of his maker when he is well studied in this point is the stiffest Conformist he sticks close to the righteous Cannons of the holy God and will not by his good will turn to the right hand or to the left He that was sometimes very unlike God when he is brought nigh unto him his countenance is changed his features are altered and the lineaments of Gods image appear very lively in his face and the more he is in Gods company and the older he grows the more he grows like him O how doth such a one shine what a Majesty Glory and Beauty is there in is face the oftner he comes to God the more he is taken with his Excellency the more he labours to imitate him He studies what God is and as far as his nature is capable of it in this life he desires to be like him If God be true and faithful he dare not be salse but he will hate the way of lying if God be free and bountiful he thinks it very ill becomes one of his children to hide his face from his own flesh to shut up his bowels to be void of natural affection If purity be so eminent in God he knows that impurity would not be commendable in himself In a word he desires in every thing to carry himself as one whose highest ambition is to speak act and think as one that would be like God It was bravely spoken of him Sen. 3.73 especially if we consider what the man was who told his Friend that call'd him to Heaven in compendium To get as much happines as this place this soul while in this body is capable of that is to get God for his Friend to be like him This is a short cut so glory a Soul carried to Heaven or Heaven brought down to the Soul A full and perfect conformity and likeness to God is the very Glory of Glory and a partial conformity to him upon earth is his unspeakable honour in this life O were men and women better acquainted with God they would sparkle and shine in their Generation so that their enemies should be forced to say that a Saint is another kind of Creature then a sensual sinner O why stand you then so far off from God! come nearer him and the rays of his glorious Image will reflect from your lives Be acquainted with him and you shall be like him keep much in his company by Faith secret Prayer and Meditation and you will be more Holy Divine Spiritual 12. The last effect of this acquaintance with God which I shall name is this it will make a man better far more Excellent in all states and relations all his Friends will have the better life with him the whole Family it may be where he dwells will fare the better for him If he be a Child he is more dutiful to his Parent then he was while he was unacquainted with God If he be a Servant he is more diligent and Faithful then before he serves not with eye service but doth what he doth with singleness of heart as unto the Lord If he be a master it makes him more exemplary and makes him to take care that his Houshold should serve the Lord he had rather his servants should make bold with him then God he is concerned for the honour of God in his Family as much as his own if he be a Father he is careful to bring up his children for God he is more Spiritual in his affections to them and desirous to leave them God for their Father Friend Portion as he is a neighbour he follows peace with all men and holiness because he hath seen God How sweet and amiable doth acquaintance with God make a man how ready to heal divisions how full of goodness and charity how ready to do good unto all but especially to those that be of the Houshold of Faith how compassionate and tender-hearted how ready to provoke others also to love and good works so that the whole Parish lives the quieter all the poor fare the better all the neighbourhood some way or other is beholding to him one that knows God himself doth what he can to get others acquainted with God too how sweetly doth he commend the way of wisdom with what earnestness and pitty doth he plead with sinners and labour to teach transgressors the paths of God that sinners may be converted unto him How doth he set before them the necessity of a change the danger of their present state and the excellent qualities of this Friend that he would bring them acquainted with telling them that time was that he also was as they are and thought his condition as safe as they do their's but that it pleased the Lord by his word to open his eyes and to reveal to him the need that he had of Christ and to inable him to accept of him and to prize him above the whole world In all conditions and relations he commends Religion and shews that godliness where it is in the power and life of it is a brave thing which makes so great an alteration in a man for the better If he be sick he rejoyceth and thinks cheerfully of death the grave and Eternity and in this state demeans himself so that standers-by can't but be convinced of the reality of invisibles and to think sure there is something more then ordinary in acquaintance with God which makes men so undaunted and with so much gallantry to meet death sure their condition is better then ours or else they could never be so joyful at such a time as this is Then he tells of the use of a Christ the benefit of a Redeemer in a dying hour and how infinitely it is for their interest in Time to provide for Eternity if he be well he desires to improve his health for God and to serve his Maker with the strength of Body and Soul If he be poor he shews a pattern of Patience Meekness Thankfulness and lets the world understand that godliness with content is great gain if he be rich he desires to be rich in good works also and to trade with such trifles as Gold and Silver for rich commodities as Grace Peace and Glory with the things of this world for the things of another To lay up for himself Treasure which neither Moth can corrupt nor Thieves break through and steal and to make to himself a Friend of the unrighteous Mammon to be a Faithful steward of those Talents that his great Lord and Master hath committed to his trust he shows how great a good it is to be great and good too This is the man which doth adorn the Gospel this is the Christian which doth credit his profession this t is to be intimately acquainted with God! O how useful might men and women be in their generations were they but more in Gods company O what a savour would there be of their Graces in the place where they live How
excellently handled already by so many of our brave Worthies See Mr. Baxters Saints Rest and R. A. his Vindicia Pietatis XII DIRECTION If you would be acquainted with God resolvedly and freely given up your self to him and enter into a most solemn Covenant with him And here I shall make bold with that Reverend Author which R. A. doth mention in his Vindicia Pietatis and present you again with that excellent Form with the preparatories to it which I have lately met with in the forementioned Author After your most serious addresses to God and after a deliberate consideration of the terms of this Covenant and after a thorow search of your own heart whether you either have already or can now freely make such a closure with God in Christ as you have been exhorted to And when you have composed your spirits into the most serious frame possible suitable to a transaction of so high a nature Lay hold upon the Covenant and reply upon his promise of giving grace and strength whereby you may be enabled to perform your promise Resolve in the next place to be faithful having engaged your hearts and opened your mouths and subscribed with your hands to the Lord resolve in his strength never to go back And being thus prepared and some convenient time being set apart for the purpose set upon the work in the most solemn manner possible as if the Lord were visibly present before your eyes fall down on your knees and spreading forth your hands towards Heaven open your hearts to the Lord in these or the like words O most dreadful God for the Passion of thy Son I beseech thee accept of thy poor Prodigal now prostrating himself at thy door I have fallen from thee by mine Iniquity and am by Nature a Son of Death and a thousand fold more the Child of Hell by my Wicked Practise but of thine infinite Grace thou hast promised Mercy to me in Christ if I will but turn to thee with all my Heart Therefore upon the Call of the Gospel I am now come in and throwing down my Weapons submit my self to thy mercy And because thou requirest as the Condition of my Peace with thee that I should put away mine Idols and be at defiance with all thine Enemies which I acknowledge I have wickedly sided with against thee I here from the bottome of mine Heart renounce them all freely covenanting with thee not to allow my self in any known Sin but conscientiously to use all the means that I know thou hast prescribed for the Death and utter Destruction of all my Corruptions And whereas I have formerly inordinately and Idolatriously let out my Affections upon the World I do here resign my heart to thee that madest it Humbly protesting before thy glorious Majesty that it is the firm Resolution of my Heart and that I do unfeignedly desire grace from thee that when thou shalt call me hereunto I may practice this my Resolution through thy Assistance to forsake all that is dear unto me in this World rather than to turn from thee to the ways of sin And that I will watch against all its Temptations whether of Prosperity or Adversity lest they should withdraw my Heart from thee beseeching thee also to help me against the Temptations of Satan to whose suggestions I resolve by thy Grace never to yield my self a Servant And because mine own Righteousness is but menstruous Rags I renounce all Confidence therein and acknowledge that I am of my self a hopeless helpless undone Creature without righteousness or strength And for as much as thou hast of thy bottomless Mercy offered most graciously to me wretched sinner to be again my God through Christ if I would accept of thee I call Heaven and Earth to record this day that I do here solemnly avouch thee for the Lord my God and with all possible Veneration bowing the Neck of my Soul under the Feet of thy most Sacred Majesty I do here take thee the Lord Jehovah Father Son and Holy Ghost for my Portion and chief good and do give up my self Body and Soul for thy Servant promising and vowing to serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of my life And since thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the only means of coming unto thee I do here upon the bended Knees of my Soul accept of him as the only new and living way by which sinners may have access to thee and do here solemnly joyn my self in a Marriage Covenant to him O blessed Jesus I come to thee hungry and hardly bestead poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked a most loathsome polluted wretch a guilty condemned Malefactor unworthy for ever to wash the feet of the Servants of my Lord much more to be solemnly Married to the King of Glory But since such is thine unparall'd Love I do here with all my power accept thee for my Head and Husband for better for worse for richer for poor for all times and conditions to Love and Honour and Obey thee before all others and this to the Death I embrace thee in all thy Offices I renounce mine own worthiness and do here avow thee to be the Lord my righteousness I renounce mine own wisdom and do here take thee for mine only Guide I renounce mine own will and take the will for my Law And since thou hast told me that I must suffer if I will reign I do here covenant with thee to take my Lot as it falls with thee and by thy Grace assisting to run all hazards with thee verily supposing that neither life nor death shall part between thee and me And because thou hast been pleased to give me thy Holy Law as the rule of my life and the way in which I should walk to thy Kingdom I do here willingly put my Neck under thy Yoke and set my shoulders to thy Burden and subscribing to all thy Laws as Holy Just and Good I solemnly take them as the rule of my Words Thoughts and Actions Promising that though my flesh contradict and rebel yet I will endeavour to order and govern my whole life according to thy direction and will not allow my self in the neglect of any thing that I know to be my duty Only because through the frailty of my flesh I am subject to many failings I am bold humbly to protest that unhallowed miscarriages contrary to the setled bent and resolution of my heart shall not make void this Covenant for so thou hast said Now Almighty God searcher of hearts thou knowest that I make this Covenant with thee this day without any known guile or reservation beseeching thee that if thou espiest any flaw or falshood herein thou wouldest discover it to me and help me to do it a right And now glory be to thee O God the Father whom I shall be bold from this day forward to look upon thee as my God and Father That ever thou shouldest
find out such a way for the recovery of undone sinners Glory be to thee O God the Son who hast loved me and washed me from my sins in thine own Blood and art now become my Saviour and Redeemer Glory he to thee O God the Holy Ghost who by the finger of thine Almighty power hast turned about my Heart from sin to God O dreadful Jehovah the Lord God Omnipotent Father Son and Holy Ghost thou art now become my Covenant-Friend and I through thine infinite Grace am become thy Covenant-Servant Amen So be it And the Covenant which I have made on Earth let it be ratified in Heaven The Conclusion AND now my Work is done I must leave you and whether I shall ever speak to you or see you or write to you again while the world stands I know not My body is frail and I am a poor dying man and before it be long my mouth will be more stopped than it is and yours too And therefore it 's high time for us to look about us As for my part I have with all the seriousness that I could for my soul spoke to you about the great and weighty affairs of your Souls and Eternity I again call Heaven and Earth to witness that I have set Life and Death before you I have in the Name of my great Master been woing of you to accept of his Son for your Lord and Husband himself for your God Father and Friend I have told you what the Lord doth require of them that would be in Covenant with him I have given you a rude Description of him whom I would have you acquainted with I have told you of some of the glorious effects of acquaintance with God I have told you of the danger of being a stranger to God I have told you how thankfully some have closed with these offers and how well they like their choice I have further show'd you what a peaceable state you shall be in immediately upon your Spiritual Alliance with this Great and Noble friend I have told you also of some further benefit and good that will come unto you upon your acquaintance with God I have given you to understand how desirous the Lord is notwithstanding all that is past to forget and forgive and to receive you into favour if you will in good earnest return to him with speed I have again and again propounded this match to you and told you as much as I could well do in so short a time I have stayed a great while for an answer I have put the business forward all that possibly I could because I see how foolishly and madly you make light of those advantageous offers that are made to you I have again and again pleaded with you as if I were ready to starve and begging an alms of you nay if it had been for my very life I could not have spoke with more earnestness I have expostulated the Case with you and asked you several weighty Questions and you have not you cannot answer any one of them but you must condemn your self and by your own confession you have nothing in the world to say against the excellency of this friend And therefore you must either speedily come in upon the invitation and close with those gracious overtures that are made to you or you must without any reason in the world your self being Judg cast your self away And in hopes that all that have heard me will not be so mad as to make light of these things but be asking with some seriousness that great question How shall I do to get acquainted with God How shall I do to get a Friend for my Soul What shall I do to be saved I have laid down some Directions for those that are unfeignedly desirous to be reconciled to God I have told them that they must labour to be thorowly acquainted with that strangeness and enmity that is in their hearts against God and of the unspeakable danger of their being strangers to God I have further directed them that would be acquainted with God to labour to get humble hearts I have advised that they visit him often if they would be intimately acquainted with him that not in a transitory way but to make a Solemn set visit of it and to be sure that they do not forget to get Christ along with them I counselled them also to be much in those places where he is wont to walk and to get intimately acquainted with some of them that know him very well and will do their best to get them to be acquainted with him I have told you that if you would be acquainted with God you must kindly entertain and make much of any Messengers that come from him to you and if men would make sure work I desired them as they loved their Souls that they would follow this great Business with the greatest earnestness and seriousness in the world and that what they do they would do speedily I informed you what arguments the Scripture puts into our mouths which we may urge at the Throne of Grace I intreated you for your Souls sake to take heed of those things which kept God and man unacquainted as namely all sin in general but more particularly Pride Worldly-mindedness Hypocrisie delight in wicked company Unbelief and Sensuality Lastly I direct all such as would be at peace with God to give up themselves to him resolvedly and freely in a Solemn Covenant And have I been beating the Air all this while What will you do after all this What shall become of all these Sermons Dare any of you all still be contented to be Unacquainted with God Can you be very well satisfied after you have heard of such a Friend to be a stranger to him Can any of you look upon your state as safe while God is your enemy O how shall I leave you with Hearts full of Enmity against your Maker Alas alas poor Hearts You look very merrily as bad a condition as you are in but did you but know how neer you are to everlasting Burnings I believe it would put a damp upon your Spirits and spoil your Mirth O how shall I leave that poor sinner that stands as a person altogether unconcerned Whereas death stands ready for his Commission to fetch him away before God and where are you then O where are you then if you come before God as a Stranger O what shall I do for thee What shall I say to thee to prevail with thee O what arguments will perswade thee O how shall we part Brethren my hearts desire is that you may all be saved O that you may all know in this your day the things of your peace O that I could mingle all my words with tears O pitty pitty for the Lords sake pitty your precious Souls O come not here to ask Counsel of God and then go away and take the Counsel of the Devil And what will you yet
whatsoever is presented to his sence the world and all that is therein must ere long be burnt up whereupon he thinks it no imprudence at all to hazard present injoyments for future hopes no folly to look after something that will bear the flame He thinks it scarce worth the while to be born to possess if it were a whole world except he were sure of having something after it that were better than what he met with here he had rather have one smile from his friend than thousands of Gold and Silver he would not for a world be to have his portion here though it be never so large a one he had rather by far be with Lazarus upon a dunghil than sit with Dives in a chair of State before the richest fare that the Sea or Air or Earth could afford him he would not change conditions with those which enjoy the most of the things of this world he can thankfully want that which most commonly makes its possessors miserable O could you but talk with a man that lives in Heaven while he is upon earth and could you but see and here how much he slights that which you adore Give me neither poverty nor riches but Food convenient for me is the highest that he dare pray for He had rather live in a smoaking Cottage and have God for his companion than dwell in the greatest palace and have the Devil for his Neighbour Counsellor Master When a man hath been in Heaven by contemplation though his body be upon the Earth yet the best part of him his affections his love joy and heart is still there Sen. Ep. 41. One that doth converse with God here he is indeed that earthly lump his body is below but could you see his thoughts could you look into his heart and see the inward actings of his soul you should see the man out of the world discoursing with God he sticks close to the company of his Friend He is like the Sun-beams who though they touch the earth yet they still abide there from whence they are sent and are most intensly hot nearest the fountain the Sun So the soul and thoughts of a child of God they may nay they can't but glance upon the world but it 's most vigorous spiteful actings are towards God the heat of its affections are abundantly more remiss and cool when they beat upon earthly objects He that knows what it is to have the company of God is almost ready to wonder how any one can be content with any thing below God and as for himself he takes himself for little better then a prisoner while his soul is pent up in a body which is so unwildly as to all spiritual employments till it be refined by the grave He would not be to dwell here for ever for a world though he might enjoy more content then ever any since the Fall did A Soul acquainted with God is a noble Creature indeed it scorns petty low things it thinks no Estate big enough for it but that which is infinite he looks upon himself as a Citizen of no mean City a Denizen of Zion a Free-man of the New Jerusalem one of the Royal Society over which Christ that King of Glory is the President his inheritance is greater than that which the Sun compasseth in its course O when saith such a one shall I leave these Cities of Cabul and dwell with the King at Jerusalem O when shall my soul be sasely ark'd O when shall I be upon the wing for Heaven O when shall I leave this body there whence it first came When shall I go out of this cell this cage O that I were once safe in Heaven O that I were in the immediate presence of God and might stand for ever before him and have his blessed society for ever ever Neither am I now quite without him but how little O how little is it that now I enjoy O when shall I enter into the possession of that better longer life I stay long for that separating or rather uniting hour which will separate my soul from my body from my dross but perfectly unite me to God Look then O my Soul upon all that thou seest below but as so many Inns and resting places for a Pilgrim to take some little refreshment in and then to be gone That day O my fearful Soul which thou sometimes fearest as my last is the birth-day of eternity O what mean we to love our prisons fetter-burdens What ad we to be so much pleased with our miseries and affraid of our happiness O this unbelief O were Christians but more in the company of God by Faith and Meditation they would look upon God as great the world as a very small thing He that knows God to be great sees every thing below him little It is an infallible argument of a Divine and Excellent Soul and one that hath Acquaintance with God when he can judge all beneath God as low sordid base and utterly unworthy of the respect of his soul 4. Another glorious effect of acquaintance with God is that it will ease us of all sorrows or cure all sorrows As soon as any one hath but a saving knowledge of Christ he is in such a condition as that he need not trouble his head with care nor his heart with fear no more then a rich Heir that hath a tender-hearted loving wise Father need not trouble himself what he shall do for bread and cloathing as long as the great cause of fear is taken away so long he is well enough As for those that are unacquainted with God they either are always afraid or have cause always to be afraid but as for a Child of God that Scripture bears up his Soul under the mightiest waves of fear There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 He that is in Covenant with God may in this world undergo some petty injures some insurrections may be made against him but this is his comfort he is sure never to be quite over-powered never to be finally conquered O the disquietments and fears that strangers and enemies are compassed with or will be And O the joys the security the true security that some have at what a rate do they live and how bravely do they die mark the perfect and behold the upright man for the end of that man is peace This was touched upon before when I opened the nature and qualifications of this friend and therefore I need say the less hear yet it being the great inquiry of the wisest how they may be sheltered from this storm What shall they do to be cured of these heart qualms How they may be freed from fears I shall not altogether pass it over in this place I can't but incourage poor strangers as they value the truest comforts as they would be free from fear and trembling when the Foundations of the Earth shall be shaken when the
