19 12. secret faults or are purely cleansed from all the stains of hypocrisie But that the bent of the heart is to God that the constant pointing of the needle of our love is to heaven that we approve no sin not the least intumescence fermentation or rising of an evill thought without actuall combate or at least a serious inward habituall displicency of heart against it springing from that radicall hatred which is in us through grace against the least concupiscence Though when we b Rom. 7.22 would doe good evill be present with us yet there is a chrystall fountain of delight in the Law of God bubbling from the inward man that cleanses and carries away the very soil of our thoughts This holiness of heart conformity of will to the Law of God flowes from the grace that dwelleth in us Thou art with me saies David A holy God makes the heart holy the heart of a Saint by the light of holiness sees God a holy God to be with it In c Ps 36.9 thy light we doe see light the light of grace and we shal see light even the light of glory Many infirmities are and will lurk in the choicest of Saints The Ivy of sin will shoot its roots and fibres into the joints and cracks of our Mud-walls but when these fall that shall wither A Saint is alwaies hacking at the boughs of actual and stubbing at the root of originall sin His sincerity makes him to lay about him and though he can't appeal Lord I have no sin yet thus he can Lord be mercifull to me a sinner d Ps 51.9 Hide thy face from my sins the face of thy justice the face of thine anger and look upon the e Ps 84. â— face of thine anointed within the vail f Ps 55.1 hide not thy self from my supplications g Ps 119.19 hide not thy commandments from me O h Ps 69.17 hide not thy face from thy Servant I am i Ps 119.94 thine Lord save me for I have sought thy Precepts I have kept the waies of the Lord and have not k Ps 18.21 wickedly departed from my God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have not dealt so wickedly as to go away from God and his holy wayes through the tentation of any wickednesse Not as if there were any departure from God that were not wicked but I have not committed so great a wickednesse as to fall away from the wayes of God His Judgments a Ps 18.22 were before my face and I did not put away his Statutes from me Neither his Statutes in respect to purity of worship nor his judgments that is his judiciall Law in respect to morall obedience Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to the cleannesse of my hands in his b V. 24. eye sight To wash our hands in the Laver of the Sanctuary before his eyes because he sees them not because men see their impurity David would not rake in any foul dunghill of sin or pollute his fingers with the pitch of bribery or the sanies the ulcerous matter of any corruption because God saw him Nay I was upright c V. 23 before him and have kept my self from mine iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have guarded watcht and strictly observed my self as to mine own iniquity whatever it were ambition lying or any fruits of a sanguine complexion Can'st thou thus appeal to God in Prayer that thou keepest thine eye upon God and that the eying of his face guards thy heart from sin Thou may'st then cheerfully infer that God is with thee that he will enlighten the lamp of thy Soul with the light of his love and thus lift up thy Soul with David The Lord my God will enlighten my darknesse and though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no evill for thou wilt be my guid to glory Section 2. A second Appeal may flow from a retrospect a reflection on a well spent life He that hath faithfully appealed about the sincerity of his heart may doubtlesse reap his Sheaves with joy from the Harvest of a holy life For out of the abundance of the heart d Mat. 12.34 the mouth speaketh the hand worketh and the foot runneth In whose hearts are the a Ps 84.5 waies of them that passe through the Valley of Bacah up to the Temple of Beracah Such as have Gods holy waies in their hearts want not feet to walk and run in them when the heart is in the foot it runs nimbly like a Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether They goe from strongth to strength till they all appear before him in Zion Thy law is in b Ps 40.7 8 my heart that 's the root of obedience and therefore lo I come to thee When the heart believes the c Rom. 10.10 mouth confesses unto Salvation when the heart is fixed settled and calmed from carnall fears then d Ps 57.7 108.1 the tongue praises the harp warbles and the ten-string'd Instruments of the Soul make the Temple-Marbles to ring aloud of his glory When the heart bubbles up with a good matter e Ps 45.1 then the tongue becomes the pen of a ready writer The body alas is but the f Rom. 6.13 weapon the organ and altar of the soul When some persons are impeacht of an ungodly life they retort let every one answer for himself their hearts are good and that they are no hypocrites But can hearts be good when lives be naught or can lives be unholy when hearts be gracious Such as the vein is such will the metall prove that 's melted from it as the fountain such is the stream as the root such the fruit like star like influence The Pleiades will soften with showres and Orion will bind with frost The cause and its effects are of the same blood and kindred Out g Pro. 4.23 of the heart are the issues of life naturall carnall and spirituall Whoever can look back on a well ordered conversation to him shall be shewn h â—s 50.23 the Salvation of God He that hath his Quiver full of holy works may shoot at this enemy Death in the gates The ungodly cannot i Ps 1.5 stand in Judgment but he that delights in the Law of the Lord whatever he doth shall prosper when holinesse hath taken root in the heart it blossomes and flowers in peace of conscience and joy of the Spirit and brings forth pleasant fruits in the conversation and goodly spices in the hour of death Like the Psalmist in his affliction so a Saint at death comforts himself with the holy Songs he had warbled in his youth The end of the wicked is to be cut off Ps 77.6 and a Prov. 14 32. he is driven away in his wickednesse but the righteous he that hath walkt uprightly hath hope in his death Mark the perfect and
Ps 23.1 my shepherd I shall not want a full Table trickling Oil a running Cup are Davids portion Such a child that hath a God to his Father V. 5 fears no want Such a Lamb that hath a God to his Shepheard fears no evill His crook and his staffe shall comfort him Here 's green Pastures and pleasant Rivers in the very Valley of Death Faiths prospect of Heaven transports a Saint He sees Deaths Valley but 't is a Gilden Vale. 'T is a narrow Valley he leaps it over with his Shepheards staffe Faiths eyes are strong and its legs nimble He takes his rise from the promise and no sooner dies but is over Kidron At death carnall mens eyes are dim no spectacle no optick Glasse can help them to spie Jerusalem A Saint like Moses hath b Deut. 34.7 strong eyes nor is his natural moisture fled He stands upon the Pisgah of his own Tomb and sees crosse the whole Land of Canaan to the utmost c V. 2. even the Mediterranean Sea Others at death how feeble are d Eccl. 12.3 the knees of their Souls their hands the keepers of their house tremble and their thigh-bones the strong men bow themselves But the feeblest of the inhabitants of Zion I speak of such as stand in specula visionis e Zach. 12.8 in the watch-tower of Faith and look through the glasse of assurance they shall be as David in that day and the house of David shall be as God as the Angell of the Lord before them As David but why as David Sure strong was the faith and piercing the eye of David that saw glory so clearly through all the thick Fogs Mists of the Valley 'T was God was with him that cleared his eyes and pointed with his hands as he did to Moses and f Deut. 34.1 4. caused him to see it But neither Moses nor Aaron must enter to shew that the ceremoniall no nor the morall Law can't waft us over the Brook to Canaan But David the Prince of the new Covenant he shall tread down the Cananites and on his head shall his Crown flourish David the Subject had Daved the g Ps 84.3 King with him David the Servant had David the Son the Son of Jesse had the Son of God for h Ps 110.1 his Lord and Captain And whose Faith shall not flowre by Christs watering and whose fear shall not wither at his presence who fears death when this Shepherd sustains who fears his arriving to Heaven if a God if a God in Covenant if my God and my Father lead me Thou art now with me saies David I 'le not fear for shortly I shall be with thee Gods with us here but we are with him in heaven here drops of Heaven slide into us there we shall swim in heavens Ocean Here a little of the oil of joy trickles into our hearts from a Ps 133.2 the head of Christ there we shall b Mat. 25.21 enter into the fulness of our Lord and Masters joy here it enters into us and there we enter into it But still by virtue of his presence thou art with me and the vigor of his conduct thou shalt lead me Thou art with me to bring me to thee Thy Crook and thy Staffe they comfort me and why For they protect and guide me to thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles Thou wilt shew me the path of life At c Ps 16.11 thy tight hand are pleasures for evermore of all these five I hope to treat in their order If God permit CHAP. VIII Experimentall feelings of the Divine presence choice Comforts to a Saint at Death THou hast