looke how men doe this in a greater measure so much greater Atheisme they have Againe if you doe beleeve that there is such a God what is the reason when you have any thing to doe that you runne to creatures and seek help from them and busie your selves wholly about outward meanes and seeke not to God by prayer and renewing of your repentance if you did fully beleeve that there is a God you would rather doe this Againe What is the reason that men are carried away with the present as Aristotle cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this same very nunc doth transport a man from the wayes of vertue to vice that they are too busie about the body and are carelesse of the immortall soule that they suffer that to lye like a forlorne prisoner and to sterve within them Would you doe so if you did beleeve that there is such a God that made the soule to whom it must returne and give an account and live with him for ever Againe what is the reason that men doe seeke so for the things of this life are so carefull in building houses gathering estates and preparing for themselves here such goodly mansions for their bodies and spend no time to adorne the soule when yet these doe but grace us amongst men and are only for present use and looke not for those things which commend the soule to God and regard not eternity in which the soule must live I say what is the reason of this if there be not some grounds of secret Atheisme in men What is the reason that there is such stupidity in men that the threatnings will not move them they will be moved with nothing like beasts but present strokes that they doe not fore-see the plague to prevent it but go on and are punished And so for Gods promises and rewards Why will you not forbeare sinne that you may receive the promises and the rewards Whence is this stupiditie both wayes Why are we as beasts led with sensuality that we will not be drawne to that which belongs to God and his Kingdome Is not this an argument of secret Atheisme and impiety in the heart of every man more or lesse Againe what is the reason that when men come into the presence of God they carry themselves so negligently not caring how their soules are clad and what the behaviour of their spirits is before him If you should come before men you would looke that your cloaths be neat and decent and you will carry your selves with such reverence as becomes him in whose presence you stand this proceeds from Atheisme in the hearts of men not beleeving the Lord to be hee that fills the Heaven and the Earth Therefore as you finde these things in you more or lesse so labour to confirme this principle more and more to your selves and you should say when you heare these arguments certainly I will beleeve it more firmely surely I will hover no more about it To what end are more lights brought but that you should see things more clearely which you did not before So that this double use you shall make of it One is to fix this conclusion in you hearts and to fasten it daily upon your soules Vse 2 The second is if there be such a mightie God then labour to draw such consequences as may arise from such a conclusion As if there be such a one that fils Heaven and Earth then looke upon him as one that sees all you doe and heares whatsoever you speake As when you see a ship passe thorow the sea and see the sailes applied to the wind and taken downe and hoysed up againe as the wind requires and shall see it keepe such a constant course to such a haven avoiding the rockes and sands you will say surely there is one within that guides it for it could not doe this of it selfe or as when you look upon the body of man and see it live and move and doe the actions of a living man you must needs say the bodie could not doe this of it selfe but there must be something within that quickens it and causeth all the actions even so when you looke upon the creatures and see them to doe such things which of themselves they are no more able to doe than the body can doe the actions that it doth without the soule therefore hence you may gather that there is a God that fils Heaven and Earth and doth whatsoever hee pleaseth and if this be so then draw nigh to him converse with him and walke with him from day to day observe him in all his dealings with us and our dealings with him and one with another be thankfull to him for all the blessings wee enjoy and flye to him for succour in all dangers and upon all occasions THE SECOND SERMON HEBREWES 11.6 He that commeth to God must beleeve that GOd is c. BEfore we come to the second sort of arguments to prove this principle that GOD is by faith we thinke it necessarie to answer some objections of Atheisme which may arise and trouble the hearts of men Object 1 Men are ready to say that which you shall finde in 2 Pet. 3.4 All things have continued alike since the creation That is when men looke upon the condition of things they see the Sunne rise and set againe and see the rivers runne in a circle into the sea the day followes the night c. the winds returne in their compasses and they have done so continually and there is no alteration therefore they doubt whether there be such a God that hath given a beginning to these things and shall give an end Answ. 1 For answer to this consider that these bodies of ours which we carry about with us which we know had a beginning and shall have an end that there is something in them that is as constant as any of the former as the beating of the pulse the breathing of the lungs and the motion of the heart and yet the body had a beginning and shall have an end Now what is the difference betweene these two It is but small this continueth only for some tithes of yeares but the world for thousands the difference is not great and therefore why should you not thinke it had a beginning as well as your body and likewise shall have an ending See what the Apostle saith in this place though all things continue alike yet there are two reasons whereby hee proves that God made the world and that the world shall have an end 1 The first is laid downe in verse 5. For this they are willingly ignorant of that by the Word of GOD the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the waters and in the waters That is naturally the waters would cover the earth as it did at the beginning for the naturall place of the waters is above the earth even as of the aire above the waters Now
such like motions it is done by working on their senses but come to man there are other actions of his understanding and will in the soule It is true indeed in a man there are fancie and appetite and these arise from the temper of the body therefore as the body hath a different temper so there are severall appetites dispositions and affections some man longs after one thing some after another but these are but the severall turnings of the sensuall appetite which is also seene in beasts therefore when the soule is gone these remaine no longer but come to the higher part of the soule the actions of the will and understanding of man and they are of an higher nature the acts which they doe have no dependance upon the body at all Besides come to the motions of the body the soule guides and moves the body as a Pilot doth a ship now the Pilot may be safe though the ship be split upon the rocke Looke on beasts they are led wholly as their appetite carries them and they must goe that way therefore they are not ruled as a Pilot governes a ship but in men their appetites would carry them hither or thither but the will saith no and that hath the understanding for its counseller So that the motions of the body arise not from the diversity of the sensuall appetites as in all other creatures but of the will and understanding for the soule depends not upon the body but the acts of the body depend upon it therefore when the body perisheth the soule dies not but as a man that dwels in a house if the house fall he hath no dependance on it but may goe away to another house so the soule hath no dependance upon the bodie at all therefore you must not think that it doth die when the body perisheth Besides the soule is not worne it is not weary as other things are the body is weary and the spirits are weary the body weares as doth a garment till it be wholly worne out now any thing that is not weary it cannot perish but in the very actions of the soule it selfe there is no wearinesse but whatsoever comes into the soule perfects it with a naturall perfection and it is the stronger for it therefore it cannot be subject to decay it cannot weare out as other things doe but the more notions it hath the more perfect it is the body indeed is weary with labour and the spirits are weary but the soule is not weary but in the immediate acts of it the soule it works still even when the body sleepeth Looke upon all the actions of the soule and they are independent and as their independencie growes so the soule growes younger and younger and stronger and stronger senescens juvenescit and is not subject to decay or mortalitie as you see in a Chicken it growes still and so the shell breakes and falls off so is it with the soule the body hangs on it but as a shell and when the soule is growne to perfection it falls away and the soule returnes to the Maker The next thing that I should come to is to shew you how this is made evident by faith When a man hath some rude thoughts of a thing and hath some reason for it he then begins to have some perswasion of it but when besides a man wise and true shall come and tell him it is so this addes much strength to his confidence for when you come to discerne this God-head and to know it by reasons from the creatures this may give you some perswasion but when one shall come and tell you out of the Scripture made by a wise and true God that it is so indeed this makes you confirmed in it Therefore the strength of the argument by faith you may gather after this manner Yee beleeve the Scriptures to be true and that they are the Word of God now this is contained in the Scriptures that God made Heaven and Earth therefore beleeving the Scriptures to be the Word of God and whatsoever is contained in them hence faith layes hold upon it also and so our consent growes strong and firme that there is a God After this manner you come to conclude it by faith For what is faith Faith is but when a thing is propounded to you even as an object set before the eye there is an habit of faith within that sees it what it is for faith is nothing else but a seeing of that which is for though a thing is not true because I beleeve it is so yet things first are and then I beleeve them Faith doth not beleeve things imaginary and such as have no ground but whatsoever faith beleeves it hath a being and the things we beleeve doe lye before the eye of reason sanctified and elevated by the eye of faith therefore Moses when he goes about to set downe the Scripture hee doth not prove things by reason but propounds them as In the beginning GOD made the Heaven and Earth he propounds the object and leaves it to the eye of faith to looke upon For the nature of faith is this God hath given to man an understanding facultie which we call Reason the object of this is all the truths that are delivered in the world whatsoever hath a being Now take all things that we are said to beleeve and they also are things that are and which are the true objects of the understanding and reason But the understanding hath objects of two sorts 1 Such as we may easily perceive as the eye of man doth the object that is before him 2 Such as we see with more difficulty and cannot doe it without something above the eye to elevate it As the candle and the bignesse of it the eye can see but to know the bignesse of the Sunne in the latitude of it you must have instruments of art to see it and you must measure it by degrees and so see it So is it here some things we may fully see by reason alone and those are such as lye before us and them wee may easily see but other things there are that though they are true yet they are more remote and further off therefore they are harder to bee seene and therefore we must have something to helpe our understanding to see them So that indeed Faith it is but the lifting up of the understanding by adding a new light to them and it and therefore they are said to be revealed not because they were not before as if the revealing of them gave a being unto them but even as a new light in the night discovers to us that which we did not see before and as a prospective glasse reveales to the eye that which we could not see before and by its owne power the eye could not reach unto So that the way to strengthen our selves by this argument is to beleeve the Scriptures and the things contained in them Now
to morrow you will not love therefore love them not regard them not for they are of a flitting and passing nature but he that doth the will of the LORD abides for ever and therefore we are to minde such things most such as the King is such are his subjects and such are the rewards and punishments that he gives Now God hee is eternall 1 Tim. 1.17 To the King eternall immortall invisible and only wise GOD be honour and glory for ever And as he is an eternall King so he hath given to us his subjects to be eternall as the soule is and he hath given punishments and rewards eternall hell is an everlasting prison and heaven is an eternall Palace therefore these are the things most to be regarded of us And if wee would but throughly consider that these things are eternall it would effectually draw our mindes to the things that are above A man that comes to an Inne if he can get a better roome he will if not hee can be content with it for hee saith it is but for a night so your habitation here is but for a night if you can have a better condition use it rather but if not be not much moved for it is but for a night In worldly things the shortnesse of them makes us to undergoe them cheerefully An apprentiship that is hard a man will indure it for hee saith it is but for a time so things that are pleasant if they be but of short continuance wee regard them the lesse Now our time that we have here in respect of eternity is shorter than an apprentiship nay than a night nay shorter than an houre Now put the case that a man should have an houre given him and it should be said to him as thou spendest this houre so thou shalt live all thy dayes what would not a man doe or what would he not suffer how carefull would he be to spend this houre well Now this life is not so much as an houre to eternitie and therefore why should we not be carefull how we spend this houre seeing it shall be with us for ever according as wee spend it 1 Cor. 9.25 Every one that striveth for the mastery is temperate now they doe it to obtaine a corruptible crowne but we an incorruptible Thus he reasoneth If men that use these Olympian gaines if they will endure so much hardship and abstinence accustome their bodies to heat and cold for the race before-hand and doe all but for a crowne that will last but this life at the most and shall not we saith he for an incorruptible crowne Beloved If wee would sit downe but one halfe houre and consider seriously what eternity is it would make us to neglect all temporary things which now we are so affected with It is eternitie my brethren and the consideration of it that doth set an high price upon grace and gives the just weight to sinne but it makes all other things exceeding light for this is a true rule that untill we come to apprehend sinne as the greatest evill in the world we are not truly humbled and it is eternitie that makes it to be so for as was said before eternitie makes an evill infinitely the greater Now if you looke upon all other things as honour and disgrace and the favour of men they reach but a little way but to the end of this life at the utmost but if you looke to the reach of grace and sin they reach as it were a thousand thousand miles beyond it Grace reacheth to eternitie and sinne reaches to eternitie and therefore these are the things that a man should be busied about What a shame is it for a man to grieve for some outward crosses and to rejoyce much for some preferment here and not to regard or be affected with eternity It is the phrase that the Apostle Paul useth he cals it mans day I care not to be judged by mans day and indeed it is but a short day and what is it to that eternitie I looke for What is it to that God with whom I must live for ever therefore I care not what men say of me but I rather thinke what the eternall God thinkes of me and what will be thought of mee in that Kingdome where I must live for ever If a man were in Turkie or in some other remote place to trafficke there a while hee would not care what the men of that place thought of him for hee saith this is not the place where I must live so doe you but consider that this is not the place where you must live and then of what moment will it appeare to you what men say of you Beloved if the soule were mortall there were some reason that you should make provision for it here but seeing it is immortall you ought to make a proportionable provision for it even for ever for the body you are apt to make provision a viaticum beyond the journey but consider that you have an immortall soule which must live for ever and you must make some provision for it to carry it so long a journey It is our Saviours exhortation Ioh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat that endures to everlasting life c. As if he should say if you had no other life to live but this then you might seeke the things of this life as glory honour pleasure c but these things perish and the taste of them perisheth as the sweetnesse of meat in the eating but saith our Saviour seeke those things that will abide for ever you have an everlasting life to live therefore you must make some provision answerable thereunto As for the body the soule weares it but as a garment and when it is worne out the soule must have a new suit of apparell one day Well seeing God hath brought this point to our hands this day let me but prevaile with you so farre as to set some time apart the following weeke where you may enter into a serious consideration of eternitie the very thinking of it will be of great moment to you for looke what the object is such is the soule about which it is conversant high objects lift up the soule to the Lord and make the minde answerable to them and low objects make the minde like to them Now eternitie is an high object and it will worke in men high mindes and hence it is for the want of this consideration that when a man comes to die and sees eternitie before him how it doth then so amaze the soule of man I have seene it by experience I knew one who said If it were but for a thousand yeares I could beare it but seeing it is to eternitie this amazeth me Behold if you would consider that after many thousands of yeares are past yet you are to begin as at the first if men did consider this seriously would they let their