joyfully into another world and this I say again a man acquainted with God may do he hath this to comfort him death doth more properly give him life then take it away from him and that as soon as he is dead his sin shall dye too and his grace live and act without controul then he shall live a life of joy a life of perfect holiness such a life as Saints and Angels live such a life as Christ lives the life of God a life without death an everlasting life and why then should he be afraid of dying As for his old Companion the body it is gon to rest and will ere long be awakened and rise from his bed more vigorous and fit for those Noble imployments which it must be engaged in for ever and Soul and Body shall meet with more comfort then now they part with pain when the body shall be in another kind of dress then now it wears and that also shall in some respects be like the Soul agil holy immortal This is such a man that I can call happy and so ere long will those that now scorn and persecute him call him too Blessed is he that in his life is holy and cheerful but most cheerful and perfect at his death This is the happy portion of Gods acquaintance this is the heritage of the Friends of the Bridegroom I have read of a wise man that would commend and be thankful for every thing because he was sure a friend of his had the management of every thing whose understanding was infinite and whose wisdom was unsearchable who could would work his own honour and his Friends comfort out of every thing yea though seemingly evil for the greater the evil seems to be the greater will be the real kindness which makes so much good out of it O but I have lately lost many of my most neer and precious relations If thou art one of Gods Friends let me tell thee for thy comfort you will meet them at your Friends house when you come thither It was no unsuitable advice that he gave to his Friend Lucilius to cheer him up after the loss of a dear Friend Let us consider my dear Lucilius that we our selves should be glad to be in that place and to enjoy that company which you are so sad that your Friend is gon to and he that you say is lost is not so but happy before you We do not judge rightly of things Well then would you know what a man is would you pass a true estimate of him and understand his worth and value Why then consider the man without his riches lay aside his honours take away all his externals from him nay further le ts see the man raked out of his body and how doth the Soul look is it now rich beautiful joyful can it stand confidently before God doth it appear cheerfully in the presence of it's maker Why this is something It matters not much whether his body were fed with Pulse or Dainties cloathed with Rags or Scarlet it matters not whether his Soul went out of his mouth or at a wound whether he dyed in bed of doun or in flames Methinks by this time you should be ready to think that Religion is an excellent thing that Gods acquaintance is desirable and that no life is like the life of a Christian all whose sorrows end in joys whose miseries make him more happy whose shame for Christ will make for his glory In a word whose death brings him into life This is the generation of them that seek thee that seek thy face O Jacob. 5. Another effect of acquaintance with God is That it will make us more highly to honour him Here familiarity is far from breeding contempt Those that are stangers to God see not his worth and excellency they honour him not but they have the most vile low contemptible thoughts of the infinitely glorious Majesty and they think any thing will serve his turn they make more bold with him then they would do with a man like themselves they put him off with the leavings of the world When they have been feeding their lusts and serving their pleasures and gratifying the Devil all the day long then they come between sleep and awake and pretend a great deal of love to him and anger with themselves for their sin whereas God knows they do but play the hyprocrites in all they do mean nothing that they say Lip-devotion knee-religion God shall have and but a little of that too and that pitiful stuff that they present him with they think God is very much beholding to them for As for the sanctifying the Lord God in their hearts as for inward hearty-love as for high prizings and admirings of God as for a real honouring of God and worshipping of him in Spirit and in Truth it is that which they understand not and as for them which do they laugh at them as if they were guilty of the greatest folly in the world But now he which converseth with God beholds such a beauty excellency majesty and glory in him that it is ready quite to swallow up his soul he speaks much of God but yet he thinks more he wonders that a God of such infinite goodness should be no more loved that a God of such infinite greatness justice and holiness should be no more feared that a God of such unspeakable power should be no more obeyed and while he remembers his own contempt of God in former times and the too mean thoughts that he hath at present of him he doth even stand astonished to think that he should be on this side the state of the damned He that before thought every thing too much for God now thinks nothing enough for him The man is strangely changed by his new acquaintance so that he may not improperly be called a New man all things are new with him In honor to this new guest he hath got on new cloaths he is clâ—â— with Righteousness as with a garment new food it is his meat and drink to do the will of his Father which is in Heaven new drink Wine on the Lees well refined he draws all out of those wells of Consolation the Promises he hath new thoughts words and actions God invisibles and all the things of faith are now Substances with him Now the threats or promises of a God are not counted small matters Heaven Hell and Eternity go for the greatest Realities because God saith they are such So he that sometimes lived without God in the world had no respect at all to his glory but valued himself and his most base lust and the Devil himself before God doth now respect Gods glory in all that he doth he ventures upon nothing deliberately but what may please him Religion runs through all he doth he eats he drinks and sleeps and cloaths himself he prayes he works he recreates himself with a design for God The grand project he
still is carrying on is the honour of God He will undertake nothing of importance before he consult with and hath the advice and direction of his Friend Whatsoever he hath that is worth any thing he sends it to this Friend he presents him with his first fruits he sacrificeth his male the best of his flock desires that his Friend may be always at his house and that he may have the best entertainment that he can possibly give and he is ashamed at the best that he can make him no more welcome whom he so highly honours he is grieved that his entertainment is no better he would fain give God his first and last thoughts his warmest affections he would gladly have the strength and vigour of body and soul spent in his service he studies how to improve all mercies and enjoyments for God to take hold of all opportunities that he can possibly and to make the best of them for the promoting that grand Design which he hath on foot his Honour He thinks not wife and children houses and lands body soul and all that he can make in the world too good for him Whatever temptations he conquers whatsoever sin he slayes whatsover piece of gallantry or prowess he hath done in his inrods upon Satans Kingdom he gives the honour of all to the valour conduct and assistance of this his noble Ally and Friend He sets the Crown of the King of Ammon like Joab upon the head of this King David He hath such a high esteem for God that he thinks nothing well done but when it is done exactly as he would have it he thinks every thing then best when it is done according to Gods will and he counts it no small weakness to be unwilling that infinite Wisdom rather then folly should have the managing of all the affairs of the world He desires to maintain a quick and lively sense of the Divine Majesty upon his Soul and that he may here and hereafter give him as he hath infinite cause all honour glory and praise 6. Another effect of this Acquaintance with God is this It would put abundance of life and vigour into the soul it would as it were oyl the wheels and set them a running There are none in the world that act at so high a rate as those do which are most acquainted with God O how undefatigable are they in their pains with what earnestness and faith do they pray as if they saw the glorious God before them and were talking with him with what reverence seriousness and delight do they read meditate and hear the Word and do all that they do They know in some measure what it is to present their bodies and souls as a living sacrifice to God through Christ they understand what it means to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord they will not serve God with that which cost them nothing kneeling down and saying a few formal words before God in the evening repeating the Lords Prayer and the Creed and the Ten Commandments between sleeping and waking doing no body any wrong and the like is not enough to serve his turn his conscience will not be thus put off but he labours with all his might to stir up his soul to lay hold upon God he is not content to go off from his knees without his Fathers blessing This is the Friend and Acquaintance of God this is the brave Israelite that spiritual Prince that will not let God go till he hath prevailed with him He doth not go to his work as if he caved not whether he work'd or no he is not sick of the service of God but he rejoyceth and works righteousness his work is his pleasure and he goes on merrily with his business Those that are intimately acquainted with God are not so cold faint and dull in the service of God as others be Such a one as knows God very well and hath been oft made welcome by him why he comes with a great deal of confidence and knocks at Gods door and for his part he will not go away though the door be not presently opened but he continues knocking because he is sure that his Friend is within he knows that he is never from home and that he can never come unseasonably to him He comes to Prayer as if he were going to storm Heaven he gets spiritual things by violence he comes to Duty as to fight for a Crown he is ashamed to offer the lame and the blind to God but he chooseth for the best in his flock he desires to improve his interest in God to the height this favourite of Heaven comes frequently to the King to beg some great thing or other and he is sure that his Friend will deny him nothing that it is not a greater kindness to deny then give he knows that his King hath a large purse and as large a heart and he is not willing to lose such excellent things that are to be had for the asking for he is not ignorant that Spiritual things are worth the seeking for and therefore he will seek and seek earnestly he hath tried more then once and he remembers to his joy that wonderful things are to be had if we will but take pains for them and prefer our Petitions or rather get them preferr'd by that great Master of Request the Lord Jesus Christ and follow our business close that it can't possibly miscarry let it be what it will the comfort in enjoying will abundantly pay all the charges we can be at in seeking therefore he layes about him as one that is in good earnest the confidence that he hath in the good will of God it puts life into all his petitions A poor Creature that very rarely injoys any communion with God that is very little or not at all acquainted with him is ready to take up with a few formal complemental performances he is weary of his work before he hath well begun it he is quickly out of breath but now one that is very well acquainted with God is not so soon weary of his company it may be he may be somewhat cold when he sets out but by that time he hath gon a few turns with his Friend his blood grows warm he is sometimes so taken up with God in duty that he can scare tell when to have don O he thinks it 's good being there O it was a sweet season These are the actings and experiences some Noble Soule I have heard some Christians say that had not God made it their duty to follow their callings they could be glad with all their hearts to do nothing else day nor night but hear the mysteries of Gods love in Christ opened Read Pray Meditate and be immediately engaged in the service of God Sure something is the matter with these persons more then ordinary that their Palate should be so Spiritualised as that it is their Food their Wine their Dainties to be actually
Souls God is their witness they see that your condition requires it that a man in your state is not to be jested with The Lord knows that they take little pleasure in grieving of people they do it that you may rejoyce for ever they watch for your Souls and therefore you must account them worthy of double Honour But of all the Messengers that God sends have the greatest care of dealing unkindly with and grieving his spirit when you have any motions upon your Soul by the Spirit labour to cherish them with all the care and tenderness that you can Turn not Convictions away with I am not at leisure or I will hear you of these things when I have a more convenient season but as soon as you find your heart begin to relent cry out unto the Lord and say O Lord I beseech thee carry on thy work effectually upon my Soul O that I may have through work O let not these convictions wear off from my Soul till they end in a real Conversion O let me not prove but a Half-Christian Any thing in the world Lord so that I may but be made a Christian in good earnest O let me not return with the Dog to his Vomit and with the Sow that is washed to her Wallowing in the Mire Deliver me O God from sinning away these things and getting into a cold World and from shaking off all least I prove worse than eyer and my latter end be more miserable than my beginning Labour to be very curious in the taking notice of Gods absence or presence and when you find your Soul raised in any duty and your Heart somewhat drawn out after God then be sure to own Gods goodness and bless the Lord for it Record his kindness forget not his mercy pass not over such great things in silence Little do men think what a hazard they run when they quench the Motions of God's Spirit You may read in the 5. Cant. how dearly the Spouse had like to have paid for such an unkindness What shall God send his spirit to visit you Shall the infinite Majesty so far condesend as to knock at your Door and will not you open why then you may thank your selves if he never knock more But if you will now open to him he will come into you and sup with you and you shall sup with him VIII DIRECTION Seek his Acquaintance most earnestly if you would have it O why do men and women jest with matters of the greatest weight and importance in the world What do people mean to play with their Souls the wrath of God and damnation O sinners have you nothing else to play with No lower matters to sport with Believe it Sirs Heaven and Glory are not got with sitting still with our Hands in our pockets We think it worth the while to rise early and to sit up late to get an earthly Estate we count it no foolish thing for a man to be very diligent about his Worldly Affairs The poor Country-man Plows and Sows Harrows Weeds Reaps Inns Thresheth and a great deal more before he can eat his bread and shall we look for a rich crop and do nothing at all but eat and drink and sleep Is this the way to be rich is this the way to be happy for ever If you intend to do any thing in Religion to any purpose you must buckle to your business at anothergess rate than most of the Professors of the World do We must take as much pains about our Souls as men do about their Bodies or Estates Is there any comparison between the Soul and the Body between a Worldly Estate and an Heavenly Inheritance Hath a man more reason to look after tricking up his body that must Die or look after the adorning adorning of his soul that must live somewhere for ever Which are matters of the greatest consequence eating and drinking and pampering the flesh and taking our pleasure or looking after Life Salvation and Eternal Joy Do you think that the Scripture faith in vain That we must strive to enter in at the strait Gate Is it a bare seeking that will serve the turn Will a Lord have mercy upon me and bowing the knee do as well as the greatest seriousness and diligence in the World Do you think that God will be put off with the skin and garbage instead of sacrifice with the shell instead of the kernel with chaff instead of the corn Doth not Christ say That many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able O why do not lazy Professors read the Scriptures with trembling Let all those that are angry with us for putting them upon making religion their business and using all diligence to make their calling and election sure Read that one Scripture over again Luk. 13.24 Strive to enter in at the strait Gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able c. It was Christ who spoke that word If we tell you of the danger of a formal Religion you will soon fall upon us as Enemies to your peace and those which impose too much strictness upon you We therefore do here produce our Commission for what we say or rather we desire you but to read your selves what Christ spoke as touching this matter O it might justly make a Christians heart to ake to think how many thousands of Professors will be disowned by Christ in that day who will make many fair pleas for themselves and pretend a great deal of acquaintance with him Consider I beseech you here is no fear of Excess never any man in the World that was too solicitous about his Salvation never any man took too much pains for Heaven Awake O sleeper what meanest thou arise and call upon thy God If you make any thing of the loss of a Soul look about you if you think the wrath to come considerable be serious if you would not be burnt by the fire of his Indignation you must take hold of his strength and make peace with him and God will be at peace with you Isa 27.5 It is not without cause that the Prophet doth complain Isa 64.7 There is none that calls upon thy Name that stirs up himself to take hold on thee There is none that calls upon Gods Name One would think that that were strange What none call upon his Name when so many of them made many Prayers as you have it in the first of Isaiah What did they nothing but look upon one another when they had their Solemn Assemblies Did they say nothing to God when they came before him Did they do nothing at all in that 58. of Isaiah when they are said to seek him daily when they seemed to delight in his way Yet in Gods esteem all this goes for nothing at all this prayer is no prayer this is only wording of it with God But prayer it is another kind of thing it is the
