all the workings of God in the waies of his Providence they are mercy unto such they work mercifully for their good And further observe they are not onely mercy but mercy in truth God hath ingaged his truth that they should thus worke for them God hath tyed this mercy to them by his truth See here the difference between Gods mercy to his people and his mercy to other men First some of Gods pathes may be mercy to other men but not all or some particular acts of God rather than his pathes God doth not ordinarily goe on in a track and course of his mercies with them as hee doth with his people As their obedience is onely in some particular acts and no continued course so Gods mercy to them which comes from his generall bounty is manifested onely in some particular acts of his and not in any constant course But it is otherwise in his dealings towards his people they goe on in a constant course of obediēce they make Gods Commandements their pathes and therefore God goes on in a constant course of loving kindnesse towards them hee makes his mercy to them the ordinary pathes wherein hee walkes As Psalm 36. 10. O continue thy loving kindnesse to them that know thee and thy righteousnesse to the upright in heart The word in the Originall is Draw out thy loving kindnesse Gods mercies to his owne are a continued Series they are drawne out from a constant Spring they come forth from a never-failing Fountaine there is a connexion betweene one mercy and another but as for others God now and then onely casts his favours on them And observe a second difference all Gods paths are mercy to his people not some few there are none of Gods dealings but ayme at good towards them if God should cause one favour to follow another towards some wicked man out of the fulnesse of his bounty yet it cannot be said of any wicked man in the world that all the pathes of God are mercy towards him God hath his pathes of wrath and judgement wherein he is comming towards him though hee bee little aware of it But this blessing of all the pathes of God being mercy is a peculiar blessing to such as follow the Lord fully in the uprightnesse of their hearts in all the pathes of service and obedience And thirdly observe yet a greater difference than the former All the pathes of God are not onely mercy but mercy and truth to his people though God may shew mercy to others yet he hath not tyed his mercy to them by his truth they cannot challenge mercy from him by vertue of his truth if they have mercy it is more than they could have expected they cannot be sure of the continuance of it one houre they have nothing to shew for their mercy they doe not hold their mercy upon that Tenor of Gods truth which his people doe Nay when God comes to make good his truth to give his truth the glory of it then there is an end put to their mercy it is cut off from them but there is a blessed connexion between Mercy Truth in the good which Gods people doe enjoy according to the like expression in the forenamed 36. Psa 10. the loving kindnesse and the righteousnesse of God are put both together as the portion of an upright heart And hence the mercies they have are no other than such as they may expect as they may build upon before they come such as are made over to them by the truth of God and when they are come they may bee sure to hold them because they hold them upon such a blessed Tenure as GODS owne truth And hence the Scripture calls them sure mercies See how confident David was of holding Gods mercies Psalm 23. 6. Surely goodnesse and mercy shall follow mee all the dayes of my life And further all that God hath is for their good the heavens and earth and all Creatures are theirs and worke continually for them Hosea 2. 21. 22. I will heare the heavens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the Corne and the Wine and the Oyle and they shall heare Iezreel 1 Cor. 3. 22 23 The world life death things present things to come all are yours and yee are Christs and Christ is Gods Rom. 8. 28. And we know that all things worke together for good to them that love God This is a mysterie that the world is not acquainted with but we know it saith the Apostle The world may thinke that things worke against us yea all things in the world seeme to work against us but we know that all things doe work for good they work together for good though some particular things considered apart may worke for good to other men yet take all together and they worke their ruine but altogether workes for good to us although the good doth not seeme yet to come forth yet it is a working for us stay but till the worke bee done and it will appeare Good it will bee though it may bee not the same good that wee thinke of yet a good that will bee better for us a greater good than we imagined or desired Now then if all that is Gods bee for thee and workes thus fully for thee is there not reason then that all that is thine should be for God and worke as fully for him Thine did I say the truth is there is nothing thine for all is Gods God hath a greater propriety in and right to whatsoever thou art and hast than thy selfe but God is pleased to let it bee called thine that thou maist freely give it to him and if it bee his owne why should hee not have it fully If he thus inlargeth himselfe towards thee how unequall is it that thou shouldest be scant in thy service to him and in thine honouring of him Fifthly wicked men doe fully follow after that which is evill an infinite shame confusion then would it be to us an infinite dishonour likewise unto God if wee should not as fully follow the Lord in that which is good Ecclesiastes 9. 