â—â—steneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receive Heb. 12.5 6. Direct 2. Take special care that no secret Lust 〈◊〉 indulged no wilful Sin maintained nor allowed 〈◊〉 Sin will breed Doubts and Fears and Sorrowâ— as naturally as a putrified Carcase doth Vermiâ—â— unless ye be given up to a reprobate Sense If 〈◊〉 will make your VVounds bleed afresh no woâ—â—â—â— if you feel the smart and anguish of them If you weaken the Habits of Grace by contrary Acts you may thank your selves that ye cannot discerâ— the sincerity of those Habits If ye grieve the Spirit who should comfort you what can ye expect but to be in the Dark and so disconsolate If you play at fast and loose with Conscience and run counter to its Dictates you may be sure 〈◊〉 will wound you for your Folly and pay you home for the Affronts you put upon it If you will harboâ—â— the Enemies of your Lord how can ye look for the Light of his Countenance That Darkness you labour under is self-contracted these Clouds where of you complain are of your own raising If you set up your Idols in your Hearts God will answer you according to your Idols Ezek. 14.4 In short if you will be making bold with Sin that Sin will cause Sorrow and Trouble if there be any Life of Grace to feel it Indeed if the Case be thus with you ye have great reason to bless God that ye are disquieted and not given up to searedness of Conscience and therefore I say away with your Lust 〈◊〉 ye expect the Comforts of the Spirit of God 〈◊〉 the Assurances of his Love Direct 3. Tho you want these special Comforts of Assurance do not overlook those general Grounds of Encouragement that are still before you These are firm clear and certain how wavering doubtful and dark soever your Thoughts of your own particular Case may be These are still at hand how far soever the Evidences of your Sincerity are to seek These are the great Foundations upon which your Comforts must be built and therefore you â—â—â—d need to understand and digest them thorowly and lay the Apprehensions of them deep in your â—ouls Viz. 1. It is certain that God is infinitely Good and that his Love Mercy and Compassion to poor Sinners cannot be measured He hath proclaimed his Name that is his Nature Exod. 34.6 7. So Psal 103.8 The Lord is merciful and gracious slow is Anger and plentious in Mercy Isa 55.7 He will abundantly pardon or multiply to pardon vers 8. For my Thoughts are not your Thoughts neither are your Ways my Ways saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so c. q. d. quanto sum subâ—imior tanto clementior Grot. By how much I am higher than you by so much I am more merciful Remember all the Goodness of the Creatures is derived from him and therefore he must needs be infinitely better than they all How is it that you call his Power Omnipotence his Wisdom or Knowledg Omniscience and yet entertain such poor narrow Thoughts of his Goodness Is he not All-good as well as Almighty and All-wise Are not his Attributes all alike Infinite Is it not the Device of Satan to hide the Goodness of God from you and to fill you with black unworthy Thoughts of him that he may either quite keep you from him or make your walking with him uncomfortable Therefore I say lay this dowâ— as a fundamental Truth and accordingly stay youâ—selves upon it viz. That however it be yet 〈◊〉 is Good 2. It is also certain that the Satisfaction of Christ is of infinite value And that he is full of To derness and Pity to poor Sinners Whatever he 〈◊〉 or suffered had a transcendant Excellency and Men in it from the Dignity of his Person he was God as well as Man And his Compassions to poor Sinners are every where set forth in the Gospel 〈◊〉 earnestly did he treat with them in order to their Reconcillation and Peace with God! How feelingly did he weep over them How affectionatly did he pray even for those that persecuted and hated him to the Death He disdained not to convâ—â—se with the meanest Persons the poor and infirm had free access to him How readily did he sheâ— Mercy to their Bodies to prepare them for the Belief and Entertainment of that greater Mercy be bad in store for their Souls 3. Pardon and Life are freely offered to you all without exception if ye will accept thereof upon the reasonable terms of the New Covenant The way is open Whosoever will let him take the water of Life freely God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself None are excluded by the tenor of the Gospel but such as exclude themselves by their own wilful and final Impenitency Whatsoever Doubts or Difficulties arise before you still keep close to these three grand Foundations of Comfort and Encouragement Be your Case as bad as it will it cannot be desperate unless ye make it so by persisting obstinarely in it Remember the Love of God was the Cause of our Redemption by Jesus Christ and our Redemption was the Foundation of the New Covenant You have these three altogether Joh. 3.16 For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Direct 4. Waste not your Time in fruitless Musings or heartless Complaints about your doubtful uncertain state but fall forthwith to your certain Duty What though you cannot tell whether as yet you have sincerely given up your selves to Jesus Christ and accepted of him I hope you are past doubt that ye ought so to do Though ye be in the dark as to what 's past your present Duty is plain and certain The Door is open enter and live Christ is willing if you be willing he offers his Benefits to you he presseth them upon you and urgeth you to accept them Come then be of good chear arise he calleth you Gird up the Loins of your Minds sighing and complaining rid no Business Set your selves to the work with all your might Admit that you have not yet sincerely closed with Jesus Christ 't is not too late to do it now and it is a thing that must be done or you are undone forever But if you suppose or hope you have done it already it will be so much the easier to do it again nor will it be lost labour to renew your Covenant with him The advantage is great every way If your Souls be habitually for Christ draw out those Habits into exercise and that is the way to feel that you have them Thus Grace will be more discernable and Conscience more quiet while you are intent upon your Duty You may be saved though you should live and die under great Doubts and Fears as to your sincerity but you cannot be saved except you be sincere Therefore observe it much more concerns you to
