a particular pinching love Oh take heed of this creature-love of valuing any created thing any otherwise than in God any otherwise than as being from God partaking of him and leading to him 3. Live not upon Ordinances These are Gods institutions love them cleave to them attend upon them let no temptation cause you to leave them but live not upon them place not your Religion place not your hope your happiness in them but love them only in God attend upon them yet not so much upon them as upon God in them lie by the Pool but wait for the Angel love not no not a divine ordinance for its own sake Why who doth so Alas who almost doth not 1. Thus did they in Ezek. 33. 32. who delighted in the Prophets eloquence and in the Rhetorick of his Sermons as much as in a well tuned voice and harmonious musick and so do thousands in England who read the Bible for the style or the stories sake and love to sit under learned and elegant discourses more for accomplishment than for conversion And swarms of Priests who preach themselves more than Christ Jesus even in his own ordinances as a proud Boy rides a horse into the Market to set forth himself more than his Masters goods 2. But there are many not so gross as these who do yet use ordinances in a way very gross and unspiritual placing their devotion in them and sinking their Religion into a settled course of hearing or praying who will wait upon God as they call it at some set and solemn times New Moons and Sabbaths it may be evening and morning but Religion must not be too busie with them nor intermeddle in their ordinary affairs or worldly employments it hath no place there they do not count it a garment for every dayes wear 3. And not only these but even almost all men are too apt to seek rest in duties and ordinances or at least to be pretty well satisfied with the work done whether they have conversed with God there or no Oh if you love your souls seek you happiness higher conversing with divine ordinances I confess is honourable and amiable but it is too low a life for an immortal soul Affirmatively Let nothing satisfie you but God himself take up with no pleasure no treasure no portion no paradise nay no Heaven no happiness below the infinite supreme and self-sufficient good Let your eye be upon him and his all-filling sulness let your desire be unto him and to the remembrance of his name follow hard after to know the Lord and to enjoy the Father through his Son Jesus Christ let your fellowship be with the Father and with the Son by the spirit 1 Joh. 1. 3. O love the Lord all ye his Saints Psal 31. 23. yea love him with all your soul and all your strength Mat. 22. 37. yea and keep your selves alwayes in the love of God Jude 21. persevere and increase in the love of God Keep your selves in the love of God Oh sweet duty Oh amiable pleasant task Oh sweet and gratesul command Away ye crowd of creatures I must keep my heart for my God Away ye gawdy suitors away ye glittering toyes there is no room for you My whole soul if its capacity were ten thousand times larger than it is were too scant to entertain the supreme good to let in infinite goodhess and fulness Oh charge it upon your selves with the greatest vehemence love the Lord O my soul keep thy self in the love of God let the love of God constrain you and keep your selves under the most powerful constraints of it In a word live upon God as upon uncreated life it self drink at the fountain seed upon infinite fulness depend upon Almighty Power refer your selves to unsearchable wisdom and unbounded love see nothing but God in the creature taste nothing but God in the world delight your selves in him long for communion with him and communications from him to receive of his fulness grace for grace Then do we live most like Angels when we live most purely in God and find all the powers of our souls spending themselves upon him and our selves our life and all the comforts of it flowing from him and again swallowed up in him But because we are yet in the body I shall explain it in these following particulars 1. Converse with God in all your Selfexcellencies I bade you before not converse with these now I say converse with God in these Thus do the Angels they know nothing that they have of their own they enjoy nothing distinct from God They are excellent creaturs excellent in knowledge power holiness c. yet they enjoy all their excellencies in God and ascribe them all to him Rev. 7. 12. And so let us labour to do 1. View your selves not in your own particular Beings but in the Essence of God look upon your selves as being and subsisting in the midst of an Infinite Essence in which the whole Creation is as it were wrapt up and doth subsist 2. And what ever excellency you find in your souls or bodyes look not upon it as your own maintain not a Meum and Tuum a distinction of interests beâ—ween God and your selves but look upon all as Gods and enjoy it in him 3. When you find your selves tempted to cast a fond and unchaste look upon the beauty strength activity or temper of your own bodyes upon the ingenuity wisdom constancy courage composedness of your own souls take heed of settling into a selfish admiration of any of them but enjoy them in God and say This O my body this O my soul is no other than the portraicture of the Blessed God these created excellencies are broken beams of the infinite unspotted uncreated perfections Jer. 9. 23 24. Having once attained to this we shall no longer covet to be admired desire to be commended fret at being undervalued I mean not in a selfish manner but rather break out in a spiritual passion with the psalmist Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works in the children of men Psal 107. 8. 3. Nay let me add when you find your selves ready to put your own stamp upon Gods best coin to look upon supernatural gifts and graces with a sinful selfish admiration remember that you have them only in Christ Jesus and enjoy them in your head labour to enjoy grace it self only in Christ as the Apostle Gal. 2. 20. I yet not I but Christ in me I laboured yet not I but the grace of God 1 Cor. 15. 10. So ought we to glory I believe I love I am patient penitent humble yet not I but the grace of God that is with me Christ Jesus that dwelleth in me And indeed a godly man who thus lives at the very height of his own Being yea and above it too knows best how to reverence himself yea and to love himself too and yet without any self-love For he
