (g) But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves They heard they had the best places at meetings but they were hearers only they did nothing for Riches as Christ tells us Choak the word Luke 8.14 (h) And that which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choaked with cares and riches And as they were guilty of these moral vices so erroneous in the Doctrine of faith especially in that main Article of Justification Holding an empty and inefficatious faith sufficient to interest a man in Christ ch 2.14 (i) What doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith have not works can faith save him can such a faith save him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can that faith save him can such a faith save him that Faith that saves is alwaies fruitful and that faith which is not fruitful is no true Faith the Apostle doth not deny that we are justified by Faith by Faith only but he denies that faith without works is a true faith it s only an empty and aiery notion and such a faith cannot justifie nor save a man Well then this being the case and condition of the people it was impossible they should be quiet and patient hearers of the word but must needs fret and fume against it as that which contradicts their Lusts Errors and Delusions The Apostle therefore to take them off from this bitter and untoward spirit in Hearing the word gives them this wholsome counsel and advice from God Wherefore laying apart all filthiness c. All filthiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I 'le not restrain it to covetousness nor to scurrilous and reproachful speeches but take it in its utmost Latitude as denoting sin in the General 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies the filth of the flesh 1 Pet. 3.21
acceptance with God or in a condition of spiritual life that is the forerunner and earnest of a life of glory 2. But again if you consider the nature of the drink which he hath appointed it is wine and not water By it may be signified thus much that as there is no sort of drink so grateful to the palate so reviving and strengthning to the spirits so that spiritual life that the Soul is raised to by the Death of Christ is a life of the greatest pleasure and joy that is conceivable for as no liquor like Wine doth chear a sad drooping spirit so nothing doth so glad and chear the Soul as Faith in a Crucified Christ according to that of the Apostle Peter in whom though we have not seen 1 Pet. 1.8 yet believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory Thus much for the Duty this do 2. The end of the Duty and that is in remembrance of me Here are two things to be inquired into I. What reason was there for the instituting an Ordinance for his remembrance II. Why of all the acts and expressions of his love to sinners above all he would be remembred in his sufferings for us which is the special signification of this Supper 1 To the first I say you must call to mind that the time of instituting this supper was the night before that day he died Now the consequent of his Death was to be this that he should be taken from Earth to Heaven there to be personally present till the day of judgment Now that his Church on Earth might not forget him in this long absence he therefore appointed this supper for a frequent quickning them to the remembrance of him till he came again 2 To the other Question I Answer That the reasons why Jesus would have this act of his love to be especially remembred above all other may be these 1. Because his dying for his Church was the greatest act of love he ever shewed his Church Greater love saith Christ hath no man than this John 15.13 1 John 3.16 that a man lay down his life for his friends Again saith the Apostle Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us If a man should part with his liberty and suffer bonds or lay down his estate and become poor or leave his Country and become an exile for his friend these were all expressions of great love but none of them are comparable to laying down life and shedding ones blood for a friend This last is that wherein Christ hath eminently demonstrated his love to his Church this he glorieth in and this is that which he would never have his Church forget but frequently remember in this supper 2. Because that though he gave and still doth give very great testimonies of his love to us as in his Resurrection Ascension Intercession preparing Glory and lastly in his coming again to raise us justifie us and to take us to himself to behold and enjoy that Glory that he had with the Father before the World was yet this Ordinance is rather for the remembrance of his bloody Death for us than for the remembrance of any of the other blessings and why Because that all these other depend on this Christ could never have risen to our justification had he not died for the satisfaction of the Law and his Fathers Justice Nor would he have been admitted as an Intercessor nor have been allowed one mansion in Glory for any of us nor would his Father have suffered him to have returned again to take any one of us to himself if he had not by his death made our peace opened the new way into the Holy of Holies and purchased a glorious Resurrection and an Ascension to the Heavenly and eternal glory for us So that since all his other acts of love to his Church depend on this of his dying no wonder if he appointed this Supper for the remembrance of his death rather than any thing else he either did or promised to do for us The Conclusion is that since that the end of this Ordinance is so glorious and that is the remembrance of the greatest love that ever God the Father or Son shewed to us it cannot but cast a Lustre and Glory upon the duty of coming to this Supper and engage us to a chearful participation thereof 3. The Obligation to this duty and that is Christ's Command this is implied in the Text but exprest in the foregoing verse what saith the Apostle Paul I have received of the Lord that which also I declare unto you The Apostle doth but declare the Command is Christ's he is the Author of it It is Christ not Paul that said This do in remembrance of me Christ's Commands are the bonds by which we are tied up to Obedience if we break his bonds we are transgressors Remember who they were that conspired together saying Let us break his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from us they were such that the Lord hath in derision to whom he will one day speak in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure The commands of superiors set out all duty to inferiors and punish for neglect and the higher or greater the superior is the more authority hath the command and the greater punishment will be inflicted on the disobedient If disobedience to the word spoken by Angels received a just recompence of reward of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy that disobey the command of Jesus Christ If a Child's disobedience deserves the rod or a Servants the cudgel or a Subjects the axe or halter what doth disobedience to the Lord Jesus deserve that is greater than Father or Master or any earthly Soveraign whatever Take heed then my brethren of being found guilty of neglect of this duty that is bound upon you by the command of so great an authority as this of the Lord Jesus that hath said This do in remembrance of me 4. In the next place is to be considered the persons obliged and those are the Church of Christ so far as by Scriptural Qualifications they are capacitated to a participation thereof who are 1. Those that can discern the Lord's body in this supper the want of this the Apostle gives as the reason of unworthy receiving it 1 Cor. 10.29 and tells us they eat damnation to themselves Now there are two ways wherein the Lord's body may be said to be discerned in this supper 1. When the Understanding is spiritually enlightned to perceive the true nature and ends of this supper and thereby is enabled to see a greater difference between this and our ordinary meals for he that shall for want of knowledg therein come to this Table with no better preparations or to no other intents than when he goes to his own Table he doth certainly pervert the ends of the institution and prophanes the Ordinance and therefore cannot chuse
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from holes pits caves cut out in rocks shews that it notes secret places for retirements or repositories It 's accordingly rendred by secret chambers Math. 24.26 and by closets Luke 12.3 2. Shut the door or lock it as the word insinuates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a key is deduced and are both put together as appears by Rev. 3.7 and 20.1 3. implying that we must bar or bolt it 3. Pray to thy Father in secret Father which is pietatis potestatis appellatio as Tertullian notes a name hinting both piety and power to thy Father De Orat. noting both propriety and intimacy 2. A gracious promise which may be branch't into three parts 1. For thy Father sees thee in secret his eye is upon thee with a gracious aspect when thou art withdrawn from all the world 2. He will reward thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 retribuet reponet or as Ambrose reads it redder so the word is sometimes translated by rendring De Cain and Abel Math. 22.21 Rom. 2.6 13.7 by delivering Math. 27.58 Luke 9.42 by yielding or affording Heb. 12.11 Rev. 22.2 All which comes to this he will return thy prayers or thy requests amply and abundantly into thy bosom 3. He will do it openly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perspicuously and manifestly before the world sometimes and most plentifully and exuberantly before men and Angels at the great day secret prayers shall have open and publick answers 3. Here 's a demonstration of sincerity from the right performance of this duty set forth by the Antithesis But thou shalt not be as the hypocrites verse 5. When i. e. as often as thou prayest by thy self enter not thy house only thy hall or thy common chamber but thy closet the most secret and retired privacy Shut the door that others may neither discern thee nor rush in suddenly upon thee He shall reward thee i. e. he shall answer thee and perform thy request as a gracious return to thy secret sincerity God is pleased by promise to make himself a debtor to secret prayer It brings nothing to God but empty hands and naked hearts to shew that reward in Scripture sence does not slow in upon the streams of merit but grace It 's monkish divinity to assert otherwise for what merit strictly taken can there be in prayer the meer asking of mercy cannot merit it at the hands of God who out of our most sincere petitions being at best impregnated with sinful mixtures might take up matter enough to sling as the dung of our sacrifices in our faces Mal. 2.3 We halt like Jacob both in and after our choicest and strongest wrestlings But such is the grace of our heavenly Father who spies that little sincerity of our hearts in secret that he is pleased to accept us in his beloved and to smell a favour of rest in the fragrant perfumes and odours of his intercession Hence though I might draw forth several notes yet shall treat but of one containing the marrow and nerves of the Text. Obs That secret prayer duly managed is the mark of a sincere heart and hath the promise of a gracious return Prayer is the soul's colloquy with God and secret prayer is a conference with God upon admission into the privy chamber of heaven When thou hast shut thine own closet vvhen God and thy soul are alone with this key thou openest the chambers of paradise and enterest the closet of divine love When thou art immured as in a curious Labyrinth from the tumultuous world and entered into that garden of Lebanon in the midst of thy closet thy soul like a spiritual Daedalus takes to it self the wings of faith and prayer and flies into the midst of heaven among the Cherubims I may term secret prayer the invisible flight of the soul into the bosom of God out of this heavenly closet rises Jacobs ladder vvhose rounds are all of light its foot stands upon the basis of the covenant in thy heart its top reaches the throne of grace When thy reins have instructed thee in the night season with holy petitions vvhen thy soul hath desired him in the night then vvith thy spirit vvithin thee wilt thou seek him early Psal 16 7. Isa 26.9 When the door of thy heart is shut and the windows of thine eyes seal'd up from all vain and worldly objects Zach. 3.7 up thou mountest and hast a place given thee to walk among Angels that stand by the throne of God in secret prayer the soul like Moses is in the backside of the desart and talks with the Angel of the Covenant in the fiery bush Exod. 3.1 Gen. 24.63 1 Kings 19.4 v. 12. Here 's Isaac in the field at eventide meditating and praying to the God of his Father Abraham Here 's Elijah under the Juniper-tree at Rithmah in the wilderness and anon in the cave hearkning to the still small voice of God Here 's Christ and the Spouse alone in the wine cellar and the banner of love over her Cant. 2.4 Gersâ—n Eph. 5.18 John 1.48 where she utters verba dimidiata ubi bibit ebriam Sobrietatem spiritus but half words having drunk of the sober excess of the spirit Here we find Nathaniel under the fig-tree though it may be at secret prayer yet under a beam of the eye of Christ There sits Austin in the garden alone sighing with the Psalmist usque quo Domine Confess 1. l. 8. c 12. how long O Lord and listning to the voice of God tolle lege take up the Bible and read It 's true hypocrites may pray and pray alone and pray long and receive their reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from such whose observation they desire but take no true delight in secret devotion Mat. 23 14. Chrysost in loc Cant. 2.14 they have no spring of affection to God But O my dove says Christ that art in the clefts of the rock let me hoar thy voice for the melody thereof is sweet A weeping countenance and a wounded spirit are most beautiful prospects to the eye of heaven when a broken heart powrs out repentant tears like streams from the rock smitten by the rod of Moses law in the hand of a Mediator Oh how amiable in the sight of God Psa 130.1 out of the depths have I cried to thee as Chrysostom glosses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draw sighs from the furrows of thy heart è sulco pectoris Let thy prayer become a hidden mystery of divine secrets like good Hezekiah upon the bed with his face to the wall Isa 38.2 5. that none might observe him or like our blessed Lord that grand example who retired into solitudes and mountains apart and saw by night the Illustrious face of his heavenly Father in prayer the reasons follow 1. Because a sincere heart busies it self about heart-work to mortifie sin to quicken grace to observe and resist
open denials of prayer prove the most excellent answers and God's not hearing us is the most signal audience Therefore at the foot of every prayer subscribe fiat voluntas tua and thou shalt enjoy preventing mercies that thou never soughtest and converting mercies to change all for the best resting confident in this that having askt according to his will he heareth thee 1 John 5.14 7. Lastly present all into the hands of Christ This was signified of old by praying towards the Temple 1 Kings 8.33 Heb. 8.3 because the golden mercy-seat typifying Christ was there he is ordained of God to offer gifts and sacrifices and therefore 't is of necessity that he should have something from us to offer being (a) Heb. 10.21 the high priest over the house of God What does Christ on our behalf at the throne of grace Put some Petition into the hands of Christ he waits fâ—r our offerings at the door of the oracle leave the sighs and groans of thy heart with this compassionate intercessor who is toucht with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 4 15. who sympathizes with our weaknesses He that lies in the Father's bosom and hath (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 1.18 expounded the Will of God to us adds (c) Rev. 8.3 much incense to the prayers of all Saints before the throne of God and explains our Wills to God (d) Psal 141.2 so that our prayers perfumed by his are set forth as incense before him He is the (e) Job 9.33 days-man the heavens-man betwixt God and us Whatever we ask in his name he puts into his golden censer (f) John 15 16 and 16.23 that the Father may give it to us When the sweet smoak of the incense of Christ's prayer ascends before the Father our prayers become sweet and amiable and cause a savour of rest with God This I take to be one reason why the prevalency of prayer is so often assigned to the time of the evening sacrifice pointing at the death of Christ about (g) Mat. 27.46 Act. 3.1.10.30 the 9th hour of the day near the time of the evening oblation Hence it was that Abraham's sacrifice received a gracious answer being offered (h) Gen. 15.12 24 63. about the going down of the Sun Isaac went out to pray at eventide Elijah at mount Carmel prays and offers at (i) 1 Kings 18.36 the time of the evening sacrifice Ezra fell upon his knees and spread out his hands (k) Ezr. 9.5 at the evening sacrifice David begs that his prayer may be virtual in the power of the (l) Psal 141.2 evening sacrifice Daniel at prayer was toucht by the angel about the time of the (m) Dan. 9.21 evening oblation All to shew the prevalency of our access to the throne of grace by the vertuous merit of the intercession of Christ the acceptable evening sacrifice Yea and therefore we are taught in our Lord's prayer to begin with the title of a Father in him we are adopted to children and to use that prevalent relation as an argument in prayer There are some other particulars in respect to prayer in general as it may be connext and coincident with secret prayer as stability of spirit freedom from distraction by wandring thoughts the actings of faith the aids of the spirit c. which I pass by and come to the second branch Directions special and peculiar to secret prayer 1. Be sure of intimate acquaintance with God Can we presume that are but dust and ashes to go up into heaven and boldly to enter the presence-chamber and have no fellowship with the Father or with the Son (a) Job 22 2â— 26 27. Acquaint thy self witb him and be at peace c. Then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty and lift up tby face unto God thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee (b) v. 28. The decrees of thy heart shall be establisht to thee and the light shall shine upon thy ways First (c) Job 29.3 4. Dan. 9.3 shining acquaintance and then shining answers Canst thou set thy face unto the Lord God then thou mayest seek him by prayer First Daniel sets and shews his face to God and then seeks him by prayer and supplications Does God know your face in prayer do you often converse in your closets with him Believe it it must be the fruit of intimate acquaintance with God to meet him in secret with delight Can ye come familiarly as a child to a father considering its own vileness meanness or unworthiness in comparison with his divine love the love and bowels of a heavenly father Such a father the father of fathers and the father of mercies 2 Cor. 1.2 3. How sweetly does the Apostle joyn it God is our Father because the Father of our Lord and because his Father and so our Father therefore the Father of mercies Oh what generations of mercies flow from this paternity But plead we must to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that manuduction and access to this father through Christ by the spirit We must be gradually acquainted with all three Eph. 2.18 Gal. 4.6 Eph. 1.4 First with the spirit then with Christ and last with the father first God sends the spirit of his son into our hearts and then through the son we cry Abba father The bowels of mercy first wrought in the father to us he chose us in Christ and then sends his spirit to draw us to Christ and by Christ to himself Have ye this access to God by the spirit bosom-communion flows from bosom-bosom-affection If your souls are truly in love with God he will graciously say to your petitions be it unto you according to your love Times of finding God A godly man prays in finding seasons 2. Obser When God's heart and ear are inclined to audience vvhen God is said to (a) Psal 31.2 Isa 55.6 Psal 32.6 Cant. 2.9.5.2 bow down his ear unto us There are special seasons of drawing nigh to him vvhen he draws nigh to us times when he may be found When thy beloved looks forth at the window and shews himself through the lattess That 's a time of grace when he knocks at the door of thy heart by his spirit Motions upon the heart are like the Doves of the East sent vvith letters about their necks As he said of Bernard Ex motu cordis spiritus Sancti praesentiam agnoscebat he knew vvhen the holy spirit vvas present with him by the motion of his heart Gerson T. 2. 27. a. 2 â—am 7.27 Psal 27.4 8. When God reveals himself to the heart he opens the ears of his Servants for some gracious message When God bids us seek his face then the soul must answer one thing have I desired that will I seek after First holy desires warm the heart and they sâ—t the soul on seeking They are â—ikâ— mâ—ssengers sent from heaven to
sign of success Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress saies David Psal 4.1 though it be meant of deliverance yet it may be applied to prayer as the holy Prophet seems to do Psal 18.6 yea though the soul may be under some sense of displeasure and in extremities yet lifts up a cry when conscience stops the mouth of hypocrites that they shun and fly the presence of God 2. A blessed serenity and quiet calmness of spirit in time of prayer especially when the soul comes troubled and clouded at first whiles it pours out its complaints before the Lord but at length nescio quid serenius emicat Jerâ—m c. the Sun shines forth brightly and the heavens look serenely and chearfully upon the soul in prayer 't is said of Hannah she was no more sad Heb. her countenance was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ille ulterius any longer in the old hue cast down and sorrowful because of her rival Thus the Lord dealt with David though not yet fully answered yet fill'd with holy (a) 1 Sam. 1.18 fortitude of spirit and revived in the midst of his trouble Prayer dispels (b) Psal 138.3 7. anxious sollicitude and chases away black thoughts from the heart (c) Phil. 4.6 7 it cases conscience and fills the soul with the peace of God 3. A joyful frame of Spirit God sometime makes his people not onely peaceful but (d) Isa 56.7 joyful in his house of prayer Thus sped Hezekiah when his Crane-like chatterings (e) Isa 38.14 20. were turned into Swan-like songs and his mournful elegies into glorious praises Hab. 3.16 19. 2 Chron. 7.1 10. upon ten-stringed instruments in the house of the Lord the lips of Habakkuk quivered and his belly trembled but before he finisht his voice was voluble in holy songs and his fingers nimble upon the harp Thus at Solomon's prayer when the fire came down the people were warm'd at worship and went away glad and merry at heart David's (h) Psal 43.4 5. experience of this sent him often to the house of God for comfort and thus chides his soul when cast down at any time I am going to the altar of God to God my exceeding joy why art thou disquieted within me his old harp that had cured Saul of his malignant dumps being plaid upon with Temple songs now cures his own spiritual sadness When we look upon God with an eye of faith in prayers it enlightens (i) Psal 34.5 our faces with Heavenly joy when Moses came out of the mount from communion with God how illustrious was his face from that Heavenly vision wherefore prayer for divine mercy and comfort sometimes exhibits its self in this language Psal 80.3 make thy face to shine upon us and we shall be saved on this wise the Priests of old were to bless the children of Israel Numb 6.25 The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee these and the like expressions in Scripture import that sometimes the Lord was pleased to give forth a shining glory from the Oracle and thereby made known his presence unto his people Exod. 4â— 34 Lev. 9.23 Num. 16.19 42. 20.6 1 Kings 8.11 and filled them with awful impressions of his majesty and mercy This joyful light of God's countenance is like the Sun rising upon the face of the earth it chaseth away the dark fears and discouragements of the night such heavenly joy shews the strength of faith in prayer and the radiant appearances of God yea to this end all prayer should be directed (b) John 16.24 that d our joy may be full 4. A sweetness of affection to God when the soul has gracious sentiments of God in prayer clouds of Jealousies and suspicions of the divine mercy as if God were a hard master are marvellous unbecoming a soul that should go to God as to a Father and hence from such unsuitable thoughts of infinite mercy to hide the talent of prayer is greatly provoking Whereas the apprehension of God's excellent goodness should work the heart into lovely thoughts of God (c) Parisiens p. 376. Man but especially a Saint is acervus beneficiorum dei an accumulated heap of divine favours and if nothing but the gifts of mercy should attract our hearts yet herein we are every moment laden with his numerous benefits But when the soul comes to perceive that all flows from the fountain of his eternal love it makes prayer to be res amorosa to be filled with holy delights and joys the extasies of love often rise upon the soul in secret and such divine affection as (d) Gers Tom. 2. k. k. 4. Gerson said 't is res extatica it carries the soul beyond it self let the prophane World say what they will when spiritual ardours like so many fragrant spices flow out of the soul I love the Lord says David (e) Psal 116.1 for he hath heard my supplications As answers of prayer flow from (f) John 16.27 the love of the Father so suitable workings of holy affections flow from the hearts of children When the soul is fill'd with gracious intimations like those of the Angelical voice to Daniel O Daniel greatly beloved O man of desires Dan. 9.23 Luke 1.28 to stand before the King of Saints or like that to the holy Virgin Hail thou that art highly favoured the Lord is with thee how greatly does it inflame the heart to God 5. Inward incouragements sometimes spring in upon the heart in prayer from remembrance of former experiments which mightily animate the soul with fervency When Moses calls to mind that God had forgiven and delivered from Egypt untill then Numb 14.19 v. 20 Psal 77.5 6.7.9.10 immediately follows a sweet intimation of mercy I have pardoned according to thy word When the soul considers the days of old the years of antient times and calls to remembrance its former songs in the night he draws an argument out of the quiver of experience will God be favourable no more can he forget to be gracious can he in anger shut up his tender mercies The soul concludes this thought to flow from its own infirmity for when God once hears a prayer as coming from a child of his in Covenant prove our filial interest and we may sweetly rest assured in all things according to his Will to be always heard 6. A ready heart for thankfulness and service the heart is brim full and ready to flow over in grateful memorials of his mercy What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me Psal 116.12 As of old at Temple-sacrifices there was Musick so it ought to be now while the mercy is praying for the heart must be winding up and tuning for praise Rev. 5 8. Psal 108.1 The vials full of the odours of prayer are joined vvith harps for heavenly melody when the heart is fixt or prepared
