1. God 2. Angels 3. Humane Souls and this does very much set forth the Excellency of our Souls that they are only to be known as God himself or the Angels are to be known that is 1. By way of Eminency When we affirm that Being is in a more excellent manner in them than in any visible thing 2. By way of Negation When we deny those Imperfections to be in them which are in matter as Corruptibility 3. By their Effects VVhich are manifest even to our Sences so that it is as certain that we have such Souls as it is not so demonstratively certain what they are Yet we may so far define a Humane Soul as to express the Conception which we have of it I shall only set down St. Austins definition of such a Soul libr. de immortalitate animae Est substantia quaedam rationis particepss regendo Corpori accommodata It is a rational substance fitted for the government of the Body But because as it is said of God it may be said of the Soul None hath seen a Soul at any time and therefore as there are many that say there is no God So there are as many which say there is no Soul both having the same Friends and Enemies the very same affirmers or denyers I shall be more particular in several conclusions concerning this subject our Souls 1. VVe assert that the Soul is a distinct substance from the Body 1. The Soul is a distinct substance from the Body which will appear if we consider that such things as are proper to distinct substances as to dwell in the body whilst a man lives to leave the body when he dyes are attributed to the Soul and this is not the saying or opinion of some one or a few persons who though eminent might be singular and opine according to their fancies or prejudices but it hath been at all times and in all Nations as an universal tradition held undeniably by all considering and thinking men and they speak accordingly 2. That the Soul is a substance and distinct from the Body appears in that it does substare i. e. is the Subject of Accidents such as are Vertue and Vice Arts and Sciences which cannot inhere in bare matter It is not from the Body that a Man is Learned or Ignorant but from his Mind 3. The Soul is thus distinct from the Body in that it was made after the Body Thus Moses speaks of the Creating of the Soul distinctly after the forming of the Body Gen. 2.7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the Earth that is his Body which was dust and shall return to dust and then he adds he breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life His Body or Nostrils were made before the Soul was breathed into him and his Soul was breathed into him by a distinct Act of Divine Power from that which made his Body 4. The Soul of Man is a different substance from his Body because it does exist separately from the Body Though I will not say with the Platonists that the Souls of Man had a being before their Bodies Yet it is certain they continue their being after that they have left their Bodies this the wiser Heathen were not wholly ignorant of whose Testimonies as all things of that Nature upon this occasion I forbear to meddle with are full and plain in this Case It suffices us Christians that our Lord and Master supposes this as most certain in the Parable of the rich Glutton Luk. 16.19 20. in which there are no less than three instances to prove the Souls existence after the Death of the Body Abraham Dives and Lazarus and though this is indeed a Parable and Symbolical Scripture is not Argumentative Yet so far must be granted true as may make a foundation for the scope and intent for which it was spoken But what is beyond any cavil or exception Our Saviour tells the Thief upon the Cross Luk. 23.43 Verily to day thou shalt be with me in Paradise It is certain his Body was not with our Saviours that it might appear our Saviour not any other did arise God so provided that he was laid in a new Tomb in which none ever was laid before Neither could our Saviour mean that he should be with his God-head in Paradise that day for at that very instant in which he spake in that place and in all places Christ as God is present Had this man gone to Hell the words in this sense had been true but not comfortable to this dying Confessor They can only therefore relate to his Souls going to the place of the Blessed when it should that day leave its Body 2. The Soul is a Spiritual substance 2. We may advance a little further towards the knowledge of our Souls in asserting that they are Spiritual or Spirits freed from that composition and those druggs that are in matter which clogs and debase it and it is no small perfection of the Soul that it is freed from them My meaning is The Soul of man is not the Temperament libr. de immortalitate animae or Crasis of the Body St. Austin thinks that every one may easily be convinced of this in himself Quis bene se inspiciens c. Who says he considering himself does not find that he understands any thing he ponders on the better the more he can withdraw his thoughts from sensible Objects Quod si temperatio corporis esset animus non utique id possit accidere If the Soul were the Temper of the Body it would not fall out thus for bodily or sensible things would help them rather than hinder the Understanding But I shall be ingaged to a further proof of it which these following Arguments may evince VVere it only that the Soul is so often called a Spirit by God himself in his word It were a very considerable Argument to prove that it is a Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Crat. When Adam gave all the Creatures Names who doubts but that those Names were suitable to their Natures And could that Nomenclature be retrived it might tell us more of Beasts and Fowls than is yet or it may be now ever will be known But when God speaks so often of a Soul under the notion of a Spirit and in many places where a Metaphorical sense will not serve the turn we cannot but know that the Soul is what God calls it as well as the Creatures were what Adam called them To name but a few Texts The wise man speaking of the Soul Gal. 12.7 Calls it the spirit and says it returns to God that gave it in contradistinction to the Body which he calls there dust and if Solomon knew the several Creatures from the Cedar to the Hysope surely he was not so ignorant of the nature of his Soul as to speak so impertinently if it be not a Spirit Nay it is one of Gods Titles Zech.
Endeavours used by Satan for our Souls so does Satan to gain the Soul fas est ab hostes doceri We may learn this from our greatest Enemy that our Souls are worth all our care and pains in keeping being our Adversary the Devil thinks no pains too great to get them 1 Pet. 5.8 He goeth up and down seeking whom he may devour He compasses the Earth as we may read in the book of Job Job 1.7 Job 2.2 He had considered Job and so considers all others what temptation is likest to prevail what their tempers and distempers are what traps will take some and what snares others He knows our beloved sins and dresses them up so as we might be loath to part with them He did not desire to go into the herd of Swine that he might destroy them but that by that means he might tempt their owners as indeed it took effect the Gadarens preferring their Swine before their Souls or their Saviour When our Saviour came to cast him out of any one the Devil was tormented Why art thou come to torment us they cry it was not because they were forced to leave their Bodies but because by that means he should have no such opportunity to mischief their Souls Matth. 8.29 Luke 8.28 Oh this is a torment to Satan to be deprived of our Souls There is not a Sermon we hear but this Evil One is ready to take away the seed as soon as ever it is sown Matth. 13.19 there is not a Prayer we make but these fowls of air attend to light upon the Sacrifice and hardly can they be driven away Gen. 15.11 Wheresoever we are whatsoever we do the Devil attends and waits for advantage against us that he might but gain our Souls And oh that men were but so industrious to preserve their Souls as Satan is to ruine them The Philistines are upon thee and doest thou sleep The Thieves are up that intend to rob thee and doest not thou arise Satan does not do all this for nothing or for that which is worth but little This Eagle does not catch at Flyes he hunts for the precious Soul 4. The duration of our Souls 4. There is one Argument more to prove the Excellency of our Souls and that is if you consider their duration or lasting It is as a dead colour upon all the beauties and glories in the World that they are fading there is a worm at the root of the Gourd which men delight in and set with greatest content under Insomuch as 't is not yet resolved whether our comfort is greater whilst we have these outward things or our grief when we part from them to be sure the one must needs bear proportion unto the other and the more any thing is loved the loather we are to leave it Now that the Soul transcends in this respect the World and all that is in it It being to remain when they shall be no more may appear from the nature of the Soul which admits not those contrary qualities which acting upon one another destroy their subject in which they are There are many Treatises to prove the Immortality of the Soul which I will not so much as mention only one Argument Bernard uses Libro de Anima because I find it not elsewhere I shall set down here Immortalis anima est quoniam cum ipsa sibi vita sit sicut non est quo cadat à se sic non est quo cadat à vita The Soul of man being life unto its self as it cannot part with its self so it cannot part with its life the body therefore dyes because it hath its life not in its self but from the Soul which it may be severed from but the Soul lives not by vertue of its union with the Body but the Body lives by vertue of its union with the Soul I am the less intent upon my proving of this because all thinking men do grant it Nay it is an Antecedent verity to the Christian Religion unless our Souls be immortal our faith is vain and all those absurdities will follow which the Apostle reckons up 1 Cor. 15. as the consequents of denying the Resurrection of the Body Nay unless the Soul be immortal all Religion is but imposture and we are design'd upon and abused when we are call'd upon and perswaded to the worshipping and serving of God so that it is indeed as necessary forus to believe our Souls to be immortal as it is necessary for us to believe that there is a God and either a good man's hope or a wicked mans fears are sufficient Evidences of both That there is another life or a future state after this life a good man would not but believe and a wicked cannot but believe They are only inconsidering debauched men whose Lusts and Sins have made it greatly their Interest that they might dye like Beasts as well as they have lived like them Who did ever seem to question it I say seem to question it for their surda vulnera the wounds that Conscience makes in them would not pierce so deep nor look so sadly if they had such a lenitive as the thoughts that they might not be felt in the other world But o th Eternity Eternity What a shrill and dismal noise do it make in a wicked man's ear or heart rather when heard or thought on and on the contrary what melody is it to a gratious man to hear that his Soul is immortal and his Crown incorruptible But the Text supposes the Soul may be lost and what is that else Objection but that it dyes The Soul indeed may be lost and dye in a figurative sense Answer There is a great resemblance betwixt the death of the Body and that of the Soul The Body dyes when it is separated from the Soul by which it lives And the Soul dyes when it is separated from God who is its life Sicut anima vita est corporis sic Deus vita est animae Bern. Librâ—â— de Anima Take a Soul from the Body the Body stirrs breathes lives no more So if Gods Grace and Spirit be not in the Soul it moves not but is dead in trespasses and sins Sin does that to the Soul which Diseases and Mortal Wounds do to the Body In the day that thou eatest thereof i. e. whensoever thou sinnest thou shalt dye Gen. 2.17 I should here have concluded my Arguments for the preciousness of the Soul but I will add one or two more ad hominem which may affect men most according to what they are usually taken with and perswaded by And therefore 5. In the fifth place The Soul is the cause of that life 5. The Cause of our Life which we so prize and it preserves that body which we so value and certainly then if ye may be Judges your selves it is most considerable What is the Body of the most beloved Person without the Soul a stench and
an abomination Oh bury her out of my sight says Abraham of his beloved Sarah Gen. 23.4 What do men take pains and care about What are they at cost and charge upon rising early and going to bed late but only for such things as may serve and please the Body VVhich very Body must be beholden to the Soul for to keep it from becoming worms meat and rottenness VVe might value our Bodies and their concerns as much as we do or as we list to do would it but cause us so much the more to esteem our Souls as they deserve for keeping our Bodies in a capacity for our care and kindness 6. Our Bodies follow their Condition 6. It is in the last place very considerable as to us to enhance our opinion of the Soul that our Bodies follow the condition of our Souls As our Souls are so shall our Bodies be when raised up to all Eternity and therefore St. Stephen when he was a dying commends only his Soul to our Saviour Acts 7.59 and our Saviour himself in his last breath commends his Spirit or Soul to his Father Luke 23.46 neither making any mention of their Bodies as knowing that their Bodies by consequence would be happy that they would be cared for by God and raised up in Gods time to be blessed with their Souls to all Eternity If our Souls be found unbelieving and impenitent without Gods Image and favour all the rich attire and sumptuous fare will not keep our Bodies no more than they did Dives his Body from being tormented in those flames that shall burn and none can quench them on the other side if our Souls be sanctified and accepted notwithstanding any present poverty disease or misery they shall hereafter sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Shall I carry this a little further it may be more home and close unto you The welfare of the Body even in this life depends upon the Soul As the case of thy Soul is so are all those very things that befal thy Body even in this world VVe judge amiss and call good evil and evil good take all things together and stay till the conclusion and you will then see that all the prosperity that befel a man his riches health friends reputation c. were all evil if his Soul be evil that is unpardoned unregenerated oh very evil Isa 3.10 11. Psal 7.11 God is angry with the wicked every day In his healthful prosperous days he hath the wrath of God the least drop whereof will imbitter all his sweets and this is mixt in the Cup and is as death in the Pot But one that hath his Soul pardoned and purged from sin by the Blood and Spirit of the Son of God All his very torments and Miseries if any such befall him are what God in wisdom hath chosen for him Rom. 8.2 8. and in faithfulness hath layd upon him they are the very best providences that God could find out for him thus to the pure all things are pure c. Titus 1.15 And now I hope that the pretiousness of the Soul being manifest although I have all a long enforc'd my Argumenes as practically as I could I may yet have room for the remaining Application which I am now come unto APPLICATION Informaâ—â—â—â— 1. If the Soul be so pretious we have heard enough to make us abhor sin for ever Sin must needs be the most mischievous thing to us It being that only which can ruine our Souls whereby only we can lose our Souls Other Evils can but bereave us of our Estates or at most of our Lives but they have no more mischief which they can do but sin does deservedly cast Body and Soul into Everlasting Fire Isa 59.2 they are only our iniquities which separate betwixt God and us not tribulation and anguish c. no loss or cross these can and do work for good but sin is such a bitter root that it can bring forth nothing but bitter fruits Sin is the Souls sickness nay its death causing a divorce betwixt it and God the fountain of its life Hence it is said to war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 and to pierce the Soul through 1 Tim. 6.10 I appeal to any whether they would not detest and oppose those that should do such things to their Bodies O fools and slow of heart to believe Luk. 24.25 If ye will not believe God who hath said there is no peace nothing truly good no Salvation to be sure to the wicked believe at least your selves who cannot but find that as sin grows stronger your Souls grow weaker and that by it you forsake your own Mercies and get Boiles and Ulcers nay the Plague in your Souls 2. This does recommend and endear our Blessed Saviour to us who is the Saviour of our Souls and the Shepheard of our Souls and therefore only it is that they do not want he washed them in his blood 1 Pet. 2.25 and quickens them by his Spirit and keeps them by his power and crowns them with his glory to them which believe these things he is pretious 1 Pet. 2.7 If ye value your Souls above the World ye will value our Saviour above all the world too for had it not been for his love and care your Souls had been the miserablest things in it 3. This commends Holiness in all its parts to us Holiness is nothing else but the right Temper and Healthful Constitution of the Soul 't is the beauty of the Soul without which 't is most deformed and loathsome in God's sight To be Heavenly and Holy is to be as God is and to have the Spirit of Glory rest upon you Heb. 12.14 nay without Holiness none shall see God For though there was no defect in the price that Christ pay'd he did and suffered till all was fulfill'd yet if we be wanting in our applying of it we may perish and it will be our sore condemnation that light is come into the World and we love darkness Colos 1.27 't is Christ within us that is our hope of Glory I must not take occasion to commend those comprehensive Graces Faith and Repentance unto you but in a word as ye love your Souls value and esteem them they are to you as tabula post naufragium a plank to get safely to shoar withal If you do not make timoâ—s use of it your Souls will be drowned and perish Everlastingly Godliness is the Souls food ye cannot live a day without it or your Souls will be weak and faint nay expire and dye It is indeed the Souls Life as Jacobs Life was bound up in Benjamins life so is the Souls Life bound up in Godliness where Godliness decays there the Soul goes down with sorrow to the Grave nay to Hell Where Godliness thrives the Soul exults and cryes out Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace Luk. 2.29 nay in this world What a Feast does Godliness
make for the Soul whilst it may be the Body hath only a dish of Herbs 2. Reprehension I may then in the next place blame and bewail the folly and madness of most men who live as if they had no Souls or as if their Souls were fit only to be placed with the Dogs of the fold Like a woman I have heard of who when her house was on fire was very busie in saving of her stuff carrying out with all her might as much as she could at last she bethought her self of her Child which was left in a Cradle but when she returned to look after that she found that the fire had destroyed it and there she was first aware of her praeposterous care for her Goods before her Child running up and down as one distracted crying my Child my Child as David for his son Absalom So â—las when 't is too late all that neglect their Souls in this life will how I out in the midst of their scorching flames 2 Sam. 18.33 Oh my Soul my Soul I would I had dyed for thee my dear and pretious Soul We would have nothing bad by our good Will we would not have bad Relatives Children or other no not so much as a bad piece of Coin and how comes it to pass that men can be so content with bad Souls Thy Soul is thy self and if thy Soul be bad thou art bad thy self and how hast thou deserved so ill of thy self that thou shouldest neglect thy self and care not what become of thy Soul which is thy self Xerxes when he beheld his numerous Army wept Oh sayd he what a many here are that in a very short space must yield to Death and be devoured by VVorms It is a far sadder consideration that such multitudes of mens Souls are lost and perish Eternally and let the abounding of sin speak whether this be a causeless fear When the Apostles heard that one of them though but one was the Son of Perdition and should lose his Soul Every one of them was jealous over his Condition and cryed out Is it I Is it I Matth. 26.22 I cannot tell who particularly it is yet I cannot but know there are many sins that speak men ripe for judgment and many other sins which though they be not so notorious and visible are yet certainly as truly destructive and damnable A leak in any part of the Ship may sink it And now oh that my words might reach your hearts I speak in the behalf of your pretious Souls These words are not about trifles which you may consider or neglect as you please but as Moses said in the like case These words are your Life and no less than Life or Death Eternal depends upon your receiving of them When your Bodies are distemper'd what sending is there for a Physitian How are the symptoms of the Disease considered Or if an Estate be doubtful what counsel do we not take What cost and charge are we not at to ensure it Yet we let our Souls run all imaginable yea and unimaginable hazards without the least care to be sure without suitable care to their worth or danger and how can we any longer go for Christians or the Disciples of him who taught us here the pretiousness of our Souls and himself valued them accordingly Whatsoever we may flatter our selves with only such as are of the same mind with him shall have Salvation by him It is high time then to be Exhorted 3. Exhortation and prevailed with to suitable affections and dispositions shall I say or rather to suitable Lives and Conversations unto what ye have heard The truths that have been spoken unto are not so much speculative as practical they meet with little or no controversie in the Theory but in the practice of them The Devil knows that let men believe what they will concerning their Souls he is sure enough to obtain them and that with great advantage to a more sore condemnation if they do not practice according to what they are convinc'd of Shew then that thou doest value and esteem thy Soul according to the worth and dignity Children or Fools or Barbarous Africans preferr Beads and Toyes before Gold and real Pearls but it were folly and madness if we should do so and yet I am afraid we do worse every day Whatsoever is the price the tempter offers or perswades to sin with remember that it is for thy Soul if thou consentest and yieldest the bargain is struck thou doest what in thee lies to give thy Soul for the pleasure or advantage of the sin Judas had an ill bargain that lost his Soul and his Saviour for thirty pence though many sell their Saviour and their Souls too cheaper every day a goodly price be it what it will God gave his Son for thy Soul and entrusted thee with it and thou ungrateful and vile wretch doest barter it away for trifles You know Nathan 's Parable of the Ew-Lamb 2 Sam. 12. so tenderly beloved by the right owner of it and yet it was slain to entertain a stranger That Parable respects more than David Thou art the Man Thy Soul is the beloved Lamb and the Devil is the Stranger whom to be sure thou art no way concern'd to entertain when thou sinnest thou slayest this Ewe-Lamb to entertain and gratifie this stranger Oh that the Parallel might be carryed a little further and that some or other upon the reading of this would cry out with David I have sinned And if thou wouldest indeed value thy Soul be perswaded from what thou hast heard that all those things which concern thy Soul are far more excellent than those which concern thy Body as for instance That 1. Thy Souls riches are the best riches call'd by our Saviour true riches Considerations to facilitate this duty Luk. 16.11 Ah that any should be contentedly without them 2. The Souls pleasures are the choicest pleasures True Joy is not a superficial thing that affects the countenance and produces smiles or laughter many poor wretches in Bedlam are thus merrily mad but res severa est verum gaudium The Heart is the seat of all our Affections and so of our Joy and nothing can rejoyce that but the favour of God to the Soul 3. The Souls honour is the truest honour if honour be in honorante what honour is it to have the applause or homage of sorry sinful men But it is God that delights to honour the Soul and will put off his own glory upon it I shall say nothing to vilifie the Body which is the other part we consist of and we overprize and value it is enough to say with Bernard quantumcunque excolatur caro est Trim thy Body pamper it bestow all thy care and pains upon it 't is but flesh still t will be wormes meat and by all thy carking and caring for it thou art but preparing to feast those contemptible Creatures more delicately or if that will
Dead quickned and peeping out of their Graves to see why they are raised as if you saw the wicked come forth fearfully amazed with vile and filthy Bodies like Toads from their holes with pale and gastly countenances with trembling hearts and their knees for horrour knocking one against another tearing their hair smiting on their breasts and crying out what is the matter What meant that loud Alarm that thundring Call that awaked us out of the deep sleep of Death Oh! the Lord is come the slighted Christ is come Come how doth he come How cloathed with vengeance with fury in his face and his wrath like fire burns before him because of his Indignation the Heavens melt over our heads and the Earth burns under our feet and all is in flames round about us Oh terrible day such as this we never saw Oh the storms the storms Oh such burning scorching storms we never saw nor felt before We have been sleeping all the night of Death and the morning is come the day doth dawn Dawn Oh it is broad day all about we were wont to wake and go to work and go to sin to swear and lye to drink and take our pleasure but now we wake and must to Hell to Pain and Punishment Now we must go from God to Devils from the only Saviour to Eternal Torments Oh what day is this What day it seems to be rather night than day for it is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wastness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and thick darkness a day of the trumpet and alarm against us all Impenitent Sinners and to us all it would prove the great Damnation day When our Souls and Bodies by Death were separated it was a sorrowful parting but this is a sorer meeting the Body with doleful groans doth strangely greet its reunited Soul Oh thou cursed Soul must I be tyed to thee again with a faster knot than ever Death did heretofore part thee and me but all the pains of Hell hereafter cannot do it thou wast Commander over me and shouldst have managed thy Government better thou shouldst have used this Tongue to call upon thy Maker thou shouldest have used these Ears to have hearkned to the calls of Christ to the wooings of Grace to the entreaties of Mercy these feet to have carryed thee to the means of Grace these hands to have been Instruments of good they were all at thy command what thou biddest them do they did and whither thou commandest them to go they went Oh that I might have lyen rotten in my Grave for then I had been at rest for though in the Grave I had no pleasure yet there I felt no pain but since I have been again united to this before-damned Soul I feel intolerable punishment and I now perceive it is past doubt that it will be Eternal the Soul will give no better salutations to the Body Oh cursed flesh what alive again Must I be linked to such a loathsome lump worse than any Carrion thou didst rebel against the commands of reason and thy Appetite was pleased and thy Lusts were obeyed and all the time of Life on Earth was spent and fool'd away in feeding clothing and adorning thee and as I was led away and entic'd by thee to live with thee a sensual flesh-pleasing life so formerly sowing to the flesh now of the flesh we reap that Damnation that shall be Eternal For the Judge is come his Throne is set and all the World is summoned to appear the separation is made the Books are opened all on the right hand are acquitted and called to the possession of an Everlasting Kingdom while we are doom'd down to Eternal Torments Lo they are going with their Blessed Glorious Lord unto Eternal Glory and we with cursed Devils like cursed Wretches to Everlasting shame and pain and banishment from God and Christ and Saints and Angels for ever Look thus believingly on these unseen things as if you saw all these and a thousand times more terrible and more joyful transacted now before your eyes 2. Look directly at unseen Eternal things Many do look indirectly at things Eternal but directly at things Temporal pretending things not seen intending things that are seen in praying preaching and professing seem to have an eye to God and Christ and Heaven but they look asquint to their worldly profits credit and applause Should pray that they might see God but it is that they might be seen of Men Mat. 6.5 Mat. 23.14 But this is to look awry contrary to Solomons advise Prov. 4.25 Let thine Eyes look right on and let thine Eye-lids look straight before thee 3. Let unseen Eternal things be the first that you look at Do not first look at Riches Honours Pleasures and please your selves with purposes after that to look after God and Christ and the happiness of Heaven when sickness cometh and Death approacheth and when near the end of time begin to make preparation for Eternity Men spend their days in getting a visible state while the unseen Eternal God and Glorious Saviour and Heavens Happiness is neglected by them but it would make a considering man to tremble to think what a sight these Sinners shall have after Death hath closed their eyes when the separated Soul shall see an angry God a condemning Judge the Gates of Heaven shut against it and its self in Everlasting misery Unseen Eternal things are first in order of duration for the invisible God was when nothing was besides himself and first in order of dignity and should have the priority of our thoughts care and diligent endeavours Matth. 6.33 Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you When we first take care about Eternity the things of time shall be given to us over and above but the Eternal happiness of Heaven shall never be given over and above to those that primarily look at and seek the things of time for amongst men the overplus doth not exceed in worth the things contracted for But this damnable preferring things Temporal and cursed post-poning things Eternal is the setting of God in the room of the Creature and the Creature in the Throne of God as if they would set the Heavens where the Earth doth stand and the Earth where the Heavens are and so subvert the order of things which God hath appointed to be observed in the Nature of things 4. Look heedfully at Eternity All the things that are only for time are toyes and trifles the things for an Eternal World are the grand concerns we should narrowly look to in time the gathering of Riches in time to the getting of Grace and an interest in Christ for the escaping of Damnation and obtaining of Happiness to Eternity is busie Idleness careful Negligence and laborious Sloth If God that inhabiteth Eternity looks narrowly to all our actions done in time
these that I speak of can delight in nothing neither in God nor in his Word nor any Duty They do it as a sick man eateth his meat for meer necessity and with some loathing and aversness 9. And all this sheweth us that this Disease is much contrary to the very Tenor of the Gospel Christ came as a Deliverer of the Captives a Saviour to reconcile us to God and bring us glad Tidings of pardon and everlasting joy where the Gospel was received it was great rejoycing and so proclaimed by Angels and by men But all that Christ hath done and purchased and offered and promised seems nothing but matter of doubt and sadness to this Disease 10. Yea it is a Distemper which greatly advantageth Satan to cast in Blasphemous thoughts of God as if he were bad and a hater and destroyer even of such as fain would please him The Design of the Devil is to describe God to us as like himself who is a malitious Enemy and delighteth to do hurt And if all men hate the Devil for his hurtfulness would he not draw men to hate and blaspheme God if he could make men believe that he is more hurtful The worshipping God as represented by an Image is odious to him because it seems to make him like such a Creature as that Image representeth How much more blasphemous is it to feign him to be like the malicious Devils Diminutive low thoughts of his Goodness as well as of his Greatness is a sin which greatly injureth God As if you should think that he is no better or trustier than a Father or a Friend much more to think him such as distempered Souls imagine him You would wrong his Ministers if you should describe them as Christ doth the false Prophets as hurtful Thorns and Thistles and Wolves And is it not worse to think far worse than this of God 11. This overmuch sorrow doth unfit men for all profitable meditation it confounds their thoughts and turneth them to hurtful Distractions and Temptations and the more they muse the more they are overwhelmed And it turneth Prayer into meer Complaint instead of Child-like believing Supplications It quite undisposeth the Soul to Gods Masses and especially to a comfortable Sacramental Communion and fetcheth greater terror from it lest unworthy receiving will but hasten and increase their Damnation And it rendreth Preaching and Câ—unsel too oft unprofitable say what you will that is never so convincing either it doth not change them or is presently lost 12 And it is a distemper which maketh all sufferings more heavy as falling upon a poor diseased soul and having no comfort to set against it And it maketh Death exceeding terrible because they think it will be the gate of Hell so that life seemeth burdensome to them and death terrible They are a weary of living and afraid of dying Thus overmuch sorrow swalloweth up III. Quest What are the causes and cure of it Answ With very many there is a great part of the cause in distemper weakness and diseasedness of the body and by it the soul is greatly disabled to any comfortable sense But the more it ariseth from such natural necessity it is the less sinful and less dangerous to the soul but nevertheless troublesome but the more Three Diseases cause overmuch sorrow 1. Those that consist in such violent pain as natural strength is unable to bear But this being usually not very long is not now to be chiefly spoken of 2. A natural passionateness and weakness of that reason that should quiet passion It is too frequent a case with aged persons that are much debilitated to be very apt to offence and passion And children cannot chuse but cry when they are hurt but it is most troublesome and hurtful in too many Women and some men who are so easily troubled and hardly quieted that they have very little power on themselves even many that fear God and that have very found understandings and quick wits have almost no more power against troubling passions anger and grief but especially fear than they have of any other persons Their very natural temper is a strong disease of troubling sorrow fear and displeasedness They that are not melancholly are yet of so Childish and sick and impatient a temper that one thing or other is still either discontenting grieving or affrighting them They are like an Aspen leaf still shaking with the least motion of the air The wisest and most patient man cannot please and justifie such a one a word yea or a look offendeth them every sad story or news or noise affrighteth them and as children must have all that they cry for before they will be quiet so is it with too many such The case is very sad to those about them but much more to themselves To dwell with the sick in the house of mourning is less uncomfortable Bâ—t yet while reason is not overthrown the case is not remediless nor wholly excusable 3. But when the Brain and Imagination is Crazed and Reason partly overthrown by the Disease called Melancholly this maketh the cure yet more difficult for commonly it is the foresaid Persons whose natural temper is timerous and passionate and apt to discontent and grief who fall ito Crazedness and Melancholly And the conjunction of both the Natural Tempâ—r and the Disease do increase the misery The sigâ—s of such diseasing Melancholly I have often elsewhere described As 1. The trouble and disquiet of the mind doth then become a setled habit they can see nothing but matter of fear and trouble all that they hear or do doth feed it danger is still before their eyes all that they read and hear makes against them they can delight in nothing fearful dreams trouble them when they sleep and distracted thoughts do keep them long waking it offends them to see another laugh or be merry they think that every Beggars case is happyer then theirs they will hardly believe that any one else is in their case when some two or three in a week or a day come to me in the same case so like that you would think it were the same persons case which they all express they have no pleasure in Relations Friends Estate or any thing they think that God hath forsaken them and that the day of Grace is past and that there is no more hope they say they cannot pray but howl and groan and God will not hear them they will not believe that they have any sincerity and grace they say they cannot repent they cannot believe but that their hearts are utterly hardened usually they are afraid lest they have committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost In a word fears and troubles and almost despair are the constant temper of their minds 2. If you convince them that they have some evidences of sincerity and that their fears are causeless and injurious to themselves and unto God and they have nothing to say against it yet
noluerint Adamum adorare Hoc suum peccatum non potuit celare Satan Luther Tom. 3. p. 82. b. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us says the beloved Disciple Joh. 1.14 He had a true body and a reasonable soul which soul of Christ considering its nearest union to the Divine nature and the light and joy and glory it must needs be full of may be look't upon by Milions of Degrees as the highest of Creatures and the chief of all the ways of God The Holy Ghost took care in the conception of Christ that his human nature should not be in the least defiled and his whole life was perfectly free from sin he did no evil neither was guile found in his mouth and his heart was alwayes pure And having taken mans Nature God is well pleased with that nature in Christ The man Christ Jesus always did those things which were pleasing to the Father The Sons of men may come with boldness to this Mediatour who is bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh He bears good will to men as the Angels sang aloud at his Nativity Man may be confident of a kind reception since Christ is so near akin to them and was in all things excepting sinful infirmities made like unto them that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest to make Reconciliation for their Iniquities Heb. 2.17 Christ is man and this man is Gods greatest favourite far greater than Joseph to Pharaoh or Mordecai to Ahasuerus Extra Christum oculos aures claudatis Vbi Iesus est ibi est totus Deus seu tota divinitas ibi Pater Spiritus Extra hunc Christum Deus nusquam invenitur Deus in carâ—e illa sic apparet ut extra hanc carnem coll cognosci non possit Luther Tam. 4. p. 491. a. He has the highest place in Heaven as well as in his Fathers heart let Saints search into his truth and they will find matters of unspeakable encouragement Here is the way to know the Father to worship him acceptably and to attain to fellowship with him here and for ever 3. Growing in the knowledge of Christ implies a more plain discerning and ful perswasion that he was foreordained to be a Redeemer Christ was the person pitched upon from eternity to be the Saviour of the Elect of God 1 Pet. 1.20 Who verily was foreordained befoâ—e the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you He is therefore caled the elect One in whom Gods Soul delights There was a compact and agreement made between the Father and the Son The Son agrees in fulness of time to be made of a Woman to take a body to offer up himself without spot to God and the Father promises eternal Life and Salvation and that he should have a Church givâ—â— him out of the world though the world is faâ—â—en into wickedness upon which Church this eternal life is to be bestowed The Prophet Zachariah tells â—s of a Counsel of Peace between the Lord of Hâ—â—â— and Christ whose name is the Branch Zach. 6.12 13. And the Apostle speaks of the promise of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before the world began Tit. 1.2 This promise may very well be conceived to be made to the Son that he should give eternal life to all that were given him of the Father And when the Saints behold that Christ is the Person from eternity designed to be a Saviour they may include that God hath a love to them a care of them and a purpose of Grace towards them from everlasting and how securely and sweetly may they rest upon the blessed Jesus not doubting but he is a person every way fit and sufficient to finish that work of Redemption which he undertook according to the appointment of his Father 4. Growing in the Knowledge of Christ implies a greater insight into his sufferings It is not without reason that the History of these is so largely penned by all the four Evangelists certainly there is much in his Crucifixion which it concerns Believers to pry into The sufferings of Christ were great and that both in his body and in his soul his body was in a bloody sweat and his soul was amazed sore and full of heaviness and sorrow and in an Agony before he was condemned and fastned to the Cross but then all the pain and shame which he did undergo his Death was violent and accursed and just before he breathed out his last his Father hid his face his sufferings were unconceivably increased by a dreadful desertion which made him roar out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me When Christ died the sins of the whole Church were laid upon the head of the Church how many stings then had the death of Christ Isa 53.6 All we like sheep have gone astray we haâ—e turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all And if all were laid upon him none shall be laid to the charge of them who believe in him But how came it to pass that Christ did not sink under such a burthen The first sin of the first man was enough to sink all the world into Hell how could Christ bear up under all the sins of so great a multitude The reason is because he is God the blood of Christ is the blood of God how loud does it cry for Pardon and Salvation and how easily does it drown the cry of sin for vengeance The blood and sufferings of Christ applied and relyed on by Faith justifie the sinner silence Satan the accuser purge the conscience from dead works and open a way into the holiest of all by the Cross of Christ we are to climb up to the Throne of Glory The more the death of Christ is studied the Spirit will be more contrite the heart more clean the conscience more calm and quiet The death of Christ puts the sin to death but delivers the sinner from it 5. Growing in the Knowledge of Christ implies a more fruitful eying of his Resuâ—rection and going to his Father Hark to the Apostle Phil. 3. 10. That I may kâ—â—â— him and the power of his Resurrection The Justice of God had Christ under an â—rrest and hath cast him into the Grave as â—nto a Prison and if he had not fully paid the debt of those whose surety he became it would have held him in prison to this hour If Christ were not risen faith would be vain the guilt and power of sin would refrain But being risen true believers are delivered from sins punishment and power Sin and death and Satan are triumphed over Know that there is a very great power and vertue to be derived from the resurrection of our Lord. A power to raise a drooping Spirit When Christ was riseâ— dâ—e sends this Message to his Disciples that they might be well assurâ—â— his God was theirs his Father their Father
2. which of them may be uncovered without shame seeing that some as the hands the face the feet may be naked without sin to our selves or offence to others To which I answer 1. That the use of the parts and their destinated ends are to be well considered in this case The use of the Face is chiefly to distinguish 1. the Sex the Male from the Female 2. the Individuals one person from another the use of the hands is that they may be instruments for work business and all manual operations 2. That to cover or muffle up those parts ordinarily whose ends and use requires to be uncovered is to cross Gods end and design and by consequence sinful 3. That to uncover those parts promiscuously and expose them ordinarily to open view for which there can be no such good ends and uses assigned is sinful For the general Law of God must always take place where the special use of a particular part requires not the contrary 4. And therefore all Apparel or fashions of Apparel which expose those parts to view of which exposing God and Nature have assigned no use is sinful 'T is true I confess our first Parents in that hasty provision which they made against their shame took care only for Aprons but God who had adequate conceptions of their wants and what was necessary to supply them of the Rule of Decency and what would fully answer it provided for them coats that so the whole body except as before excepted might be cover'd and its shame concealed § 2. Another end of Apparel was to defend the body 1. from the ordinary injuries of unseasonable seasons 2. the common inconveniencies of labour and travel 3. the emergent accidents that might befall them in their Pilgrimage For the Fall of Man had introduced excessive heats and colds They were driven out of Paradise to wander and work in a Wilderness now overgrown with briars thorns and thistles the early Fruits of the late Curse and Cloaths were assigned them in this exegency for a kind of defensive Armour Hence we read 1 Sam. 17.38 That Saul armed David with his own armour and he arm'd him with a coat of mail In the Hebrew it is Saul cloath'd David with his cloaths and he cloath'd him with a coat of mail And the word there used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of near cognation with that in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence therefore 1. Whatever modes of Apparel comply not with this gracious end of God in defending our bodies from those inconveniences are sinfully worn and used 2. That it is a horrid cruelty to our frail bodies to expose them to those injuries against which God has provided a remedy to gratifie pride or to humour any Vanity And however our Gallants hope to keep themselves warm and to shelter their sin under the skreen of their own foolish Proverb Pride feels no cold yet God has oftentimes made their sin to become their punishment whilst by an obstinate striving with the inconveniences of an ill-contrived Mode they have hazarded if not lost their Healths if not their Lives by a ridiculous Complement to some new fashion But how they will stand before the righteous Judgment-Seat of God when he shall arraign and try them as Guilty of Self-Murder in the great day of scrutiny they may do well timely to advise upon and consider § 3. To these I may add That when God made Man his first suit of Apparel he took measure of him by that Employment which he had cut out for him Man's assigned work was labour not to eat the bread of idleness but first to earn it in the sweat of his face which tho at first it was a Curse is by Grace converted into a Blessing And accordingly God so adapted and accommodated his cloaths to his body that they might not hinder readiness expedition industry diligence and perseverance in the works of his particular Calling Hence these things will be exceeding plain 1. That God having appointed Man to labour cannot be supposed to have made any provision for or given the least indulgence to idleness Intervals for rest to redintegrate the decay'd Spirits cessation for a season from hard labour God allows and Nature requires but exemption from a particular Calling or any dispensation for sloth in that Calling we find none 2. That God having suited cloathing in all its forms and shapes so to the body that they prejudice him not in the works of his particular Calling whatever fashions of Apparel do incommode him therein and render him unfit or less fit to discharge the duties of it are so far sinfully used 3. That therefore they who by unmerciful lacing girding bracing pinching themselves in uneasie garments can scarce breathe less eat and least of all labour do apparently offend against this end of God and it is but just that they who will not or create an impotency that they cannot work should not eat nor long breathe in the earth whereof they are unprofitable burdens Plato calls the Body the Prison of the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some have made the cloaths the Prison of the body wherein they are so cloyster'd so immured in the Cage and Little-ease of a pinching fashion that the body is made an unprofitable servant to the soul and both of them to God In the declining times of the Roman Commonwealth this vanity began to obtain and is smartly noted by the Comaedian as the folly of Mothers Quas matres student Demissis humeris esse vincto pectore ut graciles litent Tâ—rent eunuch Si quae est habitior paulò pugilem esse ajunt deducant cibum Jametsibona est Natura reddunt curaturâ Junceas But thus has Pride brought many to their Coffins who after an uneasie life spun out in more pain with doing nothing than they had found in labour after a few tedious days worn out in Asthma's Catarrhs Consumptions and Ptisicks could never get freedom from the confinement of their cloaths till their souls had procured a Gaol-delivery from their bodies However they cannot justly complain of Providence who gave them their option and left them to their own desires Rather to be out of the world than out of the fashion § 4. There is yet another end of Apparel viz. The adorning of the body And in this all our wanton Fashionists take sanctuary Out of which that I may force them or so far as is sober and moderate indulge them I shall first premise a few Observations and then lay down some Conclusions 1 Let these few things be premised 1. That Ornamentals strictly taken as distinct from useful garments do not come under the same appointment of God with necessary cloathing For 1. It is ordinarily sinful to wear no Apparel but not so to wear no such Ornaments 2. The necessity of Nature requires the one but no necessity or end of Nature requires the other Gods
