God to receive the sentence of their eternall doome when they are to enter upon eternity how many then blesse God that ever he put it into their hearts to go another way not according to the common course of the world Though humour and conceitednesse may please and give content for a while yet it can never bring such peace and joy in sicknesse and death and when the soule sees it hath to deale with such an infinite holy God such a dreadfull Majesty none apprehend the glory and Majesty of God so as the godly doe none understand what eternity means so as they doe the sight of these things would shake men out of an humour it is not humour that can stand before God and the eternall misery or happinesse of the creature rightly apprehended it is time now to lay aside humours and conceits and yet then when these things are most clearely most powerfully apprehended by Gods servants even then they are most for the wayes of God in which they differed from the world than ever they were before it is now their greatest griefe that they have no more differed from them than they have and if they were to begin againe they would differ farre more than ever they did Sixtly Surely it is not humourous conceited singularity because most men who have enlightned consciences when they are most serious in their best moods are of this mind If you will needs go by multitudes we dare venture upon this yea we dare challenge upon this argument onely with these two Cautions 1 That the men you bring in be men of inlightned consciences for what have we to doe with others who are blind and ignorant though there were never so many thousands of them they can adde nothing at all to the cause 2 Let the judgements of men be taken when they are most serious when they are best able to judge doe not take them when they are in passion when their lusts are up but when their spirits are calmed and in the best temper when conscience hath the most liberty to speake indeed what it thinkes and of such men in such times we shall have the most on our side and therefore surely it is not a humour of singularity that acts the in the way of godlinesse Seventhly It is not singularity for we have the Prophets Apostles Martyrs Saints of God before us cloudes of witnesses thousand thousands of them and every one of them worth ten thousands of others as S. Chrysostome hath an expression in one of his Sermons to the people of Antioch It is better to have one pretious stone than to have many halfpenies so one godly man is better than multitudes of others And S. Cyprian hath the like expression in one of his Epistles Doe not attend to the number of them sayes he for one that feares God is better than a thousand wicked It is safe to follow the way of good men according to that in the Proverbs 2. 20. Walke thou in the wayes of good men and keep the wayes of the righteous Now then let neither the wayes of godlinesse or godly men ever be blamed for their singularity other spirits must needs lead into other wayes It was laid to Luthers charge that he was an Apostate he confesses himselfe to be one but a blessed and a holy Apostate one that had fallen off from the devill So wee confesse this is singularitie but a blessed and a holy singularity which differences Gods servants from this vile wicked world in which they live whereby they live as men of another world as indeed they are CAP. VIII Blesse God for making this difference betweene your spirit and the vile spirits of the men of the world SEeing this other spirit is so excellent and blessed then doe you to whom God hath given other spirits learne to blesse GOD for them the mercies of GOD to mens spirits are the greatest mercies though your conditions be meaner than others in other respects yet if your spirits be raised to an higher excellency than others you have infinite cause to blesse the Lord as S. Paul Ephes 1. 3. Blessed be the Lord which hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ What though God hath not abounded to you in outward honours estates delights yet if he hath abounded to you in wisdome holinesse faith humility c. you have no cause to complaine Where God gives his Spirit in the gifts and graces of it there hee gives all good things hence whereas S. Matthew sayes Chap. 7. 11. How much more shall your Father in heaven give good things to them that aske him S. Luke 11. 13. bringing in Christ speaking upon the same occasion sayes How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them that aske him as if all one to give his Spirit and to give all good things Spirituall blessings make all outward crosses light and easie as Prov. 18. 14. The spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmities Spirituall blessings have this excellency in them they cause a man to feele no need of many outward things which others know not how to want and it is as good to bee in such an estate to have no need of a thing as to enjoy it when we want it And further it is the excellency of spirituall blessings to keep downe the body and to carry the spirit above the body It was the excellencie and glory of the Martyrs that their spirits were so satisfied with mercies they had that they so little regarded their bodies when they suffered grievous torments as if they had not been their own Thus Zozomen reports of them Spirituall blessings are such as inable men to improve all other blessings they enjoy without these the greatest of other blessings would prove to bee the greatest curses to us and yet further These blessings upon our spirits cost God infinitely more than other blessings doe Other blessings God can give at a lower rate but these cost the dearest heart blood of his owne Sonne and therefore above all let God have the praise of these Outward bodily mercies we are unworthy of but when we consider of these let us say as David Psal 66. 14. Come and hearken all ye that feare God I will tell you what he hath done to my soule There God hath magnified his mercies toward me indeed You may remember how base your spirits once were how blinde foolish drossie sensuall and it may bee malicious This S. Paul cals to minde to stirre up himselfe and others to praise God for that blessed change he had wrought in his and in their spirits Tit. 3. 3. For we our selves also were in times past saith hee unwise disobedient deceived serving divers lusts living in maliciousnesse and envie hatefull and hating one another but when the bountifulnesse and love of God our Saviour appeared c. But if your spirits have not beene so vile as
thou canst then sollow the work of Gods grace make much of such beginnings give up thy selfe to the power of them turne the motions of Gods Spirit into purposes and those purposes into endevours and those endevours into performances and seeke that those performances may bee established Wee doe not know what we lose when at any time we lose the stirrings of Gods Spirit in our hearts Who knowes but that thy eternall estate may depend upon those sparkes that hee is now kindling in theé It is a great wickednes to stifle the child in the wombe when it is new conceived and is it not a great wickednes to stifle those blessed motions that are conceived by the worke of the Holy Ghost And for a conclusion of this point let thy spirit be for ever restlesse untill thou feelest God graciously comming in unto thee let no mercie satisfie thee till God gives thee soule-mercies and blesses thee with his choice spirituall blessings such as are peculiar to those who are good in his eyes A GRACIOVS SPIRIT FOLLOWS GOD FVLLY The second Part. Numb 14. 24. And hath followed me fully him will I bring into the land wherein he went and his seed shall possesse it CAP. 1. 〈…〉 t is for a man to follow God fully THe second Doctrine follows which is this It is the high praise of servants that they follow God fully This is their coâ—mendation that they have their hearts come fully off in the wayes of obedience to fulfill the good will of the Lord this is that perfect heart which God so often calls for in Scripture and for which so many of Gods servants are commended in the Word as Gen. 17. 1. Walke before me saith God to Abraham and be thou perfect Deut. 18. 13. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God This Noah is commended for Gen. 6. 9. He was a just man and perfect in his generations so Iob Chap. 1. 1. He was perfect and upright The want of this was the staine and blot upon Salomon 1 King 11. 6. the Text there sayes he went not fully after the Lord as did David his father This likewise was the staine of the Church of Sardis Revel 3. 2. I have not found thy wayes perfect the woâ—ds are I have not found thy wayes 〈…〉 thou hast not filled up thy 〈…〉 following me somthing ind 〈…〉 ou hast done but thou hast not followed me fully To have a heart ful of goodnesse as S. Paul testifies of the Romanes Chap. 15. vers 14. and to have a life full of good workes as Acts 9. 33. is witnessed of Tabitha This is the excellencie of a godly man this is the true declaration of the excellencie of that spirit wherein this glory doth consist In this Argument we shall first shew what it is to follow God fully or what the frame of the spirit is in the following the Lord fully Secondly wherein the true excellencie of this lies Thirdly apply it For the first take this Caution premised When we speak of a fulnesse in following the Lord wee doe not mean a legall fulnesse such a fulnesse wherein there is no want or imperfection not to sinne is here onely our law in heaven it shall be our reward Buâ—â—here is a true following of the 〈…〉 that is even in this life to bâ—â—â—â—aâ—ned unto an Evangelicall fulnesse and that is the fulnesse that we are to speake of The Gospel requires perfection as well as the Law though in a different manner and this is First a fulnesse of all graces though not the degree of all graces yet the truth of every grace There is no grace wanting where this Evangelicall fulnesse is Secondly there is no want no not of any degree wherein the soule rests there is such a perfection as the soule takes no liberty to it selfe to faile in any thing Thirdly there are sincere aymes as in the sight of God to attain to the highest perfection the full measure of holinesse and Fourthly there is that uprightnesse of the soule as it doth not onely desire and endeavoure to attaine but doth indeed attaine to the truth of that I shall deliver First the heart is fully set and resolved for God there is fuln 〈…〉 of resolution so the Septuag 〈…〉 slates that place in Ioshuah 14. vers 8 where Caleb speakes of his following of God fully they turne it thus I decreed I determined to follow him The heart is fully taken off from shiftings from hankerings after other things from the ingagements that before it had from disputings reasonings for the wayes of the flesh it doth not hang betweene two as unsetled irresolved wavering but is truly and fully taken off and the resolutions are fully set upon and for the wayes of God Many have some coÌ„victions some stirrings some makings towards the wayes of God some approbation of them thinking with themselves it were well if wee could doe thus Surely they are the best men who can doe thus but still some ingagement holds them fast they have thoughts flitting up and downe they would and they would not they could like well were it not for this thing and that thing this inco 〈…〉 ience and the other trouble w 〈…〉 follow and so they delay and put off and think it may be they may hereafter doe better their good desires and inclinations they hope may serve turne for the present And thus they stand baffling with God and their owne soules they are as Seneca speakes of some alwayes about to live But this soule who fully followes God is fully broken off from former wayes the thoughts of it are come to a determinate issue it is resolved against them whatsoever becomes of it resolved to listen no more after the reasonings of flesh and blood as S. Paul sayes of himselfe Gal. 1. 15 16. that after it pleased God to call him by his grace and to reveale his Son in him immediately he conferred not with flesh and blood Many are a great while before they be thus fully taken off they are as Agrippa Acts 26. 28. almost perswaded to become Christians the truths of God doe move them but not throughly perswade them they strive with them but dâ— not throughly vanquish them The â—pirit of God leaves some in the very birth that there is never strength to bring forth but it is a most blessed thing when the heart comes off kindly and fully now it is not so ready to raise objections against the wayes of God nor to hearken to objections raised by others as it was before When the fire is fully kindled there is little smoke at the first the smoke rises thicke that we can see no fire The reason of so many arguings and objections of the flesh is because the heart is not fully taken off Tertullian hath a notable expression to this purpose How wise an Arguer sayes he doth the pride of man seeme to it selfe when it is
