yet to see no body O Souls will you be warn'd by the noises of these Canons at distance shall that insatiable thirst and gnawing worm well view'd in the glasse of divine threatnings provoke you to mend Or will you stay rather till you feel the loins of wrath in its unsupportable burden and then cry out to late Alas thy Conscience then at every turn will dun thy Soul with that of Abraham to f Luk 16.25 Dives O Son remember c. Remember the many holy Sabbaths the pretious Sermons the earnest zeal of painfull Ministers to pull thee as a firebrand out of the fire Remember the good examples the pious presidents the melting admonitions the sore afflictions and fatherly visitations of God Remember me thy now sweltring Conscience that shook the often by the Collar that scared thee to some duties and gave thee many a warm Item of this wrath to come Remember how thou scoffedst at puritans and mourners for sin Remember that good spirit that cried to thee Return return harden not tâ—y heart hearken while 't is called to dâ—y But now vain is the hope or mercy vain to lift up the bitterest cries thou shalt find no place for repentance in the breast of God g Heb. 12.17 no change in his minde though thou seek it carefully with tâ—ars The day of thy blessing is past Now the hope of the hypocrite is cut off â—nd swept down like a Spiders Web. Now thou hast no rest from this angry teazd Vulture that knaws thy Liver night and day And that which puts the bloody and circumflex accent the abiding tone upon all thy maladies They are Eternall who can dwell with a Is 33.14 everlasting burnings who will set b Is 27.4 briars and thorns against him in Battail who can enter the Lists and contend with consuming fire when it shall devour before him and be very c Is 50.3 tempestuous round about him when he shall shew d Is 30.3 31. the lighting down of his arm with the indignation of his anger with the flame of a devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hailstones When the pile of Tophet shall be fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone shall kindle it These are the fiery Serpents the Haseraphim the Devills the fell Dragons that gape with open mouth that hisse with inflamed tongues and pour out floods of venome at the further end of the grave upon every impenitent sinner O that the terror of the Lord would perswade men to take hold of his arm to makepeace with him and to be e Job 22.21 at rest O that I could rowze vain man from the lap of pleasure Will ye sleep on the e Pro. 23.34 top of a Mast in such a rowling and â—umbling tempest when every whist may tosse you into the deeps of Hell Be wise at last if possible and shale off your senseless slumbers O hard heat that tremblest not at the rattling of his Chariots when he clotheth the necks of his Horses with thunder against thee as in the day of Battail That 's a hard heart which is not frightd at it self and what will be the event Ask not me saies f Bern ad Eugen. f. 237. a. Bernard but ask Pharaoh Be instructed by the Egyptian Carkasses on the shore of the Red-sea Will you learn to g Ps 2.12 kisse the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little O when it flames all a broad how terrible is it The flames of London were but painted fire to this That suckt up houses but this h Mat. 10.3 immortall Souls But where 's the Remedy O kisse the Son lest he be angry O blessed Son O gracious Saviour that 's a I. 2.12 angry if he be not kist and griev'd if he be not loved He loves b Pro. 8.17 36. them that love him and complains that they wrong their own Souls and love death that hate him Vile Sinners we are angry with him because he calls for love who needs not care for 't le ts be angry with our selves because we give it not He 's angry with sinners that Sinners kisse him not V. 3. Such as cast away the cords of his Laws he casts about them the cords of his love And must such sinners kisse him yes they kisse the creatures why not him he made our hearts he loves our hearts and chides to have them 'T is a jealous love no waters quench but such as freely run into it Here 's loving anger and wrath in grace he fights with kind anger that he may embrace with love 'T is the heat of love that kindles his anger but if neglected 't will blaze into a flame His love hastens us with the voice of anger that the fire of his anger consume us not His anger calls us from his anger but not to his anger but to his love His mouth checks us that we may kiss it and his heart is moved for us that we may move into it when anger warns 't is loving anger but love too long abused kindles the flame of wrath If so much love in this holy anger to bring us to him what manner of love in those blessed kisses when we come Let 's then love his anger and kiss his love For happy are all they that put their trust in him Ps 2.12 You that are living hearken to his anger that ye may never feel it lay this love to heart and consider its latter end This love will gather the Saints together and set apart the godly the kind c Ps 4.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benignus in heart d Ps 50.4 that love him for himself For such have made an everlasting covenant of Salt with him by sacrifice CHAP. VII Of a Saints Comforts against all the Evills in Death .. I Will fear no evill saies David For thou art with me thy crook and thy staffe they comfort me Here are evills great and manifold in this Valley of Death evills to be feared and trembled at but not by a David A Saint will fear no evill what David no evill not the evill of losse nor the evill of sense Anacephalaeosis not the parting from many sweet injoyments not the curse of the Law thundering from Sinai and lightning from Ebal not the conflicts of conscience nor the darts of Satan not the pangs of sickness nor the pangs of death not the mouldring dust nor unsavory stench not the hideous darkness nor the tedious night of the grave as you may perceive by the foregoing Chapters O valiant David when God stands by thee what do'st thou not stagger at the doctrin nor fear the event of thy resurrection to Judgment not the strictness of that awfull Judg nor his doomfull sentence nor the long face or silver hairs of Eternity No no! David will fear no evill and here
unto him in raiment of needlework at the wedding day Now 't is soiled with many a drop and many a foul spot but then as pure as God would have it Now the more 's the pitty 't is patcht and ragged many a Saint is out at heels in his holiness he walks disorderly and uncomely But then we shall have new Coats fine linnen clean and white Rev. 19 8. and change of Raiment from our elder brother Benjamin a Gen. 45.22 shall be fine indeed when he sits at the Table of the Ruler of Canaan 'T is holiness fits us for Table communion in heaven 't is porch communion in grace that brings us neer it hast thou never walkt with God in the porch thou shalt never sit down at the b Luk. 22.30 Table of Christ and drink the new wine of the Kingdome Again As God walks in the light of holiness he walks also in the holy Place of his Temple God delights in his Ordinances in his pure worship We walk with God when our hearts are in communion with him in Ordinances His paths are in the Sanctuary there 's his e Lam. 2.1 footstool and there his goings He d Rev. 2.1 walks among the golden Candlesticks In the Temple all talk of his glory while he sits at the Table of grace and the c Song 1.11 Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof There he hath f Ps 133.3 commanded the blessing and life for evermore Walking in Scripture when applyed to God in communion with Saints is exprest three severall waies Before God with God and after God To walk before God among others one speciall sense is that we are now upon to walk in pure and holy worship Coming up to the Temple is called a coming up g 1 King 14 9. before God our appearing h Ps 56.13 sitting i 1 Sam. 2.30 35. Ps 100.2 c. Ezek. 33.31 walking and abiding before him h And Jerohoam is branded on the account of false worship that he cast God behind his back As God commands his people they shall have no other Gods before him So he forbids any other worship then he hath instituted to serve himself with For he is k Exod. 20.5 a jealous God his eyes do see quickly l Exod. 32.8 and his jealousie will m Dent. 29.18 20. smoak fiercely against such a man and all the curses in the Book shall lye upon him and the Lord will blot his name from under heaven Bold and sawcy is that silly worm that presumes to chalk out a worship for the living God To walk with God is to walk in his wayes in his statutes and commandments to do them to eye his directions to feel and turn about with every guide of his hand We must n Ps 119. choose his precepts for our way and we shall have him for company and is the way so holy and our God so holy then blessed is the man that 's holy and undefiled in such a way Ps 119.1 and in such heavenly company The a Hos 14.9 wayes of the Lord are right the just shall walk in them but transgressors shall fall therein Every holy duty is a rock of offence and a stone of stumbling to a carnall heart he trips and stumbles and falls and rises no more But an upright heart and an upright way meet pleasantly with an b Ps 25.8 upright Lord that teaches sinners in the way and guideth the week in judgment c Pro. 11.20 Such as are upright in the way are his delight he takes pleasure in the path and person To walk d Deut. 13.4 after God is to choose God for our Captain and Leader to make him our example president and conduct The Israelites followed the cloud of Gods presence by day and the pillar of Fire by night in the howling Wilderness of Arabia till they came to Canaan When the e Num. 9.17 cloud was taken up then Israel journied and where the cloud abode there they pitched their Tents Saints must be imitators f Deu. 1.36 Josh 14.8 9. of Caleb and Joshuah to follow the cloud of the divine presence fully and this is the Churches prayer g Ps 80.2 before Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseth stir up the Ark of thy Strength march before us to lead and save us A holy and perfect God goes before and a holy and perfect People follow after Be h Mat. 5.48 ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect be ye holy in all manner of conversation For 't