made known unto me the wayes of life and what followes Thou d Act. 2.28 shalt make me full of joy from thy countenance Gods face darts one beam of light on the path of a Saint to shine upon his way to glory another beam and that 's of joy upon the heart of a Saint to oil his motion And all but beams yet warming beams and experienc'd beams to hasten him to the Sun it felf A Saint ha's now but beams of joy and blessed be God for beams and such beams as direct and attract to the Sun it self to that Sun of joy to that fulness of joy in his countenance Saints look unto him and their c Ps 34 5. faces are enlightned our looking to God makes us look like him and the neerer to him the more we are like him Gods countenance is of a changing and transforming nature When God lookt upon Moses but through a chinck how did his face shine how lovely was it as well as glorious God smiles on a Saint in love and a Saint reflects upon God with joy But Saints have not only good looks from God but free entertainment He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his Names sake oh how the cool Etesian gales from the rivers of the spirit in ordinances revive and refresh a Saint The experience of present mercies dispells the fears of future evills I will fear no evill for thou art with me God never forsakes a soul in covenant never withdraws his reall though sometimes his visible communion I foresaw the Lord alwaies a Act. 2 2◠27. before my face therefore my heart rejoices c. because thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave By nature Gods not with us but when once the day spring from on high doth visit us grace never sets in an evening whether we sleep or wake we are still with God Here 's the point to know aright that God is with us and we with him Whether we have walkt with God and he with us If Enoch walk with God then God will take him He that walks with God pleases God b Gen. 5.24 The Septuagint render the Hebrew word for walking by pleasing God and the Spirit of God delights in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and uses the same c Heb. 11.5 when treating of Enoch in the New Testament to shew what pleasure God takes in them that walk with him If we walk with God we have fellowship and communion with him God d 1 Joh. 1.6 7. is light and if we walk in light we walk with him Light is holiness and a holy person walks in light and dwells in God le ts not spot our garments and we shall walk with him in white e Rev. 3.4 The fine linnen of holiness alas what Saint doth keep it clean we must wash it daily in the Laver of the Spirit or else no company for a holy God The best of our linnen is but course and yellow it s well if it be sincere and true but then it shall shine with raies of glorious light and be laced and beautified with admirable gifts The Queen f Ps 45.14 shall be brought
unto him in raiment of needlework at the wedding day Now 't is soiled with many a drop and many a foul spot but then as pure as God would have it Now the more 's the pitty 't is patcht and ragged many a Saint is out at heels in his holiness he walks disorderly and uncomely But then we shall have new Coats fine linnen clean and white Rev. 19 8. and change of Raiment from our elder brother Benjamin a Gen. 45.22 shall be fine indeed when he sits at the Table of the Ruler of Canaan 'T is holiness fits us for Table communion in heaven 't is porch communion in grace that brings us neer it hast thou never walkt with God in the porch thou shalt never sit down at the b Luk. 22.30 Table of Christ and drink the new wine of the Kingdome Again As God walks in the light of holiness he walks also in the holy Place of his Temple God delights in his Ordinances in his pure worship We walk with God when our hearts are in communion with him in Ordinances His paths are in the Sanctuary there 's his e Lam. 2.1 footstool and there his goings He d Rev. 2.1 walks among the golden Candlesticks In the Temple all talk of his glory while he sits at the Table of grace and the c Song 1.11 Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof There he hath f Ps 133.3 commanded the blessing and life for evermore Walking in Scripture when applyed to God in communion with Saints is exprest three severall waies Before God with God and after God To walk before God among others one speciall sense is that we are now upon to walk in pure and holy worship Coming up to the Temple is called a coming up g 1 King 14 9. before God our appearing h Ps 56.13 sitting i 1 Sam. 2.30 35. Ps 100.2 c. Ezek. 33.31 walking and abiding before him h And Jerohoam is branded on the account of false worship that he cast God behind his back As God commands his people they shall have no other Gods before him So he forbids any other worship then he hath instituted to serve himself with For he is k Exod. 20.5 a jealous God his eyes do see quickly l Exod. 32.8 and his jealousie will m Dent. 29.18 20. smoak fiercely against such a man and all the curses in the Book shall lye upon him and the Lord will blot his name from under heaven Bold and sawcy is that silly worm that presumes to chalk out a worship for the living God To walk with God is to walk in his wayes in his statutes and commandments to do them to eye his directions to feel and turn about with every guide of his hand We must n Ps 119. choose his precepts for our way and we shall have him for company and is the way so holy and our God so holy then blessed is the man that 's holy and undefiled in such a way Ps 119.1 and in such heavenly company The a Hos 14.9 wayes of the Lord are right the just shall walk in them but transgressors shall fall therein Every holy duty is a rock of offence and a stone of stumbling to a carnall heart he trips and stumbles and falls and rises no more But an upright heart and an upright way meet pleasantly with an b Ps 25.8 upright Lord that teaches sinners in the way and guideth the week in judgment c Pro. 11.20 Such as are upright in the way are his delight he takes pleasure in the path and person To walk d Deut. 13.4 after God is to choose God for our Captain and Leader to make him our example president and conduct The Israelites followed the cloud of Gods presence by day and the pillar of Fire by night in the howling Wilderness of Arabia till they came to Canaan When the e Num. 9.17 cloud was taken up then Israel journied and where the cloud abode there they pitched their Tents Saints must be imitators f Deu. 1.36 Josh 14.8 9. of Caleb and Joshuah to follow the cloud of the divine presence fully and this is the Churches prayer g Ps 80.2 before Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseth stir up the Ark of thy Strength march before us to lead and save us A holy and perfect God goes before and a holy and perfect People follow after Be h Mat. 5.48 ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect be ye holy in all manner of conversation For 't is written i Pet. 1.15 16. be ye holy as I am holy Not to come up to it but to come after it not to equall but to eye and imitate O perfect copy the more a Saint looks at it the more he mends his hand O the rare strokes in this pattern of holiness that enamours the eye to behold and quickens the hand to imitate As he is so are we k 1 Job 4 17. in this world as he walkt l 1 Joh. 2.6 so ought we So should we Lord and by thy heavenly conduct so would we Let Saints consider how Christ walkt how obediently to the Father how tenderly to the brethren how mortified to the worlds vanities When thy thoughts are tempering or thy tongue upon the string thy hand or thy foot hastning to action stop one moment consider would Christ do this m Eph. 5.1 and be followers of God as dear children Thirdly As God walks in holiness and in the Sanctuary of Ordinances So he delights to walk among a holy People he n Zeph. 3.17 rejoyces over them with joy he rests in his love and joyes over them with singing When Zion shines in holiness she shall be a Crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royall Diadem in the hand of her God She shall no more be termed Forsaken nor her land desolate But her own name shall be a Isa 62.4 Hephzi-bah and her Lands name Beulah For the Lord delighteth in her and her land shall be married The joy and delight of God is in a people like himself with such he will dwell rejoyce over them b 2 Cor. 6.16 16. above the joy of harvest and walk in them for ever c Pro. 8.17 I love them that love me saies Wisdome and who seeks me early shall find me Love sets the heart a seeking and the more we love him we seek the earlier I sought yea d Song 3.1 by night him whom my soul lov'd Night-searchers are Christ-finders a holy heart seeks a holy Saviour and a holy Lord delights to be found by it Christ absents not for want of love to us but to inflame our love to him he loves e Song 2.9 14. to stand behind the wall and to hear our moaning after him to look out at the e 2.9 window of heaven and takes pleasure to see our wandrings about to find him and
