be able to withstand a temptation then he saw the uncleanness of his heart and therefore cried to God to wash him and cleanse him and it is as if he had said Lord I see now what a filthy and unclean Spirit dwelleth in me Lord do thou purge it out and cleanse me from it If any one had gone to David and told him that at such a time he should be overcome by such a temptation and commit two great sins he would hardly have believed that his heart had been so bad But after wards his expeperience taught him 2. Hereby God teacheth the Soul where its strength lieth and on whom its grace depends The decay of grace shews that the strength thereof is not in man nor in grace it self but like the Vine it must have a supporter Grace can't live nor thrive without constant influences I but good men are too apt to depend upon their grace and not to go to him for strength in whom it lies Now when a Christian feels the decay of his grace and his own insufficiency to relieve and strengthen it this drives him out of himself to Christ This is one main difference between the total want of grace and a sense of decay in grace The total want of grace drives men from Christ but a sense of the decay of grace drives men to Christ So it did David his weakness brought him upon his knees 3. The falls of Christians through the weakness of grace and the power of sin are made notable antidotes and preservatives against final Apostasie For as there is nothing that estrangeth the heart from God as spiritual pride and self-confidence so nothing keeps the heart so close to God as a filial fear of offending God So you may see Jer. 32.40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me This is that which hemms in the Soul that it cannot go astray Now the falls of Christians provoke and draw forth this filial fear into act The burnt child dreads the fire and he that hath been stung with a Serpent will shun his hole so it is here None so fearful of falling into sin as they that have fallen None so wary and watchful none so resolute and stout against temptations and occasions of sin as those who have been at a time overcome 4. These falls and decayes are like mighty winds to the Oak that settles him faster and make him root deeper in Christ As the more the Oak is shaken if it falls not the faster and deeper it is rooted in the earth So when a Christian hath been shaken with the winds of temptations and corruptions the faster hold he layeth upon Christ and the deeper he is rooted in him For 1. His experience of Christ's faithfulness in keeping him from falling finally and totally strengthens his faith in Christ 2. His experience of Christ's pardoning love knits and unites his heart close to Christ First His experience of Christ's faithfulness in keeping him from falling totally and finally strengthens his faith in Christ As 't is a notable trial of Christ's faithfulness to keep Saints from falling away finally when they fall souly so experience of Christ's faithfulness is a notable strengthener of a Christians faith in Christ They that know thy name will put their trust in thee saith David Psal 9.10 A friend that keeps close to a man in time of need may well be trusted Even so 't is here Christ keeps close to a Christian even at that time when he deserves to be cast off and is both a shame and a grief to Christ Surely the experience hereof must needs be a great incouragement to a Christian to trust him for ever He seeth that Christs strength never fails although his own strength fail He seeth that there is grace enough in Christ to support him in the weakest condition and to raise him up when he is at the lowest Nay further he finds this strength put forth upon him according to the word of promise and though he is unbelieving yet Christ abides faithful to him And therefore he cannot but conclude from hence that Christ will be his strength for ever and will never fail him Secondly A Christians experience of the fulness and continuance of Christs pardoning love knits and unites his soul faster to Christ then ever this doth endear Christ to the soul exceedingly tryed love is an endearing love and if any thing will draw out the souls affections unto Christ and confirm them against all future assaults it is the renewing of pardons upon the renewal of offences When the soul shall hear Christ say as he doth Esay 43.24 25. Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities I am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake and will remember thy sins no more I say when the soul shall hear this it must needs be deeply affected herewith What! Will the Lord be gratious to such a vile wretch as I am Will he pardon a backslider Will he forgive the sin of one that hath made him to serve with his sin and wearied him with iniquities O here is wonderful love this is transcendent love and shall not I love him that hath loved me thus Yet Lord thou knowest that I love thee 't is true I have backslidden and grievously offended but I will do so no more Thus God sometimes doth the soul much good by that which in it self doth him the greatest hurt as pain easeth a Christian death revives him dissolution unites him so corruption clarifies