his creature between whom and him there is an infinite distance and disproportion nay not with the Noblest House among those creatures not with Angels those heavenly Courtiers He is their Head not their Husband though by matching with them he had matched somewhat more like himself but with sinful polluted Dust and Ashes That our spiritual souls should be joyned to our earthly bodies is much yet here is some proportion both are limited created beings but that God should marry with Man is infinitely more It s said of the King of Babylon that he lifted up the head of Jehojachin out of Prison and spake kindly to him and changed his Prison Garments and set his Throne above the Throne of the Kings that were with him 2 Kings ult cap. 27 28 29. Man was a poor Prisoner bound and fettered with his own corruptions kept up close by the Devil his Jaylor and condemned to suffer the pains of eternal death but loe the Philanthropy and kindness of God he sendeth his onely Son to open the Prison Doors having first satisfied the Law for the breach of which they were cast in and removed its curse which was as a Pad-Lock on the Prison Gate to to keep it fast set the poor captives at liberty change their nasty Prison weeds and to exalt their nature above the nature of glorious Angels by marrying it to himself Canst thou find in thy heart Friend to abuse such Matchless Grace and Favour Is not that begger mad that should refuse the real offers of a Match from a Gracious Emperour Shall Majesty thus stoop to Misery in vain I must tell thee its infinite abasement in God thus to make suit to thee but it s the highest preferment thou art capable of nay such as it had been blasphemy to have desired it had not God offered it to close with him I come now to the Articles of this Marriage which truely are no more then thou requirest of thy own wife if thou hast any and therefore thou canst not but think them reasonable I shall propound them to thee in these two Questions First Art thou heartily willing to take Jesus Christ for thy Saviour and Soveraign Canst thou love him with the hottest superlative love as thy Husband Its one thing to love a man as a Friend and another thing to love him as thy Husband canst thou give him the keys of thy heart and keep thy affections as a fountain sealed up from others and opened onely for him and in subordination to him Wilt thou honour him with the highest honour as thy Lord submitting to his spirit as thy guide and to his laws as thy rule Is thy soul so ravished with the beauty of his person the excellency of his promises and the equity of his precepts that thou darest promise through his strength to be a loving faithful and obedient wife Have the hot beams of that love which have been darted forth from this Sun of Righteousness as the rays of the Sun united in a glass turned thee into a flame that thy heart is now ascending and mounting to Heaven where thy Beloved is and thou canst no more live without him then thy body without thy soul Art thou willing to be sanctified by his spirit that thou mightest be prepared for his bosome and embraces and to be saved alone by his merits as the onely procuring cause of all thy hopes and happiness Wilt thou take him for better and for worse for richer and for poorer with his cup of affliction as well as his cup of consolation with his shameful Cross as well as his glorious Crown chosing rather to suffer with him then to reign without him to dye for him then to live from him Such as marry thou knowest must expect trouble in the flesh Christianity like the Wind Caecias doth ever draw clouds and afflictions after it but thy future glory and pleasure will abundantly recompence thee for thy present pain and ignominy Secondly Wilt thou presently give a bill of Divorce to all other lovers and keep the bed of thy heart wholly for him Shall the evil of sin never more have a good look from thee but as Ammon served Tamar shall the hatred wherewith thou hatest those filthy strumpets with whom thou hast had cursed dalliances and committed spiritual fornication be greater then the love wherewith thou hast loved them Canst thou pack away the bond-woman and her son and these things not at all be greivous in thy sight that thy whole joy and delight may be in and all that thou art worth preserved for the true Isaac Shall this Sun reign alone in the Heavens of thy heart without any Competitour As when a Dictatour was created at Rome there was a supersedeas to all other authority so if Christ be exalted in thy soul there must be a cessation of all other rule and power Christ will not be a King meerly in dirision as the Jews made him nor as the stump of Wood was to the Frogs in the Fable whom every lust may securely dance about and provoke These are the terms upon which this match so honourable and profitable is offered to thee give up an hearty Yea to these two equitable Articles and thou art made for ever Refuse it and thou art miserable above all apprehensions and beyond Millions of ages even to all eternity What sayst thou to it Shall I put the same Question to thee which they put to Rebekah Wilt thou go with this Man In thy denyal there is no less then eternal Death Methinks the thoughts of that fire and Brimstone should force thee to flye to this Zoar In thy unfeigned hearty acceptance there is no less then Heaven and eternal life What wouldst thou not do to continue natural life What then shouldst thou not do or suffer for eternal life It may be thou desirest time to consider of it as Rebekahs Mother thou art willing to the match but wouldst not have it yet concluded Austin bewails it in himself that when God was drawing him to Christ his carnal pleasures represented themselves before his eyes Saying What wilt thou leave us for ever and shall we be no more with thee for ever And then he threw himself down and weeping cryed out O Lord how long how long shall I say to morrow why not to day Lord why not to day Why should there not be an end of my sinful life this hour But beleive it delays are dangerous especially in works of such weight If thou answerest as Rebekah did I will go Chear up poor soul what ever thy course or carriage hath been thy Husband is able and willing to pay all thy scores were they a million for a mite and come forth behold thy beloved in his imbroydery and glory see how his Arms are stretcht out to embrace thee his Lips are ready to kiss thee O what a look of love he giveth thee sure I am thou art more in his heart then in thine own