prerogative if thou looke upon future times as thine and sayeth with the rich man in the Gospel now soule take thy rest this is sacrilege against God It is as if a man should say I have three thousand acres of land when he hath not three foot or if a man should say I have three thousand pound and hath not three pence It is the use made of it in Iames 4.13 14. Goe to now yee that say to day or to morrow we will goe into such a Citie c. Whereas yee ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and doe this or that if hee will give us leave to come in upon his ground This phrase is out of use with many men as clothes that are out of use we are unwilling to weare them but Christians should bring them into use againe and say if the Lord please let them labour to doe this in feare and trembling Thou shouldst thus thinke of time thou shouldst looke upon it as on a large field given by God and nothing of it belonging otherwise unto thee and looke what ground the Lord God gives thee thou art to sow seed in it and apply it to seeke him that thou mayest receive an harvest in future time and let men not say I will repent and turne to God hereafter but doe it presently in feare and trembling Boast not of time why doest thou deferre the time thou breakest into the Lords right and oftentimes he cuts thee off for it because thou breakest into that which doth nothing belong unto thee THE TENTH SERMON EXODVS 3.13 14. And Moses said unto God Behold when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them the God of your fathers hath sent mee unto you and shall say unto me what is his name what shall I say unto them And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM And he said thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you WEE come now to the next Attribute and that is the Simplicity of God he is without all composition without any parts not having soule and body as we have not being compounded of substance and accident as we are but hee is simple without all composition Which I gather out of these words I AM WHAT I AM that is whatsoever is in mee it is my selfe I am a pure act all being a whole entire simple and uniforme being without parts not like to the creature for the best of them is compounded of actions and qualities but whatsoever is in me it is my selfe Now in this simplicity and immixture of God wee will first fall upon that which the Scripture sets downe in plaine words Iohn 4.24 God is a Spirit that is he is not mixt he is not compounded of body and soule as men are but he is a Spirit The word Spirit both in the Hebrew Greeke and Latine tongue doth signifie breath A breath is indeede a body but because it is the finest body the most subtile and most invisible therefore immateriall substances which we are not able to conceive are represented to us under the name of a spirit or breath Besides this is to be added though God bee said to be a spirit yet he is not properly a spirit as Angells are for an Angell is a creature and though it want a body and be a spirit yet it is a created substance but yet because that is neerest to the pure and incomprehensible nature of God therefore he calls himselfe a spirit as Angells are and our soules are To shew you what a spirit is these foure things are to be considered 1 It is proper to a Spirit to be invisible impalpable not to bee discerned by any sense Therfore Christ bids his Disciples to feele him Behold my hands and my feete saith he that it is I my selfe handle and see for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as I have A Spirit is that which is drawn from the sight of any corporeall sense whatsoever and in this sense God is called a Spirit because he is invisible and therefore Moses is said to see him that is invisible not by any bodily eye but by the eye of faith 2 Every Spirit moves it selfe and other things also The body is but an earthy piece that is not able to stirre it selfe at all as you see it is when the soule is gone out of it it is the spirit that both moves it selfe and carries the body up and downe where it listeth and it moves it selfe with all speed and agility because it finds no resistance Bodies beside their elementarie motion vpward and downeward have no voluntarie motion they cannot move themselves whither they will as spirits doe And this I gather out of Ioh 3.8 the Holy Ghost is compared to the wind that blowes where it listeth 3. It is the propertie of every Spirit to move with exceeding great force and strength and with much vehemency so that it farre exceeds the strength of any body Therefore in Isa 31.3 speaking of the strength of the Aegyptians he saith that they are flesh and not spirit as if hee should say all flesh is weake but the spirit is strong Therefore you see the Divells that are spirits what strength they have and the man in the Gospell that was possessed it is said that he could breake the strongest bonds and you see it commonly in those that are possessed and you read how he threw downe the house over Iobs children This is the strength of the spirit exceeding the strength of any body 4 It insinuates it selfe and enters into any bodily substance without all penetration of dimension that is it is not held out of any place by reason of a body that is in it it may be in it though the place be otherwise full as you see the soule is in the body you shall find no where an emptie place the body is every where whole yet the Spirit insinuates it selfe in every part and no body can keepe it out And so is God he is invisible not seene by any eye hee moves himselfe and all things in the world as he lists and he doth what he doth with exceeding great strength and then hee fills every place both heaven and earth what bodies soever be there yet he may be there notwithstanding And thus you see in what sense this is to be understood God is a Spirit Now we will come to apply this Vse 1 If God be a Spirit first then this we may gather from it 1 That his eye is cheifely vpon the spirits of men There are many things in the world which his hand hath made but that which he chiefely lookes to is the minde and spirit of man Whereas a man consists of two parts a body and a spirit it is the spirit that is like to God and in regard of the spirituall substance of the soule it is said
them as Haman had of Mordecai to hate that beloved pollution which cleaves so fast to thy spirit this were a blessed thing Thou must yet goe a step further that is to get it mortified to get it utterly cast out slaine and killed not to suffer it to live with thee thou must doe with such a pollution of thy spirit as thou doest with thine utter enemy whom thou followest to death and wilt have the law upon him and wilt be content with nothing but his life So when thou hast found out thy sinne then goe this step further to have it out before the Lord and cry against it and say that it is his enemy thy enemy an enemy to his grace it hath sought thy life and thou wilt have the life of it before thou hast done this thou shouldest doe to get it utterly cast out to get an utter separation betwixt thy soule and it so that if there should come a temptation to hee againe if there should be pleasure on the one hand and threatnings on the other then thou shouldest say rather any thing than this sinne than this lust it is my greatest enemy that hath done me thus much mischiefe so that thy soule doth not onely loath it but thou wilt not suffer it to live in thee this is that which wee ought to doe if wee would cleanse our spirits When a man hath done all this thou must goe to God and beseech him that hee would melt that soder as it were that he would make a dissolution that he would sever thy soule and the lust that cleaves so fast to it That which made the soule and the object to cleave so fast together is lust that is the soder which like unto soder must be melted with fire Isay 4.4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion and shall have purged the blood of Ierusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of wisedome and by the spirit of burning that is the holy Ghost who is as fire that melts the soder and loosens it also the word Ier. 23.24 so also in Mal. 3. Christ there is compared to fire and to Fullers sope and all to expresse the divers wayes that the Lord hath to cleanse our spirits from sinne Sinne cleaves to the soule as drosse to the gold now the spirit of burning cleanseth and purifies it yea it doth it violently and therefore it is said to be a hammer also in Ieremy Againe sinne sinkes in as a deepe staine therefore Christ is as sope to cleanse it And therefore goe and say to God Rather than I should not be cleansed Lord cleanse me with the fire of affliction as it is also called Zach. 13.9 And I will bring the third part saith the Lord through the fire and will refine thē as silver is refined will try them as gold is tryed It were best my beloved if you would yeeld to the Spirit the Word that they may cleanse you before his sight For if that will not doe he will come with the fire of affliction and it is better that you should be dealt so with than that your soules being still uncleane should perish for ever To fit thy spirit for the Lord that is a spirit and the father of spirits thou must goe yet one step further thou must labour to beautifie it to seeke to adorne it by a spirituall excellency Now if thou wouldest beautifie it by any thing seeke not for outward excellencies as clothes or fine apparell or adorning in the sight of men but seeke such an excellency as is sutable to the spirit seeke not other things for they are such things that God regards not So that as every man seekes some excellency or other that which thou art to seeke is to get spirituall excellency such as may beautifie thy heart for that which is outward God regardeth not You shall see an excellent place for this Isay 66.2 All these things hath my hand made saith the Lord but to this man will I looke even to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word When the Lord lookes upon all things here below they are all at his command my hand hath made them saith he and I can dispose of them as I will but what is it of all them that I doe esteeme a spirit that is fashioned and beautified with inward ornaments so that it trembles at my word that is the thing which I regard So 1 Pet. 3.3 you have a comparison there of outward excellencies and of the spirituall decking of the inward man which the Apostle preferreth because that is a thing that is esteemed of by God Whose adorning saith the Apostle let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the haire and of wearing golde or of putting on of apparell But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meeke and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price So it is said of wisedome Prov. 3.22 It shall be life to thy soule and grace to thy necke that is wisedome adornes the soule in the sight of God therefore that is the excellency that is chiefly to be sought by us even thus to adorne the soule And there is good reason for it for if thou consider what thy body is and what thy spirit is thou shalt see that all these things that doe adorne the outward man are not the excellencies to bee sought after Indeed there are divers kindes of those excellencies they are of three sorts First excellency of clothes and building and such gaudy things which children and vaine men and women are sensible of Secondly great titles and honours and great rewards which a higher sort of men are capable of Thirdly the excellency of learning and knowledge and skill in arts and sciences and this also is but an outward excellency for though it be seated in the spirit yet it inables onely to outward things These are not the excellencies that thou shouldest seeke for but it is an excellency of the spirit thou art to regard looke to thy spirit what that is for as the spirit is such is the man Spiritus est perfectio hominis this is the proper excellency the body is but as it were the sheath for the soule a man is said to be more excellent as his soule is excellent Other excellency is but an outward excellency this excellency is that which is intrinsecall to a man the other are but adventitious they are not proper it is not that which makes the difference The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour There is a difference of honour but all these are but accidentall differences the essential difference is the spirit and that is it which God regards and by this thou excellest thy neighbour All other excellencies are but as when a mule or an
of his in the creatures So that you see there are two wayes to come to the knowledge of this that God is One I say is by naturall reason Or else to make it more plaine we shall see this in these two things 1 There is enough in the very creation of the world to declare him unto us 2 There is a light of the understanding or reason put into us whereby we are able to discerne those characters of God stamped in the creatures whereby we may discerne the invisible things of God his infinite power and wisdome and when these are put together that which is written in the creature there are arguments enough in them and in us there is reason enough to see the force of those arguments and thence we may conclude that there is a GOD besides the arguments of Scripture that wee have to reveale it For though I said before that Divinity was revealed by the HOLY GHOST yet there is this difference in the points of Theologie Some truths are wholly revealed and have no foot-steps in the creatures no prints in the creation or in the workes of GOD to discerne them by and such are all the mysteries of the Gospell and of the Trinitie other truths there are that have some vestigia some characters stamped upon the creature whereby wee may discerne them and such is this which wee now have in hand that There is a God Therefore we will shew you these two things 1 How it is manifest from the creation 2 How this point is evident to you by faith 3 A third thing i will adde that this God whom we worship is the only true God Now for the first to explicate this that The power and God-head is seene in the creation of the world Besides those Demonstrations else-where handled drawne from the Creation in generall as from 1 The sweet concent and harmony the creatures have among themselves 2 The fitnesse and proportion of one unto another 3 From the reasonable actions of creatures in themselves unreasonable 4 The great and orderly provision that is made for all things 5 The combination and dependance that is among them 6 The impressions of skill and workmanship that is upon the creatures All which argue that there is a God There remaine three other principall arguments to demonstrate this The consideration of the Originall of all things which argues that they must needs bee made by GOD the Maker of Heaven and Earth which wee will make good to you by these particulars If man was made by him for whom all things are made then it is certaine that they are made also For the argument holds If the best things in the world must have a beginning then surely those things that are subserving and subordinate to them must much more have a beginning Now that man was made by him consider but this reason The father that begets knowes not the making of him the mother that conceives knowes it not neither doth the formative vertue as we call it that is that vigour that is in the materials that shapes and fashions and articulates the body in the wombe that knowes not what it doth Now is is certaine that he that makes any thing must needs know it perfectly and all the parts of it though the stander by may be ignorant of it As for example he that makes a statue knowes how every particle is made he that makes a Watch or any ordinary worke of art he knowes all the junctures all the wheeles and commissures of it or else it is impossible that hee should make it now all these that have a hand in making of man know not the making of him not the father nor the mother nor that which wee call the formative vertue that is that vigour which is in the materials which workes and fashions the bodie as the work-man doth a statue and gives severall limbes to it all these know it not therefore hee must needs be made by God and not by man and therefore see how the Wise-man reasons Psal. 94.9 Hee that made the eye shall he not see he that made the eare shall not he heare c. that is he that is the maker of the engines or organes or senses or limbes of the body or hee that is maker of the soule and faculties of it it is certaine that he must know though others doe not the making of the body and soule the turnings of the will and the windings of the understanding all those other are but as pensils in the hand of him that doth all the pensill knowes not what it doth though it drawes all it is guided by the hand of a skilfull Painter else it could do nothing the Painter only knoweth what he doth so that formative vertue that vigour that formes the bodie of a man that knowes no more what it doth than the pensill doth but he in whose hand it is who sets it on worke it is he that gives vigour and vertue to that seed in the womb from whence the bodie is raised it is he that knows it for it is he that makes it And this is the first particular by which wee prove that things were made and had not their originall from themselves The second is If things were not made then it is certaine that they must have a being from themselves Now to have a being from it selfe is nothing else but to be God for it is an inseparable propertie of God to have his being from himselfe Now if you will acknowledge that the creatures had a being of themselves they must needs be Gods for it belongs to him alone to have a being of himselfe and from himselfe The third followes which I would have you chiefly to marke If things have a being from themselves it is certaine then that they are without causes as for example That which hath no efficient cause that is no maker that hath no end Looke upon all the workes made by man that we may expresse it to you take an house or any worke or instrument that man makes therefore it hath an end because he that made it propounded such an end to himselfe but if it have no maker it can have no end for the end of any thing is that which the maker aymes at Now if things have no end they could have no forme for the forme and fashion of every thing ariseth only from the end which the maker propounds to himselfe as for example the reason why a knife hath such a fashion is because it was the end of the maker to have it an instrument to cut with the reason why an axe or hatchet hath another fashion is because it might be an instrument to chop with and the reason why a key hath another fashion different from these is because the maker propounded to himselfe another end in making of it namely to open lockes with these are all made of the same
