sort of Grace whereby God is wont to â—â—â—pare Men for special saving Grace 'T is his usual Method to bring his Works whâ—â—â— of Nature or Grace to their intended Perfection 〈◊〉 degrees He delights to glorify his Power 〈◊〉 and Goodness by advancing things to an observable be â—â—â—ty and excellency from very small or seemingly 〈◊〉 considerable beginnings Not to speak of the 〈◊〉 Creation of the World or of the fashioning of 〈◊〉 Child in the Womb and the production of other â—â—â—nimals and also Vegetables c. It is easy to take â—â—â—tice of the various Dispensations of the Law or 〈◊〉 venant of Grace and the gradual increase of Scripture-Light and Discoveries till at length the Sun of Righteousness himself appeared Heb. 1.1 2 3. But to come to the point 't is certain the new Creature is wrought by degrees and as God hath appointed a course of Means to be used Duties to be performed in order to our Conversion and Salvation So he affords the help of his Grace in various Measures as seems meet â—o his Infinite Wisdom Thus there are some commoner Operations of the Holy Spirit which usually go along with the Gospel and put Men into a nearer preparation for special Grace than they were in before Tho' God may sometimes even in an instant convert the most unprepared obdurate Persons yet it is not his ordinary Methoâ— so to do nor have any such Persons reason to expect to be thus dealt with As the Word is the Instrument by which God worketh upon Souls so he first enables them in some measure to understand it and then to believe it and so by it he awakes them from their stupid Security convinceth them of the Sinfulness and Danger of an unregenerate State Makes them solicitous about their eternal Welfare What shall I do to be saved How shall I escape the Damnation of Hell Thus they are brought to see their need of Christ as Men that are lost and undone without him As also to perceive the necessity of Holiness in order to Happiness Hereupon they make some Resolutions and fair Promises of amendment and put forth some seemingly hopeful endeavours to become new Men Insomuch that they are almost perswaded to be Christians indeed and are not far from the Kingdom of God Tho' they must be brought yet nearer or else they are lost for ever Now tho' all this fall short of a through Change yet it hath a preparatory tendency thereto Somewhat of this kind ordinarily goes before the work of Conversion Therefore such Impressions are not to be slighted 't is dangerous to smother Convictions by suffering the noise and hurry of the worldly Business or sensual Delights to divert our Thoughts from these things Secondly Special saving Grace determines the Soul to a sincere and hearty closure with God in Christ Here is the turning point this it is to which the foremention'd preparations tend And in which they must issue and terminate to make us Christians indeed 'Till this be done the Person is in a carnal unregenerate State We turn not unto God as God if we turn not to him as the chief Good and we turn not to him as the chief Good so long as we prefer any other Object or Interest before him I know indeed that the best of Men may sometimes have hankering Desires after their former Idols and for this they lament and mourn in secret But still the stated predeminant habitual bent of their Hearts is for God and there is nothing which they more loath themselves for than because they love God no more Hinc illae lâ—chrimae Mark 12.30 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength How many All 's are here Yet says one if we had ten thousand times more Powers and Principles we ought to love God with them all too It is an emphatical Translation of that Elegant Text of the Apostle Rom. 5.5 The Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts a covering of the Soul as the Waters cover the Sea O that God would fill up all my Capacities and make me yet more capacious O that he would take up all the room in me and O that he would make for himself more room in my Soul Mr. Shaw's Meditations pag. 30 31. Can you imagin that you love God at all in a saving sense if ye love him not above all Why this holy Love is the grand significant vital Motion of the Soul 't is the Root from whence all acceptable Service springs and upon which it grows or the Principle into which it is resolved 'T is for want of this that carnal Minds are not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 Our Eye must be singly fix'd upon God as our Supream End and chief Good and so it will be full of Light and our Hearts must be accordingly affected towards him A double Mind a Heart and a Heart as 't is in the Hebrew Psal 12.2 is hateful in the sight of God A divided Heart is a faulty Heart Hos 10.2 Hence turning unto God with the whole Heart is opposed to Treachery Falshood and an hypocritical shew of Conversion Jer. 3.10 Her treacherous Sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole Heart but feignedly saith the Lord. As for the Interest of the great Mediatour in this matter himself hath plainly shew'd us that if we love Father or Mother Wife or Children c. yea or our own Lives more than him we are not worthy of him cannot be his Disciples Mar. 10.37 Luke 14.26 Ye see here how he insists upon the prevailing degree of our love to him And indeed the serious contemplation of the love of God in Christ is a most powerful Means to raise up our Souls to sutable returns of love to God again He that hath known the Son hath also known the Father Joh. 14.7 Behold here and admire the wonderful Wisdom that appears in the contrivance of our Redemption Our Sin had brought us under the just Wrath and Displeasure of the Almighty And also had corrupted our very Vitals and turned our Hearts against God And now let us see how aptly things were laid for the removal of both these that so the Reconciliation might be mutual and compleat He to us and we to him 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. God hath provided a ransom for us to make way for his being reconciled to us without any reflection upon himself or his Government To this end he hath sent his Son into the World to reveal his Love and Grace and to do and suffer so much for us And that we might be capable of a saving Intereâ—â— in the benefits of this great Redemption we are obliged to believe in the Redeemer and by him in God 2 Cor. 3.4 1 Pet. 1.21 Now 't is plain that such 〈◊〉 Faith tends in its own Nature to produce holy Loâ—â— to
working our Hearts to that temper whereof the Psalmist's Words are very expressive Psal 73.25 WHOM HAVE I IN HEAVEN but Thee c. When this is done then is the Heart of the Old Man broken then the Soul stands no longer at such an unkind distance from God as it did before But being begotten of him hath an ingenious Child-like Affection towards him O my God I can resist no longer thou art stronger than I and hast prevailed thy Love hath overcome me victorious Grace has got the day Other Lords besides thee have had Dominion over me But by Thee only will I make mention of thy Name Isa 26.13 Thus they cry Abba Father and feel at length how good it is to draw near to God Psal 73.28 In this it is that true Grace Holiness or real Godliness doth principally consist Namely in such an inclination of the Will towards God it is the giving our Hearts to him which before were most unreasonably and wickedly alienated from him 'T is this which he doth especially call for insist upon and expect from us this he sets most by and without it will not accept of any thing else that we can offer Prov. 23.26 My Son give me thine Heart This is more than all whole Barnt-offerings and Sacrifices Mark 12.33 Thus the wandering Soul is brought back to its proper Center and Best 'T is an honest Friendly good-natured Disposition of Heart God-wards always tempered with dutiful Reverence to so adorable a Majesty who needeth not such poor silly Worms as we but will be gracious to whom be will be gracious and will shew Mercy on whom he will shew Mercy Exod. 33.19 Thus the design of the Gospel is to bring us into Fellowship with God 1 John 1.3 That henceforth we may converse with him as our best and dearest Friend And confidently expect from him all that Kindness and Faithfulness which belongs to such a Relation and what may we not hope for from such a Friend such a Father Nothing shall be wanting that 's fit for him to give or for us to receive Luk. 19.31 Son thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine The Love of God to his People as one observes cannot be overset it knows no difficulties The greater the Performance or Vouchsafement the more sutable to Divine Love Again this great Change is an opening of our Hearts towards God which before were shy reserved estranged shut up against him Tho they were always his by Title yet not till now by Consent before he had jus ad rem a right to them now he hath jus in re an actual Interest in them and Possession of them The Everlasting Doors are now opened and the King of Glory is entered in Psal 24. Thus we give unto God the things that are God's How shall I make it plainer 'T is a sincere deep inward hearty prevailing Love to him who is Love and Goodness it self This is the Life and Substance of all true Religion the fulfilling of the Law in one Word LOVE Without this thou hast only the shadow of Holiness but really art nothing 1 Cor. 13.2 The Truth is the Will is the first Subject of moral Good and Evil 'T is turned from God by Sin yea and set against him Grace reduceth and reconciles it to him again so that the tendencies of the renewed Soul are towards God that it may know him more love and serve him better be brought yet nearer to him and more fully conformed to his Will It detests all thoughts of Happiness in which the Enjoyment of God is not included or rather which is not wholly included in that Enjoyment He says unto the Lord Thou art my God I cannot take up with any thing else for my Portion and Supreme Good my Soul panteth after thee longeth for thee and is even weary of it self to find any Remnants of its old Aversion from thee These are my daily Groans O that I could ascend more Send forth O Lord thy powerful attractive Love let that holy Flame consume my Dross that the nobler part may know in home its rest it s all How precious are thy Thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them I knew in some measure long since that none but God could make me compleatly happy I have often heard of this by the hearing of the Ear but now I know it better mine Eye sees it I find and feel that my Soul is otherwise affected towards thee than iâ— was before Thus the Passage betwixt the Head and Heart is opened thus the Will is determined for God And those Truths which before only hovered in the Brain or Imagination sink down work into the very Soul and attemper it to themselves I have been somewhat large upon this Head but all 's little enough to make unregenerate Persons understand these things tho still they pretend to love God But I proceed 4. The sensitive Passions or Affections must also be sanctified so as to fall in with the superior Faculties especially the Will and be subservient to them in order to the great Ends of Holiness or Religion That is they must be devoted unto God exercised upon him and for him The rational and sensitive Appetite are so nearly connexed at least in this Life that the Acts of the former so far as we perceive them always take in somewhat of the latter and are commonly described accordingly Moreover the Passions of Affections are oft-times an occasion or means to awaken and excite our Reason and Will to do their duty and therefore of exceeding great use if rightly managed and improved And tho the great Work of Grace lies principally in the higher Faculties of the Soul as intellectual Namely in the vital active Power Vnderstanding and WILL And must there be mainly sought and enquired after viz. Whether we have an high Estimation of God and do resolvedly and rationally cleave to him endeavouring to act sutably in our Lives and Conversations c. Again tho it must be granted that our Passions are not so apt to be moved by spiritual and invisible Objects as by sensible things that are near us c. and withal that they are many times strongest where Judgment is weakest and very uncertain too as depending much upon the Constitution of the Body c. Yet I must needs say that those Persons whose Affections move sensibly and freely toward other things but scarce stir at all as to the best and highest Objects are certainly in a weak and languid State of Soul if not quite dead If we be indeed risen with Christ then as we ought so we shall in some measure set our Affections on things above Col. 3.1 2. If the Will be predominantly for God 't is not to be supposed but that the Affections will in some degree go along with it and if they move but slowly it will be matter of Grief and will put us upon earnest Strivings to raise them to a
