the curious Fabrick and Composure of the basest and most contemptible Creature especially if we do not overlook the uses for which it serves Even a Toad hath far more in it to be admired by the Intellect than it hath to be abhorred by the Sense The sensless and inanimate Creatures are no idle Parts of the World but have enough in them to reproach and shame an idle Spectatour There 's not one of them but wears the Livery of their most wise and wonderful Creatour and carries the Badge and Cognizance of that infinite Wisdom that did at first contrive and make them and fitted them to their proper and peculiar uses Read over the History of Minerals and do but look into an Herbal where a little of the Nature and Vertue of Vegetables is described search a little into the Writers of Zoography where the Nature and Properties of Animals are somewhat though imperfectly represented and under each of these are infinite particulars which magnifie the Wisdom of their Glorious Maker and set it forth to the life to every intelligent Spectatour Since then the Brutish and Inanimate Creatures are not in a Capacity to do this Homage to their Creatour by direct and proper Acknowledgment and express Adoration and Thanksgiving it 's comely for us to pay that Debt for whose use and service they were made and intended and to whose Intellect and Senses they are objected for the perfecting of them It 's by our Tongues and Hearts that these Creatures must return him the Tribute of their Praises Can we be content to behold such rare pieces of Divine Skill and Artifice and not turn up a thankful Eye nor erect an adoring Thought nor send up a joyful Hallelujah to him Whether we look upon the World in the Gross or in the Retail in the several parts of it or as they are all joynted and set together in a curious Frame what stupendious wisdom what rare and admirable skill do they display and call us to behold and consider Had we but the Faculty to search into those rich Mines and dig out those Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge that are hid in them as every one may do in some degree if he set himself seriously to consider them what an Acknowledgment would the most contemptible Creature extort from us 1. The Matter of which they do consist 2. The curious Contexture of their Parts 3. The Manner of their Production And then 4. The Means of their Continuance and Preservation Then 5. Their Operations both Actual and Potential 6. And the Ends to which they are both immediately and remotely subservient are Heads which a little considered will advance the Heart and tune the Affections and Tongue to the Praises of him that liveth for ever and ever who hath brought all these things to pass and even compel him to say Psalm 104.14 How manifold are thy works O Lord in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches To look down upon this round Ball of Earth that hangs upon nothing that hath no other Pillars to prop it up than the immediate power of him that made it And to look up upon the vast Canopy of Heaven spread over it Or the abundance of Waters gathered together in a heap and placed in the depth as in a store-house Psal 33.7 Or to cast an eye upon any one Creature that dwelleth in any of these Mansions will draw forth a Song of Praise and Thanksgiving unless it be from one that 's far gone in the Disease of Atheism and Ungodliness But to consider them all in one united Frame their Order and Connection and the Beauty that results from that Order and how they meet together in one Common Center and are linked together in one great and ultimate End which all of them conspire to promote though their proximate and nearest Ends are so various and almost innumerable will raise a Soul not basely captivated to the Body yet higher If I should insist upon the Contrariety that is among the several Creatures and how one Contrary is ballanced by another If I should stand upon the Harmony that ariseth from the very discord of things of a very different nature this would not a little set forth the wisdom of God 2. It will very much quicken a Soul to the Praises of God and to joy and delight in him to consider his Bounty and Goodness to all his Creatures even the worst and vilest of them from whom they have their Being and Support together with their several Virtues and Perfections To him the lifeless and inanimate Creatures owe their Subsistence together with their several Adjuncts and Properties whereby they are variously modified and distinguished He hath imparted that Life to the order of Vegetables which they have and whereby they become serviceable to Man and Beast It 's from the same Hand that those Higher Perfections of Sense and Motion are bestowed upon the order of Sensitive Creatures which his Wisdom hath distinguished into such various and almost infinite kinds every one whereof hath a large share and portion of his Bounty The Lord doth good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Psal 145.9 The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord Psal 33.5 How liberal hath he been to the Heavens upon which he hath bestowed all the Glory that Sun and Moon and those glistering Cressets that shine therein contribute These he hath covered with Light as with a Garment and made of a more refined Matter than what 's seen here below and these he hath honoured to become his Footstool Yea and how bountiful hath he been to this inferiour Part of the Creation What a fertile Womb hath he bestowed upon the Earth which brings forth yearly such a plentiful Off-spring and Encrease What Minerals and Vegetables is she the Parent of Some whereof she perpetually bears in her Womb and there feedeth them Others she continually carries in her Bosom and there suckles them And what she doth not bring forth she bringeth up as the several Animals Rational and Irrational which she perpetually provideth for And as he hath dealt thus bountitifully with the Heavens and the Earth so the Ocean comes not much behind in the share he hath bestowed upon it And therefore when the Psalmist had copiously insisted upon God's Bounty and Munificence towards the Earth and eased himself in a pathetical Exclamation viz. O Lord how wonderful are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches Psal 104.24 He proceeds so is this great and wide sea also wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts there go the ships also vers 26. As he hath lodged innumerable sorts of Fishes in the Ocean so he hath made it a famous Boundary to divide the several Kingdoms of the World and a quick Passage for the Nations that inhabit the Earth to Traffick and Commerce with each other There be many
negatively and affirmatively that is prove us guilty or not guilty of this sin according as we are or are not guilty of them First They that have not a higher and greater love to God than to any other thing else are guilty and forgetters of him The reason is because what we love we remember and what we love best we remember most And on the contrary what we do not love and care for we forget and the less we care for it the more we do forget it Art thou one therefore that lovest God above all than he will have the highest place in thy Remembrance I do not say he will be thought on as often as any thing else because God hath laid such duty upon most of us that requireth more frequent Thoughts of other things than of him but yet our thoughts of him will be frequent and though they be fewer than our thoughts of other things yet whatsoever their number be they will more command the Affections and Actions than all other thoughts whatsoever or else we shall come under the dreadful guilt of forgetfulness of God Secondly Thou art a forgetter of God if any one sin do habitually prevail in thee and do lead thee captive for the most part because this will extinguish the love of God in thee and consequently all worthy Remembrance of him Art thou one therefore that allowest thy self in any one sin then thou art a forgetter of God or if thou dost not trouble thy self with such thoughts nor dost much matter what prevails rather any thing than puzzle thy self with reflections on thy self thou forgettest thy self and therefore must needs forget God For the knowledge of thy own necessities of which sin is the greatest is one necessary requisite to the due Remembrance of God But I intend not to insist on these Lastly As I implied before if thou hast a worthy Remembrance of God thou dost competently understand and consider the ordinary works of God So I say now Thou wilt much more reverence and observe the extraordinary works of his Hand and applaud his Justice when his Judgements are more signal The reason is because these are more apt to provoke consideration which is ready to sleep when things run on in a constant course and order And therefore who is it that makes any matter of a River that runs on a constant stream or course But if it stop without any visible cause all the Town and Countrey comes to behold it Who regards the Sun Moon and Stars that are obvious to our daily Eye Or the orderly site and motion of them They are but few but if there appear two Suns or two Moons or a Star extraordinary never seen before what running and gazing every where and they that will scarce step out of doors to behold an ordinary Star will break their Sleep and lose their Rest and venture their Health to see a dreadful Comet or Blazing star The like may be said for the motion of them who minds the daily rising and setting of the Sun But if it should stand stand still a day or go backward ten degrees as it did in the days of Joshua and Hezekiah Joshua 10.13 2 Kings 20.11 Who would not take notice God will not be slighted in his ordinary daily works but when he doth a Miracle or a strange and unusual Work he calls for a more special attention and reverent observation It 's sinful not to go on and not to lift up an Eye and acknowledge God and observe his VVisdom and Power in his common Providences but it 's wicked stupidity not to stop and consider Providences that rarely come to pass and seldom fall out Doth not every extraordinary act of Justice call out and say Come behold and see what Desolations he hath wrought in the Earth Psal 46.8 VVhen he is shaking a Nation by VVar and overturning the Glory of it or when scourging a Nation with Pestilence or Famine he doth in effect say Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted amongst them I will be glorified in them or on them Psal 46.10 Justice is one of his essential Perfections and when that is cleared and sin made odious by remarkable penalty and the devouring evils that it ushers in then God is acknowledged and glorified And when this is done by the voluntary act of those that feel the hand it 's an act of terrible affrighting Justice in the beginning but glorious wonderful and most endearing mercy in the end The Lord is now throwing us by heaps into the place of forgetfulness because we have so remarkably forgotten him Who hath fed us with the finest of the VVheat and Honey out of the Rock Psal 81.14 I mean with the blessings of Heaven and Earth and doth he not expect that we should be silent and meditate terror Esay 33.18 And applaud his Justice and Holiness and that our Bowels should more yearn over the