3. The heart of the sonnes of men is full of evill and Chap. 8. 11. The heart of the sonnes of men is fully set in them to doe evill The Seventy translate this The heart of man hath a Plerophorie to evill it is set upon it without any doubt or suspition there is a plerophorie of boldnesse to sinne in them why should there not bee a plerophorie that is a full perswasion of faith in Gods servants to that which is good Micah 7. 3. the Scripture saith that wicked men doe evill with both hands earnestly Esay 57. 5. Idolaters there are said to inflame themselves with their Idols and Ieremy Chap. 8. 2. they are said 1. To love their Idols 2. To serve them 3. To walke after them 4 To seek them 5. To worship them all these 5. expressions together in one
a great and sore evill Ninthly the eyes of many are upon you the Name of God the cause of God is engaged in you Tenthly you are appointed by God to be the Judges of other men 1 Cor. 6. 2. Doe you not know that the Saints shall judge the world yea Verse 3. Know you not that wee shall judge the Angels God will bring your lives and wayes before all the world to judge the world by and therefore they had need to bee very exact and to have something in them more than ordinary It is a shamefull way of reasoning for any man to reason for sinne by examples as it like a theese he would faine scape in the crowd but much more shamefull is it that any godly man should bee found to argue for sinne this way for this is an aggravation of sinne not a lessening of it as if I should say God hath dishonour by such and such and therefore why may he not have some more by me Sinne is a striking at God and every sinner strikes at him and thou commest running for thy stroake too What wilt thou have thy blow also at him and what thou for whom the Lord hath done such great things as Caesar said to Brutus when in the Senate-house tho Senators had wounded him with many sore wounds and Brutus hee comes also for his stroake whereupon Caesar lookes on him and sayes to him What and thou my sonne Brutus too Conceive as if thou sawest the Lord looking on thee and saying thus to thee when thou ventrest upon any sinfull way upon the example of others But in what particulars should we manifest this choicenes of our spirits in wayes differing from others Answ In these especially 1 In selfe deniall shew that you can deny your opiniōs your desires your wills though you have a strong mind to a thing though you have fit opportunities to enjoy your desires yet if you see God may have more honor any other way you can freely readily without disturbance without vexing yeeld and doe not deceive your selves in this be easily convinced in particulars which are for God against your selves the excellency of a mans spirit is much seen in this Many conceit an excellency of spirit to bee in selfe-willednesse in being passionate froward and boisterous Certainly this comes from weaknes of spirit no excellency is required for this every foole can bee thus but that is excellency to bee able to ovērcome to rule ones spirit to have command of ones spirit to subdue and bring in order passions and violent stirrings of spirits this is pretious and honourable in the eyes of God and man this is a well tempered spirit indeed that can be strong zealous full of courage unyeeldable in the cause of God and the Church but meeke quiet yeeldable selfedeniable in its own cause those who usually are the most boisterous and passionate for themselves are the poorest spirited men and the most basely yeelding when it comes to the cause of God 2 Shew the excellency of your spirits enabling you to doe that which others cannot doe by loving your enemies praying for them doing them all the good you can this is the speciall thing our Saviour commands to his Disciples in that 5. Mat. when he would have them doe more than others doe 3 Feare the least sinne more than the greatest suffering Morality raises the spirit highest next to Grace and yet a meere morall man accounts it foolishnes to be so nice as not to yeeld in little things for the avoyding of great sufferings but a gracious spirit thinks the least truth of God worthy to bee witnessed to by the losse of his dearest comforts and suffering the greatest evils yea he accounts suffering for small things the most honourable sufferings of all as testifying the greatest love as Davids Worthies shewed their dearest love to him in ventring their lives to get him a little water 4 Prize opportunities of service more than al outward contentments in the world a gracious heart thinks it honor enough that Gods imploies it he is not onely willing to goe on in his worke though outward