an Earl when they are none of his A Crown and scepter may be as suitable to the nature of a Subject as a Soveraign yet the comfort of them extends not to the former for want of this propriety in them The leaving out one word in a Will may marr the estate and disapoint all a mans hopes the want of this one word my God is the wicked mans losse of heaven and the dagger which will peirce his heart in Hell to all eternity The degree of satisfaction in any good is according to the degree of our Union to it hence our delight is greater in food then in cloaths and the Saints joy is greater in God in the other world then in this because the Union is nearer but where there is no propriety there is no Union therefore no complacency now this alsufficient sutable and eternal God is the Saints peculiar portion and therefore causeth infinite satisfaction God is my portion for ever God even our God shall blesse us Psalm 67.7 The Pronoun my is as much worth to the soul as the boundless portion All our comfort is lock't up in that private cabinet Wine in the glasse doth not chear the heart but taken down into the body The propriety of the Psalmists in God was the mouth whereby he fed on those dainties which did so excedingly delight him No love potion was ever so effectual as this Pronoun When God saith to the soul as Ahab to Benhadad Behold I am thine and all that I have who can tell how the heart leaps with joy in and expires almost in desires after him upon such news Others like strangers may behold his honour and excellencies but this Saint onely like the wife enjoyeth him Luther saith Much Religion lyeth in Pronouns All our consolation indeed consisteth in this Pronoun it the is the cup which holdeth all our cordiall waters He undertake as bad as the devil is He shall give the whole world were it in his power more freely then ever he offered it to Christ for his worship for leave from God to pronounce those two words my God All the joyes of the beleiver are hung upon this one string break that asunder and all is lost I have sometimes thought how David rouls it as a lump of sugar under his tongue as one loth to lose its sweetness too soon I love thee O Lord my strength The Lord is my rock and my fortresse and my deliverer my God my strength my buckler the horn of my salvation and my high Tower Psalm 18.1 2. This pronoun is the door at which the King of Saints entereth into our hearts with his whole train of delights and comforts CHAP XIII The first use The difference betiwxt a sinner and a Saint in distresse THis Doctrine may be usefull by way of inference and by way of tryal and counsell and by way of Comfort First If the comfort of a Christian in his saddest estate be this namely That God is his portion It informeth us of the difference betwixt a sinner and a Saint both in their conditions when trouble comes and in their portions 1. In their conditions when in affliction The Saint in the sharpest winter sits at a good fire when abused by strangers he can complain to Use inform 1. and comfort himself in his Father though stars vanish out of sight he can rejoyce in the Sun like the prudent Dame whithersoever he travelleth knowing how liable he is to fainting-fits he carrieth his bottle of strong-waters along with him When thou passest through the fire I will be with thee Isa 43. But the sinner when a storm comes upon his head hath no to cover when a qualm comes over his heart he hath no cordiall for he hath no God Ephe. 2.12 Without God without hope Strangers to the Covenant of promise A godless man is hopeless If he be robbed of his estate and have litle in hand his case is dreadful for he hath lesse in hope The promises are the clifts of the rock whether true doves fly and places of shelter where they are safe from ravenous fowls but he is a stranger to these when the floods comes he hath no Ark but must sink like lead in the midst of the mighty waters The godly man in the lowest ebbe of creatures may have an high-tide of comforts because he hath ever the God of all Consolations As Jezabel her idolatrous priests so in the greatest outward famine God entertaineth his people at his own table and surely that 's neither mean nor sparing As their afflictions abound their consolations by Christ superabound 2. Cor. 1.5 The world layeth on crosses and Christ layeth in comforts Men make grievous sores and God provides precious salves The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope in him Lamen 3.24 If you mind the season you may a little admire at the Churches solace The whole Book is but a pathetical description of her Tragical condition and is generally concluded to be written by Jeremy in the time of the Babylonish Captivity when her Land was wasted her people enslaved her Sabbaths ceased and her Temple prophaned yet this Bird of Paradise sings in a Cage and in this hard winter The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul therefore will I hope in him The Godly man may be rob'd of his possessions but he is well so long as he hath his happiness his portion Lazarus was happy when sine domo because he was not sine domino without Goods because he was not without God As he in Plutarch said of the Scythians Though they had neither wine nor musick yet they had the Gods The Prophet when the ponds were dried up fetchd his water from the Fountain Habakkuk 3.16 17. Although the Figge tree shall not blossome neither shall fruit be in the vine the labour of the Olives shall fayl and the fieldes shall yeild no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet will I rejoyce in the Lord and I will joy in the God of my Salvation It s considerable that he expresseth not only things for conveniency as the Vine and Figge tree but things for necessity as the meat of the field and flocks of the stall and supposeth the totall loss of both yet in the want and absence of such comforts of life he supports himselfe with God the life of all his comforts But the ungodly is not so when afflictions come they hit him upon the bare for he is without armour He is as a naked man in the midst of venemous Serpents and stinging Scorpions When troubles come like so many Lions they teare the silly Lamb in peices having none to protect him I am greatly distressed saith Saul and well he might for the Philistines are upon me and God is departed from me 1 Sam. 28.15 Alas poor Soul had the Philistines been his burden and God strengthened his back all had been well
secretly to her Vault and with the skirt of his Manâ—le wiped the moysture from the Carcass and still at the return of his temptation laid it before him saying Behold this is the beauty of the Womad which thou didst so much desire And the Man at last with that moysture of the Corps put out the Fire The godliness of the World its whole glory and gallantry is but a curious Picture drawn on Ice which affords no good footing for whilst we are standing on it we are sliding from it and who would lay the stress of his felicity upon so slippery a foundation No wise man ever put his chiefest goods and riches in such low damp rooms where they will corrupt and putrifie Hipocrates affirmeth that all immoderations are Enemies to the health of the body Sure I am they are to the health of the soul The amity of the World is emnity against God All the Water is little enough to run in the right Channel therefore none should run beside The time is short use the World as net abusing it 1 Cor. 7.29 Secondly That you chuse the good part that shall never be taken from you Mans heart will be fixt on somewhat as its hope and happiness God therefore puts out our Candles takes away Relations that we may look up to the Sun and esteem him our chiefest portion When we are Digging and Delving in the Earth to find out content and comfort he sendeth damps purposely to make us call to be drawn upward Till the Prodigal met with a Famine he regarded not his Father If the Waters be abated the Dove is apt to wander and defile her self but when they cover the face of the earth and allow her no rest then she returneth to the Ark. I hope there is a good work begun in you which shall be finished at the day of Christ But every one stande h or falleth to their own Master Get Scripture on your side and you are safe for ever The Romans when they parted from the bones of their Dead friends for they burnt them took their leave in such language Vale Vale Vale Noste ordine quo natura permiserit sequemur Farewel Farewel Farewel We shall follow thee in the time and order which nature alloweth us You may say of your Husband as David of his Child I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Prepare therefore for your dying hour Labour to be rich in godliness Grace alone is special bayl against death It is such wealth as will be currant in the other World lay up your treasure in Heaven where neither Thief nor Moth neither Men nor Divels can rob you of it Take God in Christ for your Heaven and you are happy in spight of the World Death and Hell You know the living comfort of your dying Husband was that though his flesh and heart failed him yet God was the strength of his heart and his portion for ever And it was a memorable speech of His when some Friends came to him and commended the richness and magnificence of Hampton Court newly trimmed and adorned for the reception of her Majesty One drop of the blood of Christ is more worth then all the World I must tell you there is no such Cordial in a day of Death as this Covenant-Relation to the Lord of life The Child may walk in that dark entry without fear if he have but his Father by the hand Though I walk in the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear none ill for thou art with me Death indeed is strong it overcometh Principalities and Powers but as strong as it is it cannot separate God and the godly person It may dissolve the natural union betwixt soul and body but not the mystical union betwixt God and the soul The Saints dye in the Lord they sleep in Jesus O Couzen be married to Christ and you are made for ever Heaven is the Joynture and Death one of the Servants or slaves of her that is the Spouse of this Lord. Death is yours ye are Christs 1 Cor. 3.21 Other men are Deaths it hath dominion over them but Death is yours your servant to strip off your rags of sin and misery and to cloath you with the Robes of joy and glory The ensuing Discourse was for the substantial part of it delivered at the Funeral of your dearest Relation on earth You gave me the Text and my indisposition of body allowed me then but little time which caused me now to make some