corde se tantopere praesumere oportet ut modum quo Deus religiosè coli debet ipsi sibi pro libitu arbitrio praescribant non enim Deus hominum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delectatur aequum est non quo nos volumus ipsi sed quo ipse vult modo eum colamus veneremur Thes Salmur That Abel did Sacrifice and thereby pleased God Gen. 4.4 the Lord had respect unto Abel and his Offering i. e. God accepted Abel and his Offering It is not said what outward testimony it was whereby God did declare this respect and acceptance of Abel's Offering whereby Cain did perceive that Abel and his Offering was pleasing unto God when himself and his Offering were both rejected It is conceived that fire came down from Heaven and consumed Abel's Sacrifice but not Cain's Offering and by this sign God did discover his acceptance of the Sacrifices in following Ages Lev. 9.24 1 Kings 18.38 1 Chron. 21.26 2 Chron. 27.1 But if this had not been by God's own appointment it would not have pleased him for will-worship God is not delighted in if it had not been commanded by God it had not been obedience in Abel and if it had not been obedience it would not have been pleasing to God for hath the Lord as great delight in Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than Sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams 1 Sam. 15.22 Abel did by faith what he did in sacrificing unto God Heb. 11.4 2. Fide oblata fuerunt sacrificiis ab initio sunt autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in religione fides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haec enim habet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illa autem nititur divinae revelatione voluntatis ut qui cultus Deo ex fide praestatur sit obedientia Cloppenburgh Sacrific Schol. But faith must be bottomed upon some signification of the Will of God and must be done by virtue of some command if done in faith else there is no ground nor reason to believe that what is done will be pleasing unto God That there was religious worship in Adam's Family 2. A non scripto ad non factum non valet consequentia Inter primam promissionem de ventura semine mulieris primum sacrificium non relinquimus ullum temporis intervallum Munit hanc sententiam nostram Apostolus docens vetus foedus absque sanguine dedicatum non fuisse absque sanguinis effusione non fieri remissionem Heb. 9.18 22. Hinc enim consequens est vel cum promissione illa de venturo semine mulieris nullam factam esse foederis Dei cum bomine spiritualis instaurationem qua peccato um remissionem speraret crederet vel non esse factum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui est sacrificiorum character Cloppenburgh Sacrif Schol. and so handed down from his to others appears in that Adam did yield obedience to the command of God given to him concerning Sacrifices and other duties belonging to it and did educate his children in the same Though we do not read that Adam did sacrifice and pray to God yet it doth not follow that he did not The great wickedness of Cain and the martyrdom of Abel gave occasion to this first mention of their offering but it is not likely that this was the first offering made to God for do you think that Adam and Eve had so many Sabbaths before Cain and Abel were born and brought up that they kept none of them No not one Or that they spent their time and days in the matters of the World in the total neglecting of God and their own Souls If any be so uncharitable let them consider these three things 1. Had not Adam and Eve sad experience of the difference of being under God's favour and his frowns of being filled with the sense of his love and fears of his wrath Were there ever any in the world that knew both these as our first Parents did the one in the state of Innocency the other after their Apostacy When God himself came to look after these transgressors of his Law and to arraign them at his Bar and convince them of the evil they had done and pronounce sentence upon them for the same and cursed the one and the other and the earth for their sakes and drove them out in anger from that delightful pleasant Paradise in which at first they were placed by God were they not terrified now by the anger of the Lord as they were before delighted in his love Adamus cum totius generis humani esset pater familias promissionem seminis victricis posteris omnibus praedicandam acceperit illius officii nexu naturae positivi praecepti juris virtute tenebatur Officio isti cum non de fuisse plurima sunt quae suadent Munere enim mandato ut sedulò fungeretur effecerunt sine dubio beneficum à Deo maximum recèns acceptum sui generis amor misericordia aâ—que in quem staâ—um per peccatum redegisset miseres posteros sensuâ—â— tenerrimus Tota itaque illius familia ipso curante regente hoc est totum in universum humanum genus nemine excepto dei erat ecclesia in qua fides observantia cultus religiosus viguerunt Doct. Owen de nat ortu c. Theol. lib. 2. cap. 2. 2. Then add to this and consider Did not God after this out of his abundant grace and mercy towards them lying in this misery preach recovering grace by and through his own Son Gen. 3.15 q. d. Adam thou art a lost man Yes Lord I see I am Thou art exposed to my wrath and to the death that I did threaten if thou didst disobey Yes Lord so I am Adam and Eve you two have undone your selves and all the world and plunged your selves and them into the depth of misery and are exposed to my wrath and justice for ever Yes Lord so it is so it is wo unto us so it is Well but yet out of my meer mercy and free grace I will help you out of this condition I have a remedy for you I have kindness for you Sinners for you Rebels and such that all the Angels in Heaven could not have thought of for you poor Sinners and that is my own Son shall be your Surety shall become a man and suffer in your nature and bear the punishment of your sin he shall dye and you shall live he shall suffer and you shall be saved if you will yet consent to the terms of a new Covenant after you have violated the former and this shall come to pass at the time that I have appointed in the mean while you shall offer such Sacrifices to me and pray unto me for your pardon and my grace and these Sacrifices shall be Types of this promised Saviour and it shall be through him but not for these that I
vvill have mercy on you Do you not think that these glad tidings did wonderfully affect their hearts Do you not think that this grace and kindness in their sad condition at the first manifesting of it did strongly oblige them to yield obedience to what God should reveal to them to be his Will Or do you think that neither the sense of their before desperate condition when they saw no way of help or hope nor the sense of this grace and mercy did stir them up to hearken to the commands that God would give them Is it likely that they did not go together and praise God for such love as this Do but consider what they did enjoy before they fell and what their fears were after and then how much must this first tidings of mercy needs affect their hearts and engage them to obedience 3. That our first Parents had religious Worship in their Family appears by the religious education of their Children Do you think that when they had undone their children and yet God had discovered a way of salvation to them that they did not timely tell their children of this Had they exposed their childrens souls to Hell and to damnation and yet not tell them and teach them God's gracious dealings with them by which it might be prevented Do you think that they did not pray with them that themselves and theirs might be indeed partakers of this mercy Is it likely that Adam and Eve did not acquaint their children how God did make them in a blessed condition and how they lost it and how God himself had been with them after they had so offended and made known a way of salvation to them Would not their natural affection to their children and the sense of God's mercy put them on to instruct them in these things and praise God with them for his love and pray for the certain fruits and benefits of it Obj. This might make it probable Vnde haâ—uerunt Cain Abel quod sacrificiis Deum honorarent à patre suo qui eos instituit Fag Lyra. Ex Dei instinctu aut verbo primi parentes obtulerunt Oleast Constat cultum aliquem externum Majestati divinae fuisse institutum à patre Adamo de eo fuisse instructos Cainem Abâ—lem Rivet Cain obtulit non fide sed pro consuetudine paternae institutionis Musculus Deus d cuit Adam cultum divinum quo ejus benevolentiam recuperaret quam per peccatum amiserat ipsumque docuisse filios suos dare Deo decimas primitias but there is nothing in Scripture from whence you can conclude it Ans But there is The express mention of Cain's and Abel's offering doth plainly prove that they were thus brought up in the worship of God Cain though he had no grace yet did make a profâ—ssion of Religion And that they were instructed in the things before expressed is the Judgment of learned men who conclude that Adam receiv'd instructions from God and Cain and Abel from their Father Adam And Abel's Sacrifice being accepted doth fully prove that he did understand the fall and recovering grace by Messias then to come for was God pleased with the Sacrifice it self and for it self that Abel did bring There never was any thing in them to reconcile God to Sinners but they were types and shadows of good things to come and they pointed unto Christ Abel then must understand this Besides Abel did offer by faith in whom in Christ to come then he was instructed in the Doctrine of Redemption by Christ and this doth suppose a lost estate Moreover it is said Heb. 11.4 That by this faith Abel obtained a testimony that he was righteous What By the Works he did By the Sacrifice it self that he offâ—red Is any Sinner justified from the condemning sentence of the Law by Works of his own No but Abel vvas justified by faith in Christ signified by the Sacrifice which he did offer for vvithout a Mediator there is no peace vvith God no pardon from God no justification before God no acceptance vvith him for any sinful man There were then religious duties in Adam's Family and that by God's command and appointment Obj. But this was offering of Sacrifice what is this to Prayer or to us when the way of Sacrificing is abolished Ans 1. Do you think they did Sacrifice and not pray when they did so Ponéâ—que manum c. quo protestebatur se dignum qui pro peccato jugularetur Oleast in loc Quae lex instituit oblationem sacrificiorum eadem praecipit quoque orationes Deo fieri quia absque orationibus illa peragi nequeunt Hoornbeck Socin confu tom 2. p 431. The offerer laid his two hands between the horns of the Sacrifice and confessed his sin over a sin-Offering in this wise I have sinned I have done Perversly I have rebelled and done thus and thus but I return by repentance before thee and let this be my expiation Lightfoot Temp. Service c. 8. Did they not confess their sin when Sacrifice was offâ—red and acknowledg that they deserved to dye for their sins and this was signified by a man's laying his hand upon the head of the burnt-Offering Lev. 1.4 Prayer then usually accompanying Sacrificing Heb. 10.3 the one doth infer the other Luke 1.10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense If such Sacrifices are ended yet there are Sacrifices for Christians to offer up to God your selves your hearts your prayers and praises Rom. 12.1 Heb. 13.15 And there are the same moral grounds and reasons why you should serve God in your Families in the way prescribed by God since the coming of Christ as there was why they should serve God in their Families in the way of Worship appointed by God before the coming of Christ Ans 2. And this was not practised only in Adam's Family but by godly Families after too So Enoch walked with God Gen. 5.24 and Noah Gen. 6.9 vvhich implies their universal sincere obedience at home as well as abroad and that this implies their worshipping God in their Families I think for this reason because if a man be never so great a Professor abroad if he totally and constantly neglect God's worship at home nay if it be not constantly done except in some cases that might fall out he shall not be accounted to be one that walketh with God I judg that man cannot be said to walk with God that in his house with his Family doth not Kneel before him Besides Abraham's duty was comprehended in this phrase Walk before me Gen. 15.1 but Abraham in his walk took his Houshold along with him Gen. 18.19 He will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord the vvay in vvhich his houshold should walk and by the way of the Lord is often understood the worship of God One place more I would have considered for
〈◊〉 ruler of his own house Kings are Fathers of their own Countries and Fathers are Kings in their own houses in respect of their rule and authority over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Odys lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem Odys 9. Direction II. N c sibi nec aliis utilis Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Crimen habet quanto qui peccat major habetur Juven Sat. 8. 2. That Prayer be managed to the spiritual benefit of the Family the Master thereof should make it his business to be accomplished with gifts and knowledg suitable to the place where God hath set him Ignorance in a Master of a Family renders him uncapable of the discharge of the duties of his place and is worse than in a Child or Servant Such a Family is lik a body that hath a head without eyes It is a shame to see what little knowledg many Governours of Families have in matters of Religion that when they should instruct and catechise their children and servants need to be catechised themselves The Apostle requireth this qualification in Masters of Families that they should be knowing men so some interpret this place 1 Pet. 3.7 as becomes knowing men Naturally men are endued with greater powers to understand than women are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Viri similiteâ— unà versentur ut scientes decet Beza Piscat Quid est stultius quam quia diu non didiceriâ— non discere Omnis aetatis homines schola admittit Tamduâ— dâ—scendum est quamdiu nescias Sen. Epist 76. and a Master of a Family hath had more time to get knowledg than Children and Servants have and if he hath not attain'd to more it is his shame and reproach and renders him more contemptible in the eyes of those that are subjected to him who have not that reverent awe of him and his authority as they would have if authority were accompanied with knowledg study then you Masters the Scripture more and the grounds of Religion more that you might be able to manage this duty to the greater profit of all in your Families Direction III. 3. It is necessary also to this purpose that the Master of the Family instruct each member of his house in the principles of Religion that they may be able to understand the matter of the Prayers that are put up to God For if the Governour have knowledg how to ask and those that kneel down with him know not the meaning of his words though commonly used and plain to them that have been instructed how shall they concur in such requests or confessions or say Amen to what they do not understand Or what spiritual profit can they get When you lament Original Sin which you and they were guilty of and defiled with if they know not what this means nor how they are corrupted even from their birth how shall they in Prayer be humbled for it If you pray that you may be justified sanctified or have the Image of God engraven on your hearts that you may have Faith in Christ repentance for sin be converted c. how shall they joyn with you if they have no knowledg of these things when they are ignorant what is meant by the Image of God by faith repentance conversion c. and what benefit can they have by such Prayers as to their own concurrence with you to make these things their own desire when yet they are the things you must daily beg of God That Prayer then might be performed to their spiritual edification lay first the foundation be knowing your selves and make them so too and Prayer will be more advantageously done to you and them Nisi priùs in nobâ—s ejusmâ—diâ— affectus exsuscitamus quos altorum animis impressos volumus frustrà erit quicquld conamur Bowl past Evang. Direction IV. 4. That Prayer be managed to the spiritual profit of those in the Family the Master of the Family should get his own heart in good frame and get his own affections warmed in the duty Do you come to Prayer with a lively heart and quickned affections your selves your heat might warm them Quod enim minister Ecclesiae est in templo id pius pater-familias esi indomo ille publico docendi munere fungitur hic privatim suam instituit familiam ad pietatem ac hoâ—â—statem dâ—mesticos suos format Gerhard lo. com de Conjug and your earnest importunity might stir them up unto the same let them see you are in good earnest by your fervent praying as becomes men that are begging for such things as the life of their souls the pardon of their sin the favour of God deliverance from hell and for everlasting happiness Whereas if you come to the duty with flat dull and cold affections this will make them so too As you find it with your selves when you are under a dull and lukewarm Preacher you have little workings of affections so your Family will find it under your Prayers if they be such for as a Minister should get lively workings in his own breast of those affections which he would raise in the People so should you in Family duties get those workings of love joy and sorrow for sin which you would desire should be in those that joyn with you for what a Minister is in the Church that you are proportionably in your house Direction V. Orationis Lex ut non aliter quà m eos decet qui ad Dei colloquium in grediuntur mente animóque compositi simuâ— Calv. Inst l. 3. cap. 20. 5. When you are to set actually on the duty prepare your Family by some short advice to carry themselves as becomes those that are going to speak to the great eternal God at least sometimes and the oftner the better Do not rashly rush out of your worldly callings into the presence of the glorious God say to them to this or the like purpose The God we are going to pray unto is a holy just omniscient God that looks into all our hearts that sees and knows the frame of our spirits that will not be mocked and cannot be deceived All we are sinful Creatures that have broke his righteous Laws and thereby have deserved hell and everlasting torments yet this gracious God holds forth his golden Scepter and gives us leave to approach his presence to beg for pardon and for Christ and grace and heaven Our wants are great and many too and yet our mercies are great and many too come then O come let us with a holy fear of God put up our joynt Petitions that God would supply our wants especially of our souls and make joynt confessions of our sins to God with humble broken penitent hearts and joyntly bless him for the mercies we are all partakers of but let us do all as those that would please God while we pray unto him and not by our
oplatum finem perduxeris quasi victoriam obtinueris significat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 igitur haec duo involvit vehementem quandam animi intentionem quasi pugnam dum veâ—satur in actu orandi assiduam frequentationem orationis Davenant in loc 7. Direct Be laborious and importunate in your prayers If your thoughts do wander call them in if your thoughts be dull stir them up An Heathen advised to do as becomes a man like a Roman and should not you pray as becomes Christians to do but that is not in a dull and sluggish manner Labour at your prayers together as you use to do at your worldly work together and more too for in this you are concerned more Strive and wrestle with joynt fervency and faith as becomes a society to do that are all a praying for their lives for their souls for the pardon of their sin for the favour and the love of God as becometh those that are praying against everlasting flames and for eternal happiness Pray together as persons desirous that you may live in Heaven all together and praise God in Heaven for his love and mercy to you all together But pray not coldly and lukewarmly together lest you be damned and hereafter lye in scorching flames all together You must be instant in this work You will meet with opposition from the Devil and the world and your own hearts You must then strive and tug and labour hard or else your prayer will be spoiled Col. 4.2 the word there is very significant Be present at your work in heart as well as body attend your work and stand to it continue in prayer not only with continuance of time but of earnest importunity till you prevail with God and get the victory over sin and Satan Let me therefore warn praying Families as you love your Souls Defunctiorè multi preces ex formula recitant ac si pensum Deo solverent apparet hoc officio ipsos defungi ex more quia interim frigent animi neque expendant quid postulent Galv Inst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ad Magnes as you would have God incline his ear to what you say take heed of customariness and formalities Do not rest in the work done in pouring our words before God This is your great danger It must be a fervent Prayer that pleaseth God and profits you Jam. 5.16 Be praying Christians indeed and do not seem only to be so that you might all be happy indeed and saved indeed and not only to be thought to be so And because we are apt to slide into such formality and lukewarmness when we use constant Family Prayer which eats out the very heart and life thereof and hinders our benefit thereby I shall propose twenty five Questions some of which at one time and some at another you may put unto your selves to make you lively in your duty But I shall I must but name them because I would not willingly take up more paper than comes unto my share as also that lying close together you may the better have them in your eye When thou art called to Family Prayer put some of these Questions to thy self WHAT AM I A sinful Sinner Dust Ashes Guilty Oh how should Q. 1 a guilty person going to the dust pray for pardon WHERE AM I In whose presence do I kneel is it not before God Q. 2 and doth not he know whether I trifle or am serious Where might I NOW have been In Hell among Devils and damned Q. 3 Souls and shall I not pray indeed with all my might that I never may be cast into that place or company Whither am I going To eternity Where shall I shortly be In eternity Q. 4 and shall I trifle in my way What am I come about What is now my business About the highest Q. 5 matters that concern my Soul What if this were to be my last Prayer before I dye Should I then fall Q. 6 asleep upon my knees What if my everlasting state should be determined according to my sincerity Q. 7 or hypocrisy in this duty I am now going to Should I dally then with God What if God should tell me if I trifle with his Majesty he would strike Q. 8 me sick or dead or blind or deaf and dumb upon my knees Should I not then watch my heart in Prayer What if I were to speak to an earthly King or were to see some glorious Q. 9 Angel Should I not be filled with fear and reverence and is not God infinitely above these What if I were to give an account to God immediately how I pray and Q. 10 should appear at his Bar as soon as I rise from off my knees Should I then be formal and lukewarm Am I come to have communion with God to pray down my sin to please Q. 11 God and profit my Soul Will careless praying do it What if those that joyn in Prayer with me could look into my heart and Q. 12 see how I do discharge my duty Should I not be ashamed of many of my thoughts and of the deadness of my heart and is not the eye of God ten thousand times more to awe my heart than the knowledg of a fellow Creature Q. 13 Will dead and careless praying yield me comfort when I review it when I come to die Or should I not so pray now that I might have comfort then Q. 14 Should I cozen and deceive my self in matters of the greatest weight Shall I crawl to Hell upon my knees What! pray now and be damned hereafter Awake my heart and mind thy business Q. 15 Will God be mocked And is not heartless praying a mocking of God Q. 16 Should I not do more than Hypocrites do Or shall I not be damned if I do not But may not an Hypocrite pray at that rate as I have too often done Q. 17 Doth not the same God that commands me to pray command me also to give him my heart in Prayer and to do it with life and fervency Do I obey him in the one and shall I not in the other in the lesser and not in the greater and if I do not do I not rebel upon my knees Q. 18 If dead and dull and formal praying stops the mouth of my Conscience now will it do so at the Bar of God And should I not endeavour now to have the witness of my Conscience for me then Q. 19 Will it do me any good to have a name to live among men if I be dead in the sight of God and if others think and say when I am dead my Soul is gone to Heaven but is indeed cast down to Hell Will it lessen my torments that I was applauded dy men and condemned by God Will it ease my pain to be an applauded damned man Q. 20 Should I so pray as to make Prayer a burden to me Liveless heartless Prayer is a burden when lively Prayer is