but those that are acquainted with God know these things and upon the mention of them their hearts leap within them As face answereth to face in a glass so experience answereth these things When this string is struck their hearts do harmonize as when a Lute-string is struck the other strings of nighest concord with it move also But these things are a mystery to the world and they say as those of Christs word We know not what he saith And it is no wonder for they are the actings of a Divine life to which all are naturally dead till they are raised to newness of life by the quickning of the spirit of God But I proceed to shew what is meant by this acquaintance with God Fourthly To this Acquaintance with God there is required a mutual Communication Where there is acquaintance between man and man there hath been a mutual Interchange of conference and discourse Thus when the soul is acquainted with God there is an Interchange of conference between God and the soul The soul openeth its wants breaths out its complaints spreadeth its necessities before God God openeth the treasures of his love in his Son the rich Mynes of his precious Promises and the secrets of his good Will to the soul Thus Psal 25.15 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Gen. 18.17 The Lord saith shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do Those that are friends and acquaintance they will let out their thoughts and purposes one to another they gave out themselves mutually into communion one with another Thus Christs knocks at the door of the soul Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with me Here is Christ offering himself to the soul the soul is to entertain him at another time the soul goes to God and God entertains it God hath promised that he will open Mat. 7.28 Knock and it shall be opened unto you and to him that knocks it shall be opened There are frequent actions among those that are acquainted And by these are expressed to us the acquaintance of the soul with God Now the Communications that are between the soul and God are exceeding transcending all communications that are between mens acquaintance Men may communicate their thoughts their estates their assistance to one another but they cannot communicate their life nor their nature nor their likeness but such communications there are between God and the soul that is acquainted with him All being is a communication from God the first being nay the several degrees of being have several communications from God some greater and some lesser spiritual beings have a higher communication then natural but Gods highest communications have been to man in that mystical Union of the Divine Nature to the Humane Nature in Christ and next in the mystical Union of the Sons of God to Christ and in him to the Father Thus Christ is said to live in us Colos 2.20 I live saith Paul yet not I but Christ liveth in me Thus Christ prays the Father for his Children that they may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they be one in us Joh. 4.17 21. Joh. 1.15 16. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God 2 Pet. 1.4 We are said to be partakers of the Divine Nature This expression implyes high communication of God to man Again there are high acts of communication from man to God for though God receives not from man yet man is to act as giving out himself to God such as to give up the will to Gods will As that of Eli It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good And that of David 2 Sam. 15.16 If he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do with me as seemeth good unto him Another act of high Communication of a mans self to God is parting with present enjoyments for future hopes in confidence of Gods promise Thus the Spirit of God works in the children of God a readiness to forsake Father or Mother and Brethren and Sister and life it self for the cause of God Thus John Baptist was willing to become Nothing that Christ might become All to be cast down that Christ might be lifted up Joh. 3.13 He must increase but I must decrease Thus Abraham gives his Isaack to dye when God calls for him Thus Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 Paul counted not his life dear for Christ Acts 20.24 These have been the actings of the souls of those that have been acquainted with God and such workings as these are the feeling of a child of God I have shewed you four things which are requisite to acquaintance with God First Knowledg of God Secondly access to him Thirdly Converse with him Fourthly Communication to him and from him Fifthly There is likewise required to acquaintance a loving compliance Amongst men Acquaintance implyes Affection And so it is between God and Man Never any soul was acquainted with God that did not love God and such a soul is an enemy to God therefore very few are acquainted with God but all that are not acquainted with God are enemies to God If we should come to a person that is not acquainted with God and say Thou art an enemy to God this would seem a heavy imputation but I speak it freely thou whosoever thou art that art not acquainted with God thou art an enemy to God for thou art still as thou we'rt born but we are all enemies to God according to our corrupt nature and abide enemies till we come to be acquainted with God Love to God and acquaintance with God go together are heightned by one another First God lets into the soul by his Spirit a partial discovery of himself and by this with the working of his Spirit he incline the heart in love to him Then on the first working of the soul towards God he lets in a clear light whereby he draweth the soul to a further degree of love A clear place for this Ephes 3.17 18. And that being rooted and grounded in love ye may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the length and breadth and depth and heighth and to know the love of God which passeth all understanding that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God The love of God fits the soul to comprehend the glorious discoveries of God and the discoveries of God doth heighten our love to God Acquaintance with God makes us like unto God as in Joh. 3.2 We shall see him as he is And our likeness to God as it makes us the delight of God so it makes us delight in God
for the cause of Complacency and Love is a likeness between the Lover and Beloved God doth not love us with a love of complacency till we are like him nor do we love God till we are made like God Now our beholding God and being acquainted with him is a great way to our being made like to God 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open faoe beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Thus you see that love is likewise required to our acquaintance with God without it no acquaintance I have in the first part spoken of the Nature of acquaintance with God in five particulars There must be First A Knowledg of God Secondly Nigh access to God Thirdly Familiar converse with God Fourthly Mutual communication between us and God Fifthly An affectionate love towards God The next thing should be to shew that man is to be acquainted with God but we will first take a review of these things We have taken these things into our understandings now let us set our hearts to these things for in these things is the life of Religion If there be acquaintance with God then gross wickedness drops off as scales from an ulcerated body when the constitution of the body is mended In acquaintance with God will be your only true comfort in this life and the perfection of it is the very happiness of Heaven Let us then behold till our hearts earnestly desire till our souls be drawn out after acquaintance with God If God be to be known to be approached unto to be conversed with by me will he communicate himself to me and I my self to him Oh that he would love me that I might love him Oh blessed are they that know him as they are known of him It is good for me to draw night to him A day in his Court is better than a thousand elswhere My soul longeth ye fainteth for the Courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God Oh that I were received into converse with God! that I night hear his voice and see his countenance for his voice is sweet and his countenance comly Oh that I might communicate my self to God and that he would give himself to me Oh that I might love him that I were sick of Love that I might die in love that I might lose my self in his Love as a small drop in the unfathomless depth of his Love that I might dwell in the eternal love of him This is acquaintance with God Acquaint now therefore thy self with God and be at peace so shall good come unto thee We now proceed to the next thing which is to evidence it to be the duty of man to acquaint himself with God This then is that into which the whole Scripture runs as into a common Channel The Scriptures are a discovery of Gods proceedings with man under a double Covenant and this is the great design of God in both Covenants The first Covenant was That while man did remain in obedience to God God would give man free and intimate acquaintance with himself But if man became disobedient then he should be dispossessed of an interest in God and of Communion with him which was that death threatned upon the eating the forbidden Fruit. The death of the body is its being separated from the Soul but the death of the Soul is in separation from God Now immediately upon Adams transgression man becomes unacquainted with God so that upon the hearing of the voice of the Lord they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden What a woful case is man naturally in He hath lost his acquaintance with God and was in a way never never to recover it upon Gods approach he flees And such is the nature of all sin it puts a man into a disposition to greater sins Every departure from God inclines towards a greater In the first Covenant this is the whole of it it is both a command to keep nigh to God and a promise of Gods being nigh to them and a threatning of Gods putting them away far from him man breaking the first Covenant The immediate effect of it was the sin of fleeing from God quite contrary to that acquaintance Instead of their former apprehensions of God they seem to have forgotten his omnipresence instead of peace with God they have nothing but dread and torment in the thoughts of God instead of drawing nigh to God they run away from him instead of converse with God they choose never to have to do with him more instead of giving themselves up to God they if it had been possible would have hid themselves from God Acquaintance with God is the sum of the first Covenant unacquaintance with God is the misery of the breach of the Covenant This is likewise the great design and purpose of God in the second Covenant The second Covenant is this When God beheld man in a miserable condition by reason of the breach of the Frst Covenant in the unsearchable riches of his goodness according to the eternal purpose of his good Will towards Man he made an agreement with his Son to send him amongst a generation of sinful Men that if he would undertake to bring them back into acquaintance with the Father he was willing and ready to receive them again into acquaintance with him the Son being the express Image of his Fathers will and person hath the same good will to man with the Father and is ready to close with his Fathers proposals and so enters into a Covenant with the Father to satisfie Divine Justice and to take away Sin and to take away the middle wall of Separation to recover a chosen generation and to bring them back again to God Thus he became the head of another Covenant between God and man And as the first Covenant was made with Adam for him and his seed So the second Covenant is made with Jesus Christ for him and his seed Because that the first Covenant was broken in Adam therefore the second Covenant was put into surer hands into the hands of the Son the second Adam the Lord from heaven Now I say that the great design and purpose of this second Covenant is in reference to mans acquaintance with God is clear This is held forth to us in that parable of the lost sheep Luke 15.45 When the shepheard had lost one sheep he leaves the flock and seeks for that which was lost So when man was lost by sin Jesus Christ leaves all to recover and fetch home that which was lost We are all gon astray like lost sheep as David saith of himself Psal 119. Christ is come to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19.10 and Ephes 2.13 14. But now in Christ Jesus they who somtimes were afar-off are made nigh by the blood of
henceforth good for nothing The mind of man is his eye by which he is to behold God now if this eye be blind if the light be darkness how great is that darkness The Jews in Ezek. 15.1 are likened to a Vine which if it be barren is good for no use Shall wood be taken thereof for any work It is fit for nothing but to burn So it is in man his great use and excellency is his acquaintance with God now if he fails in this he is good for nothing Verily man is a base vile worthless thing without acquaintance with God None are less esteemed among men than they that want wisdome to converse among men None are less esteemed before God than they that know him not that have not acquaintance with him to converse with him Ye see wherein the excellency and worth of man consisteth and that if there be a deformity where ought to be our chiefest beauty the whole is accounted as a deformed piece It concerns us then to look that we keep our glory unspotted our excellency in its due value that we do not degrade our selves below what God hath placed us in If we are not acquainted with God our souls serve us to little purpose it is a causing the Prince the Soul to go on foot and to serve the body which should be as a servant it is to let the candle of the Lord burn out in waste Thirdly Another enforcement of this duty of Acquaintance with God is this If we refuse acqaintance with God it is a slighting the greatest of all the mercies that God bestowes Favors are to be valued either by their proper excellencies or according to the good will of him that bestowes them both these ways this is to be accounted the greatest of mercies In Gods giving us leave to be acquainted with him he gives out himself to be known to be loved to be conversed with to be enjoyed What greater gift can God give then himself God is the portion of his people he is the greatest portion the surest the most suitable and the only durable portion Thus they that know him esteem of him Psal 73.26 My flesh my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart portion for ever Psal 16.5 6. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance the lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place yea I have a goodly heritage Blessed are the people that are in such a case yea blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. No greater mercy can be bestowed upon any people family or person than this for God to dwell among them If we value this mercy according to the excellency and worth of that which is bestowed it is the greatest if we value it acording to the good will of him that gives it it will appear likewise to be the greatest favour The greatness of the good will of God in giving himself to be our acquaintance is evident in the nature of the gift A man may give his estate to them to whom his love is not very large but he never gives himself but upon strong affection God gives abundantly to all the works of his hands he causeth the Sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good and the rain to descend upon the just and the unjust But it cannot be conceived that he should give himself to be a Portion a friend Father Husband but in abundance of Love Whosoever therefore shall refuse acquaintance with God slighted the greatest favour that ever God did bestow upon man Now consider what a high charge this is to abuse such a kindness from God is an act of the greatest vileness David was never so provoked as when the King of Ammon abused his kindness in his Ambassadors after his fathers death And God is highly provoked when his greatest mercies bestowed in the greatest love are rejected and cast away What could God give more and better than himself And how heavy will this imputation be These are those that look upon God as not worth being acquainted with Let us therefore consider how we shall be able to stand to these Accusations Shall we not be speechless when these things shall be charged upon us Shall we not be confounded when we stand to the trial of him to whom we had offered these great indignities How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation so great a mercy Fourthly It concerns us to acquaint our selves with God for without it we are in a necessity of sin and misery 1. The soul unacquainted with God is in a necessity of sinning Ephes 4.14 Having their understanding darkened alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts For want of acquaintance with God every thought and imagination of their heart is evil continually Rom. 30.10 11. There is none righteous no not one There is none that understands there is none that seeketh after God Not understanding nor seeking after God is the necessary cause that there is none doth good The soul of man is an Active being which is continually in motion if it be not in motion to God and in God it will be in motion from God Hence it is that the prayer of the wicked is an abomination that which goes for prayer God abhors because they are not acquainted with him Isa 1.3 The ox knows his owner and the ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know me vers 13 14. To this saith he your incense is abomination unto me their new moons and sabbaths the calling of assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even your solemn meetings Now the reason why there is a necessity of sin without acquaintance with God is because whatsoever is not done with a good heart is not good Luk. 6.45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good fruit and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil fruit for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh As an evil tree cannot bring froth good fruit so an evil heart cannot bring forth a good action Now without knowledg the heart is not good Prov. 19.2 That the soul be without knowledg is not good And there is no knowledg like the knowledg of God And acquaintance with him to make the heart good Hos 4.2 Because there is not truth nor mercy nor knowledg of God in the land therefore by swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out c. Thus want of knowledg of God and acquaintance with God we may plainly see is the necessary cause of sin Now there is no greater evil on this side Hell then that of a necessity of sinning 2 Pet. 2.14 Those of which it is said they cannot cease from sinning are called cursed children He that chooseth any sin rather than affliction doth it through the blindness of his mind
This is laid as a heavy accusation Job 39.21 For this hast thou chosen rather than affliction To choose iniquity rather than affliction is the greatest folly imaginable It is one great part of the misery of Hell that they never cease from sinning and this is the greatest misery on earth our being so much under the power of sin I appeal to any gracious soul that hath the feeling of the burden of sin what is it's great trouble and sorrow is it not because of sin What are his secret moans to God is it not the sence of corruption Oh wrethed man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death saith Paul Rom. 7. He had been complaining of the mass of corruption that did still press hard upon him and in the strong workings of his spirit against it he calls it The body of death It was as grievous to him as if he had been bound to a stinking rotten carcase How wretched then is the state of every soul unacquainted with God Who can do nothing but sin because they want the right rule of action a right pattern of imitation a right principle for action a right object for action a right end for action the only assistance of action It concerns us then as we make any difference between good and evil if we have any respect unto holiness and purity before sin and iniquity to see to get acquaintance with God because without acquaintance with God we are in a woful necessity of sinning 2. Without acquaintance with God we are in a necessity of misery Indeed sin is a great misery and to be in a necessity of sinning is part of the necessity of misery But besides that there is a necessity of misery of another kind What is the great imployment of men unacquainted with God Men labour in the very fire and weany themselves for very vanity Habak 2.13 This was the misery of men because they know not God But in verse 14. there is a promise of better days When the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Then and not till then will there be a deliverance from labouring in the fire when there is the knowledg of God The reason of it is because true satisfaction and peace cannot be till our desires and enjoyments are alike and this cannot be till the soul is acquainted with God For nothing can fill up the desires of the soul but God The soul of man is mighty spacious so that it cannot be filled with the world and while it feels an emptiness it still cryes out for more and cannot be filled till it be filled with the fulness of God Ephes 3.19 The prodigal son had nothing but husks to feed upon when he was gone from his fathers house he would faine have filled his belly with the husks but could not they were not food for the soul When we are departed from God we have nothing to feed on but the world and we would fill our souls with the world but cannot for it is not food for the soul Acquaintance with God is the food of the soul Job 23.12 I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food So that a soul that is not acquainted with God is famished for want of food Psal 42.2 My soul thirsteth for God for the living God When shall I come appeare before God David was acquainted with God but for want of an actual enjoyment how doth he here breath out the trouble of his spirit As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God The soul is still panting Some pant after the dust of the earth Amos 2.7 These were of the Serpents seed whose curse from God was Dust shalt thou eat but the seed of Christ they pant for God they that pant after God shall be filled with the fulness of God but he that panteth after any thing besides God will never find any fulness he will feed as upon the dust of the earth And what can follow but dissatisfaction and misery Acquaintance with God is the only way to be freed from a necessity of sin and misery Fifthly Acquaintance with God is the duty of man because God himself doth acquaint himself with man Shall the King seek after acquaintance with the meanest of his Subjects and he refuse acquaintance with his Soveraign shall God acquaint himself with man and shall not man acquaint himself with God! It is expected among men that the inferiour should seek for acquaintance with the Superiour and not the Superiour to the inferiour but yet God out of his wonderful love hath sought first to man for acquaintance Thus Prov. 8.31 it is said concerning the son of God who is meant by the Eternal Wisdom of the Father that he rejoyced in the habitable parts of the earth his delight was with the sons of men If God thus delights in converse and acquaintance with the sons of men how much more ought men to rejoyce in converse and acquaintance with God Isa 65.1 God saith I am found of them that sought me not All men were departed from God and not a man that did seek after God there is none that understands or seeks after God yet God is found of them The good shepherd seeks his lost sheep before the sheep sought him Cant. 5.2 When the soul is asleep it hears the voice of its Beloved that knocks saying Open to me my sister my love my dove my underfiled Revel 3.20 There Christ saith to the revolting Church that he was ready to spew them out of his mouth Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man will hear me and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with me Psal 68 18. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Is it not becoming then that man should open when God knocks He seeks to dwell among the rebellious is it not fit that man should enter into acquaintance with God when God doth thus acquaint himself with man Thus I have opened to you the Nature of Acquaintance with God and evidenced it to be the Duty of Man to acquaint himself with God let us now make some improvement of this Truth USE 1. First Is there to be an acquaintance between the soul and God Let us then stand and wonder at the great condescention of God! This may surprise our souls with an extasie of admiration that God should dwell with man that the mighty Jehovah should have such respect to the work of his hands Psal 113.5 6. Who is like unto the Lord who dwelleth on high who humbled himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth The Psalmist admireth God that he humbled himself to behold things that are in heaven and how much
