will not flee to Sinful Shifts and Refuges neither is any thing Chidden Cited or Arraigned but the disquieted and disturbed Spirit and yet even here it is not so much Clamourous and Impatient as it is Inquisitive after and resolved upon its Regular Self-redress If any thing ail it or afflict it it minds the Grounds the Measures and the Effects thereof upon it self Stupid indeed it is not for it feels Gods Hand upon it Immoderate or Careless in its Griefs it will not be for it will call its Sorrows and it Self unto the Test and Bar and there impartially examine all its Pressures its Sence of them and its Behaviour under them nor will it sullenly be neglectful of it self in Troubles for it will urge it self to all Just Observations and Improvements of its best Helps and Remedies and when it finds that only hope in God must bear it up and succour it Oh then how copiously and closely is the Name of God considered by it I shall yet Praise him the Health of my Countenance and my God If it be forced abroad as Holy David now was to Sorrowful Wandrings Solitudes and Retirements its very Privacies shall be spent in pertinent Soliloquies and so be improved to its own best advantage and consequently be made to turn to very good account at last It is and will be provident for Soul-good where e're it is and what ever it is called to undergo And when upon impartial search it finds as it will quickly do that no Relief can be expected but from and by Hope in God how prevalent are its Gracious Principles and Instincts in carrying it to look much higher than it self for Help Nor will it ever look upon its Case as desperate and lost remedilesly whilst there is room and ground for Hope in God to help it yet is it orderly and calm in its Procedures for it first talks with it self and then looks up to God and though it be difficult to disperse and quell its Griefs and Sorrows when they are gathered to an head yet Duty is Duty Hot or Cold and 't is not difficulty that can divorce the Gracious Soul therefrom It can find work in Storms and Tryals for all its Faculties Principles and Graces and they must vigorously perform their Functions to serve those weighty Turns and Purposes which so much concern the exercised Soul And it well knows and doth consider it as wisely that Storms and Tumults of this Nature are never truly laid nor the afflicted Soul refresh'd either by transient and hasty or by hard Thoughts of God and it is its happiness and support that it hath a God to flee to an Heart to Hope in him and to Praise him and an Interest in God and a Covenant of Promises from God to encourage Hope in God Infer IV. O what Refreshments do a due sence and lovely Thoughts of God afford to Gracious Souls under their Troubles and Disquietments 2 Tim. 4.18 O let those passages be Read considerately in Lam. 3.21 36. It is in Gods Gracious Name so solemnly proclaimed in Exod. 34 6 7. that Gracious Souls may Act themselves when all things shake and fail about them and their Hearts tremble in them Joel 3.16 Here is that Anchor which must stay the Soul and hold its Hope when all the Seas of its Concerns and Thoughts are most sevearly prest and broken by Storms and Tempests in it and about it Good Thoughts of God will make us chearfully to endure Afflictions and to Improve the worst Condition Psal 42.7 8. 43.1 2. David here found Relief when all things else proved Miserable Comforters to him The Sorrows of Death compassed me about the Pains of Hell got hold upon me I found Trouble and Sorrow then called I upon the Name of the Lord O Lord deliver my Soul And what was his Encouragement Gracious is the Lord and Righteous also our God is Merciful Psal 116.3 7. And they that would cherish Hope in God should not so much resort to Sinai as to Zion and rather go to Gerizzim than to Ebal if they would have such Thoughts of God as shall and will Encourage Hope in him God here was represented by David to himself as His God as the Health of his Countenance and as that God whom he should surely Praise whatever other Face and Aspect were at present upon things and by these things did he resolve upon awaken and refresh his Hope in God If God be only set before our Eyes as Clothed with Vengeance as an Inexorable and Severe Judge and as upon the Throne of Judgment our Hopes will quickly turn to Desperation and who can possibly Hope in him that takes him for his Enemy But he that remembers and minds God as Love it self as ready to Commiserate the Cases of his Afflicted Servants and as One waiting to be Gracious and ready to Forgive Hear Heal and Save this Man gets presently upon the Wing and freely throws himself as at the Feet of Mercy and can more easily part with his Life than with his Hope in God Job 13.15 And now to give no Check to your Patience by my Prolixity let me close all and drive the matter home if possibly I may and Exhort you to these things Exhort I. Keep up all Amiable and Attracting Thoughts of God in all your Troubles and Disquietments Mic. 7.18 20. Thus did this Gracious Person in my Text. Have Mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgressions Psal 51.1 119.75 76. Nothing can stint or bound Gods Mercies nor check the Efforts and sensible Explications and Productions of Gods most Gracious Name but the culpable unfitness of your Souls to be receptive of his Royal Favours Psal 85.8 Rejoyce the Soul of thy Servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my Soul for thou Lord art Good and ready to Forgive and plenteous in Mercy to all them that call upon thee O God the Proud are risen against me But thou Lord art a God full of Compassion and Gracious Long-suffering and Plenteous in Mercy and Truth O turn to me and have Mercy upon me Psal 86.4 5 14 16. The Gracious Soul can never Justifie its own Despondencies for take it under its severest Pressures from Evil Men and Things let it but Act still like it self and it hath more causes for Consolation than for Dejectedness 2 Cor. 6.10 Think not that God forgets or hates thee because thy bitter Cups are not to be dispensed with We are Troubled on every side yet not Distressed Perplexed but not in Despair Persecuted but not Forsaken Cast down but not Destroyed 2 Cor. 4.8 9. Sing therefore O ye Saints of his unto the Lord give Thanks to the Memorial of his Holiness For his Anger is but for a Moment in his Favour is Life and Weeping may endure for a Night but Joy comes in the Morning Psal 30.4 5. And He that is
what it is to be led by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.14 XXVII for Serm. XXV What advantage may we expect from Christs Prayer for Vnion with himself and the Blessings relating to it John 17.20 21. XXVIII for Serm. XXVI How should we eye Eternity that it may have its due influence upon us in all we doe 2 Cor. 4.18 XXIX for Serm. XXVII How may we most certainly get and maintain the most uninterrupted Communion with God Joh. 1.7 Serm. XXVIII What is the best way to prepare to meet God in the way of his Judgments or Mercies 1 John 12.28 Serm. XXIX How may a gracious person from whom God hides his face trust in the Lord as his God Psal 42.11 Serm. XXX How are the Religious of a Nation the Strength of it Isa 6.13 Serm. XXXI Whether it be expedient and how the Congregation may say Amen in publick Worship Neh. 8.6 ERRATA PAge 108. lines 43 44. beginning at these words It should c. must be made the 3d and 4th lines of page 109. Page 116. l. 30. for offences r. offenders p. 152. l. 12. dele while ibid. after displeasure you insert do not p. 177. l. 3. for only r. duly ibid. l. 35. r. Tell me First ibid. l. 42. r. Secondly Do you p. 180. l. 27. r. Father p. 192. l. 44. insert not p. 421. l. 14. for early r. easily ibid. l. 30. for forced r. found p. 422. l. 21. for injuries r. iniquities ibid. l. 32. for scene r. scope ibid. l. 36. for wet r. rub p. 424. l. 2. for lakes r. leakes ibid. l. 24. for conceived r. conveighed ibid. l. 32. for them r. thence ibid. l. 42. for why r. who p. 425. l. 35. for Family r. Faculty so also p. 433. l. 36 p. 427. l. 38. for inducers r. induces p. 432. l. 30. r. old boots p. 434. l. 35. r. Thurvey p. 495. l. 38. dele All ibid. l. 41. for External r. Eternal ibid. l. 42. for Externity r. Eternity p. 496. l. 31. for Owenesse r. Onenesse p. 506. l. 27 for Yet r. Yea p. 506. l. 28. for Chetir r. Chetiu p. 510. l. 27. for Interception r. Introrecâ—ption p. 511. l. 33. for be r. are p. 512. l. 8. for 't is God that r. ' t is That God ibid. l. 12. for whence 't is r. And ibid l. 23 after of r. Reason p. 513. dele said p. 514. l. 5. after Rules r. of natural Reason p. 519. l. 1. for Correspondeâ—â—y r. Transcendency ibid. l. 4. for without it r. about it p. 521. l. 28 29 for by Impression r. Iâ—â—ell and p. 1019. l. 16. add them after distinguish p. 1025. l. 12. dele 1. p. 1035. l. 28. after Christ add so Quest How is the adherent Vanity of every Condition most effectually abated by Serious Godliness SERMON I. ECCLES VI. 11 12. 11. Seeing there be many things that encrease Vanity what is man the better 12. For who knoweth what is good for man in this Life I Began my Morning-Exercises with this comprehensive Case How to be in all things at all times exactly Conscientious and the Supplement with this How to attain and improve such Love to God as may influence all the Graces Actions and Passages of our Lives and now I would fain direct you How to prevent or cure the Vanity that is incident to every Condition Solomon upon the review of his Life the Honours Pleasures Wealth and Wisdom he had so abundantly enjoyed the many observations he had made of things natural moral domestical civil sensual and divine the curious critical enquiries he had made after true Happiness and what contribution all things under the Sun afford towards it at last demonstrates the utter insufficiency of all things meerly worldly to make us happy In the first six Chapters of this Book he shews wherein Happiness doth not consist confuting the vain Opinions of all sorts of irreligious Persons and in the six last Chapters he shews wherein it doth consist rectifying the Judgment of all those that seek after it In this Chapter is continued a further description of the vanity of Riches and Honours and Children and long Life c. And in these two last verses he takes up a general Conclusion of all the precedent Vanities Since there are so many things that increase vanity what is man the better for all of them Considering our ignorance we do not know what is best for our selves many and great things do but distract us and if we did know and could obtain what is good for us we can enjoy these things but a little while and what will come to pass hereafter we know not To make every Condition as easie as 't is possible I shall endeavour to discuss this Question How is the adherent vanity of every Condition most effectually abated by serious Godliness You will all grant that Solomon was the fittest man that ever lived to find out the very quintessence of Creature-excellencies and to extract what was possible to be extracted out of worldly Vanities he doth upon both his own impartial Scrutiny and the infallible guidance of the Holy Ghost give you the total Summe at the head of the account Eccles 1.2 Vanity of vanities Vanity of vanities i. e. extream vanity This he demonstrates by an induction of particulars but to dispell as much as 't is possible that vexation of Spirit that steams from such multiplication of Vanity he doth upon his own experience and the Holy Ghosts direction commend this Prescription at the foot of the account viz. Serious Godliness Eccles 12.13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments c. And do it now as you will wish you had done it when you come to Judgment For the discussing my Question I shall lay down these Propositions Prop. I Every Condition is clogg'd with Vanity All things that men generally set their Hearts upon are Vanity Vanity is that which seemeth to be something and is nothing 't is a shadow empty without substance unprofitable without fruit if you put any confidence in it 't will not only deceive you but hurt you we are loth to think so more loth to believe it every one hath a kind of unaccountable confidence about the things of this world that if they might but be their own Carvers they doubt not of an earthly happiness whereas they cannot but be mistaken For 1. God never made the World nor any condition in it to be a place of rest and satisfaction and since Sin hath so far marr'd the Beauty of the Universe there 's a judicial Vanity upon the whole Creation Rom. 8.20 Now men must needs fail of their expectation when they look for that in the Creature that God never plac'd there as if we could mend the works of Creation and Providence I confess 't is ordinary for persons to attempt it and to glory in their Atchievments e. g. God made man only to have
