every though never so fortuitous an effect of a spontaneous Agent to look at God I 'll not instance in other than David And 1. for evil Events As he intimates a possibility of Saul's being excited against him by God 1 Sam. 26.19 and was foretold that the Lord would raise up evil against him out of his own House and take his Wives and give them to Absalom under the notion of his Neighbour 2 Sam. 12.11 So even when he was cursed by Shimei he owns it as from God 2 Sam. 16.10 Not that he supposed God had a hand in the sin of the Act but order'd it as a part of the punishment threatned for his own Sin 2. Good Events of all kinds he more frequently ascribes to God Does he conquer his Enemies 'T is the Lord that lets him see his desire upon them Psal 59.10 and subdueth the People under him Psal 18.47 48. See the whole Psalm and smites his Enemies in their hinder parts Psal 78.66 Do his Friends own and anoint and crown him King He entitles God to it Psal 21.3 When his Father and Mother forsake him the Lord takes him up Psal 27.10 Is he secur'd in a strong City 'T is the Lord's marvellous kindness Psal 31.21 What do I enumerating Particulars every Psalm is an Instance And indeed were it not so Prayer would be mere Mockery and Praise Hypocrisie Epist 31. and that of Seneca would be better Divinity than we are taught by the Scriptures which yet to suppose is most horridly Blasphemous Per maxima acto viro turpe est etiamnum Deos fagitare Quid votis opus est Facte ipse foelicem Let those English it that allow it Now when a Man does thus in all Events take notice of the Finger of God and thereby give him the glory of his Efficiency he is in a disposition for renewed Experiments of the Divine Power and Goodness in Peace and Joy Where the Glory will be given to God he will grant the fullest and sweetest tasts of his Graciousness But who will lose a Benefit 'T is lost where no likelyhood of any grateful Acknowledgement Unthankfulness is the most hateful of Sins Ingratum si dixeris omnia dixeris If God must not reap Praises he will not sow Mercies Not that he needs our Gratitude but that we must own our Benefactor and testifie our advances in Love when by new Instances he testifies his Love to us Nevertheless this Love of ours is not profitable to God but highly as all other Graces to our selves Our own Advantage and Interest is alway at the bottom of our Duty which indeed can add nothing to God Job 34. is nothing to him as neither can our Iniquity detract from him or hurt him His good will towards us moves him to take care that it may be well with us therefore doth he follow us with his tender Mercies and richest Blessings that we may proceed upon ingenuous Motives in our observance of him and obedience to him and may not be obnoxious to the check of Satan or our own Consciences for servility of Spirit in that work wherein consists our Liberty Honour and Happiness Indeed we are not really good if we be not ingenuously good nor act at all for God if we act not from a filial disposition Love is every Grace and Virtue that Spirit of Life which as an universal Cause diffuses its benign animating Influences through all the Regions of true Goodness and Honesty All in us that lives to God every holy Disposition every gracious Habit is only a distinct particular modification of Love Even as the varieties of Nature in those innumerable differences of Plants sensitive Creatures and Men in their Bodies are but Earthly Particles diversly modified formed fashioned and qualified Hence Love is said to be the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 But without Love to be Good is impossible 1 Cor. 13. Where this Grace dwells God dwells also and the Soul inspirited by it dwells in God 1 Joh. 4.8 16. The more of Love therefore the more of God He will never be out of our Eye if he be thus in our Hearts Love there will command our Looks 'T was the dominion of this Grace in his Soul that mov'd the Psalmist to make such honourable mention here of the Love and Graciousness of God in his aid and sustentation 't was this that in his distress inclin'd him to take Sanctuary in God and own all the Spiritual Refreshments that solaced his Heart as derivations from God and engaged him to devolve all the Glory thereof upon God And how should that Soul do other that has all in God Hast thou then Oh my Soul evermore and in every occurrent an Eye toward Heaven and by thy acknowledgement of the Finger of God in every thing that befalls thee Dost thou honour his Providence indeavour to relish his Goodness and make some progress in thine affectionate pantings after him complacency in him resolution for him and dutifulness to him O let every thing remind thee of his everlasting Commiseration that in thy lost Estate remembred thee gave Blood for thy Ransom the Blood of God Acts 20.28 The time of thy lothing was the time of his Love Eze. 16.5 8. He loved thee out of the Pit of Corruption Isa 38.17 He hath prevented thee with the Blessings of Goodness Psal 21.3 He redeemeth thy Life from Destruction and crowneth thee with loving Kindness and tender Mercies Psal 103.4 He hath not dealt with thee after thy Sins nor rewarded thee according to thy Iniquities ver 10. Therefore ver 1 2. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Bless his Holy Name Bless the Lord Oh my Soul and forget not all his Benefits Hallelujah CHAP. X. The Subject of Comfort Seeks it solely in God THus much of the Character deduced from the Context there only remains one thing out of the Text it self Viz. The Psalmist was a Man who discern'd such an emptiness and insufficiency in all inferiour Contentments as to seek no relief from them nor take up with any in them as his rest in Trouble but in deepest anxiety and distress did look for and find all his comfort solely in and from God This is the very substance and marrow of the Verse Indeed the whole Psalm is a Testimony of his ceasing from the Creature from Man in a believing and affectionate recourse to God Where-ever he cast his Eye upon Earth the Inscription was Vanity and Vexation A deluge of Sin and Misery covered the World that like Noah's Dove he could find no rest for the sole of his Foot below therefore does he direct his course toward Heaven Thus Psal 55.6 Oh that I had wings like a Dove for then I would flee away and be at rest But Rest is not a Denizen of this World Nothing but the Heaven of Heavens is at rest and here does he fix only There was a Windy Storm and Tempest without as Psal 55.8
the Psalmists process here For before the Text though he have frequent occasion to make mention of God almost in every one of the foregoing Verses viz. ten or eleven times yet 't is with that seeming distance and strangeness that we meet not with a word of appropriation to himself in special But upon the benigne Aspect of the Consolations of God his Love will no longer stand off but makes its nearest approaches and runs into his embraces in a double affectionate claim of Propriety in the compass of four Verses following as oft as he mentions the Lord he follows it with a Relative not permitting it to pass by as before like an Alien Vers 22. The Lord is my defence My God is the Rock of my Refuge I have now abundant reason to follow him with relation Love as mine own since he love my Soul into Rest and Peace becoming my Comforter Oh sweet reviving token of the singular Love of my God! How dearly do I love him for it Yet this is not all Is this Honey-comb for my self alone Do I arrogate sole Propriety in these Riches No my Charity obliges me to Judge that my Brethren in Affliction are not destitute of the same Consolation through interest in God I so love my Neighbour as to make account he is as good as my self and has an equal share with me in this infinite Treasure therefore for my Brethren and Companions sake I say OUR GOD without restriction to my self Vers 23. Yea our God shall out them off He is a common good yours as well as mine and brings a common benefit to us all in saving us from our Adversaries And herein he shews not only his love to Man and thereby consequentially that it did respect a higher object 1 Joh. 4.20 21. but directly and immediately demonstrates that he grew in love to God himself in that he glorifies the Communicativeness of Divine Goodness by an acknowledgment of its extensiveness in a peculiar manner to Multitudes besides himself even all included in the relative OUR as if it had been said I love him because he loves me so as to be mine I love him yet more because he together with me loves mine condescending to be theirs also I love that goodness that flows to me I further love that goodness that overflows to all with me my Friends my People For my own sake for their sake for its own sake I love it above all Thus as the Work of Righteousness is Peace and the effect of Righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Isa 32.17 So on the other hand the Work of Peace is Righteousness Psal 85.8 I will hear what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strong God Jehovah will speak because he will speak peace to his people and to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his merciful ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indicatively not Imperatively and they shall not return to folly This Peace will be a preservative against Sin whence 't is said to Engarrison our Minds and Hearts in that so often mentioned Phil. 4.7 so promotes it that Holiness which some call Negative but it is no less productive of Positive Holiness Isa 61.2 3. Christ is anointed and endowed with the Holy Spirit to Preach good tidings c. To comfort all that mourn To appoint unto them that mourn in Sion to give unto them beauty for Ashes the Oyl of joy for mourning the Garment of Praise for the Spirit of heaviness But wherefore all this It follows That they might be called i. e. might be as before Isa 4.3 and 35.8 and 56.7 compared with Luk. 19.46 Matth. 5.9 19. Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified To this purpose also is that Prayer of the Apostle 2 Thes 2.16 17. God who loves and gives everlasting Consolation through Grace comfort your Hearts and stablish you in every good Word and Work Grace begets Consolation and this begets good Conversation He that through Grace comforts does also through Comfort establish in every good Word and Work Shew then Oh my Soul the soundness of thy Comforts by their Fruits That Peace which is imprignant is impostorous In what further degree do thy inward Joys impower thee to Love the Lord the giver or thy Neighbour thy Partaker Canst thou pretend Peace in thy Conscience and live in contention or uncharitableness with thy Brother Does not thy inward Comfort calm thy passions meeken thy converses render thee profitable useful to Men in the best endeavours to induce them to love God and Vertue and abhor Immorality Viciousness and Hypocrisie that by thy means they may be also led in this method into the way of Peace and through it again into the way of Purity If thy Comforts be solid and sincere thou wilt by them be enabled to use the utmost diligence in propagating them since that is one of Gods great Designs in communicating them 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Blessed be God even the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort who comforteth us in all our Tribulation for what end That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the Comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God And if God make thee able thou ought'st to be willing They are only fallacious Joys that are envious A corrupt Heart so that it self do but enjoy rest matters not though all the World be in trouble nay grudges others the quiet it enjoys and triumphs or secretly rejoyces at or at least is not afflicted in their Afflictions Haman will drink and be jolly when the whole City is in perplexity A wicked Soul is not concern'd for the content of any beside it self will rather add Affliction to the afflicted than indeavour or rejoyce in their Consolation Thy Comfort is not good if not conformable to the Fountain of Goodness in Communicativeness As far as confin'd 't is corrupt In the Harvest of true Joys thy Jordan will overflow the Banks Uncharritable illiberal unbountiful Consolations are Illusions If thy light and gladness diffuse not its beneficial rayes abroad to revive and refresh the Disconsolate Heart 't is but a glimmering Meteor not a Beam from the Sun of Righteousness and thus does it not extend it self if a Vital Heat and Influence do not accompany it as 't is but a flashy wild deceitful Spark Isa 50.11 which will vanish into Smoak and darkness if it be not kindled by a flame of true Love to God and Universal Righteousness Wherefore thou canst never bless thy self in reflection upon thine own Peace if it engage thee not in serious cares to propagate Holiness first and thereby Peace For an unholy Soul is absolutely inconsolable for want of Right therefore should be so for want of Will since a Will to apply Comforts without Right will certainly reduce to that woful plight which the Apostle with so much concern reports 1 Thes 5.3 When they shall say peace and
which being cultivated by External Advantages and his own more than ordinary Industry he became an universal Scholar comprehending the whole Encyclopaedia of all profitable Literature a solid Logician a good Linguist a fluent Rhetorician a profound Philosopher and very skilful in the Mathematicks Being thus well accomplished for Learning and Parts after he had taken his Degrees in the University the first Essay he made upon the Publick Stage was about Peterborough where staying but a little season he came into his Native Country about the Year 1660. and his Uncle Mr. William Clarkson who was Parson of Add-hill dying he was presented to that Parsonage by Esq Arthington of Arthington the Patron he accepted of it but enjoyed it but a little space for Dr. Hich Parson of Guiseley challenged it as his by right upon King Charles the Seconds Return having been excluded by the Act against Pluralities made by the Parliament Mr. Sharp was capable of it having been Ordain'd by a Bishop yet he saw there was no contending with so great a Man especially in that juncture he was willing to resign although Mr. Arthington would have tryed his Title to present by Law but he declined it for at that time he saw a Cloud approaching with covered us all and so retired to his Father's House where he was of singular use living privately and following his Studies very close attending upon Publick Ordinances in the Parish Church at Bradford where that worthy Person Mr. Abraham Brooksbank was Vicar till he removed to Reading But when the Licences granted by King Charles 2. in 72. came forth he took the opportunity to exercise his Ministry in his own House being crowded with great numbers that flock'd to hear him About that time he married Mrs. Bagnall's Daughter by whom he had one Daughter but both dyed After a season he married Mr. Sales Daughter an excellent N. C. Minister by whom he had several Children but none are now living but one Son and one Daughter He had a call to Preach at Morley where he was very industrious and highly esteemed But the Inhabitants of that populous Town of Leeds having built a large Chappel upon Mr. Richard Streattons remove to London gave him a call which he embraced living at his own House at Horton riding mostly on Lords day Morning to Leeds and back again at Evening in Summer time at least which was above a dozen Miles and Preaching twice which at length he found too hard for him therefore he bought a House in Leeds repaired it built to it and kept House there and at Horton also where his necessary affairs requir'd his frequent attendance He was in Labours more abundant and spared not his own Body or Estate that he might do good to Souls and edifie the Church of God He was very self-denying and stood not upon Worldly Incomes whether they were more or less he was very well content so that he gave strict charge to those who collected that small Pittance he accepted of in consideration of his Labours not to urge any but only receive the voluntary Contributions of those who were as well able as willing He was exceeding Temperate mortified to all Earthly Enjoyments of great Aequanimity Sociable to all yet prized above all others such as feared God these were his chosen Companions He invited Ministers and Christian Friends frequently to days of Fasting and Prayer in his own House and went upon a call abroad upon those Occasions He was indeed very excellent in Prayer and had a peculiar way of pleading with God by serious sensible Expostulations with great Ardency and Affection which made it appear to Intelligent Christians that he was much with God in Prayer and very familiar with him few had those rare Gifts or exercised Grace at that rate and no doubt God dealt familiarly with