upon created-comforts and that unchaste love which you bestow upon things below I mean not only the bleatings of the Sheep and the lowings of the Oxen I speak not of the grosser sort of earthly-mindedness sensuality or covetousness but of that more refined and hidden creature-love a loving of friends relations health liberty life and that not in God but with a love distinct from that love wherewith we love God To love all these in God and for his sake and as flowing from him and partaking of him and with the same love wherewith we love God himself is allowed us But to love them with a particular love as things distinct from God to delight in them meerly as creatures and to follow them as if some good or happiness or pleasure were to be found in them distinct from what is in God this is a branch of spiritual Adultery I had almost said Idolatry To taste a sweetness in the creature and to see a beauty and goodness in it is our duty but then it must be the sweetness of God in it and the goodness of God which we ought alone to taste and see in it As we say Vxor splendeâ— radiis mariti the wise shines with the rayes of her husband so more truly every creature shines but by a borrowed light and commends unto us the goodness and sweetness and â—ulness of the blessed Creator You have heard that the glorified souls shall live upon God alone entirely wholly eternally and should not the less glorious souls I mean gracious souls do so too in some degree yea even we who are upon earth and do yet use creatures should behold all the scattered beams of goodness sweetness perfection that are in these creatures all united and gathered up in God and so feed upon them only in God and upon God in all them It is the character of wicked and godless men that they set up and drive a trade for themselves live in a way distinct from God as though they had no dependence upon him they love the world with a predominant love they enjoy creature-comforts in a gross unspiritual manner they dwell upon the dark side of their mercies they treasure up riches not only in their chests but in their hearts they feed upon the creature not only with their bodyes but their very souls do feed upon them and thus in a word they live without God in the world All this is no wonder for that which is of the earth must needs be earthly Joh. 3. 31. is it not a monstrous thing that a heavenly soul should feed upon earthly trash I speak without any Hyperbole the famous King of Babylon forsaking the society of men and herding himself with the beasts of the earth and eating grass with the Oxen was not so absurd a thing nor half so monstrous or unseemly as the children of the Most High God forsaking the true bread of souls and feeding upon the low fare of carnal men even created sweetness worldly goods Nay a glorious starr falling from its own sphere and choaking it self in the dust would not be such an eminent piece of baseness For what is said of the true God in one sense Joh. 3. 31. is true of the truly godly in this sense He that cometh from Heaven is above all i. e. above all things that are below God himself 3. Shall this life of Angels be also the life of Saints This may then serve as a powerful consideration to mortifie in us the love of this animal life to make us weary of this low kind of living and quicken us to long after so blessed a change Well might the Apostle say indeed that to dye was gain Phil. 1. 21. For is not this gain to exchange an animal life for an Angelical life a life which is in some sense common to the very beasts with us for that which in some sense may be called the life of God For as the blessed and holy God lives upon his own infinite and self-sufficient fulness without being beholden to any thing without himself so shall the Saints live upon him and upon the self-same infinite fulness and shall not need any creature contributions The Apostle indeed saith That the last enemy to be destroyed is death 1 Cor. 15. 26. which is true of enemies without us and it is true with respect to Christ who shall make a general Resurrection from the dead for that is the proper meaning of it But it is true also that the last enemy to be overcome within us is the love of life Therefore it is said That a man will part with any thing to keep his life Job 2. 4. And we do generally excuse the matter and cry Oh! life is sweet life is precious It must be confest and it may be granted I believe that there is an inclination of the soul to the body arising from that dear and unconceivable union that God himself hath made of them which is purely natural some say altogether necessary for the maintaining of man in this complex state and not in it self sinful Possibly there may not be found a man upon earth so holy and mortified in whom this is not found certainly it is the last hinderance to be removed out of the way of our perfect happiness This although in iâ— it self natural yea necessary without blame yet in the inordinateness of it ordinarily if not constantly becomes sinful I count him the most perfect man in the world who loves not his own life with an inordinate sinful love who loves it only in God and not with a creature-love distinct from God There are two wayes whereby this natural and lawful love of life becomes sinful viz. immoderateness and inordinateness Immoderateness is when men love their lives at that rate that they are filled with unreasonable and distracting fears cares and thoughts about them when the whole business of life is almost nothing else but a studiousness to preserve the Being of life Inordinateness is when men though they do not love their lives at that excessive rate yet do love life as a creature-good not in God nor in order to him but love it for it self as something out of God Every carnal man in the world is guilty of the latter and I doubt but few Saints altogether free from the guilt of it Now that this immoderate love of life ought to be subdued in Christians all men almost will grant If any will not grant it we can easily prove it from the command of God Mat. 6. 25. Take no thought for your life 1 Joh. 2. 15. Love not the world neither the things that are in the world Both which words in the favourablest interpretation that can be given of them do in the judgment of all forbid immoderation Nâ—y a meer Philosopher would enforce this from meer moral confiderations which I cannot now stand upon But this inordinate love of life as it is a more secret sticking evil a