is written i Pet. 1.15 16. be ye holy as I am holy Not to come up to it but to come after it not to equall but to eye and imitate O perfect copy the more a Saint looks at it the more he mends his hand O the rare strokes in this pattern of holiness that enamours the eye to behold and quickens the hand to imitate As he is so are we k 1 Job 4 17. in this world as he walkt l 1 Joh. 2.6 so ought we So should we Lord and by thy heavenly conduct so would we Let Saints consider how Christ walkt how obediently to the Father how tenderly to the brethren how mortified to the worlds vanities When thy thoughts are tempering or thy tongue upon the string thy hand or thy foot hastning to action stop one moment consider would Christ do this m Eph. 5.1 and be followers of God as dear children Thirdly As God walks in holiness and in the Sanctuary of Ordinances So he delights to walk among a holy People he n Zeph. 3.17 rejoyces over them with joy he rests in his love and joyes over them with singing When Zion shines in holiness she shall be a Crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royall Diadem in the hand of her God She shall no more be termed Forsaken nor her land desolate But her own name shall be a Isa 62.4 Hephzi-bah and her Lands name Beulah For the Lord delighteth in her and her land shall be married The joy and delight of God is in a people like himself with such he will dwell rejoyce over them b 2 Cor. 6.16 16. above the joy of harvest and walk in them for ever c Pro. 8.17 I love them that love me saies Wisdome and who seeks me early shall find me Love sets the heart a seeking and the more we love him we seek the earlier I sought yea d Song 3.1 by night him whom my soul lov'd Night-searchers are Christ-finders a holy heart seeks a holy Saviour and a holy Lord delights to be found by it Christ absents not for want of love to us but to inflame our love to him he loves e Song 2.9 14. to stand behind the wall and to hear our moaning after him to look out at the e 2.9 window of heaven and takes pleasure to see our wandrings about to find him and
from the hony-comb Keep up thy feeling fellowship with God in the closest and choicest reflections upon his love and the fear of death will vanish Make conscience of secret sins and secret duties this will make way for secret communion and sweetly encrease it The more frequent and humbly familiar you are with God in holy reverence the more divine and soul-fainting emanations will flow from his heart to replenish thy soul and enlarge it for glory our a Ps 90.8 secret sins saies Moses are in the light in the broad day light of thy countenance Let 's consider a he sees the least aberration and wandering of our thoughts from his love let 's be as tender to avoid his displeasure as we would be joyfull in the beams of his face let 's b Ps 63 6. remember him upon our beds and meditate on him in the night watches Let 's c Ps 4.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commune with our own hearts and be still that we may commune with his and be joyfull Silete vacate be still from all passions and hurries give a vacancy to thy Soul to meditate on God and it will still thy fears The more our Souls are wrapt up in this communion the more they dye to the world and live to God Our life is a vapor to dying mortalls but death is a vapor to a living to a lively Saint But now let me end with a caution that 's mixt with a Cordiall A very holy Saint may set in a cloud and arrive at the haven in a storm God's tyed to believers by promise to save them but not to carry them in a Song 3.9 Solomons Chariot of the wood of Lebanon into Heaven Yet it stands firm what David sings in this present Psalm Thou art with me and therefore I 'le fear no evill When the Soul from feeling can chear up its spirits that God is with it It fears not who 's against it God for secret reasons b Luk. 24.16 may hold the eyes of some disciples that they may not know him to shew that all from grace to glory is from free love and that we can challenge neither grace to close with his Covenant nor assurance to discern our adherence The sprinkling of the Conscience from dead works the peace of God that passeth all understanding c Col. 3.15 to rule in our hearts and the joyes of the holy spirit all flow from the same Fountain All our springs are in Zion and bubble up from under the Throne of the Mercy-Seat Yea at the state of Death some ordinary Christians If meek and humble may injoy greater Visions then many gracious holy and sweetly gifted Ministers 'T is not alwayes the strength of Grace but the gift of influence that breeds and nourishes strong and bright assurance A Mary Magdalen shall call Jesus by the name of Rabboni When two experienc'd Disciples shall walk and talk with him many a mile and not see him nor taste him till the evening till the c Luk. 24 29. Supper of Glory But yet 't is rare for holy hearts to want these heavenly Visions The pure in heart shall see him in the Glasse of assurance as well as behold him hereafter face to face CHAP. IX Holy Appeals to God in Prayer great Comforts against Death DAvid was now at Prayer applying and appealing to God at owning and appropriating work telling God that he was with him Did not God know that he was with David Yet but God loves to hear from a Saint that he feels it A Saint must tell God that he feels it not to satisfie him as unacquainted with it For the Lord fills the Soul with himself and known unto the Lord are all his works from the beginning But because God delights to hear that we thankfully own and acknowledge it Thou art with me David speaks it upon his knees and with his Harp in his hands he sings it This Lesson Lord I learnt of thee wilt thou please to hear it Thou art with me in me and thou within me comest unto thy self I am full of thee and therefore my Soul over-flowes to thee Thy love is a fire which hath inflamed my heart and a Excellens sensibile laedit sensum being pent it preyes upon my spirits let it have it 's holy vent into thy bosome It multiplies upon it self and out it must wilt thou accept it For a while let it warm the strings of my Harp as well as of my affection and touch every tone with a flame of love as if a Seraphim had quickened it with a coal from the Altar Then let my Soul like fire ascend before thy Throne winged with that love from whence it came Prayer what is it but a flight of the Soul from it self to God A Soul affected with divine love hath Doves eyes its prayers hath Doves wings and flies with Letters of credence at its feet from the spirit within our Temples unto the holy Oracle within the Vail 'T is in Prayer that David pours out his Soul and sings Thou art with me he sayes not thou wilt be with me but inferres that God would be with him because he was so and therefore I shall fear no evill This God is our God a Ps 48.14 for ever and ever he will be our guide unto death and through death and after b Ps 73.24 death receive us to glory Faith carries the foot of prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Rev. 14.6 into the midst of Heaven as with Angels wings And as the Lord said to Joshua so may we say to praying Saints a Josh 1.3 every place that the soal of your foot shall tread upon that hath he given you the good land is before you go in and possesse it When we pray we enter the Court of Heaven where the Lord b Exod. 24.10 Ezek. 1.26 sits on a Saphire Throne embellisht with the morning Stars and the Rain-Bow of the Covenant round about him and thousands of Legions of Cherubims to minister to him We are taught by our blessed Saviour to pray Our Father which art in Heaven as if a Saint in prayer should account himself as it were assum'd into Heaven The Father sees us at all times but in prayer we doe Sistere nos coram present our Souls to be seen by him Should our hearts be in heaven when our souls are in prayer what heavenly hearts become so heavenly a presence as God's and so heavenly a quire as the Angells round about him Let 's pray that his will be done as it is in heaven that we be like a kind of earthly Angells that in all our prayers our wills may be hallowed into his d 1 Joh. 5.14 as when we shall come to heaven Then if we ask any thing e according to his will he heareth us To have our wills the best way is to have his holy will to be ours and then we may pray with reverence
19 12. secret faults or are purely cleansed from all the stains of hypocrisie But that the bent of the heart is to God that the constant pointing of the needle of our love is to heaven that we approve no sin not the least intumescence fermentation or rising of an evill thought without actuall combate or at least a serious inward habituall displicency of heart against it springing from that radicall hatred which is in us through grace against the least concupiscence Though when we b Rom. 7.22 would doe good evill be present with us yet there is a chrystall fountain of delight in the Law of God bubbling from the inward man that cleanses and carries away the very soil of our thoughts This holiness of heart conformity of will to the Law of God flowes from the grace that dwelleth in us Thou art with me saies David A holy God makes the heart holy the heart of a Saint by the light of holiness sees God a holy God to be with it In c Ps 36.9 thy light we doe see light the light of grace and we shal see light even the light of glory Many infirmities are and will lurk in the choicest of Saints The Ivy of sin will shoot its roots and fibres into the joints and cracks of our Mud-walls but when these fall that shall wither A Saint is alwaies hacking at the boughs of actual and stubbing at the root of originall sin His sincerity makes him to lay about him and though he can't appeal Lord I have no sin yet thus he can Lord be mercifull to me a sinner d Ps 51.9 Hide thy face from my sins the face of thy justice the face of thine anger and look upon the e Ps 84. â— face of thine anointed within the vail f Ps 55.1 hide not thy self from my supplications g Ps 119.19 hide not thy commandments from me O h Ps 69.17 hide not thy face from thy Servant I am i Ps 119.94 thine Lord save me for I have sought thy Precepts I have kept the waies of the Lord and have not k Ps 18.21 wickedly departed from my God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have