distressed cause and interest of Holiness which our sin hath injured than the Carcases of our dearest Friends that fall like Dung upon the Earth It is most certainly true that every honest faithful heart that 's sincerely dedicated unto God and which God will own hereafter that he is more heartily troubled in his deliberate thoughts for the wrong sin hath done to God than for the saddest calamity it brings upon men VVhat man that hath the love of God and Holiness predominant in his Heart that can particularly think of the sins of this Nation and the City which is the chief Theatre of this present Judgment the Atheism gross and open Prophaneness perfidious Hipocrisie shameful Ingratitude beastly Filthiness Contempt both of Mercy and Judgment Pride of both sorts Spirit and Flesh Luxury Injustice and Oppression and with what a publick impudent Face they are committed and that after such Obligations so fresh before our Eyes VVhat true Child of God can consider this and not cry out in some true sense of Gods dishonour My Bowels my Bowels I am pained at the very Heart my Heart maketh a noise within me Jer. 4.19 And though he doth compassionate the suffering Nation and those in particular that feel this severity yet consideration forceth him to say from his Soul Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee for thy wickedness is bitter it reacheth to the very Heart Jer. 4.18 VVe have liv'd under excellent light and means in a Nation where our dearest Saviour hath been made known this 1600 years 1. Almost from his very Passion and we have liv'd under a profession of Faith and have acknowledged our high engagement to love and obedience of our Redeemer How frequent have the obliging names of Saviour and Redeemer been in our Mouths and our Lips have droped free Grace and Mercy like the Honey-comb and our words to him have been smoother than Oyl and yet what could we have done more wickedly than we have done if we had no Faith at all If we
had been meer Heathens and looked for no other Life and if we had no fear of Judgment Nay have we stuck at those sins that Turks and Heathens do abhor It 's a true though a shameful confession And now shall we pity a suffering and not abhor a sinful People Hath the Lord broke in upon us before many a fair warning we have had ubera many times before we have felt verbera we have had lightning before thunder Are not all these Examples that he hath set before us both in sacred and prophane Writ so many Warning-pieces shot off to prevent the approaching Enemy Doth he not say to us by his Word as he did to the Rebellious Jews Jer. 7.12 Go ye now unto Shiloe where I set my Name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my People Israel Go ye to the City and Temple of Jerusalem and see what I have done for the wickedness thereof Go ye to Sodom to the old World see how their sins have found them out Consult the several Nations to which the Prophets pronounced their several burdens and see how they have sped for their Iniquities Cast thine Eye upon Greece and other parts of Christendom upon whom the Lord hath let in the overflowing Scourge the barbarous Turk for their kicking at his Sacrificies and negligence in his Worship Look upon Germany where the Lord made such fearful Desolation time not yet out of mind Remember the late unnatural War and Bloodshed in our own Nation how it emptied the Nation plagued the Inhabitants for wickededness burneth as the fire it shall devour the Bryers and Thorns Esay 9.18 How long hath the Lord waited on us expecting fruit looking for Reformation Think not that the Lord dealeth hardly charge him not foolishly if he call for the Sicle for the Harvest is ripe the Presses are full the Fat 's overflow for our Iniquities are risen high Joel 3.13 What could the Lord have done more for us in a way of mercy than he hath done and therefore no wonder that Judgment follow us Thus if thou hast a worthy Remembrance of God thou wilt consider his more remarkable Providences and plead the cause of his Justice in the present sad condition into which sin hath brought us Vse Exhortation If then it be such a sin to forget God as there hath been proof enough it is then let this stir us up to more frequent thoughts of God and to a more worthy Remembrance of him What such a Remembrance doth import I think I need not waste time to shew since it is opposed to forgetfulness and contraries do discover each other by these two known and obvious Rules 1. Contraries in or about the same Subject and the subject of the one is neither larger nor scanter than the other e. g. Sight and Blindness are about the Eye The same Air is the Subject both of Light and Darkness and Vertue and Vice are subjected in the same Soul though not at the same time 2. Though Contraries are about the same Subject yet they have contrary Affections e. g. If Vertue be lovely Vice is Odious If Light discovers all things than Darkness covers all things Since therefore 1. As I said Forgetfulness is not an act of the Memory only so neither is Remembrance And 2. As every degree of Remembrance doth not acquit a Man from the odious guilt of Forgetfulness so neither is every degree of Forgetfulness inconsistent with this Remembrance If God have the Soveraignty and Preheminence in thy Heart he will accept it otherwise it is not a Remembrance worthy of him I need say no more for if we know what it is to forget God we cannot but know what is to Remember him If we know who they are that forget God we must needs know who they are that Remember him But least what hath been spoken should not be so Remembered and set together I shall only give a short draught of the Duty or rather bring it fresh to your Remembrance that you may know whether the Exhortation tendeth and not be excited to you know not what In a word therefore This Remembrance of God implies such frequent and worthy thoughts of God as command the Affections of our Hearts and the Actions of our Lives more than any thing else besides And is it not pity that the Heart of Man should be so backward to this duty and so hardly prompted to such a sightly and becoming work and that all that can be spoke to recommend this duty and to spur up to this Remembrance unless God set it home is like to be at best but like the beating or cutting the Air which seems to receive a wound but it presently closeth again and no abiding impression is left behind Alas alas that we should stuff our Hearts with Feathers and think upon vanity and never tire and that the bias of our Souls should be quite another way than towards God! That he that should be our sweetest Meditation is so great a stranger to us How seldom do we erect a thought to him or think on him with pleasure and delight We can even lose our selves in vain and earthly thoughts and think on nothing else almost from morning to night But he that is our support all the day long is ever about our Paths and about our Bed for our defence and safety hath a poor little share in our Thoughts and Affections Art thou not fully satisfied that he is to be loved with all thy Heart and Soul and Strength and that he is worthy of Love and Obedience and a thousand fold more than thou art able to give The excellency of his Nature and Goodness unto thee must needs exâ—ort this confession How can we better employ our Thoughts than upon him that gave us our Thinking Faculty To what better purpose canst thou use thy Reason than to fetch something from every Object that is presented to thee to put thee in mind of God Every thing is big with Instruction and proffers its help to bring thee nearer unto God if thou wilt be taught Thou canst take no better course to advance thy self than to advance him in thy thoughts Thou canst make no better use of Creatures than to make them a means to bring God and thy Heart together To the Heavens and to the Earth and to all that is in them and if they teach thee not this Lesson it is because they are Traytors and not Creatures but the fault is thine and not theirs Thou canst not make a better use of Scripture than to imprint God deeper in thy Remembrance To the Laws and to the Testimonies if they teach thee not thus much it is because thou wilt not learn and there is no light in thee Esay 8.20 As thou lovest thy self and thine own welfare make thine advantage of every thing to promote him higher in thy Mind and Heart Since thou hast so much Instruction round about thee to
wood we have lost our selves in Thus it is if we count but for a day but if we go further and reckon for the month or year we shall find no end Who can count the Dust of Jacob Num. 23.10 or sum up the mercies he doth receive which are like the Dust of the Earth not for smalness but for multitude David observes them to come by whole loads Psal 68.19 Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with his Benefits But our Spiritual Miseries are yet more because they contain all our Temporals so far as they refer to a Spiritual end and how many more who can tell How many mercies concur in our Redemption Vocation Justification Sanctification How many considerations may be fetch'd from the Author from the meritorious cause from the persons that do receive from the instruments that do convey them from the frequency and reiteration of the particulars and from other circumstances of time and place which would swell our Accounts beyond all possibility of Numeration This is the first motive the infinite mercies we receive should prompt us to this Rememembrance Secondly Wouldst thou have God remember thee with compassion in thy greatest necessities then remember him with affection now It may be there are fearful days coming upon some of us before our final departure and solemn appearance before the Judge of all the World What though the Cloud that hangs over this Nation be but the bigness of a mans hand it may quickly grow bigger and blacker till it cover the face of the whole Heaven and bring down a storm of heavier misery upon those that have escaped Judgment hitherto There is nothing can fense a man from all possible Fears and Terrors if God forget us Wouldst thou not be afraid of evil tidings nor faint when the iniquities of thy heels compass thee about Wouldst thou not be confounded in the day of adversity when the Heaven frowns the Sea roars Esay 24.20 And the Earth shall reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man when the world shall be overturned and the transgression thereof shall be heavy on it and the hearts of wicked men shall fail them for fear Then keep alive such remembrance of him as hath been hitherto commended Then come what will nothing shall drive thee to desperation for the Lord God shall be thy confidence and with-hold thine heart from sinking Prov. 3.26 as well as thy foot from being taken This a great Cardinal in this Nation understood when it was too late and therefore when a Messenger from Henry 8. brought him the tidings of his doom and was sent to bring him away to Execution he pitifully complained That if he had served God as faithfully as he had endeavoured to serve his Master he had never met with such a reward As it is the top stone and the perfection of misery to be blotted out of Gods Remembrance so it is a happiness worth a World to be Remembred by him This supported David many a time when he was in miserable distress and brought to the greatest streights when Friends forsook him Enemies threatned him Saul hunted him like a Patridge about the Mountains and he was forced to flee from before his Face and to take Shelter amongst the Philistines whose Champion he had slain and from whom he had little reason to expect any succour and whilst he liv'd in banishment at Ziglag even that was suddenly surprized by the Amalekites and burnt with Fire and his Wives and Friends were taken away Captives and the People that were his only Guard being provoked spake of stoning him But though all this had been enough to have broken the heart of another man not acquainted with David's refuge yet see how David bore up and supported himself 1 Sam. 30.6 And David was greatly distressed for the People spake of stoning him because the Soul of all the People was grieved every Man for his Sons and for his Daughters But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God This helped Hezekiah to digest the proud message of the King of Assyria and to spread the railing Letter before him who he knew could put a Hook into Sennacherib's Nose and turn him back or else defend him against that Army that were grown so insolent by their Victories 2 Chron. 