6. 38. and again to seek the glory of him that sent him John 7. 18. In a word he looks upon himself not as in himself but in God and labours to become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wholly Gods and to live in the world only as an instrument in the hands of him that worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will That in general for the conversing with God in all kind of changes in general Now these changes are reduced to two heads Prosperity and Adversity In the first of these it is our duty to converse with God and not with the creature comforts which we do enjoy from him as one might shew at large But I am to speak of the latter and to shew how we ought to converse with God in that But first I must demonstrate that it is our duty to do it which was the third thing I promised viz. To shew that it is the duty of Gods people to study to converse with him aright in the way of his Judgments in a time of affliction And here I hope I need not be at pains to prove by Scripture that besides the general business of a Christians life some particular and more especial behaviours are required of him in an afflicted state all will grant it sure Besides by that time I shall have declared what they are I shall not need to prove that they are Therefore for the present I shall content my self to give in three or four Reasons of it and so pass on It is especially the duty of Gods people to study to converse with him aright in the time of afflictions 1. Because then especially it is hard to do it We are then very apt to be taken off from it therefore we should then especially labour to pursue it and perform it We are then in eminent danger to be taken off from it and that by these means 1. Our senses do set us on work to converse with outward means which whilst we attend upon too eagerly we neglect and forget God This might appear by an induction of particular afflictions but that would be too long I will only instance in one or two for explication The sickness and painedness of the body calls out the mind to seek after and converse with Physicians bodily wants call us to seek after bodily supplies and so all kind of distresses call out the soul to seek creature-relief Call upon the sick and languishing Patient to call upon and hang upon divine help to converse with God alas he hath enough to do to attend upon his pains and pangs tell him of ease of recovery and he can hearken to you for that 's the news that he longs to hear Call upon the poor pined beggar to seek relief of God to converse with him Alas he finds such a faintness in his limbs such a gnawing of hunger such a restless appetite within himself that he can groan out nothing but Oh that one would give me bread to eat In a word the soul is more naturally addicted to mind its body to which it is joyned than the God that joyned it to that body Hence you may observe two things by the way viz 1. The reason why so few persons repent in time of sickness the sense of sickness drowns the sense of sin 2. The reason why so few poor people who are ever more conflicting with the necessities of the body do not at all mind the concernments of their souls The exigencies and straits of the body do cry louder in their hearts than all the words and works of God So that as health is the best time for repentance so it seemeth that the best way to teach the poor is to relieve them 2. The corruptions of the heart are then most apt to make war against Heaven This is the opinion of him who knows the temper of man too well Job 1. 11. Put forth thine hand against him and he will curse thee to thy face And I am perswaded that the Devil acts much by this observation which makes him endeavour all he can to make many good men poor thinking thereby to make them less good though the wise and merciful God do wonderfully prevent him For indeed the soul is so naturally tender of the body that its loth God himself should touch it if he do it is ready to fret and storm and flye in his face Converse with God! saith the wicked King Why this evil is from the Lord what should I wait upon the Lord any longer 2 King 6. 33. There are many corruptions of the soul that are most ready to clamour against God in a time of affliction as Fear Anger Vnbelief yea and sinful self-Self-love and Creature-love an affection than can never be taught to converse with God yet will go crying after him when he takes away any darling from it as Phaltiel went crying after his Wife or rather crying against him as Micah cryed against the men of Dan saying Ye have taken away my Gods and are gone away and what have I more Judg. 18. 24. 3. Temptations do then come strongest from without Then it is the Devils time to play his game What put up this reproach what will you sit down with this loss up and revenge thy self He that knows so well the temper of mans heart so ready to curse God when he touches him Job 2. 5. will not fail to touch the heart and tempt it to curse him indeed Job 2. 9. Curse God and dye I have gone thorow the Doctrinal part of my discourse upon these words which was the thing I mainly intended Many Inferences might be drawn from it But I shall content my self to forbid and so as it were to remove out of the way some things that hinder this great duty and so shut up all with one word of Exhortation 1. Converse not with creature comforts the poor low and scant enjoyments of this world For so I may well call them though they be never so high in the opinion of them that have them and never so large as to the proportion that any one hath of them They are low in comparison of that high and supâ—eme good for which the soul was made and scant as to any real happiness or satisfaction that they can possibly give For indeed those sinful and sensual souls that take up their rest and happiness most in them are not properly satisfied but surfeited not filled but for the present glutted with them There are many unlawful and hurtful wayes of the souls conversing with created comforts I will not run thorow them all as not intending any large discourse upon these heads Converse not with them fondly delighting in them and doating upon them especially take heed of this when God is shaking his Rod over any of them Doth God arise and begin to plead with you in judgment laying his hand upon any of these and threatning to take them from you Oh then hands off touch