Sin to God a change of the Temper and Disposition of the Heart the very work whereof we have all this while been speaking Repentance toward God Hence the Gospel was ushered in with the preaching of Repentance Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at band That so all Men might know upon what terms they were like to enjoy the blessed Priveledges of this glorious Gospel Constitution And here I must tell you it is not enough to say that you are sorry for your past Sins now the Pleasure of them is over and Conscience it may be uneasy about them No no the bent of your Hearts must either be turned against Sin to hate abhor it and mourn for it as 't is displeasing and hateful in the sight of God c. or else Iniquity will be your rain Moreover the Sincerity of your Repentance or of this change of Heart from the Love of Sin to the Love of God and Holiness must appear by bringing forth Fruits meet for Repentance 8. All that ever have entred into that blessed State were first prepared for it and effectually wrought upon by Divine Grace The case of Infants need not stop us such as have been saved from the Womb have also been sanctified from thence But 't is the case of the Adult or grown Persons which falls more directly under our Consideration Search the Scriptures and you may find there how those Persons are characteriz'd and described who are gone to Heaven before us 'T is true they all had their failings which they groaned under and longed to be delivered from But as to the main they were Men that walked with God Ordered their Conversations as seeing him that is invisible Men that lived humble mortified self-denying Lives chusing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season That mourned for the Abominations of the Times and Places wherein they lived whose righteous Souls were vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked in a word Men that confessed themselves Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth sought and Heavenly Country and waited for the Salvation of the Lord. See Heb. 11. Thus ye have heard how the Saints now in Glory got thither and will ye dream of coming to Heaven any other way They were all wrought for that blessed State and so must ye or else fall short of it and perish As it is matter of great Encouragement and Comfort to the Godly to think how many Thousands are got to Heaven the same way by which they themselves through Grace are going So one would think it should damp the hopes of graceless Hypocrites to find themselves in a quite different yea contrary way 9. The Scripture assures us that the Righteous themselves are scarcely saved 1 â—et 4.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vix egrè i. e. tho they are certainly saved yet not without a great deal of difficulty The same word ye have Acts 14.18 Sâ—ved they are but not without much striving by reason of the straitness of the Gate and the narrowness of the Way which leads to Life many Enemies to conflict with many Temptations Doubts and Fears to overcome many Storms and Tempestâ— to get through before they come safe to the Haven What say ye to all this Do these things offenâ— ye They are true for all that And now consider what the Apostle infers from this in the words immediately following Where shall the Vngodly and the Sinner appear What shall become of them Why the Psalmist gives you an answer to this Psal 1.4 5. They are like the Chaff which the Wind driveth away therefore the Vngodly shall not stand in the Judgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous they shall be driven away in their own wickedness Well Sirs Do ye think much to be told of the Difficulties that lie in the way to Heaven Are ye for a cheap formal customary easy way of Religion Do ye think that the greatest Earnestness Care and Seriousness which we can possibly use to secure our Everlasting Interest is making more adoe than needs Look ye to it go on and prosper but remember that the Righteous themselves are scarcely saved 10. Lastly 'T is impossible in the very nature of the thing that an unholy Soul should enjoy the Heavenly Felicity This is evident if ye will but compare the Temper and Spirit of unregenerate Persons with the Account that has been given concerning the State of future Glory The nature of Things must be quite overthrown and the grossest Contradictions reconciled before an unrenewed Person as such can be happy I know that all Men have some general injudicious Tendencies even by Nature towards Happiness But as for those upon whom this great Change has not past they neither know nor truly desire that which alone can make them blessed They are most miserably confounded in their own Wishes and cannot tell what they would be at They say indeed that they desire and hope for Heaven but in the mean time they know not what they talk of Were it possible they should be admitted thither why so long as their corrupt depraved temper of Spirit remaineth upon them they would be quite out of their Element and unhappy even in Heaven it self The reason is plain there must be a sutableness between the Faculties and the Objects or else what Frution what Pleasure can there be Would the most pompous magnificient Shews signify any thing to a blind Man or a Confort of the most Harmonious Musick to the Deaf Why just so it is here The Hearts of the Sons of Men till sanctified by Divine Grace are utterly unfit for the Society the Work the Enjoyments of Heaven As for the Society 't is holy there 's a Communion of Saints in Perfection But the Hearts of carnal Men are impure and unholy There are none like them to converse with in Heaven Those above are employ'd in admiring loving praisâ—ng and glorifying the blessed God And 't is the enâ—oyment of him that makes them happy in that State But certain it is that the Souls of Ungodly Men are â—eeply averse from God and at Enmity against him â—â—ow then should they be blessed in the enjoyment of â—â—ne whom they never loved when to enjoy him is â—o love and delight in him O Sirs ye must either â—e made holy that is conformed unto God in the â—â—ame and disposition of your Spirits or else Heaven â—annot be Heaven to you Therefore I beseech you deal truly with your selves â—n this Matter let me put it to your Consciences â—ea do ye put it to them your selves and then tell â—â—e How do ye relish that sort of Life on Earth which is most like to the Heavenly Life How are ye â—ffected to those things which have a nearer Tendency to lead you God-ward Is his holy Day the Joy of your Hearts Are ye delighted in his Worship Do ye strive in every Duty to get as near to him through
such a time when sharp Afflictions press hard upon you It must indeed be acknowledged that even Nature it self seems to promp Men to look up towards God when they are under extream Difficulties and some for Fashion will do it sooner But in the mean time the greatest Supports and Comforts of Ungodly Men are usually taken from the Creature They hope the Tide will turn and Matters go better with them in the World and this it is that keeps them from sinking sometimes they trust in their Riches sometimes in their Friends sometimes to their own Conduct and Management in short they will turn their Eyes every way for Satisfaction and Ease rather than towards God The Reason is plain they are estranged from him and have not learn'd to take up with him for their only Soul-satisfying Portion and Happiness They like not the thoughts of this but shun it as a thing unsutable to them They will rather weary themselves with a thousand fruitless Attempts to sind rest in the Creature than seek it in him who alone can give it Perhaps when they are forced and even fired out of all other Refuges they will then come crying to God but what can such a constrained shew of Devotion signify Vtumur Deo fruunâ—ur creaturis They would as it were make use of God to serve a turn but their Hearts their Love and Delight is upon the Creatures As for the truly Godly the Case is otherwise with them their Hopes and Comforts are of a more divine Original Lord what waâ—â— I for My hope is in thee Altho the Fig Tree shall not blossom c. yet will I rejoice in the Lord Hab. 3.17 18. Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses But we will remember the Name of the Lord our God Psal 20.7 There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord list thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us â—sal 4 6 In the Multitude of my Thoughts Heb. troublesome perplexed Thoughts within me try Comforts deligâ—t my Soul Thus the Spirit of Adoption teâ—châ—th Believers to lay open their Complaints to their Heavenly Father to cast their Câ—re upon him to place their Hâ—ppiness in him to fetch their Comforts from him And this as Matter of choice not meerly out oâ— constraint The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower The Righteous â—â—â—neth into it and is safe Prov. 19.10 Psal 94.32 The Lord is my Defence and my God is the Râ—ck of my Refuge They know them elves to be Stranger in this World and therefore expect no great Matters from it Heaven is their home Their Treasure their Hopes their Joys their Hearts are there Of this we have full Proof in the Context as has been already observed By these and such like Questions ye may try your State I know there are different degrees of Grace all that are truly Godly will not be alike able to answer what has been proposed Nor would I make sad the Heart of the weakest sincere Christian There may be great Failures and Imperfections but that which I would advise you to is strictly to observe what is the prevailing bent of your Hearts in all this But I have one Question more fit for the strongest to try themselves by tho the weakest are not unconcerned in it neither Quest 10. Do ye love God as God for himself above your selves or any other Object whatsoever That in point of Duty we ought thus to love God is past dispute unless we will renounce at once both Reason and Religion Mark 12.30 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy Heart and with ALL thy Soul c. this is the first and the great Commandment Mat. 22.38 And the second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Here 't is plain that we ought to love God totally without any Limitations or Restrictions with all our Power Mind and Will with a Love transcending either that of our selves or our Neighbours I suppose ye will readily grant that God must be loved better than your Neighbours and yet they must be loved as your selves therefore God must be loved better than your selves too Thus the necessitaâ— praecepti is plain But since there is more in the Precepts of the Divine Law than in the Condition of Salvation otherwise none could be saved without perfect Obedience Therefore here ariseth a great Question before us viz. Whether such a Love to God as God above our selves oâ— our own Happiness c. be so necessary necessitate medii that no Man is to be accounted in a State of Salvation who doth not thus love God better than himself What I have to say in answer to this shall be digested into the following Particulars with submission to better Judgments 1. 'T is very odd and dangerous to say that that Man is in a State of Grace who loveth not God as God doth not this sound very absurdly and strangely We will leave it to the Ear which as Elihu says triâ—â— Words Job 34.3 2. 'T is clearer by far than the Sun at Noon-day that God as God is infinitely better than our selves and the whole Creation besides I would not so much undervalue your Judgments as to think that ye stand in need of having this proâ—ed to you Nor would I so far overvâ—ue your Piety as to think that there is no need of pressing it upon you that your Hearts may be sutably affected with it 3. Therefore we love not God as God if we love him not better than our selves or our own Interest and Happiness as such Because as God he is infinitely better than we are or can be God is the universal Self originated independent unchangeable GOOD but the goodness of the Creatures is particular limited derived and entirely dependant upon him And therefore by no means to be set in competition with him Isa 40.25 4. 'T is certain that God hath deeply implanted in our Natures a Principle of Self-Love And that he makes use of it both in order to our Preservation and Government This it is which engageth us in the use of Means in order to our own Welfare and is supposed in all the Precepts Promises and Threatnings that are set before us This Principle neither can nor ought to be extirpated but it must be regulated and kept within its due Bounds or in its proper Place in order to the best and highest Ends. 5. 'T is also evident that by the Apostacy our Self-Love is become inordinate perverse and therefore exceeding sinful So that Self-denial is one of the first steps towards our Recovery Mat. 16.24 We are fallen from God to our selves and are for setting up our own little carnal supported Self-Interest in opposition to that full and proper Interest that he has in us that is we would be Gods to our selves this is the grand fundamental disorder of human Nature the Heart of the Old Man This has disjointed us and rendred us offensive to God and
uneasy to our selves and to all about us till we be reduced and set right again So then this sensual corrupt self-Self-Love must be mortified but lawful and just Self-Love must be improved as was said before 6. In assigning the Notion of our chief or ultimate End God's Glory and our own Salvation must not be separated For our intention must take in both but then the latter must be considered as in full Subordination to the former We may and ought to desire our own Eternal Happiness that God may be glorified therein who is well pleased and delighted in the Welfare and Perfection of his holy ones Our supreme End must fall in with his who made all things for himself that he alone may have the Glory 7. Therefore to love God only or chiefly for our selves as a means to our own Happiness is greatly to affront and dishonour him by preferring our selves before him the Creature before the Creator the silly Interest of a crawling Worm before the glorious all-comprehending Interest of the supreme infinite Majesty 'T is to invert the order of things while we make our selves the end and consider him but as a means in order thereto As if we were better or more amiable than he or our Happiness more valuable than his Glory Such Profaneness is not to be endured but abhorred Know ye not that the whole Creation has no worth in it but what is derived from God and to be measured by its Relation to him 8. To love God with a pure raised transcendent superlative Love for himself as the most amiable and perfect Good from by and to whom we and all things else are And then to love our selves and all other Objects for him as the supreme ultimate End of all this is the true Method of holy Love towards greater Measures whereof the best of us should be ever aspiring Is it not highly reasonable that he who is best should be most loved That he who is the Author of our Beings should be our End That we should aim at and intend him in all in a word that the love of our selves should be subjected to the highest and purest Love of God Urge these things upon your selves take pains with your own Hearts to bring them to such a Frame plead the Cause of God with your Souls till the Fire kindle and ye be carried up above Self to Him and all by the help of the Holy Spirit 'T is true indeed he needs not you nor your Love neither can ye be profitable to him thereby Job 22.2 3. Your Goodness extendeth not to him Psal 16.2 The advantage is like to be your own and should not the Glory be his As carnal inordinate self-seeking is no better than self-destroying So to go our of our selves and to be as it were estrange I from and lost to our selves that we may seek God live in him and enjoy Communion with him this I say is the true way to advance our own Interest while we seem to overlook it because by this Means we shall find our selves and our All in God with infinâ—te advantage How much some of the People of God have been carried out in holy Zeal for his Honour â—bove their own particular Self-Interest ye may see Exod 32.32 Numb 14.12 Rom. 9.3 Which places I must not now stay to enlarge upon 9 But here it must be remembred that God being immaterial and invisible is not an Object of Sense nor directly of sensitive passiâ—nate Love Therefore the Heart may be inwardly deeply predominantly