5.3 His Vineyard were themselves in a Figure and God is willing the case should be referred to their own determination if they would give themselves time and leisure to think of it So Amos 2.11 Is it not even thus O ye Children of Israel saith the Lord as if God had said I call your own Consciences to witness and let them but speak they will testifie both my Mercies to you and your sins against me or as elsewhere Ezek. 18.25 Are not my wayes equal and your wayes unequal And oh that men would consider how self-condemned they must needs be for all their sins against God and all their neglects of Salvation and disregards of their Souls their sins usually go thus beforehand unto Judgment and men cannot but condemn themselves who can think but that a humble useful temperate pious Life is far better than a proud useless luxurious and prophane Conversation Would we but shew our selves men in the concerns of our Souls as we do in those of our Bodies or Estates acting with that caution and concern in the one as we do in the other what a vast change should we soon discover for all Gods Commandments are for our good and his ways are pleasantness would we but seriously view and consider them Howsoever this is that which will make the Worm to gnaw and the fire to burn the ungodly in the other World in that they have sinn'd against those notices of good and evil which they had or might have had and in that they have put no difference between their vile bodies and their precious Souls whereas our Saviour here appeals to them concerning the worth of their Souls and the worthlesness of all things comparatively besides 2. From the form or manner of expression here used by way of a positive interrogation or Expostulation What is a man profited or what shall a man give We observe that the Negation is intended to be more vehement It being usual not only in Scripture but in common speech by a positive question vehemently to deny as by a negative question vehemently to affirm any thing as by these Scriptures before quoted Amos 2.11 18. Ezek. 25. amongst many other places may appear so that the sense of these words amounts to this 1. It is most evident and undeniable that if any man could gain the whole World not that such a thing was ever done or is indeed possible but upon that supposition he would be a vast loser by it if he lost his Soul for it Because 2. There is nothing of worth or value sufficient to exchange for a Soul with all Now this Text is as it were a ballance or pair of Scales in which the Commodities therein spoken of are weighed 1. In the one Scale is layd the whole world 1 Jo. 2.16 here you may take in the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life or whatsoever serves for Pleasure Gain or Honour the worldly man's Trinity Abate nothing make good weight more than was ever weighed out to any one but supposed or granted only for Arguments sake Yet here is a Mene Mene writ against it it is weighed and found too light It is touched and found under value 2. In the other Scale only a single Soul is put yours or mine and that doth so far praeponderate and outweigh or outvie the whole World as that there is no comparison betwixt them nothing is of value to be given or taken in Exchange for any of them As to the former of these the World and the Glory of it Our present purpose is to take no further notice of it Sic transit gloria mundi The Moon is not worth the looking after whilst the Sun appears nor all these fading changeable things when the Soul comes under consideration Gal. 6.14 It is now expected that the World should be crucified to us and we to the World and then only we shall be able to hear i. e. to understand what our Saviour here says concerning our Souls which being my intended Subject I shall take occasion from his words to speak to these following Particulars 1. What is meant by the Soul here spoken of 2. What this Soul here spoken of is 3. In what more particularly the worth of this Soul does appear As to the first of these viz. 1. What is meant by the Soul What is meant by a Soul in the Text To mention no other acceptions of the word than such as may be accommodated to this place and our present purpose 1. Soul or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used is put for Life by a Metonymy of the Efficient for the Effect because our Life depends upon the Soul thus Matth. 6.25 take no thought for your Lives when the same word is used which is here translated Soul which well considered will give a great light into the meaning of this place For these words are looked upon as a proverbial Speech taken out of Job 2.4 All that a man hath will he give for his Life As if our Saviour had from thence inferr'd if a man being in an apparent danger of a corporal Death would give any thing or do any thing to prolong or redeem his Life how much more should a man do or part with to prevent an Eternal Death or to procure an Everlasting Life 2. The word Soul is put for the Whole Man Synecdoche Partis frequently in Scripture thus Gen. 46.26 The number of Persons that came with Jacob into Egypt are reckon'd by so many Souls as also Act. 2.41 They that were Converted by St. Peter's Sermon are counted three thousand Souls This if considered furthers our present purpose and must needs add to our esteem of our Souls for the Soul is the Man Our Souls are our selves and what by this Evangelist our Saviour calls losing of the Soul in Luk. 9.25 That Evangelist relating the same thing calls losing of our selves The Body is but the House or Cabinet the Soul is the Jewel in it the Body is but the cloathing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Soul for a while is cloathed with and must put off 3. This word Soul is taken most properly and strictly for the Form constituent and better part of Man that Breath that is breathed into him from God Gen. 2.7 when Man becomes a Living Soul And in this acception we shall take this word here in our following Discourse and are come to enquire what it is 2. What this Soul is But we shall not be throughly able to satisfie our inquiry for being all our knowledge ariseth from our Sences and there is nothing in our Understanding which was not first in one of them Our Souls not incurring into our Senses Our understanding is at a loss to frame any adaequate conceptions of them There are three things reckoned amongst the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things as cannot be known and by consequence be defined and they are
12.1 ult That he formeth the spirit of man within him Which proves its distinction from the Body and its spiritual Nature too and if mans Soul were only as the Soul of a Beast the forming of it would not deserve to be reckoned up with those stupendous Acts of stretching out the Heavens and laying the foundations of the Earth as we see it is in the forecited place Add to this that when our Blessed Saviour dyed the Evangelist says he gave up the Ghost Matth. 27.50 that is his Spirit or Soul And St. Stephen dyed with these last words Lord Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7.59 2. That the Soul is a spiritual substance is evident in that it is not produced out of matter as the Body of Adam was and all our Bodies are as is observed in the Relation we have of mans Creation Gen. 2.7 and in Solomons Observation upon it Eccles 12.7 speaking of Death after his most admired description of Old Age then says he shall the dust i. e. the body return to the Earth as it was there is the Original of that assign'd and the spirit shall return to God that gave it The Spirit or Soul is as certainly made by God out of no praeexisting matter as the Body is made out of matter Gen. 2.23 and if we grant the one why should we doubt of the other To be sure when Eve was brought unto Adam he says she is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh but he does not say she is a Soul of my Soul Whether the Soul be made by God mediante Generatione or by an immediate Creation though I am perswaded of the latter yet I shall not peremptorily determine Nec tum scitbam nec adhuc scio August libr. 1. Retr finding St. Austin in a plainer case concerning the Soul modestly professing his Ignorance 3. My third Argument to prove the Soul is a Spirit is because in it man bears the Image of God God is a Spirit John 4.24 and nothing corporeal as such can be said to be in his Image or Likeness Neither is any bodily thing as bodily capable of Wisdom Holiness Righteousness by which man resembles his Maker Now though these Scripture-proofs are sufficient to any that believe undoubtedly the verity of Scripture and such I speak to yet to name one or two of another Nature Therefore 4. Fourthly The Actions or Operations of the Soul are such as cannot proceed from any bodily Being as intellection and volition To abstract and reflect upon its self and its motions In one thought to meditate on Hell in the next on Heaven No Corporeal Agent can in less than the twinkling of an Eye or turn of a hand move or act on things so vastly distant The Opinion of the motion of the Orbs of the Planets and of the Firmament is antiquated and almost laught at because no Bodies can be conceived to move so swiftly and this motion of the Soul incredibly exceeds theirs 5. And lastly The Soul is a Spirit in that it is in the Body and one Body cannot be in another non datur penetratio corporum The Soul takes up no place as bodies do 't is tota in toto or at least negatively It is not by parts in the Body as material things are part here and part there whereas the Soul is so in any part that it is not the less in the other Thus these being premised 3. In what the Souls Excellency does appear I come now to that which is mainly intended viz. to shew whence we may know the excellency of the Soul For as to some other particulars which may tend to the further explaining the Text. As 1. How a Soul may be said to be lost And 2. What this Phrase giving an exchange for the Soul imports I shall take occasion to speak to them as they will fall with what we are yet to speak unto For I would not make the Porch or Entry too large or wide Though I may suppose that in what I have said enough may be discovered to prove what I am upon and that I have laid down such Principles as the worth of the Soul may easily be inferr'd from them Yet it will not be amiss to be minded of the force of them with the addition of such things as will abundantly serve our present purpose 1. In its Original The first thing that speaks the Souls Prerogative is its Original It is accounted no small priviledge to be nobly born to be descended from Princes or Persons Eminent in any kind yet man in his best Estate is altogether vanity Ps 39.5 Man is a worm Job 25.6 and the Son of man be he who he will is but a Worm his Generation is univocal and like begets its like But the Soul is the Off-spring of God Acts 17.29 In that sense the Heathen Poet and St. Paul from him is to be understood there is no pretence for the Body to be the Off-spring of God who is a Spirit If it be warily understood we may admit of what is ordinarily said of the Soul that it is divinae aurae particula I am sure 't is this part only in man that may be said to partake of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 'T is remarkable that the Soul at its Creation was not made according to any pattern or sampler taken from amongst the herd of the visible Creatures but 't is a kind of an Idea of God as true and as full a one as in matter can be borne and though man be lower than the Angels by reason of his Body which is as a clog upon the Soul or a flaw which this precious Jewel appears with Yet in some respect the Humane Nature may vy with the Angelical Nature and man is the Crown and Topstone of the Creation being added last of all by the all-wise Architect to his building of the World In the End 't is design'd for 2. The Excellency of our Souls appears from the End they are designed for It cannot but speak the dignity of the Soul that it alone of all the Creatures is chosen and set apart by God for such great purposes As 1. To glorify him 2. To enjoy him Men though otherwise of the lowest rank are ennobled when their Prince appoints them to Honourable Employments Now 1. The Soul of Man is made for to bring glory to God Not as the body of Man only as an Instrument which moves as the Soul would have it as the Ax in the hand of the Workman nor as the other visible Creatures who glorifyed God only as they afford us matter for Gods glory but all the Glory that God expects or can reap from all and every one of the Corporal Beings is entrusted with Man Man is the Creatures High Priest and by him they offer up all their Sacrifices of Praise and Thanks When in Psal 148. the Sun and Moon nay Storms and Tempests are call'd upon to praise
be some while first yet I may ask you as Plato did one of his Schollars who minded his Table and cheer what he did mean to make his Prison so strong Alas the Body is but the Prison of the Soul the Soul is at liberty only when it gets out of it Let these things frequently come into your minds To which add 1. If the miseries and wants which concern the Body be so great as indeed we esteem them and sometimes feel them to be what then are the necessities and calamities of the Soul The Soul being so excellent nay the meanest humane Soul being more worth than all the Bodies in the world Is there any pain which torments thy Body how intolerable will the pain be that will torment thy Soul the biting of a Scorpion and the raging of fire are but faint resemblances of it If bodily hunger be so sharp what did it not cause the poor Women in the siege of Samaria to do or to part with 2 Kings 6.26 how intense is the hunger and thirst in the Soul whilst yet we are under the dispensations of mercy but if once God's offended Patience turns to Anger who can endure to be scorched with the flames of it 2. If the Pleasures and advantages men have for the Bodies be so desirable Oh what are those Pleasures and advantages we have or may have for our Souls For God hath provided for all his Creatures suitably to their Natures The Herbs and Plants have Earth and dung Beasts have grass to nourish them with The Body of man is plentifully provided out of the store-house and ward-robe of the Creatures with food and rayment but there is nothing amongst them all found good enough for the Soul The Soul can only be satisfyed with the good things of Gods house even of his holy Temple Psal 65.4 Or as David says elsewhere Ps 17.15 I shall be satisfyed with thy likeness â—articulars â—hich we must practice this duty But that I may not be only in generals perswading you to a practical valuation for your Souls let the esteem you have for your Souls appear in these particulars 1. Value thy self upon the account of thy Soul How do men stand upon their tip-toes if they may by any means over-top others This will almost make thy Pride commendable if thou gloriest only that thy Soul is so near akin so much alike to God thou art not so far remov'd as tertius a Jove Oh Reverence thy self more and think thy self too good for the most fashionable or creditable sin Should such aâ— one as thou sin Neh. 6.11 Should any whose Souls are Spiritual in their Original be sensual in their Conversation Far be it from you But 2. Use your Souls well if they be so excellent do not set them upon trifles A meaner Soul than ours would serve to do those Offices we put our Souls upon viz. to eat and drink and sleep A Kings Son sent to a Philosopher his Governour to know whether he might not take such pastimes as other Young men did he only returned for Answer that he should remember that he was a King's Son Oh remember who it is you call the Father of your Spirits and pick not straws you may easily know what I mean with those very Souls which are given thee for higher and better purposes Remember that known Maxime Corruptio optimi est pessima A degenerate filthy or sinful Soul is worse than any Body can be A degenerate Soul is so much worse than a blind or lame body or ulcerous as the Soul otherwise is in its self better than the Body We cannot use our Souls well unless we give them their due superiority over our Passions and Affections and indeed over all the things relating to the Body God did make these Souls for to rule in man and he set up our Understanding in the Throne and commanded our other faculties to obey it as his Vice-Roy and Deputy When men prefer ther Humours or Lusts they make their vile Bodies to Lord it over these precious Souls and imploy their Souls as purveyors nay as drudges for the Body The Servant rides on Horseback and the Prince goes on foot nay there is a greater disparity where the Soul is made to truckle to the Body 3. Thirdly And above all have a care that ye do not lose these Souls that are so valuable I have shewn you how that they may be lost let me now leave some considerations to be enlarged upon by you 1. The danger your Souls are in is very great The Philistines are upon thee thou dost not only run a hazard and it may be or may not be but unless thou doest mightily and in time even to day whilst it is called to day bestirr thy self thy Soul is certainly and may be inevitably lost As David said to Jonathan in another case concerning himself As the Lord liveth there is but a step between thee and Death 1 Sam. 20.3 So there is but a step between thy Soul and Death Nay your Souls are dead in trespasses and sins Luk. 19.10 they are lost but God hath sent his Son to seek and to save 2. The loss of your Souls is very great It is much to lose an Estate or Wife or Child but if thou losest thy Soul thou dost not lose only much but thou losest all For the whole World cannot now profit thee and though the clatter and noise that worldly things make about our Ears will not suffer us to hear or mind this yet dare but to be alone converse with thy self ask thy Heart and Conscience and it will tell thee as much especially when thou art in affliction or on a sick bed c. 3. The loss of thy Soul is never to be repaired Men may meet with losses which yet they may otherwise recover or may have something else that may countervail them but not only nothing can countervail this loss no more than dross and dung can Jewels of the greatest price but if thou doest once lose thy Soul nothing can retrieve or regain it in this case non licet bis peccare If thou once losest thy Soul in this life there is no means hereafter whereby thou mayest recover it but as the tree falls so it lyeth Thou that readest this upon this moment for ought either you or I know depends thy Eternity nunquid aut alter Christus an idem iterum crucifigi habet pro anima as Bernard asks the question Bernard Epist 54. is there says he another Christ Or do you think that he will be crucifyed again for thy Soul 4. Shall I add that this Soul is thine own and thou hast not nor never shalt have another and therefore it stands thee upon to keep it safe The Text calls our Souls ours his own Soul what shall a man be profited if he should gain the whole world and lose his own Soul Christ does not call the World or any thing in it ours but
Thess 2.13 God hath from the Beginning chosen you to Salvation 1 Thess 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain Salvation which Salvation doth include absence of all evil and presence of all good and this Salvation being Eternal Heb. 5.9 infers the absence of all evil for ever and the presence of all good for ever and whosoever is delivered from all privative Evils and possessed of all positive Everlasting good and that for ever can not be denyed to be happy for ever II. Christ hath redeemed some to be infallibly brought to Eternal Glory What reason can be given of the Incarnation and Death of the Son of God if there be no Eternal misery for men to be delivered from nor any Eternal happiness to be possessed of For 1. Did Christ dye to deliver his Followers from Poverty and Prisons from Sorrow and Sufferings from Trouble and Tribulation What! and yet his Holy Humble and Sincere people lye under these more than other Men that are wicked and ungodly why was Paul then in stripes and imprisonments in hunger and thirst in cold and nakedness in perils and jeopardy of his Life continually and such as Pilate Faelix and Festus in great worldly prosperity Or can it be imagined that Men persisting in Sin should be more partakers of the fruits of Christs Death than those that forsake their sin repent and turn and follow him 2. Did Christ suffer and dye to purchase only Temporal good things as Riches Honours for his Disciples Were these worth his precious Blood VVhatever Christ dyed for it cost him his most Sacred Blood Was it then for Temporal enjoyments only which Turks and Pagans may and do possess more than Thousands of his true and faithful Followers Did Christ intend the benefits of his Death for these in more especial manner then for such as remain finally impenitent and yet shall such reap the fruit of all his Sufferings and those that believe on him go without them Sober reason doth abhor it and all the Scripture is against it Would Christ have humbled himself to such a contemptible Birth miserable Life lamentable painful shameful Death only for transitory temporal fading Mercies If we consider the variety of his sufferings from God Men and Devils the dignity of the Sufferer I profess I cannot imagine any reason of all Christs undertakings and performances if there be not an Eternal state of Misery in suffering of evil things by his Death that Believers might be delivered from and of Glory in enjoying of good things to be brought unto III. The Spirit of God doth sanctifie some that they might be made meet to be partakers of the Eternal Inheritance of the Saints in light As all are not Godly so all are not Ungodly Though most be as they were born yet many there be that are born again there is a wonderful difference betwixt men and men the Spirit of God infusing a principle of spiritual Life and making some all over new working in them Faith in Christ Holy Fear and Love Patience and Hope longing Desires renewing in them the Holy Image of God is as the earnest and first fruits assuring of them in due time of a plentiful harvest of Everlasting Happiness Faith is in order to Eternal Life and Salvation Joh. 3.16 Love hath the promise of it 1 Cor. 2.9 2 Tim. 4.8 Jam. 1.12 Obedience ends in it Heb. 5.9 Hope waits for it Rom. 8.25 and because their hope shall never make them ashamed Rom. 5.5 therefore there must be such an Eternal-Blessed state they hope for IV. The Souls of all men are immortal though they had a beginning yet shall never cease to be therefore must while they be be in some state and because they be Eternal must be in some Eternal state This Eternal state must be either in the Souls enjoyment of God or in separation from him for the wit of Man cannot find out a third for the Soul continuing to be must be with God or not with God shall enjoy him or not enjoy him for to say he shall and shall not or to say he shall not and yet shall is a contradiction and to say he neither shall nor shall not is as bad if therefore the Soul be Eternal and while it shall be shall perfectly enjoy God it shall be Eternally happy If it shall for ever be and that without God it shall be Eternally miserable because God is the chiefest good the ultimate end and perfection of man The great work in this then is to prove that the Soul is Eternal and shall for ever be For which I offer these things 1. There is nothing within nor without the Soul that can be the cause of its ceasing to be here except God who though he can take away the being of Souls and Angels too yet he hath abundantly assured us that he will not Nothing within it because it is a Spiritual Being and hath no Internal Principle by contrary qualities causing a cessation of its Being and because it is simple and indivisible it is immortal and incorruptible for that which is not compounded of parts cannot be dissolved into parts and where there is no dissolution of a Being there is no corruption or end of it there is no Creature without it that can cause the Soul to cease Matth. 10.28 Not able to kill the Soul Luc. 12.4 Fear not them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do if they would kill the Soul they cannot when they have killed the Body they have done their worst their most their all 2. The Soul of man hath not dependance upon the Body as to its Being and Existence It hath certain actings and operations which do not depend upon the Body and if the operations of the Soul be independent from the Body such must the principle be from whence such operations do arise and if it can act without dependance on the Body then it can exist and be without the Body In the Body without dependance on the Body it hath the knowledge of immaterial Beings as God and Adgels which were never seen by the eye of the Body nor can because there must be some proportion between the object and the faculty and the Soul doth know it self wherein it hath no need of the phantasie for when it is intimately present to it self it wanteth not the ministry of the phantasie to its own intellection Besides it can conceive of universals abstracted from its singulars in which it doth not depend upon the phantasie for phantasmata sunt singularium non universalium therefore since it can act in the body without dependance on the Body it can exist without the Body and not dye when the Body doth which yet is more plain and certain from the Scripture which telleth us that the Soul of Lazarus after death was carryed by Angels into Abrahams bosom Luc. 16.22 but they did not carry it dead or alive but alive
and not dead Stephen when dying expected the continuance of his Soul in being and its entrance into Blis Act. 7.59 saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit The Thief upon the Cross had a promise from Christ that that day he should be with him in Paradise in his Body he is not yet therefore in his Soul without the Body therefore the Soul doth exist without the Body Paul believed the Immortality of his Soul and its existence after the death of his Body Phil. 1.23 I am in a strait having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better If his Soul had not existed he had not been a moment sooner with Christ nay his Soul in the Body had some communion with Christ if it dyed with the Body it had none and that was not far better but worse 3. The original of the Soul by immediate Creation is usually brought as an argument of the Immortality and Continuance of it to Eternity to assert the Creation of the Soul hath this difficulty attending on it how to clear the propagating of Original Sin to affirm the Soul is extraduce propagated by generation hath this knot to be untied how it doth consist with the Immortality of the Soul when that which is generable is corruptible but I for present shall take their arguing which prove it shall exist for ever because it is created immediately by God according to the worne axiom whatsoever is ingenerable is also incorruptible The Soul cannot be from the Matter or Bodies of the Parents because that which is Spiritual and Immaterial cannot be produced out of that which is a Corporeal and Material Substance for then the effect would be more noble than its cause and the cause would give and impart something to the effect which it self hath not but that which any thing hath not it cannot give to another as in a Spiritual so in a Natural sense that which is born of the flesh is flesh but the Soul is a Spirit Nor are the Souls of the Children from the Souls of the Parents either by Multiplication or Division not by Division that part of the Souls of the Parents should be communicated and pass from the Parents to the Children because it is a Spirit and therefore indivisible into parts because it hath none being without matter therefore without quantity therefore without divisible parts Not by Multiplication for this must be by participation of something from the Parents Souls or not if not then it inferreth Creation for that which is brought out of nothing into being is created if by participation of something of the substance of the Parents Soul this infers Division which before was shewed cannot be 4. That the Soul shall never dye but abide to all Eternity I argue either God neither can nor will maintain the Soul in Eternal duration or he would but cannot or he could but will not or he both can and will If he cannot then God is not Omnipotent for the Soul being a Spirit it no more implies a contradiction that the Soul should live for ever then that Angels and Devils should live for ever If he can and any say he will not I desire a reason of this assertion how shall any man know Gods Will by but what he hath revealed and God hath not revealed that he will not maintain the Souls of men in Eternal Being but the contrary It follows then that God both can and will and therefore they must live to all Eternity V. The certainty of an Eternal State in the other unseen world is evident from the innate appetite universally in all men after Eternal happiness There is no man but would be happy and there is no man that would have his happiness cease a man might as soon cease to be a man as cast away all desires of Happiness or Will to be for ever miserable though most mistake what their happiness is This innate Appetite cannot be filled with all the good things in this World for though the rational appetite be subjectively finite yet it is objectively infinite God therefore and Nature which do nothing in vain hath put unsatisfied restless desires after happiness into the hearts of men which cannot be any thing among things seen and Temporal there must be something that must be the object of this Appetite and able to quiet and fill it in the other world though most by folly blindness and sloathfulness miss of it VI. The absurdities which follow the denyal of an Eternal state of men though now unseen demonstrate the certainty of it 1. For then the lives of men even of the best must needs be uncomfortable and the life of reason would as such be subject to more fears and terrors than the life of sense which is against all sense and reason for Beasts must dye but do not foresee that they must dye but the rational foresight of Death would imbitter all his sweetest delights of Life if there were no reason to hope for another after this and the more the Life of Man as Man is more noble than the Life of Beasts the more the foresight of the certain loss thereof without another after this would affright afflict torment Now it is not rational to think that God who made Man the chiefest and the choicest of all his visible works should endue him with such powers and faculties as Understanding and Will to make his Life as man more burdensom by being filled with fretting fears wracking griefs and tormenting terrors more than any Beasts are liable to or capable of Nay and add that the more any Man did improve exercise and use his reason in the frequent Meditations of Death the more bitter his Life would be to consider that all the present good he doth enjoy must certainly and shortly be lost by Death and he not capable of any good after Death in the stead and room thereof 2. Then the Condition of many wicked yea the worst of men would be better than the condition of the godly that are the best if the wicked have their good things here and no evil hereafter and the people of God their evil things here and no good hereafter 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this life only we had hope we were of all men most miserable 3. Then the chiefest and greatest encouragements to undergo Sufferings and Losses for Gods sake were taken away Why did Moses refuse the Honours of Pharaoh's Court and chose to suffer Afflictions with the People of God but because he had his Eye to the recompence of reward Heb. 11.25 26. Why did Paul endure such Conflicts but for the hope of Life and Immortality which the Gospel had brought to light 2 Tim. 1.10 12. and well might he ask what it would advantage him that he fought with Beasts at Ephesus if the Dead rise not to Eternal happiness 1 Cor. 15.32 Might not then the Suffering Saints repent when they come to dye that they had been so imprudent
by Impatience and he in his Wisdom and Love is resolved to bring us to his Foot Well! If we Comply before hand when we see the Storm approaching God's end is Attained and he either lay's down his Rod or Mitigateth the Chastizement yea he will e're long Embrace and Comfort broken and humble Ephraim Indeed this Frame superseed's Affliction for Judgment upon Saints are not to Destroy but Subdue them to their Fathers Will. And if we meet our angry Father in this Spirit he may Correct a little but he will certainly Comfort much 5. Lastly a resigned Soul meeteth God in the way of Judgments or Mercies to great advantage They are so far from doing him harm that they do good therefore it must needs be a blessed Preparation for either Physick never works so well as when the Body is antecedently prepared nor is any Person so certainly profited by Judgments or Mercies as he that is ready to entertain them I know God can do an unprepared Soul good by any Providence but I am sure none can come amiss to such as be prepared What then will prepare us to receive Chastizments Profitably The Apostle tells us Be Subject to the Father of Spirits and Live Heb. 12.9 Comply with his Will resign your selves to his Pleasure and what ever he doth will be a quickning in proving Providence Qu. What is the Nature of this Resignation to the Will of God for his Glory Or wherein doth it consist Ans I shall reply to this Quere by laying down something implyed in it and then speak to the Proper Nature thereof It implies many things I shall Instance only in a few for Brevity's sake 1. It supposeth a Lively exercise of Faith For as no Unbeliever ever did resign himself freely to the Will of God so no believer if Faith be not in Exercise can do it Yea it must be an active Faith will enable us to put our selves into the Hands of God especially in a Day of Affliction to deal with us according to his Pleasure I say that Soul must have a good Acquaintance with and a blessed Confidence in him whom he trusteth with his Life and All. Paul therefore tells us in case of Suffering he knew whom he had Trusted 2 Tim. 1.12 Therefore our Saviour here when he Referreth himself to God expresseth his Faith in that very Resignation Father Glorify c. He believed God to be his Father and that his Father loved him and now he is Satisfied that his Father dispose of him Psal 31.14 15. But I trusted in thee Lord I said thou art my God What then my times are in thy Hands q. d. 't is not only thy Perogative to dispose of me and my Days but I refer them Voluntarily to thee He put them into the hands of his God and trusted them with him There be many Perticulers that the Faith of a resigned Soul is Exercised in As That God is his God Faith must have Interest in him whom it Trusteth Isaac will Suffer his Father to Bind and Sacrifice him Why Abraham was his Father and God who had given the command for it was his God Gen. 22. And it believes that all the will of God is Good Good in it self and good for the resigned Soul A believer may know that there may be Pain and Affliction in Suffering according to the Fathers Pleasure but 't is withal assured 't is his good pleasure Heb. 12.10 And such a Soul believes that it 's God and Father is kind loving and tender that he will not oppress that he will not overwhelm He believes that God Glorifies not himself to the damage of his People but that his Glory and their Benifit are inseparably Linkt together Yea it is in Christ the Redeemer of the Soul putteth it self into the Fathers Hands and it expects Power and Strength from its God to bear the Sufferings and carry through them When Moses forsook Egypt and his Interest there and chose to Suffer Affliction with the People of God He did this in Faith Eying him who is Invisible Heb. 12.24 c. And David in the like case was well Satisfied in the good will of God to him 2 Sam. 15 25 26. Chap. 25. 5. 2. Consequently 't is an high act of Love He that loves his Heavenly Father will be disposed of by him but it must be above becoming the glorious Objection which it is fiâ—t Matt. 22.37 A Love that prefers his Will and Glory before all things else A Love in Comparison of which all other Love is hatred Luke 14.26 A Constraining love 2 Cor. 5.13 14. Abraham loved Isaac well why then did he offer him up at the Command of God O 't was because he loved God better This is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments and nine of his Commandments are greivous 1 Jo. 5.3 What no Command greivous Not Self-denial not bearing the Cross No! Those Commands are not greivous because the Soul loves God better then it self We have a great word Rev. 12.11 They loved not their Lives unto Death why because their love of Christ was stronger then Self-love Rev. 14.4 We Read of some that followed the Lamb where ever he went Into Tribulation of all sorts they followed the Lamb Why Love constrained them Christ therefore resigned himself into the Fathers hands for he loved his Father Love will lay the Soul at Gods Feet Love will follow and Obey the Fathers call in all things Love will keep stedfastly in the way of the Will of our beloved It argues little Love to Christ when we seek to evade Suffering for his Name by finding out Carnal Shifts He that loves the Father and Son is as to the main resolved into their Will 3. To come nearer to my Intendment This resignation of our Wills to the Pleasure of God for his Glory respect's Sufferings and Dutys Principally For there is no difficulty Ordinarily to comply with the good Will of God in Distributing Mercy and Favour But to have our Wills Resolved into his in case of difficult Duty and hard Sufferings which Cross our corrupt Nature and press upon our Pamper'd Flesh is a great Work far above the Sphear of an unregenerate Person and a special Effect of the Spirit of God in and upon the Hearts of Saints But because our Subject leads to consider the matter in case of Afflictions only I shall confine my Discourse thereto Only adding this by the way that where a Soul disputeth no Sufferings it Submits to all Dutys If it be resigned to the Will of the Lord in the one 't is Subjected to him in the other also 4. Therefore the Resignation I spake of consists in several things 1. In referring our selves to the Will of God in a Day of Tryal in the very things we fear Our Lord Jesus dreaded nothing like this Hour that was coming upon him It troubled and amazed his very Soul v. 27. gladly would he be saved from it had it been
A CONTINUATION OF Morning-Exercise QUESTIONS AND Cases of Conscience PRACTICALLY RESOLVED BY SUNDRY MINISTERS In October 1682. 1 THESS II. 4 5 6. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel even so we speak not as pleasing men but God which trieth our Hearts For neither at any time used we flattering words as ye know nor a cloak of Covetousness God is witness Nor of Men sought we glory neither of you nor yet of others c. LONDON Printed by J. A. for John Dunton at the Sign of the Black Raven in the Poultrey over against the Stocks-Market 1683. To the READER WHat I have formerly endeavoured in these Exercises I need not here tell you My design is still the same when too many are contending about comparatively trifles or worse I would do my utmost by calling in better help than mine own to promote practical Godliness I 'll not mention the Cases unavoydably some by Sickness some otherwise omitted and for those here should I place them in this Preface as I intended them in the Book tbô it might somewhat rectifie their Order 't would not add to their Vsefulness and therefore take them as they are and the Blessing of God go along with them and certainly 't will as to you if you are willing it should pray try else 1 We are surrounded with Vanities let your Conversation be in Heaven you 'l be above them But be sure your 2 Godliness be such that you may feel its excellency and expose their Folly that deride it Then 3 God will not only be your Rewarder but your exceeding great Reward And 4 as you mind Religion mind Vnity be of a healing temper And 5 mourn for their sins from whom you must separate When 6 you can say thrô Grace you love God abide in his Love And 7 be as solicitous for your Childrens Salvation as your own 8 Do not flatter your selves to think that you need not be caution'd against Flattery 9 Let those of us that are Ministers thirst after the Conversion of Souls And 10 the practical Love of Truth will best preserve from Popery 11 Let not Melancholy persons neglect their Remedy And let all Persons 12 press after a growing Knowledge of Christ 13 Then whatever God doth in the World cannot but be well done because God doth it 14 What you hear and read do not let it slip 15 Let your obedient Love to God evidence your Love to his Children 16 Avoyd spiritual Pride as a mischievous Sin 17 Count a midling Condition best as to the World thô not as to Religion 18 Admire and improve those Truths and Works of God which are to you incomprehensible 19 Do all you do with an eye to God thô you meet with unanswerable returns from men 20 Still mind your present Duty 21 Mind something that 's better than the tricking of your Bodies 22 Let Child-bearing Women who dread the danger of their Travail take God's Prescription for their temporal Salvation 23 Take care of your Souls according to their worth And 24 follow the Conduct of the Holy Ghost to do it And 25 thereby you 'l be raised to a divine Vnion 26 To which your thoughtfulness of Eternity will much contribute 27 And singularly promote Communion with God Which 28 those that have are prepared for whatever God will do with them And 29 thô God hide his face he will not finally forsake them But 30 God will priviledge them at present to be the Strength of the Nation And 31 to all these Truths as well as to all Gods Praises let 's believingly say Amen These are the Cases several of them had been more polisht had not the Authors and their Books been separated and I must confess that the tolerable Errors of the Press are as many as an ingenuous Reader can well pardon what then can I say for those which are inexcusable Bear with this word of alleviation 't was next to impossible for every one in our present Circumstances to Correct his own Sermon and none else could so well do it I 'l add but this they are Cases most of them of great moment and daily use Do but bring or endeavour to get an honest Heart to the Perusal of them and I doubt not but you 'l bless God for them and I hope put up a Prayer for April 9. 1683. Your Soul-Servant Samuel Annesley The CONTENTS Serm. I. HOW is the adherent Vanity of every Condition most effectually abated by serious Godliness Eccles 6.11 12. Serm. II. How may we experience it in our selves and evidence it to others that serious Godliness is more than a Fancy 1 Pet. 3.15 Serm. III. How is God his Peoples great Reward Gen. 15.1 Serm. IIII. What may most hopefully be attempted to allay Animosities among Protestants that our Divisions may not be our Ruine Coloss 2.2 Serm. V. How ought we to bewail the sins of the places where we live 2 Pet. 2.7 8. Serm. VI. What must we do to keep our selves in the Love of God Jude vers 21. Serm. VII What may gracious Parents best do for the Conversion of those Children whose wickedness is occasioned by their sinful Severity or Indulgence Mal. 4.6 Serm. VIII How may we best cure the Love of being Flattered Prov. 26.28 Serm. IX By what means may Ministers best win Souls 1 Tim. 4.16 Serm. X. How is the practical Love of Truth the best Preservative against Popery 1 Pet. 2.3 Serm. XI What are the best Preservatives against Melancholy and over-much Sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 Serm. XII How may we grow in the Knowledge Estimation and making Vse of Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 Serm. XIII How may our Belief of Gods governing the World support us in all worldly distractions Psal 97.1 2. Serm. XIV What are the Hindrances and Helps to a good Memory in Spiritual things 1 Cor. 15.2 Serm. XV. What are the Signs and Symptoms whereby we know we love the Children of God 1 John 5.2 Serm. XVI What must we do to prevent and cure spiritual Pride 2 Cor. 12.7 Serm. XVII Wherein is a middle worldly Condition most eligible Prov. 30.8 9. Serm. XVIII How may we graciously Improve those Doctrines and Providences which transcend our Vnderstandings Rom. 11.33 Serm. XIX How ought we to do our Duty towards others thô they do not do theirs towards us Rom. 12.21 Serm. XX. How may the well discharge of our present Duty give us assurance of help from God for the well discharge of all future Duties 1 Sam. 17.34 35 36 37. Serm. XXI What distance ought we to keep in following the strange Fashions in Apparel which come up in the days wherein we live Zeph. 1.8 Serm. XXII How may Child-bearing Women be most encouraged and supported against in and under the hazard of their Travail 1 Tim. 2.15 XXV for Serm. XXIII How may we best know the worth of the Soul Matt. 16.26 XXVI for Serm. XXIV How may we get Experience
as well when I am sinning as when I am praying b Psal 139.1 13. Where ever I am what ever I am about whether Busie or Idle my thoughts that no Creature can know God knows them though I equivocate in my Words God discerns them Whether I draw near to God to flatter him or run away from God to escape him Thô I lay my self to sleep that I may not think of him or get into the dark where I may see nothing of him yet Gods eye is every where all this while upon me Christians be but so far sincere as industriously to endeavour to keep upon your Hearts such apprehensions of God and this alone will effectually cure you of reigning Hypocrisie and clear up your suspected Sincerity I grant some men may be so impudently wicked as daringly to Sin while they think God looks on but this is seldom and only in the heat of Temptation they cannot no they cannot nay the Devil himself cannot help them to keep up their Hearts to this pitch of impiety the most daring Sinners are but like men in a Fire-ship what thô they venturously run it in to fire the Fleet they themselves get away as fast as 't is possible so thô in their drunken frolicks they set themselves to out-face God yet when they are sober they retreat to this c Job 22.13 14. How doth God know thick Clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not d Psal 10.11 13. He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten and if he can but repell his twingeing Gripes of Conscience he not only quickly forgets them but flatters himself that God forgets him too and that he hideth his Face and will never see it And so thô he contemn God yet he hath said in his Heart God will not require it yea further e Psal 94.7 they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it But men of the most seared Consciences cannot alwayes thus carry it there are some of the worst of Sinners of whom it may be said God is alwayes in their thoughts while they are awake and they sleep little they think of nothing else and yet these are far from Sincerity or the way to it I grant this for it confirms not enervates my Remedy They under horrour and despair think of God and cannot but think of him but 't is sore against their Wills they would out-run those Thoughts but the Wrath of God pursues 'em * Joh. 27.22 they would fain flee out of his hand But now to pray and strive that we may get and keep God alwayes in our Eye to be inwardly grieved that our Thoughts of God so easily slip from us so to presentiate God to the Soul as to be able to appeal to God †Psal 139.18 All the while I am awake I am still with thee and when I sleep f Psal 91.1 4. it is under the Shadow of the Almighty he shall cover me with his Feathers g Mat. 23.37 as the Hen doth her Chickens Christians those that can comparatively see nothing else with delight nor rest any where else with content they are truely Religious they are certainly sincere Let 's now consider the other extream Too many think or do what they can to make it sink into their Thoughts that Atheism is best for 'em these would be accounted men of a great Soul they scorn the Pusillanimity of Conscience they are neither allur'd nor frighted with the fore-thoughts of a future State they slight any discourse of Heaven and they laugh at the Torments of Hell they live without care in a continued Frolick and are not these the only happy men Thô they restrain their Blab they let loose their Thoughts and 't is the common language of Mens Hearts and Lives Men secretly bless themselves that they are not Religious when they see men suffer for Conscience sake all the pity they express is from their deluded Fancy But will this alwayes hold Job tells us h Job 9.4 no man can harden his Heart against God in the way of his Providence and prosper muchless sure can he set himself against God in his very being and prosper He 's really a Fool i Psal 14.1 thô the World count him a Wit that saith in his Heart i. e. he heartily wisheth that there were no God but God hath a witness within him that he can't silence but will in despight of him convince him that there is a God Never could any man yet blow out that Candle k Prov. 20.27 of the Lord which God hath set up within him It can't be expected that he who strives in his Practice to be an Atheist in his Judgment should be so ingenuous as to tell us what Convulsions of Conscience he is incurably troubled with if he would we should need no other Testimony but his own to convince him and seeing he will not I 'le only bid him first get the Mastery of his own Conscience before he decry that God that Masters it I might press him to consider the works of Creation and Providence and how unreasonable it is to expect that another should believe thy profound Arguments as thou esteem'st 'em when thou unbelievest 'em thy Self every time thou hear'st it Thunder for why should I coast about for convictions while thou carriest that within thee which neither thy self nor all the Devils in Hell to help thee can extinguish thine own Conscience man Conscience I say not anothers but thine own and thou mayst as soon tear thy Soul out of thy Body as thy Conscience out of thy Soul And while Conscience hath a being the being of God shall not be denied 'T is too true thou mayest sear thy Conscience from speaking any thing for thy good but thou canst never silence it from speaking to thy Terrour That never-dying worm will be still gnawing to make thee feel both here and to Eternity that there is a God One thing I confess I have sometimes wondered at that ever any Atheist can dye without horror the approaches of Death commonly undeceive us But when I consider that those who industriously endeavour to stupifie their Consciences while they live should in Gods Righteous Judgment be so far besotted as not to have their Consciences so much as quitch when they dye but that as they have industriously proselyted others to their Atheism they should be so far deserted of God as to leave their Companions under that Delusion till Hell undeceive ' em O! but what can Religion do for the cure of Atheism Serious Godliness in the lowest degree of it expells Atheism I grant those that are eminently Godly may be tempted to Atheism but they reckon these among Satans fiery darts and accordingly set themselves presently to quench them which thô they cannot so easily do as they imagine who have not experience of such Temptations yet there 's this palpable difference between them and
Confession of Faith that Christ never commended any like it but would prescribe to Christ an exemption from Suffering not considering that Mankind would have been undone by that advice but Christ with a sharp reproof bids d Mat. 16.16.23 Get thee behind me c. In all cases about settling in the World getting Estates seeking Preferment entring into Marriage removing from one place to another be not self-conceited nor hasty to run before God nor to go out of his way but follow him follow his Commands in a way of Obedience follow his Providence in a way of Observance follow God and you may expect his Blessing Remember these two words thô you forget all the rest of the Sermon Vse 5 viz. CHRIST and HOLINESS Holiness and Christ Interweave these all manner of wayes in your whole Conversation Press after Holiness as much as 't is Possible had you no Christ to befriend you for 't is a shame to mind Holiness the less for any benefits you expect from Christ and rest as intirely upon Christ as if there were nothing else required for the best of your Holiness doth not merit acceptance 'T is serious Christianity that I press as the only way to better every condition 't is Christianity downright Christianity that alone can do it 'T is not Morality without Faith that 's but Refined Heathenism 't is not Faith without Morality that 's but downright Hypocrisie It must be a Divine Faith wrought by the Holy Ghost where God and man concur in the operation such a Faith as works by Love both to God and Man a Holy Faith full of good Works e Ephes 2.10 For we are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them f Phil. 3.3.8 9. Worshipping God in the Spirit rejoycing in Christ Jesus and having no Confidence in the flesh yea doubtless counting all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus that we may be found in him not having not trusting in our own Righteousness but that which is thrô the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith that we may be found in him c. I 'le close all with this of Solomon of whom 't is said g 1 King 4.32 33. He spake three thousand Proverbs and his Songs were a thousand and five and he spake of Trees from the Cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the Hyssop that springeth out of the wall he spake also of Beasts and of Fowls and of creeping things and of Fishes Now consider his Treatises of Natural Philosophy are utterly lost thô we may well suppose them the best that ever were writ Nay of his three thousand Proverbs those that were not divinely inspired are lost and those that were are some of them collected by other hands h Prov. 25.1 not his own but his two last and best Treatises Ecclesiastes and Canticles the one to abate our Love of the World and the other to increase our Love to Christ These are the Books these are the things with which he did with which we should close our Lives Quest How may we Experience in our selves and Evidence to others that serious Godliness is more than a Fancy SERMON II. 1 PET. III. 15. Be ready alwayes to give an Answer to every man that asketh you a Reason of the Hope that is in you CHristianity was no sooner come into the World than it was assaulted by Satan and his Instruments persecuting Believers and either Reproaching their Religion as Impious or censuring it as Madness or ridiculing it as Folly the Holy Ghost in the Scripture foreseeing this not only forewarns them of it but arms them against it and among others of his holy Penmen employs this Apostle to fence those Saints to whom he wrote against this Temptation and to direct them what to do if it came to be their Case 1. He encourageth them under Sufferings of all sorts for righteousness sake tells them that so to suffer would be so far from making them miserable that it would be their Happiness v. 14. happy are ye answerably to what his Master had before told him and the rest of his hearers Matth. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you c. 2. He directs them how to carry themselves 1. When persecuted and that 1. Negatively v. 14. Be not afraid of their terror c. Be not daunted nor affrighted with those fears your Enemies would work in you This passage relates to that of Isa 8.12 Neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid where the Saints are bid not to fear what others were afraid of but here with a little variation they are exhorted not to give way to or be overcome by those terrors their adversaries would strike into them 2. Positively sanctifie the Lord in your hearts v. 15. Fear him more than your Persecutors stand in awe of his Power more than their Rage fear him so as not inordinately to fear them he so afraid of offending him as not to fear suffering by them And this advice likewise is agreeable to that our Saviour gives Math. 10.28 Fear not them which kill the body c. but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell 2. When reproached or scoffed at or traduced by their Enemies If they accuse or mock your Religion as impious or childish or unreasonable if they demand a reason of you why you Believe or Practise as you do Be always ready to give them an answer to give an account of your selves and shew upon what grounds ye are Christians and to make it appear that your Faith is reall and your Obedience reasonable Three things only in the words call for a little Explication 1. What is meant by Hope Either hope here is the same that Faith is and so it is in divers other places and then to give a reason of their Hope Calvin in loc Grot. is to make a Confession of their Faith so some take it Or it may be taken Synechdochically for the whole of their Religion as others And indeed the hope of a Christian being one of the most eminent Acts of Religion and seeming withall to the profane and ignorant World one of the most strange things in it and which was most cavil'd against and laugh'd at †Act. 17.18.32 for men to expect a Life after death a glorious Resurrection after a dishonourable lying in the grave and to renounce all Worldly enjoyments and expose themselves to the bitterest sufferings meerly in hope of something they did not see nor expected to enjoy till after they were dead it might well be put for the whole of Religion as being so remarkable in it 2. What is meant by this Answer they were to give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is elsewhere frequently rendred by defence Act. 22.1 Phil. 1.7.17 it is rendred answer as here 1