every one that hath any truth Wherefore for answer let us know there is this perfection or else there is no truth at all onely remember I doe not speake now of the perfection of degrees in this cōsists the right straightnes of a mans heart A straight line wil touch with another straight line in every point but a crooked line wil not it toucheth but only here there in some so straight hearts will joyne with Gods law in every part but crooked and perverse hearts onely in some onely so farre as may serve their owne turnes In this consists the true plainnesse of a mans spirit you know plaine things will joyne likewise in every point one with another but round and rugged things will not so proud sowlne hearts and rugged spirits will not close fully with Gods truths but where there is plainnesse of spirit there is a full closing a thorow union There is a great dangerous mistake about this point which yet is a generall mistake multitudes of people miscarry everlastingly upon this mistake they think because we cannot in this life attain to the perfection of holinesse in the degrees therefore there is no perfection at all necessary but that they may be saved without it they think therfore that if they do some good things if they obey some Commandements it is sufficient though they take liberty to themselves in other things they finde they can yeeld in something yet other things of Gods will are exceedingly unsutable unto thē Be convinced of your mistake herein a godly man indeed is weak and cannot attain to the performance of every part of Gods will but the frame of his heart is to every part every part is sutable to his spirit He esteemes all the Precepts of God concerning all things to be right and he hates every false way He findes the Law of God in the latitude of it written in his heart there is no command of God that is not dearer to him than all the world Marke that place in Iob Chap. 8. verse 20. God will not cast away the perfect man neither will he helpe the evill doers The perfect man is opposed to the evill doers who shall be cast away If you be not perfect in this sense that hath been spoken of then you are an evill doer who must be cast away how glorious soever many of your actions may seeme to be That place in Ezechiel Chap. 18. verse 21. that is usually taken for the place of the greatest mercy in all the Scripture by many is exceedingly abused yet see what that requires of men in their repentance the words are usually taken up thus At what time soever a sinner repents him of his sin I will blot out all his iniquities saith the Lord. There are not those very words in any place of Scripture but there are to the like effect which are in this place of Ezechiel And in no other place is Gods mercy to a sinner more fully revealed There is no Text in Scripture comes nearer to that which men ordinarily take up than that verse and the 27. 28. verses in the same Chapter and see what of Gods mind wee have made knowne there the words of the Scripture are thus If the wicked will turne from all his sinnes that he hath committed and keepe all mystatutes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live and againe Verse 28. Because he considereth and turnes from all his transgressions Thus you see that God in the largest promises of his mercy to those who have the least measure of grace he requires the turning from all sinnes and the keeping of all his Statutes and this God brings to shew the infinite equity of his wayes towards sinners As if he should say Except this be no mans conscience in the world but must acknowledge it to bee infinitely just and equall that he should perish everlastingly if there bee any way of wickednesse reserved if any statute of mine bee neglected if he thinks to have mercy without an universall turning from his sin without an universall obedience his conscience will tell him that it is an unequall and unreasonable thing that hee should ever expect it And yet further because you think that this universalitie of obedience should be expected only from some who are eminent in grace who have attained to a great measure of godlinesse consider what is required of poore widdowes 1 Tim. 5. 10. They must diligently follow every good work First they must not onely have good desires but good works Secondly they must follow good works Thirdly they must diligently follow them Fourthly they must diligently follow every good work And fifthly they must so follow as they must be well reported of for it Yea sixthly they must doe all this or els they must not be received into the Church Surely then it is a shame for any man especially of parts and abilities to plead weaknesse when so much is required of poore women certainly it is not weaknes but falsenesse of heart that is contrary to universalitie of obedience to the following of the Lord fully in this respect The Vessell of honour is distinguished from the vessel of dishonour 2 Tim. 2. 21. by this Character that it is one that is sanctified and prepared for every good worke You know what S. Iames saith Chap. 1. verse 26. If any man seeme to be religious and bridle not his tongue but deceives his owne heart this mans religion is in vaine It is an heavie censure that all a mans religion is in vain for one fault and that but for a fault in the tongue and yet this is the censure of the Holy Ghost No question such men who were guilty herein would reason thus with themselves We cannot be perfect in this life we doe performe many duties of religion therefore we hope though we faile in this one thing that yet we shall doe well enough God will accept of us No saith S. Iames hee deceives his owne heart such a one shall never be accepted To the like effect is that of our Saviour Iohn 5. 44. How can you beleeve on me which receive honour one of another This was enough to keep thē off for ever from Christ and yet this was but an inward sin no outward grosse crying sin in the esteem of the world Let a man be never so glorious in never so many duties of Religion yet certainly the giving liberty to himselfe in any one lust is enough to keepe him off for ever from God from partaking of good in him As if a wife be never so officious to her husband yeelding to him in never so many things seeking to give him content in his desires never so many wayes yet if she entertaines any other lover besides himselfe it is enough to alienate his spirit from her for ever That which God sayes to Salomon 1 King 9. 4. is very observable to our purpose After Salomon had finished
them Although God takes it well at the hands of those whom hee hath raised in the things of the world higher than others when hee seeth them forward in setting out his praise yet he would not have them thinke that he is beholding to them as if the honour of God depended so upon them as it would faile did not they put to their helpe No God can raise his honour by other meanes he can glorifie himselfe and get himselfe a great name by low meane and contemptible things It is not because God hath need of honour from you but because he delights to honour you that he is pleased to use you in his service It is an advancement to whatsoever greatnesse you have in the world to bee imployed for God were it but in the meanest service he hath to doe Where the heart is right even in that it gloryeth more than in all the dignity that earth can put upon it But yet the greater Instruments the Lord raiseth up for his glory the greater services he cals them unto the greater things may wee hope he intends for his Church When S. John saw the Elders casting downe their crownes before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power Apoc. 4. 10. soone after S. John heard every creature in heaven and on earth and sea saying Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lambe for evermore cha 5. 13. And soone after that hee saw Christ with his Crowne upon him going forth conquering and to conquer Chap. 6. 2. What great mercies might we expect did we see God raysing up truely noble and generous spirits more generally in the great ones of the earth did we see the Elders and Nobles casting downe their Crownes before the Throne of the Lambe willing to deny all their glory and excellencies and estates for the raising up the glory of Iesus Christ Certainly God hath great things to doe in this latter age of the world and hee is a God with whom there is as great abundance of spirit as ever when his time comes how soone will such a thing bee as the raising mens spirits to higher and more noble designes than now we can imagine The observing the frame and work of your most pretious noble spirit Right Honourable put mee upon the thought of this Argument The chiefest book that I made use of for the inlarging 〈◊〉 Meditations in it next the Scripture was that which I joyfully beheld in you 〈…〉 selfe and your Noble and much honorred Lady highly honoured and lov 〈…〉 and that deservedly in the esteeme and hearts of all who know her and the truth John Ep. 2. ver 1. Such gracious principles appeared in your spirits such divine rules by which yee were guided those high and noble employments in which yee delighted those blessed qualifications which as so many Diamonds in their lustre and beauty sparkled that light that freenesse that strength that publikenesse that holinesse c. Those comsorts of a higher nature than the common drossie comforts of the world that yee chose to your selves to satisfie your spirits in and found contentment in the enjoyment of that caused the dilating of my thoughts about these things and now making knowne themselves publikely they crave patronage from your Lordship who have beene the originall from whence they came And here I humbly present them to your Honour and to your vertuous and noble Lady as a glasse wherein your selves and others may see the frame and workings of your spirits I dare say that all who know you and know that I had the happinesse to bee so neare unto you and to have excited to look about thee if false Art thou indued with such a spirit as here thou maist find nothing in the world in hell or in thy flesh shall be able to conquer thee as Christ himself thou shalt indure such crosses and contradiction of sinners as these times are big with thou shalt despise the shame and be able to resist to bloud if God should call thee to that honour What excellency of spirit was in S. Paul when he took it ill that they diswaded him from going up to Jerusalem where he was to meet with sharp afflictions What mean you to weepe and break my heart saith he for I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus Moses refuses to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter though himselfe or some of his posterity might happily have come to the Kingdome by it and chuses afflictions rather with the people of God c. He would not become an Egyptian though of the Royall Stem but abide an Hebrew who were abomination to the Egyptians He knew that the reproach of the Members did redound to the Head and would bee well recompenced by him and therefore he will suffer afflictions and esteeme the reproaches of Christ above all the treasures of Egypt a greater patrimony saith Ambrose So base are many spirits in this age that they had rather censure than trace his practice Scaliger tels of a Tree to which when a man cometh Ramos constringit but when he departs ramos pâ—dit Too many are like this tree when any Ministers or Christians that have the reproach of Christ upon them come neare them and have to deale with them let relations promises ingagemeÌ„ts be what they wil they shrink up themselves are troubled sadded and perplexed thinking it disgrace unto theÌ„ to have to do with such but when they are gone then their hearts dilate again their faces grow pleasant such an adulterous generation there is that are ashamed of Christ in any of his poore reproached despised Members not only ashamed but like that Plant called the Tartarean Lamb which in shape and proportion answers the Lambe but grazeth and eateth up the grasse round about it suffering no green thing to be neare and these men are Lambes in shape but eating up every green thing that is neare unto them Psa 14. 4. They eate up my people as bread they are the food their malice feeds upon It is observed the Pope was so busie and hot against Luther that he neglected to look to all Christendome against the Turk such basenesse was in a Popes brest that he could easier have digested Mahumetisme than Lutherdnisme may we not think the Alcoran would be welcome to those Confessors who have enjoyned their burthened in conscience to burne their Bibles for Pennance this some living know to be a truth There is much basenesse in the spirits of men and upon little occasion it vents it selfe Doeg haead 〈◊〉 malicious murderous spirit in him spared not those that ware the Linnen Ephod The rich man Luk. 12. 19. was all for earth nothing for heaven A great man finding his sicknesse encreasing caused his bed to be made between or upon his Coffers
not that I regard the presence of Iehosaphat the King of Iudah I would not looke towards thee nor see thee Hee had a fulnesse of Gods Spirit in him that could speake thus to one of the gods on earth When a mans heart is filled with divine influence he feares not the enemies of goodnes neither is ashamed of ought accompanies godlinesse 2 Tim. 1. 7 8. God hath given us the spirit of power of love and of a sound mind be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony c. When the power of God is in a mans spirit he will not bee ashamed of the Crosse nor refuse to share in the afflictions of the Gospel It is the honour of Religion to have such Disciples as will own her and stand for her at all times and that with an undaunted courage Acts 4. 8 9 10 11 12. Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost and said Bee it knowne unto you all and all the people of Israel that by the Name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead even by him doth this man here stand before you whole this is the stone which was set at nought of you builders c. And after when he and Iohn were commanded silence what said they Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than God judge yee for we cannot but speake the things we have seene and heard It is a brand upon Nicodemus that he came to Christ by night and so of the chiefe Rulers that beleeved on him but because of the Pharisees did not confesse him lest they should be put out of the Synagogues but it was Nicodemus praise for that he had got boldnesse to speak for Christ when vilified though himselfe suffered reproach for it this shewed some excellency and growth in his spirit that he could both speake and suffer for Christ So Ioseph of Arimathea was timerous at Ioh. 19. 38. but being filled with grace He went in boldly to Pilate and craved the body of Iesus Mark 15. 43. With what holy boldnesse did those men march through reproaches afflictions and persecutions for the truths sake Reader swallow thou this Booke as Ezekiel did his rowle and thou shalt be inabled to doe as much Principle and fill thy spirit with the pretious truths contained in this little Treatise and thou shalt find thy drooping spirit to receive a heavenly warmth to come upon thee and a holy boldnesse thrusting thee forward for God and godlinesse Wickednesse is too bold and godlinesse too shamefast it hath lost and suffered much through mens cowardlinesse Reade meditate and feast thy spirit with what thou herein findest and thou mayst walke bold as a Lion through the midst of a crooked and perverse generation thou shalt daunt wickednesse it selfe and make Religion truely beautifull and honourable If thou shouldest say This book might have been kept in there are too many already I answer thee There be many but few to purpose The Sea is full of water yet God addes daily to it by rivers and showers Many would read little if new bookes were not set forth daily Bookes do quicken up a drowsie age to the best purpose New bookes are like new fashions taken up at first with affection Notwithstanding all the Munition of the Kingdome there is new made daily Books are more needfull than Armes the one defends the body the other the soule If thy spirit be choice and right thou wilt acknowledge this worke solid spirituall and such as hitherto thou hast not met with many like it If trees be knowne by their fruit what other sentence may bee passed upon the Composer of it but that hee hath profited in the Schoole of Christ above thousands hath had a large operation of Gods Spirit in his own soule attained to a choicenesse and excellency of spirit himselfe that he hath clearly differenced betweene pretious and base spirits I shall appeale to thy selfe Christian Reader when thou hast perused this Booke whether thou wouldest have had it buried in the dark If he deserves a curse that withholds corne Prov. 11. 