not dealt so wickedly as to go away from God and his holy wayes through the tentation of any wickednesse Not as if there were any departure from God that were not wicked but I have not committed so great a wickednesse as to fall away from the wayes of God His Judgments a Ps 18.22 were before my face and I did not put away his Statutes from me Neither his Statutes in respect to purity of worship nor his judgments that is his judiciall Law in respect to morall obedience Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to the cleannesse of my hands in his b V. 24. eye sight To wash our hands in the Laver of the Sanctuary before his eyes because he sees them not because men see their impurity David would not rake in any foul dunghill of sin or pollute his fingers with the pitch of bribery or the sanies the ulcerous matter of any corruption because God saw him Nay I was upright c V. 23 before him and have kept my self from mine iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have guarded watcht and strictly observed my self as to mine own iniquity whatever it were ambition lying or any fruits of a sanguine complexion Can'st thou thus appeal to God in Prayer that thou keepest thine eye upon God and that the eying of his face guards thy heart from sin Thou may'st then cheerfully infer that God is with thee that he will enlighten the lamp of thy Soul with the light of his love and thus lift up thy Soul with David The Lord my God will enlighten my darknesse and though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no evill for thou wilt be my guid to glory Section 2. A second Appeal may flow from a retrospect a reflection on a well spent life He that hath faithfully appealed about the sincerity of his heart may doubtlesse reap his Sheaves with joy from the Harvest of a holy life For out of the abundance of the heart d Mat. 12.34 the mouth speaketh the hand worketh and the foot runneth In whose hearts are the a Ps 84.5 waies of them that passe through the Valley of Bacah up to the Temple of Beracah Such as have Gods holy waies in their hearts want not feet to walk and run in them when the heart is in the foot it runs nimbly like a Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether They goe from strongth to strength till they all appear before him in Zion Thy law is in b Ps 40.7 8 my heart that 's the root of obedience and therefore lo I come to thee When the heart believes the c Rom. 10.10 mouth confesses unto Salvation when the heart is fixed settled and calmed from carnall fears then d Ps 57.7 108.1 the tongue praises the harp warbles and the ten-string'd Instruments of the Soul make the Temple-Marbles to ring aloud of his glory When the heart bubbles up with a good matter e Ps 45.1 then the tongue becomes the pen of a ready writer The body alas is but the f Rom. 6.13 weapon the organ and altar of the soul When some persons are impeacht of an ungodly life they retort let every one answer for himself their hearts are good and that they are no hypocrites But can hearts be good when lives be naught or can lives be unholy when hearts be gracious Such as the vein is such will the metall prove that 's melted from it as the fountain such is the stream as the root such the fruit like star like influence The Pleiades will soften with showres and Orion will bind with frost The cause and its effects are of the same blood and kindred Out g Pro. 4.23 of the heart are the issues of life naturall carnall and spirituall Whoever can look back on a well ordered conversation to him shall be shewn h â—s 50.23 the Salvation of God He that hath his Quiver full of holy works may shoot at this enemy Death in the gates The ungodly cannot i Ps 1.5 stand in Judgment but he that delights in the Law of the Lord whatever he doth shall prosper when holinesse hath taken root in the heart it blossomes and flowers in peace of conscience and joy of the Spirit and brings forth pleasant fruits in the conversation and goodly spices in the hour of death Like the Psalmist in his affliction so a Saint at death comforts himself with the holy Songs he had warbled in his youth The end of the wicked is to be cut off Ps 77.6 and a Prov. 14 32. he is driven away in his wickednesse but the righteous he that hath walkt uprightly hath hope in his death Mark the perfect and
behold the upright for the b Ps 37.37 end of that man is peace He 'l give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold If there be any choicer thing than grace and glory and truly that 's God himself he 'l keep back nothing From whom from such as walk c Ps 84.11 uprightly He 'l shew d Ps 16.11 Ps 23 3 the path of Life but 't is to such as first have been lead by him in the paths of righteousnesse Happy man that can unfeignedly and skilfully tune Hezekiahs Song Remember e Isay 38.3 now now at the point of death O Lord how I have walkt before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Integrity of hearr and the goodness of his doings are his double appeal at the appearance of death Though the good we have done be very little yet if that little fruit grow from a sanctified root God graciously accepts it because 't is of his own planting As David spake of his royall preparations for the Temple So must we of all our graces duties services f 1 Chron. 29 14. All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee Do any fragrant spices perfume the air of a Saints discourse Or any pleasant fruits garnish the garden of a Saints life We must invite as the Spouse doth Let g Song 4.16 my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits The trees of righteousnesse are h Isai 61.3 of his planting that he may be glorified like the Trees of Lign-Aloes like the Cedars of Lebanon which the Lord hath planted and not man Numb 24.6 and Psal 104.16 i Phil. 2.13 To will and to doe to think and to act the hearts integrity and the lifes sanctity are all from his good pleasure Whoso can enter his appeal at the throne of grace with the testimony of his conscience that k 2 Cor. 1.12 in simplicity and godly sincerity he hath had his conversation in this world may rejoyce at the remembrance of the day of the Lord Jesus and long for its approach Section 3. A third Appeal concerns our love to God Opticks teach us that lines and raies of light come from all parts of a luminous body and traverse and cut one another at innumerable angles but some are centrall from the midst All the affections are but emanations beamings from the heart and will but love is the cardinall centrall ray What we love that sets all the wheels of the Soul in motion Love 's the commandresse of all our forces It a Ps 86.11 unites all the powers under its banner and leads all the squadrons of the soul into the fortress of Gods name The Soul before acquaintance with God was like a bird wandring from its nest but now she hath found where to lay her a Ps 84.3 young even all its unfledg'd desires upon thine altars O Lord of Hosts my King and my God The Soul that 's in love with God loves him only thirsts pants cries after him Whom b Ps 73.25 have I in heaven but thee and none upon earth do I desire beside thee Are there no Saints there no Angels there Yes but they move in the stated inferior Orbs both of their own essence and his affection he mounts higher and the glory of the Sun of Gods countenance eclipses all these Stars that a Saint sees none in heaven to love like God All these he loves in the order of his ascension to the bosome of God A Saint passes by the Angells ascending and descending on Jacobs Ladder till he comes to the embraces of the c Gen. 28.12 13. Lord above at the top of all Non aliud tanquam illum as d Bernard f. 94. b. Bernard heavenly non aliud praeter illum non aliud post illum A Saint loves none like him none besides him none after he hath tasted of his loveliness And again Nec pro illo aliud nec cum illo aliud neâ— ab illo ad aliud convertamur The Soul embraces none in stead of him none in competition with him neither turns about from him to any besides him Bern. p. 77. b. Bonum est magis in camino habere te mecum quam esse sine te vel in coelo It 's better to be with thee in a Furnace then in Heaven without thee A Saint loves heaven for God not God for heaven Heaven is heaven because God is there and where ever God is that place is a Saints heaven As a faithfull Spouse is not taken with the Jewells Bracelets and Ear-rings but the lovely person that gives them 'T is not the place but the person not the Palace but the Prince not the glorious Throne but the Father of Mercies upon it God lov'd first and kindled these holy flames and whither doe they towre but upward into the element of love within his bosome O let my prayer saies David a Ps 141.2 Dirigatur instar coâ—umâ—â— be directed as incense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of my heart like a pillar of incense No incense was fragrant to God but what smoaked in the fire that first came down from heaven no love but that which first flasht from God O let our love stream straight upright into heaven in perfumy and spicy pillars not waved by chill blasts of the worlds tentations The Torch of our affections was first kindled from b Ezec. 10.6 between the wheels of the chariot of Cherubims and it lights our winged feet into the Chamber of Presence We have none in heaven to love and none in earth to desire but God Here upon earth there 's nothing desireable but God In heaven there are things desireable but nothing so lovely as God He is the only prime and ultimate object of the Souls satiety Hearken to this c Ps 45.10 O daughter consider his lovely and beautifull glory incline thine ear and forget thy fathers house The memorable relish of the song of divine love inchants the Soul with a holy forgerfulness of old terrene relations So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty O Queen of Zion forget thy black Egyptian Father and all his tawny-moor Princes of the adust race of Cham. Run to the arms of thy Solomon desire him upon earth and love none besides him in heaven and he will greâ—tly desire thy beauty Thy beauty a Alas 't is his beauty that shines upon thee First thy beloved is thine and then thou art his he plants his Lillies and then feeds among them But let 's descend a little and try the pretended love of mortalls by these higher than Lydian touchstones Dost thou love any thing in the world more then God above God beyond God without God and not in order to him How then can d 1 Joh. 3 17. the love of the Father dwell in you Dost thou love him