experience Many have come by the help of God to remember more and better than they did before and why should not you increase the number of such proficients It is not fit for a Christian to despond in any such case but to be up and doing When a Ship leaks it is not presently cast away for says the Master this Vessel may yet do me Service you have leaking Memories I but being careen'd they may be much more serviceable than ever they were Obj. O but I shall never attain any Memory Ans I tell you despondency spoils all Indeavours neither do you sit thus down in other cases If your Body or Brain be weak you will try experiments you 'l go to one Physitian after another as long as you have a penny left be not then more careless of your noblest parts The cure is possible at least in some good measure 2. It is Reasonable that your Memories which have bin sinks of Sin should become Helps to Heaven All our faculties are given us for this end and is it not highly reasonable that they should be so applyed It is apparent that our Memories have bin grievously perverted and therefore as we have yielded our members Servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so we should yield our members Servants to righteousness unto holiness Rom. 6 19. Seeing God hath given us a noble faculty should we neglect or abuse it can others remember the world and their lusts and shall not we remember the holy things that refer to a better world nay can we remember a thousand unprofitable hurtful and sinful matters and not those things that do most nearly and highly concern us It is intolerable 3. This is Necessary It is an unquestionable Duty That fundamental Law propounded in the Old Testament Deut. 6 5. and confirmed in the New Matt. 22 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy mind doth oblige us to strain every faculty to the utmost in Gods behalf One end also of Christs coming into the world was to repair our depraved faculties and shall we suffer him to dye in vain The Text I am upon shews how necessary it is as a means of Faith and Salvation We find by experience that this faculty is miserably corrupted and therefore it is undoubtedly necessary that it be renewed Obj. We can do but what we can let it be never so necessary Ans And I pray how far have your indeavours travelled in this business have you carefully used the fore-mention'd means and continued in the use of them no no your impotency is wilful you cannot because ye mind it not or else certainly if inherent grace were weak assistent grace would be ready at your service 4. A good Memory is very helpful and useful It is not a vain thing that is thus prest upon you For 1. It is a great means of Knowledg For what signifies your Reading or Hearing if you remember nothing It is not eating or drinking but digesting your food that keeps you alive and so it is in this case Prov. 4 20 21. My son not only attend unto my words incline thine ear unto my sayings but keep them in the midst of thy heart Then are they life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh 2. It is a means of Faith as is plain in my Text unless ye have believed in vain For though Faith doth rest purely on the Word of God yet when the Word and works of God are forgotten Faith will stagger Hence our Saviour saith Matt. 16 9. O ye of little Faith do not ye understand neither Remember the five Loaves of the five thousand c. The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit whereby Satan is foiled but if this Sword be out of the way by reason of Forgetfulness how shall we conflict with this Enemy 3. It is a means of Comfort If a poor Christian in distress could remember Gods promises they would inspire him with new life but when they are forgotten his Spirits sink Our way to Heaven lyes over Hills and Vales when we are on the Hill we think we shall never be in our dumps again and so when we are in the Valley we fear we shall never have comfort again But now a faithful Memory is a great help Psal 77 10 11. But I said This is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right Hand of the most High I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old So also Psal 119 52. I remembred thy Judgments of old O Lord and have comforted my self 4. It is a means of Thankfulness We are all wanting in this Duty of Thankfulness and one cause thereof is forgetfulness of the mercies of God Hence ungrateful men are said to have bad memories What abundant matter of thanksgiving would a sanctified Memory suggest to every Christian Hence holy David calls upon himself Psal 103 2. Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits By which forgetfulness and such other means it comes to pass that Praise and Thanksgiving hath so little which should have so much room in our daily devotions 5. It is a means of Hope For experience works Hope and the Memory is the Storehouse of experience therein we lay up all the instances of Gods goodness to us heretofore Lament 3 21. This I recal to mind therefore have I hope Hence they who do not trust in God are said in Scripture phrase to forget him And one reason of mens impatience and dejectedness in trouble is assign'd by the Apostle Heb. 12 5. And ye have forgotten the Exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto Children My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him 6. It is a means of Repentance For how can we repent or mourn for what we have quite forgotten As therefore there is a culpable remembrance of Sin when we remember it in kindness so there is a laudable remembrance of Sin when we remember it with displeasure Ezek. 16 63. That thou mayst remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth more But alas we write our Sins in the Sand and foolishly imagine that the eternal God forgets them just as soon as we though in such cases he hath said and sworn Amos 8 7. Surely I will never forget any of their works 7. It is a means of Vsefulness No man should nor indeed can be singly religious when one spark of grace is truly kindled in the heart it will quickly indeavour to heat others also so for counsel we are born we are new born to be helpful unto others Herein a good Memory is exceeding useful out of which as out of a Storehouse a wise Christian may bring forth matters both new and old Such may say Psal 44.1 Psal 48.8 We have heard with our Ears and
Saints and Martyrs yea and of Jesus Christ himself are a full proof of this Truth Proposi II. Though Men be Great and Good yet may their Souls be cast down and disquieted within them My Soul refused to be comforted my Spirit was overwhelmed in me Psal 77.2 3. 'T is hard and rare for the best Men to keep their Spirits composed and equal when troubles urge them closely The time would fail me and the limits of this discourse would be transgrest should I but shew you from sacred writ what passionate escapes might be observed from Gods Worthies there Proposi III. Good Men should therefore well discern and weigh what troubles and anxieties are upon them and not increase their loads and sorrows by being strangers to themselves Psal 77.6 1 Cor. 10.13 Eccl. 7.14 2 Cor. 12.7 9. Psal 119.28 and they should well distinguish too betwixt what God inflicts upon them and what they cause unto and lay upon themselves and sift their troubles to the bottom they must observe what it is that troubles them and so survey their sufferings and not subject themselves to strange Confusions and Amusements Lam. 3.20 for t is not what we think of what afflicts us but what God really inflicts upon us that we must mind And they must carefully observe in all their sorrows what Ministers to grief and what to shame and what to their Awakening and Refining and what serves to prevent a greater mischief to them 1 Cor. 11.30.32 and to what use God may put their sufferings as to the Church and World and to the unseen State and then resolve it with themselves for what how far and why they are or ought to be dejected and disquieted Proposi IV. What troubles and resentments by gracious Persons are observed should be discoursed by them with their own Souls Psal 4.4 they are to ask themselves how these evils came upon them Is it the immediate hand of God that layes them on if so what have I done against the Lord my God Have I neglected or negligently managed any parts of publick or private Worship as Prayer Praise Thanks Hearing Sacraments or Sanctification of the Lords Day Have I dishonoured God by misrepresenting him to others or to my self Have I reflected any dishonour upon my Christian Calling Have I neglected the exciting and improving of the Grace of God in me in any of its Principles or Functions Or have I behaved my self unworthily or indecently towards others or my self Or is it by the Tongues or Hands of Men that God afflicts me If so what instances of injuriousness negligence indiscretion or immoderate passion can I or others charge upon my self What undue heats or ferments have they discerned in my Spirit by rash or wrathful words or actions If any failures have been on my part where when and how and why were they committed by me If none of these are have been or can be charged upon me what do I undergo from God or Man that Gods great Favourites have not undergone before me And why may not I repair unto the same Encouragements and Consolations which have Relieved and Supported them when they have been exercised as I am What! can not I pledge the best Men in the most bitter Cups but I must presently entertain dismal and undue thoughts of God and make censoriously the worst Constructions of what he lays upon me For to think or say that God deals unfaithfully or unkindly with me is to conclude and utter what neither the Name nor Love of God nor the experiences of his best and wisest Servants will allow of therefore our calm and close debatings of these matters with our selves put us into a fair way to obtain Composures and Relief Proposi V. Good Men when most disquieted and dejected are then to discourse their gracious Selves Heb. 12.5 and to consider what is within them as well as what is laid upon them Psal 44.17 they should remember whose who and what they are by Grace and so repress the tumults and despondencies of their own Spirits for they that are Sanctified can never be forsaken of their God Proposi VI. A revived Sence of God of their Interest in him and of their expectations from him afford great Succours and Supports to gracious Souls and ought to be pleaded and urged upon them by themselves when all things look dreadfully towards them both within and about them Hab. 3.17 18. impatience and despondency are best rebuked Hereby a Sence of God must be revived for as we think of God so shall we value our relation to him and fix and keep our confidence in him and proportionate our expectations from him and 't is to this end that we have such glorious and great accounts of God in sacred writ as to his attributes of Power Wisdom Patience Grace c. Riches and Honour are with him all Kingdom Glory and Power are ascribed unto him and t is with him how things shall go with us and in all the parts of his Creation It is Peace or War with us serenity or disturbance in us and Good or Evil towards us as God himself determineth concerning us Job 34.29 and he that worketh all things after the Counsels of his own Will is to be concluded and believed to be as Good and Gracious as he is either Wise or Great for as Power is his Majesty and Holiness is his Glory so Mercy is his Riches and to him it is a pleasure to be kind and bountiful and a Name of Praise and Joy to be abundant in Compassions and Remissions Jer. 9.24 33.8 9. Mic. 7.18 And yet this is not all but our relation to and interest in him must be revived in the remembrances thereof upon our own Hearts Deut. 33.29 Isa 41.10 Jer. 3.4 5. Heb. 11.16 Hab. 3.18 Every relation is for relative purposes and designs and so affords us great Encouragements Psal 23.1 6. My God! the God of my Life I will say to God my Rock why hast thou forgotten me Psal 42.8 9. O my Strength to thee will I sing for God is my Defence and the God of my Mercy Psal 59.17 68.20 thus David encouraged himself in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30.6 and here the Foundation of our liveliest hopes is fixt for as Gods infinite perfection assures us that he can do all things so his relation to us and our interest in him assures us that he will be gratious to us and hereto may we safely trust and in the Sence hereof may we address to God by Prayer and Hope Psal 5.2 12. 109.26 119.114 And then the sence and value of what we are to look for is to be lively too upon our heart Slighty and Contemptible Thoughts and Estimations of what we look for will never considerably stem the Tide nor stop the Fluxes of our Sorrows and Discouragements Gods Favour is a valuable Blessing and as the Root of all the rest his Face is glorious and delightful when indeed