that testimony which is written in the hearts of men Now you know that all Nations do acknowledge a God this we take for granted yea even those that have been lately discovered that live as it were disjoyned from the rest of the world yet they all have and worship a God those Nations discovered lately by the Spaniards in the West Indies and those that have beene discovered since all of them without exception have it written in their hearts that there is a God Now the strength of the argument lies in these two things 1 I observe that phrase used Rom. 2.15 It is called a law written in their hearts Every mans soule is but as it were the table or paper upon which the writing is the thing written is this principle that we are now upon that there is a God that made Heaven and Earth but now who is the Writer surely it is God which is evident by this because it is a generall effect in the heart of every man living and therefore it must come from a generall cause from whence else shall it proceed no particular cause can produce it if it were or had beene taught by some particular man by some sect in some one Nation or Kingdome in one age then knowing the cause wee should see that the effect would not exceed it but when you finde it in the hearts of all men in all Nations and ages then you must conclude it was an universall effect written by the generall Author of all things which is God alone and so consequently the argument hath this strength in it that it is the testimony of God 2 Besides when you see every man looking after a God and seeking him it is an argument that there is one though they doe not finde him it is true they pitch upon a false god and goe the wrong way to seeke him yet it shewes that there is such a Deity For as in other things when we see one affect that thing which another doth not as to the eye of one that is beautifull which is not to another yet all affecting some beauty it is an argument that beauty is the general object of all and so in taste other senses So when we see men going different waies some worshipping one God some another yet all conspiring in this to worship a God it must needs argue that there is one for this law ingraven in every mans heart you will grant that it is a work of Nature at least and the workes of Nature are not in vaine even as when you see the fire to ascend above the aire it argues that there is a place where it would rest though you never saw it and as in winter when you see the Swallowes flying to a place though you never saw the place yet you must needs gather that there is one which Nature hath appointed them and hath given them an instinct to flye unto and there to be at rest so when you see in every mans soule such an instigation to seeke God though men never saw him and the most goe the wrong way to seeke him and take that for God which is not yet this argues there is a Deitie which they intend And this is the third The last argument is taken from the soule of man the fashion of it and the immortality of it First God is said to have made man after his owne Image hee doth not meane his bodie for that is not made after the Image of God neither is it only that holinesse which was created in us and now lost for then he would not have said Gen. 9.6 He that sheds mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed for in the Image of GOD made hee man The principall intent of that place is for ought I can see or judge of that Scripture speaking of the naturall fashion of things and not of the supernaturall graces it is to expresse that God hath given a soule to man that carries the Image of God a likenesse to the Essence of God immateriall immortall invisible for there is a double Image of God in the soule one in the substance of it which is never lost another is the supernaturall grace which is an Image of the knowledge holinesse and righteousnesse of God and this is utterly lost But the soule is the Image of the Essence of God as I may so speake that is it is a spirit immateriall immortall invisible as he is hath understanding and will as he hath he understands all things and wils whatsoever he pleaseth And you see an expression of him in your owne soule which is an argument of the Deitie Secondly besides the immortalitie of the soule which argues it came not from any thing here below but that it hath its originall from God it came from GOD and to GOD it must returne that is it had not any beginning here it had it from him and to him againe it must returne For what is this body wherein the soule is it is but the case of the soule the shell and sheath of it therefore the soule useth it but for a time and dwels in it as a man dwels in a house while it is habitable but when it is growne ruinous he departeth the soule useth the body as a man doth a vessell when it is broken he layes it aside or as a man doth an instrument whilest it will be serviceable to him but when it is no longer fit to play upon he casts it aside so doth the soule as it were lay aside the body for it is but as a garment that a man useth when it is worne out and threed-bare he casts it off so doth the soule with the body And for the further proofe of this and that it depends not on the body nor hath its originall of it or by it consider the great acts of the soule which are such as cannot arise from the temper of the matter be it never so curious As the discourse of the soule from one generall to another the apprehension of so high things as God and Angels the devising of such things as never came into the senses For though it be true that sounds and colours be carried into the understanding by the senses yet to make pictures of these colours and musicke of these sounds this is from the understanding within So the remembrance of things past observing the condition of things by comparing one with another Now looke upon bruit beasts we see no actions but may arise from the temper of the matter according to which their fancie and appetite are fashioned though some actions are stronger than others yet they arise not above the Well-head of sense all those extraordinary things which they are taught to doe it is but for their food as Hawkes and some Pigeons it is reported in Assyria that they carry Letters from one place to another where they use to have food so other beasts that act dancing and
you should see why we are to beleeve the Scriptures but this wee must leave till the next time We will now come to some use of the point for wee are not to dismisse you without some application but we must insert some uses here and there Vse 1 When you heare these arguments and this conclusion proving that there is a God the use you should make of it is to labour daily to strengthen our faith in this principle and to have an eye at God in all our actions for this is the reason given in the Text why one man comes to God because he beleeves that he is and another doth not because he beleeves it but by halves if they did beleeve this fully they would serve God with a perfect heart What is the reason that Moses breaks thorow all impediments he had temptations on both sides Prosperitie and preferment on the one side and adversity and afflictions on the other yet he passeth thorow wealth and povertie honour and dishonour and goes straight on in the way to heaven and 〈◊〉 reason is added in the Text because hee saw him that was invisible even so if you did see him that was invisible the God wee now speake of as you see a man that stands before you your wayes would be more even and wee should walke with him more uprightly than we doe if we did but beleeve that it is he that fills the heaven and earth as he saith of himselfe Ier. 23.24 Some may here say Object How can we see him that is invisible here is oppositum in adjecto to see him that is invisible Answ. Come to the body of a man you can see nothing but the outside the outward bulke and hide of the creature yet there is an immateriall invisible substance within that fils the body so come to the body of the world there is a God that fills Heaven and Earth as the soule doth the body Now to draw this a little nearer that invisible immateriall substance the soule of man which stands at the doores of the body and lookes out at the windows of the eyes and of the eares both to see and heare which yet wee see not yet it is this soule that doth all these for if the soule be once gone out of the house of the body the eye sees no more the eare heares no more than an house or chamber can see when there is no body in it and as it is the spirituall substance within the body that sees and heares and understands all so apply this to God that dwells in Heaven and Earth that as though you see not the soule yet every part of the body is full of it so if we looke into the world we see that it is filled and yet God like as the soule is in every place and fills it with his presence he is present with every creature he is in the aire and in your selves and seeth al your actions and heareth al your words and if we could bring our selves to a setled perswasion of this it would cause us to walke more evenly with God than we do and to converse with him after another manner when a man is present yea are sollicitous thinking what that soule thinkes of you how that soule is affected to you so if you beleeved God were in the world it would make you have an eye to him in all your actions as he hath an eye to you and to have a speciall care to please him in all things rather than to please men And this is the ground of all the difference betweene men One man beleeves it fully that there is such a mighty God another beleeves it but by halves and therefore one man hath a care only to please God in all things and to have an eye to him alone the other beleeving it but by halves he seeketh and earnestly followeth other things and is not so sollicitous what the Lord thinkes of him The thing therfore which we exhort you unto is that you would endevor to strengthen that principle more and more We speake not to Atheists now but to them that beleeve there is a God and yet we do not think our labour lost For though there be an assent to this truth in us yet it is such an one as may receive degrees and may be strengthened for I know that there are few perfect Atheists yet there are some degrees of Atheisme left in the best of Gods children which wee take not notice of for there is a two-fold Atheisme 1 One is when a man thinkes that there is no God and knowes he doth so 2 Another kinde of Atheisme is when a man doubts of the Deity and observes it not There are some degrees of doubting in the hearts of all men as we shall see by these effects that this untaken-notice-of Atheisme doth produce As when men shall avoid crosses rather than sinne not considering that the wrath and displeasure of God goes with it which is the greatest evill that can befall us What is the reason of it That whereas the greatest crosse is exceeding light if the wrath of God be put in the other ballance what is the reason that yet this should over-weigh the other in our apprehension if wee be fully perswaded of this principle that God made Heaven and earth What is the reason that when crosses and sinne come into competition as two severall wayes that we must goe one way why will men rather turne aside from a crosse to sinne against God and violate the peace of their consciences rather than undergoe losses or crosses or imprisonment Againe what is the reason that we are so readie to please and loth to displease men as a potent friend or enemie rather than God If this principle were fully beleeved that there is a God that made Heaven and Earth you would not doe so The Prophet Isaiah doth expresse this most elegantly Isai. 51.12 13 14. Who art thou that art afraid of man that shall die and the sonne of man which shal be made as grasse and forgettest the LORD thy Maker which stretched forth the Heavens and laid the foundation of the Earth As if he should say what Atheisme is this in the hearts of men Whence else are also those deceits lyes and shiftings to make things faire with men when they know that God is offended with it who seeth all things What is the reason that men are so sensible of outward shame more than of secret sinnes and care so much what men thinke of them and speake of them and not what God sees or knows Doth not this declare that men think as those Atheists of whom Iob speakes Iob 22. and doe they not conceive in some degree as those doe as if GOD did not descend beneath the circle of the heavens to the earth and his eyes were barred by the curtaines of the night that he did not take notice of the wayes of men and
converted many It is not in vaine that phrase of the Scripture hee was a man full of faith and therefore many were added to the Lord. And you shall finde it by experience when you converse with worldly men they will be readie on every occasion to attribute the event of things to naturall causes but the godly they ascribe it to God Now good words strengthen our faith but the evill words of naturall men they corrupt good manners And not only the words of the godly worke so but the very manner of the delivery of it is emphaticall for they doe beleeve it themselves now if a man deliver an history that he beleeves he will deliver it in such a manner that hee will make others beleeve it also Act. 14.1 They so spake that a great multitude of the Iewes beleeved that is in such a manner that many were turned to the faith Iunius professeth in his life that the very first thing that turned him from his Atheisme was the talking with a country-man of his not farre from Florence and his manner of expressing himselfe The next was the majesty of the Scripture which he observed in Ioh. 1. but the other was the beginning of it So it will still be true that walking with godly men will increase our faith but with worldly men it will weaken it Therefore use all these meanes to strengthen these principles in you for they will have many excellent effects in your lives As When a man beleeves this throughly he will take the judgement of the Scripture against his owne fancy and the opinions of men with which we are still ready to be misled so that when the Scripture saith of riches that they are nothing whereas before thou thoughtest them to be a strong tower now you thinke them to be but a staffe of reed so of sinfull lusts that are so pleasant to us the Scripture saith of them that they fight against the soule though they are sweet for the present yet they are sowre in the latter end so that thou takest the judgement of the Scripture against thy own reason So for the praise of men see what the Scripture saith he is praise-worthy whom God praiseth so thou judgest vaine-glory to be but a bubble I say if you could beleeve this throughly you would set the judgement of the Scripture against your owne reasons and the opinions of men Besides this it will breed a notable fervencie in prayer when a man knoweth that there are such promises it will make him never give over it will make him watch and pray continually with all perseverance though many times hee prayeth and hath no answer as the woman of Canaan yea though he hath sometimes a contrary answer and effect to what he asketh yet when he hath laid hold on the promises he will not let goe he will never give over hee knowes Hee who hath promised is faithfull therefore he is not like a wave of the sea tossed up and downe with every wind But it is not onely a ground of all this but it brings forth the effect it doth exceedingly strengthen our faith in matters of justification for it is certaine that the same faith whereby we beleeve and apply the promises of salvation through Christ it is the same faith whereby we beleeve the Scripture and that there is a God that made both Heaven and Earth There is no difference in the faith yea that justifying faith by which thou art saved it ariseth from the beleefe of these principles as it was the same eye whereby the Israelites did see the mountaines and trees and other objects and by which they saw the brazen Serpent No man beleeves justification by Christ but his faith is mainly grounded upon this Word of God for whereas in Scripture we finde that IESVS CHRIST is come in the flesh and that he is a Lambe slaine for forgivenesse of sinnes that he is offered to every creature that a man must thirst after him and then take up his Crosse and follow him Now come to a beleever going out of the world and aske him what hope hee hath to be saved and what ground for it he will be ready to say I know that Christ is come into the world and that he is offered and I know that I am one of them that have a part in him I know that I have fulfilled the conditions as that I should not continue willingly in any knowne sinne that I should love the LORD IESVS and desire to serve him above all I know that I have fulfilled these conditions I say if the ground whereon our faith is builded be the Word then it is builded on a sure rocke and the gates of hell Satan and all his temptations shall not prevaile against it but against a strong fancie it may Therefore let us labour to strengthen our faith in these principles that there is a GOD that made Heaven and Earth and that the Scripture is his Word whereby his minde is revealed to us that so you may know what his will is and what to expect of him upon all occasions There is one thing which remaines in this point which we added in the third place That that God which we worship is this GOD for either it is that God whom we worship or else there is no true God in the world we are to propound it negatively to take away all other false religions For if there was ever a God revealed in the world he was the God of the Iewes and if he was the God of the Iewes then of the Christians and if of the Christians then surely of the Protestants and not the Papists for they doe in most points adde to the garment of Christ and the Protestants doe but cut off what thy have added before and if of the Protestants then surely of those that doe make conscience of their wayes that doe not live loosely but doe labour to please him in all things THE FIFTH SERMON ISAI 46.9 Remember the former things of old for I am GOD and there is none else I am GOD and there is none like mee THe third thing which remains is this that there is no other GOD and it is an argument which is often used in Scripture to prove that the Lord is God because there is none besides him for so you are to understand it I am GOD because there is no other this particle is so used many times Esay 45.22 I am GOD and there is none else there is none beside me and this shewes the falsenesse of all other gods and all other religions and the argument stands thus That if you looke to all former times you shall see that there was never any other God or any other religion but this which wee professe There are two arguments set downe in the Text 1 Remember the former times and you shall alwayes finde it thus that there is none besides mee 2 There is none like