his Soul he lived near God and now is with his God His Prayers were usually long but not tedious being flowered with variety of sweet Expressions and Pathetical Expostulations and I doubt not but the Lord graciously accepted his Person and vouchsafed many gracious Answers to his ardent Prayers as might appear in several Instances which I forbear to mention He was a fluent Preacher a Master of Words not so much abounding in Rhetorical Flourishes as in Pithy and Profitable Sentences very taking with his Auditors that fit under his Ministry with great delight His Sermons were Elaborate and Accurate all he did was exceeding Polite and Scholar-like his Method was peculiar to himself and sometimes Cryptical but always suitable to the matter and proper to the end design'd not to please the Fancy but to inform the Judgment convince the Conscience work upon the Will and Affections and change the Heart and Life He hath often said he should never have been so cautious and so careful of his Words had not his Father been so critical and found so many faults with him which he studied to rectifie this did him good though he found it hard to stoop to but as he was sensible of his Paternal Authority and his own Filial Duty so he was convinc'd of his Fathers judicious Exceptions and the tendency thereof to his own Benefit He was very Sound and Orthodox and trod much in the old Path though he was well acquainted with the Controversies of the Times and very able to oppugne Error and defend the Truth yet he was of a peaceable Spirit making the best Constructions of doubtful Phrases and inclined rather to compose Differences Civil and Sacred than to espouse a Party he was of a Catholick Spirit and spake well of what was good in Persons that differed from him he was very unwilling to engage in any Controversie only some knowing his Acuteness and Genius desired his help in three Cases first against the Papists upon occasion of a young Man turning that way and sending a Letter to his Relations which he answered very Learnedly and to great Satisfaction 2dly Two Papers he writ in Reply to two Conformists who grievously and rigidly censured their peaceable Brethren the one in Print the other in Writing both which he Answered and Confuted both well deserved Publishing but the Times would not then bear it and now they may seem out of season but are still preserved as choice Manuscripts in the Hands of Friends As is also 3dly an Answer to some Queries supposed to be Dr. Owens Whether Persons who have engaged unto Reformation and another way of Divine Worship according to the Word of God c. may lawfully go unto and attend on the use of the Common Prayer in Divine Worship c. He had a lofty Poetical Strain wherein he sometimes for a diversion employed himself upon special Occasions as upon the Death of that Worthy Grave Divine Mr. Elkanah Wales and upon the Burning of London in 1666. which being show'd to Dr. Robert Wild he seem'd surpriz'd and ingenuously acknowledg'd that Man should be his Master he would yeild the Laurel to the
Powers hence that which a Man either is above the sence of or hath no sense of is to him as if it were not though never so real in it self Therefore the Venom and Sting of Infelicity is our Sense and the Gall and Bitterness of our Sense lies in our Thoughts the workings of our Minds A Man that lies asleep bound hand and foot upon the top of a Precipice with his Head and a great part of his Body hanging over a bottomless Gulf is in a case most wretched in it self the least hitch tumbles him down into remediless Ruine yet in the condition he is in viz. Sleeping he is aware of no danger to him all 's well and secure he has no apprehensions except of Ease Safety and Rest But awake him that he look about see feel and think of his Peril and Helplessness then will he be all Agony and Horror ready to swoon and die through the direful Apprehensions of his as to himself irremediable Death This is our Case we are naturally asleep in Security and Iniquity upon the brinks of Hell bound hand and foot in the Chains of our Sins and an Adversary Satan at hand to push us headlong into the Abyss of Misery Beside the Omnipotent Vengeance of Heaven awaits us ready to arraign condemn and execute us to which we even dare it every moment But being asleep nay dead Eph. 2.1 we feel nothing reckless and careless in a Bedlam Dream we conceit that we swim upon a smooth and Halcyon Sea of sensual Joys as if 't were a Voyage to Paradise 'till God awake us by the Calls and Convictions of his Word and Spirit but then Oh the inexpressible Troubles Terrors and Astonishment that arrest us because our amazing Jeopardy whereof we had no apprehensions before is now entertain'd into our Thoughts and works so much the more violently there by how much we find our selves the more helpless and therefore hopeless Thus whatever perplexes us does it by way of Thoughts as it invests our Mind and Consideration it tortures us 'Till it thus get within us and engage our considering Faculties it does not ordinarily commit a Rape upon our Irascible or Interrupt the Sweet and Peace of a secure and quiet Composure and Rest But when this Tempest this Hurricane of Thoughts beats upon us we cannot tell which way to turn how to bear up against it It confounds our Reason discomposes our Affections terrifies our Consciences tears down all our Confidences reduces us to an absolute Nonplus Our Thoughts trouble us as Dan. 4.19 even to astonishment and so much the more by how many the more they are Multitudes of Thoughts beget multitudes of Cares and Fears and Griefs and Cumbers and Disquiets and Despondencies and of these so many the more by how much the more intimate and deep within and by how much the more they are our own not of a divine Injection but a corrupt Mind's Fabrication In the multitude of my thoughts within in me in intimo meo intestin in my Heart Septuagint Vulgar Lat. expressing the general sense of the Original Word by the noblest part within to which the Scripture sometimes attributes Thoughts as Gen 6.5 c. Both in conjunction amount to my inmost Heart or Soul If they be Thoughts not meerly the workings of my sensitive Powers inward or outward my Follies or Fancies but the mature and genuine off-spring of my Mind If they be not a few stragglers whereof I can say apparent rarae nantes in gurgite vaslo that they swim only here and there thinly in the vast Ocean of my Understanding but cover the face of my Soul in Multitudes If they be only my Thoughts such as spring in my own Garden having no Author but my self no Original but in and from my self whatever their object be whether that which I feel in my own Brest or that which is an effect of the same cause in others which has such a dismal aspect upon me even Sin And if they be penetrating Thoughts that sink and soak into the bottom and become most intimate within me not lying shallow upon the furface of my Soul In such multitudes of my thoughts within me I cannot find the least glimmering of Comfort at home nothing but Terror and Despair constrain'd am I therefore to look abroad and no where can I enjoy any thing reviving Refer to the 1. Direction but in thee O Lord the Comforts which refresh me must be thine or none And since nothing can pass into my Soul but at the door of Thoughts even these thy Comforts cannot affect me but as Troubles do they must enter into my Thoughts too be apprehended by my Mind ere they can relieve my Heart The same Engine that introduced my Misery must usher in my Mercy I must be cured through the same Weapon that wounded me Thoughts the first born of my Soul must bear my Comforts that heal me the healing is not from any vertue in the Weapon but thy Comforts the Salve upon it My Soul by its Thoughts viewing thy Comforts and transmitting them to my Affections is in a transport of delight and joy The Word rendered Thoughts is but twice found in Scripture Interpreters judge from the affinity of it with other Words of the same sound and almost the same Letters that it carries an allusion to the Boughs of a Tree Such Thoughts then are here to be understood which in like manner proceeding from the Mind of Man spread every way and divide into smaller Branches and the smallest Twigs so entangling themselves together as upon every motion to wound each other and the Tree they spring from Therefore the Seventy render the Word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Pangs of of a Woman in Travail In the fulness of the pangs of my Heart c. Others render it Perplexities entangled Thoughts c. Neither does the English fully express the sence of the other Word translated Delight which primarily signifies to look upon The Mood 't is here used in imports a looking upon with Pleasure Content Love Complacency even as Lovers look upon one another 't is Dr. Hammonds's Paraphrase with a sweet and amiable Regard with loving and lovely glances of Favour and good will The Original does not intimate so much the Act as the Power and Possibility of delighting not that the Psalmist did actually lay hold upon embrace and apply to himself but only that those Comforts of God did rather manifest a forwardness and favorable readiness to lay hold upon him they were not already apprehended by him but offered themselves to him lay plain and fair before him inviting him by their benign and amiable looks by their goodness and sweetness and suitableness to close with and espouse them Even then when we are so overwhelmed with Perplexities and Troubles that we do not or will not or cannot or dare not appropriate divine Comforts to our selves they notwithstanding are prepared for
chip of Being Hell is but a sensible Comment and Paraphrase upon indeed but an Epitome and Breviate of those Evils which Sin attempts to inflict upon the Deity it self which being impassible as a Rock of Marble and Adamant reverberates and reflects back upon the Head of the Sinner those Arrows of Vengeance which were directed against it Were God capable of suffering since he is infinitely sensible Sin would torture him more than all the punishments of Hell can possibly do the Devils and Damned there And the Son of God for the same reason and because he suffered in such a measure as to give satisfaction which all the Eternal Cruciations of the Damned can never do did actually feel more evil in Sin though he never committed any than there can be evil in the everlasting Woes of Hell And 't is but just retaliation to make the Violaters of that Law of Grace established by this Son of God for the recovery of lost Man and his deliverance from the Wrath to come even all unbelieving finally Impenitents to feel something of the evil of that wherein he felt much more and from which they will not be saved by him Oh then my Soul awake thy sense and suffer with him in this Life under some paining doleful Reflections upon the evil and sinfulness of thy Sin as an offence and wrong to him Oh be in bitterness for it for him as one is in bitterness and mourns for his First-born Let nothing more afflict and vex thee than the displeasingness of thy Sin to God the despite in it to the supreme Majesty of Heaven Bleed over those Wounds thy Sin has given the Lord of Life and Glory be every day sick of that which made him die aggravate it to the height in thy Meditations and look to Heaven with the most ardent and passionate desires that God would every day impress something more of his own Image upon thee that thou mayst hate Sin with the hatred of God himself CHAP. VI. The Subject of Comfort Inoffensive to Man 2. AS the Psalmist maintain'd a powerful sense of Duty to God so he walk'd in a conscientious observance of his Duty to Man as will be evident by considering particulars respecting his Equals his Enemies and his Superiours 1. His Compassion to and Condolements of the Servants of God in Affliction intimated ver 5 6. with his Prayers for their deliverance by the God of Revenges ver 1. and the comfortable relief and assurances he gives them ver 12 13 14 15. testifie his love to the Children of God And 2. That he was not awanting to his Enemies appears in the instructive Rebukes he gives them ver 8 9 10 11. and the severe Cautions and Warnings he presents them throughout the Psalm And often the denunciation of Wrath by a terrible brandishing the Flaming Sword of a Divine Threat in the Eyes of Conscience becomes a means through God's Concurrence either to convert or at least restrain a bold and impudent Sinner Neither is it usual for any Sinner with seriousness to look up to God till he be first knock'd down by the dreadful menaces of the Law Attrition is generally antecedent to Contrition though often the motions to Contrition be first presented God himself humbles us ere he will exalt us When the gentle attractives of Grace cannot draw us the Terrors of his Wrath must drive us home to our Father's House When God prevails not by the Cords of a Man the Bands of Love to win us into an ingenuous acknowledgement of him he will further try to vanquish our stubbornness by the direful Scorpions of his Indignation And 't was not incongruous for the Psalmist to express a Love to the Persons even of wicked Persecutors in the same Methods that were made use of by his Maker Lastly His conscience of Duty to his Superiours is plain from ver 21 22. compared For though in ver 21. he speaks indefinitely and in general of condemning the Righteous and Innocent Blood yet the next ver is determinate and particular plainly demonstrating that the Righteous and Innocent he spoke of were no other than himself or that at least he was one of them They condemn the Righteous and Innocent Blood but the Lord is my defence Impertinent if it were not They condemn my Righteous Soul my Innocent Blood And of David this was undoubtedly true as he elsewhere witnesses Psal 59.3 4. The Mighty are gathered against me not for my Transgression nor for my Sin O LORD They run and prepare themselves without my Fault There they were gathered together here they gather themselves together but 't was against one whose Conscience did not challenge him for any Crime that could merit this at their Hands He could appeal to the Lord to be a Witness of his Righteousness and Innocency as to them who as to him were not Righteous and Innocent but framed mischief against him by a Law But I cannot imagine that in a solemn Address to God this Holy Person would profess to be so just and harmless if it were only so in outward semblance and act Could he dissemble so grossly that is act the part of a Knave to God and Man as to pretend these and yet permit his Mind and Heart inwardly to boyl over in Gall and Bitterness ready upon all occasions to break out into Injury and Violence Did he not know that the inward Lust is as really a violation of Innocence as the outward Act And durst he tell the Searcher of Hearts that he was Innocent when his Heart was Guilty Well that which was just and right he practised and his Tongue and Soul did not move in a contradiction to his Hands No hurt he did offer'd no wrong either in Thought Word or Deed. He was active for their good in Righteousness but not at all to recompence them Evil for Evil in Rancour and Revenge Had he taken a contrary Course Had he been any other than passive under their active Malice it might have been a just impeach to both his Righteousness and Innocency Does he right that with-holds from Man his due Does he no harm that acts to the prejudice and hurt of another Let it then be granted that his activity in an opposite way would have rendred him Guilty Particularly 't was a Throne of Iniquity that did persecute him for no Crime of his own Yet you see he does not in the least attempt or design to avenge himself with his own Hand or stretch it out against the Lord 's Anointed as he speaks 1 Sam. 26.9 11. He peremptorily determines that it could not be done without Guilt Thus here he appropriates Revenge solely to God as his Royalty and Prerogative ver 1. it belongs to thee and what then has any other to do with it This is a plain renunciation of all right to it himself The Repetition cannot but have a singular Emphasis Twice O Lord God of Revenges or to whom Vengeance belongs Sure the