thee to feed upon that i medicinall fruit Rev. 22.2 to live for ever Has thy Soul relisht the sweetness of the water of the chrystalline River of Life Does it flow so fast upon thy Palate with its unspeakable varieties and admirable changes of all manner of delicious tastes that thy spirituall sancy is uncapable to keep pace with much less to unfold and express its pleasure Here are sweet waters stoln from heaven that the world knows not and hidden Manna that even many disciples a Joh. 4.32 taste not The waters come down from the b Rev. 22.1 throne of God and of the Lamb They spring from the Fountain of the Fathers divine election and his eternall Covenant with the Lamb and run between the Banks of the Incarnation and Passion in chrystall streams Hast thou tasted c 1 Pet. 2. â— that the Lord is gracious Tell me O Soul is he not sweet And so sweet that thy tongue can't hold but passionately invite others to come d Psal 34.8 taste and see Is not the Manna the c Joh. 6.35 Bread of Life which Christ gives suited to every desire and longing appetition of a Saints Palate Is not his f Song 2.3 fruit sweet to thy taste Do not the Apples comfort thee when thou eat'st them under his shadow with great delight To them that believe he is g 1 Pet 2.7 h. 3. precious sayes Peter If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious A gracious Lord is a precious Lord and a tasted Lord is a sweet Lord Speak true O Soul didst ever taste so choice a sweetness or lay thy lips to such i Song 6.11 Pomegranats as grew in this garden The k Song 7.12 2.13 flower of the Vine by its smell allures by its taste captivates the senses and even overcomes the spirits of a Saint It s said of the spicy mountains of Arobia the happy that the gatherers are often bereav'd of their spirits by the strong emanation of those fragrant shrubs Truly Saints when walking in the mountains of Canaan the heavenly I mean of assurance need the spice of support against the powerfull efflux of the spice of joy The Soul before it finds Christ is sick of love and when hee 's found is sick of joy I mean while here below till we are purified by vision it can scarce well bear the flowings in of assurance We must have our visions of the Angell of the Covenant like Jacob a Gen. 32.26 only by dawnlight glittering noon enjoyments are for heaven These old Bottles are readyto burst with the new wine of the Kingdom We could not bear the strength of this wine If the King should often bring us into these Cellars therefore he keeps the Key opens shuts it at his pleasure and possibly therefore God is pleased to nourish Saints but with drops of these high Tinctures of glory full draughts might swell us with pride and inflame us with feavers of censure again meek walkers Jacohs Peniels must halt upon shrunk sinews b Gen. 32.32 And Pauls Revelations must be humbled by Satans buffets 'T is not only the surges of grief but rivers of joy that may overwhelm the spi As Gerson speaks of a devout woman that breathed out her Soul in the strength of these enjoyments Vol. 3. p. 64. b. Therefore 't is that here we must live by tastes and tastes only the full banquet 's kept to last the first fruits first then the harvest first the bunch of Eschol and then the Vintage of Canaan first the watersh wine of Cana and then the miraculous wine of Christs glorious Kingdome Admirable grace it is that God drops down tastes and lets fall crumbs from the Table of the Spirits of the Just made perfect And is a taste so pleasant so delectable then what 's the fulness Hast thou a mouth that tastes and savours the things of God Though it stay the stomnck yet it whets the appetite for glory The ear trieth words and the mouth tasteth meat saies a Job 34.3 Elihu but 't is the heart that ponders judgment Heavens dainties call for a pondering spirit to dwell upon the relish and a circumspect frame that we be not wanton I have heard of thee saies Job b Job 42.5 by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee and may we say my soul tasteth thee Therefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Abhorrency of self and complacency in God are tokens of divine tastings feelings seeings enjoyings The neerer we draw to those holy embraces the more lovely doth God appear and more vile our selves Nothing else pleases that Soul which hath had a ravishing relish of God Now nothing lesse then God now nothing longer nothing like him Not our selves our sins humble us our graces are imperfect Not Angels Mary weeps for all she c Job 20.12 13. talks with shining Angels 't is not them she cries for nor can their white garments dry up her tears or their radiant shining faces raise the least umbrage of a smile while her Lord is absent The burden is they have taken away my Lord and whereis he But a word from Christ clear her eyes and chears her spirit She knows his voice when Christ will have it so before she sees him She saw a seeming gardiner and asks for Christ but now she sees the true Vine and tastes his love she hears his voice and sees his face and nothing now will serve but d V. 17. touching The more we hear and see of Christ the neerer fuller sweeter are our approaches to him The Soul 's never satiated on this side heaven This feast presents heavenly Viands genuine apposite to a gracious palate They are not of a cloying clogging temper and there ever comes in flowing upon the heart fresh new and sweet issuings from Christ Such rare pieces of prospect entertain the Soul in this transfiguring mountain that it peeps and pryes and piers in at the key-hole of the Chamber of Heaven and can do nothing but lye at the posts of wisdome and cry with the ancient plus de te Domine Mo e of thee Lord But on the other side where are the hearts of besotted worldings The eyes of a a Prov. 17.24 fool saies Solomon are in the ends of the Earth rowling and rambling about upon vain objects But wisdome is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the very face of him that â—ath understanding he sees such beauty in the face of wisdome that he shuts his eyes to the world and opens them only to heaven A wandring eye is the sign of an unsatisfied fool that wont learn wisdome from a Solomon Though God gave him more riches If Villalpandus countaright then ever any of the Roman Emperors had and all manner of enjoyments and an exquisite heart to dive to the bottome of the visible Creation Every one that girds himself to
their bones with strong pain when every bone shall have its pang and every pang from the strong arm of God oh how dreadfull to fall into the hands i Heb. 10.31 of the living God They are pains indeed which God calls pains when the soul shall be torn and rent from its beloved twin oh the tendons crack and the nerves with startling dolour snap in sunder We read of one but sick of the Palsie and yet k Mat. 8.6 grievously tormented When the Lord smites persons l Deut. 28.22 with Consumptions Feavers Inflamations and extream burnings oh what tossings and tumblings and pinings with wearisome hours when torn and grinded by the Stone or wrackt by the gout what tongue can express their miseries For a Herod to be eaten up of a Act. 12 23. Worms and such little wretches to pull a Prince piece-meal and to run away unquestioned For Jehorams b 2 Chron. 21.19 bowels to fall out by reason of his sickness and poyson his Courtiers For Asa to lye howling of the Gout and make all Jerusalem ring with his roaring Should not these tidings of three miserable Monarchs cool the fury and tame the madness of the Bedlam Hectors of our age To ruminate upon these terrors of death these painfull throws when men pour out their souls in dreadfull agonies methinks should take them a peg lower and put their carier in sin to a pause They who taste of the Cup of Death find it more bitter than Wormwood more venemous then the poyson of Asps all squeez'd into it Such as are under the gastly view of Death behold a griefly fearfull Monster that scares the bloody Heroes and vainglorious Gallants into exquisite horrors Obriguere comae vox faucibus haesit Their hait stands an end and their tongue faulters with amazing fears It has a direfull sting more horrid then a Scorpion or a Dragon This Cup unlesse sweetned with a lively sense of a gracious promise there 's no laying of your lips to it This fiery flying Serpent unlesse eased of his sting there 's no dallying with it in their bosomes for fool-hardy sinners Well might c Sueton. in Cas c. 87. Caesar wish a sudden and Augustus d Id. in Aug. c. 99. an easie Death who had beheld many astonishing spectacles in their long and bloody wars which might pierce hearts of Adamant and melt the most brawny and flinty breast and run down the most stoical Apathies into Rivers of mournfull Sympathies and compassions Methinks it should awaken snorting formalists to admit into the Hall of Conscience the Ecchoes of the roaring Elegies of such who dye as the historian phrases e Id. in Cas c. 88. non morte sua not a natural but a violent death when this Lion rampant rends the Soul from the body as he would the f Hos 13.8 Caul of a Kids heart When death shall meet them as a Bear bereaved of her Whelps or an evening Wolf that hath lurkt close in g Ps 104.20 her Den all the day long of a sinners life and comes forth barking at night and sharp set for her prey Then they are forc'd to drink deep of the wine of violence and to sup up the Cup of the avenger Then they a Job 15.33 shake off their unripe Grapes as the Vine and cast off their Flower as the Olive But alas the pains of naturall or the pangs of violent death are but the stinging of Gnats or Flea-bites to a scorched conscience and inflamed by the wrath of God When men come to dye and have trifled away pretious hours with Rattles and childish Baubles and the silly jingling Hobby-horses of Court or Country and at that turning point of Eternity have forgotten to make their peace with God then Conscience rowzes up like a Gyant refresht with the wine of Sodom and the Grapes of Gomorrah When the grinning Furies lasht the goatish Soul of Tiberius for all his Villanies