high and loftie one that inhabiteth eternitie whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place c. As if he should say there is no house fit for him to dwell in that is high and excellent but only the house of eternitie Where eternity is compared to an house or habitation to which none can enter but God himselfe because he onely is high and excellent all the creatures are excluded out of this habitation It is required to eternity that there be no beginning which description you shall see of it in Psal. 90.2 LORD thou hast beene our dwelling place in all generations before the mountaines were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth or the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art GOD. And here also you have the third expression and that is to have no ending he is not only from everlasting but to everlasting There is no succession as suppose all the pleasures that are in a long banquet were drawne together into one moment suppose all the acts of mans understanding and will from the beginning of his life to the end could be found in him in one instant such is eternity God possesseth all things altogether he hath all at once Ioh. 8.58 Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am As if hee should say there is no time past present or to come with me he doth not say before Abraham was I was but I am and therefore he is eternall He is the dispenser of all time to others he is Lord of all time al times do but issue out of him as rivers from the sea he dispenseth them as it pleaseth him Psal. 90. compare verse 2. and 3. together Before the Mountaines were brought forth c. even from everlasting to everlasting thou art GOD. Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest returne yee children of men He sets time to the sonnes of men where we shall see that this is the property of him that is eternall to set times and seasons to men c. The reason why God must be eternall is this because he is what he is of himselfe he is without all cause and therefore can have no beginning or ending and therefore he must of necessitie be without all motion and without all succession for all succession presupposeth motion and all motion presupposeth a cause and effect for whatsoever is moved is either moved from no being to a being or from an imperfect to a more perfect being that is to be moved to an higher degree now God that hath nothing in him to be perfected is not capable of a further and higher degree The third thing is the difference betweene the eternitie of God and the duration of all creatures which consists in these particulars They even the best of them have but an halfe eternitie they are not from everlasting though they are to everlasting That eternall duration that they have is not intrinsecall to them it is dependent they receive it from another They cannot communicate it to another nor extend it beyond themselves the Angels though they bee eternall yet they cannot make other things to be eternall God onely can doe this All the acts of the creatures all their pleasures and thoughts and whatsoever is in them doe admit a succession a continuall flux and motion but in God it is not so he is as a rocke in the water that stands fast though the waves move about it so is it with God and though the creatures admit of a continuall flux and succession about him as the waves doe yet there is none in him And these are the differences betweene the eternity of God and the duration of all the creatures Now followes the fourth thing The consectaries that flow from hence they are these two If this be the eternity of God then to him all time that is to come is as it were past Psal. 90.4 A thousand yeares in his sight are but as yesterday when it is past that is a thousand yeares that are to come thay are to him as past they are nothing to him And againe a thousand yeeres that are past are as it were present to him as we heard before Before Abraham was I am For he possesseth all things together by reason of the vastnesse of his being to him all things are present As he that stands upon an high mountaine and lookes downe it is a simile that the Schoole-men often use though to the passenger that goes by some are before some behinde yet to him they are all present So though one generation passeth and another commeth yet to God that inhabits and stands upon eternity they are the same they are all present there is no difference And then this followes from hence that to God no time is either long or short but all times are alike to him therefore he is not subject to any delayes or expectances he is not subject to any feares for they are of things to come nor to the translation of griefe or pleasure or the losse of any excellencie that before hee had not as all creatures are therfore we should consider of the excellencie of God to give him the praise of it this use is made of it in 1 Tim. 1.17 Now unto the King eternall immortall invisible and the only wise GOD be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen As if he should say this very consideration that God is eternall should cause us to give him praise and so is that in Isai. 57.15 Eternitie makes that which is good to be infinitely more good than it is and that which is evill to be much more evill and that not onely in respect of duration that which is good for a weeke is better for a yeare and an evill when it continues an infinite time it is infinitely more evill but also in regard of that collection into one which is found in those things that continue to eternitie as when all joyes are collected into one heape and all griefe into one center so that you shall joy as much in one instant as ever hereafter so that though the thing be still but the same yet the continuance makes it infinitely more good Vse 1 Seeing eternitie is a propertie of God wee should learne hence to minde most the things that are eternall for they are of all other things of the greatest moment because they doe most participate of this transcendent propertie of the almightie God is eternall the soule is eternall heaven and hell are eternall therefore they are more to be regarded of us You shall see this in 1 Ioh. 2.17 as a reason why we should not minde the things of the world because the world vanisheth it passeth away and the lusts thereof saith the Apostle that is looke upon all the things below and both the things passe and your affections and desires passe that which you love to day
eternall estate depend so upon uncertainties And let them consider this that are yet strangers to the life of God that if death should come they should not escape eternall death it is good to keepe our thoughts upon this and it would make us not to hasten after the things of the world as we doe and for thy sinne thou dotest on so there are three things to be considered in it First the pleasure of it is as the speckled skin of the Serpent Secondly the sting of sinne and thirdly the eternity of that sting Now looke not thou upon the pleasure of sinne that endures but for a season but consider the hurt that comes from sinne and then consider the eternity of it a candle in a darke night makes a great shew but when the Sunne comes it vanisheth and is nothing so would all these things that wee doe so affect now if they come before eternity in our thoughts it is great wisdome in this kinde to husband our thoughts well 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. Vse this world as not using it for the fashion of this world passeth away that is minde them not much be not much affected with them one way or other either in joy or griefe let them be such as if they were not for why they are temporall things passing things things that continue not for that is the thing I gather out of that place that the Lord would not have our thoughts to be bestowed upon them but so remissely as if not at all because there are eternall things and set your minde upon them for the time is short As if he should say thou hast not so much time to spare the time is short and you have businesse enough another way there is water little enough to runne in the right channel therefore let none runne beside and the things that should take up your minds are sin and grace things that are eternall It is a pitifull thing that the noble intentions of eternall mindes should be bestowed so ill upon these flitting things which are nothing to eternity A man that hath not much mony in his purse but onely for to provide necessaries when one comes and askes him to borrow any he will say I have no more than to buy me food and rayment or if he hath his rent to pay and no more if one should come to borrow any of him he saith no I have no more than to pay my rents So saith the Apostle there you have no such spare time no such spare affections that you can bestow them else-where but bestow them upon things that endure to eternall life And further to move you to this consider the shortnesse and vanity of this life how all mankinde are hurried and rapt with a sudden motion to the west of their dayes Our fathers went before us we follow them and our children follow us at the heeles as one wave followes another and at last we are all dashed on the shore of death and withal consider the vanity that al conditions are subject unto whether they be mountaines or valleyes if mountaines they are subject to blasts to be envied or if valleyes to be over-drowned oppressed and contemned yea the things that we prize most honour and pleasure what doe they but weary us and then whet our appetite to a new edge Consider the men that have beene before us many men that have beene like a greene tree but now the floud of their wealth is dried up they and their goods have perished together Consider in the second place what eternity is here the body is corrupted with diseases and the soule subject to vexation but that life is sure composed and constant and there is no variablenesse in it and if we desire life so much why doe we esteeme this life that is but a span long and neglect that which is so spacious Consider the errand upon which you are sent into this world and be not put aside from it by any needlesse occasions as they are all when they come into competition with this which hinder our thoughts and our actions as farre as they belong to eternity and indeed all the world spend too much of their time upon by-businesses and they are hampered with them before they are aware still making our selves new worke so that we make this life which is short enough of it selfe shorter than it is wearying our selves with anxious griefes labour and care thus men did before us and thus we are ready to doe therefore we had the more need to take heed unto it Vse 2 If God be eternall then be not you offended because you see that he stayes long either in giving reward or in executing judgement on men for their sinnes for with him no time is long there is no succession with him therefore say not because you feele nothing for the present there are great promises made but you finde no performance and there bee many judgements threatned but none executed doe not you therefore say that your rewards are neglected or judgement passed over and that God hath forgotten For here you see that with God no time is long or short there is no succession with him you have the same use made of it Isai. 40.27 28. Why sayest thou O Iacob and speakest O Israel My way is hid from the LORD and my judgement is passed over from my GOD There is the objection that which is in the hearts of men Now you shall see what answer is made to it in the following verse Hast thou not knowne hast thou not heard that the everlasting GOD the LORD the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding The meaning is this To us indeed the time is long either when reward is deferred or when the punishment or the execution of sentence against evill works is deferred but with God it is not so Now that which makes it seeme long to us is 1 Partly the passions and restlesnesse of the mind for that is motion but God he is without al motion or passion and therefore nothing is long 2 Againe not only we are subject to motion but the things that we have to doe with they are subject to motion and passe away and therefore they seeme long to us for time you know is nothing else but the measure of motion and therefore where there is motion there is time and no while else Now to us that are in motion and to the things that we have to doe with a thousand yeares are a thousand yeares but in God there is no motion nor flux and therefore a thousand yeares with him are but as one day God is neither in motion himselfe nor are other things as in motion to him but wee are moved and the things we have to doe with are moved and if either there must be motion for if the ship moves though the waters stand still or if
the waters move though the ship stand still there is motion but God stands still and all things stand still to him likewise Doe not wonder therefore that the Churches lye so long in misery that the injuries of the Saints are so long unrevenged doe not accuse God doe not mistake him doe not thinke amisse of him doe not thinke that hee is forgetfull and doth not remember that hee is slacke and doth not regard that hee cannot or will not helpe Beloved it is not so you shall see the very same use made of it 2 Pet. 3. if you compare vers 4 and 8 9. together In the latter dayes there shall come scoffers c. saying where is the promise of his comming for since the Fathers fell asleepe all things continue as they were from the creation vers 8 9. But be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the LORD as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeares as one day The LORD is not slacke concerning his promise as some men count slacknesse but is long suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance It is not slacknesse in God For saith the Apostle a thousand yeares with him are as one day We thinke it a great matter that the Church should lye so long and cry How long LORD and yet no remedie saith the Apostle thinke not much at it For a thousand yeares with him are but as one day Vse 3 If God be eternall then consider with whom you have to doe even with him whose love and enmity are eternall with him whose soveraignty and power is eternall if a man be angry we regard it the lesse if we know it is but for a fit but consider what it is to have to do with him whose love and enmitie are eternall Therefore learne not to regard men as wee doe but to regard the Lord only and that in these three respects 1 Learne to trust the Lord and not man for God is an everlasting refuge Psal. 146.3 4. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the son of man in whom there is no helpe c. that which they can doe for you is but for this life at most trust in him that is able to defend you for all eternitie for he that made heaven and earth hee continues for ever This use you have made of it in Psa. 90.1 LORD thou hast beene our habitation for ever and ever as if hee should say Lord thou wast an habitation that is a refuge as our house is to the Churches thou wast so in Abrahams time in Pharaohs time Consider that God is not onely an habitation to his Church from generation to generation but also from everlasting to everlasting 2 Learne from hence likewise to feare him feare him that can cast body and soule into hell for ever his eternity should make us to feare him Feare not man Isai. 5.13 14. Why because he is of short continuance and if he can do you any hurt it is but for a short time for he shall be made as the grasse but feare the Almighty GOD who laid the heavens and stretched the foundations of the earth Vse the Lords arguments they are the arguments that can work on the soule it is the holy Ghosts argument why we should feare him because he is eternall as the opposition in that place shewes 3 Labour to serve him 1 Ioh. 2.17 The world passeth away and the lusts thereof but hee that doth the will of the LORD abides for ever that is the world cannot make you to abide for ever it passeth away if you fulfill the lusts thereof if you fulfill your owne will you are not able to continue your selves but you will passe away what should wee doe then why fulfill the will of the Lord consider what he would have you doe and so you shall abide for ever Vse 4 If God be eternall then we should learne hence to comfort our selves when we looke upon the mutabilitie that we and all creatures are subject unto in this vale of misery it is a thing that may comfort us exceeding much if wee serve him who is constant without change who is eternall that can make up the changes that we are subject unto it is the use that is made of it in Psal. 102.11 12. My dayes are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grasse but thou O LORD shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations Why doth he put these two together thus my shadow and Gods enduring for ever c. as if he should say this is my comfort that though I am of short continuance yet God with whom I shall live for ever hee is eternall and abides for ever It is as if the beame should reason thus though I am brickle and fading yet the Sun that maintaines me abides for ever or if the streame should reason thus though I may be dried up in Summer yet the fountaine that maintaines me continues for ever So though men be subject to change yet the Lord that maintains them is immutable and abides for ever You that have the life of Christ in you have the beginning of this eternity and though the old building be pulled downe yet you have a building not made with hands eternall in the heavens even as when one skin fals off another comes on and what though the outward man perish yet the inward man growes daily more and more till it come to perfection This is not only a comfort to us but also it is a great motive and we should use it as a great argument to God that because we are subject to change yet because hee is immutable therefore he should helpe us Psal. 102.26 27. The heavens shall wax old as doth a garment but thou endurest for ever and ever therefore cast me not off in the midst of my dayes as if he should say Lord thou hast Time enough to bestow thou art full of eternitie the heavens that seeme to be of long continuance yet are nothing to thee therefore I pray thee to fill up my wants and make me eternall with thee so because thou inhabitest eternity therefore comfort mee Isai. 57.15 Seeing God is eternall learne hence to know that he is the Lord of all Time Vse 5 Doe not thou looke upon Time as belonging to thee but to him he overflowes all it is the phrase used in Psal. 90.5 Thou carriest them away as with a floud they are as sheepe c. that is all times are subject to him he over-reaches them and makes them long or short as it pleaseth him he is not only in himselfe eternall but hee is the lord of all and hee disposeth all times and appoints the seasons to every thing if hee be thus then take heed of looking upon future times as thine owne thou breakest in now upon the Lords