enlargements and additions but it s the same body possibly in a little neater far from gaudy dress which was prepared for the Pulpit I present it to you not doubting of its acceptance for his sake whose death was the occasion of it The good Lord bless it to you requite your love to me and them that fear him make up the want of streams in the more abundant enjoyment of the fountain fill you with all the fruits of righteousness enable you to persevere and encrease in godliness and so to live with a good conscience that you may dye with much comfort and be a follower of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises so prayeth Your Servant for Jesus sake George Swinnock TO THE Right VVorshipful THE Mayor with the Recorder Jurats Common Council and the rest of the Inhabitants of his Native Town Maidstone in Kent Honoured and Beloved IT is a general observation that all creatures have propensity and inclination towards those places where they receive their births and beings Vegetatives which stand in the lowest rank of life thrive best because they delight most in those grounds whence they first grow Sensitives as they have an higher being so a stronger inclination to those parts where they are born The Prince of Philosophers telleth us that Fish usually stay with pleasure in those Waters in which they are bread Arist Hist Animal l. 4. c. 8 and Beasts in those Woods in which they are brought forth and that neither of them will remove without force and violence Nature hath planted in them both this principle of affecting their native places Hence it comes to pass that even these creatures have manifested their thank-fulness after their manner Trees acknowledge that sap which they borrow from the earth in which they stand in the tribute of leaves which they pay back to the same in Autumn The Storks are said to leave one of their young in that part of the Earth where they are hatched Patriam quisque amat non quia pulchram sed quia suam Sen. Men as they have a Nobler life so a greater love to their Native Country Heathen themselves have been famous for this Pericles the Athenian did so affect his Country-men that his usual speech was If none but my self should lead them to the shambles Plut. in vit as much as lyeth in me they shall be immortal When Cleomenes King of Sparta being greatly distressed had
thy immortal soul against the coming of the bride-groom When thou diest thou throwest thy last cast for thine everlasting estate thou shalt never be allowed a second throw An Error in death is like an Error in the first Concoction which cannot be mended in the second Where thou lodgest that Night thou dyest thou art hous'd for ever That work which is of such infinite weight and can be done but once had need to be done well God hath given thee but one Arrow to hit the mark with Shoot that at randome and he will never put another into thy Quiver God will allow no second Edition to correct the Erratas of the first therefore it concerns thee with all imaginable seriousness to consider what thou doest when thou diest One would think thou shouldst take little comfort in any creature whilst thy eternal state is thus in danger Augustus wondered at the Roman Citizen that he could sleep quietly when he had a great burden of debt upon him What rest canst thou have what delight in any thing thou enjoyest who owest such vast sums to the Infinite Justice of God when he is resolved to have full satisfaction either in this or the other world When David offered Barzillai the pleasures and preferments of his own royal Palace he refused them because he was to die within a while How long have I to live that I should go up with the King unto Jerusalem Let thy servant turn back that I may dye 2 Sam. 19.34 35 36. i. e. Court me no courts I have one foot in the grave my glass is almost run let me go home and dye Without controversie thou hast more cause to wink on these withering comforts and to betake thy self wholly to a diligent preparation for death The Thebans made a law That no man should build a house before he had made his grave Every part of thy life may mind thee of thy death Mortibus vivimus Senec. The Moralist speaks true Thou livest by deaths thy food is the dead carkasses of birds or fish or beasts thy finest rayment is the worms grave before t is thy garment Look to the Heavens the Sun riseth and setteth so that life which now shineth pleasantly on thee will set how much doth it behove thee to work the work of him that sent thee into the world while day lasteth that thou mayst not set in a cloud which will certainly prognosticate thy foul weather in the other world Look down to the Earth there thou beholdest thy mother out of whose womb thou didst at first come and in whose bowels thou shalt ere long be laid The dust and graves of others cry aloud to thee as Gideon to his Souldiers Look on us and do likewise O trim thy soul against that time If thou risest up and walkest abroad in the streets thou seest this house and that seat where such a woman such a man dwelt and lo the place which knew them shall know them no more they are gone and have carried nothing with them but their godliness or ungodliness If thou liest down thy sleep is the image of death thou knowest not whether thou shalt awake in a bed of feathers or in a bed of flames but art certain that shortly thy body shall lye down in the grave and there remain till the resurrection Look on thy companions thou mayst see death siting on their countenances its creeping on them in the deafness of their ears in the dimness of their eys nay it s posting towards them in the very heighth and Zenith of their natural perfections Look on thy own house of clay