thee Lord is the fountain of Life But if this Reward be so Exceeding Great Quest will it not overwhelm us In the other World our Faculties shall be extended Answ and through the Mediator Christ we shall be made capable of receiving this Reward Put a back of Steel to a Glass and you may see your Face in it So Christs Humane Nature being put as a back of Steel to the Divine Gods Glory will be seen and enjoyed by us There is no seeing the Sun in the Circle but in the Beams so whatever of God is made Visible to us will be through the Golden Beams of the Sun of Righteousness Wherein appears the certainty of this Reward Quest God who is the Oracle of Truth hath asserted it Answ A Charter Legally confirmed under the Broad Seal is unquestionable The Publique Faith of Heaven is engaged to make good this Reward Gods Oath is laid at Pledge d Psal 58.11 Nay God hath not only Pawned his Truth the most Orient Pearl of his Crown but he hath given the Anticipation and First-fruits of this reward to his Saints in joy and Consolation Gal. 5.22 e Vae nobis si nec juranti Deo credimus Aug. which assures them of an Harvest afterwards But when shall we be possessed of this Reward Quest The time is not long Revel 22.12 Behold I come quickly Answ and my reward is with me Sence and Reason think it a long Interval but Faith looks at the Reward as near through a Perspective Glass the Object which is at some distance seems near to the Eye So Faith looking through the Perspective Glass of a Promise the Reward seems near Faith as it doth Substantiate so it doth Anticipate things not seen it makes them present Eph. 2.6 But why is this Reward at all deferred Quest 1. God sees it not fit that we should yet receive it Answ Our work is not done we have not yet finish'd the Faith A day Labourer doth not receive his Pay till his work be done Even Christs Reward was deferred till He had Compleated his Mediatory Work and said upon the Cross It is Finished 2. God defers the Reward that we may live by Faith We are taken with the Reward but God is more taken with our Faith No Grace Honours God like Faith Rom. 4.20 God hath given himself to us by Promise Faith trusts Gods Bond and Patience waits for the Payment 3. God adjourns the Reward a while to sweeten it and make it more welcom to us when it comes f Quo longius defertur eò suavins laetatuâ— After all our Labours watchings conflicts how comfortable will the Reward be Nay the longer the Reward is deferred it will be the Greater The longest Voyages have the largest returns If still it be asked When shall the time of this Reward be I say The righteous shall receive part of their reward at Death No sooner is the Soul out of the Body but it is Present with the Lord 2. Cor. 5.8 f Piae animae à Corporibus solutae cum Deo vivunt Calv. And the full Coronation is at the Resurrection when the Soul and Body shall be re-united and perfected in Glory Christians faint not in your Voyage thô troublesome you are within a few Leagues of Heaven Your Salvation is now nearer than when you First believed Rom. 13.11 Several Corollaries follow 1Vse Infomation Hence it is Evident that it is Lawful to look to the future Reward God is our Reward is it not Lawful to look to him Moses had an Branch 1 Eye to the Recompense of reward Hebr. 11.26 What was this Reward but God himself verse 27 As seeing him who is invisible Looking to the Reward quickens us in Religion 'T is like the Rod of Myrtle in the Travellers hand which is said revives his Spirits and makes him walk without being weary who that is subject to fainting-fits will not carry Cordial-water about him Branch 2 If God be such an Exceeding Great Reward then it is not in vain to engage in his Service 'T was a slanderous Speech Mal. 3.14 Ye have said it is vain to serve God The Infinite Jehovah gives a Reward that is as far beyond our thoughts as it is above our deserts How apt are persons through Ignorance or mistake to misjudge the wayes of God! They think it will not quit the cost to be Religious They speak evil of Religion before they have tryed it as if one should condemn a Meat before he hath tasted it besides the Vails g Psal 19.11 which God gives in this life Provision Protection Peace there is a Glorious Reward shortly coming God himself is the Saints Dowry h In uno Deo omnes florent Gemmae ad salutem God hath a true Monopoly He hath those Riches which are no where else to be had the Riches of Salvation He is such a Gold-mine as no Angel can find the bottom Eph. 3.8 The unsearchable Riches of Christ Is it vain then to serve God A Christians work is soon over but not his Reward He hath such an Harvest coming as cannot be fully Inned it will be alwayes Reaping-time in Heaven How great is that Reward which Thoughts cannot measure nor Time finish Branch 3 See the egregious Folly of such as refuse God Psal 81.11 Israel would none of me Is it usual to refuse Rewards If a man should have a vast Summ of Money offered him and he should refuse it his discretion would be call'd in Question God offers an incomprehensible Reward to men yet they refuse Like the Load-stone which refuseth Gold and Pearl and drawes the rusty Iron to it Man by his fall lost his Head-piece He sees not where his Interest lies He flies from God as if he were afraid of Salvation and what doth he refuse God for the Pleasures of the World i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiâ—tetus We may write upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are like Noah's Dove which brought an Olive-branch in her mouth but quickly flew out of the Ark. And to lose God for these Perishableâ— is a Prodigy of Folly worse than that of Lysimachus who for a Draught of Water lost his Kingdom We Read in Scripture of two Cups Psalm 16.8 The Lord is the Portion of my Cup. They who refuse this Cup shall have another Cup to Drink of Psalm 11.6 Vpon the wicked he shall rain Snares Fire and Brimstone this shall be the Portion of their Cup. If God be such an immense Reward then see how little cause the Branch 4 Saints have to fear Death are men afraid to receive Rewards There is no way to live but by dying i Aliae haereditates in morte deseruntur sed ad solidam hujus Possessionem per mortem immittimur River Christians would be cloathed with Glory but are loath to be uncloathed they pray Thy Kingdom come and when God is leading them thither they are afraid to go what makes us desirous
and we are made up of nothing else but Dependency and Frailty Luc. 22.61 Now this active principle is chiefly Faith and Love Faith working by Love Faith gives us union to Christ and maintains that Union Now as we are kept by Faith so we and our Faith are kept both by the power of God to salvation 1 Pet. 1.4 5. Our Inheritance is kept in Heaven for us and we are kept in Earth for it till we possess it in Heaven Quis custodiet ipsos custodes We should be poorly and Miserably kept if the Lord were not our keeper How did Adam keep his Estate and the Angels theirs and Esau his Birth-right and the Prodigal his Portion when all was trusted in their own hands One lost all for an Apple and another for a Mess of Dainty Broth and another for his carnal pleasures but happy Believers whose All is in better Trustees hands 1 Pet. 4. ult even the hand of a Faithful God IV. He that will keep himself in the Love of God must keep himself free from the Love of the World because the Love of this World is contrary to the Love of God 1 Joh. 2.15 16. and therefore inconsistent with it 1. Because the Love of the World and its Trinity or threefold Lust is a dangerous Heart-thief it Steals away the Heart from God as Absolom stole away the Hearts of the People from David by his Kisses 2 Sam. 15.5 6. and Flatteries Hos 4.11 What the Prophet speaks of Wine and Whoredom is true of all other worldly things 2. The Love of the World makes God jealous because Worldlings make an Idol of it and it is the worst Idolatry being that of the first Commandement Mâ—t. 6.24 So is Covetousness and Mammon when the Heart is inordinate upon Creatures Silver Gold Relations that is our Treasure Luc. 12.34 Colos 3.5 Therefore saith the Lord take heed and beware of Covetousness Luk. 12.15 A double caution all little enough And of this nature is Luxury and Epicurism also Phil. 3.18 19 20. Drunkenness the Love of Pleasure more than God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Belly-gods Nay thus it is likewise in the inordinate Love of Children which is soon done and they become Idols and God in his jealousie breaks them 1 Sam. 2.21 or breaks us for them as he did old Eli honouring his Sons above God And he that loveth Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me Math. 10.37 saith Christ 3. Because the Love of the World is a Choak-pear to all that 's truly good as is clear in the Thorny Ground Math. 13. v. 7.22 Experience teacheth this universally and the nature of the things being contrary one to the other and killing one of another * Like the Torment of Mezentius putting the Living to the Dead which corrupts and kills the Living one being Spiritual and Heavenly the other Carnal Sensual and Destructive yea both are destroyers of each other Rom. 7.24 Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Do not we see what mortal Enemies worldly men are to Divine things The Word saith the world lyeth in wickedness the Devil is the Prince of the wicked World and ruleth in the children of disobedience it feeds the Flesh and nourisheth the carnal part and is not subject to the Law of God nor can be Rom. 8.7 Yea it is a deadly thing to the Soul Rom. 6.6 Gal. 5.17 Rom. 8.13 Gal. 6.14 Gal. 2.20 Gal. 5.24 and such deadly things are these two Lovers that is these two Lusts that they hunt for the life of each other fighting against each other to the death and the quarrel alwayes ends in the death of one or th' other If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live See the Scriptures in the Margin 4. The Love of the World hath Sorcery and Witchcraft in it when once men drink of the Worlds Cup they are intoxicated We read of Simon Magus how he bewitched the People Act. 8.9 We read of Jezebels Witchcrafts 2 King 9.22 Nahum 3.9 Rev. 17.2 3 4. Falsus fallax est mundus exterius aurens interius lutens N. N. and Babylons Sorceries and Witchcrafts and it is joined with the Works of the Flesh Gal. 5.17 to ver 21. Sixteen in number Rev. 22.15 Maxima totius orbis venefica The greatest Witch in the world is the World Her Honours are bewitching Honours Her Delights and pleasures are bewitching Her Riches and Profits are bewitching How then is the Love of the World consistent with Gods Love Therefore for the Love of God love not the World 5. The Love of the World makes Men Apostates from Christ So it made Demas 2 Tim. 4.10 and so it hath made thousands more and thee among the rest if thou lookest not well to thy Self 6. Psal 17.14 Phil. 3.18 19 20. Because the Love of the World makes men take up their Heaven on this side Heaven Of those men the Apostle could not speak without Weeping This is like the Prodigal that preferred a Tavern and a Brothel-House before his Fathers House Luc. 15.13 V. He that will Love God and keep himself in the Love of God must not be a Self-lover there is no greater Enemy to the Love of God than to Love our selves 2 Tim. 3.2 Mark the place for it is a remarkable place He tells you of perilous times a coming and there gives nineteen marks of such men as make the times perilous Of all which Lovers of themselves leads the Van for where once this Principle prevails it opens a Floodgate to all Sin and shuts the door upon all Holy Motions If Self be beloved admired and idolized it is the worst Idol in the World this is an Idol in a secret place continually adored this is Dagon set above the Ark and a Man above God and provokes to jealousie this perverts the course of Nature and Gods order who is one God and uppermost and only to be adored and men set up themselves in Gods Throne and Ungod him by deifying themselves and for one God they set up millions of gods as many gods as Creatures This is mans misery by losing the Integrity wherein God made him and seeking out many Inventions And when the Lord Christ came into the World he he speaks our Love and wooes us for it and commands self-denyal as the first Lesson to be learned in his School Mat. 16.24 25. Mat. 10.37 whereby the great Stumbling-block to Gods Love is taken away VI. If ye would keep your selves in the Love of God be very shy of Sin both in the Risings of it and as to the Temptations to it For the love of God and the love of Sin are more contrary to each other than Heaven and Hell Because they are Morally contrary Rom. 8. 1. Sin is Enmity against God in the Abstract 2. Sin is hatefull
Word by the Rod as Shepherds let loose their Dogs to hunt the stragling Sheep into their Bounds As Parents use Bug-bears to make their Children run into their Arms all in Love and to keep them in it by keeping them from excursions XI Another Means to keep our selves in the Love of God is to keep in our Hearts a quick sense of the Pardon of Sin of the wonderfull love of the Lord to a poor sinfull Soul to pardon great and many sins This puts such an Obligation upon a Sinner that he cannot chuse but express his great love to the Lord for it See a famous Instance of this in Mary Magdalen who having received this great Mercy from the Lord Luc. 7.38 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came where he was in Simon the Pharisees house kneeled down at her dear Saviours feet and instead of Water her Eyes were Ewers and she wept tears upon the feet of Christ and washed his feet with them so abundant were they and then instead of a Towel she wiped his washen feet with the hair of her Head and not only so but kissed his feet All which thô the envious Pharisee blamed yet the Lord Jesus allowed and highly praised with tart reflexion upon the proud Pharisee who omitted those Civilities which that humble loving Convert performed Moreover the Lord that knew her Heart testifies for her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she did it all in much love to him for the forgiveness of her many sins 1. Because Forgiveness of Sin is an act of the greatest Grace condescension and kindness of God to a poor Soul Because by the guilt of Sin a Soul is bound over to eternal Death and Wrath in Hell there to make satisfaction which will be ever a doing and never done Pardon of Sin loosneth the Sinner from that by Christs satisfaction for him 2. Because every one thus Pardoned Psal 51.12 Vphold me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with thy ingenuous or generous Spirit is made truly sensible of the Kindness of God to him in it and by converting Grace hath an ingenuous and noble Spirit created in his heart that will never suffer him to forget it nor think he can ever sufficiently prize or express it XII A further Means to keep our selves in the Love of God is not only to love the Lord but to keep up our Love to him to the height Such a love as the Bride and Bridegroom have to each other which is brisk and highest then Jer. 2.2 Rev. 2.4 5. I remember saith the Lord the love of thine espousals And again I have somewhat against thee because thou art fallen from thy first love repent and do thy first works The Lord commands our Love towards him in the most intense degree of Affection with all the heart with all the soul with all thy might Cum omni valdè tâ—o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all thy utmost power Deut. 11.1.13.22 Cap. 19.9 Cursed be the deceiver that hath this Male in his flock Mal. this Masculine Love and yet giveth God the lame and the lean The highest Love of the Soul is a Present for the greatest King in the world Therefore labour to keep up thy Love to the height towards God Thou canst never be excessive in thy Love to God to the Creature thou mayst and commonly art But behold the perversness of Man in this Affection We stint our Love to God where it should know no bounds nor measures and we are boundless in our love to Creatures which alwayes ought to be bounded XIII If we will keep our selves in the Love of God let us labour to grow in Grace and to carry on the work of it in our Souls to the highest perfection This is grounded upon the Verse immediately before the Text viz. Ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy Faith where the Participle building agrees with the Verb in the Text keep your selves in the love of God Noting this growth in Grace and Knowledge to be an effectual means to keep our selves in the Love of God Whether we understand this Clause building up your selves in your most holy Faith to be understood of the Doctrine of Faith or the Grace of Faith or of both for we cannot well sunder them they being helps to each other according to that of Peter who puts them both together to grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and this is a Soveraign Remedy against falling away 2 Pet. 3.17 18. Now there is good reason why our growth in Grace and particularly in Faith is a principal means to keep our selves in the Love of God 1. Because the Power of God goes with Faith to keep us firm unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are kept thereby as with a strong Guard 2. Because by building up our selves in our most holy Faith we please God without Faith we cannot do that and we gain upon his Love for we are in the way of God and doing his Will this is the Will of God even our Sanctification He that hath my commandments and doth them Joh. 14.21 he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me my Father and I will love him Joh. 15.9 10. As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in his love XIV A great Means of keeping our selves in the Love of God is this to Pray in the Holy Ghost ver 20. the verse after my Text Now we shall see how forcible and cogent this means is Consider 1. All good things come from God Jam. 1. Prayer is the Key of Gods Closet and Treasury we are meer Beggers and have nothing of our own but are fain to beg our daily Bread of God who keeps us from Hand to Mouth God will have it so because he will have us know to whom we are beholding for all Moreover he Loves to see our Face and hear our Voice and the oftner the more welcome And this he doth as tender Fathers use to do with their Children who know what they need but will have them come to them for all with bended knees for their Fathers Blessing nor shall they come in vain 1. For the Lord commands it and approves it Mat. 6.9 2. He hath annexed great Promises to Prayer 3. Even the Holy Spirit Rom. 8.15 26 27. And hath given us a Mediator to Intercede and plead for us by Office Heb. 4.15 16. and this is the great Office of his High-Priest-hood Heb. 2. two last verses By all which we see how seasonably the duty of Prayer and the Priviledge of Prayer is here annexed ver 20. to keep our selves in the Love of God How can Friends maintain their Amity without frequent converse Abraham was called the Friend of God Jam. 2.23 Gen. 18.17
aversation It intimidates the Child destroyes his mettle and courage for any honest or honourable undertaking smothers yea extinguishes all his fire and vivacity transforms him into a meer sot mope dullard block utterly unfit for use and service nay more it often throws him into the deepest gulph of grief and melancholy sickness death and then it may be when too late the unhappy Parent will see cause to relent and abhorr himself for his unjust severity 6. Parents remember they are Children and but Children Their age may be some Apology for them Their Heads are green yours are grey More years may teach them better manners They are your Children your own Flesh Blood Bowels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle your Children If the stream be corrupt it derives it from your selves the Fountain Psal 51.5 The young Serpent came from the old Cockatrice 7. Since Severity will not do the feat see what sweetness mildness gentleness holy tenderness and indulgence will do Peragit tranquilla potestas quod violenta nequit The pillow may help to break the flint which the Hammer and Anvil cannot It prevail'd with flinty Saul 1 Sam. 24.16 The cordial may prevail where the corrosive cannot The sight of the pardon more commands the heart of the desperate Traytor than that of the Ax or Gibbet 8. To All these adde Scriptural admonition fervent Supplication Patient waiting on and humble Submission to the Will of God Mic. 7.7 8 9. Thus much concerning Sinful Severity we proceed to the Second and that is Sinful Indulgence Our Apostle knowing right well how apt Parents are to swerve from the golden mean of Parental discipline and whilst they Labour to avoid the Rock of Sinful Severity how prone they are to plunge themselves into the gulph of Sinful Indulgence doth in the same Text prescribe a Soveraign Antidote against that fatal pleurisie of fond Affection in these words but bring them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. Whilest the severe Parent is breathing a vein in his distemper'd Child he cautions him to take care he doth not pierce an Artery Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath But on the other Hand if the Child labours under an imposthume and needs the Lâ—ncet our Apostle doth here command the discreet use of it and â—â—ll by no means permit that the sinking Child should be sooth'd or stroakt and demulc'd into certain ruine Children must be nurtur'd thô they may not be provok'd Parents must not be cruel Ostrichès and leave and expose their young ones to harm and danger nor yet must they be such fond Apes who are said to hug their Cubs so closely as that they kill them with their embraces And that on this Account because 2. The wickedness of unconverted Children is too too often occasion'd yea and advanced by the sinful Indulgence of their godly Parents Sinful Severity with Saul hath slain it's thousands sinful Indulgence with David it 's ten thousands Poor cocker'd Children when 't is too late find the little Finger of a fond Mother to weigh far heavier and to sink the Soul far deeper than the weighty Loins of a severe Father and at a long run will find more of Sting in a Rod of Roses than in a scourge of Scorpions In the Stating of this case I shall proceed as before and shew you 1. What Sinful Indulgence is not And so 1. Natural ordinate moderate parental Love and such as is mixt with the most yerning bowels most deep and tender compassions is not sinful Indulgence Nay to be without these Natural Affections Rom. 1.31 is not only wretched Stoicisme but sinful cursed and more than brutish astorgy Even the Storks and Sea-monsters will teach us to love our Off-spring Love my Children I may and must 1. With all the sorts and kinds of Love of desire of Union and Communion with them of the sweet enjoyment of them of benevolence and good will willing ready and prepared to desire and wish them all good of beneficence and bounty Tit. 2.4 Gen. 21.19 1 King 3.25.26 1.7 10 18 19. 1 Tim. 5.8 actually endeavouring to do them all good possible both as to their Souls and Bodies All our Spiritual gifts must be for the profit of their Souls for their Direction Consolation Salvation and as for their Bodies their Backs must be our Wardrobes their Bellies our Barns and their Hands our Treasuries And with a Love of Complacency and delight Our Children may and ought to be the joy and rejoycing of our Hearts no greater joy than to see our Children like Olive-plants round about our Table specially if we see and find them walking in the Truth John 2. Ep. 4. John 3. Ep. 4. 2. With all the properties of parental Love viz. Sincere and unfained a Love not in word and tongue only but from the Heart in Deed and in Truth A forward chearful Love not drawn or driven but flowing as from a Fountain An expensive open-handed as well as open-hearted Love A fruitful Love producing not only fair Leaves Buds and blossoms of pleasing smiles and large promises but the mature fruits of beneficial performances An holy just fervent constant Love a most gentle dear tender compassionate Love whereby we are ready to Sympathize with them and forward to succour them in their misery to regard them when they neither regard us nor themselves To take in good part the desires of their Souls when they find not to perform To accept of a sigh in regard of a service a mite instead of a Talent a groan instead of a duty the very stammering of my Child above the eloquence of a Beggar Mal. 3.17 Looking on a returning Prodigal as a Son and pitying as a Father not punishing as a Judge Psal 103.13 14. Remembring their frame and knowing that both they and we are poor dust All this and much more is not sinful Indulgence To carry them in our Bosoms as Moses did the Israelites Num. 11.12 or so in our Hearts as to be willing to impart our very Souls unto them in and for God because they are dear unto us as Paul 1 Thes 2.7 8 11. To Bless them in Gods Name Faith Fear as Jacob did Gen. 49.28 To countenance and encourage them in and reward them for well doing 1 Pet. 2.14 Est 6.3 To Love those most that Love God most to give such Benjamins five messes a double treble Portion an Isaak's Inheritance this is not sinful Indulgence 2. What sinful Indulgence is It stands in the Excess and exuberancy of our Love and affections and in too much slacking and remitting the reins of Government When we do as it were abandon and give up our minds and studies to coax and please and gratifie the humours yea satisfie the Lusts of our foolish Children when we make their Wills our Laws our Rules when the doting Parent is led by the Heart shall I say or Nose by his audacious Child and must be at his
first sings and then slayes worse than Jael her Hammer and Nail destroy only the Body but this destroyes the Soul and that even by its Lullabys when the unhappy fondling sleeps and snoars in the Parents bosom 2. Indulgent Parents are really cruel to themselves their Posterity and the Church of God For this we have two such instances in two Stars of the greatest magnitude that ever shone in the Churches Horizon such indeed as are not to be mention'd without the greatest dread and trembling with respect to their plunge into this deep pit of gross Indulgence ELI and DAVID Nay startle not These are the men even good Eli and better David The best of men and I had almost said the worst of Parents and then no wonder if Plagued with the worst of Children 1. Eli. His Tragical Story we find 1 Sam. 2.12 to the 4th chap. v. last He had two Sons Sons of Belial a brace of Hell-hounds Hophni and Phinehas whose names do almost stain the Sacred Writ wretches that were as desperately lewd as himself was eminently holy And this appears on these acounts 1. If the goodness of Example Precept Education Profession could have been Antidotes against the extremity of sin these Sons of so holy a Father had not been so hellishly wicked But now neither Parentage nor Education nor Priesthood could restrain the Sons of Eli from degenerating into the Sons of Belial Yea their wickedness was most desperately improv'd boil'd up and fermented to the highest Paroxysm 2. Had they not been the Sons of Eli a Priest yet being themselves by Office Priests of the most high and Holy God who would not have thought hoped concluded that their very calling and function should not have at least dictated if not infused some Holiness into them But Oh dreadful even their white and clean Ephods are but Cloaks of their fouler sins Nay though they serve at the Altar yet degenerating from their duty their wickedness is so far from being extenuated and made less that it rises so much above others as their Place and Station is holyer than others A wicked Priest is the worst the Vilest Creature on Gods Earth Devils in Mascarade Who are Devils now but they that were once Angels of Light The worst of Dung comes from the best of Meat The most deadly Poyson out of the sweetest Mineral 3. That God who had promis'd to be the Levite's Portion had set forth the fair Portion of these Levites and God will not only feed them but feast them too and that at his own Table at his own Altar They shall eat of his own Morsel and drink of his own Cup. The breast and the right Shoulder of the Peace-offering was their allowed Commons Lev. 7.14 15. Well They are satisfied they are thankful are they not No such matter These bold and saucy Priests will rather have their Flesh-hook their Arbiter than God and whatever theiâ— Trident fastens on shall be for their dainty Tooth 1 Sam. 2.13 to 17. They were weary of one or two Joints their delicacy affects more variety God is not worthy to carve for these men but their own hands And thus they do not receive but take or snatch violently audaciously unseasonably sacrilegiously It had been but fit that God should have first been serv'd but their presumption will not stay Gods leisure E're the fat be burnt e're the flesh be boyl'd they must and will snatch their share from the Altar as if the God of Heaven should wait on their curious Palate as if the Jews had come thither not so much to Sacrifice to the Lord Jehovah as to these Priests Bellies But beyond all this 4. Hear O Heavens and give ear O Earth and be astonisht with all those that bear the name guilt and shame of such debauched Priests of the Altar even then and there at the very Altar the most Holy God his throne on Earth even there they are no sooner fed but like cursed Stallions they neighed after the modest Mothers of Israel Holy women assemble at the door of the Tabernacle and these Varlets blackest Miscreants worse by far than Zimri and Cozbi all Circumstances considered Numb 25.6 and well it had been if that other Phinehas had been nigh them with his avengeful Javelin tempt if not force them to adultery that came thither for devotion These wretches had Wives of their own yet their unbridled desires rove after strange flesh and fear not to pollute even that holy place with abominable filthiness Oh! sins too shameful for common men much more for the spiritual guides of Israel That Ark which expiated other mens sins dreadfully added to the sins of these Sacrificers Jer. 2.8 Ezek. 23.38 Rom. 2. 17.25 Thus far as to the Sin and Wickedness of these miscreants the Children and Sons of Eli. 2. As to old Eli. Did he Know all this 'T is true especially of Great men that they usually are the very last that are informed of the Evil of their own House but yet as to Eli 1. It could not probably be but when all Israel rang of the lewdness of his Sons he only should be ignorant of it But 2. Or if He knew it not can his Ignorance be excus'd It being not an Ignorance merae privatis but pravae dispositionis for where should Eli have been but in the Temple either for action or oversight The very presence of the Priest keeps Gods House in order 'T was his grand duty carefully to inspect them at least diligently to enquire after the due administration of Gods Ordinances and a just and seasonable rebuke and restraint might have happily prevented this extremity and heighth of prodigious debauchery Nothing but Age can plead and apologize for Eli that he was not the first Accuser of these his Sons will you call them or monsters But 3. Now when their Enormities come to be the cry of the Multitude when it thunders and he must perforce hear it and this loud clap must of necessity pierce not his ears only but his heart bowels conscience But with what holy fervour zeal justice indignation 1. Was it as with Judah when 't was told him Tamar thy daughter-in-law hath playd the harlot bring her forth and let her be burnt Gen. 38.24 * These my Sons are Adulterers 2. Or as the Parents of the stubborn and rebellious Son lay hold of them and carry them forth to the Elders of the City and say to the Elders of the City These my Sons are stubborn and rebellious they have not will not obey my voice let them be stoned to death So God commanded Deut. 21.18 to 22. Thus even thus should Eli who was not only the chief Priest but the supreme Judge of Israel impartially have judged his own corrupted flesh and never could he have offer'd a more pleasing Sacrifice than the corrupt gore blood of so wicked Sons 1. Doubtless Eli knew full well that 'T was in vain to rebuke those sins abroad which we tolerate at
all that rise against thee to do thee hurt be as that young man is 5. And what sayes King David to this Methinks I hear him say Psal 81.1 c. Come my dear People Come and let us sing aloud unto God our strength and make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 2. Take a Psalm and bring hither the Timbrel the pleasant Harp with the Psaltery 3. Blow up the Trumpet as in the new Moon as on a solemn feast day 4. Let this be a Statute for Israel for this is the day that the Lord hath made we will rejoice and triumph in it The King shall joy in thy strength and greatly rejoice in thy Salvation The Lord is known by the judgment that he hath executed the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion-Selah Is this the Io Triumphe wherewith he makes the Earth to ring again No but on the contrary the poor Father being as it were Thunder-struck with the words of his Blackmore forgets that he was a King and Father of his Countrey looks like Jephthah when he met his devoted Daughter and as if bereav'd of all Comfort breaks out into a flood of tears and into such an indecent Lamentation as no Records either Sacred or Humane can parallel The King was much moved and wept v. 33. and as he went he said O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son My just Indignation at this more than Womanish Transport forbids me to descant on it I shall barely lay before you Joab's smart Repartee whereby he endeavour'd to stop this Deluge 2 Sam. 29.5 6. Joab said to the King Thou hast this day shamed the faces of all thy Servants which this day have saved thy Life and the Lives of thy Sons and of thy Daughters and the Lives of thy Wives 6. In that thou lovest thine Enemies and hatest thy Friends For thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither Princes nor Servants For this day I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all we had died this day then it had pleased thee well And thus we have seen the Malady Turn we now to the Remedy The Plague-sore has been open'd now for the Bunch of Figgs II. What may gracious Parents best do for the Conversion of those their Children whose Wickedness have been occasion'd by their own sinful Indulgence 1. Reflect seriously on your heart and wayes Begg and begg sincerely earnestly believingly constantly of the Lord effectually to convince you of the great sinfulness and mischief of your Indulgence and to humble you deeply for it O cast your selves at the foot of God lament it weep over it mourn as Doves before the Lord when you see if indeed you can see and fondness hath not quite put out your eyes Pride Stubborness Profaneness Averseness from God all sorts and degrees of sins and corruptions break forth in your Childrens Lives And that 1. With respect to your Children And this 1. Not only as the natural roots from whom all this their Lewdness springs They drew it from the Womb and breast They were poyson'd in the very Spring Psa 51.5 Job 14.1 15.14 25.4 This consideration only if no more to see your Children rotting sinking dying with a loathsome Disease which they drew from your Loins were enough to rend your hearts and Caul But 2. By your wretched Indulgence you have added much fuel to this flame you have heated your Furnace seven times hotter Your Indulgence hath fomented yea inflam'd their Wickedness You have heightned their feavour into a Plague and that worse a thousand times than that of the Body which ends in a temporal Death but this is of their Souls and is like to sink them for ever into a gulph of fire and brimstone 2. With respect to God The Lord was wroth with the Serpent and curs'd him for ever because but an instrument us'd by Satan for corrupting our first Parents though no cause at all of it Gen. 3.14 May not the Lord be much more angry with us and cause his Wrath to smoak against us that have not only been instruments really to convey this Poyson and corruption of nature into our Childrens bosoms but the principal occasions of of their superadded Wickedness You see on both these accounts matter of deep Humiliation 2. Love your Children hearken indulgent Parents I say it again Love your Children Yea Love them I say not more but better than ever yet you Lov'd them you can never Love them too well You may and have Lov'd them too much One saith well None is to be Lov'd much but He only whom we can never Love too much Love them with all the kinds degrees properties of Love before mention'd 1. Love them so as to be tender of their Bodies their outward man let that want nothing that is necessary convenient comfortable suitable to their age or quality but above all Love their Souls their inward man The Cabinet must not be neglected but the Jewel is to be most regarded The Ring is to be only esteemed but the Diamond in it most highly to be prized The Love of our Childrens Souls is the very Soul and Spirit and Elixir of True parental Love If we truely Love their Souls we shall unfeignedly desire and vigorously endeavour their Spiritual and Eternal Salvation If you Love their Souls indeed your Hearts desire and prayer to God for them will be that they may be saved Rom. 10.1 You will put forth your utmost affections and strength to lift them up out of that pit of Sin and Misery in which they lye and to raise them into and fix them in a state of Grace If we do not really grieve to see our Children lye weltring in their Sins of Ignorance unbelief folly profaneness and so under the power and paw of Satan If we do not faithfully labour to preserve them from perishing but suffer sin upon them pretend what we will let us shew never so much Love with our mouth God sayes we really hate them in our Hearts Lev. 19.17 See how Solomons Parents exprest their Love to Him Prov. 4.3 4. I was my Fathers Son tender and only beloved in the sight of my Mother 4. He taught me also and said unto me Let thy heart retain my Words keep my Commandments and Live If you Love them indeed and in truth you will you can have no greater joy than to see your Children walking in the Truth Joh. 3. Ep. 4. That foolish Son who is now an heaviness to his Mother being made Truely wise will make a glad Fatther Prov. 10.1 Oh what a lovely sight what a Soul-ravshing object in a godly Parents eye is an hopeful Timothy an obedient godly Joseph Prov. 23.24 25. Well then Love your Children and in the first place their precious Souls If you find your Love and care goes out more for their Bodies than Souls so far mistrust your
Agenda of the Church and thâ—â—eservedly for this Perswasion is built on infallible Divine Testimonâ—â—â— The Communication of Christ herein and our participation of him are expressed in such a manner as to demonstrate them to be peculiar such as are not to be obtained in any other way or divine Ordinance whatever not in Praying not in Preaching not in any other exercise of Faith on the Word or Promises There is in it an eating and drinking of the Body and Blood of Christ with a spiritual Incorporation thence ensuing which are peculiar unto this Ordinance But This especial and peculiar communion with Christ and participation of him is Spiritual and Mystical by Faith not carnal or fleshly To imagine any other participation of Christ in this life but by Faith is to overthrow the Gospel To signify the Real communication of himself and benefits of his Mediation unto them that believe whereby they should become the food of their Souls nourishing them unto eternal Life in the very beginning of his Ministry he himself expresseth it by eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood John 6.53 Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you But hereon many were offended as supposing that he had intended an oral carnal eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood and so would have taught them to be Cannibals Wherefore to instruct his Disciples aright in this mystery he gives an Eternal Rule of the interpretation of such expressions v. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life To look for any other communication of Christ or of his flesh and blood but what is Spiritual is to contradict him in the Interpretation which he gives of his own words Wherefore this especial Communion with Christ and Participation of him is by Faith If it were not unbelievers ought all partake of Christ aswell as those that believe which is a contradiction For to believe in Christ and to be made partakers of him are one and the same We must therefore find this peculiar participating of Christ in the special actings of Faith with respect unto the especial and peculiar exhibition of Christ unto us in this Ordinance And these actings of Faith are diverse and many but may be referred unto four Heads 1. It acts it self by Obedience unto the Authority of Christ in this Institution This is the foundation of all Communion with Christ or pâ—rticipation of him in any Ordinance of divine Worship whatever thaâ— is peculiarly of his own Soveraign Appointment and that in and with such circumstances as unto the Time or Season and manner of it as requires especial actings of Faith with respect thereunto For the Institution of this Ordinance was in the close of his Ministry or Prophetical Office on the Earth and in the entrance of the exercise of his Priestly Office in offering himself a Sacrifice unto God for the sins of the Church between them both and to render them both effectual unto us he interposed an act of his Kingly Office in the Institution of this Ordinance And it was in the same night wherein he was betrayed when his holy Heart was in the highest exercise of zeal for the glory of God and compassion for the Souls of sinners sâ—ith hath herein an especial regard unto all these things It doth not only act it self by a subjection of Soul and Conscience unto the Authority of Christ in the Institution but respects also the exerting of his authority in the Close of his Prophetical and entrance of the exercise of his Sacerdotal Office on the Earth with all those other circumstances of it which recommend it unto the Souls and Consciences of Believers This is peculiar unto this Ordinance and unto this way of the participation of Christ And herein faith in its due exercise gives the soul an intimate converse with Christ 2. There is in this divine Ordinance a peculiar Representation of the Love and Grace of Christ in his death and Sufferings with the way and manner of our Reconciliation unto God thereby The principal design of the Gospel is to declare unto us the Love and Grace of Christ and our Reconciliation unto God by his Blood Howbeit herein there is such an eminent Representation of them as cannot be made by words alone It is a Spiritual Image of Christ proposed unto us intimately affecting our whole Souls These things namely the ineffable Love and Grace of Christ the bitterness of his Sufferings and Death in our stead the Sacrifice that he offered by his Blood unto God with the effect of it in Atonement and Reconciliation being herein contracted into one entire Proposal unto our Souls Faith is exercised thereon in a peculiar manner and so as it is not in any Divine Ordinance or way of the Proposal of the same things unto us All these things are indeed distinctly and in parts set before us in the Scripture for our Instruction Edificacion But as the Light which was first made and diffused unto the whole Creation did suffice to enlighten it in a general way yet was far more useful glorious and conspicuous when it was reduced and contracted into the Body of the Sun so the Truths concerning Christ as they are diffused through the Scripture are sufficient for the Illumination and Instruction of the Church but when by divine wisdom and institution they are contracted into this Ordinance their taste and efficacy is more eminent and communicative unto the eyes of our Understandings that is our Faith than as meerly proposed by parts and parcels in the Word Hereby Faith leads the Soul unto a peculiar Communion with Christ wâ—â—ch is thereon made partaker of him in an especial manner 3. Faith herein respects the peculiar way of the communication and exhibition of Christ unto us by symbols or sensible outward Signs of Bread and Wine It finds the divine Wisdom ond Sovereignty of Christ in the choice of them having no other foundation in Reason or the Light of Nature and the Representation that is made herein of him with the Benefits of his Death and Oblation is suited unto Faith only without any aid of Sense or Imagination for although the Symbols are visible yet their Relation unto the things signified is not disceâ—nible unto any Sense or Reason Had he chosen for this end an Image or a Crucifix or any such Actions as did by a kind of natural and sensible Resemblance shew forth his Passion and what he did and suffered there had been no need of Faith in this matter And therefore as we shall see such things are found out unto this end by such as have lost the use and exercise of Faith herein Besides it is Faith alone that apprehends the Sacramental Vnion that is between the outward Signs and the Things signified by vertue of Divine Institution And hereby the one
that is the Body and Blood of Christ are really exhibited and communicated unto the Souls of Believers as the outward Signs are unto their bodily Senses the Signs becoming thereby Sacramentally unto us what the things signified are in themselves and are therefore called by their Names Herein there is a peculiar exercise of Faith and a peculiar paricipation of Christ such as are in no other Ordinance whatever Yea the Actings of Faith with respect unto the Sacramental Vnion and Relation between the Signs and Things signified by vertue of divine Institution and Promise is the principal Use and Exercise of it herein 4. There is a peculiar Exercise of Faith in the Reception of Christ as his Body and Blood are tendred and exhibited unto us in the outward Signs of them For though they do not contain carnally the Flesh and Blood of Christ in them nor are turned into them yet they really exhibit Christ unto them that believe in the participation of them Faith is the Grace that makes the Soul to receive Christ and whereby it doth actually receive him To as maâ—y as received him even to as many that believe in his Name John 1.12 And it receives him according as he is propos'd and exhibited unto us in the Declaration and Promise of the Gospel wherein he is proposed it receives him by the gracious Assent of the Mind unto this Truth the choice of him cleaving and trusting unto him with the Will Heart and Affection for all the Ends of his Person and Offices as the Mediator between God and man and in the Sacramental Mysterious Proposal of him his Body and Blood that is in the efficacy of his Death and Sacrifice in this Ordinance of worship Faith acts the whole Soul in the Reception of him unto all the especial Ends for which he is exhibited unto us in this way and manner What these Ends are which give force and efficacy unto the actings of Faith herein this is not a proper place to declare I have mentioned these things because it is the great Plea of the Papists at this day in behalf of their Transubstantiation That if we reject their oral or carnal manducation of the Flesh of Christ and drinking of his Blood there cannot be assigned a way of the participation of Christ in the receiving of him in this Sacrament distinct from that which is done in the Preaching of the Word But hereby as we shall see they only declare their ignorance of this heavenly Mystery But of this blessed intimate Communion with Christ participation of him in the Divine Institution of worship Believers have Experience unto their satisfaction and ineâ—â—able Joy They find him to be the spiritual food of their Souls by which they are nourished unto eternal Life by a spiritual incorporation with him They discern the Truth of this Mystery and have experience of its Power Howbeit men growing carnal and being destitute of Spiritual Light with the wisdom of Faith utterly lost all Experience of any Communion with Christ and participation of him in this Sacrament on the Principles of Gospel-Truth they could find nothing in it no Power no Efficacy nothing that should answer the great and glorious things spoken of it nor was it possible they should For indeed there is nothing in it but unto Faith as the Light of the Sun is nothing to them that have no eyes a Dog and a Staff are of more use to a blind man than the Sun nor is the most melodious Musick any thing to them that are deaf yet notwithstanding this loss of spiritual Experience they retained the Notion of Truth that there must be a peculiar participation of Christ in this Sacrament distinct from all other ways and means of the same Grace Here the Wits of men were hard put to it to find out an Image of this spiritual Communion whereof in their minds they could have no Experience yet they fashioned one by degrees and after they had greatned the Mystery in words and expressions whereof they knew nothing in its power to answer unto what was to be set up in the room of it until they brought forth the horrid Monster of Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Mass for hereby they provided that all those things which are spiritual in this Communion should be turned into and acted in things carnal Bread shall be the Body of Christ carnally the Mouth shall be Faith the Teeth shall be the Exercise the Belly shall be the Heart and the Priest shall offer Christ unto God A Viler Image was never invented and there is nothing of Faith required herein it is all but a fortifying of Imagination against all Sense and Reason Because there is a singular Mystery in the Sacramental Vnion that is between the external Signs and the things signified whence the one is called by the Name of the other as the Bread is called the Body of Christ which Faith discerns in the Exhibition and Receiving of it they have invented for a Representation hereof such a prodigious Imagination of the real Conversion or Transubstantiation of the Substance of the Bread and Wine into the Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ as overthrows all Faith Reason and Sence also And in the room of that Holy Reverence of Christ himself in his Institution of this Ordinance in the Mystical Exhibition of himself unto the Souls of Believers in the demonstration of his Love Grace and Sufferings for them they have set up a wretched Image of an Idolatrous Adoration and Worship of the Host as they call it to the Ruine of the Souls of men And whereas the Lord Jesus Christ by once offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified appointing this Ordinance for the Remembrance of it having lost that spiritual Light whereby they might discern the efficacy of that one Offering so long since accomplished in the application of it by this Ordinance unto the actual perfecting of the Church they have erected a new Image of it in a pretended daily Repetition of the same Sacrifice wherein they profess to offer Christ again for the sins of the living and the dead unto the overthrow of the principal foundation of Faith and Religion All these Abominations arose from the loss of an Experience of that spiritual Communion with Christ and the participation of him by Faith which there is in this Ordinance by divine Institution This cast the thoughts of men on Invention of these Images to suit the general Notion of Truth unto the Superstition of their carnal minds Nor is it ordinarily possible to retrieve them from these infatuations unless God be pleased to communicate unto them that Spiritual Light whereby they may discern the Glory of this Heavenly Mystery and have an Experience of the Exhibition of Christ unto the Souls of Believers therein without these from innumerable prejudices and inflamed affections toward their Idols they will not only abide in their darkness against all means of