to be made after his Image and therefore in Heb 12 God is called the Father of Spirits Why He is the Father of the body also he made that but the meaning is that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Father over them because he guides and nurtures them being most like to himselfe as the sonne is like the father so they are like to him and therefore hee most regards the spirits of men As you may see when Samuel went to anoint David King and all the sonnes of Iesse came before him those that were much more proper than David God tells him that he did not looke upon the persons of men nor upon their outward appearance hee heedes them not what doth he then he sees the soule and spirit of man the Lord looketh upon the heart and according to that hee judgeth of them 1 Sam. 16.7 Now if his eye be chiefly upon the spirit thou shouldest labour to let thine eye be chiefly still upon thy spirit and so thou shalt most please him Let thy eye be upon thy soule to keepe it cleane that it may be fit for communion with him who is a spirit This should teach you to looke to the fashion of your soules within because they are likest to him and carry his image in them he is a father of them in a speciall manner and they are that whereby you may have communion with him in that which is most proper unto him in spirituall exercises and performances Object But you will say what is it that you would have us to doe to our spirits to have them fit for the Lord that he may regard them and that they may be like to him Answ. 1 1 Thou must scoure and cleanse them from all filthinesse 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises dearely beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthinisse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God There is a pollution which the Apostle speakes of which pollution he divides into two kindes of the flesh of the spirit both of these thou must labour to bee cleansed from but specially that of the spirit if tâ—â—n wouldst have it fit to have the Lord to delight in for he being a Spirit doth most regard those actions which are done by the Spirit and therefore that is the thing that mainely thou shouldst looke to Object But what is that pollution of spirit or what is that which doth defile it Answ. Every thing in the world defiles the spirit when it is lusted after 2 Pet. 1.4 Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust that is the world and all things in the world and all the parts of it they doe then corrupt the spirit defile and soile it when the soule of man hath a lust after them You might medle with all things in the world and not be defiled by them if you had pure affections but when you have a lust after any thing then it defiles your spirit therefore in Titus 1.15 the Apostle speakes of a conscience defiled And in Matt. 15. 19. saith our Saviour out of the heart proceede evill thoughts murthers adulterers fornications thefts false witnesse blasphemies these are the thâ—â—gs whâ—â—h defile a man He doth not speake onely of actuall adulterie or murther but even of the siâ—â—ull dispositions of the soule even these are things that defile the spirit in Gods sight who lookes upon them as you doe upon outward filthinesse with the eyes of your body So that every inordinate lusting of the soule doth defile the soule Object But is not this rule too strait We are commanded not to murther nor to commit adultery this is the commandement and why should you say that every disordered affection doth defile the soule and that it is more regarded by God then the outward actions Answ. You must know that the tenth commandement doth strike against these abominations Thou shalt not lust and so it is translated Rom. 7 so that these lustings of the spirit are those that defile the soule You see that God hath spent a whole commandement against them And indeede all the actuall sinnes committed by us simply considered in themselves as committed by the body are not so hated of God as the pollution of the spirit is Nay I dare be bolâ—â— to say that the act of adultery and murther is not so abominable in Gods eyes as the filthinesse of the spirit this is more abominable in the sight of God who is a spirit than the act of the body for it is the spirit that he mainly lookes to Indeed the act contracts the guilt because the lust is then growne up to an height so that it is come to an absolute will and execution Therefore if these lustings doe presse into the soule wee should put them out againe and reject them with shame and griefe for GOD is a Spirit and beholdes the continuall behaviour of thy spirit Againe the injury which you offer to others though in it selfe it be a great sinne yet that inward brooding of it in thy heart plotting mischiefe that boiles within thee while it hatches rancour and revenge this is that which he hates though thou shouldest never commit any actuall sinne this way Iam. 4.5 you have this phrase used The lust of the spirit to envie that is the bent of the spirit and inclination of the minde which lookes upon the gifts of others whereby it overshines them so that they lust to have that light put out that their candle might appeare above it though they act nothing yet this is abominable to him And that I might not deliver this without ground consider There is nothing so pleasing to God as a broken heart Isa. 57. Now the breaking of the heart is nothing else but the severing betweene the heart and sin As when you see an artificers worke wherein many parts are glued together if it should fall downe or the glue be dissolved then they all breake to pieces and when the lusts that are in our soules are thus severed this pleaseth the Lord not that the affliction of a mans spirit is pleasing to the Lord but the separation of sinne from his soule when the soder that joynes a sinfull action and the heart together when this is dissolved this doth please the Lord. And by the rule of contraries if this be true then it is true on the other side that when the spirit is glued by any lust to any inordinate thing it is most hatefull to God for the stronger the lust is the stronger is the glue and therefore a man the more he is tyed to this world and hath such strong lusts the more hee hath this uncleannesse and pollution of spirit And therefore as a broken heart is most acceptable to God so a spirit that is knit to any inordinate object by the thing that it cleaves to it becomes most hatefull and abominable to him
Consider that although a lust left at liberty when God hath taken off the chaine and suffers it to doe what it will doth contract more guilt and doth indeede more hurt to mankind yet he that hath a heart as full of lust and filthinesse is no lesse abominable and odious in Gods sight Take a wolfe that runnes up and downe and kills the sheepe that wolfe is abominable and every one cries out against him but a wise man that sees a wolfe tyed up in a chaine hates that as much as he did the other for he knowes that he hath the same nature and would doe as much hurt if he were let loose So we may say of men whose hearts are full of lusts God it may be hath tyed them up so that they breake not forth yet these lusts are abominable and hatefull in his sight though they doe not so much hurt nor breake so many commandements Therfore let them consider this that live under good families good Tutours or in good company coÌ„monly they are as wolves tied up they cannot break forth so into outward acts it may be they are restrained by reason of some bodies favour that they would not lose or the like but yet they give way to the spirit within that rangeth and lusteth up and downe and this is therefore defiled in Gods sight Consider that these lusts of the Spirit are full of the spawne and egges of sinne that is they are the mother sinne it is pregnant with actuall sinne Iam. 4.1 From whence come warres and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that warre in your members Concupiscence is but as the lust of the Spirit which concupiscence is full of actuall sinnes and brings them forth when occasion is given Iam. 1.15 And therfore it is more hated than an act is which is but one which hath not so much spawne in it and therefore you ought to cleanse your spirit from this pollution Quest. But how shall we doe this to get our spirits thus cleansed Answ. 1 You must search out the pollution of the spirit For the spirit of a man is a deepe thing and hidden full of corners and cranne a lust and pollution will easily hide it selfe in 〈◊〉 therefore thou must finde it out and confesse it Doe as David â—â—d goe to God and say Lord search and try me see if there be any wickednesse in me as if he should say if I could I would search my owne heart but I cannot doe it enough therefore doe thou come and doe it I will open the doores as a man useth to say to the officers that come to looke for a traytour Doe you come in and search if there be any here I will set open my doores so faith David here So when a man would cleanse his heart from the pollutions of his spirit let him doe on that manner remember that to hide a traytour is to be a traytour himselfe therefore labour to finde it and when it is found confesse it to the Lord and lay a just weight upon it What though it never breakes forth into outward actions say to the Lord O Lord I know that thou lookest to the spirit and art conversant about it to have a polluted spirit is an abomination to thee This is a thing that we would doe and wee are oftentimes to blame in this in our prayers for we confesse our actuall sinnes and doe not confesse the pollution of our spirits to the Lord. Quest. But you will say We would faine have some directions to finde out this uncleanesse of our spirits Answ. Consider what ariseth in thy spirit when it is stirred at any time and there thou shalt finde what the pollution of the spirit is Set a pot on the fire and put flesh into it while it is colde there is nothing but water and meat but set it a boyling and then the scumme ariseth It is a similitude used in Ezek. 24.11 12. I say observe what ariseth in thy spirit at any time wheÌ„ there is some commotion when thy spirit is stirred more than ordinary now every temptation is as it were a fire to make the pot boyle any injurie that is offered to us this makes the scumme to arise now see what ariseth out there and when any object comes to allure thee to sinne see what thoughts arise in thy heart as the thoughts of profit or preferment so that when such an opportunity comes it stirres the spirit and sets it on boyling consider what then ariseth in thy heart and thou shalt see what thy spirit is And that which thou art to doe when thou findest it is to confesse it to the Lord and suffer it not to come into outward act cast it out suffer it not to boyle in Ezek. 24.13 When thou hast done this thou must not stay here but thou must labour to loathe and hate that pollution of spirit There are two things to be hated by us the sinne that we looke upon as a pleasant thing but there is besides thy inclination to that thing and that is the pollution of thy spirit and that thou must hate and loathe thou must not onely hate the object that is offered to thee but thy selfe also and the uncleanesse of thy spirit Thus it is with every one whose heart is right Ezek. 36.21 that is when a man begins to looke upon his sinne and see the pollution of the spirit in it he begins to grow to an indignation against it as that is the fruite of godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. he findes his heart so disposed that he begins to quarrell with his heart and to fall out with it and to say What have I such a heart that will carry me to sinne that will not onely carry me to sinne but to hell Hee begins to loathe himselfe hee would not owne his owne selfe if hee could hee would goe out of himselfe he is weary of his owne heart such a hatred and loathing thou must have of this pollution of spirit that is in thee And this thou shalt doe if thou wilt but consider what evill this pollution doth bring thee and what hurt filthinesse hath done to thee a man can hate the disease of the body and cry out of it and why should not men doe so of the soule It is our sinne that is the cause of all evill it is not poverty or disgrace or sicknesse but it is sinne in thy poverty sinne in thy disgrace sinne in thy sicknesse so that if a man could looke upon sinne as the greatest evill and that doth him the greatest mischiefe he would hate that above all things And here remember not onely to doe it in generall but to pitch thy hatred chiefly upon thy beloved sinne Be ready to say in this case as Haman of Mordecai what availeth it me if Mordecai yet live If we could do so with our beloved lusts and come to such a hatred of
asse having goodly trappings should boast it selfe against the horse which is a goodly creature because it hath goodly trappings or as if a mud-wall that the Sunne shines upon should boast it selfe against a wall of marble that stands in the shadow Therefore consider of this that so thou maist labour to beautifie thy spirit if there were no other reason but that he is a Spirit and that he beholdes the excellency of the spirit this were sufficient Take all other excellencies in the world they make thee onely excellent in the sight of man but this makes thee excellent before God this is a solid thing all the glory of the world is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 empty glory but that which makes thee excellent before God is this As it is Iam 2.5 Hath not God chosen the poore of this world rich in faith and heires of the kingdome which he hath promised to them that love him As if he should say that which makes men glorious is their faith and holines within that is the thing that makes us excellent in Gods sight and inables us to doe higher workes all other things habilitate us but to the things of this life but grace makes thee strong and makes thee to serve the Lord with fear and reverence Heb. 12.28 And therfore this is to be sought of us Phil. 4.8 The world seekes other things after their owne fancie but seeke you these things this is the excellency that we should seeke for this adornes thy spirit And now if I should aske any man whether is it not better to have Gods image renewed in him and to be like to him than to have the excellency of humane knowledge every one would say that to have Gods image renewed in them were the best but then why doest thou not busie thy selfe about it why doest thou not labour for it why doe you studie much and pray so little So if I should aske another whether grace or outward excellency were better he would say grace but then why doe you not bestow some time about it to get it It is a great signe that the heart is right when we can judge aright of the excellency that is to be sought by us 2 Cor. 5. It is made a signe of a new creature that he doth judge aright of spirituall things Iam 1..10 It is made a signe of a man converted to God when he is brought low that is he is drawne from that high esteeme of outward excellency which before he had when he sees that they are but fading flowers things of no worth and thus the soule gets strength to it selfe When thou hast cleansed thy spirit when thou hast adorned it with such spirituall beauty so that God is delighted in thee then thou must goe yet further thou must let it have rule and dominion thou must let it have the upper hand of the body in all things Let thy spirit be still advanced that is let it not bee drowned with the body but be emergent still aboue it kept from all base affections let it be cleare from all corporeall drosse that is from those bodily affections of meate drinke uncleannesse sports pastime c. wherewith the body is delighted for this spirit is the most excellent thing in thee therefore it is meete that it should have dominion that it should not be brought into subjection no not by any spirituall lust that ariseth from the spirit that the body is not capable of much more then a shame is it to be brought into subjection by any bodily lust that wrongs the Father of spirits 1 Cor. 6.12 13. All things are lawfull to me saith the Apostle but I will not be brought under the power of any thing Meat is for the belly and the belly for meat but God shall destroy both it and them His meaning is this I see that it is not convenient for me to eate flesh I doe not deny but that I have a desire to eate flesh as well as others but because it is not convenient therefore I will bridle that appetite for Meat is for the belly and the belly for meat but God shall destroy both it and them If that appetite should prevaile the body would rule over the soule but that I will not suffer that my spirit should be brought into subjection by any bodily appetite And consider what an unreasonable thing it is that the spirit should be brought under the body There are but two parts of a man and they draw us two wayes the spirit drawes us upward to the Father of spirits as it is a spirit and the body drawes us downeward Now consider which should have the vpper hand they will not goe both together Now know this that if the spirit bee under the body it will breede confusion It is so in other things looke into the Common wealth if you should see servants riding and Princes going on foot looke into nature if the fire and aire should bee below and the water and earth aboue what confusion would there bee So is it in this case The Apostle compares them to bruite beasts 2. Pet. 2.12 and the wise man compares them to a citie whose walls are broken downe so that there is an vtter ruine Saith the Apostle Peter in the place forenamed that they as naturall bruite beasts made to bee taken and to be destroyed who speake evill of the things they understand not and shall utterly perish in their owne corruption that is if a man will come to this to suffer such a confusion as this they shall even bee served as bruite beasts are Nay beloved if it were with us as it is with beast we might giue libertie for these corporall appetites to rule over the soule as take a horse if he hath no rider then you blame him not though he runne and kicke up and downe for he is a beast and hath no rider to sit him but when he is under the bridle then if he doth not doe that which he should doe then you blame him But a man hath reason to guide him and hee hath grace to guide reason now to cast off both these is more than brutish Consider that all things the more refined they are the better they are for they come neerer to the spirit So then doe thou looke vpon thy selfe and say with thy selfe the more that spirit within me is advanced the more it is suffered to rule without impediment it is the better for me To give you an instance or two that you may see the practise of the Saints in this case Iob he saith I esteemed thy word as my appointed meales c. I will rather restraine my body in this then I will suffer my soule to want that which belongs to it as he saith for eating and drinking so saith David for sleepe rather then my soule should not doe its duty I will deprive my body of sleepe saith he So Iesus