26. thou wilt blesse God for this corne the Authour hath sent to market God made him a fountaine not to bee sealed up but to slow for common good Veritatem celare est aurum sepelire In a fountaine sealed and treasures hid the Authour knew was little profit Hee hath let out himselfe to advantage thee taken this off from his owne spirit to put upon thine Doe thine endeavour to better thy selfe by it and if thou gettest any good give unto God glory if none suspect thy spirit and spare thy censures The Authours spirit is above them and counts it a very small thing to bee judged of mans judgement My prayers are that thou mayest profit much attaine true excellency of spirit and follow God fully all thy dayes that so thy end may bee comfortable and glorious Thy Christian friend W. Gr. A GRACIOVS SPIRIT A CHOYCE and a pretious SPIRIT Numb 14. 24. But my servant Caleb because he had an other spirit with him and hath followed me fully him will I bring into the land wherein he went and his seed shall possesse it CAP. I. What that other spirit is which a godly man hath differing from the world IN these words we have Gods approbation of Caleb accepting his faithfull service in the testimony hee gave of the good Land encouraging the hearts of his people to goe into it As for the other that were sent God determines against them they shall never see that good Land But my servant Caleb c. First Gods commendation of Caleb Secondly his blessing upon him For the first hee sayes three things of him 1 He is my servant 2 He hath another spirit 3 He hath followed me fully He is my servant It is a great honor to bee the servant of the blessed God and to bee acknowledged so by God himselfe We should not looke at our services to God only as duties injoyned but as high priviledges as dignities put upon us wee should glory in his service It was a great part of that glorious reward of those who came out of great tribulation who washed their Robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe that they should bee before the Lord and serve him night and day Apoc. 7. 14 15. My servant He hath shewed himselfe to bee my servant indeed I will for ever owne him what ever others did hee continued faithfull with me To bee a servant unto the Lord is an honour but to bee acknowledged faithfull that higher I have obtained mercy to be faithfull saith Saint Paul To be faithfull in service is not only a meanes of obtaining mercy but it is a great obtained mercy My servant Caleb Caleb is only mentioned here and so in the former Chap. verse 31. Why is not Ioshua mentioned likewise for surely hee followed the Lord fully
the compasse of its own nature and was to enjoy this and the fuller it doth enjoy it the more perfected it is Now then there are required principles of life accordingly to carry these creatures higher than their owne natures to have the fruitiō of that good they were made for and to bee blessed in the enjoyment of it Now these are the principles of Grace with which this other spirit is indued higher above the principles of reason than the principles of reason are above the principles of sense and thus it is another spirit Secondly it works by another rule every thing is guided to its end by some rule which is a beame of Gods wisedome no creature under the reasonable knowes either its end or rule but is acted by God to that it was made for but the reasonable creature is of such a nature as is capable of the knowledge of both and therefore cannot bee happy without the knowledge of both and working accordingly Now it is a great mercy not to mistake in the rule that leades to eternall life to see it and act by it most of the world mistake here their spirits are led by false rules they goe according to sense according to their own carnall apprehēsion of things accordings to their owne wils would have the rule of their actions from their own spirits or else according to the common course of the world as Eph. 2. 2. That which men blesse themselves in that they goe according to the common course is one of the most apparent arguments that is that yet they are strangers from the way of life but the godly they make the Word their rule they looke up to the minde of God to see the beame of Divine wisdome let down from heaven to guide them in their way they looke to it for direction give up themselves to it dare venture their comforts estates safeties soules upon it Thou shalt guide mee by thy counsell sayes David and so bring mee to thy glory Psalm 73. 24. A godly man thinkes it a most dishonorable thing to make the examples of men his rules it is for beasts to follow the Herd Examples of men cannot satisfie his conscience A godly man workes for eternity and therefore is carefull to worke by rule as a man when hee workes in a worke that concernes his life erects a frame that must be for continuance he makes sure of his rule layes often his rule to his worke When God erected the frame of the world which was to last but for a sew yeares hee made all by waight and measure The frame of mans actions here must be for eternity and therefore a godly man dares venture upon no other rule but that which is divine hee lookes at the Word not only at the notions of it and that excellency and beauty he sees in it shining a great way off but as a light to his feet a Lanterne to his steps holds it close to his feet to guide him in his going knowing that every step he goes is either to hell or to heaven and this doing he may look up with comfort for that blessing of God upon his servants 1 Sam. 2. 9. He keeps the feet of his Saints His way is like the way of the Mariner guided by the heavens 3. Thirdly another spirit that is imployed about other things it is not for meane base services but set on worke about high and honourable employments As men of place and dignity have or ought to have other spirits differing from ordinary spirits they cannot endure to be employed in mean and dishonorable workes no those fit for meane base spirits While other mens spirits are busied about low poore things and are content in these minding nothing higher they are busied about great affaires of State the high things of the Kingdome consultations about and transactions of the great businesses of the Common-wealth It was the basenesse and dishonor of Domitians spirit who though a great Emperor yet busied himselfe and spent great part of his time in catching of flies and so of Artaxerxes his spirit who spent a great deale of time in making hafts of knives of Boxe Thus godly men account it too mean a thing for their spirits to bee busied about low base employments while the spirits of other men are busied about meat drink clothes play money lust and are taken up in these poore things the spirits of the godly are taken up in contemplation of the glory of the blessed God the beauty and high excellency of Jesus Christ the great Counsels of God in the greatest worke that ever he did the worke of mans Redemption the great mysteries of the Gospell the glorious things of the Kingdome of Jesus Christ the great things of eternity the interest they have in all the good in God Christ Heaven about the setting out the glory of the blessed God in the World lifting up his Name working together with God in glorifying himselfe observing Gods wayes in his glorious workes of Creation and Providence preparing and fitting themselves for the glorious appearing of the great God joyning with those blessed creatures the Angels and Saints in heaven magnifying praising worshipping and adoring the Lord of all these are things fit for the spirits of the godly they are not suteable to the spirits of the world as Psal 92. 6. A brutish man knowes not neither doth a foole understand this A godly man sometimes may be busied in meane low things but his spirit not contented not taken up not satisfied in those things as adequate objects for him as the spirits of the world are they are objects adequate to any principles they have A man sometimes that is understanding may condescend to sport with children in low things but these take not up his spirit as adequate objects to what hee hath in him if indeed hee should take content and satisfaction in such things it would argue a childish spirit in him So here Fourthly this spirit is carried to other ends the spirit of the world looks at ease pleasure honour gaine and Selfe in all it is a low spirit in an ill sense subjecteth not only ordinary actions but the best things it doth even the duties of Gods worship to base low unworthy ends At the highest the most excellent of the Heathen who had the most brave spirits the World had in their time aimed no higher than to work according to reason to satisfie the dictates of rationall principles and a naturall conscience knew not what it was to honour God to aime at God in all they did but the spirit of the godly is a raised spirit looks at God and eternity in all it doth carries things up to the highest good restlesse till it gets through all creatures and closes with God it accounts the excellency of what it is and what it hath to be in order to God and directs what it doth to him and in this comes as neere the working of
is not forced and haled to them doth not take them up as tiresome burdens Gods Commandements are not grievous they are not as fetters of iron but as chaines of gold for beauty and ornament there is a readinesse of spirit to what ever is good they are vessels of honour ready prepared to every good worke 2. Tim. 2. 21. It is written in the volume of thy booke I should doe thy will and â—o I come psalm 40. 7 8. There is a sutablenesse betweene the law and the spirit the law is written in it never so in it's element as when it is in the wayes of obedience there is not that straitnesse of spirit as in others but here the heart sweetly enlarges it selfe as the flowre that opens it selfe to the shining of the Sunne Thirdly a sublime spirit raised high by spirituall heavenly influences not swelling by pride a spirit that hath all earthly things under feet as the Holy Ghost sets out the Church Revel 12. 1. Things received with admiration by other spirits it looks on with contempt as things infinitely inferiour to it a godly mans feet are where other mens heads their heads that is the pitch and height of all their aimes is upon things that are on the earth but the Saints have these things under their feet When Valence sent to offer Basil great preferments to tell him what a great man he might be Basil answers Offer these things to children not to Christians When some bade stoppe Luthers mouth with preferment one of his adversaries answered It is in vaine he cares not for gold his spirit was too noble and high to bee tempted with gold base low spirits would have beene taken with such things such a spirit as Demas who forsooke Paul to imbrace this present world but a spirit raised by God is above them How was S. Pauls spirit above mony when he speaks of lucre he cals it silthy lucre 1 Tim. 3. 3. A godly mans spirit is sutable to the high dignities put upon it and priviledges it hath Saul when made a King had another spirit put upon him contemning former things highly esteemed of a man raised on high lookes on things below and they appeare small things to him so here Reason may raise the spirits of men above the common sort a rationall man lookes at many sinnes as too mean and base for him scornes to staine his excellency with them as the sinnes of sensuality and filthy lusts Tully thinkes him not worthy the name of a man that spends a whole day in the pleasures of the flesh and Socrates had such a vile esteeme of sinne as he thinkes it shall be one of the greatest torments of men in another life to be tied and bound to the sinnes they most delighted in here Seneca hath a notable expression to this purpose I am too great and borne to greater things theÌ„ that I should be a slave to my body But if Reason raises the spirit so high how high then doth Grace raise it This spirit cannot be satisfied with small low things as it is reported of Luther when great gifts were sent to him hee refused them with this most brave and excellent speech I did earnestly protest that God should not put mee off with these things meaning that hee would not be satisfied with anything that was here below All the things in the world are farre from being able to satisfie this spirit it accounts all yea if they were a thousand times more than they are but a poore pittance for the portion of an immortal soule If God should make more worlds for it yet if he give not himselfe to it it would not be satisfied nothing but a God an infinite universall eternall Good can fill up the desires of this spirit Thou hast made us O Lord for thy selfe saies Saint Austin and our hearts are unquiet till they come unto thee It is the worke of a base drossy spirit to thinke If I had but so much or so much yearely I should have enough how base the spirit of that rich man blessing himselfe in his goods Soule take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many yeares what were all those to his soule to the happinesse of his soule These are spirits that have higher designes theÌ„ so their designes no lesse than a Kingdome yea than God himselfe Rom. 2. 7. They seeke for glory honour immortality eternall life Though they can bee content with little of the world for their use yet they cannot bee content without that Good Happinesse that is infinitely higher and better than all the world for their portion As Abraham said concerning his child when God promised him a great reward Gen. 15. 2. Lord what will thou give me so long as I goe childlesse Lord what is all the reward I can have except I have this mercy except I have a child because the Messias was to come out of his Ioines So the soule here if God should promise it never such great things yet Lord what are all these things to me if I have not thy selfe All the gifts that God can give to this spirit will not satisfie it except he gives himself to it As God is not pleased with what wee tender to him except we give our selves to him So a godly heart is not contented with all that God gives to it except hee gives himselfe to it Thus Bernard exceeding sweetly As what I have if offered to thee pleaseth not thee O Lord without my selfe so thy good things we have from thee though they may refresh us yet they satisfie us not without thy selfe Yea further the enjoyment of God is not enough except they may have a full enjoyment of him they are not satisfied except they bee filled with the fulnesse yea with all the fulnesse of God Ephes 3. 19. See a notable example of this in Moses Exod 33. 12. and so on The Lord had done great things for Moses many wayes but besides all hee had done for him hee told him that hee knew him by name and that he had sound favour in his sight one would have thought this might have satisfied him No Moses must have more Verse 13. I pray thee if I have found grace in thy sight shew me thy way that 〈◊〉 know thee and that I may finde grace in thy sight God grants him this and rels him Verse 14. that his presence shall goe with him and hee will give him rest surely this will satisfie him No Verse 16 Moses must have yet more hee must have such a presence as the world may know that God doth goe with him and that hee and his people are a separated people from all the people that are upon the face of the earth and Verse 17. The Lord saith to him I will give thee this thing also that thou hast spoken Surely this will satisfie him No Moses is not satisfied yet Verse 18. I beseech thee