our selves whether we are acquainted with him or no. Let us every one turn into our own bosoms and ask our selves this question Thou hast heard O my soul that which is thy great Duty that which is the very end of thy Creation and thy Redemption and that the highest perfection of thy noblest faculty consists in knowing God and being acquainted with him which contains a nigh union to him and intimate converse with him and mutual communion to God and from God and radicated unmoveable love to God these are excellent things O my soul what is thy case Art thou one of those precious ones which conversest oft with God and talk oft of God whom he will make up with his Jewels Or art thou one of those wretched Creatures who are alienated from the life of God by reason of the ignorance that is in thee Or art thou one of those who having been sometimes afar off art now made nigh to God by the bloud of Christ and so art lead into fellowship and communion with the Father and the Son by the Spirit Or art thou one of those who looks upon God afar off and upon whom God looks afar off I beseech you every one of you deal seriously and accurately with your selves in this inquiry for it is most certain that most men in the world yea in the visible Church are not acquainted with God Thus it hath been in all generations from the beginning of the world and thus it is at this day the people of God have been like a little flock of sheep while the rest are like locusts covering the whole face of the earth The people of God have still complained that they are but as the gleaning of the vintage and as two or three Olive-berries in the top of the utmost branches when the rest have been gathered The visible Church of God in respect of the rest of the world â—â—w small a part is it In the visible Church how few live up to their Religion by any considerable profession How little difference is there between most among us and Heathens And of those that profess and lay claim to something beyond others among whom they live how many betray their Profession by their wicked practice and worldly conversation So that when we have made enquiry there will remain very few of those that are really acquainted with God it concerns us then to be very diligent in enquiry what is our case how we stand toward God Secondly I shall be the more earnest in pressing you upon a diligent search into what acquaintance you have gotten with God because I know that those that have least acquaintance with God are most apt to neglect this enquiry It may be a tender soul that hath been much with God will be ready upon the first hint to enter into the secrets of its own heart to look over his evidences to call to mind when have I drawn nigh to God When have I conversed with God When have I communion with God Hath my life been a walking with God Have I dwelt with God and made my abode with him Thus the soul that makes high account of its acquaintance with God will be trying and examining it self and it may be upon its more a wakened signs of its sometimes departing from God or feeling some present strangeness it will be apt to conclude of it self surely I am none of those precious ones whose life is a converse with God But the common generation of the world Oh how hardly will they be brought to ask themselves this question whether they are of the acquaintance of God or no! How often have they been urged with a great and vehement affection upon trial how their souls stand towards God and hitherto they have neglected it Many are so inconsiderate as to think what is spoken is nothing to them they come and sit in the Congregation but their hearts are out of reach out of the shot of the Word so they go away and the word to them is as if it had not been Many are so light and vain and frothy in their spirits as that the streams will almost as soon return to their fountain as they will be perswaded to turn in and enquire into their own souls In all naturally there is an averseness to come to the light that their works and hearts may be manifested If I should come to you one by one and beseech you with the greatest earnestness wherewith I were able when you go from the congregation to take opportunity to go in secret and enter upon tryal with your hearts and ask your selves throughly this question and let them not alone till you have a clear determinate answer whether you are in a state of acquaintance with God I fear you would go one to his pleasures another to this vanity and another to his covetousness and almost all of you neglect this work of so great concernment Let me therefore urge you with all earnestness that you will not account it a small matter whether you be acquainted with God or not and so neglect this trial of your selves But bring your hearts up roundly to the examination yield not to their unreasonable withdrawings force them to answer If you make any account of the charge of God if you make any account of the excellency of man if you would not lose the highest priviledge of the Creature if you have any esteem of the life of heaven know your selves in this whether you are in a state of acquaintance with God and be serious and diligent in this enquiery Thirdly Because men are so exceeding apt to be mistaken and to misapprehend concerning themselves that they are in a state of acquaintance with God while they are meer strangers unto him such as those whom our Saviour speaks of Matth. 7.22 23. Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then he will profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity They take it for granted that because of such priviledges gifts common graces which they had therefore they were well acquainted with Christ but our Saviour answereth I never knew you that is I never had any acquaintance with you Such are those who are resembled to us by five foolish Virgins Matth. 25.11 The five foolish Virgins come when the door is shut and say Lord Lord open unto us but he answereth Verily I say unto you I know you not that is never had acquaintance with you you never knew me in the time of your life and I will not know you now you were ashamed to own me before men and I will be ashamed to own you before my Father Men are so apt to be mistaken in Judgment of themselves that they think themselves rich and encreasing with goods and to have need of nothing when they
kindness and love and good will and affection If then I can upon search into my self find that God hath the highest room in my affections that my heart is his that his love is prevailing with me above the love of all things beside and that I love those that are his beloved for his sake then I have in me a sign of regal acquaintance with God for love is the very quintessence of acquaintance but if in the search into the workings of my mind I can find no such friendly compliance but that God was still thwarting and crossing my designs that I should find my self better content if there were no God and that those workings of my mind that are about God are sower harsh and tearing upon my spirit then it is to be feared that I have no acquaintance with God And hast thou made an impartial inquiry into thy state And how stand things between thy Soul and God Art thou acquainted with him or art thou not Consider seriously O sinners that this is one of the weightiest questions in the world and if this question were but well resolved it would put an end to a thousand other questions He that can say of God and Christ this is my beloved and this is my friend he need not very solicitously ask what news He hath heard good news from Heaven which will easily ballance all come what will come he need not much pass as long as there stands that one Text in the Bible That all shall work together for good to them that love God He hath no cause to goe a begging to the world and to say who will shew me any good As long as the Lord hath shined upon him with the light of his countenance He need not complain what shall I do I have lost this or that dear friend when he hath found him who can make up all with one look whom he can never lose In a word he need not ask how shall I do to live and what shall I eat and what shall I drink and wherewithall shall I be cloathed So long as he knows that he hath a noble friend who will ease him of all this care and never see him want Well then hast thou answered this great question or not Or wilt thou do by thy conscience as Felix put it off and say thou wilt hear of these matters at some more convenient season and I wonder when that more convenient season will be and why not now I pray What season more fit then the present I am sure God saith Now is the acceptable time and do you know better then he What hast thou to do that is more necessary Speak out I pray is the following of thy pleasures Is the serving of Satan Is the damming of thy Soul more necessary then the saving of it Is the life and death of a Soul nothing Are everlasting glory and misery small matters Is the love or hatred of thy God so inconsiderable a thing Awake O sinner what meanest thou Arise speedily and look about thee man Consider seriously as thou valuest thy Soul what best becomes a sinner in thy condition What answer shall I return to my Master Are not these things worth the thinking of Shall I say for all this that thou art not at leisure to look after an interest in his favour or any thing that rends to it Shall I tell him that thou hast somthing of greater weight and higher importance to trouble your head with And do you in sober sadness think so For you make account that excuse is sufficient I pray then make use of it your self for I dare not When God shall come to ask you why you did no more vigorously mind the getting acquaintance with himself tell him then if you think that answer will serve your turn that you were not at leisure you had such urgeth occasions which took up the whole of your time such and such a friend you had who sent for you to the Tavern and you could not possibly come when he invited you tell him if you believe that plea will hold water that you would have been glad to have come upon his invitation but that you were taken up with such good old friends the World the Flesh and the Devil How do you think such an answer will be taken You may think to put us off with such kind of reasons as this but do you hope by this answer to satisfie your Judge Believe it sinner God will not thus be put off Wherefore I do again with all the earnestness I can for my soul renew by suit to thee that thou wouldest act like a man in his wits make some serious inquiry into the state and condition of thy soul And consider for the Lords sake again and again before you send me away thus what errand I come to you on It is to treat with you about a rich match for thy poor undone soul therefore consider well what you do before you make light of this business and know when you are well offered believe it God will not long send after you in this manner and you are not like every day to have such proffers Divine Patience and Goodness will not always plead at this rate with you God will ere long say let them alone the Lord will ere long speak to scornful sinners in such language that will make their ears to tingle he will despise and slight as well as they and who is like to have the worst of it at last I leave to any rational man to judge The time is coming when your ungodly hearts shall ake to see him whom you might have had for your husband when you shall have him for your Judge whom you might have had for your Advocate And though we could not get you to be willing to be acquainted with him no not so much as to have any serious thoughts about it or to make any enquiry after him to inform your self concerning him yet you shall have him for your enemy whether you will or no. But O let us not part thus let me a man like thy self reason the case a little more with thee come tell me poor ignorant creature thou that still standest demurring and sayst Shall I shall I what evil is there in thy God that thou shouldest be thus hardly brought so much as to discourse this business with thy own soul What is the reason that thou scarce thinkest it worth the while to trouble thy head about any thing that doth concern your interest in his love Thou that mindest his love so little tell me what do'st thou think had become of thee long before this if God had regarded thee as little as thou dost him What wouldest thou have done had the Lord said to any Disease the least of his Messengers fetch that Rebel before me that values not my favour he shall know what my anger is seeing he will not prize my love O what a lamentable
case hadst thou been in had God but done by thee as thou hast by him Acquaintance with God! methinks sinful man should stand and wonder at such a word methinks he should be even surprized with an extasie of admiration and say and will God indeed be acquainted with such a Worm such a dead Dog such a Rebel as I Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou shouldest make such an offer to him One would think thou shouldest no more dispute the matter then Esther did when that great Monarch made her his Queen Were it but in sensible things that nothing near such an offer were made which is impossible man would think the very questioning in such a case a strange folly One would think that every one of Gods enemies that have been in open Rebellion against him and are utterly unable to make their part good against him when they hear of such tearms of mercy from their Prince who hath all their lives in their hand should rejoyce at this news and say How beautiful are the feet of them which bring such tidings How did Benhadad look when instead of a Halter he had a Coach When instead of Rebel he heard Brother Whatever we may think of these things David thought it high time for him to bid such a Messenger welcome and to open his heart for the receiving his God Hear what he saith to his own heart and others Psal 24. Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors that tht king of glory may come in And because the door of mens hearts is lock'd and barr'd and bolted and men are in a deep sleep will not hear the knocking that is at the gate though it be loud though it be a King therefore David knocks again Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors Why what haste saith the sinner What haste Why here 's the King at your Gates and that not an ordinary King neither he is a glorious King that will honour you so far if you open quickly as to lodge within to take up his abode in your house to dwell with you but the soul for all this doth not yet open but stands still questioning as if it were an enemy rather then a friend that stood there and ask who is this King of glory Who he answers again It is the Lord of hosts he that if you will not open quickly and thankfully can easily pull your house down about your ears He is the Lord of Hosts that King who hath a mighty Army always at his command who stand ready for their Commission and then you should soon know who it is you might have had for your friend Lift up therefore your heads O ye gates open quickly ye that had rather have God for your friend then for your enemy O why should not the soul of every sinner cry out Lord the Door is locked and thou hast the key I have been trying what I can do but the Wards are so rusty that I cannot possibly turn the Key but Lord throw the Door off the Hinges any thing in the world so thou wilt but come in and dwell here Come O mighty God break through Doors of Iron and Bars of Brass and make way for thy self by thy love and power Come Lord and make thy self welcome all that I have is at thy service O fit my soul to entertain thee But where is the sinner that is in this note How seldom do poor Creatures desire Gods company or bewail his absence Where almost are the men and women to be found that do in good earnest long to be acquainted with God Men are naturally strangers to God and it is a wonderful difficult thing to perswade men to enter into so much as a serious deliberate consideration of these things Though it be so infinitly for their interest though the God that made them out of pity to their souls desires it though he send his Embassadors in his name to beseech them to be reconciled unto God against whom they have been in open arms though in infinite mercy he perswade them to lay down their weapons and promise them Free and General Pardon and to receive them into Favour and to forget and forgive yet where is the sinner almost to be found that with any thankfulness doth close with these tenders Now it being a business of such infinite concernment and it being the very work and business of a Minister of Christ to bring God and man into union to get man acquainted with God I shall in the next place labour to inforce this Exhortation upon the hearts of sinners and do what I can possible to prevail with them that are as yet strangers to get acquainted with God that they may have peace and that thereby good might come unto them EXHORTATION Once more poor sinners That God which can in a moment stop thy breath and send thee into Hell doth offer to be friends with thee If thou wilt come upon his invitation well and good thou art a happy man for ever if not thou wilt rue the day that ever thou wert born yet through mercy the matter is not gone so far but that thou mayest if you will now at last in good earnest humble thy self to him be received into favour Behold a Pardon Mercy and Grace stand astonished O ye Heavens at this infinite condescention wonder O ye Angels and pry into this kindness Was there ever such condescention love and goodness heard of If thou didst but understand O stupid sinner what an offer is made to thee thou couldest not but adore that goodness that can pardon and forget such offences and receive such a Creature into favour thou wouldest also cry out with as great admiration as he did what manner of love you would think it a mercy not to be paralell'd a kindness never to be forgotten a proposal by no means to be refused Now that I may if possible prevail with some that are yet afar off to come near I shall enforce this Exhortation with many powerful Motives the least of which were men but well in their wits as to Spiritual matters were the world not to a wonder fools in the great affairs of their souls and eternity might easily prevail O that I might prevail O that some might be perswaded O that God would put life and power into these words that they might prove effectual to the intended ends O that some poor rebellious sinners might be made to close with the most advantagious offers that ever were or could be made to Creatures in our condition MOTIVES The first Head of Motives that I shall insist upon to inforce this Exhortation shall be taken from the nature of the Person that I would have you acquainted with Consider well what kind of friend you are like to have of him and if after you have well weighed what I
in honour Deut. 26.18 19. And upon this account might a wise man have his choice whether he will wear a Crown and he a stranger to God or rags and be one of his nearest servants he will not stand long before he determine the case he will soon answer with him That he had rather be a door-keeper in the house of God then dwell in tabernacles of wickedness If mens actions may speak their Judgements most of the Gallants of the world are of a far different opinion But O let me dwell for ever in his house and stand always in his presence happy are they that see his face happy are they that behold his beauty This this mans Crown this is his highest honour and dignity for God to be mindful of man and for his Maker to visit him this sets him but little below the Angels this Crowns him with Glory and Honour Psal 8.45 This is that which puts a true personal worth upon any one and therefore the Psalmist thinks those the excellent persons in whom is his delight Upon this account the Scripture saith The righteous man who is in covenant with God is more excellent then his neighbour The pur-blind World they judge altogether by the outward garb they see the face the rich apparel they see the estate but they see not that inward excellency and beauty that may be under but mean habit they are ready to despise the Noble Worthies of the World such as can look upon Kingdoms as small things in comparison of what they have an interest in who can call God Father and Christ Brother Have you never heard of a King in mean apparel of a Prince without his Robes upon his back or his Crown upon his head and will you say that therefore he was but a common person But those heavenly Creatures that have a more spiritual resined sense that understands something of things and Persons are quite of another mind they can look upon great ones in the midst of their gallantry without a friend in Heaven as mean persons that have no interest to speak of and many of them for all their greatness to be in a far worse condition then Dogs and Toads They can also look upon a poor despised Saint a contemned Christian though as to a carnal eye he should look as if he could scarce speak sense to be a favourite of Heaven a person of quality such a one as this he values as the Son of a King a Citizen of Zion one of the Royal Race one of that glorious Retinue that stand always in the presence of God to serve him the least of which are Kings and Priests to their great Lord Rev. 1.6 By faith he sees their Crown and looks upon that Royal Diadem which shall ere long be put upon their princely heads This was the great preferment they sought this was the honour they most desired as for the world and all its glory they can well spare it for those that shall never be advanced to any higher dignity to any better preferment As for the Saint as contemptible as he looks he hath higher designs nobler things greater honours in his eye and if that which the world so admires were the highest glory that a rational creature were capable of the top of mans preferment why then he could look upon brutes themselves as his equals except in this that their pleasures are more certain and their miseries less understood It is storied of Constantine and Valentinian two Roman Emperours that they subscribed themselves Vassellos Christi the vassels of Christ and that Numa Pompilius esteemed it a higher honour to be a Friend of God then a Lord of Men. Consider poor sinner consider what honours you slight what preserments you refuse what dignity you undervalue when you make light of acquaintance with God Had that brave Stoick Epictetus I mean known God in Christ he would much more have wondered at the inconsiderateness of them which make nothing of being related to God as a Father he would much more have pitty'd them which cleave to their lower meaner kindred beast who had rather be like Swine then God and rather be companions to their servants then their Maker Seems it to you but a light matter to be a Kings Son is it but a small matter think you to call God Father is it nothing to be born to a Crown Immortal that sadeth not away This is honour this is preferment worth the having worth the looking after worth the venturing ones life for This is true Nobility to stand thus nearly related to him before whom the Angels do vail their glorious Faces and at whose feet the four and twenty Elders lay their Crowns The Queen of Sheba thought Solomons Servants happy who stood always in his presence and heard this wisdom but what would she have said had she but known the Honour and Glory of his Prince O blessed are those that stand always in thy presence O God blessed are thy servants blessed are those which see thy Glory and hear thy wisdom blessed are they that may have free access to thee O let me have this preferment though I live like Job at his lowest and dye like Lazarus Let others sue for the favour of Princes let them make the best of what the world can give let them desire that which hath been dangerous to more then Haman I hope I should never envy them might I but have more frequent and intimate converse with God may I be but acquainted with him O may I have but a heart more to admire love and delight in him and serve him with the strength and inrensenss of my Soul while I am here and stand for ever in his presence and behold his glorious Face with joy hereafter O my Soul what meanest thou that thou still speakest so faintly and coldly of such infinitely glorious things Why doth not a new life animate thee at the very mention of these things Hast thou not far more cause to raise up thy desponding Spirits with chearfulness then old Lacob when his Son Joseph who was Lord of that Land sent for him into Egypt Thy Father O my Soul thy Brother is Lord not of Egypt nor of Goshen but of Eden of Zion he is the King of that glorious City the new Jerusalem Heaven is his Throne and Earth is his Foot-stool and yet behold the waggons that he hath sent for thee behold the provision that he hath sent to maintain thee comfortably in thy journey from Egypt to Canaan is not this enough O my Soul awake up and see him before thou dyest behold he is coming the Bridegroome is coming Joseph is coming to meet thee with a gallant Train in a glorious Equipage It is but yet a little while and thy husband will come and fetch thee in Royal State attended with a numberless retinue of Saints and Angels O hadst thou but an eye to behold their Chariots and Horsmen coming upon the mountains