32. And God remembred him verse 21 22. Yea when Esaiah was sent to him to bid him put his House in order and prepare for death it was Armour of Proof to him against the terror of death that he could say Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight which he could ne'r have done if God had not been highest in his Remembrance Esay 38.3 If thou beest one that canst drive out the thoughts of God in thy youthful healthful and more comfortable days expect not that he should remember thee in distress If whilst thou art surrounded with his mercies thou wilt forget that he is gracious to thee when thou art be set with misery and affliction he will forget to be gracious to thee Be wise now therefore and take in these thoughts as thou takest in the Air every day and other comforts which he sendeth thee and lay them up as thy greatest treasure These will sweeten the sowrest Cup and gild over the bitterest Pill and God will certainly remember thee if not to take away the evil yet take out the sting Ahasuerus may forget Mordecai and the Butler may be unmindful of Joseph and the preserved City may not remember the poor man that saved it but God will not forget those that remember him He will be thy refuge and strength and a very present help in the time of trouble Psal 46.1 And then thou needst not fear though the Earth be removed and the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea though the Waters thereof roar and be troubled though the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof ver 2 3. Then though thy Flesh begins to fail thee yet thy heart will not or if thy Flesh should fail thee and thy Heart also yet God would remember thee and be the strength of thy hope and thy portion for ever Thou mayst easily foresee the day when Sickness will break thy Body and earthly Delights will forsake thee and Death will be inexorable and take no nay then if thou hast cherished this Remembrance of God thou wilt dare to lay down thy Body in the Dust and as certainly foresee the joyful re-union of thy Soul and Body as now thou dost their uncomfortable dissolution Wouldst thou not then be forgotten of God when thy Friends and all the World will forget thee Then Remember him now Yea wouldst thou be content to go into the place of Forgetfulness and to be forgotten as a dead man out of sight Why all this will not discourage thee if thou hast this remedy at hand But on the
superstruct this Happiness and build that Joy upon it that shall never end O how great are the Priviledges of one that Remembereth God whom he doth visit and continually comfort and rejoyce with refreshig Consolations To whom he openeth when they come to him with desire and doth embrace when they cast themselves on him whom he is teaching and shewing the pleasure that strangers intermeddle not with But were this all they would be miserable in comparison of what they now are How sweet are his very Delays Frowns and the Chastisements of his Rod His Estrangements Threatnings and the signs of his Displeasure dreadful to the Wicked but sweet to them that have his special Grace to make their advantage of them are in the mean while supported under them I know they are sad to them and cause great thoughts of Heart but having the root of the matter in them Job 19.28 And being forewarned by the Word of God that thus it will sometime be with his dearest Children and directed what to do in such times of Mourning and knowing that they shall not be tempted above their strength These considerations recommend Sufferings and Afflictions to them and make them far more desirable to them than the most splendid Pomp and Prosperity of those that forget God As all the Mirth and Pleasures of wicked men are preparing them for Misery and would be dreadful to their thoughts if they did but see what they all contribute to their eternal shame So all is contrary in an honest and pure hearted Believer not only the smiles but the angry looks of God are sweet to his Apprehensions not as they are signs of his displeasure but as they help him forward in the hatred of sin and mortifie his Affections to the Pleasures here below I know the Anger of God is not directly desirable to any Person but the sanctified fruits of it are desirable And some little of it when sin that would otherwise undo us makes it necessary and it is mingled with a greater proportion of Love and the Soul is disposed by Grace to tremble under it and to be rid of it upon any terms Consider therefore thou that Remembrest God Is it not an unvaluable comfort to fore-know that all thy Trouble and Sorrows shall befriend thee and that the leanest pasture thou canst be put in shall feed thee up to everlasting Joys when on the other side those that forget God though they fare deliciously every day and are gotten into the richest pastures and have the desire of their carnal hearts yet they are but fatting themselves for the slaughter and who would envy a fat Sheep or Hog that fares a little better and is preparing for the Shambles Nay who would envy a Lobworm in a fat Dunghil They seed on wicked men 〈◊〉 makes them so fat and merry it is but Dung and Filth in comparison of that which a Soul mindful of Good feeds upon Methinks that place should sound dreadful to one that prospereth in the World and doth not remember God Psal 92.7 The two verses that go before it ushers it in and that follows after in fearful pomp and state O Lord how great are thy Works and thy Thoughts very deep A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this When the wicked spring as the Grass and all the workers of Iniquity do flonrish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever And we may say as well on the other side that God is as wonderful in his thoughts toward such as are mindful of him though a Fool understand not That when the humble Believer in whose thoughts God in Christ dwelleth uppermost withers as the Grass and fades like the green Herb it is that he may flourish for ever If thou art trod upon thou shalt grow the better Thy necessities shall cause thee to make more haste and get nearer to the Fountain that is opened to the eternal praise of Gods Mercy for such needy ones All thy miseries shall but the more illustrate the Glory of his Compassion toward thee when refuge faileth thee and none careth for thy Soul Many a one had liv'd and died in perpetual obsourlty whose names are a rich persume in the Church of God thorough their Sufferings and Afflictions which have made them the more famous and embalm'd their Memory When the ways of a Man please the Lord he can and will in one sense or other make his very Enemies to be his Friends 1. Their hatred shall be turned into love or if it do continue still God shall turn their very hatred and enmity to the greater advantage of those that are mindful of him This made Paul to boast in his Infirmities Necessities and Tribulation 2 Cor. 11.30 What if thou art poor and necessitous if the Lord remember thee What if thou hast no Friends on Earth if thou hast one in Heaven What if thou art destitute of Health it self the greatest Earthly Blessing if thou art one that remembrest God it shall turn to thine advantage If thou hast God in thy Remembrance thou hast all for he will make every state and condition serve thy turn What if thou art a Servant if God be thy Master If thou hast nothing to recommend thee unto Men if thou hast this Grace I am pressing to to recommend thee unto God thou shalt be more a gainer than if thou hadst had Dominion in the World and all the Paint and Varnish that would set thee off to the Eye of Men. Thy Temptations Reproach Sufferings of every kind and thy very Prosperity and Wordly Happiness which for the most part is such a preparative to Destruction shall be like the Dew and Sun-shine to thee and make thee more fruitful and ripen thy Graces if thou art one that hast God always in thy Remembrance Thirdly If thou art one that remembrest God as I have expressed thou hast the Key to unlock all the Mercies of God and to open the rich and most rarest Treasures of Divine Grace and to get the very desire of thy Heart I mean thou mayst come with Faith and Confidence to the Throne of Mercy and open thy very Heart to him who hath an Ear for all thy Requests The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Psal 25.14 and Psal 37.4 Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart and Jam. 5. later clause 16. v. The effectual fervent Prayer of a Righteous Man availeth much Now to fear the Lord to remember him to delight in him are but several Descriptions of a Righteous Man and Believer Thou canst not have God in thy Mind and Heart but thou wilt fear him love him delight in him in some degree think on him trust in him in the way that he hath directed and then thou art a Believer and a Righteous Person in the Gospel sense though not in the sense of the Law that requires
bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce So Psa 22.14 15. what a sad Lamentation have you I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joynt my heart is like wax it 's melted in the midst of my bowels my strength is dried up like a Potsheard and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast brought me into the dust of death So Psa 31.9 10. Have mercy on me O Lord for I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief yea my Soul and my Belly for my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing my strength faileth because of mine iniquity and my bones are consumed But if you look into the 88 Psal the case of Heman seems there to be far more sad because it was more constant and uninterrupted than David's was vers 14 15 16. c. Lord why castest thou off my Soul why hidest thou thy face from me I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up whilst I suffer thy terrours I am distracted Thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrours have cast me off they came round about me daily like water they compassed me about together Lover and Friend hast thou put far from me and mine Acquaintance into darkness And how pitifully doth the Church complain under the effects of Gods sharp displeasure as you may see in the Book of the Lamentations So that you may perceive by these few instances that the wrath of God even on this side Hell is not to be slighted and if a drop or two light so heavy upon men that had such grace courage and fortitude to bear up under it how heavy must it needs be when it falls with its whole weight upon men in the state of torments Wo be to them on whom it falls it will grind them to powder If a little sickness be so sharp and terrible sometime that it makes a stout heart to speak trembling and turns a fresh coloured face into paleness and makes the beauty thereof to consume away like a Garment fretted by a Moth How will men speak and look under the pains of the second death How restless are men under some Acute Distempers they toss up and down and tell the hours and watch for the Morning Light in hope the Sun should rise upon them with healing in its wings And if men roar under a Fit of the Gout or Collick what then shall they do in Hell And as the torments of Hell are no Flea bite nor to be slighted by any the stoutest heart so neither are they unavoidable for then I should not recommend them to your Consideration But when the misery of that place cannot find a tongue to utter and express it nor set forth the greatness of it and Consideration is such a certain way to escape it who but a Mad-man or one that doth not believe it will refuse at least some time to think seriously on it till he hath some well grounded hope to escape it I will take it for granted that that man is resolved to try his strength and see how well he can bear it that will not endure the sober deliberate thoughts of it in his mind O Sirs if when an Angel of light descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre where our Saviour was buried and sate upon it the guilty Keepers for fear of him did shake and became as dead men Mat. 28.2 4. How will such as are condemned to Hell shake and tremble when Angels of Darkness shall continually appear before them That horrible sight together with the inward terrours of their own despairing Consciences will fright them into everlasting trembling and fearfulness If thou hast a mind to escape that place of perpetual darkness and despair consider it well now and let it sink into thy serious thoughts Lastly Consider the infallible truth and certianty of all this I confess there is something that is dubious and uncertain in every one of these particulars but yet there is something also that is of the highest certainty something that you may well make a question of but yet something that 's past all controversie and question among Christians Let me give you a brief Recapitulation 1. There 's nothing more certain than that there is a God and that he is Infinite in all perfections that he hath made all Creatures and that he is the absolute Lord and Governour of Mankind and his principal Benefactor Thus much is unquestionable But it is a very great question whether thou dost acknowledge him sincerely for thy Owner Soveraign and one that hath every way obliged thee and art truly devoted to him in heart and life 2. It 's most certain that he hath made thee for no lower Ends than his service and that he hath given thee a Law to teach thee how he will be served and that he expecteth thou shouldest be heartily subject to him and obedient to his Laws and that thou should'st believe and patiently wait for his rewards in so doing But it is a matter of Enquiry and Self-examination whether thou hast answered this Intention of God in thy Creation and obeyed his Laws in a confident expectation of his Rewards 3. It is past doubt that thou hast broken the Law of thy Creation corrupted thy Nature lived in Disobedience and cast off the Yoke of thy Creator that thou hast by Original and Actual Transgressions forfeited thy life and all thy other mercies and deserveth to be dealt with as a Rebel and a Traytor to thy Soveraign Lord and Ruler But it is a matter of doubt and therefore should be seriously enquired by thee whether thou dost acknowledge from thy heart and art sensible of thy sin and misery thereby All the world are miserable but they are but few that are affected with their misery 4. It is certain that Christ hath shed his Blood to redeem all Mankind and that Pardon and Remission is offered to all that do heartily repent and believe That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 That none are excepted in this Act of Oblivion and Free-grace but such as refuse the Mercy offered and continue in wilful impenitency and unbelief You will not come unto me that you may have life John 5.40 But it is a matter of very great doubt and question whether thou hast any sincere Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ whether thou hast sufficiently bewailed thy corrupt Nature that was born with thee into the world and thy Rebellion against thy Maker in the course of thy life and wilful transgression of his Laws and whether thou art so deeply wounded with the bitter sense of thy sin as to submit to the Yoke and Government of Christ that he may deliver thee from the bondage of thy sins For though Christ be offered to all and
unto God all ye lands Psal 5.11 But let those that put their trust in thoe rejoyce let them shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy Name rejoyce in thee Secondly Scriptures that command Praise Psal 35.28 My tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long Psal 118.28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee Thou art my God and I will exalt thee Psal 34.1 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth Psal 66.2 Sing forth the honour of his Name make his praise glorious Psal 66.8 O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard Psal 48.1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the City of our God in the Mountain of his Holiness Psal 135.3 Praise ye the Lord for the Lord is good sing praises unto his Name for it is pleasant Psal 147.1 Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Verse 12. Praise the Lord O Jerusalem praise thy God O Sion In the 148 Psalm all Creatures are called upon and excited to the praises of God which must be meant but objectively of all irrational Creatures And rational Creatures are implied when others that have not reason are spoken to Psal 148.13 Praise the Name of the Lord for his Name only is excellent and his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven Psal 149.1 Praise ye the Lord sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of the saints Psal 149.6 Let the high praises of God be in their Mouth 1 of the saints Psal 150.1 2 3. Praise ye the Lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power Thirdly Scriptures provoking to Thankfulness Psal 109.4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing we ought to give thanks Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him Psal 69.30 I will praise the name of God with a song and magnifie him with thanksgiving Psal 118.1 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his Mercy endureth for ever Vers 29. The same Reason is insisted on 36 times Psal 136.1 2 3. And the Reasons largely insisted on in the rest of the Psalm Psal 26.6 7. I will wash mine hands in innocency and so will I compass thine altar O Lord that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wonderful works Psal 30.4 Sing unto the Lord ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness THere 's nothing that more becomes a Believer nor so well suits his Spiritual Heavenly Nature nor is a better Indication of a Child of God and one that hath attained to a perfect Man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ than to delight and be skilful in this Noble Work And without all dispute There 's nothing that a corrupt Heart is more averse and backward to and hath less skill in There is indeed a joyful merry Heart pre-requisite to this Exercise but such a one as the World intermedleth not with but is the greatest stranger to of all things you can imagine Though there 's none love Mirth and Joy so passionately as the worldling yet his Mirth is quite of another stamp It 's the meer distortion of the Countenance or at best but the dilatation of the Blood and Spirits It is not the delectation and contentment of the Mind and Spirit It 's the laughter of a Fool a meer brutish sensual delight that they are so fond of Not the solid serious pleasure of a Saint and one that is perfectly in his right mind And thus to be merry after their Fashion is no hard nor difficult Task 'T is but be Mad and let go the Reigns of all good Government of a Mans self It is but to gratifie every desire and live at Randome and prosper in Folly and this will screw up a Carnal Mind to very profuse Laughter and Merriment All the Town shall quickly hear of it and perceive it too plainly in the Vanity Pride and Insolency of their Carriage And there 's no surer way to damp and dead the Spirit of these Men and to drive them into a melancholy dumpish vein than to spring some Heavenly Discourse that savoureth of Heavenly Wisdom and tendeth to the Divine Praises It 's easie to vent a little Froth and Mirth at a Feast or in a Jovial Meeting or when the Spirits are cheared with Wine and Carnal Pleasure But to be glad in the Lord to rejoyce in the meditation of his Excellent Greatness and Perfection even when the Flocks are cut off from the Fold and there is no Herd in the Stall and the Vine yieldeth not her Encrease and the labour of the Olive doth fail and all Earthly Comforts are wanting Then to rejoyce in the most High and to vent forth freely in Thanks and Praises unto him is the Top and Perfection of Piety But this is a strain that the merriest Worldling can never reach while he continues to be such Other Mirth needs great Restraint but this hath need of all Encouragement and Promotion it being so much above the Sphaere of corrupted Nature to do it to purpose And as some slight Praise I doubt not may come from the Mouth of one not yet ingrafted into Christ by a lively Faith from the sense of Common Mercies and General Grace So on the other side even a Believer through the weakness of his Grace and the distemper of his Body and the want of Exercise in this Duty may make but little Musick and be a very Bungler in this Work And so lose the Comfort and Strength that a Heart fervent and frequent in this Duty would daily get But before I say any thing to stir up to this Exercise I will first shew what 's requisite to or implied in this Joy and Delight in God and true Gratitude and Praise I put them all together because there is much Affinity and Correspondence between them And therefore As to the Subject of these Acts or the Person that must exert them he must be thus qualified and prepared 1. He must be of an open cheerful Temper There 's none more unfit for this Duty than the lumpish sad and heavy Heart Though I deny not but sadness and heaviness of Spirit is sometimes a Duty after the Commission of sin especially great and wilful sin till by renewed Sorrow Confession and a more cautelous Heed to prevent it for the future and the application of Christ's Blood by Faith the Cause of such Sadness be removed But a constant habitual sadness and despondency that neither Faith nor