other succeeding Ages CAP. IV. The Reason why the men of the world and the Godly can never agree HEnce wee see the Reason why the men of the world and the godly can never agree they are men of another spirit Where there is difference of spirits there can be no agreement Water and oile cannot mingle no agreement betweene light and darknesse they looke at them as men whose lives are after another fashion That Apocryphall Authour in that book of Wisdome hath an excellent expression to this purpose Chap. 2. 12. he brings in wicked men saying of the godly He is cleane contrary to our doings he is grievous unto us to behold his life is not like other mens his wayes are of another fashion wee are esteemed of him as counterfeits he abstaineth from our wayes as from filthinesse he commendeth greatly the latter end of the just Verse 19. Let us examine him with rebukes and torments c. Let the relation and the ingagements be what they will yet so long as of different spirits they cannot close What a differeÌ„t spirit was there betweene Iacob and Esau who lay in the same wombe at the same time 〈◊〉 There may be outward peace fo 〈…〉 while betweene Gods people and some wicked men but inward closing of spirit there can never bee The spirit that is in you the world cannot receive sayes our Saviour Iohn 14. 17. Antipathies are irreconcileable no arguments no meanes ever used can cause an accord except there be a change in nature Nothing in the world puts mens spirits in such a distance as Grace when that comes and therefore where the most eminent grace there the greatest disagreement betweene them and wicked men How many wicked men cannot but be convinced of some godly who live with them that they are better than themselves that they are conscientious men whose Principles are truly godly and that they walke close to them they are not able to charge them with any ill carriage towards them they seeke to doe them all the good they can and yet their spirits cannot close but as they were wont to say in former times Caius Seius was a good man but hee was a Christian so now such are good men but they are too strict this enough to keepe a perpetuall breach betweene them CAP. V. Learne to have a right esteeme of such pretious spirited men IF the godly be of such excellent spirits learne wee then hence to have a right esteeme of them they surely are worthy of pretious account of most honorable esteem who are men of such excellent spirits Let them bee what they will in regard of their outward condition though never so meane and poore No matter what the Ring bee if the Pearle in it be pretious Many most pretious spirits have very mean outsides The Tabernacle was beaten Gold within but the out side covered with Badgers skines If the treasure be rich what though the vessell be earthen Surely these are the excellency of the earth the very light and beauty of the world the glory of Gods Creation they give a lustre to the places where they live to the families in which they are especially if they walke close and faithfully with God indeed manifesting the excellency of their spirits in their wayes so that when they are taken away the very places where they lived are darkened This other spirit of the godly makes a Iob scraping his soares on the dung-hill and a Ieremy sticking in the myrie dungeon more glorious than Kings and Princes sitting crowned upon their Thrones these are glorious within God is a Spirit and he looks on men to see what they are in their spirits and he esteems accordingly of them and so should we What doth brave cloathing what doth money what doe titles of honour raise the dignity what are these to the excellency of mans nature No certainly the excellency of man must bee that which mustmake the most excellent and noble part truly excellent which is the spirit of a man If a man would know the excellency of any thing as of a sword or of any other instrument he judges it not by the Hilt or the inferour part but by what excellency the principle part hath There is a spirit in man and the inspiration is from the Almighty a spirit inspired by the Almighty and beautified with his heavenly graces this innobles a man indeed it is the ornament of the hidden man of the heart the glorious cloathing of that which makes truely beautifull and glorious How did many of the Heathen highly prize those in whom they saw any naturall excellency of spirit differing from other men Those amongst the Romanes who were called the Curii and â—abritii they lived very poorly and meanly yet being perceived to have more excellent spirits than other men they were taken from their dinner of Turnips and Watercresses to lead the Romane Armie How much more should we honour men in whom we may see Divine spirits the lustre of heavenly graces shining in them But to shew more particularly that godly men are to be highly prized in regard of this other spirit as they have received a spirit differing from other men so they are to have esteem and honour differing from other men not to bee looked at as common men for First this difference of their spirits from other men is a certaine signe of the eternall love of God unto them it comes from the treasure of Gods everlasting love of that choyce speciall love of God from the bowels of Gods deepest mercies it is a most infallible argument that God hath set his heart upon them for good as for other favours a man may have them more than other men yet they are no such but may stand with Gods hatred and with his eternall wrath and this is a great difference betweene spirituall mercies and outward mercies which sets an exceeding high prize upon spirituall mercies aboue all others these are the distinguishing mercies which others are not But Secondly the spirit receiving these spirituall excellencies from Gods choyce everlasting love receives likewise all other mercies from the same fountaine though in their owne nature they bee common mercies yet where this other spirit is there they are received from another Fountaine than other men receive them which addes much sweetnesse and excellencie to the mercies we have they come as fruits of the common bounty and generall goodnesse of God to ordinary men but to men thus differenced from others they come out the spring of the rich treasures of Gods grace tending to the furtherance of eternall mercies Thirdly The Lord hath an especiall eye upon and delight to dwell with these who are of choice and excellent spirits Hee will dwell with the contrite heart to revive the spirit of the humble Esay 57-15 Hee hath a speciall care of these spirits that they doe not faile before him hee puts under his hand to support comfort revive
them When wee beate ordinary spices we heed not so much every dust but some flies out and falls on the ground But if Bezar-stone or some speciall choice costly spice bee beaten then there is care had of every dust that the least bee not lost So though God may afflict the choicest spirits of his servants yet hee is very carefull that their spirits faile not before him as for other common ordinary spirits hee cares not much to let them faile and sinke in their affliction but this is the mercifull care of God over those spirits whom he highly esteems of Fourthly The excellencies of this spirit are eternall excellencies they shall abide for ever not vanish not be taken away as common gifts and other mercies shall as Ezech. 46. 17. If a Prince give of his inheritance to one of his servants it is to bee his but for a time and to returne unto the Prince againe but his inheritance shall be to his sonnes for them for ever So when God gives any thing to common men who are but his servants at best it must returne againe GOD will call for all his mercies from them againe but these soule-mercies of his children shall be their inheritance for ever Hence God calls his Church an eternall Excellency Esay 60. 15. But fifthly and principally these other spirits are most honourable creatures indeed because they are reserved for other mercies GOD gives common mercies to common spirits but hee reserves his choice mercies for choice spirits With the pure thou wilt shew thy selfe pure saith David in the 2 Sam. 22. 27. The words are with the choice thou wilt shew thy selfe choice Abraham gave Ishmael and Hagar a bottle of water and a few raisins and sent them away but the inheritance was reserved for Isaac So God gives to other men a few ordinary mercies but his glorious mercies hee reserves for these peculiar ones and as it is said of Iehosaphat 2 Chron. 21. 3. he gave his other sonnes great gifts of silver gold precious things fenced Cities but the Kingdome he gave to Iehoram because he was the first borne So God gives these outward mercies to other men but the mercies of his Kingdome are reserved for these men of choice spirits who are the first borne the chiefe and most excellent of all Gods creatures in this world Now we are the sonnes of God saith S. Iohn but it appeares not what wee shall bee there is more to come hereafter they have not spirits that will be satisfied with the things of this world and therefore are not as ordinary men who have their portion in the things of this world God delights to fill the capacities of all his creatures with sutable good now these other spirits by that choice excellency of them are made capable of farre higher mercies than the world can afford they must be the good things of another world that can fill them and those are reserved for them The bodies of the Saints because they are joyned to such pretious soules shall be like the glory of the Sunne yea excell in glory How glorious then shall their souls be for whose sake their bodies shall bee thus glorious Wee look upon great heires who have great inheritances to come with high esteeme though they have little for the present These are the great heires of heaven Coheires with Iesus Christ himselfe these they are who are delivered from the wrath to come and to be made partakers of the glory that is to be revealed The Lord gives them no great matters in comparison now because hee hath reserved so much for them afterwards As nature is not very exquisite in her worke in inferiour things where she intends some higher excellency So the God of Nature intending such high and glorious things hereafter for his Saints doth no so much regard to give them these inferiour things for the present But what are those reserved mercies you speake of that God hath for these Not entending a Treatise of that glory that God hath for his choice ones onely take these five generals First These mercies are prepared mercies prepared before the foundations of the world were laid and againe prepared by Iesus Christ who is gone before to heaven to that end as hee tels us himselfe To prepare Mansions for us Iohn 14. 1. Now this is spoken after the manner of men who do not use to make long and great preparations but for some great worke in hand Surely these mercies must needs be great which the wisedome power and mercy of God hath been from all eternity preparing Secondly They are other mercies than Adam than Man-kinde should have had than they could have attained unto if he had stood in his innocencie Man indeed should then have beene for ever happy but not according to that height of happinesse and glory that now is provided for those who are the beloved of the Lord. Thirdly These reserved mercies are such as must set out Gods Magnanimity that God may shew to Angels and all his creatures what his infinite wisdome power and goodnesse can do for poore creatures to raise their conditions to a height of glory surely that glory must needs be high that is raised for that end If a King should doe any thing of purpose to shew his magnificence it must needs be some great thing it is not a common ordinary thing that can set forth the Magnificence of a King much lesse that can set forth the Magnificence of the great God When Ahasbuerus would make a feast and Nebuchadnezzar would build a Pallace to shew to their people their greatnesse they were great things so surely here that which must shew the greatnesse of the great God must needs be great indeed Fourthly These mercies must be such as may shew to Angels and all the world how infinitly well pleased God the Father is with the obedience of his Sonne in giving himself up to death for the purchase of mercy Surely that mercy thus purchased must needs be great If there had beene no higher good for man but to eat and drink and to have pleasure to the flesh certainly Christ would never have died to have purchased this but there were higher things then these which Christ look'd at these are but poore things for God to shew by them how infinitely he is well pleased with the obedience of his sonne to the death that which must demonstrate this cannot but bee very great what ever it bee and that yea the fulnesse of that is the mercy reserved for these choice ones Fiftly Other mercies in some respect higher than the very blessed Angels themselves have For 1 Mans nature is more highly advanced than theirs being hypostatically united to the Divine Nature 2 The righteousnesse whereby the Saints come to glory is a higher righteousnesse a more excellent righteousnesse than that of the Angels though theirs be perfect in its kinde theirs is the righteousnesse but of