water Isa 35 7. as you find both elegantly joyned together Psal 107. 33 35. He turneth water springs into dry grounds sic vicissim Say not therefore with the captive Jews Ezek. 37. 11. Our bones are dryed and our bope is lost c. For God can cause even those dry bones to live Say not with that low-spirited Courtier 2 King 7. 19. If the Lord should make windows in Heaven might such plenty be in a Samaria For he did accomplish it and yet not rain it from Heaven neither But say with Job rather Though he kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13. 15. And with the three Worthies Our God whom me serve is able to deliver us out of thine hand O King Dan. 3. 17. So he is able to deliver us out of thine band O Enemy O Prison O Sickness yea out of thine hand O grave If we despond and be dejected both in mind and body at the same time then is our condition indeed sad and shameful Nay we do more reproach God by such a temper in our affliction than be reproacheth us in afflicting us Make it appear Christians that though God have cast you down yet you do believe that he hath not cast you off and that you although you be sorely shaken by him yet are not shaken off from him Thus you shall gâ—orifie the Almighty Power of God in the day of your Visitation 6. Converse wâ—th the Infinite and unsearchable Wisdom of God especially with the Wisdom of God in reserence to his Judgments and our affâ—ctions He is infinitly wise in reference to our affiictions For 1. He knows what and what manner and what measure of correction we stand in need of 2. When and how best to deliver us 3. How to make the best use of all for our good First He knows what and what manner and what measure of correction we stand in need of He is that wise Physician that kâ—ows what humor is most predominant in the souls of his servanâ—s and what is the most proper Medicine to purge it out where the most corrupt blood is set led and at what vein to let it out He is infinitely knowing of the various tempers and distempers of his servants and can apply himself suitably to them all And as to the measure and degree he is also infinitely wise and exact He doth weigh out the afflâ—ctions of his people to a grain for quantity and measure them to a day and hour for duration He did not miss of his time no not one day in four hundred and thirty years Exod. 12. 41. So many years of bondage were determined upon the people and after those years were expired the very next day the hosts of the Lord went up out of Egypt And as for measure he observes a certain proportion as you may see in that full Tex Isa 28. 27 28. As the Husbandman uses dissering wayes of purging and cleansing different sorts of grain beating the Fitches with a Staff and Cummin with a Rod because they are a weaker sort of grain and will not endure hard usage but bruising the Bread Corn because threshing will not susfice and he is loth to break it all to pieces with turning his Cart-wheels upon it An elegant similitude whereby God insinuateth his different waies of correcting his people and observing a suitableness to their strength and temper when less would not do and more would overdo He must correct so far as to bruise but will be sure not to break and spoil He that saith unto the proud waves of the swelling Sea Hitherto shall ye come and no further Job 38. 11. hath the same command over these Meâ—aphorical waves those floods of afflâ—ction which he lets loose upon his people and they cannot go an such further thâ—n he hath appointed He saith Hitherto shall this Sickness this Mortality this Persecution go and no further and even these storms and this Sea obey him Now we converse with this Instance of Divine Wisdom not only when we observe it and acknowledge it but 1. When it begets in us a friendly and charitable temper towards second causes When we are at peace with the whole Creation even with enemies themselves and in perfect charity with those very Plagues and Sicknesses that do arrest us rather admiring and delâ—ghting in their subserviency to God than at all maligning their severe influences upon us A good man is so much in love with the pure and holy and perfect will of God that he desnes also to fall in love with at least he is at peace with every thing that executes it that serves the will of his heavenly Father He sees no reason in the world to fall out with and fret against any man or any thing that is a meaâ—s to afflict him but views them all as instruments in the hand of God readily serving his will and doing his pleasure and under this notion is charitably affected towards them all Observe a little and admire how David was reconciled to the Rod because it was in the hand of his Father and seems to kiss it for the relation that it had to the Divine Will 2 Sam. 16. 11. Let him alone and let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him This gracious soul is so wonderfully in love with the Will of God that he could almost find in his heart to be reconciled to sin it self if it do accomplish it and to be friends with the wrath of man if it work the righteousness of God And if Dvvid can be so charitably affected towards a cursing Shimei viewing him as an instrument in the hand of God methinks we may be almost in love with any thing under that notion and much rather say concerning a poor harmless Sickness Let it alone so let it put us to pain for God hath sent it To this sense may a devout soul draw the words of his Saviour concerning the Woman in Mat. 26. 10 Why trouble ye the Woman she hath wrought a good work upon me Why do ye interrupt and disturb this disease Why do ye fret against this Persecutor Why do ye repine at this Prison it executes the will of my God upon me What though these men pour out their venom in such ahundance What though this disease spend its influences upon my body so plentifully There 's no waste in all this there 's need of just so much God doth not lavish out his Arrows in vain nor shoot at roveâ—s as Jonathan did who couzened his Lad making him believe he shot at a mark when he shot at none A soul over powered with the sense of Gods Infinite Wisdom in appointing measuring timing all afflictions will easily be reconciled to a poor harmless creature which is set on and taken off at his pleasure 2. When it begets in us a holy Acquiescency and resting in God which is opposed to a larger and disorderly hastening towards deliverance Then do we indeed own and honour the
