Worship Some possibly can say they are sober just Charitable Peaceable and others that can boast lesse of their Vertues yet say they are sorry for their sins and pray God to forgive them And if we urge them concerning their Translation from the state of Nature to that of Grace their becoming new creatures their implantation into Christ. They say they have been Baptized and therein regenerate and what would we have more But to how little purpose is it to equivocate with God to go about to put a fallacy upon the Judge of Spirits or escape the animadversion of his fiery flaming eye or elude his determinations and pervert the true intent and meaning of his most established Constitutions and Laws Darest thou venture thy soul upon it that this is all God means by having a new heart created a right Spirit renewed in us by being made Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works by becoming new creatures old things being done away all things made new by so learning the truth as it is in Jesus to the putting off the old man and putting on the new which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness by being begotten of Gods own will by the word of truth to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chief excellency the prime glory as certainly his new creature is his best creature the first fruits or the devoted part of all his creatures by having Christ formed in us by partaking the divine nature the incorruptible seed the seed of God by being born of God Spirit of Spirit as of earthly parents we are born flesh of flesh When my eternal blessedness lies upon it had I not need to be sure that I hit the true meaning of these Scriptures especially that at least I fall not below it and rest not in any thing short of what Scripture makes indispensably necessary to my entring into the Kingdom of God I professedly wave controversies and 't is pity so practical a business as this I am now upon and upon which Salvation so much depends should ever have been incumbred with any controversie And therefore though I shall not degress so far as to undertake a particular and distinct handling here of this work of God upon the soul yet I shall propound something in general touching the change necessarily previous to this blessedness wherein that necessity is evidenceable from the nature of this blessedness which is the business I have in hand that I hope will pass among Christians for acknowledged truth not liable to dispute though the Lord knows it be little considered My design being rather to awaken souls to the consideration of known and agreed things than to perplex them about unknown Consider therefore First that the holy Scriptures in the forementioned and other like passages do plainly hold forth the necessity of a real change to be made in the inward temper and dispositions of the soul and not a relative only respecting its state This cannot be doubted by any that acknowledge a real inherent depravation propagated in the nature of man No nor denyed by them that grant such a corruption to be general and continued among men whether by imitation only or what way soever And willing I am to meet men upon their own principles and concessions however erroneous or short of the truth they may be while they are yet improvable to their own advantage Admit that regeneration or the new birth includes a change of our relation and state God-ward doth it therefore exclude an intrinsique subjective change of the inclinations and tendencies of the Soul And if it did yet other termes are more peculiarly appropriate to and most expressly point out this very change alone As that of conversion or of turning to God of being renewed in the spirit of the mind of putting off the old man that is corrupt by c. and putting on the new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness c. of partaking the Divine nature It matters not if this or that expression be understood by some more principally in another sense the thing it self of which we speak is as clearly expressed and as urgently pressed as there was cause as any other matter whatsoever throughout the whole Book of God But men are slower of belief as to the great Article of the Christian Doctrine then to most I might say any other This Truth more directly assaults the strong holds of the Devil in the hearts of men and is of more immediate tendency to subvert his Kingdom Therefore they are most unwilling to have it true and most hardly believe it Here they are so madly bold as to give the lie to all Divine Revelations and though they are never so plainly told without holiness none shall see God they will yet maintain the contrary belief and hope till go ye cursed vindicate the Truth of God and the flames of Hell be their Eternal confutation Lord that so plain a thing will not enter into the hearts of men that so urgent inculcations will not yet make them apprehend that their Souls must be renewed or perish That they will still go dreaming on with that mad conceit that whatever the Word of God says to the contrary they may yet with unsanctified hearts get to Heaven How deplorable is the case that when men have no other hope left them but that the God of truth will prove false belie his word yea and overturn the nature of things to save them in their sins Thou that livest under the Gospel hast thou any pretence for thy seeming ignorance in this matter couldst thou ever look one quarter of an hour into the Bible and not meet with some intimation of this truth What was the ground of thy mistake What hath beguiled thee into so mischievous a delusion How could such an imagination have place in thy soul that a Child of wrath by nature could become a Child of God without receiving a new nature That so vast a change could be made in thy state without any at all in the temper of thy Spirit Secondly consider That this change is in its own nature and the design of God who works it dispositive of the soul for blessedness 'T is sufficiently evident from the consideration of the state it self of the unrenewed soul that a change is necessary for this end such a soul in which it is not wrought when once its drowsie stupifying slumber is shaken off its reflecting power awakened must needs be a perpetuall torment to it self So far it is remov'd from blessedness it is its own Hell and can flie from misery death no faster then from it self Blessedness composes the soul reduces it to a consistancie it infers or rather is a self-satisfaction a well-pleasedness and contentment with one self self in rich't and fill'd with the divinefulness Hence 't is at rest not as being pent in but contentedly