he is coming he is coming he will be here quickly he will not tarry he is at the door Contemplate somtimes on these things and a little antedate that Glory by Spiritual mediation do but think what a brave sight that will be to see the mountains covered with Chariots of fire and Horses of fire when the heavens shall bow before thy friend and the earth shall melt at his presence and yet thy heart not faint within thee when the King shall come in the Clouds to fetch his Friends to his own house where they shall dwell for ever This honour have all the Saints Eleventhly He is a suitable friend It is suitableness that sweetens Society I can easily believe a poor Country Peasant can take as much content in the company of a poor man like himself as in the Society of a Prince an unlearned Country man is no way fit to convers with Courtiers and States-men the vastness of the distance would so much swallow his mind and the unsuitableness of his Spirit to such company takes off that content which otherwise he might enjoy But yet in Spirituals though the distance between God and man beyond a possibility of our conception and the disproportion infinite yet the Soul of man being immediately from God and Spiritual like God and having a Divine new Nature infused into it by the Spirit in Regeneration it finds an infinite suitableness pleasure and content in the injoyment of Gods presence and it is not sunk but raised by an Union converse and Society with it's maker The truth of it is did man but understand his own Original aright he would think it infinitely below his noble Parentage to converse with and have intimate delightful Society with any but God and those which bare the same relation to God with himself or to bring poor strangers acquainted with him as well as themselves There is not a match upon earth fit for the Soul of man to be matched to but in that other Country there is a match indeed every way suitable a Spirit for a Spirit and everlasting God for an everlasting Soul a precious Jesus for a precious Soul a holy God for those which he hath made holy like himself and that is none of the least of mans happiness that notwithstanding that infinite distance that is Naturally between him and his God yet that God should make in his Creature such Noble Dispositions and such Divine Qualifications that there should be the greatest suitableness in the World between God and the Soul and the Soul and God and they both take wonderful content in the enjoyment of one another This is in part here but compleated in Glory This we may find oft in Scripture expressed in the nearest Relations and dearest Affections Hence God is said to be a Father and they his Children a Husband and they his Spouse Now what greater suitableness can there be then between Father and Children Husband and Wife God is also said to delight in them and they in him to rejoyce in their company and they in his and how could this be except there was a suitableness in them one to another Their wills are suited what God wills they will and what God loves they love and so what they love as his Friends God loves one doth not thwart and contradict the other O how sweet then must the company the communion of such Friends be O were our hearts as they should be were we more like God we should quickly experience the unspeakable joy of our Souls how suitable a Friend he is to a soul we should soon find that as clay and stones are as unsuitable sood for the body so the world is unsuitable food for the soul to feed on and that it is God alone that can fill and satisfie the vast desires of it O I say again were we but as we came out of our Makers hands or rather were we trimmed up in our eldest brothers Robes and brought into the immediate presence of this great King where we set before that glorious Throne where the infinite brightness of his Majesty shines so that the Angels themselves do vail their faces before him yet for all that we should not long stand silent as if the place and company were unsuitable to us it would not be long before we should carry it as those that were nearly related and had intimate acquaintance with him that sits upon the throne O the unspeakable sweetness that will be the enjoyment of his company no tediousness no irksomness at all upon our Spirits We shall quickly understand our work our priviledge O infinite goodness O boundless love O let me be always solacing my soul in the contemplation of these things O let the very thoughts of them be a Heaven upon earth to my soul but here O here 's the grief while we are here in a strange Country there is somthing in all the poor fallen children of Adam nay in those of them that are recovered and by grace brought into a re-union with God there is I say something in God unsuitable to them and in them unsuitable to God and this O this makes our lives so uncomfortable but convers with God will wear off a great deal of that When thou comest to lay off thy rages and to put off thy old suit and to put on that new one that is making for thee I mean after death when thou comest to glory thou wilt find the case strangly altered with thee In Heaven there will be a perfect Harmony Suitableness and Agreement between God and thee for ever and thou wilt take infinite complacency and delight in him and he in thee And thus shalt thou spend Eternity in unconceivable joy delight and pleasures This is Heaven a perfect suitableness to God and enjoying him for ever O when when when shall it once be Come Lord Jesus come quickly Come O blessed Father by thy Spirit and burn up what is unlike thee O create a greater suitableness between my Soul and thee O come thou down to me or take me up to thee O could we but talk with one of those happy Creatures that hath been in the very presence of God in glory and should we ask him whether he were not weary of the same work of the same company the same place what answer do you think he would make you No more weary than a man upon the Rack but just before would be of perfect ease no more then a healthful hungry man is of eating no more weary than the Sun is of running than the Fire of ascending or a Stone of falling towards the Center Sen. Epist 10. I know not where I had rather be then with him I was once upon Earth as you are now and now I am in Heaven and in neither of both these places can I find one that I can take more delight in then God I must say as he Psal 73.24 Whom have I in Heaven but him and there is
the difference between good and evil finite and infinite time and eternity Who is it that David goes to for counsel when his politick Enemies combined against him where doth he advise who brings him out of all his intricacies Is it not He that I am perswading you to go to who was never out-witted who can easily turn the councel of Achitophels into foolishness It is he who can infatuate the great Sages of the World and make them weaker then children in their Counsels And this is he who will be a constant Councellor to all those that are his friends his acquaintance Seneca Epist 41.81 gives excellent counsel indeed which if we will precisely follow our matters can't but succeed Art thou never in any straights are all thy affaires carryed on with so much prudence both as to time and eternity that thou standst in no need of advice Art thou sure that this will always be thy condition If not why then wilt thou not be perswaded to strike in here Why if you will believe them which to their comfort have tryed him again again it is your unspeakable interest and wisdom to get God for your Friend then what soever you do shall prosper by his advice a poor Christian can out-wit all the policy of Hell and shew himself more wise than those which call himself Fool and count him mad Psal 73.24 David durst trust none else to guide him but with his conduct he doth not fear but that he shall come sase to his journeys end Thou shalt guide me by thy counsels and bring me to thy glory And again he saith by the help of this Counsellour he was wiser than his treachers Psal 119.18 Here therefore what you had best to do as matters stand with you Prov. 4.11 He will teach thee in the way of wisdom he will lead thee in the right paths When thou goest thy steps shall not be straightned and when thou runnest thou shalt not stumble c. 1 Cor. 1.15 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men That which looks most contemptibly if throughly understood will be found to have more depth in it than the wisest men of the world can reach To choose such a friend this is wisdom this is prudence The godly man knows that he hath a great cause to be decided ere long and it will be no lost labour to make the Judg his Friend Well what say you sinners is this considerable that I do now propound or is it not Can you plead your own cause can you clear your title to glory without him if not be well advised before you slight such a motion as I now do make to you 13. He is an immortal Friend I that 's a Friend indeed If one friend could be sure to live just as long as the other and were friends sure never to want the advice comfort society and help one of another it would not a little advance the worth of a friend But where is such a one to be found What Histories can give us an account of such amities Let persons be united in never so close an union conjoyned in the fastest knot that nature can tie yet death will First or last dissolve it So that sometimes I have been almost of this mind as to all worldly friends considering them abstract from God for grace in any friend doth unspeakably sweeten the relation and such a relation will not dye if we compare the shortness and uncertainty of possessing and the bitterness in losing with the sweetness of enjoying that it 's somwhat difficult to resolve whether such short-liv'd comforts are worth the looking after Not but that I think a friend a true friend a great mercy and much to be desired but really if our affections be not for Gods sake if our love be not regulated by Religion I can easily believe that the bitterness in losing doth over-ballance the pleasure in enjoying And who would much trouble himself to get that with care which must be possest with fears will be parted with with tears All wordly enjoyments will serve us thus When we expect most from them and please our selves to think what content we enjoy in them ten to one if God love us but that he either imbitters or takes away that comfort from us One faith I had a dear Husband such a one as never woman had but he is dead I have lost him Another saith I had a precious Child a Brother but he is gone And every body will be in this note first or last And if the case be thus who would be so foolish as to let out the strength of his soul upon that which he may soon be deprived of But here here 's a friend whom you need not fear over-loving or losing a never dying friend one that will be sure to out-live you Ar. Epict. 1.3 c. 22. Say of what you will that it is mortal and you have disgraced it enough for how can that he of any great worth which can die and when I have most need of it I may want but this can't be said of God he only is Immortal and not subject to changes As for the favour of Princes and great Ones at the best it is but an uncertainty for it may be all thy hopes are bound up in this life and that hour which puts an end to his dayes puts a period to thy comfort But it is another kind of friend that I would have you acquainted with O why do Christians dote upon that which is so short liv'd Make but choice of this friend and you shall never say of him he is dead I have lost him Wherefore put not your trust in the Son of man in whom there is no help for his breath goeth forth and he returneth to his earth But happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope and love is sixed upon the Lord his God which made Heaven and earth c. That God who is called the Living God Psal 146.3 4 5 6. 14thly He is a present friend a friend that is alwayes in all places Mans condition may possible be such as that he may be deprived of the company of his dearest worldly relations he may be sequestred from the society of his most helpful and necessary friends How oft have the dear children of God been clapt up in Dungeons not only from the sight but from the knowledge of their most affectionate acquaintance It 's no unusual thing for them to be banish'd from their native Country Wives and Children among Savage Men and beast they have no man to make their complaints to but such as will increase their sorrows How frequently may they be in such a condition as that they may not see hear or speak to any friend what Bolts and Bars what Walls and Guards to keep them from them which if they could not free them from yet might in some measure alleviate their misery But now
to think God is out of the reach of his Prayers let me ask thee O thou of little Faith when did God ever absent himself from his in a time of need When was he quite out of the hearing of their cry I know indeed he may hide himself yet then he is near them also to try their love and hear their voice for God loves to hear his Children cry earthly Parents may correct their Children for crying but God chastiseth his Children usually for their silence When he seems furthest off he is but behind the Curtain he is there where he with pleasure sees how earnestly his Children look up and down for him and then when they are ready to sit down weeping as if they had lost their Father when they think they are quite forgot and their enemies begin to triumph and to ask where now is your God Then he lets both friends and foes know that he is near And what say you to all this you that as yet are strangers to God Have you gotten such a friend as he is that will always be at your elbow that can and will come to help you when other friends are far enough off whether man will or no have you got such a friend If not why then will you not now accept of his acquaintance who will be such a friend to all that love him No good man is without the company of God he walks with God he talk with God he cats with God he drinks with Gods and is entertained by him and he sleeps in hiâ— Arms. God is with him in his Shop in thâ— Rode at Home and Abroad and who can miâ—â— carry that hath so helpful a companion alwayâ— with him When thy burdens are too heavy do but complain and he will either take them off thy back or put under his own shoulders and help thee to go away lighty with them he will assist thee in six troubles and in seven he will give thee help 15. He is a Soul Friend Soul Friends are the best friends As soul affairs are the mightiest affairs so those that give us the greatest help in those matters ought to be valued God is the great Soul Friend expect not to find him a friend to thy lust this scares the wicked from him who would be glad to be acquainted with God if he would gratifie their lusts and please their wicked humors and give them eternal happiness after a life of wickedness that is would ungod himself for their sakes But hold there man you shall sooner see the Sun black and have fire cold and find a heaven in hell then have God a friend to your Sin God doth not promise to furnish all his acquaintance with provision for their sensuality he will not put a knife into thy hands to stab himself or to cut thy own throat There are too many of such friends in the world and men are generally so foolish as to count them friends which deserve another name these are they which help men to Hell and shew them the shortest cut to eternal misery and this must go for a special kindness Sure men and woman will scarce be always of this mind Must poison in a guilded cup go for a Cordial and a kiss though with a dagger be taken for true love Seneca had more wit then to reckon such among benefactors He that can teach me the way to true happiness he that can help me to adorn dress and trim my Soul he by whose instructions I shall be more in love with vertue and out of love with sin he by whose directions I may be acquainted with my self and made truly to value that which is really most excellent this shall be my friend this shall be my companion And where are such friends to be found How few of them in the world Do not most that go under that sweet name of friends do one another the greatest unkindness that can be imagined How do they incourage one another in an evil way Prov. 1. Psal 2. How do men tug and pull to get one another apace into damnation and if the wise world may be Judges none must go for a friend but he that would do me most mischief none must be counted an enemy but he that desires to do me the most real kindnesses This sounds strangely yet for all that did it lie in my way I could easily prove it Yet I must confidently affirm that every ones experience first or last will say as much Something of this I have taken notice of in my conversing with dying men I remember once more particularly being by a poor Creature that was just a going into another world one of his old friends looked in to see him at the sight of which person he gnashed his teeth and could not indure him in the room but cry out this was he that brought me to this I may thank him or I had not been in so sad a condition upon a death-bed But this by the by Open enemies are better then such friends I say again do not expect to have God such a friend God loves his too well to let them undo themselves he knows the worth of Souls and pitties them that would part with their souls for a trifle and therefore he tells men plainly that which may be really prejudicial to the health of their Souls he can't but let them know what is food and what is poison what else is the meaning of those vehement expostulations Why doth he send so many messengers one after another To what purpose else doth he tender such promises such incouragement Be it known therefore unto thee O man if thou understand'st the worth of thy own Soul and would'st have that Soul of thine to do well for ever and would'st have a friend for thy Soul that there is but one such a friend to be found in the whole world and that is God O hast thou no regard at all for thy precious and immortal Soul Dost thou never think of that excellent thing within thee Dost thou not care though thy Soul starve be naked and miserable for ever Is it nothing to thee that thy Soul hath not so much as a shelter to hide it self under when a dreadful storm shall rise and death shall turn it our of his old Tenement Dost thou not believe that it must have a being somewhere for ever and that either in everlasting glory or eternal burnings and are these small matters with you What will you for all this take no care in the world about these grand affairs Had a special friend committed but a Dog to thee to take care of you would have thought your self engaged in gratitude and honour to have suited your care of him to your respect to the person from whom you had him Epict. But dost thou not know O man that thy God hath committed a Soul to thy care hath told thee what thou shalt do to preserve the life and health
of this thy soul that it may be in good plight when he shall call for it He doth tell thee what is its most natural food and what is not wholsome He tells thee what thou shalt do to have that soul within thee everlastingly happy And is all this of so little consequence as to go in at one ear and out at the other Are these things to be indifferent in If mans soul were like the soul of a beast the case were altered if when his breath went out of his body there were an end of him the matter were the less considerable if he had ever a friend in another world that could do as much for him as God can do I should have little to say in this business But since this is impossible how can I bare to see thee neglect the making sure of such a friend How can a Christian with any patience think that those that he lives with and dearly loves should miss of such a friend without whom their souls must be everlastingly miserable If it were only for your bodies or estates I should scarce use so many words neither I believe need I but when it is for your souls and eternity who can be silent Once more consider what a friend thou mayst have it is a friend for thy soul Alas man it is thy soul thy precious soul that lies at stake that Spirit within thee which is more worth then a world it is that which is in hazard and here is a friend that offers thee to make that soul of thine happy for ever Thy soul hath abundance of enemies Some would debase it others would rob thee of it others would clap up a hasty match between that Noble Creature and a Servant the World I mean and there are very few that have any true kindness for it and thou knowest not the worth of that Jewel thy Soul but here here 's a friend if thou wilt but leave it with him he will take care of it it shall not be marted away for nothing Here 's one will do that for its security honour and happiness that all the world besides can't do If therefore thou hast any love for thy poor soul if thou settest any price upon that precious thing within thee in a word if thou wouldest have thy soul do well in another world O strike in here close with these tenders listen to the counsel of him who offers you the best advice in the world He he it is that now offers thee that thou canst never value enough he it is that will feed cloath and portion that Soul of thine and after that marry thee to his onely Son by which match you will be made for ever O did men and women but know what a Soul is did they imagine what a dreadful miscarriage of a Soul is did they but in any measure understand the things of their peace could they but conceive what God could and would do for their Souls I need to spend but little time in perswading them to commit their Souls to him to be acquainted with him who will be sure to take special care of their Souls that they may do well whatever is neglected O could you but see did you but know what a sad taking they are in that go into the other world with a poor naked Soul and know no body in the world there and have never a friend that doth take any notice of them you would then think I spoke what I do with reason enough and that my words were too short and my expostulations too faint in a matter of such concernment O sinners I tell you nay God tells you soul-matters are the greatest matters in the world I am sure Christ thought so or else he would not have been at so much cost about them those that are in their wits and understand themselves they know as much too and so will you ere a few years it may be hours be past Those that now make but a pish of all this when they have been but one quarter of an hour in another world will say as I do that a Soul-friend is the only Friend and that Soul-concerns are the great concerns things of weight and moment indeed and that it would have quitted the cost to have taken some pains to have look'd out for such a one that could have stood the Soul in some stead in that other world and that above all it would have been no folly nor madness to have accepted of the kindness of one that desired earnestly to be acquainted with them and to do their Soul a good turn O that they had but been so considerate as to have embraced such a motion when it was offered And this brings me to the next Qualification of this Friend 16. He is a necessary Friend There is an absolute necessity of being acquainted with him It 's possible for a man that hath very few friends upon earth to live as happily as he that hath many Multitude of acquaintance such as they are may contribute much to a mans care and sorrow And as for most friends such as are commonly so called it is better to have their room than their company A man may live without the acquaintance of Nobles he may be as free chearful and rich without the knowledge of such as them One may live holily and die joyfully and may be happy for ever though he never saw the face of a Prince though he was never at Court though he lived and died a stranger to all worldly friends One may be disowned by his Father hatred by his Mother slighted by all his Relation and have never a friend under the Snn that will own him and yet for all that be in a state of truer felicity then those that are daily attended with troops of visitors whose gates are seldom shut whose houses are never empty but amongst all that comes God never comes to them as for his company they are strangers to it this man I may write miserable for all his great and many friends And him that hath the company of God in acquaintance with his Redeemer I 'le call happy though he have never a friend in the world besides Multitude of friends seldom add much to our comforts but always to our cares A man may go to Hell for all his great acquaintance with men but it 's impossible if we are greatly acquainted with God to miss of Heaven When men are unkind if God be kind it 's well ballanced but if God frown whose smiles can comfort I may be happy though I am very little in mans favour but it 's impossible to be happy without Gods favour To be a stranger to God is to be a stranger to peace joy Heaven O it 's sad being without God! If I should declare the Judgement of most in the world at least if their practice may speak for them they see very little need of acquaintance with God They do not write Must