plundered him of all lifting up his Eyes to Heaven said Lord thou knowest where I have laid up my Treasure * By this delighting in God we may undoubtedly know he is our Reward What shall we do to get God to be our Reward Quest Let us see our need of God We are undone without him Lift not Direct 1 not up the Crest of Pride Beware of the Laodicean temper Revel 3.17 Thou saist I am rich and have need of nothing God will never bestow himself on them that see no want of him Let us beg of God to be our Reward 'T was Austin's Prayer Lord Direct 2 give me thy self b Da mihi te Domine Aug. O do not put me off with Common Mercies Give me not my Portion in this life †Psal 17.14 Make over thy self by a Deed of Gift to me Be earnest Suitors and God cannot find in his Heart to deny you Prayer is the Key of Heaven which being turned by the hand of Faith opens all Gods Treasures Live every day in the Contemplation of this Reward Be in the Altitudes Branch 3 Think what God hath prepared for them that love Him c Nihil in hac vita dulcius sentitur nil ita mentem ab amore mundi seperat nil sic animam contra tentationes roborat nil hominem ita ad omne bonum opus excitat quam Gratia contemplationis Bern. O that our thoughts could ascend The higher the Bird flies the sweeter it sings Let us think how Blessed they are who are possessed of their Heritage If one could but look a while through the chinks of Heaven-door and see the Beauty and Bliss of Paradise if he could but lay his Ear to Heaven and hear the Ravishing Musick of those Seraphick Spirits and the Anthems of Praise which they Sing how would his Soul be Exhilerated and Transported with Joy O Christians meditate of this Reward Slight transient thoughts do no good They are like breath upon Steel which is presently off again but let your thoughts dwell upon Glory till your Hearts are deeply affected What Lord is there such an Incomprehensible Reward to be bestowed upon me Shall these Eyes of mine be blessed with Transforming Sights of thee O the love of God to Sinners Stand at this Fire of Meditation till your Hearts begin to be warm How would the reflection on this inmense Reward conquer Temptation and behead those unruly Lusts that have formerly conspired against us What is there a Reward so sure so sweet so speedy and shall I by sin forfeit this Shall I to please my Appetite lose my Crown O all ye pleasures of Sin be gone let me no more be deceived with your sugered Lies wound me no more with your Silver Darts Th◠stolen Waters are sweet yet the Water of Life is sweeter No stronger Antidote to expell Sin than the Fore-thoughts of the Heavenly Remunerations It was when Moses was long out of sight that Israel made an Idol to worship Exod. 32.1 So when the future Reward is long out of our mind then we set up some Idol-lust in our Hearts which we begin to worship Branch 4 This may content Gods People though they have but little Oyl in the Cruse and their Estates are almost boyled away to nothing their Great Reward is yet to come Thô your Pension be but small your Portion is large If God be yours by Deed of Gift this may rock your hearts quiet God lets the wicked have their Pay before-hand Luk. 6.24 Ye have received your Consolation A wicked man may make his Acquittance and write Received in full Payment But the Saints Reward is in reversion the Robe and the Ring is yet to come May not this tune their Hearts into contentment Christian what thô God denies thee a Kid to make merry f Luk. 15.31 if he will say Son all I have is thine is not this sufficient Why dost thou complain of the Worlds emptiness who hast Gods Fulness Is not God Reward enough Hath a Son any cause to complain that his Father denies him a Flower in the Garden when he makes him Heir to his Estate g Quid ultrà quaerit cui omnia suus conditor fit Prosper The Philosopher comforted himself with this that thô he had no Musick or Vine-Trees yet he had the Houshould Gods with him * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Christian thô thou hast not much of the World yet thou hast God and he is an inexhaustible Treasure It was strange that after God had told Abraham I am thy exceeding great Reward yet that Abraham should say vers 2. Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I go Childless Shall Abraham ask Lord what wilt thou give me when he had given himself Was Abraham troubled at the want of a Child who had a God was not God better than Ten Sons h Quid homini sufficit cui ipse conditor non sufficit Aug. Who should be content if not he who hath God for his Portion and Heaven for his Haven Let this exceeding Great Reward stir up in us a Spirit of Activity for God Our Head should Study for him our Hands work for him our Feet run in the way of his Commandements Alas how litle is all we can do Our Work bears no Proportion with our Reward Mercedi an tantae par Labor esse potest †Verinus The thoughts of this Reward should make us rise off the Bed of Sloth and Act with all our might for God i Spes proemii solatium fit laboris Hierom. It should add Wings to our Prayers and Weight to our Alms. A slothful Person stands in the World for a Cipher and God writes down no Ciphers in the Book of Life Let us abound in the work of the Lord. 1 Cor. 15.58 As Aromatical Trees sweat out their precious Oyls So should we Sweat out our strength and Spirits for Christ Saint Paul knowing what a Splendid Reward was behind brought all the Glory he could to God 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more abundantly than they all He outwrought all the other Apostles Saint Pauls Obedience did not move slow as the Sun on the Dial but Swift as the Sun in the Firmament * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Did Plato and Demosthenes undergo such Herculean Labours and Studies who had but the dim Watch-light of Nature to see by and did but Fancy the pleasures of the Elizian Fields after this Life and shall not Christians much more put forth all their Vigour of Spirit for God when they are sure to be Crowned nay God himself will be their Crown If God be so great a Reward let such as have an Interest in him Branch 5 be chearful God loves a Sanguine Complection k Acceptior est Deo grata laetitia quam querula tristitia Bucholcer Chearfulness credits Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 causeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The goodness of the
such provoking Children 1. Doth your Duty of loving your Children admit of that exception Love them i. e. If they are or while they are free from all fault did not the Lord that enjoyns this Duty know full well that no mortal man is without his Spots Imperfections Failings In vain is that Precept that is limited to a Condition which is impossible to fulfil Jam. 3.2 Tangat memoriam communis fragilitas 2. Look inward and then look upward Are not you naught have not you often and do not you daily hourly provoke your Heavenly Father and yet would you not desire that he should Love you Let your own Prayers and Tears be Witnesses in the Case Had a man laid his ear close to your Closet might he not have heard you Ephraim-like bemoaning your self thus Heavenly Father I am vile I have done Iniquity I have not only toucht upon the verge of Vice but entred the Circle nay my sins are aggravated by Perverseness in ill-doing and by resisting counsel I cannot dare not clear my self by a just defence nor being rightly depriv'd of thy love and favour seek for any other Mediators but thy Christ and free Grace for my relief And therefore give me leave to hope that a Fathers Bowels are as Potent Orators as a Sons Misery and that while my Transgressions Damm up the way to favour fatherly Compassion will not forget to be merciful he that bears the name of a Father cannot forget the tears of a Child Tell me severe Parents is not this a true Echo of some of your most pathetick Prayers But what answer have you expected and your Heavenly Father return'd 3. Possibly while you have been speaking God hath answer'd as he did Jer. 31.20 Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child No no he is naught he is a Prodigal True but yet he is a repenting a returning Prodigal though not a pleasant Son yet a Son a Child and therefore since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still Therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord Read consider and often Pray over those pertinent Texts Deut. 32.36 Isa 63.15 16. Hos 11.7 8 9. Luk. 15.19 20. All this is true to a repenting Ephraim but my Child lies stinking in his filth 4. But I pray In what case and posture did your Heavenly Father find you when he first manifested his Love unto you Ezek. 16.6 8. I saw thee polluted in thine own blood and I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live ver 8. Behold this time was the time of thy Gods Love God the Father commended his Love towards you in that while you were yet Sinners Christ died for you Rom. 5.8 2. Govern your Children as a Father and so remember 1. That your Parental power is not absolute or despotical but regulated and circumscrib'd within due bounds and limits Parents may not think they may do what they list according to their own Will and Pleasure with their Children Stat pro ratione voluntas is the language of a Tyrant not of a Father And here 1. Beware of secret Pride of inordinate self-exalting of magnifying your Office and overvaluing your selves and of esteeming your selves to be greater than indeed you are and an Eager desire that your Children should so think of you and so treat you 2. Beware of thinking more of the dignity of your place than of your duty you owe to God and your Children in that Station wherein God hath fixt you 3. Beware of being excessively hard and difficult to be pleased and of being too rigid an Exactor of observance and respect from your Child and of slighting undervaluing vilifying of him when he hath done his utmost of discontent and murmuring if you have not all you desire in your Child 4. Beware that you respect not your Child more for the seeming regard he shews to you than for any real worth that is in him All these are dangerous Rocks to which your secret Pride exposes you enough to destroy Pilot and Vessel 3. Be Angry with your Child but be Angry and sin not Eph. 5.26 Be angry but then let it be the Anger of a displeased Father against an offending Child not the Anger of a Bloody enemy against an Irreconcilable Foe be angry as your Heavenly Father is said to be Angry Of this before 4. Exhort admonish reprove rebuke chastize offending Children but then still Remember whose deputy you are whom you represent even your heavenly Father Fury is not in him Judgment is his strange work But he delights in mercy When he is as it were forced to put forth his Anger he then makes use of a Fathers rod not an Executioners Ax Psal 89. from 30. to 35. 