within the dark and dismall Dungeon of his unclean breast Oh! who would not tremble to think of those goring wounds those secret and invisible tortures which wrackt his Soul and stretcht his tormenting imaginations upon the Devils Tenter-Hooks See how a Tacit. An nal l. 5. p. 107. Edit Basil 1544 Tacitus breaks forth upon the Theme Si recludantur Tyrannorum mentes posse aspici laniatus ictus had we Casements into the hearts of Tyrants the dreadfull marks of the Steel whips of Conscience would appear with bloody gashes And as b Dio. in Nerone l. 63. Dion the Historian speaking of the horrors of Nero neer the time of his death for the assasination of his Mother and other brutish crimes sayes that if a Whelp did but howl or a Hen cackle or the arm of a Tree creak by a strong wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was in a wofull anguish Oh how the wires of Megaerae fetcht blood and gobbets at every stroak from his Soul When God shall pour the scalding Lead of his wrath into these fresh wounds when the Law thunders from Mount Sinai and the lightnings of Paran glitter about him Then c Hab. 3.16 their bellies tremble their lips quiver at the voice and rottennesse enters into their bones When sin comes home to the Soul on a death-bed and accosts him as the Souldier did d Pollio in Mario p. 538. Ed. Lug. B. Marius the Black-smith and Triduan Emperor Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti Here 's the Sword of thine own hammering and shaking it in the face of a sinner cries look how it shines 't is thine own furbishing Then wo to him who hath enlarg'd his desire as Hell and encreased that which is not his and laden himself with thick clay Then fain would he vomit up his sweet morsells but no Emetick of the shop can help him no Squills no Roots in Nicander can fetch them up Then they abhor to remember what they cannot forget and the eyes of their fancy are as quick and venemous as a Bafilisk Then with their robberies of Peter they would pay off Paul and for their defrauding of Ministers would give tenfold Tithes and with the ruins of old Abbayes and Mannors by oppression depopulations of Villages that they may a Isa 5.8 be alone in the midst of the earth in all haste they patch up Chappell 's Schoolls and Work-houses But God hates the Sacrifices of dying and putrilaginous bodies the Incense that oppressors offer proves the savour of death unto death he counts the sighs of their fleeting Spirits like the steams of rancid dung-hills which the fire of Hell sends up not the beams of his countenance who is now departed No warning pieces before could alarm them No blazing Comets could awaken or startle them though b Mantil Astrinom l. 1. p. 27. that of Mantilius be true in all ages Nunquam futilibus excanduit ignibus aether Never did blazing Comets shine in vain
hee 'l force no court complements upon them There 's a King of a fierce c Dan. 8.23 countenance understanding dark sayings will speak as big and as rough as they taunted to the poor he will make them bend the knee and do suit and service at his Court-Baron There they shall hear the Jaylors long-winded Lecture upon a sharp and cutting Text and can't get out of his Chappell though they sit at the lower end hee 'l keep them from sleeping and gash their memories with the keen knife of his tongue about the many Sabbaths they profaned and the means of Grace they contemned how they mockt at repentance and loll'd out the tongue at precisenesse hee 'l gripe them with the holy examples meek admonitions of Saints and their patient sufferings for the truth at their barbarous hands They 'l have cold stomachs to jeer and fleere in the face of this conscience-scalding Preacher hee 'l chain the blessed Bible to the Desk of their Pews which they had laid aside like an old Almanack Now it comes in date at this year of reckoning Hee 'l prove to their faces how they have slighted the heavy judgments of the late dreadfull Pestilence the astonishing Fire and the colour of the British Seas crimson'd and diaper'd with the blood of their brethren hee 'l gaul them with their base ingratitude in slighting the mercies of the great God who gave them reprievall and survivall after all these dismall memento's But now ha's delivered them from a Jerom. 21 7. the Pestilence and from the Sword and from the Famine into the hands of this dismall King of Assyria hee 'l once more rub up their dull senses with sharp rebukes about the numerous checks of conscience and the loud calls of the spirit which then they injoyed but now they may howl after without any pitty and that which shall vex them to the heart hee 'l ever be harping and grating odiously upon the same string and jarring in their ears and rubbing the old sore about their lost opportunities and seasons of grace This shall be a plain and home Sermon such as before they scoft at here will be no flowers of Rhetorick to set off Truth to the squeazy palate of a Sermon-sick Lady here will be no fear to displease greatness here 's no Trencher-Chaplains to soften expressions least the great Churl Stomack at sound reproofs that might save his soul No these dayes are past here 's no impatient lookings at the hour-glasse when the last sand drops to be gone to dinner here 's no being glad at sleevelesse errands to steal away through the croud and choak conscience with this flam that a little 's enough if well practised No! here 's a Preacher will hold them to it and taunt and twit them with the day of repentance being over and chain them to their seats and lock them in the stocks as they once did the Saints in Lollards-Tower till the Trump of the Resurrection sounds an Alarum to Judgment Is this the state of wicked mens souls while their bodies rot in the grave when will they learn to be wise for Eternity They must b Bernard de Conver. ad Clerico◠suffocate and slay the worm of conscience here saies Bernard that would not be bitten hereafter Is it not better to hearken diligently to a few Sermons here though ten hours long though a Act 20.7 Paul preach till mid-night then to be liuckt to that terrible Sermon that shall last many hundred years long from the day of death till the day of judgment and after that a second Sermon in the afternoon which shall know no evening but last to Eternity when rivers of tears can't wash away guilt nor ten thousand rivers of oyl can't make thy Sacrifice flame acceptably up to heaven O be wise while the day lasts Mic. 6.7 and do the work which the Father giveth to work b Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent But if ye reject this counsell and like foolish builders refuse this stone of the corner till that fearfull night shall overshadow you then your mouldring bodies must lye by it and be kept in that smothering prison while your lamenting souls are agitared and hurried with these condemning and tormenting Furies There your bodies though of ne're so fine a c Job 21.26 Clay must mix with the course allay of your once oppressed Slaves The dust of Princes must mingle with base and mean Peasants they and their Porters must lodge together Lords and Beggers know no distance and what Artist can form his Epitah by any distinct colour or grain in their mould Neither can heaps of Gold bride a fancied Charon to waft their bodies out of these gloomy regions these Egyptian shades to any Elysiam meadows of pleasure The searching brains of the ablest Counsellors can find no flaw in the Writ of Death nor get any bayl or mainprize from that tedious Gatehouse Here the Skull of the acutest Thomist through length of time will all dwindle into starvling Moss while he forgets to distinguish its fit season for the Weapon salve Alas it won't cure the fractures made by Deaths Pole-Axe No distinctions can satisfie this cunning sophister to turn the key and release the Prisoner But here they must all continue and abide in the state of the dead The ingenious Artificer can invent no clew to hand him out of this snaring maze this winding Labyrinth There 's d Eccl. 9.10 no invention or judgment no device knowledge or wisdome in the grave whither thou goest 'T is by the Decree of the e Dan. 4.17 watchers the time once doom'd and sixt there 's no reversion He that goes a Job 7.9 10. down into this far Country shall return no more to his house nor shall his place know him again There all sit down in deep silence till the moment appointed by the high and holy One who inhabits Eternity Then shall the enemies of his Sons Kingdome creep out of the dust to shame and everlasting contempt But the ashes of his people their gracious Father lays them up in the treasuries of his wakefull providence and they shall be his in that day that b Mal. 3.17 he makes up his Jewels when the joyfull voice of Christ shall gently raise them to that blissfull dawn when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rosie fingered morn shall blush out of the East and the Sun of Eternity shall gild their rising Temples for glory CHAP. VI. Of the fell Dragons at the further end of the grave MEthinks the way through the dark c Morisans Travels p 113. Grott near Naples opening towards the sulfurous mountains of Vesuvius and the stagnant air of Campania bears some resemblance with this close and terrible passage through the Valley of Death were the terrors many at the entrance they increase and multiply at the coming forth There 's no hiding stopping