God seems not to be a duty of this season I confess this is a high and hard duty Every smatterer in Religion will cry out in his affliction Thou art just and righteous O Lord But Thou art good and mercisul Blessed be the name of the Lord is the voice of a Job only Job 1. 21. But it is a duty though a hard one and affording much pleasure and contentment to them that are exercised therein That the kindness and benignity of God doth not fail that his Love is not broken off from his people no nor suspended neither when he afflicts them most is most certain For though he worketh changes in and upon us yet himself is eternally and unchangeably the same Jer. 1. 17. And though some of his dealings towards his people seem to be rough and severe yet if we judge rightly of them they are all Mercy and Truth towards them that keep his Covenant Psal 25. 10. And that the people of God ought to converse with this Divine Love and Mercy even in their greatest afflictions is as clear To this purpose I might alledge the forequoted example of holy Job and might enforce this Doctrine from the Apostles words Phil. 4. 4. and Jam. 1. 2. Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations and from many good Reasons too if it were needful I know indeed that it is a hard thing to keep up a right frame towards and converse rightly with the Righteousness and Goodness of God at the same time the one frame is ready to justle out the other Sorrow is apt to contract the heart and destroy the large and chearful temper of it And joy doth dilate and enlarge it and is ready to make it forget its grief But though it be hard yet it is possible These two may well consist in the same soul according to that in Psal 2. 11. Rejoyce with trembling But how must we converse with the Love and Mercy of God in the time of afflâ—ctâ—ons I have partly prevented my self in this already but I shall speak a little more distinctly of it We do not then converse with the Goodness and Mercy of God when we barely think of it or acknowledge it But 1. When we believe and apply it and take to our selves the comforts of it When we look through the clouds that are round about us and quite cover us and by the eye of faith behold the Fountain and Father of Light when we can look beyond the frowns that are â—n his face and the Rod that is in hâ—s hand and see the good will that dwells in the heart of God towards us More especiaâ—ly 2. When we do not only see and belâ—eve it but also draw vircue and influences down from it into our souâ—s to establish settle and saâ—isfie them Not so much when we see it as when we taste it when we feel tâ—e Sun of Righteousness warm us though it do not dazle us and though we cannot perceive it to shine upon us yet we find it to shine in us We do then converse with the Love and Mercy of God in an afflicted state when the same doth bear us up not only from utter sicking but even from inordinate sorrowing when we draw a virtue from it inâ—o our souls to sustain them yea and to cherish them too Thus Job comforts himself in his living Redeemer Job 19. 25 and the Psalmist in the Mercy of God even when he was ready to slip Psal 94. 18. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul In a word we converse with Dâ—vine Goodness when we are really warmed with it and with Almighty Love when we rejoyce in it and can with holy venturousness and humble confidence throw our selves into the very bosome of it when we receive impressions of it from the Spirit of God and are thereby molded into a temper fuitable to it and becoming it For then indeed do we most happily converse with the Love and Goodness of God when we for our part do live upon it when we being assured of an interest in a loving and good God do render up our selves also unto him in the most beautiful and becoming affections of Love Joy Confidence and holy Delight This is an excellent frame and sure I am it is much for our interest thus to converse with God in the time of our afflictions It is a high way of glorifying God and bringing much credit to Religion And indeed he that keeps up this frame can be afflicted but in part he scapes the greater half of the evil For though it be never so stormy a time without him a storm upon his house upon his goods upon his relations yea upon his own body yet it is a calm day within in the soul there is peace and tranquillity Lastly and indeed everlastingly too we are to converse with the Infinite self-sufficient Fulness of God in a day of the greatest extremity that is as if I should say not with any one single Attribute but with the very godhead of God the immense perfection of God the Allness of the Deity Oh how seasonably doth this blessed object present its self to the soul in a time of afflictions losses mortalities persecutions when we are most emptied of creature-enjoyments and the emptiness of them doth most appear for upon these two doth our conversing with God much depend I need not tell you how apt we are to live beside God when we have our fill of creature-delights whilst we can entertain our hearts with a created sweetness we soolishly forget and neglect the supreme good And so fond and unreasonable is this affection that no warnings no precepts will serve the turn God is forced to break that off from us from which we would not be broken Sure I am the blessed and bountiful God envyes not his servants any of their creature-comforts or delights but he loves them as I said before with a strong and powerful love and will not suffer them to live so much to their losses as they do when they spend noble affections upon transitory things in the everlasting enjoyment of which they could never be happy Now afflictions are a negative if we speak properly even as sin is and whenever we are afflâ—cted in any kind we are empâ—ied os some created good as poverty is nothing but the absence of riches sickness the want of ease of order of health in the constiâ—uâ—ion restraint is the loss of liberty c. So then it appears that in a time of affliction God is emptying of câ—eature enjoyment for indeed afflâ—ction it self is little or nothing else but such an emptying or deprivation And that then the emptiness of the creature doth most appear I suppose all will grant The sick person looks upon his decayed strength and withering members and is feelingly convinc't of the truth of the Scripture All flâ—sh is grass Another casts about hâ—s eyes with Sampson and sees heaps