2 Sam. 7.14 He will neither break his Childrens bones nor his own Covenant He lashes in Love Heb. 12.6 Rev. 3.19 in measure in pity and compassion In all their Affliction he is afflicted Every stroke on his Childs back recoils on his own Bowels and if the member be gangren'd and there is an absolute necessity to cut it off to save the Life the Soul of his Child then like a Chyrurgeon who is the Father of the Patient He makes use of the Saw not forgetting that he is now cutting off his own flesh and would never do it but for the Child 's good Rom. 8.28 Go you and do likewise 5. In all you do take heed you do not provoke them on the one hand nor discourage them on the other 1. Not provoke them Of this somewhat before Let me adde when Children find themselves contrary to their hopes and it may be their deserts to be hardly and sharply dealt withall and that nothing which they attempt or perform finds acceptance with their morose and rigid Parents specially if of fiercer Spirits in the heat and bitterness of their inraged Souls they are apt to throw off all Reverence to break their bands asunder and to cast away their cords from them Like wild and untamed Colts to kick and winch and harden their necks foreheads hearts against all admonitions and threatnings against all words and blows Their Father hates them say they sink they must and sink they will but not alone if possible they 'l draw their cruel Fathers Heart and Peace into the same gulf with them Oh dreadful Take heed therefore do not provoke Nè animam despondeant 2. Not to discourage dishearten dispirit them Col. 3.21 Fathers provoke not your Children least they be discouraged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is nothing that doth more deject and sink the heart of a poor Child specially if ingenious and of a softer and more meek temper than the severe rigour and roughness of a Father It quite unsouls the poor Child when in the countenance and deportment of his Father to whom of all men in the World he should in reason be dearest he sees nothing but anger and
mans Conscience in the sight of God Paul's Preaching this is the principal thing to be aimed at and it is the proper source of all profitable Preaching To conclude You that are Ministers suffer a Word of Exhortation Men Brethren and Fathers you are called to an high and holy Calling your Work is full of Danger full of Duty and full of Mercy You are called to the winning of Souls an Employment near a-kin unto our Lords work the saving of Souls and the nearer your spirits be in conformity to his holy temper and frame the fitter you are for and the more fruitfull you shall be in your work None of you are ignorant of the begun departure of our Glory and the daily advance of its departure and the sad appearances of the Lords being about to leave us utterly Should not these Signs of the times rowse up Ministers unto greater seriousness What can be the reason of this sad Observation that when formerly a few Lights raised up in the Nation did shine so as to scatter and dispell the darkness of Popery in a little time yet now when there are more and more Learned men amongst us yet the Darkness comes on apace Is it not because they were men filled with the Holy Ghost and with Power and many of us are only filled with Light and Knowledge and inefficacious Notions of Gods Truth Doth not always the Spirit of the Ministers propagate it self amongst the People A lively Ministry and lively Christians Therefore be serious at heart believe and so speak feel and so speak and as you teach so doe and then People will feel what you say and obey the Word of God And lastly for People It is not unfit that you should hear of Ministers Work and Duty and Difficulties you see that all is of your Concernment All things are for your sakes as the Apostle in another case Then only I intreat you 1. Pity us We are not Angels but men of like Passions with your selves Be fuller of Charity than of Censure We have all that you have to do about the saving of our own Souls and a great Work besides about the saving of yours We have all your difficulties as Christians and some that you are not acquainted with that are only Ministers Temptations and Tryals 2. Help us in our Work If you can do any thing help us in the work of Winning Souls What can we do say you O! a great deal Be but won to Christ and we are made Make haste to Heaven that you and we may meet joyfully before the Throne of God and the Lamb. 3. Pray for us How often and how earnestly doth Paul begg the Prayers of the Churches and if he did so much more should we begg them and you grant them for our Necessities and Weaknesses are greater than his 2 Thess 3.1 2. Finally Brethren pray for us that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not Faith THE CHAMBER of IMAGERY IN THE Church of ROME laid open OR AN Antidote against Popery Quest How is the Practical Love of Truth the best Preservative against Popery SERMON X. 1 PET. II.III. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious WHen false Worship had prevailed in the Church of old unto its Ruine God shewed and represented it unto his Prophet under the name and appearance of a Chamber of Imagery Ezek. 8.11 12. For therein were pourtraied all the Abomination wherewith the Worship of God was defiled and Religion corrupted Things relating unto Divine Truth and Worship have had again the same event in the world especially in the Church of Rome And my present Design is to take a view of the Chambers of their Imagery and to shew what was the occasion and what were the Means of their Erection and in them we shall see all the Abomination wherewith the Divine Worship of the Gospel hath been corrupted and Christian Religion ruined Unto this end it will be necessary to lay down some such Principles of Sacred Truth as will demonstrate and evince the Grounds and Causes of that Transformation of the Substance and Power of Religion into a Lifeless Image which shall be proved to have fallen out amongst them And because I intend their benefit principally who resolve all their Perswasion in Religion into the Word of God I shall deduce these Principles from that Passage of it in the first Epistle of the Apostle Peter Chap. 2. and the three first Verses The first Verse contains an Exhortation unto or an Injunction of universal Holiness by the laying aside or casting out whatever is contrary thereunto wherefore lay aside all Malice and all guile and hypocrisie and envy and all evil speaking the Rule whereof extends unto all other vicious habits of Mind whatever And in the Second there is a Profession of the Means whereby this End may be attained namely how any one may be so strengthened in Grace as to cast out all such sinful Inclinations and Practises as are contrary unto the Holiness required of us which is the Divine Word compared therefore unto Food which is the Means of preserving Natural Life and of increasing its strength As new born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby Hereon the Apostle proceeds to declare the Condition whereon our profiting growing and thriving by the Word doth depend and this is an experience of its Power as it is the Instrument of God whereby he conveys his Grace unto us if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious See 1 Thes 1.5 Therein lies the first and chief Principle of our ensuing Demonstration and it is this All the Benefit and Advantage which any men do or may receive by the Word or the Truths of the Gospel depend on an experience of its Power and Efficacy in communicating the Grace of God unto their Souls This Principle is evident in it self and not to be questioned by any but such as never had the least real sence of Religion on their own Minds Besides it is evidently contained in the Testimony of the Apostle before laid down Hereunto three other Principles of equal Evidence with it self are supposed and virtually contained in it 1. There is a Power and Efficacy in the Word and the Preaching of it Rom. 1.16 I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it 〈…〉 Pâ—â—â—r of God unto salvation It hath a divine Power the Power of God accompanying it and put forth in it unto its proper Ends for the Word of Gâ—d is quick and powerful Heb. 4.12 2. The Power that is in the Word of God consists in its efficacy to communicate Grace of God unto the Souls of man in and by it they taste that 〈◊〉 Lord is gracious that is is efficacy unto its proper Ends. These are Salvation with all things requisite
Mat. 12.35 The good man out of the good Treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things And you may commonly know what treasure is within by what is brought out As if you go among vain or wordly men their foolish carnal and worldly discourse plainly shews what Treasure they have within So the wise religious and godly communication that good men entertain you with doth evidence what is laid up in their memories as he that hath nothing but farthings in his Pocket can produce nothing from them but Brass but he that hath all Guineys there brings forth Gold 5. By fitting things laid up in memory for use and practice which is plainly the work of God by his Grace For a notional memory is of little use without a practical As Treasure in a Chest is no way so useful though there be much of it as a penny in the Purse when there is occasion for it The Fringes that were appointed to the Children of Israel Numb 15.39 40. Were to this end that ye may look upon it and remember all the Commandments of the Lord and do them And that everlasting Mercy of God is promised Psal 103.18 To those that remember his Commandments to do them And certainly they why commit things to their memories on this design to practice them shall be able to remember them when they have need of them in the course of their practice And thus the Memory is by sanctifying grace restored which is the fourth Point V. I come in the fifth placâ— â—o shew the Ordinary Impediments of a good memory or the Causes of a bad one which as ever you desire better memories you must beware and seriously strive against And they are these 1. A weak or dark Vnderstanding Such indeed may have a great sensitive memory as we see in Children yea in some brute Creatures but a sound rational memory they cannot have for except a thing be clearly known it can never be clearly remembred If reason be weak and the mind be poor what can the memory be stored with but from the senses And you shall observe that your ignorant people commonly have the worst memories especially of spiritual matters Mat. 13 19. When any one heareth the Word of the Kingdom and understandeth it not then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sowr in his heart Words will be remembred to little purpose when things are not understood And therefore labour for more knowledg and a clearer understanding Beg it of God and according to your capacities use all means to increase it 2. A Carnal careless Heart that is mindless of good things for those things which we little heed we never remember Vt impressio fortior ita memoria tenacior Holdsw Lect. p. 231. According to the impression on the heart is the Retention in the memory Such an heart as this can retain abundance of a Play or a Song but of a Chapter or Sermon next to nothing for every thing keeps what is connatural to its self Nay a good mans memory in a remiss negligent frame quite differs from what it was in a religious frame and some Scriptures which were utterly insignificant to him at one time read and heard and forgotten have bin quite new to him at another when his heart hath bin rightly disposed As you know wax when it is hard receives no impression while it is so but soften the same wax and then it receives it and