more then these and yet spendest so little time in communion Communion manifests where a mans heart is and the measure of Communion is the Standard of our love We would fain have a sense of his love and yet watch not for the presence of his person When Christ knocks doe our Souls melt within us When he cries a Song 5.2 Open to me my sister my love my dove my undefiled doe the everlasting dores fly abroad at the voice of the King of Glory Love and Kingdomes abhorre Rivalls Do I not hate them that hate thee saies David b Ps 139.21 yea with perfection of hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thine enemies are enemies to me Can'st thou love carnall friends and vain persons their frothy jests and squandring of precious hours with vain newes the sinfull pleasures the Soul-choaking and strangling profits of the cheat and grand Imposture of the c Ezek. 28.18 Tyrian traffick of the world And yet darest say that thou lovest God Thou art a lyar and the truth d 1 Joh. 2 15. is not in thee Vain distinctions will taste like wormwood and gall and wine e Mark 15 23. of myrrhe when thou appealest at Death He that spends his time his strength and brains f Joh. 6.27 for meat that perisheth g 1 Cor. 6 13. the belly that hides it must perish with it But living bread and living water that comes down from heaven nourishes our love to the doner and nurses up fair countenances to stand before the King of Glory There 's many an empty headed talker that wears in his Cap the aiery plume of profession and yet locks up his pennies in chests of flint The hammer of judgments the fire of divine wrath will scarce melt down a few drops to comfort a brothers bowells then 't is tinctur'd with the bitter fears of the ruin of his family or at least that he shall not raise it to the dignity of his ancestors The Axe of the sorest affliction can hardly hew off a few scattering chips to warm a poor brothers Cottage They keep h Deut. 26.13 Jos 6.19.24 hallowed things in their house without fear of Achans curse They hide in their Tents things that should be devoted to the Sanctuary This sinks many a fair estate 't is a worm at the root because they consecrate not of their gain to the Lord of the whole earth O ye of no faith Mic. 4.13 is this your false love If faith work by love love be a fruit of faith and love to a Brother be the token of love to God Where 's your faith or love to God or Brother But here 's not all I am asham'd of the converses of Christians Dost thou love God and talkst all day of the world Baineson the Ephes p. 201. Holy Baines gives it as a notable character of a carnall heart whose conference is cold and carelesse and for the most parr about unnecessary and curious Arguments As whether we shall know one another in heaven or not Whether Hell be in the Ayr in the Earth or where it is or like some of the hollow hearted and Sickbrained Schoolmen 1 Tim. 6.4 of what mettall the Trumpet of the Archangell is made whether Gold or Silver Such have hot heads but cold hearts they are branded by the Apostle Paul as proud knowing nothing but doting about questions strife of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evill surmisings perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth you shall hear them lavish out many impertinent words about idle controversies tending to jangling and meer vanity Differences about some Historicall matters and doubts about reconciling seeming varieties in the Scriptures these things shall awaken their drowsie minds tip their tongues with some discourse that they may seem pious and cheat conscience smoothly Alas at the hour of death conscience will shew it self to be no fool but will call all these things to mind with deadly horror What we love we love to talk off You may fetch out the hearts of Lovers by talking of what they love though otherwise prudent persons Love gilds the tongue with eloquence It makes the dumb to speak as Codrus his mute Son when the Fathers life lay at stake Love is a native an overflowing Oratour When it gluts the tongue with its fulness that it cannot utter then it proclaims the heart by blushes and casts forth it self at the windows of the eyes by quick and nimble glances It s a Song 8.5 as strong as death many waters can't quench it nor floods drown it It contemns Gold and all the Substance of thy House Is thy love sincerely inflamed to God A Kingdome a World a Heaven can't buy or bribe off thy heart from God Methinks when I stand and muse upon Soul-sick mortalls as they run up and down the streets of London and strike fire upon the stones and kick up the dirt and justle and quarrell for hast To see them reel about the lanes and alleys like drunkards intoxicated with the venemous cup of profit while their b Job 3◠5 foot hasteth to deceit oh what a dirty heaven have these bemired wretches what a pittyfull molehill doe these giddy pismires huddle about and scarce deserve at last to taste of the Parthian banquet with Crassus to have molten Gold but Kennell filth powr'd down their Throats with this Epitaph Satia te stercore quod sitisti be fil'd with the mire for which thou hast thirsted Oh how greatly should we pitty and mourn over the faln estate of man when we behold such wofull spectacles of decayed reason so far from rationall actors that they rather sustein the distracted person at Athens For though they say not yet by their deportments seem to wish that all the Ships in the Thames were theirs that all the Wharfs Cranes Ware-houses and their Stowage were all theirs As if the Lord had set a Job 34.13 the world in their hearts not to contemplate his wisdome in its beautifull structure but to adore it as a God They spend their spirits in heaping of clay and compass themselves with thick clods of the earth Most mens lives are exhausted in playing for glistering Counters he is counted wisest that lurcheth most Though Solomon the wisest of all mortalls determineth by the guide of Gods spirit that bread is not to b Eccl. 9.11 the wise nor riches to men of understanding nor favour to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all But yet in all ages among the depraved and frothy spirits of the herd of this vain world Riches and not wisdome advances to honour and the raw unsavoury undigested blatterings of rich misers are lickt up by fools like themselves as if they were Delphian Oracles But oh lamentable state of the faln children of Adam to grind out their dayes with sorrow and to pour out the strength of their nerves
Contemplations ON MORTALITY Wherein The Terrors of Death are laid open for a Warning to Sinners And the Joyes of Communion with Christ for Comfort to Believers Phil. 3.20 21. We look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body Bernard To the Knights of the Temple The death of Christ is the death of my death because he died that I should live for how is it possible that he should not live for whom life hath dyed LONDON Printed in the Year 1669. To his highly honoured FATHER Mr. Samuel Lee Grace and Peace be multiplied from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Honoured and Dear Sir THis little Tract was hatcht by the warmth of your desires it hath broke shell too hastily It looks but callow and speeds to your bosome for wing and protection The bonds of nature grace and promise oblige it from me I wish it 't were worthy your view might help your faith or raise your joy I shall wrap my Preface under the dignation of your paternal leave in a Testimony a Request and a Prayer My Testimony respects a gratefull acknowledgment of your singular goodness unwearied kindness and tender love from my birth upward When reason budded your wholsome and godly counsels ever dropt as rain Deut. 32.2 your speech as dew as smal rain upon the tender herb and as showres upon the grass The warmth of your affection cherisht me under the divine influence into a flower your wisdome then transplanted me into the nurseries of grace and learning and at length to the Muses garden at Oxford It was ever your pious care to place me under the shadow of holy Tutor I magnifie God and thankfully acâ—s knowledge your prudence and love My body indeed was ever but tender and weak your affections strong and vigorous your charges great your sollicitous thoughts were ever wakefull that no unkind storm might blow upon me I prosper'd for God was with you your prayers went up his blessing came down and lo by the grace of God I hope your labour hath not been altogether in vain in the Lord. You watcht me and the Lord us both and hath kept us as the apple of his eye and hath blest us together many lustres of years There 's none like the a Deut. 33.26 God of Jesurun that rideth on the heavens for our help and in his excellency upon the skie The eternal God be your refuge and underneath the everlasting arms Dear Sir my Request follows The God of Heaven hath sprung a branch out of your roots and given you to see a grand-son of your own bowels Blessed be his name who begins to speak concerning his servants a 2 Sam. 7.19 house for a great while to come Will you please to give him a principal share in the lifting up of your hands to the holy Oracle that the Covenant may never depart out of his mouth b Isay 59.21 nor the mouth of his seed which the Lord graciously grant him nor the mouth of his seeds seed for ever Will you please to lay your hands on his head and say of him as holy Jacob to Joseph c Gen. 48.15 The God who fed me all my life long to this day the Angel who redeemed me from all evil when I came over Jabbok from Laban my hard Uncle Bless the Lad let my name be named upon him let the good will of him that dwelt in the bush over shadow his heart Will you please to blesse him in the name of the mighty God of Jacob that his dayes may be long If it seem good in the eyes of the divine wisdome that he may grow to a multitude in the midst of the earth and see peace upon Israel that his smel may be of a field which the Lord hath blessed d Deut. 33 12. Let the Lord cover him all the day long let him dwel between his