Holiness lead is unspeakably glorious Lastly if the best of us did more clearly apprehend and frequently consider the Blessedness of a future State and the necessary Connexion or near Alliance between Holiness and Happiness this would put Life into all our Motions and Tendencies Heaven-ward and would give a most refreshing relish and savour to all our Duties These and many more such advantages would accrue to us from a right understanding of our way and our end compared with each other But I must not make too large a Preface to so small a Book Nor will I stay to apologize as the manner of some is for the Weakness and Imperfections of the ensuing Treatise Only I tell thee I have studied that both as to the Matter Method and Stile it might be plain practical and profitable for the use of vulgar Readers not to gratify the capricious wanton humors of those who have itching Ears but to edify honest upright Hearts I hope I can truly say in some measure that as to the applause of Men desii curare I have done regarding it VVith me it is a very small Matter to be judged of Man's Judgment 1 Cor. 4.3 Therefore to conclude if thou wilt read deliberatly what I have written and consider it impartially and carry it home to thine own Heart and Conscience by that prudent Self-application which the nature of thy Case shall require I hope thou wilt get real advantage by it and when thou hast so done forget not to pray for him Who is a very unworthy Servant of the best and greatest Master Timothy Manlove Leeds Sept. 8. 1698. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE Dependance of the Words upon what goes before Their Literal and Real Importance The Point of Doctrine to be insisted upon The Method wherein it is to be handled Page 1. CHAP. II. Some general Account of the Heavenly Felicity to which are subjoyned some short Hints how unfit we are by Nature for that blessed State and how we came to be so 9. CHAP. III. A further Enquiry into the Nature of that great Change whereby the Souls of Believers are wrought and prepared for Heaven 22. CHAP. IV. Of the several Steps whereby this blessed Work is begun carried on and perfected in the Soul 38. CHAP. V. Plain Proof from Scripture and the nature of the thing that none can come to Heaven till they be wrought or prepared for it by Divine Grace 48. CHAP. VI. Several Inferences of Truth drawn from the foregoing Discourse 61. CHAP. VII Reproof to those Persons who wrong their own Souls by presumptuous hopes of Heaven while they are utter Strangers to this great work of Grace whereby they should be prepared for it Shewing how vain sinful dangerous and unnatural it is for them thus to deceive themselves 72. CHAP. VIII How much it concerns us to examin our selves whether we be wrought for Heaven or no. Sundry Motives to excite us to this necessary Duty 82. CHAP. IX Directions for the more successful management of this great Duty of Self-Examination 90. CHAP. X. Sundry Questions proposed by which to examin the State of our Souls 98. CHAP. XI The Exhortation in several Branches 1. To those who are not yet wrought for Heaven directing them what Methods to take in order to their Conversion 117. CHAP. XII Directions to those who have attained to greater degrees of Assurance and Comfort 158. 2 COR. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is GOD. CHAP. I. The Dependance of the Words upon what goes before Their Literal and Real Importance The Point of Doctrine to be insisted upon The Method wherein it is to be handled IN the foregoing Chapter we have an account of the many sufferings and dangers to which the Apostle himself and his Fellow-labourers in the Work of the Gospel were exposed Vers 8 9. c. Troubled on every side perplexed persecuted cast down Always bearing about in the Body the dying of the Lord Jesus i. e. by suffering for his sake and in conformity to him As it follows vers 11. Alway delivered unto Death for Jesus sake Moreover he tells us what it was that bore up their Spirits and kept them from fainting under all these Pressures namely a believing prospect of future Glory whereof Christ's Resurrection was a certain Argument and Pledg vers 13 14. We also believe and therefore speak Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus vers 16. For which cause we faint not c. He then proceeds to make a Comparison between their present Troubles and the Joy that was set before them As for the former he speaks as tho he accounted them scarce worth naming but of the latter as if no words could be found great enough to express it vers 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal wâ—ight of Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one Hyperbole upon another and yet all little enough to signify the deep sense which he had of the transcendent worth and excellency of that weighty Glory concerning which he speaks Thus Rom. 8.18 For â—â—eckon that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be revealed is us This he did upon due deliâ—eration well weighing the Point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expendo as Grotius observes some of the Ancients render it Thus ye see whence it was that they fetch 't their Supports amidst all the conflicts and difficulties they met with in this World What they look't or aimed at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. The things not seen which are eternal vers 18. This was the Prize they ran for and which they expected at length to obtain And now that none might think that their hopes were wavering uncertain or ill-grounded he goes on in this Chapter wherein the Text is to declare how full and satisfying their Assurance was in this matter and why it was so Vers 1. For we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God c. Note â—ere that Faith is a certain infallible sort of Knowledg we know So Joh. 6.69 We believe and arâ— sure Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for good to them that love God 1 Cor. 15.58 Yâ—â— know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Nor were their Desires after this blessed State less earnest than their Belief and Hopes were firm and steady vers 2.3 4. We groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life And thus we are brought to the Text in which the Apostle lays down some further grounds of this their Confidence viz. They were wrought for the Heavenly Glory and that by God himself Who also had given unto them the earnest of the Spirit as it immediately follows and therefore says