nothing can be retain'd in the memory if it be not first reâ—eived by the memory And therefore many of you that complain of your bad memories have more reason to lament your old dead and hard hearts and to be restless till they be renewed 3. A Darling Sin Any bosom Sin as it fills and imploys every faculty so it debauches monopolizes and disorders them all Grace though it rule every Family yet ruffles none it composes the mind and imploys the memory in a rational manner It rules like a just King orderly but the serving of any lust breeds a civil war between one faculty and another and that distracts the whole Soul whereby every power thereof is weakned And particularly the memory being prest to serve the stronger side is so stuffed with the concerns of that tyrant lust that it cannot intend any spiritual matter And therefore whatever right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee Mat. 5 29. or else thy memory will never be â—ured A Table-book that is written and blotted all over must be wip'd before you can write any new matter upon it and so must the lines of thy darling Sin be effaced by real mortification before any good things will abide legible in thy memory 4. Excess of â—oâ—ldly cares is destructâ—â—â— to the memory Our Saviour hath plainly told us that no man can serve God and Mammon The memory is but finite though capacious and a superabundance of wordly thoughts within must needs shoulder out better things that should be thâ—re Especially these thoughts being more natural to our depraved hearts and arising from sensible things will so stuff the memory that there is no room for spiritual matters Hereupon we find that young persons that have few wordly cares have better memories than others Qui magis reminiscirentur quam pueruli ut recentiores animae ut nondum immersae domesticis publicis curis Tertull. de Anima cap. 24. as some of the Ancients observe More especially when such cares and thoughts crowd in just after we have been Reading or Hearing Gods Word Mat. 13 22. He also that received seed among thorns is hâ— that heareth the Word and the care of this world and the â—eceitfulness of riches choke the Word and he becometh unfruitful And therefore if you would heal your memories moderate your eares considering that immoderate care or labour is justly blessed or cursed of God so that it doth no man any real good you would not overload a Beast why will you overload your own Spirits particularly be sure that if possibly you can you settle and digest your spiritual matters in your mind after Reading and Hearing before they be disordered and confounded with worldly cares 5. Surfeiting and Drunkenness are great enemies to the Memory These do each of them infallibly disorder the brain and disable it from its functions Excess of meat doth this more insensibly but yet really a full belly seldom hath a clear head but that of drink is most evident Prov. 31 4 5. It is not for Kings ô Lemuel it is not for Kings to drink Wine nor for Princes strong drink that is in excess lest they drink and forget the Law It s plain that a drunken man forgets what he said and did and too many sad instances are apparent of many that have drunk away not only their Estates their Health their Credit but their very Souls and bâ—â—ins and all and are grown very sotts for Hos 4 11. Whoredom and Wine and
in actually engage in it and you 'l find Religion carries Meat in its mouth 't is of a reviving nourishing strengthning nature it brings that along with it that enables the soul chearfully to go thorow with it Enter in at the strait gate You cannot judg of the way on this side the gate Most men stick at the strait gate Beg of God to draw thee thorow to lift thee over the Threshold and set thee in the narrow way as narrow as it is yet none who enter in at the strait gate by a true and thorow conversion did ever perish in the way God will lead thee and sustain thee and carry thee on to the end of thy Race Therefore be strong and shew thy self a man and keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgments and his testimonies as it is written in the law of Moses that thou mayst prosper in all that thou dost and whithersoever thou turnest thy self 1 Kings 2.3 Secondly How the well discharge of our present duty may encourage us to hope in God for his help and assistance in all future duties 1. 'T is promised 2 Chron. 15.2 The cause of desertion is from our selves God shews mercy for his own sake without any respect to any thing in us But all acts of judgment and wrath take their rise from something in our selves that provokes God to such severities Therefore let us keep close to our present duty and trust God who has promised never to leave us nor forsake us Heb. 13.5 6. vide Isa 40.31 vide Psal 84.11 and Isa 41.10 There is a special promise to the seed of Abraham of help and strength But they who neglect their present duty are greatly threatned Prov. 1.24 and Psal 52.7 vide 2. Present Grace is a pledg of future Grace To him that hath more shall be given Luke 19.17 26. Where God begins a good work he will finish it Heb. 12.2 Phil. 2.6 So Psal 25.3 10 14. Mat. 10.19 20. vide Judg. 13.23 The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from evil 2 Thes 3.3 3. The experience of the Saints confirms this Psal 18.26 30 31 32. vide 'T was some such thing as this that David had Psal 119.56 4. The Saints made this an Argument in prayer Psal 38.20 21 22. vide Psal 119.30 31 94 121 173. vide Psal 25.21 3. A conscientious discharge of our present duty fits and disposes our minds to the next duty As there is a concatenation of sins so of duties as one sin leads to another so one duty leads to another the breach of one Commandment is virtually the breach of all James 2.10 1 John 4.20 As there is a revolting more and more Isa 1.5 a proceeding from evil to evil Jer. 9.3 waxing worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 so a godly man goes from grace to grace from faith to faith from strength to strength Job 17.9 vide Therefore in all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths Prov. 3.6 A man cannot act his Faith upon God for future preservation but in the discharge of his present duty Commit the keeping of thy soul to him in well-doing 1 Pet. 4.19 and then you 'l find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.16 6. By the well discharge of our present duty we may attain assurance of salvation Col. 3.23 24. vide 'T is Paul's motive to Timothy when he stirs him up to his present duty 2 Tim. 4.1 2 5 8. vide q. d. I am Paul the aged who have one foot in the grave ver 6. but you are a young man Timothy you are putting on your Armour but I am putting off mine I have finished my course and kept the faith I have discharged the duty of my place and by that means gained assurance of my salvation Henceforth is laid up for me c. He dates his full assurance from that time as the happy result of a well-spent life and exhorts Timothy to tred in his steps to make full proof of his Ministry Fight on Timothy and fear nothing that in the end of thy days thou maist have a comfortable sight of that Crown of righteousness which I am sure of Therefor let us all by patient continuance in well-doing wait for eternal life Rom. 2.7 These are the Scripture-grounds of hope for the time to come that God will help us and stand by us and strengthen us with might in our inward man giving us a sufficiency of grace answerable to all the occasions we may have for it Object May not Saints fail in future duties Ans They may and do fail and when 't is so their former neglects have no small influence into their present miscarriage But tho they may fall yet God upholds them with his hand that they don't fall utterly Psal 37.23 24. God gives them a heart that cannot totally depart from him Jer. 32.40 APPLICATION You see how the way of the Lord is strength to the upright He that is a doer of the word is like a house built upon a Rock which may be shaken but will never fall Mat. 7.24 25. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence Prov. 14.26 A Saint when he relies upon God for help to perform his present duty does not say as Sampson did Strengthen me only this once Judges 16.28 but promises to trust in God at all times hereafter Psal 62.8 to come again and again for help as often as there is need Every single act of Faith implies a universal trust reposed in God for all things at all times He that doth not trust God for every thing cannot trust in him for any thing because there is the same reason for one act of Faith as for another You must bare upon God's Infinite Power Wisdom and Grace in every act of Faith God is always the same in himself If you can believe in him now why not for ever What should discourage you hereafter that may not be objected now You have nothing now to object therefore conclude with David That goodness and mercy shall follow thee all the days of thy life Psal 23.6 He that hath delivered will deliver Not that the doing a present duty does merit assistance for the future but God for our encouragement in well-doing hath graciously promised it This is a great motive to quicken us to our present duty O that every one of you would go home from this Sermon and set upon your present duty You that are Masters of Families take up Joshuah's resolution and say every one of you in the presence of God this day That I and my house will serve the Lord. Fly all appearance of evil declare against every thing that looks like sin let there be no lying swearing drunkenness or any sort of profaneness countenanced by you Be zealous reprovers in your own gates and walk within your houses with a perfect heart live
reference both to the Way and to the End He led them on safely Psal 78.53 I do but allude to it Here 's no such Leader as Those the Prophet speaks of Is 9.16 The Leaders of this people cause them to err they that are led of them are destroyed Oh who then would not be desirous to be led by him The skilfullest faithfullest safest Guide the Traveller pitches upon O Christian wilt not thou do the same for thy precious and immortal Soul 5. The Advantages Benefits Blessings that attend and result from this Leading of the Spirit are great and glorious As to instance in a Few inward Peace and Comfort whereever the Spirit is a Leading Spirit there he is or will be a Comforting Spirit A Readiness to all Dutys of Holiness so as to do them spontaneously and with Delight Gal. 5.18 If ye be led by the Spirit ye are not under the Law i. e. so as in your Obedience to act from a servile Spirit and from the meer External Compulsions of the Law but having the gracious Conduct of the Spirit this will make you do all Freely with the greatest Promptitude and Alacrity Sonship to God so it here comes in as many as are led by the Spirit are the Sons of God As it leads to Conversion it makes us the Sons of God as it leads after Conversion it evidences us to be the Sons of God as has been already said If the Spirit be thy Leader God is thy Father And what a Priviledge is this John 1.12 1 John 3.1 And then as the Consummation of all comes the Glory and Blessedness of Heaven as the certain portion of such who are led by the Spirit Death and Hell are not more sure upon the leading of Sin and Satan than Life and Heaven are sure upon the leading of this Spirit God ever saves in Heaven such whom he leads on Earth Gal. 6.26 As many as walk according to this Rule mercy and Peace be upon them Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel Psal 73.24 and afterward receive me to Glory All being put together and seriously weighed have I not said enough and enough to excite you all to attain and close with this Blessed Leading of the Spirit of God Much more might have been added by way of Motive but if what has been said will not prevail I despair of ever prevailing with you A Third Enquiry follows 3. Enquiry How may this Leading of the Spirit be attained What is to be done by us that we may be thus led by Him Answ In order to this take the following Directions 1. There must be the having of the Spirit