upon the things of Religion They must eat they must drink they must sleep and if they want any of these things they count themselves in a sad condition But further they must riot they must be drunk they must whore they must have what their lust calls for let it be what it will they must get into the favour of such and such a great person whose displeasure they have incurred These are things that the world say must be they are reckoned among the necessary things but they do not say they must have a Christ they must be reconciled to God they must deny themselves they must seek first the Kingdom of Heaven No these are indifferent things amongst them these are things minded by the by if not matter of scorn and jesting these the world think unnecessary things It 's necessary their flesh should be pleased it 's necessary the Devil should be obeyed it 's necessary they and theirs should be somebody in the world these are matters of weight for these they think it worth the while to toil and moil to ride early and late and to lose their sleep and think they can never do too much and all this while they see no need at all of getting a friend for their souls no need at all of knowing loving and delighting in God Well seeing the case is thus seeing it is no great matter whether you know God or be known of him be not then troubled at the day of Judgement if God look upon you as a stranger then be not grieved seeing the knowledge of God is nothing with you if God say he knows you not if Gods presence be no such material thing complain not then for the want of it be content if you can to hear him say Depart I know you not O but shall I thus leave you poor ignorant sinners Consider for the Lords sake for thy soul sake whether it be a necessary thing to avoid everlasting burnings is it a necessary thing to be saved Is Eternal Glory and Heaven necessary dare you say these are unnecessary things If these be necessary then I am sure God and Christ are necessary For this is Life Eternal to know God and him whom he hath sent Jesus Christ O how will the case be a altered ere long with the God-hating and Christ-despising world when they shall be quite despoiled of all that which they prized above the knowledge of God when all their friends shall appear to be enemies when all their hopes shall be swept down like a Spiders web O will they not then be of this mind that it was no such slight matter that I was so earnest with them about that acquaintance with God was no such unnecessary thing as they took it to be and that there was more need of getting an interest in Christ than of running to a Play-house or a Whore-house How will they rend the skies with their fruitless wishes How will the Mountains eccho with their doleful lamentations O that God would but know them O that they might not hear that word Depart but seeing all that too little purpose how then will they exclaim against themselves O that they should be such fools that they should be so madly besotted as to neglect the looking after acquaintance with God Time was that God would have had them to come to him he called after them and sent for them again and again but they would none of his company they desired not the knowledge of the most High they said to him Depart from us and now they have what they then desired now they see that the Ministers had cause enough to say what they did and a thousand times more As troublesome as it was to hear of Hell it 's worse to feel it They see now Must is for the Soul and not the Body O that men and women would be now as serious in their judgments about these things as they will be shortly Consider O man that as little as thou mindest these things these are the only things that are necessary Thou must have a God for thy Friend a Christ for thy Saviour to save thee from thy fins or else thou Must be damned or else thou Must be cursed for ever Thou mayst lie racked upon thy bed of sickness where none can help thee thou mayst rot in a stinking dungeon where no man can relieve thee thou mayst be roasted in the flames and yet for all this be a happy man Worldly ease pleasure health riches are none of those absolutely necessary things A man may go to Hell and have them all and a man may go to Heaven and want them Thou mayst have Eternal Rest in another Life though thou hast scarce a day of ease in this One may be a Favorite of God though as miserable as Job But what will you say of that man that hath not a God to go to This this is the miserable man with a witness â—hat seeing mens lives are so short they would wisely husband their precious time in minding nothing but necessary things O that unnecessaries might be cut off When I am about to undertake a business let me ask my Soul this question O my soul is this a business of absolute necessity hast thou not something of greater importance that is yet undone We enter not into the Lists for honour where it is no great matter whether we conquer or no we perswade not men to busie themselves about toys we are not so importunate about a thing of nothing No Sirs as unnecessary as you think these things we speak of are ere long you will say as much as we do and more too you 'l shortly find that it was as much as your life and happiness was worth that lay at stake These are things we must mind you of or else we hazard our souls and they are things that you must mind also or else you hazard yours I want significant words enough to express the weight and importance of these things O that what is wanting of that nature might be supplied with tears groans and compassions I am through mercy ashamed of my own heart O that I were more so that I should speak of such serious matters so slightly It is not now a time to jest O my soul when thou art to discourse with miserable men and women which refuse their happiness and doat upon their misery Thou art now about a work that concerns souls and their eternal state Tell me dear friends do you in sober sadness believe that you have immortal souls do you indeed know that your souls are naturally enemies to God and that if yoâ— be not reconciled to God that you must be dealt with as enemies do you really believe all this do you believe what a dreadfull thing it is to look such an enemy in the face when he shall sit in Judgement Further do you believe what it is to lie down in devouring flames and to dwell with
everlasting burnings do you not think it a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God and if you do not let me tell you you are worse than mad if you do believe all this why then let me ask you again whether you conceive it unnecessary to use the utmost care and diligence to get acquainted with him who can deliver you from the wrath to come O friends I call you so and I believe most of you love me dearly O that you would do me one kindness I should count it the greatest kindness that you can do me why what is that you say why it is but to pity your own Souls and to mind that one thing necessary and to pitty them that are mourning for your dry eyes and hard hearts What say you to all this if you have any thing to say against the necessity of these things I am ready to plead the case with you c. Well if it be not necessary to know God and Christ and lay in provision for eternity what then is necessary If it be not necessary to serve love and delight in him who can deliver from everlasting death and reward with everlasting life what then is Once more for your Souls sakes consider what you do when you vigorously pursue worldly things and look upon the favour and displeasure of God as small things O write not these things down amongst the superfluous things which are to be minded by the by Remember this that it is very possible for a man to be exceeding holy and yet to be altogether unknown to the world but it is altogether impossible to be truly happy and yet unacquainted with God 17. He is a tryed Friend Thousands and Millions can from their own experience say all this which I have said of him and much more but I shall pass this over at present having hinted it already and because it may be I may touch upon something of the same Nature hereafter 18. He is an everlasting Friend I shall be but brief in speaking to this head because what might have been spoken of this fell under that of his immorality Yet because it is possible to conceive God immortal in himself and yet by reason of mans default his kindness to him to be finite so it was in respect of the Angels that fell from him But now Blessed be free Grace man stands upon surer ground then ever he did the children of God have a firmer bottom by far then Adam had when he was in Paradice his state is more secure being once united to God in Christ then that of the Angels of Heaven in their first Creation For that their State was mutable is de facto proved but now blessed be rich goodness if we can but make sure of reconciliation with God again it is impossible for us to miscarry God hath sworn and he will perform it that the heirs of glory might have the more strong consolation Isa 54 9 10. For this is as the waters of Noah for I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth so have I sworn that I would not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee For the mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Gods children need not fear dis-inheriting his gifts and callings are without repentence If God loved us while we were enemies how much more being reconciled will he continue his love to us once a Child of God and a Child of God for ever once in favour and never out of it again Rom. 8.35 39. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword Nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Who can pluck us our of the Arms of the Almighty Who or what is that which can alienate our Fathers affections from us If the promise of God which saith I will never never never never never leave nor forsake you be valid if his oath bind him if the blood of Christ continue always to be satisfactory if his mediation can prevail if the nature of God be unchangeable we are well enough we are safe if this be but clear that we are really reconciled to God if we be acquainted with him We are kept by the mighty power of God through Faith unto Salvation If they had been of us saith the Apostle no doubt they would have continued with us It is possible indeed yea common for men to pretend love to God and to seem to have a true friendship for him and yet not to be truly so To have a name to live and to live are two things It is not unsual to bare God company as I may say abroad and yet at home to have some body that they have a greater kindness for It is common to go along with God if I may so call it in the external actions of Religion and yet to desert him at last Isa 58.1 2 3. Mat. 7.21 There are many that seem to bid fair for Heaven and if cap and knee will do God shall have that they will give him the husk and shell that they may keep the kernel for one that they love better Thousands there are of such persons in the world and these profess abundance of kindness for God they come oft to his house and sit down there and make as if they were his friends and his acquaintance and some of Gods servants by a mistake may bid them welcome but yet for all this they may be strangers only they have heard of God and can talk of him and it may be have given him many transient visits but yet they want the real properties of friends they never knew what it was to be brought nigh to the Father by the Son to have a fence of their lost state and estrangement from God and under a fence of this to make earnest inquiry after him they never knew what it was to converse with God to have an intimate acquaintance with him to be sending out the breathings of their Souls after him and to be unsatisfied without him they took up a trade of lifeless duties and that was all As for the life and power of Religion they never understood it communion with God they heard oft of but never understood what it meant they never savoured and rellished the things of God nor with any suitableness or complacency ingaged in his service And as for those more secret actings of Religion to take up the interest of God to design his glory to be deeply concerned for his honour observing their affections and the workings of their hearts in duty to take notice of answers of prayers or to look after their petitions when they
think every thing too good for them all mercy on this side everlasting misery They count every bit they eat and every drop they drink more then they deserve They think themselves unworthy of the least of Gods mercies Gen. 32.10 Others say thanksgivings but he feels them others say confessions but he feels them It is one thing for a man to speak of his own unworthiness and another thing to lie under the sense of it The heart and tongue are to distinct members The heart may speak that which the tongue can't utter and the tongue may utter that which the heart never felt But a man that is brought into acquaintance with God speaks what he experiences or that he doth not dissemble with God when he confesseth his sin before him They lay themselves as low as Hell this is humility and this an effect of acquaintance with God Hence it is that Paul saith of himself Eph. 3.8 Vnto me who am less then the least of all Saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the fellowship c. He wants words to express Gods greatness and his own smallness Now what was it that made Paul speak and think thus of himself There was a time when Paul would have spit in any ones face that should have spoke as much against him as he did against himself What is it that hath wrought such a strange alteration in this great Rabbi and made him so little Why this acquaintance with God the sight of Christ was the thing that laid this proud Pharisee in the dust and made him blind also Mark this always the more heavenly any man is the more humble See Exod. 3.11 2 Sam. 7.18 If I should appeal to the experiences of Saints and ask them when they had the lowest thoughts of themselves would they not say when they were nearest God Now would you walk humbly you must walk with your God would you see more of your own deformity why then you must labour to see more of his holiness more of his beauty Contraries set neer one another appear more visibly 2. Another excellent effect of Acquaintance with God is that it will make a man fall upon sin in good earnest When the soul sees how infinitely good God is it can't but see an unspeakable evil in sin when is so directly contrary to him When the soul hath really entred into a League with God it presently bids defiance to all his enemies when he begins to be at peace with God he presently commenceth a war against his adversaries Friendship with God makes enmity against Satan That which formerly the man rolled under his tongue as a sweet morsel is now like gall and wormwood to him He that sometimes did commit iniquity with greediness can now say that it is the greatest folly and madness in the world he knows that it is an evil and a bitter thing as sweet as it tasted when his pallate was distempered he that gloried in his wickedness now accounts it the greatest shame in the world and hates the garments which are bespotted with the flesh which sometimes he took for beautiful raiments The burnt child dreads the fire sin hath cost his friend dear and him dear too The child can't love that knife which stabb'd his Father He knows how sweet God is and how much he hates sin and that if he would have Gods company he must bid an everlasting farewel to his deerest beloved sin and therefore rather then he will offend so deare a friend he will hew Agag in pieces before the Lord. He will as soon cut off one hand with the other and be pull'd limb from limb as again draw his sword against his covenanted friend and again venture into the field in the cause that sometimes he did so deeply engage body and soul in He that thought before that it was no great matter to Damn Curse and Tear but a trick of youth to Whore and no harm to do what one had a mind to to Eat and Drink and Talk and sleep as one lists to give ones Lust whatsoever it call'd for he that could once make a mock of sin and Sleep securely upon the top of a mast and thought it a piece of Gallantry to dare the Almighty and was ready to laugh at them which durst not be so Prodigal of their Souls as himself the case is now wonderfull altered with him he now sees the Harlot stript naked he beholds how loathsome the whore is now her paint is washed of sin and hell are a like to him tempt him to folly and he will soon answer in Josephs language How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God He that sometimes thought sin the only pleasure and looked upon the Devil and the world as the only Friends now sees his dangerous mistake and blesseth God that his eyes are opened before he comes into another world he knows now that holiness is the only pleasure and God is the only Friend and sin and the world are as mortal enemies as the Devil himself he believes that if he venture upon sin he must venture upon the displeasure of his Friend whose favour he set more store by than all the delights under Heaven and whose loving kindness he judgeth to be better then life it self When the Soul is once acquainted with God how strangely are its apprehensions of thing altered Now he calls Things and Persons by their right Name good he calls good and evil evil where as before he called evil good and good evil and put light for darkness and darkness for light he now believes that the zealous compassionate Ministers that spoke so much against sin had reason enough to have said ten times as much as they did he sees that it was not for nothing that they were so earnest with him he hath tasted the Gall Wormwood and poison that is in sin he plainly sees what is the great Make-bate between God and Man he hath now the wit to understand what it is that hath kept good things so long from him Tell him now of a Revel a Whore he had as live thou shouldst perswade him to part with his strength and liberty and grind in a mill he reckons you might as rationally desire him to leap into a bottomless pit to take up his everlasting lodging in a Bed of flames and to make light of Damnation Let Men and Devils use what Arguments they will to prevail with him now to close with temptations he is sure he hath a stronger against them he hath a sensible Argument within which will answer all if they had ten thousand times as many more then they can produce The love of Christ makes him abhor the motion God is my Friend dashes all Shall such a one as I take up Arms against God shall I that have found him so infinitely good shall I that have experienced
sold all that he had for that Pearl of great price he was sure he should be no loser by such a bargain Bring me a heavenly Creature that hath had a view by Faith of the Glory of Gods countenance that hath been in his company that hath been brought into his Banqueting house such a one I am confident can easily spare that which most keep such a fearful stir about he can spare the world for them which are like to have no better a portion Give him but more of those spiritual pleasures which he hath had in communion with God and he desires no more He can now speak it and speak it in good earnest that there is no comparison between this world and another he can now call this world a shadow and the glory of it grass and write Vanity Emptiness and Vexation upon its beautiful Face and contemn all its smiles and frowns and look upon its greatest Lovers as persons that deserve to be pittied rather than envied whose portion is so small whose happiness so short and whose misery and mistake is so great and dismal It is a common thing for men to declaim against the world and to say it is but a little muck it 's no unusual thing for its greatest Lovers to speak against it and say that it is that which passeth away but yet for all that they pursue it more than Heaven and are more earnest for it than the Salvation of their Souls and more troubled at the thought of parting with it than at the thought of their parting with God and the loss of it troubles them more than if we tell them of the loss of their souls Such as these will not say but that God is infinitely more to be loved than the whole world but yet if the World and God stand in competition they stand not long disputing which must give place the World hath the uppermost room in the heart But whence is this mistake How comes the Servant to Ride and the Master to go on foot Why is the world preferred before God Why hence it is men know not God they are not acquainted with his excellency the World is sensible he sees it he feels it he tastes it and so he doth not the things that are invisible And no wonder then that sense bares the sway the man wants Faith to realize invisibles he wants senses spiritually exercised But now he that knows God and is acquainted with spiritual things he hath quite another apprehension of the World and that not only from Faith but sometimes from a spiritual sense and he can say that Divine Pleasures Riches and Enjoyments do as sensibly refresh him yea abundantly more then ever the world did And when he hath been newly taking a walk in that heavenly Paradise he looks back upon this World with grief and indignation that he should ever love the world with his heart when there was one that did infinitely more deserve his love when there was a God Christ and Holiness to be loved that he should be such a child such a fool as to run after Butterflies quarrel for a feather hunt for a shadow while God Christ and Glory those great Substances lay by unregarded Now he grudges that any thing should have his love but his God his dearest Relations if they stand in Gods way must be run over despised hated That which the men of the world fight and kill and spare not to damn their souls for he sees now to be a pitiful worthless thing which can't defer Death a moment nor stand him in any stead in another world He is all for that coin which will go currant in another Country and if he be but rich in promises rich in spiritual relations rich in grace he takes himself for no unhappy man let the world speak or think what they will of him he doth not much pass upon it he believes that he is but a pilgrim and stranger here and if he meet with no great kindness it is but that which he expected The truth of it is he is almost afraid of the smiles of the world not being ignorant of this that whom it kisses it intends to betray he can't be overfond of that which in all probability will keep God and him at a greater distance and make his passage to glory next to impossible He reckons that it 's better being rich in grace then rich in purse and he that which lay up for his body and provides not for his soul is the greatest fool in the world Tell such a one as Moses of riches honours preferments he thinks them but poor sorry things for a man of Israel to be taken with and he will rather see them in the dirt then part company with his suffering brethren much less with God It is storied of Anaxagoras that he seemed to be very little concerned when his countrey was in a flame upon which being taxed by some he made this reply There is none of you all care more for your country then I do for nine pointing with his finger up to heaven Thus it is with the people of God let others talk of Riches and Honour but there is none of them all do value true Riches as they do but here 's the difference one thinks he hath Riches when he hath the command of a great deal of Gold and Silver the other knows he hath Riches when he hath Christ and Grace and can have good returns out of that other World And which of these are the wisest will ere long be seen One looks upon heaven glory as a shadow a fable and the things of this World as the only realities the other he looks upon Heaven God and Eternity as the greatest realities and most worthy of his highest valuation and the things of this world as flying shaddows which can't fill the arms of him that doth imbrace them And under this apprehension and sence of things no marvel that he doth prefer the substance before the shadow He believes with that Worthy that he was born for other things than to eat and drink and sleep or to take his pleasure or to get an estate he knows that the business in this world is to provide for another to get his peace made with God to contemplate Heaven and to get thither and therefore you must not count it strange that such a person as this is somewhat cold and remiss in his carrying on of lower designs he knows that the disproportion between Finite and Infinite Times and Eternity is no such inconsiderable one as the most count upon Again he hath more than once experienced this that the very joys and comforts that are to be had in the enjoying of Communion with God even in this world are unspeakably more intence and refreshing than the highest sensual pleasures in the world One that is acquainted with God will take the word of his Friend for true which word tells him that