death possibly looks out at thy windows however it looks in at thy windows thou wearest it in thy face thou bearest it in thy bones and doth it not behove thee to prepare for it Naturalists tell us that smelling of earth is very wholesom for consumptionate bodies O Reader a serious thought of thy death that thou art but dust would be very wholsom for thy declining and decaying soul Hard bones steept in vinegar and ashes grow so soft that they may be cut with a thread Give me leave for one half hour to steep thy hard heart in such a mixture possibly it may be so softned through the operation of the Spirit with the Word Drexel Eternit that thou mayst become wise unto salvation It s reported of one Guerricus that hearing these words read in the Church And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years and he died All the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years and he died And all the days of Enos was nine hundred and five years and he died And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty nine years and he died Gen. 5.5 He was so strongly wrought upon by those words And he died And he died that he gave himself wholly to devotion Friend if thou hast any dram of true love to thy soul and its unchangeable condition in the other world the consideration of death would make a deep impression upon thee But that I may awaken and rouse thee while there is time and hope and then help and heal thee I shall in the prosecution of this Exhortation First Speak to somewhat that may be perswasive Secondly Offer to thee somewhat that is Directive First I shall offer thee some thoughts which may quicken thee to a diligent provision for this time Motives 1 Death will come certainly First Dost thou not know that Death will come certainly As the young Prophet said to Elisha Dost thou know that the Lord will take thy Master from thy head to day 2 Kings 2.3 Reader Dost thou know that the Lord will take thy soul out of thy body and send it to the unknown regions of the other World where thou shalt see such things as thou never sawest hear such things as thou never heardst and understand such things as thou didst never understand Possibly thou wilt answer me as Elisha them I know it hold your peace But truly I am ready to urge it again being assured that thy knowledge is as Cicero speaks of the Athenians like artificial teeth for shew onely thou dost not yet know it for thy good Therefore give me leave to inforce it still Dost thou know that God will bring thee to death and to the house appointed for all the living Dost thou know that thy ruddy countenance will wax pale thy sparkling eyes look gastly thy warm blood cool in thy veins thy marrow dry up in thy bones thy skin shrivel thy sinews shrink nay thy very heart strings crack And hast thou provided never a cordial against this hour Dost thou not read in the writings of God himself That no man hath power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war Eccles 8.8 No man hath power either to resist deaths force or to procure termes of peace The greatest Emperor with the strength of all his
wholly cleave to thee then my life will be lively There are two special faculties in Mans Soul which must be answered with sutable and adaequate objects or the heart like the sea cannot rest The understanding must be satisfied with truth and the will with good For the filling of these two faculties men are as busie as Bees flying over the field of the world and trying every flower for sweetness but after all their toyl and labour house themselves like wasps in curious combs without any hony The understanding must be suted with the highest truth but the world is a lye Psal 62. and the things thereof are called lying vanities they are not what they seem to be Jonah 2.8 and hence are unable to satisfy the mind but God is aeterna veritas vera aeternitas eternal truth and true eternity All truth is originally in him his nature is the Idea of truth and his will the standard of truth and its eternal life and utmost satisfaction to know him because by it the understanding is perfected for the Soul in God will see all truth and that not only clearly I speak of the other world where the Christians happiness shall be completed face to face but also fully Aristotle though an Heathen thought happiness to consist in the knowledg of the chiefest good If Arichimedes when he found out the resolution of one question in the Mathematicks was so ravished that he ran up and down crying I have found it I have found it How will the Christian be transported when he shall know all that is knowable and all shadows of ignorance vanish as the darkness before the rising Sun The will also must be suted with good and according to the degree of goodness in the object such is the degree of satisfaction to the faculty Now the things of this life though good in themselves yet are vain and evill by reason of the sin of man Rom. 8.20 And likewise are at best but bodily limited and fading good things and therefore uncapable of filling this faculty As truth in the utmost latitude is the object of the understanding so Good in the universality of it is the object of the will Further that good which satisfieth must be optimum the best or t will never sistere appetitum the Soul will otherwise be still longing and maximum the most perfect or t will never implere appetitum fill it But God is such a good he is essentially universally unchangeably and infinitely good and therefore satisfieth When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Psa 17. ult When my body hath slept in the bed of the grave till the morning of the resurrection and the sound of the last trump shall awaken