The Well is deep and they have nothing to draw with as the Woman said concerning another Well Joh. 4. Therefore be sure you get an interest in the Fulness and Sufficiency of God or as Solomon speaks in another case Prov. 5. 15. Drink waters out of thine own Well 3. Converse with the Self-sufficient Fulness of God by delighting your selves in it Drink of this Fountain yea drink abundantly ye beloved of God Cant. 5. 1. yea lie down by it Psal 23. 2. yea bathe you selves wholly in it Enter into the Joy of your Lord lie down in his bosome spread your selves in his Love and Fulness The Beloved Disciple leaning upon the breast of his Lord at Supper was but a dark shadow a poor scant resemblance of a beloved soul which by the lovely acts of Joy and Confidence and Delight layes it self down in the bosome of Jesus and doth not feed with him but feed upon him and his Alsufficiency Then do we converse indeed feelingly and comfortably with the Infinite Fulness when the soul is swallowed up in it doth rest in it is filled with it and centred upon it Oh the noble and free-born spirit of true Religion that disdaining the pursuit of low and created things is carryed out with delight to feed and dwell and live upon uncreated Fulness Then is a soul raised to its just altitude to the very height of its Being when it can spend all its powers upon the supreme and self-sufficient good spreading and stretching it self upon God with full contentment and wrapping up it self entirely in him This is the souls way of living above losses and he that so lives though he may often be a loser yet shall never be at a loss He who feeds upon created Goodness or Sweetness may soon eat himself out of all the stock will be spent and which is worse the soul will be dryed up that hath nothing else to nourish it But he that lives upon uncreated Fulness is never at a loss though he lose never so much of the creature For who will value the spilling of a dish of water that hath a well of living water at his door from whence he had that and can have more as good though not the same Nay to speak properly this is the only way to lose nothing For how can he be properly said to lose any thing who possesses all things And so doth he I am sure who is filled with the Fulness of God Be sure therefore that in the want in the loss of all things you live upon the Fountain-fulness delight your self in the Lord after the example of the Prophet Habakkuk cap. 3. 17 18. A Farewel to Life 2 COR. 5. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. THE holy Apostle having in the first verse of this Chapter layd down the Doctrine of Eternal Glory which shall follow upon this transitory life of Believers shews in the following verses how he himself longed within himself and groaned after that happy state And then Proceeds to give a double ground of this his confident expectation one in vers 5. therefore is the Apostle confident concerning the putting off of this mortal body because God had wrought and formed him for this state of glory and already given him an earnest of it even his holy Spirit The other ground of the confidence and settledness of his mind as to his desires of a change is taken from his present state in the body which was but poor and uncomfortable in comparison of that glorious state This in the words of the Text Therefore we are alwayes confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For I do not take the words we are confident concerning the Apostles resolvedness with a quiet and sober mind to suffer any kind of persecution or affliction whatever but we are alwayes confident i. e. we do with confidence expect or at least we are alwayes well satisfied contented well resolved in our minds concerning our departure out of this life For the Apostle was speaking not of afflictions or persecutions in the former verses but indeed of death which he calls a dissolving of the earthly house of this tabernacle vers 1. and a being cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven vers 2. 4. Yea and thus the Apostle explains himself vers 8. where he tells you what he means by this his confidence we are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body where the latter words are exegetical to the former q. d. It is better to be with the Lord than in this mortal body but we cannot be with the Lord whilst we are in this body it keeps us from him therefore we have the confidence to part with it It is the reason of the Apostles confidence and willingness to part with the body that I am to speak of and the reason is because this body keeps him from his Lord whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. The words are a Metaphor and are to be translated thus we indwelling in the body do dwell out from the Lord which our Translation renders well taking little notice of the Metaphor whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. Though indeed if they had left out that word at home it would have been as well and so have neglected the Metaphor altogether as we may haply hint hereafter The words are a reason of the Apostles willingness to be dissolved and do contain a kind of an accusat on of the body and so seem to lay a blame upon it and upon this animal life which must be remembred Now for the former phrase of being at home in the body it is easily understood and generally I think agreed upon to be no more than whilst we carry about with us this corruptible flesh whilst we live this naâ—ural animal life It only signifies man in his compounded animal state 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and doth not at all allude to his sinful unregenerate or carnal state But the latter phrase Absent from the Lord is capable of a double sense both good and true and I think both fit enough to the context and drift of the Apostle I shall speak to both but insist most upon the latter 1. Whilst we are in the body we are absent from the Lord i. e. from the bodily presence of the Lord in Heaven absent from Christ Jesus and his glory And so the words are the same in sense with 1 Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God for by flesh and blood there must needs be meant man in this animal corruptible state And so the Apostle accuses this kind of life in the body and as it were blames it for standing between him and his glorified Lord and so consequently between him and the glory of his Lord.