before there can be the Leading of the Spirit This Order is founded in the Nature of the Thing We cannot expect to participate of the Spirits Operations such as are saving before we participate of the Spirit Himself Therefore pray attend upon the Gospel by which He is convey'd to Sinners and then when you have once received him he will not be * Non est spiritus sanctus otiosus movet Mentes et ducit Mel. Idle and Ineffective but an Operative and Leading Spirit in you 2. The Antecedent First leading of the Spirit must be had before there can be the having of his Subsequent and Secondary Leading That is to say He must First lead you to God by Conversion first bring you into a state of Grace and then way is made for his subsequent Leading and Direction When he has been a quickning Spirit in the infusing of a vital Principle into the Soul then succeeds this Act which I am upon And not till then for who will attempt to lead a thing that is dead This Method of the Spirit therefore must be regarded and comply'd with 'T is first Sanctification then Manuduction in the several Things contained therein 3. Be willing to follow the Leading the Motions of the Spirit He gives again and again his secret Guidance to you shewing what you are to do what not if this be followed and comply'd with he 'l continue it if not he 'l withdraw and leave you to follow the Conduct of your own Inclinations a sore Judgment Psal 81.11 12. My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me So I gave them up unto their own Hearts Lust and they walked in their own Counsel Oh dreadful Word The same will the Spirit do upon our rejecting or resisting of his Leading He may long strive but he will not always strive Gen. 6.3 If the person led shall once begin to struggle with him that leads him and shall refuse to follow his Guidance what is then to be done but to leave him to himself Continued rooted allowed Resistance to to the Spirit makes him so to cast off a person as to lead him no more His Initial Workings in this are to be closed with or he goes no further That one Act in the Leading of the Spirit viz. his Powerful Inclining of the Heart to comply with what he leads unto secures all the Rest If thou art an Opposer of the Spirit he will not be thy Guide Yield to Him and close with Him and he will not withhold this Grace from thee 4. Let your dependance be upon God and his Spirit for Guidance and Direction Would you have Him to lead you Oh let your Trust and Relyance be upon him and see that you renounce all confidences in yourselves He that thinks he has Wisdom or Grace enough in himself to order his Conversation aright shall never find the Spirit to be a Guide to him The meek will he guide in Judgment the meek will he teach his way Psal 25.9 VVhen a man is brought to this meek humble Frame then he is in the way of the Spirits Leading Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thy own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Christian Prudence Caution and Circumspection is our Duty but do we lay the stress of our Confidence upon that The steps of our strength shall be straitned and our own Counsel shall cast us down as he speaks Job 18.7 Mans goings are of the Lord how can a man then understand his own way Prov. 20.24 So long as thou thinkest thou canst go by thy self the Spirit will not take thee by the hand to lead thee 5. Pray much for this Grace of the Spirit It being a free and Arbitrary Act on his part he will be sought to for it and give it forth in that way which best suits with his Soveraignty Psal 25.5 Psal 5.8 Psal 31.3 Psal 139.24 Psal 143.10 How much was David in Prayer to God for this Lead me in thy Truth and teach me Lead me O Lord in thy Righteousness Make thy way strait before my face For thy names sake lead me and guide me Lead me in the way Everlasting Teach me to do thy will for thou art my
God thy Spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness Oh what a desirable Mercy is this Leading Mercy And Sirs will you not pray and pray servently for it Yea will you not every day make this your request Blessed God and Spirit let me be led by thee this day First he works as a Spirit of Prayer in the Drawing forth of the Souls Desires after this Mercy and then as a Guiding and Leading Spirit And the Former is a good Plea for the latter Psal 143.8 Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my Soul unto thee Oh that we might all follow these Directions and then we should have not the Thing only but a large Measure thereof It may in the Fourth place be quâ—ery'd What Duties are incumbent upon those who are led by the Spirit 4. Enquiry Answ Such as these 1. They should more and more follow the Leadings of the Spirit I hope I speak to some of you who have These and live dayly under them if so what is your Duty Why in an Higher Degree to obey and fall in with them The Following of them as that is Simply and Absolutely considered is to be suppos'd and granted from your being led by the Spirit for the Former is necessarily included in the Latter And therefore 't is not This as considered in it self that I am so much to press upon you as the Manner Degree and Measure of it And in this respect the Best stand in need of Counsel and Quickning for who do so follow the Spirits Leading as they ought VVe have an excellent Guide one that leads us with infinite Wisdom and Faithfulness that directs us to nothing but what is Good and Good for us Ah but here 's our sin and misery we do not carry our selves as we ought in such an Obeying and Following of his Conduct as that requires As to this therefore I would excite you to follow the Spirits Leading thus 1. More Exactly So as to act just as he would have you act to move just as he would have you move to keep pace with him step by step in all his Holy Motions VVhat Israel did to the Cloud At the Commandment of the Lord they journyed and at the Commandment of the Lord they pitched as long as the Cloud abode upon the Tabernacle they rested in the Tents And when the Cloud was taken up in the Morning then they journyed whether it was by day or night that the Cloud was taken up they journyed Numb 9.18 that we should do to the Holy Spirit in the exact Ordering of all our Motions by and according to his Guidance This should be the Aim and Endeavour of every one of us though through weakness and infirmity we cannot Actually and Vniversally come up to it 2. Follow the Spirit more fully God gives this high Character of Caleb that he followed him fully Numb 14.24 Art thou one that art led by the Spirit Oh follow him fully Whatever Truth he would have you believe let it be believed Whatever Duty he would have you practice let it be practis'd whatsoever Sin he would have you mortifie let it be mortifyed As the Scribe said to Christ Master Matth. 8.19 I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest so do you say to the Spirit I will follow thee whithersoever thou leadest me Excite me to Good I 'le do it restrain me from Evil I 'le shun it Blessed are they who thus follow this Leader 3. Do this more Vniformly and Constantly in being more eaven Fixt and Steddy in holy walking 4. More Readily and Freely Oh there should be no Demurring Disputing Consulting with Flesh and Blood hanging back in the Case but a Willing Ready Chearful Complyance with whatever the Spirit leads us unto How well does this comport as with the Nature and Essence so with the Matter and Manner of his Leading 5. Follow him so as to make further Progress in the way wherein he guides you so as continually to be getting nearer and nearer to the End of your Journey 6. And Lastly Follow him with stronger Resolution and Purpose of Heart whatever Difficulties Discouragements Dangers you meet with yet resolve that nothing shall make you leave your Guid or the Holy Course that he has led you to And thus I would perswade you to rise higher and higher in your Following of the Spirit 2. Let it be your great and constant care and endeavour to get the Spirits Leading continued to you You have it pray keep it Can it be well with a Christian when This is suspended or withdrawn from him How does he Wanderand Bewilder himself when the Spirit does not Guid Him How backward is he to good when the Spirit does not bend and incline him thereunto How unable to go when the Spirit does not uphold him What vile Lusts and Passions rule him when the Spirit does not put forth his holy and gracious Government over him Oh 't is of infinite concern to all that belong to God to preserve and secure to themselves the Spirits Leading Take a good Man without this and he 's like a Ship without a Pilot a Blind Man without a Guid a poor Chlid that has none to sustain it the rude Multitude that have none to keep them in any Order What a sad difference is there in the same Person as to what he is when the Spirit leads him and as to what he is when the Spirit leaves him Oh therefore let us always keep him with us I may allude to that passage of Moses to Hobab Numb 10.31 And he said leave us not I pray thee forasmuch as thou knowest howe we are to encamp in the Wilderness and thou mayst be to us in stead of Eyes So let none of us let the Spirit depart or occasion his Leaving of Vs for in the Wilderness he will be as Eyes to us to direct and shew us our way How dismal would the state of the Israelites in the Wilderness have been if there they had not had the Cloud to guide them So 't is in the thing before us But does the Spirit at any time do this to Gods People Object does he ever suspend and withdraw his Guidance from Persons who once liv'd under it Answ Answ Yes too often 'T is what he usually does when his Leadings are not followed This is a thing that grieves him and when he is Grieved he Departs withholds and recalls his Former Gracious Influences though not Totally and Finally yet for a time and in such a Degree As a Guide that is to conduct the Traveller if this Traveller shall refuse to follow him or shall give unkind usage to him what does the Guide then do why he recedes and leaves him to shift for himself 't is thus in the Case in hand If we comply with the Spirit in his Motions and use him tenderly he will hold on in his Leading of us but if otherwise he 'l concern
it shines upon the Soul the Rays and Beams which this Gods Blessed Face diffuses and transmits are supplies of Grace for all the Duties of a dark and stormy Season 2 Cor. 12.7 9. Supports of Spirit under troubles 2 Cor. 1.5 Col. 1.11 12. deliverance from them when most of God may be discovered and most Good brought to pass thereby Psal 34 19. and great Advantages to Souls by such Exercises whilst they abide upon them James 1.2 12. Rom. 5.3 5. 2 Cor. 4.16 18. Rom. 8.18 and so a consequent Emboldning of the Heart and Face towards God others and themselves Psal 86.16 17. 119.41 42. 109.25 27. Proposi VII Good Men can never settle and compose their own disturbed Spirits till they proceed to actual solid Hope in God Psal 146.5 8. Rom. 4.18 21. Here is the Souls only Anchor and Repose from the great God alone there it must expect great things for nothing can be too great for him to give or do if once he be resolved upon it from their God they may look for special and peculiar Favours and Reliefs in just and full agreements with all his Covenant-Relations to them and Engagements for them Zeph. 3.17 Jer. 3.23 Psal 68.20 and Deut. 33.26 29. Isa 25.9 And what have good Men to keep their Spirits up but hope in such a God 't is only his Omnipotence can weigh against the difficulties his Faithfulness against the Improbabilities and his Grace and Promises against the Jealousies and Disheartnings that arise from the delays of their defined and expected Mercies all other expectations and encouragements are but vain these hopes in God have their sure Footing Heb. 6.17 20. Psal 9.10 119.38 41. 