in Innocency and round about the Throne in this Majesticall Temple-Session angelicall Cherubims full of eyes cry night and day f Rev. 4.8 Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty who was and is V. 5. and is to come and from out of the Throne proceed lightnings and thunderings and voices At so radiant and tremendous a Spectacle in such a glorious and orient Theatre how can the direfull persecutors of the Church look up O how they creep to the Rocks for some hole some cleft to pitty them O Nimrod Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezar O Nero Trojan and Dioclesian whither will ye run from the face of the Lamb that sits on the Throne who with his fulgent Eyes searches and pierces to the Center of the Universe O Pope of Rome and thy cursed Shavelings It s in vain now to stand poring on g Bern. de Consid ad Eugen f. 237. h. Bernards good monitions to thy stubborn Predecessor Eugenius O Bonner and Gardiner what will become of you and your â—ccessâ—râ— for pushing and goring and letting out the blood of Saints all in the Book of Martyrs Remember James Abbes and the a Fox Martyrs Vol. 3. p. 956 c. Ed. 1641. Sheriffs Servant at Bury who railing at that faithfull Martyr was strook with madnesse and cried out James Abbes is the Servant of God and is saved but I am damn'd and inveighed at the Priest that brought him the Hoste that he and such were the cause of his damnation Is it so terrible before hand in the presentiments and preaccusations of Conscience before that great and fearfull Day of the Lord come What will be the horror of execution when the blood which is dryed up in prisons as well as drawn forth by whips and flames shall be weighed to a drop and a grain in the ballance of this righteous Judg. So much b Rev. 18.7 torment and sorrow give them Then the Beast shall be taken and with him that false Prophet the Pope that wrought Miracles before him Both these shall be cast alive into the Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone Then they that c Rev. 14.10 c. worship the Beast and his Image and receiv'd his Mark in Hand or Forehead shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the presence of the holy Angells and in the presence of the Lamb the smoak of their torment shall ascend for ever and ever They shall have no rest day nor night who ador'd the Beast or his Image or received the Mark of his Name And this brings me to the last Consideration and that 's Eternity The misery of Hell could I speak it properly were it to end but a moment on this side Eternity either in blisse or abatement of pain or compleat annihilation 't were a soveraign Cordiall The memory of it would be a cooling drop day by day upon the tongue of every Dives to keep it from blistering into blasphemy But to ponder upon this dreadfull Ever and to champ upon it to Eternity it s a thousand times more bitter then Wormwood Aloes or Coloquintida 'T is to swallow down the wine of astonishment and to pledg one another d Deut. 30.33 with the poyson of Dragons and the cruell venome of Aspes I dare any wicked man in the world to run on in their follies with any serious apprehensions of Eternity Clem Alexandr Strom. l. 1. p. 222. Edit Lug. B. or calm convictions of it upon their Spirits Poor Heathens have highly asserted the Souls immortally and common reason evinces that there can be no communion between God and Belial light and darkness can't associate If the Soul be immortall and its union to â—od be the life of the Soul must it not when God's absent absent for ever from all unholy persons lye down in Eternall death He that walketh in light 1 John 1.6 7 c. dwelleth and hath fellowship with the Father and with the Son But he that lives and dies in darkness can never come to or abide in Eternall Light But must be cast out into utter darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth I know there be such in our daies or else I should not mention it who would fain tamper with the false doctrin of Origen and like his weak Disciples would perswade themselves that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebr. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek often note but a stated determination of time and therefore may be so understood in this case Poor wretches will they hazard their all upon a pittifull conjecture a jejune criticism in Grammar and run fool-hardy upon the pikes of divine vengeance and the thick bosses of his Bucklers under the thin covert of a words acceptation sometimes in that sense in Scripture when the nature of the matter and the force of the context obliges should you not rather deeply weigh and ponder upon those places where the damnation of the wicked is opposed to the eternall salvation b Dan. 12.2 Mat. 25.46 Jude 7 21 22. of the Godly Do you believe eternall life for the Saints and shall the wicked who come not into a life of grace shal they after a set race of years be raised to glory Such as never repent never close with Christ never fly to the promise while here and is there any repentance in the grave or remission of sins O fool twice dyed in grain that darest to venture thy Soul upon the punctilio of a word Nay is not that very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used and applyed to the divine c Rom. 16.26 Heb. 9.24 Majesty who inhabits eternity and dwelleth in the inaccessible light Nay are there not other cogent expressions setting out the perpetuity of that estate in misery where their word is absent with which they play their lives at stake Is there not a dolefull d Mat. 5.26 Rev. 1.18 prison which no man can unlock or break through or be let forth till he pay the utmost farthing Is there not a place where the a Mark 9.44 46 48. worm of Conscience dies not and the fire shall never be quencht Are these but dry metaphors Take heed thy Soul be not the dreadfull fiery comment that thou sinck not into b Luk. 16.26 that great gulf c Riv. 20.3 that bottomless-pit If thou wilt be d Pro. 9.12 wise be wise for thy self and believe on the Son e Joh. 3.36 to everlasting life he that beliveth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him O Souls will you warm your thoughts and unfreeze your security at that fearfull fire will you open your eyes at the sight of that horrible darkness Fire that yields no light and flames that are thick with darkness O monstrous misery A cohabitation with Devills The Drum of the Ears even tingles and is broken in pieces with distracted roarings of men and devills and
from the hony-comb Keep up thy feeling fellowship with God in the closest and choicest reflections upon his love and the fear of death will vanish Make conscience of secret sins and secret duties this will make way for secret communion and sweetly encrease it The more frequent and humbly familiar you are with God in holy reverence the more divine and soul-fainting emanations will flow from his heart to replenish thy soul and enlarge it for glory our a Ps 90.8 secret sins saies Moses are in the light in the broad day light of thy countenance Let 's consider a he sees the least aberration and wandering of our thoughts from his love let 's be as tender to avoid his displeasure as we would be joyfull in the beams of his face let 's b Ps 63 6. remember him upon our beds and meditate on him in the night watches Let 's c Ps 4.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commune with our own hearts and be still that we may commune with his and be joyfull Silete vacate be still from all passions and hurries give a vacancy to thy Soul to meditate on God and it will still thy fears The more our Souls are wrapt up in this communion the more they dye to the world and live to God Our life is a vapor to dying mortalls but death is a vapor to a living to a lively Saint But now let me end with a caution that 's mixt with a Cordiall A very holy Saint may set in a cloud and arrive at the haven in a storm God's tyed to believers by promise to save them but not to carry them in a Song 3.9 Solomons Chariot of the wood of Lebanon into Heaven Yet it stands firm what David sings in this present Psalm Thou art with me and therefore I 'le fear no evill When the Soul from feeling can chear up its spirits that God is with it It fears not who 's against it God for secret reasons b Luk. 24.16 may hold the eyes of some disciples that they may not know him to shew that all from grace to glory is from free love and that we can challenge neither grace to close with his Covenant nor assurance to discern our adherence The sprinkling of the Conscience from dead works the peace of God that passeth all understanding c Col. 3.15 to rule in our hearts and the joyes of the holy spirit all flow from the same Fountain All our springs are in Zion and bubble up from under the Throne of the Mercy-Seat Yea at the state of Death some ordinary Christians If meek and humble may injoy greater Visions then many gracious holy and sweetly gifted Ministers 'T is not alwayes the strength of Grace but the gift of influence that breeds and nourishes strong and bright assurance A Mary Magdalen shall call Jesus by the name of Rabboni When two experienc'd Disciples shall walk and talk with him many a mile and not see him nor taste him till the evening till the c Luk. 24 29. Supper of Glory But yet 't is rare for holy hearts to want these heavenly Visions The pure in heart shall see him in the Glasse of assurance as well as behold him hereafter face to face CHAP. IX Holy Appeals to God in Prayer great Comforts against Death DAvid was now at Prayer applying and appealing to God at owning and appropriating work telling God that he was with him Did not God know that he was with David Yet but God