of obedience whereby the work of purifying and cleansing the whole person may be carryed on toward perfection see 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Thes 5 2â— 1 John 3.3 And he who is constantly engaged in that work with success will see the folly and vanity of any other pretended way for the purging of sins here or hereafter The consequent of these things is peace with God for they are assured pledges of our justification and acceptance with him and being justified by Faith we have Peace with God and where this is attained by the Gospel the whole Fabrick of Purgatory falls to the Ground for it is built on these Foundations that no assurance of the love of God or of a justified state can be obtained in this life For if it may be so there can be no use of Purgatory This then will assuredly keep the souls of believers in a contempt of that which is nothing but a false relief for sinners under disquietment of mind for want of peace with God SECT XI Some other instances of the same abomination I shall yet mention but with more brevity and sundry others must at present be passed over without a discovery It is granted among all Christians that all our helps our relief our deliverance from sin Satan and the world are from Christ alone This is included in all his Relations unto the Church in all his offices and the discharge of them and is the express Doctrine of the Gospel It is no less generally acknowledged at least the Scripture is no less clear and positive in it that we receive and derive all our supplies of Relief from Christ by Faith other wayes of the participation of any thing from him the Scripture knoweth not Wherefore it is our duty on all occasions to apply our selves unto him by Faith for all supplies Reliefs and deliverances But these men can find no life nor power herein at least if they grant that somewhat might be done this way yet they know not how to do it being ignorant of the life of Faith and the due exercise of it They must have a way more ready and easy exposed to the capacities and abilities of all sorts of Persons good and bad yea that will serve the turn of the worst of men unto this end An Image therefore must be set up for common use instead of this spiritual application unto Christ for relief and this is the making of the sign of the Cross Let a man but make the sign of the Cross on his forehead his breast or the like which he may as easily do as take up or cast away a straw and there is no more required to engage Christ unto his assistance at any time And the vertues which they ascribe hereunto are innumerable but this also is an Idol a teacher of Lies invented and set up for no other end but to satisfie the carnal minds of men with a presumptuous supposition in the neglect of the spiritually laborious exercise of Faith an Experience of the work of Faith in the derivation of all supplies of spiritual Life Grace and Strength with deliverance and supplies from Jesus Christ will secure Believers from giving heed unto this triffling deceit SECT XII One thing more amongst many others of the same Sort may be mentioned it is a notion of Truth which derives from the Light of Nature That those who approach unto God in divine Worship should be careful that they be pure and clean without any Offensive defilements This the Heathen themselves give Testimony unto and God confirmed it in the Institutions of the Law But what are these defilements and pollutions which make us unmeet to approach unto the presence of God how and by what means we may be purified and cleansed from them the Gospel alone declares And it doth in opposition unto all other ways and means of it plainly reveal that it is by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon our Consciences so to purge them from dead Works that we may serve the Living God see Heb. 9.14 chap. 10.19 20 21. But this is a thing mysterious nothing but spiritual Light and saving Faith can direct us herein Men destitute of them could never attain an Experience of purification in the way Wherefore they retained the notion of Truth it self but made an Image of it for their use with a neglect of the thing it self And this was the most ludicrous that could be imagined namely the sprinkling of themselves and others with that they call Holy Water when they go into the places of sacred Worship which yet also they borrowed from the Pagans So stupid and sottish are the minds of men so dark and ignorant of heavenly things that they have suffered their Souls to be deceived and ruined by such vain superstitious Trifles This Discourse hath already proceeded unto a greater length than was at first intended and would be so much more should we look into all parts of this Chamber of Imagery and expose to view all the abominations in it I shall therefore put a close unto it in one or two instances wherein the Church of Rome doth boast it self as retaining the Truth and Power of the Gospel in a peculiar manner whereas in very deed they have destroyed them and set up corrupt Images of their own in their stead SECT XIII The first of these is the Doctrine and Grace of Mortification That this is not only an important Evangelical Duty but also of indispensable necessity unto Salvation all who have any thing of Christian Religion in themselves must acknowledg It is also clearly determined in the Scripture both what is the nature of it with its causes and in what acts and duties it doth consist For it is frequently declared to be the crucifying of the Body of Sin with all the Lusts thereof For Mortification must be the bringing of something to death and this is sin and the dying of sin consists in the casting out of all vitious habits and inclinations arising from the Original depravation of nature it is the weakning and graduate extirpation or destruction of them in their roots principles and operations Whereby the Soul is set at liberty to act universally from the contrary principle of Spiritual Life and Grace The means on the part of Christ whereby this is wrought and effected in believers is the communication of his Spirit unto them to make an effectual application of the vertue of his death unto the death of sin for it is by his Spirit that we mortifie the deeds of the flesh and the flesh it self and that as we are implanted by him into the likeness of the death of Christ By vertue thereof we are crucifyed and made dead unto sin in the Declaration of which things the Scripture doth abound The means of it on the part of Believers is the exercise of Faith in Christ as crucifyed whereby they derive vertue from him for the crucifying of the Body of death And this
Exercise of Faith is always accompanied with diligence and perseverance in all holy Duties of Prayer with Fasting Godly Sorrow daily renewed Repentance with a continual watch against all the Advantages of sin Herein consists principally that Spiritual warfare and conflict that believers are called unto this is all the killing work which the Gospel requires That of Killing other men for Religion is of a latter date and another Original And there is nothing in the way of their Obedience wherein they have more experience of the necessity power and efficacy of the Graces of the Gospel This Principle of Truth concerning the necessity of Mortification is retained in the Church of Rome yea she pretends highly unto it above any other Christian Society The Mortification of their Devotionists is one of the principal Arguments which they plead to draw unwary Souls over unto their Superstition Yet in the height of their pretences unto it they have lost all experience of its nature with the power and efficacy of the Grace of Christs therein and have therefore framed an Image of it unto themselves For 1. They place the eminency and height of it in a Monastical Life and pretended Retirement from the World But this may be hath been in all or the most without the least real work of Mortification in their Souls For there is nothing required in the strictest Rules of these Monastick Votaries but may be complyed withal without the least effectual Operation of the Holy Spirit in their minds in the application of the vertue of the death of Christ unto them Besides the whole course of life which they commend under this name is neither appointed in nor approved by the Gospel And some of those who have been most renowned for their severities therein were men of blood promoting the cruel slaughter of multitudes of Christians upon the account of their profession of the Gospel in whom there could be no one Evangelical Grace for no Murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him 2. The Ways and Means which they prescribe and use for the attaining of it are such as are no way directed unto by the Divine Wisdom of Christ in the Scripture such as multiplied Confessions to Priests irregular ridiculous Fastings Penances Self-Macerations of the Body unlawful Vows Self-devised Rules of Discipline and Habits with the like Trinkets innumerable Hence whatever their Design be they may say of it in the issue what Aaron said of his Idol I cast the Gold into the Fire and there came out this Calf they have brought forth only an Image of Mortification diverting the Minds of men from seeking after that which is really and spiritually so And under this Pretence they have formed a State and Condition of Life that hath filled the world with all manner of Sins and wickedness and many of those who have attained unto some of the highest degrees of this Mortification on their Principles and by the Means designed unto that End have been made ready thereby for all sorts of Wickedness Wherefore the Mortification which they retain and whereof they boast is nothing but a wretched Image of that which is truly so substituted in its room and embraced by such as had never attained any Experience of the Nature or Power of Gospel-Grace in the real Mortification of Sin SECT XIV The same is to be said concerning Good Works the second Evangelical Duty whereof they boast The necessity of these Good Works unto Salvation according unto mens Opportunities and Abilities is acknowledged by all And the Glory of our Profession in this World consisteth in our abounding in them but their Principle their Nature their Motives their Use their Ends are all declared and limited in the Scripture whereby they are distinguished from what may seem materially the same in those which may be wrought by Unbelievers In Brief they are the Acts and Duties of true Believers only and they are in them Effects of Divine Grace or the Operation of the Holy Ghost for they are created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God hath ordained that they should walk in them But the principal Mystery of their Glory which the Scripture insists upon is that although they are necessary as a Means unto the Salvation of Believers yet are they utterly excluded from any influence unto the Ju-stification of Sinners so there was never any Work Evangelically good performed by any who were not before freely Justified Unto these Good Works those with whom we have to do lay a vehement claim as though they were the only Patrons of them and Pleaders for them But they have also excluded them out of Christian Religion and set up a deformed Image of them in defiance of God of Christ and the Gospel For the Works they plead for are such as so far proceed from their own free will as to render them Meritorious in the sight of God They have confined them partly unto Acts of Superstitious Devotion partly unto those of Charity and principally unto those that are not so such are the Building of Monasteries Nunneries and such pretended Religious Houses for the maintenance of Swarms of Monks and Friers filling the World with Superstition and Debauchery They make them meritorious satisfactory yea some of them which they call of Supererrogation above all that God requireth of us and the Causes of our Justification before God They ascribe unto them a Condignity of the heavenly Reward making it of Works and so not of Grace with many other defiling Imaginations but whatever is done from these Principles and for these Ends is utterly foreign unto those good Works which the Gospel enjoyneth as a part of our New or Evangelical Obedience But having as in other Cases lost all Sense and Experience of the Power and efficacy of the Grace of Christ in working Believers unto this Duty of Obedience unto the Glory of God and Benefit of mankind they have set up the Image of them in defiance of Christ his Grace and his Gospel These are some of the Abominations which are pourtraied on the Walls of the Chamber of Imagery in the Church of Rome and more will be added in the consideration of the Image of Jealousie it self which God willing shall ensue in another way These are the Shadows which they betake themselves unto in the loss of Spiritual Light to discern the Truth and Glory of the Mystery of the Gospel and the want of an Experience of their Power and Efficacy unto all the Ends of the Life of God in their own Minds and Souls And although they are all of them expresly condemned in the Letter of the Scripture which is sufficient to secure the Minds of true Believers from the admission of them yet their establishment against all Pleas Pretences and Force for a compliance with them depends on their experience of the Power of every Gospel-Truth unto its proper End in communicating unto us the Grace of God and transforming our Minds into the Image and Likeness
either it takes of none of their trouble or else it returneth the next day for the cause remaineth in their bodily Disease quiet them an hundred times and their sears and hundred times return 3. Their misery is that what they think they cannot choose but think You may almost as well perswade a man not to shake in an Ague or not to feel when he is pained as perswade them to cast away their self-troubling thoughts or not to think all the enormous confounding thoughts as they do they cannot get them out of their heads night or day tell them that they must forbear long musing which disturb them and they cannot tell them that they must cast out false imaginations out of their minds when Satan casts them in and must turn their thoughts to something else and they cannot do it Their thoughts and troubles and fears are gone out of their power and the more by how much the more melancholly and crased they are 4. And when they are grown to this usually they seem to feel something besides themselves as it were speaking in them and saying this and that to them and bidding them do this or that and they will tell you now it sâ—ith this or that and tell you when and what it hath said to them and they will hardly believe how much of it is the disease of their own imagination 5 In this case they are exceeding proue to think they have Revelations and whatever comes into their minds they think some Revelation brought it thither They use to say This Text of Scripture at such a time was set upon my mind and that Text at another time was set on my mind when oft the sence that they took them in was false or a false application of it made to themselves and perhaps several Texts applyed to contrary conclusions as if one gave them hope and another contradicted it And some of them hereupon are very prone to Prophesies and verily believe that God hath foretold them this or that till they see that it cometh not to pass and then they are ashamed And many of them turn Hereticks and take up errours in Religion believing verily that God believed them and set such things upon their minds And some of them that were long troubled get quietness and joy by such changes of their opinions thinking that now they are in Gods way which they were out of all this while and therefore it was that they had no comfort Of these I have known divers persons comforted that have fallen into the clean contrary opinions some have turned Papists and superstitious and some have run too far from Papists and some have had comfort by turning Anabaptists some Antinomians some contrarily called Arminians some Perfectionists some Quakers and some have turned from Christianity it self to Infidelity and denied the life to come and have lived in licentious uncleanness But these melancholly Hereticks and Apostates usually by this cast of their sadness and are not the sort that I have now to deal with 6 But the sadder better sort feeling this talk and stir within them are oft apt to be confident that they are possessed by the devil or at least bewitcht of which I will say more anon 7 And most of them are violently haunted with blasphemous injections at which they tremble and yet cannot keep them out of their mind either they are tempted and haunted to doubt of the Scripture or Christianity or the life to come or to think some ill of God And oft-times they are strangely urged as by something in them to speak some Blasphemous word of God or to renounce him and they tremble at the suggestion and yet it still followeth them and some poor souls yield to it and say some bad word against God and then as soon as it is spoken somewhat within them saith now thy damnation is sealed thou hast sinned against the Holy Ghost there is no hope 8 When it is far gone they are tempted to lay some law upon themselves never to speak more or not to eat and some of them have famished themselves to death 9 And when it s far gone they oft think that they have apparitions and this and that likeness appeareth to them especially lights in the night about their beds and sometimes they are confident that they hear voices and feel something touch or hurt them 10 They fly from company and can do nothing but sit alone and muse 11 They cast off all business and will not be brought to any diligent labour in their callings 12 And when it cometh to extremity they are weary of their lives and strongly followed with Temptations to make away themâ—elves as if something within them were either urging them either to drown them selves or cut their own throats or hang themselves or cast themselves headlong which alass too many have done 13 And if they escape this when its ripe they become quite distracted These are the doleful symptomes and effects of melancholly And therefore how desireable is it to prevent them or to be cured while it is but beginning before they fall into so sad a state And here it is necessary that I answer the doubt whether such persons be possessed with the Devil or not and how much of all this aforesaid is from him And I must tell the melancholly person that is sincere that the knowledge of the Devils Agency in his Case may be more to his comfort than to his despair And first we must know what is meant by Satans Possession either of the Body or the Soul It is not meerly his Local Preseâ—ce and Abode in a man that is called his Possession for we know little of that how far he is more present with a bad man than a good But it is his exercising Power on a man by such a stated effectual operation As the Spirit of God is present with the worst and maketh many holy Motions to the Souls of the impenitent but he is a setled powerful Agent in the Soul of a Believer and so is said to dwell in such and to possess them by the Habit of Holiness and Love even so Satan maketh too frequent Motions to the Faithful but he possesseth only the Souls of the ungodly by predominant Habits of Vnbelief and Sensuality And so also he is permitted by God to inflict Persecutions and Crosses and ordinary Diseases on the just but when he is Gods Executioner of extraordinary Plagues especially on the Head depriving men of Sense and Understanding and working above the bare Nature of the Disease this is called his Possession And as most evil Motions on the Soul have Satan for their Father and our own Hearts as the Mothers so most or many bodily Diseases are by Satan permitted by God though there be Causes of them also in the Body it self And when our own Miscarriages and Humors and the Season Weather and Accidents may be Causes yet Satan may by these be a superiour Cause
And when his Operations are such as we call a Possession yet he may work by means and bodily dispositions and sometimes he worketh quite above the power of the Disease it self as when the unlearned speak in strange Languages and when bewitched Persons vomit Iron Glass c And sometime he doth only work by the Disease it self as in Epilepsies Madness c. From all this it is easie to gather 1. That for Satan to possess the Body is no certain Sâ—gn of a graceless state nor will this condemn the Soul any if the Soul it self be not possessed Nay there are few of Gods Children but its like are sometime afflâ—cted by Satan as the Executioner of Gods correcting them and sometime of Gods Trials as in the Case of Job whatever some say to the contrary it is likely that the â—rick in the Flesh which was Satans Messenger to bâ—sset Paul was some such Pain as the Stone which yet was not removed that we find after thrice praying but only he had a promise of sufficient Grace 2. Satans Possession of an ungodly Saul is the miserable Case which is a thousand times worse than his possessing of the Body but every Corruption or Sin is not such a possession for no man is perfect without Sin 3. No Sin proveth Satans damnable possession of a man but that which he loveth more than he hateth it and which he had rather keep than leave and wilfully keepeth 4. And this is matter of great comfort to such Melancholy honest Souls if they have but understanding to receive it that of all men none love their Sin which they groan under so little as they yea it is the heavy Burden of their Souls Do you love your Unbelief your Fears your distracted Thoughts your Temptations to Blasphemy Had you rather keep them than be delivered from them The proud man the ambitious the Fornicator the Drunkard the Gamester the Time-wasting Gallants that sit out hours at Cards and Plays and idle Chats the gluttonous pleasers of the Appetite all these love their Sins and would not leave them as Esau sold his Birthright for one Morsel they will venture the loss of God of Christ and Soul and Heaven rather than leave a swinish Sin But is this your Case Do you so love your sad condition You are weary of it and heavy laden and therefore are called to come to Christ for ease Mat. 11.28 29. 5. And it is the Devils way if he can to haunt those with troubling Temptations whom he cannot overcome with alluring and damning Temptations As he raiseth storms of Persecution against them without as soon as they are escaping from his Deceits so doth he trouble them within as far as God permitteth him We deny not but Satan hath a great hand in the Case of such Melancholy persons for 1. His Temptations caused the Sin which God corrects them for 2. His Execution usually is a Cause of the Distemper of the Body 3. And as a Tempter he is the Cause of the sinful and â—â—â—ublesom Thoughts and Doubts and Fears and Passions which the 〈◊〉 holy causeth The Devil cannot do what he will with us but whâ—◠〈◊〉 â—ive him advantage to do He cannot break open our doors but 〈◊〉 enter if we leave them open He can easily tempt a heavy flegmatick Body to sloath a weak and cholerick person to anger a strong and sanguine man to Lust and one of a strong Appetite to Gluttony or to Drunkenness and vain sportful Youth to idle Plays and gaming and Voluptuousness when to others such Temptations would have small strength And so if he can cast you into Melancholy he can easily tempt you to overmuch Sorrow and Fear and to distracting Doubts and Thoughts and to murmure against God and to despair and still think that you are undone undone and even to blasphemous thoughts of God or if it take not this way than to Fanatick Conceits of Revelation and a prophecying Spirit 6. But I add that God will not impute his meer Temptations to you but to himself be they never so bad as long as you receive them not by the will but hate them nor will he condemn you for those ill effects which are unavoiâ—â—ble from the power of a bodily Disease any more than he will condemn a man for raving thoughts or words in a Feaver Phrensie or utter Madness But so far as Reason yet hath power and the Will can govern Passions it is your fault if yâ—â—â—â—se not the power though the difficulty make the Fault the less II. But usually other Causes go before this Disease of Melancholy except in some Bodies naturally prone to it and therefore before I speak of the Cure of it I will briefly touch them And one of the most common Causes is Sinful Impatience Discontents and Cares proceeding from a sinful love of some bodily interest and from a want of sufficient submission to the will of God and Trust in him â—â—d tâ—king Heaven for a satisfying Portion I must necessarily use all these words to shew the true Nature of this complicate Disease of Souls The Names tell you that it is a Conjunction of many Sins which in themselves are of no small malignity and were they the predominant beâ—â—â—â—d habit of Heart and Life they would be the Signs o◠〈…〉 â—hilâ— they are hated and overcome not Grace but â—â—r heavâ—nly 〈…〉 â—â—re esteemed and câ—â—sen and sought than earthly prosperiâ—y â—he Mâ—â—cy of Goâ—â—hrough Christ doâ—â— pardoâ— it and will at last deliver us from all But yet it beseeâ—â—â—â—h â—ven a â—â—â—doned Sinner to know the greatness of his Sin that 〈◊〉 may not favour it nor be unthankful â—â—r forgiveness I wiâ—â—â—herefore distinctly open the parts of this Sin which bringeth many 〈◊〉 â—â—smal Melancholy It iâ— prâ—supposed 〈◊〉 God trieth his Servants in â—his Life with manifold Afflictions and Christ will have us bâ—ar the Cross and follow him in submissive Patience Some are tried with painful Dâ—seases and some with 〈◊〉 ougâ—â— Enemies and soâ—e with the unkindness of Friends and 〈…〉 â—â—oâ—ard provoking Relatives and Company and some 〈…〉 â—â—d some with Perâ—eâ—â—tion and many with Losses Disapp◠〈…〉 〈◊〉 here Impatieâ—â—◠〈…〉 beginning of the working of the sinful Mâ—â—â—â—â— Our Natures are all too regardful of the Interest of the flesh â—nd 〈◊〉 â—eak in bearing â—eaâ—y burdens and Poverty hath those Trials 〈…〉 â—â—ll and wealthy Persons that feel them not too little pity especially iâ—â—wo Cases 1. When men have not themselves only but Wives and Children in want to quiet 2. And when they ar◠〈◊〉 debt to others which is a heavy Burden to an ingenuous mind though thievish Borrowers make too light of it In theâ—e Straights and Trials men are apt to be too sensible and impatient whâ—â— they and their Families want Food and Rayment and Fire and other Necessâ—ries to the Body and know not which way to get supply when Landlords and Butchers and Bakers and other Creditors are calling for their Debts
Earth and went thither grieving because your bodies suffered here Study more to live by Faith on hope on the unseen promised Glory with Christ and you will patiently endure any Sufferings in the way V. And study better how great a Sin it is to set our own Wills and Desires in a discontented opposition to the wisdom will and providence of God and to make our Wills instead of his as Gods to our selves Doth not a murmuring heart secretly accuse God All accusation of God hath some degree of blasphemy in it For the accuser supposeth that somewhat of God is to be blamed and if you dare not open your mouths to accuse him let not the repineings of your hearts accuse him know how much of Religion and Holiness consisteth in bringing this rebellious self-will to a full resignation submission and conformity to the Will of God Till you can rest in Gods Will you will never have rest VI. And study well how great a Duty it is wholely to Trust God and our blessed Redeemer both with Soul and Body and all we have Is not infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness to be trusted Is not a Saviour that came from Heaven into flesh to save sinners by such incomprehensible ways of Love to be trusted with that which he hath so dearly bought To whom else will you trust Is it your selves or your friends Who is it that hath kept you all your Lives and done all for you that is done Who is it that hath saved all the Souls that are now in Heaven what is our Christianity but a Life of Faith And is this your Faith to distract your selves with cares and troubles if God do not fit all his Providences to your Wills Seek first his Kingdom and Righteousness and he hath promised that all other things shall be added to you and not a hair of your head shall perish for they are all as it were numbred A Sparrow falls not to the ground without his Providence and doth he set less by those that fain would please him Believe God and trust him and your Cares and Fears and Griefs will vanish O that you knew what a mercy and comfort it is for God to make it your Duty to trust him If he had made you no promise this is equal to a promise If he do but bid you Trust him you may be sure he will not deceive your Trust If a faithful friend that is able to relieve you do but bid you trust him for your relief you will not think that he will deceive you Alass I have friends that durst trust me with their Estates and Lives and Souls if they were in my power and would not fear that I would destroy or hurt them that yet cannot trust the God of Infinite Goodness with them though he both command them to trust him and promise that he will never fail them nor forsake them It is the refuge of my Soul that quieteth me in my fears that God my Father and Redeemer hath commanded me to trust him with my Body my health my liberty my estate and when Eternity seemeth strange and dreadful to me that he bids me trust him with my departing Soul Heaven and Earth are upheld and maintained by him and shall I distrust him Obj. But it is none but his Children that he will save Answ True And all are his Children that are truly willing to obey and please him If you are truly willing to be holy and to obey his commanding Will in a godly righteous and sober Life you may boldly rest in his disposing Will and rejoyce in his rewarding and accepting Will for he will pardon all our Infirmities through the Merits and Intercession of Christ VII If you would not be swallowed up with sorrow swallow not the Baits of sinful Pleasure Passions and Dulness and defective Duâ—ies have their degrees of guilt but it is pleasing Sin that is the dangerous and deep wounding Sin O fly from the Baits of Lust and Pride and Ambition and Covetousness and an unruly Appetite to Drink or Meat as you would fly from guilt and grief and terror The more pleasure you have in Sin usually the more sorrow it will bring you and the more you know it to be Sn and Conscience tells you that God is against it and yet you will go on and bear down Conscience the sharplier will Conscience afterward afflict you and the hardlier will it be quieted when it is awakned to Repentance yea when a humbled Soul is pardoned by Grace and believeth that he is pardoned he will not easily forgive himself The remembrance of the wilfulness of sinning and how poor a Bait prevailed with us and what Mercies and Motives we bore down will make us so displeased and angry with our selves and so to loath such naughty hearts as will not admit a speedy or easie reconciliation Yea when we remember that we sinned against knowledge even when we remembred that God did see us and that we offended him it will keep up long doubts of our Sincerity in the Soul and make us afraid lest still we have the same hearts and should again do the same if we had the same Temptations Never look for Joy or Peace as long as you live in wilful and beloved Sin This Thorn must be taken out of your hearts before you will be eased of the pain unless God leave you to a senceless heart and Satan give you a deceitful peace which doth but prepare for greater sorrow VIII But if none of the forementioned Sins cause your Sorrows but they come from the meer perplexities of your mind about Religion or the state of your Souls as fearing Gods wrath for your former sins or doubting of your Sincerity and Salvation then these foregoing Reprofs are not meant to such as you but I shall now lay you down your proper Remedies and that is the Cure of that Ignorance and those Errors which cause your Troubles 1. Many are perplexed about Controversies in Religion while every contending party is confident add hath a great deal to say which to the ignorant seemeth like to Truth and which the Hearer cannot answer and when each party tells them that their way is the only way and threatneth Damnation to them if they turn not to them The Papists say There is no Salvation out of our Church that is to none but the Subjects of the Bishop of Rome The Greeks condemn them and extol their Church and every Party extols their own Yea some will convert them with Fire and Sword and say Be of our Church or lie in Gaol or make their Church it self a Prison by driving in the uncapable and unwilling Among all these how shall the ignorant know what to chuse Answ The Case is sad and yet not so sad as the case of the far greatest part of the world who are quiet in Heathenism or Infidelity or never trouble themselves about Religion but follow the Customs of their Countreys and the
and keep us in a sensible watchful state for just fear is made to preserve us from the hurt and danger feared XXVII He that goeth fearing and trembling to Heaven will there quickly be past all fear and doubts and heaviness for ever XXVIII When Christ for our sins was in his agony and when he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsakâ—n me He was then nevertheless beloved of his Father And he was tempted that he might succor them that are tempted and suffered such derision that he might he a Compationate High-Priest to sufferers XXIX By how much the more the troubles and blasphemous temptations and doubts and fears of a man are grievous displeasing and hateful to him by so much the more he may be assured that they â—hall not condemn him because they are not beloved sins XXX All our troubles are over ruled by Gâ—d and it is far better for us to be at his choise and disposal than our own or our dâ—aâ—est friends and he hath promised that all things shall work together for our good Rom. 8.28 XXXI A delight in God and goodness and a joyful praising frame of soul from the belief of the love of God through Christ is far more to be desired than grief and tears which do but sweep away some dirt that love joy and thankfulness may enter which are the true Evangelical Christian temper and likest to the heavenly state Digest these Truths and they will cure you III. But if Melancholly have got head already there must be besides what is said some other and Proper remedies used and the difficulty is great because the disease makes them self-conceited unreasonable wilful and unruly and they will hardly be perswaded that the disease is in their bodies but only in the souls and will not believe but they have reason for all what they think and do or if they confess the contrary they plead disability and say we can think and do no otheâ—wâ—se then we do But supposing that there is some use of reason left I will give them yet some further Counsel and what they cannot do their friends must help them to their power which I shall add 1. Consider that it should be easie for you in your confounding troubling thoughts to perceive that your understandings are not now so sound and strong as other mens and therefore be not wiiful and self-conceited and think not that your thoughts are righter then theirs but believe wiser men and be ruled by them Answer me this question Do you know any Minister or friend that is wiser than your self If you say no how foolishly proud are you if you say yea then ask the Minister or friend what he thinketh of your condition and believe him and be ruled by him rather then by your crazed self 2. Do you find that your troubles do you more good or hurt Do they make you fitter or unfitter to believe and love God and rejoyce in him and praise him If you feel that they are against all that is good you may be sure that they are so far from the Devils temptations and are pleasing to him and will you cherish or plead for the work of Satan which you find is against yourselves and God 3. Avoid your musings and exercise not your thoughts now too deeply nor too much long Meditation is a duty to some but not to you no more than it is a mans duty to go to Church that hath his leg broken or his foot out of joynt He must rest and ease it till it be set again and strengthened you may live in the faith and fear of God without setting your self to deep disturbing thoughts Those that will not obey this counsel their friends must rouse them from their musings and call them off to something else 4. Therefore you must not be much alone but always in some pleasing cheerful Company solitariness doth but cherish musings Nor must such be long in secret prayer but more in publick prayer with others 5. Let those thoughts which you have be laid out on the most excellent things pore not all on your selves and on your distempered hearts the best may find there much matter of trouble As Milstones wear themselves if they go when they have no Corâ— so do the thoughts of such as think not of better things then their own hearts if you have any power of your own thoughts force them to think most of these four things 1. The infinite goodness of God who is fuller of Love than the Sun is of light 2. Of the unmeasurable Love of Christ in mans Redemption and of the sufficiency of his sacrifice and merits 3. Of the free Covenant and offer of Grace which giveth pardon and life to all that do not prefer the pleasure of sin before it and obstinately refuse it to the last 4. Of the unconceivable Glory and Joy which all the blessed have with Christ and which God hath promised with his Oath and Seal to all that consent to the Covenant of Grace and are willing to be saved and ruled by Christ These thoughts will cure melancholly fears 6. Use not your selves to a complaining talk but talk most of the great mercies of God which you have received Dare you deny them if not they are not worthier of your discourse than your present sufferings let not all men know that you are in your troubles complaining doth but feed them and it discourageth others Open them to none but your secret Councellours and friends use much to speak of the love of God and the riches of Grace and it will divert and sweeten your sowrer thoughts 7. Especially when you pray resolve to spend most of your time in Thanksgiving and Praising God If you cannot do it with the joy that you should yet do it as you can You have not the power of your comforts but have you no power of your tongues say not that you are unfit for thanks and praises unless you had a praising heart and were the Children of God For every man good and bad is bound to Praise God and to be thankful for all that he hath received and to do it as well as he can rather then leave it undone And most Christians want assurance of their Adoption and must they therefore forbear all praise and thanksgiving to God Doing it as you can is the way to be able to do it better Thanksgiving stirreth up thankfulness in the heart but by your objection you may perceive what the Devil driveth at and gets by your melancholly he would turn you off from all thankfulness to God and from the very mention of his Love and goodness in your praises 8. When vexatious or blasphemous thoughts are thrust into your mind by Satan neither give them entertainment nor yet be overmuch troubled at them 1st Use that reason and power that is left you resolutely to cast them out and turn your thoughts to somewhat else do not say I cannot If you
some a Dram of Cremor Tartary in broth will do it in the Morning 4. Sit not down nor walk as soon as you rise in the Morning but stand still upright a quarter of an hour when you are drest and as long after Dinner it helpeth the excrements too descend And if you feel the least possibility go to Stool and make not too much haste away 5. If you have no Rheum or cold windiness of Stomach eat sometimes ten or twelve stewed Prunes and sometimes four or five roasted Pippens half an hour before Dinner 6. Take Chio Turpentine or Venice Turpentine if that cannot be had wash it well and make it into hard Pills with Powder of Epithyme as much as you can get it to take up Let the Pills be small and take a Dram or more or less as you are able to get them down all at a swallow covered in a Spoonful of Syrup of Apples or of Balm or of Mallows a little before a late Supper to work the next morning or Turpentine with Liuqorice powder or of it self in an Egg or any way got down may serve 7. If more be needful make the same Turpentine into Pills with Rubarb powdered or Senna powdered or both together and take it before Supper It goeth down easily in a Spoonful of any pleasant Syrupe But use no more Clysters nor purging things when once the Melancholly is overcome then you needs must for it difuseth nature as to its proper office 8. Their drink is of great moment that unless in cold bodies they take no strong Wines nor Claret but either Ale or good Beer with a little white Wine or Possit drink made but with little Milk and some strong Ale and white-Wine or Posset drink made with Syder Ale and a little white Wine Or take a quart of the juice of Balm with a little ground Ivey and put it into a Vessel of good Ale or Beer of about three or four gallons and drink this at meat Or sometimes some Wormwood Ale but not long But cold dull bodies may drink good strong Beer or Ale that is not hard and fat cold persons may endure Sack The Devil hath another cure for the sad and Melancholly than such as I have here prescribed which is to caste away all belief of the immortality of the soul and the life to come or at least not to think of it and for to take Religion to be a superstitious needless fancy and for to laugh at the threatnings of the Scripture and go to Play-Houses and Cards and Dice and to drink and play away Melancholly Honest Recreations are very good for Melancholly Persons if we could get them to use it but alas this Satanical cure is but like the Witches bargain with the Devil who promiseth them much but payeth them with shame and utter misery The end of that mirth is uncureable sorrow if timely repentance cure not the cause the Garrison of Satan in the hearts of Sinners are strongly kept when they are in peace but when they have fool'd away time and Mercy and Hope dye they must there 's no remedy and to go merrily and unbelievingly to Hell after all Gods calls and Warnings will be no abatement of their torment to go out of the world in the guilt of Sin and to end life before they would know the use of it and to undergo Gods Justice for the mad contempt of Christ and Grace will put a sad end to all their mirth for there is no Peace to the wicked saith my God Isa 48.22 and 57.21 But Christ saith to his mourners Mat. 5.4 Blessed are you that mourn for you shall be comforted and John 16.20 Ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejâ—â—câ— and ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy And Solomon knew that the House of Mourning was better than the house of feasting and that the heart of the wise is in the House of Mourning but the heart of Fools in the house of mirth Eccles 7.2 3 4. But holy joy of Faith and Hope is best of all Quest How we may grow in the Knowledge of Christ SERMON XII 2 PET. III. XVIII And in the Knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Petrus Cruci affigitur capite in terram verso elevatisque in sublime pedibus Plat. in vit Pet. p. 14. THE Apostle Peter when he wrote this Epistle lookt upon himself as a Dying Man the Ministers of the Gospel would preach with more Life if Death were but more within their view His Death which was violent for he ended his days upon a Cross had been foretold by Christ himself accordingly he was perswaded that quickly he should be made to put off his earthly Tabernacle But like a good Shepherd before he departed he expresses his care of the flock which he was to leave behind him He commends the Gospel to them as that which is of the Highest Authority of the Greatest Certainty That their Faith might be firm and that they might persevere in their Obedience The Apostle having lookt as far as the Grave he looks farther he beheld his own and likewise the Worlds Dissolution he plainly foresaw the end of all things and tells them to whom he writes That the Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the night and that the Heavens will pass away with a great noise the Elements melt with fervent heat the Earth and the Works therein will be burnt up and then most rationally infers seeing all these things shall be dissolved Mali sunt intâ—rpâ—â—â—es qui in arguâ—â—s speculationibus multum consumunt operâ— cum Apostolus totam hanc do â—rinam ad piaâ— exâ—â—rtationes accommodâ—t Ca vin ad loc what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and Godliness He speaks of a new Heaven and a new Earth wherein dwells Righteousness Interpreters conclude that this refers not to the substance of the World which will remain but to the qualities of it which will be changed and even at last quâ—te purged out of it Calvin thinks meet here to give a caution against Curiosity and too great Inquisitiveness which will be unprofitable which may prove dangerous and tells us that the scope of the Apostle is mainly to be attended which is to awaken and exhort unto serious Holiness since this World must be purged by Fire all that are Christians should endeavour after a greater measure of Purity and ought to be growing in Grace and in the Knowledg of Christ continually In the words we find 1. A growth and Increase urged the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supposes Imperfection but also that perfection ought to be aspired unto and that the Christians growth does make him truly great 2. This growth must be in the Knowledg of Jesus Christ the Object Christ is high and large unto Infiniteness his fulness his riches unsearchable the Knowledg of this Object must not be meerly notional verbum
John 20.17 Go in my Brethren and say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God A power to spirituallize carnal affections Col. losâ— 3â— â— If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God set your affectiâ—n on things â—bove and not on things upon the earth Finally a power to conâ—â—rm and establish the soul in Grace for Christ being â—â—ised from the â—ead diâ—th no 〈◊〉 death hath no more dominion oâ—er him and they that are once really quickened by him shall never more become dead in sins and 〈◊〉 passes but shall continue faithful to the death and may confidently expect a joyful resurrection Christ is risen as the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 Therefore there will be an Harvest at the end of the world when all the bodies of the Saints that were sown in Corruption shall be raised in Incorruption that were sown in dishonour shall be raised in Glory 6. Growing in the Knowledge of Christ implies greater satisfaction aboue his imputed righteousness The Apostle having spoken of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ presently declares his desire to be found in him not having his own Righteousness but that which is through the Faith of him the righteousness which is of God by Faith Phil. 3.9 This righteousness of Christ is called the righteousness of God Because 't is that which God accepts and upon the account of which he justifies the ungodly moreover Christ himself is Jehovah the true God else his obedience and sufferings would not have been sufficient to have been our justifying Righteousness * Cur insane Sophista assâ—ris dilectionâ—m spem alias virtutes scio has esse insignia Dei dona divinitus mandata per Spiritum sanctum in nostris cordibus excitari ali Scio fidem sine his donis non â—xistere Sed nunc nobis quaestio â—st quid cujusque proprium sit Tenes manu varia semina non autem quaero quae cum quibus conjuncta sint Sed quae cujusque propria virtus Hic aperte dic quid faciat sola fides non cum quibus virtutibus sit conjuncta Sola fides apprehendit promissionem credit promittenti deo deo porrigenti admovet manum et accipit hoc proprium soliuâ— fidei opus est Charitas spes patientia habent alias materias circaquas vâ—rsantur habent alios limites intra quos consistunt non enâ—m complectuntur promissionem sed mandata exequuntur Luther Tom. 2. in Gen. p. 57. a. This Righteousness is said to be imputed and imputed by the Lord himself and that without works and this Doctrine was preached in the Old Testament by David as well as in the New by the Apostle Paul Rom. 4.6 Nay as Christ is called the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 So Jerusalem the Church is called after her Husbands Name the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 33.16 to shew the reality of the imputation of this righteousness and the real and blessed benefits that follow upon it T is by this righteousness applyed by Faith that we are justifyed from all our Transgressions of the Law and from our sins against the Gospel That guilt which we have contracted by our impenitency and unbelief which are sins against the Gospel can be removed out of Gods sight only by the righteousness by the blood and death of his Son All Justification therefore before God whether our sins have been against the first or the second Covenant is purely meerly by this righteousness of Jesus Christ whereof Faith is medium applicationis a means to apply Oh the compleatness and perfection of this Righteousness of Christ there is no need of any addition He is called the Sun of Righteousness and therefore in the business of Justification all other righteousness should vanish as the Stars do at the Sun rising Let Satan rage let Rome deride and reproach this Article of imputed righteousness must stand or the Church will fall And the better Christ is known the more confidently shall we own his righteousness 7. Growing in the Knowledg of Christ implies a more constant and fiducial eying of his Intercession and the pity and compassions of him that intercedes Believers should better know this Friend and Advocate in the Court of Heaven who always appears for them there He presents to his Father what he did and suffered upon Earth and how effectual is this on the Churches behalf Though the head be in Heaven yet he is mindful of his Members on Earth and is ready to plead for them here is the ground of boldness in coming to the Throne of Grace for we have a great high Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God Heb. 4.14 16. Here is the reason why the Saints Prayers are so mighty and prevalent they are backt with the Intercession of Christ nay 't is upon this that the Apostle concludes believers Salvation to the uttermost Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever lives to make Intercession for them 8. Growing in the knowledg of Christ implies being better acquainted with his great Power and continual presence with his Church which is so nearly related to Him Behold All Power is given to him both in Heaven and Earth at his Name every knee does bow and every tongue if it will speak truth must confess that Christ is Lord. He is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords The mightiest Monarchs are more under his Power then their meanest Slaves are under theirs He has all the reprobate Angels in a Chain the Key of Hell is in his hand he commands all there and in Heaven the elect Angels are his Ministers to fulfil his pleasure He is indeed exalted far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this World but also in that which is to come Eph. 1 21. Now this Lord who is so powerful has assured his Church which is his Spouse nay his Body that he will be with her always to the end of the world Mat. 28. ult The Church therefore in spight of Earth and Hell shall last while the world lasts Let fear give way and Faith increase Believers may contemn their proudest adversaries See Zions carriage towards Sennacherib the great King of Assyria Esa 37 22. The Virgin Daughter of Sion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn the Daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at ther. 9. Growing in the knowledg of Christ implies a better understanding him as Mediatour of the new Covenant so he is called Heb. 12 23. On this Covenant pardoning mercy renewing grace and eternal glory are promised Earth and Heaven the Creature and the Creator himself by himself are made over to Believers Now you must know that