not our own selves but in him and for him Then will the rich and mighty Sense of those glorious words be felt and therefore understood 1 Joh. 4.16 God is LOVE and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Then shall we be filled with all the Fulness of God Eph. 3.19 The more we love him the more we shall enjoy him This holy Love is the end of Vision and therefore rather to be called Beatifick than it The Acts of the Understanding are in order to those of the Will and the Divine Glory in the compleat Blessedness of his Holy Ones the End of both 'T is the Saying of a great Divine Mr. Baxter You are deceived if you think that any one Notion speaketh more to you of Heaven and of your ultimate End than the LOVE of GOD. Then will the weary Soul be at rest and never more disturbed with fruitless Desires and Endeavours after things which cannot profit It hath now found its Center no more of broken Cisterns 't is got to the Fountain of living Waters It can now say I am at ease I have enough I have all If all Love have or rather is Complacency and Delight in the very nature of it as St. Augustine and many others after him observe O how pleasant wilâ— it be perfectly to love so perfect so glorious an Object The God of Love fit us for it The more we love him the nearer are we to Heaven Be sure you remember that or else I lose my labour ye your Souls As for the vital Power of the Soul that acteâ—â— both in the workings of the Understanding and Wiâ—â— and makes them lively and vigorous and will be eveâ— ready to yield obedience to the Divine Pleasure everâ— thing of Duty will be con-natural to it 2. The perfected Soul shall receive everlasting Influences and Communications from God It s most enlaâ—ged Capacities shall be compleatly filled As in the first formation of the new Creature we are first actâ—â— by the Grace and Power of God and then act toward him and by so acting are fitted to receive more from him so will it be when we come to Heaven The glorious perfected Soul is a Creature still and therefore holds its ALL in full dependence upon its God it offers nothing to him but what it hath first receive from him He is the Alpha and Omega the Beginniâ—â— and the End the First and the Last the Fountain 〈◊〉 that Blessed LIFE by which it lives In his LIGHâ— it sees Light and by the continual effusions of hâ—â— LOVE shed abroad upon it 't is constrained to loâ—â— him His mighty Hand enables it to bear this weighâ— of Glory the Light wherein it rejoyceth is that of hâ—â— Countenance and his attractive Love determines it 〈◊〉 himself It owns him in all and is ever wrapt up 〈◊〉 the highest admiration of condescending Goodness 'T is more sensible than ever of its own nothingness as it is that God is All in All. As Heaven is a State of the highest Advancement so it is of the deepest Humility The nearer they are to God says one the more apprehensive of their distance For as the same Reverend Person Mr. Howe observes elsewhere the distance even of a glorified Creature from the Glorious God is still infinitely greater than between it and the silliest Worm the minutest Atom of Dust Hence we find that even the Seraphims veil their Faces before the infinite Majesty Isa 6.2 The Four and Twenty Elders fall down before him and cast their Crowns before his Throne worshipping him that liveth for ever and ever Rev. 4.10 11. Chap. 5.14 Thus run the Triumphant Praises of the New Jerusalem Noâ— unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give Glory Such are the Exercises such the Fruitions of those blessed Souls who have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7.14 15. c. Such is the Glory to which they are advanced tho they were sometimes afar off as well as we Now they are near indeed they stand in his Presence and he that sits upon the Throne dwells among them they know him love him and live to him and feel by inward sweet vital Experience that they are known of him beloved by him and that he lives in them As for the Adjuncts and concurrent Circumstances c. of this blessed State I shall only say The Place is glorious The Throne of the Eternal God â—sa 66.1 Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne Thus the Great Mediatour Rev. 3.21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as 〈◊〉 also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne The light of the Sun or Moon will be needless â—here for the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb 〈◊〉 the Light thereof Chap. 21.23 The Society will be sutable even Angels and glorified Saints all whose Happiness will be ours and ours theirs for narrow Selfishness hath no place there But that which crowns all the rest is this Blessedness shall be Eternal Rev. 3.12 Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and HE SHALL GO NO MORE OVT O blessed Words and thrice blessed State Happy they that are safe landed all dangers are over with them for ever I cannot name it without fear of missing it yet I have Hope The Lord forgive the Remnants of Vnbelief Faintness and Impatience that are in us We would needs have the Crown without overcoming God help us patiently to wait and quietly to trust our Almighty All-wise and most gracious Guide Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel and afterward receive me 〈◊〉 Glory Psal 73.24 If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be if any Man serve me him will my Father honour John 12.26 Therefore let us not be slothful but Following of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Heb. 6.12 Thus I have given you a poor weak imperfect Account of the Heavenly Felicity Nevertheless from what hath been said 't is easy to inser how utterly unfit the best of us were and all unregenerate Person still are by Nature for this blessen State nor will it be amiss to make some enquiry how the Nature of Man came to be so corrupted and ill-disposed to its Supreme Happiness and Ultimate End Of both these briefly because it will prepare you to understand whaâ— is to come after 1. 'T is manifest that unregenerate Persons as such and therefore all of them are utterly unfit for Heaven This is a most evident Truth he that runs may real it Even they themselves might easily discern it were they not blinded and befooled by their Lusts Onâ— would think it should not I am sure it ought not 〈◊〉 scape their Notice how averse their Hearts are from God Christ Holiness and by consequence from Heaven tho something