and therefore sincerely for God tho as to the passionate part we may find our selves more sensibly carried out towards other Objects Because the nearness and sensibleness of the Creature promoteth such sensible workings in the lower sensitive Faculties and corporeal Spirits As for example A sincere Christian may be more feelingly affected towards a dear Friend or Relation or some other Creature-enjoyment than towards God himself yet doth it not therefore follow that his Heart is more for these things than for God because were he put to trial he would forsake all these Enjoyments rather than forsake God or quit his Interest in him whereby it appears that his Mind and Wiâ—l are more for God tho the lower sensitive Appetite work most feelingly toward sensible Objects 10. Therefore tho it be essential to Holiness to love God for himself as our absolutely ultimate End and therefore better than our selves yet there may be some secret conception or beginning of this Love in a Soul long before the Person in whom it is perceives it Because we are apt to judg of our selves by what appears most sensibly in us and to overlook what lies more deep and inward Now as was said before love to self and to the Creatures operates in a more sensible passionate feeling manner than holy intellectual Love doth Because God being a Spirit is not so near to our Senses and Passions as the Creature is Therefore because I would not make sad the Hearts of any whom God would not have made sad Ezek. 13.22 nor give an advantage to Satan to disquiet the Soul of the weakest sincere Christian Let me say to such as follows Supposing that ye are satisfied that God as God is infinitely more amiable than your selves and that he is your absolutely supreme chief or ultimate End and therefore that ye ought to love him as such above your selves Again if ye do earnestly desire that Happiness which consists in so loving him above any other Happiness whatsoever Tho in the mean time ye dare not say that ye love God for himself above your selves but are it may be more sensibly and feelingly concerned for your own Welfare that ye may escape the Wrath to come than for his Glory Yet ye he wail this and desire an Heart to love God more for himself And to refer your own Interest and all to him Why if the Case be thus with you I would not have ye be discouraged or cast down For it seems to me that ye have the seeds and beginnings of this holy Love to God for himself whereof we have been speaking And our Lord will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. Let me therefore earnestly beseech you to pray hard for further Influences of the Spirit of Love and take pains with your own Hearts to raise them more above self unto God that your Spark may become a Flame and that ye may be even swallowed up of holy Love So will ye find that Comfort Peace and Assurance which ye are so pensively seeking and enquiring after O learn at length to pore less upon your own poor dark drooping Souls and look more at him who is LIGHT and in whom there is no Darkness at all As for the common sort of the ignorant Pretenders to the Love of God and Holiness all this will seem to them more ado than needs Nor is it difficult to confound their Pretences without going thus high
we are not yet admitted to the Knowledg of Leâ— this quiet us notwithstanding our remaining Darkness We are going to the World of Light However in the mean time let us take care that we be not guilty of any willful affected Ignorance in this Matter Let not Sloth prevent nor presumptuous Curiosity pervert our Enquiries about it Labour after as distinct and clear a Knowledg of Heaven as you can but be sure to keep close to the Rule It seems plain from Scripture as also from the Nature of the thing that the Heavenly Felicity consists mainly in or results from two things 1. A perfect fitness for the enjoyment of the glorious blessed God 2. The actual enjoyment of him These are most intimately essential to that blessed State and therefore to be principally considered Tho there are also certain adjuncts and circumstances of this Blessedness which must not be wholly passed by but of these afterwards We will begin with the other 1. A perfect fitness for the enjoyment of God The faculties of the Soul shall be refined strengthned enlarged replenish'd to the utmost of their Capacities with fulness of Divine Grace and therein confirmed and settled past all danger of revolt or decay and therefore compleatly fitted subjectively for Everlasting Communion with the blessed God their objective Happiness Portion ALL. As Action and Fruition presuppose Being and Nature so the perfection of the former is necessary to that of the latter The best of Men while here below have great remainders of sinful Weakness all their Graces are enfeebled by a contrary principle of Corruption dwelling in them Hence it is that the workings of their Souls towards God are so weak and languid and the Joys of Communion with him so often interrupted and obscured But in Heaven it will not be so There we shall have Strength without Weakness Light without Darkness Love without any remaining Aversion And then 't is no wonder that we shall have Joy without Sorrow I know that some are ignorant and vain enough to talk of a sinless Perfection here on Earth And once I met with one who had the Face to tell me that were it not for a little Passion for ought he knew he was perfect I presently ask'd him whether he thought he loved God as well as he ought to love him This put him to a stand or rather made him go back from his former Assertion Alas how little do such Men know of their own Hearts or of the Latitude and Extent of the Divine Law Psal 119.96 Thy Commandment is exceeding broad 'T is very observable that the Scripture has recorded the imperfections of the People of God even as to those particulars wherein they were most eminent Thus Numb 12.3 The Man Moses was very meek above all the Men which were upon the Face of the Earth Yet we read Psal 106.33 That his Spirit was so provoked that he spake unadvisedly with his Lips Insomuch that for this reason he was not permitted to go into the promised Land Deut. 32.51 52. I mention not how that when his anger was hot he broke the Tables of Stone written with the Finger of God Exod. 32.19 because 't is likely that was done by peculiar Divine Instinct to shew that rebellious People how unworthy they were of so great a Blessing And how well they themselves deserved to be broken in pieces and utterly cast off Of Job 't is said in general Chap. 2.3 That there was none like him in the Earth a perfect and upright Man c. and particularly Jam. 5.11 Ye have heard of the Patience of Job And have we not heard of his Impatience too Chap. 3. when he cursed his Day c. How renowned was Solomon for Wisdom Who yet committed great Folly in Israel even in his Old Age 1 Kings 11.4 c. How remarkably forward and Zealous for Christ do we find Peter to have been upon many occasions yet pitifully baffled by two silly Maids one after another to the denial of his Master Mat. 26.69 71. Thus you see how many strong Ones have fallen and been wounded even in those parts where their greatest Strength lay Is it not then the heighth of Madness or Fanaticism to talk of universal Sinless perfection on this side Heaven Surely the most able experienc'd Christians speak at another rate Phil. 3.12 Not as tho I had already attained either were already perfect So 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us But if once we get safe to Heaven we shall sin no more Grace will then be grown up to its full maturity and shall never be weakened by any contrary Principle more There are the Spirits of just Men made perfect indeed Heb. 12.23 There are no complaints of dull Inactivity and listlessness to spiritual work Paul is not there crying out as he doth in that sorrowful yet comfortable Chapter Rom. 7. Me miserâ—m O wretched Man that I am c. The good that I would I do not I am carnal sold under Sin Sin dwelleth in me Evil is present with me c. No no there 's no room for any of this there All those Clouds of Darkness and Confusion wherewith our Minds are so over-shadowed in this present State will then be quite dissipated and gone The remnants of our Disaffection and Enmity against God which are now the matter or occasion of our most grievous and piercing Complaints will then be perfectly mastered and wrought out All these Distempers will be cured which must needs cause so great a Pleasure as none can have a full notion of but they who feel and possess it Then shall we find in our selves a fulness of Spiritual Life Strength and Vigour then shall we be surrounded with the glorious Light of a perfect Day then shall we be perfectly reconciled to the Love of the only Soul-satisfying Object No wonder that Sorrow and Sighing are over when Sin and all the cursed Effects of it which occasioned them are done away How great things are spoken of the first rudiments and imperfect beginnings of this blessed State in that work of Grace which leads to it The truly Godly even in this Life are all glorious within Psal 45.13 Changed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Thus true Grace is Glory begun in the Soul And the Relation which it bears to the Heavenly Perfection to which it is tending puts an high value upon it How much more valuable then must that Perfection it self be If the new Creature in its present Infant-State be so aimable what will it be when we come to perfect Manhood when we shall arrive to the highest pitch of Excellency whereof our Natures are capable even so high as to be compleatly qualified for the more immediate enjoyment oâ— God himself I had almost forgot to mention that our Bodies shalâ— be raised spiritualized and made like unto Christ's
Christ as you can What Pleasure do ye take is discoursing concerning the things of God In speaking of the Glory of His Majesty and the Wonders of his Grace the Holiness and Perfection of his Law c. What say ye Do such things as these are agree with you Or are they not a weariness to you Are ye nor ready to think that Lords-Days return too oâ— And that strict and serious Religion is intolerable Prociseness Do not your Hearts rise against it Are â—e not glad when the Service of God is over Tho sour thing ye would do to secure Heaven for a reserve who ye can enjoy the World no longer Is not this the very Temper of your Spirits And is it not very deplorable Alas what should ye do in Heaven with sod Hearts as these Would ye not be eternally weary oâ— an Eternal Sabbath Would not your ungracious Spirits be ever recoiling and uneasy Do ye not yet see that there is no coming to the new Jerusalem without new Hearts If not 't is because ye shut your Eyes Certainly if unregenerate Men might have â—n Haven of their own choosing it would be vastly different even quite another thing from that which Goâ— hath prepared for them that LOVE him But he should Men be happy against their own Wills Or it State to which the Temper of their Spirits is not suâ—ed So true is that great Saying of a Worthy Divine When God hath so determined that without â—â—â—ness none shall see him he lays no other Law upon unholy Souls than what their own impure Nature lay upon themselves Blâ—ssedness of the Righteouâ—â— pag. 46 By this time ye see or may see if ye will thâ—â— except the Decrees of God can be reverst the design of Redemption perverted the Office of the hâ—â— Spirit nullified the Institution of the Ministry aâ—â— Ordinances run down the Threarnings of the Gospâ—â— made of none Effect the Inheritance be attained without the earnest a new way found to Heaven which none ever discovered before and all this while the Righteous themselves are scarcely saved in a word unless the nature of things be quite overturn'd and palpable Contradictions made to agree none can come to Heaven till they be prepared and wrought for it by Divine Grace Lo this we have searched it so it is hear it and know thou it for thy good Heb. for thy self Job 5.27 CHAP. VI. Several Inferences of Truth drawn from the foregoing Discourse THus we have fully proved that except ye will be holy ye cannot be happy If this therefore be so clear and certain a Truth it must needs be also a very weighty and important one a thing much to be considered and closely applied because our Spiritual and Eternal Welfare and what is infinitely more than either the Glory of the Great God is so nearly concerned in it Now since there are many other Truths which have an intimate connexion with and dependance upon this great Doctrine let us begin with the Consideration of these for the informing of our Judgments Inser 1. We may learn from hence the great Worth and Excellency of real Holiness Real I say in opposition to that vain empty shew of Religion wherewith Multitudes make a shift to deceive themselves even because they know no better and that because they will not know Satan hath taken advantage by their own Corruption to blind their Minds and close their Eyes and thus they choose Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are Evil. Hence it is that they see no Beauty in Holiness no more than they do the Form and Comliness of the great Pattern and Procurer of it Isa 53.2 They do not approve things that are excellent If they meddle with Matters of Religion they do but debase them First by forming low and unworthy Notions of them sutable to their own degenerate Tempers and Spirits then they act accordingly and after all highly value themselves upon what they have done Nevertheless the high Excellency of Holiness manifestly appears from the three following Particulars which may easily be drawn from what has been already delivered 1. It s Original 'T is from Heaven the blessed God is himself the Author of it as in the Text. He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God 'T is a Divine Work and that not a common Work neither but wrought in a way of special Grace and therefore it has a peculiar Excellency in it Insomuch that the Subjects of this great Change are denominated born of God Joh. 1.13 born from above chap. 33. as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred Hereupon they are advanced to the Name and Relation of Children 1 Joh. 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God So called and not miscalled for so they are as vers 2. Now are we the Sons of God 2. The Nature of true Holiness speaks the Excellency of it 'T is the Soul's Conformity to the blessed God his Image drawn upon it a Participiation of the Divine Nature which sweetly and effectually inclines all the Faculties and Powers of our Souls God-ward and so far as it prevails upon us it takes away our unkind Aversion and Estrangedness from him and teacheth us to center upon him as our Portion Happiness and chief Good In short it is our devotedness unto God which implies a Separation from whatsoever stands in opposition against him as such So that had the Apostle been silent as to the Author of this great Work the very Nature of it might have told us whence it is for it bears the Image and Superscription of God upon it Little do the proud Despisers of Holiness consider what they say or against whom it is that they sprit themselves make a wide Mouth and draw out the 〈◊〉 Isa 57.4 To vilify this work is a dishonour to its Author To cast Dirt upon the Image is an affront to its great Original who scorneth their Scorners sits in the Heavens and laughs at them for he seeth that their Day is coming Psal 37 13. 3. The blessed End and Issue of Holiness shews you the worth of it it comes from above and thither it leads and is at last compleated in the Heavenly Perfection Judg then of the Way and Means by the End here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints They are high-born and a sutable Inheritance is designed them To think or speak slightly of Holiness is to contemn Heaven it self which is a State of Perfection therein Wo unto them that draw Iniquity with Cords of Vanity and Sin as it were with a Cart-Rope That put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness Isa 5.18 20. It may be at last they 'll say as one of their Predecessors did let me die the Death of the Righteous Not from any love to Righteousness but from a slavish Fear of the just Punishment of their Impiety and therefore those forced