upon their Consciences They have awakening apprehensions of the Holiness and Justice of God the dreadful menaces of the Law the bitter Agonies undergone by the Son of God for the Sin of Man the dismal Horrors and Woes and Cruciations under the Vengeance of Almighty God in Hell which makes every Sin very formidable They are made to understand that although in respect of the matter some Sins are greater others less yet no Sin is absolutely little which is commited against a great God and also that smaller Sins are aggravated relatively to our Faculties that 't is an heinous offence to God to do the least of Evils against the clear Light and Conviction of Conscience or with a full bent of Will and Affection and that a Sin in respect of the matter comparatively and in it self greater yet is not so to me if committed ignorantly unwillingly Under these Considerations their own particular Sins are set in order before their Faces set on upon their awakned Consciences made bitter and grievous and odious that they Day and Night lament over them are afflicted with them in anguish of Soul under them labouring and being heavy laden and able to obtain rest no where till by serions hearty Repentance for and from them with a bitter loathing and implacable malice and hatred against them they be prepar'd for and made willing to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ in his whole mediatory Latitude and intirely devote themselves to him and his Father in the renewal of their Baptismal Covenant which they most solemnly and unfeignedly engage in and universally submit to the Terms of in the Strength and Grace of Christ Upon this Covenanting with God they see and know that to sin against him in any thing wittingly or willingly will in them be yet more exceeding sinful than before and still the more they oblige themselves to God and he engages them to himself and endears himself to them by the communication of Covenant-Mercies the more do they find their Sins to be inhanced in their abominable odiousness to God and the smart and sting they leave in their Consciences is so much the more grievous Oh none knows the dire and dismal things which a wounded Spirit undergoes but those that have felt The Spirit of a Man will sustain his Infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 And this too has its degrees of Intolerableness in proportion to Sins and Sence and Temper and Time and Spirit and Improvement Men of strong Parts great Reading comprehensive Intellects large Memories ready and present Minds may sometimes soon and easily weather out the Storm But all Mens intellectuals and advances in Knowledge and Goodness are not of one size What shall poor weak shallow Heads or melancholick Constitutions and therefore strong Imaginations defective treacherous Memories but unruly Consciences do when both Heaven and Hell seem to be set in Battle-array against them Horrid Reflections virulent and violent Temptations strange and terrible Injections and Infusions as drawn Swords gashing and galling and killing the very Heart piercing it through with multitudes of Fears Troubles Torments Sorrows Can a Man that hath felt this Groan'd under been Crush'd and Crucifi'd and Rack'd and Rent in pieces with it and that perhaps many Weeks Months Years together ever make light of the cause of it ever have other than dreadful Apprehensions of it as the burn'd Child Fancy and Reason can never comprehend what Sense and Experience will testifie in these Cases Speculative Men that stand upon their Heads which have little or no Communion with their Hearts who understand every thing better than themselves very seldom feel any of these lamentable Twitches and Agonies till a Sickness a Death-bed set their thoughts upon another Bias which in some obtains in most not at all and then according to the largness of their minds are their Horrors of Conscience and their feeling may teach them fellow-feeling when it is too late but the unconcernedness of their Spirits before conjures down all workings of Commiseration As a Man of an Athletick Constitution in the triumphs of his natural Vigour and Health accounts valetudinary Persons a company of pitiful puling Sneaks always whining over an itching Limb in the Scurvey or a smarting Toe in the Gout or a rumbling Belly in the Chollick or Gripes or an akeing Back in the Stone or a squeazy Stomach or tickling Tooth c. in which they are the Objects of his Ridicule rather than compassionate regard But let his brass Pot receive a sound knock from any of these mauling Distempers or the like and the Complexion of his thoughts immediately change and from the foot he can now Collect the Dimensions of Hercules I doubt not but that as many Holy Souls enjoy some refreshing Antepasts of the future everlasting Feast of all Delights and Joys they shall sit down with Christ at in his Eternal Kingdom So many wicked profligate Wretches meet with dismal and sensible Prelibations of the never ending Woes and Horrors of Hell that knowing by some Internal Sensations what awaits them they may either be awak'd into Repentance or if not rendred more inexcuseable And sometimes God in his Infinite Wisdom so orders that even those who ascend not to any heighth in Debauchery yet are reduc'd to such extreamities of Anguish and Pangs in the New Birth that it comes very little short of those more Dreadful Anticipations in the Reprobate nay sometimes it exceeds in a considerable degree Sin must have its Hell of one kind or other and happy is it for that Man whose Hell in this Life is preventive of not introductive to a future For beside the unspeakable Satisfactions in another World this lays the Foundation of the Richest Sweetest Fullest and most durable Consolations even in this Life according to the common saying God digs deepest where he intends to build highest But on the contrary where be breaks no Earth he intends to sow no Seed Those that he permits to be always whole shall never have because they never need a Physician General Experience tells That the Corruption of carnal Ease and Security is the Generation of a Dissenter Troubles for Sin are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Rudiments of this Embryo It seldom falls out that a Mans or Womans Conscience is thorowly disturb'd and their fallacious Peace and Comfort utterly ruin'd but either the want of a skilful and tender hand to bind up their broken Hearts or some check they meet with in an unseasonable hour from those that should be vers'd in this Art drives them under that great uneasiness of mind to take Sanctuary in the bosom of one or other that with more soft and compassionate Bowels will counsel and encourage them yet not precipitate them into the Pacifick Seas of Consolation but gently and by degrees lead them thither through the Strait of a sound Repentance I know not how it comes to pass God's Dispensations always are Wise Just and
rather than Nominatively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the mighty strong able lusty Man whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt or wilt Instruct Correct him a Pleonasm of the Pronoun and shalt or wilt teach him out of thy Law So Ver. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Teacher Chastizer of the Nations c. The Primary Signification of the Word is to Teach or Instruct which is very accommodate to the scope of the Place and the whole Paragraph may be rendred thus He that instructeth the Nations shall not be reason Isai 1.18 argue or dispute Job 23.7 plead Mic. 6.2 even He that teacheth man knowledge the LORD knowing the reasonings 1 Cor. 3.10 Luke 9.46 of man that they are vanity Oh the blessednesses of the mighty whom thou wilt instruct Oh Jah and teach him out of thy Law The Authority of the received Translation with the Targum and Syriack and some learned Interpreters is the only Argument against this reading of the words nothing in the Original or the tenour of the Psalmists Discourse but rather the contrary And even this sence will administer something toward the compleating the Character The Psalmist then was one that accounted it a singular happiness to be taught of God to be throughly instructed in Gods law by God himself that is to be effectually brought under the power and led into the practice of Holiness whereof the Law is the Rule for God's Teachings are not only notional and doctrinal but practical and effective of Obedience 'T is all one as if he had said Oh the blessednesses of the man in whose heart thou writest thy Law and thereby principlest for and impellest to a holy life This is the Covenant way to Peace Isai 54.13 All thy Children shall be taught of God and great shall be the peace of thy Children although at present thou beest afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted V. 11. Oh! this is happy indeed the very Basis and Foundation of all Blessedness without which 't is impossible for a Man not to be finally miserable No Felicity is attainable if God do not Make his Laws vital Principles in our Souls which is the tenour of the New Covenant recited Heb. 8.10 11. through the exceeding great and precious promises whereof 2 Pet. 1.4 We are made partakers of a divine nature viz. a living over-ruling Law within a transcript of the Law eternal upon our hearts Without Grace there can be no true Peace without truth no Grace truth in the light of it to gird up the loyns of our minds truth in the life of it the girdle of integrity in our hearts without Illumination no Comfort without Sincerity no Salvation They must combine and be undivorcedly espoused together or farewel all true Peace For to be taught true and sound Doctrine and to be led into the understanding of all the Divine Commands though Christ himself be the Schoolmaster Luk. 13.26 thou hast taught in our Streets will contribute nothing to the happiness but much to the misery of that Man who never feels the Power of those instructions renewing his Nature and reforming his Life But if by the gracious Influences of Heaven the Precepts of the Law and Gospel become efficacious to mould and form us into universal Goodness all the divided or joynt Confederations of the Wit Policy Power Virulence Rage Malice and Fury of both the Elements of Misery Earth and Hell to mischieve us can never make us really miserable Whereof not to insist upon our blessed Redeemer let Job be a Witness Never had Satan so large a Permission not to say Commission to spend all the Artillery of his Madness and Malice against any Man that ever we read of as against this incomparable Pattern of Patience never did such a whirlpool of Calamities suck in and swallow up in a Moment and at unawares any mortal Man so singled out before or after him All his external Comforts Shipwrack'd his whole body from top to toe an universal Ulcer and Mass of Rottenness except his Organs of Speech which the Devil reserv'd in soundness for a malicious purpose his end in all the rest Nothing lest him but an Eve the Serpent's Instrument to tempt and torture him Job 2.9 and 19.17 The very inward quiet of his mind ravisht way in such a degree that it did commit a Rape on his bodily rest and made all his Comforts and Comforters miserable Job 6.4 and 7.4 13 14 15. c. Yet for all this the Man was blessed and made a blessed End He was under the special regard of Heaven dear to God under his peculiar care and fatherly Discipline of Love and therefore not really although he imagin'd himself to be miserable but truly happy On the other hand take an Ahab in the affluence of all worldly Delights Riches Honours triumphing in Victory over the most potent Kings 1 King 20. Possessing his coveted Vineyard Ch. 21.16 dwelling in a Palace of Ivory Ch. 22.39 enjoying all imaginable carnal satisfactions Yet untaught untutor'd by Heaven destitute of that which would have been the fairest Jewel of his Crown the Grace of God the inward sanctifying and saving Illuminations of the divine Spirit therefore continuing an Enemy to God and Goodness and was this Man happy or blessed Was he not accursed of God and most miserable in the midst of all his external Felicities To have a Heaven in his House a Paradise in his Vineyard and a Hell in his Conscience a lamentable Happiness from which good Lord deliver us Be not thou envious O my Soul at the ensnaring prosperity of the one nor offended with the improsperous uprightness of the other but earnestly implore those Covenant-teachings of the Lord Joh. 6.45 Isai 54.13 Jer. 31.33 which being the first seminal Principles of the new nature will impower thee to live unto God Wilt thou be content with so faint and evanid a light in thy upper Regions as will make no reflection towards Heaven nor beget a greater warmth than will permit thee to freeze in the midst of Summer Oh! aspire after those divine Irradiations which convey an influence more extensive and efficacious than themselves which awakening or creating a central Fire in all the very drossiest or deepest ramifications or branchings of thy thoughts of thy affections also thy inclinations and imaginations may by a divine Projection convert and concoct them into Gold Rev. 3.18 i. e. give them a gracious tincture of moral vertues and motions make them spiritual Gifts and Graces and render them acceptable to God Be not satisfied till thou seest and knowest things as they are in their real nature being apprehensive that pure metaphysical Notions that are not affective nor lead to practice for all their tenuity and levity will never mount thee to Heaven without inward moral sensations spiritual touches and tasts of Truths in their internal Life Fine and thin speculations like cobwebs may take and take with Flies aery volatile Wits and Fancies but
his Children such like Mercy was promised but three Psalms before viz. Psal 91. throughout so Psal 12.7 8. Psal 37. Is 26.20 21 c. and many other Places God reserves some in safety to behold the destruction of Persecutors has a Zoar for a Lot a Pella for the Christians c. If this were not so all Good Men might be extinct and the Gates of Hell prevail against the Church of Christ 'T is also upon good reason For the end of Affliction is Reformation If God meet with so good Proficients under his instructive Discipline as will and do learn every Lesson he teaches there will be no need of the Rod and he who does not afflict willingly will not bring into these Trials except need be 1 Pet. 1.6 But this I will no further insist upon Let the English Translation then obtain and it gives us this Point That in the sense of the Psalmist 't was a blessed thing to be under God's correcting Discipline or instructive Chastenings as a means to prepare for rest when Instruments of Divine Severity were to be destroyed Rest in this World when Judgment returns to Righteousness and the Vpright follow it and especially in the World to come when all the Wicked shall be lodged in the Pit of Hell For the days of Eternity are to the Wicked days of Adversity indeed and to enjoy Everlasting Rest then is a Blessing unutterable This good Man saw nothing in Affliction that could make a Man unhappy He entertain'd such a favourable opinion of God's rigours to his Children that beholding by Faith the good and happy fruit of them he admires the Blessedness of those to whom so great Evils issue so well and therefore we may justly suppose would not be discourag'd by the bitterness of the Cross nor driven by it to an unwillingness to consort himself with the suffering People of God Would not he put in for his share of that Blessedness which descended from Heaven though it cost him a participation of that wretchedness which was the product of the Rage and Fury of the World Chusing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season as having respect to the Recompence of Reward everlasting Blessedness and Rest with Moses Heb. 11. And indeed this is an admirable Comfort in all Tribulations to consider that there is a reserve of eternal Joy and Peace the sweetest the fullest that there are Blessednesses the Blessedness of this Life the Blessedness of the Life to come laid up in store for the Servants of God though accursed by Men in this World If together with the Rod that we feel he administer a Word that we may hear Mic. 6.9 and under his Corrections seal our Instructions if by his Providences he subdue our Wills to his Precepts and by the sadness of our Countenances make our Hearts better if he discover to us the sunshine of his Favour and Love through the dark cloud of Affliction and bring down a Heaven of Happiness or Blessedness to alleviate the tormenting Purgatory of our Tribulations whether from Men or Devils this sure will bow our Hearts to such a degree of aequanimous submission and resignedness to God that we shall not only sit down in a patient and quiet Contentation but be able to rejoyce in the good pleasure of his Goodness although we smart under it and he that is replenished with Content and Joy is never destitute of Consolation Be not then displeased O my Soul that thy Father in Heaven brings thee under the discipline of his Family on Earth If thy Afflictions be light do not despise or make light of them if they be heavy and grievous do not faint under them Blessedness is a thing of so weighty Consideration so great Moment that 't is madness to forfeit it by slighting an evil of little moment folly to reject all support from it under a burthen more intolerable Let the gracious designs of Heaven reconcile thee to the very Antipathies of thy Nature and render all those divine Methods not only supportable but easie and amiable which have a tendency to endear God and Holiness