him and this is a most gratious relief But before I leave this particular I must enter four cautions 1. That no man take up the better opinion of sin hereby for as darkness is nevertheless an evil though God bring light out of darkness so sin is nevertheless an evil though God is pleased to bring good out of it Poison is destructive although a Physician can so correct it as to make it medicinal and so is sin and the better opinion thou hast of sin the more evil and mortal it will be to thee 2. Take heed of lying in sin with hopes of a relief from God watch against it pray against it that thou mayest not be overcome of it but however if thou art overcome by a temptation if Satan hath tript up thy heels get upon thy feet again assoon as possibly thou canst if thou fallest with Peter weep with Peter and labour to find as much bitterness in sin as thou hast found of a seeming pleasure in it Remember this that more have fallen into sin with hopes of rising again then have risen after they have fallen Many sin with Peter but few repent with him
dead to be an instrument of glory to be given to God Thus it is with Saints in their spiritual sicknesses they are not unto death but for the glory of God that Christ may be glorified in their relief Otherwise God is able to prevent them but might nature alwaies have its course there would be no room for wonders Nature must sometimes have a stop that the glory of God may appear Saints comforts and strengths must lie a bleeding and die that the glory of God may appear in their resurrection And wherein doth the glory of God appear more then in such a work as this This is a glorious work a work that outshines all common and ordinary works of God For God to breath upon dead and dry bones that they shall live again For God to bring a Jonas out of the Whales belly where he was buried alive three dayes For God to set Job upon his leggs again and to put him into stock both within doors and without when he had stript him of all and to make his last daies better then his first this was a glorious work a work wherein God is much glorified As the beams of the Sun reflected and sent back renders the Sun very glorious So 't is here Reas 3. Taken from the beautifulness of Relief in time of necessity Every thing is beautiful in its season Eccl. 3.11 And relief is very beautiful in time of necessity because it is seasonable True necessity puts a decorum upon every act that is requisite to be put forth therein It would be very absurd to do that at one time which may and ought to be done at another Should those things be done for a person in health that are done in the time of his sickness they would be very ridiculous but done in season and with due order they are very comely God therefore times his works well and that puts a beauty upon them Mans necessity is therefore Gods opportunity to express the riches of his mercy He calls not the righteous but sinners to repentance Physick is not for those that are in health but for the sick So Divine Relief is for those whose flesh fails and whose heart fails Divine strength is for them that have no might And this beautifies Divine dispensations For as God loves to beautifie the the house of his glory so he loves to beautifie the works of his glory These are the Reasons of the Doctrine Now before I come to the Application I must speak something to the doubts and scruples of weak Christians Case Perhaps some will be apt to say If it be true that Divine Relief flows from God to his people according to necessity then I am afraid that I do not belong to God because I have no experience hereof My flesh hath falled and my heart fails I but I do not find relief coming in Resolution Now to such I have three words by way of Answer 1. I beseech you take heed of charging God foolishly for for ought thou understandest yet this may prove a vain and foolish denying that grace of God which thou hast not received in vain Thou mayest have received relief from God in many of these cases and yet be insensible thereof It may be with thee as it was with Jacob God hath been with thee supported and relieved thee and yet thou not know it God conveys Divine Relief insensibly sometimes as well as seasonably When a man is in a swoon many things may be given him to fetch him again and to recover his Spirits and yet the man insensible thereof it may be so with thee Thou hast been in a spiritual swoon and God hath administred many heart-reviving Cordials that hath brought thee to some life again and yet thou maist be insensible thereof It is good therefore to take a more strict survey of thy spiritual state and perhaps upon examination thou wilt find some prints of Divine Relief upon thy Soul For as wicked men do not find their state so bad as it is because they overlook it so sometimes good men do not find their spiritual state so good as it is because they overlook it The piece of Silver that the woman thought she had lost was in the house although she knew not where it was until she did light a candle sweep the house and seek diligently for it as you may see Luke 15.8 God may have sent thee a token of his love and thou mayst have it in thy heart and yet not