reverence her Husband This is the Dictate of our Creator both by the Light of Nature and of Scripture This is the constant language both of the Old Testament and of the New And is more purposely handled and prest by the two great Apostles of the Jews and Gentiles that so all Christians however descended should submit unto it The Apostle Paul Ephes 5.22 c. Col. 3.18 c. The Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 3.1 c. Not that these are all their respective Duties but these are specified either 1. (n) Mr. Byfield on Col p. 111. Because in these are the most frequent failings Husbands too commonly being defective in their Love and Wives most defective in their Reverence and Subjection Or 2. Because these two are the sum of the rest and no other Duties are either Possible or Acceptable without them And my present Work is to digest and urge these in a solemn and impartial manner that it may appear Our Religion doth not only propound Rewards to make us happy in the world to come but doth also direct the methods of setling our quiet and comfort in this present world For certainly it is not the Having of Husbands or Wives that brings contentment but the mutual Discharge of both their Duties and this makes their Lives though never so poor an Heaven upon Earth But herein I can but draw up an Abstract and send you where you may be far better provided In the mean time let us all in the prosecution hereof sadly reflect on our former failings and sincerely resolve on future amendment according to that whereof we shall be convinced by the word of Truth And here I shall indeavour these Four things 1. To propound the Mutual or Common Duties of Both. 2. The special Duty of every Husband 3. The special duty of every Wife 4. Directions how to accomplish them That so they may most certaily be Blessings to each oher First let us see what are those Mutual Duties that lie common between Husband and Wife wherein Both of them are equally at least according to the place and power of each concern'd and oblig'd And they are These following 1. Mutual Cohabitation For the man he (o) Gen. 2.24 must leave father and mother and cleave to his Wife And the Woman she (p) Psal 45.10 must forget her kinred and her fathers house The Husband (q) 1 Pet. 3.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must dwell with the Wife and the Wife (r) 1 Cor. 7 10. she must not depart from the Husband though he be an Infidel And indeed the Ends and Duties of marriage are such as will not ordinarily dispense herewith For Example 1 Cor. 7.3 4.5 Let the husband render unto the Wife due benevolence and likewise also the wife unto the husband The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife Defraud you not the one the other except it he with consent for a time that you may give your selves to fasting and prayer and come together again that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency Which plainly shews that even the sober use of the Marriage-bed is such (s) The wife of Galeac Caracciola denying this debt upon the direction of her Confessor on pain of Excommunication was judg'd a sufficient Reason of Divorce In vita a mutual debt that it may not be intermitted long without Necessity and Consent Nay in the †Deut. 24 5. Old Law the greatest necessity should not send the husband from his wife the first year that their affections might be throughly settled and that he might chear up his Wife which he hath taken * For the man is the head the Woman is as the body for the head and body to be sundered it is present death to either Gataker Serm. p. 203. Neither indeed can any of the following Duties towards each others Souls or Bodies be throughly performed nor many grievous snares avoided without dwelling together And therefore neither desire of Gain nor Fear of Trouble no occasional Distasts nor pretence of Religion should separate those from Conjugal converse and (t) Alibi fluctuare sese existimet in domo autem apud uxorem suum tanquam in portu optat◠conquiescere Daven in Col. Cohabitation unless with consent and that but for a time whom God hath joyned together 2. Mutual Love This though in a peculiar manner it be the Duty of the Husband Col. 3.18 Husbands love your Wives yet it is required also of the Wife Tit. 2.4 they must love their Husbands Indeed this is the (u) First you must choose your Love and then you must love your choice Smith Serm. Conjugal Grace the great Reason and the great Comfort of Marriage Not a sensual or doting Passion but genuine conjugal and constant out of a pure heart fervently Not grounded on beauty wealth or interest for these may soon wither and fail nor only upon Graoe and Piety for this may decay to the least degree and in the opinion of both parties quite disappear but it must be grounded upon the Command and Ordinance of God whereby of Two they are made * Vna caro non nexu amoris nec commixtione corporum nec procreatione liberorum sed vinculo conjugii Zanch. One flesh So that though either of them be poor deform'd froward though unregenerate wicked Infidels yet in Obedience to God and in Conscience of the Marriage-Vow which obligeth for better and for worse they ought to love each other with a (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Eph. hom 29. superlative Love and when the sacred knot is once tyed every man should think his wife and every wife her husband the fittest for them of any in the world And hereupon the (y) Cael. Rhodig l. 28. p. 1575. Heathens took the Gall from their nuptial Sacrifices and cast it behind the Altar to intimate the removing of all bitterness from the Marriage-state there should be nothing but Love And this Love must be as durable and constant as are the grounds of it to the Persons of each other until death and to the memory and posterity of each other when they are dead and gone and thus the good wife is understood by some to do her husband good (z) Prov. 31.12 all the days of her life not only of his life but when he is dead to his Posterity What strange instances of this lasting love former (a) Portia the wife of Brutus A ria the wife of Cecinna Pae us In Valer. Max. Ages hath given and some (b) The Bannyon Wives among the Indians burn themselves to ashes at the funeral of their husbands Herbert in his Travels Pagans at this day is in History both evident and admirable This true-hearted Love will bring true Content and constant Comfort into that Condition will make all counsels and reproofs acceptable will
and therefore though her Beauty be decayed her Portion spent her Weaknesses great and her Vsefulness small yet she is a piece of my Self and here the wise God hath determined my affection And when all is said This is the only Sure Foundation and holds perpetually 2. This Love must be right for the Extent of it I mean it reaches the whole Person both Soul and Body Every man should choose such an one whose outward features and proportion he can highly esteem and affect and it speaks the admirable Wisdom of God to frame such variety of fancies to answer the variety of persons and there being such choice it is sottish folly to choose where a man cannot love and the greatest Injury possible to the wife to insnare her heart and bind her to one that shall afterwards say he cannot love her But besides this true Conjugal Love to a Wife reaches her Soul So as to see an amiableness in her mind and disposition so as to study how to polish her Soul more and more with wisdom and piety and to indeavour that her Soul may prosper as her body prospers 3. Right for the Degree of it It must be transcendent above your Love to Parents For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his Wife Gen. 2.24 The Husband must honour his Parents but he must love his Wife as himself and must yet with all prudence prefer her in his respects when ever they come in Competition and those Parents have forgotten the Relation and Duty of an husband that expect other from their Children when they are married And so he must prefer her in his affection before his Children and (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Eph. 5. rather love them for her sake than her for theirs and before all others in the World In short he must so love her as to delight in her company above all others Let her be as the loving hinde and pleasant roe let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravisht always with her love Prov. 5.19 20. 4. The Husbands love must be right for the Duration of it And the last named Scripture clears that be thou always ravisht with her love Not only kind before other folk and then cold in private but always not for a week or moneth or the first year but while life lasts Yea as he hath experience of her vertue and sweetness his love should daily (m) Vbi uxo â—m magis fueris expertus teneriùs est amauda Illud verò ubi uxore ad satietatem fueris potitu refrigescere amorem quem arder ut videtur libidiuis accenderat hominum est spurcorum abjâ—ctissimorum imò verò non hominum sed belluarum Lud. Vives de off mar increase as you know we love any creature the more by how much the longer we have had them and nothing more betrays the baseness of a mans spirit then to neglect his Wife when his sensual appetite is once cloyed For you have had her beauty and strength why should you not also have her wrinkles and infirmities yea and give the more respect to her tryed fidelity However this is certain still you are one Flesh and every man continues kind to his own flesh how infirm and noysom soever it be And if there be less comliness in the body yet usually there is more beauty in the mind more wisdom humility and fear of the Lord so that still there are sufficient Arguments in her or Arguments in the Bible to perpetuate your conjugal Affection 2. Let us trace the Husbands Love to his Wife in its Pattern laid down in the Scripture and particularly in the Context and Words which I am handling And 1. The Husband ought to love his Wife as our Saviour Christ loveth his Church Ver. 25. Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved his Church He must nourish and cherish her even as the Lord the Church ver 29. Now these Texts direct us to the quality of our Love though we cannot reach to an equality with Christ herein How then doth Jesus Christ love his Church I shall search no farther into this Depth than so far as it is proposed in this Context for a Pattern surely to all Husbands in their love And this his Love is represented here to be 1. Hearty without dissimulation Ver. 25. He loved the Church and gave himself for it His Love was Real for he Dyed of it The Husband must write after this Copy Not to love his wife in word and tongue only but in deed and in truth that if his heart were opened her Name might be found written there Some vain complemental persons there are that do outstrip in their overt addresses many sincere and true-hearted husbands but neither doth God nor should a discreet wife look only at the appearance but at the heart 2. Free without being prevented before or likely to be rewarded after For ver 26. he gave himself that he might cleanse his Church which implies that she was in ill plight when he began his motions She was no beauty no we loved him because he loved us first The Husband must precede and by his love draw out the love of his wife for (n) Ego tibi monstrabo amatorium sine medicamento sine herba Si vis amari ama Hec in Sen. Ep. 9. Love is the whetstone of Love And if she appear weak as their sex by constitution is both in wisdom strength and courage or prove unlovely and (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Eph. 5. hom 20. negligent of her duty yet he must love her For love seeketh not her own True love doth more study to better the object beloved than to advantage the subject that loveth And to love a Wife only in hopes of some Advantages by her is unworthy the heart of an Husband and no way like the example of Christ 3. Holy without impurity For ver 26. He loved his Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that is by the use of the Word and Sacraments The Husband cannot have a better Copy and is taught hereby to indeavour at any cost and pains whatsoever to further the sanctification and salvation of his wife Of which before 4. Great without comparison For greater love hath no man than this to lay down his life for his friend and so did our Saviour ver 25. he (p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Affectum indicat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effectum amoris demonstrat Daven in Col. p. 340. gave himself for his Church He took not on him the Nature of Angels but preferr'd the seed of Abraham The Husband must herein imitate his Lord and Master by preserving a singular and superlative respect for his wife because she is a member of his body of his flesh and of his bones But of this also before 5. Constant without alteration
potion too hot the operation is hindred and his labour worse than lost Admirable was the carriage of Job Job 2.10 when his wife had highly offended him with her words yet hear how mildly he rebukes her Not thou wicked Caitiff but thou speakest like one of the foolish women Sooner or later if she be not brutish she will be thankful and amend 3. The husbands Love must be demonstrated by ready incouragement of his wife when she doth well Prov. 31.28 Her Husband also he praiseth her He that is discreet and faithful herein perhaps taketh the readiest way to do her good For such is the weakness of many that they ever think that reproof proceeds either from an ill Opinion or want of Affection in the husband but when they shall find that he is as ready to incourage them when they do well they are convinc'd and reformed 4. The husbands Love is seen by seasonable comforting his wife in affliction whether it be in mind or body So did Elkanah 1 Sam. 1.8 Hannah why weepest thou and why eatest thou not and why is thy heart grieved am I not better to thee then ten Sons and this brought her to her meat as you may see in the next verse And generally a kind word from an husbands mouth doth good like a medicine And that Husband is worse than a Tigre that supports not his poor Wife at such a time In her troubles of mind he must be her Casuist in weakness of body he must be her Comforter 2. The Effects of an husbands Love to his wife must be in Deed also And that 1. By making Provision for her both of what is necessary and also of what is convenient for her according to his ability Exod. 21.10 Her food and her raiment and her duty of marriage he shall not diminish Not that she hath any priviledg to be maintain'd in Idleness or like a Drone live upon the industry of her husband without adding her helping hand But the main care hereof must lye upon her husband And this is probably (z) So Gataker Hammond concluded to be at least a part of that honour 1 Pet. 3.7 due to the wife as the weaker Vessel the best kind of honour to wit maintenance so that word is frequently (a) Matth. 15.6 1 Tim. 5 2. taken and the reason added carries it this way namely she is the weaker Vessel not able to support her self but depends upon her husband who must therefore give her honour that is maintenance as the weaker Vessel She hath not that wisdom forecast or strength for such purposes as he hath and therefore as he hath the strongest obligation upon him and the greatest advantages he must lay about him by all lawful means to support and provide for her And that not only for her maintenance while he lives but he ought to make provision for her as far as he is able after his departure hence for so did Jesus Christ for his Church And the Husband ought to shew his Love herein by the freedom and chearfulness of his Supplies to the wants of his wife neither doing it grudgingly nor niggardly but rather if he be able intrusting her with some pittance in her own disposal that she may have occasion to exercise her charity and to incourage her Children or Servants in their duty 2. This Conjugal Love is to be shewed in the Tenderness of the husband towards the wife And this Duty is incumbent on him as he is the Head of the wife 1 Cor. 11.3 the head of every woman is the man And hence the husband is bound to Protect his wife from dangers and to Sympathize with her in them Thus Abraham was a Covering to Sarah Gen. 20.16 not only to confine her eye but to defend her person And upon this account he must protect her Soul from temptation her Body from harm her Name from reproach and her Person from contempt either of Children Servants or others For as much as she hath forsaken all her friends and cast her self upon his care and kindness and it would be unpardonable cruelty in him to desert or betray her And then he ought to sympathize with her in her troubles but of this before In short his whole carriage to her should be full of tenderness and composed of Love and Pity 5. The husbands Love is shewed to his wife in Giving her a good Example namely of Piety Gravity Charity Wisdom and Goodness which will be the most constant and effectual Lecture that he can read unto her The (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist de cura rei fam l. 1. Philosopher could say That a well-bred wife as soon as she is married accounts the way and course of her husband as a Law prescribed to her by God himself The good or evil Example of a Magistrate Minister or Husband hath a more real though insensible influence upon the actions of their inferiors than all their (c) Homines amplius oculis quam auribus eredunt longumiter est per praecepta breve efficax per exempla Senec. Ep. 6. Laws and Precepts And as for the Husband he is called the guide of her youth Prov. 2.17 If he be holy quiet and industrious she cannot for shame be wicked froward and idle His discourses will direct hers his prayers will teach her to pray his justice temperance and charity will be a law a rule a motive to make her just and sober and charitable If he be an Atheist an Epicure a Pharisee it undoes her He is to go before her and usually she follows him either to Hell or Heaven 4. An husbands Love is to be shewed in his yielding to the reasonable requests of his wife So did David to Bathsheba 1 Kings 1.28 So did Isaac to Rebeka Gen. 28.1 So did Abraham to Sarah Gen. 16.6 though the thing it self was grievous to him So did Jesus Christ daily to his Church He that loves gives and grants and that readily And the Husband should rather prevent his wife and give before she asks than be difficult or hard to be intreated she is to take care that her requests be reasonable and then she needs no Intercessor for her Famous is that instance in Story of Cleopatra who after that her Husband Meleager his Father Mother Neighbours had all in vain solicited his help to defend their City they having disobliged him before At length his Wife runs to him when the enemy was entring and cryes (d) Succurre quaeso mi vir occidimus nisi succurris Plutarch Help good Husband else we are lost And this charm'd and rouz'd him to their rescue One word from her prevail'd more with him than the cryes and arguments of all the rest And to this may be referr'd His taking her counsel in divers cases So did (e) 1 Sam. 1 23. Elkanah so did (f) Gen. 21.12 Abraham For though you may not always perceive Judgment in her Counsel yet you may be
always sure to find affection and that her aim in shooting her bolt is right though her arm be not always with the strongest 5. The husbands Love is to be shewed in Trusting his wife in Domestick affairs Prov. 31.11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her Especially she having as she ought to have a competent judgment to guide them It is below the gravity of an Husband to intermeddle with managing houshold provisions Maid-servants and such like affairs but should leave them to the discretion of his wife unless she at fit times do discreetly choose to advise with him that so if the event should not answer his expectation she may be free from blame But generally he ought to move in his own sphere and incourage her to move in hers He must fetch in honey and she must work it in the hive For seldom doth the Estate prosper where the husband busies himself within doors and the wife without 6. The Effects of an husbands Love to his wife are to be seen in his Behaviour towards her that is in the mild use of his Authority This God hath in his Wisdom invested him withal at his (g) Gen 2.23 Creation and not devested him at his (h) Gen. 3.16 Fall The (i) Esth 1.22 Light of Nature gives it to him and the Gospel hath no where repealed but (k) 1 Cor. 11.3 confirm'd the same And none but proud and ignorant women will ever dispute it But herein lies an Act of the husband's Love 1. wisely to keep 2. mildly to use this Authority 1. He must keep it by a religious grave and manly carriage this will be his chiefest Fort and Buttress to support it It will be hard for her though doubtless her duty to reverence him who himself hath forgotten to reverence his God If his behaviour be light she will be apt to set lightly by him If he be weak and effeminate it loses him But he ought to answer his name to be an Head for judgment and excellency of spirit and to be truly religious This will maintain his Authority But then 2. Herein shines his Love to use the same with all sweetness remembring that though he be Superiour to his Wife yet that their Souls are equal that she is to be treated as his Companion that he is not to rule her as a (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist de cura rei fam l. 1. Imperare maritus mulieri debet non ut Dominus rei quam possidet sed ut animus corpori Lud. Viv. de off mar Non es Dominus sed maritus non ancillam fortiâ—us es sed uxorem Redde studio vicem redde amori gratiam Ambros tom 4. p. 55. King doth his Subjects but as the head doth the body That though she was not taken out of Adams head so neither out of his foot but out of his side near his heart And therefore his Countenance must be friendly his ordinary (m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Eph s hom 20. language to her mild and sweet his behaviour obliging his commands sparing and respectful and his reproofs gentle He must neither be Abject nor Magisterial If his Rule be too imperious his love is destroyed if his love be not discreetly exprest his Scepter 's lost and then he is disabled from doing God Service or his Family good He should never imagine that a rude insolency or perpetual bitterness is either the way to keep or use his Authority aright Yea the Spirit of God expresly saith Col. 3.19 Husbands love your Wives and be not bitter against them If meekness of Wisdom will not prevail with thy wife thou art undone in this world and she in the world to come And so much for the heads of the husbands Duty to his wife I now proceed to the Third thing namely to declare the Duty of the Wife in this Position The great Duty of every wife is to reverence her own husband She stands obliged to many other Duties as you have heard which lye common between them but she is still signaliz'd by this This is her peculiar qualification as she is a wife Let her have never so much wisdom learning grace yet if she do not reverence her husband she cannot be a good Wife Look to her Creation she was made after Man he has some honour by his seniority 1 Tim. 2.13 For Adam was first formed then Eve She was made out of Man he was the rock whence she was hewen 1 Cor. 11.8 For the man is not of the woman but the woman of the man She was made for man 1 Cor. 11.9 Neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man So that it is not Man that hath set this Order but God himself Look again to the Fall and there you hear what God saith Gen. 3.16 Thy desâ—re shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee See in the New Testament lest Christ his being made of a woman should seem to alter this inviolable Law Coloss 3.18 Wives submit your selves to your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. 1 Pet. 3.1 Likewise ye wives be in subjection to your own Husbands Ver. 2. your chast conversation must be coupled with fear Ver. 5. The holy women of old adorned themselves with this subjection to their own husbands and so in my Text. Let her be never so great never so good and though her husband be never so mean and never so bad yet this is her indispensable Duty to reverence her husband And this Principle must first be fixt in her heart that she is an (n) Nâ—n modo mores majorum instituâ—a sed legâ—s omnes humanae ac divinae ipsa etiam natura clamat mulierem debere esse subditam viro ac es pa ere L. Vives de Chr. foem p. 704. Inferior that her husband is a degree above her that it is neither agreeable to nature or decency to set the head below or no higher than the Rib. And when she is resolv'd in this than will she with much delight and ease go through her Duty A wise God hath ordered it thus and therefore it is best Now I shall open this Duty according to my former Method 1. In its Nature 2. In its Pattern 3. In its Effects 1. For the first The nature of this reverence It is a true cordial and conjugal reverence such as is peculiar to a good woman And I conceive it is made up of 1. Estimation 2. Love and 3. Fear 1. The wife ought to honour and esteem her husband Esth 1.19 Then all the Wives shall give to their husbands honour both to great and small And to this end she ought to contemplate all the excellencies of his Person whether of Body or mind and to set a due (o) Sic Cornelia irata plerÃsque qui honoris gratia Scipionis cognominahant maluit Cornelia Gracchi nominari
his wife the wife that truly fears God dares not be cross with her husband A Bible plac'd between you will take up many a difference comfort you under many a cross and pang guide you in many a strait wherein flesh and blood will be confounded and at a loss And then in those critical cases wherein Duty and Passion strive for mastery resolve with your selves that it is much better for either of you to obey God's will than to have your own That as there is the highest Reason in his Commands so there is the greatest Sweetness in obeying them Set oft before you that golden Rule Matth. 7.12 and calmly consider whether you behave your self to your yoke-fellow as you your self would be dealt with if you were in their condition And though you be never so just and good other wayes yet believe that Jam. 2.10 he or she that keeps the whole law and yet offends knowingly and commonly in one point is guilty of all Your Righteousness abroad will not excuse your crossness at home nor her zeal in prayer make any amends for her heat in passion But when you are both resolved to study your own duties and sincerely to do them how hard soever you will live together as heirs of the grace of life and as heirs of the life of glory 5. Settle your affections well at the beginning It was a wise and true Observation (q) Plutacch praeâ— conjug that vessels which are compacted of divers parts or glued together of divers pieces at first will easily with every bruise or fall be broke in pieces but when they are strengthened by tract of time it will be very hard yea scarce possible to separate them So it is in marriage at first the union is raw and green an unkindness then a cross word or look will quickly alienate but when time and experience have consolidated this new sprung affection then it will be much harder to dissolve it And being once assured of a conjugal love in each other give no way to cursed Jealousie which very often hath no other ground than the Weakness or Wickedness of them that are sick of it and to be sure when once it is admitted all the joy and comfort of this life is gone it is a bitter-sweet Poyson and miserable are they that either give or take occasion for it Stop your ears therefore and knit your brow upon tale-bearers and whisperers that under pretence of great love and secrecy tell you just Nothing and remember that Love thinketh no evil but puts the best interpretation possible upon the doubful words looks and carriage of a stranger much more of so near a (r) Liberiores sunt viri quam foeminae vitae totius rationis Viris curanda esse mutla foeminis solam pudicitiam Claudendae aures iis qui sinistrum quid de marito volunt deferre Lu. Vives de Chr. foem p. 720. Relation And this I mention here because most commonly Jealousie takes place there where true Affection was never fixed and rooted in the beginning 6. Lastly to speak all in one Pray for Wisdom Humility and Vprightness 1. Wisdom for vve owe many of our Domestick distempers to our weakness and indiscretion not wisely preventing or removing things that cause offence How easily would a wise man avoid distasting words or looks or actions How easily might he keep his Authority and never forfeit it and she submit and never dispute it wisdom would pick and chuse the fittest opportunities to instruct advise reprove and comfort and vvould direct to the best manner and method vvherein to do it Wisdom vvill consider that either party might have found the same or greater crosses in another condition as in this or in another person as in this and therefore things are vvell in that they are not worse and however that marriage which is God's Ordinance must not be charged with their disquiets but themselves And 2. Humility that is a singular help for them both in the discharging of their Duties This will keep the Husband from the intemperate use of his power and the vvife in a ready subjection to her Husband For only by pride cometh contention but with the well-advised is wisdom Prov. 13.10 A proud Spirit could not agree vvith an Angel but the humble will agree with any body This also will greatly help them to contentment in their Condition For says Humility my Husband my Wife is a great deal too good for such a sinful creature as I am my condition is too good for me these straits and troubles are great but I deserve greater this was a sharp reproof but alas I deserve hell and what 's a harsh word to hell That man or woman vvill sit down quietly with great tryals that know they are not worthy the least of mercies And besides Humility will suggest such a carriage and behaviour in word and deed as will infallibly oblige each other and force respect from them And lastly Vprightness is necessary to the doing of these Duties well For there is written a conclusive law in an upright heart to do the whole will of God whether it appear to be with them or against them it will teach them rather to obey than to dispute and in obedience to do each more than their part rather than less In doubtful cases the upright heart will choose the safest course though it prove the hardest and resolves to suffer the greatest injury rather than offer the least An upright heart watches against sinful self which is the great root of injuries and mischiefs in every relation and prompts us to keep on in the way of our duty notwithstanding all discouragments In a word the upright Husband and Wife do chiefly study each their (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Col. Hom. 10. own Duty in their Relations and are most severe against their own particular failings What are the Duties of Parents and Children and how are they to be managed according to Scripture Serm. XVII Colos III. 20 21. Children obey your Parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers provoke not your Children to anger lest they be discouraged MY business is not to discuss the Entity of Relations in their foundation and terms which the Philosopher is conversant about but to discourse the Efficacy of the chiefest in Christian practice Relationes etsi minimae eâ—titatis sunt maximae efficaciae i. e. to enquire into the nature and management of those reciprocal offices betwixt Parents and Children which if well discharg'd according to the sense of the Divine Oracles do contribute most to the happiness of humane Society and give reputation to the Communion of Saints The Subject I know is common and the Scriptures copious upon it which some who it may be are not the most accurate in their own relative station think a very easie task to treat on but to do it distinctly and fully within the time allotted to