glances or which speaks more inwardness more fixed views when their eyes do even feed and feast upon each other This we should endeavour to be as in a continual interview with God How frequent mention have we of the fixed posture of his eye towards Saints To this man will I look I have found out q. d. that which shall be ever the delight of mine eye do not divert me Towards him I will look What he speaks of the material Temple is ultimately to be refer'd to that which is typified his Church his Saints united with his Christ mine eys and my heart shall be there perpetually and elsewhere He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous He cannot admirable grace allow himself to look off to turn aside his eye And he seems impatient of the aversion of theirs Let me see thy countenance saith he for it is comely Is it not much more reasonable it should be thus with us towards him that we should be more delighted to behold real comelinesse than he with what is so only by his gracious vouchsafement and estimation how careful should we be that our eye may at every turn meet his that he never look towards us and find it in the ends of the earth carelesly wandring from him How well doth it become us to set the Lord alwayes before us to have our eye ever towards the Lord This you see is the initial leading thing in this blessedness of heaven So it must have also a prime ingrediency into our heaven on earth It is a part of celestial blessedness but it is not peculiar to it The present blessedness the righteous injoy here is a participation of heaven It hath something in it of every thing that is ingredient into that perfect blessedness Our present knowledge of God is often exprest by vision or sight as we have had occasion to observe in many passages of Scripture He hath given us such a visive power and made it connatural to that heavenly creature begotten of him in all the true subjects of this blessedness We know that we are of God and presently it follows he hath gâ—ven us an understanding to know him that is true This new man is not born blind The blessed God himself is become liable to the view of his regenerate intellectual eye clarify'd and fill'd with vigour and Spirit from himself He therefore that hath made that hath new formed this eye shall not he be seen by it shall not we turn it upon him Why do we not more frequently bless our eye with that sight This Object though of so high excellency and glory will not hurt but perfect and strengthen it They are refreshing vital beams that issue from it Sure we have no excuse that we eye God so little i. e. that we mind him no more Why have we so few thoughts of him in a day What to let so much time pass and not spare him a look a thought Do we intend to imploy our selves on eternity in the visions of God and is our present aversion from him and intention upon vanity our best preparation thereto This loudly calls for redress Shall God be waiting all the day as on purpose to catch our eye to intercept a look and we studiously decline him and still look another way as of choice and what is it but choice can we pretend a necessity to forget him all the day How cheap is the expence of a look how little would it cost us and yet how much of duty might it express how much of comfort and joy might it bring into us How great is our offence and loss that we live not in such more constant views of God Herein we sin and suffer both at once things both very unsuitable to heaven Mindfulness of God is the living Spring of all holy and pleasant affections and deportments towards him sets all the wheels agoing makes the soul as the Chariots of Aminadab These wheels have their eyes also are guided by a mind by an intellectual principle Knowing intelligent beings as we also are by participation and according to our measure so act mutually towards one another We cannot move towards God but with an open eye seeing him and our way towards him If we close our eyes we stand still or blindly run another course we know not whither All sin is darkness whether it be neglect of good or doing of evil It s way is a way of darkness as a course of holy motion is walking in the light Our shutting our eyes towards God creates that darkness surrounds us with a darkness comprehensive of all sin Now is every thing of enjoyned duty waved and any evil done that sinful nature prompts us to Well might it be said He that sinneth hath not seen God When we have made our selves this darkness we fall of course under Sathans Empire and are presently within his Dominions He is the Prince of darkness and can rule us now at his will Perishing lost souls are such as in them the God of this world hath blinded their minds To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light is to turn them also from the power of Sathan unto God What an hell of wickedness are we brought into in the twinkling of an eye We are without God in the world as if a man wink though at noon-day he hath as it were put out the Sun 't is with him as if there were no such thing When we have banished God out of our sight and forgotten him 't is with us as if there were no God If such a state grow habitual to us as we know every sinful aversion of our eye from God tends thereto what wickedness is there that will not lurk in this darkness How often in Scripture is forgetting God used as a character yea as paraphrase a full though summary expression of sin in general As if the wickedness the malignity the very hell it self of sin were wholly included and not connated only here Now consider this after so dreadful an ennumeration so black a Catalogue all that forget God And as deep calleth to deep one hell to another The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the people that forget God That keep that mass of wickedness of pride of persecution cursing blasphemy deceit and mischief all meet with one that hath not God in all his thoughts But who is so hardy to look the holy God in the face and sin against him what an astonishment is it when he watches over present sin or brings forth former sins out of secret darkness and sets them in the light of his countenance Who that understands any thing of the Nature and Majesty of God dare call him for a witness of his sinning The worst of men would find themselves under some restraint could they but abtain of themselves to sit down sometimes and solemnly think of God Much more would it prove