me O the sweet satisfaction and ravishing delight which my Soul shall enjoy in being full of thy likeness and thy love Nay in the mean time before the happiness of a Saint appear to his view in a full body it doth like the rising Sun with its forerunning rays cast such a lightsome gladsome brightness upon the believer that he is filled with joy at present and would not part with his hopes of it for the whole world in hand They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house while on this side Heaven and thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures Psal 36.8 Though the wedding dinner be deferd till the wedding day yet before hand the Christian meets with many a running banquet He hath not only pleasures fatness of thy house but also plenty of it here below They shall be abundantly satisfied The World is like sharp sauce which doth not fill but provoke the stomach to call for more the voice of those guests whom it makes most welcome is like the daughters of the horseleech Give Give but the infinite God like solid food doth satisfy the soul fully In my Fathers house is bread enough and causeth it to cry out I have enough Secondly God is a sanctifying ennobling Portion 2 God is a sanctifying portion The World cannot advance the Soul in the least things of the World are fitly compared to shadows for be thy shadow never so long thy body is not the longer for it so be thy estate never so great thy soul is not the better for it A great letter makes no more to the signification of a word then the smallest Men in high places are the same men no reall worth being thereby added to them that they are in low ones Nay it s too too visible that men are the worse for their earthly portions If some had not been so wealthy they had not been so wicked Most of the Worlds favourites like aguish stomachs are fuller of appetite then digestion they eat more then they can concoct and thereby cause diseases nay by feeding on this trash of earth their stomachs are taken off from substantial food the bread of Heaven The Souldiers of Hannibal were effeminated and made unfit for service by their pleasures at Capua Damps arising out of the earth have stifled many a Soul Aâ—ist Probl. seâ— 23. Aristotle tells us of a Sea wherein by the hollowness of the earth under it or some whirling property ships used to be cast away in the midst of a calm Many perish in their greatest prosperity and are so busy about babies and rattles that they have no leasure to be saved Luke 14.17 That which doth elevate ennoble the Soul of Man must be more excellent then the Soul Silver is embased by mixing it with lead but ennobled by gold because the former is inferiour to it but the latter excells it The World and all things in it are infinitely inferiour to the Soul of Man and therefore it is debased by mingling with them but God is infinitely superiour and so advanceth it by joyning with it That coyn which is the most excellent mettal defileth our hands and is apt to defile our hearts but the divine nature elevateth and purifieth the Spirit The goodliest portions of this life are like the Cities which Solomon gave to Hiram And Hiram came from Tyre to see the Cities which Solomon had given him and they pleased him not And he said What Cities are these which thou hast given me my brother and he called them the land of Cabul that is displeasing or dirty unto this day 1 Kings 9.12 13. The pleasantest portion here lyeth in the land of Cabul its displeasing and dirty it doth both dissatisfy and defile when the heavenly portion doth like hony both delight and cleanse both please and purify Outward things like common stones to a ring adde nothing at all to the worth of a Soul but this sparking Diamond this pearle of price the infinite God makes the gold ring of the Soul to be of unspeakable value The heart of the wicked is little worth Pro. 10.20 His house is worth somewhat but his heart is worth nothing because its a ditch full only
not the worth of them None look off the world but they that can look beyond it The Turtle saith the Philosopher brings forth her young blind The most quick-sighted Christian brings forth blind children now they not being able to see afar off into the other world prefer these poor things which they may have in present possession before these unsearchable riches which are offered them in reversion Hence it is also that the Devil as the Raven when he seizeth the carcass as soon as he layeth hold on any person Prov. 33.17 2 Cor. 4.4 the first thing he doth is to peck out his eyes knowing that as soon as they come to see the blessed God and the happiness which is to be enjoyed in him they will quickly turn their backs on these shadows and face about towards this eternal substance O how dull would the worlds common glasse be in his eye who had once beheld the true Christal The loadstone of earth will not draw mans affections whilst this Diamond of heaven is in presence When Moses had once seen him that was invisible how low did the price of the honours and treasures and pleasures of Egypt fall in his judgement Knowledge is by one well expressed to be Appetites taster for as he that hath eaten sweet-meats cannot rellish the strongest beer so he that hath fed on the heavenly banquet cannot savour any thing else A man that is born in a dark dungeon and there continueth a long time when he comes after twelve or fourteen years to see a candle he wonders at the excellency of that Creature what delight will he take in beholding it and enquiring into the nature of it But bring this man afterwards into the open air and let him behold the glorious Sun his admiration of the candle will cease and all his wonder will be