loves to hear from a Saint that he feels it A Saint must tell God that he feels it not to satisfie him as unacquainted with it For the Lord fills the Soul with himself and known unto the Lord are all his works from the beginning But because God delights to hear that we thankfully own and acknowledge it Thou art with me David speaks it upon his knees and with his Harp in his hands he sings it This Lesson Lord I learnt of thee wilt thou please to hear it Thou art with me in me and thou within me comest unto thy self I am full of thee and therefore my Soul over-flowes to thee Thy love is a fire which hath inflamed my heart and a Excellens sensibile laedit sensum being pent it preyes upon my spirits let it have it 's holy vent into thy bosome It multiplies upon it self and out it must wilt thou accept it For a while let it warm the strings of my Harp as well as of my affection and touch every tone with a flame of love as if a Seraphim had quickened it with a coal from the Altar Then let my Soul like fire ascend before thy Throne winged with that love from whence it came Prayer what is it but a flight of the Soul from it self to God A Soul affected with divine love hath Doves eyes its prayers hath Doves wings and flies with Letters of credence at its feet from the spirit within our Temples unto the holy Oracle within the Vail 'T is in Prayer that David pours out his Soul and sings Thou art with me he sayes not thou wilt be with me but inferres that God would be with him because he was so and therefore I shall fear no evill This God is our God a Ps 48.14 for ever and ever he will be our guide unto death and through death and after b Ps 73.24 death receive us to glory Faith carries the foot of prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Rev. 14.6 into the midst of Heaven as with Angels wings And as the Lord said to Joshua so may we say to praying Saints a Josh 1.3 every place that the soal of your foot shall tread upon that hath he given you the good land is before you go in and possesse it When we pray we enter the Court of Heaven where the Lord b Exod. 24.10 Ezek. 1.26 sits on a Saphire Throne embellisht with the morning Stars and the Rain-Bow of the Covenant round about him and thousands of Legions of Cherubims to minister to him We are taught by our blessed Saviour to pray Our Father which art in Heaven as if a Saint in prayer should account himself as it were assum'd into Heaven The Father sees us at all times but in prayer we doe Sistere nos coram present our Souls to be seen by him Should our hearts be in heaven when our souls are in prayer what heavenly hearts become so heavenly a presence as God's and so heavenly a quire as the Angells round about him Let 's pray that his will be done as it is in heaven that we be like a kind of earthly Angells that in all our prayers our wills may be hallowed into his d 1 Joh. 5.14 as when we shall come to heaven Then if we ask any thing e according to his will he heareth us To have our wills the best way is to have his holy will to be ours and then we may pray with reverence
as Luther said Let our will be done Gerson de Mendicitate f. 760. for our will is become thine Ne tradas me voluntati meae O give me not up to mine own will but to thine The will of God is e 1 Thes 4.3 our sanctification and a Saints renewed will delights in the holiness of God Here 's a union of wills in the communion of holinesse For both f Heb. 2.11 he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one g Joh. 17.23 I in them as our Lord in his heavenly prayer and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one Receive we such a Kingdome h Heb. 12 28. let us serve him with reverence Nothing renders us more revenent in our services then an inward sense of the divine holinesse that sills his essence and is the lustre of his Kingdome This argument of the divine holinesse to put us in a reverent frame is often pleaded in Scripture Thou art h Ps 22.3 holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israell Thou dwellest in the Temple where they are still praising thee and therefore they serve and praise thee because thou art holy What services are the Cherubims continually ingaged in but crying Holy a Rev. 4.8 Holy Holy before the Throne Ye shall b Lev. 19.30 reverence my sanctuary my holy place I am the Lord. Holinesse is the attractive of Reverence from a holy heart The nearer we approach to a holy God the more awfull impressions are stampt upon a holy Soul I will be c Lev. 10.3 sanstified in them that draw nigh me saith the Lord and before all the people I will be glorified Drawing nigh to him commands sanctity in us and the more we sanctifie his name by our holy addresses the more we glorifie him He is d Exod. 15.11 glorious in his holinesse and therefore fearfull in his praises The raies of glory round about his holiness that none can behold and live should imprint submissive through filiall fear upon our spirits in his praises and services It 's true that God is to be feared as to the matter of his praises his dreadfull acts upon his Egyptian enemies yet when his wrathfull judgments have sunk the Chariots as lead in the deep waters still a holy fear should tune the e Timbrells and measure the Dances of his People in praise 〈◊〉 2â— 21. Serve the Lord with f Ps 2.11 fear and rejoyce with trembling we serve him acceptably when we attend his presence not with slavish but g Heb. 12. â—8 godly fear and when we rejoice in his goodnesse and tremble at his greatnesse our heavenly joy defends us from the base terrors of bondage and our holy fear from luxuriant wantonness Nay when h Phil. 2.3 we work out our Salvation in the Vineyard of the promises we must sweat at it with a Son-like fear knowing that our work is not worth our peny with due trembling being assured that when the Lord i Ps 36.6 preserveth one and lets another perish yet his righteousnesse is like the great mountains and his Judgments are a great deep O but say some where the spirit of the Lord is there is k 2 Cor. 3.17 liberty Again we have accesse with l Eph. 3.12 bolnesse by the faith of him Again we are invited to come boldly m Heb. 4.16 to the Throne of Grace and Again we have n Heb. 10.19 boldnesse to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus Truly some Translators seem a little too bold with the greek word and make other Christians thereby too bold with the thing unlesse the word boldnesse be taken in a very reverent sense it might better be translated by liberty or freedome that is from a spirit of bondage For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the notation and acceptation of the word in greek Authors and in its opposition to straitnesse and pentnesse of spirit in our addresses to God most properly signifies the speaking out the mind of a man fully with enlargedness of heart and fluency of expression 'T is an encouraging word to allure drooping and to incite and raise desponding weak believers not to spur on audacious irreverent and presumptuous spirits Improbe audes irrumpere in osculum oris si nec pedibus cum lachrymis Gerson de mystic Theolog. Tom. 3. p. 66 2. c. Saies Gerson thou art wickedly audacious to rush into the kisses of his mouth that hast not first washt his feet with thy tears I know God calls us to a more sweet and heavenly familiarity with himself under the Gospel Rev. 4.10 then when under the ancient pedagogy of the Law But let 's not be sawcy and put on our Hats in the Court Moses was commanded not to draw too nigh the flaming bush and to put off his shoes and so was Joshua Jos 5. all to signifie the danger of too much prying curiosity and the necessity of a holy reverence in the presence of God a Behold how the twenty four Elders fall down before him in worship and cast their golden Crowns before the Throne Let 's remember that we are but o Ps 73.22 Behemoth's great beasts before him But dust and ashes still worms and no men less then the least of his mercies nay when in heaven we are but glorified dust and sparkling ashes but spirituall flesh but atomes and lesse then nothing to stand before God The very heavens are impure in his sight and he charges his Angels with folly When they cry Holy Holy before him they cover their faces and may justly cry out with Lepers unclean b Lev. 13.49 unclean Their created holinesse considering its infinite deficiency from Gods is like folly and pollution and their lips uncircumcised before his unfadomable beauty inaccessible light and Angel-confounding holinesse And did they not suck in streaming raies of holinesse from beholding his face continually and drink in rivers of divine dignation to make and accept them as worthy they could never be able or fit to fly before his Throne or to be imployed in the messages of his services Ps â—3 22 Eternity is insufficient for the highest of finite beings to praise an infinite essence and that unsearchable abysse of holinesse glory and Majesty O then what 's man That God should visit him when we consider the impurity of the heavens and its celestiall inhabitants Nay what 's man That God should suffer him to peep and mutter out of the dust before him Well however come near but humbly and we may come freely come we reverently and what grace we feel within us we may appeal with before him Examine me O Lord and prove me sayes David a Ps 26 2. Ure reneâ— try my reins and my heart search me O God and b Ps 139. â—3 know my heart try me and know my thoughts Sit as a refiner upon me melt away the drosse