more refined corruption is harder to be discovered and men are loath to be convinced of the evil of it Now this particular distinct loving of life not as in God but in it self as a creature-good is clearly condemned in that first and great Commandment Matth. 22. vers 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind q. d. God the Supreme Infinite Perfect Original Essential Self-sufficient Good is to be loved in the highest and purest and strongest manner that the heart of man is capable to love and all other things only in him and under him and as being of him and for his sake Let it be allowed that life is good yet it must be added that it is but a created-good let it be allowed that life is comfortable yet it must be acknowledged that mans chiefest comfort and happiness doth not stand in this animal life So then life it self is to be loved in God who is the fountain and spring of life it is to be loved in the quality of a created good and no otherwise Now created goods are to be loved only in the Creator as coming from him as partaking of him as leading to him Argue the case a little thus The soul of man is allowed to love its body with which the great God hath matcht it and to love union with this body which union we call life But this body being a creature and a creature much inferiour to it self and much more ignoble than it self cannot in reason be judged to be the fit and adequate object of its strongest and best affections That must needs be something more excellent than it self and that cannot be any thing in this world for this world hath nothing so noble so excellent in it as the soul of man it must indeed be the Creator himself Well seeing God is the supreme self-sufficient perfect Good he is to be loved with all the streâ—gth and powers of the soul singly and entirely And the will of God being God himself is not only to be submitted to or rested in but to be chosen and loved above all created things yea even above life it self the best of creatures So then if it be the will of God to call for our lives we ought readily to give them up because we ought to love the will of God much more than our lives I pray you drink in that notion viz. that the will of God being pure holy perfect should not only be submitted to or rested in but even loved and chosen above all creatures Now the will of God is not that only whereby he teacheth men and prescribes Laws to them but that whereby he rules and governs the world and disposes of men in any condition of life or takes away their lives from them The eternal fountain of goodness can send forth nothing but what is perfectly good and that which is perfectly good ought to be loved with an universal pure and as far as possible perfect love This you will say perhaps is a high and a hard saying But let it not seem impossible for a man to love his own life only in God and in subordination to him for this God requires and he requires not things â—mpossible Luke 14 26. If any man come after me and hate not his own life he cannot be my Disciple i. e. not simply hate â—t but in comparison of me and my will It is not then impossible nay you see it is a necessary duty without which we cannot be Christs Disciples The Saints of old found it possible Holy Paul gives this answer readily Act. 21. 13. I am ready to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus and Act. 20. 24. I count not my life dear unto me so that I might finish my course with joy It is witnessed of the whole Army of the Saints in Rev. 12. 11. That they loved not their lives unto the death i. e. they did not value them in respect of God and his truth Neither let any one flatter himself and say Yea if I were called to dye for God I would rather do it than deny him For the will of God is as much to be eyed in his sending for us by a natural death as by martyrdom and a not giving up our lives to him at any time is as truly to deny him and his will as not to give them up at the stake when we are called to it Besides how shall we imagine that he that is unwilling to dye in his bed should be willing to dye at a stake Now this duty of being mortified to the love of this animal life being so difficult yet so necessary and so noble how doth it become every Saint to study to attain to this perfection which that we may let us press upon our selves this Consideration this Doctrine That the glorified Saints shall live as the Angels of God in Heaven We know that if this body were broken down this low life cut off we should live like Angels not being beholden any more to poor creatures for help or comfort but should be filled with the fulness of God filled with his Image and Glory and live upon him entirely for evermore Yea I may add that this very living above our own lives meerly at the will of God is a participation of the Angelical Life even in this world Therefore labour to be mortified to that love of this life which is here upon earth yea be weary of it yea almost ashamed of it 4. Shall we thus live the lives of the Angels subsisting in God feasting upon him filled with him to all eternity This may moderate our sorrow which we conceive for the loss of any created good houses lands husband wife children c. yet a little while and we shall not miss them shall not need them shall not desire them any more The blessed Angels live a glorious life and they have none of these but are perfectly satisfied in the enjoyment of God alone They have no wives nor children yet they want none And yet a little while and we shall have none neither neither shall we want them having all things in the God of all things They neither marry nor are given in marriage but are in conjunction with the Father with love and goodness and truth it self and so they have no want of any thing If you have no Candles left in the house yet it is towards day-break and the Sun will rise upon you and you shall need none and yet have light enough too In a word learn to live beside them whilst you have them and you will be the better able to live without them when they are removed 5. I come now to the fifth and last Use that I shall make of this Doctrine and oh that you and I may make this happy use of it Shall the Saints be as the Angels of God in their way of living in living