Cries will avail them nothing Inser 2. Learn from hence the Reasonableness and Equity yea the wonderful Grace and Benignity of the Divine Government over fall'n Man See what a Connexion there is between our Duty and Interest All the Precepts which God hath given us may justly he esteemed as so many Directions which have a natural Tendency to our own Welfare 'T is true they have the nature of Laws being enforced by the Divinâ— Command But is that any Injury to us that the moâ—â— blessed glorious God has by his Soveraign Righâ—â—â— Authority over us obliged us to be happy Put us under such a Law that we cannot be innocently miserable if we perish it shall be our own fault that we do soâ—â—â— Well may it be called a Paternal Government God iâ— pleased to deal with us in a way sutable to that Tidâ— which he has condescended to take unto himself viâ—â— The Father of Spirits Behold how tenderly and geâ—â—ly he deals with his Off-spring even the rational Souâ—â— that issued from him His Love invites them hâ—â— Authority enjoys them to be happy he reasons thâ— Case with them why will ye die Yea he beseeched them in the most earnest moving manner as tho Gâ—â— did beseech you by us 2 Cor 5.20 They are impoâ—cuned from time to time in his Name to lay aside theâ—â—â— Frowardness and Enmity against him who alone 〈◊〉 make them compleatly blessed And thus he waits 〈◊〉 be gracious to them How little do we deserve to 〈◊〉 thus treated methinks this should make us even to 〈◊〉 ashamed and blush to consider our unworthy 〈◊〉 disingenuous Carriage towards him and convioâ—us at length how much better it is to be under 〈◊〉 Government than to be left to our own Conduct His Commandments are not grievous The first aâ—â— principal of them is this Thou shalt love the Lord 〈◊〉 God with all thine Heart c. What but the despertâ—â—â— Wickedness of our depraved sinful Natures can maâ—â— this seem an hard Saying Whom should we love not him who is infinitely Good in himself and thâ— most sutable Good for us The Author of all the Bleâ—sings that we ever enjoyed upon whom both 〈◊〉 Beings and Well-beings do entirely depend Ye 〈◊〉 he doth not put us off with Trifles but offers himâ—â—◠〈◊〉 to be the Object of our Love And promiseth all thoâ—â—â— Returns of Kindness and Benignity which can raâ—â—onally be desired to make us happy And can ye yâ—â— refuse to love O what is the cause of your so mighâ— an Aversion from him What Iniquity have ye ever found in him Jer. 2.5 Lord into how great Confusion and Distraction are we fallen by forsaking him and sinking into our own wretched selves Alas that our Hearts should be so averse from closing with the infinite universal all comprehending Good He hath made our Capacities such as none but himself can fill and satisfy Therefore we must needs be uneasy or restless while we keep at a distance from him Surely then no Precept can tend more directly to our own Felicity than this of loving God with all our Hearts And to this all the rest are reduced for 't is the fulfilling of the Law and surely the Obedience of Love will be pleasant if thy Mind be once brought up to this holy Love the work is done thy Cavils against any other Commands will then be at an end Thou wilt ever justify the Divine Law and humble thy self that in so many things thou fallest short Thou wilt then see reason to convince thee that even those things which thou wast wont to look upon as over great Severities in Religion were nothing but what the nature of thy Case made necessary in order to thy Cure That no needless Restraints are laid upon thee that the most exact Watchfulness the greatest Mortification and Self-denial are all little enough to keep so froward a Nature within its due Bounds In a word thou wilt see that God hath restrained thee from nothing which was truly good for thee but only denied thee the liberty of Self undoing and therefore that his ways are equal how unequal soever thine own ways have been Infer 3. Learn from hence what woful work Sin hath made in human Nature forasmuch as so great a Power of Divine Grace is necessary to refit and qualify â—it for its proper Use and End All our Faculties and Powers are exceedingly depraved and enfeebled by the Fall In us that is in our Flesh there dwells no good â—â—ing When we would do good evil is present with us Rom. 7.18 21. They that are in the Flesh that is all unregenerate Persons cannot please God Chap. 8.8 Some indeed there are who deny Original Sin and would perswade us that 't is only by imitation that we become wicked But the Scripture is full and clear in the Case Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my Mother couceive me Even the best of Men were by nature Children of Wrath as well as others Ephes 2.3 Hence our Saviour shews us the necessity of Regeneration Joh. â— 5 6. That which is bore of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Vers 7. Marvel not that I said into thee 〈◊〉 must â—e born again Is not Death the wages of Sin Do not Infants die even before they are capable of actual Sin therefore they have original Sin And why are they washed with Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy-Ghost if they have no sinful Defilement upon them and whence is it that Corruption doth so early discover it self in them but because they brought it into the World with them True it is that our first Parents were created in a holy and happy State endued with the Knowledg and Love of God fitted for Communion with him and perfect Obedience to him c. This Man once was lad to say was and is not Our Gold is become Dress the Crown is fallen from our Head Wo unto us for wâ— have sinned How are the Mighty fallen The Distempers of our Souls are now past numbering The Understanding and Will which were made to govern the inferiour Faoulties the one by guidance the other by command are themselves enslaved to Lust and Appetite So that Man is born like a wild Asâ—s Colt Folly and Vanity it bound up in his Heart from hâ— very Child-hood Being departed from God the Center in which aâ— our Faculties should unite and for whom they ought to be improved and employ'd we are become at variance with one another and each Man with himself Not to mention the bitter Strifes and Envyings the bloody VVars and Contentions whereby Nations and Kingdoms yea and lesser Societies too rise up one against another it may not be amiss to consider how strangely inconsistent even with themselves ungodly Men are One would think they were made up of Contradictions and Absurdities The sensitive part is against the rational The VVill against
the Judgment their Practice gives the Lie to their Profession They say and do not or they say one thing and do the quite contrary They are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose Waters cast up Mire and Dire Isa 57.20 The Body which was made to be a Servant is become their Ruler and this is one of those things which the Earth cannot bear Prov. 30.21 22. A thing greatly to be lamented Lam. 5.8 From hence it is that these Convulsions and Disorders do proceed Professing to be Wise they are become Fools and that more especially as to those things wherein they are most concerned to have their VVits about them Wise to do Evil but to do Good they have no Knowledg Tit. 1.16 They profess that they know God but in Works they deny him being abominable disobedient and unto every good work reprobate With their Mouths they shew much Love but their Hearts go out after their Idols They would be happy but cannot endure the thoughts of that which alone can make them so They enquire the way to Zion but set their Faces quite contrary They pretend to believe the Evil and Danger of Sin but will not be perswaded to leave it They oft complain of the Vanity of this VVorld and of the Crosses and Disappointments they met with in it but will not be prevailed with to set their Hearts upon a better Yea many of them are sondest of these present Enjoyments when they grow old and cannot but know that they must quickly leave them Yea some of thein hate and revile others for living in some measure up to the Rules of that Religion which they themselves profess The time would fail me to mention the thousandth part of that Nonsense whereof they are continually guilty So besotted a thing is a carnal Heart As if their Lusts had not only bereaved them of all due Sense of Religion but of their Wits too both together Thus the Case stands with unregenerate Persons till the Grace of God rectify these disorders and bring their Souls into a better Frame And O how great a work is this See what the Apostle speaks of it Ephes 1.19 And what is the exceeding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transcendant Hyperbolical greatness of his Power to us ward who believe according to the working Energy of his Mighty Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Might of his Power c. Therefore Sirs lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree consider thorowly and bewail deeply your original Corruption Pray hard for renewing Grace it will signify little for you to empty some of the Streams while the Fountain is disregarded which will fill up all again Corruption lies deep in you and will take a great deal of pains to master it and root it out nor can ye expect that God will do it without the concurrence of your own Endeavours with and under his Grace Phil. 2.12 13. Infer 4. Learn also from hence the Weakness Wickedness or both of those Persons who go about to deny or obscure the Doctrine of special Grace Their Weakness I say in disowning a thing so manifest both by Scripture and Experience Their Wickedness in attempting to rob God of the Glory which is due to him on this account They cry up the natural Freedom of Man's Will but consider not its moral Impotency or Indisposition to that which is God it's cursed Aversion from God and Holiness which will never be overcome but by the Power of Free Grace I know indeed that if Men were truly willing then the work were done and therefore the Obstinacy of their Wills makes them inexcusable John 5.40 Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life But I also know that if ever they be made willing it must be in the Day of God's Power Psal 110.3 No Man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him That is their Wills are so corrupt that they cannot find in their Hearts to renounce their Lusts and give up themselves to the obedience of the Gospel They affect a distance from God care not for coming near him They are dead in Trespasses and Sins Tho still they have natural Faculties intellective and elective Powers else we might as well preach to Walls as Men yet when all 's done 't is Grace that must sanctify and heal these Faculties and determine them God-ward or else they are lost for ever That some are thus wrought upon is plain Matter of Fact ye need go no further then the Text for Proof thereof And 't is as plain that others are left under the Power of their own willful Enmity and Alienation from God In short that any are sanctified and saved is to be ascribed to special Grace that the rest perish is their own doing not strictly and properly because they could not but because they would not do otherwise The Destruction which falls upon them is of their own chusing in that they will not be perswaded to forsake the way that leads to it Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul All they that hate me love Death The Law of Grace is establish'd ordered in all things and sure The Terms of Salvation are unalterably settled and God will judg Men accordingly without respect of Persons and so shall the Sentence of Judgment be executed too Moreover God gives unto all Men such degrees of Grace and Help as is meet for him to give and more by far than they duly improve And if they would rightly use what they have so far as they are able they have great encouragement to expect more therefore his proceedings with them for their willful Neglects are beyond all just exception Again if over and above all this he give to some Persons as 't is certain he doth yet greater Proportions of Grace even so much as shall effectually work upon them and fit them for Heaven who can say unto him what dost thou May he not do what he will with his own Is there any Injustice in all this What say ye Are not some Persons saved Are they not saved by Grace Is not this Grace the Gift of God Doth God give it in time and did he not decree to give it from Eternity Where then are your Cavils against Election and special Grace Surely you will not deny but that Multitudes perish by their own wilful final Impenitency through the Righteous Judgment of God because they hated him and would not that he should reign over them Infer 5. Lastly Ye may learn from hence how exceeding dangerous it is to resist and quench the Spirit of Grace Ye have heard it fully proved that there is a great work which must be done upon your Souls or ye are undone for ever And dare ye neglect the offered Help of the Spirit Do ye not yet know that by a commoner sort of Grace he usually prepares Men for special Grace And can ye expect the latter while ye despise or