God who hath thus first loved us and so to effect the Reconciliation on our part Study this well the substance of Christianity is contained in it As Christ as Mediatour is the summary mean and way to the Father to bring Man home to his Creatour So Faith in Christ is a mediating Grace to work in us the Love of God As Mr. Baxter haâ— it No other Grace or Duty is accepted of God nor will prove our Salvation any further than iâ— participateth of predominant Love to God But thiâ— predominant Love is always an evidence of Life ibid. Thirdly The same Power which hath brought the work thus far doth maintain and keep alive the Principle of Grace implanted in the Soul Our Spirituaâ— Life no less than the Natural depends upon the continual influx of its Almighty Author In him we live and move and have our Being not only as Men but as Christians or new Men. The Strength of that habitual Grace subjected in us would never hold our without daily Influences of efficient Grace still working upon us Thus we are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 And preserved unto his Heavenly Kingdom 2 Tim. 4.18 We know what woful work our first Parents made when their Concerns were left in their own Hands how shamefully they betray'd their Trust and ruined at once themselves and their Posterity and this through the meer mutability of their Nature tho' upright and innocent as it came out of God's Hand What then might be expected from us who have not only mutable Natures but great Remnants of Sin and Corruption even in the very best of us Surely if our stock of Grace were left only to our own management we should soon turn Bankrupts Let it be considered that Grace is not a natural but supernatural Principle not essential but an additional to our Beings not born with us but as it were a stranger or new comer in us And that our Hearts are not wholly dispossessed of those Objects which are against its work nor delivered from those Principles which have an enmity to it Yea that we often lose some degrees of it and therefore should quickly lose the rest if the divine Power were not engaged in our Preservation and that Faithfulness which will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10.13 This holy Seed would soon come to nothing in so unkindly a Soil as our Hearts are were it not cherish'd and watered by the same Hand that placed it there This Spark of Divine Light would quickly be extinguish'd if not kept in and refreshed by continual Emanations from the Father of Lights 'T is true we are commanded to keep our Hearts with all diligence or above all keeping Prov. 4.23 To stand upon our guard to be stedfast and unmoveable That is we must put forth our utmost Endeavours for God works by means but if we trust to our Hearts we are Fools Prov. 28.26 I may allude to that Psal 127.1 Except the Lord keep the City the Watch-man waketh but in vain Well then we must do our utmost to keep that good thing that is committed to us but how By the assistance of the Holy-Ghost which dwelleth in us 2 Tim. 1.14 So Jude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God But then vers 24 25. He teacheth them to look higher than their own Endeavours in this matter Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling To the only wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power both now and ever Amen Fourthly By the same Almighty Power the new Creature is carried on gradually towards its designed Perfection Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform or finish it until the Day of Jesus Christ The Life of Grace is not only kept whole in the Soul but more abundant Life given it According to the design of its merciful Saviour Joh. 10.10 I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly That Heavenly Light which hath shined in upon it increaseth more and more unto a perfect Day Prov. 4.18 The principle of holy LOVE is cherish'd and blown up till at length it come to a pure and perfect Flame That which hath been already wrought is good so far as it goes but the blessed Author of it will not leave his work imperfect it shall be all very good before he has done with it As at the first Creation Gen. 1.31 God intends for his Children not only a Perfection of parts but of degrees And in so doing he deals with them according to the manifest Tendency of that divine Nature whereof he hath made them Partakers Can any thing be more agreeable than for those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious to desire more full and satisfying relishes of his Grace And has he given them those Desires to abuse and torment them It cannot be Surely those that hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be filled Mat. 5.6 Yea by how much the greater their Longings are so much the fitter for large Communications Psal 81.10 Open thy Mouth wide and I will fill it Ask great things and with earnest Desires and ye shall receive that your Joy may be full This leaves a black Note upon those who are at a stand in Matters of Religion make no progress but seem well enough content with the measures to which they have attained I tell you such Persons have great reason to suspect their own Sincerity nay if this be their stated constant habitual Temper they may justly be pronounced Hypocrites He that thinks he hath Grace enough has certainly no true saving Grace at all Living Natures as Plants Children c. thrive till they come to Perfection Pieces of Art or dead Things as the Image of a Child a withered Plant are at a stand or grow worse Phil. 3.14 I press toward the Mark. Sincerae sanctitatis inse parabile signum est desiderium sincerum perfectionis Method Theol. part 3. pag. 216. A sincere Desire of Perfection is an inseperable Sign of sincere Holiness Is it to be thought that that Man has any saving Knowledg of God or sincere hearty Love to him who doth not desire to know him better and to love him more Ye that have experienc'd what these things mean consider of it take advice and speak your Minds But as for empty lifeless Hypocrites I except against them they are not competent Judges in the Case Because they savour not the things of the Spirit but have their Judgments bribed and over-swayed by the Fleshly Interest We are expressly commanded to grow in Grace to be always abounding in the work of the Lord. And it must needs be of ill Signification as to our State if such commands weigh nothing with us But with the truly Godly it is not so the Grace which they have already received inclines them