of my impure affections that my Soul may appear like glittering gold seven times purg'd by the fire of thy love Nay Lord thus David appeals thou c V. 1. hast searched and known me and oh how precious are thy d V. 17. thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them Thy thoughts of me and my thoughts of thee how precious to me O God how great is the sum of them Thy thoughts of electing love of justifying and sanctifying grace Nay thou hast thoughts for e 2 Sam. 7.19 a great while to come A great while indeed for they are thoughts of eternall f Jer. 31.3 love Thy thoughts in number transcend the sands on the Sea-shore the hairs of my head and the stars of heaven Archimedes may number the sands Spigelius the hairs and Hipparchus the visible stars But who can expend thoughts commensurate to the love of God The circle of his love cannot be squared nor its cubick root extracted We may study and pray g Eph 3.18 to comprehend with all Saints the glorious love of God in Christ But still it passeth knowledge and surmounts our numbers Well might David when waking h Ps 139.18 be still with God In the morning watches when his Soul was freshest his thoughts warmest his parts quickest while the yet-remaining darknesse presented no diverting objects to his eyes and the deep silence of the night distracted not his audience with various clamours Then David hath his Songs in the night Ps 30.29 as in the holy Solemnities Then does he meditate on the divine love and remember God i Ps 63.6 upon his Bed His wonderfull works and the thoughts of God concerning him he professes they could not be reckoned up in order before him Though he was stil with God searching and following after him yet l Joh 11.7 could not find out the Almighty to perfection But yet the holy man holds fast his confidence For thou art with me and I with thee God with us keeps us with him Doe our desires and affections hast after him they 'le bring in the food of assurance that he is ours Talem illum invenies saies Gerson a Gerson de Mendicitate spiritual f. 75. a. Op. 3. part qualis tu fueris in tuis desideriis Our spirituall desires longing and panting after God interpret and manifest the gracious motions of the divine love to us The more we seek him the sweeter we find him and the more we trust him the more he loves us Let us with David in all our straits make to him as our rock our refuge our strong Castle our Fortresse our City of Defence and Munition of Rocks b our Waters shall never fail and our bread shall be sure is 33.6 Appeals to God To Appeal to the Majesty of Heaven is a matter of most important moment because of his omniscience omnipresence his exactnesse in justice and judgment If our hearts c 1 Joh. 3.10 condemn us God is greater and knoweth all things but if our heart acquit us then have we confidence towards God yea d And 4.17 in the day of Judgment To be scalded with condemnation from conscience and from God too is double judgment and our hearts condemnation is but the harbinger to Gods Conscience is but the Prison till execution and if the earthly Prison be so noisome and dismall what 's the eternall It behoves all therefore that dare appeal to God to examine and try their hearts with impartiall strictnesse before they turn about their faces to heaven David spends the largest part of an excellent Psalm in choice ruminations upon the divine attributes and the works of God on his former experiences and deep meditations upon the all-searching eye of God before he dares to make an essay of a reverent e Ps 139.23 appeal unto him Holy Paul makes small account of being judg'd by the Church or by morall men or his own conscience in comparison with f 1 Cor. 4.3 4. divine judgment Our heart is g Jer. 17.9 deceitfull above all things who can know it But the Lord is a God of knowledg and by him h 1 Sam. 2.3 actions are weighed The ballances of the Sanctuary will turn at a grain of the least action yea at the thousandth part of a thought His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his piercing and searching eye enters the innermost parts of the belly His eyes doe behold his eye-lids i Ps 11.4 try the children of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Explorabunt They search into the hearts and pry into the reins of men The Lord sits in specula aeternitatis upon the watch-tower of glorious Majesty and discerns all the secrer recesses and caverns of the hearts of Men and Angells The Metaphor seems to be taken from Souldiers that stand upon the guard on a high Tower to observe and ken the approaching enemy When men doe connivere oculis even close their eyes and make as it were a small portion of a Tube with their eye-lids to exclude the light and discern objects the clearer or like refiners that look narrowly into the Crucible or Cople to discern when the melted Gold gathers into a clear and pure circle and hath cast out all its drosse All this is to shew with what nicenesse and accuratenesse the Lord doth pierce into the hearts of men When we consider the excellency of the searcher the curiosity of his observation that nothing escapes the Eagle eye of his Omnisciency when we ponder upon the purity of his Judgment and the equity of his tremendous tribunall who should not fear before him and tremble at his imperiall Majesty For who can stand If he doe but a Ps 143.2 enter into Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ne veniat let him not come toward the work saies the Psalmist unlesse we can stand before him To impose upon men is base hypocrisie but to impose upon the Maker and searcher of hearts is cursed Atheism abominable impudence b Ps 14.1 2 4. and corrupt folly of the works of iniquity When we enter our appeals before God we imply his all-searching providence his avenging hand his acquitting justice his pardoning grace the resurrection of the dead and the dreadfull Judgment-Seat of Christ ' Ev 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon this account c Act. 24.16 2 Cor. 5.2 saies Paul we exercise our selves in having a conscience void of offence in the sight of God that the d Ps 19 14 meditation of our heart may be acceptable in his sight our Strength and our Redeemer As to the matter of our appeals in prayer there are but four cases whereof I would treat in respect to our comforts at death Isa 33.16 Section 1. Our first Appeal may be about the integrity and sincerity of our hearts Not that we have escap'd all outward sins or perform'd all inward duties or can absolve our selves from a Ps
behold the upright for the b Ps 37.37 end of that man is peace He 'l give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold If there be any choicer thing than grace and glory and truly that 's God himself he 'l keep back nothing From whom from such as walk c Ps 84.11 uprightly He 'l shew d Ps 16.11 Ps 23 3 the path of Life but 't is to such as first have been lead by him in the paths of righteousnesse Happy man that can unfeignedly and skilfully tune Hezekiahs Song Remember e Isay 38.3 now now at the point of death O Lord how I have walkt before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Integrity of hearr and the goodness of his doings are his double appeal at the appearance of death Though the good we have done be very little yet if that little fruit grow from a sanctified root God graciously accepts it because 't is of his own planting As David spake of his royall preparations for the Temple So must we of all our graces duties services f 1 Chron. 29 14. All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee Do any fragrant spices perfume the air of a Saints discourse Or any pleasant fruits garnish the garden of a Saints life We must invite as the Spouse doth Let g Song 4.16 my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits The trees of righteousnesse are h Isai 61.3 of his planting that he may be glorified like the Trees of Lign-Aloes like the Cedars of Lebanon which the Lord hath planted and not man Numb 24.6 and Psal 104.16 i Phil. 2.13 To will and to doe to think and to act the hearts integrity and the lifes sanctity are all from his good pleasure Whoso can enter his appeal at the throne of grace with the testimony of his conscience that k 2 Cor. 1.12 in simplicity and godly sincerity he hath had his conversation in this world may rejoyce at the remembrance of the day of the Lord Jesus and long for its approach Section 3. A third Appeal concerns our love to God Opticks teach us that lines and raies of light come from all parts of a luminous body and traverse and cut one another at innumerable angles but some are centrall from the midst All the affections are but emanations beamings from the heart and will but love is the cardinall centrall ray What we love that sets all the wheels of the Soul in motion Love 's the commandresse of all our forces It a Ps 86.11 unites all the powers under its banner and leads all the squadrons of the soul into the fortress of Gods name The Soul before acquaintance with God was like a bird wandring from its nest but now she hath found where to lay her a Ps 84.3 young even all its unfledg'd desires upon thine altars O Lord of Hosts my King and my God The Soul that 's in love with God loves him only thirsts pants cries after him Whom b Ps 73.25 have I in heaven but thee and none upon earth do I desire beside thee Are there no Saints there no Angels there Yes but they move in the stated inferior Orbs both of their own essence and his affection he mounts higher and the glory of the Sun of Gods countenance eclipses all these Stars that a Saint sees none