Face in a Glass We need not say who shall ascend into Heaven The Word is high uâ— whereby we must search our selves And whether we will attend to it or no we must stand or fall by it at last Joh. 12.48 The Word that I have spoken the same shall judg him in the last Day ' This is one of those Books that shall be opened and the smal Sentence will pass according to what is written therein Rev. 20 12. They shall be judged according to their Works the Matter of Fact being recorded in their Book Conscience the Matter of Right in God's Law and the Conclusion in his Decree As Mr. Baxter upon the place Motive 4. We are expresly commanded thus to examin and try our selves yea it is mentioned as a great Absurdity that a Christian should be ignorant of himself 2 Cor. 13.5 Examin your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves c. As if he had said Is there any thing nearer to you than your selves any thing that ye are more concerned to know than your spiritual Estate that is whether Christ be in you or no. Are the ways to Heaven and Hell so much alike that a Man cannot know whither he is going if he would If the Ends be so vastly different surely there must be a proportionable difference in the Ways that lead to them Motive 5. Ye have comfortable Encouragement to expect the help of the holy Spirit in this work of Self-Examination Suppose ye be yet in an unregenerate State 't is true ye have then no full proper Covenant-Right to the Influences of the Spirit yet ye have great reason to hope that since he hath been often striving with you to bring you to a sight and sense of your spiritual Concerns he will not deny the help of his Grace if ye set your selves in good earnest to the Work by the assistance already received Prov. 1.23 Tâ—ru you at my Reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you c. Now 't is the work of the Spirit to lead Men into their own Hearts to convince them of Sin and to quicken illuminate and draw dead dark disaffected Souls to the love of God and Holiness But if ye be already converted ye have then a Covenant-Right to the help of the Spirit ye have fâ—ll and propâ—â— Promises to plead in this Matter he is the Spirit of Christ your Head and therefore all the living Members by virtue of their Relation unto Christ are also nearly related to and interested in that Holy Spirit whole Office it is to refresh and comfort those Souls whom he hath first renewed by his Grace to discover to them the Grace which he has given them to witness with their Spirits that they are the Children of God and so to enable them to rejoice therein Motive 6. Think well how sad and wretched a case it is to be utterly in the dark as to your spiritual State Ye cannot tell what a Day may bring forth Prov. 27.1 For ought ye know ye may be in Hell the next hour because ye are uncertain whether God be your Friend or your Enemy whether ye have any saving Interest in Christ whether ye be sanctified by the Spirit or not Is not this a woful Case when thou liest down when thou risest up when thou goest out or comest in thou knowest not but that the very next Moment the divine Fury may rest upon thee Can'st thou think of Death and not tremble and of Judgment and not be astonish'd When thou art invited to a Funeral how can'st thou forbear thinking that it will quickly be thine â—wn Case and yet thou art ignorant what will become of thy immortal Soul at that Day Methinks this should make thee a Terrour to thy self and to all that are about thee Motive 7. Consider how impatient thou art of being in suspence or at uncertainty in Matters of far less consequence If thou have but a Law-Suit in Hand how uneasy till thou know the Issue if a Purchase to make how careful to see that the Title be good and the Conveyances firm and sure If thou be taken with any threatning Distemper how earnest and sollicitous art thou to know what the Physician thinks of thy Distemper Pray Sir What think you Did you ever see any in such a Case before Did they recover Do you hope the Distemper may go off But O how few are there that express any such Care about their Souls how few that will come to a Minister and enquire of him O Sir What shall I do to be saved I fear I am not yet wrought for Heaven I find my Heart dead to spiritual Things but vigorous and sprightly in its Pursuits after worldly Vanities I find I am out of my Element when engaged in Religious Duties What think you Is there any Hope O help me speedily lest Death overtake me unprepared for it O how seldom do we meet with any that shew such a concern for their Souls as this It were easy to heap up many more such Considerations as these to excite you to this necessary work of Self-Reflection I shall only add as follows without the Formality of making distinct Heads Think with your selves how common a thing it is for men to be mistaken about their spiritual Estate and withal how dangerous it is remember God himself will quickly judg you and the way to escape the Severity of his Judgment is to enter into Judgment with your selves 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judg ourselves we should not be judged Moreover either ye are thus wrought for Heaven by renewing Grace or not If ye be the closest tâ—â—al will greatly refresh and comfort you by discovering that the work is already done Then may ye comfortably go on with the remaining part of Duty which is yet before you ye may come with boldness to the Throne of Grace as Children to a Father Ye may read or hear the VVord of God with Joy when the great Promises of the Gospel are all your own Ye may come with Confidence to the Lord's Table when ye know that Christ himself and all his saving Benefits are yours Ye may meditate delightfully upon the heavenly Inheritance when ye know that ye have a right to it This will support you under all the Sufferings of the present Life and will make them appear light Afflictions indeed And besides all this it will much conduce to the credit of your Profession by enabling you to go on chearfully in the ways of Religion as Men that do not repent of their Choice not despair of their Cause or of their God But on the other hand if ye be unregenerate Self-Reflection is one of the first Steps in order to your Recovery Psal 119.59 I thought on my Ways and turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies So did the Prodigal when he came to himself Luk. 15.17 When once Men begin to be sollicitous about the Concerns
nothing to put it off Be thy Case better oâ— worse labour to know it and come to a Conclusion what it is 5. Lastly see that thy Soul be affected with the discovery thou hast made Take it to heart that thoâ— may'st be prepared for what further work is before thee Thus proceed orderly Direct 4. Remember that a great deal of patience and constancy is ordinarily requisite for the right carrying on this great Work of Self-Examination Do not think that so weighty a Point is like to be resolved all on a sudden Ye must search and search again 〈◊〉 a Work that must be done and therefore do not 〈◊〉 down in Discouragement What tho ye long continâ—â— in Doubt the case is not singular many good Christians are kept a great while in suspense betwixt Hope and Fears as to their Sincerity and that many time for want of Constancy and Judgment in the management of this Duty of Self-Reflection and even those who have arrived to a more comfortable assurance iâ— this Matter do yet see reason to be often renewing thâ— Tryal and to look over their Evidences again as weâ—â— knowing what need there is to go upon solid Ground and what a treacherous thing the Heart of Man is The truth is it should be accounted part of our daâ—ly Business as Christians to commune with our owâ— Hearts by way of Self-Examination not that we should be always calling in question our State as to the main yet even that should sometimes be done so far as to review the Discoveries which we have formerly made and to try the Grounds upon which we have proceeded especially upon some particular occasions as when Temptations arise or when we are called to any extraordinary Duty or Office yea or after some unusual falls into Sin or when Distempers threaten our Dissolution as also before we approach the Lord's Table 't is but fit that we examin the Evidences of our Sincerity not so as to give way to unjust Doubts and Jealousies but to quiet compose and support our Souls in Peace Direct 5. Lastly see that this Work be rightly circumstantiated both as to Time and Place As for the latter of these Withdraw your selves from the noise and hurry of worldly Business that ye may attend upon this Work without Distraction Enter into your Closets shut the Door upon you set your selves as in the Presence of the great God remember that he is the most reverend Witness of all your Proceedings who stands by and judgeth you while you are judging your selves A due Sense of this or nothing will over-awe your Minds and make you impartial and serious in the Business As for the circumstance of Time Have a care of needless delays in this Matter yet do not rush precipitantly upon it when you are unfit for such an undertaking Take such a season for it as soon as possible when your Spirits are lively your Heads clear your Affections calm and composed Otherwise if ye set about it when your Heads are confused your Spirits dejected or oppress'd with Melancholly c. and so your Passions tumultuous and afloat ye will make nothing of it And therefore ye shall sometimes find that Satan himself tho the greatest Enemy to this Work of Self-Examination will transform himself into an Angel of Light and put a poor-trembling Soul upon this work when he knows it is unfit for it and as ready will he be to triumph over such Persons and coâ—tempt them to despair when he sees they are baffled and confounded in their search Thus I have endeavoured to direct you in this Point I hope I need not tell you that in all this 't is necessary to implore the Divine Assistance humbly begging of him who is the Searcher of Hearts that he would lead you into your own Souls and not suffer you to be mistaken in a Matter of such consequence Tell him ye cannot be satisfied to hang in suspence but do sincerely desire to know the truth of your Case be it better or worse and that he himself his commanded you to search and try your selves that the work is difficult and ye dare not undertake it in your own strength In short that ye are resolved to rely upon him who is not wont to fail them that seek him and put their trust in him according to his own appointed way Say with the Psalmist Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my Heart Try me and know my Thoughts And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting CHAP. X. Sundry Questions proposed by which to examin the State of our Souls THese general Directions being premised we now come to offer you some fuâ—ther help or to lead you by the Hand through the Duty it self that so ye may at length discover how the case stands with you in reference to Eternity And here let me first tell you that the main Point to be enquired into is how your Souls are affected towarâ—s the glorious blessed God himself This is the grand comprehensive Question the Rule and Measure of all â—he rest which are intirely subordinate to it Observe it will stop a little and consider it 'T is this which must help you to understand remember and truly to resolve what further Enquiries shall be offered to you as being the Center wherein they all meet the End whereunto they are all design'd If as to the main ye be right here viz If your Souls be duly affected towards God all 's your own you may then conclude that you are wrought for Heaven indeed ye shall not miss of Happiness if there be enough in the infinite Aâ—l-sufficient God to mâ—ke you happy Luk. 15.31 Son thou are ever with me and all that I have is thine Well then iâ— in your most serious â—eliberate Judgment ye do highly esteem him as infinitely good in himself and the most sutable good for you Again if your Wills and Hearts do sincerely cleave to him love him rest in him resolve for him as such And then if the stated Couâ—se of yâ—ur Lives be in the main agreeable to such Apprâ—hensions and Resolutions Ye may then go yâ—ur wâ—y eat your Bread with Joy and drink your Wine with a merry Heart because God accepteth you Eccles 9 7. Yet let me fuâ—ther add there 's a great deal goes to prove that this is reâ—lly and truly your case Most Men will be ready to say that they esteem and love God above all With their Mouth they shew much Love Ezek. 33.31 Nor would any have been more forward in so professing than those very Persons to whom our Lord speaks John 5 42. I know you that ye have not the Love of God in you Let me therefore help you to find out the Truth of your Case by the following Questions Question 1. How do ye relish the notion of an Happiness which consists in the enjoyment of God I beseech you deal truly and faithfully with your Souls