although for the present they do not administer matter of Joy but Sorrow Heb. 12.11 The peaceable Fruits of Righteousness will abundantly compensate the grievousness of all Calamities wherefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lift up straight right the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees Stretch out thy self Heaven-ward to apprehend and reach by Faith those unconceivable Pleasures and Joys wherein the Miseries of this Life will issue if thou makest not visible but invisible things thy scope in this World Thy Sin or Guilt which merits thy Sufferings is indeed sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. beyond all bounds of Thought and Imagination that thy highest Conceptions cannot overshoot in their Notions of its real evil in it self Let it be to thee proportionably grievous But these Fruits of thy Sins viz. thy Sufferings if thou live by Faith upon Invisibles will work for thee an eternal weight of Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from hyperbole even unto hyperbole that the glory in its superlative excellency does doubly transcend the unfathomable malignity that is in Sin and infinitely overshoot the bitterness in the Affliction the weight of Glory being commensurate to its Eternity 2 Cor. 4.17 The transient momentany lightness of our Affliction worketh out for us an above all expression conception comparison eternal weight of Glory Will not the reviews hereof engage thee O my Soul with a kind and dutiful resentment to accept of the punishment of thy Sin and exterminate all harsh and unbecoming Conceptions of that God whose hatred to thy Sin evidenced in his severe Providences is alway accompanied with a singular love to thy Person whose Eternal Salvation he would compass by the everlasting destruction of thy Sin Oh be thou ambitious to demonstrate thy self a good disposition'd Child under that nurture of Love wherein he evidences himself to be a tender hearted Father Is it only a gentle Correction not eternal Damnation the desert of thy Sin Is it only a profitable Medicine though it might have been Poyson thy final bane and ruin Is it only the scarifying a gangrenated Limb which might have been the scalding and burning for ever of both Body and Soul in unquenchable Fire unappeasable Wrath Oh love the Lord for the mitigation for the transmutation of thy Penance That thou art in a state where thy Sufferings may be sanctified therefore are in Mercy where they may be terminated therefore are no ground of Desperation where they may be recompenced and shall undoubtedly issue in endless Blessedness if thy stubbornness and non-improvement hinder not Take it well and kindly at those gracious Hands that draw the flaming Sword and turn it every way against thy Corruptions which shut thee out and this on purpose that thou mayst be received by the Lord Pure and Innocent into
Paradise who by thine experimental knowledge of this evil of suffering will create in thee a saving knowledge of good and through these Fruits of the Tree of the Cross lead thee to the Tree of Life CHAP. IX The Subject of Comfort Eyes God in all things 7. THis Man of God enjoy'd and liv'd under much experience of divine Goodness and gracious Providence Under all that happen'd he ey'd and own'd the Hand of God 1. In Affliction Ver. 17. Vnless the Lord had been my help my Soul had almost dwelt in silence Ver. 22. The Lord is my defence and my God is the Rock of my Refuge 2. In Temptation When I said my foot slippeth thy Mercy O Lord held me up ver 18. 3. In both ver 19. the Text In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul A Man of common Principles would have look'd no farther than second Causes and the activity of Instruments and Means in his deliverance from Death ver 17. Than his own Prudence Caution Foresight Care and Endeavour in preservation from falling v. 18. Than his own reasonings and wise conduct of his Affections in the calm and serenity of his Mind v. 19. But this Holy Soul ascribes all to Divine Goodness And indeed to such a Man nothing is accidental he is never at a loss for the cause of any occurrent when he has not the least prospect of the agency of any thing on Earth he can find out a supreme mover in Heaven to whom nothing falls out by chance without either the foresight of his Intelligence or the conduct of his Wisdom or the determination of his Will or the interposal of his Power or the liberty of his Permission which though no cause at all properly but only that called sine quâ non which is but Fatua yet is governed by his Providence and all the possibilities thereof visible to his Prescience God is more concern'd in the World than the Artificer in a Clock who when 't is set together set up and agoing forsakes it He is sure little conversant in Scripture that imagines the Deity only a general cause who having constituted things with such and such particular Natures Propensions Biasses leaves them to run out their course without further Concurrence and Solicitude than to preserve them in the being constitution and activity he first gave them There 's nothing so mean so fortuitous but the Scripture intitles God to it either in way of Efficiency Direction Ordination or Permission If it be Good Natural or Moral he is the doer so if evil Natural if evil Moral though he abhor it cannot effect it or concur to it as such yet can he does he direct and order it to such ends as are consistent with his Wisdom Justice Holiness and Goodness which he well foreknows how to do therefore hinders not its existence as he easily could do without any violence to Nature blemish to his Government or infringement of the Liberty of his Creatures For to me 't is no little Mystery that although God be able to form a Rational Nature with liberty of Will and Prudence so to manage it that it shall at no time be compell'd to offer violence to its own freedom but in every act proceed with an even gentle sweet Spontaneity according to the dictates of its own finite Understanding yet that the infinite Intelligence and Prudence of the Divine Nature must be thought unable and insufficient by the reasonable Understanding and Will to elicite manage and guide these very humane Actions so as to preserve the same Liberty inviolable Let something be allow'd to Infiniteness sure it can do whatever Finiteness can if it be not to its disparagement If I can bring about my own resolute and fixed Purposes without prejudice to my own or others Liberty sure boundless Wisdom and Power can tell how to bring about its determinations by the liberty of the Creature A Reverend Judicious Divine my Relation told me that for experiment sake to try the power of an over-mastering Imagination he had oft requested such things of some Persons in whom he had no Interest at all which he knew they had an aversation to using no Reasons Arguments Motives Importunities at all further than the bare proposal only engaging himself strongly to fansie that he should obtain his desire and he seldom fail'd to prevail I never had the curiosity to make a tryal but am apt to think there may be something in 't upon consideration of the strange effects of the Mothers imagination upon her enwombed Infant as to both Impressions on its Body and Antipathies in its Mind the transpiring animal Spirits modify'd and mov'd strongly by a material Faculty may intermingle with those of a differing Body and over-rule their weaker Modifications and Motions and thereby the material Faculty that acted them as in Sympathetick Cures and the votatil Particles of Vitriol c. Crude or calcin'd do mix with the extravasated vital Spirits and return with them to their Fountain I confess these act only as Physical Causes and cannot vary in their effects of themselves though other external Causes may thwart them And what if a Man allow some such like thing to Spiritual Natures By what impressions they can communicate their Minds to one another by what impulses they bow one anothers Wills we know not but only the Effects God never fails to obtain the free voluntary Obedience of Angels And the more determin'd their Wills are the more free The Devil acts with less Liberty than a Glorified Saint and a Holy Angel with more than a self-determining Man who has both liberty of Contrariety and Contradiction can do both Good and Evil Act and not Act. Well if my Imagination further if my short defective Understanding can the one make such impresses the other produce such weighty momentous Reasons as shall sway my own and others Wills to an inhesitant and free compliance shall I not give that deference to the unfathomable Intellect and Reason of God as to suppose it endued with Ability to suggest such things as shall bow mine own or others Wills to a ready spontaneous ingenuous Concurrence than any thing can that is deduced merely out of the promptuary of mine own Mind I find my freedom in acting is gradually more or less intense according to the satisfaction of my Reason And if the Reason of God which is boundless cannot induce a more ample satisfaction than the Reason of a Creature which is but lame and imperfect and if he cannot with as much Facility without all impeach to our Liberty lead our Minds to the Contemplation thereof as in the use of the empire our selves have over them we can do if he cannot also more throughly excite acuminate quicken and enlarge our considering Powers freely to engage I have done 'T is not strange therefore that the Scripture ascribes all to God as the Origin of every individual Motion I find holy Men in
a world of crafty Politicks and inventive cunning to devise whatever that unfathomable depth of Malice and Emity can direct against us to ruin us everlastingly together with an unknown and unimaginably great sufficiency of Power and Activity to execute what they contrive and they have no limits of their duration on this side Eternity Oh dreadful Host indeed what may they despair to effect upon impotent and degenerate sinful Man But the dependance of things one upon another I see has made me forget my Scope which was to remember the Fears of Sin and Temptation to it rather than the Tempter I proceed to the 2. Danger wherein the Psalmist did apprehend himself viz. of Death not so much Natural as Violent His Enemies design'd to Murther him by a pretended Law notwithstanding his Righteousness and Innocency and for that end had sentenced and condemned him ver 21.22 Whence he declares ver 17. Vnless the Lord had been my help my Soul had almost or quickly dwelt in silence My Soul that is I my self the better part by a Figure being put for the Person or rather for the worse part the Body dwelt in silence i. e. the Grave as is unanimously agreed by Interpreters according to Psal 115.17 The Dead praise not the Lord nor any that go down into silence Which is not to be understood of the Soul but Body only Psal 49.12 20. Nevertheless or And Man being in Honour abideth not a Night he is like the Beasts that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are silent i. e. Dead Psal 31.17 fully Death indeed is the King of Terrors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Job 18.14 Of all Terribles the most terrible to Nature because it dissolves its most amicable Bands and utterly extinguishes all those hopes which it has for many years been kindling and were it not for the reliefs of Grace it would certainly fill Men with unspeakable Agonies could they view it in all its antecedent and consequent Pomp and Circumstances For 't is only ignorance of this very solemn change that causes the most so fool-hardily and without concern to entertain the thoughts and approaches of it But a violent Death God's Effections are always better milder than his Permissions when a Man lies at the mercy of those whose tender Mercies are Cruelty must needs cause more bitter Reflections than where Nature gently expires under the compassionate tender Hands of the God of Nature who always contends in measure that the Spirit may not fail and the Soul which he hath made To this Head then appertains the trouble arising from Fears of Suffering and Affliction of what kind soever In particular those that accompany and follow Death especially the Terrors of Judgment and Hell which is Eternal Death This the Psalmist sometimes felt the sting and torture of as a preventive Medicine that he might not feel it everlastingly Psal 116.3 The pains of Hell gat hold upon me call'd the Cords of Hell Psal 18.5 marg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence perhaps our English Word Cable it sometimes signifies Corruption Destruction Mic. 2.10 Troops Bands Companies Psal 119.61 either of these may suit well enough But above all Fear of God's Anger and just Displeasure most heavily sits upon the Spirit of a Gracious Man All the Troops of Hell and Triumphs of Cruelty are but Mormo's in comparison Finite Fury cannot plague infinitely therefore our Saviour advises Luke 12.4 5. Be not affraid of them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forwarn you whom you shall fear Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him Filial Fear of God indeed brings no trouble but joy 'T is only a Fear working to Bondage oppressive to Nature a Rebel against Reason stupifying the Spirits enervating the Will damping the Affections over-throwing our Resolution defeating our Counsels confounding our Consciences betraying us into a base and unworthy servitude to our own corrupt Imaginations Errors and Ignorance and every exteriour Agent that has the power or will to abuse them and our Credulity to our Prejudice and Perdition 2. Grieving Thoughts and Impressions The Evils did not lie perdue at a distance but in a close encounter charg'd home and wounded his Heart that it bleeds here in godly Sorrow Indeed whatever causes Fear and Despair does also introduce Grief when it becomes present but his Mind was overwhelmed with such Reflections as had a peculiar influence upon his Sorrow beside those that did produce Fear and Despair As 1. The Sins of others The foul Enormities of Wicked Men whereof several are named 1. Pride Ver. 2. Render a Reward to the Proud a Reward in Vengeance In this Sin the Devil began the Dance and all his Servants wear his Livery and tread in his Steps For this their Loftiness and triumphing Arrogance his Heart groan'd out the double How long ver 3. Words of Lamentation Indeed when men are despis'd they are either anger'd or griev'd anger'd if Proud griev'd if Lowly incens'd if Passionate if Meek troubled 'T is the property of Pride to despise and slight all but bear slighting from none 2. Boasting The inward filth of Pride and Arrogance foaming out at the Mouth ver 4. All the workers of Iniquity speak boast themselves the coherence seems to intimate that the things they boasted of were their own height and power to oppress the Innocent Being got to the top of the Mount of Honour and Worldly Prosperity which puft them up they imagin'd it for their Security and Glory to fall down upon and crush and break in pieces God's Heritage and this they gloried in as becoming their Grandeur Potency Now to be not only trod and trampled upon with the foot of Pride and spurn'd kick'd away like a Dog but also hear the Proud-doers brag of it as a brave and worthy Fact as it heightens the Sin of the Actors so the Sorrow of the Sufferers both as an addition to their own Affliction and also a further aggravation of the Sin 'T is easier to bear a scorn in deeds when a Man has the liberty to suppose that possibly it may not be the issue of design and a malicious Mind or that the Agent may after grieve for and repent of it than to bear their blessing themselves in it praismg themselves for it which is a testimony of their love to it delight in it But if the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be taken in a softer sence shall will or do speak of or speak themselves praedicabunt se The future for the present tense a common Enallage except the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be repeated here again out of the foregoing Verse as our Translaters think it must But then why not also in the Fifth and Sixth Verses where the Verbs are all future yet rendred in the present Interlin i. e. will vaunt praise or extol themselves in Words magnifie