memory Our Salvation in some sort depends upon it For without the Gospel no Salvation without Faith no benefit by the Gospel and without Hearing and Retaining what we hear no saving Faith 2. By way of Exception in the end of the Verse unless ye have believed in vain your Hearing is in vain and your Believing is in vain if ye do not stedfastly cleave to the Gospel and to this material Doctrine of it the RESURRECTION and keep in Memory what I have preached unto you concerning it The Lesson then that we may learn from hence is this viz. Doctrine If mâ—n would be saved by the Gospel they must keep in memory what is preached unto them And under this Proposition I am to handle the Causes and Cure of a bad Memory or the Hindrances and Helps of a good Memory in Spiritual Things And in order hereunto I shall shew 1. What the Memory is 2. The Excellency of this Faculty especially in its primitive State 3. The Corruption of it 4. The Restauration or Sanctification of it 5. The Ordinary Impediments thereof 6. The proper Helps unto it 7. Answer some Cavils of the wilful and some of the Doubts of the weak about it And 8. make Application of all And the good Lord help us all now to remember what is preached to us Memoria est animus dicimus enim vide ut illud in animo habeas cum obliviscimur dicimus non fuit in animo Aug. Confes l. 10. c. 14. Non est in Homine memoria distincta ab intellectu Cajet I. What the Memory is it is that Faculty of the Soul wherein are Reserved the things we know Though it belong to the Sensitive Soul and so is in some Measure common to Brutes with Men yet I shall handle as it is seated in the rational Soul where it is the Storehouse not only of whatsoever is brought in by the Eye and Ear which are the two Senses of Discipline but also of what is imparted by the understanding For the Memory is neerly allyed to the Understanding if it be not the same as many think It s Office however is 1. to Receive such things as are presented to it wherein it is fitly enough compared to soft Wax which is prepared to receive any Impression made upon it 2. To Retain and preserve what is laid up therein wherefore it is oft call'd by the Antients Venter animae the belly of the Soul Aug. to 10. p. 509. There is a little Kingdom in the Soul of Man The King or rather Vice-Roy is the Will the Privy Counsel is the Understanding the Judge is the Conscience and the Great Treasurer is the Memory 3. To Recall or recover what was out of mind Quorum certè recordamur eorum est memoria quicum penitùs obliti sumus eorum oblivio quorum partim meminimus partim obliti sumus eorum est reminis centia Zanch. tom 3. l. 2. c. 5. And this is proper to Mankind and is not in Brutes For it proceeds from the motion of the Images of things in the brain by the activity of Reason which considering the time place persons and such like circumstances of things by degrees recovers what was out of the way for as things themselves so the phantasms of things are connexed together and by one we recover another And this intellectual memory is inseparable from the rational Soul in that the Soul undoubtedly remembers when it is quite separate from the body Luke 16.25 But Abraham said to the Rich man in torments Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things II. The Excellence of this Faculty the Soul of man is a Subject of wonder and nothing more wonderful in it than the Memory Quicquid sit jurarem esse divinum Cic. that such innumerable Images of things should be lodged in a finite Faculty and that what seems to be utterly lost in it should be fully recovered wherefore it is justly deemed by the learned a miraculous Mercy Zanch. Memoria nobis est surdorum auditio visio caecorum Plut. Omnium rerum thesaurus custos est memoria nec enarrari potest tam grandis est ejus perplexitas anima ipsa est Aug. de Epic. anim Plin. Hist l. 7. cap. 24. Casc Rhodig l. 2. cap. 10. Tantum scimus quantum memoria tenemus Erasm It hath power to make things that are in themselves absent and past to be present By the help of Memory we retain what we have read in Books and what we have heard in Sermons or other Discourse the Examples of Gods Mercies and Judgments for our Incouragement and Warning All these and ten thousand things more are laid up in the Memory which is the Souls Treasury so that the Soul would be a poor Soul without the Memory we may see the worth of this Faculty by those that are depriv'd of the use of it that can remember no body nor the last question that they did ask Thus we read of Messala Corvinus an Orator that forgat even his own Name and of Atticus the Son of Herod the Sophist that could never remember the Names of the Letters of the Alphabet till his Father was fain to name four and twenty Boys by the Names of the several Letters that he might retain them All a mans past life would be lost if his Memory were lost so are the comforts of the Soul lost so far as they are forgotten So that the Soul would be poor in Knowledge poor in gifts poor in comfort without the Memory Especially this Faculty was happy in its primitive State for then its Reception was easy the Impressions firm the Recovery if any use of it ready then 't was like a clear Chrystal Glass wherein all that was contained in it was easy seen now it is crackt and muddy then 't was like an iron Chest now like a Bag with Holes It had the Neighbourhood of a clear Understanding and of an holy Will and Adam could not but remember his Creator in those Days of his Youth III. The Corruption or Depravation of this Faculty For by the Fall of Adam each Faculty of the Soul was woefully deprav'd when a curious Watch falls to the ground though it be sorely maimed yet some wheel or pin may have received no hurt but here it is otherwise Our Fall was like that of some rare Glass which thereby is shatter'd all to pieces there remains all the Materials of it so doth Reason and Memory with the Soul but they must be melted and cast a new before they be good for any thing The Corruption of the Memory stands 1. In remembring those things which we should forget As 1. Things unprofitable there are a thousand needless and useless matters that fill the memory and keep out better things Like as if one should croud wast Paper Rags and broken Pitchers into a Cabinet which should be stor'd with things of value There is in all
our principal perfections in Heaven and Earth These he recommends by the most affectionate and obliging the most warming melting Perswasives the superlative Love of God to us and our Communion with the Saints in Nature and Grace In the former Verse the Apostle argues for the reality of the effect as an evidence of the Cause Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ that is the Saviour of the world foretold to the Prophets and expresses the truth of that Faith in a sutable conversation is born of God and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him Grace is not less powerful in producing tender reciprocal affections between the off-spring of the same heavenly Father than the subordinate endearments of Nature The pretence is vain of Love to God without loving his regenerate Children And in the Text he argues from the knowledge of the Cause to the discovering of the sincerity of the Effect By this we know that we love the Children of God with a holy affection if we love God and keep his Commandments There is but one difficulty to be removed that the force of the Apostles reasoning may appear 't is this a Medium to prove a thing must be of clearer evidence than what is concluded by it Now though a demonstration from the Cause be more noble and scientifical yet that which is drawn from the Effect is more near to Sence and more discernable And this is verified in the Instance before us for the Love of God who is absolutely spiritual in his Being and Excellencies doth not with that sensible fervour affect and passionately transport us as Love to his Children with whom we visibly converse and who are receptive of the most sensible testimonies of our Affection Accordingly the Apostle argues He that loves not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen As the Motives to love our Brethren from our conjunction in Nature and familiar Conversation are more capable to allure our Affections and more sensibly strike the Heart than the invisible Deity who is infinitely above us by the same reason we may more easily judge of the truth of our Love to them than of our Love to God To this the Answer is clear the Apostle doth not speak of the Love of God as a still silent contemplative affection confined to to the superior Faculty of the Soul but as a burning shining affection like Fire * Lumine qui semper proditur ipso suo active and declarative of it self in those effects that necessarily flow from it that is voluntary obedience to his Commands and thus it becomes manifest to the renewed Conscience and is a most convincing proof of the sincerity of our Love to the Saints The Text being cleared affords this Doctrine Doctrine The sincerity of our Love to the Children of God is certainly discovered by our Love to God and Obedience to his Commands For the Illustration and Proof of the Point I will briefly shew 1. Who are described by this Title the Children of God 2. What is included in our Love to them 3. What the Love of God is and the obedience that flows from it 4. How from love to God and willing obedience to his Commands we may convincingly know the sincerity of our love to his Children To explain the first we must consider that this Title the Children of God is given upon several accounts 1. By Creation the Angels are called the Sons of God and Men his off-spring The reason of the Title is 1. The manner of their production by his immediate Power Thus he is stiled The Father of Spirits in distinction from the Fathers of the Flesh For though the conception and forming of the Body be the work of his secret Providence yet 't is by the hand of Nature the Parents concurring as the second Causes of it but the production of the Soul is to be entirely ascribed to his power without the intervention of any Creature 2. In their spiritual immortal Nature and the intellectual operations flowing from it there is an Image and resemblance of God from whence this Title is common to all reasonable Creatures and peculiar to them for though the Matter may be ordered and fashioned by the hand of God into a figure of admirable beauty yet 't is not capable of his likeness and image so that neither the Lights of Heaven nor the Beasts and plants of the Earth are called his Children II. By external Calling and Covenant some are denominated his Children for by this Evangelical Constitution God is pleased to receive Believers into a filial relation Indeed where there is not a cordial consent and subjection to the Terms of the Covenant visible Profession and the receiving the external Seals of it will be of no advantage but the publick serious owning of the Gâ—â—pel entitles a person to be of the Society of Christians and filius and foederatus are all one III. There is a Sonship that arises from supernatural regeneration that is the communicating a new nature to man whereby there is a holy and blessed change in the directive and commanding Faculties the Understanding and Will and in the Affections and consequently in the whole Life This is wrought by the efficacy of the Word and Spirit and is called by our Saviour Regeneration because it is not our original carnal Birth but a second and celestial 'T is with the new man in Grace as with an Infant in Nature that has the essential parts that compose a man a Soul endowed with all its faculties a Body with all its organs and parts but not in the vigor of mature age Thus renewed Holiness in a Christian is compleat and entire in its parts but not in perfection of degrees there is a universal inclination to all that is holy just and good and a universal aversion from sin though the executive power be not equal And regenerate Christians are truly called the Children of God for as in natural generation there is communicated a Principle of Life and sutable Operations from whence the Title and Relation of a Father arises so in Regeneration there are derived such holy and heavenly qualities to the Soul as constitute a Divine Nature in man whereby he is partaker of the Life and Likeness of God himself from hence he is a Child of God and has an interest and propriety in his Favour Power and Promises and all the good that flows from them and a Title to the eternal inheritance Secondly I will shew what is included in our Love to the Children of God 1 Pet. 1.22 1. The Principle of this Love is Divine The Soul is purified through the Spirit to unfeigned Love of the Brethren Naturally the Judgment is corrupted and the Will depraved that carnal respects either of Profit or Pleasure are the quick and sensible incitements of Love and till the Soul be cured of the sensual contagion the
comprizes all the rest is to die for the Brethren and this we ought to do when the Honour of God and Welfare of the Church require it Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren If Christians thus loved one another the Church on Earth would be a lively Image of the blessed Society above Thirdly The Love of God and Obedience to his Commands the Product of it are to be considered 1. The Love of God has its Rise from the consideration of his amiable Excellencies that render him infinitely worthy of the highest Affection and from the blessed Benefits of Creation Preservation Redemption and Glorification that we expect from his pure Goodness and Mercy This is the most clear and essential Character of a Child of God and most peculiarly distinguishes him from unrenewed men however accomplished by Civil Virtues Now the internal exercise of Love to God in the valuation of his Favour as that which is better than Life in earnest desires of Communion with him in ravishing Joy in the testimonies and assurance of his Love in mourning for what is displeasing to him is in the secret of the Soul but with this there is inseparably joyn'd a true and visible declaration of our Love in obedienc◠〈◊〉 him 1 Joh. 3.16 This is the Love of God the most real and undeceitful Expression of it that we keep his Commandments The Obedience that springs from Love is 1. Uniform and universal for that two principal and necessary Effects of Love are an ardent desire to please God and an equal care not to displease him in any thing Now the Law of God is the signification of his sovereign and holy will and the doing of it is very pleasing to him both upon the account of the subjection of the Creature to his authority and conformity to his purity he declares that Obedience is better than the most costly Sacrifice There is an absolute peremptory repugnance between love to him and despising his Commands And from thence it follows that Love inclines the Soul to obey all Gods Precepts not only those of easie observation but the most difficult and distastful to the carnal Appetites for the Authority of God runs through all and his Holiness shines in all Servile Fear is a partial Principle and causes an unequal respect to the divine Law it restrains from sins of greater guilt from such disorderly and dissolute actions at which Conscience takes fire but others are indulged it excites to good works of some kind but neglects other that are equally necessary But Love regards the whole Law in all its Injunctions and Prohibitions not meerly to please our selves that we may not feel the stings of an accusing Conscience but to please the Lawgiver 2. The Obedience of Love is accurate and this is a natural Consequence of the former The divine Law is a Rule not only for our outward Conversation but of our Thoughts and Affections of all the interior workings of the Soul that are open before God Thus it requires religious Service not only in the external performance but those reverent holy Affections those pure Aims wherein the Life and Beauty the Spirit and true Value of divine Worship consists Thus it commands the Duties of Equity Charity and Sobriety all Civil and Natural Duties for divine Ends to please and glorifie God Heb. 13.16 It forbids all kinds and degrees of Sin not only gross Acts but the inward Lustings that have a tendency to them Now the Love of God is the Principle of spiritual Perfection 'T is called the fulfilling of the Law 1 Cor. 10.31 not only as it is a comprehensive Grace but in that it draws forth all the active Powers of the Soul to obey it in an exact manner This causes a tender sence of our failings and a severe circumspection over our ways that nothing be allowed that is displeasing to the divine Eyes Since the most excellent Saints are Gods chiefest Favourites Love makes the holy Soul to strive to be like him in all possible degrees of Purity Thus St. Paul in whom the Love of Christ was the imperial commanding Affection declares Phil. 3.10 11. it is zealous endeavour to be conformable to the Death of Christ in dying to Sin as Christ died for sin and that he might attain to the Resurrection of the dead that perfection of Holiness that is in the immortal state 1 John 5.3 3. The Obedience of Love is chosen and pleasant This is the Love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous Those that are strangers to this heavenly Affection imagine that a solicitous diligent respect to all Gods Precepts is a melancholy Task but it is delightful to the Saints for Obedience is the continual exercise of Love to God the Paradise of holy Souls The mortification of the carnal Appetites and the restraint from such Objects as powerfully insinuate and engage carnal Hearts is with a freer complacency to a Saint than a sensual fruition of them The sharpest sufferings for Religion are allayed nay sweetned to a Saint from the Love of God that is then most sincerely strongly and purely acted The Apostle more rejoyced in sharp Tribulations for Christ's sake than in divine Revelations 4. The Love of God produces persevering Obedience Servile Compliance is inconstant A Slave hates the Duties he performs and loves the Sins he dares not commit therefore as soon as he is releas'd from his Chain and his Fear his Obedience ceases but a Son is perfectly pleas'd with his Fathers Will and the Tenor of his Life is correspondent to it He that is press'd by fear to serve in an Army will desert his Colours the first opportunity but a Volunteer that for the love of Valour and of his Country lists himself will continue in the Service The motion that is caused by outward poises will cease when the weights are down but that which proceeds from an inward principle of Life is continual and such is the Love of God planted in the breast of a Christian Fourthly We are to prove that from the Love of God and willing Obedience to his Commands we may convincingly know the sincerity of our Love to his Children There is an inseparable Union between these two Graces and the one arises out of the other Godliness and brotherly kindness are joyned by the Apostle And it will be evident that where this Affection of Love to the Saints is sincere and gracious there will be an entire and joyful respect to the Law of God by considering the Reasons and Motives of it 1. The Divine Command requires this Love These things I command you saith our Saviour that ye love one another This Precept so often repeated and powerfully re-inforc'd by him made so deep an impression on the first Christians that they had one Heart and one Soul and their Estates
prevent and cure Spiritual Pride SERMON XVI 2. COR. XII VII And least I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations there was given me a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me least I should be exalted above measure THE case that calls for resolution and falls under our present consideration is what we must do to prevent and cure spiritual pride Pride is said to be Spiritual in a double respect 1. In respect of its Object when that is something which is spiritual as gifts graces priviledges c. for it may be differenc't from fleshly pride which is conversant about more carnal objects as strength beauty riches honours or the like 2. In respect of its Subject which is the heart or spirit of man there is its proper Seat And so all pride whatsoever be the object of it may be said to be spiritual To prevent and cure are terms that may be thus differenc't the former respects more especially the actings of pride the latter the habit of it in the heart Pride is an evil and a sore disease some call it the tumor or timpany of the Soul it is dangerous to all it is deadly to some The scope of this discourse is to prescribe proper remedies against it Mâ—rc 1 23. and 5 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is a man acted or agitated by a Diabolical Spirit These words of the Apostle Paul are the fundation upon which I shall build He speaks a little before of a man in Christ that had a wonderful Viâ—ion or revelation from God Bâ— a man in Christ he means either a man united to him or else a man that was extraordinarily acted and transported by him Some expound it by that passage in Revel 1 10. where the Apostle John says he was in the Spirit on the Lords Day That is he was extraordinarily acted and transported by the Spirit Farther by this man in Christ the Apostle means himself because he is speaking of his own priviledges and enjoyments he chuseth to speak in the person of another A good man is always backward to speak any thing in his own praise he knows it savours of pride and folly that it should come out of another mans lips and not his own therefore he never doth it but when 't is necessary for the hand of God and the vindication of his truth And as he is always backward to it for he is ever modest and self-denying in it therefore the Apostle speaks of another Person when he means himself I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago Some think the Apostle had this rapture or revelation he here speaks of at the time of his first conversion then he lay 3 days and 3 nights in a kind of extasy and did neither eat nor drink Several at their first conversion to God have found such raptures and ravishments as they have had cause to remember all their life after and such as they have not experienc't again during the whole course of their lives Others for the good reasons to long here to insert are of opinion that the time of this revelation was after his conversion yea several Years after it During the time of this extraordinary Vision or revelation he was caught up to the third Heaven for he calls it as some think with respect to the Heavens under it The air in which we breath is the first therefore the Fowls of the air are call'd thâ— Fowls of Heaven the Starry Firmament is the second and the place of the Holy Angels and Glorify'd Spirits is the third Others don't like this distribution of the Heavens and indeed we can speak of them but conjecturally This third Heaven which the Apostle was caught up to he calls Paradice v. 4. for he doth not speak of two raptures but of one and the same only he doubles it to shew the certainty of it Heaven is elsewhere in Scripture call'd Paradice in allusion to that excellent and diligent Garden that Adam was put into before his Fall Our Saviour said to the repenting thief thou shalt be with me in Paradice The way and manner of this rapture he possesseth himself to be ignorant off Hence he says it that whether he was in the body or out of the body he could not tell That is whether he was caught up Soul and Body together or in Soul only The Soul is not so ty'd to the body but that for a season it may be separated from it and afterwards return again to it While he was in this condition he heard unspeakable words such as he neither could nor might utter it was not lawful for him possibly he was forbidden God saw not all that meet to be communicated to a world of Sinners which was allured and indulged to this one eminent Saint This divine rapture or revelation was like to be an occasion of self Exaltation to the Apostle he was in danger of being exalted above measure by means thereof This he mentions twice that it might be the better minded It is the nature of pride as it is of Fire to turn all things into fewel to feed its self The holyest Saint on Earth is not secure from spiritual pride if one should come down from the third Heaven and bring this imperfect nature with him he were still in danger of this Sin To prevent this Sin in the Apostle least he should be exalted in himself as he had been exalted by God there was given him a thorn in the Flesh this prick't the bladder of pride and kept him from being trust up through the abundance of revelations By whom was this given him By God himself it was by his wise ordination or permission The love of God to his People is wonderfully seen in his preventing mercies particularly in his preventing their falling into Sins as here by putting a thorn into Pauls Flesh he prevents the pride of his heart This is thâ—â— mercy for which David prays and for which he also prayseth God T is as great a mercy to prevent our committing of Sin as it is to pardon it when it is committed But what was this thorn in the Flesh which was given the Apostle to prevent spiritual pride and self exaltation Various are the conjectures of Interpreters about it The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but this once used in all the New Testament it signifies a sharp stake upon which malefactors of old were fastned when executed As also a pricking thorn that runs into a mans flesh or foot as he goes through woods and thickets Some think that this thorn in the flesh was a fleshly lust some evil concupiscence that the Apostle felt to be active or stirring in him Others think that we are thereby to understand some sore temptation of Satan a blasphemous or Atheistical suggestion or injection this is a pinching thorn indeed and hath made many of the Souls of Gods People to bleed Others understand it
though 't is far from giving any true rest to the mind of man that being the peculiar property of God and an interest in him to do yet does it free a man much from those disquiets before mentioned for though a man in this estate may be supposed to have the same disturbing and devouring Lusts yet are they kept much under a restraint not having that fewel to feed them which Riches afford and which are of that nature that the more they are used the more insatiable they are in their cravings 2. A middle worldly Estate to a man as such is better than either of the Extreams with respect to the Body and that as it is a condition that hath a greater tendency to its health and preventing manifold Diseases and Infirmities to which it is liable whilst in this lower world 'T is true all Sicknesses and bodily Distempers that are either afflictive or destructive to mans Body are at the dispose of God in whose hands are all our times He kills and he makes alive he wounds Deut. 32 39. and he heals He says to them as the Centurion to his Servants go and they go come and they come do this and they do it Mat. 8.9 So that our Lives and Healths have no absolute dependance upon secondary Causes yet it must be acknowledged in the ordinary way of his Proâ—idence he dispences the weal or wo of the Body by external means Now 1. As to Poverty how many visible hazards do those that are poor run as to their Health and how many ways do bodily Infirmities beset them Sometimes through the want of these Creature-accommodations that God in the ordinary way of his Providence hath made necessary for the upholding of the Fabrick of Nature and repairing its dilapidations to which it is incident for want of supplies Little do you think who sit down at your well spred Tables how many of your poor Brethren would be glad of your Fragments whose Lamp of Life dwindles away sometimes for want of Oyl to feed it besides excessive Heats and Colds contracted by their Labours and Pains that they are at to fill their bellies and cover their nakedness as also unwholsom Diet and many times not enough of that neither 2. As to Riches these are so far from preventing these bodily Infirmities that commonly they hasten and heighten them proving temptations to those who are destitute of Gods Grace to sloth and idleness upon the account of which the Body like a standing Pool contracts filth and mud so the Body gross humors to its great prejudice especially hereby is occasioned Intemperance and Excess in eating and drinking which proves not only pernicious to the Soul but also destructive to the â—ealth of the Body as Erasmus speaking of the Epicures of his days makes this Remark Dum invitant ad coenam efferunt ad sepulchrum How many fresh instances might be produced wherein it might appear that many have so long drank Healths to others that they have drank away their own whilst a middle worldly condition tends to the preventing many of those evils by which the Body as well as the Soul suffers But I hasten to the second Head of Arguments Secondly A middle worldly condition is most eligible to a man as a Christian and as designing the happiness of the other world as it is most subservient to the living to God here and living with God hereafter This my Brethren if we be in our right minds is and ought to be the main scope and business of our Lives Hence that worldly condition that may rationally be judged most conducing to that end is doubtless the most eligible Now that a middle state considering our present Circumstances viz. those internal depravities with which we are infected is the most desirable I shall endeavour to evince This world and the time allotted for our abode here is the time for our acquainting our selves with God Job 22.21 that we may be at peace and that all good may come unto us all the good that God hath promised and that Christ hath purchased Now that condition that may afford most helps and fewest hinderances to this great Business is certainly the most eligible condition I have only this to premise by way of Caution that there is no condition in the world so well circumstantiated that can be so dispositive of us to our future happiness but that without the Almighty and out-stretched Arm of Sovereign Grace we shall still be left in a lost and perishing condition yet we do affirm there are some conditions in the world that though they are not in the least auxiliary to God who worketh in us to will and to do Phil. 2.13 and that of his good pleasure yet are they if wisely managed advantageous unto us for our improving those helps by which God is pleased to communicate his Grace to us In this respect the Apostle prefers a single before a married condition He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord how he may please the Lord 1 Cor. 7 32 33 34. but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world how be may please his Wife c. By which the Apostle shews the advantage in some respects that the single person hath beyond those who are married in the Service of God so also a middle condition seems to have the advantage of both the forementioned Extreams and this will be more evident if we consider that there are three things prerequisite and necessarily to be minded by us in order to our future happiness 1. A right and orderly entring into the way of salvation by the door of sound Regeneration and Conversion 2. A Progress in that way by a holy and heavenly Conversation 3. A Perseverance in that way of Faith and Holiness to the end against all internal or external opposition Now a middle worldly condition appears both from Rational and Scripture accounts to be the most subservient unto all these 1. Such as ever truly design to enter into Heaven when they die must get into the way that leads thither whilst they live Mat 7.13 14. Now every way hath an entrance that leads to it The entrance into this way is by the Door of Regeneration So our blessed Saviour plainly tells us John 3.3 Verily verily I say unto you except a man he born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God And what this new Birth imports you may find v. 5. Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God To which I might add many parallel places Mat. 18.3 Except ye be converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven No Conversion no Salvation Now that Condition in the world from whence results the fewest Hinderances and the most Helps for our entrance in at this strait Gate is doubtless the most eligible and
this a middle state doth Beloved Conversion and Regeneration is a mighty work whatever the world think of it The Mind must be enlightned the Conscience must be awakened the Will must be inclined the Affections must be spiritualized and the Grace by which all these Operations must be effected as it comes from God so is it ordinarily conveyed to us through those outward Means which he hath instituted for that end on which God requires our constant and conscientious Attendance such as Prayer Reading and Hearing the Word read and preached These are the Posts of Wisdoms Gates where we are bound to wait Prov. 8.34 These are the healing Waters at which we must lie if ever we expect the Cure of our Soul-maladies In a word these are the ordinary Means by which God conveys his Spirit that unites the Soul to Christ Gal. 3.3 and thence communicateth the first formations of Spiritual Life Now a middle worldly Estate is the most subservient considering our corrupt state both as to our attendance upon and diligent improvement of these external Helps in order to Gods conveying his Grace to us 1. Take a man under that Extream of Poverty one that is forced either to beg or earn his daily Bread before he eateth it and withal consider him as in his natural state dead in sins and trespasses and without any serious sense of the inestimable worth of his Soul or weight of Eternity Alas how easily are such from the sense of their poverty drawn either to a total neglect of the â—eans of Grace or to a careless superficial attendance upon it Does not experience tell us that the pinching necessities of the Body easily induce them to conclude that they must have Bread for themselves and Families What say they we must live we must not starve but consider not in the mean time that there is a far greater Must for their Souls that they must have their sins pardoned that God must be reconciled that they must have Christ and his Grace and that their Natures must be changed and their sins subdued or else verily they must to Hell where they will not be allowed so much as a drop of water to cool their Tongues Luke 16.24 and in order to this that they must find time to pray read and hear Gods Word and they must meditate and take pains to acquaint themselves with the matters of their Souls But alas the feeling of their bodily wants have got a prepossession and stand as a strong guard to keep out every such serious thought from entring into their minds and if at any time they thrust in upon them how quickly are they ejected and the poor man is apt to think if he doth not speak it out that whatever may be the duty of his Betters as he calls them yet he presumes he may be excused and that he hath a sufficient Apology to live without minding suâ—h matters having so many worldly Cares and Concerns upon him These and such like are too frequently the prevailing Suggestions of those who are under that Extream of Poverty Well but then 2. Let us consider the other Extream and look to the Rich and here let me use the words of the Prophet Jer. 5.4 5. Therefore I said surely these are poor they are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God I will get me unto the great men and will speak unto them for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God But alas see what Return is made upon this Inquest Why he tells you These have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bond Poverty hath many hinderances but Riches through the horrible sensuality of mans Heart hath more as our Saviour intimates Verily I say unto you Mat. 19.23 24. that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of heaven And again I say unto you it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven not that Riches in themselves are any impediment to true and serious Godliness but only by reason of the depravity of our Natures that cleave so fast and are so closely wedded to and lifted up with things here below Vermis divitiarum est Superbia Aug. Pride being the Worm that naturally breedeth in Riches 'T is a hard matter to be high and humble Great and rich men are easily drawn to a neglect and contempt of the Means of Grace and to imagine that it is beneath their grandeur to have the worship of God in their Families or at best Difficile est ut praesentibus bonis quis fruatur futuris ut de Jdeliciis ad delicias transeat Hier. that it is more proper for their Chaplains to manage than themselves these are too great to be dealt plainly with about the Concerns of their Souls and are apt to think Nathan was a little too bold when he said to King David Thou art the man 2 Sam. 12.7 I must profess when my thoughts have been taken up with such Objects they have been so far from being envied by me that of all conditions of men in the world I have looked upon them as the Objects of the greatest pity I mean such great and rich ones whose wealth and honour is imployed as a shield to defend them against the faithful monitions of such as are lovers of and well wishers to immortal Souls Hereby their lusts are secured and their Souls exposed to eminent danger Besides how open do they lie to such Soul-destroying Opinions viz. that there neither is nor need any other than an external baptismal Regeneration and that we are all Christians good enough by our natural and no necessity of any new Birth and that a little outward Reformation will secure us though we never mind heart-renovation and if men will not preach and prophesie such smooth things they shall not by their consent prophesie at all like those of old who say to the Seers see not Isa 30.10 and to the Prophets prophesie not speak unto us smooth things prophesie deceits In a word when a sinner is converted and brought home to God the Heart must be search'd and ransack'd his false hopes and sandy foundations upon which they are built must be batter'd down Pride and Self-confidence must be brought low and a man must become as a little Child Now though our hearts are all of us opposite to this work Mat. 18.3 and nothing short of omnipotent Grace can thus bring the heart to stoop that it may enter in at this strait Gate that leads to life yet Greatness and Riches in the world through the corruption of mans Nature does much magnifie the opposition that is made against God on this account but now a middle state in the world is exempted from these additional hinderances Neither hath the Flesh nor the Devil that advantage to
the more we are in the dark the more at a loss yea the more perplexed and confused are our Apprehensions This the Transcendency of the Doctrines and Providences of God does evince which is enough to shew how humble we ought to be when we discourse of God and how modest in our Enquiries into his Doctrines and Providences Content thy self therefore with what is clearly revealed and leave what is hid and above thee unto God Be not thou so bold as to measure the boundless Mysteries of God by thy narrow confined Understanding neither do thou presume to reject what thou canst not comprehend What is of God is above thee for God is God he is cloathâ—â— with Honour and Majesty and with that Light which is inaccessible We ought therefore to be modest when we speak of the unsearchable Doctrines and Providences of God for in them we see enough to admire but can never comprehend and when we have spent all our time to find out God and the Infinity of his Being the Mystery of the Trinity the Mode of his Workings or Operations the depth of his Contrivances about the accomplishing fallen mans Salvation and all the great Counsels of God and the Intricacy of his Providences we must come to this Close with the Apostle O! the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out Quest How ought we to do our duty towards others tho they do not theirs towards us SERMON XIX ROM XII 21. Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good WHEN God first made the Heavens and the Earth Gen. 31.1 and all the Host of them looking back upon his Work as taking delight in it He saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good There was an excellent order and sweet harmony every where all the Creatures above and below making then but one Host Gen. 2.1 did conspire to glorifie their Creator and be beneficial one to another So that if man had stood in his integrity the Earth would have been a kind of Heaven to him but when he put forth his hand to take and eat of the tree of knowledg of good and evil which alone of all the great Variety was forbidden him an inundation of sin and misery broke in upon him and all his Posterity For from that one sin of his there sprung in a little time a far greater number of sins than persons out of his loins one sin still begetting another and that another till in a while the earth was filled with violence Gen. 6.11 God not willing to leave things in this woful state designed a Renovation by a Second Adam a Reconciler one that should be our peace both with God and one another that there might be peace above and peace below restored again There were two Songs sung to this purpose the one at Christs coming into the World the other as he was about to depart out of it the former by a multitude of the Heavenly Host saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace the latter by the whole multitude of the Disciples saying Peace in heaven and glory in the highest Luke 2.14 and 29.38 The subordinate means of Reconciliation is the Gospel called the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.19 Eph. 6.15 and the Gospel of peace This is the great Engine in the hand of God to bring men powerfully yet sweetly to God and one another There are no Arguments so powerful to perswade to holiness towards God and righteousness towards men as those drawn from Gospel-Grace The Grace of God which bringeth salvation will teach a man those lessons Tit. 2.11 12. which can never be truly learned otherwise To live soberly righteously and godly Therefore our Apostle like a wise Master-builder in his Epistles usually as may be seen particularly in those to the Ephesians and Colossians lays a good Foundation for Gospel-obedience in the Grace thereof He first sets forth the great mystery of Redemption by Jesus Christ and the Grace of God therein and then concludes with exhortation to all duties both to God and Man from the consideration thereof He doth the like here in this to the Romans For having in the foregoing part of the Epistle convinced both Jew and Gentile and concluded all under sin and shewed the only way to Justification to be by the Grace of God through Jesus Christ he comes in this and the following Chapters to engage them to their duty both to God and Man See how he doth it ver 1. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service Your bodies that is your selves souls and bodies the body being put by a Synecdoche for the whole man He expresseth both elsewhere as due to God upon the account of redeeming-love 1 Cor. 6.20 Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods He exhorts them to many excellent duties in this Chapter upon all which the word therefore ver 1. hath a powerful influence Altho the duty here exhorted to in the last Verse be so high that it is not easie to reach unto it viz. not to be overcome of evil but overcome evil with good yet the consideration of the mercies of God mentioned above will make this appear to be but a reasonable service The point of Doctrine from this Text is Doct. That every Christian should not only take heed that he be not overcome of evil but endeavour what in him lieth to overcome evil with good It divides it self into Two Branches 1. Every Christian should take heed that he be not overcome of evil 2. Every Christian ought to endeavour what in him lieth to overcome evil with good We shall speak a little to each of these in order and make the Application of both together which done you will see How we ought to do our duty towards others tho they do not theirs towards us I begin with the first 1. Bran. Every Christiaa should take heed that he be not overcome of evil By evil understand any unkind or injurious dealing from others which may be 1. By detaining or withdrawing from us the love or the fruits thereos which by the will of God are due to us either as men or men standing in such or such a special Relation to them Or 2. By speaking or doing that to us or against us which the Law of Love or the special Relation wherein we stand unto them forbids To be overcome of evil is to be drawn by the evil Temper or Carriage of another towards us to be of the like Temper and Carriage towards him To be so provoked by an injury done unto us as to return the like again As when two contraries are put together suppose Fire and Water that
require much time in dressing and undressing No cost of Apparel is so ill bestow'd as that of precious time in apparelling And if common time be so ill spent what is the solemn sacred time laid out in such curiosity How many Sabbaths Sermons Sacraments Prayers Praises Psalms Chapters Meditations has this one Vanity devoured Let me recommend the counsel of holy Mr. Herbert to you Church-porch O be Dress't Stay not for t'other Pin why thou hast lost A Joy for it worth worlds Thus hell doth jest Away thy blessings and extremely flout thee Thy cloathes being fast but thy soul loose about thee O the wanton folly of our Times when as one expresses it it s almost as easie to enumerate all the Tackling of the Royal Soveraign as the Accoutrements of a capricious Lady and perhaps it requires not much more time to equip and rig out a Ship for the Indies as a whimsical Madam when she is to sail in state with all her Flags Streamers Pennons bound for a Court-Voyage With less labour did Adam give Names to all the Creatures in Paradise than an Attire-Herald shall give you the Nomenclature of all the Trinkets that belong to a Ladies Closet And yet all this is but to consume a whole Morning to put on which must waste the whole Evening to put off Direction VI. Suit your Apparel to the day of Gods Providence and to the day of his Ordinances There is a day wherein God calls aloud for baldness Isa 22.12 13. and do we cross his design with ranting Periwigs Does he bespeak Sackcloath and are we in our Silks and Sattins How absurd is it to appear in the high Rant like Zimri with his COSBI when the Church of Christ is mourning before the Lord And yet more incongruous when God calls and they that fear his Name answer his call in a day of solemn fasting and Prayer afflicting their souls before him and accepting the punishment of their sins for a Gallant to come ruffling into the Assembly as if he design'd only his diversion and to trifle out a tedious painful hour till he may adjourn his little self with all his splendid Equipage to the Devotion of the Play-house Thus did the builders of Babel answer each other when Vengeance had poured confusion on their Hearts and Tongues reaching the Hammer when his Fellow called for the Axe and thus do we answer our God who calls for Weeping and Mourning and we return Mirth and Jollity and gorgeous Apparel God by an express Law granted this Priviledg to the new married man That for a Twelve Month he should be exempted from the Wars Deut. 24.5 And yet tho this Indulgence held good when the Country was in danger of Invasion no exemption was to be pleaded when the Church was expos'd to Gods Indignation Then call an assembly sanctifie the people Joel 2.14 let the bridegroom come forth of his chamber and the bride out of her closet There was no discharge in this War But how well was it resented by Heaven when at the denunciation of the Divine displeasure against Israel that he would not go up with them Exod. 33.3 4. the people mourned and no man put on his ornaments Direction VII In all Apparel keep a little above contempt and somewhat more below envy He that will vere nigh either extreme shall never avoid offence either for sordidness or superfluity Let not your Garments smell either of Antiquity or Novelty Shun as much an affected Gravity as a wanton levity There may be as much pride in adhering to the antick Garbs of our Ancestors as there is in courting the Modern Fooleries A plain cleanliness is the true Medium between sluttishness and gaudiness Truth commonly lies in the middle between the hot contenders Virtue in the middle between the extreme Vices and Decency of Apparel in the middle between the height of the Fashion and a more running Counter and Opposition only because our corrupt hearts are more prone to the Excess than the Defect I laid the Rule to keep a little more below Envy than above Contempt Direction VIII Let the Ornament of the inward man be your Rule for the adorning the outward Take measure of your bodies by your souls That is Consider well what Graces Excellencies and Virtues will adorn a soul and let something Analogical be made the Trimming for the body The Apostle will have Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel 1 Tim. 2.9 Tit. 2.3 and especially the graver sort that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Tigurine Version renders in habitu qui Religionem deceat in such a habit as becomes Religion and Beza in habitu qui sanctimoniam deceat in such a habit as becomes holiness Now it may be enquired what is Apparel capable of modesty or immodesty of holiness or unholiness But the meaning is the Garment the manner of dressing or wearing must be such as indicates and discovers such qualities lodging in the soul And indeed if we could get the soul suitably adorned it would cut out make up put oâ—â— and wear suitable Ornaments 1 Pet. 5.5 The Apostle Peter commands us all to be cloath'd with humility Humility is a very proper wear for a sinner and if the soul be thus cloathed you may trust her to cloath the body When the Inward Man is new-framed and new-fashioned let it alone to frame and fashion the outward Attire The Platonists say That Anima format sibi Domicilium 'T is the soul that forms its house to dwell in And she that is so rare an Architect as to build the house will take care that it be conveniently tiled Direction IX Get the heart mortified and that will mortifie the habit Let Grace circumcise that and that will circumcise the long hair and sweeping Train with all the impertinent superfluities that wait on Vain-glory. Heal the heart of its inward pride and that will retrench the excesses of the outward I do not wonder that we find it so difficult to convince idle women that these Gayeties and Extravagancies of curled hair painting and patching are sinful when we cannot convince them of the evil of impenitency and unbelief The most compendious way of reforming Persons Families Nations and Churches is to begin at and deal with the heart as the shortest way to fell the Tree is by sound blows at the root Could we lay the Axe to heart-pride the Branches would fall the Leaves wither the Fruit fade with one and the same labour 'T is an endless labour to demolish this Castle of Pride by beginning at the top Undermine the Foundation and all the glory of the superstructure falls with it As a pure living Spring will work it self clean from all the accidental filth that 's thrown into it from without so the cleansing of the heart will cleanse the rest And when the Spirit of Christ shall undertake this work to convince the soul
De cult Foem in initio c. Why then dost thou provoke Lust in thy own heart Quid autem alteri periculo sumus c. Why do we endanger the souls of others Qui praesumit minus veretur minus praecavet plus periclitatur timor fundamentum salutis est presumptio impedimentum timoris He that presumes fears little uses little precaution and runs into great danger Fear is the original of security but presumption the enemy to fear I easily grant that there is a great difference between a Cause and an Occasion of evil A Cause is much more than an occasion yet is not the latter so small and light a matter but that many of God's weighty Laws were grounded on this that the Occasion of sin in themselves and others might be avoided The Civil Law determines That if Archers shooting at rovers should kill a man passing on the Road they shall make satisfaction That they who dig Pitfalls to catch wild Beasts if accidentally a man falls into them they shall be punished and that he shall be severely punished that being set to watch a Furnace falls asleep whence a scarefire ariseth But the New Testament is very full We are not to lay a stumbling-block nor an occasion of offence nor to use our liberty in that wherein our weak brother is offended IX Lastly Let us lay it to heart That Pride is the forerunner of destruction whether Personal Domestical or National Prov. 16.18 Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall a Truth so obvious to the observation of Heathens that Seneca could say Quem dies videt veniens superbum Hunc dies vidit fugiens jacentem There is the pride of the rich who boast themselves in the multitude of their Riches there is the pride of the ambitious who swell with Titles and Dignities and there is the childish pride of Women and effeminate Men who glory in Apparel And tho this last may seem below the notice of the Divine Nemesis yet these light and small things draw down great and heavy Judgments What more trifling and ludicrous than those Fopperies mentioned Isa 3.18 The tinkling Ornaments as if they would imitate Morrice-dancers or Hobby-horses their round Tires like the Moon an Embleme of their lunacy and levity The Nose-Jewels very uncomely sure in such Epicurean Swine And tho many of them seem to be innocent as Bonnets Ear-Rings and Mantles yet God threatens v. 24. That instead of sweet smells there shall be a stink instead of a girdle a rent instead of well-set hair baldness and burning instead of beauty All which threatnings were punctually accomplisht in the Babylonish Captivity whither God sent them to spare the cost and trouble of fetching home their new Fashions their strange Apparel Archbishop Usher and Mr. Bolton Two great Lights of our Church have long since forewan'd us That God would punish England by that Nation which we were so ambitious to imitate in their Fashions of Apparel And how much is the ground of fear encreased since their days The Plague is never more easily convey'd than in cloaths And it 's to be feared that with their strange Apish Fashions we have imported their vitious Manners if not their Idolatries The Degeneracy of the Romans in this Point prognosticated their declining greatness And there 's no more easie observation than that when a People cease to be great in generous and noble Atchievements they begin to affect this Trim way of glory by Apparel But I must conclude The Use and Application must be your own This Sermon will never be compleat till you have preach'd it over to your Souls by Meditation and to the World by a thorough Reformation And if you slight this advice and counsel yet rememer the Text however That God in the day of his sacrifice will punish all such as are cloathed with strange Apparel Quest How may Child-bearing Women be most encouraged and supported against in and under the hazard of their Travail SERMON XXII 1 Tim. II. 15. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in child-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety THAT I may with all Christian tenderness give a satisfactory Answer to that Practical Case of Concernment to be resolv'd for the sake of fruitful pious Wives whose manifold sorrows call for the best aids viz. How may Child-bearing Women be most encouraged and supported against in and under the hazard of their Travail I shall by Gods assistance according as I am able with some respect to the time allottel for this Exercise open and apply this notable Text I have read to you To find out the true importance of which words it will be requisite to cast an eye upon the foregoing part of the Chapter wherein the Apostle exhorteth all Christians to pray for persons of all Ranks a Ver. 1 2 8. and particularly Christian Women to practise answerable to their profession of godliness b Ver. 9 10. instructing them about their deportment in Church Assemblies and at home both in reference to their habits that they be modest without excess in their Apparel and Dress and to their Actions which they are 1. injoyned viz. to hear with silence and subjection 2. forbidden viz. to teach because that were to usurp authority over the man c Ver. 12. which the womans posteriority in the creation d Ver. 13. and priority in the transgression e Ver. 14. doth not allow of but on the contrary brings Her by whom her Husband was deceived into subjection and Child-bearing sorrow with the Fruit of her Womb. For tho Adam was first formed Eve first sinned and so infested all with Original sin However as one notes f Testard de Nat. Gratia Thes 20. the Opposition is not to be consider'd of the Thing but in respect of the Order that the sense might be Adam was not first seduced but the Woman agreeing with the scope foregoing Yet that the Female Sex at home may not despond under the sense of that suffering which Eves forwardness to sin had more especially brought upon them the Apostle here in these heartning words prepares a most sweet and strengthning spiritual Cordial for the chearing up of all good Women and the clearing of their eyes from fumes in fainting fits And therein it eminently concerns Child-bearing ones to copy out the most approv'd Receipt in the comfortable Expressions of the Gentile Doctor That tho they breed and bear children with much trouble which may argue God's displeasure in his Sentence and is indeed a consequent of the first sin which they are very sensible of in the Antecedents Concomitants and Consequents of their sore Labour that may as it sometimes hath done in Rachael and Phineas his Wife c. bring their bodies or their Babes if not both to the Grave yet the Pains shall be sanctified and be no obstacle to their welfare their souls shall be safely deliver'd The