every false way Psa 119.104 So vers 106. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy Righteous Judgments Psal 17 5. Hold up my Goings in thy Paths that my Foot steps slio not Your prevailing Habits and consequently your State must be known by your Behaviour in a time of trial then it must appear whether the Interest of God or your own Corruptions be predominant in you whether his Commands or the Inclinations of the Fâ—esh bear the greater sway with you That is whether ye be sincere Christians or Self-deceiving Hypocrites 'T is true in leed the best of Men through surprize or the violence of a Temptation may be overtaken even with gross Sin but if they fall into it they do not lie in it but renew their Repentance and double theiâ— waâ—er Their Wills are habitually more against Sin thâ—n for it they endeavour to be rid of it and therefore are not to be denominated Workers of Iniquity But with the unregenerate the case is otherwise they love their Sins and are loth to leave them Quest 6 Do ye love to be plainly dealt with as to the great Concerns of your Souls Are ye for awakening convincing searching Light or had he rather sleep on and take your rest Are ye earnestly desirous to know your Duty better in order to practice Have ye no Sin which ye are not willing to find out Have ye discovered none which ye are not resolved to leave Do ye take it well to be prudently and faithfully reproved He that hateth Reproof is brutish shall die suddenly be destroy'd and that without Remedy Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend Let the Righteous smite me it shall be a Kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent Oâ—le c. Psal 141.5 It is a woful Sign when Men desire to be foothed up and flattered in their evil ways And woe be to those who humour them therein and daub with untempered Morter Ezek. 13.10 Joh. 3.19 20. This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World c. For every one that doeth Evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lâ—st his Deeds should be reproved But a gracious Soul is for an home and close application of the most searching powerful convincing Truths and for judging himself impartially by them Hypâ—crites indeed are forward to judg others they can espy Motes in their Brother's Eye buâ— O how favourable are they to themselves how ready to cloak and extenuate their own Sins 'T is a sign your Cause is naught when ye would have it shuffled over without searching Quest 7. Do ye earnestly desire and endeavour after greater degrees of Holiness both in Heart and Life Were it put to your choice whether had ye rather be as holy as Abraham David Daniel c. or any other of the most eminent Saints ye have heard or read of or as great and successful in the World as Cesar Alexander Scipio or any the like c. This is a plain Question but 't is worth your while to put it close to your own Conscienceâ— Sensible things are apt to make very strong Impressions upon us while spiritual Objects tho infinitely more excellent are but coldly or indifferently regarded If ye be truly gracious ye will certainly desire to be more yea to be perfectly so And your Desires will be seconded with answerable Endeavours As for inward habitual Holiness Ye will still be taking pains with your own Souls to bring them to a more full conformity to the blessed God This ye will aim at in all your Religious Exercises viz. That ye may get more Knowledg of God more intimate Acquaintance and Communion with him through Christ That your Hearts may be carried out more earnestly purtly and strongly towards him in short that ye may be more inward with him and near to him And that whatever ye find in your selves contrary to him may be more and more rooted out mortâ—fied and destroyed Ye will even hunger and thirst after Righteousness Mat. 5.6 All the Afflictions ye meet with in the World will be as nothing to you if compared with the Burden of remaining Corruption especially Averseness from God As for Holiness of Life Ye will lay out your selves for God your Time your Strength your All will be at his Service As accounting that there is nothing else worth living for but the promoting of his Glory and the pleasing of his Will Ye will therefore endeavour to abound in the Work of the Lord And joyfully embrace Opportunities put into your Hand to testify your Love by Obedience tho the Flesh should be a loser or a sufferer by it Yea you will seek for such opportunities and contrive with your selves how ye may be most serviceable to the Honour and Interest of your God But if as to these Matters ye be cold and careless ye may well suspect your selves to be false and unsound at the bottom Quest 8. Do ye heartily love and value all that are truly Godly as such Is your delight in the Excellent Ones of the Earth Do ye love the Sociâ—ty and Converse of such Persons Are ye heartily concerned for their Welfare And ready to relieve their Wants and Necessities How dwelleth the Love of God in that Man who shatteth up his bowels of Compassion from his Brother 1 Joh. 3.17 The Hearts of wicked Men rise against those who are more strict and serious than themselves They can hardly afford them a good Word or Look but put Nick-Names upon them and could wish they were rooted out of the Earth Others there are who tho not so desperately malignant do yet think that less Care and Strictness might serve the turn and are offended to see them make so much ado about Religion But all those who truly love God love his holy Image where-ever they can discern it love those that are begotten of him love those that love him as such So that Love to the People of God is principally and ultimately referred unto God himself who is loved in them and they for his sake 1 Joh. 3.14 We know that we have passed from Death unto Life because we love the Brethren But then ye must observe it is not every lower degree of Love to the Godly even as such that will prove your Sincerity but it must be such a prevailing degree of Love to them as will argue the predominancy of your Love to God himself upon whose account they are loved Take these together and they will help to prove and illustrate each other Thus chap. 5.2 By this we know that we love the Children of God when we love God and keep his Commandments So then love to the Brethren is a more remote mark of Sincerity and must it self be tried by this more immediate one viz. Love to God himself Quest 9. What way do your Thoughts most naturally turn for support in an hour of Trouble Whence do yâ— fetch your greatest Relief at