which only gives a true greatnesse to the mind I know this is a powerfull argument with you to make grace lovely desirable in your eies to tell you that it will raise your spirits that it will put beauty and glory upon them that it will adde greatnesse and excellency to them The world is much for brave and Noble spirits we desire your spirits may be so onely mistake not the true Noblenesse the true excellencie of spirit certainly it is inthat which may bring you nearest to God the highest excellencie You can no way be so honourable as by the raising of your spirits by grace Wisdome with an inheritance is good wisedome with birth and eminency of place is a great blessing indeed to be rich in goods and rich in goodnesse is a happy connexion You would account it a great disgrace not to have education somewhat sutable to your birth and qualitie what can be said more dishonourable of a man than this He hath left him indeed a great estate and is of a great house but he hath no breeding What is a competent measure of knowledge in tongues and Arts and other things sutable to your births and estates accounted a beauty and ornament to them and is not grace and godlinesse much more Doe these adde an excellencie to your quality and put an honour upon your dignities and will not godlinesse much more Shall Sea and Land be travelled over with much hazard soule-hazard and bodilyhazard with great expence of estate to get knowledge of fashions and a Gentile behaviour because you thinke they will be Ornaments to your great estates you are borne to and shall no labour be undertaken to get godlinesse to get your spirits raised by grace as an ornament to the greatnesse of your birth and eminencie of your estate How is this to sleight the very glory of God himselfe and to contemne the highest dignity men or Angels are capable of Are any places so fit for wisedome as the high places of the City Prov. 9. 1 3. Wisdome hath builded her house shee hath hewen out her seven Pillars she cryeth upon the highest places of the City How honourable doth godlinesse make those whose birth whose place is honorable in the eyes of God his Saints blessed Angels and in the consciences of all How well doth grace suite with the highest dignity as a bright shining Diamond in a golden Ring as the world is drawn more conspicuous and full in a large Mappe than in a small so the beauty and excellency of grace and godlinesse appeares more conspicuous and glorious in great men and honourable than in those who are of a meaner ranke First you had need of other spirits more need than others for the improvement of those great mercies that you have above others As some fowle that have great wings yet can flie but little so many men have great estates but not having spirits to improve them they are of little use Know that your estates are either mercies or miseries blessings or cursings to you according as you have hearts to improve them if they be improved for God as advantages to honour God by to doe good withall they are then great blessings indeed and that is as great an argument of the truth of grace as any to be as earnest with God for an heart to improve an estate or a place of dignitie for God as to rejoyce that you have such an estate for your selves or that you are in such an eminent place whereby you may get honour to your selves Where God gives not a more excellent spirit than others as well as an higher condition than others there an eminent estate is made but as fewell for a nourisher and maintainer of all manner of evill to afford opportunities for acting of sinne and is not this the excellencie that many account to be in their estates in that it is higher than others in that they can have their wils and satisfie their lusts more than others Secondly you had need of other spirits for the improving of the large opportunities of service for God and his Church that you have more than others these are as great blessings as your estates or any dignities you have above others God betrusts you with much in giving you such large opportunities of service for the honour of his great Name If your birth be high your estates high and your spirits indued with excellencie from on high how fit then are you to be used by God in high and honourable services Hence the conversion of a great man is of exceeding great consequence whereupon Saint Paul was so loath to lose the Conversion of the Deputy Sergius Paulus who began to listen to his preaching of whom we reade Acts 13. verse 7. and so on Therefore when Elymas withstood him in this work seeking to turne away the Deputie from the Faith the spirit of S. Paul rose against him with much indignation and being filled with the Holy Ghost hee set his eyes on him and said O full of all subtilty and all mischiefe thou childe of the devill thou enemy of righteousnesse wilt thou not cease to pervert the right wayes of the Lord And now behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt bee blind As if S. Paul should have said What will you hinder me in such a great work as this wherein God may have so much honour in the conversion of this Noble-man this man of publike and eminent place this indeed is to be full of all mischiefe to bee an enemie of all righteousnesse Thus you see how his spirit was stirred when he was put in feare of being hindred in such a notable prize as this As a man when likely to have a great draught there comes in one and disturbs him and is like to hinder him of it Surely S. Paul saw that it was a wonderfull great blessing to the Church to have great men to be brought in to the obedience of the faith and to be added to it And further it is observed that God going along with S. Paul and finishing the work of the conversion of this great man that upon this Saint Paul had his name Paul given him being changed from Saul and called Paulus from that notable worke of the conversion of this Paulus Sergius As many great Captains amongst the Heathen were wont to have their names changed upon their successe in some noble enterprize and great victories as Scipio Africanus hee was called Africanus from his Conquest of Africa 3 You who are in high and eminent dignities you are the earnest prayers of Gods servants in all places that God would raise you up with truely noble excellent and gracious spirits that you may bee instruments of his glory How blessed you if God fulfils the prayers of his servants upon you What great pity is it that such blessed opportunities of service of honouring God themselves and families as you have should be
lost for want of spirits Were it not more honorable to you and your houses to be imployed as publique blessings to Church and Common-wealth to have thousands of soules blesse you and blesse God for you than for you to go siner than others to have your tables better furnished than others to sport and game more than others to spend more than others 4 Againe you had need of other spirits for your example is looked at more than others either in good or evill as Christ said of himselfe in another case If I bee lifted up I will draw all men after me so I may say If godlinesse be lifted up in the examples of great ones it will draw all men after it What ever evill is seene in you is not onely followed by others but used as a plea to maintaine and encourage that which is evill in many others Charles the fifth was wont to say that as the Ecclipse of the Sun is a foretoken of great commotions so the errours and oversights of great men bring with them great perturbations to the places where they live 5 Their sinne is worse than others for it doth more hurt and therefore their punishment will bee greater than others as their actions are exemplary so will their punishments Hence that place Mich. 6. 5. O my people remember from Shittim unto â—ilgal at Shittim the Lord destroyed the Heads of the people Num. 25. 4. The destruction of great ones is to be for ever remembred 6 And yet further you have need of other spirits because you have temptations greater and stronger than others therefore if you have not the more excellent spirits you are in greater danger than others The high estate of great outward dignitie is a very dangerous estate if God gives not an extraordinary spirit There is a notable story of Pius Quintus that Pope who excommunicated Queene Elizabeth my Author of the story is a Jesuite Cornelius à Lapide one highly esteemed amongst the Papists and therefore the truth of it is to bee the lesse suspected the story is this he sayes that this Pope Pius Quintus was wont to say of himselfe that When I was first in religious Orders that is without any further Ecclesiasticall dignity I had a very good hope of the salvation of my soule but being made a Cardinall I began to be much afraid but now bein Pope I do even despaire So sayes Cornelius did Clement the eight that followed after him thinke of himselfe Thus by this example wee see what a dangerous thing it is to bee raised in outward honour and yet still the spirit to continue base and vile 7 Above all you who are honourable and great in the world you had need labour to bee gracious because sin is more unsutable to your condition than to others It was the complaint of the Church Lam. 4. 5. that those who were brought up in Scarlet did embrace the dung How unsutable was this to have the highest places and the lowest spirits Bernard writing to a noble Virgin who was godly he sayes that others were cloathed with purple and silke but their consciences were poore beggerly they glistered with their Iewels but were base in their manners but you sayes he without are meanly clad but within shine exceeding beautifull not to humane but to Divine eyes How unsutable was the one but how comely and sutable the other It is reported of Scipio Asricanus that when he took new Carthage he took a young Gentlewoman prisoner who was so faire that she ravished all mens eyes this Scipio then said If I were but a common souldier I would enjoy this Damsell but being Commander of an Armie I will not meddle with her and so preserving her entire restored her to her friends Thus he though a Heathen thought wickednesse too meane for and unsutable to greatnesse Sinne is uncomely any where much more uncomely amongst great ones and grace is comely where ever it is much more to the great ones of the earth As Aeneas Sylvius was wont to say concerning learning I may say the same concerning godlinesse Popular men should esteeme learning as silver Noble men should account it like Gold and Princes should prize it like Pearles Thus if godlinesse be as silver to ordinary men it is to be accounted as gold and pearls to you The Scripture compares beauty in a woman without wisdom to a Pearl-in a Swines snour Pro. 11. 22. as a thing unsutable Thus are all outward excellencies where there is not grace 8 And would it not be a grievous thing to you to see poore inferiour meane men and women to be lifted up to glory your selves cast out an eternall curse have not many of them most excellent pretious spirits doe they not doe God farre more service than you doe they not bring more honor to his Name than ever you did Think then with your selves Why should God put those who are of such choice pretious spirits into such a low condition and raise me to such an high Is it not because he intends to give me my portion in this life but reserves better mercies for them afterwards It would bee very grievous indeed if it should prove so 9 The hopes we have of the continuance of our peace in the happy enjoyment of those pretious liberties of the Gospel that in so great mercy have been continued unto us depends much upon the worke of Gods grace upon your souls If God takes off your spirits from common vanities the pleasures of the flesh from the poore low things of the world from your own private ends and causes the feare of his great Name to fall upon them and raiseth them to the love of and delight in the great things of godlinesse to be given up wholy to him to lift up his great Name we shall then look upon you as the joyfull hopes of our souls that God still doth will delight in the blessing peace prosperity of his people But if we see darknesse upon your spirits then a dismall night of darknes is upon us As when we see it wax dark in the valleys we say it is towards night if it begins to be dark upon the hills it is nigh night but if it be dark in the skie it is night indeed So where we see the workes of darknesse amongst the people it is a signe that a night is comming but where we see them in those of a higher ranke in the Gentry it makes us feare that the night is nearer but if in the Nobility and the great men then it is a dismall night indeed Wherefore be you exhorted in the Name of the Lord to labour much that you may have more gracious and holy spirits than others together with your dignities whereby you are lifted up above others Wee envie not your honours we desire that they may be raised higher by grace Grace may well stand with the enjoyment of all your