life that she may present her body a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is her reasonable service and so by universal obedience prove what is that good and acceptable will of God n Rom. 12.1 2. in the prevailing desires of her soul to please God who hath called her into a conjugal Relation and enabled her therein to conceive and so in her proper Office to serve her own generation by the will of God o Acts 13.36 waiting upon him with chearfulness in filling up her Relation to give her in due time an holy seed for his glory and the enlargement of his Church as holy Mrs. Joceline above mentioned earnestly desired of God that she might be a mother to one of his children * Mothers Legacy p. 1. Then 2. To submit to the effecting and disposing will of God who works all things according to the counsel of his own will p Eph. 1.11 in preparing for death not to neglect but make ready for so great salvation as is purchas'd by Christ and offered in the rich and precious promises q Heb. 2.3 If all should hearken to the charge our Saviour gives to his own Disciples r Mat. 24.44 Therefore be ye also ready then it eminently concerns a big-belli'd woman to be in a readiness for her departure that she may not be surpriz'd sith the pangs are perilous that she is to pass through and the more if she be but of a weak and not of an hail constitution * Mrs. Joceline The last mentioned pious Gentlewoman when she felt her self quick with child as then travailing with Death it self she secretly took order for the buying a new Winding-sheet thus preparing and consecrating her self to him who rested in a new Sepulcher wherein was man never yet laid and privately in her Closet looking Death in the Face wrote her excellent Legacy to her unborn child None ever repented of making ready to die And every Christian is ready who can entirely submit to Gods disposal in Life or Death Yea and then a good woman is likest to have her will in a safe temporal deliverance when she is most sincerely willing that God should have his in dealing with her as seemeth best to himself When the Yoke of Christ is easie and his Burden is light then is the good Wife in the fairest way to be most easily delivered of the burden of her belly so that she shall have the truest joys afterwards Thus of Holiness considered more generally and how the child-bearing Wife is concern'd to exercise it 2. Holiness may be considered more specially as it is conjugal and more peculiarly appropriated to the marriage-state This being a more particular exercise of Christian holiness in the Matrimonial band wherein as every one both Husband and Wife in that Relation are concerned so the childing-woman is obliged to be singularly careful to possess her Vessel in sanctification or sanctimony and honour Å¿ 1 Thes 4.4 in a special kind of conjugal cleaness and chastness which is opposite to all turpitude and lust of Concupiscence in the very appearance of it that there may be as much as possible no shew or tincture of uncleanness in the Marriage-bed but that there may be an holy seed and she may keep her self pure from any taint of Lasciviousness 'T will chear up in the hour of her Travail if she can sincerely say in the sight of God as it is said in the Apochryphal story * Tobit 3.14 15. Sara the Daughter of Raguel did Thou knowest Lord I am pure from all sin with man and that I never polluted my name nor the name of my father This is the true Eagle-stone to be constantly worn for the prevention of miscarrying that there may not indeed be labouring in vain or bringing forth for trouble but her seed may be the blessing of the Lord and her off-spring with her t Isa 65 23. with 21. who may solace her self in her Integrity and unspotted Reputation having her chast conversation coupled with fear u 1 Pet. 3.2 that all shall issue well with her and the Fruit of her Womb. But this is so much of the same Nature with the last Grace mentioned here in my Text that the Apostle annexeth that to Holiness with 4. Sobriety So we render it others Temperance others Modesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in our old Translation others Chastity And taking it largely the word seems to speak that gracious habit which may best become a prudent grave temperate moderate or modest Mother of a Family * Beza for that seems to reach the Apostles sense comparing it with what he hath in the 9th Verse of this Chapter and elsewhere w Tit. 2.4 5. Acts 26.25 I might consider this like the former Graces more generally and specially 1. More generally as Christian every one that nameth the name of Christ being under an obligation thereby to depart from iniquity x 2 Tim 2.19 is engag'd to labour after a sound mind y 2 Tim. 1.7 to be modest sober and temperate in all things z Tit. 1.8 and 2.2 4 6. 1 Cor. 9.25 learning to use this world as if we used it not minding that which is comely and attending upon the Lord without distraction a 1 Cor. 1.31 35. Yea we should let our moderation be known unto all men as those that are Christ's who have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts b Phil. 4.5 Gal. 5.24 Certainly then a Christian Wife and that in a child-bearing condition is concern'd to seek that she may be endew'd with Sobriety which purgeth the Mind from Distempers and putteth the affections into an orderly frame acceptable to God and so doth morally give the best ensurance to the promises of temporal and eternal safety But more particularly 2. The special conjugal Grace of Temperance and Modesty is to be exercised by the child-bearing woman in sobriety chastity and gracefulness both with reference to her affections and senses I have warrant from the Apostle as well as the Philosophers * Wallaei Eâ—hic â— Arist l. 4. to take the word so largely as to comprehend both Modesty and Temperance Whereupon I conclude 1. With modesty she is to govern her passions and affections so that there may be only an humble appetition of due respect and an abstinence from those unbecoming An holy care as to avoid pride on one hand so ignominy and contempt on the other as well as to give check to boldness and indecency in her gesture speech and behaviour as to lightness and wantonness in any of these So that she may by a graceful deportment as much as she can in minding things venerable just pure lovely and of good report c Phil. 4.8 not with the outward adornings of plaiting the hair and of wearing gold or of putting on of apparel d 1 Pet. 3.3 shew her self to be a vertuous
if they are brought into the honourable state of marriage and in due time God do bless them with blooming hopes of the Fruits of their bodies and the unknown pains of a woman in travail come upon them a Gen. 38.27 Psal 48.6 1 Sam. 4.19 Micah 4.10 they may live by saith upon Gods power and promise and expect salvation in an happy separation 'twixt them and the Babes God hath enabled them to conceive in the appointed season Yea and then tho their pains should come as sharply upon any of them as they did upon Rachel and Phineas his Wife causing a separation betwixt their own souls and bodies their souls may go in a very sure way out of a great cross here to receive a Crown of Glory hereafter Believe it Virgins These Graces are the necessary qualifications to fortifie your tremulous souls apt to be full of fear * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. in Medea against all Occurrences if you have the real Ornaments of Christ's Spouse you need not torment your selves with carking thoughts your mystical Husband will take care of you to make what you greatly fear the matter of your joy 2. If you are already married and that in the Lord who hath opened your Wombs and given you power to conceive it behoves you as righteous Hand-maids of the Lord 1. To continue in the constant exercise of these Graces Certainly you who are blessed in being instruments for the propagation of Mankind when you find you have conceiv'd and grow pregnant are highly concern'd to put on and use these Ornaments A great work you are usually busie about in preparing your child-bed-linnen And I shall not discourage but rather encourage you to make necessary provision for your tender selves and babes I easily yeild according to the instinct of Nature as other Females and with the help of their Mates you ought to be somewhat indulg'd to make ready and feather your Nests wherein to lay your selves and your young b Luke 9.58 But the Modesty and Moderation you have heard of will not allow you above your rank to be costly in superfluous fine Feathers when Christs poor Ministers and Members up and down do expect your Charity Oh! I beseech you good Christian women let your chief care be lest you should die in your sorrows to be array'd in that truly spiritual fine linnen clean and white which is the righteousness of the Saints wherewith the Lamb's wife maketh her self ready c Rev. 19.8 This this is the principal thing the Grace of Faith Charity Holiness and Sobriety speak true Christian prudence And if you therefore take care to put on these you will be the most surely guided in a subordinate care about other circumstances And if God hath given any of you real proof already of performing his promise in my Text by vouchsafing temporal salvation to you it behoves you to take care 2. To record the Experiments he hath given you of making good his word to you in particular Hath God vanquish'd your fears wip'd away your tears and heard your prayers Engrave the Memorials of his goodness and faithfulness upon the tables of your hearts You have the great Example of our dear Lord and Master Jesus Christ who when he had been greatly troubled for Lazarus whom he loved groaned in spirit and wept making his requests known to his Father on his behalf which was graciously answered he with great devotion of heart lift up his eyes and said d John 11.41 with ver 3 35 38. Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me Let every ingenuous and grateful Mother whom God hath safely delivered from her child-bearing pains and peril imprint a grateful remembrance of so signal a mercy with indeleble characters in her mind Lord thou hast regarded the low estate of thine maiden when I was in an agony and well-nigh spent with repeated pains thou didst stand by me and my babe yea thou didst admirably help us making way for it to pass the bars into this world safely keeping us both alive yea and it may be when our friends verily thought with sadness that my child could not have seen the light and I should shortly have shut mine eyes upon it being ready to despair of bringing it forth then didst thou find a way for us both to escape e 1 Cor. 10.13 When the above-noted Gentlewoman * Mrs. Joceline Oct. 12. 1622. was made a Mother of a Daughter whom shortly after being baptiz'd and brought to her she blessed and then gave God thanks that her self had lived to see it a Chrsstian Having dedicated it to the Lord in his Ordinance she accounted it an additional mercy to her bringing her forth and so would have it communicated to others support As Paul when he was made sensible of great mercy in his deliverance by superadded Favours he thank'd God and took courage f Acts 28.15 so should every joyful Mother thank God and be of good courage for the time to come and good because by how much the more common the better it is She should communicate her rare Experiment to encourage others who are apt to look upon themselves as a most miserable Off-spring * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. in Med. when their pangs come upon them that they may be helped For well said the Greek Tragaedian ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Il. in Helen It becomes one woman to be at hand to help another in her labour Thus we briefly see this Doctrine teacheth care to men and women both in a single and a married-state It doth also 2. Administer comfort as to the good Wives themselves so likewise to the Husbands of such good Wives 1. To good Wives themselves who are qualified as you have heard but yet in an hour of temptation are apt to walk very heavily from pre-apprehensions of grievous pains yea and it may be from great fear of Death in their appointed sorrows that are coming upon them grown weary with their heavy burthens Whereas a constant abiding in the fore-mentioned Graces and Duties is a sure ground of good hope that you shall pass well through your child-bed sorrows which be sure shall be no obstacle at all to your eternal welfare And if you be eternally sav'd 't will be better for you than to be only temporally deliver'd Yes But you 'l say You shall have a rough passage And if as Sabina a Christian Martyr when she travail'd being in Prison you shall cry out as she was heard to do in her child-bearing throws whereupon some asked her how she would endure the torments her persecutors had prepared for her if she shrunk at those To whom she said I now bear the punishment of my sin but then I shall suffer for my Saviour It may be answered Notwithstanding be of good chear The Apostle certainly brings in my Text as an Antidote against discouragement and to chear up suspicious and fearful
God Man is cited to meditate on and to glorify God for his Wisdom and Power which appear in them And indeed were it not for the Soul of man God should have made all the rest of the Creatures for nought Man is only concern'd in them and benefited by them and his Soul only able to bless God for them All Gods works of Creation nay and of Providence too are matter of praise so done as they ought to be had in remembrance Ps 111.4 When we contemplate or meditate upon them they afford our Souls great cause to be enlarged in our praising of several of the Attributes of God All things are Deo plena All things have a voice as well as day and night The Heavens and the Firmament Ps 19.1 2. They speak God to be Almighty and abundant in goodness they tell us as often as we view or consider them that God who made and preserves them is worthy of all our Fear and Love Service and Obedience It is only the Soul of man that is able to read hear or understand these things and therefore man for his Souls sake as the Priests had have many priviledges allotted to him by God Ps 8.6 who hath put the other Creatures generally under his feet It is sadly true that men rob God of his Honour they are entrusted with Ah whose Soul is a faithful Steward of Gods manifold gifts What Sacriledge do not men commit dayly And may we lay it to heart For God will call Heaven and Earth else to witness against us Every Creature and Providence can testifie they contained matter enough to excite our praises and to perswade our Obedience 2. Again the Soul of man is made capable to enjoy God to see God that is to know him and love him in whose presence there is fulness of joy Ps 16.11 The Sun and Planets with the rest of the spangles of Heaven know not their Maker nor what they are nor to what end they serve they how bright soever are not receptive of that light that shines into the hearts and upon the Souls of the Children of Men if compared with which their brightest beam is thick darkness were it only for our viaticum the repast we have on the road towards Heaven The Soul indeed sees here as through a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13.12 and knows but in part yet this very taste is better than the full meal that any other Creature can make Yet it must be confessed that anima male habitat the Soul is uneasie in this World not only with grieves and cares but because 't is out of its place as a bone out of joynt It was made to be with God and cannot be satisfyed when it is from God But what an excellent Creature must that be whom the King of Heaven and God of Glory should thus delight to honour which God should may I speak such a word choose for his Companion I am sure we are said to have fellowship with him 1 John 1.3 VVhatsoever the Soul was before by choosing and admitting it into his presence God makes it glorious Hence it is that inferiour Creatures are satisfyed with food suitable to them they have saved their End and have gone to the utmost of their line according to the Law of their Creation to their Creators praise But the Soul of man is upon the Rack and hath a thousand torments till it answers his end Irrequietum est cor meum donec venit ad te until it brings actively some Glory unto God and comes in some measure to the enjoyment of God That Life or Soul which inferiour Creatures have keeps indeed their bodies from putrifying but man hath not animam pro Sale His Soul only as salt to keep his Body from stinking but to act and govern it that it may be an Instrument in the service and to the praise of God and by reason of this his Tongue and every Member may be made his Glory when 't is imployed to the Glory of God It is certainly a debasement of the Soul to busy it about Eating and Drinking Dressing or Undressing further than what is necessary to our preservation and our passage through this world as Pilgrims and Strangers as we think Children to imploy their Souls ill whilst they make Pyes of dirt or run after gay pubbles made up of froth or stime Only here is the difference young ones are scarce capable of knowing or doing better the wings of their Souls seem not fledged but afterwards God justly expects that we should fly higher and we are able to soar above the third Heavens and in our Thoughts Meditations and Affections to go to God to taste and see how good that he is Ps 34.8 ◠The Endeavours that are used for to gain Souls The Pretiousness of the Soul appears in the great Endeavours that are used to get it This is the standard that we value all things by What is given for them VVhat is done to obtain them Insomuch that many think there is a great indifferency in Metals and Stone c. and that opinion sets the rate on them by this Gold and Silver are esteem'd before Lead or Iron c. Now though the Soul hath an essential innate worth as appears by what hath been said Yet this if I may call it extrinsecal consideration does further prove it For 'T is mainly desired by God on the one hand and by Satan on the other and though the Devil be a fallen Angel yet he hath the greatest knowledge of the Nature and worth of things and is from thence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But 1. God endeavours to win Souls 1. Gods Endeavours this he condescends to woo and intreat for My son give me thy heart Prov. 23.26 But to be more particular though we are not able to apprehend all the means God uses for our Souls Yet so many will easily come into our view that if we were not the most ingrateful and insensible Creatures in the VVorld we could not deny our Souls to God he so loves and values them he hath done and does dayly so much for them Above all 1. God's parting with his Son and Christ with his Heart-Blood and Life for them Behold how he loved him could they say when our Saviour shed but a few tears for Lazarus but much more when he shed all the blood in his Body for our Souls VVe may well say behold how he loved them VVhen man by sin had incurr'd the displeasure and deserved the Curse and VVrath of God and that the blood of Bulls and Cattle or a thousand Bulls were too mean to atone for the least Transgression God requiring a greater price for the Redemption of a lost Soul Our Blessed Saviour cryes Lo I come to do thy Will Heb. 10.7 that is to give satisfaction and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness that these pretious Souls may not perish Christ never interposed to save the Bodies so many Thousands or
Millions of such as perished in the deluge of the old World or to keep the bodies from destruction of those wretches that perished by fire in Sodom and Gomorrah but when Souls were in danger and rather than they should perish he comes nay he delights to do God's Will in suffering for them And what did he suffer what did he not suffer Here we must draw a vail as that Painter did who could not express grief enough to the life Go with Christ a little cannot ye watch an hour with him to contemplate this go into the Garden to the Judgment seat to Golgotha behold him on the Cross hear his strong sighs and groans they will break thy heart if any thing will and broken it must be and why did God suffer his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased to be thus tormented Why God would rather afflict him for a time than lose our Souls for ever And why did Christ who might have chosen otherwise so freely give his cheeks to the smiters Why Only he had set his love upon our Souls which he would not suffer to perish Indeed the Text supposes that there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or exchange for a Soul 't is a Phrase borrowed from former times when men did not pay in coin for what they bought but did exchange Commodity for Commodity as yet in some of our Islands c. and it does imply that there is nothing no not the World that bears a parity of value with the Soul Now though this be most certainly true that our Soul out-vyes in worth the whole World 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Yet the Blood of Christ which is the Blood of God by reason of the Hypostatical Union of his Humane Nature with the Divine is a sufficient ransome for all the Souls that shall believe in him nay 't is sufficient were it but applyed for the whole World But how highly does God prize a Soul seeing that when they were to be purchased he ask'd and would receive no less a rate for it from his own Son than his Life-blood and yet men barter it away as Judas and the Priests did our Saviour for thirty pence at what rate how low soever the Devil and the World will give for it 2. I might add unto God's giving of his Son for our Souls his giving of his spirit to the Soul and this too that it might not perish but have Everlasting Life that he who dwelt in the highest Heavens and whom the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain should dwell in the Soul or Heart of man after a more excellent manner than in the most glorious Temple that ever was made and therefore it must as far exceed it It is true our Bodies are said to be Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3.16 1 Cor. 6 19. but they are only Temples of the Holy Ghost as they are the Bodies that are animated by such Souls otherwise they had been no more dignifyed than any other clay or earth That God should come and knock and stay and wait for entrance into our Souls until to speak with Scripture after the manner of men his head is wet with the dew of the morning and be grieved at any repulse unkindness or denyal he meets with Nay that God where he is entertain'd should never leave or depart from a Soul Nay with his good will would not absent himself for one moment from it It must needs declare his great love unto it and esteem of it Nay by thus loving of it he makes it worthy and valuable whatsoever it might otherwise have been 3. God's valuing of our Souls appears in the care and pains which he takes for our Souls dayly 1. In that he hath instituted means whereby he might come to obtain our Souls nay to strengthen and comfort them and have communion with them These are his Ordinances the Word Sacraments and Prayer He is brought in by the Prophet as one rising up early and sending his Messengers and Ministers Jer. 7.13 25. He neglects no time with the very first he is as it were seizing upon us and crying to us return why will ye dye 2. Nay secondly He bears with us and exercises a great deal of patience towards us if so be he might at length gain our Souls and says when shall it once be Every sin we commit presseth God as a Cart is pressed with sheaves All the Patience and meekness in all the best of Creatures if joyn'd together could not endure such an indignity as every sin offers to God but they would ease themselves of such a burden which yet God endures multitudes of only that his Long-suffering might be Salvation to our Souls 2 Pet. 3.15 3. Yet further His bearing with the whole World of wicked men notwithstanding their Blasphemies and open defyances of him is only out of Love to some few Souls who serve and fear him Hence the Psalmist says concerning the World Psal 75.3 I bear up the Pillars of it A gracious Soul is the true Atlas that keeps the World from falling God out of respect unto such withholds that destroying fire that shall when their number is made up consume it 4. And lastly All the Providences of God in which he worketh hitherto are intended by him for the good of our Souls and done by God out of respect unto them 1. By his Mercies God would allure our Souls to love and serve him Hosea 11.4 Plaintus these are the Cords of a man quo magis extendas eo astrugunt arctius by these God would oblige and tye our Souls the closer unto him Mercies are vocal they all have a Language or Speech which we ought to learn to understand whereby they recommend God unto our Souls and as they came from God so for this purpose they came from him that our Souls might by their means go to God who indeed sent them on that very errand to bring our Souls unto him 2. Nay the very Judgments of God in the World prove his value for our Souls who rather than miss of them does this his strange work Isa 28.21 God does not afflict willingly but rather than to be deprived of mens Souls he will do that which he is so loath to come unto Thus he does not only afflict the wicked who obstinately remain so to caution and instruct the Souls of his people as Princes Children are lessoned when their Proxyes are whip'd but he corrects his dearest Children and Servants though it goes to his heart and he himself is afflicted in all their afflictions Isa 63.9 Yet rather than their Souls should perish with the world he is ready to do nay to suffer any thing But when all is said these are but a few shreds of what might be layd before you God's Love to and prizing of our Souls need not so much to be proved I would hope that it is felt 2. But on the other side as God does endeavour 2.
he calls our Souls ours and certainly they are ours so as nothing else is for we must forego all other things and be parted from them and have been and may be without them but without our Souls we never were nor cannot be And 't is thy only Soul thou hast to make thy darling and to be fond and careful of Most of other things we have double of as two Eyes two Hands and Feet c. but God hath given thee but one Soul Omnia Deus dedit duplicia animam vero unam If thou losest one of the members of thy Body the other in a great measure serves in its stead but thy soul must needs be more carefully looked to than thy right eye or thy right hand for nothing to be sure can stand in stead of it if it be once lost Oh remember this is the one thing necessary 5. You must answer for the loss of your Souls God hath entrusted them with you A great trust a great charge we must account for this Talent when our Lord comes David's Brethren asked him with whom he had left their Sheep God will ask every one of you with whom ye did leave your Souls Are not your Children nay are not your Goods many a man's Swine more cared for and look'd after than your Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza There are two words in the Text that are observed to be forensical and relate to a Court of Judicatory which the gaining and losing in the Text refers to The loss of his Soul will be as a Mulct or Penalty inflicted by the Just and righteous Judge upon every one that hath been careless of his Soul He that does not earnestly endeavour to keep his Soul whilst he lives the evil Angels when he dyes shall require it of him as you know the Soul of the Covetous wretch was adjudged to them How unconcernedly do we read or hear of such things But mutato nomine de te c. Yet but a little while and it may be thy case It may be the divertisements of the World will not let thee have the while to attend to what you hear but what are all the pleasures and enjoyments you can have might they be continued to thee as long as ever they were unto any but as the singing of a little longer Psalm before thy Execution Oh that my words therefore might be acceptable unto you I have shewn you the excellency of Souls as when the Disciples shewed to our Saviour the costly stones and curious Fabrick of the Temple Matth. 24.1 2. Our Blessed Lord told them the time was a coming in which not one stone should be left upon another but all should be thrown down The Application be not to all that hate us but to all that implacably hate God Oh awake arise bestir your selves watch and ward and above all call in the assistance of the Keeper of Israel that not only with all thy keeping but with all his keeping thy Soul may be kept by his Power through faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 SERMON XXVI The Leading of the HOLY SPIRIT opened With some Practical Enquiries resolv'd about it ROMANS 8.14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God OUR Apostle in the close of the preceding Verse had made use of a very powerful Motive to excite these Romans and in them all others unto Mortification if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the Body ye shall live In this Verse he backs that Motive with an Argument to †Probatio est ejus quod proximè praecessit Calv. Probat quod dixit vivetis Esth evince its Truth and Certainty Such as are the Sons of God shall live such who are led by the Spirit viz. to mortifie the deeds of the Body are the Sons of God therefore such shall live Others consider these Words not so much as a Proof of the foregoing Motive but rather as * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl another distinct Motive in themselves to promote Mortification Such who are led by the Spirit thereunto they are taken into the high and glorious Relation of being the Sons of God or the Children of God as 't is v. 16. Now what an inducement is this to Christians to live under and comply with the Spirits Leading as it directs and excites unto the mortifying of the deeds of the Body Both of these Connexions are good but I preferr the first If we take them apart and as they lie in themselves so they contain these three things in them 1. A Glorious Priviledge the being the Sons of God 2. A Description of the Persons to whom this Priviledge belongs they are such who are led by the Spirit of God 3. The Adaequateness or Commensurateness between the Persons describ'd and the Priviledge asserted As many as are led just so many and no more all such and none but such are the Sons of God 'T is Inclusive or Extensive to all of them Exclusive and Limiting to all others The words are an entire Proposition As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God The Subject hereof they that are led by the Spirit I am to speak unto as to the Praedicate they are the Sons of God that I shall not insist upon further than as 't is reducible under the Subject As many as are led by the Spirit of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some render it by Aguntur as many as are acted by the Spirit Some by * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. impelluntâ—r ad sanctas Actiones Piscat Impelluntur as many as are impell'd vigorously urg'd and mov'd by the Spirit The most by Ducuntur as many as are led by the Spirit We have the same Phrase with another Priviledge annext Gal. 5.18 If ye be led 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Spirit ye are not under the Law It 's evident the Expression is allusive and Metaphorical And it alludes either to Guides such as lead the Blind or those that are in the Dark or Travellers that know not their way Or to Mothers and Nurses who take their Children by the hand such as cannot goe and therefore they lead uphold and help them Answerably to both of these Believers are led by the spirit of God with respect partly to their Spiritual Blindness and Darkness and partly to their spiritual Weakness and Infirmity The Holy Ghost is both their Guide and Director to keep them from wandring and also their Vpholder and Strengthner to keep them from falling The Point to be discoursed of is this That Gods spirit is a leading spirit to â—os and in all Gods Children The Acts and Operations of this Spirit are various and multiform Several of which are instanc't in in this Chapter the Law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath
destroy Natural Liberty Where the Spirit does not find sinners willing by his sweet Methods he makes them willing Psal 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power a day of power yet willing Even the Spirits Drawing is managed with all consistency to the freedom of the will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys he draws but 't is one that he makes willing to follow Hos 2.14 Behold I will allure her ay there 's the Spirits leading This being the constant and avowed Doctrine of the Protestants and †Ductus spiritus non est impulsus violentus quo rapimur inviti ut stipites sed est efficax persuasio quâ ex nolentibus efficimur volentes Par. with many others particularly their Explication of the Spirits leading in the Text how injurious and invidious are the Popish Writers in their traducing and calumniating of them as if they asserted the Spirit in This or any Other Act to work with Compulsion or in a way destructive to mans Essential Liberty 'T is a vile scandal And yet how do Esthius Salmeron Contzen upon the Words charge our Divines with it We perfectly concurr with Blessed St. * Enchirid. Cap. 64. de verbis Apostol Serm. 13. c. 11 12. Austin in that excellent passage of his cited by the Rhemists As many as are led by the Spirit he meaneth not says he that the Children of God are violently compelled against their Wills but that they be sweetly drawn moved or induced to do good But no more of this IV. The Extent of this Leading of the Spirit The Extent of it A threefold account may be given of that 1. In regard of the Subject or person led So it extends to the Whole Man First to the Interior Acts of the Soul in its several Faculties Vnderstanding Will and Affections And then to the Exterior Acts of the Body yea to the whole Conversation For all these are comprehended within and fall under the Spirits Leading For as his Sanctifying Operation extends to all of these the God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of Christ 1 Thes 5.23 So does his Guiding Operation also these two being Commensurate and Coextensive This might be made out in Particulars was I not afraid of too much prolixity 2. In regard of the Object or Matter that the Spirit leads unto So it extends to the whole Duty of a Christian to all that he is to Know Believe and Do. Look as the Word in its External Leading guides us in all things that concern Faith and Practice it being a compleat and perfect Rule 2 Tim. 3.16 17. so 't is with the Spirit in his Internal Leading too Joh. 14.26 For Knowledge and Faith the Promise is But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you John 16.13 And again Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth see 1 John 2.20 27. And so 't is as to Holiness also this Spirit directs those who have him to and in the Practice of Holiness in its full and utmost Extent and Latitude Tit. 2.12 As the Grace of God the Gospel Without teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously godly in this present world which is the summe of all Duty towards God towards Men and towards our selves So the Spirit Within teaches guides inclines to all these His Gracious Conduct is not confin'd to does not terminate in this or that particular Duty of Religion no but it extends to every Duty to the whole Obedience of a Christian 3. In regard of the Degree and Measure of it Concerning which 't is clear that this Leading of the Spirit in the Directing Inclining Governing Notions of it is not as to Degree equal in all God's Children All have the Thing in the Necessary and Substantial part of it yet so as that there is a Gradual Difference in their having of it Some having more and some less He being a Free and Arbitrary Agent does proportion this Act of his Grace to different Persons as he pleases And he making Some more ductil to his Leadings than Others accordingly he vouchsafes more of Them to Those than he does to Others But in None does it reach so high as to render them perfect here For although we should grant which I do not that the Spirit should advance his Guidance consider'd in it self and as it comes from Him to such a Degree and Pitch as to lay the Foundation of Perfection in Saints here below yet considering what the Capacity of the Subjects of this Act is here they being Flesh as well as Spirit 't is not imaginable that de Facto and in Eventu they should ever here be perfect upon it Wherefore it must be bounded and limited though not from what the Spirit could do yet from what he is pleased to do in Believers in their present imperfect state He shall guide you into all Truth what so as to make Saints Omniscient or Infallible He guides unto all Holiness what so as to render them sinless and impeccable here on Earth we must by no means carry it thus high It therefore must be qualified thus He shall guide you into all Truth i. e. into the Knowledge of all Necessary and Fundamental Truths And he shall guide you into all Holiness i. e. so far as your present state admits of and so far as is necessary for your future Glory Beyond this Measure we must not extend or heighten the Spirits Leading For the truth is if we take it in this bounded Notion we secure the Thing but if we go higher we totally undermine and nullifie it as all Experience proves And by the way Observe that this Guidance of the Spirit in the General and that Guidance of His in Particular in the Duty of Prayer do much stand upon the same level Insomuch that as the Former the Spirits immediate Guiding of Believers in the Matter and Manner of their Actions does not thereupon render Them or Their Actions perfectly Holy and free from all mixtures of sin So neither does the Latter the Spirits immediate Guidance and Assistance in the Matter and Manner of Prayer render the Prayers of such infallible or of equal Authority with the Scriptures as some Object Because as to Both this Agency of the Spirit is to be limited partly from the Consideration of the present State of the subject in whom it is exerted and partly from the Spirits Aim and End therein 'T is true to obviate a bad Inference that may be drawn from hence the Apostles themselves considered as but Men and as men in the State of Imperfection so they were fallible as we are But as they had in matters of Faith
some few particulars 1. It is an Union of Believers with God with the Father and the Son not an Union of Believers among themselves at least not this only For the Union expressed in those first words that they may be one is declared or illustrated in these following as thou Father art in me and I in thee and so is the same Union with that in the last words which is taken to be an Union with the Father and the Son that they may be one in or with us or else the words here used to illustrate one thing would not illustrate that but another That they may be one how as thou Father art one in me and I in thee so they may be one in us Besides the same words in effect are used ver 22. that they may be one even as we are one and the same explained immediately ver 23. I in them ver 26. I in them by which without question Christ both here and elsewhere expresses the Union of Believers with himself though I will not deny that the Union among Believers themselves may be included being a consequent of the other and that which Unites them with Christ unites them among themselves 2. This Union hath some resemblance of that between the Father and the Son that they may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as denotes not any thing of equality but only something of likeness That we may know what of resemblance there is we must inquire but very modestly as becomes those who are so much in the dark how the Father is said to be in the Son and he in the Father For this purpose Christ may be considered either as God or as Man As God he is in the Father and the Father in him or which is the same he is one with the Father because they are of one and the same Nature and Essence the same Infinite Excellencies and Essential Perfections that are in the Father are also in the Son upon this account the Son is said to be in the Father and the Father in him Joh. 14.10 11. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me so that he that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father ver 9. and he that hath known the Son hath known the Father ver 7. because they are one and the same in Nature and Essence the very same as to all divine perfections And thus the Father and Son with the Spirit are said to be one 1 John 5.7 For there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one one in Essence and all the perfections which are Essential to God though distinct in personality and manner of subsistence There is an Essential Union between the Father and the Son as he is God no such Union must be imagined between them and Believers the distance is no less than infinite and if there can be any resemblance it must be very remote If we consider Christ as Man he may be said to be one with the Father and is so because the same Spirit which is called the Spirit of God and the Spirit of the Father dwells in the Humane Nature of Christ Matth. 12.18 Joh. 3.34 And this may help us better to apprehend how we may be said to be one in or with the Father and the Son Therefore 3. The most intelligible way of expressing this Vnion which I meet with is this believers are said to be one with the Father because that Spirit which proceeds from him and is called his Spirit is in them They are said to be one with the Son not only because that Spirit which proceeds from the Son and is called the Spirit of Christ resides in Believers but because the same individual Spirit which dwels in the Humane Nature of Christ dwels also in them 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit he that is one with the Lord hath one Spirit with him he is quickned and acted by the Spirit of the Lord dwelling in him They are not one essentially as the Father and the Son are one being of one and the same Essence nor one personally as the Divine and Humane Nature of Christ being united in one person nor one morally only as he whose Heart cleaves to another by love is one with him but one spiritually or one Spirit because one and the same Spirit is in both So elsewhere our Union with God and Christ is said to be by the Spirit in us Eph. 2.22 In whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit We are in Christ and God is in us as his habitation as those in whom he dwels how through his Spirit By his Spirit dwelling in us as it is expressed Rom. 8.9 10 11. But ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and if Christ be in you and if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you c. Ye are Spiritual if the Spirit of God dwell in you but if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his none of his Members not united to him but if Christ be in you as is before signifyed by the Spirit of God dwelling in you c. So that this Union by the Apostles account consists in the Spirits dwelling in us and it will be farther cleared by shewing how the Spirit dwels in us 4. The Holy Spirit by virtue of whose inhabitation Believers are said to be united unto the Father and the Son dwells in them as a Principle of Spiritual Life and Motion quickens them to a new Life and all the acts of it There are some who will not have the person of the Holy Ghost to be in the Saints but I know not how this can be denyed without denying either the immensity or personality of the Divine Spirit For if he be a person and if he be every where his person will be present and reside in them It is true upon this account meerly nothing singular is ascribed to them for his person is not with them only but every where The peculiarity of this priviledge lies here that he is in them as a principle of spiritual Life and motion and thus he is not in any other Creature on Earth he quickens and acts them as a vital Principle like as an Humane Soul united unto the Body gives it Life and Motion suitable to its Nature so does the Spirit of God taking possession of the Soul of a Believer enliven and act it with the Life and Motions of a Divine and Spiritual Nature Not that the Spirit is united to the Soul as the Soul
is with the Body for these united make one person whereas the personality of the Spirit is incommunicable but that the Holy Spirit performs such Offices in a believing Soul as have some resemblance and are some way correspondent to what the Soul does in and for the Body and which the Scripture expresses in like terms and this we find frequently the Spirit is said to quicken and act those in whom he dwells they have new life and motion by his inhabitation Rom. 8.11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you The Apostle having signify'd in the former verses that our Union with God and Christ is by the Spirits dwelling in us he expresses what may be expected from this inhabitation Christ's Spirit dwelling in us will quicken our mortal bodies will be a principle of Life in them quickning them to a new Life a Life of Holiness The same Spirit as he quickens so he acts those in whom he dwells who are therefore said to be led by him ver 14. For as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God they are excited directed enabled to act like the Children of God by his Spirit dwelling in them so Ezek. 36.27 And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them the Spirit which I will put within you shall make you active in my wayes So much for the first Proposal II. What encouragement have we from Christs Prayer that this Vnion II. Observ and the Blessings relating thereto shall be vouchsafed Answ Our encouragement in general is the full assurance given us that his Prayer is prevalent for what he desired the particular grounds of this assurance are more particular encouragements There are several things requisite to a Prayer which when they concurr the Word of God assures us that it will prevail 1. When the things desired are according to the Will of God 1 Joh. 5.14 2. When the Person praying hath a special Interest in God and duly improves it There are some whom the Scripture declares God will not hear Joh. 9.31 Psal 66.18 Prov. 28.9 3. When the persons prayed for are such as the Lord hath some particular favour or respect for There are some for whom the Lord will not hear the best of his Servants interceding on their behalf Jer. 7.16 11.14 14.11 Now in the Prayer of Christ there is a concurrence and that in a transcendent manner of all those things that render a Prayer undoubtedly prevalent 1. The things that he prayed for were consonant to the Will of God in every instance He knew what was the Fathers Will in its full extent and discerned it with the greatest clearness and certainty for as he is God he is one with the Father of one and the same Essence and Will and as he is man he had in him all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge a fulness of the Spirit of Revelation so that he did perfectly apprehend what was the good and perfect and acceptable Will of God He did not only know this in particular instances by general rules of Scripture as we do but had the conduct of an Infallible Spirit and that alwaies not sometimes only and in some things as holy men of God the Prophets and Apostles had it but in every Act and Word And as he perfectly and infallibly understood what was agreeable to the Will of God in all points so he gave himself up intirely to the most exact observance of it without varying without the least shadow of mistake or deviation This was the end why he came into the World Joh. 6.38 This was his constant practice Joh. 5.30 in his Sufferings and Actings and in his Prayers this was his delight Joh. 4.34 Now since he presented nothing in his Petitions but what was his Fathers own Will desired nothing but it was his Fathers Will to grant we may be as certain that his Prayer was granted as we are sure that the Lord will comply with his own Will For the Second It will be apparent by shewing who it was that prayed and how he prayed of which take an account in some particulars 1. This was the Prayer of the Man Christ Jesus who was Holy Harmless and separate from Sinners he was a Lamb without spot or blemish and so was this Offering the pure Eye of God could see no blemish in him or it His requests were not prejudiced by any antecedent guilt nor tainted with any impure mixture either apparent or secret nor chargeable with the least defect in Fervour Faith Affectionateness c. It was a sinless Prayer in all respects and so such a Prayer as was never offered to God on Earth since the Foundation of the World and Sins entring into it It was not liable to the least exception no not at the Tribunal of strict Justice and so could not but be acceptable and prevalent Nay it was not only clear from every the least speck of sin but was the product of admirable Holiness such as is not to be found in the Holyest Soul or Spirit Saint or Angel He had it in larger measures in an higher degree and in a more excellent way Some tell us that if all the Holiness that is in all the Angels and Saints were united in one subject it would fall short of that which is in Christs Humane Nature However it is taken for granted that the capacity of his Soul was wonderfully enlarged by its personal Vnion with the Godhead far beyond the capacity of any other finite-Being and all this capacity was wholly filled with Holiness it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell and God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him Joh. 3.34 Saints and Angels receive it as Vessels of small measure but in Christ it is unmeasurable Now all this Holiness was exerted in this Prayer and diffused through it Grace in him was not acted sometimes intensely sometimes more remisly for remisness seems to import some culpable effect but was put forth on proper occasions and particularly in this Prayer in its full power and vigour Upon this account this Prayer was the Holyest Offering that ever was presented to the most Holy God either on Earth or in Heaven and therefore could not but be most acceptable to him and accordingly prevalent and succesful 2. It is the Prayer of him who is God of him who is God and Man in one person As the Blood of Christ is said to be the blood of God Act. 20. by the same reason the Prayer of Christ may be said to be the Prayer of God And though it be properly the Act of Christ's Humane Nature yet this Nature being personally united with the Godhead it is upon that ground duly ascribed to