such a time when sharp Afflictions press hard upon you It must indeed be acknowledged that even Nature it self seems to promp Men to look up towards God when they are under extream Difficulties and some for Fashion will do it sooner But in the mean time the greatest Supports and Comforts of Ungodly Men are usually taken from the Creature They hope the Tide will turn and Matters go better with them in the World and this it is that keeps them from sinking sometimes they trust in their Riches sometimes in their Friends sometimes to their own Conduct and Management in short they will turn their Eyes every way for Satisfaction and Ease rather than towards God The Reason is plain they are estranged from him and have not learn'd to take up with him for their only Soul-satisfying Portion and Happiness They like not the thoughts of this but shun it as a thing unsutable to them They will rather weary themselves with a thousand fruitless Attempts to sind rest in the Creature than seek it in him who alone can give it Perhaps when they are forced and even fired out of all other Refuges they will then come crying to God but what can such a constrained shew of Devotion signify Vtumur Deo fruunâ—ur creaturis They would as it were make use of God to serve a turn but their Hearts their Love and Delight is upon the Creatures As for the truly Godly the Case is otherwise with them their Hopes and Comforts are of a more divine Original Lord what waâ—â— I for My hope is in thee Altho the Fig Tree shall not blossom c. yet will I rejoice in the Lord Hab. 3.17 18. Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses But we will remember the Name of the Lord our God Psal 20.7 There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord list thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us â—sal 4 6 In the Multitude of my Thoughts Heb. troublesome perplexed Thoughts within me try Comforts deligâ—t my Soul Thus the Spirit of Adoption teâ—châ—th Believers to lay open their Complaints to their Heavenly Father to cast their Câ—re upon him to place their Hâ—ppiness in him to fetch their Comforts from him And this as Matter of choice not meerly out oâ— constraint The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower The Righteous â—â—â—neth into it and is safe Prov. 19.10 Psal 94.32 The Lord is my Defence and my God is the Râ—ck of my Refuge They know them elves to be Stranger in this World and therefore expect no great Matters from it Heaven is their home Their Treasure their Hopes their Joys their Hearts are there Of this we have full Proof in the Context as has been already observed By these and such like Questions ye may try your State I know there are different degrees of Grace all that are truly Godly will not be alike able to answer what has been proposed Nor would I make sad the Heart of the weakest sincere Christian There may be great Failures and Imperfections but that which I would advise you to is strictly to observe what is the prevailing bent of your Hearts in all this But I have one Question more fit for the strongest to try themselves by tho the weakest are not unconcerned in it neither Quest 10. Do ye love God as God for himself above your selves or any other Object whatsoever That in point of Duty we ought thus to love God is past dispute unless we will renounce at once both Reason and Religion Mark 12.30 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy Heart and with ALL thy Soul c. this is the first and the great Commandment Mat. 22.38 And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Here 't is plain that we ought to love God totally without any Limitations or Restrictions with all our Power Mind and Will with a Love transcending either that of our selves or our Neighbours I suppose ye will readily grant that God must be loved better than your Neighbours and yet they must be loved as your selves therefore God must be loved better than your selves too Thus the necessitaâ— praecepti is plain But since there is more in the Precepts of the Divine Law than in the Condition of Salvation otherwise none could be saved without perfect Obedience Therefore here ariseth a great Question before us viz. Whether such a Love to God as God above our selves oâ— our own Happiness c. be so necessary necessitate medii that no Man is to be accounted in a State of Salvation who doth not thus love God better than himself What I have to say in answer to this shall be digested into the following Particulars with submission to better Judgments 1. 'T is very odd and dangerous to say that that Man is in a State of Grace who loveth not God as God doth not this sound very absurdly and strangely We will leave it to the Ear which as Elihu says triâ—â— Words Job 34.3 2. 'T is clearer by far than the Sun at Noon-day that God as God is infinitely better than our selves and the whole Creation besides I would not so much undervalue your Judgments as to think that ye stand in need of having this proâ—ed to you Nor would I so far overvâ—ue your Piety as to think that there is no need of pressing it upon you that your Hearts may be sutably affected with it 3. Therefore we love not God as God if we love him not better than our selves or our own Interest and Happiness as such Because as God he is infinitely better than we are or can be God is the universal Self originated independent unchangeable GOOD but the goodness of the Creatures is particular limited derived and entirely dependant upon him And therefore by no means to be set in competition with him Isa 40.25 4. 'T is certain that God hath deeply implanted in our Natures a Principle of Self-Love And that he makes use of it both in order to our Preservation and Government This it is which engageth us in the use of Means in order to our own Welfare and is supposed in all the Precepts Promises and Threatnings that are set before us This Principle neither can nor ought to be extirpated but it must be regulated and kept within its due Bounds or in its proper Place in order to the best and highest Ends. 5. 'T is also evident that by the Apostacy our Self-Love is become inordinate perverse and therefore exceeding sinful So that Self-denial is one of the first steps towards our Recovery Mat. 16.24 We are fallen from God to our selves and are for setting up our own little carnal supported Self-Interest in opposition to that full and proper Interest that he has in us that is we would be Gods to our selves this is the grand fundamental disorder of human Nature the Heart of the Old Man This has disjointed us and rendred us offensive to God and