dignities yea grace is the only thing that blesseth them and advanceth them And you whose spirits God hath raised above others in the excellencies of your parts and many excellent endowments of learning you have who are men of larger understandings of higher apprehensions than others and can looke upon ordinary men as low and meane in respect of the difference between your parts and theirs Do you labour yet to raise your spirits higher by grace and godlinesse that as you differ from them in naturall excellencies so you may differ from them much more in spirituall and divine How eminent would you be in grace if those parts and abilities of learning you have were sanctified for God What blessed instruments might you be of glory to God of comfort and encouragement to his people but otherwise your parts and gifts are poisoned a sinfull wicked heart will poison all It may be said of many as it was of Pope Eugenius the second he was a man of great Learning and great Eloquence with a mixture of great hypocrisie If it may bee thus said of any He is a man indeed of excellent parts very learned of strong abilities but he hath a corrupt spirit he is a man of a corrupt minde surely these parts are all poisoned no marvell then though such men swell so much by reason of them Parts unsanctified doe exceedingly enlarge mens spirits to be so much the more capable of spirituall wickednesse more than others of meaner and lower parts can be your parts will aggravate all your sinnes and increase your damnation It is a lamentable thing that such excellent parts and abilities as many have which might be of so great use for God and his Church yet that they should vanish into froth It was the great complaint of one Robertus Gallus a famous man an opposer of the corruptions of those times in which he lived which was in the 13. Century He compared the Schoole-Doctors to one having bread and good wine hanging on both his sides yet notwithstanding he was gnawing hungerly on a flint-stone Thus they leaving the wholesome food in the Scriptures busied themselves with subtile questions wherein there was no edification or comfort to the soule thus their excellent parts did all vanish into nothing Now if it be so grievous a thing for parts and learning to be imployed about meane and unworthy things how much more grievous is it when they are employed against God Oh what great cause have we then to pray for these men whose spirits are raised by naturall parts and how great cause have they themselves to seeke God and to use all meanes that their spirits might bee likewise raised by grace that that great blessing of parts and learning might be blessed to them by Gods bestowing upon them this other spirit Oh consider what an opprobrious thing it is to you that God should have more feare honour service from men of lower farre meaner weaker abilities That their hearts should close more with the wayes of godlinesse That their hearts should be more enlarged towards God than yours That they should enjoy more heavenly spirituall communion with God than you yea such communion with God as you are altogether unacquainted withall And that at length their soules should be saved and for ever blessed when yours shall be cast out as filth and an everlasting abhorring from the presence of the Lord What a grievous thing will it be to you when it shall appeare that your parts shall serve for no other and than to enlarge your soules to be more capable of the wrath of God than other men for be you assured that none are so filled with Gods wrath as knowing men It was the grievous complaint of S. Austin in his time The unlearned sayes he rise up and take heaven by force and we with all our learning are thrust down into hell It is a speech well knowne to Scholers of how great use might it be if God did settle it upon their hearts And S. Bernard hath a speech somewhat to the like purpose Let the wise of the world sayes he who minde high things and yet feeding upon the earth let them with their wisdome goe downe into hell And Luther hath a notable story which may be very usefull for this purpose It is in his writings upon the fourth Commandement which he makes the third It is to shew how the holinesse of the spirits of meane and unlearned men shall confound great understanding learned men where there is not the like godlinesse In the time of the Councel of Constance he tells us There were two Cardinalls riding to the Councell and in their journey they saw a shepherd in the field weeping one of them pitying him sayes that he could not passe by but he must needs go to yonder man and comfort him and comming neare to him hee asked him why he wept he was loath to tell him at first but being urged he told him saying I looking upon this Toad considered that I had never praised God as I ought for making mee such an excellent creature as a man comely and reasonable I have not blessed him that hee made not me such a deformed Toad as this When the Cardinall heard this hee was struck with it considering that hee had received greater mercies than this poore man and he was so struck as hee fell downe presently dead from his Mule his servants lifting him up and bringing him to the Citie hee came to life againe and then cried out Oh Saint Austine how truely didst thou say The unlearned rise and they take heaven and we with all our learning wallow in flesh and bloud You therefore whom God hath honoured with excellent parts that you may not be thus confounded another day before the Lord and his blessed Angels and Saints bee you restlesse in your spirits till you finde God hath added a further beautie to them even the beautie of holinesse the sanctifying graces of his Holy Spirit that may make you lovely in his eyes truely honourable before him and for ever blessed of him Take heed you rest not either in gifts of learning or in gifts of moralitie the gifts of moralitie are yet a further ornament to mens spirits but yet they come short of those divine excellencies of spirit that will make it blessed for ever Wee reade of many who were very eminent in morall excellencies and yet altogether strangers from the life of grace As for example Iosephus lib. 15. c. 8. reports of Herod the King that which would make one thinke hee was raised to very high morall excellencies once making a speech to his Army amongst other passages he hath this Perhaps some men will say that right and equitie is on our side but that the greater number of men and meanes are with the other but this their speech is unworthy of my followers for with those with whom justice is with those also God is and where God is
are not drawne out maintained or increased by spirituall objects and duties but it is otherwise where true spiritual excellencies are such a one goes to Ordinances and holy duties with expectation to meet with the Lord there Hee can discerne and feele the gracious presence of the Lord he findes the Spirit of the Lord breathing graciously upon his spirit and rofreshing his soule with much quickening and life and sweetnesse hee findes his spirit drawne out by them his heart much inlarged his graces much increased in the use of them or if at some times he wants this then hee is sensible of the want of it of that difference that now hee feeles betweene that which sometimes hee hath had and that which now hee wants but the other is sensible of no such want all times are alike with him Thus you see how you may examine your spirits whether the excellencies of them be naturall whether they be onely morall or truely spirituall By these Notes you may see that to bee true of your selves that our Saviour said to his Disciples in another case You know not of what spirit you are Though God hath given you many excellent blessings beautified your spirits with many excellents endowments which are in themselves lovely desirable yet he hath not raised your spirits to that true spirituall excellency that he useth to raise the spirits of his people unto even in this world There are yet other higher excellencies to be attained to to be sought after without which all the other you have will vanish and never bring up your soules to the enjoyment of God as yours in Christ But what should be done that we may get another spirit Worke what you can upon your hearts what ever truth may further convince you of the difference of spirits that you may bee throughly convinced that there is indeed a vast essentiall difference and that you may see into the evill of your spirits and bee sensible of the want of this true spirituall excellency and lie downe before God dejected and humbled in the sight thereof Secondly bee much in the company of the godly When Saul was among the Prophets the Spirit of God came upon him he began to prophesie too Elijah told Elisha that if he were with him when he was taken up then hee should have his spirit come upon him wherefore Elisha kept close to him would by no meanes leave his company By being much in the company of the godly you will come to see some beams of the excellency of their spirits shine out to you whereby you will see that your spirits are not like theirs that they are in a happier condition than you that they are men in a nearer reference to God than you you will soone discerne that surely the world is mistaken in these men Thirdly frequent the Ordinances of God where the Spirit uses to breath set your soules before the worke of Gods Spirit The Spirit breaths where it listeth therefore it must bee attended upon in those wayes which it self chuseth Though your spirits bee never so dead and polluted who knowes but that at length in the attending upon God in his way the Spirit of God may breath upon you may breath in you the breath of life it hath breath'd upon as dead polluted spirits as yours and it hath cleansed them sanctified them it hath filled them full of spirituall and glorious excellencies Fourthly nourish and make good use of those common workes of Gods Spirit you have already they have much excellency in them if they be not rested in but improved they may be very serviceable for the worke of Gods grace but as Christ sayes of the riches of the world If you bee not faithfull in them who will trust you with the true riches so if you be not carefull to make use of the common works of Gods Spirit how can it be expected that the Lord should blesse you with further mercy this way Bee sure you doe not wilfully go against the rules of right reason you are convinced of do not darken that light of reason that God hath set up in you do not extinguish those sparkes in naturall conscience that God hath kindled there do not dead those principles you have received in your education use that strength of reason resolution and naturall conscience you have to keepe in your spirits that they bee not let out to feed upon sinfull delights With what face can you complaine of weaknesse and yet feed your distempers There is little hope of such as have extinguished the light of their common principles which once they had in an eminent māner their light of reason once was at least as a faire Candle-light but now it is like the snuffe in a socket almost drowned quenched with their filthy lusts How just with God were it that these men should be left to die and perish for ever in their filth Fifthly seek earnestly from God to renew to sanctifie your spirits it is he that is the Father of spirits and the spirit of man is under no other power but the power of God himselfe and he hath the command of all and with him there is abundance of spirit and he is willing yea hee hath promised to give his Spirit to them that aske it Luke 11. 13. But you will say how can I pray without the Spirit I answer put thy selfe upon prayer and who knowes but assistance and blessing may come present thy selfe before the Lord tell him what thou apprehendest of the vilenesse of the filthinesse of thy spirit what convictions thou hast of the necessitie of the renewing of it of the excellencie thou seest in the spirits of his servants tell him of those desires thou hast to be blessed with such a spirit O Lord thou hast given me many bodily blessings great blessings of my estate more than others many excellent gifts but Lord there are other mercies my soule wants Oh that thou wouldest give me another spirit As this Caleb Ioshua 15. 19. gave his daughter Aohsah a blessing namely the upper springs and the neither spring so doe thou seeke of God that as he hath given thee the blessing of the nether springs so hee may give thee the blessing of the upper namely that he may blesse thy soule with true spirituall blessings Sixtly be sure thou lookest up to God in Christ to seek this mercy in him look on him as annoynted by the Father with the fulnesse of the Spirit look to him in whom all the fulnesse of the God-head dwels bodily that out of this fulnesse spirituall blessings may bee conveyed to thee for otherwise whatsoever thou seekest for of God and not in this way thou seekest but in a naturall way Seventhly be carefull to observe the beginnings of those speciall stirrings of Gods Spirit in thee those gales that sometimes thou mayest feele and then put on what possibly
if David should have said I am resolved to walke before thee in a perfect way and yet I have not thy gracious presence with mee oh when wilt thou come unto mee but still whatsoever becomes of mee I am determined to continue walking within my house with a perfect heart The like place we have Psal 119. 8. I will keepe thy statutes oh forsake me not utterly As if he should have said O Lord thou hast in some degree forsaken mee thou seemest as if thou wouldest forsake mee yet Lord I am determined that I will keep thy Statutes Thus the upright heart resolves Though I should perish everlastingly yet I will perish following the Lord and if I cannot follow him I will cry after him and if I cannot cry after him I will look towards him yea though he appears to bee angry yet will I follow him as â—ob Though hee kils me yet will I trust in him Though there be much guiltinesse upon the spirit so that the devill and an unbeleeving sullen heart would much discourage from following after the Lord yet still it will not leave off but it labours to encourage it selfe as Samuel did the people 1 Sam. 12. 20 21. Samuel said unto the people Feare not ye have done all this wickednesse yet turne not aside from following the Lord but serve the Lord with all your heart and turne you not aside for then should you goe after vaine things which cannot prosit nor deliver for they are vain Thus the soule that followes the Lord reasons with it selfe Though it is true I have sinned mine iniquities are great God may justly be provoked and for ever reject me yet I will not turne aside from following him I know there is no good to be got els-where though I be unworthy of mercy yet God is worthy of honour and therefore what ever I can doe I will that God may have honour though I perish yea this soule though it receives many a repulse yet still it will follow As the woman of Canaan though Christ called her Dogge yet she leaves not off she acknowledgeth her selfe to be a Dog yet still she seekes Yea though God seems to go crosse wayes quite contrary to that the soule expected yet still this soul will follow him even in those wayes As when the Lord called Abraham to follow him into a Land that should flow with milke and honey Gen. 12. 