shoulders He is design'd for the Sanctuary if the Lord please to accept and gift him and to blesse his times with seasons and places of wholsome and pious literature Bee pleased to blesse him as a freewill offering in the name of the Lord that your little Samuel may be girt with a linnen Ephod to minister before him in Shiloh to burn incense and whole burnt offrings upon his Altar that grace being poured upon his heart and lips he may have the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to weary souls Honoured Sir My humble Prayer remains that the great God of Heaven would please graciously to support your spirits under the weakness of age that you may never want the staffe of Jacobs faith to lean upon in the hour of worship that your sleep may be sweet in Bethel upon the Corner-stone and afterwards may ascend the Seraphicall Ladder after the great Angel of the Covenant into Heaven that over all your sacrifices of prayer and praise that Angel of the Lord a Judg. 13 19. may do wonderfully that at evening-tide the covenant of free-grace may shine full in your face like the b 2 Sam. 23.4 light of the morning when the Sun is arising even a morning without clouds and that your assurance may spring like the tender grass by clear shining after rain that c Luk. 2.28 Simeon like you may take Christ in the arms of your faith while living and that Christ may warm your heart in the armes of his love when dying That you may sing aloud that lovly Song Now let thy Servant depart in peace For mine eyes have seen thy Salvation that having seen him here as a Prince of peace you may see him there as the King of glory If the following papers may contribute any thing I rejoyce waiting that blessed time when all our joyes shall be full and none d Joh. 16.22 24. take them away when Christ shall see us again and e Heb. 9.28 appear the second time to our Salvation When the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall also f Rev. 7.7 wipe away all tears not only from standing in but springing out of our eyes when the tear-fountain shall be dryed up and the g Punctum lachrymale Bartholin Anat p. 344. conduit stopt Here 's little but sinning and suffering mourning and praying there shall be nothing but holy enjoying rejoycing and praising Here we h 2 Cor. 5.2 4. groan being burdened with clay-tabernacles which set heavy and weighty upon us since the animal spirits are much exhausted by length of dayes and the sorrows of this frail life And yet we groan but not simply to be unclothed not meerly to put off our clay but to be clothed upon after our clay is baked in the earth into a transparent Porcellane Tabernacle fit for glory When Mortality shall be swallowed up of life and our vile bodies i
sends f Isa 30 2◠his holy spirit to whisper to us where he is Art thou like Christ Dost thou delight in g Song 2.14 hearing the voice and seeing the face and changing breaths in conversing with Saints Does the blood of David run in thy Veins Does thy goodness thy kindess extend to Saints on earth to those h Ps 16.2 3 excellent ones more excellent i Prov. 12.26 then their neighbour Is thy delight in these Princes of the daughters of Zion these k Ps 45.16 Princes in all the Earth God calls Zion his Hephzi-bah my delight is in her Dost thou call the Suns of Zion thy Hephzibam My delights in them So David did l Ps 16.3 Col-Hephzibam All my delights in them All his delight All his time and all his parts all his estate and all his affections are spent with God and Saints With his good will he could spend all his dayes in the Courts of Gods house and society of Israelites that come up to worship Art thou one of these then all these are thine because thou art Christs thy heart 's in them and one day in their company is a little heaven For what makes heaven Ps 84.7 but a purer and a longer communion with God and Saints Why did David so long and pant to dwell in Gods house that he calls it his n Ps 27.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one thing his one his only his darling his choice petition chiefly to a Ps 27 4. behold the amenities the pleasantnesses the beauties of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple to tast the b 36.8 fatness of his house the fat sacrifices of the peace-offerrings with God God had his part and the Priest his and the Saint his In c Lev. 7.14.15 c. the old Sacrifices all the fat d C. 3.16 was the Lords but in the spiritual sacrifices all the e Isa 25.6 Ps 63.5 fat is a Saints at the Gospell mountain when the cloth is spread for the feast of fat things of fat things full of marrow when the wine 's mingled and f Pro. 9.2 the rable's furnisht and Wisdome cries g Song 5.1 Eat O friends and drink abundantly O beloved But this is not all yet more then all besides though David love God above all seeks him before all and loves Zion for finding God there yet the Saints he loves too and therefore delights to go to Zion to meet the multitude that kept holy feasts in h Ps 42.4 the courts of God Hamon i Turba tripudians chogag To rejoyce with the multitude of dancers and hear the joyfull k Ps 89.15 sound where they are still l Ps 84.4 praising him and m Ps 145.11 12. talking of his power They sing of his righteousness his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his Kingdome Whereas the man that pleads his name in Zion Court-roll he that 's n Ps 87.5 7 born there delights to be there among the Singers and Players on Instruments he loves the Songs of Zion For all his Springs are in Zion and stream from the God of Zion Would you sind a Saint or would you find your self to be so look in the Courts of Zion in pure Ordinances with a pure God do all true Saints converse Do'st thou enquire for the o Song 1.7 8. foot-steps of the flocks of his companions Perhaps the Fathers flock the little chosen flock of Christ is with his son Moses some faithfull Shepheard in the p Exod. 3.1 2. back-side of a Desert coming to the mountain of God and there see Visions of the flaming Bush and the Angell of the Covenant in it Do'st thou delight where Christ does feed though in secret and retired corners and holdest communion with Saints there 'T is not glittering pomp of outward services that takes the heart of a Saint that 's the mark of a Roman strumpet Joh. 420 2 King 16.11 Altare amascenum To worship in spirit and truth not in gaudy Gerizims or stately Samaritan Temples not to burn incense on Altars like those of Damascus but in naked and plain simplicity of the Gospel lies the beauty and glory and ornament of the true Church Divine institutions not a tittle beyond them of mens invention please a holy heart A true Convert alwaies inquires after purity of worship like the woman a Joh 4.20 of Samaria when Christ was working upon her heart is very inquisitive and busie about the truth of worship and Christ as ready and clear in answers Art thou a walker with God thou walkst then and conversest with him and with holy Saints in holy worship But is thy delight in vain Companions that 's an ill token Dost thou fancy and rellish b Mat. 15.9 vain worship and settest in the assemblies of superstitious Zealots It s a bad omen of a carnall heart and an ignorant head A mans company shews his moralls and a Saints his graces Where our treasure is there our heart and love and communion lies A vain habit and a vain gesture and vain discourse with vain and trifling spirits are the Sign-Posts that hang out from an empty and a vain heart Do'st thou bowl away thy time shoot away thy seasons and bett away thy precious hours among the wasters of the day of grace I fear thy profession is rotten at core David argues his integrity before God in not having sat c Ps 26.4 with vain persons nor having gone in with dissemblers or d 35.16 with hypocritall mockers in Feasts But that he was a Companion a Ps 119.63 of all such as feared the Lord and kept his Precepts Sheep do not use to company with hogs and lye down in the mire together you never saw Doves feeding upon Carrion with Crows and Ravens Such whom thou perceivest by a spirituall instinct and expectest to sing with thee in heaven do thou company with pray hear conferre and converse with here upon earth I need not bid thee If gracious the magnetisme the Loadstone of holiness will draw and allure thee The perfume of that precious ointment its fragrant aromaticall smell will attract thy society by a spirituall naturality Those that are c 1 Joh 4.7 born of God love the Brethren To issue this If thou findest inward solace and pleasure 1. In a holy conversation 2. In pure Ordinances And 3. In gracious Saints It s evident thou walkest hand in hand with God And by experience thou shalt feel both warmth conduct and sustentation from that holy hand He infuses lively spirits for motion directs thee in a straight way to the Land of uprightness and upholds thee from dashing thy foot against any stone of stumbling For thou lovest his Law a Psal 119 165. and nothing which God does to thee shall offend thee These tokens plainly manifest that God is with thee but dost thou feel it Can'st thou say it from an