Spiritual we should in like manner be dog'd and pursu'd with their implacable Malice in our separate and immortal State and be desperate of succour and deliverance from that Eternal Erynnis those innumerable Legions of ever torturing Furies that would be let loose upon us to lash and sting us with the utmost of their virulent Indignation For how should the Deity relieve us if he know nothing of us 'T is therefore the highest Interest of real goodness that there is a God of Vnlimitable Intelligence and Love to supervise and care for us that no Evils can be imagin'd against us in the most dark and secret recesses of Hell much less on Earth but are to him as visible as though Writ or Graven in the Roof of Heaven by the Finger of God in Letters formed all of Suns or Stars and he is replenish'd with that Wisdom and Graciousness which both knows how is perfectly willing and effectually engag'd to counteract them But as this and the other Three so all the Sins of the Wicked are a bitter Grief to a good Soul Whence David Psal 119.136 Rivers of Tears run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law Be their Sins only Omissions which in the Estimate of the World are of a lighter Nature though not in the account of God and an Illuminated Conscience yet will they be grievous to those that love the Lord and his Laws And 't is a good token of Integrity when the Sins of others are a burden Self may engage a Man against his own Sins but if the wickedness of those we have no concern with deeply affect our Hearts 't is an Evidence we are acted by the Interest of God Let this then Oh my Soul over-rule all thy Passions Live under some sense with God What dishonors him let it humble thee Be not so much troubled at the Mischiefs wherewith Men in the Triumphant Madness of their Prosperity indeavour to plague thee as at the Sin whereby they duel Heaven Where thy Father suffers most in his Glory do thou suffer with him Thy Irascibles never act more commendably than when they run upon the Errand of thy Maker Thou art angry and sinnest not when angry at Sin 'T is hard not to Sin in Sorrow if it be not Sorrow for Sin And if thou groan under the Wickedness of others sure thou wiltst not canst not darst not be so much a Hypocrite as to go light under the greater Load of thine own Thou art conscious to thy self of many Circumstances aggravating thine own which thou hast no reason to apply to the Crimes of any beside Where thou knowest of most Evil and that is in thy self there must thou spend Oceans since the little in comparison which thou knowest of other Mens faults requires thy Rivers Let thy Sorrows bear Proportion to thy Condition and Conscience Weep or at least mourn for and bemoan others but most thy self There must thou pay thy Drops here a Deluge To this place therefore appertains all Spiritual Trouble for Sin and the want and weakness and defectiveness of Grace with the effects thereof That Anguish of Mind which springs from the sense of Sin 's odiousness of God The Agonies and Anxieties of the New Birth and under Relapses whatever goes under the name of a Wounded Spirit or Troubled Conscience But 2. Not only the evil of Sin but other Evils in themselves or to him in effect did sadden the Holy Psalmist's Soul Two especially 1. The Prosperity of the Wicked their Joy but his smart Vers 3. How long shall the Wicked Oh LORD how long shall the wicked triumph A common Offence and Trouble to both the Religious and Rational World The Gracious Servants of God often bemoan it What a Multitude of Precepts and Comforts doth the 37. Psal present as an Antidote against fretting about it Habakkuk bewails it Hab. 1.2 3 4. Jer. Ch. 12.1 2 reasons and pleads with God concerning it In Job How many Discourses are there to this purpose And every where in the Psalms to instance in one more only Psal 73. Vers 3. I was envious at the foolish when I saw the Prosperity of the Wicked After a Description whereof he adds Vers 21. Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my Reins This also was a stumbling Block to the Philosophical World whereof the more Considerate and Vertuous made a good use others a bad reasoning from the unequal Distribution of Temporal Things against the Being of God and Providence into such Absurdities may those run who having but dark Apprehensions of Immortality and the Eternal Recompences of a Future State take their measures from sense and consider not the Unproportionableness of this present moment of Temporal Life to a vast Immense Eternity 2. The Unprosperous Afflicted Persecuted State of the People of God did excite in him sorrowful Reflections I doubt not but that with a broken Heart he Writ down that Complaint Vers 5. They break in pieces thy People O LORD and afflict thine Heritage They slay the Widow and the Stranger and murder the Fatherless Sure with a Soul melted into Sympathizing Commiserations doth he remember this So Asaph Psal 73.10 Therefore his People return hither and Waters of a full Cup are wrung out to them 21. Thus my Heart was grieved c. which refers to all before Discours'd concerning prosperous Wickedness and suffering Godliness And How can the Body in many parts of it suffer and the rest have no Fellow-feeling Thou art not vitally united as a Member to the Body of Christ Oh my Soul but may'st justly dread that he will cut thee off as a dead Libm and bury thee in Hell if thou be insensible of its Pains and Agonies Shew that the common Soul and Spirit Animates thee by a common sense with the rest of the Members that Communicate in it with thee If thou be not with them in Passion yet be in Compassion Why Persecutest thou me Says Christ to Saul Acts 9.4 The pain is in the Members the sense in the Head Christ disclaims thee thou art none of that me whereof he is so tender if thou suffer'st not by Commiseration when his Servants suffer Affliction Put on thy Bowels if thou desirest the Yernings of his when thy Condition shall be like theirs With the Prophet Jerem. 9.1 Say Oh that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night for the slain of the Daughter of my People My Bowels my Bowels I am pained at my very Heart the Walls of my Heart make a noise in me I cannot hold my Peace because thou hast heard Oh my Soul the sound of the Trumpet the alarm of War To this Head may be reduced all those Troubles which are Fruits of Publick Calamities to Church or State Persecutions Martyrdoms Massacres c. Wars and Violence Oppressions Injuries c. whatever may be the Effects of the Rage and Fury of Men and Malice of impure
Name of Sparing-Mercy or deals moderately with us in Gentleness and Tenderness We want many good things especially Himself Benevolence will our Good Bounty and Kindness impart All to Us Graciousness does All freely Oh Astonishingly Rich and Glorious Well-spring of Everlasting Consolation There 's no Exigence befals Man either thro' emptiness or misery that is destitute of a Perfection in Infinite Love to make a peculiar and accommodate Relief and Supply Divine Goodness bears such a singular respect to our indigent Nature that notwithstanding its individual Singleness and Oneness it does as it were parcel out it self into a multiplicity of sweet refreshing Cordials in Condescension to our Infirmity that in it we may have a particular Satisfaction for every distinct Appetite a proper Remedy for every single Malady There 's no Case in which we can need or desire Comfort but there is a Revelation of some comfortable Perfection in God which speaks directly to it and administers a succour and support to us no less than Infinite that is incomprehensibly more extensive and Intensive than our Circumstances can be necessitous or dolorous Indeed nothing comforts but Love nothing more disquiets than sense of Enmity Hatred Anger Displeasure The more we are concern'd in any the more pleasing is Respect from them and an unloving Deportment more grievous We are not much affected with the love of Strangers but rejoyce in the Good-will of our Neighbours our Friends our Relations expecting it should bear proportion to our Interest in them and theirs in us else it pleases not We must have more Love from those in our Vicinity than from Aliens from intimate Acquaintance than either from our Flesh and Blood than all or it troubles us But the due measure nay if it be an excess of affection is most taking we are most at ease under it Again as the Relation so the Quality of Persons must vary the degree of Love or we are not at rest The regard of a mean Man does not so much delight us as of the Great that of Bad Men is not so sweet as that of the Good Further those we expect most good from most refresh us with their Love where we lay out no hopes from those such is the Selfishness of our Nature we are not solicitous to gain any Love So we are most earnestly desirous of the Affections of those whose Anger can and is likely and engaged to do us the greatest Hurt whom we therefore have reason most to fear if we can win their hearts 't is a wonderful Contentation Now God the nearest greatest most potent Neighbour Friend or Enemy is not only Loving but Love its self in the abstract not limited in kind or degree but unmeasurable infinite Love such on the contrary is his Wrath also Of all other his Love is most capable and engaged too to do us the greatest Good if we be capable of it His Hatred and Anger like to do us the greatest harm if we do not betake our selves to the refuge and security of his Love But he who is essential unconfincable Graciousness does with a natural Affection regard us as the Work of his hands in Creation with a Paternal Conjugal Respect embrace us as his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good Works if forsaking all other we cleave unto him with full purpose of heart in a sincere Child-like Spouse-like Affection being again begotten by his Word and Spirit to a lively Hope and so in Marriage-Covenant with him This then is a Comfort as large as its Subject Divine Love a satisfaction as boundless as the Deity for it infinitely pleases even God himself Infinite though he be therefore is sufficient sure to administer a Content to us sweet and great beyond all Expression all Cogitation The Holy Men of God which the Scripture propounds for our Examples alway took Sanctuary here in the assaults of their most grievous Troubles and Temptations Jer. 31.12 They shall slow together to the goodness of the Lord c. And their Soul shall be as a watered Garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all 13. I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoyce from their sorrow 14. And I will satiate the soul of the Priests with fatness and my People shall be satisfied with my Goodness saith the Lord. Psal 119.76 Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness be for my Comfort c. And indeed let the storms rage and the sea roar and beat as high as it can there will for ever be sure Anchor-hold for a good Soul upon the Rock of Ages Fix there and thou canst never shipwrack nay if thou canst but weakly and waveringly with a trembling heart and hand hold this Love be not discouraged for with a strong unconquerable hand it holds thee Joh. 10.28 29. All other Divine Perfections minister to his Love which has already bestowed the greatest Gifts Himself as an overflowing Jordan of enriching Goodness His Only-begotten Son Joh. 3.16 The choicest Blessing and the surest Pledge of all other Rom. 8.32 Nay thy self to thy self freed from the bondage of Sin and Satan Though I be in no desireable Circumstances as to other things yet if I be mine own Man and enjoy a just Liberty of Body and Mind in no slavery of Spirit and Condition I can sing over my other Misfortunes especially when I can read my own Felicity in the Misery of others through a Thraldom which I escape Indeed my Commiserations impress some part of their Calamity upon my Soul but 't is countervail'd and over-top'd by the Comfort of mine own Indemnity But there can be no liberty under the Dominion of Sin nor any true Self-enjoyment till I enjoy God and my self in him in whom I have my best and sweetest Being Motion and Life And though I enjoy my Civil and Moral Freedom which is no little Comfort yet Vassalage to the Prince of Darkness is an Affliction more grievous than the other can be solacing When a Good Man is satisfied from of with himself Prov. 14.14 't is only as far as the Goodness of God dwells in him and he in it For if I possess not God I have nothing with a Blessing therefore not with Comfort I have no Right to comfortable Thoughts contenting Enjoyments no not to my self and in my self For what am I that is good what am I not that is evil without God and what satisfaction can I receive in that which is evil as I my self and every thing in me will unavoidably be if not antidoted and animated by the Goodness of God Men are not more miserable in a Deprival of all the Content of their Lives than in the Dereliction of God God gave me my self as a Loan of Love what I am I owe to Him but by my sin I have lost both my self and Him If now by a new Charter He restore to me a better Right to Himself and to my self in His Son Jesus
and the Herd and their Soul shall be as a Watered Garden c. Yea there ' t is The Blessings of this Life are then good indeed when the Donation of the Goodness of the Lord Divine Love with them gives them a Relish incomparable Job sometimes consulted his Bed for Comfort Job 7.13 and 't is no little satisfaction to enjoy the quiet Repose of a single Night But what are all the downy Contents of this Nature to the Everlasting Repose and Rest both of Body and Soul in the Love of God who though he be an everliving Activity yet is an ever-loving quiet resting Place for all that having been wearied out with the Sins and Labours and Troubles and Miseries of a Cumbersome World betake themselves to him as their only Contentation Cant. 3. King Solomon as a Type of Christ made Himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conjugal Bed This the Original Word may seem indeed most properly to signifie from the 7th Verse where the Espousals plainly refer to this that Exhortation being grounded upon this Narration the midst thereof being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strowed with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem A Bed of Ease indeed The Whole World cannot Afford a Bed as soft as Love as sweet as the refreshing Love of an infinitely Lovely and Loving God I have read of a Man who not content with Epicureism in Retail resolv'd at once to gratifie every Sence with an accumulated Association of all imaginable Sensualities yet all was only the Swinish Pleasure of a Day But there is an Eternity of Delights in the Favour of God first to the Soul but redounding to the Sence also Truly Light is sweet and 't is good for the Eyes to behold the Sun 't is a Periphrasis of Life as the Connexion with the followng Verse demonstrates Eccl. 11.7 8. How delicious is the Flavour and Fragrancy of Odours and the inexplicable Varieties and Ravishments of Sounds c. But are these worthy to be thought of in Comparison of the ever Refreshing Light of God's Countenance the Never-fading Delights of Divine Love and Goodness the Unimitable Splendour of the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 who is the Brightness of his Fathers Glory Heb. 1.2 the savour of Christ's Precious Oyntments Cant. 1.3 The rapturous Melody of the Celestial Quire but above all the every thing Harmonious Beautiful Lovely Glorious in the Divine Nature wherein our very sense shall be in a generous transport with the highest incomparable supersensual everlasting Gratifications much more our Minds For the Goodness of God is every thing pleasing profitable honest in the utmost eminency of Glory There 's no mole in this Beauty no spots in this Sun no Night to this Day but an immense and eternal variety of all delectable Excellencies in an invariable unity of unblemishable Perfection nothing to give a check to the Appetite to interrupt and abate the pleasure of Enjoyment or put a period to the solace accruing from it It singularly pleases a Man to be well thought of and well provided for When Men are low yet if their Reputation run high it bears up their Spirits in the depression of their Estates and as Noble Blood in the Veins is by many accounted an essential Dignity when their Wealth and Substance falls into detriment that their Heart cannot stoop to any servile Offices or Imployments below the Grandeur of its more stately and generous Pulsations their Glory they think shines as the Sun through a Cloud and is like a Cordial Elixir in a fainting fit of Fortune So Credit of both kinds Fame Trust both as it imports the Honour of a fair Reputation and Good Name and as it entitles a Man to a right in the kindness of his Friend and the belief of all Men that every one speaks well of him is ready to do well to him all Honour him all Credit him and freely Concredit their all with him this is valued as much as Money in the Purse The Wisest of Men prefers it as more eligible Prov. 22.1 and affirms that it makes the Bones fat Prov. 15.30 But if the Love of God put a value upon us and worthless that we are we have nothing else to recommend us as the Kings Stamp upon a Brass Farthing if he ennoble us with his Grace Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus that we can derive our Pedegree and Extraction from Heaven through the New Birth this is the truest sweetest noblest Satisfaction We are indeed the basest through Sin of the whole Creation God made us at first through his Image next in honour to the Holy Angels Psal 8.5 We by our Apostacy and Corruption make our selves not a little lower than Devils and in this debasement does Divine Goodness find us but here it does not leave us Love and Love alone exalts us and crowns us with Glory Dignity and Hon ur and how high we are in the account of Love however base in our selves is demonstrated by the price it was willing to pay for our Redemption Nothing rais'd us to this height in the estimate of Love but only Love according to Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord did not set his Love upon you because ye were moe c. But because the Lord loved you c. His Love was its own and only motive and why should it not What can be a more noble Incitement to it than the Glory of its most excellent communicative Nature What mov'd it at first to design an Object to diffuse its benign influences upon What lovely qualities were in a non-entity to draw it out into such admirable Condescentions Let it then go no less than self-sufficient all-sufficient without the subsidiary invitement of all external Objects Divine Goodness neither needs nor desires a Procatarctick cause And this is a Comfort unspeakable Were I to bring my wellcome to Heaven and to be dignified with the honour of so renowned a degree of Perfection as to be able to stand upon my Reputation before God and not beg his good Opinion but merit it the Conscience of my deficiency and demerit would for ever confound me But since Love brings my all with it and its arguments to respect me are derived from its own Bowels and its height is so wonderful that there can be no proportion in the highest created goodness to it so as to deserve it and its depth so unfathomable that the greatest misdeservings cannot put a bar to the liberty of its actings for the relief even of the Chief of Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Have I not a World of reason to cast off all melancholy desponding Imaginations and solace my self in this Paradise of everlasting Love and free Grace Oh Joy unspeakable and full of Glory To be well provided for is next The World had rather live by Sight than Faith He 's but ill to live all whose Wealth is in another Man's Pocket and may be puft away with the malevolent Breath of