1. Abraham was content to leave his owne countrey his fathers house his kindred and all his friends and notwithstanding as soone as he came into that Land he found there was a famine in the land Verse 10. so that he was forced to get into Egypt and that with the perill of his life or else he must have starved Flesh and blood would have murmured much at this and have said What is this that Land that God said hee would shew me is this that fruitfull Land for which I must leave my Country and all my friends and now as soone as I come into it I am ready to starve in it and yet Abraham followed God still in all the wayes he was pleased to lead him in Againe when God promised to multiply his Seed as the Starres of heaven yet for twenty yeares after this Sarah was barren God seemed to neglect his promise and after when he had a childe in whom all the Nations of the earth were to be blessed yet this Child Abraham must kill And here God seemes to goe crosse to his Promise yet Abraham followes God still One who followes God fully indeed lookes up to the goodnesse of God in himselfe and in his Promise not to it as it appeares to sense hee sees more good in the Promise then in all the things in the world though hee sees nothing though hee seeles nothing in himselfe nor in any creature for the present and what worke hee followes the Lord in hee will not leave imperfect he will not give over till hee sees something come of it if he followes God for a broken heart he will pray and meditate and pray and meditate again and again if it were a thousand times and a thousand times over again till the worke comes to some effect And so for power over a corruption and strength in any grace where there is truth of grace there will bee working like fire that never leaves working till it breakes forth and gets the victory Hence that place of our Saviour Matth. 12. 20. where hee sayes hee will not quench the smoaking flaxe nor breake the bruised Reed till hee send forth Judgement into victory If wee observe the place of the Prophet from whence this is taken which is Esay 42. 3 the words are He shall bring forth judgement unto truth noting that wheresoever there is truth there will bee victory Christ will nourish the smoaking flaxe that is the least worke of grace till Judgement that is this worke of sanctification bee brought into victory and overcome what opposeth it If hee brings any beginnings of grace to truth the victory is already gotten It is reported of Master Bradford that he would never leave off when hee was in holy duties till hee found something comming in as in confession of sinne till hee found his heart melt and breake for sinne in seeking pardon till hee found some quieting of his spirit in some intimation from God of his love and so for grace till hee found his heart warmed and quickned It is an excellent thing indeed to resolve to follow the Lord in duty howsoever though nothing should come in by it to our selves but yet the heart that is right will never be satisfied in the performance of a duty till it finde some manifestation of Gods presence in it some worke of God put forth upon it by it it will not rest in duty performed it is not satisfied in good inclinations in good desires it hath nor in gifts it receives nor in comforts it findes in the creature nor in enlargements and more inward joyes but it must have grace and God it must have some impression of God upon it to carry with it as a Seale of that presence of God it did enjoy in the dutie it so strives with the Lord as it resolves not to let him goe till it hath got a blessing It is a very full expression that S. Bernard hath to this purpose in two or three words Oh what a mercy were it continually to enjoy that which he saith Oh Lord saith he I never goe away from thee without thee he meanes he never leaves off duty till hee gets the presence of God and so carries the Lord along with him Oh how often doe we goe from God without God! we thinke it enough that we have beene before him in holy duties though indeed we still abide strangers to him he to us How often doth God send us empty away from his presence which we should account a sore and grievous affliction But
Galathians at the first they would have pluckt out their eyes for S. Paul their affections were so stirred by his Ministery they apprehended some great matters in the message of the Gospel that S. Paul brought but afterwards finding that those great and excellent things that the Gospel spake of were onely spirituall which their carnall hearts had little skill of and could not relish their affections were soon cooled they fell off from S. Paul Take heed therefore of resting to these flashy affections for if you do when these are gone your hearts will bee left in darkenesse Many examples are knowne of such who have proved to bee most vile Apostates yet time was wherein they have had many meltings much sudden strong joy so as they have professed that the joy they have found hath beene so great that if it had continued but a while they could not have lived but their spirits would haue expired A solid worke of the soule proceeding from an humble broken heart casting it selfe upon the faithfulnesse and freenesse of the grace of God in the promise for pardoning and sanctifying mercy and there resting so as willing to venture it selfe there for ever though it hath no present sense of joy yet it is farre more to be prized than the strongest of these sudden flashes of affection These flashy affections which have not principles to maintain them are like to Cōduits in the City running with wine at the Coronatiō of Princes or some other great triumph but it will not hold they are like Land-floods which seeme to bee a great sea but come to nothing in a day or two As there may be flashes of terrour and yet no true feare of God The Israelites were terrified when the Law was given and yet God saith Deut. 5. 29. Oh that there were a heart that they would feare me So there may bee flashes of joy desire sorrow and yet no true sanctified joy desire or sorrow at all There is much deceit in mens affections Affections not well principled not well grounded soone vanish time will weare them away The people of Israel at the giving of the Law had their affections much stirred so that one would have thought they had been engaged unto the Lord for ever and yet within fourty dayes their hearts were so taken off from God and his Law as if God had never made himselfe knowne unto them they call to Aaron to make them gods to goe before them and say to the Molten Calfe These be thy gods O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt Another notable example wee have of people whose affections are strong for the present and yet worne away in a little time in the 13. of Hosea 1. When Ephraim spake trembling hee exalted himselfe in Israel but when he offended in Baal hee died When Ephraim spake that is when Ieroboam who was of the Tribe of Ephraim declared his purpose to alter the worship of God the people at the first were exceedingly affected with it they stood all trembling at such a strange thing as that was the very thought of it made their hearts to shake because they knew how jealous a God the Lord was But Ieroboam exalted himselfe in Israel hee went on resolutely in his way and would bring his purpose to effect then the people in a little time were brought to offend in Baal and then they died and they became a dead sottish heartlesse people fit to receive or do any thing though never so vile Fifthly others follow the Lord but they follow him in a dull heavy manner there is no spirit no heat no life in their following of him therefore they doe not follow him fully They rest themselves in a middle temper in a lukewarme course they like well of Religion and profession but what need men goe so farre what need they doe so much As Pharaoh said to the Israelites Exod. 8. 28. I will let you goe onely you shall not goe farre away The judgement of these men is for a middle way they are mixed spirited men like Ephraim Hosea 7. 8. mixed with the people as a cake not turned halfe baked and halfe dough they goe on in an ordinary track of performing the duties of Religion without any growth or any sensiblenesse of the want of growth they set upon some faire way of Religion which they perswade themselves is enough and that they meane to hold to they are content to make use of Christ and the profession of Religion so farre as may serve their owne turnes but to entertaine Christ and his truth as an absolute Lord to rule them that their spirits cannot beare in their converse there is no ribauldry no filthinesse so there is no warmth no heat to refresh and quicken any gratious spirit that hath to deale with them in all the Duties of Religion that they perform they take no paines with their hearts to work them to God Luther cals such kind of men Cainists that is such as Cain who offered to God the work done but do not offer themselves to God they content thēselues with generall hopes of Gods mercy upon weake and unexamined grounds they never trouble themselves in calling things into question about their conditions and their eternall estates they never lay to heart the miseries of Gods Church and the publike cause of God is not deare unto them they have not heat enough to cause a melting spirit for the dishonor that God hath by themselves much more is that heat wanting that should keepe their hearts melting for that dishonour which God hath from others Now this temper is so farre from following the Lord fully as it is loathsome and abominable to the Lord so loathsome as he threatens to spue such out of his mouth It is observable that of all the seven Churches we read of in the Revelation there is some good said every one is cōmended for somthing onely this Church of Laodicea excepted which was a luke-warme Church and of this there is no good at all said and yet none of the Churches had that high esteeme of it selfe as this had none of them conceited themselves to be rich and encreased with goods and to have need of nothing as this did No people doth so blesse themselves in their way as luke-warme people doe and yet no people more abominable to God than they What a dishonour is this luke-warme temper to God as if God were such a God as such flat sleight dead-hearted formall services as are performed by them were sufficient to honour his holy great dreadfull and infinite Majestie God pronouneeth a curse in Malac. 1. verse 14. against those who doe not offer the best that possibly they can in sacrifice to him and gives this Reason of it Because my Name is dreadfull and I am a great King saith the Lord As if he should say Therefore onely the most high and excellent things that can bee
yeares after this promise was made there were but seventy soules that came out of Abrahams loynes namely when Iacob went down into Egypt which if we compute the time wee shall find to bee just two hundred and fifteene yeares for Abraham was seventy and five yeares old when the promise was made hee was an hundred yeares old when Isaac was borne Isaac was forty yeares old before he married and hee continued twenty yeares without a child and Iacob was one hundred and thirty yeares old when he went into Egypt so that the time fals to bee just two hundred and fifteene yeares which was just halfe the time from the promise till the people of Israels comming out of Egypt which S. Paul saith Gal. 3. 17. was foure hundred and thirty years Now observe that whereas God halfe this time did but little for Abraham in the fulfilling of this his promise yet because Abraham followed him fully ventured himselfe wholly upon the faithfulnesse of the Lord see how fully God came in with his mercy at the last for in the second two hundred and fifteen yeares hee so encreased his seed that from seventy soules they were growne up to bee sixe hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty Num. 1. 45 46. and these onely from twenty yeares old and upward such men as were able to goe to warre there was thus many of these besides all children and women which it is like were far the greater number yea and the Tribe of Levy was not numbered amongst this number there were two and twenty thousand and upwards of them besides Thus you see how fully God comes in at the last in his mercy and making good his word of promise to such who follow him fully Be you as full as you can in following the Lord the Lord will bee as full towards you in doing good unto you Gods mercy shall be every as full as your obedience can bee 2 Sam. 22. 26. with the upright thou wilt shew thy selfe uprigh The words are in the Originall With the strong and perfect thou wilt shew thy selfe strong and perfect God will goe on strongly to his perfection of mercy towards them who doe goe on strongly in their perfection of obedience towards him Psal 11. 7. The Lord loveth righteousnesse and his countenance doth behold the upright The words translated word for word are thus The Lord loveth righteousnesses and his faces shall behold the upright Righteousnesses that is when all the duties of righteousnesse are together And his faces shall behold that is all the severall kindes and manners of the blessed comfortable manifestations of his love the upright shall have The great difficulties thou meetest with in Gods wayes if thou beest not discouraged but goest thorow them they shall turne to thy greatest comforts As Caleb who was not discouraged by the Anakims those great Gyants and the strong places they lived in which so much discouraged the rest Therefore Hebron the place of the Gyants was given unto him for a possession Iosuah 14. 12 13 14 and 15 verses God certainly will remember the kindnesse of those who are willing to follow him through the wildernesse of difficulties and discouragements Ierem. 2. 2. You who doe thus shall die without staine without any blur which few doe your memories shall be sweet and blessed when you are dead and gone You shall have an entrance ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 11. This is promised not onely to those that are godly but abound in it as verse 8. They shall be as a ship comming gloriously into the Haven with full saile Thus S. Paul 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. with much confidence and full assurance concludes That seeing hee had fought the good fight and finished his course and kept the faith henceforth there was laid up for him a crowne of righteousnesse which the righteous Iudge should give him at that day hee challengeth it upon the righteousnesse of God When the soules of these who have followed God fully are to enter into heaven the everlasting doores shall stand wide open for them as when great men come to a house the great gates are set open for their entrance and in Heaven oh how full a reward shall there be there for them as 2 Ep. Ioh. 8. vers There is fulnesse of joy at Gods right hand Psalme 16. ult So full as shall bee more than can enter into them they must enter into it because it cannot enter into them there they shall not taste of joy and happinesse but shall bee filled up with them This Christ encouraged his Disciples withall Luke 22. 28 29. Yee are they which have continued with mee in my temptations and I appoint unto you a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed unto mee With this S. Paul encouraged himselfe in all his afflictions hee met withall while hee was following the Lord 2 Cor. 4. ver 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding eternall waight of glory First it is glory and this word alone implies that there is exceeding much in it but further it is a waight of glory yea an eternall waight of glory and more than that an exceeding eternall waight of glory as if yet it were not exprest fully enough hee addes further a farte more exceeding eternall waight of glory and what expression can bee fuller than this This was that likewise that incouraged Moses in his full following the Lord forsaking the pleasures the riches the treasures of Egypt that hee migh follow the Lord fully For hee had saith the Text a respect unto the recompence of reward Hebrewes 11. 26. And you whose hearts and wayes are fully after the Lord have the more cause to rejoyce in this your blessednesse because it it is the blessednesse but of a few Iniquity shall abound saith Christ and the love of many shall waxe cold but hee that endures to the end shall bee saved It is but a hee in the singular number that endures to the end Let these encouragements then fill your hearts with joy and your spirits with renewed resolutions and vigour to fill up your course let them fill your sailes that you may goe on with strength and prosper and be for ever blessed in your way I conclude this Vse with that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 7. 1. Seeing we have these promises these incouragements let us labour to perfect our holinesse in the feare of God And thus I passe to the last Vse which is of Exhortation CAP. V. An Exhortation to follow the Lord fully NOw the Lord carry our hearts fully after himselfe As the two blinde men Matth. 20. vers last as soone as their eyes were opened they followed Christ so were our eyes opened wee would certainly follow after the Lord were they fully opened our hearts would follow fully Many of you have some convictions