at the beauty and glory of this great Luminary of the World Every man is naturally in darkness hence it is that when he comes to behold the candles of creature comforts he is so ravisht and taken with them but let him once come to see the Sun of righteousness the Alsufficient and Eternal God he despiseth those glimmering rushes and all his wondering is at the excellency and perfections of this Glorious being That which was glorious before hath now no glory in comparison of this glory that excelleth All things are small and little in his eye who hath once had a sight of the great God The great Cities of Campania are but small cottages to them who stand on the top of the Alpes Philosophers observe that lumen est vehiculum influentiae Light is the convoy of heat Certain it is Reader that this light of knowledge would quickly cause heat in thy affections Couldst thou but see God with an eye of faith thine eye would so affect thine heart that as some who have beheld Mahomets Tomb have put out their eyes least they should be defiled with common objects after they have been blessed with so rare a sight thou wouldst shut thine eyes at those gilded poysons and wink ever after on those specious nothings Couldst thou see this God as he is visible in the glasse of the Creatures Couldst thou compass the earth which he hath made the several Islands and Continents which are in it Couldst thou like the Sun so surround it as to see all the Nations in it their several languages carriages customes their number order natures and the creatures in every Kingdome and Country the various plants birds minerals beasts and savage inhabitants in wildernesses their multiplicity variety dispositions subordination and serviceableness each to other and all that concerneth them what thoughts wouldst thou then have of this God for a portion Couldst thou behold at one view the vast Ocean discern the motion of the huge waters in the cause of its ebbing and flowing all the stormes and tempests which are there raised and all the persons and goods which have been there ruined Couldst thou see how those proud waves are laid with a word how when they swell and rage it is but Peace be still Matth. 8 as a mother will hush her crying Infant and all is quiet how they are kept in vvith bars and doors and for all their anger and povver cannot go beyond their decreed place Couldst thou dive into it and see the many vvonders that are in that great deep the vast riches vvhich are buried there out of the sight of covetons mortals the Leviathan whose teeth are terrible round about him whose scalâ—s are his pride shut up together as with a close seal by whose neesings a light doth shine and whose eyes are the eye-lids of the morning whose breath kindleth coals and a flame goeth out of his mouth who esteemeth iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood who maketh the deep to boyl like a pot and the sea like a pot of ointment Couldst thou behold the innumerable fish both small and great that are there Good Lord what wouldst thou think of having the Author and Commander of the Earth and Ocean for thy portion Couldst thou ascend up to the skie and fully perceive the beauty glory nature and order of that heavenly hoast how they march in rank and file come forth when called in their several courses know the time of their rising and setting couldst thou know the Sun perfectly in his noon-day dresse and what influences those higher Orbes have on inferiour bodies what wouldst thou then give to enjoy him who gave them their beings who appointeth them their motions who knoweth the number of the stars and who calleth them all by their names for thy portion But Oh! were it possible for thee to hold aside the vail and look into the holy of holies to mount up to the highest heavens and see the royal pallace of this Great King the stately Court which he there keeps the noble entertainment which he there gives to his Friends and Children Couldst thou know the satisfying joy the ravishing delight and the unconceivable pleasure which the spirits of just men made perfect have in his favour and fruition Couldst thou see him as he is there visible like a pure sweet light sparkling through a christal-lanthorn in the glorified Redeemer and know him as thou art known of him then then Reader what wouldst thou think of this God for a portion what poor apprehensions wouldst thou have of that beggarly portion which thou now admirest what dung what dogs-meat would the world be to thee in comparison of this God As Alexander when he heard of the Indies and the riches there divided the Kingdome of Macedonia amongst his Captains so thou wouldst leave the swine of the earth to wallow in the mire of brutish comforts the foolish children of disobedience to paddle in the gutter of sensual waters and wouldst desire that thy portion might be amongst Gods Children and thy heritage amongst his chosen ones Then then Friend all thy love would be too little and