To these I would say If as ye profess ye truly love God whence is that ye think no more of him And that ye speak no more of him And delight no more in converse with him Are no more concerned when he is dishonoured Nor grieved for your own Sins and the Sins of others against him How comes it to pass that so many Religious Duties are wholly neglected by you And others so miserably trifled in and slubber'd over Whence is it that your Lusts are so much indulged and that ye keep in league with his Enemies c. Is this the Love ye speak of It might well become you to know your selves better Thus much for the Use of Examination CHAP. XI The Exhortation in several Branches 1. To those who are not yet wrought for Heaven directing them what Methods to take in order to their Conversion IT may justly be expected that the Issue of the fore-going Examination will be various according to the different State or Circumstances of the Persons who shall think it worth their while to concern them selves seriously therein 1. 'T is not uncharitable to suppose that some may find great reason to conclude that this renewing Change has not yet passed upon them a sad Conclusion God knows but necessary to be made where 't is true O happy Congregation indeed if this were an unreasonable Supposition happy I say if all among you were thus wrought for Heaven 2. 'T is likely there may be others not altogether without hopes that this great Change is wrought upon them nor yet without Fears of the contrary but full of Doubt and Hesitations about it 3. And surely there are some among you who through Grace are able comfortably to conclude that they are indeed passed from Death to Life whose Hopes do quiâ—e overrop their Fears in his Matter Now that which I would endeavour through God's Assistance is to speak a word in season to all these in order To the first sort with deep concern for them trembling over them travelling in biâ—th with them till Christ be formed in them Help Lord To the second with a due Mixture of Tenderness and Judgment Compassion and Discretion To the third with humble Thankfulness and an Heart enlarged in Love to God and our Redeemer that our Joy may be full All this I say I would do but of my self can do nothing O for more Faith in the blessed Spirit of our glorified Head And now I proceed to the Exhortation 1. To those who are yet in an unregenerate State Come come bestir your selves what have ye been doing all this while what are ye dreaming of It is high time to awake out of sleep and to hasten your escape from the Wrath to come while there is yet Hope Little know ye but your Glass may be almost run and yet alas your great Work is undone Let me say to you as Gen. 19.17 Escape for your Lives look not behind you lest ye be consumed If therefore ye would be converted and saved let me also press upon you the following Directions O Lord my God I beseech thee send me good speed this day and grant that the strong holds of Satan may be broken and the Interest of thy Son my Lord be advanced and that the Kingdom of Glory may be hastened Lord remember the Requests tho too few and cold that have been put up to Heaven both in publick and in secret on this behalf and give a gracious Answer Even so Amen Direct 1. Set your selves in good earnest to the serious Consideration of your Spiritual Concerns Exercise your most sober deliberate Thoughts about them Ye wiâ—l find one Day that it would have been better for you not to have had Reason than not to use it about the Interests of your Souls Better I say that ye had filled up the room of the meanest Guâ—t Worm or Mole in the Creation than of Men if ye do not improve â—nd use your noblest Faculties â—o their proper Ends. Ye can think naturally and easily early and late with much earnestness and constancy about other Matâ—ers how to buy and sell and get Gain and other such important Trifles â—pardon the Contradiction for 't is of your own making But lâ—t me ask you have ye no thoughts to spare about your Eternal Concerns where ye must dwell for ever what shall become of your immortal Souls when they must abide in Flesh no longer Do not these things deserve to be thought of What do ye think your Reason was given you for Can ye expect to be sanâ—tified and saved without any Endeavours of your own in order thereto Or is it likely your Endeavours should be to any purpose unless your Minds be first awakened to proceed rationally in the Matter To ask your selves what ye are Whence ye came Where ye are placed Whither ye are going What ye have to â—o Try to answer these things to your selves I must not stay to enlarge upon them Do not expect to become Religious by chance it must be by choice through Grace or not at all And is it likely that the Will should act blindly in the Case or chuse the Ways of God before the Understanding be convinced of the Worth and Excellency of them And what Conviction without Consideration I thought I had told you before that God works upon Men as rational Creatures upon the Will by the Mediation of the Understanding But 't is the design of Satan to keep you asleep in carnal Security to find your Thoughts other employment that he may divert you from considering these things for which your Reason was principally given you And are ye willing thus to be led blindfold to Hell Lord open their Eves that they may see O think how ye will ever be able to answer it to God or your own Consciences that ye have been so stupidly inconsiderate as to the things of your everlasting Peace All Wickedness may be resolved into Inconsiderateness Isa 1.3 4. My People doth not consider Ah sinful Nation a People laden with Iniquity Well then Sirs if ye think your Souls worth so much Labour I would offer to you some Particulars to be considered in the following order 1. Consider well how sinful and miserable an unregenerate State is As for the sinfulness of it It is a State of Hostility against Heaven In Scripture account all unregenerate Men are Enemies to God yea Enmity it self Rom. 8.7 Col. 1.21 They are said to contemn him despise him and to cast him behind their back They kick against him they hate and abhor him Zeâ—h 11.8 My Soul loathed them and their Soul also abhorred me Is not this think you a sinful State indeed And is it not in some respect so much the worse in that they profess or pretend to the contrary With their Mouth they shew much Love but in reality they do alienate themselves from him who has the most full and absolute propriety in them They rebel against their most
neglect no Means nor Helps in order thereto Such Resolutions as these are most proper in your condition But if your Hearts still hang back let me ask ye what will ye resolve upon Vita humana sine proposito vaga est languida Will ye put the Matter to the venture and trouble your Heads no further about it but still go on at the old dull stupid rate If so this is wilfully to destroy your own Souls and whom can ye blame but your selves Will ye sit down in Despair This is to despise or undervalue the Riches of Gospel-Grace that are set before you Those that come to Christ he will in no wise cast out Again will ye delay for a while and put off the thoughts of these things till hereafter Answ This indeed is the common Case but almost as unreasonable as either of the other two Your times are not in your own Hands ye know not how soon your Souls may be required of you the longer ye delay the more difficult it is like to be and the Spirit that should help you will be grieved by your backwardness Satan will have the faster hold of you and if Death overtake you before the work be done ye are damned Therefore I say turn your Thoughts which way you will all other Resolutions will be found mad and dangerous except that of the Prodigal I will arise and go to my Father So do ye And here let me tell you 't is needful that your Resolutions be firm and steady lest those Difficulties which may afterwards arise in your way should discourage you and that they be speedy lest Death overtake you unprepared And also that in this whole business ye be sensible of your own Weakness and Insufficiency lest ye miscarry through foolish Self-Confidence But of that more by and by Direct 4. See that your Resolutions be forthwith put into practice By this it must appear that they are true and hearty if the VVill be determined in the case sutable Endeavours will ensue And here your work lies in the following Order 1. Humble your selves deeply in the Presence of God for all that Sin and Folly which hitherto ye have been guilty of Consider the Evil of Sin as it is contrary to the holy and pure Nature and Law of God Call to remembrance your own Sins and lay them to Heart that they may not be laid to your Charge In a particular manner bewail the Corruption of your Natures and more especially the estrangedness of your Hearts from God and Enmity against him with that inordinate propension to the Creature in which the Heart of the Old Man doth mainly consist Proceed then to consider those actual Transgressions which have all along issued from this Corruption viz. Your loss of precious Time misimprovement of Gospel Ordinances and Means of Grace your Pride Passion Earthliness Sensuality c. Confess these things humbly and feelingly in the Presence of God Labour to melt into an ingenuous Child-like Sorrow for having carried it so unworthily to so good and gracious a Father That Sorrow for Sin which proceeds only from fear of Punishment is the Sorrow of a Slave and may consist with as much Love to Sin as ever But Godly Sorrow is animated by holy Love to God which raiseth in the Soul a rational hearty Grief for its Transgressions against him an hatred of Sin and Resolution against it for the future This is Repentance from dead Works and toward God He that covereth his Sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find Mercy Prov. 28.13 Yea as Matters now stand such is the wonderful condescension of the Law of Grace 't is an Act of Justice and Faithfulness as well as Mercy to forgive Sin wheresoever with true Repentance it is confessed 1 Joh. 1.9 If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins c. Therefore I say give Glory to God by an humble acknowledgment of your Sins Lay your selves low that his Glory may â—â—e advanced Put your Mouths in the Dust if so be there may be hope Justify his holy Law tho in so doing ye condemn your selves Say with the returning Prodigal Luk. 15.21 Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son c. 2. Thankfully acknowledg the Riches of Free-Grace in that God is yet pleased to offer you Terms of Reconciliation and Peace The Golden Scepter is held forth to you that ye may touch it and live Methinks this should encourage you and put Life and Vigour into your Proceedings and draw out your very Souls in sweet Returns of Love to God Lord is there yet Hope is there any Mercy for such an one as I Behold I come in Obedience to thy Call Blessed be God for Jesus Christ 3. Humbly implore pardoning Mercy for your past Sins and the help of Divine Grace for your present and future Duty As the necessity of your Case should make you very earnest and importunate in these Requests So ye have great encouragement given you to strengthen your Faith and Confidence in the Divine Goodness God delights in Mercy and hath proclaimed his gracious Name Exod. 34.6 9. Use this as an Argument in Prayer as the Psalmist did Psal 25.11 For thy Names sake O Lord pardon mine Iniquity for it is great Plead the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ the Promises of the Gospel and assure your selves God is as ready to forgive as ye are to repent and forsake your Sins He will not despise a broken and a contrite Heart Psal 51.17 And since the work that lies before you is holy and spiritual therefore trust not to your own Resolutions or Strength Pray hard for the help of the Spirit â—ay your Souls open to the Influences of his Grace yield your selves to his Conduct Carefully strike in with all his Motions Lord here am I what wouldst thou have me to do Teach me the way wherein I should go incline mine Heart to thy Testimonies strengthen me with Might in my inward Man Magnify thy Power in my Weakness Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth draw me and I will run after thee 4. And now give up your selves unfeignedly to God in and through Christ If ye expect he should be your God that is your Portion Happiness Soul-satisfying Good ye must be his People devoted to his Love and Service The Covenant must be mutual else how should it be a Covenant Let this be done with great Freedom Chearfulness and Resolution of Spirit ye will never have reason to repent of your choice He will be your Shield and your exceeding great Reward 5. Live henceforth as becomes the Covenant-People of God Renounce your Lusts and Corruptions Let the time past of your Lives suffice you to have fulfilled the Inclinations of the Flesh Remember ye must now live at another rate than heretofore ye have done The Glory of God must be
the performance of religious Duties yea and sometimes fall into great Sins besides those of daily Infirmity and therefore are often called to Repentance Humiliation and Amendment and to renew their Covenant with God in Christ and to act Faith upon his Merits and Satisfaction for Pardon and Peace and to double their Watch and Diligence for the future when in the mean time they are not perhaps obliged at all to call in question their Foundation nor to perplex themselves with Doubts and Fears as to their State in the main Indeed as for those who oft fall into groffer Sins and lie long in them even such Sins as they might easily forbear if they were truly willing such have great reason to question their own Sincerity But as for the common Infirmities of the Godly yea or their greater falls through Inadvertency Surprize or the violence of some sudden Temptation the Case here is quite different If a Workman when he has laid his Foundation and is proceeding forward in the Building should upon evevy lesser or some few greater mistakes in the Superstructure pull down all again and question the Foundation it self he would make very little progress and so have but little comfort in his Work So here true Believers who are in a justified State have still need to beg daily Pardon for their daily Sins yet ought they not to give way to needless Doubts or misgiving Thoughts as to their State in the main For if any Man sia we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous 1 John 2.1 He that is washed needeth not save to wash his Feet but is clean every whit John 13.10 When David had sinned so grievously in the matter of Vriah and Nathan the Prophet was seâ—â— to him to expostulate with him about it and bring him to a greater Sense of the Evil he had done c. we find that he humbly acknowledgeth his Transgression earnestly implores the Divine Mercy prays hard that the Holy Spirit of God may not be taken away from him but we do not find that he was called to doubt of his State in the main nor can we prove that he did so but encouraged himself in the Mercy of God Psal 51.17 The Sacrisices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise There are says a great Divine some Sins which every one that repenteth of them doth so forsake as to cease committing them and there are some lesser Sins which they that repent of them do hate indeed but yet frequently renew as our defective degrees in the exercise of Repentance it self Faith Love Trust Fear Obedience our vain Thoughts and Words some sinful Passions c. many such Sins are fitly called Infirmities because they consist with Life and are forgiven It is of great use to the peace of our Consciences to discern the difference between these two for one fort require a Conversion to another State and the other require but a particular Repentance and when they are unknown are forgiven without a particular Repentance because our general Repentance is virtually though not actually particular as to them One sort are cause of judging our selves ungodly and the other sort are only cause of Filial Humiliation Baxter's Directory part 1. pag. 299. Direct 11. Though you cannot yet attain to the â—uller comforts of Assurance do not therefore underâ—â—lue any thing that looks hopefully or hath a likely endency thereto Great things are not usually atâ—â—ined but by degrees and through many difficulâ—ies 't is no small matter to be certain that we are 〈◊〉 a justified