imployed in the great acts of Religion The more any one is acquainted with God the more delight he takes in the Ordinances of God as one of Gods Children he desires the sincere milk of the word before he was acquainted with God he found it far otherwise then nothing almost would down with him the pure word could not be relished except it was adulterated with flourishes of humane wit He had very little appetite to good wholsome Food his stomack was ready to turn at it except it were so cook't and sawc't and set out that an understanding man could scarce tell what to make of it What do you say to this you that are so faint and cold in what you do in the service of God Come a little nearer get better acquainted with God and you shall find such entertainment from him that you will scarce be able to keep long from his house get oft into his company and you shall feel your Soul strengthned with new spirits animated with a strange life Heat and Warmth You will not complain that the Sabbath is the longest day in the week you will not say what a weariness is it When will the new Moons and Sabbaths be at an end But you would think long till the Sabbath day come and when it is come the pleasure that you take in the work of that day would make you to think it the shortest day and gon too soon and when you have spent it in the most diligent attendance upon God you would wish it were to begin again or that you were to begin such a Sabbath that would never have an end This is the condition of one that is very intimately acquainted with God his nearness to his Master makes him to follow his work and he knows he shall lose nothing by it something will be coming in ere and anon which will more then quit his cost So that when God calls he is at hand and readily answers Speak Lord for thy Servant heareth When God hath any message any hot service to do he accounts it his great honour to be imployed in it and saith here I am send me I believe he that spoke it Ar. Ep. l. c. 9. might be a little confident when he said Lay what thou wilt upon me O God I have power to bear it it shall not be my Burden but my Ornament Yet I am perswaded one that is acquainted with God can say it and say it again in good earnest Lord what wilt thou have me to do wilt thou have me to preach for thee to run through Fire and Water for thee to dye for thee to go or come O Lord do but bare me company and give me strength and it shall be don I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me This is one of Gods Champions he watches he keeps upon his guard he fights stoutly he stands his ground in every thing he demeans himself gallantly he quits himself like a Souldier of Christ and that which makes him thus valiant is because he is so near his Captain Ask Epictetus what made Socrates do as he did and he will tell you l. 3. c. 22 It was because he was a Friend of God his Servant and partaker of his Kingdom This is strang Language of a Heathen but had he known what it was to live under the most lively sence of Gods love to have had such intimate converse with him as some Christians have had what would he have said As for the Saint that keeps close to God he keeps close to duty his work is to serve love and praise God this is his business both by himself and with others 7. Another excellent effect of this acquaintance with God is it will make a man Patient under all the dispensations of Gods providence in all conditions to be content in quietnesse to possess his Spirit Acquaintance with God will make him be at peace not to open his mouth against God whatsoever he lays upon him What was it that kept such a calm in Pauls heart when there was such a constant storm without him was it not his sence of his interest in Gods love though all the world were his enemies yet as long as Christ was his Friend he doth not care though men and devils be against him yet if God be for him he passeth not much upon it though men be never so unjust yet God will never be so that 's his comfort It 's a small matter for him to be judged with mans judgment as long as he is sure that God will acquit him he knows that justice it self will do him no wrong infinite goodness could not be unkind and that wisdom it self could work glorious effects out of these things which the world call evil if he do receive evil at the hands of God he is confident he deserves more if it be good and but a little he is thankful because he deserved none at all Let the worst come to the worst if all the Devils in Hell and all his instruments upon Earth should combine against him as long as he is sure of the love of God and that none of them all can pluck him out of the Arms of the Almighty he is not very much concerned Heaven will make amends for all whatsoever he suffers it is nothing to the displeasure of a God it is nothing to everlasting burnings He believes that if his persecutors did know what he knows they would as soon eat fire as do as they do therefore he rather pitties them then is angry with them as seeing that their day is coming How seldom have you eitheir Paul or Silas complaining of their sufferings How rarely bemoaning their condition And what is it that makes them so patient what have they to sweeten such bitter draughts Why God loves them and so long they do not much care though others hate them Mans frown can't sink a Soul to Hell nor his favour make one happy for ever It is but a little while and all tears shall be wiped away from their eyes The kindness and faithfulness of God is enough to make a man cheerfully to hold up his head when all the world is against him When the most Spiritual Christians do complain it is more of themselves then of their persecutors O my unbelieving heart O that I should love God no more O that my heart should be no more taken up with the great things of Eternity This is the condition which those that are most Spiritual are in Poverty Imprisonment Banishment and all these things which most call dreadful when they come to a man that is much in Communion with God they find him Patient Meek and Calm these are not the things which put him upon the rack God is his Friend and that answers all 8. Another glorious effect of Acquaintance with God is That it will make all our enjoyments doubly sweet He hath what he hath in love he need not be afraid of
DIRECTION If you would be acquainted with God you must visit him often be much at his house knock at his door many times in a day and resolve to continue knocking till he open and if he do not come presently wait for him you would do as much for your Prince and it may be to a meaner person We can't expect to be acquainted with them that we will not come near It is to no purpose for that man to speak of acquaintance with God who never speaks to him comes at him or enquires after him Neither will a slight visit or two in a Transitory complemental manner serve the turn a man may do this and yet not be said to be acquainted with God A stranger may come once to your house that was never there before and never intends to come again and I believe you will scarce write such a own down amongst your special friends and intimate acquaintance So in Spirituals for acquaintance and converse with God are no such slight things as the world commonly take them to be If you would make any thing of this great work of getting acquaintance with God you must not jest in it you must give God many solemn and set-visits and carry your self with all the observance and respect to him that you can for your soul This is that which keeps many thousands of strangers from the life of Grace and intimate acquaintance with God because they know not what those more peculiar visits of God mean they understand not what it is to draw nigh to God in secret they come not to him with those more spiritual acts of Religion they pray it may be in their Families and it may be that but seldom but by the way never let such pretend to the Knowledge of God who call not upon him in their Families but what they do it is but in a poor formal perfunctory manner between sleep and awake and will you call this acquaintance with God will you call this an act of Adoration and spiritual Worship Is it to bow down a while before God and to read or speak a few words and there 's an end their work is over their task is done and they are glad of it But now such as these do not come into Gods Chambers they come to his House as I may so say but they regard not whither he be at home whether they speak to God and have an answer from God or no they call indeed but desire not much to be heard they knock but are not very careful to stay till the door be opened But alas alas such as these can't tell what it is to enjoy communion with God They have got it may be into some course of external performances by reason of the Example of their Superiours Education or by being under the sound of the Gospel and from some force that natural conscience doth put upon them which will not be content except something be done But such as these may not be said to visit God in that manner that I would perswade them to which would be acquainted with God for all this they stand a great way off from God and may be termed strangers and forraigners How seldom are they upon their knees in secret How rare a thing is it for them with Isaac to go into the field to meditate They visit their Farms they visit their Flocks they visit their Swine they go often to uisit their sottish drunken Companions whilest God and Christ their Bible their Closet their Hearts are forgotten and seldom or never visited And is this true kindness to ones self Is it any wisdom to slight such a Friend as God would be to us and to make so much of such sorry Companions O stupid and dull souls O what do we mean so strangely to forget our selves For who is like to get by it God or we when we come and feed at his Table and spend upon his cost O little do people think what they might enjoy would they purposely set themselves to meet with God and go to his house with a strong resolution not to come away from him till they have seen him or heard from him Now the great duties in which the soul may be said to visit God in and in which God doth many times give out much of himself to to the soul are these 1. Solemn Meditation 2. Secret Prayer 3. Fasting 4. Community of Experiences and Communion with the Saints 5. The Lord's Supper 1. Meditation When the Soul doth fix it self upon the Thoughts of some Spiritual and Divine object such as the love of God in Christ the glory of another world c. This is as it were going out to meet the Lord and to take a walke with our Beloved this is the getting up to Mount Pisgah to take a survey of that goodly Land When the soul doth as it were bathe it self in the Contemplation of Christs beauty and labours to enamour it self more and more with his love and to throw it self as I may so say into that Ocean of Divine goodness it will scarce leave till it be wound up to the highest pitch of admiration of that infinite boundless love which should do such glorious things for so vile and contemptible for so rebellious and unthankful wretch as that is O what manner of love is this O that I were sick of love O that I might die sick of love O that I were once in the embraces of my dearest Lord and Husband O that I could do nothing else day and night but praise love and admire this infinite boundless love And did Christ indeed offer up his life for my sin Did he not think his precious heart blood too dear for me And shall I think my heart-love too dear for him What for me Lord which am the chiefest of sinners Here here 's kindness with a witness Stand still O my soul and admire stand looking upon this lovely sight till thou art all on fire These are the pure flames here thou needest not to fear to exceed widen thy soul let thy affections run without controle More fire still blow hard it doth yet but smoke O for some coals from the altar O for more fire more fuel O that my heart were vehemently inflamed in the strongest love to him who still deserves a thousand times more Help me all ye Angels to bless and adore his marvellous loving kindness Christ is a friend to Publicans and Sinners indeed or such a one as I had never been on this side of Hell O love love love What shall I render unto the Lord O that men would bless the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men O what meanest thou O my soul that thou art yet so cold Awake awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake and praise admire and love thee O my God whose love to my soul is beyond expression and thus while the soul is musing the
in that Ordinance doth afford some of his sometimes I have heard another dear Brother say that for some years together he scarce ever failed of some notable Token of Love at that great Ordinance But I would not instead of comforting and incouraging the poor Saint bring him into greater fears and dispondings Judge not therefore that this is the portion of all Gods Children nor of any at all times to have such large Discoveries as these Heaven is reserved for Heaven some have a single Messe some a double some five times more than their Brethren let all be thankful if the great Joseph instead of a Prison give a Feast and in it make himself known to us to be our brother let 's love him and admire his condescention and be ready to wonder that he doth so much for us rather than repine that he doth more for others If thou hast some drawings and longings and mournings after Christ and a deep sence of thy hardness unbelief and worldliness be thankful it may be this is more wholsome entertainment and fitter for the present Temper and Constitution of thy Soul than those Flagons of Wine perhaps they would fly up into thy head and make thee giddy proud and wanton if thou be but well wrought poor and hungry thou wilt be thankful for a little and a Crumb that falls from the Table to an humble Soul is better Intertainment then it knows it deserves or could without a Miracle of Kindness have expected mistake me not as if I would have Christians sit down satisfied with little or no comfort at that Ordinance no t is quite another designe that I am carrying on t is only a hint to quell Ingratitude my great work at present is to quicken diligence in Preparation and to raise the Saints Valuation of that Ordinance and his Expectations from Christ in it I say again Christ usually proportions his Intertainment to the diligent faithful humble preparations of the Soul to meet him they that trim their Lamps and have Oyl in them are most like to meet that Bridegroom with Joy he that hath on the Wedding Garment can't miss of a Welcom and the good and faithful Servant is most likely to have the Masters commendation and to enter into his Joy But more or less every sincere Soul at one time or another will meet with Refreshment at that Supper and amongst all the rare Dishes that are served up no question but some will be sutable if not all to a hungry Spiritual Stomach I can scarce leave this sweet Subject the time draws nigh and the Servants are sent out to invite and thou O my Soul art one of the Guest that art bidden Hark methinks I hear a Royal Proclamation Whosoever is a thirst let him come and drink of the Waters of Life freely Methinks the silver Trumpet of the Gospel and Divine Love sounds a Jubile Methinks the Air ecchoes with a strange Harmony somewhat like that Luke 2.14 Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace Good will towards men Don't the very Heavens ring with these Blessed Words A Saviour a Saviour a mighty Redeemer a Pardon a Pardon Liberty Liberty a glorious Liberty and again the Congregations of the Saints and Redeemed ones cry Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah I had thought to have done but the Feast is so sweet I must fall on again Here no Surfeiting the more I feed the more hungry and yet the more satisfied the more delighted Here 's nothing but Fulness Swectness and Love may be written upon every Dish and Royal noble everlasting Bounty may be proclaimed before every Course All the dismal Bonds are thrown in Cancelled all our Debts forgiven and paid the great Surety shews the Acquittance long since granted in the Court of Heaven now it s given in to the Court of Conscience The bloody War is concluded by a happy and firm Peace God is no longer a Judge an Enemy but now the Soul hears such words Friend Father Husband The Challenges of Law Conscience and Sathan are now silenced the Inditements against the Soul are all quashed the Soul may walk now at liberty and fear no Arrest who can lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect its Christ that justifies who can condemn Christ saith it swears it seals it it cannot but be true why art thou then cast down poor Soul and why art thou disquieted Christ hath made a blessed exchange with thee he hath drank the bitter Cup and offers thee the sweet which is spiced with Grace and Love Christ both purchased the Crown for thee and taken the Cross to himself he took the Rags and gives thee the Robes he became Poor that thou mayst become Rich he emptied himself that thou mayest be filled he was esteemed as nothing that thou mightest from worse than nothing possess all things and what now remains but that with the greatest Gratitude you accept of Christ's offer whensoever he invites thee to his Table what doth better become thee then the deepest resentment of the highest kindness and a grateful closure with all the overtures of Divine Goodness O happy are the people that are admitted to this Intimacy happy are the Souls that know the worth the use of this Ordinance and make it their business wisely to improve it O what an opportunity have such of Christ here what Request may they not then have granted and when Christ is giving what will he what can he deny them which have his heart already I have been the more large in this because it was the particular request of one of my Brethren a Reverend Minister that in the next Edition I would not forget that Ordinance in which God usually doth most signally discover his Love to his people III. DIRECTION If you would get acquainted with God get Christ along with you when you go to God You are like to speed no way so soon as this way nay let me say all that I have said before signifies nothing at all without this There is no Name under Heaven by which we can be saved but by the Name of Christ and whosoever comes to the Father by him he will in no wise cast out God can't deny his own Son any thing he can never forget that great undertaking of his by which he glorified his Fathers infinite Justice and infinite Love and did him more honour than all the Saints and Angels in the world His Son the Lord Christ hath such an interest in his Father that he can as soon despise his own honour as to refuse any request that is presented to him by his Son If Christ come to him and say Father here is a poor sinner that I have undertaken for and that flew to me for refuge Look upon him for my sake why the Fathers Arms are presently open he will not reject his Sons Petitions The truth of it is this is the greatest cause of the miscarriage of poor Creatures that go about to do that