in war warmth influenced into thy Soul by sitting under the b Ps 91.4 Feathers of the Almighty under the wings of the Cherubims in his holy Oracle Art rhou warm'd by Ordinances and inflamed in thy affections to God and through a holy cherishing vitall heat Can'st say with David thou art with me then humbly infer I will fear no evill He that walks in c Ps 89.15 the light of Gods face and under the warmth of his wings no evill frights him no Lion in the way turns him aside from the paths of holiness A righteous man under the sense of the flowings in upon him of the righteousness of Christ is as bold as a Lion and makes all the beasts of the forrest tremble He playes with that huge d Job 41.2.5 Leviathan of Death as with a Bird and bores his jaw with a thorne The head of this e Ps 74.14 Crocodile is meat for his Soul in the wilderness he spreads a banquet for his companions and parts him among his spirituall merchants he makes a gain of death and feeds upon the Destroyer For f 1. Cor. 3.21 death is his because he is Christs and Christ is Gods He carries the g Rev. 2.17 white stone of absolution in his bosome and fears not the day of Judgment Christ is h Gal. 1.16 revealed in him and so shall his glory The i Col. 1.27 Eph. 3.17 dwelling of Christ in his heart by faith is not only the bode of glory but roots and grounds him in love and inlarges his Soul to comprehehend with all Saints the interminable bounds the unmeasurable dimensions the unintelligible knowledge of the love of Christ till he be filled with all the fulness of God Though as yet he sees not Christ by the eye of sense yet he is enamour'd with him by the eye of love from the optick nerve of Faith and k 1 Pet. 1.8 rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory A Saint cannot conceive the greatness of Christs love nor utter the exuberancy of his own joy As the love of Christ flowes in so his joy swells overflowes and tides it into the bosome of Christ He is as full of heaven as he can hold and is ready to take his Phoenix-flight upon the wing of an extasie into Paradise But where 's the Saint that injoyes such heavenly feelings of the presence of God Did we search our experiments to feel our feelings and tast our tastings of God More would find the Well and drink the waters of assurance Ut nemo in sese tentet descendere nemo Will no man dive into his breast To seek the face of such a guest Hast thou a Well of living waters within thee and ne're a Bucket A Fountain and ne're a Bason of Meditation Be a worthy Souldier of Gideon a Judg. 7.5 6. lap with the hand of Faith b Bochart de animal parti col 674. hasten and conquer the Midian of tentation O how it strengthens the nerves inspirits and puts a new life in the sinews of these Champions of valour to fight the Lords Battails A sense a tast of the waters of divine love makes a conquering Saint Like Sampson at death slayes all his Philistins destroyes their God and their Temple together What the touch of God upon the heart is may be better felt then exprest and what ye can express none understands but he that feels None hear these Unison strokes but Virgin-Souls that have learnt b Rev. 14.3 the Song of the Lamb No stranger intermedles with a c Prov. 14 10. Saints bitterness at first conversion nor the sweet fruit of joy in assurance These spices grow in the d Song 4 12 enclosed garden bitter are they in the root and taste at first but send forth a fragrant scent when pounded in the Mortar of Meditation These waters flow from a Fountain sealed like the head of Nilus but at length by their nitrous streams impregnate all the champion plains of the Soul with fertile and teeming joyes A Saint distills them into Spirits of consolation and then like an expert Chymist circulates all his duties and graces in the closed glasse of experience at the Sun of Gods countenance into an oyl of joy 'T is etheriall and volatile and comforts all that mourn ' I is fragrant wine and highly balsamicall fit for a sick beloved it e Song 7.9 goes down sweetly causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak The love of God is a glorious object seen by the eyes of the Soul turn'd inward Experience is like the chrystalline humour through which and Meditation is like the tunica a Spigel Anat fol. p. 301. Bartholin 80. p. 351 Ed Lug. B. 1651. retina the Network-Coat of the Eye upon which the various kinds and species of divine love are cleerly discern'd Like as the curious varieties of all manner of objects are brought into darkned rooms by convex glasses So 't is with a Saint in the private room of contemplation when his glasse is placed in the roof of his Soul and all worldly objects are shut out a heavenly heart lets in only the admirable things that come from above All that 's in Heaven flowes in and paints the Chambers of the Soul like Solomons Temple within and adorns a holy heart in lively colours with Palm-Trees and Cherubims The Queen is all glorious b Psal 45.13 within Her clothing of wrought Gold from the Isle of Ophir her garments of Phrygian Needlework But all these ornaments beautifie the heart within The Kings c Song 7.5 Galleries within the Soul are hung with the Arras of Grace and Tapistry Stories of Gods love from Election to Salvation from Heaven to Heaven Lift up your heads ye everlasting d Ps 24.9 dores that the King of glory may enter and there e Song 7.12 receive his loves Naked innocency and godly simplicity holy integrity and unblameable purity of life are a Saints outward ornaments the choicest lustre and radiancy shines in the presence Chamber The Soul that has it beholds it with unsatiable delight enjoyes it and is even inebriated and scarce it self with the pleasant draughts of this cordiall Nectar It drinks abundantly of this holy anodyne to asswage its sorrows The joyes of Heaven pour'd in from the golden cup of assurance is a choice opiative against death It perverts not but exalts the intellectualls and translates a Saint in a trance to glory Hast thou then any spirituall senses are they f eâ—ercised to discern both good and evill Heb. 5.14 Canst thou tast the bitter evill of death in the forbidden fruit and cure that mortall gust with the g Rev. 2.7 Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God Eph. 1.21 2. Hath the h Head of Principalities and Powers commanded away the Cherubims with their flaming Swords from the gates of Eden Has the Prince of Life called
and sinews in digging and delving for coloured dust That rationall men the Princes of the world ordained to dominion over all the visible creation should embrace dunghills and cage up their Souls in a bag and sport to see those immortall beings to hop up and down in their Pockets Into so forlorn an estate are such noble creatures degenerated that their precious seasons are melted away between the comb and the Looking-glasse How many mean mens patrimonies doe some wear at their Ears and about their necks in Jewells How many pounds doe they squander in trifles while the necessities of the precious members of Christ call aloud for relief Does God threaten by Zephany c Zeph. 1.8 to punish Princes and Kings children and all such as are clothed with strange apparell Does Paul command in the name of the Lord that women adorn a 1 Tim. 2.9 themselves in modest apparell with shamefastness and sobriety not with broidered hair or Gold or pearls or costly array Does the Apostle Peter enjoyn that wives be adorned not b 1 Pet. 3.3 with plaited hair and wearing of gold and putting on of apparell i. e. costly attire Does the Lord so highly complain c Isay 3.16 of the haughty daughters of Zion that walkt with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes mincing as they went and making a tinkling with their feet That therefore he would smite them with scabs stincks with rents baldness sackcloth and burning instead of beauty and that the d V. 26. desolation of the Captivity should be their portion And dare the sinfull Minions and proud Peacocks of our age not only rob the creatures but their own families to brave and brazen it in the very face of heaven and defiance of his holy word why so much expence to paint frail clay and gild a potters vessell or which is worse to feed the lust of the eye and to adde fuell to the lust of pride We may say to them as the Prophet why trimmest thou thy way to seek love 1 Job 2.16 Did they dismisse their Bibles divorce their consciences and forsake all assemblies of worship they would not put religion to so great a shame not so highly inflame their account for the great day But alas Jer. 2.33 the love of vanity and conformity to the trifling and apish fashions of this world is not only the sin and sickness of the weaker sex while they seem even to puzle Satan to invent new ones to starch up their pride folly but even men are effeminated and lost and drunk with drown'd in sensuality luxury and madness But what have the fore-spoken-of worldlings no pretences And these followers of fashions no cloaks of excuse to cover their shame Yes having sewed on the Fig-leaves of a religious dress and taken up a form of godliness doe secretly scorn your pitty and justifie their being worldly to prevent being e 1 Tim. 5.8 infidells and think they may be covetous by anthority to provide for their families The other under the pretext of handsomness decency and comportment to their youth rank and quality hide the vanity and pride of their naughty spirits Both sorts have Christ often in their mouths for Salvation but too much hate his government they 'le seem to keep Sabbaths with some devotion but wish the New-moon over to set out Corn They 'l hast to Church but 't is to learn fashions and pry into others garbs and not their own hearts They 'l turn to proofs in their Bibles perhaps write Sermons and fling 'em at their heels chop up a few customary Prayers in their Families to stop the convictions of conscience and talk pro forma for custome and company sake of the state of the Church and matters at a distance But sirs this will not do the business of working out Salvation and making your calling and election sure O vain men where are your hearts and where your affections Let every one that a 2 Tim. 2.19 nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from injustice and undue scraping up the unrighteous Mammon It s observed that through the whole Bible no Saint is branded with the sin of covetousness Indeed our Lord hath forewarned his disciples to b Luk. 12.15 take heed and beware of covetousness and otherwhere to c Luk. 21.34 beware lest at any time their hearts be over-charg'd with surfetting and drunkenness and cares of this world and so that day come upon them at unawares If our Lord so strictly enjoyn it upon his disciples how much more on us upon whom the perillous ends of the world are come It seems there be greedy gluttons that that gorge in the world till they surfet and guzling drunkards that swallow it down to shamefull spewing If disciples are so severely admonisht of sitting too long at the worlds Table what need have others to be rowzed from their sumptuous fare lest with Dives they fall sick of their Venison and be summoned and carried from their suppers into d torments â— Luk. 16 â—3 How earnestly should men be charg'd in our daies not to make haste to be rich lest they fall e 1 Tim. 6.9 into the tentation and snare of the Devill not to trust in f V. 17. uncertain riches but the living God Most mens riches are their g Pro. 10.15 18.11 strong Castles and they answer the poor h 2 Ch. 18 23. roughly at their gates They trust in the Mauzzims these munitions these Temples of Plutus They pull at bâ—gs of iniquity i Isay 5.18 with cords of vanity and hale at twisted cheats as it were with Cart roaps So they be subtle enough to avoid the censure of men and the penalties of humane laws the judgment of God breaks no squares in their conscience They are like earnest mariners that tug and sweat and are even sick at the Capstang to weigh up Anchor and hoist Sail for new voyages They put all the blood-hounds of their sagacious thoughts upon the hot scent of a good bargain and if it mount away like a Prov. 23.5 an Eagle toward heaven they load it with many a secret curse and tye bitter banns to its talons till the flying b Zach. 5.4 roul return and enter into the house of these thieves and swearers to consume the timber and the stones thereof We may complain with Bernard c Bâ—â—n ad fratr sec â— f. 93. b. Citius ad mortem properant quam nos ad vitam Their d Prov. 5.5 steps take hold of hell and hasten faster to the chambers of death then others to the house of wisdome Surely deluded mortalls conceit that the world is of short continuance and like e Rev. 12 12. Satan come to it with such raging appetites as if they had but a short season Are not these men far from leaving their Ships and Nets to follow Christ they seem to