Christ Ioh 4.34 Iesus saith unto them my meate is to doe the will of my Father and to finish his worke that is I will be content to neglect my body to doe that which is the worke of my spirit the worke of my Father And such is his owne advice seeke not the loaves saith he nourish not your bodies labour not for the meate that perisheth but looke that thy soule get the better in all things Object But how shall I know this whether my soule doth rule or no Answ. When the bodily appetite and inclination shall arise so high as to rule the sterne of the soule and the actions of it then the body gets rule over the soule but when these shall bee subdued and ruled and guided by the soule when they shall bee brought to that square which the spirit within shall set downe then the spirit rules over the body Object But my inclinations are strong and I cannot rule them what must I doe then Answ. Thou must doe in this case as Saint Paul did who kept under his body by violence as men use to tame horses we should keepe it downe wee must take heed of carnall lusts they will keepe the body too high as a Horse may be too lustie for his rider yet so as on the other side it must not be kept too low for the body is the instrument of the soule but onely the soule must have dominion over it it should alwayes bee subject to the principall agent as it is said of a servant that he should not be Supra negotium nor infra negotium but par negotio not above nor below but fit for his businesse so ought the body to be the soules servant Beloved consider this doe but thinke what your soules are that you should suffer them to be thus in subjection Thinke what a shame it is that these bodily affections should so overrule the spirit that is made like to God the soule that shall live for ever the soule for which Christ dyed that is better then all the world beside thinke I say with your selves what a sencelesse and unreasonable thing it is that this soule should be kept under by the body and that the body should rule over it Are not men in this kinde like to beasts subject to sensualitie that eate that they may play and play that they may eate and the soule is not considered all this while how it is a spirit that is like to God himselfe who is a spirit Alas what is the body to it It is in it as in a prison such is the body to the soule not to be regarded in comparison of it Therefore adde this to the other that the soule may still be advanced and that it suffer not bodily actions to bring it into subjection lest you be as bruite beasts subject to sensuality made to be taken and to be destroyed FINIS THE ELEVENTH SERMON EXODVS 3.13 14. And Moses said unto God Behold when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them the God of your fathers hath sent mee unto you and shall say unto me what is his name what shall I say unto them And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM c. Vse 2 A Second use from this point is this If God be a spirit then his dominion government and providence is chiefly exercised on the spirits of men It is true his providence is over all things that belong to us but as he is in himselfe a Spirit so he puts forth and exerciseth this power of his principally in guiding the spirits of men and in that you are chiefly to observe his providence toward you And that you shall see in Rom. 14.17 The kingdome of God that is his rule and power is not in meate and drinke for they are outward things and hee that is a spirit regards them not but it is in righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost that is in the things that belong to the spirit therein is his kingdome and dominion chiefly exercised So also Psal. 33.14 15. From the place of his habitation hee looketh downe upon all the inhabitants of the earth he fashioneth their hearts alike hee considereth all their workes Marke it when God lookes downe from heaven and beholdes the children of men the chiefest thing that he doth wherein his government is exercised is in that hee fashions their hearts and spirits and therefore those eternall subjects of his that live with him for ever and spirits as the Angels and the soules of men Therefore if thou wouldest observe the will of the Lord toward thee and wouldest see wherein his providence is chiefly exercised looke upon thy spirit upon all occasions that is what bents what inclinations what hopes and desires hee hath put into thy soule If you looke upon men in the world you shall see them divers in their spirits one man lusts after riches honour and preferment another after gaming sporting and drinking now looke upon this temper of spirit as the greatest judgement of all others Againe looke upon the spirits of other men they are fashioned a contrary way to deny themselves to seeke grace and avoid sinne to be content to have God alone to doe his worke and to leave their wages to God to live a painfull life serving God and men with their sweetnesse this is a quite contrary spirit and this is the greatest blessing Therefore you shall see that when the Lord is angry with a man so that his anger is wound up to the highest pegge then he gives him over to this judgement as it is Psal. 81.12 So I gave them over to their owne hearts lust and they walked in their owne counsells that is my judgement shall be executed upon their spirits to leave them to an unjudicious minde Againe on the other side when the Lord would doe a man the greatest kindnesse then he fashions his spirit another way Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord with all thine heart and with all thy soule that thou maist live as if he should say when I minde to doe you a kindnesse then I will thus fashion your hearts aright So Ezek 36.26 A new heart also will I give unto you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you an heart of flesh The Scripture is plentifull in this Therefore if thou wouldest observe what the LORD is to thee looke how hee fashions thy spirit if thou findest that hee leaves thee to unruly affections and lusts and leaves thee to be glued to that from which thou shouldest be divorced or that he hath left thee in bondage to the feare of men as a snare to thee there is no greater judgement in the world than this as it is the greatest mercy on the
in preaching the Gospell of Iesus Christ I doe it in my spirit that is I doe it not for by-ends for feare of men or the like but I doe it in my spirit that is plainly heartily and sincerely So that to worship GOD in spirit is to have a plainnesse and sincerity in our worshipping him that is to doe it heartily what we doe to him in our praying and worshipping him when it is not formally and customarily done but our spirit seconds it within this it is to worship him in spirit So that the scope of our exhortation is that you would worship GOD chiefly in your spirits As it is said of singing Psalmes Col. 3.16 Admonish one another in Psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And the ground of it is because GOD is a spirit and therefore he beholdes at any such time when you come before him the inward behaviour of your spirits that is he observes when you come to preach or pray what squint-eyed ends what vaine glory what respect to men you have Yea he observes how farre naturall conscience leads you so that you do it as a task out of custome c. he observes what worldly-mindednes and carnall affections creep into the soule at that time that makes you either to post off the duty or else to doe it in a customary manner All this doth he behold he lookes to the inward carriage of the spirit and therefore doe you looke chiefly to the inward carriage to the inward frame of your minde Quest. But what is that more particularly Answ. I will shew it to you in these three things 1. See that thy spirit be as neare him as thy lippes are Isay 29.13 Hee complaines of a sort of people that draw nigh unto God with their mouth and with their lips doe honour him but have removed their heart farre from him and their feare towards him is taught by the precepts of men So Ier. 12.2 Thou oh Lord art neare in their mouth and farre from their reines Now if thou wouldest worship him in spirit see that thy spirit be as neare him as thy words are As for example in prayer thou confessest thy sinnes and professest that thou doest hate them thou prayest for mortification and grace for weanednes from the world herein thy words and Gods will doe agree they are consonant and when yet it may be the inward inclination of thy heart is farre enough off from this expression therefore bring thy spirit neare to God as thy lippes are and then thou worshippest him in spirit To shew you more plainly what this farrenesse off of the spirit is take a covetous man and put him upon the racke of any exigent where hee must part with all to save his life he will say as much as need to be in this case but his heart is set as close to his wealth as ever it was before so that he is loath to part with any thing And take a thiefe that comes before the Iudge hee confesseth his fault and begges pardon and saith that he will doe so no more but yet his heart sits as neere to his theft he is as farre from honesty as ever he was before So take a man when he comes into some exigent for that usually is the time as at the receiving of the Sacrament or at his day of death he comes and professeth to the Lord that hee will follow no more his wicked courses but he will become a new man here his words draw neare but looke to the bent and inclination of his heart to the radicall constitution of it and that is farre from holinesse there hee sits as close to his sinne as hee did before Therefore if thou wouldest worship God in spirit take care that thy spirit draw neare to him upon all such occasions as thy words doe A man in his ordinary course it may be prayes and his prayers are good but how farre his heart is from it that his life shewes It is a strange thing that at the Sacrament men come and make confession of their sins and yet their spirits are far from it and that their practise shewes Consider this you are the men that the Prophet doth speake too you draw nigh to GOD with your lips but your heart is farre from him And this is the first particuler When you worship God with all the might and strength and indevour of the minde and all the faculties of it this is to worship God in spirit 2 Sam. 6.14 It is said of David that hee danced before the Lord with all his might it was a worship of God a spirituall worship of God wherein David by his outward act of dancing did expresse his exultation and reioycing in the Lord. Now the text saith that he did this with all his might with all the might of his spirit for so you must understand it It is a Metaphore taken from the body when a man useth all his strength and might to doe any thing he vnites all the forces of his body to it so a man worshippeth God in spirit when all the faculties of the soule are concentred and united together in the performance of such a dutie And therefore it is called a wrastling with the Lord as Iacob did and it is called a striving with God as Paul saith that you strive together with me in prayer Rom. 15.30 that is when the soule and the minde are joyned all together when hee bends the whole soule to the worke this is to worship God in spirit Such an expression you haue Act. 20. where Paul went bound in the spirit to Ierusalem that is his spirit did not hang loose but it was girt up in a resolution to goe through with the worke whatsoever came of it his spirit was bound Now when thy spirit hangs loose upon the duty halfe on and halfe off when a man cares not whether hee doth it or no this is not to worship God with the spirit but when thy minde is girt up and thou dost it with all the intention of thy soule then thou dost it heartily as it is Col. 3.22 Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh not with eye-service as men pleasers but in singlenesse of heart fearing GOD where eye-service and heartily are opposed Eye-service is when a man doth it in the outward shew and appearance onely and what is the other to doe a thing heartily That is when a mans strength and his soule doth goe with the duty and the contrary to this is the loosenesse of the minde and the wandring of it about other things when the body and the words are well imployed but the minde doth not goe with them this is not to worship God in spirit when the spirit sits thus loose to God And this is the second thing wherein this worshipping of God in spirit doth consist The Third which
thorow performance For as it was in the old law a lame sacrifice was accepted as none so a lame prayer a lame hearing the word a lame performance of any exercise God reckons as none Therefore in these things God sends them away empty as they came What better are they doe their hearts get any thing Beloved God is a fountaine and if he meet with a fit pipe as is an ordinance rightly performed there he usually conveyes his grace but if he meet with a foule pipe and obstructed there hee doth not conferre any blessing Now if thou saist I have thus behaved my selfe and have not beene answered Doe not deceive thy selfe for if it be truly performed you shall be answered so that looke if it be truly done expect a blessing GOD will not suffer his ordinance at that time to be a pen without inke or a pipe without water I hope there be none of us here that neglect prayer to GOD morning and evening that live as if there no GOD in the world as if they were not his subjects if there be GOD will wound the hoary scalpe of such But these are not the men I speake to but they are those that doe it from day to day they pray from time to time and omit it not these are the men whom wee are to advertise in this case Take heede though you pray every day yet it may be thou hast not made a prayer all thy life yet and this is the case of many For if thou considerest what an ordinance is indeed thou shalt know that the Lord doth not reckon all petitioning as a prayer nor set it downe for the ordinance And it may bee the case of the Saints sometimes though we speake not now to them they may pray often and yet the Lord not register nor set it downe for a prayer and therefore it may never come into remembrance before him And this I take to be Davids case in the time of his adultery the ground of which you shall see Psal. 51.16 17. Open thou my lips O LORD and my mouth shall set forth thy praise David had as it were mistaken himselfe he thought that he had prayed and offered a sacrifice but saith he I was deceived all this while I was not able to open my mouth to any purpose therefore Lord open thou my mouth I brought sacrifice in but thou regardest it not till my heart was humbled Therefore a broken and a contrite heart O GOD thou wilt not despise Therefore you deceive your selves that goe on in a customary performance of holy duties and thinke that you pray for all this that thinke this worship to be in the spirit onely when your outward man carries it selfe negligently this is but a lame performance they must goe both together Therefore looke that it be an ordinance which then it is when not onely the spirit of a man is well set but the whole man is applied to the duty that is when all the strength of a man goes to it Object If you say May not a man pray sometimes when he is walking or lying or riding by the way or the like Answ. I answer There be two times of prayer one is ordinary and in private when you may have all opportunity to doe it in a holy and solemne manner and then you ought to doe it solemnly The other is when you pray occasionally and there the occasion and disposition doth not admit such outward solemnity as when a man gives thankes at meate or prayeth when hee rides Here the Lord accepts the will for the deed GOD requires not this upon all occasions yet when you may you ought to doe it in a reverent manner not onely of spirit but of the bodie also You may gather it from Christ he fell on his face and prayed Luke 22.42 and Daniel and Abraham it is said that they bowed themselves to the ground And it is said of Christ that hee lifted up his eyes to heaven when he blessed the loaves Why are these set downe If any man might be freed Iesus Christ might but it pleaseth the holy Ghost to set downe that circumstance of him that he fell on his face and that hee lift up his eyes to heaven Indeed in this case when it is hurtfull to the body there it may be omitted the Lord will have mercie rather than sacrifice even mercie upon your bodies So also when you finde that it hurts the inward man and hinders it when the heart doth it out of a conceit that it may performe it the better then there is a libertie left unto you to dispense with it As I say for prayer so for other duties when a man comes to heare the word hee saith my minde is intent enough though I make not such a shew yet notwithstanding know this that thou must behave thy self reverently when thou commest before God You shall see in Luke 4. when Christ preached it is said that the eyes of all the people were fastened upon him Why is such a corporall gesture noted in the text is it in vaine No because it is a comely gesture therefore it is to be regarded Quest. 2 How should we conceive of GOD in prayer seeing he is a Spirit and a Spirit we never saw what conceit and apprehension of GOD should we have then when we come to call upon his name Answ. Wee may not conceive him under any corporeall shape for he is a Spirit and therefore they that thinke they may worship the humanity of Christ disjoyned are deceived we are not to worship it as separated from his Deity for we are to worship the Trinity in the Vnity and the Vnity in Trinity which we cannot doe if we worship his humanitie as separated from his Deity Therefore when you come to pray before GOD you must remember that he is a Spirit filling heaven and earth strong gracious mercifull full of goodnesse and truth c. concerning which three things are to bee considered First That he is a Spirit Object But how shall I conceive of a Spirit Answ. How doest thou conceive of the soule of another man when thou speakest to him thou never didst see it yet thou knowest that there is such a spirit that fills the body and that doth understand what thou sayest and speakes to thee againe so remember this of the Lord that he is a Spirit Compare Ier. 23.24 with this Can any man hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Doe not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord Secondly That the Lord fills heaven and earth as the soule fills the body so that thou must thinke that hee sees all things and heares all things Indeed the Lord is not in the world as the soule is in the body but in an incomprehensible manner which we cannot expresse to you yet this is an expression which wee may helpe our selves by and is used every where