State nor is such a certainty so common among true Believers themselves as perhaps you imagine who yet have considerable Support â—nd Comfort from hopeful Probabilities in the case Now as 't is necessary to pull down the vain Hopes of presumptious Sinners so it also is to strengthen and help the Joys and Hopes of weak Christians Well then let me ask you Are you not grieved or the many Offences you have committed against God at least Is it not your trouble that you can nourn for Sin no more that your Hearts are no nore tender and relenting Is it not your desire and in some measure your endeavour to renounce your Sins and to mortify your Corruptions Could you bear the thoughts of parting with Christ or quitting your Interest in him for all your Doubts and letting go your hold of him for any thing that could possibly be offered you in exchange Would you not even loath and abhor the Proposal Is it not your endaavour to love him more and serve him better Put such Questions as these are to your own Souls and then judge whether in all this there be not something that appears to be more then like special Grace And though you are not yet certain that it is so yet let thus much support you till you can see further And as I said before be thankful for what you have and strive for more Grace and then you shall find that spiritual strength and comfort will increase together And all along be sure to remember that God and the Redeemer are as willing to accept you upon Gospel-terms as you can be to desire it yea and infinitely mâ—â—â— willing as loving Holiness better than you do 〈◊〉 the March break between Christ and you it shall 〈◊〉 through your own refusal Never was any poâ—â— Sinner before-hand with him he is the first in coâ—senting and is a Suitor to us for our full 〈◊〉 hearty consent nor will he despise the least tendecies thereto He will not break the bruised Reed oâ— On his part all is safe and clear prevail but withy own Heart to hold on and go thorow with the work and All 's thine own Direct 12. Be sure that you exercise the moâ—â— deep and entire Self-resignation to the soveraign Pleasure of the Divine Will in this matter Leave it unto God to measure out your Comforts for you and to determine the Time and Season thereof Lay your Souls at his Feet with the profoundest Reverence Humility and Submission say as David in another Case It may be the Lord will look upon my Affliction But if he say he have no delight in me behold here am I let him do as seems good unto him 2 Sam. 15.26 O learn to wait upon the Lord and look for him when he seems to hide his Faâ—â— Isa 8.17 It is not possible that you should be Losers by thus resigning your Souls and your All into his Hand 't is your certain Duty so to do and it will be a mighty evidence of that Sincerity which you are seeking after And there are many comfortable Promises made to such actings of Soul as these and encouraging Examples set before us Blessed are all they that wait for him Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine Heart Wait I say on the Lord. Psal 20.14 Methinks that such a
is fit God should have the Glory of his own Gifts while you have the benefit and comfort of them This is the way to receive more To him that hath shall be given Sit down and consider seriously cast about in your Minds what shall I do to promote the Honour and Interest of that God who has done so much for me Can you form no Project for greater servicableness I will try if I can help you by and by in the mean time resolve to walk with God more humbly strictly and watchfully than ever yet you have done and joyfully to embrace every opportunity which it shall please God to put into your Hands to testify your Thankfulness by humble and self-denying Obedience 'T is true God needs not you you cannot be profitable unto him But it is as true that he expects all this from you as a due Expression of the Gratitude and Ingenuity of an honest Heart Tho you cannot profit him yet obedient you must be and besides Soveraign Authority you have many indearing Obligations thereto I will shew you presently that you need not want work but will endeavour first to fortify you against the difficulties of it Direct 4. Let Patience have its perfect work We have need of this Grace at every turn the Race set before us will never be finish'd nor scarce one step rightly taken without it Heb. 12.1 We must expect to meet with many Afflictions Psal 34.19 which cannot be born nor improved as they ought without patience Whether they be such as come more immediately from the Hand of God Shall we not be subject to the Father of Spirits and live Heb. 12.9 q. d. We must be subject our Lives lie on it To mutiny is mortal as one glosses upon the place It is the Lord let him do what seems good in his Eyes When God is glorifying himself in correcting us we must with Aaron hold our Peace Lev. 10.3 Be still and know that he is God Dumb and not open our Mouths because he does it If we be afflicted by the Pride or Malice of Men here again we have need of Patience that we fret not our selves because of Evil-doers nor entertain any peevish revengful Thoughts against them There 's more of Christianity in this than most Professors think of To be habitually disposed to bless those that curse us and to overcome Evil with Good And indeed we shall never be able to bear the Contradiction of Sinners without fainting in our Minds except we exercise Patience and eye the Example of Christ Heb. 12.2 3. Again are we assaulted by the Temptations of Satan we shall never conquer without Patience Moreover we have need of Patience to carry us through the religious Duties to which we are daily called Because our sluggish Hearts are still drawing back from Duty and are prone to grow weary of it and reluctate against it These Fruits of Righteousness will be blasted or miserably impaired if not brought forth with Patience Luke 8.15 So pronâ— are we to be weary of well-doing Lastly We have need of Patience that after we have done the Will of God we may receive the Promise Heb. 10.36 That we may wait God's time for our glorious Reward The wisest Man tells us Prov. 13.12 Hope deserred makes the Heart sick 'T is Patience therefore that must keep us from fainting O what need have we to pray That the Lord would direct our Hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ 2 Thess 3.5 Direct 5. Put on bowels of Compassion to the Souls of others Say not with Cain Am I my Brother's keeper nor yet think that Ministers only are obliged to promote the common Salvation Methinks you should be desirous to take as many along with you to Heaven as you can Are you not taught to pray That the Name of God may be â—allowed his Kingdom come and his Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven And must not these Prayers be seconded with sutable Endeayours in your places Striving to help on others will be a means to exercise and increase your own Graces and to advance your Comforts It will be a sign that you love Christ sincerely when you lay out your selves to promote his Interest And since God hath had Compassion upon you ought ye not to have some Compassion upon your Brethren I know the Devil will do his utmost to oppose you but you must be armed with Resolution and Patience There are more with you than against you When you meet with any that are buffeted with Temptations perplex'd with Doubts and Fears remember it might have been your own Case Labour therefore to administer Comfort to them by religious Conference Communication of Experiences and all other proper Means that fall in your way do not despise the meanest of them And then as for those that are in an unregenerate State how can you look upon them and not be deeply concerned for them The less they pity themselves the greater objects of your pity If the Children of Israel were obliged to be kind to Strangers and not to vex or oppress them because they themselves had been such in the Land of Egypt and therefore knew the Heart of a Stranger Exod. 23.9 Levit. 34. O then what reason have you to pity those that are in an unconverted Estate estranged from God! It was once your own Case you cannot but know what a dead dark disaffected thing the Heart of such a Person is how obdurate and senseless O think what they are doing and whither they are going if infinite Mercy do not prevent Happy you if you can help to save one Soul from Hell But let me urge this Point somewhat more distinctly 1. Begin with those that are under your special Care and Charge If these perish through your neglect look you to it their Blood will be required at your Hands Those of you that have Families think how much you have to do for God in them It may be some of you will say we keep up religious Exercises in our Houses viz. Praying Reading the Scriptures and Singing the Praises of God I answer thus far is well I wish more could say so too But this is not all that you have to do Children and Servants are to be dealt with plainly familiarly and tenderly by you with all the Skill and Application you can in order to the Salvation of their Souls I must not stay to give you particular Directions honest Hearts and a sincere desire to do their Souls good will soon put you in a way to do it 2. You have a great deal to do for the Souls of your Neighbours Are not many of them ignorant carnal and ungodly Can you contrive no way to be helpful to them Have you no particular Interest in some of them Have they no dependance upon you Are they under no special Obligations to you Why are not all these Advantages improved for God Can you see them
perishing by Multitudes round about you and not once open your Mouths to help them Is this to love your Neighbours as your selves 3. In a word I tell you 't is your duty to take all opportunities wherever you come or with whomsoever you converse to do good to Souls I do not mean that sacred Things should be exposed by rashness indiscretion or imprudent management nor Pearls cast before Swine who will turn again and rent you But one thing I will tell you as bad as the World is the Names of Holiness Justice Purity Religion c. are still honourable among Men and the contrary Vices are accounted odious No Man would be look'd upon as an impious profane unrighteous Villian Now this gives you some advantage and a willing Mind may find many ooportunities to bring in good Discourse and that in such a way as the woâ—st of Men should scarce dare to contradict it There is somewhat in serious Religion which commands Awe and Reverence even from them that hate it Herod feared John the Baptist knowing that he was a just Man and an holy Mark 6.20 As for those that are civilized or moralized as some speak the difficulty is next to nothing to bring in some edifying Discourse among them and to leave some good savour behind you Christians should be the Salt of the Earth Mat. 5.13 And to let them know that the Life of Religion is somewhat more than they seem to place it in Can you not gently and prudently reprove the Sins of others where you think it may do good I know that this is a Duty that goes as much against the Grain as almost any but the Scripture is plain Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin to the upon him Or as the words may be rendered that thou bear not Sin for him you make your selves Partakers with other Men in their Sins if you endeavour not to prevent them In short God will own those that own him and stand up for his Cause and if that be not enough see where you can find a better Patron Moreover as for those that are poor and low in the World you might make way for doing good to their Souls by shewing Kindness to their Bodies if you thought it worth the while to be at any expence for the interest of Christ in the World I say no more than this if it were possible that Grief could have any place in Heaven this sure would be the matter of it to remember how little we had done for God on Earth Direct 6. Be much in the exercise of those Graces and Duties which tend most directly Heaven-ward and are nearest a kin to that blessed State This is the way to make you ripe for Glory You need not stay for all of Heaven till you come thither there are great Foretasts of it to be enjoyed on Earth if you be not wanting to your selves You may feast your Souls upon the Provisions which Christ hath made for your present support and more especially upon those discoveries which he has given you of the Glory intended for you and you have need so to do lest you faint by the way I may say to you as the Angel to Elijah 1. King 19.7 Arise and eat because the Journey is too great for thee 1. Live by Faith upon the great Promises of the Gospel whereby the Heavenly Glory is made sure unto true Believers realize those Promises there remaineth a Rest for the People of God Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord c. If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be If any Man serve me him will my Father honour These are the true Sayings of God Rev. 19.9 How comes it to pass that they are no more considered and lived upon What tho at present we have not the satisfaction of immediate intuition know ye not that Faith is to be instead of sight till we come to Heaven Heb. 11.1 But alas how apt are we to take up with some dark dreaming confused Notions and Thoughts instead of the lively Exercise of such a Faith 2. Labour to stir up in your selves earnest Longings after this blessed State How can we say we love our Lord if our Hearâ—s be not with him Should we not set our Affections on things above where Christ sitteth on the right Hand of God Col. 3.1 2. Ouâ— Lord is there our Inheritance is there many of our Friends and Acquaintance are gone before how ill doth it become us to suffer our Hearts to flag as if we were indifferent whether we followed them or no Surely we should groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 Do but observe how eager and intent Worldlings are upon empty Vanities things that cannot profit And shall we be so cold and heartless in the Tendencies of our Souls towards that Happiness which is solid and substantial Were our Hearts more set upon Heaven it would put Life and Savour into all our Duties it would support us under Afflictions and enable us to baffle Temptations it would be an Evidence of our Sincerity and raise us above the slavish Fears of Death But I proceed 3. Be much in the exercise of a lively well grounded Hope Faith presents the heavenly Glory to the view of the Soul Desire reacheth forth towards it Hope lays hold upon it To this we are begotten again 1 Pet. 1.3 By this we are saved Rom. 8.24 See first that your Hopes be rightly grounded and then that they be duly exercised 4. And now it is time that your Souls should be affected with spiritual Joy Faith and Hope must both contribute to this Thus we read of Joy in believing and of rejoicing in Hope Read Psal 32.11 Phil. 4.4 1 Thess 5.16 You are over and over commanded to rejoice 't is not left to you as a Matter indifferent 'T is as truly a Duty in its place as Godly Sorrow Humiliation and Repentance are in theirs And 't is more noble as appertaining to the primitive and principal Part of Holiness whereas the other belong to the medicinal healing part thereof 5. Above all things strive to keep up the Warmth and Vigour of holy Love to God and your Redeemer Let every other Grace do its part to promote this Labour still to get nearer to God more inward with him and that your Hearts may move more naturally towards him God is Love Direct 7. Observe narrowly the Temper and Behaviour of those Persons who seem ripest for Heaven and take them for your Examples Converse much with such He that walketh with the Wise shall be wise In such you may observe manifold Appearances of those inward gracious Principles by which they are acted In them you may observe great Humility and Condescension toward such as are their Inferiours Great tenderness for the Honour and Interest of God in the World Great delight in making mention familiarly of those that are gone to Heaven before them An excellent composure of Gravity and Chearfulness a weighty Seriousness and Warmth in the Duties of Gods holy Worship In a word you may see plainly enough whither they are going and how beautiful a thing Holiness is thus growing up towards its Perfection FINIS