run Solomons race a new counts that Prince a fool but proves himself to be so God commanded Solomon to write a Book on purpose to save our labour to quench our drought to excuse our oil and to set up his Herculean Pillars On the one side he graves all is vanity on the other ne plus ultra sail no further For now there 's no terra incognita no more land nor continent nor Isle to be discovered hear the conclusion of the b Eccl 12 13 whole matter Fear God and keep his commandment for this is the whole of man Solomons Ships of speculation went round the world and brings tidings of more gold for covetous wretches and more Apes and Peacocks for curious and weak fancies but no new thing under rhe Sun The old pleasures indeed shall waft home new toils new vexations but no satisfaction to a judicious Soul A wise man therefore fixes his eyes upon divine wisdome and daily contemplates the ribs of Solomons Ship laid up in the dock at Eziongaber shatter'd with its sore travells and learns the great prudence to stay at home to study his own heart and to ponder the paths of understanding Alas then may we not pitty deluded bewitched entangled mortalls that still hunt their game and follow the hot scent through the wildernesse and forrest of this world Oh! how they puff and pant and sweat and leap hedge and ditch after the deep throated hounds of their boundlesse desires to catch a shadow It s a plain sign they know little and have tasted nothing of God to hunt so fiercely after smoak and vapour I will not say 't is unlawfull to hunt wild Beasts for the food of man or to make room and preserve his safety But this I 'le say to take pleasure in setting the creatures at variance to make a sport of the fruit of sin to make that a recreation which God has made a curse is the sign of one that walks contrary to God I read of no godly man but of four other hunters in Scripture Nimrod and Esau and Ishmael and the cruell hunter of souls and I am sure they are wild and bad companions But there are a world of hunts-men that pursue the pleasures of sin and the gains of unrighteous Mammon and oh how these ignes fatui these inflam'd meteors lead thousands into the bogs of eternall darknesse And as the ancient Heathens sang of hunts-men Nec praeda quam caede magis c. Nunc hominum nunc bella gerunt vio lenta ferarum That eager hunters of Beasts in times of peace were usually bloody hunters of men in time of war That man has no communion with God whose Soul is immerst and drownd in sensuall pleasures Such as walk in the vanity of their minds a Eph. 4 18 are alienated from the life of God such have little honour or love for God that forsake the fountain of living waters and suck the mud of the broken Cisterns of the Creature Their Souls are as earthy as their objects and their spirits as base as their pleasures But remember that to lay up thy Soul in thy Barns to tye it in thy Bags to lodg it in thy Parks to pack it in thy Warehouse or stove it in thy Ship These are dangerous places to look for it when the world is in a light flame Shall I commend unto thee O man a gainfull Trade and a pleasant Chase The first is to lay out all thy Stock for the Pearl of price The second is to fall in company with David and a Ps 63.8 follow hard after God and never leave him till thou get a blessing As b Ps 42.1 the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God Here 's a hunted hart turns hunter himself Sin hunts a Saint and he pants for God and at length meets with lovely Venison but 't is in the Sanctuary savoury meat that his soul loves he tastes it and blesses his darling before he dyes He feeds upon a Kid of the flock takes the Cup of Salvation and Praises saying thou hast dealt bountifully with me c Ps 116.7 Return O my Soul unto thy rest He has no rest upon earth no rest but in God and therefore return O my soul unto thy God He looks upon the whole earth as Tohu vabohu without form and void d Gen. 1.2 and all the fulnesse thereof to be but emptinesse the roating of the seas to sound forth their shallownesse and all the starry heavens to be like e Stellae nebulosae vanishing clouds Unlesse he feel the warmth of the spirit of God moving upon the waters of his soul If thou hast indeed had spirituall feelings of God thy Soul 's warm'd thy thirst to the world slaked to God inflamed thy hot inquisition and pursuit of the creature coold and checkt Fools gather Cockleshells and Peebles when there lyes before them a mine of Gold or a rock of Diamonds And here 's the vast difference between the possessors of worldly and the inheritors of heavenly treasures Those make the man covetous of an evill e Hab. 2.9 covetousnesse to his house the other ennobles the minde with a communicative generosity And there 's reason for 't though no reason for sin yet there 's a reason to be rendred why the sinner acts so For the first loses by his hoarding and the other gains by his spreading The graces of the spirit in the soul as well as in the whole Church are a fountain of gardens f Song 4.15 a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon They are not wells pent up but overflowing Come saies David and I le tell you what g Ps 66.16 God hath done for my soul Experience in these Visions is like sailing upon an Ocean that hath an infinite round no diving to the bottome no kenning of a shore There 's alwayes a terra incognita an unknown land in heavenly mysteries and the more we discover it yields more various and excellent pleasures New fruits new tastes new paradises new gardens of delight new songs and new joyes for ever The Songs of the Lamb will be new a Rev. 14.3 to all eternity Here in this life the soul hoists up sails from the port of conversion on the waters of Merom the bitter waves of repentance mourning and tentation for sin then spreads them upon the Sea of Galilee in sweet communion with Christ and his holy disciples in the ship then passes the dead sea without danger and at length with a prosperous gale falls into the vast Ocean of eternall glory But to reentrench he that feels what God is to his soul is in wardly fild with a sense what he will be Death is no more able to amuse a holy soul inbosom'd with God and season'd with experiences of his love then the Carkass of the Lion was to fright Sampsons Parents nay it fed them with life-honey dropping
as Luther said Let our will be done Gerson de Mendicitate f. 760. for our will is become thine Ne tradas me voluntati meae O give me not up to mine own will but to thine The will of God is e 1 Thes 4.3 our sanctification and a Saints renewed will delights in the holiness of God Here 's a union of wills in the communion of holinesse For both f Heb. 2.11 he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one g Joh. 17.23 I in them as our Lord in his heavenly prayer and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one Receive we such a Kingdome h Heb. 12 28. let us serve him with reverence Nothing renders us more revenent in our services then an inward sense of the divine holinesse that sills his essence and is the lustre of his Kingdome This argument of the divine holinesse to put us in a reverent frame is often pleaded in Scripture Thou art h Ps 22.3 holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israell Thou dwellest in the Temple where they are still praising thee and therefore they serve and praise thee because thou art holy What services are the Cherubims continually ingaged in but crying Holy a Rev. 4.8 Holy Holy before the Throne Ye shall b Lev. 19.30 reverence my sanctuary my holy place I am the Lord. Holinesse is the attractive of Reverence from a holy heart The nearer we approach to a holy God the more awfull impressions are stampt upon a holy Soul I will be c Lev. 10.3 sanstified in them that draw nigh me saith the Lord and before all the people I will be glorified Drawing nigh to him commands sanctity in us and the more we sanctifie his name by our holy addresses the more we glorifie him He is d Exod. 15.11 glorious in his holinesse and therefore fearfull in his praises The raies of glory round about his holiness that none can behold and live should imprint submissive through filiall fear upon our spirits in his praises and services It 's true that God is to be feared as to the matter of his praises his dreadfull acts upon his Egyptian enemies yet when his wrathfull judgments have sunk the Chariots as lead in the deep waters still a holy fear should tune the e Timbrells and measure the Dances of his People in praise 〈◊〉 2â— 21. Serve the Lord with f Ps 2.11 fear and rejoyce with trembling we serve him acceptably when we attend his presence not with slavish but g Heb. 12. â—8 godly fear and when we rejoice in his goodnesse and tremble at his greatnesse our heavenly joy defends us from the base terrors of bondage and our holy fear from luxuriant wantonness Nay when h Phil. 2.3 we work out our Salvation in the Vineyard of the promises we must sweat at it with a