to cajol their Votaries into their unscriptural Orders as the Pharisees did Corban (u) Mark 7.1 113. saying it is a gift devoted to God which hypocritical allegation our Saviour disprov'd because they vacated the Commandments of God for their own traditions can be no warrant to invade the rights of Parents for Religion towards God doth not interfere with the necessary duties of our Relation And to do that under a notion of Religion not enjoyned by God against that too which he hath required is impious and to offer that to him which is another's he likes not He is for equity and not for division or confusion Charlemaign made a decree against this dishonour to Parents under the vail and disguise of Religion 2. In the great business of Marriage 't is very requisite to observe their counsel and advice Parents certainly should sway much in this weighty matter as they did in Isaac's matching with Rebekah (w) Gen. 24.6 7 63 67. and Jacob's with Laban's daughter (x) 28.1 2 3. with 29 11 18 19. Ruth though a daughter in law was willing to be disposed of by Naomi in the change of her condition observing her orders in that affair (y) Ruth 2.21 and 3.1 c. yea even Ishmael would take his Mother's advice for a wife (a) Gen. 21 21. and Sampson mov'd for his Parents consent (b) Judg. 14 2. Thamar's words in striving with her lustful brother imply the gaining of her Father's consent requisite (c) 2 Sam. 13.13 and Sechem's words to his Father vvhen he had wickedly defloured Dinah whom he met with in her idling visit do import he was convinc'd it was equitable to have her Father's consent to marry her (d) Gen. 34.3 c For Children ought in reason to think their Parents wiser and better able for the most part to provide for them than they themselves are because likely as they have more experimental knowledg so if Parents be not canker'd with the love of this world their affections are more governable and not so easily biass'd from moving in the fairest way as Childrens often are in their youthful and spritely age when their inward emotions are apt to be more turbulent unless sanctified with grace and moderated vvith vertue And further here it may be consider'd that Parents who brought forth and bred up their Children should by no means be bereft of them vvithout their consent sith they are so much their goods and possessions that it were a kind of purloining to give themselves away without their Parents leave The maid under the law that had made a vow out of her Father's cognizance could not perform it without his consent (e) Numb 30.4 5. Terent. In the Comoedian it was accounted a disparagement to take a vvise against the will of her Father So that complyance with Parents advice here is a business of great effect As one saith ingenuously Mr. Fuller The Child in this case bowls best at the mark of his own contentment who besides the aim of his own eye is directed by his Father who is to give the ground To which may correspond a passage of Cyrus who when a match was propos'd to him said I like the Lady her Dowry and her Family but I must have these agree with my Parents and then I will marry her He belike thought it injurious in finally bestowing himself to neglect his Parents and disregard their counsel in the main business of his life But if Children except and say Exception Answer What if after our real desires to take their counsel they urge us to marry such as we cannot affect I confess your circumstances may be such in this instance as may render the case very intricate and 't would require a discourse by it self to give satisfaction to it All I shall say now is 1. Be sure your non-affection or aversion to the Person propos'd be not without reason remember you are unperienc'd suspect your own judgment and take heed lest some impotent passion or amorous inclination to another person discompose you from attaining to a right opinion of things perswade your selves that as your Parents have experience likely their affections lead them to be careful for your welfare Be therefore earnest in Prayer with God who turns the heart at his pleasure (f) Prov. 21.1 that he would incline your affection to the party propos'd all the while there is no disallowance from above Non amo te Sabide non passum dicere quare c. and you can see no just cause to the contrary having only the mere plea that you cannot love and be importunate with him to rectifie such untowardness of mind lest you at least seem wilful as leads you vvithout good reason to reject an offer of his Providence to you for the promoting of your temporal vvelfare in an hopeful prospect of the Divine blessing But if after this humble and unfeigned address to God you still find your heart altogether averse you may in a reverent way entreat your Parents not to press that match and think of some other wherein you may be better satisfied For my part I do not conceive you are oblig'd to marry those you cannot really affect unless I could see how you might with a good conscience in the presence of God enter into a solemn Covenant of Love (g) Mal. 2.14 with a patty you cannot but upon deliberation at the same instant dislike My reason is not only because it would be an utter frustration of the end of marriage which should be mutual satisfaction but also the beginning of that estate in a kind of perjury or at least with a doubting conscience (h) Rom. 14.13 23. Sith as Qâ—intilian * Declam 376. observ'd Affectus nostri nobis non serviunt we cannot still keep our affections in a subserviency to our own be sure not to another's reason My wise is to dwell with me for ever the half of my lasting joy or my lasting sorrow and if I do not love her we cannot live comfortably together c. 2. If Parents should counsel you to joyn your self to an ungodly person and enforce you to fix there the best Casuijis of our own †Bishop Hall Sanderson Taylouâ— Mr. Baxter will easily resolve you that in such a case you have a negative voice and may humbly refuse to comply with such a motion for though you have not a judgment of positive decision to determine whom you would have yet you have a judgment of discretion and you may with all reverence to your Parents proposing refuse an unworthy person who is like to make your life either sinful or miserable This may be further cleared in considering the extent of Childrens obedience There is another particular yet which concerns Children in this duty of observance and that is 4. To follow their good examples we should take notice of those fair copies they have set us
shall 1. speak to the office and then 2. a little to the enforcement of it here 1. Concerning the office we may by an affection of a Trope so expound the provocation in my Text forbidden Christian Parents 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in a short manner of speech the Negative doth emphatically intend more than is express'd as including the Positive wherein the office of Parents provident care and well treating of their Children being of great weight and extent is connoted to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The charge which the Apostle gives here to all the Fathers of our flesh from the Father of mercies according to the original word is not to irritate their Children which is somewhat different from the prohibition to the Ephesians (c) Eph. 6.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 provoke not your Children to wrath this in my Text seeming to deny more generally So that he allows not of any kind of abuse of the paternal authority which may justly irritate or provoke the passions of Children an ill effect produced in their hearts and proceeding from any male-administration of the Father's power which in rigor is more apt to exceed its bounds than the Mothers either in substracting a fit allowance for nourishment and nurture not a usual fault which yet the Apostle taxeth (d) 1 Tim. 5.8 and Quintilian complain'd of * Lib. 1. c. 2. or loading them with impious (e) Mat. 14 8. and inhumane commands (f) 1 Sam 20.31 without necessity compelling to sordid and servile works not fit for ingenuous Children but slaves or treating them for not just hitting their humour with contumelious words (g) 30. pouring forth curses out of that mouth that should bless sith the name of Father breathes sweetness and benignity bitter words and the language of a barbarous enemy will be apt to exasperate when upon any little enormities a Father shews himself morose and sharp it may be beating his Children to gratifie his own lust and rage or inflicting other penalties no way proportion'd to the fault if any (h) 33. compar'd with Deut. 25 1 2. chastening not with the rod of men or the stripes of the children of men i. e. not in a humane way with gentleness and moderation (i) 2 Sam. 7.14 or by imperiousness for some self-respects as wordlings impose upon their Children in the great concern of changing their condition c. be sure it is contrary to the prohibition which imports that the Parents conduct should be moderated betwixt the extremes of an unwarrantable indulgence and rigor that it may tend to their Childrens benefit and their own satisfaction They should so deport themselves in this good government that their Children may both love and honour their presence not being too fond lest their Children should not fear them nor too stern lest they should fear them too much The moving Principle to be premis'd which influenceth Parents and enclineth them effectually to exert a provident care in all the branches of it is an imbred natural affection of love which did act Abraham (k) Gen. 22.2 Isaac and Rebekah (l) 25.28 in the Old Testament and is called forth in the New m (n) Tit. 2.3 Rom. 1.31 as the fundamental requisite to sway Parents in the exercise of their authority and a due performance of their Relative office in all the severals of it so that they may indeed adorn the Gospel Out of this inward Principle arise Dues from Parents to their Children more general viz. 1. Prayer and 2. Good Behaviour and more particular with respect to the 1. Birth 2. Nourishment 3. Education 4. Disposal and 5. Maintenance of their Children and 6. their own departure from them all according to the dictates of humane and Christian prudence 1. The more general and previous duties wherein Parents are concern'd for the sake of their Children as well as themselves are Prayer and good Behaviour which give success to all the following particular ones respectively and without which they will not be well discharg'd so as they should be by a Christian Parent who is oblig'd to rule his own house well having his Children in subjection with all honesty or as we render it with all gravity (n) 1 Tim. 3.4 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know not well how to omit yet can but touch on these 1 Prayer Parents are to make their requests known to God without ceasing (o) 1 Thes 5.17 upon all occasions for all things throughout the whole course of their Childrens lives they are concern'd to be daily Orators at the Throne of grace that God would make their Children his Children and confer upon them all temporal and spiritual blessings this is requisite to the having of Children and the having of them good 'T is a mercy to have them as Isaac Hannah and others had (p) Gen 25.21 1 Sam. 1 10. as a return to prayer which is also a means to have them good (q) Gen. 17.18 20. 1 Chron. 22.12 29.19 Ps 72 per. totu◠sith the sincere Parent 's prayer may reach his Child in every particle of its life in the womb as Rebekah did hers (r) Gen 25.22 and in the world at the ingress with Zachariah's (s) Luke 1.64 progress with Job's (t) Job 1.5 and egress with David's who made his petition more fervent with fasting (u) 2 Sam. 12.16 and when the Parent is leaving his Children as Isaac (w) Gen. 27.4 all which shew the benefit of paternal requests for the fruit of their bodies Monica Augustin's Mother was very earnest frequent and pathetical in her addresses to God for her Husband and Son and she had gracious returns for both How wicked then are those Parents who follow their Children yea without provocation too with imprecations and direful curses instead of prayers 2. Good Behaviour before God and man in love to their Children To follow prayer in upright walking is the best course Parents can take to entail a blessing upon their Children and make them good indeed The seed of the just or merciful man who walketh in his integrity shall be blessed after him (x) Prov. 20.7 3.22 The generation of the righteous have certainly the surest Deed of entail for inheriting of blessings that can be made (y) Psal 112.2 Deut. 5.29 4.8 9. sith God hath given promises thereof unto gracious persons who really walk with him and before him according to his holy statutes (z) Gen. 17.1 7. Acts 2.39 1 Kings 11 12. 'T is the Lord's usual way to confer his favours in this channel so that Parents are concern'd to carry themselves well upon this account And what ifluence their good behaviour hath on their Children as they set fair patterns to them may be touch'd on afterwards I hasten to speak to 2. The more particular duties of Parents with their several respects as 1. To the birth of the Child whiles it
an insinuation into their affections to engage children to love and delight in their duties by the sweetness of the lips to encrease their learning (c) 21. and encourage their honest endeavours with suitable rewards And on the other hand seasonable admonitions and remembrances in case of failures a frowning on their laziness and neglects of those offices wherein they should be employ'd which will keep them in awe though this must be done with great skil and vvariness lest it produce a slavish fear which slothful disingenuous and low spirits are apt to fall into and then absurdly to plead (d) Mat. 25.24 25 26. yet of the two it is better to fail on this hand than for a Christian Parent to omit warning of their children because both Law and Gospel require as vvas partly hinted before vve should not let sin either of omission or commission rest on our neighbour (e) Lev. 19.17 but should warn a brother (f) Gal. 6.1 much more a child and set him in joynt with a spirit of meekness I grant this duty of dayly inspection is very difficult but it is amiable and excellent it is of great latitude for Parents are evermore concernÌ„d to be eying of their children to see they do that which is necessary and comly both in religious and moral practice according to what is really best esteem'd in civil behaviour They must continually be watching them as to their praying reading hearing eating drinking playing visiting studying working sleeping c. to see they be not vain or idle because commonly there is but a little distance in time betwixt doing of nothing and doing of ill Children should be exercised with variety taught to sing Psalms (g) Deut. 31.19 21. Psal 148 12 13. as those good children vvere who made that short prayer to our Saviour Hosanna in Greek out of the Psalm (h) 118.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Save O Lord I beseech thee viz. blessed Messiah to pray in secret sometimes by and for themselves to be constant timely and revered at Family duties to be charitable respectful to the Embassadors of Christ to be attentive to the reading of Chapters and hearing of Sermons and thereupon to put Questions and give some account of their understanding of things and be not as Parrats that chatter vvithout knowledg to be observant of the Lord's days not left to themselves to play and do what they list for as Solomon observeth (i) Prov. 29.15 A child left to himself bringeth his Mother to shame she being either more indulgent in suffering him to get head or more affected with it when she seeth the evil of his idleness especiallly on the Lord's days But on other days at fit seasons such honest sports and recreations agreeing with the childrens temper are to be allow'd as do not alienate their minds from duty but promote health and chearfulness admit they be not with ungodly play-fellows from vvhom ribaldry and profaneness are easily learn'd but nothing that is good The Philosopher †Arist de Rep. l. 8. c. 17. did advise the educators of children to take heed they did not permit them to accompany vvith such of whom they would learn bad words hear smutty fables or be brought to look upon indecent and deformed pictures and that they did converse as little as may be with Servants And in eating and drinking Parents should with discretion lay restraints upon childrens appetites both as to the quantity and quality of food consonant to the rules of right reason that they transgress not the wholsom Laws of Temperance for the preservation of strength and activity of body and mind So for their studying and working c. a continued inspection is requisite that they do not neglect their time or mispend their talents vvhich that they may not do will usually need the Parents best skill and utmost diligence because of inbred pravity and untractableness Yet as one ‖ P. Du. Moul. hath well observ'd there be certain handles to take hold of these little souls in their tender years sith most of them are apt to be Shamefac'd Fearful Curious and Credulous which dispositions are to be attended by vigilant Parents with discretion and laid hold on to lead to vertue As on the other hand those hindrâ—ncâ—â— to good things which soon bewray themselves in little ones are to be watch'd over and curb'd such as Pride Wilfulness Lying and Intemperance that these evil inclinations may not be predominant Shame is to be manag'd to disswade from things dishonest Fear to keep in awe from consideration of punishment or loss of reward Curiosity to form in the mind right notions of things and Credulity to gain the consent to things honest and good and to make a right tincture which may abide Then on the other side vicious inclinations are to be timely curb'd As Pride arising from corrupt self-love to plant in young minds humility Wilfulness to engage unto teachableness Lying to make way for justice and fidelity and Imtemperance for the love of truth and sobriety that the understanding may rule the appetite Upon which account the same person suggests we should not promise children Junkets as the reward of their obedience but honour and praise which they should be made to love which is the great thing they of Japan †Gloriae studium cupiditatem teneris animis implantare consucverunt c. Varen de Regn. Jap p. 102. use to implant in the tender minds of their little ones proposing glory as the strong motive to perswade them unto obedience and good carriage I should not have insisted so long upon this but that I dare be bold to say it is through default of this part of Education I mean for want of watchfulness that the Children of many Parents amongst us fall so much short of the instructions received Their passions grow strong and the things that gratifie sense luscious their Parents heed not and so the hopeful fruit is blasted and spoiled for want of fence or as in some gardens where there be fine buds and fruits coming on that have been raised with great pains and charges they suffer Snails and Caterpillers to increase which in a short time devour that the Master's and Gardiner's eye and hand might easily at first have prevented by taking away the Caterpillers egs and killing of the Snails So you may see in some Families where there were great hopes of children as of the pleasant fruits on a fair tree ripening all lost for want of Parents and Governours narrow inspection or through a tender Mother's unlimited indulgence where she should keep a strict watch and through the connivance ‖ Imberbis juvenis tandem custode remoto Gaudet equis caniâ—usque aprici gramine campi Horat. or misplac'd kindnesses of some affectionate servants who to ingratiate with their young Masters or Mistresses take upon them to be wiser than those that love them best and secretly
by the Prophet in the name of the Lord (m) Jer. 29.6 1 Cor. 7.36 to take wives to their sons and give daughters to their husbands should with a good and serious conscience without carnal glosses study this prime Canon as they really design the promotion and spiritual advancement of their offspring Thus Abraham so famous in his parental government (n) Gen. 18.19 was very careful with respect to the Lord in covenant for the matching of his son Isaac that in a matter of so great importance lest he should be tempted to a failure in his trust he took a most solemn oath by the Lord God of Heaven and Earth from his faithful Steward Eleazer (o) 24.2 4 6 8. upon serious seeking of God by Prayer that he should take a wife for him out of a religious Family and by no means yield that Isaac should be brought into a relation communion and residence with any of those who might be an occasion to alienate his affections from the service of the true God in a true manner which had an excellent effect sith Isaac and Rebekah were the most chast pair of all those Patriarchal Worthies their affections being entirely united And Isaac at his wife Rebekah's motion when almost dead for fear of an ungodly wife (p) 27. ver followed his Father's example in the disposal of his son Jacob (q) 28.2 c. We indeed live in an age wherein there is much complaint by many wealthy Parents that though they like well of this grand rule yet they know not where to have suitable matches for their children especially of the female sex I confess there is too much ground for this lamentation The Lord remove it Yet I may with submission not being sollicitous to please man but my Lord and Master (r) Gal. 1.10 Eph. 6.6 Mr. White put these complainants in mind of what hath been observ'd by another before me That Persons of quality and estate likely have in one respect a greater advantage than others in that they have a greater latitude of choice amongst those who are in estate below them So that of religious prudent and suitable persons they may choose almost whom they please But the truth is many Parents who sit at the upper end of the world though they profess Religion they are too often so biassed with the love of this world that marrying to the very height of their estate hath the casting vote and so they bestow their pious hopeful children upon persons in whom they have no probable positive evidence of real godliness and sobriety or on such who are not comparably so vertuous as others they might have more religious prudent and desirable who upon conjuncture of Estates would be abundantly well accommodated for a comfortable and chearful livelyhood When alas some of them are so sway'd by carnal motives that as one saith †Mr. Baxter pol. p. 484. they marry their children to a swine for a golden trough they prefer temporals to spirituals and eternals riches and honour or comliness to vertue and godliness and take one that is at enmity with God (s) Rom. 8.7 8. into the nearest and strictest league of amity with those they are oblig'd to love best And thence it comes to pass that in succeeding generations by unequal mixture of the holy seed with the profane (t) Ezra 9 2 4. there is such a decay of piety as at this day amongst those sprung on one side from worthy Progenitors being much like those of the old world who defiled the face of the earth with an unblest generation which so grieved the Almighty that after he had given the inhabitants fair warning by the preacher of righteousness (u) Gen. 6.2 4. See more Gen. 26.34 35. 34 14. 38.2 7 8.9 10. he swept them all away but eight persons with an universal deluge I know upon the hearing of this some professing Parents of our Age will be touch'd to the quick though they do thereby a little shake their own title to the best inheritance but it concerns a watchman when call'd to give them warning from the Lord (w) Ezek. 3.17 to deal faithfully Upon the remembrance of which and an affecting apprhension of this growing epidemical distemper I do in the name of the Lord put all Christian Parents in mind not too vehemently to seek after great things to themselves (x) Jer. 45.5 in bestowing of their children richly but labour to link them with gracious and suitable persons where there may be mutual kindness and hearty liking of each other and with vvhom they may live religiously and contentedly For the truth is without this mutual complacency and loving contentment each in other vvhich the Scripture calls for (y) Prov. 5.19 with Gen. 20.16 Ezek. 24.16 18. upon a good foundation there cannot be an happy match Wherefore in this great office of Parents vvhich is a comfortable one for their Children if well done but most uncomfortable if otherwise they are mostly concern'd to look after the fear of the Lord. For the Wise man by the spirit of God hath so determin'd upon weighing of things saying (z) Prov. 31.30 with 19.23 Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised and so shall the man also If things be tryed at God's ballance Religion will weigh most Houses and riches are the inheritance of Fathers but a prudent wife is from the Lord (a) 19.14 and so is a prudent husband too Either is to be valued as a more blessed gift than any temporal portion left by Parents who may and ought to be provident but there is a more special finger of God who gives wisdom and unites hearts in every happy match Wherein good-nature or as we now speak good-humour doth much sweeten society in a humane way but I pray you what doth it in a Christian way wherein the married couple should live as being heirs together of the grace of life that their prayers he not hindred (b) 1 Pet. 3.7 Alas my Friends as to this a good nature as one saith * Mr. Thomas Couns l to married Couples is but like the white of an egg which as it offends not so it relisheth not There may be a tolerable conversation as to temporals on the week day but what is pleasant in it as to spirituals especially on the Lord's day and at other seasons when the Soul hath need of quickening direction and comfort or a companion in Heavenly joys Then real grace with all its faults will be better than refined nature (c) Eccles 2.13 as light than darkness Discretion will set a lustre on Religion and is to be look'd after else how troublesom will it be for wisdom to be subject to folly No one can live lovingly and comfortably with a Fool. Next an ungodly an unworthy yoke-fellow especially if in Husbands is to be feared And next to