no labour too great wouldst thou think for such a peerless and inestimable portion How willingly should the Ziba's of the world take all so thy Lord and King would but come into thy soul in peace How earnestly how eagerly wouldst thou cry with Moses after he had known somewhat of Canaan O Lord God thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand for what God is there in heaven or in earth that can do according to thy works and according to thy might I pray thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan that goodly mountain and Lebanon Lord though others be put off with common bounty let me partake of special mercy though they feed on husks give me this bread of life Let me not for this whole world have my portion in this world but be thou the portion of my cup do thou maintain my lot whatsoever thou deny to me or howsoever thou deal with me give me thy self and I shall have enough Though strangers and enemies to thee scramble for the good things which thou scatterest here below and desire no more yet let me see the felicity of thy chosen rejoyce with the gladness of thy nation and glory with thine inheritance O Friend it is eternal life to know this only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 Were I able to set this God forth in the thousandth part of that grace and glory wherewith he is cloathed as with a garment could I present him to thee in any degree sutable to his vast perfections and give thee eyes to behold him it were impossible but that thou should choose him for thy portion but Alas all the Angels in heaven cannot draw him at length surely then we who are clogged so much with flesh know lesse of this Father of Spirits Simonsdes being askt by Hiero What God was required some time to consider of it and as much more at the end of that time and double at the end of that Of which delay Hiero asked a reason he answered Quo magis inquiro eo minus invenio The farther I search the more I am at a losse There can be no finding God out there being no equal proportion between the faculty and the object If I had been in heaven and seen him face to face I should know him to my perfection but could not know him to his perfections But suppose I had been there and seen those infinite beauties and glories according to the utmost of my capacity yet my tongue would not be able to tell it thee nor thine eares to hear it O what an unspeakable losse am I at now I am speaking of this infinite God! my thoughts run into a labyrinth I am as a little cock-boat floating on the Ocean or as an infant offering to reach the Sun My meditations please me exceedingly O how sweet is this subject I could dwell in this hive of honey and happiness Lord let me whilst I have a being How pleasant are thy thoughts to me O God thou true Paradise of all pleasure thou living Fountain of felicity thou original and exact pattern of all perfections how comely is thy face how lovely is thy voice While I behold though but a little of thy beauty and glory my heart is filled with marrow and fatness and my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips My soul followeth hard after thee O when shall I come and appear before thee When wilt thou come to me or when rather will that blessed time come that I shall be taken up to thee Sinners misse thee walking in the mist of ignorance Ah did they know thee they would never crucifie the Lord of glory When they come once into that blackness of darkness where they shall have light enough to see how good thou art in thy self and in thy Son to immortal souls and to see their misery in the losse of an eternal blessed life how will they tear their hairs and bite their flesh and cut their hearts with anguish and sorrow for their cruel folly and damnable desperate madness in refusing so incomparable and inestimable a portion Saints blesse themselves in thee and rather pity then envy the greatest Potentates who want thee for their portion having not seen thee they love thee and in whom though now they see thee not yet believing they rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory But Reader Whither doe I wander I confesse I am a little out of my way but I wish as Austin when preaching forgat his subject he was upon and fell to confute the Manichees by which meanes Firmus at that time his Auditor was converted so that my going a few paces astray may be instrumental to bring thee home What shall I say unto thee or wherewith shall I perswade thee Could I by my prayer move God to open thine eyes as the Prophet did for his servant 2 Kings 4. to see the worth and worthinesse the love and lovelinesse of this portion thou shouldst not an hour longer be alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in thee But be of good comfort Read on he that made the seeing eye is willing to open the eyes of the blind and thou mayst possibly before thou art come to the end of the book meet with that eye-salve of the Sanctuary which may doe the work What I have farther to offer to thee in relation to this choice shall be to encourage thee to it by four properties of this portion In the handling of which I shall put the world in one scale with all its mines of gold and allow them as many grains as can be allowed them and put this One God in the other scale and then leave thy own reason to judge which scale is most weighty CHAP XVIII God is a satisfying and a sanctifying portion Motives to choose God for our portâ—on God is satisfying FIrst God is a satisfying portion The things of this vvorld may surfet a man but they can never satisfie him Most men have too much but no man hath enough As ships they have that burden vvhich sinks them vvhen they have room to hold more He that loveth silver is not satisfied with silver nor he that loveth gold with increase Eccles 1. Worldlings are like the Parthians the more they drink the more they thirst As the melancholy Chymist they vvork eagerly to find the Philosophers stone rest and happiness in it though they have experience of its vanity and it hath already brought them to beggary The world cannot satisfie the senses much lesse the soul The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing As the Apes in the story finding a Gloworm in a frosty night took it for a spark of fire gathered some sticks and leaped on it expecting to be warmed by it but all in vain so men think to find warmth and satisfaction in creatures but they are as the