contentments come not in but increase of service for God hee esteemes so great a good as hee accounts the want of outward things made up in it Though I get not so much by that I doe as others yet I blesse God I can goe on in my worke as chearefully as others for contentment is made up to mee in this that God will imploy mee in his service more than others 5 Make conscience of time this felv doe few regard the fillings up of their time their spirits having no excellencie in them they cannot make use of their time in any worthy employments for God to themselves or others but a man of an excellent spirit knows how to employ himself in things that are excellent and therfore prizes the time he hath to worke in and is conscientious in the spending of it 6 Make conscience of thoughts and secret workings of heart of secret sinnes to avoid them and secret duties to performe them a man that hath a pretious spirit doth not like to have it runne wast in extravagant thoughts and affections the thoughts of his minde are pretious the affections of his heart are pretious as his spirit is pretious Wee let water runne wast because wee put no price upon it we think it little worth and therefore we let it run to no use but if it were some pretious liquor some pretious oyle compounded of deare ingredients wee would not doe so but would be carefull to save every drop this is a pretious spirited man indeed who knowes how to lay out his thoughts and his affections at the best advantage and will not lavish them our to no purpose 7 Make conscience of the manner of performing holy duties as well as of the doing of them and looke after them what becomes of them when they are done this is not according to the common spirits of the world who thinke to put off God with flat poore and dead services A gracious spirit hath much of the excellency of his spirit acting in holy duties and therefore hee doth much mind them and lookes much after them but others have little of their spirits acting in them and therfore they are little regarded little looked after by them 8 Rejoyce in the good of others though it eclipses thy light though it makes thy parts thy abilities thy excellencies dimmer in the eyes of others were it not for the eminency of some above thee thy parts perhaps would shine bright and bee of high esteeme yet to rejoyce in this from the heart from the soule to blesse God for his gifts and graces in others that his Name may be glorified more by others than I can glorifie it my selfe to bee able truly to say Though I can do little yet blessed be God there are some who can doe more for God than
a mans selfe is his soule Hence whereas in Matth. 16. 26. it is said What shall it profit a man if hee gaine the whole world and lose his soule it is said in another Evangelist Luke 9. 25. What shall it prosit a man if hee gain the world and lose himselfe Surely spirituall excellencies are the highest excellencies as First these spirituall excellencies have this propriety in them they make a man a better man wheresoever they are which bodily excellencies doe not nor all the riches nor honours in the world A man is not the better man because he hath money cloaths honours better dyet than others these are but outward things added to him no intrinsecall excellencies Secondly these spirituall excellencies are the beginnings of eternall lise the same life we shall have in heaven and hence the work of Gods Spirit in the soule is called The Earnest of the Spirit not a pawne but an Earnest for a pawne is to be returned againe but an Earnest is part of the whole summe that is to follow That which we have of Gods Spirit is part of the same glory we shall have fully in heaven it is not onely an evidence unto us that there is glory comming but it is a beginning of the glory the fulnesse whereof is to come afterward Such a spirit as hath this life lives a life farre above the common life of the world even the life of heaven the same life that Angels and Saints do live in heaven the life of those blessed spirirs there Wee mistake if wee thinke eternall life is only in heaven eternall life is in this world in the excellent frame of the spirits of Gods servants 1 Iohn 3. 15. Life is the chiefe excellency communicated to the Creature and the highest life the highest excellency There is more distance between the excellency of the meanest weakest godly man in the world and the most eminent man for parts common gifts onely than betweene the meanest and weakest godly soule and the most eminent glorified Saint in the highest heavens the weakest godly man excels him that is most eminent in common gifts more than the most eminent Saint in heaven excells him for the glorified Saint is onely higher in some degrees in the same excellency which in the principles yea and in some lustre the meanest Saint on earth hath hee hath that which will at last grow up to heavens glory but the distance betweene him and the man who onely hath the excellencies of parts learning common gifts it is essentiall All parts and common gifts in the world can never grow up to this Thirdly yea this is not onely the life of Angels the life of heaven but the life of God himselfe for so it is called by God himselfe Ephes 4. 