a religious and prudent a pleasing person should be chosen amiableness helps to root and settle amity which gains reputation by an inheritance (d) 7.11 But in these things especially the last without regard to the former Parents should take heed of exercising Tyranny and when God hath given them children how they give them away be careful herein they do not contrary to my Text discourage their dutiful children by pressing them to marry where they cannot love Because herein one †Mr. Fuller's Holy State characters the good Parent to be such as draws arguments from his childrens good rather than his own authority accounting it a style too princely herein to will and command he rather chooseth to will and desire remembring the Parental power is for edification not destruction and should not be exerted to cast a child against its mind upon a disaffected much less an unworthy match In the treaty of marriage betwixt Isaac and Rebekah when there vvas a good agreement betwixt Abraham's Steward and her Father and Brother they vvould not come to a conclusion till the Maid vvas call'd and ask'd as to her affection and consent (e) Gen. 24 57. Hostis est uxâ—â— invita quae ad maritum nupta dat r. Plaut All vvas but complement till that vvas gain'd Parents herein are to perswade upon good reason but 't is too harsh to attempt the compelling of love Some rigorous ones are apt for their own vvorldly advantage to use their awful authority in matching to constrain their obedient children contrary to their affections and dispositions but they should rather learn of their Heavenly Father vvho disposeth all things sweetly and vvould have them to do so too in the disposal of their children he would have them do more vvith the sway of love than power and to be rather affectionate than imperious in their Government Grave and prudent Dr. Harris †In his life condescended to his sons saying When you are youths choose your Callings when men choose your Wives only take me along with you it may be old men may see further than you Be sure then they see well when they aim chiefly at piety As an ancient Hermite relates * In Prato spirituali in his own life the consultation of a principal inhabitant of Constantinople with his Lady about the disposal of their only child which was a daughter the result whereof was not to look at greatness and riches lest marrying her to a vitious person they should make her miserable but rather to one of a lower rank fearing God vvho from conscience of his duty would love and make much of her and so render her condition comfortable in prosecution whereof they found out and bestowed her upon the honest son of a very charitable Father who had a small Estate but great Vertue with whom she lived very happily But my discourse swells and I must shorten what remains 5 Maintenance is another part of the Parents office towards their children unto whom they are to allow a competency according to their quality and estates to live upon A just allowance for subsistence is presupposed requisite to the right discharge of the precedent duties from Parents to Children both in their minority and when come to maturity for the accommodating of them with necessaries according to their birth The neglect of which temporal provision would argue Christian Parents worse than Infidels who are not so enormous (f) 1 Tim. 5.8 Sith amongst the barbarous people they spare not cost to provide suitably for the fruit of their bodies till at least they are able to carve for themselves Our blessed Saviour takes for granted amongst the common notions of mankind that Earthly Parents will give good gifts unto their needy Children which are most proper for them (g) Mat. 7.9 11. Luke 11.11 But as a superaddition unto this general provision there is also somewhat more particular which even Nature it self teacheth upon the disposal of children and Christian institution requires and commends namely Parents as God hath blessed them should lay up for their children (h) 2 Cor. 12 4. yea so as that when they are placed in Callings and married they may by some stock or competent portion be able to lay up for themselves and be really serviceable to God's glory and others welfare with their substance (i) Prov. 3 9. 29.3 Abraham is commended for this devising of his Estate and so Jacob in providing for his (k) Gen. 24.36 25.5 6. 30.30 God did under the Law direct to a double portion real or personal unto the eldest as an acknowledgment of the right of primogeniture supposing no manifest forfeiture by disobedience (l) Deut. 21.16 17. 1 Chron. 5.2 Gen. 49.3 Exod. 13.2 Lev. 27.26 For in the exercise of Parental authority there may be some special consideration and rational regards had to the most dutiful but still according to equity Daughters according to that constitution were to be copartners and share as coheirs in the inheritance (m) Numb 36.8 And how Parents without valuable reasons can now disinherit them considering the prohibition in my Text is not easie to conceive But in laying up for and appòrtioning their children Parents should have a care 1. That they be not delatory as those who unseasonably put off the supplies of their children with that God hath given them till they themselves be dead or so long till it hath occasion'd an abatement of affections in their Children which is not to be excus'd in them but the Parents should not tempt them or put them upon any sharking tricks to supply necessities by keeping all the patrimony in their own hands above an handsome reserve of conveniencies for their own food and rayment Being of a different temper from that Prince's Father †Guaz Civ Conv p. 390. Psal 119.60 who coming into his son's Closet and seeing there all the gold and silver plate he had a long time before given to him said I see you have not a generous mind enough for with all the gifts you had from me you have not known hitherto how to make your self one friend Or in any other respect by any avaritious detention of what is requisite to be bestowed on their Children lay them under the discouragement which Parents are in my Text obliged to avoid as that which is displeasing to God 2. They should be sure they came honestly by the portions they leave their Children that they are goods well gotten and well used For if they be treasures of iniquity they will not long abide (n) Prov. 10.2 Jos 7.24 having a curse attending them yea a little ill gotten will be as a little leaven that will sour the whole lump or as the coal which the Eagle carried with the flesh she took from the Altar that fired all but if they are well-gotten then as one said of a small portion they will wear like steel And though
Martyrs William Hunter's Mother cheared up her son in that great duty of bearing testimony to Jesus Christ saying William I think thee as well bestow'd as ever any child that I bare in my womb Thus Jacob did in an holy wile get as it were into Joseph's heart by insinuating the special kindness he had for his dear Rachel Joseph's Mother (i) Gen 48.7 If you gain your Childrens hearts then they will give ear to you so as to observe what you would have done (k) Prov. 23.26 Hence it is that our Heavenly Father in Scripture is so abundant in satisfying us of his love (l) 3.12 Deut. 8.3 4 5. that he may gain our hearts and affections Your converse then with your children in all parental offices should in all decent manner be still expressive of love thus much is peculiarly imply'd in my Text which inhibits discouragement From love and tender bowels (m) Phil. 1.8 if tears or compassionate expressions be mingled with instructions this will help much to win and commend Children unto goodness Suitable gifts and rewards prudently and seasonably bestow'd will allure them Upon which account it is that Tertullian * Gratius est nomen pietatis quam potestatis etiam familiae magis Patres quam Domini vocantur Apol. c. 34. saith The name of Piety is more grateful than that of power yea they are called Fathers rather then Lords of the Family Hence also Pliny †l. 5. epist 19. was taken with a similitude of Homers ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he useth once and again to shew that a Prince should be moderate in his Government even as a Father is gentle in ruling of his Children So the People esteemed Joseph under Pharaoh when he had power in Aegypt when he procured such hearty obeysance (n) Gen. 41.43 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that some render that word tender Father as in the Margent which in our Translation is bow the knee Certainly the great friendship betwixt Parents and Children requires all expressions of endearments as in the tongue of the prudent woman there should ever be the law of kindness (o) Prov. 31.26 For as Maximus Tyrius * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Dissert 36. observes in another case so here If once the power of friendship be enervated there is nothing but it may easily move Relatives to anger and disturb them even as by taking the rudder from a Ship it is very soon tossed any way And here I think it very advisable that Parents who have their infirmities should encourage their honest Children by giving a favourable ear unto their humble and discreet monitions and good advice for their honour and spiritual welfare even as Saul did being convicted with reason hearken unto the voice of Jonathan his son (p) 1 Sam. 19.6 And as Terah upon the discovery which his son Abraham did from the Lord make to him comply'd with his advice for the removing of himself and family (q) Gen. 11.31 with 12.1 4. Labour to carry it with all eavenness and impartiality to every child according to a rational proportion so that it may be evident you account all that descend from you dear or beloved Children as God himself doth his (r) Eph. 5.1 1 Pet. 1.3 Jam. 1.18 for you are really concern'd in all 'T is true you should very distinctly observe the different carriages of your Children towards God your self and others to approve vertue and disapprove vice but yet you are to cherish as near as may be an equal desire of doing them all good alike not hugging one and hunching another out of some partial respect or distorted apprehension A good Parent as one †Mr. Fuller ingeniously notes should observe a species of Gavelkind in dividing his affections to his children to prevent envying amongst them and if the expression thereof be different it should be with equity and discretion that they in their own consciences may plainly read the reasons of it Though there is no necessity to make an equal distribution of Estate wherein the right of Primogeniture may seem from Scripture (s) Gen. 37.4 49 3. Exod. 13 2. Deut. 21.15 16. 1 Chron. 5.2 as abovesaid to claim a greater proportion unless some kind of rebellion put in a demurrer For however a prudent Parent should like a well-drawn Picture cast an eye equally upon all his Children in point of affection yet when he makes a distribution of his Estate in point of justice it can be no disparagement to him to encourage the obedient with a reward when by an equitable abatement he may suffer the disobedient justly to feel the smart of his misbehaviour But yet he is concern'd to be indifferent and impartial the same to every child in the same circumstances It is I confess rare to find a Parent indeed of this excellent temper amongst the sons of men but a truly Christian Parent should strive to resemble God in it sith as every child came from his own substance so he is to give an equal account to God of all and therefore should labour to overcome sense with reason and in very deed exhibit himself upon a due expence of circumstances one and the same to all So that they who upon by and undue respects do prefer one child to another whiles led by a partial affection cannot manage parental duties in a manner well-pleasing to God 'T is said Scipio Africanus * Dignus commiseratione magis est cui natura faves minus was so affraid of being unkind to his child as too many are for a natural defect that he rather shew'd most affection to his Son that was a fool saying He was most worthy of commiseration whom nature did favour least 5. And last of all Advise with your faithful Pastors and spiritual Guides especially in more intricate circumstances yea and study well your office Which that you may perform acceptably 't is good also to get what assistance you can from others to help you in the management thereof As Manoah did not only seek the Lord but consulted the Angel concerning his Son Sampson how they should order him and how they should do unto him (t) Judges 13.8 12. so should Parents endeavour to inform themselves and get the best counsel they can from those God hath set over them in the ministration of ordinances (u) EPh. 4.11 12. sith now under the Gospel they are as spiritual Fathers appointed for the feeding of Christ's sheep and his lambs (w) Jo. 21.15.16 17. which are directed to find pasture by the shepherds tents (x) Cant. 1.7 8. Ezek. 47.8 9 10. Jer. 8.22 and there get waters and balm for healing Monica Augustin's Mother †August Conf. repair'd to them for aid to reduce her Son and indeed theirs is as John Baptist's Ministry was to bring all to rights betwixt Parents and Children according to the Prophet's prediction (z) Mal.
may force some thoughts toward heaven sometimes but they will not be natural till nature be changed Grace only gives stability †Heb. 13.9 It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace and prevents fluctuation by fixing the soul upon God as its chief end and what is our end will not only be first in our intentions but most frequent in our considerations Hence a sanctified heart is called in Scripture a stedfast heart There must be an enmity against Satan put into our hearts according to the first promise before we can have an enmity against his imps or any thing that is like him 2. Study Scripture Original corruption stuffs us with bad thoughts and Scripture-knowledg would stock us with good ones for it proposeth things in such terms as exceedingly suit our imaginative faculty as well as strengthen our understanding Phil. 1.9 1â— Judicious knowledg would make us approve things that are excellent and where such things are approved toyes cannot be welcome Fulness is the cause of stedfastness The cause of an intent and piercing eye is the multitude of animal spirits Without this skill in the word we shall have as foolish conceits of divine things as ignorant men without the rules of art have of the Sun and Stars or things in other countries which they never saw The word is call'd a lamp to our feet i. e. the affections a light to our eyes Psal 119.105 Psal 19.8 enlightens the eyes i. e the understanding It will direct the glances of our minds and the motions of our affections It enlightens the eyes and makes us have a new prospect of things as a Scholar newly entred into Logick and studied the predicaments c. looks upon every thing with a new eye and more rational thoughts and is mightily delighted with every thing he sees because he eyes them as clothed with those notions he hath newly studied The Devil had not his engins so ready to assault Christ as Christ from his knowledg had Scripture-precepts to oppose him As our Saviourby this means stifled thoughts offered so by the same we may be able to smother thoughts arising in us Lectiâ—ne assidua meditatione diuturna pectus suum bibliothecam Christi fecerat Hierom. Ep 3. Converse therefore often with the Scripture transcribe it in your heart and turn it in succum sanguinem whereby a vigor will be derived into every part of your soul as there is by what you eat to every member of your body Thus you will make your mind Christ's library as Hierom speaks of Nepotianus 3. Reflect often upon the frame of your mind at your first conversion None have more settled and more pleasant thoughts of divine things than new converts when they first clasp about Christ partly because of the novelty of their state and partly because God puts a full stock into them and diligent trades-men at their first setting up have their minds intent upon improving their stock Endeavour to put your mind in the same posture it was then Or if you cannot tell the time when you did first close with Christ recollect those seasons wherein you have found your affections most fervent your thoughts most united and your mind most elevated as when you renewed repentance upon any fall or had some notable chearings from God and consider what matter it was which carried your heart upward what employment you were engaged in when good thoughts did fill your soul and try the same experiment again Asaph would oppose God's ancient works to his murmuring thoughts he would remember his song in the night i. e. the matter of his song and read over the records of God's kindness * Psal 77.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. David too would never forget i. e. frequently renew the remembrance of those precepts whereby God had particularly quicken'd him †Psal 119.93 Yea he would reflect upon the places too where he had formerly conversed with God to rescue himself from dejecting thoughts therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Missar ‖ Psal 42.6 Some elevations surely David had felt in those places the remembrance whereof would sweeten the sharpness of his present grief When our former sins visit our minds pleading to be speculatively reacted let us remember the holy dispositions we had in our repentance for them and the thankful frames Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures when God pardoned them The Disciples at Christ's second appearance reflected upon their own warm temper at his first discourse with them in a disguise to confirm their faith and expel their unbelieving conceits Strive to recollect truths precepts promises with the same affection which possest your Souls when they first appeared in their glory and sweetness to you 4. Ballast your heart with a Love to God David thought all the day of God's Law as other men do of their lusts because he unexpressibly loved it * Psal 119.97 113. Oh how I love thy Law It is my meditation all the day v. 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love Aeneas oculis semper vigilantis inhaeret Aeneam animo nóxque diésque refert Ovid. Ep. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian Dialog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost This was the succesful means he used to stifle vain thoughts and excite his hatred of them 'T is the property of love to think no evil 2 Cor. 13.5 It thinks good and delightful thoughts of God friendly and useful thoughts of others It fixeth the Image of our beloved object in our minds that 't is not in the power of other phancies to displace it The beauty of an object will fasten a rolling eye 'T is difficult to divorce our hearts and thoughts from that which appears lovely and glorious in our minds whether it be God or the world Love will by a pleasing violence bind down our thoughts and hunt away other affections If it doth not establish our minds they will be like a Cork which with a light breath and a short curl of water shall be tossed up and down from its station Scholars that love learning will be continually hammering upon some notion or other which may further their progress and as greedily clasp it as the Iron will its beloved Loadstone He that is wing'd with a divine love to Christ will have frequent glances and flights towards him and will start out from his worldly business several times in a day to give him a visit Love in the very working is a settling grace it encreaseth our delight in God partly by the sight of his amiableness which is clear'd to us in the very act of loving and partly by the recompences he gives to the affectionate carriage of his creature both which will stake down the heart from vagaries or giving
entertainment to such loose companions as evil thoughts are Well then if we had this heavenly affection strong in us it would not suffer unwholesom weeds to grow up so near it either our Love would consume those weeds or those weeds will choak our Love 5. Exercise faith As the habit of faith is attended with habitual sanctification so the acts of faith are accompanied with a progress in the degrees of it That faith which brings Christ to dwell in our souls will make us often think of our inmate Faith doth realize divine things and make absent objects as present and so furnisheth fancy with richer streams to bath it self in than any other principle in the world As there is a necessity of the use of fancy while the soul is linked to the body so there is also a necessity of a corrective for it Reason doth in part regulate it but 't is too weak to do it perfectly because fancy in most men is stronger than reason Mirand de Imaginat cap. 11 12. man being the highest of imaginative beings and the lowest of intelligent fancy is in its exaltation more than in creatures beneath him and reason in its detriment more than in creatures above him and therefore the imagination needs a more skilful guide than reason Fancy is like fire a good Servant but a bad Master if it march under the conduct of faith it may be highly serviceable and by putting lively colours upon divine truth may steal away our affections to it Faith is the evidence of things not seen viz. not by a corporeal but intellectual eye and so it will supply the office of sense 'T is the substance of things hoped for and if hope be an attendant on faith Psal 42.5 Why art thou cast down Oh my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God our thoughts will surely follow our expectations The remedy David used when he was almost stifled with disquieting thoughts was to excite his soul to a hope and confidence in God Psal 42.5 and when they return'd upon him he useth the same diversion v. 11. The peace of God i. e. the reconciliation made by a Mediator between God and us believingly apprehended will keep or garrison our hearts and minds or thoughts against all anxious assaults both from within and without †Phil 4.6 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When any vain conceit creeps up in you act faith on the intercession of Christ and consider Is Christ thinking of me now in Heaven and pleading for me and shall I squander away my thoughts on trifles which will cost me both tears and blushes Believingly meditate on the promises they are a means to cleanse us from the filthiness of the spirit as well as that of the flesh * 2 Cor 7.1 Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves c. If the having them be a motive the using them will be a means to attain this end Looking at the things that are not seen preserves us from fainting and renews the inward man day by day †2 Cor. 4.16 18. These invisible things could not well keep our hearts from fainting if faith did not first keep the thoughts from wandring from them 6. Accustom your self to a serious meditation every morning Fresh airing our souls in Heaven will engender in us purer spirits and nobler thoughts A morning seasoning would secure us for all the day Intus existens prohibet alienum Though other necessary thoughts about our callings will and must come in yet when we have dispatch'd them let us attend our morning Theme as our chief companion As a man that is going with another about some considerable business suppose to Westminster though he meets with several friends in the way and salutes some and others with whom he hath some affairs he spends a little time yet he quickly returns to his companion and both together go their intended stage Do thus in the present case Our minds are active and will be doing something though to little purpose and if they be not fixed upon some noble object they will like mad men and fools be mightily pleased in playing with straws The thoughts of God were the first Visiters David had in the morning Psal 139 17 18 God and his heart met together as soon as he was awake and kept company all the day after In this meditation look both to the matter and manner 1. Look to the matter of your meditation Let it be some truth which will assist you in reviving some languishing grace or fortifie you against some triumphing corruption for 't is our darling sin which doth most envenom our thoughts †Prov. 23.7 As a man thinks in his heart so is he As if you have a thirst for honour let your fancy represent the honour of being a child of God and heir of Heaven If you are inclined to covetousness think of the riches stored up in a Saviour and dispensed by him If to voluptuousness fancy the pleasures in the ways of wisdom here and at God's right hand hereafter This is to deal with our hearts as Paul with his hearers to catch them with guile Stake your soul down to some serious and profitable mystery of Religion as the Majesty of God some particular Attribute The heads of the Catechism might be taken in order which would both encrease and actuate our knowledg Psal 40.5 his condescension in Christ the love of our Redeemer the value of his sufferings the vertue of his bloud the end of his ascension the work of the Spirit the excellency of the soul beauty of holiness certainty of death terror of judgment torments of Hell and joys of Heaven Why may not that which was the subject of God's innumerable thoughts be the subject of ours God's thoughts and counsels were concerning Christ the end of his coming his death his precepts of holiness and promises of life and that not only speculatively but with an infinite pleasure in his own glory and the creatures good to be accomplished by him Would it not be work enough for our thoughts all the day to travel over the length breadth heighth and depth of the love of Christ Would the greatness of the journey give us leisure to make any starts out of the way Having settled the Theme for all the day we shall find occasional assistances even from worldly businesses as Scholars who have some Exercise to make find helps in their own course of reading though the Book hath no design'd respect to their proper Theme Thus by imploying our minds about one thing chiefly we shall not only hinder them from vain excursions but make even common objects to be oyl to our good thoughts which otherwise would have been fuel for our bad Such generous liquor would scent our minds and conversations all the day that whatsoever motion came into our hearts would be tinctured with this spirit and savour of our morning