did bear so favourable an Aspect upon his troubled Soul as vers 14. does not obscurely intimate For the Lord will not cast off his People neither will he forsake his inheritance The Negative excludes universally perpetually He will never cast off nor forsake it also infers the Affirmative He will own and accompany his People and Inheritance for ever and ever Which he is enabled to do only by vertue of his Eternity Possibly that Expression vers 22. may also import something of like nature My God is the Rock of my Refuge He could not be unacquainted with the Song of Moses and the Blessing he pronounc'd upon the Twelve Tribes Deut. 32. and 33. There are these Titles first of all given to God Rock in the Song is five times apply'd to the Lord vers 4 15 18 30 31 twice to Idols vers 31 37. But that which I have chiefly in my eye is Chap. 33.27 The Eternal God is thy refuge very proper and Emphatical For 't is the Eternity of God that renders him a sufficient and compleat Refuge Notwithstanding all other Perfections if he were not the Everlasting God our Refuge would finally fail and be none at all He is called The Rock of Ages which our Translation renders Everlasting Strength Isa 26.4 And indeed a Rock the most indissoluble and durable part of the Earth is an Emblem of perpetuity A Rock of Refuge is therefore an everlasting security and comfort Nor is it a mean Satisfaction to remember that as there is a sufficiency of Ability and good Will in our God who by Covenant is engaged to put an end to our troubles and replenish us us with the Joys of his Salvation So he lives for ever to continue them that they shall have no period short of Eternity He is an ever-over-flowing fountain of Everlasting Consolations as they are called 2 Thes 2.16 17. Now our Lord Jesus Christ and God even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting Consolation through Grace Comfort your Hearts c. Our Consolations are Eternal because God is for in him they are as in the Well-spring therefore cannot be as Waters that fail as Jerem. Expostulates Chap. 15.18 If they could our Wound might be incurable indeed refusing to be healed and our pain perpetual But all this shall certainly have an end because God cannot This cannot be Eternal because God is Whatever is wanting in the durableness and sweetness of these fluxible perishable Enjoyments which we possess on Earth whatever we suffer through the continuance and bitterness of our Calamities is made up and amends made us abundantly in the Perennity of all Excellencies in God There is in this Attribute a suitable relief in all kinds of Distresses outward and inward All the short liv'd Comforts of this World have a better Being and Life in the Eternity of God Thou losest thy Friends and Relations the sweetest the best perhaps by the immediate hand of God as the Psalmist here by the violent hands of wicked Men vers 5 6. The Church of God in some places is laid waste and the stormy Cloud hangs over more and its implacable restless Adverries threaten all The Innocency of Christ's Lambs is no Protection against the Thrones of Iniquity in Babylon and Hell vers 20 21. No that 's the very ground of the Quarrel and Enmity Conformity to them Innocency and Iniquity would reconcile them Do'st thou tremble for the Ark of God And is thine own Personal Jeopardy or Suffering in Body Mind or Estate in any extremity Be not disinay'd Nubecula est cito transitura The greater the Tempest the sooner over Storms may huff against the Heavens yet cannot hurt them but only spend themselves And the Church is oft call'd Heaven in the Apocalypse and its Officers Stars from betwixt our Eyes and which the most raging furious blasts may dispel and drive away the Clouds that Eclipse and darken them but still leave those Coelestial Lamps more clear and inextinguishable whilst themselves are extinct in a moment The Dragons Flood will be soon swallowed up and the fury of Men and Devils shall quickly faint and melt away but the Love of God to his chosen never never Isa 40.27 28. Why sayest thou Oh Jacob and speakest Oh Israel My way is hid from the Lord and my Judgment is passed over from my God Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the Everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding Therefore possesses he an unfathomable Skill and Ability to refresh and revive thee but this is laid as the Foundation Stone upon which thou may'st rebuild thy decaying hopes viz. that he is the Everlasting God I therefore return again to that Deut. 33.26 27 28. There is none like the God of Jeshurun who rideth upon the Heavens in thy help and in his Excellency on the Skie The Eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are everlasting Arms and he shall thrust out the Enemy from before thee and shall say Destroy them Israel shall then dwell in safety alone c. Happy art thou Oh Israel who is like unto thee Oh People saved by the Lord the shield of thy help who is the Sword of thy excellency c. Hence in the Title given to Christ Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace have an immediate Connexion and Dependence Isa 9.6 If trouble be long 't is light but brief if grievous Si longa levis si gravis brevis Goodness cannot groan for ever because it leads to God and the more 't is oppressed the more it grows upward Heaven-ward where it shall only enjoy its everlasting Crown The Fire upon the Altar of God will be inextinguishable if from Heaven and those Coelestial Sparks of Divinity or Grace which the Holy Spirit kindles will by the bluster and storms of Affliction conceive a more vehement Flame perish and die they cannot as long as God lives from whom they derive their Being and Eternity But suppose all other sweet Satisfactions whether Spiritual Joys and Refreshments or Temporal Contentments be totally extinct as to present sense yet finally they shall not because they possess a perennity of Life in God And when Goodness and He meet in the Superiour World these will revive and Misery die I grant the most flourishing Gourds of Earthly Pomp and Glory may wither in a Night as being a vain Pageant and mere Phantastry Acts 25.23 The fairest freshest sweetest Flowers of the Youthful Spring of Humane Life may be blasted in a moment and converted into dust and rottenness The most pleasing Sun-shine of the smiling Morn of a fortunate Prosperity may suffer an Eclipse and issue in a dismal Hurricane of insupportable Calamities Nay Heaven it self may seem to frown and a dark Cloud to cover the Light of God's Countenance Lam. 3.44 But none of these Evils can extend beyond the Grave there are they buried
needless fond thing for the Deity to promise them or interest his own Agency about them which yet is of a blasphemous importance as 't would savour of the highest Arrogance to imagine that I am in a Capacity to act well-pleasingly to God without God For does it consist with the Divine Wisdom and God's Ingenuous procedure with Man to promise what is in Mans power whether he promise or no. And if we be capable of exerting one acceptable Act without Divine Influence Why not another and another till frequent Acts produce a Habit and all this exclusively to the aids of Heaven That he must be made a liar who said Joh. 15.5 Without me you can do nothing And 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God See also again Eph. 2.8 9 10. Let him stand forth and be a publick Spectacle of Ignominy and Malediction who will not subscribe to or having subscribed contradicts the 10th and 13th Articles of Religion which are these X. The Condition of Man after the Fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good Works to Faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good Works pleasing and acceptable to God without the Grace of God preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will XIII Works done before the Grace of Christ and the Inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of Faith in Jesus Christ neither do they make Men meet to receive Grace or as the School Authors say deserve Grace of Congruity yea rather for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done we doubt not but they have the Nature of Sin If formally upright and acceptable Acts of Submission to the Covenant and its conditions could issue from wicked Men and Hypocrites so continuing in State and Disposition and therefore Enemies to God and Goodness as there would be no need of the promise to Write his Law in the Heart so God would be obliged in faithfulness to fulfil to them his part of the Covenant in communicating all Covenant Mercies But the whole implies a contradiction For sincerely to observe the terms of the Covenant is to be sincere in that thing and therefore supposes the Law to be Written in the Heart or obliges God to Write it For the condition being observed by Man the Engagement upon God becomes absolute he must do his part or violate his Covenant and be unjust to himself and his Son Jesus Christ whose undertaking founded this New Covenant Dispensation Whence a cordial performance of the terms of the Covenant on our part does really introduce or infer that sincerity of State which is implied in the Writing God's Laws in our Hearts implanting therein his fear and pouring out his Spirit on us which is the very Work of Conversion or Regeneration and the basis of all Consolation for Psal 119.50 This is my comfort in my affliction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because thy word hath quickned me Thy word in general as the Instrument its precepts in particular as the Matter principling my Heart in the nature of a Law engraven on that Fleshly Table by the Finger of God Whatever Mens Sentiments may be under Temptation Melancholy c. yet ordinarily let but this be made out to a considering Man viz. that he is truly born again of God and all his Troubles Disquiets Agonies Horrors of Conscience vanish into nothing and all other his Disconsolate Thoughts are very much moderated If his Grace be found real and sound his Repentance Faith and Love unfeigned his Heart is at ease he has a perfect Demonstration that God the Father is his God and Father Jesus Christ his Saviour because the Holy Ghost has been his Sanctifier Now does he not doubt of the pardon of his Sins of the special Love of God of an interest in all the Benefits purchased by Jesus Christ of a Right to all the Promises and everlasting Consolation and Salvation This is the bottom of all nothing without this will avail in the least to bring the glad tidings of Peace into the Conscience This as a sure and immovable Foundation establishes all our hopes of Comfort which without it is absolutely impossible But this ground laid Joy and Rest and Satisfaction of Soul will infallibly arrive sooner or later all the Malignity and Rage upon Earth all the Malice and Policy of Hell all the Melancholy Imaginations of a Man 's own Heart though they may obstruct and delay it yet cannot finally avert and hinder it any more than a gloomy Night can the rising of the Sun in its season The day of Glory Peace and Consolation everlasting Cant. 4.6 will undoubtedly break Hebr. breath upon such a Soul and Darkness Sorrows Shadows flee away For these Redeemed of the Lord by power and therefore by price shall return and come with singing unto Sion and everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain Gladness and Joy and Sorrow Mourning and Sighing shall flee away Isa 51.11 Weeping may endure in the Evening but Joy cometh in the Morning Psal 30.5 A Child of Prayers and Tears said Ambrose to Monica cannot perish Isa 53.3 A Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief whom it pleaseth the Lord to bruise shall see of the Travail of his Soul and be satisfied This was verified first in the Head and shall be also in the Members They must pass through the Jordan of Repentance and there be wash'd seven times that they may be healed of their Spiritual Leprosies but their next Stage is a welcome Canaan of Solace and Rest This is the basis of the other Privilege viz. Propriety in God and assurance thereof and therefore being a connex Blessing more concerning it will necessarily fall under the following Head Now that the Psalmist had some Reflections upon his Sanctification in assuming to himself the Comforts of God seems evident from the 21. vers where he makes a tacit Profession of his Righteousness and Innocency which no doubt were to him as in like case they are to any Man a singular Support and Satisfaction under all the Calamities and Cruelties endured through the violence and fury of Man Though the Floods and Waves and Storms beat high from without yet if there be a sweet Calm within though the World with a savage barbarousness persecute and pursue me to Death yet if mine own Conscience do not reproach me but testifie that in simplicity and godly sincerity I have had my Conversation in this World not by fleshly Wisdom but by the grace of God in innocency and usefulness to Men 2 Cor. 1.12 This is a singular rejoycing and ground of Comfort though our sufferings abound Vers 5. The Peace of a good Conscience is a powerful Antidote