The Inundation of the Old World The Confusion of Languages The doing things against the Course of Nature such as are Raising the Dead to Life Restoring the Blind Or above Nature such as are most of the Plagues that befel Aegypt amply describe his Infinite Power And Rom. 1.20 His Eternal Power and Godhead are there said to be seen in the Creation of the World Seventhly The Measure of himself is Immensity And of all his Attributes is Infiniteness that is They have neither Bounds nor Measure 1. His Immensity is thus set forth by the Holy Ghost in Scripture 1 Kings 8.27 But will God indeed dwell on the Earth Behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee how much less this House that I have builded So 2 Chron. 2.6 to the same purport So Psalm 139.7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell thou art there If I take the wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me So Amos 9.2 3 4. 2. The infinity of all his Attributes Psal 147.5 Great is our Lord and of great power and his understanding is infinite And if one Attribute be infinite needs must all the rest be so and therefore Zophar may well propose it as a Query uncapable of solution Job 11.7 8 9. Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection It is as high as Heaven what canst thou do Deeper than Hell what canst thou understand The measure thereof is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea See Job 37.23 Eighthly His Attributes that result from all these are 1. His Immutability which the Holy Ghost describes James 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights in whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning And Malach. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed Psal 102.27 2. His Greatness which the Scripture thus describeth Psal 145.36 The Lord is great and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable he is to be feared above all Gods And 1 Chron. 15.25 and Jerem. 10.6 There is none like unto the Lord great in might Dan. 9.4 He is the great and dreadful God keeping covenant and mercy to them that love him Psal 77.13 There is none so great as our God Psal 48.1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God in the mountain of his holiness 3. His Majesty is thus described O Lord my God thou art very great thou art cloathed with majesty and honour Psalm 104.1 Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty 1 Chron. 29.11 And Elihu tells us that with God is terrible majesty Job 37.22 and Psalm 96.6 Honour and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his sanctuary And Psal 145.10 11 12 13. All thy works shall praise thee O Lord c. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations 4. His Glory the Scripture thus expresseth Psalm 138.5 Great is the glory of the Lord. And Psal 148.13 Let them praise the Name of the Lord that is the forementioned Creatures for his Name only is excellent and his glory is about the Earth and the Heaven And Isa 6.3 Holy holys holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his glory Exod. 15.11 The Lord is there said to be glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders 5. His Lordship and Dominion over all is thus described Isa 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King Psal 97.5 Thou art the Lord of the whole Earth And Dan. 2.47 He is there said to be a God of Gods a Lord of Kings a revealer of secrets Psal 47.2 The Lord most high is terrible he is a great King over all the Earth Psal 103.19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in heaven and his kingdom ruleth over all Psal 145.13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all ages And Rom. 31.1 The Apostle tells us there is no power but of God Prov. 8.15 16. By him Kings reign and Princes decree justice By him Princes rule the Nobles and Judges of the Earth Matth. 6.13 Thine is the kingdom the power and the glory Lastly His Eternity the Crown of all is thus described Exod. 15.18 The Lord shall reign for ever and ever And Psal 45.6 Thy throne O Lord is for ever and ever the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter Psal 90.2 Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World thou art God from everlasting to everlasting i. a parte ante and a parte post without beginning and without end Psal 93.2 Thy throne is established of old thou art from everlasting Psal 102.27 Thou art the same viz. in opposition to mutable Creatures and thy years shall have no end Psal 104.31 The glory of the Lord shall endure forever c. Dan. 4.9 His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom Psal 106.10 The Lord shall reign for ever even thy God O Sion throughout all generations Dan. 8.18 His dominion shall be for ever unto the end These glorious Attributes of God especially as they stand in conjunction and shine upon one another calmly considered will mount and elevate an ingenuous and understanding Heart and wing it to this high and honourable imployment Secondly It will help on this blessed heavenly Work and Temper of Joy and Delight in God honourable and thankful thoughts and mention of him to behold his Attributes as they are further displayed in his Works Particularly his Bounty Wisdom Power Towards the 1. Irrational Creatures 2. Rational Creatures 1st It will something advance the dullest heart and dispose it to rejoyce in God and lift it up in praise and thankfulness to him to steep it a little in the meditation of that incomparable wisdom that shineth forth in the Being of every irrational Creature especially in the whole frame and orderly connection of all such Creatures Every Creature in its single existence hath treasure enough to enrich the understanding of the wisest Man on earth if it search into the depth and bottom of it and to imprint admiring reverent and thankful Inclinations towards him in the Heart There 's not a Pile of Grass that shoots up but directs the Eye Heavenward towards which it pointeth up unless it be kept shut by ignorance and inconsideration What excellent skill and cunning is there in
the way of the Righteous that is so as to approve and justifie it Psal 1. last Thou didst not lay these things to heart neither didst thou remember thy latter end saith the Prophet Esay to Babylon Isa 47.7 that is thou didst not take it into thy thoughts so as to work upon thy heart and to get thy self in a readiness for that houre For where there is or should be a Connexion Train or Series of Actions to name one is to imply all the rest but most usually where we are provoked to any duty that will require several distinct acts the whole duty is named from the leading Act as here in the Text Consider this c. An Object must first be taken into the thoughts and then be judged weighty and concerning before it can have any influence upâ—â—n the affections and life and so in the following words ye that forget God As not remembring God is the first Act to neglect of Duty and Disobedience but yet sometime the very ultimate and completive Act is named and all the rest implyed and presupposed as in all those Scriptures where salvation is promised to obedience there all the fore-going acts are understood without which it would not be true obedience Since therefore the end of this consideration and thoughtfulness to which wicked men and such as forget God are exhorted is that they may clearly discern his excellency above all things and by this discovery kindle the highest love to him in the heart and by that prepare for the readiest obedience Therefore I define forgetfulness to be the want of such knowledge and consideration of Gods essence and perfections as is necessary to produce the highest Love and Obedience 2. Note Secondly That every degree of Remembring God and thinking on him yea though it be with some degrees of Love and Pleasure Praise and Thankfulneâ—s will not acquit a man from the Dreadful Sin of Forgetfulness If the thoughts be not so frequent so magnificent as to produce a love suitable to his Nature that is Transcending all other Love whereby the soul is then prepared for the highest obebience otherwise he that is defective in this high and sovereign degree is still condemned among those that are here said to forget God So much in Answer to the first question What it is to forget God in general and for explicatâ—â— to the answer Secondly who they are more particularly that forget God To which I answer though I might reckon up as many as their are distinct and particular Sins that prevail in distinct and particular men As the Proud the Envious the Adulterous the Blasphemous And so multiply particulars to a vast number For every one of these may be properly said to forget God Yet I will confine my self to these three sorts 1. Those that remember not the great attributes of God and the Relations wherein they stand to him 2. Those that think not on his sacred and venerable word 3. Those that overlook his most observable works It s some great defect in one or all these that doth both breed and feed all other Forgetfulness of God specified in any prevailing sins whatsover because the forgetting of any these three grand points of remembrance betrays to all impiety towards God all unrighteousness towards men and all ill usage and government of a mans self which three Capital Sins imply all mortal wickedness whatsoever I shall begin with the first First Those may be said notoriously to forget God that remember not the great Attributes that are so essential to him we are not able to see his naked essence 'T is therefore by his Attributes that we come to know him at least in this Life And he that wants a competent understanding of these and that in such a measure as to Empower his understanding and will to acts that become such glorious perfections lies open unto every sensible object to be drawn away and enticed to any practice though never so wicked whereby he may come to enjoy what he doth thus Idolize for want of a better object But I will more particularly insist upon two or three of those Relations which every wicked man either 1. wants a right knowledge of or 2. doth not consider and every one that doth not consider must needs be a wicked man 1. First they consider not that God is their Creator gave them that Being and Perfections which they so ungratefully abuse to his dishonour They think not what an obligation this is to the highest Love Gratitude and Obedience What a wicked blindness is this to live and go about the world and to use the very Soul and Body that God hath given thee and yet to look no higher than thy Father that begot thee and thy Mother that brought thee forth Woe unto him that saith to a Srock thou art my Father and to a Stone thou hast brought me forth Jer. 2.27 Canst thou think that those eyes were made to look no higher or dost think that thou art solely or princiaplly indebted unto them for that Being and Wisdom that advanceth thee so far above other Creatures Such a thought yea the want of a quite contrary thought will debase thee as much below as now thou art exalted above other Creatures But yet be it never so absurd This is the woful case and condition of the far greatest part of men One would think that if the Remembrance of so plain and Confessed a Truth as this is would acquit a man of this horrid Sin of forgetting God that none would be Guilty But alas there are few that would escape notwithstanding I say again few woult escape They are not many in comparison that think so frequently and so seasonably of this truth as to get a full sight of it into the understanding till it fall down before it and after it hath recovered it self out of extasy and amazement doth use its authority to the utmost to awaken the other powers to perceive it that so nothing might hinder the love and service that such a Mercy calls for nor be able to wipe off so high an obligation if men were not so prone to forget that they are Creatures and stand in so near relation unto God that gave them their breath and being and doth support them every hour why is this knowledg so often inculcated in the word of God for this the Prophet Daniel reproveth Belshazzar and his Wives and Concubines that they praised the Gods of Silver and Gold and Brass which see not nor hear nor know and the God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified Dan. 5.23 But what do I speak of a single person and some few others with him you may see whole Nations sadly charged with it in Scripture The Ox knoweth his Owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but Israel doth not my people doth not consider Isa 1.3 4. and if Gods own people were thus shamefully guilty what