23.4 Their hope as he is God is All-sufficient as he is their God he tenderly and compassionately careth for them and he thinks himself concerned both to fulfil and justifie their Hopes And as he is thus theirs by Covenant he will both seasonably and effectually make their chearful Looks to testifie the absolute Satisfactions of their Hearts in their Experienced Accomplishments of all his gracious Promises to them And as he is the health of their Countenance so they account the Sanctuary and Spiritual Unveylings and Returns of his Face to be the Glory and Salvation which they are most concerned and carried out to look for and to Glory in Psal 106.2 4 5. Here therefore they may safely trust and rest themselves who otherwise cannot but be as restless as Noah's Dove whilst from the Ark and as discontented and distracted as wandring Cain under the Execution of Gods dismal Doom and Curse upon him He only that is confident that God is trusty and that so commits himself and all to God as such and this under great expectations that God will keep and answer all his hopes and trust and that here stays and rests his Thoughts and Soul in this that God is certainly his Friend and God and will accordingly befriend him in the best Season and to the highest purpose and advantage He I say only can thus still the Tumults of his own Spirit Proposi VIII Good Mens Hope in God should never be discouraged by any difficulties or unlikelihoods in the way Rom. 4.18 22. Seeing the Patron of their Expectations is so great as God so near as their God and so much in their Eye of 1. Expectation as the Health of their Countenance And 2. Of their Resolution and Design as to make him the Object of their Praises and the Avouched and Adored Author and Giver of their Mercies And 3. Of their Affection and Delight as no ways thinking of such joyful work as Praise till he appear nothing can justifie Dejections where God concerns himself to help Psal 55.22 It is no great matter how things appear within before us or about us whilst God stands well affected towards us and can be truly called our Praise and God Heb. 10.35 37. Isa 8.13 51.12 13. Nothing can change or hinder him and why should any thing discourage His whom Grace hath brought to trust in him Rom. 8.31 39. Proposi IX What ever Gracious Souls expects from God they still determine and refer all to his Praise and Service Luke 1.72 75. Psal 119.7 17. 116.7 9. they neither desire expect nor use any Salvation or Supports ultimately for themselves Ezra 9.13 14. Psal 56.12 13. Gods Excellence is observed in all and his Glory is designed and pursued by all and indeed God is the End and Sweetness of all Mercies Rom. 11.36 And this was resolved upon by Holy David as both his Sanctuary-Honour his House-Enrichment and his Hearts delight The Health of his Countenance must be the Inhabitant of his Praises Thirdly Let us now consider this Text as a Directory to guide us to and in the Resolution of this Case before us The Case is this How may a Gracious Person from whom God hides his Face trust in the Lord as his God Now if you compare the Case and Text together you will find them Paralel in these particulars 1. In the Persons David that Holy Person was concerned in the Text and a Gracious Person is here concerned in the Case That David was a Gracious Person none can doubt that read and mind his Holy Breathings in the Psalms nay they must conclude him to be greatly such for what Raptures Fervours and Appeals what Holy Agonies and Flights of Spirit What Glorious Accounts of God and Providence And what Instances of Holy Confidence in God may you discern 2. In their Cases The One is cast down and disquieted and Gods Face is hidden from the other Now Gods hiding of his Face insinuates mostly some distast taken and thus it hints the Cause to be something neglected or committed or not well managed and performed which therefore God cannot approve of in any of his Favourites for God dislikes all Nonconformity to his Will either in the matter manner principle means or end of any Instance of Deportment towards God our selves or others though sometimes this hideing of Gods Face may be for other purposes not now to be Insisted on The Soul is cast down and disquieted saith the Text And thus we have the terrible Impressions and Effects of this Ecclipsed Face of God upon the Spirit of a Gracious Person the Case is doleful though Gods Design therein be Wise and Merciful for the sensible Tokens of Gods Gracious Face or Presence may be and are often times removed or with-held to try the Soul to awaken dormant Principles and Graces to their most seasonable and advantageous Exercises To prevent some greater Mischiefs which would arise from Divine Consolations unseasonably or unfitly placed To make and to expose to publick View some Monuments of Signal Deliverances Salvations and Supports and to form some Glorious Mirrours and Examples of Signal Patience and Submissions to the Will of God And all this may be done to serve more Glorious Purposes than any Man in Flesh can be aware of and
to do the Church and World and the Concerns of Gods own Name more Service than we can yet discern 3. In their Course for Remedy and Redress David here after his Self-Enquiry and Arraignment applies himself to hope in God to which he argues and confines himself by the revival of a due sence of God upon his own Spirit and a clear representation of God to himself as his Salvation Praise and God this for the Text. Let us now compare the Case therewith and here the Gracious Soul is supposed to be upon the Enquiry and Search what to do when God hath hid his Face therefrom that he may trust in the Lord as his God Now Hope and Trust are oft Synonimous and taken in Holy Scripture as expressive of the same thing and sure I am that though they may be distinguished yet they cannot be divided each from other No Man can Trust but he must Hope nor Hope but he must Trust in God Lay then the Case and Text together and these things will be Evident 1. That the Gracious Person is concerned in both 2. That God some way or other hides his Face from both 3. That God is yet the God of both and therefore to be eyed and owned as such by both 4. That Hope or Trust in God gives the best relief to both when thus Afflicted if fixed in God as their God 5. That this may be done and must 6. The great Enquiry and Concern of both is How they may be done Let me here Premise these things First A Gracious Person is one that is changed and actuated by the Grace of God and so prevailingly bent and set for him Psal 14.3 One formed and framed after that gracious Pattern from the Gospel-Mount Tit. 2.11 15. Ephes 4.23 24 A Man of Holy Gracious Principles Dispositions Conversation and Designs A Man radically after Gods own Heart and formed to fulfil all Gods Wills relating to him in his Sphere and Province He is as David in the Text One that 1. Well Observes and much Converses with his own Soul In all Varieties and Stages of Conditions here he makes his own Soul his continual care and study and strictly minds how all things go at home you see here David is a strict Enquirer into the Temper Case and Cure of his own Soul He is One that 2. Still looks higher then himself in all that happens to or lies upon him He knows his hopes and business are not confined within himself For he takes himself to be concerned with God as well as with his own Soul 3. He is One that is restless and sensibly uneasie to himself till he look up in God and till his Spirit turn towards him he runs not to Debauching Recreations and Diversions to turn away his Troubles nor to the Blandishments and Protections or supports of the World or Flesh For these he knows will rather cheat and stupifie than refresh compose or heal his wounded Spirit But he repairs to God as to the most delightful and sure Sabbatisme and satisfaction of his Inner-Man 4. He is One who therefore hath the highest thoughts of God and thinks it best and safest for him to place his Confidence in God as in the Rock of Ages His Case he thinks cannot be desperate though never so intricate and frightful whilst God may be engaged by him to be his Friend and God 5. He is One that in his Hopes and Exercises still keeps his Eye upon the Praise and Service of his God for all the Reliefs and Mercies which he Desires Requests and Hopes for have both their meet and chearful references to Gods Praise and when he hath cause and opportunity he hath an Heart to Praise his God and 't is his greatest Aim and Pleasure and Ambition 6. He is One that deals impartially with himself about his Troubles but dares not challenge God about them nor Arraign him about even the severest of his Providential Dispensations Secondly God may be called the God of such a Gracious Person as he is 1. That God to whom he is Devoted Psal 50.3 23. and resolved to serve and please Thou hast avouched the Lord this Day to be thy God to walk in his Ways to keep his Statutes Commandments and Judgments and to hearken to his Voice Deut. 26.17 And as he is 2. That God in whom he places all his felicity and satisfaction Psal 73.25 26. and the health of my Countenance my Portion Lam. 3.24 the gladness of my Joy Psal 43.4 And as he is 3. That God who hath by Covenant Engaged himself to be his God 2 Sam. 7.24 For he hath given his heart and hand so to be the God of such a One as never utterly to neglect them here 1 Pet. 3.12 Rom. 8.28 31 39. Nor to reject their Souls hereafter Heb. 11.16 See Isa 41.10 Heb. 6.17 20. Rom. 2.10 2 Cor. 5.1 9. Thirdly Gods hiding of his Face from a Gracious Person must be considered as to 1. The Phrase 2. The Thing 1. As to the Phrase 1. It is Scriptural Job 34.29 Isa 54.8 59.2 and it frequently occurs in Sacred Scriptures 2. It is Metaphorical and allusive unto Men who are said to hide or turn away their Faces when they will not be seen or spoken to or conversed with in any amicable or serviceable ways whether in design and policy or through distast strictly God hath no Face and so cannot be said to hide it and if you take Gods Face for his presence or his appearance manifested by several Instances and Symbals and Tokens thereof then in some respects Gods Face is never hid for both his Works and Providences declare the Universality and Nearness of it and in some respects again it may be hath been and is hidden continually from some or other 2. As to the thing therefore we are to understand by the hiding of Gods Face his removing or with-holding of all or any of those Notices and Tokens whereby his merciful and delightful Presence with us his gracious acceptance of us to his Favour and his Providential regards to us are usually testified even sensibly to us Isa 64.7 Jer. 18.17 I will hide my Face from them and they shall be devoured and many Evils and Troubles shall befal them so that they will say in that Day are not these Evils come upon us because our God is not amongst us And I will surely hide my Face in that Day Deut. 31.17 And now this is done in several ways and sences As 1. By Banishing gracious Persons from his Sanctuary-presence Psal 63.2 Dan. 9.17 And this was Davids Case and a sore Affliction to his Spirit and may be something of but not the main thing as to the Case in hand 2. By the intermission or suspension of Gods Providence Care and Mercies as to those Instances and Effects which would make our Lives and Courses here more sweet and easie to us Psal 44.22 26. Why hidest thou thy self in times of Trouble Psal 10.1