taking God's Name in vain Sins all of an high Nature and committed generally in height of Spirit and look as like presumptuous sins for which God hath appointed no Sacrifice as most we can reckon up in regard of the small temptation to them Numb 15.30 31. and the impudence that is common in them 2. Those things also our Tongue is to be restrained from whereby our Brother is wronged as to his outward man whether as to Life Estate or Name unrighteousness is the evil of such Speeches a manifest evil and is aggravated from the degree wherein he suffers and from the directness of our intention in bringing it upon him though whether directly or indirectly of malice and set purpose or out of pure weakness our Brother suffers and we sin that we were no more tender of him in concerns that are so dear to our selves and about which we have been so specially cautioned of God and of this Nature eminently are slander and false Testimony 3. Those things must more especially be forborn whereby our Brother's Soul is like to be defiled and his manners corrupted in that the greatest Charity is here transgressed As for instance all unclean Speeches by which Lust may be drawn forth provoking Speeches whereby passion may be stirred up all enticements to evil and encouragements in evil any thing whereby our Brother's spirit may be lightned or his heart hardned 4. Such things whereby the fundamental Laws of Society are violated and all confidence in one another destroyed I will instance particularly in three 1. Lying that makes words signifie just nothing and cuts off all communion between one anothers Souls that we can never know each others minds we are hereby at a far greater loss than if we could not speak at all How detestable this sin is you may learn by what you read Rev. 21.8 Rev. 22.15 2. Tale-bearing that is a Trade set up directly against all Friendship and the great bane of Love in the World which yet has too much countenance from the generality of the World but God that is always more than our selves solicitous for our good has especially cautioned against it Lev. 19.16 and warned us of the evil effects of it Prov. 18.8 3. Revealing of Secrets which destroys all confidence and breaks the most sacred Bonds of Friendship And as to these we may be doubly faulty 1. In reference to such Secrets as are committed to us sub sigillo these every one is convinced he ought to keep so for his truths sake and to answer the confidence that was put in him though many are never quiet till they have broke this Bond but are rather irritated by their being bound Prov. 11.13 A Tale-bearer revealeth Secrets Especially 2. In reference to such as come to us without such a formal Bond out of weakness or good nature if there may be wrong to the party confiding in us by divulging what he hath so committed to us the very matter of the case obligeth us in justice though not in faithfulness we are bound to be his Secretaries if a far greater good may not come by the discovery And let me here give a special caution in a case wherein you may be lyable to Temptation Take heed what you do tell to a Friend lest he should after prove an Enemy this is prudence Take heed you discover not when an Enemy what was told you as a Friend that is Piety 5. The matter of the Discourse is faulty when the very ends of it are overlooked and you fruitlesly and foolishly squander away both time and Talents not considering that idle words are also evil words and to be reckoned for another day Mat. 12 36 37. Quest How shall we restrain our Tongues from all this evil 1. By purging the Seeds of it out of our hearts Our Saviour looked upon it as an unnatural thing and not to be expected that they that are evil should speak good things in as much as out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Mat. 12.34 That therefore must be first cleansed that the mouth may be kept clean while there are filthy thoughts malicious purposes impetuous passions and idle imaginations allowed there by the Tongue as well as other ways they will have their vent by every Member the heart will be discharging it self of it's abundance whence again he observes that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries thefts false-witness blasphemies Mat. 15.19 Mind therefore how you are still directed to lay the Ax unto the Root and crucifie the evil affections of the heart that you may prevent the Extravagancies of the Tongue Eph. 4.31 Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice he despaired Clamour and evil speaking should be restrained except Wrath and Malice were extirpated And to the same purpose Col. 3.8 9. Put off Anger Wrath Malice and then he hath some hopes they might also forbear Blasphemy filthy Communication Lying Let your first care then be of the Heart and it 's first Motions for every Member thence hath it's impressions and all pretence of care without a regard to this Will be but a palliation and we may expect a more violent Eruption 2. By stopping our Ears and shutting our Eyes against every thing that may feed the fore-mentioned evil humours if they be fermented afresh they will flow anew and be aware of remainders of them in the best of you If we would effectually keep a fire from smoaking we must keep it from burning and to secure it from burning keep it from blowing and fresh supplies of fewel We can easily apply this no refining of the Tongue without purging of the Heart no keeping that pure if any thing that defiles is suffered to enter there the ordinary passages into which are by the Eye and Ear avoid therefore in prosecution of this Direction all vain idle angry envious malicious Companions lest they be infusing into thee their Venom Bid adieu to all Profane Ranters and Ribalds to all Tale-bearers and Whisperers they will kindle the fire of Lust or Anger if there be a spark in thee And next to them avoid all Books that are stuffed with profane Jests or that gender to excessive heats these assault us like formed Armies when occasional words are like slight Sallies of a small party And lastly beware of vain and filthy sights and the more artificial the more dangerousâ— as more affecting the fancy sinking deeper into the memory and pressing more importunately into the mouth they tickle us into the talk of them 3. By laying the Laws against all idle and evil speaking before our eyes in their reasonableness and rigor their reasonableness will appear if we consider them as for us would we any body should abuse us with lyes or load us with reproaches no why then it is well God hath provided by his Law that they shall not and is it not alike equal
requires more from Christians than he doth from other men Mat. 5.47 What do ye more than others Christians must be free from the Vices of other men Eph. 4.17 This I say therefore and testifie in the Lord that ye walk not as other Gentiles walk So Luke 22.25 26. The Kings of the Gentiles Exercise Lordship they are Proud Ambitious Imperious But it shall not be so among you Christians must be in the World like Lights shining in a dark place They must have all the Vertues that others have and they must be clean from all the Vices and Lusts in which others Live Now the very Heathens have condemned this Practice of Reproaching and traducing others Detractors were infamous amongst them and therefore it is a shame this should be practised by Christians 3. This is a sin against the whole design and scope of the Scriptures These are as I may say the two Poles upon which the Heavenly Globe of the Scripture turns the Love of God and the Love of our Neighbour Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Mat. 22.37 c. Rom. 13.10 Love is the fulfilling of the Law and the Law is enforced by Christ Joh. 13.34 A new Commandment give I unto you that ye love one another So then all the Scripture hath but one Neck and this the Detractor cuts off and so makes himself the greatest Anti-Scripturist in the World 3. This is a great injury to God because it is a Confederacy with God's greatest Enemy the Devil God judgeth of men's Relations by their Works and not by their talks John 8.39 If ye were Abraham 's Children you would do the Works of Abraham And verse 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do Now this among others is the Devil 's great Work and Office who is hence called the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 And from whence he hath his Name Diabolus which is a Calumniator a Slanderer a Reproacher And these Men as they do the Devil's Work so they are called by the Devil's name 1 Tim. 3.12 Not Slanderers in the Greek not Devils And as they do the Devil's Work so they serve the Devil 's great Design God is Love and therefore his design is to promote Love in the World The Devil is a malignant and hateful Spirit and his work is to promote hatred contention and strife among men And that is effectually done by this way 2. This is an injury to thy self in these particulars 1. Hereby thou dost contract guilt the worst of all evils A man's sin may injure another Man but the greatest and the worst part of it falls upon his own head Wickedness saith Seneca drinketh up the greatest part of it 's own poyson Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul Thou woundest another Man's Fame but thou woundest thy own Conscience which of these is the worst He whom thou reproachest gets a blot before men and thou dost procure to thy self a blot before God Thou accusest him before other Men and thy Conscience will accuse thee for it before God 2. Hereby thou dost expell or weaken that excellent Grace of Love that necessary and fundamental Grace that sweet and amiable Grace As all Virtue is a reward to it self so is this in a more special manner Infinite is the pleasure of the Holy Soul in loving God and loving all Men and loving Enemies O this is a most delightful Work And on the contrary Hatred and Malice and Envy as they are most sinful so are they very miserable works and a great Torment to him that hath them while the mind of a wicked malicious man is like the raging Sea continually casting up mire and dirt and is its own Tormentor The mind of a good Man exercising it self in love is as it were a Sea of Glass like unto Crystal calm and serene it enjoys God and it self and other men yea even a man's Enemies By this Holy Art a Man may get comfort out of his Enemies whether they will or no. 3. Hereby thou dost lay a Foundation for thy own Reproach Mat. 7.1 2. Judge not that ye be not judged for with what Judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again Methinks this Text should strike a terrour into all Persons who are guilty of this sin The Law of Retaliation prescribed by God is frequently inflicted by him also James 2.13 He shall have Judgment without Mercy that hath shewed no mercy So that thou dost ingage the great God against thee to pour contempt upon thy Name and to make thee a Reproach in the World 3. It is a great injury to the Person whom thou dost censure and reproach and that in these particulars 1. Thou dost rob him of the best Treasure which he hath in the World Prov. 22.1 A good Name is rather to be chosen than Riches and consequently thou art more Criminal than he that dyeth by the hands of Justice for taking away another Man's Goods Thou robbest him of that which thou art not able to give him thou robbest him of the most lasting good which he hath and that which alone will abide after Death So that thy cruelty extends beyond the Grave and tends to this to make his Name rot above ground while his Body rots in it And this injury is the greater because it cannot be prevented there is no Fence against this Vice it is the Arrow that flyes by Night which no man can either observe or avoid and it is an Injury which can hardly be repaired Breaches in mens Estates may be made up Liberty lost may be recovered a Conscience wounded may be healed but a Reputation can hardly ever be restored Calumnia re fortiter aliquid adhaerebit Slander a man resolutely and something to be sure will stick 2. Hereby thou dost disenable him from getting good both as to his outward and as to his inward man As to his outward Man Who knows not the necessity of a good fame for the successful management of a man's Worldly concernments By one Act of this sin thou mayst possibly undo a man and all his Family It hinders him also from receiving inward good as to the state of his Soul At least he is not likely to get any good from thee Whereas it is thy duty to rebuke thy Neighbour and not to suffer sin to rest upon him Levit. 19.17 This is the way to make that work altogether unsuccessful it stops his Ear against thy Counsels it hardens his heart against thy admonitions and many times such Reproaches make men careless and by degrees impudent and when once they have lost their Reputation by thy Calumnies they are not careful to regain it and it may be judge it impossible 3. Hereby thou dost hinder him from doing of good in the World It is certain a
Certainty the greatest Consent and the greatest Necessity will honour it self and its Author in the world if it be rightly represented in the Lives of them that do profess it But when mens over-doing shall pretend that all this is too little and shall seek to raise it as to more perfection by their own Inventions or uncertain Opinions in Doctrine Worship Church-Discipline or Practice they presently cast it as a Foot-ball before the Boys in the Streets and make it a matter of doubtful endless Disputations of multiplied Sects of pernicious Contentions and cruel Persecutions And then the Reverence and Glory of it is gone and every Philosopher will vie with it in subtilty and every Stranger will presume to censure it if not to blaspheme it and deride it And thus Over-doers are the Scandals of the World II. The Christian that will glorifie God and his Profession must be conscionable in the smallest matters but he must ever describe and open the Nature of his Religion as consisting in great and certain things and not talk too much of smaller matters as if it were those that men were to be saved by Tell men of the necessity of believing fearing obeying trusting and loving God and of coming to him by Jesus Christ the Great Mediator between God and Man Tell them of the intrinsick evil of sin and of God's Justice and of Man's Corruption and of the Nature and Excellency of Holiness and of the necessity of being New-born of the Holy Spirit and of mortifying the desires and deeds of the Flesh and tell them of Judgment Heaven and Hell especially the certainty and excellency of the everlasting promised Glory perswade them to believe all this to think much of all this and to be true to what they know and to make it the work of Life to be always prepared for Death Let this be your discourse with sinners as I told you in the first Character it must be your own Religion and then men will perceive that Religion is a matter that doth indeed concern them and that they are indeed great and necessary things in which you differ from ungodly men But the Scandalous Christian talketh most of external Church-orders and Forms and Opinions and Parties and thereby maketh the ignorant believe that the difference is but that one will sit when the other kneeleth and one will pray by the Book and the other without Book and one is for this Church Government and another for that and one for praying in White and the other in Black And talking too much of such things as these deceiveth the hearers some it maketh formal hypocrites who take up this for their Religion and the rest it hardeneth and maketh them think that such people are only more humourous and self-conceited and giddy and factious than others but no whit better III. The Genuine Christian hath an humble and cautelous understanding sensible when he knoweth most how little he knoweth and how much he is still unacquainted with in the great mysterious matters of God His Ignorance is his daily grief and burden and he is still longing and looking for some clearer Light Not a new word of Revelation from God but a clearer understanding of his Word He knoweth how weak and slippery Man's understanding is and he is humbly conscious of the darkness of his own Therefore he is not conceitedly wise nor a boaster of his knowledge but saith as Paul 1 Cor. 8.2 He that thinketh that he knoweth any thing that is is proudly conceited of his own knowledge knoweth nothing as he ought to know And hence it is that though he daily grow in the firmer apprehension of necessary Truths yet he is never confident and peremptory about uncertain doubtful things And therefore he is not apt to be Quarrelsome and contentious nor yet censorious against those that differ from him in matters of no greater moment And hence it is that he runneth not into Sects nor burneth with the scaverish dividing Zeal nor yet is scandalously mutable in his Opinions because as one that is conscious of his Ignorance he doth not rashly receive things which he understands not but suspendeth his judgment till Evidence make him fit to Judge and joyneth with neither of the contending Parties till he is sure or know indeed which of them is right And thus he avoideth that dishonouring of Religion which the scandalous Christian is wofully guilty of who with an unhumbled understanding groweth confident upon quick and insufficient information and Judgeth before he understandeth the case and before he hath heard or read and considered what on both sides may be said and what is necessary to a true understanding And thus either by audacious prating of what he never understood or reviling and censuring Men wiser than himself or by making himself a Judge where he hath need to be many years a Learner or making a Religion of his own mistakes and setting up dividing Sects to propagate them or else by shameful mutability and unsettledness he becometh a scandal to harden unbelievers and a Disease to the Church and a shame to his profession Read James 3. Conceited Wisdom kindleth a contentious Zeal and is not of God but from beneath v. 15.16 17. IV. The Christian who Glorifieth God by his Religion is one that so Liveth that men may perceive that his carnal Interest is not the End and Ruler of his Life but that God is his End and to please him is his Work and his Reward in which he is comforted though the Flesh and World be never so much displeased And that the perfect Light and love of God in the unseen Glory of another Life is the satisfying sum of all his hopes for which all the World must be forsaken To talk much of Heaven and to be as much and as eager for the World as others is the way by which the scandalous Hypocrite doth bring Religion into Contempt It is no high nor very honourable Work to talk of the vanity of the World but to Live above it and to be out of the power of it Nor is it any great matter to speak honourably of Heaven but to Live as believing-seekers of it and as those that have there their Treasure and their hearts Mat. 6.20 21. and are comforted more by the Hopes of the Life to come than by all their possessions or pleasures in the World If we will glorifie God our Lives must perswade Men that he will certainly be our Everlasting Portion and the sure and plentiful Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 It is much of the use of a true Christian's Life to convince Unbelievers that there is a Heaven for Saints and the scandalous worldling perswadeth them that there is none Mat. 5.5 11 12. Phil. 3.26 21. Col. 3.1 2 3 4 5. V. Therefore it Glorifieth God and our Religion when Christians Live in greater Joy or at least greater contentedness and Peace than other Men when they can answer
all the Crosses in the World sufficiently with this that God is their God and his Love shall be their endless Joy Psal 73.1 and 73.25 26. And when they can Live by Faith not by Sight 2 Cor. 5.7 and can rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God Rom. 5.3 5. and can comfort themselves and one another with this that they shall for ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 18. and can trust him to the Death who hath said I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 If you would have other Men honour your God and your Religion and desire to be such as you you must really shew them that you are on safer grounds and in a happier state than they And that you will hardly do if you be not more comfortable than they or at least settled in more Peace and contentedness of mind as those that have a certain Cure for the fears of Death and the danger that ungodly men are in of the revenging Justice of the final Judge I confess it 's possible for trembling troubled and distressed Christians to be saved But O that they knew what a scandal they are to Unbelievers and what a dishonour to God whom their Lives should Glorifie What Man will fall in Love with Terrors and unquietness of mind If you would Glorifie God by your fears and tears they must be such as are accompanied with Faith and Hope and you must not only shew men what would make you happy if you could obtain it but also that it is attainable Happiness is every Man's desire and none will come to Christ unless they believe that it tendeth to their Happiness They take up with the present pleasures of the Flesh because they have no satisfying apprehensions of any better And if no Man shew them the first-fruits of any better here they will hardly believe that they may have better hereafter It is too hard a talk to put a poor Drunkard Fornicator or a proud and Covetous Worldling on to believe that a poor complaining comfortless Christian is happier than he and that so sad and unquiet a Life must be preferred before all his temporal contentments and delights You must shew him better or the signs and fruits of better before he will part with what he hath You must shew him the bunch of Grapes if you will have him go for the Land of Promise when he is told of Gyants that must be overcome And O what a blessing is reserved for every Caleb and Joshua that encourage Souls and glorifie the Promise And how much do dejected discouragers of sinners dishonour God and displease him I have known some ungodly Men when they have seen believers rejoycing in God and triumphantly passing through sufferings in the joyful hopes of Glory to sigh and say would I were such a one or in his case But I have seldome heard any say so of a Person that is still sad or crying or troubling themselves and others with their Scruples Crosses or Discontents unless it be in respect to their blameless Living perhaps condoling them they may say Would I had no more sin to trouble me than you have I confess that some Excellent Christians do shew no great mirth in the way of their Conversation either because they are of a grave and silent temper or taken up with severe Studies and Contemplations or hindred by bodily pains or weakness But yet their grave and sober Comforts their Peace of Conscience and settled hopes and trust in God delivering them from the terrors of Death and Hell may convince an Unbeliever that this is a far better state than the mirth and laughter of Fools in the House of Feasting and in the vanities of a short prosperity The grave and solid Peace and Comfort of those that have made their Calling and Election sure is more convincing than a lighter kind of mirth Joh. 16.22 VI. The Dominion of Love in the hearts of Christians appearing in all the course of their Lives doth much Glorifie God and their Religion I mean a common hearty Love to all men and a special love to holy men according to their various degrees of loveliness Love is a thing so agreeable to right reason and to sociable Nature and to the common Interest of all Mankind that all Men commend it and they that have it not for others would have it from others Who is it that loveth not to be loved And who is it that loveth not the Man that he is convinced loveth him better than him that hateth him or regardeth him not And do you think that the same course which maketh men hate your selves is like to make them love your Religion Love is the powerful Conquerer of the World By it God conquereth the enmity of Man and reconcileth to himself even malignant sinners And by it he hath taught us to conquer all the tribulations and persecutions by which the world would separate us from his Love Yea and to be more than Conquerers through him that loved us and thereby did kindle in us our reflecting love Rom. 8.34 35 36. And by it he hath instructed us to go on to Conquer both his Enemies and our own yea to conquer the enmity rather than the Enemy in imitation of himself who saveth the sinner and kills the sin And this is the most noble kind of Victory Every Souldier can end a Fever or other Disease by cutting a man's throat and ending his Life But it 's the work of the Physitian to kill the Disease and save the Man The scandalous Pastor is for Curing Heresie in the Roman way by silencing sound Preachers and tormenting and burning the supposed Hereticks or at least to trust for the acceptance and success of his Labours to the Sword And if that which will restrain men from crossing the Pastor would restrain them from resâ—sting the Spirit of God and constrain them to the love of Holiness it were well Then the glory of conversion should be more ascribed to the Magistrate and Souldier than to the Preacher But the true Pastor is Armed with a special measure of Life Light and Love that he may be a meet Instrument for the Regenerating of Souls who by holy Life and Light and Love must be renewed to their Father's Image Every thing Naturally generateth its like which hath a generative power And it is the Love of God which the Preacher is to bring all men to that must be saved This is his Office this is his work and this must be his study He doth little or nothing if he doth not this Souls are not sanctified till they are wrought up to the Love of God and Holiness And therefore the Furniture and Arms which Christ hath left us in his Word are all suited to this work of Love We have the Love of God himself to Preach to them and the love of an humbled dying and Glorified Redeemer and all the amiable blessings of Heaven and Earth to open to