to have this dreg put into thy Cup and to have no God to remember thee When thy Friends fail thee and thy nearest Comforts deal deceitfully with thee as a Brook deceiveth the thirsty Traveller in those hot Countreys where Water was scarce that repairs to it for Refreshment and when he came behold it is dried up Job 6.15 What a cutting thought will it be to thee if God forget thee also Nay to come a little nearer to thee what wilt thou do when thou walkest through the valley of the shadow of death Psal 23.4 When the pains of Hell take hold on thee and the sorrows of the Grave compass thee about How wilt thou be comforted if the Lord fly from thee and thy cry will not be suffered to come into his Ears Psal 18.4 5 6. Canst thou be content to be forgotten for ever when the Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance Psal 112.6 Surely thy Spirit will be overwhelmed within thee and thy Heart within thee will be filled with Desolation and Astonishment Psal 143.4 Alas alas thou canst scarce bear it If a Father a Husband or Brother or one of these thy dearest Friends look strangely on thee We may very well think that it went near Job when he complained that his Kinsfolk failed him and his familiar Friends forgot him Job 19.14 yea that his Breath was strange to his Wife though he entreated her for the Childrens sake of his own Body ver 17. And canst thou endure to be forgotten of him that 's ten thousand times a better Friend Will it not break thy Heart when he that can only help thee shall say Verily he knows thee not Mat. 25.12 Behold I cry out of wrong saith Job but I am not heard I cry a loud but there is no Judgment Job 19 7. Whither wilt thou go for help when this shall be thy case and it shall be truly said there is no help for him in his God when he who is the God of Salvation shall not hear thee Psal 68.20 Thou shalt surely speed as the forgetters of God have always done they cried but there was none to save them even unto the Lord but he answered them not Psal 18.41 Not unlikely but thou canst hold up thy Heart and keep thy Heart whoâ—e and abate nothing of thy confidence when God hideth himself whilst thou art warm in outward Prosperity and there is no want of these outward Comforts as with a Sword in thy Bones it woundeth thee not though it be said unto thee where is now thy God Psal 42 10. Thou canst pray unto God it may be if thy forgetfulness of God hath not put thee past that duty or rather put up a few lifeless words instead of Prayer and never look as David did Psal 5.3 nor care whether he send down any Prayers yea or not whilst thy Breasts are full of Milk and thy Bones are moistened with Marrow Job 21.24 And thou hast full measure of temporal Comforts Thou canst lay thee down in Peace and rest and sleep quietly if the Lord make thee to dwell safely and plentifully in this World though thou knowest not whether he remember or forget thy Soul Psal 4.8 But when the fire of thy Hearth is gone out and sin hath kindled a fire in thy Heart and Conscience then thou wilt cry out bitterly to God whom thou canst so easily forget Wherefore hidest thou thy Face and countest me for thine Enemy Job 13.24 It may be whilst thou art surrounded with outward mercies and hast a spring tide of these present comforts and the stream run full and waters of a full cup are wrung to thee Psal 73.10 When our Garâ—ners are full of all manner of store Psal 144. ver 13. and we have the priviledge of outward cummunion with God also we are content with the want and absence of God and the sense of his sweetest Love and with a negligent heartless service of him if not a total neglect And the World hath had our Hearts when we have put off God with words and wishes and a few confessions that come not from the Heart nor tend to any considerable Reformation But when the things that our Souls lust after shall be snatched away and all our dear enjoyments which we have sinfully prefered before God are gone when Creatures shall refuse to give out their Comforts any longer and our darling Delights which lie in our Bosoms and are to us as Children are to doting Parents are gone and we shall want also the outward Ordinances which serve to keep us in a deluding peace when Hophni and Phineas are slain I mean our sweetest Comforts and the Ark of God also is removed and the Glory departed from us 1 Sam. 4.11 21. Our Hearts that are so backward to feel now will then break and be overwhelmed then we shall better understand what it is both to forget and to be forgotten of God It 's the comfort of one that remembereth God above his chief joy Psal 137.6 and worth a World that though the publick Calamities be never so dreadful and a thousand fall at his Side yea ten thousand at his right Hand yet God remembereth him and though personal miseries multiply upon him and he hath neither comfort nor taste to relish it through want of health if he can say unto men I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh on me and unto God Thou art my help and deliverer make no long tarrying O my God Psal â—â— 17 If he hath true ground to say As for me thou upholdest me in mine integrity and wilt set me before thy Face for ever Psal 41.12 But it is the heart-break of one that hath forgotten God that distress is come upon him and God remembers him not Such a case was Saul in when he went to a Witch to raise up Samuel that he might consult a little with him and when she had brought up Samuel to him Samuel said to Saul Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up It would make a mans heart ake to hear his doleful reply And Saul answered I am sore distressed for the Philistines make War against me and God is departed from me and answereth me no more 1 Sam. 28.15 This is another woful effect and consequent of this sin those that cast God out of their Remembrance God will forget them But stay this is not all for 3. Thirdly As he will forget their Persons so he will remember their sins Amos 8.7 The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob surely I will never forget any of their works speaking of the forgetful Israelites If God would forget them wholly and neither remember their Persons nor Actions their misery would not be so fearful as now it is But this will be an intolerable thought to them that as God when he is marking out his Servants for Deliverance and Salvation he will pass them by so when he is bringing the most horrible Calamity upon the World
Death doth not deprive the Soul of all gracious and vertuous Sense and Motion but renders it unfit for the Spirit of true Vertue Grace and Holiness to dwell in and so there must needs follow a Devorce and Separation between them And as in the Natural Life there is a Union between the Soul and Body so in the Moral there is a Union between the Soul and God Death Metaphorical is the privation of all the comfortable effects of Life whether it be Natural or Moral whilst bear Life doth still remain and the presence of all those evils that may afflict or imbitter it And all these are either 1. Temporal 2. Eternal From what hath been spoken for the explication of these two terms Life and Death you may perceive what a priviledge and unspeakable favour it is to be translated from Death to Life 1. If thou Remembrest God The sting of a Natural Death is pulled out and though thou art not 〈◊〉 from the part of the penalty of sin whereby the Body is deprived of all sense and separated from the Soul yet thou art delivered from that which is most terrible in Death 〈◊〉 the misery or Death that will follow after and it is a comfortable passage for them that Remember God to endless Joy and Happiness and sometimes a welcome Messenger to them They may truly say as Agag 1 Sam. 15.32 The bitterness of Death is past 2. They are translated from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace and Holiness and are united unto God and are disposed by Faith and Love to that Holiness which is the Divine Perfection and the way to the highest Happiness and Honour that the Heart of Man can wish or desire Though this Life will be imperfect whilst we stay here And if there be such pleasure in the Union between the Soul and Body then there is much more in the Union between the Soul and God 3. As Death is put for Misery and the bitter and uncomfortable effects of the endless Life to come so they are passed from Death to Life The Sentence of Death that God hath passed against sin is so far revers'd And as for the Miseries and Evils of this Life though materially they may have more than other Men yet as to the formal and most essential part of them they feel them not so much as other Men because they are allay'd and sweetned 1. By the inward Peace and Comfort that God gives to those that Remember him 2. By the benefit and advantage they get by those outward Sufferings For as their outward Man is afflicted so their inward man is renewed strengthened and confirmed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 For their light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory even in the beginnings of it here ver 17.3 It lessens their short and momentary sufferings that by them they escape so much Temptation and all the â—aiâ—s of sin are become the less taking If thou art one in whose Remembrance God is advanced above all other things thou shalt not die but live and declare the works of the Lord Psal 118.17 And though the Lord may chasten and correct thee yet he will not give thee over unto Death ver 18. For God is the Fountain of Life and in his Light thou shalt see Life Psal 36.9 O what a Mercy is it to be delivered from the power of Death and Darkness and to be translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son where thou shalt grow up from one degree of Life to another till thou come to