the Port of real Holiness then does he generously tender us those needful refreshments which will revive our weather-beaten Souls can we now spurn them away from us and be innocent Here therefore is Sin on both hands How shall we cast the balance We must not sin our selves into Comfort neither must we sin it away Cut the hair Well then all depends upon this the determination what is too hasty what too slow application of Promises And this upon the preceding Quaere what is due Preparation For to apply Promises when rightly qualified is no Sin but Duty therefore to neglect it is Sin Then are we too hasty when we run before we are bidden not otherwise God by creating in us the pre-required Promise-dispositions bids us take all the Blessings in the Promise which they dispose for When the Condition is perform'd the Covenant is a Command to accept its Merey which cannot be refused without disobedience to God 'T would be strange petulancy when Christ says Come ye Blessed of my Father inher it the Kingdom c. to reply no I dare not I am not qualify'd Such is the refusal to inherit his Comforts when he hath wrought in us their Conditions And if the foremention'd be not where are they Remember Oh my Soul thou livest not under the Covenant of Works but of Grace And if thou doubtest of thy Preparations resume thy Work try them better make them sounder that thy second and renew'd Essays may be unquestionable Yet remember also that 't is a grievous Sin to belye thy self and deny God's Work he expects thou should'st consider and own the Operation of his Hands and give him the Glory of the Fruits of his Love in thy Regeneration Take heed of detaining the Truth in the Prison of Vnrighteousness Be just to God and thy self Do not dare to blaspheme his Grace by attributing it to other Causes As thou must not flatter thy self so neither forswear the Grace of God If thou yet alledge that 't is God's Work to comfort by his Spirit who does it by inclining the heart to accept of his Tenders which thou dost not experience but rather he renews thy Troubles and Disquiets by presenting new Matter or setting on the old therefore should'st thou assume to thy self the Solace of the Promises 't would not be a Comfort of God's making but thine own and so a mere Fallacy put upon thy Conscience I answer 1. by Retort If God do his part to encline thy heart to accept of Peace but thou resistest him and against his Will resumest thy Troubles and quenchest those Motions of his Spirit that were intended to allay thy Disquiets and create Peace whose is the Fault now That this may be clear'd I answer 2. That God's moral Motion is antecedent to and leads all Physical his or ours For since he inclines in a way suitable to our Nature as he himself as we and all rational Natures act where the Mind and Reason leads the Will and inclines it therefore by presenting Objects and Reasons urging and enforcing them by sense and feeling of misery disquiet of heart and woe God strives with thy Will to move it freely to embrace those freely-offer'd Comforts without which thou perceivest thy self plainly to be ready to sink into Horror and Despair But thou against both divine Reason and thine own Sense stiffly irrationally and malapartly refusest to yield to either and yet art so sottish as to impute thy Frenzy to God Avaunt Blasphemy If the mighty important Perswasives of Heaven cannot prevail upon thee as a Man never imagine that the Almightiness of God will miraculously drag thee as a Beast or a Block into that Paradise of Rest and Satisfaction which now thou startlest and tremblest at And understand that if thou be'st a Rebel against the Reason of God thou wilt also be a Fighter against the Power of God If a rational Mind act in repugnancy to his Wisdom much more will an irrational brutish Will against his Omnipotence there being less aversation in any Man to be subdu'd by the Golden Liberty of forcible Arguments than the Iron-necessity of Club-Law The result is that to refuse divine Comforts when qualified for them is an evident fighting against God and to deny our Qualifications when heartily grieved for and undissembledly willing and active to divorce from and never return to any thing displeasing to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and unfeignedly desirous and diligent to espouse the Divine Interest in all things without tergiversation or delay This is an apparent Rebellion and Lye against the Holy Ghost and our own Souls which Oh my Soul there is an absolute necessity that thou should'st be much more afraid of than thy mere imaginary Presumption in accepting that which is so clearly and freely tendered to thee by God And what dost thou mean herein oh foolish and unkind to thy self oh ingrateful and impious against God that the wise and rich and sweet Provisions of Heaven in boundless Compassions to thy Necessity and Misery laid at thy Feet should be trod in the Dirt That thou wilt not vouchsafe to be so merciful to thy self and respectful to God as to permit his healing Balms to be poured into thy bleeding Wounds but in a blind Zeal against thy unworthy self or an over-righteous Revenge against thy abhorred Sins or an humorous Peevishness or Pertinacy of Spirit or I know not what woundest those gracious Hands which in infinite Tenderness and Commiseration offer so benignly by these most effectual Medicines against all Anxiety and Woe to deliver thee out of thy wearisome Hospital into an everlasting Heaven of Pleasure Joy Peace Soundness Safety Rest and Consolation Oh thy Madness to chuse thy Miseries and Vexations rather than so blessed an hope so unutterable Happiness What! be fond of Hell and dote on thy Torment and prefer thy Prelibations of eternal Plagues and Horrors before these Earnests of those unspeakably glorious future Recompences Is it not even so This is and well may it be for a Lamentation CHAP. XVII Instructive Inferences VVAving the Corrective Deductions because in part coincident with the Elenctical as I have managed them I shall close all with the Instructive And here as all along I have done I shall especially direct about Spiritual Comfort as the foundation of and introductive to all other that 's worthy of Name Every disquieted Heart is melted into a passionate longing after Peace If it can but see any dawnings of a lightsom day of Joy after the gloomy night of its Troubles If after all its tremulous Palpitations and Passions and Horrors it may be supported with the Revivings of the least glimmering Hope that God will entertain any Thoughts of Reconciliation it seems to glory in a willingness to be or do any thing to submit to any Terms whatever that may be conducible to this happy and amicable Closure To promote this blessed End and compromise of differences betwixt incensed Heaven
engage my self to the use of all possible means of thy appointment to suppress all Motions to Sin to strengthen and renew my Resolutions dayly to establish me against Temptations and carry me on in an assiduous Exercise of Repentance till I have no more Sin to repent of and yet will not account this any Amends for the Wrong I have done thee but in an absolute Renunciation of all that I am can be or do my repenting it self my holy Duties my striving against Sin the World the Devil and my Religious Performances as altogether insufficient and unavailable to give Compensation or secure me from Justice I come despairing of my self and all the stock I can be furnish'd with at home hopeless and helpless by the whole world and in an humble and hearty Prostration of Soul throw down my self at thy feet seeking Relief where alone it is to be found and that is in thy self Oh Lord thy Son and Spirit and therefore with my whole mind will desire delight and strength I freely heartily fully give up my self all my Powers and Possibilities unto thee alone avouching Thee only to be my God and All-sufficient Goodness and Happiness and therefore with a lowly Reverence and Submission I cast my self as thy sworn Vassal at thy gracious Foot-stool in a sincere and absolute Choice and Acceptance of Thee O blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost for my sole Portion and Rest dedicating my self from my very inmost Soul to Thee O Heavenly Father as my Soveraign Creator Owner and Governour to be wholly and unreservedly Thine entirely at thy Disposal from the very bottom of my Heart devoting the Remainder of my Spirits Strength and Life universally to thy Fear Love Honour Worship and Service in the Works of Repentance and Mortification of my Sin watchfulness against and resistance of Temptation and over my Heart and Way and diligence in exercising my self unto Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety And to this purpose as one utterly lost and undone in my self with a renewed humble Veneration I offer up my self wholly to thee O blessed Redeemer of the World the only begotten Son of the Eternal Father and with a bleeding broken Heart that hath no other relief but only in and through thee being in my self a very Hell of Wickedness and Woe condemned by thy Law condemned by mine own Conscience I lift up mine Eyes look unto and long for thee O dear Lord Jesus as my only Saviour Joy and Crown thee I earnestly press after I value above my Life my Hopes my Soul heartily approving of pleasing my self in and closing with that Method of Salvation ordained through thee as the only Mean and Help into the Favour and Love of God Therefore with the All of my Understanding and Will and Might I chuse and embrace and honour and love and delight and rejoyce in and venture my self my hopes my happiness my All upon thee for ever and ever trusting solely to thy Merit and Mediation accepting Thee in all thy Offices and Relations as Prophet Priest King Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Redemption as my Soveraign Lord and Master the only Espoused Bridegroom of my Soul resolving through thy Grace to betake my self only to Thee to be Thine alone abrenunciating and disclaiming all that stands in competition with Thee and receiving cordially all thy Holy Counsels and Laws as the only Guide and Rule of my Thoughts Affections Words and Actions with a thorow purpose and endeavour to take the highest Care under the Aids of thy Grace both to conform in every thing thereto and boggle at no difficulties dangers or sufferings which I may expect or meet with in these thy ways but persevere therein to the end neither shall any Corruption within or Temptation from without have my heart or liking or allowance so as to withdraw my Soul from these Holy Resolves For which end I cast my self whole and entire upon thy Free Grace and Almighty Power and Holy Spirit to work in me both to will and to do all according to thy good pleasure being firmly engaged to be Thine and to take Thee to be Mine without a Moments farther Procrastination Come Holy Ghost Eternal God and breathe into my Soul infuse thy Gifts and Graces communicating thy Power to a poor impotent succourless Sinner that here lo consecrates himself to Thee and with a self-resigning Spirit resolves to venture all upon thy Conduct and Influence to be at thy Beck and Command in all things not knowing nor being able nor therefore willing to do any thing without thee Inspire my Mind direct my Heart awe my Conscience regulate my Life strengthen and uphold my goings that notwithstanding mine own insufficiency I may by Thee be enlarged in heart to run in the ways of thy Commandments And now Merciful God Father Son and Holy Ghost through that All-sufficient Merit that has procured all Blessings accept of me and own me as none of mine own but thy Portion and Inheritance who have taken Thee to be mine This this O my Soul is the One thing needful to be done in good earnest speedily with an uncontroulable Bent and Steadiness of Will and never to be repented of I am pained in my very Soul for and heartily bewail my Neglects Deferrings and Aversations And here I am blessed Lord setting to my Seal and firmly binding my self in this my Baptismal Covenant with an irreversible purpose to act all the remainder of my Life thro' thy Mercy and Assistance only according to the Tenour of it Be serious then here O my Soul or thou abjurest all solid Consolation Thou canst never enjoy good Hopes without a good Conscience If thou desirest to build high in thy Comforts be sure thou lay a good Foundation If thou never enterest into such Meditations and Resolutions as these bid everlastingly adieu to all true Contentation If thou do not really turn to God thou turnest away thy Peace The Holy Ghost will never be a Comforter where He is not a Converter Except thou be born again of Water and the Spirit thou canst not enter into the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Peace See to it therefore that thou be raised from thy Death in Trespasses and Sins as ever thou desirest a Resurrection of thy Joys No Purity no Peace 5. Having thus begun go on Make Repentance Mortification Watchfulness Faith Love Resignation to the Will of God thy daily uninterrupted Exercise and endeavour to grow in all and be upright in all else all 's nothing Make Sincerity thy great Aim and Endeavour Hypocrisie is Heritor no where but in the Land of Darkness and dismal Woe Thy Joys will resemble their Parents If they be a Cheat so will they also Be really good and eminently so too Aut Caesar aut nullus Lean Graces do but devour fat Comforts never enjoy them The sweetest promises yield no lasting Refreshment to fickle hearts unestablished with Grace If thy Spiritual Strength be small when thy standing in
love the Lord then Oh my Soul with all thy mind with all thy Heart with all thy strength and thy Neighbour as thy self for his sake let him have thy whole desire thy whole delight at all times Minus te amat qui aliquid tecum amat quod non propter te amat Idiotae contempl de amore Dei c. 12. He loves thee but little Oh Lord who loves any thing with thee which he loves not for thee says a devout Man 'T is but meet that the highest God should have the Supremacy in my heart If in the greater World he be King must he be a Subject in the less I am worse than Hell if God must not be acknowledged Soveraign in my Soul The Spirits there dare not cannot but own him as their Lord this is the duty they pay extorted indeed by their sense and fear which that it may not be thy dismal lot and fate Oh my Soul advance thou him freely to the Crown within thy self in a spontaneous generous Ardour of pure Incorrupt Incorruptible Love Which if thou dost not thou art accursed if thou dost thou art blessed for 't is a Prayer upon record in God's Word 1 Cor. 16.22 and therefore part of the matter of Christ's Intercession Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Incorruption or Immortality i. e. with a never-fading Love Eph. 2.24 and that only is a sincere Love Oh Love the Lord on Earth as thou wilt love him in Heaven with the same kind and press toward the same degree of Love and be happy Thus live in God above the tumult and hurry of external things and be at rest Marc. Antonin l. 2. p. 5 c. Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse Supremum Live every day as if it were thy last and in every imployment so act Arrian l. 4. c. 10. as one that can be free to be found therein by Death p. 416. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It. l. 3. c. 5 p. 273. Antonin l. 6. §. 3◠What would'st thou be found doing by Death says Arrianus I for my part doing some masculine beneficial publick useful generous Work But if I cannot be found in these yet this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unhinderable this is given to me to amend my self to elaborate that faculty which makes use of Phantasies to endeavour apathy or freeness from Passion to give my Affections their due and if I can be so happy to gain soundness certainty of Judgment If Death find me thus employ'd 't will be sufficient to engage me with hands stretched out to God to say I have not neglected those Powers thou gavest me to observe thy Government and follow it I have done my endeavour not to disgrace thee Behold how I have used my Senses my Prenotions Have I ever blamed thee Have I been displeased with any thing befalling or wish'd it otherwise Have I misguided my Affections because thou begattest me I render thee the praise of thy Gifts in as much as I have well used thine it sufficeth me Resume them now again and where thou pleasest dispose of me For all were thine and thou gavest them me I the rather produce these Testimonies out of Heathen Authors to let Christians see how inexcusable it will be in them who have infinitely better Light Means Aids to neglect what even Nature and Reason taught Philosophers to practise And withall to awaken others with my self to a more assiduous care in these Exercises least it be found more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon for Sodom and Gomorrah than for us at the great day Observe all the inward Workings of the Divine Spirit both in calling out the actings of Grace and reviving thee with Peace and keep them upon record for after advantage Time may come when all thy present Sensations may be so cloudy that thou canst not see a peep of day canst not from any thing that thou feelest conclude that thy state is right before God But if at such a season and hour of temptation thou be'st able to call to mind that upon due trial when in a sober and composed calm of Thoughts the Lord satisfied thee upon sure and indefeisible Evidence that thy Heart was truly changed and that thou wast as a New Creature in Christ Jesus and that thy Objections and misdoubtings and temptations to the contrary were thorowly answered This will be such an ease to thy mind and a revival of thy hopes that ere long the mists and darkness will be driven away and thou wilt again reascend into a clear and serene Heaven of Light and Peace and Joy Make sure in this manner to lay up and reserve a good stock and treasure of Experiences if thou desirest Riches of Comfort yet content not thy self with the old but make new To remember what thou did'st enjoy and feel in the days of the right Hand of the Most High may revive thee but to sense and feel it at present much more Renew then those gracious Exercises over and over that did once produce Halcyon days in thy Soul and they will recall them the same effects will issue from the same Causes Amend what was amiss in former actings which gave Satan advantage to redintegrate thy Troubles and this will establish thy Peace upon a securer and more unexceptionable basis 'T is not possible to refute the Devils Objections against thy sincerity by a method more effectual than a more serious care to act all over again sincerely which he tempts thee to suppose was done unsoundly Renovated Acts of a sound Repentance and unfeigned Faith as sure Testimonies of thy Renovation after the Image of God will dash thine Accuser out of countenance If thou canst make any fresh Experiments of the Power of Divine Grace effecting this If God take thee anew into his bosom of Love to melt thee If a view of him whom thy Sins have pierced cause thy ebbing godly Sorrow again to flow over all the Banks Lastly if with a perfect Heart thou returnest from all thy by-past follies unto him from whom thou hast deeply revolted this will again retrieve thy sinking Heart and hopes as a new taste of the Lord's graciousness and evidence that he hath not forsaken thee but that his Mercy and Godness follows thee and shall all the days of thy life even to Eternity Set about this O my Soul with a resolved obstinacy of endeavour that will not be conquerable by any assaults of Corruption or Temptation For thou canst never take a Heaven of Joy and Rest except by violence and force Weak resolves do but only encrease the Devils Triumphs Strong cares are requisite to possess thee of strong Consolations Observe where when and how the Spirit moves and spread thy Sails before his sweet Spirations He is the Comforter because the Conducter into the way of Peace Thou canst enjoy no more of his Testimony to solace thee than