them and all the loving promises and invitations of the Gospel And must not our Hearts our Ministry and our Lives be answerable to all this Believe it it must be a Preacher whose matter and manner of Preaching and Living doth shew forth a hearty Love to God and Love to Godliness and Love to all his Peoples Souls that is the fit Instrument to glorifie God by convincing and converting sinners God can work by what means he will by a scandalous domineering self-seeking Preacher but it is not his ordinary way Foxes and Wolves are not Nature's Instruments to generate sheep I never knew much good done to Souls by any Pastors but such as Preached and Lived in the Power of Love working by clear convincing Light and both managed by a holy lively seriousness You must bring fire if you would kindle fire Trust not here to the Cartesian Philosophy that meer motion will turn another Element into fire Speak as loud as you will and make as great a stir as you will it will be all in vain to win mens Love to God and Goodness till their hearts be touched with his Love and Amiableness which usually must be done by the Instrumentality of the Preacher's Love Let them hate me so they do but fear me and obey me is the saying of such as set up for themselves and but foolishly for themselves and like Satan would Rule Men to damnation If Love be the sum and fulfilling of the Law Love must be the sum and fulfilling of our Ministry But yet by Love I mean not Flattery Parents do love as necessarily as any and yet must Correct And God himself can love and yet Correct Yea he chasteneth every Son that he receiveth Heb. 12.6 7. And his Love consisteth with paternal justice and with hatred of sin and plain and sharp reproof of sinners And so must ours but all as the various operations of Love as the objects vary And what I say of Ministers I say of every Christian in his place Love is the great and the new Commandment that is the last which Christ would leave at his departure to his Disciples O could we learn of the Lord of Love and Him who calleth himself LOVE it self to love our Enemies to bless them that curse us and to do good to the Evil and pray for them that hurt and persecute us we should not only prove that we are genuine Christians the Children of our Heavenly Father Mat. 5.44 45. but should heap coals of fire on our Enemies heads and melt them into Compassion and some remorse if not into an holy Love I tell you it is the Christian who doth truly love his Neighbour as himself who loveth the Godly as his Co-heirs of Heaven and loveth the ungodly with a desire to make them truly Godly who loveth a Friend as a Friend and an Enemy as a Man that is capable of Holiness and Salvation It is he that Liveth walketh speaketh converseth yea suffereth which is the great difficulty in love and is as it were turned by the love of God shed abroad upon his heart into love it self who doth glorifie God in the World and glorifie his Religion and really rebuke the Blasphemer that derideth the Spirit in Believers as if it were but a Fanatick Dream And it is he that by tyranny cruelty contempt of others and needless proud singularities and separations Magisterially condemning and vilifying all that walk not in his fashion and pray not in his fashion and are not of his opinion where it 's like enough he is himself mistaken that is the Scandalous Christian who doth as much against God and Religion and the Church and mens Souls as he doth against Love And though it be Satan's way as an Angel of Light and his Ministers way as Ministers of Righteousness to destroy Christ's Interest by dividing it and separate things which God will have conjoyned and so to pretend the love of Truth the love of Order or the love of Godliness or Discipline against the love of Souls and to use even the name of love it self against love to justifie all their cruelties or censures and alienations yet God will keep up that Sacred Fire in the hearts of the sound Christians which shall live and conquer these temptations and they will understand and regard the warning of the Holy Ghost Rom. 16.17 I beseech you mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which you have learned and avoid them in their sinful dividing offensive ways for they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus though they may confidently think they do but their own bellies or carnal interests though perhaps they will not see it in themselves and by good words and fair or flattering speeches deceive the hearts of the simple The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hominum minime malorum no bad men or harmless well meaning men who in case it be not to mortal Errours perhaps may be in the main sincere and may be saved when their stubble is burnt But whether sincere or not they are Scandals in the World and great dishonourers of God and serve Satan when they little think so in all that they do contrary to that Vniversal Love by which God must be glorified and sinners overcome VII A publick mind that is set upon doing good as the work of his life and that with sincere and evident self denial doth greatly glorifie God in the World As God maketh his Goodness known to us by doing good so also must his Children do Nothing is more communicative than Goodness and Love nothing will more certainly make it self known when ever there is opportunity That a wordy barren Love which doth not help and succour and do good is no true Christian Love St. James hath told us fully in his detection of a dead and barren faith No man in reason can expect that others should take him for a Good man for something that is known to no one but himself save only that publick converse and communion must be kept up by the charitable belief of Professions till they are disproved The Tree is known by its Fruits and the Fruits best by the taste though the sight may give some lower degree of commendation The Character of Christ's purified peculiar people is that they are zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 The Scandalous Christian may be zealous against others and zealous to hurt them to persecute them to censure them to disparage them and to avoid them but the Genuine Christian is zealous in loving them and doing them all the good he can To do a little good upon the by and from a Full Table to send an Alms to Lazarus at the door yea to give to the Needy as much as the Flesh can spare without any suffering to it self or any abatement of its Grandeur pomp and pleasure in the world will prove you to be men not utterly void of all compassion but it will never prove
2. Temptations also have their season and must just then be resisted lest many a year repair not an hours loss And they are very many And narrow-sighted careless persons who avoid two and fall into the third or avoid nineteen and are conquered by the twentieth are always scandalous 3. And rash adventures on any Opinions or actions but especially of publick consequence are usually most scandalous and pernicious to the Church As in Military Affairs and in Physick ubi non licet bis errare mens lives must pay for our temerity and errour and all the World cannot remedy the effects of one mistake So in matters of Religion if we mistake by our rash conceitedness and take not time for necessary tryal and proceed not as a man on the Ice or among Quick-sands with great care and deliberation the shaking of Kingdoms the ruine of Churches the silencing of Ministers the corruption of Doctrine Worship and Discipline and the sin and damnation of many Souls may be the effect of our proud presumption and temerity But the humble self-suspecting man that suspendeth his judgment and practice till he hath throughly proved all doth preserve the honour of Religion and avoid such late and dear repentance XVIII The man whose works shall glorifie God must be devoted to the Vnity and Concord of Believers and be greatly averse to dividing and love-killing Opinions words and practices and as much as in him lies he must live peaceably with all men 1 Cor. 1.10 Phil. 2.1 2 3. Eph. 4.3 4 14 15 16. Rom. 16.17 and 12.18 1 Thes 5.17 Joh. 17.24 When Paul saith that Dividers serve not the Lord Jesus but their own bellies he intimateth to us that though Truth and Purity be in their mouths and really intended by them as they take it yet there is usually a secret self-interest that is carried on that byasseth the judgment And when he telleth them Act. 20.30 that of their own selves should men arise speaking perverse things which they called and it 's like believed to be the Truth yet self-interest lay at the bottom to be some-body in drawing Disciples after them For it is so notorious a truth that Unity and Concord are indispensably necessary to the Church as it is to our Body to Families to Kingdoms that men could not do so destructive a thing as dividing is if some sin had not first caused the errour of their minds It greatly honoureth Christ and Religion in the world when Believers live in love and unity And their discords and divisions have in all Ages been the scandal of the World and the great reproach and dishonour of the Church When Christ's Disciples are one in him it is the way to the Infidel-world's Conversion that they may believe that the Father sent him Joh. 17.24 And here the Devil hath two sorts of servants 1. The true Schismatick or Heretick who fearlesly and blindly divideth the Churches 2. The over-doing Papist and Church-Tyrant who will have a greater unity than Christ will here give us that so we may have none And when Christ prays that we may be one in him the Pope saith that we shall also be one in him or we shall be accounted Schismaticks and destroyed as such And when the Ancient Church according to Christ's Institution united all in the Baptismal Covenant explained in the Creed and Paul numbreth the necessary terms of unity Eph. 4.4 5 6. 1. One Body or Church of Christ into which we are baptized 2. One Spirit of Holiness in all 3. One Hope of the Glorious Reward 4. One Lord by whom we do attain it 5. One Faith even the Christian Verity 6. One Baptism or Covenant of Christianity 7. And One God and Father of all and in these God would have all his Servants to be One then come in these Over-doers and they must have us to be all One in all their Papal policy and all the Decrees of their Popes and Councels de Fide and in their multitude of corruptions and ceremonious impositions which is as much as to say You shall have no Vnity For he that saith to all the City or Kingdom You shall be destroyed for discord or reproached as dividers if you are not all of one Complexion or have not all the same Appetite Age or Bodily Stature doth pronounce reproach or destruction on them absolutely So is it with all others that put their self-devised terms on their Brethren as necessary to Unity and Peace on how pious or fair pretences soever Impossible conditions make the thing impossible These are the Church-tearing scandals These are the snares by which Satan hath made the Church a scorn and our Religion a Stumbling block to Turks and Heathens But had the Peace-makers been heard who learned of the Holy Ghost Act. 15. to impose nothing on the Brethren but necessary things and who have laboured to revive love and shame emulations and divisions God had been more glorified by men and the reproach of the Churches and solemn Assemblies taken away When all Sects and Parties have busled and raised a dust in the World to foul the Church and blind each other if ever the Churche's Glory be restored and our shame taken away it will be by men of Love and Peace by healing uniting reconciling principles and means XIX He that will glorifie God must live in and to the Will of God and seek to reduce his own will wholly into God's and to destroy in himself all will that striveth against God's Will 1. The disposing Will of God our Owner must be absolutely submitted to and the bounteous Will of God our Benefactor thankfully and joyfully acknowledged 2. The ruling Will of God our Law-giver must be with daily study and care obeyed and his punishing and rewarding Justice glorified 3. The final felicitating Will and Love of God our ultimate end and object that we may please him and be everlastingly pleased in him love him and be loved by him must be totally desired and sought as the only and perfect Rest of Souls O! that is the holy the joyful the honourable Christian who daily laboureth and in some good measure doth prevail to have no Will but the Will of God and that which wholly is resolved into it who looketh no further to know what he should do but to know by his Word what is the Law or Will of God who believeth that all that God willeth is good and had rather have his life and health and wealth and friends at God's will and disposal than his own who knoweth that God's Will is love it self and that to please him is the End of all the World and the only felicity of men and Angels and resteth wholly in the pleasing of that will What can be more wise and just than to have the same will objectively with him who is infinitely wise and just What can be more honourable than to have the same Will as God himself and so far as his Children to be like
and grant that those things which the craft and subtilty of the Devil or Man worketh against us may be brought to nought and by the providence of his goodness may be dispersed that we his Servants being hindred by no persecution may give thanks to him in his holy Church and serve him in holiness and pureness of life to his Glory through Jesus Christ Vse 3 You may see hence how much those men are mistaken who talk of the Good Works or Lives of Christians as that which must have no honour lest it dishonour God As if all the honour were taken from Christ which is given to Good Works and the Patients health were the dishonour of the Physitian When we are Redeemed and Purified to be zealous of good works and created for them in Christ Jesus as Tit. 2.14 Eph. 2.10 Yea and shall be judged according to our Works This Informeth you that the Good Works or Lives of Christians is a Vse 4 Great means ordained by Christ for the Convincing of Sinners and the Glorifying of God in the World Preaching doth much but it is not appointed to do all The Lives of Preachers must also be a convincing Light And all true Christians Men and Women are called to Preach to the World by their Good Works And a Holy Righteous and Sober Life is the great Ordinance of God appointed for the saving of your selves and others O that the Lord would bring this close to all our hearts Christians if you abhor dumb Teachers because they starve and betray Souls take heed lest you condemn your selves you owe Men the convincing helps of a holy fruitful life as well as the Preacher owes them his Ministry Preach by well-doing shine out in good works or else you are no Lights of Christ but betrayers of Mens souls you rob all about you of a great Ordinance of God a great means appointed by him for mens Salvation The world will judge of the Scriptures by your Lives and of Religion by your Lives and of Christ himself by your Lives If your Lives are such as tend to perswade men that Christians are but like other Men yea that they are but self-conceited Sinners as Carnal Sensual Uncharitable Proud Self-seeking Worldly Envious as others and so that Christianity is but such This is a horrid blaspheming of Christ how highly soever your Tongues may speak of him and how low soever your Knees may bow to him O that you knew how much of God's great Work of Salvation in the world is to be done by Christians Lives Your Lives must teach men to believe that there is a Heaven to be won and a Hell to be escaped Your Lives must help Men to believe that Christ and his Word are true Your Lives must tell Men what Holiness is and convince them of the need of Regeneration and that the Spirit of Sanctification is no fancy but the witness of Jesus Christ in the world Your Lives must tell Men by Repentance and Obedience that sin is the greatest Evil and must shew them the difference between the Righteous and the Wicked Yea the Holiness of God must be Glorified by Your Lives Father Son and Holy Ghost the Scripture the Church and Heaven it self must be known much by our Lives And may not I say then with the Apostle 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of Persons then ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness when the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us to deny ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.11 12. Vse 5 But alas What suitable and plentiful matter doth this offer us for our Humiliation and Lamentation on such a day as this A floud of Tears is not too much to lament the scandals of the Christian world With what wounded Hearts should we think of the State of the Churches in Armenia Syria Egypt Abassia and all the oppressed Greeks and all the poor deceived and oppressed Papists and all the ignorant Carnal Protestants O how unlike are your Lives to your Christian Faith and to the Pattern left them by their Lord Doth a worldly proud and fleshly and contentious Clergy Glorifie God Doth an ignorant Ministry Glorifie him who understand not the Message which they should deliver Will the world turn Christians by seeing Christians seek the blood and ruine of each other And hearing even Preachers Reproach each other Or seeing them silence or persecute each other Or by seeing the People run into many Sects and separate from one another as unworthy of Christian Communion Will Proud Ignorant Censorious Fleshly Worldly Professors of Religion ever draw the World to love Religion Or will peevish self-willed impatient discontented Souls that are still wrangling crying and repining make men believe that their Religion rejoyceth blesseth and satisfieth the Soul and maketh men far happier than all others in the world Alas what wonder that so small a part of the world are Christians and so few converted to the love of Holiness when the Great Means is denied them by you which God hath appointed for their Conversion and the world hath not one Helper for a hundred or thousand that it should have You cry out of those that put out the Church-lights under pretence of snuffing them while your selves are Darkness or as a stinking Snuff O Brethren and Christians all I beseech you let us now and often closely ask our selves What do we more than an Antonine a Seneca or a Cicero or a Socrates did beyond opinions words and formalities What do you which is like to convert the world to convince an Infidel or glorifie God Nay do not some among us think that it is the height or part of their Religion to live so contrary to the world as to be singular from others even in lawful or indifferent things and to do little or nothing which the world thinks well of As if crossing and displeasing men needlesly were their winning conversation O when once we go as far beyond them in love humility meekness patience fruitfulness mortification self-denial and heavenliness as we do in opinions profession and self-esteem then we shall win Souls and glorifie God and he will also glorifie us And here we see the wonderful mercy of God to the World who Vse 6 hath appointed them so much means for their Conviction and Salvation So many Christians as there be in the World so many Practical Preachers and helps to mens Conversion are there appointed by God And let the blame and shame lye on us where it is due and not on God if yet the World remain in darkness It is God's Will that every Christian in the World should be as a Star to shine to sinners in their darkness and O then how gloriously would the World be bespangled and enlightned If you say Why then doth not God make Christians better That is a question which cannot be well answered without a
to be worshipped that the soul is immortal that there is a state of bliss in another world that righteousness is the way to that bliss Now as there are but two righteousnesses the righteousness of Christ of which the whole Creation is silent and nature altogether ignorant and Angels knew it not until it was revealed to them and a mans own righteousness So there are but two Religions in the world sc Christianity and nature Call Religions by what names you list Judaism Turcism Paganism Popery common Protestantism 't is still but nature The Sea hath many names from the Countries and shores but still it is the same Sea These two righteousnesses cannot be mixt in the business of justification in the sight of God If it be of Christ as the Scripture faith it is no more of works if it be of works as nature saith it is no more of Christ we cannot be justified in his sight partly by the righteousness of Christ's obedience and partly by our own The Law is not of Faith Gal. 3.13 as many as are of the works are under the curse v. 10. the just shall live by faith ergo not by law This is Paul's Logick v. 11. A man cannot be Son of two mothers Gal. 4. lat end Cast out the bond-woman and her Son for the Son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the Son of the free-woman And a woman cannot be wife to two husbands together Rom. 7.4 There is but one strait gate Matth. 7.13 one door Joh. 10.9 one way Joh. 14.5 one name Acts 4.12 Paul is the most lively instance in this great case while he was alive to the Law he was dead to Christ and when he was alive to Christ he was dead to the Law Gal. 2.19 dead to the Law as a rule of righteousness and alive to the Law as a rule of obedience dead to the Law in point of dependance and alive to the Law in point of love and practice his Christianity did ennoble and heighten his morality he was just and sober and temperate blameless while he was a Pharisee but when he was a believer he did the same things from a noble principle in a spiritual manner for the right ends before he did act from himself for himself now from Christ and for Christ The deduction from hence is this If we would live in true comfort we must be true Christians A man may be a Protestant yet not a Christian indeed a man may be blameless and Christless and by consequence Godless Remember the parable of the foolish Virgins they were not harlots profane but Virgins they were not persecutors or blasphemers or malicious but foolish i. e. supine careless negligent they had lamps in their hands but no oyl in their hearts the parable of the builders the sandy believers of the Kings supper the man that had not on a wedding garment Indeed most of the preaching of the Lord Jesus tends this way and these parables live to this day and as much at this day Let us look to our selves the oyl of Faith and comfort go together the oyl of holiness and the oyl of gladness true Christians are anointed with both Consider the man that wanted the wedding robe was not discerned by any at the table the Lord espied him quickly who would have thought such a professor should go to hell bind him hand and foot he did pretend to Christ and it was but a pretence I may dispute for preach up Christ's righteousness active and passive and the imputation thereof according to the Scripture and the judgement of the best learned that ever the Churches have had and yet I may go about to establish mine own I may lift up Christ to you and pull him down in mine own heart The sum is this Nullum bonum sine summo bono Austin I will expound it thus No good work without God no God without Christ no Christ without heart-Faith no Faith without love no love without obedience no such obedience without comfort Doct. more or less This brings me to the Doctrine It is the property and practice of believers to love the Lord Jesus and to rejoyce in him and in the hope of eternal life by him 1. First It is their property they and all they and always and none but they there is no man in the world that loves God and the Redeemer Jesus but a believer the Philosophers were haters of God Rom. 1.30 the Gentiles and their wise men for it is plain that the Apostle speaks of them not of the Gnosticks that is an idle conceit and I am bound to believe Paul's Characters of the Gentiles and their Philosophers before Diogenes Laertius Plutarch or any man else the Jews hated Jesus Christ John 15.24 the world hated him John 7.7 Luke 19.14 All Gospel-Atheism said that incomparable Dr. Twisse is against Jesus Christ So for joy there 's never a joyful man alive but a believer Will you say that men take pleasure in their sins why that is the Devil's joy or that they rejoyce in full barns and bags that is the Fool 's joy or that they rejoyce in wine i. e. all dainties that gratifie the palate that is a Bedlam joy I have said of mirth thou art mad Read and believe Eccles 2.3 indeed from the first v. to the 11. The whole book but especially that Chapter is the divinest Philosophy that ever was or will be 2. 'T is their practice they love the Lord Jesus in incorruption or sincerity Eph. 6. last The Church i. e. Believers joyntly and singly say of Jesus that he it is whom their soul loves Cant. 1.7 in the 3. chap. the 4 first ver we have it four times and none but that I sought him whom my soul loveth v. 1. I will arise and seek him whom my soul loveth v. 2. I said to the watchmen saw ye him whom my soul loveth v. 3. after a little while I found him whom my soul loveth v. 4. here is no supernumerary repetition every believer's soul bears a part in this divine song so for joy that is their practice too we have no confidence in the flesh but rejoyce in Christ Jesus which joy in him did plainly flow out of their confidence of an interest in him Phil. 3.3 as sorrowful yet always rejoycing 2 Cor. 6.9 we rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 and we rejoyce in God by Jesus Christ v. 11. with many more Texts to the same purpose there need no more only observe 't is we rejoyce 't is not only Paul or the Apostles but the Philippians Romans and so all believers we rejoyce I shall speak something 1. For the explication of the Doctrine 2. For the vindication of the truth 3. For the resolution of the case 1. For explication these two affections Love and Joy will be best described by their properties objects causes Love is the return of an holy affection to Jesus Christ with desires after
him and delight in him whose properties are these 1. 'T is a soveraign love he it is whom the soul loveth as before out of the Canticles chap. 1.7 a transcendent love arising out of some due apprehension of his own excellency and those most inestimable benefits procured by him he is the standard-bearer amongst ten thousand Cant. 4.10 as the apple-tree for shade and fruit to the weary travellers above all the trees of the forrest Cant. 2.3 Saints and Angels are but shrubs and fruitless things to him they have fruit for themselves from him but none for us 2. It is unsatisfiable with any thing besides him love is a restless affection therefore compared to the grave and death Cant. 8.6 7. amor semper quaerit nova it cannot say I have enough till it be terminated on Jesus Christ and God by him 3. 'T is ardent and therefore it is compared to coals of fire in the Text Cant. 8. it is not a flat and faint thing but it warms and enlarges the heart 4. 'T is very chast 't is not to be frighted away by the troubles and affrightments of the world neither is it to be bribed off by the blandishments and allurements of it many waters cannot quench it and if any would offer all the substance of his house to corrupt it to withdraw it it would be utterly contemned ibid. 5. And chiefly it is obediential what would not a man do or suffer for such a Saviour for such a Salvation as from sin and hell and such a Salvation as into grace and eternal glory it is the fulfilling of the law Rom. 13.10 A man that loves the Lord Jesus would fulfil every one of his commands the law of his God is in his heart Psal 37.31 and his heart is to the law there is a kind of perfection secundum intentionem and he goes on gradually quoad perfectionem Love makes the yoke easie his commands are not grievous i. e. They are precious Oh how I love thy Law says David Psal 119.97 I delight in the Law of God in my inner man saith Paul Rom. 7.22 Try your selves by this compare your selves with that of Christ in his farewel Sermon Joh. 14.15 21 23. withal remember and dread that Text 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus i. e. malign him oppose him let him be accursed till the Lord comes 2. The object of this love we have it in the Text viz. the Lord Jesus and all of him he is altogether lovely A believer loves him as King loves his Laws and institutions and none but his loves him as Priest in the holiness of his nature and life in the suffering of his soul and death how precious is Jesus 1 Pet. 2.7 loves him as a Prophet revealing the mystery of Salvation the glorious mystery of the Gospel hidden from generations hidden from the wise and prudent Believers love him most intimately as a King for holiness as a Priest for righteousness and as a Prophet for wisdom Lust like the harlot divides him but love like the true mother will have him whole as well holiness to save from sin as righteousness to save from hell 3. The cause of it is the blessed Spirit the fruit of the Spirit is love Gal. 5.22 The Lord thy God shall circumcise thy heart and cause thee to love the Lord thy God Deut. 30.6 Alas 't is not in corrupt nature the wisdom of the flesh the best in that hedge is enmity not a bare enemy but enmity against God 't is not subject i. e. ordinarily regularly subject to his Law neither can be there is a remotio actus and posse too 't is a divine work The other holy affection is joy in the Text we have the properties of it First 'T is unspeakable the joy of harvest rich spoils great treasures when they are right i. e. when they are derived from God by Jesus Christ they have their weight but what are these to the joy of a pardon to a trembling and condemned man and what is this to the joy in Christ to a man that understands and is sensible what damnation is what hell is what eternity is the highness the sweetness the revivement is indeed ineffable no man that feels it can find words fully to express it 2. 'T is full of glory i. e. say some a stander by cannot judge of it That is true but is too short 't is initium vitae aeternae 't is glorificatum gaudium 't is a part of heaven Austin seems to think that is too much our present comfort saith he is rather Solatium praesentis miseriae than gaudium futurae beatitudinis rather a collation or refreshment upon our journey than a set meal at our journeys end What if we should take the word here glorious for strong full of glory full of divine power a holy joy an heart-enlargeing joy strong to do and strong to die certainly sin is never more odious the heart is never more soft the commandements never more precious the World never more regardless Jesus never more glorious than when we humbly rejoyce in the sense of God's love by Jesus Christ through the witness of the blessed Spirit If our comforts be not heart-enlarging to love and duty they may be suspected for unsound I will add one property viz. The joy of Believers is soul-satisfying joy it fills the heart and every chink of it it is abundantly nay victoriously satisfying the Soul of it self without praying in the help of the Creatures Light all the candles in the world and they will not cannot make it day let the Sun arise and that will do it without their help Read Hab. 3. the latter end in our phrase our manner of speech it is this if no bread in the cupboard nor money in the purse nor Friend to help yet I will rejoyce in the Lord and glory in the God of my salvation The Object of this Joy is present interest in Jesus and a lively hope of Glory or Glory hoped for the cause efficient is the blessed Spirit joy in the Holy Ghost i. e. by him the inward instrument is Faith Faith special or Assurance Christ loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 The outward instrument is the Gospel the Angel called it Tydings of great joy I pray you try again where is your joy whence doth it arise upon what is it fixed of what kind is it what is the power of it joy is natural and pleasing every man seeks it many there be that say who will shew us any good they are for sensible palpable good Corn Wine or Oyl Riches Honours here they think to find joy and comfort Alas they seek the living among the dead they suck an empty breast David had all this but he sought far higher he was of a more noble and heavenly temper lift up the light of thy countenance cause thy face to shine upon thy Servant that will put gladness into my