11. Seneca sayes of Reason that it is part of the Divine Spirit in mans body it is much more true of Grace it enables the soul in some resemblance to come the nearest that can be to live as God lives to work as God works it represents God in his highest glory and therefore it is called The lynage of God This shewes more to the world what God is than all the frame of Gods creation besides It is not as an Image which hath only the dead lineaments drawne though there be some beauty in this but as the Image in a glasse which presents the motion as wel as the lineaments yea and not only so but as the sonne that beares the Image of the father and this represents the life or as if a glasse had life in it and so could enjoy the sweetnesse the good of that Image it represents unto it self This Spirit is such a living glasse of the blessed God that it enjoys the good and sweetnesse of that Image of God it hath in it Yea one degree higher it is called the very Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. as if it were nothing else but a sparkle of the Deity it selfe Seneca has a strong speech concerning mans soule What can we call the soule sayes he but God abiding in an humane bodie If a soule that hath only naturall excellencies comes so neare God how neare then comes it to him when raised by those spirituall and supernaturall excellencies we have spoke of Yea yet there is an higher degree than this It is called the glory of the Lord Rom. 〈◊〉 3. yea a higher degree than all the former the excellencie of this spirit is such as it is one spirit with God himselfe 2 Cor. 6. 17. He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit It was the excellencie of Ioshua that hee had the spirit of Moses upon him of Elisha that hee had the spirit of Eliah what is it then to have the Spirit of God himselfe yea to be one spirit with him Put all these then together godlinesse by which this other spirit is raised higher than common spirits it is the life of God the Image of God the divine Nature the glory of God yea one spirit with God and is not here an high and glorious excellencie Fourthly this makes him wheresoever it is fit to glorifie God in the world and so the soule thus endued is not onely a glasse to represent a living glasse to enjoy the comfort of what it doth represent but as a glasse to reflect upō the face of God himself the glory of his own Image and that by a principle within it self Other glasses can reflect upon the thing whose image it hath if acted by a hand externally but this by an inward living principle and so gives God his glory actively which no other creature can doe but Angels and mens soules who have these spirituall excellencies in them Were it not for a few of these spirits what glory would God have in the world how little would he be minded or regarded But these are they who have high thoughts of God who have trembling frames before him who do reverence feare adore love cleave to trust in magnifie the Name of the great God in the world these sanctifie his Name in his worship they worship him as a God they worship him in spirit and truth and such worshippers God seeks Ioh. 4. 23. as these he highly esteemes of and much rejoyces in these take notice of him in all his creatures in the wayes of his providence and use the creatures for him from whom they are the glory of God is deare and pretious to these this is the excellencie of their spirits they are not sunke in the dregs of the world but being kept in some measure in their purity they worke up to God doe as it were naturally flow to God as to their Center Fiftly these are such as are fit to stand before the Lord to have converse and enjoy communion with him Dan. 1. 4. we reade that those that were judged fit to stand in the Kings pallace before King Nebuchadaezzar they must have no blemish they must
bee well-favoured and skilfull in all wisdome and cunning in knowledge understanding science and taught the learning and the tongue of the Caldeans Every spirit is not fit to stand before the King of heaven to have converse with him none but the reasonable creature is capable of any such thing as communion with God and it must bee the reasonable creature thus raised they must bee men of other spirits A man of an excellent spirit cannot endure converse with base sordid spirits much lesse can God who is that blessed holy Spirit No creature can have communion with another but such as live the same life hence the beast cannot have communion with man because mans proper life is rationall these are the spirits who being partakers of the life of God are fitted for converse and communion with him Likenesse is the ground of all liking in communion it is the likenesse they have to God that makes God to delight in communion with them God loves to dwell with these and that in a speciall manner 2 Corin. 6. 16. As God hath said I will dwell in them and walke in them I will bee their God and they shall be my people the words are very significant in the Originall I will in-dwell in them so the words are There are two in s in the Originall as if God could never have near enough communion with them Psal 4 1. 