everlasting Life Col. 1.13 At thy first entrance into this Kingdom Death is sentenced and some execution is done upon every sort of Death which will be perfected as this remembrance of God grows up to perfection in thee O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos 13.14 Which as it was verified of Christ personally understood so it is of Christ mystically understood 1. As Christ overcame Death in his Person so every true Believer such are all and only they that have God in their Remembrance hath gotten some conquest over Death which shall grow up to a full Victory and therefore Paul in the Name of the whole Church doth acknowledge this mercy Thanks be to God that giveth us the victory thorough our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15 5 7. Whilst the wicked forgetters of God are dead in trespasses and sins and dead to all soul and solid Joy and Comfort and designed to an eternal death Thou that thinkest upon God and remembrest his Love in Christ art entred into a state of Life and hast such a Promise that contains more in it than all the rich Indian Mines Because â—e hath set his Love upon me With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my Salvation Psal 91.16 If thou didst but know what a treasure is hid in thâ—â— Remembrance thou wouldst throw out every thing of thy Memory and Heart that hinders this Remembrance of God This one priviledge of being translated from Death to Life is big with a number more 1. It implies that thou art reconciled to God and he is at peace with thee and thou needest no more to fear him as thine Enemy All his Attributes of Power Justice Holiness Vengeance Majesty that sound so terrible to the forgetters of God do but the better secure thee of thine Happiness 2. It implies also thy present Justification in title of Law God hath acquitted thee by the law of Grace and Act of the Gospel from the guilt of sin and dissolved the Obligation to condemnation Who can lay any thing to thy charge if God absolve thee Who can do thee any hurt when Christ is become thy Advocate Rom. 8.33 3. With this mercy doth concur the mercy of Adoption and Sonship It 's no small Honour to be one of his menial Servants but to be a Son yea a Heir is a priviledge not easily valued and understood 4. The gift of the Spirit to dwell within thee is here also implied to mortifie all sin and to work all gracious habits that may fit thee for a state of Glory In a word 5. All real and relative Grace so far as is necessary to Salvation is thine either in Title Possession 1. The Righteousness of Imputation is thine whereby thou art made fit for Pardon and the Righteousness of Implantation is thine whereby thou art made fit for his Love and Complacency and sweetest Communion with him Secondly If thou art one that Remembrest God all things shall co-operate and conspire for thy good Every Age every state and condition of Life every Place and Company every Change and Alteration in the World Prosperity and Adversity Friends and Enemies Health and Sickness Honour and Dishonour every Relation thou art plac'd in shall help forward thy Joy and Felicity and some Foundation God is laying in every one of these whereupon to
believe we are well when our case is too much to be lamented and God hath not left this Town altogether without this Mercy If Consideration be so preparative to the highest Wisdom and so necessary to the Knowledge and Love of God and all solid Content and Peace then all the means whereby it is promoted should be welcome to us And our Deafness to these Providences and Inconsideracy notwithstanding we have so many advantages to bring us to Consideration of their miserable woful condition that forget God hath the greater sin This is the second help to Consideration that should humble us for the neglect of it viz. because we have so many advantages to awaken us to this duty Thirdly As Consideration is a work of absolute necessity where there is time and Capacity in regard of the worth and greatness of the matters which so much concern us and in regard of the help and assistance that God gives us to this duty so the Fruit and Benefits of Consideration are unspeakably great I shall name two 1. It is Wisdom to consider yea it 's both a sign and a cause of it where Consideration is it argues there is Wisdom already and the frequent exercise thereof will make the Person wiser and both are intimated Psal 107.43 Whoso is wise will observe these things There Consideration is a sign of Wisdom and they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Here it is the cause it produceth Understanding and Wisdom in a higher measure so that Wisdom is both the antecedent and consequent of Consideration and doth both go before and follow after it Sin in Scripture is frequently branded with the name of Folly because it proceedeth from Folly and maketh a Man more and more foolish that committeth it Psal 85.8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his People and to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly i. e. Sin Job 4.18 He charged his Angels with Folly that is with Sin and so threw them down to Hell And they that are guilty of it are called Fools and Foolish Psal 5.5 The Foolish cannot stand in thy sight Who are they the later clause telleth us Thou hatest all the workers of Iniquity And that it proceedeth from Folly from whence it is denominated we have evidence enough in Scripture The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God Psal 14.1 Where Atheismâ—s ascribed to Folly as the Fruit of it First a Fool and then an Atheist where by Fool is meant not a Natural or one that 's born with a Crack or Defect in his Intellectuals but one that 's weak thorough wilful Inconsideracy and by works of Darkness hath clouded and sotted his Understanding as those in Rom. 1.21 Whose foolish Heart was darkened by their vam Imaginations So Jer. 4.22 My People is foolish they have not known me The sense whereof may be so as to make Folly either the cause or the effect of not knowing God viz. Because my People are Foolish therefore they know not me or else because they are ignorant of me therefore they are Foolish Now then as nothing doth more promote Folly than Inconsideracy so nothing doth more befriend Wisdom than Consideration It digs deep and finds out the bottom and discovers the highest Cause of all things which is the true Description of Wisdom contemplative or as it is in the Understanding for so the Schools define it Sapientia vera est radicare de omnibus secundum altissimam Causam Altissima autem Causa est Voluntas divina sive lex quae voluntatem Dei Hominibus manifestat When the careless inconsiderate Person whom God hath blessed with Health and Content and Success looks no higher than the Air he breaths in to which he ascribes his Health or the Estate he hath to which he attributes his Content or his own Prudence to which he imputes his Success On the other side when the Inconsiderate Person whom God hath afflicted is pur-blind and can see no farther than an unwholesome Air a bad Dyet an envious troublesome Neighbour or the general Contagion now among us by the which he thinks he is afflicted in his Estate Name or Health I say when the Inconsiderate Person either in Prosperity or Adversity stops here and goes no further the considerate Person is wise indeed and looks above and beyond all these and seeth the Spring that setteth all the Wheels a going the primitive and over-ruling cause that commands all the other 1. Suitably to their own Nature 2. And according to the counsel of his own will In the one appears his admirable Wisdom in the other his Almighty Power And according to this judgment of things he is both affected and instructed and therefore his Heart is not lifted up with Pride but thankfulness unto God when he is enriched with his Mercies and the Streams wherewith he is refreshed set his Heart a longing for the Fountain This effect upon David had all his temporal Mercies they made him cry out for the Living God Psal 84.2 My Soul thirsteth for God for the Living God when shall I come and appear before God Psal 42.2 And this influence they will have in a sincere degree and measure upon all true Believers neither will they make any sinful haste to get away from the Rod when God sendeth it they know nothing can come without his special appointment And therefore though Troubles flow in upon him and come toward him like a swelling Tide and threaten to swallow him up though Enemies come upon him with Rage and Fury and the Devil and his own Corruption come upon him like a Tempest as if they would bear down and utterly overwhelm him yet in this he is confident he cannot utterly sink if he be a Believer Though a sinner doth evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not God Eccles 8.12 13. So Esay 3.10 Say ye to the Righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings And as Consideration is the direct way to Wisdom which is in the Understanding so it is a ready way to that other Wisdom which is in the practical Faculties This Wisdom the Schools define to be Habitus discretivus optimi Finis Electivus optimorum mediorum Such a habit as disposeth a Man to discern and intend the best end and to elect the best means The highest end that an inconsiderate Man doth intend is no higher than the World it is at best but some Sensual Comfort some Carnal Satisfaction that 's fitted to his baser part and does no better service than accommodate his Flesh I confess his Soul also may seem to be content whilst he hath a fulness
the Letters of which every Word we read is composed or as it is to give restorative Food to a distempered Body before the peccant Matter be purg'd out that is the cause of the Distemper But then though it be the first step in Religion and the first acceptable Service we can perfornâ—â—â— God It is not there that we must rest we are not there to sit down and advance no further as if we were gotten to Hercules Pillaâ—s and there were no higher Perfection to be attained in Religion And to mistake the subordinate and subservient part of God's Service for that which is more perfect and principal for hereby Sin and the Devil will get these Two great Advantages 1. God will be misrepresented both to our selves and others and he that is so full of Compassion and Mercy and all amicable and lovely Perfections will be thought by the Religion which he preserâ—bes to be cruel and unmerciful and to delight in the Torment and Affliction of his Creatures For Men will be drawing his Image by such a false Pencil And then 2. They that make it their whole endeavour to weep and mourn and afflict themselves for their sins will thereby disable both Body and Soul for any Service of God at all and both destroy their Bodily Health and overthrow their Reason And so whilst they are bewailing their Sin and as they think are conquering of it they do but entangle themselves the more and utterly waste that strength that should mortifie and subdue it And the reason why God doth speak so much in his Word in approbation of the sorrowful broken and contrite Heart which I doubt is the Reason of these Mens mistake is because such Persons have need of such Encouragement and might otherwise faint under the Anguish and Burthen of their Spirits and