in Scripture Thirdly consider his Attributes that hee is a Spirit filling heaven and earth and hee is exceeding fearefull powerfull almighty exceeding gracious and long-suffering abundant in mercy and truth that hee hath pure eyes and cannot see any iniquity Deut. 24. So Exod. 34.6 As Moses could not see him but his Attributes his backe parts so thou must conceive of him that he is exceeding strong potent and fearefull one that will not holde the wicked innocent but shewes mercie to thousands of them that feare him and to sinners if they will come in unto him And thus you must conceive of him when you come before him FINIS THE TVVELFTH SERMON EXOD. 3.13 14. And Moses said unto God Behold when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them the God of your fathers hath sent mee unto you and shall say unto me what is his name what shall I say unto them And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM c. HAVING finished that point that GOD is a Spirit which is a particular expression of the Simplicity of GOD we come to speake of the Simplicity it selfe which is that Attribute by which he is one most pure and entire essence one most simple being without all composition so that there is no substance and accident matter and forme body and soule but he is every way most simple nothing in him but what is God what is himselfe The rise that it hath from hence we shall see hereafter All those phrases of Scripture where God is said to be love truth light and wisedome it selfe all these shew the Simplicity of God for of no creature can you say so The creature is wise and just and holy and true but to say it is truth it selfe love it selfe light it selfe or wisedome it selfe that cannot be attributed to any creature So that this you must know that God is one most pure intire and uniforme being or essence I AM shewes that he is a being and if we should aske what kinde of being he is he is a most simple and uncompounded being And that hee is so wee will make it cleare by these reasons Because if there be many things in him they must not be the same but different if different one hath one perfection which another wants if so there must be something imperfect in God for if the defect of that were made up it would be more perfect If there be two things in God then there is multiplication now all multiplication ariseth from some imperfection from some want and defect for if one would serve two would not be required As if one could draw a ship or boate up the streame two were needlesse if one medicine would cure two would be unnecessary so in all things else so that the reason of multiplication is because one will not serve the turne Therefore GOD being all-sufficient it is not needfull yea it cannot be that a breaking into two should be admitted in him and consequently he must be most simple without all composition a pure and intire essence full of himselfe and nothing besides If GOD should have love in him or justice or wisedome or life or any other quality different from his essence as the creatures have them he should be what he is not originally of himselfe but derivatively and by participation and so imperfectly as to be fiery is more imperfect than to be fire it selfe to be gilded is more imperfect than to be gold it selfe So to be wise loving holy that is to be indewed with the qualities of wisedome love holinesse is more imperfect than to be wisedome and love and holinesse it selfe Therefore there is not a substance and a quality in GOD as in the creature but he is love and light and wisedome and truth and so the Scripture expresseth him Wheresoever there is any composition there must be two or three things so that there may be a division they are seperable though not separated but where division may be there may be a dissolution and destruction though it never be But of GOD we cannot say that this may be and consequently there cannot be two things in him but what he is he is one most simple most pure and most intire being without all composition and multiplication If GOD be not simple there must be parts of which he is compounded But in GOD blessed for ever there are no parts because then there should be imperfection for every part is imperfect Againe Parts are in order of nature before the whole but in God there is nothing first or second because he is simply first Againe Parts cannot be united and knit and compounded together without causes to doe it but here is no cause to knit and unite any part together because he is without all cause as hath beene shewed before I will conclude this with a reason out of the text He is a being I AM hath sent mee unto you If he be a being then either the first or second being A second being he cannot be for then there should be some before him and above him upon which he should be dependent but this cannot be therefore hee is absolutely the first being Adam was the first man but God onely is the first absolute being Now the first being was never in possibility to be and therefore he is a pure act in regard of his essence Againe there are no qualities springing from him for if there were they should have had sometimes no being and so in possibility to be and consequently have a beginning and be a creature Therefore there is neither Potentia substantialis nor accidentalis in him and so hee must be purus actus as the Schoolemen say and therefore he is most simple without all composition This I speake to schollers for it is a mixt auditory and therefore you must give mee a little liberty Now I come to those Consectaries which flow from hence and they are these three If God be such a simple first pure and absolute being then hence you may see what a stable foundation our faith hath to rest upon we are built upon the lowest foundation in all the world that is upon the first most absolute and simple and pure and intire being which I say is the lowest foundation that depends upon no other but all upon it and this is the happy condition of all Christians and of them alone Angels men heaven and earth are foundations to some things which are built upon them but they are all built upon this and therefore dependent For if this foundation shake it selfe for so he hath power to doe they all fall to ruine But God is the first simple and lowest foundation being the first absolute and simple being therefore he that is built upon him hath the greatest stability which is the transcendent happinesse of Christians above all men in the world And this is a great priviledge
learning and gifts and eminency and praise that followes it Another hath his heart so wedded to a convenient house wife children companions c. that if any of these be taken away he is dead in the nest Not to speake of their vaine base distempered affections they must have a hundred things their fancy is infinite and all must be to their minde or else they are still complaining Now the more things a man needes the more compound and lesse simple he is as I may so say and consequently the weaker he is and more apt to be hindred more apt to be hurt and disquieted because if you touch any of that multitude of things upon which his heart is set he is presently troubled which is more easily done as the things are more upon which his affections are placed but he is best who is come to that selfe-sufficiency of minde and to be content with that simplicity of condition that he can say of any of these things I can live by them and without them I can live without liberty I can live without friends I can live without sports and pleasure without worldly credit and esteeme without wife and children without riches without conveniency of aire garden orchards This is the condition that wee should labour to grow up to and the neerer wee grow up to it the better wee are and the safer is our condition Object But will not you have us to use such things Answ. Yes but not to bee wedded to them but so weaned from them that you may use them as if you used them not whereas there are some that have their hearts so glued to them that it breaks their hearts when they have their friends or children or estates or credit faile them or if they bee hindred from their liuings pleasure and conueniences but hee is in the happiest and best condition who can live alone and can bee content with God alone that can fetch so much comfort and helpe from him that hee can hee without friends and companions without wife and children and if hee be put into a country towne farre from all sutable acquaintance yea if he be shut up in a close prison yet he can walke with God and doe as Paul and Silas have his heart filled with joy and peace through believing This is the safety and strength of a man For even as the body the more sicke it is the more helpes it needes and the lamer it is the more props it must have one for his arme another for his legges another for his back whereas a stronge man can walke upon his owne legges hee needs noe other helpe even so the soule the more sicke and lame it is the more it needs but he which hath a strong inward man which is in health let him have GOD and shift him from vessell to vessell from condition to condition let him bee stripped of all yet hee can goe upon his legges and can live without all So saith the Apostle Pà ul Phil. 4. I have learned in what estate soever I am therewith to bee content that is riches or not riches honour or not honour yet his minde had a bottome that he could stand alone and bee happie without them Thus I say the more a mans affection is inlarged to a multitude of things the weaker hee is and more subject to bee disquieted by any thing but the more his minde is contracted and gathered into a narrow compasse and content with a greater simplicity of condition the safer and stronger hee is and lesse subject to bee disquieted by any creature because let come what will come whatsoever condition hee is put into he hath a bottome to stand upon he hath some thing to comfort his heart Object But how shall a man get his minde to such a frame Answ. You shall have a meanes prescribed in 1 Tim 6.6 Godlinesse with content is great gaine that is godlinesse is alwayes joyned with contentment it is alwayes the cause of contentment and therefore great gaine So then be a godly man that is make thy heart perfect with GOD serve and feare him alone be content with him alone for your portion he is All-sufficient his communion will breed contentment and satisfaction enough to thy heart so that thou shalt be able to live with a very slender outward condition And this is the onely meanes to have the minde drawne from these things that other men are so glued to and that is to labour to be content with GOD alone to serve and feare him to grow up to him more and more for hee is All-sufficient there is no such way in the world to contract the minde as to have GOD to be knit to him to serve and feare him and to be assured of his favour and love in all conditions Beloved what a miserable thing is it to have such changeable happinesse for a man to be so dependent upon many things which are so exceeding mutable Therefore it should bee our wisedome to bring our mindes to be content with a narrownesse or scantnesse or simplicity of condition to let the minde be drawne into as narrow a compasse as may be and so to come as neere to this excellency of GOD as our present humane condition will well permit us Vse 2 2. Seeing it is said Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect holy as he is holy and good or kinde to the evill as he is causing the raine to fall upon them and his Sunne to shine upon them So upon the same ground we may say Be simple as he is simple that is you must labour to grow up to a simplicity of minde and such a simplicity as is in almighty God you cannot reach too but to have a heart immixed to bee cleansed from drosse as the gold is you should labour to get this simplicity of minde a thing often commended in scripture What this Simplicity is wee have briefly touched heretofore and we will now open it to you more fully There are two things required to simplicity or singlenesse of heart 1 That the heart looke but upon one single object 2 That it bee so cleansed from all admixture of sinfull affections that the frame of it may bee fitted to doe so For the first I pray you marke that in Iam 1.8 A double minded man is unstable in all his waies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By a double minded man there is meant one whose minde hangs betweene a double object so that he knowes not which of the two is more eligible his minde is in an even ballance where neither scale doth praeponderate On the contrary he is a simple or a single hearted man who is not thus divided betweene two objects but he so resolveth and pitcheth upon one that hee subordinates all the other to it As for example a double minded man hath an eye to GOD and his credit to GOD and his pleasure to GOD and his friends he would faine
that sinne and will sinne they are told of their particular faults of their idlenesse c. and they are so and will be so still but let them consider that which is spoken in 1 Cor 10.22 Doe we provoke the Lord to jealousie Are we stronger than he He speakes it to them that receive the Sacrament unworthily as if hee should say Both in this and in all other sinnes that you doe commit you doe as it were contend with the great God which is a vaine thing if you consider his greatnesse for are you stronger then he So Psal. 90. Who knowes the power of his wrath And so should we doe in regard of his goodnesse Hos 3. vlt Men shall feare his goodnesse that is if his goodnesse be so great and infinite as himselfe then the losse of it is a losse above all things in the world Whatsoever is precious to us that we feare the losse of as our liberties and lives and as things are more precious to us the more we feare the losse of them Now the goodnesse of God is greater than all other things it is beyond all these as having all these in it therfore wee are to feare the losse of it as the greatest evill in the world Therefore if we could see the extension of his wrath and goodnesse the losse of the one would be the greatest losse and the other the greatest crosse the enjoying of the one the greatest good and the 〈◊〉 of the other the greatest evill in the world and the consideration of this would helpe us to guide our hopes and feares aright for a great cause of misleading us in our wayes are the vaine hopes and feares that we are subject to we feare the losse of friends and losse of lives and liberties but these in comparison are not to be feared This use Christ makes of it Feare not those that can kill the body but feare the great God that can destroy both body and soule The greatnes of his wrath wee should feare as the greatest evill and his goodnesse as the chiefest good and our thoughts and intentions being taken up about these two it would set our hopes and feares aright and worldly things as credit and profit c. would seeme nothing to us and prevaile nothing with us Vse 3 If GOD be so exceeding great then there is no love enough no affection no desire answerable to him If our love were perfect yet it could not reach to him whose greatnesse doth farre exceede it but being imperfect as it is it falls exceeding short of him Therefore let no man feare that he can goe too farre that there can be too much holinesse and strictnesse in our wayes but let him remember the great GOD of heaven and earth and what is due to him and then thinke how farre thou fallest short of that which thou shouldest doe to him It is an expression of CHRIST Luke 14.26 Mat. 10.37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me That which I would have observed out of these places is He is not worthy of me that is if men considered my greatnesse and excellency they would easily see me worthy of more love than this of friends and except you can doe so except you can prize my love above these things yea even hate them all if they come into competition with me you are not worthy of me Consider therefore how much love he is worthy of and see if there be not reason for the commandement where we are commanded to love the Lord with all our strength that is if you would love God with that love that he is worthy of you would love God with all your strength that is whatsoever strength a man hath his love should put it forth to doe service to God If a man be rich he is able to doe more for God than a poore man if he be a Magistrate he can doe more than a private man if he hath learning and knowledge he hath much more strength than another now the improvement of these to the glory of God this is to love him with all our strength And if you consider how great a God he is you will see great reason why you should love him thus with all your strength Therefore we should check our selves when we see the dulnesse of our hearts how ready and how apt wee are to bestow our love upon any besides him we should observe all those riverets wherein our love goes out and runnes to other things and bring them backe againe into the right channell For if you consider the greatnesse of God you will see that there is no love to spare Object But may wee not love him and love other things also Answ. You cannot with an ordinate but with a subordinate love you may that is you cannot love him and the world for they are opposed 1 Iohn 2.15 Love not the world neither the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him So Iam. 4.4 Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy to God All our love must be bestowed upon him as most worthy of it there is not one particle to be bestowed upon any other thing But then hee gives us our love againe and then we may disperse it here and there As for example he hath commanded hee to love father and mother and friends and the ground that thou hast to doe it is because he hath commanded thee and gives thee leave to it So he hath given thee leave to love recreations and other things that are sutable to our desires but you must remember that the end is that you may be made more serviceable to him to quicken and strengthen you to doe his service and thus it may be bestowed upon other things But that which we have in hand and commend to your consideration is this that if he be so exceeding great in goodnes that therefore he deserves thy whole love 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha Paul comes with indignation considering the great good that Iesus Christ had done for us if any man love not him he is worthy to perish let him be accursed even to death I say if we consider the greatnesse that is in him you shall see some reason for that curse that indignation of the Apostle whereby hee expresseth it and so farre as wee fall short we should goe to Christ and beseech him to make it up that our defects may be supplied and that we may be accepted in him Vse 4 Againe If he be so great then wee should learne to reverence to him to come before him with much feare when wee performe any duty to him According as a man is great so wee feare him This use is made of it in Mal.