Memory which are but dead things mere Carcasses of Devotion not to be insisted on in Competiton with an enlarged Heart Take with thee Words and turn unto the Lord. Lord at thy bidding I will take thy Words which thy self here prescribes Hosea 14.2 3. They shall be my stinted Liturgy none can tell which will be acceptable to thee better than thy self What are they Take away Iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the Calves of our Lips What 's that The substance is Praise But some Antients thus descant upon it Calves not of our Stall Mal. 4.2 but Lips When a Calf or other Beast was to be Sacrificed to which this is an allusion God required the Blood the Fat and sometimes the Flesh but never the Skin and Hair these were to be carried away and burnt in another place The Blood of these Calves of the Lips is Faith in the Blood of Christ which is the Life of Prayer and Praise The Fat pure and holy Affection and Grace Sorrow Desire Love Delight Hope c. The Flesh is the matter or thing pray'd for Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Redemption c. The Skin and Hairs the Words and Expressions with the Method Mode Order which if alone and not spirited with the former are of no value with God who looks at Things not Words and Phrases They must indeed be brought to God in vocal Prayer which is never a Duty except when we joyn with others and they with us and we must see that all accord with or do not disagree from the general Rules of the Scripture But 't is a folly to think that we for these are more acceptable in Person or that our Prayers the Flesh the Fat the Blood are more well-pleasing to God We must not lay any stress upon put any confidence in that which God will not vouchsafe his Altar to Sanctifie Offer then even this vocal Prayer God expects in some cases this in Conjunction but take heed O my Soul of relying upon it as such viz. the Skin without the other in Separation Whether form or no form what matters it 't is but Skin and Hair Why so much adoe about it Give the main to God or thou givest nothing God will take off the Skin and burn it burn not thy Fingers about it 't is not for the Altar Oh bring that chiefly which must be presented there God is a Spirit what are Words to him Oh let thy Prayers be all Spirit Words are but the vehicle sometimes only Aereal mere Wind seldom Aethereal defecate and pure Quintescence without Froth and Vanity c. However O see thou that there be an Angel within if there be not an Intelligence to turn about this Orb of Devotion if a Soul do not animate this Body of Duty away with it to the dunghil with it 't is but mere Carrion Bring the Male in thy Flock not this corrupt thing Thou canst never derive Comfort from Heaven if thou lay nothing upon God's Altar but Froth and Wind. Substantial Prayers and all substance is an invisible inward thing and these alone introduce solid and substantial Consolations 2 Thes 2.16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and given us everlasting Consolation through Grace 17. Comfort your Hearts and stablish you in every good Word and Work 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 19.20 Now the God of Peace who hath raised from the Dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant 21. Make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS THE CONTENTS Chap. I. THE Introduction with the Explication of the Terms and their Sense Critical and Moral and Doctrine page 1. Chap. II. The Doctrine explained in a Resolution of three Queries a three-fold Essay p. 9. 1. The Character of the Psalmist not so much Personal as Moral which determines the Subject universally p. 10. 1. He was a Man that lived under a due and deep sense of God ibid. Chap. III. 2. He was a Man of Prayer p. 18. Chap. IV. 3. That lived by Faith not by Sight p. 25. Chap. V. 4. That did not live under the reproach of his own conscience p. 31. 1. He was very sensible of the odiousness of Sin to God ibid. Chap. VI. 2. Consciencious in the observance of his Duty to Man p. 45. Chap. VII 5. Of a Publick Spirit p. 73. Chap. VIII 6. Honours God 's Discipline Instructive Corrective p. 121. Chap. IX 7. A Man of Experience Eyes God in all things p. 133. Chap. X. 8. Seeks Comfort solely in and from God p. 140. Chap. XI 2. The Nature and Quality of the Psalmists Thoughts p. 151. 1. Fearing Thoughts p. 156. 2. Grieving Thoughts p. 164. 3. Despairing Thoughts page 174. Chap. XII 3. What Comforts these are in general p. 175. Chap. XIII 1. Comforts in God which God is derived from p. 182. 1. His Existence ibid. 2. His Names and Titles p. 183. 3. His Attributes p. 184. § 1. His Wisdom and Omniscience p. 185. 2. His Goodness p. 189. 3. His Justice p. 207. 4. His Omnipotence p. 224. 5. His Fidelity and Vnchangableness p. 234. 6. His Presence p. 241. 7. His Eternity p. 258. Chap. XIV 2. Comforts from God which God gives in p. 265. 1. Providence p. 266. 2. Privileges p. 269. 1. Sanctification ibid. 2. Propriety in God and assurance of it p. 276. 3. Experiences p. 286. Chap. XV. Inferences 1. Doctrinal 1. 't is lamentable to be left to our own Thoughts p. 296. 2. The best may be in perplexities inextricable by Nature p. 298. 3. The infinite Condescention of God in the Provision he hath made for us p. 302. Chap. XVI 2. Elenctical 1. Convictive 1. Theoretical confutes the Doctrine of Incertitude p. 305. 2. Practical establishing the conscience in the right method of discriminating true and false Comforts which differ p. 309. 1. In their Origin p. 310. 2. Their Attendants p. 317. 3. Their tendency and effects p. 330. 2. Reprehensive for neglect of preparing for and possessing our selves of Divine Comforts p. 337. Chap. XVII 3. Paideutical or Instructive how to attain solid Comforts p. 352. 1. Be Men of Thoughts p. 353. 2. Indeavour to attain Ability to give Law to Thoughts p. 361. 3. Get a clear notion of God and Goodness p. 366. 4. Lay the Foundation of Peace in Repentance and Holiness p. 375 376. 5. Be fervent and constant in Prayer p. 401. ADVERTISEMENT These BOOKS are Published by the Reverend Mr. Oliver Heywood M. A. Minister of the Gospel and Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside viz. 1. BAptismal Bonds Renewed being some Meditations on Psal 50.5 2. Closet Prayer a Christians Duty 3. Sure Mercies of David 4. Israels Lamentation after the Lord. 5. The Holy Life and Happy Death of Mr. John Angier Minister formerly at Denton near Manchester 6. Advice to an only Child or excellent Counsel to all young Persons 7. Best Intail a Discourse on 2 Sam. 23.5 8. Family Altar a Discourse on Gen. 35.2 3. for to promote the Worship of God in private Families 9. Meetness for Heaven on Colos 1.12 designed for a Funeral Legacy 10. The New Creature on Gal. 6.15 lately Published 11. The General Assembly or a Discourse of the gathering of all Saints to Christ BOOKS Written by the Reverend Mr. J. How OF Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of Foreknowing Things to come Of Charity in reference to other Mens Sins A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Richard Adams M. A. sometime Fellow of Brazen-Nose College in Oxford The Redeemer's Tears wept over lost Souls In a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to will the Salvation of them that perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict enquiry Whether or no we truly love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson the late Wife of Henry Sampson Doctor of Physick The Carnality of Religious Contention In Two Sermons preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broad-street A Sermon for Reformation of Manners A Sermon preach'd on the Day of Thanksgiving December 2. 1697. to which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King A Calm and Sober Enquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity in the God-head A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the Calm and Sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View of that part of the late Considerations to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the Sober Enquiry on that Subject The Redeemer's Dominion over the Invisible World A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Hammond A Funeral Sermon for Dr. Will. Bates A Funeral Sermon for Mr. Mat. Mead. This Written by Mr. Flavel THE Fountain of Life open'd or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory containing Forty two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction Mysterious Incarnation solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement
the Victory over Original Corruption and evil Habits they apply themselves to God in the Name of Christ not only owning all Christian Doctrine and obeying all Christian Precepts which are remote conditions and helps of Mortification but in special considering that Christ by his merit procured power against Sin as well as Pardon which both are given upon no other account but only for the sake of Christ therefore they beg of God that according to his promise he would subdue Iniquities Mic. 7.19 He would graciously please to bestow upon them for Christ's sake that strength by his Spirit in their inner Man which may enable them to conquer and keep under their Concupiscence the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof and upon the help of his Spirit so beg'd they rely and depend and trust to it in every assault and motion of Sin lifting up their Hearts to God in Christ for renewed Power to resist and suppress it and keep themselves pure distrusting themselves that they may put their whole trust in the living God upon whom thus fixing their affiance they wait in patience and watchfulness and the use of his Ordinances for Christ to be made their Sanctification and Redemption from the Dominion and Tyranny or Rebellion of Sin which by degrees is granted them and this Exercise of Faith in Prayer and Prayer means is the immediate and next condition of the grant of power against Sin which is followed with the use both of Rational and Scriptural Considerations care to prevent all occasions or irritations of Concupiscence and other evil Dispositions an early endeavour to suppress the first Motions and Lustings c. but the power of these is not trusted to as sufficient but Gods alone in the use of these helps to overcome and crucifie the evil of their Natures and all that are rooted in it and flow from it Act then solely under God look after such an effectual Faith that carrying thee above all Visibles to the invisible God will under his Influence purifie thy Heart work by Love and reduce thy Will into Subjection to God and grow herein daily 'T was much that Philosophers should make it one of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Governing Prenotions Will nothing but what God Wills and that decantate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Follow God Arrian l. 3. c. 26. p. 362. and l. 2. c. 16. p. 217. Marc. Anton. l. 10. §. 11. Seneca de vita beat c. 15. Arrian l. 4. c. 12. p. 426. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Seneca subjoyns In regno nati sumus Deo parere libertas est In a Kingdom are we born to obey God is liberty Yea 't is Royal Liberty Arrianus I have one to be subject to to obey even God c. Oh! let not Infidels rise up in Judgment to condemn thee for a Rebel against the Will of God in his Precepts or Providences 'T is an ugly thing for a Christian to have a Will a Separate Will The Will of Man is a Bedlam except in Conjunction with and Subordination to God The liberty of the Will of Man consists in Servitude to God Excellently Arrianus I am Gods freeman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arr. l. 4. c 3. p. 380. and friend that I may voluntarily obey him I must set nothing in competition not my Body not my Possessions not Principality not Fame no nothing at all c. In Summ labour to form all thy Faculties after the best Paterns and imitate such in thine Actions Christianity is an Imitation of the Nature Life and Actions of Christ * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nys M. Antonin l. 10. 8. Cl Alex. Strom. l. 5. Marc. Anton. could say God wills that all Rational Beings should be like him not flatter him Clemens of Alexandria makes account that Plato thought similitude to God the end of Philosophy This the Philosopher may propose but the true Christian only attains The Exhortations to it in the Scriptures are many Eph. 5.1 2. 1 Cor. 11 1. consequentially 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 8.29 Luk. 6.36 1 Joh. 3.3 17. 1 Pet. 1.16 Matth. 5.48 A Christian unlike Christ is a contradiction as a godly Man not God-like When Christ dwells in the Heart by Faith he will transform it and the Life into the likeness of his own Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ says Paul nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the Flesh is by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me This is that living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit he after mentions Chap. 5.25 Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 2 Cor. 3.18 Wilt thou not then Oh my Soul aspire after this 'T is high above thee a strange Mystery to thy carnal part and so at first is every thing of God yet nothing is to be despaired of that is enjoyn'd by God whose Precepts are his Power whose Word his Work And if God who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness and it obeyed do also command the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ to shine into thine Heart 2 Cor. 4.6 That will much more obey the voice of his Almighty Grace and this Light is Life this Life Love this Love universal Conformity to God For God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 and Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.8.10 Gal. 5.14 Oh thou Blessed Spirit God of Love descend into and shed abroad thy Nature in my Heart kindle Oh thou ever adorable Breath of God and blow up this Holy Ardour and Flame that as a Seraphim I may ascend in a transport of Delight and Joy to thy Throne and perpetually burn upon thine Altar and being like thee in Love I shall through Love be like thee in all things Am I a Professor am I a Believer am I a knowing a weeping a discoursing a practising a just a dispassionate a temperate a bountiful and liberal a condescending a friendly Person Yet if I have not if I am not Love I have I am nothing The reason of 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3. will carry this and more Neither extraordinary gifts of Tongues prophesie abstruse Speculation Miracles nor extraordinary Practices as beggering my self to give to the Poor receiving the Crown of Martyrdom under the most cruel Tortures voluntarily submitted to are at all available without Love therefore much less things of a common and ordinary Nature Love is all in all Thy Repentance thy Faith thy Hope thy Prayers thy Vows thy Obedience are good and acceptable if Spirited with Love without it they and all beside that thou canst possibly be and do are but all as a Sacrifice of Swines Blood and blessing an Idol there 's nothing of Life in them nothing of Soul because nothing of God because nothing of Love Oh