themselves and by themselves which they can never do alone They go to God all alone and no Wonder then they meet with a frown for there is no Name under Heaven by which a man can be saved but by the Name of Christ and out of Christ God is a consuming fire there is but one Mediator the man Christ Jesus And there is but one Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous That which Joseph said of Benjamin God saith of Christ except you bring Benjamin along with you you shall not see my Face except you bring Christ along with you you shall not see my Face There is a notable story which is commonly by Divines applied to our present purpose and that not without good reason it is concerning a Law among the Molossians where whosoever came to the King with his Son in his Arms should be accepted into favour let his fault be what it will So let a man be what he will before yet if ye come to God in Christ he can't be thrust away O therefore if thou wouldest have any countenance from God beg for a Christ to bear thee company into the presence of God I will tell you this for your comfort Christ hath a loving design in his heart to do such offices of kindness for poor Malefactors that understand something of their danger If you see your self lost for want of reconciliation with God Christ he stands ready to lead you into his Fathers house O did you but know how willing he is to bring undone lost Penitents to God it would make your heart leap within you for joy Behold how oft he asks after you what doth that sinner mean to ruine himself I would with all my heart bring him out of all those perplexities and undertake to make God and him Friends if he would be but ruled by me and upon this account he sends up and down many hundreds of his Ministers to tell sinners as much that they may not be undone everlastingly Doth not Wisdom call doth not Christ plead the Case and expostulate with sinners and who would not that hath any understanding at all of his state out of Christ with all possible thankfulness be encouraged to accept of his kindness Christ hath done as much as this comes to already for many Millions and his Father never said to him Son why do you trouble your self and me with so many of these wretched Creatures let them alone to take their course Where did God ever express himself in this manner did he ever take it unkindly that his Son should every day bring such Guests to his house and be continually begging one Boon or other for them or putting up some Petitions upon their account or pleading with his Father for them when they do offend Is God displeased at such work as this is he not as willing to receive such as his Son is to bring them and both Father and Son more willing to save the sinner than he is to be saved O kindness Christ loves the sinner better than he loves himself and as I said before so I say again the Father doth not grutch any thing that Christ gives or doth for poor sinners The Righteousness of Christ it is that Wedding Garment in which we may sit at the Kings Table and are welcome these are the Robes of our elder Brother in which we can't miss of our Fathers Blessing O how many poor Creatures have walked in the dark many years because they have not been brought off from themselves but have sought that by themselves which is to be sought only by Christ because they have looked for that in the Law which is to be found only in the Gospel and no wonder their business went on so slowly when they went the quite contrary way to work When any comes to God without Christ they come like Simon Magus with their own money in their hand to buy a great Commodity which is not to be purchased with such kind of Coyn. If you come to God through Christ you may come with boldness to the Throne of Grace but if you come without him you do but come with Madness upon the point of the flaming Sword V. DIRECTION If you would be acquainted with God come much where he is wont to be frequent his house lye always at the Doors of Wisdom engage much in his Ordinances This was that course that David took when he wanted Gods company away he goes to the house of God and O what earnestness doth he use when the doors of the Lords Tabernacle were shut to get them open again what moan doth he make when he was for some time sequestred by his enemies from the enjoyment of God in his publick Ordinances As the Hart pants after the water-brooks so did his soul pant after God the living God O when should he appear before him when should he again behold the out-goings of God in his Sanctury as sometimes he had How amiable are thy tabernacles saith he O Lord God of Hosts And one thing have I desired and that will I seek after that I may dwell in thy house and see thee and enquire in thy tabernacle Psal 42. Psal 48. Psal 27.4 He thought God was like to be found no where so soon as at his own house he was sure he was never from home David can never forget what usage and entertainment he was wont to have there and that this great Friend was used to have a standing Table an open House and that when his Guests were set he would come and bid them welcome eat O friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved See therefore that you get into that part of Gods house where he doth most frequently come get under the most powerful Ministery O hear the Word with all the Reverence Attention and affection that you can for your soul miss not any opportunities that God puts into your hand least that should be the time in which you might have met with God Lye at the pool of Bethesda and wait for the moving of the Waters set your selves as in the house of God and remember though you see not God that he is always present in all places but he is there more especially present where his people meet together to attend upon him in his own Ordinances Wherefore when you come to hear the Word set your self as in the presence of God and hear as for your life and soul Deut. 32.46 Set your hearts to all the words that you shall hear for it is not a vain thing it is your life Isa 55 2 3. Hearken diligently unto me and cat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David He that hath ears to hear let him hear what the mighty Jehovah is speaking to his soul Wherefore I
he walks now ask him what his practice is and go you and do likewise have a care of harbouring ill thoughts of the people of God or for the sake of one Hypocrite of censuring a thousand sincere Ones Judg you whether this be just and equal doing How would you like it if one that bears some Relation to you should do some vile abominable thing and bring himself to an untimely end and people should say all the whole Family is like him though it may be you are grieved to the very heart that such a thing should be done by any in the world much more by any that bears any kind of Relation to your self I tell you as contemptibly as the world speak of the godly they are not such odious Creatures as they are represented to be The Saints they are not Troublers but Peace-makers they love to make peace between man and man and what in them lies also between God and man Your converse with such as fear the Lord will make you like them at least they will endeavour as much Ar. Epict. l. 3. c. 16. He spoke no untruth who said That company is of an assimulating Nature A living coal laid to a heap of dead ones may kindle them all but they are more like except it be blown up to put the live one quite out therefore saith the said Author You must be very cautions of your company It is stored of Socrates that he had a rare Art of making his familiar Friends of his mind Some active Christians take as much pains to make their familiars of Christs mind Prov. 13.20 He that walketh with the wise shall yet be wiser but a Companion of Fools shall be destroyed Prov. 10.10 21 33. The tongue of the just is as choice Silver but the heart of the wicked is little worth The lips of the Righteous feed many but Fools die for want of wisdom The lips of the Righteous know what is acceptable but the mouth of the wicked speaketh froward things Such as these will do what they can to make you our of love with sin and in love with God Such as these will from their own experience be setting forth the goodness of God and tell you that which may stand you instead as long as you live it may be they may tell you that when God began first to work upon their Soul he was pleased to make use of the particular Application and the spiritual conversation of such a Christian Relation and when God came in with comfort and spake peace such a one lead them to such a promise which was like a Cordial to their fainting Soul When they were abroad they will tell you and were necessitated to the company of them which were strangers to the life of Religion and were at such a time troubled with horrible Temptations that they were in a wilderness condition and thought that never any that walked Heaven-ward could be in the like state but now when they got acquainted with the people of God they found that as Face answered Face in a Glass so their experience and the experience of many of the dear Children of God was exactly alike and that that which they thought none in the world could parallel they find that most of the Christians that they meet with know as well as themselves and at the first hearing are able to go on with the story before them so that they have sometimes wondred how any one living should know their Hearts and Thoughts so well to whom they did not communicate them I think it not altogether impertinent here to insert an observation of mine own I remember when I was once speaking concerning the duty of Christians in Relation to their Unconverted Friends and urging them upon doing what they could for God and Souls in the places where God had set them in speaking to this subject I said that there was not the meanest Christian but might be an instrument of the Conversion of a Soul Upon this I rehearsed a couple of Experiences that I had of two persons strangers one to the other who gave this account of their Conversion they were upon the matter both alike and therefore I shall tell but one of them which take as followes There was a Poor Civil yet very Carnal Creature a Servant in a Religious Family who did from his Soul abhor the Spiritual Conversation of those in the Family insomuch that he was resolved to run away from his Service he was so weary of such doings But one Night hearing a strange sound somewhere he arose out of his Bed and went to listen what was the matter upon which he heard one distinctly praying on the other side of the wall he still hearkning heard one praying very earnestly for him who did not know but he might be asleep and opening the condition of his Soul so particularly and with so much Tenderness that he was wonderfully awakened to think that one that he hated should so much love him and pitty his Soul and to consider how it was possible any one in the world should know his Thoughts so well as that person did who prayed for him upon this he began to be very much startled to think of his condition concluding thus surely I am in a lamentable state and they see it or else they would never do as they do they are praying for me when I am asleep they love me when I hate them upon this the man was very much troubled and his trouble daily increased till he was forced to open his condition to the person who had been praying for him which was a poor Maid-servant upon which the work of Regeneration was carryed on very sweetly and the man became an excellent Christian whereas the Instrument that God used in this great work was but a poor servant Now when I rehearsed this thing which was the condition of two as I said before a third person stood by whom I never saw in my life before who fell a sweating for trouble that any of his Friends should tell such a thing of him to me and thought I had meant himself in all the particulars though I heard not a word of the man before in my life This by the by I could not but hint this for the encouragement of parents to get their children into Families that are really Religious and to encourage all to associate themselves to such as fear the Lord. You see by what hath been spoken that acquaintance with the people of God may be of great use for the bringing the Soul acquainted with God VII DIRECTION If you would be acquainted with God entertain all the Messengers that he sends to you kindly When God calls answer and when he sends any of his servants to you bid them welcome let the feet of those which bring glad tidings be beautiful in your eye do not think much if they deal plainly and roundly with you know that it is out of love to your
stirring up of the Soul and awakening all it's strength to wrestle with God to lay hold upon God and to prevail with the Almighty and where are such as these to be found who is this that engages his heart in the service of God It is one thing to engage the tongue and another thing to engage the heart Men come to pray with a common Spirit and are many times weary of the work before they have well begun it what they do they do it lifelessly They can follow their worldly Imployments with life and delight They have Male in their flock but that 's too good for God a lame blind starved weak thing must serve his turn And is this the way to have the blessing Are such as these like to have any thanks for their kindness Let them try how any of their Friends would take such a present Now would you have the Blessing of Acquaintance with God you must wrestle for it and not let God go without it You must be Fervent in Spirit serving the Lord you must fight the good fight of Faith and lay hold on Eternal Life You must grasp about Christ as a man that is a drowning would grasp any thing that were thrown out to save him You must use all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure You must work out your Salvation with fear and trembling You must seek for Wisdom as for Silver and search for her as for hid Treasure Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledg of God What excellent thing is there that is got without pains Whoever came to be an Exquisite curious Artist in any skil whatever that never served an Apprentiship to it nor at the least gave his mind to it where is there a famous Physitian that never studied in his life Who gets a Victory by sleeping and carelesseness Who expects to have riches drop into his mouth when he goes all the ways that can be to make himself a beggar Doth the Husbandman look for a good Crop without plowing or sowing Why then should we expect such great things as Heaven Eternal happiness and the favour of God without out looking after them Whatsoever the lazy formal professor may say the Kingdom of Heaven is not obtained thus there must be running watching fighting conquering holding fast holding out and all little enough it requires all the strength of thy soul to engage in this great work it requires some resolution to do such a work as every Christian must do or else his Religion signifies little Further it calls for some time too it is not a thing to be minded now and then by the by between sleep and wake when the Devil and the World have had as much service as they call for Were it for your bodies that I were now pleading were you like to get any great matter in the world by following of my directions could you be shew'd a way how to get a great estate honours and long life I am verily perswaded a few words might prevail much Why if you will believe the word of God I am telling you of other kind of things then these be greater matters by far and yet how little are Men and Women affected As if we spoke but in jest always when we spoke about things that did concern Souls How little time do men spend in their inquiry into these things Ask Epictetus Ench. c. 63. And he will tell you that it is a sign of a low Soul to bestow much time upon thy body and the thoughts of it and little upon the Soul to be long eating and long drinking and long a dressing and short in prayer short in the thoughts of the Soul and short in the service of God and that it is a sign of a base degenerate Spirit to be very curious about toys and inconsiderable trifles and to be negligent about matters of the greatest importance to slubber over the great works of Religion with the greatest slightness Remember O man thy great work it is to take care of thy Soul to look after a Companion a Friend for thy Soul to get food and cloathing for thy Soul that that famish not with hunger and cold To be indifferent in all externals is the greatest prudence but to be indifferent about Spirituals and Eternals is the greatest madness We are all Soudiers and must fight in such a War wherein we must never lay down our Arms. The favour of God is worth the striving for it is as much as Heaven and Glory is worth If your estate or life lay at stake would you not be willing to use all the interest you could to make the Judg your friend would you go up and down laughing as if you had nothing to do would you eat and drink as merrily as ever and say it is but dying it is but being a beggar it is but the undoing of my wife and children would you not look upon a man that should argue at this rate to be little better than frantick and I pray which is most considerable the death of the body or the death of the soul the loss of a temporal or the loss of an eternal inheritance Most mens diligence in Temporals will condemn their negligence in Spiritnals Christ said Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven the righteousness thereof but most men say I will seek first the Earth and the glory thereof and if God will give me Heaven and happiness after I have served the Devil and the world as long as I can I shall be contented to have it No such matter never expect it God must sooner cease to be than to gratifie you in this Wherefore do you think did David follow his work so close Why did all those Noble Worthies in the Church of old take so much pains Why should they not much stick to venture estates and lives too Will you condemn them all as guilty of too much curiosity and unnecessary preciseness Do you think that their labour was in vain Are all those disappointed who willingly parted with present things for future things I must tell you if you expect to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven you must do as they did Heaven will not be obtained now upon any lower Term than then Your Souls are as precious as their's and Heaven will be as well worth your minding as theirs and God will look upon you as well as upon them if you will value his favour as they did Never look to have God give you that which you will not thank him for What do you say after all this will you sit down before your work is done open thine eyes and consider what thou hast to do and then tell me if it be not the greatest folly imaginable to be slight in these Affairs O how can'st thou eat or drink or sleep whilst thou hast such a great work to do which is undone O give
far off and that now you must not falter and that as you demean your self now it may be you may be happy or miserable while you have a Being This is the Language of that excellent Moralist I add what is it O sinner that thou stayest for Is it for the day of Judgment would you be taught by flames the worth of time You may then indeed learn but believe it your knowledg and learning will do you little good you may then learn what it is to be miserable but you can't learn how to get out of it you will know what you have lost but then will never know how to repair your Losses How many Thousands of them which have set a day in which they would return and repent have set and set and set it again and what with one thing or other they could not be at leasure to repent till they came to Hell and there indeed they have leisure enough to repent and they do repent too if Hell-Repentance would do any thing I believe that all that come there do repent and believe too more than they did while they were alive but then it 's too late They that are now in those dreadful Flames many of them thought it may be of repenting before they died as well as you and did just as you do O that you would understand your selves before your state be like theirs how infinitely doth it concern you to improve time and to comply with the present tender of mercy that are made to you for ere long it may be too late for you too O know this therefore that now thy God makes thee a gracious offer of pardon and if you refuse now this may be the last time this may be the very cast for Eternity God may say before to morrow This night thy soul shall be required of thee Go to therefore you that talk of trading for the great things of Eternity I do not know when thirty or forty years hence Do you not know that your life is but a blast When your breath goes out of your Nostrils you are not sure that you shall draw it in again What then do you mean to talk of delay have you not staid long enough already consider man what thou dost He that saith he will be good to morrow he saith he will be wicked to day And what if God should say thou shalt have the pleasure of sin to day the sorrow of sin to morrow Thou shalt be hardned to day and damned to morrow If your house were on fire you would scare say I will go and sleep four or five hours and then I will rise and call my Neighbours to help to quench it If your Child were a drowning you would scarce say I must needs stay till I have drunk a flaggon or two more and about half an hour hence it may be I may go and see whether I can get a Boat to help him out If you were condemned to dye to morrow you would scarce say I will have Musick and Sack and good company all night and then I will send a Messenger if I can get one to ride a Hundred Mile to try whether he can get a Pardon for me Yet thus for all the world thou dost do in the great affairs of thy immortal Soul O the folly of man saith Seneca who thinks to begin to live when a thousand to one but he will be dead and rotten I may say O the madness of sinners who make account to be looking after Heaven then when it 's likely their souls may be in Hell Judge now whether this be wisdom Now you think time one of the poorest commodities in the world it 's a very drugg which lies upon your hand a day or two a week a year is no great matter with you but believe it the case will be altered with a witness ere long Seneca wondred when he heard some asking one of his friends for to spend two or three weeks with them when he saw how easily the request was granted as if they asked as little as nothing when they ask'd time of him Thus saith he one of the preciousest things in the world is thrown away as little worth When you come to lie upon your death-bed we shall have you have other thoughts of time then a world if you had it for one of those hours that you could not tell how to spend You now study how to rob you self of your precious time you invent pastimes not considering how swiftly time flies and how much you will prize it before long O remember no body can give you a moment of that time when you want it that you are now so prodigal of When time is past if you would give a world to recal it it could not be If you would give thousands for the renewing of this Lease it would be refused Therefore live quickly Mans time runs away first Optima quaequae dies miseris mortalibus aevi prima fugit ... Seneca And then my Author Comments very bravely upon the whole verse I think that Proverb though it be an Italian one is worth our remembring He that will lodge well at night must set out betimes in the morning That which keeps us from living to day is the thoughts of living to morrow so that we lose this day while we expect the next Comenius speaking of the Tyger saith That when he hears the sound of the Trumpet he tears bites himself This will be the work of the merciless Tygers of the world that spend their time in which they should be providing for Eternity in hunting Gods people and taking their pleasures and it may be think to be a little more mild before they die but of a sudden the Trumpet sounds away away and O then what a lamentable taking are they in how do they wish for time again or that they had spent that which they had better Wicked men never knew the worth of time till they come to a Death-bed or a while after O then they that made nothing of spending thirty or fourty years would lay down all they are worth for one year one month one day one hour but it 's then too late O how do they gnash their teeth with what horrour do they think of past mercies and future miseries Men fear generally that Death will come sooner than they would have him they bewail that their lives are short at the longest whereas if men would wisely husband that time that God hath given them it would be long enough O happy is that man that hath done his great Work before his Sun is set O foolish men that complain of God for making their lives so short and complain not at all of themselves for making them ten times shorter For most men lives not at all the life of Religion and may be called Dead Others have a name to live and yet are little better than the former Most that live spiritually