Son-like fear knowing that our work is not worth our peny with due trembling being assured that when the Lord i Ps 36.6 preserveth one and lets another perish yet his righteousnesse is like the great mountains and his Judgments are a great deep O but say some where the spirit of the Lord is there is k 2 Cor. 3.17 liberty Again we have accesse with l Eph. 3.12 bolnesse by the faith of him Again we are invited to come boldly m Heb. 4.16 to the Throne of Grace and Again we have n Heb. 10.19 boldnesse to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus Truly some Translators seem a little too bold with the greek word and make other Christians thereby too bold with the thing unlesse the word boldnesse be taken in a very reverent sense it might better be translated by liberty or freedome that is from a spirit of bondage For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the notation and acceptation of the word in greek Authors and in its opposition to straitnesse and pentnesse of spirit in our addresses to God most properly signifies the speaking out the mind of a man fully with enlargedness of heart and fluency of expression 'T is an encouraging word to allure drooping and to incite and raise desponding weak believers not to spur on audacious irreverent and presumptuous spirits Improbe audes irrumpere in osculum oris si nec pedibus cum lachrymis Gerson de mystic Theolog. Tom. 3. p. 66 2. c. Saies Gerson thou art wickedly audacious to rush into the kisses of his mouth that hast not first washt his feet with thy tears I know God calls us to a more sweet and heavenly familiarity with himself under the Gospel Rev. 4.10 then when under the ancient pedagogy of the Law But let 's not be sawcy and put on our Hats in the Court Moses was commanded not to draw too nigh the flaming bush and to put off his shoes and so was Joshua Jos 5. all to signifie the danger of too much prying curiosity and the necessity of a holy reverence in the presence of God a Behold how the twenty four Elders fall down before him in worship and cast their golden Crowns before the Throne Let 's remember that we are but o Ps 73.22 Behemoth's great beasts before him But dust and ashes still worms and no men less then the least of his mercies nay when in heaven we are but glorified dust and sparkling ashes but spirituall flesh but atomes and lesse then nothing to stand before God The very heavens are impure in his sight and he charges his Angels with folly When they cry Holy Holy before him they cover their faces and may justly cry out with Lepers unclean b Lev. 13.49 unclean Their created holinesse considering its infinite deficiency from Gods is like folly and pollution and their lips uncircumcised before his unfadomable beauty inaccessible light and Angel-confounding holinesse And did they not suck in streaming raies of holinesse from beholding his face continually and drink in rivers of divine dignation to make and accept them as worthy they could never be able or fit to fly before his Throne or to be imployed in the messages of his services Ps â—3 22 Eternity is insufficient for the highest of finite beings to praise an infinite essence and that unsearchable abysse of holinesse glory and Majesty O then what 's man That God should visit him when we consider the impurity of the heavens and its celestiall inhabitants Nay what 's man That God should suffer him to peep and mutter out of the dust before him Well however come near but humbly and we may come freely come we reverently and what grace we feel within us we may appeal with before him Examine me O Lord and prove me sayes David a Ps 26 2. Ure reneâ— try my reins and my heart search me O God and b Ps 139. â—3 know my heart try me and know my thoughts Sit as a refiner upon me melt away the drosse
of my impure affections that my Soul may appear like glittering gold seven times purg'd by the fire of thy love Nay Lord thus David appeals thou c V. 1. hast searched and known me and oh how precious are thy d V. 17. thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them Thy thoughts of me and my thoughts of thee how precious to me O God how great is the sum of them Thy thoughts of electing love of justifying and sanctifying grace Nay thou hast thoughts for e 2 Sam. 7.19 a great while to come A great while indeed for they are thoughts of eternall f Jer. 31.3 love Thy thoughts in number transcend the sands on the Sea-shore the hairs of my head and the stars of heaven Archimedes may number the sands Spigelius the hairs and Hipparchus the visible stars But who can expend thoughts commensurate to the love of God The circle of his love cannot be squared nor its cubick root extracted We may study and pray g Eph 3.18 to comprehend with all Saints the glorious love of God in Christ But still it passeth knowledge and surmounts our numbers Well might David when waking h Ps 139.18 be still with God In the morning watches when his Soul was freshest his thoughts warmest his parts quickest while the yet-remaining darknesse presented no diverting objects to his eyes and the deep silence of the night distracted not his audience with various clamours Then David hath his Songs in the night Ps 30.29 as in the holy Solemnities Then does he meditate on the divine love and remember God i Ps 63.6 upon his Bed His wonderfull works and the thoughts of God concerning him he professes they could not be reckoned up in order before him Though he was stil with God searching and following after him yet l Joh 11.7 could not find out the Almighty to perfection But yet the holy man holds fast his confidence For thou art with me and I with thee God with us keeps us with him Doe our desires and affections hast after him they 'le bring in the food of assurance that he is ours Talem illum invenies saies Gerson a Gerson de Mendicitate spiritual f. 75. a. Op. 3. part qualis tu fueris in tuis desideriis Our spirituall desires longing and panting after God interpret and manifest the gracious motions of the divine love to us The more we seek him the sweeter we find him and the more we trust him the more he loves us Let us with David in all our straits make to him as our rock our refuge our strong Castle our Fortresse our City of Defence and Munition of Rocks b our Waters shall never fail and our bread shall be sure is 33.6 Appeals to God To Appeal to the Majesty of Heaven is a matter of most important moment because of his omniscience omnipresence his exactnesse in justice and judgment If our hearts c 1 Joh. 3.10 condemn us God is greater and knoweth all things but if our heart acquit us then have we confidence towards God yea d And 4.17 in the day of Judgment To be scalded with condemnation from conscience and from God too is double judgment and our hearts condemnation is but the harbinger to Gods Conscience is but the Prison till execution and if the earthly Prison be so noisome and dismall what 's the eternall It behoves all therefore that dare appeal to God to examine and try their hearts with impartiall strictnesse before they turn about their faces to heaven David spends the largest part of an excellent Psalm in choice ruminations upon the divine attributes and the works of God on his former experiences and deep meditations upon the all-searching eye of God before he dares to make an essay of a reverent e Ps 139.23 appeal unto him Holy Paul makes small account of being judg'd by the Church or by morall men or his own conscience in comparison with f 1 Cor. 4.3 4. divine judgment Our heart is g Jer. 17.9 deceitfull above all things who can know it But the Lord is a God of knowledg and by him h 1 Sam. 2.3 actions are weighed The ballances of the Sanctuary will turn at a grain of the least action yea at the thousandth part of a thought His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his piercing and searching eye enters the innermost parts of the belly His eyes doe behold his eye-lids i Ps 11.4 try the children of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Explorabunt They search into the hearts and pry into the reins of men The Lord sits in specula aeternitatis upon the watch-tower of glorious Majesty and discerns all the secrer recesses and caverns of the hearts of Men and Angells The Metaphor seems to be taken from Souldiers that stand upon the guard on a high Tower to observe and ken the approaching enemy When men doe connivere oculis even close their eyes and make as it were a small portion of a Tube with their eye-lids to exclude the light and discern objects the clearer or like refiners that look narrowly into the Crucible or Cople to discern when the melted Gold gathers into a clear and pure circle and hath cast out all its drosse All this is to shew with what nicenesse and accuratenesse the Lord doth pierce into the hearts of men When we consider the excellency of the searcher the curiosity of his observation that nothing escapes the Eagle eye of his Omnisciency when we ponder upon the purity of his Judgment and the equity of his tremendous tribunall who should not fear before him and tremble at his imperiall Majesty For who can stand If he doe but a Ps 143.2 enter into Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ne veniat let him not come toward the work saies the Psalmist unlesse we can stand before him To impose upon men is base hypocrisie but to impose upon the Maker and searcher of hearts is cursed Atheism abominable impudence b Ps 14.1 2 4. and corrupt folly of the works of iniquity When we enter our appeals before God we imply his all-searching providence his avenging hand his acquitting justice his pardoning grace the resurrection of the dead and the dreadfull Judgment-Seat of Christ ' Ev 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon this account c Act. 24.16 2 Cor. 5.2 saies Paul we exercise our selves in having a conscience void of offence in the sight of God that the d Ps 19 14 meditation of our heart may be acceptable in his sight our Strength and our Redeemer As to the matter of our appeals in prayer there are but four cases whereof I would treat in respect to our comforts at death Isa 33.16 Section 1. Our first Appeal may be about the integrity and sincerity of our hearts Not that we have escap'd all outward sins or perform'd all inward duties or can absolve our selves from a Ps