to God in Prayer 2. They have Faith to urge their pleas they are indeed the only Persons that have true Faith and it is Faith especially makes Men plead with God and improve all the Arguments they can so far as the Word which is the ground of Faith will warrant them so Moses pleads for Israel Exod. 32.11 12 13. And Jeremiah for the Jews in the Case of the Famine Chap. 14.7 8. The more Faith in Prayer usually the more pleading in it And this Prayer is always best because of the Faith that is Acted in it The goodness of Prayer is not to be Judged of by the Curiousness of the Composition the Elegancy of the Stile the Vehemency of the Expression but by the workings of Faith It is the Prayer of Faith that is called for and to which the promise is made James 1.6 3. They urge them with most fervency There is a natural fervency in Prayer which ariseth from natural affections excited and quickned by some pressing trouble or distress and there is a gracious fervency which proceeds from Faith nothing makes Men more earnest and warm in Prayer than Faith doth the more firmly a Man believe the more importunately he asks the greater hope he hath of prevailing the more vehement he will be in begging It was Jacobs Faith made him so importunate in Prayer that he wrestled with God and would not let him go unless he Blessed him Gen. 32.26 for he had a promise of being blest and all Nations in him Gen. 28.13 14. it was the Faith of that Promise stir'd up this Fervency And Matth. 15. that great example of importunity in Prayer the Syrophenician Woman is no less an example of Faith verse 28. O Woman great is thy Faith So that we may conclude the religious of a People Pray best because both with true Faith and spiritual Fervency 3. They Pray to best purpose with most success If ever any Prayer be effectual it is the fervent Prayer of a righteous Man Jam. 5.16 which is the same with the Prayer of Faith verse 15. when God abhors the Prayers of others he hath respect to his when the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to him the Prayer of the upright is his delight Pet. 15.8 He fulfills the desires of those that fear him he hears their cry and saves them Psal 145.19 They Pray according to his Will and he hears them 1 John 5.14 They having most Interest in God as before can prevail most with him and get most of him The Favourites of a Prince will many times prevail with him when the Petitions of common Subjects and much more of rebels are rejected by him The prevalency of godly Mens Prayers is well known and hath been often experienced by their Enemies themselves Pharaoh himself believed it when he desired Moses Prayers Exod. 9.28 and Simon Magus when Peters Acts 8.24 such are conscious to themselves of their want of an Interest in God and their being obnoxious to him and that the truly godly are in favour with him and therefore when their hearts fail them and they have not the Face to look up to God they will beg the Prayers of those that have when they are in great distresses or dangers on sick Beds when Conscience teiseth them Death looks grimly on them Hell gapes for them and Heaven frowns upon them then they must have some good Men to Pray for them they think God is ready to hear such when he is angry with themselves Thus 1 Sam. 15.16 Saul would have Samuel come back and worship with him he thought God was angry with him and would not look to him but Samuel might be accepted It was a good Testimony given by a Queen to the efficacy of the Saints Prayers when she professed her self more afraid of one poor Minister in the Pulpit than of a numerous Army in the Field And a good Bishop once told a great King concerning a godly Gentleman that was under some disfavour for his plain speaking that he had not a better Subject in his Kingdom being a Man that could have what he would of God The Romans themselves took notice of the prevalency of the Prayers of the Christian Legion among them in that great deliverance obtained by them in the time of the Emperour Marcus It is usually a sign of Mercy to a Person or People when God opens and enlarges the hearts of his Servants in Prayer for them When God intends to do them good he puts it into the hearts of such to seek it for them When the time of the Jews return from their Captivity drew neer he set Daniel at work to Pray for it chap. 9.1 2 3. And it is as bad a sign when the hearts of the godly are shut up and straitned so that either they drop others out of their Prayers or cannot be earnest with God for them he doth as it were secretly forbid them to Pray for such he hinders them by withdrawing his Spirit from them The Mercies he gives out to others being frequently at the request of his Saints when he stops those requests it is a sign he hath no Mercy for those for whom they were to be made when a Petition is prevented it is a sign it should not have been granted When God doth not prepare his Servants hearts he doth not incline his own ear Psal 10.17 As on the other side when he intends to hear he stirs up Prayer even as Princes will sometimes give a private intimation to those for whom they design a Favour to Petition them for it To conclude this the summ of all is the Religious of a Nation are upon this account the Strength of it so that they Pray most and with best success for it 3. As they are a means many times to stop the current of wickedness which is ready to overflow a Land with Judgments and to bring swift destruction on it for they are thereby a means to prevent or lessen those Judgments It is the Sin of a People that lays them open to wrath and he that would keep off wrath must endeavour to keep out sin he that would hinder the effect must obviate the cause It is the Devils damnable policy to draw Men into Sin that he may expose them to punishment this he taught his Disciple Baalam who taught the Midianites to cast a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to Idols and commit fornication Rev. 2.14 he could not otherwise hurt that People than by setting God against them and that he could not do by any means but bringing them to sin against him None are greater Enemies to a People nor can go a readier way to ruin them of which more hereafter than they that draw them into Sin and thereby into Gods displeasure and on the other hand none are greater Friends to them than they that labour most to keep them from Sin for that is the surest way to keep them from
How long wilt thou forget me Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy Face from me How long shall I take counsel in my Soul having Sorrow in my Heart Daily How long shall mine Enemy be Exalted over me Psal 13.1 2. Thus is God said to hide his Face from the House of Jacob Isa 8.17 And thus when Providence treats and uses us in this World and most or all our outwards Comforts and Concerns are so perplext embittered and removed as if our God would hereby tell us That he regards and minds us not and will not be concerned for our outward peace and welfare Then is it that God may be said to hide his Face yet neither is this the thing that is principally intended in my Case 3. By Gods denying and with-holding all probabilities and presages of relief from either Men or Things and all sensible intimations of his own purpose to befriend us Psal 74.9 11. I will shew them the Back and not the Face in the Day of their Calamity Jer. 18.17 And I hid my Face from them and gave them into the hand of their Enemies so fell they all by the Sword Ezek. 39.23 Thus when God withers every helpful Arm defeats all Enterprises towards deliverance and supports and shuts up every Door of Hope and by the whole visible Frame and Posture of second Causes looks towards us and upon us as an angry frowning God Then is he said to hide his Face but this is not what the Case principally respects And therefore 4. God mainly hides his Face when he with-holds those inward sensible tokens of Respects which his Spirit usually affords to Holy Souls Psal 88.14 when he deals with us as if our Souls were utterly or very much despised and neglected by him Thus God tells us that he will no more hide his Face from his People because he had poured out his Spirit upon the House of Israel Ezek. 39.29 This is the Face of God indeed when his Spirit fills our Souls with all its Joys and Graces and his Face is hid indeed when we have no sensible Refreshments and Recruits from that Comforter the Holy Ghost by whom all Correspondencies must be maintained betwixt our God and us and thus our Case mainly intends We find a Man recorded for his Patience crying out wherefore hidest thou thy Face and holdest me for thy Enemy Job 13.24 and when looks God more like an Enemy then when he denies all sensible illapses and recruits of inward Light and Life and Joys Is it not dreadful to have our Sanctuary clusters to relish of no Blessing in them The Dews of Heaven are oft in Holy Services and Doctrines distilled upon us and our Addresses thither have been oft repeated and renewed but where is the Blessing and Success we look for Our Souls we find in our own Apprehensions to be contracted degraded and benummed Corruptions rage and make their rude resistances to all our Sentiments and Convictions Conscience oft quarrels with us and when Gods Rods are on us we sensibly discern great discomposures in our thoughts strange Mutinies and Tumults in our Passions uneasiness in our Spirits and damp upon our Hopes sadness on our Hearts and a strange readiness to resist all that God speaks and doth and how can we imagine that Gods Heart and Face stand toward us Fourthly Trusting in the Lord as his God in such a Case as this takes in abundance and amounts to much and these things it offers to the first observant and considerate glance 1. That the Object be trusty and no otherwise can he be who is God the Lord. 2. That the Act be answerable to the Object for trust is to run paralel with trustiness and 3. That this trusty Object gives us allowance to put trust in him for every one that is able and that would be faithful upon his Promise and Engagement will not Engage to be Responsible for what might otherwise be committed to him and hence this passage is inserted here the Lord his God 4. That he be a Person qualified and acceptable who here attempts to place his trust in the Lord as his God and therefore here he is styled in the Case a Gracious Person Trust then seems to be a compound of Faith and Hope and it is that Repose and Rest which both afford until desire and expectation be accomplished by that God on whom this trust is terminated so that in trust there are 1. A belief and sence of Gods existance and of his gracious Nature Heb. 11.6 Jer. 9.24 Mich. 7.18 for I must believe that there is a God and that he is kind and gracious e're I can trust in him 2. Credit given unto his Word and Promises as things clear sure and great Heb. 4.2 6 17 18. for these are both the ground and test of steady and succesful trust in God 2 Sam. 23.5 Remember thy Word unto thy Servant whereon thou hast caused me to Hope Psal 119.49 what is Gods Ability and Faithfulness to me unless he countenance my trusting in him and encourage me thereto 3. A consequent expectation of those things from him which he engages to perform and give things suitable to exigences and concernment as far as they agree with Gods Promises and Designs Psal 119.76 Ro. 4.18 21. 1 John 5.14 15. For all that God promises and would have us to expect is still with Reference to our wellfare in its subordination to His Glory and the Publick Good and all other Hopes are but extravagant and presumptuous if not reduced and conformed to this Test and Standard 4. An Acquiescence and Repose of Spirit in the thus fixing of this expectation Isa 26.3 4. for confident trust breeds satisfaction and makes Souls Patient and Serene till the thing hoped for and desired be brought to pass Ro. 8.24 25. for all these inward tumults which arise within from pressing Jealousies Griefs Cares and Fears are hereby stilled and all vain Shifts and Props rejected and all committed to and left with God Phil. 1.20 1 Pet. 4.19 2 Tim. 11.12 for here no reservations must be made nor any jealousies bad surmises or suspitions be any way Cherished or Indulged The Case explained and summed up is plainly this How may a Gracious Person one Sanctifyed and Inprincipled by Grace from whom God hides his Face gives him but little or no inward sence nor outward sensible notices of his wonted acceptance and regards trust in the Lord quiet and satisfie himself with expectations of Gods Gracious acceptance of him complacence in him and regards towards him as his God that God to whom he hath committed all and is devoted to and who will certainly regard and bless him as his true Favourite and as one by Grace in Covenant with him And how may he do it so as to abandon all disturbing Shifts and Cares elsewhere Direct I. Let him retire into himself and there Compose his Thoughts for close and serious Work Psal 4.4 77 6.