know it Thou hadst best set up a candle even the word of God in thine heart and by that light search thy heart and that diligently and then thou mayst find it 'T is true some particular acts of relieving grace are so full and strong upon the heart of a Christian that he cannot be insensible thereof but there are others that are conveyed to the Soul in a more secret and insensible way God writes a Letter of consolation to the Soul sometimes in so small a character that she hath much ado to read it it is hard for her to spell out the mind of God therein God deals with Christians as some wise Physitians do with some of their Patients they give them Physick and they never know of it something must be put into their Beer or something into their broth Even so God gives much relief to Christians in their spiritual weakness that the Soul knows not of Little did Jacobs brethren know that they had their money in their Sacks when they came homewards out of the land of Egypt No when they came to bait and opened their Sacks they found it Even thus it may be with many a child of God thy money thy relief may be in thy heart and yet thou ignorant of it Perhaps when thou comest to refresh and lookest within to see what thou hast thou mayst find that which thou dreamedst not of There are three things that sometimes hide relief from the eye of the Soul and are an occasion of the Souls mistake 1. God works gradually herein The cure is not perfected the first day that God takes thee in hand and some diseases are long before they will be cured Now here may be a great mistake If thou thinkest that God hath made no application to thee because thou art not perfectly cured of thy distemper thou dost wrong God exceedingly Thou mayst be in a tendency to a cure God may have done much for thee and yet thy sore may run and thy wound be very wide still Look again therefore and see if there be never a Plaister upon the sore thou mayst be in a way of cure though not cured Strength may be given in although thou art not strengthened with all might Here may be rather matter of thankfulness then of complaint and thou shouldst rather give God the glory of what he hath done for thee be it never so little then sit down dejected because all is not yet done that is requisite to a
draw never so much yet the well is deep and there is as much as ever was O the bottomless goodness of God! O the inexhaustible fountain of Divine perfection No heart is able to fathom or contain it Demonstration Q But how comes God to be the Saints portion First it flows from Gods free donation God hath given himself to his Saints That is properly a mans portion that his father gives him Now because God can give no greater good then himself therefore he gives himself to his Saints God is their Father and they must have a portion from him and God cannot think any thing below himself a portion for them He can give the world to his enemies I but he gives himself to his children Hence it is said that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself Psal 4.3 and the Lord hath chosen Jacob for himself Psal 135.4 even as a man takes a child and adopts him makes him his own and then gives him a portion so doth God 1 John 3.1 and Rom. 8.17 Now what is the inheritance but God himself Nothing below God is the inheritance of Christ who is the Son and nothing less then God is the inheritance of Saints who are Gods younger children but this is not by humane purchase but by Divine gift For alass all the gold silver in the world is not to be weighed against God as a sufficient price All the nations of the earth are but as a drop in the bucket and as the dust in the ballance Nay as nothing and counted to him less then nothing No this is an inheritance not to be bought by any finite price Nay whatever thou valuest the most yet comes infinitely short of a sufficient price Wert thou more righteous then the Angels or Adam in innocency yet all thy good works would not bring thee in a ray of Divine glory by way of merit Why else had not the Apostate Angels and Adam in innocency the presence of God for their sustentation to keep them from falling but to evidence this truth that mans righteousness cannot purchase the enjoyment of God 2. This flows from a Saints self-denying resignation A true Saint denyes himself in all but God and to him he resigns up himself Self-denial outs a man of all earthly goods in point of affection and affiance and carries him to God alone for sustenance content and comfort So Psal 73.25 A true Christian dare not own any thing as his All but God He hath a true right to all that he enjoys as to use but he doth not account it as his portion No he resigns himself to God as his life and All So David Psal 27.1 God is my life i. e. I live upon God and have all in him I betake my self wholly to him and to him only So Psal 62.1 the word rendred truly signifies only i. e. I betake my self to God alone I go no whither else and the truth is none but a true Christian knows the emptiness of the creature and the fulness of God and therefore he alone lets all go for God Those things which are the wordlings gain a Saint accounts loss for God now when a man hath