Promise should do more with you than just keep you from sinking See also Psalm 40.1 2. I waited patiently for the Lord c. It is good that a Man should both hope and quieth wait for the Salvation of the Lord. Lam. 3.26 Remember God waited long on you before you â—ould take up any serious thoughts of repenting â—â—d down in sullen discontent because he doth not â—â—smediately give you the Comforts of Assurance â—ne would think common Ingenuity should teach â—â—ou better Light is sown for the Righteous â—nd sooner or later they shall reap the blessed Fruit But in as much as 't is sown it is meet â—hat they should wait till this precious Fruit grow â—â—p or rather till they themselves be grown to a â—â—aturity and fitness for it God's time is the â—â—st time He knows perfectly what Degrees of Comfort are sittest for you and what the fittest â—easons to bestow it The Husbandman after he â—â—â—h cast his Seed into the Earth doth not imâ—â—diately expect an Harvest nor yet say I have â—â—boured in vain I will pull up the Hedg and lay â—ll waste No no his God instructs him to greater Discretion Isa 28.26 He waits till the appointed Season So do you in the present Case wait God's time for Comfort give an early check to the least strivings of Impatience Say not Why should I wait upon God any longer as he 2 King 6.33 but rather as the Psalmist Psal 42.11 Why art thou cast down O my Soul c. hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him c. CHAP. XIII Directions to those who have attained to greater degrees of Assurance and Comfort WE come now to the third Branch of Exhorcation namely to those who through Grace have attained unto greater Measures of Assurance and are enabled comfortably to conclude that they are past from Death to Lise to such I would say In general Hold fast what you have that no Max take away your Crown Rev. 3.11 Keep close to God and your Redeemer live in the Spirit walk in the Spirit Be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord c. 1 Cor. 15.58 You know whom you have trusted gird up therefore the Loins of your Minds We must tug a while with the Diffificulties of our present State and Work but these will soon be over Heaven is in view we are almost there and shall certainly reap if we faint not But I proceed to Particulars Direct 1. Whatever you do be sure to keep humble look upon Pride as the first-born of the Devil 'T is a Sin which God doth in an especial manner see himself against God resisteth the Proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 4.6 He stands in battle array or in direct defiance and opposition against them God still counteracteth the Proud as Dr. Manton observes upon the place 'T was this which turned Angels into Devils as may be observed from that of the Apostle 1 Tim. 3 6. Lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil Pride is still the fore-runner of some fall and mischief or other And tho in the truly Godly it be in some measure mortified yet is it not utterly rooted out but sticks very close to our Natures and if it be not carefully watched against it will be taking occasion to shew it self even from our spiritual Gifts or Graces And whatever it comes near is tainted and corrupted by it O let us think and think again how unsutable it is to our condition to be lifted up with high thoughts of our selves how much disingenuity there is in is what have we that we have not received What were we before we received it And what should we quickly be again if we were not upheld by the Divine Power We bear not the Root but the Root beareth us Rom. 11.18 Without him we can â—o nothing Joh. 15.5 Let us therefore endeavour to be cloathed throughout with Humility this is as one says a Christian's Livery without which Christ will not own us as his Servants Let us learn of him to be meek and lowly in Heart Let this Mind be in us that was in Christ who made himself of no Reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 emptied himself c. Phil. 2.7 Let us exercise our selves frequently and solemnly in Self-Annihilation that is in affecting our Hearts with a deep sense of our own Nothingness in the sight of God and this I advise you to do as a set Duty by it self and all little enough to subdue the Pride of our Hearts Think not that some slight Thoughts or general Acknowledgments of your own Unworthiness will serve the turn but labour to feel what you say and to be nothing in your own Eyes Go therefore into your Retirements sit down and consider the glorious Excellencies of the great God before whom the Angels vail their Faceâ— who looketh upon the Sun and it shineth not neither are the Heavens clean in his sight Who doâ—â— great things and unsearchable marvelous things without number Job 5 9. Get your Hearts as full as they can hold of adoring and admiring Thoughts of God And when you have so done reflect upon you selves and you will find abundant reason to cry out Lord what am I A Worm and no Max sinful Dust and Ashes foolish and ignorant and as a Beast before thee Less than the least of aâ—â— thy Mercies nothing or worse than nothing c. c. c. I know not any thing more sutable to our Condition more pleasing in the sight of God more conducive to our spiritual Safety and Comfort than to be much employed in such exercise as this Be not desirous of vain Glory do not affect the Applause of Men if you meet with it watch your Hearts as you would do Gun-powder Tinder or Flax when Fire is near Still say give Glory to God I am a poor vile worthless Sinner Direct 2. Press earnestly towards the Mark You have not yet attained there is a great deal of Work still on your Hand many Enemies to conflict withal You have run well hitherto O have a care of making a stand Ad ulteriora tendens semper nilque putans actum dum quid superesset agendum as it was said of Julius Cesar is a fit Motto for a Christian still pressing forward aiming at greater Attainments and thinking nothing done while any thing remains undone Phil. 3.13.14 Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the Mark c. Under this Head you may observe the following Particulars 1. Carry on a continual Warfare against your remaining Corruptions the Flesh will be lusting against the Spirit so long as we are here on Earth Labour therefore to keep under the Body and to bring it into subjection Do not indulge your corrupt carnal Inclinations how agreeable soever to your Constitutions or worldly Interest Have a care of being in love with
fleshly Prosperity and Ease Search after those Sins which do most easily beset you those Corruptions which do most frequently foil you and single them out to run them down Spare them not but deal with them as Samuel with Agag hew them in pieces before the Lord. Fortify your selves with Arguments against them keep a strict watch go not to the utmost extent of your Christian Liberty resist the first stirrings of them the least tendencies towards them Prov. 30.32 If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thy self or if thou hast thought evil lay thine Hand upon thy Mouth Avoid as much as possible the occasions of Sin especially of your beloved Sins Habituate your selves to frequent serious Thoughts of the Presence of God Set the Lord always before you Psal 16.8 2. Make not a light Matter of the least decays in Grace or Tendencies toward backsliding What tho it should be granted that a regenerate Person cannot or rather shall not Jer. 32.40 fall away finally yet it is past all Doubt that such an one may fall very fouly so as to grieve the Holy Spirit to wound his own Conscience to blemish his Profession and to obscure his Evidences ' And is not all this sad enough Moreover 't is certain Men usually decline by degrees and therefore the least Degrees or Tendencies thereto are not to be slighted If therefore you find that Conscience begins to grow less tender than formerly it was if Sin sit lighter and the sense of remaining Corruption is less grievous to you than heretofore If you grow more customacy and careless in religious Duties and less regardful to keep up the Life of holy Communion with God in Christ If you can more easily let slip spiritual Opportunities and find less relish and sweetness in them than formerly if the Interest of the the World and Flesh begin to grow more prevalent with you and you are ready to phancy that 't is good to be here while in the mean time your Thoughts of Heaven grow cold and languid and your Desires or Longings to be with Christ do abate If you find it thus with you you had need bestir your selves in good earnest to recover your first Love and to strengthen the things which remain and are ready to die Otherwise you little know how far the Spirit of God may be provoked and what considerable Degrees both of Grace and Comfort may quickly be lost I need not tell you that Satan will do his worst to hinder you in your way to Heaven your own Corruptions and the Snares of the World will get Ground upon you You had need row hard against the Stream which of it self will carry you back if you press not forward Noâ— progredi erit regredi 3. Labour to grow in due proportion as to the several parts of Holiness and Duty The beauty of Holiness as of every thing else consisteth much in the due symmetry and proportion of the several parts of it Labour to exercise each Grace and Duty in its proper Order and Place so that one may not interfere with nor exclude another See that your Judgments be well settled as to the great Principles of Religion that your belief of them be firm deep and solid To this end labour to study and digest well the Articles of the Creed let your Thoughts dwell much upon them that you may understand the right meaning and due improvment of every Article Take care also that your Wills and Affections be full-fraught with becoming Resolutions and Inclinations that the Purposes and Desires of your Souls be rightly ordered and placed To this end study well the Lords Prayer both as to the matter and order of the seâ—eral Petitions and endeavour to form and settle the Inclinations and Tendencies of your Souls accordingly Especially that the Glory of God be first and last in all your desires highest in your esteem and all things else desired in full Subserviency thereto Here lies the Life of Religion and this we should be still contending and striving to raise our Hearts more towards that they may move more naturally easily and delightfully therein that God's Interest may be of all others the nearest and dearest to us And then for the direction of your Practice labour to understand the true sense and extent of the ten Commandments to see the Amiableness Righteousness and Perfection of the Divine Law that you may heartily approve thereof love it and live accordingly Delighting in the Law of God after the inner Man Rom. 7.22 The whole Frame of Christian Principles Graces and Duties is beyond measure lovely in the harmonious connexion of the several parts thereof Labour therefore that this Frame may be more and more deeply imprinted upon your Hearts and expressed in your Lives That ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing Jam. 1.4 If you be maimed in one part all the rest will fare the worse for that Remember Integrity is the Glory of a Christian viz. that no part be lacking 2 Cor. 7.1 Perfecting Holiness in the fear of God That is let us see that no part of Holiness be wanting in us and that we be not wanting to any part of Holiness but still pressing forward towards Perfection even in degrees Take care for example that your Zeal be guided by Knowledg lest it set all on Fire and prove mischievous to your selves and others or at best no better than an Ignis fatuus And again let your Knowledg be improved into holy Zeal and Fervency that you be not luke-warm or indifferent in Matters of Religion which most justly challenge our whole Hearts Rev. 3 1â— 16. Let godly Sorrow Repentance and Humiliation for Sin be so exercised as not to exclude humble Confidence in the Mercy of God spiritual Joy c. Again if God give you a large share of Assurance and Comfort do not therefore think your selves above the fore-mentioned humbling Exercises which will be a means to preserve your Purity and Peace Moreover let not the Duties of the first and second Table justle out each other but let both be duly and carefully observed in the several Branches of them Think it not enough to be just and upright or as they call it morally honest in your dealings with Men except you be also serious hearty and sincere in the Service of God and in the devotedness of your Souls to him And again think not that any Worship of Service you perform to God will be accepted while second-Table-duties are wilfully neglected It is the design of Religion to make us better and more useful in every Relation and Capacity wherein we stand 1 Pet. 2.16 17. 2 Pet. 1.5 c. Tit. 2.12 We are enjoined to live SOBERLY RIGHTEOVSLY and GODLY in this present World viz. We must be Sober in the Government of our Senses Appetites Affections c. Righteous in our dealings with Men doing to others as we would that they should do to us Godly in the Tendency and Inclination of