bodily Eyes yet you do with an Eye of Faith and Love and therefore may rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.8 When you look up unto the Heavens and see and say yonder is the place of my Everlasting abode there I must dwell with God there I must be with Christ and joyfully joyn with Angels and Saints in praising of my Lord and Saviour the foresight of this will make you joyful for the present and pleasant in your looking at it 10. Look fiducially at unseen Eternal things with an Holy Humble Confidence by Jesus Christ upon the performance of the conditions of the Gospel they shall be all your own that by turning from all your Sin by Repentance and Faith in Christ you trust you shall be possessed of them that when you see there are Mansions now unseen there are Eternal Joyes an Immoveable Kingdom an Incorruptible Crown the Eternal God to be enjoyed and for all this you have a promise and you know this promise is made to you by the performance of the Conditions annexed to the promise you trust in time to come unto it or rather when you go out of time into Eternity you shall be blessed in the Immediate Full Eternal Enjoyment of all the Happiness that God hath prepared in Heaven to give you wellcome joyful entertainment in that unseen Eternal World that you so eye that World while you live in this that when by Death you are going out of this World into that you might have this well-grounded confidence to say I have fought a good fight I have finished my course henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day 2 Tim. 4.7 8. If you get such a sight as this as now hath been set forth before you upon such Eternal Objects as before were propounded to you you will be able from your own experience to answer the third question contained in the general case but yet I will proceed unto that branch Q. 3. What influence will such an Eying of Eternity have upon us in all we do In all we do Will its Influence be so Universal Will the efficacy of such a sight be so extensive to reach forth its virtue in all we do yes in all we do Whether we Eat or Drink or go to Sleep whether we Trade or Work or Buy or Sell. Whether we Pray or Hear or search our Hearts or Meditate or Receive or Study or Preach or Sin or Suffer or Dy it will have a mighty influence upon us in any thing wherein we are active or passive culpable or praise-worthy in any condition be it Poverty or Riches Health or Sickness in any Relation be it of Husband and Wife of Parents and Children of Masters and Servants In any Office and Imployment Sacred or Civil out of such an heap because I am limited I will take an handful and because I have not room to speak of all I will not cast them into method according to their nature connexion and dependance one upon another but take them as they come in some few particulars only 1. Such an Eyeing of Eternity in all we do would make us careful to avoid Sin in any thing we do or however we might fail in all we do yet that we suffer it not to Reign or have Dominion over us Look at Eternity with a believing Eye and you will look at sin with an angry Eye you will cast a deadly look at Sin when you have a lively look at Eternity of Joy or Misery 1. Sin would deprive me of Eternal Life therefore I will be its Death it would keep me from Eternal Rest therefore I will never rest till I have conquered and subdued it nothing in the World would bring upon my Eternal Soul the Eternal loss of the Eternal God his Glorious Son and Holy Spirit of the Company of his Holy Angels and Saints of Eternal Treasures of a Blessed Kingdom and Incorruptible Crownâ— but cursed Sin Poverty Sickness Men Death Devils cannot nothing but Sin therefore I will be its bane that shall not Reign in me that would not suffer me to live in Everlasting Happiness 2. Sin would plunge me into unseen Eternal Torments into Endless Flames and Everlasting Burnings If you could speak with a Soul departed but a Moneth ago and ask him what do you now think of the delights of Sin of sporting on the Sabbath day of your pleasant Cups and Delightful Games of pleasing of the Flesh and gratifying of its Lusts What a sad reply would he return and what a doleful answer would he make you Sin Oh that was it that was my ruine that was it which hath brought me miserable wretch to Everlasting Torment that was it which shut me out of Heaven that sunk me down to Hell O ye foolish Sons of Men that are yet in time be not mad as I was mad and do not do as I did let not the seen pleasures and profits of the World which I have found were but for a time deceive you and bewitch you the Devil shewed me the seen delights of Sin but concealed from me the Extremity and Eternity of the pain that it hath brought me to the pleasure is past and the pain continues and I am lost for ever and all this Sin hath brought me to Let your eyeing of Eternity whilst you are standing in time be instead of ones speaking to you in time that hath been in Eternity for the Eternal God doth tell you as much as any Damned Soul can tell you and would you believe one from Hell and not the Son of God that came from Heaven Oh look and view Eternity in the Glass of the Scripture and firmly believe it and it will make slaughtering work amongst your Sins and destroy that which would damn you 2. Such Eyeing of Eternity would be a mighty help to quiet your hearts under the dispensations of Providence here to Men on Earth When you look at the seen Afflictions Distresses Disgraces Stripes Imprisonments Persecutions and Poverty of the People and Children of God and the Riches Ease Honours Pleasures and the seen flourishing prosperity of the worst of Men that by the Swearing Drinking Whoring hating of Godliness being patterns of wickedness proclaim themselves the Children of the Devil and you are offended and your Mind disquieted except in this you have a better heart than Job cap. 21.6 to 16. or David a Man after Gods own heart Psal 73.2 to 16. or Jeremiah cap. 12.1 2. or Habakkuk cap. 1.13 14. Now amongst the many helps to allay this Temptation the eyeing of the last yea Everlasting things is not the least Look upon these two sorts of Men which comprehend all in the World as going to Eternity and lodged there and then you will rather pity them because of their future Misery then envy them for their present Prosperity What if they have their Hearts desire for a
moment and must be tormented for ever What if they have Pleasures and carnal Delights for a season they must be under the heavy wrath of God for ever You might stand and see all their mirth at an end but their sorrow never will have end all their joy is but for a moment as the crackling of Thorns under a pot but their misery will be endless misery Let them laugh a while they shall weep for ever let them rejoyce for a season their mirth shall be turned into heaviness their Temporal rejoycing into Everlasting howling and the Eternity of Joy will be more than a recompence to the afflicted Saints whatsoever their Sufferings for Christ and Conscience be in this World A supposed case might be an help in this Temptation Suppose then that you were poor and full of pain for so long time or rather for so short that you should fall asleep and after you awake should be poor no more nor afflicted any more but have a Life of manly delights afterwards Suppose again another man were compassed about with all manner of accommodations costly Dishes to please his Palate beautiful Objects to delight his Eyes all manner of Musick grateful to his Ears many Servants to attend him all standing bare before him and bowing the knee in Honour to him and all this and much more he were to enjoy as long as he could abstain from sleeping but assoon as he doth fall asleep he should be taken off his Bed and cast into a Furnace of boyling Lead or scalding Pitch I demand which of these two Mens Condition you would choose I know it would be the condition of the former and not the latter this and infinitely beyond this is the case in hand you are afflicted till you fall asleep and then you shall be afflicted no more but live a life of Joy for ever the Wicked prosper till they fall asleep and they cannot long keep open their Eyes but Death will come and close them then the justice of God will arrest them and then Devils will seize upon them and they shall be cast into a Lake of burning Brimstone where they shall have no rest night nor day but the smoak of their Torment shall ascend for ever and ever Exercise your thoughts in this manner and have an Eye unto Eternity and you will more easily and successfully overcome such Temptations to murmuring and discontent from the different dispensations of the Providence of God here in time to good and bad 3. Such eyeing of Eternity would have great influence for the well improvement of our time Time is to be valued in order to Eternity because we go out of time into Eternity and that which should make every Man in time most concerned out of time into Eternity of Misery or Glory Oh! what a pretious thing is Time it is beyond the worth of Gold or Silver because we might do more in time in reference to Eternity than we can do by all our Gold and Silver Jewels are but Toyes in comparison of pretious Time Many are saving of their Money but are prodigal of Time and have more of Time then they know what to do with when others find so much to do that they know not what to do for time to do it in Oh Fools and blind what were an Hundred years to make preparation for Eternity Oh sluggish careless Sots Do you ask how shall we pass away the time Might ye not with more reason ask how shall we prevent hasty time from passing away with such winged motion Or if that cannot be prevented How shall we improve our time that is so fast a posting from us Blind World Do any Men in thee enquire How shall we spend our time It is easily answered in Praying Repenting begging for Grace the pardon of Sin the favour of God and peace with Him and fitness for Eternal Life Had the Damned in Hell the time that once they had and you now have do you think they would ask what they should do to pass away the time Their cry rather is Oh hasty time whither art thou fled Why didst thou move so fast while we sate still Or why in time did we so swiftly run in ways of Sin as if we could not have sinned enough before time was past and gone When we had a God to serve and Souls to save and an Everlasting State to make preparation for we like Fools did say How shall we spend our time But now our time is spent and past and gone and now the question is which never can be answered How shall we spend Eternity which never can be spent no not in enduring Ten Thousand Thousand Millions of Years in pain and punishment for when they are past it is as fresh and as far from ending as it was the first moment it began then Eye Eternity and you cannot but improve your time 4. Such Eyeing of Eternity would make us careful how we die because Death is our passing out of time into Eternity Death is dreadful to the ungodly because it opens the door into Everlasting Misery gainful to all endued with saving Grace because it lets them in to Everlasting Happiness Did you that are yet Christless Impenitent and Unbelieving see whither you are going and where you must within a little time take up your Everlasting Lodgings what fear and trembling would seize upon all your joynts and when by sickness you perceive Death to be approaching you would cry out Oh Death forbear forbear stay thine hand and do not strike for if thou cut me down in this condition I drop into Eternal Misery there is nothing but this single thred of my frail Life between me and endless wo and if this be cut or snapt asunder I sink in to irrecoverable Misery without all hope of ever coming forth Could you but see a Soul the next hour after its separation from the Body what a taking it is in what wo what despair it is filled with would you then live without Christ go to bed without Christ and rise and trade and still remain without an Interest in Christ What mean ye sirs to make no provision for Death that is so near so very near when you are as near to going into an Everlasting World as you are to going out of this Transitory World and your Souls be dragged sooner by Devils into Hell than your Bodies can be carryed by Men unto your Graves Awake arise repent and turn unto the Lord for if you sleep on in sin till you sleep by Death you will be awaked by the flames of Hell and then though you be under the power of Eternal Death you will sleep no more and rest no more for ever And Death is as gainful and desirable to a Gracious Man as it is terrible to the Ungodly for it lets him into unseen Eternal Glory to the sight of Christ unseen to us on Earth How willing would you be to go a Thousand Miles to see
Christ and converse with him if he were on Earth it is better to see this pretious Christ in Eternal Glory it is worth the while to dy to have a view of your Lord-Redeemer in the highest Heavens Oh the wonderful transporting Joyes the Soul is filled with when it first cometh into the unseen but happy World when it hath the first Glorious view of its dearest Lord. Do you think it would desire to return to live in flesh upon Earth again Do you know what you do when you are so loth to dy Do you understand your selves when you are so backward to be taken out of time It is to be loth to go into Everlasting Happiness to go and take possession of unseen Eternal Glory 5. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would make us more patient constant joyful in all our sufferings for Christs sake When we poar upon our seen troubles and do not look at rest after trouble when we see and feel what is inflicted upon us but do not look what is laid up in Heaven for us when we see the rage of men and do not look at the love of God our Hearts and Flesh do fail but if we set unseen Eternal things over against things seen and Temporal it will be strength unto us Against the power of Men which is Temporal set the Power of God which is Eternal and then you will see their power to be weakness Against the Policy of Men which is Temporal set the Wisdom of God which is Eternal and then you will see all their Policy to be Foolishness Against the Hatred of Men which in its effects to you is Temporal set the Love of God which is both in its self and in its effects to you Eternal and you will see their hatred to be no better than raging unreasonable madness Keep your Eye upon the unseen Torments in the other World and you will rather endure Sufferings in this than venture upon Sin and expose your selves to them Keep your Eye upon the unseen Eternal Crown of Glory and it will carry you through Fire and Flames Prisons and Reproaches for the sake of Christ Heb. 11.26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward 27. by Faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible 6. This Eyeing of Eternity will be a powerful preservative against the temptations of Men or Devils a Sovereign Antidote against the Poyson of Temptation I see the Invisible God looks at me shall I then yield to the suggestions of the Devil or the sollicitations of men to sin I see there is an Everlasting state of Joy or Torment that I must be shortly in as sure as I am in this place and Satans design is to bring me to that state of Torment and if I follow him I shall be excluded from yonder glorious place from God and Christ and Saints above therefore by the Grace of God I will not yield to this Temptation but strive I will and Watch and Pray I will against the assaults of this deceitful Adversary for why should I be so foolish to lose Eternal Glory for momentary Pleasures and run my Immortal Soul into Eternal pain for short delights I do plainly see what will be the end if I do yield Damnation without end banishment from God without end I do clearly see that Stealing and Murder is not a more ready road to a place of Execution upon Earth than yielding to a tempting Devil is to Everlasting Misery 7. Such Eyeing of Eternity would wean our hearts from the things of time A sight and view of Heavens Glory would darken the Glory of the World as looking at the shining Sun over your Head doth obscure in your Eyes the things under your Feet after a believing view of the invisible God and the Glory of the place above this World would appear as a very Dunghil in your Eyes Phil. 3.7 8. as where we love there we look so the more we look the more we shall love and the more we love the Eternal things that are above the less we shall love the Temporal things that are below 8. Such Eyeing of Eternity would make us more like to God and Jesus Christ it will be a transforming and assimilating look 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore when we shall see Christ who is now out of sight we shall be perfectly like unto him 1 Joh. 3.2 But we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 9. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would fill our Souls with Holy admirations of the Goodness Grace and Love of God to us When Paul had a sight of such unseen things he was in an Holy Extasie and Divine Rapture 2 Cor. 12.2 3 4. When we consider the Eternal Happiness of Heaven we shall stand as Men amazed that God should prepare such things for such men and bear such Love and shew such Mercy to such as we that are so vile and full of sin and say Lord what am I that might for ever have howled in the lowest Hell that I should hope to praise thee in the highest Heavens Lord what am I that might have been in Everlasting Darkness that there should be prepared for me Everlasting Light and Joy Why me Lord why hast thou designed me and wrought upon my heart and made me in any measure meet to be partaker of such Eternal Glory Oh! the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Rom. 11.33 How pretious are thy thoughts to me how great is the sum of them Psal 139.17 Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee Psal 31.19 10. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would have this influence sure upon us to set our selves under a painful skilful serious Ministry It doth much concern you for you are going to an endless Life and Preaching is the appointed means to fit you for an endless happy Life then do you choose the most lively searching powerful Preaching it is for the life of your Souls for the Everlasting life of your Everlasting Souls If you were sick and in danger of Death when your Life lies upon it you would have the advice of an able Physitian that is serious and afraid that he no way become guilty of your Death Would you like that Physitian that seems to be unconcerned and cares not whether you live or dy if he might but have his fee Or that should merrily jest with you when you are sick at Heart and near to Death if you be not
cured Would you take Pleasure in his witty sayings and be jested into your Grave Or if you go unto a Lawyer about your whole Estate though it were in Leases that will expire would you choose one that you think did not care whether you win or lose your cause Would you be pleased with some witty sayings impertinent to the pleading of your cause Would you not say Sir I am in danger of losing all I am worth my Estate lyes at stake deal plainly with me and be serious in your undertaking for me and tell me in words that I can understand the plain Law by which my case must be tryed And will you be more careful about the Temporal Life of a Body that must dy and about a Temporal Estate which you must leave when you dy and not about your Soul that must ever live and never dye No! not so much as to set your selves under faithful Preachers that shall in words that you can understand plainly tell you the Laws of Christ by which you must be tryed for your Life and according to them be Eternally damned or saved 11. Such an Eyeing of Eternity would make you serious and lively in all your spiritual duties in all your approaches unto God If you have no Grace the serious thoughts of the unseen Eternal World would stir you up to beg and cry and call for it if you have to desire more and to exercise what you have to confess your sins with such contrite broken penitent hearts as though you saw the fire burning which by your sins you have deserved to be cast into To beg for Christ and Sanctifying Grace and pardoning Mercy with that lively Importunity as if you saw the Lake of boiling Brimstone into which you must be cast if you be not sanctifyed and pardoned to hear the Word of God that sets this Eternal World before you with that diligent attention as Men hearkning for their Lives to commemorate the Death of Christ with such life while you are at the Lords Supper while you do as it were see the Torments you are delivered from and the Eternal Happiness by Faith in a crucifyed Christ you have a Title to it will cause a fire and flame of Love in your Hearts to that Lord that dyed for you ardent desires after him complacential delight in him thankfulness hope of Heaven hatred to sin resolution to live to or dye for him that dyed for you If your Hearts are dead and dull and out of frame go and look into the unseen Eternal World take a believing view of Everlasting Joyes and Torments on the other side of time and you shall feel warmth and heat and lively actings to be produced in you Particularly this Eyeing of Eternity would make Ministers sensible of the weightiness of their work that it calls for all possible diligence and care our utmost serious study and endeavours our fervent Cryes and Prayers to God for ability for the better management of our work and for success therein for as much as our imployment is more Immediately about Eternal matters to save under Christ Eternal Souls from Eternal Torments and to bring them to Eternal Joyes When we are to Preach to people that must live for ever in Heaven or Hell with God or Devils and our very Preaching is the means appointed by God to fit men for an Everlasting state when we stand and view some Hundreds of Persons before us and think all these are going to Eternity now we see them and they see us but after a little while they shall see us no more in our Pulpits nor we them in their Pews nor in any other place in this World but we and they must go down unto the Grave and into an Everlasting World when we think it may be some of these are hearing their last Sermon making their last publique Prayers keeping their last Sabbath and before we come to Preach again might be gone into another World if we had but a firm belief of Eternity our selves and a real lively sense of the mortality of their Bodies and our own and the Immortality of the Souls of both of the Eternity of the Joy or Torment we must all be quickly in how pathetically should we plead with them plentifully weep over them fervently pray for them that our words or rather the word of the Eternal God might have Effectual Operation on their Hearts This Eyeing of Eternity should 1. Influence us to be painful and diligent in our studies to prepare a message of such weight as we come about when we are to Preach to men about Everlasting matters to set before them the Eternal Torments of Hell and the Eternal Joyes of Heaven Especially when we consider how hard a thing it is to perswade Men to leave their sins which do endanger their Immortal Souls when if we do not prevail with them to hearken to our message and obey it speedily and sincerely they are lost Eternally when it is so hard to prevail with men to accept of Christ the only and Eternal Saviour on the conditions of the Gospel You might easily see that Idleness either in young Students that are designed for this work or in Ministers actually engaged in it is an intolerable sin and worse in them than in any men under Heaven Idleness in a Shop-keeper is a sin but much more in a Minister in a Trader much more in a Preacher bear with me if I tell you an Idle Cobler that is to mend mens Shooes is not to be approved but an Idle Preacher that is to mend mens Hearts and save their Souls shall be condemned by God and Men for he lives in dayly disobedience of that charge of God 1 Tim. 4.13 Give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine 15. Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them 16 continue in them 2. It would provoke us to be faithful in delivering the whole counsel of God and not to daub with untempered mortar not to flatter them in their sin or to be afraid to tell them of their evils least we should displease them or offend them Is it time to sooth men up in their Ignorance in their neglect of duty when we see them at the very door of Eternity on the very borders of an Everlasting World and this the fruit that they shall dye in their sins and their Blood be required at our hands Ezek. 33.1 to 10. but so to Preach and discharge the Ministerial Function that when dying might be able to say as Act. 20.25 And now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more 26. Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men 27. For I have not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God 3. To be plain in our speech that every capacity of the weakest in the Congregation that hath an Eternal Soul that
must be damned or saved for ever might understand in things necessary to Salvation what we mean and aim and drive at it hath made me tremble to hear some soar aloft that knowing men might know their parts while the meaner sort are kept from the knowledge of Christ and put their matter in such a dress of words in such a stile so composed that the most stand looking the Preacher in the face and hear a sound but know not what he saith and while he doth pretend to feed them indeed doth starve them and to teach them keepeth them in ignorance Would a Man of any Bowels of compassion go from a Prince to a condemned man and tell him in such Language that he should not understand the conditions upon which the Prince would pardon him and the poor man lose his Life because the proud and haughty Messenger must shew his knack in delivering his message in fine English which the condemned Man could not understand but this is course dealing with a Man in such circumstances that call for pity and compassion Paul had more Parts and Learning but more self-denyal than any of these when he said 1 Cor. 2.1 And I Brethren when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God 4. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing Words of mans Wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power 2 Cor. 3.12 Seeing then we have such hope we use great plainness of speech 13. and not as Moses which put a vail over his face that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished Some put a vail upon their words that people of mean Education that yet have Souls that must be damned or saved cannot look into those truths that shall never be abolished but what is this but a cursed preferring their own parts and praise before the Salvation of Eternal Souls and the preaching themselves and not Christ which will not be their praise but shame at the Eternal Judgment when some shall plead they stand there condemned because the Learned Preacher would not stoop to speak to them of Eternal matters in Language that they might have understood 4. This Eyeing of Eternity would stir us up to improve our Interest in God and Men for a continual succession of Men in the Ministerial Function In God by Prayer that the Lord of the Harvest would send forth Labourers into his Harvest In men whether such as have Children of pregnant parts studious and bookish serious in Religion and inclined to this Imployment that they would give them to God and give them Education in order to it which would be the Honour of Parents to have such proceed from their loins that shall be Embassadors to call the blind ungodly World to mind Eternity to escape Everlasting Damnation and obtain Eternal Life or whether they be such as have no Children so qualifyed or disposed yet have riches to be helpful to such as have such Children but not an Estate to bring them up for there is a necessity of a standing continued Ministry Men in all Ages are hasting to Eternity those that were our Ancestors in former Ages are already there and have taken up their Lodgings where they must for ever dwell and we are following after them and what a mercy is it that we have the Gospel preached unto us wherein we have directions how to escape Everlasting Torments and obtain Eternal Joyes in the other Eternal World to which we are a going and those that shall live after us when they have been upon the stage of this World awhile shall follow us and our Fathers into Eternity and give place to those that follow after them thus this World doth often change its Inhabitants What is the Life of Man but a coming into time and a going out into Eternity Oh how needful is it then that while they make their short stay on Earth they should have preaching Ministers to warn them of Eternal Misery and teach them the way to Eternal Glory Those that are now engaged in the work will shortly be all silenced by Death and Dust and how desirable is it that your Children and posterity should see and hear others preaching in their room and the Honourableness of the Office might allure young men to encline unto it is it not an Honour to be an Embassador of the great Eternal God to propound Articles of Everlasting peace between him and Everlasting Souls What is buying and selling Temporal Transitory things in comparison of a calling wherein it is mens work and business to save Souls from Eternal Misery and to bring them to the Eternal Enjoyment of the glorious God Thus in some few particulars we have shewed the Influence that the Eyeing of Eternity will have upon us in what we do Do you so Eye Eternity and the rest here for want of room omitted you shall by experience find out which will be better than knowing of them in the notion only because they are told you The Conclusion of this Discourse shall be some particular uses omitting many that it would afford 1. Is there an Eternal State Such unseen Eternal Joyes and Torments Who then can sufficiently lament the blindness madness and folly of this distracted World and the unreasonableness of those that have Rational and Eternal Souls to see them busily imployed in the matters of time which are only for time in present Honours Pleasures and Profits while they do neglect Everlasting things Everlasting Life and Death is before them Everlasting Joy or Torment is hard at hand and yet poor sinners take no care how to avoid the one or obtain the other Is it not matter of lamentation to see so many Thousands bereaved of the sober serious use of their Understandings That while they use their reason to get the Riches of this World they will not act as rational men to get the joyes of Heaven and to avoid Temporal Calamities yet not to escape Eternal misery Or if they be fallen into present Afflictions they contrive how they may get out of them if they be sick reason tells them they must use the means if they would be well if they be in pain Nature puts them on to seek after a Remedy and yet these same Men neglect all duty and cast away all care concerning Everlasting matters they are for seen pleasures and profits which are passing from them in the enjoyment of them but the unseen Eternal Glory in Heaven they pray not for they think not of Are they unjustly charged Let Conscience speak what thoughts they lye down withal upon their pillow if they wake or sleep fly from them in the silent night what a noise doth the cares of the World make in their Souls With what thoughts do they rise in the Morning of God or of the World Of the things of time or of Eternity Their thoughts are
my Mothers Womb was liable to a dissolution yet since this Body did arise out of the Bosom of the Earth and is reunited to its Soul admits of no separation for ever and which still is worse this Soul and Body now separated from God and Christ and all that be above in that Blessed Eternity must Never Never be admitted near unto them Oh cursed be the day that ever I was born Cursed be that folly and madness that brought me to this cursed place for here I lye under extremity of pain which if it were for an year or two or many Millions and then end would be in this respect exceeding heavy because it were to last so long but that then should be no longer would make it in the mean while to be the lighter but when Eternity is added to Extremity nothing can be added to make me extremely because in this extremity I am eternally miserable Oh Eternity Eternity in my condition what is more dreadful than Eternity This Fire burns to all Eternity the heavy stroaks of revenging Justice will be laid on me to all Eternity I am banished from God and Happiness to all Eternity Oh Eternity Eternity nothing cuts me to the heart like the corroding thoughts of this Eternity I am an Object of the Wrath of God of the contempt of Angels of the derision of Saints of the mockings of Devils and cursed Fiends to all Eternity I burn but cannot be consumed I toss and rowl and cannot rest to all Eternity Oh Eternity Eternity thou art enough to break my heart and make it dye but that it cannot break nor dye to all Eternity And if this shall be the doleful Language the direful Lamentations of Souls that went Christless out of time into Eternity do ye while ye are in time Eye Eternity in all you do and get a Title to Eternal Happiness or else when ye are in Eternity ye shall remember that in time ye were fore-warned which warning because ye did not take shall be a vexation to your Hearts to all Eternity SERMON XXIX A Discourse of the right way of obtaining and maintaining COMMUNION with GOD. 1 JOHN 1.7 But if we Walk in the light as he is in the light we have Fellowship one with another THE Subject I am to treat upon is Communion with God how to attain it and how to maintain it in as constant a course as we may be capable of in this World And for that end I have chosen this Text. My usual course is to provide matter for a Text but in this Lecture I provide a Text for the matter I am to treat upon The Subject is high and copious much spoken of but I fear not so well understood and less experienced though the Subject mainly relates to Christian Experience Before I come to the Subject I shall speak something of the Text upon which it is grounded The Author of this Epistle is St. John John the Apostle John the Divine as he was anciently called and he writes this Epistle some think to the Believing Jews only others think rather to the whole Catholick Church and the matter of the Epistle is partly to distinguish the true and the false Christian and for that end layes down many signal Characters to distinguish and partly to vindicate the Doctrine of the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ the true Messiah his Person his Natures and Salvation by him alone from the many errors that were crept in by false Teachers and Seducers in his time as Cerinthus Ebion c. as he intimates in the 1 John 2.26 These things I speak concerning them that seduce you He also vindicates the Holiness of the Christian Profession from the impure practices of the Nicolaitans and the Gnosticks who began early to abuse the true liberty of the Gospel and to turn the Grace of God into wantonness And lastly he doth earnestly press them to the Christian Love of one another because of the Persecutions he saw were coming upon the Church from the Roman Empire and the divisions that would arise amongst themselves from many false Brethren And hereupon to strengthen their Faith and Profession the more he shews forth the Gospel in the beginning of this Epistle 1. In the Antiquity of it That which was from the beginning c. 2. In the Certainty of it as in the third verse That which we have seen and heard and our hands have handled of the word of Life declare we unto you 3. In the main Scope and End of it These things have we written unto you that ye may have Fellowship with us with us the true Apostles of Christ and not go out from us as he complains of some that did in this Epistle They went out from us because they were not of us And then tells them what their Fellowship was Truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ So that he proposeth Fellowship with God and with Jesus Christ as the great scope and end of the Gospel and he mentioneth Christ as well as God because all our Fellowship with God is by Jesus Christ So that the Apostle doth invite and perswade the believing Jews to Fellowship with himself and other Apostles in the Doctrine and Ordinances of the Gospel dispensed by them or more generally the whole Catholick Church of God consisting both of believing Jew and Gentile but all this was in order to their having Fellowship with God and Jesus Christ 4. He shews the way how to have this Fellowship with God which he setteth down both Negatively and Affirmatively 1. Negatively in the sixth verse If we say that we have Fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth 2. Affirmatively in the words of the Text But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another And this the Apostle proves by an Argument taken from the Nature of God in the fifth verse God is light and in him is no darkness at all and therefore they that would have Fellowship with him who is Light must walk in the Light for what Communion hath light with darkness But by Light is not meant any visible material Light either Natural or Artificial but a Light that is Divine Spiritual and Intellectual For though God expresseth himself to us by things Natural when he is call'd Light or Life c. yet he is Ens transcendens a transcendent Being and it is a true rule nothing can be predicated univocally of God and the Creature And he doth not say only of God that he is in the Light as verse the seventh Or that he dwelleth in the Light as the Apostle Paul elsewhere expresseth it But He is Light Light Essentially Originally Eternally Light it self and in him he saith there is no darkness at all He is a pure simple immixt and perfect Light As we say of that which is perfect it is plenum sui full of it self
without any mixture of the contrary Quest Why is God called Light without Darkness And what is this Light I Answer 1. Wisdom is Light and Folly is Darkness 2. Knowledge is Light and Ignorance is Darkness 3. Truth is Light and Error is Darkness 4. Holiness is Light and Sin and Wickedness are Darkness So that when he saith that God is Light he means that God is Wisdom without mixture of Folly Knowledge without Ignorance or Nescience Truth without any Error or any false Conceptions in his Eternal Mind and Holiness without the least mixture of Sin so that the way to have Fellowship with God is to walk in the Light that is to say to walk in Wisdom and not as Fools to walk according to Knowledge and not in Ignorance to walk in the Truth and not in Errour to walk in the way of Holiness and not of Sin and Wickedness Now Light in men it is either Natural or Supernatural 1. Natural which is either the Light of the Body which is the Eye Matth. 6.26 Or 2. The Light of the Soul which is the Light of Reason and Natural Conscience this we are to walk in according to the utmost Sphere and extent thereof But Supernatural Light that shines from Supernatural Revelation in the Scriptures and the inlightning Spirit of God in the Souls of Men is the Light here meant in the Text and which Christians should walk in Now this is the way to have Fellowship and Communion with God as the Text saith If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another Now by one with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some say the Apostle means the Saints to whom he writes we and ye shall have Fellowship together we Apostles and ye Believers And the Vulgar Latine carries it that way and renders it ad invicem But we must rather understand that the Apostle here speaks of the Fellowship that God hath with his People and they with him And so Beza understands it mutuam habemus cum eo communionem An Ancient Greek Manuscript hath in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with him that is God and we shall have Fellowship with one another And the rather we are to understand it in this sense for the Apostle he is not speaking here of the Communion which the Saints have with one another but of our Communion and Fellowship with God as in the sixth verse If we say we have Fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth And then he adds but if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another I shall now proceed to speak to the Subject it self and herein shall discourse of these four Generals I. What this Communion with God is II. Give some Distinctions about it III. Shew how it is to be Attained and Maintained IV. Deduce some Consequences that follow from my whole Discourse concerning it And then conclude with some practical Application General I I. What this Communion with God is The Word in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies common and so it imports something that is common and mutual betwixt God and us as Communion among men imports something mutual on each side so that our Communion with God it is either Active or Passive Active in what passeth from us to God and Passive in what is Communicated from him to us 1. Active on our part which consisteth in the Divine Operations of our Souls towards God when the faculties of the Soul are tending towards him and terminated upon him when the Mind is exercised in the contemplation of him the Will in chusing and embracing him when the Affections are fixt upon him and Center in him when by our Desires we pursue after him by our Love we cleave to him and by Delight we acquiesce and solace our selves in him 2. Passive on Gods part and so our Communion with God consists in our participation of him and in his communicating himself to us and this Communication of God to us in our Communion with him is specially in these three things Light Life and Love 1. In Light I mean the Light of Spiritual Knowledge and Understanding whereby we are inabled to discern Spiritual things Spiritually This is called Gods shining into our Hearts by the Apostle 2. Cor. 4.6 and seeing Light in Gods Light by the Psalmist Psal 36. 2. In Life whereby we are made partakers of the Life of God though in a lower degree and are no longer alienated from the Life of God as the Apostle declared the Gentiles to be Eph. 4. And by this Life of God we must understand that which the Scripture calls Sanctification For Holyness is the Life of God in Man For when God Sanctifies a Man he quickens the Soul that was dead in Sin and makes it partake of the Divine Life or the Life of God and which elsewhere is called a partaking of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and a renewing Man into the Image of God Col. 3.10 3. In Love God communicates his Love also in the sense and tast of it to the Soul which the Apostle calls The shedding abroad the Love of God in the Heart Rom. 5. So that in this Communion with God we have not only the Theory of his Love in our minds but some taste and experience of it in our Hearts And under this is comprehended all that Peace Joy and Consolation that springs out of this to the Soul and arising from the Communication of the sence of his Love to us The Apostle James expresseth this Communion with God in both the parts of it James 4.8 when he saith Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you And Christ expresseth them both also in these words John 14.23 If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him He expresseth the active part of Communion with God by our loving him and keeping his Commandements and the passive part by his own and his Fathers coming to us to make their abode with us The Apostle John expresseth them by our dwelling in God and Gods dwelling in us 1 John 5.16 We dwell in God either by Faith in him whereby we make him the Object of our Trust Confidence and dependance or especially by our Love to him as he there expresseth it He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God And then Gods dwelling in us is Communion with God in the other part of it consisting in a Communication of himself to us But this Communion with God we must think soberly of it It is not a transformation of the Soul of Man into the Divine Essence and Being as if Man was made God swallowed up into him and lost his own Existence and Being in God Neither is it a mixture of Gods Being with the Being
God 1. By Sanctifying our Hearts and assimilating our Natures to the Nature of God for there can be no Communion where there is no likeness of Nature What Communion hath Light with Darkness or Fire with Water because there is no similitude in their Natures As the Elements that have symbolical qualities and some likeness in their Nature do easily pass one into the other by a Natural transmutation In this Communion with God there must be some suitableness and likeness between God and the Soul and that enmity and contrariety which is in our Natures to him must be removed by the sanctifying operation of the Holy Spirit in us 2. By elevating and raising the Soul above its Natural power and reach The Apostle distinguisheth between the Soul and Spirit in Man the Spirit is the superior part of the Soul and it is in the Spirit that we have our Communion with God who is a Spirit As the Union and Communion between the Soul and the Body in Nature is by the Superiour and most refined part of the Body which are the Vital Natural and Animal Spirits so our Union and Communion with God is by the Spirit the supreme part of the Soul and that elevated and raised by the Spirit of God above its own Natural capacity or power These are the principal wayes for Communion with God but then there are subordinate wayes which are the Ordinances and Institutions of God for that end For God hath in all ages been training up his people to this to have Communion with himself and therefore he did appoint Ordinances for that end under the Law there were Sacrifices and Altars and Solemn Feasts appointed of God especially the Sabbath-Day and a Sanctuary erected c. and all for this end that his People might therein draw nigh to him and have Communion with him And so in the New Testament God hath his Ordinances also appointed for this end as Prayer Hearing the Word Singing of Psalms Baptism and especially the Lords Supper which is therefore called the Communion as that Ordinance wherein we have a more special Communion with Christ and with God in him Quest But what is to be done more particularly on our part to obtain it and maintain it also Answ 1. In general we are to desire it and pant after it as the most beneficial and necessary thing in the World Many have it not because they desire it not They satisfie themselves in their converse with things below and the Communion they have with things sensible and natural and desire not this Communion with God Answ 2. You are to make it your scope and end in all the Ordinances you approach to to have therein Communion with God Many come to them out of custome some out of curiosity and others in hypocrisie and so find not that Communion with God which else they might obtain if they did make it their great scope and end David testifies his great longing that he had after the Sanctuary of God but it was for this end that he might there meet with God and have Communion with him as he expresseth it in the Psal 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord to dwell in the House of the Lord that I may see the Beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple And again Psal 63. O God my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee that I may see thy Power and thy Glory as I have seen thee in thy Sanctuary which is in effect that he might there have Communion with God But to speak to this more particularly 1. If we would have Communion with God we must keep up the exercise of Faith in Christ for it is as I said by him that we have all our Communion with God therefore Christ had his Name Immanuel given to him which signifies God with us Let Faith look upon God as in Christ and so we may behold him reconciled we may behold him coming down to us in our own Nature we may behold him upon a Throne of Grace and as entred into a Covenant of Grace whereby we may with a greater freedome and boldness have access unto him which is the active part of this Communion with God and through Faith in Christ God also communicates himself by his Spirit to his People in Light Life and Love which is this Communion in the passive part of it The Apostle 1 John 4.15 saith to this purpose Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God This Confession is an act of Faith and if it be not only from the Mouth but from the Heart it leadeth the Soul into this Communion with God expressed in our part by our dwelling in God and on Gods part by his dwelling in us 2. Keep up a dayly exercise of Repentance that so no new Sin nor the Guilt of it in the Conscience may hinder and interrupt our Communion with God For who can say his Heart is clean He is pure from sin and therefore there is need of dayly Repentance that sin may not interrupt our Communion with God which it will do if we abide impenitently under it The Apostle speaks in this Chapter of Fellow-ship with God and here in the Text and afterwards adds If any man say he hath no sin he deceiveth himself So that this Communion with God may consist with the Being of sin but not with impenitence under it and therefore adds If we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive it and we know that Confession of Sin is one great part of Repentance and when Sin is thus confessed and forgiven it need not hinder our Fellowship with God The Apostle also mentioneth in my Text Fellowship with God and the cleansing of us from sin by the Blood of Christ both these are put together so that to maintain this Fellowship with God we must be cleansed from sin which is done meritoriously by the Blood of Christ but on our part upon the Conditions of Faith and Repentance 3. Keep up a constant course of Prayer and praising God 1. Prayer Prayer is a special Ordinance for Communion with God and therefore so much commanded in Scripture Pray without ceasing saith the Apostle in one place Pray all manner of Prayer in the Spirit as he speaks in another place For if it be not a Prayer in the Spirit accompanied with Faith and fervour of Soul we may pray and yet have no Communion with God Prayer is compared to incense but it doth not ascend to Heaven but in the Fire of Holy Affection kindled by the Spirit And Christ therefore propounded several Parables to put men upon Fervency Faith and Perseverance in Prayer which are so well known that I need not mention them If the Soul draws nigh to God in any Duty it will be this And so Gods drawing nigh to the Soul is experienced to be much in this Duty of Prayer Christ himself