thus outed himself of All for God he would have nothing at all to live upon if he did not fix on God as S. Paul said 1 Cor. 15.19 If our hopes were in this life we were of all men the most miserable What to loose earth and heaven together To deny a mans self in all worldly advantages and not to have a God to lay hold on This is most sad No therefore the Christian is so wise as to make an happy exchange to forsake all for God and having forsaken all for God God takes him to himself Hence is that gratious promise Hos 14.3 The fatherless shall find mercy God is the portion of none but spiritual Orphans he becomes guardian to none other Mercy in God supposes misery in the creature Now when the soul becomes the most wretched and miserable in its own sense then it is an object of mercy Matth. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of God 3. God is a Saints portion by way of fruition he enjoys God truly here and fully hereafter God is not only round about his people as their wall of protection but he is in their hearts as their life and well-head of eternal comfort and satisfaction 1 John 3.24 He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him There is a mutual inhabitation they dwell each in other and so enjoy one another So vast is the soul of man that nothing but God can fill it and therefore God dwells in a Saint so immense and incomprehensible are the dimensions of God that nothing is able to hold them and therefore a Saint must enter into and dwell in God Hence is that prayer of the Apostle for the Ephesians Chap. 3.19 that they might be filled with all the fulness of Christ So that of our Saviour Matt. 25.21 The more an earthly portion dwells and lodgeth in the heart the more it sinks and destroyes the man but this is our life and salvation our glory and our heaven to be full of God Gods indwelling in the soul is its resurrection and exaltation Esay 57.15 16. Now for the right understanding hereof you must know that this indwelling of God in the soul is not essentially as the God-head dwelt in the humane nature of Christ and made up one person but mystical and spiritual 1. By lively impression 2. By gratious influx First God dwells in the heart by lively impression God stamps his own image upon the heart and so lives in it as the father lives in his child a soul conform'd to God is a soul full of God Then is the soul taken up into the life and light of God when it is made like to God holy as he is holy Then God lives in the heart when a spirit of holiness is planted in the heart and when the lines of his glory are drawn upon it so saith the Apostle 1 John 4.12 16. God is love The love of God is his image he that loveth truly and sincerely he dwelleth in God and God in him There are some that dream of an immediate vision of God they see him in his Essence but saith John No man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and we in him i. e. If the image of Divine glory be enstampt uppon our hearts and appears in its lively acts of grace and goodness love and sweetness then have we true and close communion and fellowship with the Father So 1 John 1.7 If we walk in the light as he is in the light then have we fellowship one with another This is to see God know him and enjoy him for the soul to be made like to him transformation of the soul into Divine similitude gives it the fullest enjoyment
thy God until thou canst say thou art the inheritance of the Lord Thou art never sure of God as thy portion until God hath made sure of thee for his inheritance He must have some interest in thy heart or thou hast no fruition of him First Therefore Set thy heart upon God alone do not suffer it to be divided between many portions let not the earthly portion share one part and sin another and the Devil another and then what is left thou wilt be content that God should have it But know that God will be all or none the love of the world and the love of God is inconsistent 1 John 2.15 You know when the Merchant had found the pearl he sells all for it and so must thou thy heart must be taken off all for God and given up to him only God never matches with an adulteress with one that doth not love him intirely For then he would be but as a cloak for wickedness to hide it self under that it may be acted with greater security As men that marry whores they are but their wife's cloaks they commit whoredom with the greater boldness so would the heart of man if it could enjoy God with the love of the world it would sin the more securely and freely God should be but a cloak to its wickedness No thou must not think that God will be thy portion that thou mayst play the harlot the more securely Oh therefore set thine heart upon God alone let him have the whole of thine heart set thy heart wide open for God to come in and take possession of thy heart Psal 24.7 This is the voice of Christ open to me my sister my spouse Cant. 5.2 and Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man open I will come in Now love to God is the opening of the heart to God and lets him in entertains him and bids him welcome Thus God dwells in the heart and receives content and satisfaction from it Secondly If thou