all the workings of God in the waies of his Providence they are mercy unto such they work mercifully for their good And further observe they are not onely mercy but mercy in truth God hath ingaged his truth that they should thus worke for them God hath tyed this mercy to them by his truth See here the difference between Gods mercy to his people and his mercy to other men First some of Gods pathes may be mercy to other men but not all or some particular acts of God rather than his pathes God doth not ordinarily goe on in a track and course of his mercies with them as hee doth with his people As their obedience is onely in some particular acts and no continued course so Gods mercy to them which comes from his generall bounty is manifested onely in some particular acts of his and not in any constant course But it is otherwise in his dealings towards his people they goe on in a constant course of obediēce they make Gods Commandements their pathes and therefore God goes on in a constant course of loving kindnesse towards them hee makes his mercy to them the ordinary pathes wherein hee walkes As Psalm 36. 10. O continue thy loving kindnesse to them that know thee and thy righteousnesse to the upright in heart The word in the Originall is Draw out thy loving kindnesse Gods mercies to his owne are a continued Series they are drawne out from a constant Spring they come forth from a never-failing Fountaine there is a connexion betweene one mercy and another but as for others God now and then onely casts his favours on them And observe a second difference all Gods paths are mercy to his people not some few there are none of Gods dealings but ayme at good towards them if God should cause one favour to follow another towards some wicked man out of the fulnesse of his bounty yet it cannot be said of any wicked man in the world that all the pathes of God are mercy towards him God hath his pathes of wrath and judgement wherein he is comming towards him though hee bee little aware of it But this blessing of all the pathes of God being mercy is a peculiar blessing to such as follow the Lord fully in the uprightnesse of their hearts in all the pathes of service and obedience And thirdly observe yet a greater difference than the former All the pathes of God are not onely mercy but mercy and truth to his people though God may shew mercy to others yet he hath not tyed his mercy to them by his truth they cannot challenge mercy from him by vertue of his truth if they have mercy it is more than they could have expected they cannot be sure of the continuance of it one houre they have nothing to shew for their mercy they doe not hold their mercy upon that Tenor of Gods truth which his people doe Nay when God comes to make good his truth to give his truth the glory of it then there is an end put to their mercy it is cut off from them but there is a blessed connexion between Mercy Truth in the good which Gods people doe enjoy according to the like expression in the forenamed 36. Psa 10. the loving kindnesse and the righteousnesse of God are put both together as the portion of an upright heart And hence the mercies they have are no other than such as they may expect as they may build upon before they come such as are made over to them by the truth of God and when they are come they may bee sure to hold them because they hold them upon such a blessed Tenure as GODS owne truth And hence the Scripture calls them sure mercies See how confident David was of holding Gods mercies Psalm 23. 6. Surely goodnesse and mercy shall follow mee all the dayes of my life And further all that God hath is for their good the heavens and earth and all Creatures are theirs and worke continually for them Hosea 2. 21. 22. I will heare the heavens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the Corne and the Wine and the Oyle and they shall heare Iezreel 1 Cor. 3. 22 23 The world life death things present things to come all are yours and yee are Christs and Christ is Gods Rom. 8. 28. And we know that all things worke together for good to them that love God This is a mysterie that the world is not acquainted with but we know it saith the Apostle The world may thinke that things worke against us yea all things in the world seeme to work against us but we know that all things doe work for good they work together for good though some particular things considered apart may worke for good to other men yet take all together and they worke their ruine but altogether workes for good to us although the good doth not seeme yet to come forth yet it is a working for us stay but till the worke bee done and it will appeare Good it will bee though it may bee not the same good that wee thinke of yet a good that will bee better for us a greater good than we imagined or desired Now then if all that is Gods bee for thee and workes thus fully for thee is there not reason then that all that is thine should be for God and worke as fully for him Thine did I say the truth is there is nothing thine for all is Gods God hath a greater propriety in and right to whatsoever thou art and hast than thy selfe but God is pleased to let it bee called thine that thou maist freely give it to him and if it bee his owne why should hee not have it fully If he thus inlargeth himselfe towards thee how unequall is it that thou shouldest be scant in thy service to him and in thine honouring of him Fifthly wicked men doe fully follow after that which is evill an infinite shame confusion then would it be to us an infinite dishonour likewise unto God if wee should not as fully follow the Lord in that which is good Ecclesiastes 9. 3. The heart of the sonnes of men is full of evill and Chap. 8. 11. The heart of the sonnes of men is fully set in them to doe evill The Seventy translate this The heart of man hath a Plerophorie to evill it is set upon it without any doubt or suspition there is a plerophorie of boldnesse to sinne in them why should there not bee a plerophorie that is a full perswasion of faith in Gods servants to that which is good Micah 7. 3. the Scripture saith that wicked men doe evill with both hands earnestly Esay 57. 5. Idolaters there are said to inflame themselves with their Idols and Ieremy Chap. 8. 2. they are said 1. To love their Idols 2. To serve them 3. To walke after them 4 To seek them 5. To worship them all these 5. expressions together in one
God saith David maketh my way perfect the word is He frees my way Solvit so it is translated by some Hee frees it from snares and this is a great mercy Hence Psalme 18. 32. Where this thanksgiving of David is againe repeated there the word is translated Dedit Hee hath given my way to be perfect this is a good gift indeed for God to make a mans wayes free and cleare before him to take off the temptations that did ingage and insnare his spirit and then as Verse 34. of that place in Samuel He maketh my feet as Hindes feet O how swiftly and powerfully then may the soule runne in Gods wayes when it is thus freed Psalm 119. 44 45. I shall keep thy Law continually for ever and ever and I will walke at liberty When the heart is at liberty then it goes on continually for ever and ever in following after the Lord but if there be any secret ingagement in it it will be weary and one time or other will leave off a man that is fettered can neither go apace nor continue long A fourth thing that hinders men in following God fully it is going out in the strength of their owne resolutions not in any strength that they receive out of the fulnesse of Jesus Christ they trust more to their owne promises than to Gods Luther reports of Staupicius a Germane Divine that hee acknowledged of himselfe that before he came to understand aright the free and powerful grace of Jesus Christ that he vowed resolved an hundred times against some particular sin and never could get power over it at last he saw the reason to be the trusting to his own resolutions A fift cause is the meeting with more difficulties in Gods ways than wee made account of when Christians thinke onely of the good and sweet that they shall meet with in Gods wayes but they doe not cast in their thoughts what the troubles are like to bee that they shall finde in them like Ioseph who dreamed of his preferment and honour that hee should have above his brethren but dreamt not of his selling into Egypt nor of his imprisonment there Christians should at the first entrance into Gods wayes expect the utmost difficulties they should enter upon those termes to incounter with great troubles if they meane to sollow God fully in them It is a shame for any Christian to account any trouble that he meets withall in Gods wayes to be as a strange thing unto him Because the Lord had takē S. Paul as a chosen vessell unto himselfe and purposed to draw his heart fully after him observe how God deales with him in his first entrance into his way Acts 19. 16. I will shew him how great things hee must suffer for my Names sake But what then would take off the heart and carry it fully after the Lord These three things will doe it First the reall sight and thorow sense of sinne as the greatest evill Whē God leads his people weeping and with supplications then hee brings them into a straight way wherein they shall not stumble Ier. 31. 9. and againe Ier. 50. 4 5. the Lord saith that his people shall goe weeping and seeke the Lord their God they shal aske the way to Zion with their faces thither-ward saying Come let us joyne our selves to the Lord in a perpetuall Covenant that shall not be forgotten When they are led weeping in the thorow sense of their sinne then their faces are set toward Zion and then they are willing to joyne themselves to God in a perpetuall Covenant The second thing that will take off the heart fully is the cleare sight of God in these two considerations 1. In relation to our selves to see how there is all good in him for us to enjoy fully though wee have nothing but him alone what ever wee would have in any creature in any way so farre as is good for us it is to bee had in him when the soule is thorowly convinced of this it comes off sweetly and flowes fully after the Lord. 2. Consider God in relation to all other good thus that nothing else hath any true goodnesse in it but in reference and subordination to him The third thing that will take off the heart fully is the feare of God and the feare of eternity powerfully falling upon the soule and deeply taking impression in it For the feare of God take that place 2 Cor. 2. 1. Perfect your holinesse in the feare of God The feare of God is a great means to bring your holinesse to perfection and for the second that place in Phil. 2. 12. Worke out your salvation with feare and trembling The feare of the eternall salvation of the soule of the infinite consequence of it will cause us to labour to work it out CAP. VI. That it is the choicenesse of a mans spirit that causes him to follow GOD fully FRom the reference that this following of God fully hath to the excellency of Calebs spirit The Doctrine that ariseth is this That it is the choicenesse and excellency of a mans spirit that causeth him to follow God fully As Comets that are called blazing stars do soone vanish because of the basenes of the matter out of which they are but Starres in the Firmament continue because they are of an heavenly substance so there are many blazing Professors of Religion who rise high for a while but at last they come to nothing because their spirits are base and vile but those who have heavenly and choice spirits they god on in their way finish their course to the honour of God and his truth Pro. 11. 5. The righteousnesse of the perfect shall direct his way but the wicked shall fall Ezec. 36. 26 27. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you c. And after it followes And cause you to walke in my Statutes and yee shall keepe my Iudgements and doe them This new spirit will cause a man to walk in Gods Statutes a man of such a spirit shall certainly keepe his judgements and do them even to the end It is not strength of parts that will carry a man thorow nor strength of Argument nor strength of conviction nor strength of naturall conscience nor strength of resolution nor strength of common grace it is onely this choice excellent spirit that other spirit of which wee have spoke so much before In this point I shall follow these three things 1 Wee shall shew what there is in this spirit that doth carry on a man fully 2 Why onely this can doe it 3 Apply it For the first it is the choicenesse of a mans spirit that causeth a man to goe fully after God for 1 By this a man comes to have a more full presence of God with him than any other man can have such a man is nearer unto God than others hee hath more of the nature of