uneasy to our selves and to all about us till we be reduced and set right again So then this sensual corrupt Self-Love must be mortified but lawful and just Self-Love must be improved as was said before 6. In assigning the Notion of our chief or ultimate End God's Glory and our own Salvation must not be separated For our intention must take in both but then the latter must be considered as in full Subordination to the former We may and ought to desire our own Eternal Happiness that God may be glorified therein who is well pleased and delighted in the Welfare and Perfection of his holy ones Our supreme End must fall in with his who made all things for himself that he alone may have the Glory 7. Therefore to love God only or chiefly for our selves as a means to our own Happiness is greatly to affront and dishonour him by preferring our selves before him the Creature before the Creator the silly Interest of a crawling Worm before the glorious all-comprehending Interest of the supreme infinite Majesty 'T is to invert the order of things while we make our selves the end and consider him but as a means in order thereto As if we were better or more amiable than he or our Happiness more valuable than his Glory Such Profaneness is not to be endured but abhorred Know ye not that the whole Creation has no worth in it but what is derived from God and to be measured by its Relation to him 8. To love God with a pure raised transcendent superlative Love for himself as the most amiable and perfect Good from by and to whom we and all things else are And then to love our selves and all other Objects for him as the supreme ultimate End of all this is the true Method of holy Love towards greater Measures whereof the best of us should be ever aspiring Is it not highly reasonable that he who is best should be most loved That he who is the Author of our Beings should be our End That we should aim at and intend him in all in a word that the love of our selves should be subjected to the highest and purest Love of God Urge these things upon your selves take pains with your own Hearts to bring them to such a Frame plead the Cause of God with your Souls till the Fire kindle and ye be carried up above Self to Him and all by the help of the Holy Spirit 'T is true indeed he needs not you nor your Love neither can ye be profitable to him thereby Job 22.2 3. Your Goodness extendeth not to him Psal 16.2 The advantage is like to be your own and should not the Glory be his As carnal inordinate self-seeking is no better than self-destroying So to go our of our selves and to be as it were estrange I from and lost to our selves that we may seek God live in him and enjoy Communion with him this I say is the true way to advance our own Interest while we seem to overlook it because by this Means we shall find our selves and our All in God with infinâ—te advantage How much some of the People of God have been carried out in holy Zeal for his Honour â—bove their own particular Self-Interest ye may see Exod 32.32 Numb 14.12 Rom. 9.3 Which places I must not now stay to enlarge upon 9 But here it must be remembred that God being immaterial and invisible is not an Object of Sense nor directly of sensitive passiâ—nate Love Therefore the Heart may be inwardly deeply predominantly and therefore sincerely for God tho as to the passionate part we may find our selves more sensibly carried out towards other Objects Because the nearness and sensibleness of the Creature promoteth such sensible workings in the lower sensitive Faculties and corporeal Spirits As for example A sincere Christian may be more feelingly affected towards a dear Friend or Relation or some other Creature-enjoyment than towards God himself yet doth it not therefore follow that his Heart is more for these things than for God because were he put to trial he would forsake all these Enjoyments rather than forsake God or quit his Interest in him whereby it appears that his Mind and Wiâ—l are more for God tho the lower sensitive Appetite work most feelingly toward sensible Objects 10. Therefore tho it be essential to Holiness to love God for himself as our absolutely ultimate End and therefore better than our selves yet there may be some secret conception or beginning of this Love in a Soul long before the Person in whom it is perceives it Because we are apt to judg of our selves by what appears most sensibly in us and to overlook what lies more deep and inward Now as was said before love to self and to the Creatures operates in a more sensible passionate feeling manner than holy intellectual Love doth Because God being a Spirit is not so near to our Senses and Passions as the Creature is Therefore because I would not make sad the Hearts of any whom God would not have made sad Ezek. 13.22 nor give an advantage to Satan to disquiet the Soul of the weakest sincere Christian Let me say to such as follows Supposing that ye are satisfied that God as God is infinitely more amiable than your selves and that he is your absolutely supreme chief or ultimate End and therefore that ye ought to love him as such above your selves Again if ye do earnestly desire that Happiness which consists in so loving him above any other Happiness whatsoever Tho in the mean time ye dare not say that ye love God for himself above your selves but are it may be more sensibly and feelingly concerned for your own Welfare that ye may escape the Wrath to come than for his Glory Yet ye he wail this and desire an Heart to love God more for himself And to refer your own Interest and all to him Why if the Case be thus with you I would not have ye be discouraged or cast down For it seems to me that ye have the seeds and beginnings of this holy Love to God for himself whereof we have been speaking And our Lord will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. Let me therefore earnestly beseech you to pray hard for further Influences of the Spirit of Love and take pains with your own Hearts to raise them more above self unto God that your Spark may become a Flame and that ye may be even swallowed up of holy Love So will ye find that Comfort Peace and Assurance which ye are so pensively seeking and enquiring after O learn at length to pore less upon your own poor dark drooping Souls and look more at him who is LIGHT and in whom there is no Darkness at all As for the common sort of the ignorant Pretenders to the Love of God and Holiness all this will seem to them more ado than needs Nor is it difficult to confound their Pretences without going thus high