wouldst be Gods portion and Gods inheritance thou must receive Gods mark upon thee that thou mayst be distinguished from all others even as they that become the portion of Antichrist must receive his mark in their foreheads and in their hands Revel 13.16 So all they that do become Gods portion must receive Gods mark upon them they must be sealed with Gods own seal Ephes 1.13 and Revel 14.1 Even as Merchants set their mark or seal upon their goods so doth God set his seal and mark upon all his goods that they may be clearly known to him by their mark as well as in his own decree Now the distinguishing Character of a true Israelite from all others is Gospel sincerity truth in the inward parts Joh. 1.47 a true Israelite in whom is no guile Revel 14.15 in their mouth was found no guile Psal 32.2 Others may have gifts and grace in shew but Gods portion must have grace in truth Others may have a form but these have the power of godliness Others may have lamps but these have oyl in their lamps Others may have a name but these have the name of God written in their foreheads Alass God cares not for these hang-bies who call themselves by Gods name and cry up themselves as the only people of God and yet never received the name of God upon their foreheads but through a carnal liberty which they assume to themselves are on and off in and out when they please Sometimes they are for God and sometimes for the Devil No Beloved if you will be the Lords you must be in good earnest fully engaged mark'd out with this mark of holy sincerity so that God may have something in you whereby to own you When God shall look abroad and seek for his own and find them scattered up and down and mixed with the world God will take notice of none but such as have his mark upon them none but such as are sincere and upright 't is not a form of Anabaptism or Quaking or Seeking but sincerity that God will own Matth. 7.21 22 23. Use 3. For Direction and Counsel to all the Israel of God who have God for their portion I have four words of advice for you 1. Learn the distinction to the height God in himself or God in the creature and the creature without God There is a vast difference between the enjoyment of God in himself or in the creature and the enjoyment of the creature without the enjoyment of God Some enjoy God and not the creature Some enjoy the creature and not God Some enjoy both This is talked of amongst us and oftentimes little understood by us but the right and clear understanding hereof is of great concernment unto Christians 1. Some enjoy God and not the creature these are as I hinted before poor and rich 2. Some enjoy the creature and not God these are rich and yet poor as having all and yet having nothing 3. Some enjoy God and the creature or God in the creature These are rich in all respects they are worldly rich and heavenly rich they have a double portion But now here lieth a great task and difficulty it is hard for such a Christian so to distinguish between these two estates and portions as not to confound them As a man that drives two trades 't is very difficult for him to keep them distinct So 't is here when men have much of the world they drive a great trade therein 't is very difficult for them to distinguish between God and that i. e. so to use the world as not to make it his All hence is that counsel of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31 and so 1 Tim. 6.17 18. Oh Beloved for a Christian to be still in the enjoyment of all as if he had nothing this is right to live in a constant dependance upon God as his All and to make the creature but as the vessel or cistern through which God communicates himself this is a true life Such an one may say as Paul I am dead nevertheless I live I am dead to the world and the world is dead to me such an one lives upon God a true life of happiness and content But I say this is hard and difficult and our experience is a full demonstration thereof for according to creature enjoyments so we live for when the creature is full and all things flow in according to our desire then we are quiet merry and glad but when that is low and dry then we fail and flag Few Christians have and keep an even temper of spirit in fluctuating various conditions for few live so upon God as to make him their All and therefore when the creature ebbs and flows it carries them along in the stream either high or low but this is to make God our portion for Christians to make a real distinction between the enjoyment of God and the enjoyment of the creature so that when