12. Hee sets them before his face for ever as loving to look upon them Now how great how inconceiveable a dignity is this for the poor creature to have this neare communion with God Cursed bee that man saies that noble Marquesse Marcus Galeaceus that prizes all the gold and silver in the world worth one dayes enjoyment of communion with Iesus Christ he was a man of another spirit who spake from his owne experience of that sweet he had found of communion with Christ who had parted with much honour and riches for him Enoch and Noah who were men of other spirits in their generations are said to walke with God God tooke them up even in this world to walke with him many a sweet turne have these spirits with their God God delights to have them neare him that he might reveale and cōmunicate himselfe to them these know much of Gods minde the secrets of the Lord are with these and to them he reveales his Covenant God doth not love to hide his face from these That hidden wisdome which the Princes of the World knew not which eye hath not seene eare heard neither hath entred into the hearts of men to conceive yet hath the Lord revealed them to us by his Spirit saith the Apostle 1 Corin. 2. 10. even by that Spirit that searches the deepe things of God and by vertue of this communion these can prevaile much with God As it is said of Iacob Gen. 32. 28. as a Prince hee had power with God and prevailed Hence S. Bernard in his meditatiös giving divers rules of strictnesse of purging the heart of being humble holy and when thou art thus saith he then remember me as knowing the prayers of such a one would much prevaile with God for blessing Sixtly this spirit is fit for any service any employment God cals it to it is a vessell of mercy sitted for the Masters use Many honourable services God hath to be done in the world men of ordinary common spirits are not sit for them if they should be set about them they would spoile the work and dishonour God in it If a man have a choice peece of work he will not employ one that hath not abilitie to reach to it hee knowes the work would faile and it would be his disgrace When God would imploy some about building his Tabernacle hee fils them first with his Spirit so he saith of Bezaliel and Aholiab If a man bee employed in government hee had need be a man in whom the Spirit of God is as Pharaoh said concerning Ioseph Gen. 4 1. 3 8. When God chose Saul for government hee gave him another spirit so that hee was another man When God had a peece of work to doe of high esteeme beyond Sauls reach hee lookes out for another who had a more excellent spirit than Saul and saith I have found a man according to mine owne heart who shall fulfill all my will The excellency of a thing is in the use of it What can it do The excellency of the Angels is in that they are ministring spirits and the excellency of man is to be serviceable his excellency is not that he can eat and drinke and sport and goe fine but that he is of use fitted for what service God hath to doe in the world that he can further Gods ends in his workes that God may say of him I have found a man according to mine owne heart that is prepared to fulfill all my will When Esay Chap. 6. had his spirit purged signified by that signe of one of the Cherubims touching his tongue with a coale from the Altar he presently shewes the excellency of his spirit in this that when God had a choice piece of worke to doe and askes whom he shall send The Prophet readily and cheerfully answers Lord here am I send me doe but set the truth of God before these it is enough their spirits being gracious close with it yeeld to it obey it set about the work it shewes they should doe but when mens spirits are corrupt and unsavory there is such a stirre to convince them of Gods mind in that which is not agreeable to them so much a doe to prevaile with them to the practice though convinced that it would grieve a man to have to deale with them The excellency of the spirits of Gods people is set out to us very sweetly in that expression of the Psalmist Psalm 18. 44 As soone as they heare they shall obey me There is a wilingnesse of spirit to their worke what God would have what ever it be if they apprehend it above their reach they cast not off their worke but seeke to God for supply of ability knowing that there is spirit enough in God that God hath wayes enough to enable the spirits of his servants unto and carry them on in any worke he sets them about they know that God will never put any man upon any services but by one meanes or other he will fit his spirit for them for it is the great delight of God to have men in service to be of spirits fitted for service When the Devill himselfe hath any worke to doe he chooseth men who have spirits fitted for his worke and in them he delights If the worke requires boldnesse and impudence he hath men of daring spirits who will set upon it and goe thorow with it If it requires subtilty hee chooseth men of more moderate spirits who can keepe in their passions and secretly and insensibly worke their owne ends Wee reade