had his Transfiguration from Heaven and the Glory of God shining forth upon him while he was praying as you read Luk. 9.29 And the experience of the Saints can much witness to this what visits of Light and Love they have had and transfiguring views of Heavenly Glory in this Duty of Prayer And then 2. Keep up a constant course of Praising God Praise it is the great Ordinance of Heaven for Communion with God in a State of Perfection and as we are able to reach it in our present State it will raise the Soul into Communion with God The Soul is in its highest Operations when it is praising God and the higher the Acts of the Soul are the nearer it doth approach to him who is the most High God 4. Keep your selves pure Though by Purity I mean not an absolute Purity but watchfulness against all Sins and Temptations Resisting every Sin Living in no sin and a continued endeavour to mortifie all Sin in our selves The Purer the Soul is the fitter it is for Communion with God The promise of seeing God is by our Saviour made to the pure in Heart Matth. 5.8 and with the pure God will shew himself pure saith the Psalmist Psal 18.26 And the Apostle James speaking concerning this Communion with God James 4.8 which he expresseth by our drawing nigh to God and his drawing nigh to us adds this Exhortation Cleanse your hands ye Sinners and purifie your Hearts ye double minded And the Apostle Paul speaks to the Corinthians of the same thing 2 Cor. 6.16 17. and thereupon adviseth them to keep themselves pure What Communion hath Light with Darkness Righteousness with Vnrighteousness c. and therefore be you separate and touch no unclean things saith the Lord and I will dwell and walk in the midst of you Under the Law God appointed Porters to keep their Watch at the Doors of the Temple that nothing might enter in to defile that Temple which was his dwelling place The Soul is to be Gods Temple for him to dwell in and therefore we should watch against whatsoever may enter in to defile our Souls whereby we may be fitter dwellings for him and for Communion with him And the Priests under the Law were commanded to purifie themselves before they drew nigh to God in his Temple Yea and the People also before they came to the Passeover and those folemn Feasts wherein they did draw nigh to God they were to purifie and cleanse themselves And the very Heathen before they entred their Solemn Sacrifices would have their Cryer to proclaim to the People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy things are for Holy Persons And they would write this Inscription over the Doors of their Temple Nemo immundus huc ingreditor Let no unclean Person enter in here And all their Lustrations and washings they used to the Living and their purging Fires which they dream'd of for Souls after Death and which are still kept up in the Holy Water and Purgatory of the Romish Church do confirm the truth of this Notion as that which is ingrafted in the minds of all Men that purity is required as necessary in all our approaches to God and Communion with him 5. Let God be much in your Thoughts and in the view of your Mind not only when you approach some solemn Ordinance but in the whole course of your actions when you go forth and come in when ye lie down and rise up Let the Creatures you converse with the several dispensations of Divine Providence towards you present God to your Thoughts and the view of your Minds For how can Men that have seldom any Thoughts of God maintain any Communion with him Our Communion with God is not as it is with Creatures in a sensible way but it is by the inward Thoughts and Exercise of the Mind which therefore we ought to be frequent in We should with David Psal 16.8 Set the Lord alwaies before our face and not as he that he speaks of Psal 10.4 of whom it s said God is not in all his thoughts This is rather to live without God in the World than to live in Communion with him And these Thoughts of God should not be slight and transient but fixed and serious especially at some times which we should more peculiarly denote to solemn Meditation Meditation brings the Object nearer to the Soul and the Soul near to it though locally distant unites the Soul to it mixeth it self with it whereby it doth possess it or is possessed of it 6. Practise Self-denyal for he that abideth in himself and liveth in and to himself liveth at a distance from God God and Self are as two Opposite Terms we must forsake the one if we would approach to the other When Man first fell from God he fell in with himself and therefore must forsake himself if he would return to God and have Communion with him There is a twofold Self-denyal One is Internal when we can deny our selves in all high Thoughts of our selves Confidence in our selves all self-ends self applause self-sufficiency and do even annihilate our selves this is highly requisite to our Communion with God Self is that Dagon that must fall before Gods Ark that Idol that must be cast out of the Temple of Mans Soul that God may enter in and dwell there Then there is a Self-denyal that is external which God sometimes calls his people to in Order to Communion with himself As to forsake Father Mother House Land Liberty c. and all this in order to the receiving the hundred fold in this Life as our Saviour hath promised which they shall receive in this Communion with God An eminent instance of this we have in Galeacius Caracciolus who left his Countrey Kindred Estate Honour that he possest at home to enjoy Communion with God in the purer Ordinances of the Reformed Church at Geneva and being tempted by Gold and Silver to return answered His Money perish with him that thinks all the Gold and Silver in the World worth one days Communion with Jesus Christ He found all that he had left an hundred fold in this Communion he had with God and Jesus Christ 6. Walk in Love This I add because our Apostle doth so much insist upon it in this Epistle Love is an Affection requisite to all Communion To Communion with Saints among themselves and to Communion with God For God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 John 4.16 And this mutual indwelling is this Communion I am treating of The Philosopher saith of Love it doth transferr amantem in amatum it carries the Soul from home to live and dwell in the person or thing beloved It is vinculum Vnionis the band of Union and all Communion is founded in Union And therefore where there is no Love how can there be Communion and where Men do not walk in Love how can they walk in Communion with God If Christians
walk in Strife Envy Debates Emulation Contention they will not hereby be only hindred in their Communion with one another but with God also 7. And Lastly Let the People of God walk in Fellowship with one another Let them be all united to some particular visible Church where they may enjoy all those Ordinances of Divine Worship which God hath instituted for Communion with himself Besides the Catholick Church whereof Christ is the Supream Head and Pastor there are particular Churches under the praesidency and care of particular Pastours to some of which all professed Christians ought to belong in order to their Communion with God and one another But upon this third General I shall speak somewhat further in the Application IV. I shall now come to the Fourth and last General I proposed to General IV speak to and that is the Consequences or Consectaries that arise from this whole Discourse 1. It follows hence that Communion with God is a very comprehensive Consect 1 duty It comprehends much in it It consists not in one single Grace or one single Act of the Soul or one single Duty of Religion but it comprehends the Exercise of many Graces reacheth to manifold Duties of Religion and consisteth of manifold Acts and Operations of the Soul 2. It is also a constant Duty which we are to maintain in a constant Consect 2 course and not only now and then at some solemn times or at some solemn Ordinance Not as if we ought to do nothing else but worship God which is the Communion reserved for Heaven but it is to be our dayly practise and to set some time apart for it every day and as much as we can to carry this Communion with God through the several Affairs Conditions and Actions of our Life Acquaint thy self with God said Elihu to Job chap. 22. v. 21. The Heb. is Accustome thy self with God which importeth some frequent course of approaching to God and converse with him And when it is said of Noah and Enoch that they walked with God It implies a constant course of Religion and Communion with God And when the Apostle saith Phil. 3.20 our Conversation is in Heaven it implies more than the performance now and then some Religious Worship but some constant converse with God and the things of Heaven as Citizens of the same civil Body or Society have among themselves in their civil Commerce and Conversation with one another as the Greek word there used doth import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. No Creatures are capable of Communion with God but Angels Consect 3 and Men. The Beasts were not made for it nor are capable of it not being rational and intelligent Beings This Communion with God requires the exercise of Reason and Understanding and that in the highest improvements of them If we consider it either in the Active or Passive part of it the Beasts are not capable of it Though God hath Communicated something of himself to all his Creatures and as the Poet expresseth it Jovis omnia plena all things are full of God and his Infinite Being is in all Finite Beings yet no Creatures have Communion with him but Angels and Men Other Creatures have a Natural instinct or sagacity to preserve and propagate their respective Natures or Beings but have no sense of their Creator no impression of a Deity upon their Nature nor no rational faculties whereby they might be capable of Communion with God The Angels have Communion with God in Heaven they alwaies behold the face of God as our Saviour speaks So the Spirits of just men departed are with Christ and in nearer Communion with God than when they dwelt in their Tabernacles of Flesh And the Saints upon Earth also are not without it though in a lower degree whereby the Church Militant hath Communion with the Church Triumphant in this Communion that both have with God Heb. 12. whieh shews the excellency of rational Creatures above all others that they alone are capable of this high Employment and Priviledge Consect 4 4. The Supreme felicity of Angels and Men lies in Communion with God As they alone are capable of it so their felicity consisteth in it God hath provided a good suitable to the Natures of all his Creatures in the enjoying of which is their chief happiness but the happiness of rational and intelligent Creatures lies in himself And therefore in their first Creation they were made happy in their Communion with him And herein consisteth the chief misery of fall'n Angels and fall'n Man that they both fell from their Communion with God The Angels so fell as never to be restored to it again And man so fell also as not to be able of himself to return to it But God hath provided a way for man by Christ to be brought back again to him which if he neglects or refuseth he will then be cast into the same hopeless Condition with the Devil and his Angels Consect 5 5. The highest improvement of the faculties of the Soul are to Employ them in Communion with God They are then in their highest Operation upon the highest Object Though they are Employed about things of this lower World and ought so to be in their proper bounds yet these are not their highest Operations which they are capable of As the highest use that could be made of Beasts under the Law was to make them Sacrifices to God and when the Israelites brought Gold Silver Purple Scarlet and precious Stones for the use and service of the Sanctuary they devoted them to the highest service they were capable of So when the faculties of the Soul are made a Sanctuary to God and employed in Communion with him they receive their highest improvement Lastly Communion with God is the Life of Religion It is but a dead thing without it All Religion hath respect to a Deity either to confer Honour upon it or to have Communion with it especially the true Religion without the former it finds no acceptance with God without the latter it is unprofitable to our selves yea we may grow worse under all our profession What the Body is without the Soul and what the matter without the form that is Religion where men find no Influence from Heaven upon their Hearts and have no Communion with God I next proceed to the Application I. Take notice with an holy admiration of the condescending goodness Vse I of God to admit any of the Sons of Men into fellowship with himself That there should be fellowship where there is such infinite inequality such infinite distance yea with such as had provok't him and disobliged him by their wilful departure from him To assume our Nature into Union and Communion with God was great condescent and so it is to receive any of our persons Will God indeed dwell on Earth said Solomon when he had built God an House for him to dwell in amongst his people For God to approach in wayes of such
Would you then have Communion with God you must not abide in Ignorance but read the Scriptures Enquire into the Mysteries of the Gospel and know the way of coming to God and Communion with him by Christ Jesus and to an Everlasting Communion with him in Heaven And Thirdly Truth is Light and Error is Darkness Take heed therefore of false Doctrines especially such as may tend to the obstructing this Communion with God Take heed of Socinian Doctrines in denying Christs satisfaction the Trinity and the Godhead of Christ c. Take heed of Popish Doctrines which tell you of other merits besides the merits of Christ other satisfaction other Mediation and other Headship of the Church besides Jesus Christ c. Take heed of the Leaven of Quakerism which sets up the Light of Nature for Christ and cast off the use of those Ordinances which Christ hath appointed for our Communion with God Take heed of the old Pelagian Doctrines that set up the Power of Nature and are since revived under other Names to the denyal or neglect of that help of the Spirit which is necessary to our Communion with God And lastly I said Holiness is Light and Sin and Wickedness are Darkness He therefore that would have Communion with God must break off from his Sin betake himself to a course of Godliness and Holy walking with God In the Apostles time rose up a Sect of carnal Professors who would talk high of Fellowship with God and yet walk after the Flesh and indulge their Lusts Whom he is thought especially to referr to in this Chapter that they thus walking in Darkness cannot have Fellowship with that God who is Light The next branch of the Exhortation I direct to such as are in the practice and experience of this Communion with God First Maintain it in what Constancy you can The fewer interruptions are admitted therein so much the better Take heed of violent passions take heed of distracting Cares take heed of Diversions from Duties and Ordinances you ought to attend unto Take heed of the snares of bad Company of the influence of bad Examples of the carnal Counsels of your own Heart of any Complyances against your Consciences of any doubts and disputes in your Mind about the Fundamental Principles of all Religion especially that Christian Religion that you make profession of And watch over the Levity and instability of your own minds which of it self alone may hinder our constancy in this duty Yea and the very lawful Affairs of our calling especially if much incumbred may interrupt us herein Secondly Advance it to an higher degree That your Communion with God may grow up into a greater intimacy such as the Church the Spowse of Christ is represented to have in the Book of Canticles He that can attain it let him attain it In Jacob's Ladder which stood betwixt Heaven and Earth there were many rounds In an high Mountain there are several degrees of ascent At Mount Sinai the people stood at the bottom some of the Priests and the Seventy Elders of Israel went up a little way but Moses was at the top Let us ascend this Mount as high as we can only know it is not Mount Sinai but Mount Sion we must ascend to have Communion with God And be not discouraged if you meet with some difficulties in your ascent through the Natural bent of your Hearts towards things below The sweetness and advantage you will reap herein will abundantly recompence all the labour and endeavours after it And may not some eminent degree of Communion with God be expected of such as do not only live in the times of the New Testament but have had a long standing in the Church of God that your growth herein may in some measure be proportion'd to your time and advantages for it And that which should quicken you the more is the present Complexion of the times both at home and abroad We know not what dayes are coming Mens Hearts are failing them for fear of what Evils are coming upon the Earth as our Saviour foretold Matth. 24. now nothing will so fortifie the Soul against an evil day and an hour of Temptation as this Communion with God This will sweeten a Prison sweeten Poverty sweeten Banishment sweeten the very sorrows of Death This sweetned the Martyrs sufferings of old that Fellowship they had with God in those sufferings wherein they had fellowship also with Christ in his Death Now let these things put you on to this great work And be not discouraged because of the infinite distance betwixt God and us He is come down to us in our own Nature in Christ that we may have access to him and his terror not make us afraid And hear what he speaks himself to our encouragement Isa 57. Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite Spirit c. The most high God thus humbleth himself to men But God is invisible Object and how can I have Communion with one whom I see not It s true We cannot have a sensible Communion with Him Answ as Men have with one another but Spirits that are invisible have converse together as well as sensible Creatures God is a Spirit and the Soul of Man is a Spirit and so may be capeable of Communion with that God who is a Spirit Had not the Apostle Communion with invisible things when he saith We look not to the things which are seen but to the things which are not seen And doth not the Apostle Peter say Whom having not seen you love 1 Pet. 1.8 And is not Faith the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 And though in himself he is invisible yet he made himself visible in Christ who is the Image of the Invisible God Col. 1.15 Vse V V. Having spoke of this Communion with God I shall add one Use about the Communion of Saints We know it is one of the Articles of our Creed And that which the Apostle in this Chapter exhorts to These things have we written to you that ye may have Fellowship with us with us as Apostles and with us as Believers So that the fellowship of Saints comprehends their fellowship with the Father and their fellowship with the Son and their fellowship with the Apostles and from thence fellowship with one another All Saints and Churches that hold fellowship with these three ought to have fellowship among themselves To bring in new Doctrines or new Rules of Worship not delivered by the Apostles is to forsake Communion with the Apostles The terms of Communion laid by the Apostles for the Churches of Christ ought to be kept inviolable in all Churches to the end of the World and be the Foundation of their Communion among themselves And for my part I can hold Communion with any Church where these are maintained though there may be some Circumstantial differences either in
Opinion or Practise especially if they are not imposed as necessary For this hath made such woful Divisions in the Church the making things unnecessary and doubtful the necessary terms of Church-Communion Was the Church of Rome it self the truly Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Church as she stiles her self I could have Communion with it They that leave the Apostles shake the Foundation of the Churches stability and forsake the center of its Unity The Lord help us all to understand the way of Peace and Union in this miserably divided Age. Vse VI Lastly And now from all that hath been said we may take a prospect of Heaven Heaven is not a Turkish Paradise it is Communion with God that is the very Heaven of Heaven as the loss of it is the very Hell of Hell And this makes Heaven not desirable to the Carnal Man who hath no desire after or delight in Communion with God but it doth commend it the more to the Spiritual Man that he shall then enjoy that in its highest perfection which he hath been pursuing and had the fore-tasts of in this World Quest What is the best way to prepare to meet God in the way of his Judgments or Mercies SERMON XXVIII 1 John XII 28. Beginning of the Verse Father Glorify thy Name IN this Chapter we find the Lord Jesus under two very different Exercises in the one attended with much Solemnity in the other under great Perplexity much Courted much cast Down highly Honoured and exceedingly Troubled and he beareth both with wonderful Equanimity He is Feasted at Bethany v. 1 2. Anointed with Oyle of Spiknard very costly v. 3. Rideth Tryumphantly into Jerusalem v. 12 13. c. His Disciples bless and entertain him upon the way with Hosannas v. 13. Matth. 21.8 9. Strangers desire to see him and give him their Acknowledgments v. 20. And the Multitude throng after him v. 12. And strow his way with Palm Branches v. 13. But immediately the Scene is changed As our blessed Lord was not much affected with these things so contrary to all Expectation he enters upon a discourse of another Nature v. 23. The hour is come that the Son of Man should be Glorified Why Had he not been Glorifying throughout this Chapter yea But not comparably to what he here intends q. d. my Feast my Tryumph my applause bear no Proportion to the glory I am hasting to These are but Dull low Glories to what is at Hand The hour is come i. e. is near That the Son of Man shall be Glorified upon the Cross by Expiating the Sins of his Elect Glorified thereupon in Heaven at the right hand of the Father Christ had his Eye upon an higher Glory which would redound to him upon the Performing and Finishing our Redemption And a true Christian frame overlook's present Comforts and Honours from Men and fixeth mainly upon the Honour to be received from God in the way of Obedience here and hereafter Nor will our Lord Jesus pass over this Meditation till he have improved it 1. Inferring thence the Fruitfulness of his Death Verrily Verrily I say unto you v. 24. Except a Corn of Wheat fall into the Ground and Dye it abideth alone but if it Dye it bringeth forth much Fruit. Alluding to the Propagation of his Church by his Death 2. The Proportionable advantage of the Death of his Saints for his Sake v. 25.26 and Testimony and the disadvantage of forbearing and refusing to suffer for his Name But passing thence to the consideration of his Dreadful Agony and Passion ensuing v. 27. beginning His Thoughts are at a Stand his Soul is Troubled yea the Extremity of his grief stopt his Mouth so Amazing so Astonishing was the Fore-sight of his Sufferings At last Prayer breaks out Father Save me from this Hour and is presently Corrected But for this cause came I to this Hour q. d. I would escape but must not resist thy Will I 'd save my self yet not without a Salvo to thy purpose and councel I am in a Strait between Nature and Faith between Fear and Subjection between Death and Duty First Meer Trouble is no Sin Christs Soul was Troubled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Water when it is Mudded Jo. 5.4 7. Not that thier was any mixture of Sin in his Trouble it was such as might consist with his pure unspotted Nature If grief be not groundless if not extravagant no Sainted with unbelief or effected of disobedience 't is but Natures Weakness Grace induceth no Stoical Stupidity 'T is no property of the Gospel to make Men Sensless Secondly Fear of Death and sense of the Wrath of God are of all things most Perplexing Now is my Soul Troubled Now I am to conflict with the Father's Anger Mens Malice and Death's Pains and Terrours and now not my Flesh only but my Soul is Troubled Thirdly Extream distress of Spirit is of an amazing Nature Christ had not the Freedom of Prayer What shall I say and then what he did say was corrected Matt. 26.39 42. Fourthly No Extremity can Ordinarily or should really put an Holy Soul by the Plea of or hope in his Relation to God Christ calls God Father My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matt. 27.46 Fifthly Prayer must be suited to the Occasion Save me from the Hour c. A great Argument against most forms is that an Holy Soul cannot relish them nor can I see how God accepts them because they are impertinent or not full to the case Sixthly In our Extremitys we may be importunate must not be Peremptory with God in Prayer Our Saviour here Prayed not more Heartily then submissively Matt. 26.39 Our Text is the Result of the Lords Wrastling both with his own Soul and with his Father Here is first Christs Prayer Father Glâ—rify thy Name And the Fathers Answer in the next words but I meddle not with that now In the Text we have Two things 1. The Compellation Father 2. The Petition Glorify c. 1. The Compellation Father Prayer ought to be Ushered in with some Suitable Title of God which is expressive of his Supremacy our Reverence of him and Relation to him All these are Couched in the Single word Father Read Matt. 6.10 Malach. 1.6 Rom. 8.15 1. This Title expresseth God's Authority and Chirst's Allegiance both owned by him in this little Word 2. Relation The Lords Petitioners must ask so as to assure themselves of Acceptation which the Recognition of our Interest in God Read Isa 63 16. as our Father in Christ is very proper to Effect Hence the Rule of Prayer enters with Our Father And it is most Suitable to the Spirit of the Gospel that believers call God Father in Prayer having the Spirit of the Son poured out upon them to this End Gal. 4.6 2. The Petition Father Glorify thy Name q. d. Be thou rather Glorified then I Spared If I dye thy Glory will make amends for my Torment and
or make their Requests to God for some Extatide Transports and Enlargements in a Duty or Covet unfit degrees of Gifts or Abilities for Duties taking that to be Grace which may be a gift consistent with a lost Condition and suppose these things never acquested by them must it thence follow That the Face of God is hid from them Oh what a pass must God be at with these Mens Souls when they must take him for their Enemy or for a discontented and distasted Friend unless he will to humour them transgress the stated Methods of his Dealing with Mens Souls If their Natural strength and fervour do but decay through Age or Sickness or other accidental Weaknesses or if God touch them in their Darlings here as Interests Relations Possessions or cast them upon some unwelcome straits though for their good Oh then they think him gone from them in deep Distast and Wrath when as these things rather insinuate Demonstrations and Assurances of Gods Faithfulness and Favour to them than any hard Thoughts of or bad Designs upon them See then that you be sure that God hides his Face from you indeed before you proceed to infer Discouragements or any ways to countenance your own Despondencies and any Jealousies or hard thoughts of God Bâ—t yet 't is to be acknowledged That God sometimes doth hide his Face indeed Isa 64.7 And that either 1. Totally as to the Damned in Hell so as never to shew it more to them again but this is nothing to our present Case or else 2. Partially as to those on Earth who are either 1. Unconverted or 2. Converted Persons The former are not here concerned but the latter and as to Converted Persons such as are truly Gracious God is said to hide his Face from them when he removes his Candlestick from them Rev. 2.5 or when they rather only see than really feel and are bettered by the Light and are scarce sensible of either Savour or Power in Gods Ordinances or of any Improvement in or of themselves thereby or when they have not any free Intercourses with God in Holy Duties but ever find themselves to be deadned and straitned in the Addresses of their Spirits to God in his Holy Ordinances of which their Jealousies are increased by their being Conscious to themselves of much Barrenness Wantoness and Ingratitude under their Sanctuary-priviledges Or when they are terrified with Storms and Tempests in their own Breasts through pressing Fears and multiplied Distractions But here let them consult Gods Word and Providences and their own Consciences together and thus debate this Matter with themselves What makes thee think O my Soul that God now hides his Face from thee Is it what is and hath been common either to Mankind or to the Generation of the Just or something peculiar to my self and unusual to others Is it any thing that can make it Evident that I either yet was never truly Gracious or that Gods Grace is now Extinct in me Have I an Heart for God and hath he none for me Is any thing inflicted on me inconsistent with Gods Saving Love to me Have my Afflictions Deadned me to God and Holiness or cut off the Entail of his Covenant-Favours upon me Are there noe Cases and Instances of Gods Eclipsed Face paralel to or much beyond my own to be discerned in Abraham David Job Lot Christ or others See James 5.10 Heb. 5.7 9. Job's Friends got nothing but Reproofs from God for their inferring Gods Contempt of him from what God laid on him It is much to be Observed That Gods dearest Favourites have had the sharpest Exercises and great Darkness and Disconsolateness on their Spirits at sometimes or other for the sensible Comforts and Refreshments of Religion are seldom found the Daily Fare of the exactest walkers with God under Heaven and yet how often are these Eclipses greatned by their Fancies or Follies And then by their Misrepresentations of God to themselves how oft and much is he Dishonoured by them But let these things be well considered by Gracious Souls 1. God doth not always nor ever totally hide his Face from them whom he hath Changed and Transformed through Grace 2. That when at any time 't is hid from them 't is not hidden in so much Wrath but that Mercy shall prevail at last 3. Nor can it ever be so dark with them but that some Remedies and Refreshments may be had from the Name the Son and the Covenant and from that of God within themselves which they ought not to undervalue overlook or to deny or to quit the Acknowledgments and Comforts of Nay I may boldly say it that at the worst more of Gods Face doth or may appear to them and shine upon them than is at any time hidden from them I mean more of that Face which is discernable here on Earth for otherwise it is but very little of Gods Face that the best Men see at most in this World if compared with what is to be manifested in Eternity unto the Heirs of Glory And therefore is it yet a shameful thing both to be pitied and blamed in gracious Persons that every intermission or retreat of sensible Joys and Favours shall so enrage their Fears and Sorrows as that Gods tenderness and faithfulness shall presently be Arraigned and his most gentle Discipline heavily Censured strangely Agravated extravagantly Resented and most immoderatly Bemoaned by them Yea and that before they have well understood what ails them and unto what degrees their so bemoaned Eclipse hath reached Come then my Soul deal fairly with thy Self and God and tell me what is it that God hath now denied thee How far hath God denied it What of God is it that thou once hast seen but canst not now What hinders the present sight or the recovery of what before hath been thy Strength and Joy Do not mistake Gods Looks and Heart nor in a pet charge God with what he is not guilty of nor say too hastily why better with me formerly than now Direct IV. Let him remove and shun all that provokes God thus to hide his Face Isa 59.1 2. Lam. 3.39 40. no Counsel nor Encouragement will or can avail that Soul for Trust or Conduct which neglects its stated Work and Watch which God enjoyns it to and expects from it The Spots and negligences of Gods own People are displeasing to him and he will turn his Face away from what he loaths and hates Many a dreadful frown and glance from God had David when he had defiled his Soul and Body with Lust and Blood The matter of Uriah left that blot and sting upon him and to his Family which made it evident how unsafe it is for even gracious Souls to play the wantons Complaints and Prayers can neither expiate nor commute for those miscarriages and neglects which God forbids and hates nor will it be found sufficient that we make some enquiries after God or pathetical and mournful declamations against
with our hands to God in the Heavens When the heart is intensly elevated to God it carries the Hands and the Voice along with it it Acts all the Body from the Center as Tertullian Phraseth it bona conscientia eructat ad superficiem he lifts up his Soul Psal 143.8 and Body too to God as they lifted up the Mincah or Heav-Offering and waved it before the Lord the Soul will work the body into Simpathy when it is earnest indeed that which made the Veins of the Body to open their Mouths in drops of Blood as Christ his Prayer in his Agony did Luke 22.44 will certainly make us open our Lips Out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaks Luke 6.46 4. This Vocal Amen is as it were the Epitome and summ of all our Petitions and Praises to God 't is the Center which all those Lines are drawn towards It is all the Duty vertually reduced to one word and point Yea it is the repeating and ecchoing or redoubling of all over again As the Mercury behind the Glass it reverterates the lively Image of all preceding Devotion It is a drawing the Arrow to the Pile by a strong ejaculation qua toto corde deum petimus in Bellarmines Phrase whereby the whole heart is darted up to God It is a stirring up our selves to take hold of God Isa 64.7 It is taking aim and directing our Prayer to him and looking up Psal 5.3 as if they would hand up Gods Praises to him and stand ready to receive his Mercies with open Hands and Mouths It winds up all together in one bundle many are willing to have God forgive their trespasses but cannot so readily forgive others we may be free for God to give us daily Bounty and Bread but cannot make it as Meat and Drink to do his Will Men will easily accept of Gods kindness not so roundly pay their tribute of Praises Such cannot roundly Pray nor say Amen Ah Lord and Amen are two long Prayers in few words managed by the whole Soul and thus it is an Amen with an Hallelujah when we seek God with all our hearts then we find him Jer. 29.13 5. Amen rightly pronounced is an intense Act of Faith or it involves a strong Faith The Hebrew Verb in Niphat signifies to be firm stable and strong and in Hiphil it signifies to beleive and trust and indeed we cannot beleive or trust to any thing but that which is stable invariable and immutable So that there are two Declarations made by this Amen 1. That God is firm and immutably true in himself and his word 2. That we will not only beleive his Truth but trust to his veracity and build upon it as the Prophet doth both Jer. 11.5 this is a laying hold on Gods Strength Isa 27.5 as we see Abraham Gen. 15.6 he beleived God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vehermen Gods Truth is beleived his veracity trusted to Israel twisted about both these as Abraham did he wrestled with God and prevailed The Jews say Amen habet tres nucleos hath Three Kernels the one is of an Oath the Second of Faith the Third of Confidence as Bunto says on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When we have confessed our Sins we do by our Amen say all is true and we have deserved Gods displeasure we beg pardon of them and so beleive God hath promised Pardon to the Penitent we trust our selves with God in Christ and beleive that he will Pardon our Sins as all others that cast themselves upon his promised Grace 6. The unanimous pronunciation of Amen is an assurance that God will accept our Praises and answer our Prayers So as the Soul comes off with Luther's Vicimus we have prevailed Mark 11.24 what things soever ye desire when you Pray beleive that ye receive them and ye shall have them nay 1 John 5.15 If we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the Petitions we desired of him We ought to beleive we shall have them either in kind or value and infinite Wisdom and Goodness must be Judge in that Case alone Matth. 18.19 if two of you agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven If any single Soul Pray in Faith it shall be heard much more if two have a Symphony as the word imports they shall be answered how much more when the whole Congregation is in Harmony and unanimously cries Amen when the whole Congregation meets as one Man Ezra 3.1 and the multitude of Beleivers are of one Heart and Soul Acts 4.32 God will say Amen to such Amens They are as it were a bath col the Eccho and Voice of God from the Mercy-Seat Sanctorum vota sunt oracula Gods Spirit stirs up such Prayers and they shall not be denied The Soul like Luther says fiat voluntas mea as Men make their Wills in the Name of God Amen it shall be thus for once let my Will Oh Lord be done Heavens Gate is open to this united Knock. 7. And lastly This unanimous Amen of Faith strikes terror on the Enemies of the Church whether Devils or Men. When the Romans had Conquered Philip and the Grecians and Flaminius caused Peace to be proclaimed to the Grecians there was such a Shout says Plutarch that the very Crows and other Birds fell down to the ground the Air was so rent and shaken And when the Church of God Terrible as an Army with Banners gives her unanimous Voices of Amens not only Satan falls like lightning from Heaven Luke 10.18 but Simon Magus by Peters Prayer is fetch'd down when he attempted to flie in the Air as if he had been the Holy Dove and Power of God as Ecclesiastical Story relates And Socrates tells us that upon Theodosius his Prayers and his Armies the Barbarians Captain was smitten with a Thunderbolt and his Soldiers by Fire As the Turks Mined the Eastern Empire of the Romans by Fire Smoke and Brimston i e. by Guns and Gun-powder Rev. 9.17 when the Church is united in hearty Amens it is like the Shout that the Israelites gave when God and his Ark came into the Camp which was such a great sound that the Earth rang 1 Sam. 4.5 for then God is gone up with a Shout Psal 47.5 to answer the Prayers made for the Salvation of his People This makes the hearts of their Enemies to melt and tremble as the Philistins did As Hierom expresseth it the hollow Idols and their Temples that were empty did Eccho and Rebound the Churches Amens so as their Fabricks shaked Thus when the Shophar lovely Trumpet sounded the Seventh time upon the Seventh day Josh 6.20 the Walls of Jerico fell and so shall the Gates and Walls of Babylon by the Preaching of the Gospel on the Lords Days and the Prayers of the Saints The united Breath of Gods People sends a blast upon their Enemies the Trumpet blew and the
Congregation It is observed by Tertul. de Paenit that Sack is the same in Latin Greek and Hebrew to which we may add English also to shew all Nations are Sinners and need Repentance and Humiliation in Sack-cloth and Ashes and so Amen is the same in all Languages that all Nations might have the same Intelligible Language in their Devotions especially But the Papists will tell us that a Jewel is of equal value in an ignorant Clowns hand as it is off when in a Skilful Lapidaries a Petition to a Prince is of the same efficacy in ones hand who can neither write nor read as it is in a Scholars hand and all is true if God did not read hearts when Princes only read papers God required to be worshipped with an understanding Soul nay the Jesuits tell us the unlearned do merit and obtain more than they that understand because they have more humility and fervor But it is a strange humility and fervency to pass for a Grace which is not an Act of an intelligent Man 't is so far from Divine and Meritorious that it is not an humane Act. Cajetan more to the plain truth tells us that Organs which are a distraction to the intelligent Worshippers were yet retained to promote the unlearned Mens Devotions and Charms though not understood yet have power over Serpents and Devils so that Prayers and Praises in an unknown Language are with them Enchantments upon the only wise God and their Devotion is rather the breath of an Organ than the breathings and being filled with the Spirit 2. This informs us also that all publick administrations are to be in the matter of them intelligible as well as in the form of Language Ministers are not to use overstudied Phrases and singular Notions of their own Fancies which sometimes Men endeavour to pin upon their Auditors Prayer is putting the word and promises of God in suit and therefore plain Scriptural Pleadings are our best Arguments Any unintelligible or doubtful expressions do but lay a Stumbling-block in the way to hinder the hearers giving readily their Amen Therefore we must not only Pray with our own Spirits but with the Peoples understanding also 1 Cor. 14.15 our Seal must be and can be only set to Gods Covenant his trust goes before our Amen So God promiseth to give his People Pastors after his own heart which shall feed them with knowledge and understanding without which our Sacrifices are but the offering up of Swines Flesh or cutting off a Dogs Neck 3. All the Congregation must be unanimous of one Heart Sence and Soul or else they can never meet and center in one Amen but are in separation when they are together The Apostle tells us that the variance of Husband and Wife causeth their Prayers to be hindred 1 Pet. 3.7 when Passion is up Devotion is down or very opposite like the Mountains of Blessing and Cursing or Samaria and Jerusalem or Anah and Peninnah scolding under the same Roof But the true Jerusalem is a City at unity with it self Psal 122.3 one Lord one Baptism one Bread one Body one Soul one Spirit one Heart one Faith and one Request viz. Zec. 14.9 that the Lord may be King over all the Earth that the Lord may be one and his Name one Which will be when God shall give his People one heart and one way that they may fear him for ever Jer. 32.39 then there shall be as many Taches as Loops and Sockets as Tenons and all the Tabernacle be one Ex. 36.13 as the Jews when they Sacrificed they compassed the Altar round so when they feasted they sate round 1 Sam. 16.11 this Symphony and Harmony when it obtains will make one Amen when Gods Praises and the Saints Prayers shall be all one which will be when Christs Prayer shall be answered John 17.11 Let them be one as thou and I am one all heart-burnings shall cease when all our Fire shall be only upon Gods Altar and unite in one pyramedal Flame aspiring and terminating in the pure Love of God 4. To all this there must come in diligent attention and intention of mind for else they cannot consent to all and every part and as a Man who is to set his Hand and Seal to an Indenture will hear all the Conditions that he may know what he bindes himself to so we being to Seal all the Prayers with our lips and heart Amen had need mind what we Seal to How do many Frisk and Air their thoughts in Vanities like a wanton Spanel from his Masters Walk and come in from this false sent to the Quest with full cry and a dirty Amen This only mocks Gods All-seeing Eye and Hypocritical Colludes with the Congregation And when we consider how few hold pace with every Petition The Fourth Toletan Counsel that made a Canon against any using Hallelujah in Lent might have forbidden Amens also in publick Congregations considering that Jejune attention and intention of mind which accompanies the Devotions of the generality But when all Societies shall be intelligent unanimous intent and affectionate they may ought and will say Amens with Hallelujahs too though Lenten-Cannon forbid both Use 3. Is of Caution to beware of all that which may hinder this powerful Amen 1. Then beware of all Sin deliberate Sins dead our Faith and Spirits in Prayer Quantum a praeceptis tantum ab auribus dei distamus Tertul. de Ora. Dom. We are always as much at a distance from Gods hearing us as we are from hearing his righteous precepts If we regard Iniquity in our hearts God will not say Amen to our Prayers nor can we do it in Faith How can any say Amen to Deut. 27.15 17. Cursed be he that worships Images or removes his neighbours Landmarks For an unholy Person to say hallowed be thy Name is to Pray God to Sanctifie himself upon him and he that cannot have Charity to forgive them that trespass against him while he Prays God to forgive his trespasses he doth interpretatively Pray that God would not forgive his Sins 2. Take heed of too much Business for that dusteth us with so many thoughts which not only choke the word but stifle our Prayers 1 Cor. 7.38 the Apostle would have them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without cares that they might serve the Lord without distraction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By these convulsive motions of distracting thoughts which pull us first on one hand then on the other the face of the Duty and the Soul is very distorted ill-favoured of an ill Scheme and Fashion all the Beauty of Duty is gone off nor can the Soul well sit close to the Lord and steady but sits tottering half on half off no setled Frame of Spirit can be maintained First one business then another comes and pulls us off to speak with us so as we are not at leasure to speak with God as Cypr. Epist 8. says it is strange we should think God should hear us when
we do not hear our selves 3. Beware of a lazy posture of the Body for the Soul is drawn into consent and sympathy with it verse 5. here the Jews stood up to shew their reverence and attention to the word of God They lifted up their hands bowed down their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground here was exalted Attention and Devotion and most humble veneration with intense affections and these could say Amen Amen But to see one sit and hang down his head and hang his hat on his nose or perhaps sleeping till he snore himself awake and then give a yawn or an idle Amen any one without breach of Charity may think him guilty of lazy Hypocrisie with detestation This is a mocking of God giving the Congregation a flap with this Foxes tail when they have cunningly slept over the greatest part of the Prayer and slipt out of the Congregation without removeal Irreligiosissimum est sedere nisi quod deo exprobamus quod oratio nos fatigaverit as Tertul. de Or. do says 'T is most indecent without a good Reason to sit at Prayer for 't is else in effect to tell God Prayer hath tired us out Use 4. Is of Direction and Exhortation how to keep up this Harmonious Amen in Publick Assemblies 1. Let Pastor and People never meet but premise some solemn preparations of Heart to meet the Lord. Rehoboam and most of the Kings of Israel and their People also Sin'd in this That they prepared not themselves to set their Hearts to seek the Lord 2 Chron. 12.14 he fitted not his Heart as the Hebrew Word imports it was no more fit to that Duty then an Ass is to play upon an Harp We should never offer God that which cost us nothing put off thy Shoes from thy Feet Vain Thoughts and Vile Affections and put on the Lord Jesus Christ e're you go into the Fathers Presence A Worldly Spirit coming off from common Employments is not fit for Communion with God A common Heart will never be inclosed in any Duty but runs wild of it self and lies open to all Incursions Vzzah was smitten though he touched the Ark out of a good intention but in an undue manner 1 Chron. 15.13 He did it not in Judgment nor according to Gods Order and Appointment 2. We must watch unto Prayer Matth. 26.41 for the Devil is there as to catch away the good Seed so to catch us away by every wandring Thought 1 Pet. 4.7 Peter and John were at Christs Transfiguration in the Mount Luke 9.32 but were sadly heavy with Sleep It is strange when they should have been taken up with Raptures and Extasies of Joy that they should be so Drossie and Drowsie But how hard a matter it is for to watch with Christ One Hour in Duty Grief might make them heavy in the Garden and yet Christ his Propassion and Sweating Drops of Blood was enough to have put them into an Agony of Compassion But alas neither the Garden nor the Mount is able to transport us or keep up Intention of Soul or Affection unless God keep Fire on his own Altar and blow up our Spark into a Flame 3. Our Intention cannot last long our Actions depending on the Body and those Spirits the finer Particles of the Blood separated from it by the Alembick of the Brain And as it is sometime e're they rise so their height and speed is soon over and then we run down into Flegm and Heaviness therefore in all Publick Duties solemn Fastings excepted for humbling Soul and Body we ought not to be too Prolix but to labour for strength rather then length thick and short as Davids Panting and Daniels Praying Chap. 9.19 Oh Lord hear Oh Lord forgive Oh Lord hearken and do defer not c. When weighty Petitions are sent up for thâ— whole Church they draw Universal Consent Not that we ought for Brevity 〈◊〉 to confine all Prayer to the Lords-Prayer as if no Bushel was a Bushel but 〈◊〉 Standard so to fall down at this and stand up against all others whereas it is 〈◊〉 diffused in Sense and so contracted in Words that the Text may very well admiâ— Comment in Conformity to its Sense and we need a more Comprehensive Mind then the Vulgar have to fill those words with 4. When all is done there is nothing done but all to do till we implore the good Spirit of God which he gave the Jews here Nehem. 9.20 And he bad them work for his Spirit was with them Hag. 2.4 And should remain among them when they Built the Temple Luke 24.49 Christ bad his Disciples tarry at Jerusalem till they were Endued with Power from on High there was no Preaching or Praying without this Spirit of Grace and Supplication Zech. 12.10 It is impossible the Organs of our Bodies or Faculties of our Souls should Praise God aright unless this Spirt of God fill them and blow them up He must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philip. 1.19 tune the Praise and form the Prayer in us he must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 James 5.16 inlay it and work it both in and out and he is the Master of the Choice to hold and keep us in Frame as well as set us in and enable us to drive all our Petitions home and through to a fervent Amen Deus solus docere potest ut velis se orari as Tertul. says None but God can teach us how to Pray tâ— God That Spirit of Adoption that enableth us to say Abba Father can only teaâ—â— us how to pronounce Amen Amen FINIS
sober Wisdom and the Devils cannot deny it and all Damned Souls in Hell and all the Wicked upon Earth as fast as they go down to them and feel what now they do not believe and fear shall not deny it to be Wisdom in them that escaped that and got to a better place in the Eternal World 10. In Eternity there will be no mixture In the other World there is all pure Love or all pure Wrath all Sweet or all Bitter without all Pain or without all Ease without all Misery or without all Happiness not partly at Ease and partly in Pain partly Happy and partly Miserable but all the one or the other This Life is a middle place betwixt Heaven and Hell and here we partake of some good and some Evil No Judgment on this side Hell upon the worst of Men but there is some Mercy mixed with it for it is Mercy they are yet on this side Hell and no Condition on this side Heaven but there is some Evil mixed with it for till we get to Heaven we shall have sin in us In Heaven all are good in Hell all are bad on Earth some good but more bad In Hell Misery without mixture of Mercy or of Hope they have no Mercy and that is bad and they can hope for none and that is worse while they be in time they are pityed God doth pity them and Christ doth pity them and good Men doth pity them their Friends and Relations do pity them pray for them and weep over them but when time is past all pity will be past and they in Misery without pity to all Eternity Rev. 14.10 The same shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11. and the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night No! then for the Lords sake for your Souls sake as upon my knees I beseech you if you have any dread of God any fear of Hell any desire of Heaven any care whither you must go take no rest night nor day in time till you have secured your Everlasting happy state that you might have Everlasting rest night and Day in Eternity or that you might pass into that Eternity where it is alwayes day and no night and not into that where it shall be alwaies night and never day Sirs what say ye What are ye resolved upon to sin still or to repent that ye have already sinned and by the Grace of God to sin so no more To work in time for things of time or in time to prepare for Eternity Will ye obey my message or will ye not Speak in time or I will not say hold your peace for ever but repent in time or ye shall cry and roar for ever The time of this Sermon is out and the time of your Life will be quickly out and I am afraid I shall leave some of you as unfit for Eternity as I found you and my heart doth tremble least Death should find you as I shall leave you and the Justice of God and the Devils of Hell should find you as Death shall leave you and then vengeance shall never leave you and the Burning Flames Tormenting Devils and the Gnawing Worm shall never leave you Will ye then work it upon your Hearts that ye came into Time unfit to go into Eternity that in time ye have made your selves more unfit that the only remedy is the Lord Jesus Christ that in the fulness of time did dye that Sinners might not be damned for ever that this Crucifyed Christ will not save you from Eternal Misery nor take you to Eternal Glory except ye do perform the Conditions of the Gospel without which his Death puts no Man into an actual state of Happiness ye must Repent and be Converted ye must take him for your Saviour and your Lord ye must be Holy sincerely Hate Sin universally love Christ superlatively or else the Saviour will not save you Mercy it self will not save you from Everlasting Misery Ye must persevere in all this to the end of your time and then ye shall be Happy in Eternity to Eternity Otherwise ye shall not give audience Sirs otherwise ye shall not be Happy Happy no ye shall be Miserable If the loss of God and Christ and Heaven will make you Miserable for ever ye shall be Miserable for ever If the pains of Hell the company of Devils the stingings of Conscience the terrors of Darkness total final despair of having any end of your damned condition will make you miserable ye shall be miserable If all that God can lay upon you if all that Devils can torment you with if all that Conscience can for ever accuse you for if all that is in Hell can make you miserable except you repent in time and believe on Christ in time and be sanctifyed in time ye shall be miserable for ever O my God! be thou my Witness of this Doctrine All ye that fear God that hear me this day bear me witness that I have published this in the Ears of all that hear me Thou Conscience that art in that Man that is yet going on in Sin and posting with speed to Eternal Misery bear me witness now and at the day of Judgment that I told him what must be done upon him in him and by him if he would escape Eternal Torments If he will not hearken nor obey while he is in time Conscience I bespeak thy witness against him and that thou bring thy Accusation against him and upbraid him to the Confusion of his face among all the Devils in Hell and all that shall be damned with him that he was told he could not keep his sins and be kept out of that place when he dyed he could not reject Christ and finally refuse him and be saved for ever Sinner carest thou not wilt thou still on Good God! must we end thus Must I come down without hopes of his Repenting and he dye with foolish hopes of being saved and after Death be cast into that Eternity where the Worm dyeth not and the Fire is not quenched But in those Endless Flames shall cry out and roar oh cursed Caitif what did I mean all the while I was in time to neglect preparation for Eternity Oh miserable Wretch this is a doleful dreadful state and still the more because it is Eternal Wo is me that I cannot dye nor cease to be Oh that God would cut me off Oh that Devils could tear me into a Thousand Thousand pieces or that I could use such violence to my self that I might be no longer what I am nor where I am But alas I wish in vain and all these desires are in vain for though the union of my Soul and Body in