his hellish temptations God will bring him out with an holy triumph Hence is that of Psal 5.11 12. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield The Hebrew word signifies thou wilt crown him with a shield Some think that the Prophet alludes to a custome of the Athenians who were wont if a Soldier brought his Shield with him out of the battel safe and whole although he lost his Sword to lay his Shield upon his head and with that as with a Diadem to crown him He that holds fast the shield of Faith in an hour of temptation shall wear it on his head as his crown The trial of a Christians faith which is much more precious then of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire shall be found unto praise honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 And hence is that of the Apostle I have fought the good fight I have kept the faith and from henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Thus I have opened the Doctrine and shewed you what relief flows from God to his people both when their flesh fails and when their heart fails 1. When the natural faculties of the Soul fail 2. When the infused habits of the Soul fail and 3. When the animal Spirits fail Now I will give you the grounds and Reasons thereof Reas 1. Taken from that near relation that is between God and good men He is their Father and they his Children he is their Husband and they his Wife Now this double relation speaks forth that infinite love that God bears to them and special care that God hath of them God bears a love to his people not only like to the love of a Father but infinitely beyond the love of a Father the love of a Father to his Child is but a dark resemblance of the love of God to his Children and therefore as God out-loves all Parents so he out-does all Parents His love is the love of an infinite Father and therefore knows no bounds either of time or measure and his relief is proportionable to his love Relief wrought by an Almighty arm See this clearly held forth Jer. 31.9 I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in straaight way wherein they shall not stumble And why for I am a father unto Israel and Ephraim is my first-born Divine Paternity is one main ground of a Saints relief This is the reason why he will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble because he is their Father You know what dear and tender affection a good Father beareth to his Children especially to his first-born All the Childs wants weakness and grief are a trouble and grief to the Father Much more is God affected with the faintings and failings of his Children So Es 63.8 9. He said surely they are my people so he was their Saviour In all their afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the dayes of old The Prophet alludes to the Song of Moses Deut. 32.11 As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the Lord alone did lead him How doth this silly creature bestir her self when her young ones are in danger She stirs up her nest she fluttereth over her young and spreadeth abroad her wings And if all this will not secure them she takes them up and bears them upon her wings But how much more will God who is the fountain of such a disposition in his creature bestir himself and put forth his Almighty arm for the relief of his dear ones He will bear them upon the wing of his providence and carry them out of all danger Satan shall not make a prey of them If any thing will draw forth the bowels of a creature the same will draw forth the bowels of God yea much more Luke 11.13 If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the Spirit Alas the love of the Creature is but a drop in comparison of the love of God and therefore there must needs be more life and vigour in the love of God then in the love of all creatures As there is more heat in the body of the Sun then in all its raies were they all contracted into one ray so it is here And therefore if an earthly creature be so apt to tender the good and welfare of those that belong to it what propensity is there in the heart of God to relieve his people when they are in any straights Many an Orphan sits down and weeps over himself in his calamity and thus bemoans his condition If my Father were alive he would not see me want he would pity and relieve me in my sad condition Why Beloved there is never a child of God that needs put finger in the eye in this respect for your Father is alive he lives for ever he is an everlasting Father and as our Text saith A portion for ever And as he is a tender Father so he is a kind Husband So Es 54.5 For thy maker is thine Husband Though he will not relieve and help men because he is their maker yet he will relieve and help all those to whom he is an Husband As long as marriage Covenant holds God will take the care of his Spouse in sickness as well as in health in poverty as in riches in weakness as in strength Nay as a good Husband is most tender over his Wife in the time of her weakness and sickness even so is God to his Spouse she shall want nothing that an Almighty hand can provide for her Reas 2. Taken from Gods design in all his peoples straights and necessities God lets them fall into straights that he may have the glory of their relief Whatever hand brings them in it is a divine hand that must bring them out We may say of all a Christians troubles and failings both of Flesh and Spirit as our Saviour said of Lazarus his death John 11.4 This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Lazarus must die yea and be buried also that Christ might have the glory of his resurrection and that after he had been dead four daies His sickness was unto death but not to death eternal for he had a speedy resurrection that made his death but a trance or a long sleep Happy Lazarus as one saith though sick and