and eternal blessings He denies the pebble but gives you the pearl withholds shadows and trifles but gives you what is solid and substantial you have not worldly wealth but you have the Pardon of sin the Love of God Adoption Vnion with Christ c. You have no inheritance here but you are heirs of the * Dejectae mentis est qui familiaris rei meminit cum vocatur ad regnum Chrysolog Serm. 22. Kingdom Jam. 2.5 the inheritance that is incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1.4 is yours you have little in the stream but all in the fountain God is yours and in him †Semper est dives Christiana paupertas quia plus est quod habet quà â—â— quod non habet nec pavet injusto mundo indigentiâ laborare cui donatum est in omnium rerum Don ino omnia possidere Leo. Serm. 4. de Quadrag Suâ—h who have better Estates what are they to consider in order to contentment all is yours And are these things true certainly then you have no reason to complain or to be discontented because of your poverty Pray under heart-risings because of this turn your thoughts upon what hath been hinted work these and such like Considerations home upon your hearts be intent upon them weigh them throughly and I hope this will very much settle and quiet your spirits under the lowness of your Estates 2. Secondly There are Some with whom it is much better they have a good Allowance from God a comfortable supply in these things so that they want nothing convenient or necessary Nay there are some who abound in wealth riches flow in upon them their coffers are full of silver and gold their in-comes vast and great and yet neither of these have learned to be content no not in their good state Discontentedness lodges not only in the breasts of them who have nothing but of some who have a competency yea of some who have abundance of these things both are dissatisfied with their Condition as thinking they have not enough and therefore are full of vexatious desires after more Now if this be your condition without and your frame within then 't is a most necessary Enquiry how and wherein you are to act Consideration so as thereby to arrive at contentment For answer to which I shall direct you to a few things Consider therefore 1. The greatness of the sin of discontent in you above what it is in the persons spoken of before 'T is in them who want what is necessary very sinful but in you to whom God is so good and bountiful 't is out of measure sinful We blame the beggar that is angry though we give him nothing but if we give him something be it never so little especially if we give liberally to him and yet he grumbles and repines this aggravates his crime exceedingly So here 't is a great sin in the poorest to murmur against the Lord but in you to vvhom he is so liberal at least to give you enough the sin is much greater This speaks you to be guilty of prodigious ingratitude to God and of very inordinate love to the world both of which are sins of a crimson tincture 2. How contented and thankful would many be if it was but with them as it is with you Had they but pence for your shillings shillings for your pounds Quà m multos esse conjectas qui sese caelo proximos arbitrentur si de fortunae tuae reliquiis pars iis contingat Boeth de Cons Phil. l. 2. pr. 4. and pounds for your hundreds they would think themselves well provided for and serve the Lord with joyfulness Nay you yourselves in your first entrance upon the vvorld when your beginnings were very low when Jacob like you had little more then a staff in your hands Gen. 32.10 did not you then think if you might but have that measure of worldly things which now you have you vvould look upon God as dealing very graciously with you And now he hath answered your expectations and desires and yet you are not contented 3. Christians are to bound their desires after things below not to seek great things for themselves here Jer. 45.5 If God vvill give them but what is necessary they are not to quarrel for the want of what is superfluous The Covenant-indenture goes no further than food and rayment therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidor Nihil habet dives de divitiis nisi quod ab illo postulat pauper victum vestitum caetera omnia superflua sunt August de Verb. Dom. Cibus potus sunt divitiae Christianorum Hieron having food and raiment let us be therewith content 1 Tim. 6.8 Jacob went no higher than those Gen. 28.20 21. Christ directs us to go no further in our prayers than daily bread Math. 6.11 If vve may be supplied vvith these vve have no reason to be discontented for the vvithholding of vvhat is more A competency is all that we can or should expect The Israelites murmur if they have not Quails Manna would not content them they had their Quails but they had better have been without them 4. A little sufficeth Nature less sufficeth Grace Satis est populis fluviusque Ceresque Lucan Cito expletur naturae necessitas frigus fames simplici vestitu cibo expelli potest Hieron in Jovin Ad manum est quod sat est Senec. Parabile expositum quod natura desiderat Id. Quod naturae satis est homini non est Id. Ep. 119. Discite quà m parvo liceat producere vitam Lucan but Covetousness is never satisfied Was it not for this how happy might we be and alwayes say as to God's allowance 't is enough Nature is content Grace is thankful Corruption only is ravenous and querulous 5. A great and overgrown estate is not the best estate which if men did consider they would not be greedy to have it or discontented upon the not having of it As to the truth of this do but set Ambition and Avarice aside and let Reason Experience prudent Observation be consulted and the thing will be unquestionable Optimus pecuniae modus est qui nec in paupertatem cedit nec procol à paupertate discedit Sen. de Tranq animi There is a middle state both as to honour and riches which certainly is the best state Agur made a wise choice when he prayed Give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me Prov. 30.8 A full estate is not best for Duty for we often see through the naughtiness of mens hearts that they who have most in the way of Mercy do least in the way of Duty I deny not but that some who are very rich are also very good living in all due picty towards God and doing much good in their places towards men and 't is pity it should be otherwise but I fear this conjunction is somewhat rare
because they being conjoyned do make the Christian Compleat in Godliness he submitting to the Praeceptive in Contentment to the Providential will of God or because Godliness gives the highest motives to contentment and that again reflects a great beauty and lustre upon Godliness but chiefly because Godliness issues out in contentment and causes that blessed frame of heart and because without Godliness there can be no Contentment He that is not a Godly man i. e. a sanctified and gracious man for I shall consider Godliness principally in its habitual notion cannot be a contented man in that sense wherein the Apostle speaks of it in the Text. Many of the old Heathens seemed to go very far in contentment to have a great mastery over passion in all occurrences to be very sedate and calm They notably improved their Reason and consideration if not wholly to suppress Discontent yet however to keep it in so as that Others should not perceive it and many of them through the firmness and greatness of their spirits could and did bear much with great tranquillity of mind for the spirit of a man may bear his infirmity Prov. 18.14 But yet as to true Evangelical Contentment they knew nothing of it for that necessarily requires a divine principle within and a divine and special assistance from above to both of which they were altogether strangers And so it is still with all mere Moral men such as are destitute of Grace and of the Spirit So that as ever you desire to learn in every state to be content you must look to this that ye be renewed and sanctified All motives without let them be never so high all consideration within let it be never so serious will not prevail to the keeping of the heart quiet under crosses unless there be a work of saving grace there The true and only way to be content is to be godly for indeed Contentment is the daughter of Godliness For the better opening of this Direction How Godâ—iness doth further Contentment it will be requisite that we enquire How Godliness or Grace doth produce this effect of Contentation Ans It doth it by these wayes or methods 1. As it rectifies and works in and upon the several Faculties of the Soul For this is necessary to be done in order to Contentment and it being done Contentment cannot but follow upon it Let me make this out particularly 1. Grace rectifies the Vnderstanding which it doth by dispelling its natural darkness and setting up a clear and saving light in it Now this light hath a great influence upon Contentment for the Vnderstanding being thus enlightned Fancy and Imagination do not carry it in the soul as before they did and hereupon the heart is brought to a more quiet temper Our inquietudes of mind are founded in the power and prevalency of Fancy We fancy such and such things to be evill when in truth they are not so at leastwise as God sanctifies them or to be more evil then in truth they are and upon this when those things are laid upon us we fret and vex whereas do but take away this vanity and mistake of fancy Nihil est miserum nisi cum putes Boeth de Consol l. 3. Phil. 3.8 there would be no such great evil in what we suffer Nihil admodum atrox passus es nisi id tu tibi fingis as he of old truly said And again we fancy such and such things to be good yea good in a very high degree and then upon the want of them we are disturbed Whereas if Fancy did not delude us they have but very little good in themselves and as to us in our special circumstances may be none at all and therefore why should we be troubled about them The winds then arising from this point Grace lays them by freeing the person from the power of fond imagination and instead thereof by setting up solid judgment in him so that he shall be able to judge aright of things and not to perplex himself one way or another further than the nature of the thing before him will bear Men generally are unquiet because they are injudicious if sanctifying grace therefore by that heavenly light which it brings into the Understanding shall make them more judicious by doing of this it must also make them more quiet An enlightned head promotes a submissive heart when 't is right counting about worldly things then 't is contentedness No wonder that Paul had learned in every estate to be content he having before learned to count all things but loss for Christ 2. Grace rectifies the Will thus in causing it to comply with and yield unto the Will of God Whenever this supernatural habit is infused into a man there is a melting of his will into God's Will so that there is but one and the same will between them Now by this means it doth the work which I am speaking of for when 't is thus certainly there can be nothing but Contentment What can put the spirit into disorder when 't is come to to this Not as I will but as thou wilt When wind and tide go contrary wayes then the waters are rough and boisterous but when they both go the same way then all is calm and smooth So here when God's will and Ours differ then storms of passion rise but when they agree there 's nothing then but evenness and stilness in the spirit Oh! we are never discontented but 't is from the jarring and clashing of our wills with God's Quod siâ— esse velis nihilque malis As he said Cesset voluntas propria non erit infernum so say I Let but Christians lay aside their own will and rest in the will of God and assuredly there will be no perturbation of mind in them Indeed the duty of universal contentment is unpracticable till it come to this and grace bringing the Creature to it so it works Contentment 3. Grace rectifies the Affections in taking away their inordinacy towards earthly things in keeping of them within their due bounds and limits and so it works Contentment What is it that causes unquietness in us for the most part we may resolve it into the unmortifiedness of some affection or other Lust is the fuel that kindles and feeds this fire that makes us to quarrel and fall out with God because our conditions are so and so Great Vessels must have much water or else they split themselves Where the love is too great to earthly things if much of them be not possest there 's great danger of discontent but where 't is duly bounded a little of these things sufficeth as smaller vessels sail well enough even in shallow waters The pain in the head proceeds from the foulness of the stomach Purge but that and the head hath ease Purge but the heart from its unholy affections and a man hath ease and comfort in every condition That which indangers impatience is the greatness
Name of the Lord Jesus To dye at Jerusalem for there he remembred Christ died for him And this enflameth his love towards him and makes him willing to dye for him and to be for ever with him No marvel also that he was straightned between the choice of Life and Death and that the balance seemed to incline mostly towards departure and being with Christ He crieth Phil. 1 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am constrained between two Why so Because he could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The love of Christ i. e. to serve him with all my might constraineth me The Original word is the same in both places And how came Peter to sleep so soundly and sweetly in his chains between the Souldiers the night before his intended death in which he was to go to Christ Why he could say Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee John 21.17 When Christ lieth in the Embraces of Faith and Love what followeth next but Nunc dimittis How so Thus The more we are purified the more prepared Now as the heart is purified by Faith so also by Love For herein is our Love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment because as he is so are we in this world 1 John 4.17 Love doth assimilate a godly Soul to Christ and then what followeth There is no fear in Love 1 John 4.18 i. e. no fear of the day of Judgment for perfect Love casteth out fear i. e. strong Love for so is perfect taken sometimes 1 Cor. 14.20 In understanding be men or perfect i. e. strong and not like Children So Heb. 5.14 So that strong Love casteth out the fear of the day of Judgment which every degree of Love will not do for he that feareth is not made perfect in love he may have a true sincere love but it is too weak to overcome his tormenting fears about that great and terrible day of the Lord. Be much therefore in the exercise of this Grace keeping your self in the love of God and looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal Life and be often in the contemplation of the preventing love of God and Christ to which John in the foresaid place directeth us for the strengthning of Faith Amat ille non immerito qui amatus est sine merito Bern. and overcoming our fears saith he We love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 And Christ is deservedly beloved of him who is undeservedly beloved of Christ And though there is a force in Anathema Maranatha to put the Soul upon the love of Christ yet be taken rather with Grace be with all them that love him in sincerity Valdè sunt cognatae sorores Fides Spes D. Par. in Heb. 6. Thirdly As Faith and Love are co-operary so Faith and Love are very near of kin only Hope is the younger Sister as to operation as waiting with patience for that good which faith laieth claim to in the promise and without this Hope we can neither live nor dye with comfort For the promise is many times deferred as to accomplishment and without hope 's patience how will you spend the interval God made a promise to Abraham of multiplying his Seed but neither he nor yet Isaac nor Jacob must live to see it fulfilled But saith Stephen When the time of the promise drew near the people grew and multiplied in Egypt so that God's promises have their stated times and seasons during which there is work for hope or else the Soul would swoon away My soul saith David fainteth for thy Salvation but I hope in thy word Psal 119.81 i. e. thy word of Promise Hope is a Cordial against the Soul's fainting fits Again During this interspace between the promise and the accomplishment you may meet with many tribulations thorow which you must enter into the Kingdom of heaven fightings without fears within the watchmen may smite you and the keepers of the walls may take away your Vail as if you were no Virgin but a Prostitute you may meet with sad eclipses and the hidings of God's face his wrath may lye hard upon you and all his waves afflict you nay you may meet sometimes with such a storm that neither Sun nor Stars may in many days appear during which time you may reel to and fro like a drunken man and be at your wits end your tackling and fraught may be thrown overboard with your own hands you may call all the work of God in you into question and your hull may be laid a drift either to sink or swim In these and the like cases what will you do without casting the Anchor of your Hope within the vail and riding it out till Sun and Stars appear again O let the patience of hope have its perfect work for you will have great need hereof that when you have done the will of God you may receive the Promise Though the wise Virgins fell asleep yet so far as they waited for Christ's coming they exercised their hope and such can say at the Coming of Christ Loe this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us This is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation Fourthly Keep even accounts with God and still be perfecting that repentance which is the work of every day and let there be no old reckonings between God and you for so it may be with a true Believer and it may be called to his remembrance in an evil day and lye heavy too upon his Conscience For this I conceive was Jacob's case who had sinned greatly in his fraudulent and surreptitious way of getting the Blessing from his Brother Esau for which he was not thorowly awaked to see the evil of it for the space of twenty years namely at his return from Padan Aram and that Esau was coming forth against him to be revenged on him but then his sin came fresh to his remembrance and he set apart a night to seek the Lord by solemn Prayer and to wrestle with the Angel of the Covenant And what did he wrestle with him for You may see by his Answer to the Angel I will not let thee go without a blessing Gen. 32.26 Why did not his Father bless him Yes I have blessed him saith he to Esau yea and he shall be blessed Gen. 27.33 And not only so but when Isaac sent him to Padan-Aram he blessed him again Gen. 28.1 But Jacob would not trust to this seeing the first and chief blessing which was due to him by Oracle and Promise had an ill foundation as to the manner of obtaining it and in that respect there vvas a flavv in the Title vvhich therefore novv he striveth to corroborate before he dares to look his Brother Esau in the face as if he should say My Father indeed hath blessed me but there vvas Error personae he mistook the person
our Father What can be more orderly and harmonious than for the will of the creature to move according to the Creator s Will and to be duly subservient to it and accurately compliant with it What can be more Holy nay what else is Holiness but a will and life devoted and conformed to the Will of God What can be more safe or what else can be safe at all but to will the same things which the most perfect Wisdom doth direct to and infinite love it self doth chuse And what can be more easie and quieting to the Soul than to rest in that Will which is always good which never was misguided and never chose amiss and never was frustrated or mist of its decreed ends If we have no will but what is objectively the same with God's that is if we wholly comply with and follow his will as our Guide and rest in his will as our ultimate end our wills will never be disordered sinful misled or frustrate God hath all that he willeth absolutely and is never disappointed And so should we if we could will nothing but what he willeth And would you not take him unquestionably for a happy man who hath whatsoever he would have Yea and would have nothing but what is more just and good There is no way to this Happiness but making the Will of God our will God will not mutably change his Will to bring it to ours Should Holiness it self be conformed to sinners and perfection to imperfection But we must by Grace bring over our wills to God's and then they are in joynt and then only will they find content and rest O what would I beg more earnestly in the World than a will conformed wholly to God's Will and cast into that Mould and desiring nothing but what God willeth But contrarily What can be more foolish than for such Infants and ignorant Souls as we to will that which Infinite Wisdom is against What more dishonourable than to be even at the very Heart so contrary or unlike to God What can be more irregular and unjust than for a created Worm to set his will against his Maker's What else is sin but a will and life that is cross to the regulating Will of God What can be more perillous and pernicious than to forsake a perfect unerring Guide and to follow such ignorant judgments as our own in matters of Eternal consequence What can that Soul expect but a restless state in an uncomfortable Wilderness yea perpetual self-vexation and despair who forsakes God's Will to follow his own and hath a will that doth go cross to God's Poor self-tormenting sinners consider that your own wills are your Idols which you set up against the Will of God and your own wills are the Tyrants to which you are in bondage your own wills are your Prison and the Executioners that torment you with fear and grief and disappointments What is it that you are afraid of but lest you miss of your own wills For sure you fear not lest God's Will should be overcome and frustrate What are your cares about but this What are your sighs and groans and tears for And what is it else that you complain of but that your own wills are not fulfilled It is not that God hath not his Will What is it that you are so impatient of but the crossing of your own wills This person crosseth them and that accident crosseth them and God crosseth them and you cross them your selves and crost they will be while they are cross to the Will of God For all this while they are as a bone out of joynt there is no ease till it be set right In a word a will that is contrary to God's Will and striveth and struggleth against it is the Off-spring of the Devil the sum of all sin and a fore-taste of Hell even a restless self-tormenter And to will nothing but what God willeth and to love his will and study to please him and rest therein is the rectitude and only Rest of Souls and he that cannot rest contentedly in the Will of God must be for ever restless And when such a Holy will and contentment appeareth in you mankind will reverence it and see that your Natures are Divine and as they dare not reproach the Will of God so they will fear to speak evil of yours When they see that you chuse but what God first chuseth for you and your wills do but follow the Will of God men will be afraid of provoking God against them as blasphemers if they should scorn deride or vilifie you And could we convince all men that our course is but the same which God commandeth it would do much to stop their reproach and persecution And if they see that we can joyfully suffer reproach or poverty or pains or death and joyfully pass away to God when he shall call us and live and die in a contented complacency in the Will of God they will see that you have a beginning of Heaven on Earth which no Tyrant no loss or cross or suffering can deprive you of while you can joyfully say The Will of the Lord be done Act. 21.14 Object But if it be God's Will for sin to punish me or forsake me should I contentedly rest in that revenging Will Answ 1. That sin of ours which maketh us uncapable objects of the complacential Will of God is evil and to be hated But that Will of God which is terminated on such an object according to the nature of it by just hatred is good and should be loved And punishment is hurtful to us but God's Will and Justice is good and amiable 2. If you will close with God's Will you need not fear his Will If your will be unfeignedly to obey his commanding Will and to be and do what he would have you his Will is not to condemn or punish you But if God's Will prescribe you a holy life and your will rebel and be against it no wonder if God's Will be to punish you when your wills would not be punished Joh. 1.13 Heb. 10.10 Joh. 7.17 Luk. 12.47 XX. It glorifieth God and Religion in the World when Christians are faithful in all their Relations and diligently endeavour the sanctifying and happiness of all the Societies which they are members of I. Holy Families well ordered do much glorifie God and keep up Religion in the World 1. When Husbands live with their Wives in wisdom holiness and love and Wives are pious obedient meek and peaceable Eph. 5.22 25. Col. 3.18 19. yea unto such Husbands as obey not the Word that without the Word they may be won by the conversation of the Wives 1 Pet. 3.1 2. 2. When Parents make it their great and constant care and labour with all holy skill and love and diligence to educate their Children in the fear of God and the love of goodness and the practice of a holy life and to save them from sin and the