To these I would say If as ye profess ye truly love God whence is that ye think no more of him And that ye speak no more of him And delight no more in converse with him Are no more concerned when he is dishonoured Nor grieved for your own Sins and the Sins of others against him How comes it to pass that so many Religious Duties are wholly neglected by you And others so miserably trifled in and slubber'd over Whence is it that your Lusts are so much indulged and that ye keep in league with his Enemies c. Is this the Love ye speak of It might well become you to know your selves better Thus much for the Use of Examination CHAP. XI The Exhortation in several Branches 1. To those who are not yet wrought for Heaven directing them what Methods to take in order to their Conversion IT may justly be expected that the Issue of the fore-going Examination will be various according to the different State or Circumstances of the Persons who shall think it worth their while to concern them selves seriously therein 1. 'T is not uncharitable to suppose that some may find great reason to conclude that this renewing Change has not yet passed upon them a sad Conclusion God knows but necessary to be made where 't is true O happy Congregation indeed if this were an unreasonable Supposition happy I say if all among you were thus wrought for Heaven 2. 'T is likely there may be others not altogether without hopes that this great Change is wrought upon them nor yet without Fears of the contrary but full of Doubt and Hesitations about it 3. And surely there are some among you who through Grace are able comfortably to conclude that they are indeed passed from Death to Life whose Hopes do quiâ—e overrop their Fears in his Matter Now that which I would endeavour through God's Assistance is to speak a word in season to all these in order To the first sort with deep concern for them trembling over them travelling in biâ—th with them till Christ be formed in them Help Lord To the second with a due Mixture of Tenderness and Judgment Compassion and Discretion To the third with humble Thankfulness and an Heart enlarged in Love to God and our Redeemer that our Joy may be full All this I say I would do but of my self can do nothing O for more Faith in the blessed Spirit of our glorified Head And now I proceed to the Exhortation 1. To those who are yet in an unregenerate State Come come bestir your selves what have ye been doing all this while what are ye dreaming of It is high time to awake out of sleep and to hasten your escape from the Wrath to come while there is yet Hope Little know ye but your Glass may be almost run and yet alas your great Work is undone Let me say to you as Gen. 19.17 Escape for your Lives look not behind you lest ye be consumed If therefore ye would be converted and saved let me also press upon you the following Directions O Lord my God I beseech thee send me good speed this day and grant that the strong holds of Satan may be broken and the Interest of thy Son my Lord be advanced and that the Kingdom of Glory may be hastened Lord remember the Requests tho too few and cold that have been put up to Heaven both in publick and in secret on this behalf and give a gracious Answer Even so Amen Direct 1. Set your selves in good earnest to the serious Consideration of your Spiritual Concerns Exercise your most sober deliberate Thoughts about them Ye wiâ—l find one Day that it would have been better for you not to have had Reason than not to use it about the Interests of your Souls Better I say that ye had filled up the room of the meanest Guâ—t Worm or Mole in the Creation than of Men if ye do not improve â—nd use your noblest Faculties â—o their proper Ends. Ye can think naturally and easily early and late with much earnestness and constancy about other Matâ—ers how to buy and sell and get Gain and other such important Trifles â—pardon the Contradiction for 't is of your own making But lâ—t me ask you have ye no thoughts to spare about your Eternal Concerns where ye must dwell for ever what shall become of your immortal Souls when they must abide in Flesh no longer Do not these things deserve to be thought of What do ye think your Reason was given you for Can ye expect to be sanâ—tified and saved without any Endeavours of your own in order thereto Or is it likely your Endeavours should be to any purpose unless your Minds be first awakened to proceed rationally in the Matter To ask your selves what ye are Whence ye came Where ye are placed Whither ye are going What ye have to â—o Try to answer these things to your selves I must not stay to enlarge upon them Do not expect to become Religious by chance it must be by choice through Grace or not at all And is it likely that the Will should act blindly in the Case or chuse the Ways of God before the Understanding be convinced of the Worth and Excellency of them And what Conviction without Consideration I thought I had told you before that God works upon Men as rational Creatures upon the Will by the Mediation of the Understanding But 't is the design of Satan to keep you asleep in carnal Security to find your Thoughts other employment that he may divert you from considering these things for which your Reason was principally given you And are ye willing thus to be led blindfold to Hell Lord open their Eves that they may see O think how ye will ever be able to answer it to God or your own Consciences that ye have been so stupidly inconsiderate as to the things of your everlasting Peace All Wickedness may be resolved into Inconsiderateness Isa 1.3 4. My People doth not consider Ah sinful Nation a People laden with Iniquity Well then Sirs if ye think your Souls worth so much Labour I would offer to you some Particulars to be considered in the following order 1. Consider well how sinful and miserable an unregenerate State is As for the sinfulness of it It is a State of Hostility against Heaven In Scripture account all unregenerate Men are Enemies to God yea Enmity it self Rom. 8.7 Col. 1.21 They are said to contemn him despise him and to cast him behind their back They kick against him they hate and abhor him Zeâ—h 11.8 My Soul loathed them and their Soul also abhorred me Is not this think you a sinful State indeed And is it not in some respect so much the worse in that they profess or pretend to the contrary With their Mouth they shew much Love but in reality they do alienate themselves from him who has the most full and absolute propriety in them They rebel against their most