should thinke of every action And indeed the more wee thinke of his particular providence the more wee conceive of his infinitenesse For why doe wee thinke men to bee present but because they see and heare Because they doe something If the body be there and the soule gone wee say that the man is absent it is the action that makes them present Therefore the Schoolemen say that the Angells are said to bee present here or there because they worke there Therefore I say the more that wee can see Gods hand in every action the more wee acknowledge his presence Therefore we should labour to bee abundant in considering the Omnipresence of God upon all occasions as if a man bee out of the way and one come and tells him that he is so wee should bee ready to say that GOD sent him If we are in a strait and know not what to doe and there come one and helps vs wee should say that it comes from God So did David when Abigail came and met him he saith that the Lord sent her 1 Sam 25.32 And this would easily bee beleived if we would thinke that hee is present every where There is no man that speakes for us or against us that doth us either hurt or good but GOD is present with him and stirres him up to it whatsoever it be 1 Chro. 5.26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul King of Assyria c. that is he himselfe was present with his Spirit he stirred him up for the thoughts of men have their rising up from their spirit stirring them to good or evill So also for their speeches when Shimei cursed David David saith that it was the Lord that sent him So the Lord is present with the creatures it is hee that acts them and sets them on worke to doe us any good And this is the next vse that wee are to make of it Vse 4 Fourthly If GOD bee present every where it should teach us patience and meekenesse and quietnesse of minde in all injuries and hard measure which wee suffer from men This vse you shall see made of it Phil. 4.5 Let your moderation be knowne unto all men The Lord is at hand Iam. 5.8 Bee yee also patient stablish your hearts for the comming of the Lord draweth nigh Therefore when any injury is done you when you are oppressed by men that have power over you yet bee quiet for GOD sees it and knowes it and hee takes care for you A man will be ready to say shall I take this shall I bee trampled under foot as I shall bee if I resist them not saith the Apostle you neede not to feare for the Lord is present We use to say if the Magistrate be not present we may offend another to defend our selves but if the Magistrate be present there is no excuse so here the Iudge stands at the doore Servants if their Masters be absent will defend themselves against their fellow-servants but if the Master bee there and looke on they will let them alone because he hath power to punish and knowes better how to revenge them So is it in this case when we consider that GOD is present and that he sees what we suffer we should be quiet and patient and not onely be patient within but let our patient mindes be knowne unto all men that is carry our selves so that men may see it and take notice of it And if you say that nothing is done but hee abuseth mee more and more I answer Consider it is not because the Lord is weake and cannot helpe us or because he is negligent and will not doe it no he is present and sees it all the while but you must consider that the due time is not come therefore you must be quiet and not tumultuous in your thoughts and revengefull in your spirits because the LORD lookes on and will avenge you in due time Therefore this is the thing added in Phil. 4. Because when a man suffers any thing from another man then he will be ready to be sollicitous how to defend himselfe and what he shall doe hereafter saith the Apostle Be you in nothing carefull c. for the LORD is at hand that is he doth not stand by as a looker on or a bare spectator who meanes to doe nothing but see the injuries done and suffered but he lookes on as one that takes care for you Therefore be you in nothing carefull but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made knowne unto GOD. FINIS THE SEVENTEENTH SERMON EXOD. 3.13 14. And Moses said unto God Behold when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them the God of your fathers hath sent mee unto you and they shall say unto me what is his name what shall I say unto them And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM c. Vse 5 AGaine If GOD be present with us this should stirre us up to walke with him to be present with him Shall hee be present with us wheresover wee are when we goe by the way or lie in our beds or sit in our houses and shall not we take notice of his presence and direct our thoughts to him and apply our selves to him It is an exceeding great dishonour to him You know a great man when he is with you if you neglect him and apply your selves to inferiour men he will take it as a great wrong done unto him to let him sit alone and not to regard him And when the Lord is with us from day to day will you not take notice of him Let them consider this that suffer dayes to passe without any calling upon the Lord that never thinke of him nor consider that hee beholds all that they doe You know it was the onely commendation of Enoch that he walked with God Object But you will say What is this to walke with the Lord Answ. It is to see him present with us and to make our selves present with him and what that is we will easily finde out when we consider what it is to be present with any one The presence of any man is seene in three things First A man that sees and heares all things that we doe he is said to be present Secondly he that speakes to us he is present with us Thirdly he that acts or doth something about us or toward us he is present In this maner is GOD present with us and so we should be with him First we must be present with him that is we must see him as he sees us Hee that lookes upon the Lord as beholding him as knowing all that he doth hee that observes all these passages of his providence toward him and about him hee makes himselfe present with the Lord. Secondly he that speakes to the Lord and maketh knowne his secrets to him and opeens to him all his desires and all his
1 Pag. 49 Reason Difference betweene faith and reason Part. 1 Pag. 46 Reason for that faith beleeveth Ibid. Reason raised by faith Part. 1 Pag. 47 Purposes grounded on reason Part. 2 Pag. 118 VVee must get strong reasons for our resolution Part. 2 Pag. 119 Regard VVe should regard the Lord in three things Part. 1 Pag. 171 Rejoyce see Immensity See Almighty Religion see False Repentance Repentance how attributed to God Part. 2 Pag. 76 Gods gifts and calling without Repentance Part. 2 Pag. 84 Resolution Resolution meanes to helpe it Part. 2 Pag. 119 Resolution must be renewed Part. 2 Pag. 122 See Desire Reject see Pray Rest. Of resting in things concerning a mans selfe Part. 1 Pag. 151 Reward He that lookes for reward from men makes himselfe his end Part. 1 Pag. 15 Reverence VVe should reverence God why Part. 2 Pag. 145 Righteous GOD righteous in his wayes Part. 2 Pag. 79 Roote The roote of all sin what Part. 1 Pag. 66 Rule That which goeth by a rule may erre Part. 1 Pag. 144 We should let the Spirit rule Part. 2 Pag. 19 How to know when the Spirit beareth rule Part. 2 Pag. 22 See confusion S. Scandall GOD punnisheth his owne children in case of Scandall Part. 2 Pag. 99 Scriptures Scriptures proved true by faith 3. wayes Part. 1 Pag. 48 Scriptures proved by themselues Part. 1 Pag. 56 Difference betweene penmen of scripture and other writers Part. 1 Pag. 80 Whence it is that men take the judgement of scripture rather then mens fancies Part. 1 Pag. 70 How to understand scriptures Part. 2 Pag. 78 Seek How to know we seeke to God Part. 1 Pag. 130 Serve service He that neglects GODS service makes him not his end Part. 1 Pag. 150 VVhy we should labour to serve GOD Part. 1 Pag. 172 Secure GODS power in bringing downe those that are secure Part. 2 Pag. 202 Seeing We are present with GOD by seeing of him Part. 2 Pag. 160 GOD present with us by seeing us Part. 2 Pag. 161 Short The good the creatures do us is short Part. 1 Pag. 138 To GOD no time long or short Part. 1 Pag. 160 Sinne. The perfection of GOD to bee vncapable of sinne Part. 1 Pag. 122 Sinne 3. things in it Part. 1 Pag. 166 Sinne and grace to be thought on cheifly Part. 1 Pag. 167 Sinne observed by GOD Part. 2 Pag. 168 GOD therefore Omnipotent because he cannot sinne Part. 2 Pag. 182 See Light Simplicity Simplicity of God what 2 1. Simplicity of God proved by 6 reasons Part. 2 Pag. 49 Simplicity two things in it Part. 2 Pag. 60 See Quantity Singlenesse Singlenesse of heart what Part. 2 Pag. 37 Singlenesse to be laboured for Part. 2 Pag. 59 Sicknesse Sicknesse in the body of the world 1.33 Soule A God proved by the soule of man Part. 1 Pag. 15 Soule the acts of it depend not on the body Part. 1 Pag. 18 God in the world as the soule in the body Part. 1 Pag. 23 Spawne Spawne of sinne in the lusts of the spirit 2 10 Speake Speaking to GOD makes us present with him 2 161 GOD present with us by speaking to us Ibid. How GOD speakes to us now Part. 2 Pag. 162 Spirit GOD a spirit Part. 2 Pag. 2 VVhat kinde of spirit God is Ibid 4 Properties of a spirit Ibid Gods eye especially on the spirit of man Part. 2 Pag. 4 How to fit our spirits for communion with God Part. 2 Pag. 6 Pollution of spirit how hatefull to God Part. 2 Pag. 7 Spirit broken pleaseth God Part. 2 Pag. 8 Directions for cleansing the spirit Part. 2 Pag. 10 Gods government chiefly on mens spirits Part. 2 Pag. 25 Spirit GOD guides onely Part. 2 Pag. 28 Spirit the guiding of it of great consequence Part. 2 Pag. 29 GOD must be worshipped in spirit Part. 2 Pag. 32 To serve GOD in spirit what Part. 2 Pag. 33 How to conceive of a spirit Part. 2 Pag. 45 See Adorne Iudgement Stability Stability in that we enjoy to be begged of GOD 2 10 Stronger The assent in the elect stronger that there is a God than in others Part. 1 Pag. 62 Substantiall Perfection in God substantiall Part. 1 Pag. 122 Succession God without succession Part. 1 Pag. 98 Hee that is eternall must be without succession Part. 1 Pag. 157 Suffer VVhy men rather sinne than suffer Part. 1 Pag. 25 T. Temptations Temptations we must outbid them Part. 2 Pag. 120 Testament Testament both olde and new acknowledged by Mahomet Part. 1 Pag. 82 Testimony see Adversaries Church Theologie Theologie what Part. 1 Pag. 1 Theologie wherein it differeth from other sciences Part. 1 Pag. 2 Theologie the parts of it Part. 1 Pag. 3 Difference in points of Theologie Part. 1 Pag. 5 Time Time dispensed by God Part. 1 Pag. 158 All time present with God 1.159 Time of outward things short Part. 1 Pag. 162 God the Lord of time Part. 1 Pag. 174 Time as a field to be sown Ibid. Time double Part. 2 Pag. 83 See Iudgement Thoughts How to be rid of ill thoughts Part. 2 Pag. 169 Together God possesseth all things together Part. 1 Pag. 159 Trust. To trust in God Part. 1 Pag. 171 V. Vanity Vanity 〈…〉 our owne streâ—â—â—â— 1 1â—3 See 〈◊〉 Vessells All outward things earthen vessells Part. 2 Pag. 105 Visible Miracles of Scripture visible Part. 1 Pag. 48 Vnderstanding Objects of the understanding of two sorts Part. 1 Pag. 21 Vnchangeable Men make excuses from this that Gods decree is unchangeable Part. 2 Pag. 95 Vpon what occasion the doctrine of Gods unchangeablenesse is revealed Part. 2 Pag. 96 The end and use of the doctrine of Gods unchangeablenesse Part. 2 Pag. 97 To prize things by their unchangeablenesse Part. 2 Pag. 106 Grace unchangeable Part. 2 Pag. 107 See Decree Vnmixed The perfection of God unmixed Part. 1 Pag. 121 Voluntary see Cause VV Walke To walke with God Part. 2 Pag. 159 To walke with God what Part. 2 Pag. 160 See Love Want How faith is strengthened in our wants Part. 1 Pag. 103 Perfection of GOD without want Part. 1 Pag. 122 To make use of Gods power in our wants Part. 2 Pag. 19â— Weaknesse Weaknesse to regard praise of men Part. â— Pag. 133 See Inconstancy Weaned To use outward things with weaned hearts Part. 2 Pag. 57 Weary The soule not weary in its action Part. 1 Pag. 19 Wheeles Observations from the wheeles in Ezek 1. Part. 1 Pag. 35 Will. God wills not things because they are just but they are just because he wills them Part. 1 Pag. 143 Gods power large as his will Part. 2 Pag. 181 Men doubt more of Gods power than his will Part. 2 Pag. 194 No losse by yeelding to Gods will Part. 2 Pag. 204 Wisedome Wisedome carnall opposite to sincerity 2.65 See Company Word Word of God unchangeable Part. 2 Pag. 108 Workes Workes of God the greatnesse of them 1 78 Good workes unchangeable Part. 2 Pag. 108 Gods greatnesse seene in