Oh how sweet is the God that made it so Is there any thing lovely it is a picture of him whose name is Love Is any thing firm stable lasting it is a shadow of that glorious essence with whom there is no shadow of change Have you any thing strong it arises out of that God with whom is everlasting strength Doth any creature give rest ease refreshment it springs out of the All satisfying fulness of God In a word labour to climb up by every created excellency as by so many beams to the Father of lights let all the world be to you as Gods Temple and be ready to say of every place as Jacob How dreadful is this place surely this is no other than the house of God! that God who runs thorow all created Beings and from himselves derives several prints of beauty and excellency all the world over But especially take heed of your own created-comforts that they do not insensibly lead a way your hearts and ensnare you into a sinful particular distinct love of them which is a sin soon committed hardly discerned and most hardly reformed If any be freed from these inordinate affections sure they are but few and those few have come dearly by it as he said in another case with a great summ they have obtained this freedom they have payed for it not with the foreskins of the Philistines but with the lives of what they so loved there being no way to cure this evil distemper but cutting off the member infected with it the part that it fed upon As a branch of this head let me add labour to live upon God in the excellencies of other men value them and all their accomplishments only in God as he that did diligere Deum habitantem in Augustino Admire God and enjoy God in them Where ever you see wisdom goodness ingenuity holiness justice or any other accomplishment say Here and there is God And this is the honest way of making our selves Masters of whatever is another mans and enjoying it as truly as he himself doth yea as truly as if it were our own when we behold all these beams as coming from the same fountain of lights and do love them all in him with an universal love This is the rare Art of having nothing yet possessing all things of being rich though one have nothing and of being wise though one know nothing 3. The last way of living upon God in the creature is To taste and feed upon the love of God in them not only his common bounty but his special love in Christ The good will of God gives a sweet relish to every morsel as I hinted before Even in the midst of all your delightful pleasant sweet enjoyments let your souls be more affected with this than with them let this be as the Manna lying upon the top of all your outward comforts which your spirits may gather up and feed upon But this I toucht upon before therefore I shall add no more concerning it Thus I have shewed you how you may imitate the life of Angels in living upon God even whilst you live in the body To this I may add another particular or two 3. Converse with God and live upon him in all his Ordinances Let communion with God be your drift in every duty and the very life and soul and sweetness of every ordinance You never read of a soul more thirsty after ordinances than David as might appear abundantly yet if you look well into the expressions you will find that it was not so much after them as after God in them not after the dead letter but after the living God Psa 4. 2. 2. My soul thirsteth for God for the living God and Psal 84. 2. My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God Let the Word preacht or read be as a voyce from Heaven talking you let your conserence be a comment upon that Word let meditation be as a kind of bringing down God into your souls and prayer as a raising up of your souls into God nothing but faith and love put into phrases And so of all the rest 4. Converse with God in all his Providences prosperity adversity plenty penury health sickness peace and perplexity This is a large Theme But as to prosperity I have speken something a ready under that head of conversing with God in creature enjoyments As for adversity I have said much more in a large discourse to describe and commend the Art of conversing with God in affictions Briefly at this time converse not with losses wants afflictions but with God in them and that not only with the justice righteousness severity and soveraignty of God in them but with the goodness and mercy of God in them They are dark Providences we had not need to dwell all together on the dark side of them If all the wayes of the Lord towards his people be mercy and truth Psa 25. 10 then his roughest and most uncouth wayes are so 100 If God be wholly love 1 Joh. 4. 8. then his very corrections proceed not from hatred If it be his name to be good and to do good Psal 119. 68. where have we learnt then to call his afflicting Providences Evils and to divide evil which is but one even as God is one into culpae and paenae sin and affliction surely we speak as men And if God call them so he speaks after the manner of men as he often doth If the governing will of God be pure persect and infinitely good and righteous ought we not to converse with it in a free and chearful manner yea and to love it too In a word pore not upon creature-changes nor the uncertain wheels of motion that are turning up and down we know not how nor how oft but fix your souls upon that All-seeing eye that unbounded understanding that unsearchable and infinite goodness that derives it self thorow the whole universe and sits in all the wheels of motion governing all the strange motions of the creatures in a wonderful and powerful manner and carrying them all in their several Orbs to one last and blessed end Thus imitate the Angelical life even whilst you are in the body converse with God in self-excellencies in creature-excellences Ordinances Providences And yet labour to be more like them still to abstract your mind from all these and all material and sensible things and to converse with God without the help of any creature I mean in the spirit and by a secret feeling of his Almighty Goodness and the energy of grace and the communications of a divine life in your souls In a word if you would taste of Heaven whilst you are upon Earth labour above all things for a true conjunction of your hearts with God in a secret feeling of his goodness and a reciprocation of love to him and to find the holy and blessed God exercising his grace and power upon all the faculties of your souls and