in heaven to love like God All these he loves in the order of his ascension to the bosome of God A Saint passes by the Angells ascending and descending on Jacobs Ladder till he comes to the embraces of the c Gen. 28.12 13. Lord above at the top of all Non aliud tanquam illum as d Bernard f. 94. b. Bernard heavenly non aliud praeter illum non aliud post illum A Saint loves none like him none besides him none after he hath tasted of his loveliness And again Nec pro illo aliud nec cum illo aliud neâ— ab illo ad aliud convertamur The Soul embraces none in stead of him none in competition with him neither turns about from him to any besides him Bern. p. 77. b. Bonum est magis in camino habere te mecum quam esse sine te vel in coelo It 's better to be with thee in a Furnace then in Heaven without thee A Saint loves heaven for God not God for heaven Heaven is heaven because God is there and where ever God is that place is a Saints heaven As a faithfull Spouse is not taken with the Jewells Bracelets and Ear-rings but the lovely person that gives them 'T is not the place but the person not the Palace but the Prince not the glorious Throne but the Father of Mercies upon it God lov'd first and kindled these holy flames and whither doe they towre but upward into the element of love within his bosome O let my prayer saies David a Ps 141.2 Dirigatur instar coâ—umâ—â— be directed as incense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of my heart like a pillar of incense No incense was fragrant to God but what smoaked in the fire that first came down from heaven no love but that which first flasht from God O let our love stream straight upright into heaven in perfumy and spicy pillars not waved by chill blasts of the worlds tentations The Torch of our affections was first kindled from b Ezec. 10.6 between the wheels of the chariot of Cherubims and it lights our winged feet into the Chamber of Presence We have none in heaven to love and none in earth to desire but God Here upon earth there 's nothing desireable but God In heaven there are things desireable but nothing so lovely as God He is the only prime and ultimate object of the Souls satiety Hearken to this c Ps 45.10 O daughter consider his lovely and beautifull glory incline thine ear and forget thy fathers house The memorable relish of the song of divine love inchants the Soul with a holy forgerfulness of old terrene relations So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty O Queen of Zion forget thy black Egyptian Father and all his tawny-moor Princes of the adust race of Cham. Run to the arms of thy Solomon desire him upon earth and love none besides him in heaven and he will greâ—tly desire thy beauty Thy beauty a Alas 't is his beauty that shines upon thee First thy beloved is thine and then thou art his he plants his Lillies and then feeds among them But let 's descend a little and try the pretended love of mortalls by these higher than Lydian touchstones Dost thou love any thing in the world more then God above God beyond God without God and not in order to him How then can d 1 Joh. 3 17. the love of the Father dwell in you Dost thou love him
pray him to stay a while till they have caught the fish of profit and honour They put off repentance till gray hairs and proffer sacrifices of threescore yeer old when they are rich enough to believe with a bag of gold by their sides and have fortified faith with the security of a great purchase against all the issues of Providence Then they 'l promise to build a fair Alms-house and cut their Coat of Arms upon the Frontispiece for a good Example I know there be many Gallios f Act. 18.17 that care for none of these things of Felix his temper that appoint g Ch. 24.25 Paul a more convenient season They count them sour cynicall that warn'd them of death and the wrath to come but oh how sour doe themselves look when the fear of death assaults them and conscience bites like an Adder for scorning former advice about circumspect walking and redeeming of precious time But O fool is it not better to be prickt with the goad of wisdome to hear rather verba pungentia quam palpantia smarting and searching words to Salvation then sinoath and oyly words to lamnation that Sermon that pricks not but delights the hearer is not the word of wisdome Hierom. in Eccles. 12.11 p. S 3 T. 7 Is it not safer to hear this Bell now ring in thine ear then in Hell Is it not more convenient to hear Paul preaching in his chain then for thee to tremble in thy chains for the dreadfull sentence at the Tribunall of Christ Then hoarding up of riches will not profit in that day of wrath nor fine fashions ward off the stroak of Christs iron rod Ps 2. Will griping gains or soft raiment lay up a good foundation for the time to come Can men dye with any safe reflections of comfort upon the actings of sin Can such appeal to God at death that they sincerely love him when they love h Jam. 4.4 his enemies so profusely Let not these frothy things be entertain'd by such as would fain dye peaceably Would ye sleep in the bosome of Christ happily then walk in his eye holily Live in the love of God and you may appeal safely at death and long for his Salvation I have a Gen. 49.18 waited for thy salvation O Lord saies dying Jacob. But how comes in this pious ejaculation of Jacob may some say at his blessing of Dan unless the holy Patriarch in the midst of other matters at the benediction of his children should seem to have fallen suddenly into a trance of joy through a quick glance upon his former waiting and that now he saw this glorious salvation neer at hand Others when they are curvetting upon their winged Coursers after worldly games and pleasures Dan's Serpent of judgment and the Adder of Death bites their heels in the path and the riders fall backward Then oh how earnest they are for dying the death of the righteous Alas the Time 's now past for such to long for that salvation on any good grounds who by faith and prayer never waited for it But in Jacobs glasse we may see the frame of a Saints heart and the heavenly strain of his song at death who in the midst of the compiling his will and testament concerning that which his soul loved and had long expected he breaks forth in the extasie of a joyfull appeal now when he sees it approaching Lord this is what I wait for this my soul longs and hankers after to enâ—â—â—â— a Pnbliul in Hodaep Hierosol l. 1. vid. pâ—â—ef ad Pâ—â—â—veli peregran Hieâ—osol * 3. edit Antwerp 1614 Aâ— it 's reported of a Jerusalem Pilgrim being at Mount Olivet that in the midst of his kisses of Christs supposed soot prints between devour sobs and sighs and tears he expired his last breath When the Soul cries out with David Now Lord b Ps 39.7 what wait I for my hope is in thee Or as Simeon Lord Now c Luk 2.29 let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy ordained and my beloved Saviour with his salvations Now my hope thus long deferr'd shall sprout up into a Tree of Life and feed my soul with the pleasant fruits of thy salvation This Rock of the Covenant shall pour out the chrystall streams from the Throne of God and the Lamb. Jacob and Simeon sing the same new song of the Lamb and fall asleep sweetly in the same armes Their love to Christ bubbled up into warm appeals the sails of their joy were swell'd with fresh gales of the spirit while they steer under the top-gallant of assurance into the haven of enjoyment They lye down on the pitch of Nebo on the very peak of Pisgah in a beautifull view of the delicious Landskip of the fat vallies and the rivers of milk and honey that run among the mountains of Canaan They begin to cast away the glasse and see more immediately to resolve the riddle the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.12 and expound it by vision When Saints like Peter can passionately pour out their Souls into the breast of Christ a Joh. 21.17 Lord thou who knowest all things knowest that I love thee this contestation this blessed appeal will keep Peter from ever sinking in the mortall sea of Tiberias and hold up the chin of a Saint through the greatest floods and billows of tentation yea of death it self and waft them safely into the bosome of Christ triumphing Section 4. The fourth and last appeal is about the presence of God with us I have spoken already to the sense of divine communion in a former chapter and shall now only treat in brief about our appeal concerning it David had a sense of it that was his comfort and conquest but now he declares it that 's his triumph Lord thou hast been with me and thou knowest it and my soul knows it and I sensibly feel that thou art still with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu mecum Thou with me saies the Hebrew restraining the divine presence to no certain time Thou standest with me by me on my side I will fear no evill The Lord stood by Paul in a tempest and said c Act. 27.24 fear not Paul and Pauls all in a calm The Syrtes or quicksands of Lybia the Euroclydons or most furious winds the rowling mountains of water fright not his faith When Sun Moon and Stars are mantled in Stygian darkness for many daies while others wish for day Paul enjoyes it No dangers terrifie a Saint when God is present The King of Terrors is subject to the King of Saints and gives up the keys of his Castle to this Lord Paramount and layes down the Mace at his Feet Si fractus illabatur orbis c. Though mountains be hurried into the heart d Ps 46.3 of the Sea the waters roar and the great hills shake with the swelling