therefore because he would not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax till he hath brought forth Judgment unto Victory He gives these Cordials to such as are under the Pangs of the New Birth But he had much rather that Men would leave the Principles of the Doctrin of Christ and not stick always at the Foundation of Repentance from Dead Works and of Faith towards God Not that we are to shake hands with Repentance and sorrow for Sin after we are once heartily converted unless we could be sure to commit no more sin But then sin will need a more short and transient sorrow when we presently bewail it so soon as ever it is committed But our first Repentance and Sorrow will cost us hotter Water and put us to â—â—â—e trouble If a Man that hath a long Journey to go should set out a quite contrary way to the place whither he is to go and so travel on till he hath spent half or more of the time that is allotted for his Journey you must needs think that will cost him more vexation and trouble to get into his right way than after he is gotten in if he should chance to step out a Mile or two A small Errour is more speedily corrected than a great one of long continuance But yet it is always true That it 's better to prevent sin and keep out of it at the first than to get out of it by Repentance Though by Accident and through the Mercy of God it may sometimes prove better to the sinner that he did fall into sin if he doth afterwards heartily rerepent of it But absolutely and in it self it is not better And he that should presume to let loose the Reigns to Sin upon that account I believe would find it much worse But before I produce those Considerations which through the Blessing of God may stir up and strengthen this Affection which must prepare the way for Faith in Christ which lays the Foundation for all Joy and Peace I will first shew what this Godly Sorrow doth imply or what Acts are included in it if it be such as will work Repentance never to be repented of And here let me Note That Repentance is sometimes taken by a Synechdoche for the whole Work of Conversion and then it includes Faith in it so it 's taken Luke 15.7 There shall be joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance So Luke 13.3 5. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish where Faith also is implied So Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life where Repentance is named as the only condition of Life which without Faith also in Christ cannot be had and therefore it is included Sometime Repentance is taken only for Contrition and then usually Faith is joyned with it So Acts 20.21 Testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ And in this latter sense I here take the word Repentance when I make use of it And so Repentance or Godly Sorrow is a deliberate Act of the Soul performed upon the Motions or by the Assistance of the good Spirit of God whereby a Man being touched with unfeigned Sorrow and Remorse for all that he hath sinned whither in his Parents or in himself either inwardly and in secret or else openly and in the sight of Men is now resolved to close with Christ as his only Remedy against the Guilt and Power of it So that you may perceive by this Description that sincere Repentance and Sorrow for Sin must imply these following Acts or otherwise it can never be an advised and deliberate Act nor conclude in a firm resolution and purpose to take Christ as his only sufficient Saviour First It implys a deep Conviction of the Holiness of God and his sin-hating Nature And that you may as soon reconcile Light and Darkness as God and the least Sin whether you take it in its Material or Formal Consideration In its Material Consideration it 's nothing but Deformity and Absurdity and Contradiction to all Right and Reason And in its Formal Respect it 's a thwarting God's Will that 's supreme and governed with infinite wisdom and a breach of his righteous Law And in both these Respects it must needs be the Object of Divine Hatred and Abhorrence surely he must needs abhor to see a Creature cross his own Will and oppose his own Government and when he hath endued him with reason to see him act so absurdly Hence the Psalmist tells us That such as are foolish cannot stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity Psalm 5.5 And if an imperfect Saint such a one as David hath such an aversation to such Works and the doers of them that he can say depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity much more doth he that is of spotless purity hate all Filthiness and Pollution which every sinner hath some degree of If the Lord were not an utter Enemy to all Iniquity he had never turned so many Angels
Hour and his Right in us and over us we shall be either tempted to deny them or at least to deny that Homage which they call for If we can overlook him that is all in all and the Spring that moves all second Causes and sets them on work to do us that good which they do for us at any time No wonder if we commit Sacriledge and rob God of his deserved Praises yea or if we undervalue them and mistake the Mercies that are more worth than Heaven and Earth to be but petty and inconsiderable we shall be as slight in our grateful Acknowledgment These two or three Things therefore are comprized in the due Reverence and Estimation of God and his Favours 1st A clear and solid Apprehension of our own great Unworthiness of any the least of his Favours and our infinite distance from his Person not only by Nature but much more through Guilt and Sin we must be pretty well acquainted with our own Poverty and Baseness and that we have nothing but from him That All is forfeited again and again That the Miseries of this Life and that which is to come are our Desert That God can expect no Advantage from us when he bestows his Mercies but the pleasure of doing good Nor when we are most cordial and diligent in his Service but the pleasure of our receiving Good and seeing his Grace prosper in us And that in all his Threats and Punishments he is still designing our Good and mortifying our Corruption which will otherwise be sure to ruine and undo us if it be not forsaken And this would teach us to prize and thank God and our Redeemer for every piece of Bread that we eat and the House that covers us and the Cloaths that warm us the Sun that shineth on us the Rod that corrects us when we come to know and consider how much we need them and how little we deserve them 2ly It would help us to prize all the Mercies of God if we did but consider and understand the Misery of those that want them We could not want the Bread we eat nor the Air we breath nor the Limbs we use nor the Senses that we have without Misery enough But what Man could want the Grace of the Gospel the Merits and Intercession of Christ that knows that he is everlastingly undone without them 3ly It will help us to estimate them rightly if we consider what they cost and the price that paid for them Our sins and the sins of our Parents whose Flesh and Blood we are did cry out aloud for vengeance in the utter destruction of our Persons And God who is the just and righteous Governour of the World could not without disparagement to his Wisdom and Justice stop his Ears to the Cry of our Sins unless his Son had suffered for our Sins and satisfied the Demands of his Justice and purchased all our forfeited Mercies back again by his Blood So that all the Temporal and Spiritual Mercies that now we have were Redeemed not with Silver and Gold but by the precious Blood of our most endeared Saviour And this Consideration if it be not customary but serious will make every Mercy full weight and enforce better Apprehensions of them and Thankfulness for them 4ly and lastly It will conduce very much to the worthy Estimation of all God's Mercies if we consider the End God hath in All to which he doth design every Mercy that he doth bestow in this present Life And that is our highest Perfection and everlasting Felicity in a blessed Communion with God for ever Every Hour he giveth us Every Favour whether Common or Special is valued infinitely below its worth if this Reference and Subordination be overlooked He can never thank God as he ought for his Health or Food or Friends or any Temporal Mercy or Affliction but will rather be tempted to murmur and repine sometimes that considers not well what it is intended for and what it may and should contribute to his endless Content and Rest These Particulars must concur to make up a due Estimation of all God's Mercies Secondly Gratitude and Praise with the concomitant Affections of Joy and Delight in God do essentially imply 1st A Love that 's suited to and bears some proportion with the Mercies we receive and God doth bestow on us Temporal and Transitory Mercies must be loved with a lower and subordinate degree of our Love Spiritual and Eternal Mercies must be loved with a higher and more absolute degree of our Love And the highest Mercy of all which is himself with the most superlative and transcendent Love 2ly And they do imply a greater Love to his Person 1. That hath purchased them 2. That doth confer them He that hath no Complacency in the Things which he doth receive and that according to the greater or lesser Tendency they have to lead him to the highest Mercy even the Fruition of God the Giver will have none worth the naming in the person that doth bestow them And he that wants that can never praise God as he ought nor do any such Act with acceptance Thirdly There must be some sensible Expressions of this Estimation of the Mind and Complacency of the Will in God and his Mercies In the Affections and Sensible Passions of Love Joy Admiration Reverence Humility which help and assist the Will and cannot lye still when the Soul is well elevated in Praises and Thanksgiving when the Soul is exercised with any seriousness and vigour in these noble Operations of Praise and Thanks and Complacency in God how can it chuse but work upon the Blood and Spirits and cause those forementioned Passions in some sensible degree Fourthly And as Thankfulness and Holy Praise if they be right will become sensible by the Affections to the very Body to which the Soul is linked more or less according as the Grace that causeth them is more or less vigorous so they will become visible to others by our more ready observance of his Will and Pleasure a greater Zeal for his Interest and Glory in the World and a more chearful obedience to him whom we thus praise and admire And as in the Law of Moses there were three kinds of Sacrifice Immolations Libations and Victimes Immolations were made of the Fruits of the Earth Libations of Liquors as Oyls and Wines Victimes of living Creatures So the Soul that is truly Grateful will not only offer up himself to God for a Victime and his Affections as it were for Liquors but his Actions also for Fruits Thanks among Men signifie nothing that evaporate and melt away into meer Words and Air and do not proceed to substantial Acts and Deeds These are the Complements and Perfection of every true Moral Act And if they come not up to Life and Practice where there is opportunity they are but meer Mockery and Deceit Having somewhat explicated the Nature of These Affections which are to be exercised I proceed