consists first in righteousness and then in peace and joy in the holy Ghost Thou wilt so daily behold the face of God in righteousness and with pleasure but wilt most of all please thy self to think of thy final appearance before him and the blessedness that shall ensue 4. Watch and arm thy self against the too forcible strokes and impressions of sensible objects Let not the favor of such low vile things corrupt the pallate of thy soul. A sensual earthly mind and heart cannot tast heavenly delights They that are after the flesh do savor the things of the Flesh they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Labor to be throughly mortified towards this world and the present state of things Look upon this scheme pageant as passing away keep natural appetites under restraint the world and the lusts of it pass away together sensuality is an impure thing Heavenly refined joy cannot live amid'st so much filth Yea and if thou give thy flesh liberty too far in things that are in specie lawful it will soon get advantage to domineer and keep thy soul in a depressing servitude Abridge it then and cut it short That thy mind may be enlarged and at liberty may not be throng'd and prepossest with carnal imaginations and affections Let thy soul if thou wilt take this instruction from a Heathen look with a constant erect mind into the undefiled light neither darkened nor born down towards the Earth but stopping its Ears and turning its Eyes and all other Senses back upon it self and quite abolishing out of it self all Earthly Sighs and Groans and Pleasures and Glories and Honours and disgrace and having forsaken all these choose for the Guides of its way true Reason and strong Love the one whereof will shew it the way the other make it easie and pleasant 5. Having voided thy mind of what is earthly and carnal apply and turn it to this blessed Theam The most excellent and the vilest objects are alike to thee while thou mindest them not Thy thoughts possibly bring thee in nothing but vexation and trouble which would bring in assoon joy and pleasure didst thou turn them to proper objects A thought of the heavenly glory is assoon thought as of an earthly Cross. We complain the world troubles us then what do we there why get we not up in our spirits into the quieter Region what trouble would the thoughts of future glory be to us How are the thoughts and wits set on work for this flesh but we would have our Souls flourish as the Lilies without any thing of their own care Yea we make them toyl for torture and not for joy revolve an affliction a thousand times before and after it comes and have never done with it when eternal blessedness gains not a thought 6. Plead earnestly with God for his Spirit This is joy in the Holy Ghost or whereof he is the Author Many Christians as they must be called are such strangers to this work of imploring and calling in the blessed Spirit as if they were capable of adopting these words We have not so much as heard whether there be an Holy Ghost That name is with them as an empty sound How hardly are we convinc't of our necessary dependance on that free Spirit as to all our truly Spiritual operations This Spirit is the very earnest of our inheritance The foretasts and first fruits we have here of the future blessedness The joy and pleasure the complacential relishes we have of it before hand are by the gracious vouchsafement and work of this blessed Spirit The things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard and which have not entred into the heart of man are revealed by this Spirit Therefore doth the Apostle direct his Prayer on the behalf of the Ephesians to the Father of this glory that he would give them this Spirit of wisdom and revelation to enlighten the eyes of their understanding that they might know the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in or among the Saints And its revelation is such as begets an impression in respect whereof 't is said also to seal up to the day of redemption Therefore pray earnestly for this Spirit not in idle dreaming words of course but as being really apprehensive of the necessitie of prevailing And give not over till thou find that sacred fire diffusing it self through thy mind and heart to enlighten the one and refine the other and so prepossess both of this glory that thy soul may be all turned into joy and praise And then let me adde here without the formality of a distinct head That it concerns thee to take heed of quenching that Spirit by either resisting or neglecting its holy dictates or as the same precept is otherwise given of grieving the Spirit he is by Name and Office the Comforter The Primitive Christians 't is said walked in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost Is it equal dealing to grieve him whose business it is to comfort thee or canst thou expect joy where thou causest grief Walk in the Spirit adore its power Let thy Soul do it homage within thee Wait for its holy influences yield thy self to its ducture and guidance so wilt thou go as the redeemed of the Lord with everlasting joy upon thy head till thou enter that presence where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Nor do thou think it improper or strange that thou should'st be called upon to rejoyce in what thou dost not yet possess Thy hope is in stead of fruition 't is an anticipated enjoyment We are commanded to rejoyce in hope and Saints have profest to do so to rejoyce even in the hope the hope of the glory of God Nor is it unreasonable that should be thy present highest joy For though yet it be a distinct thing and indistinctly revealed the excellency of the object makes compensation for both with an abundant surplusage As any one would much more rejoyce to be assured by a great person of ample possessions he would make him his heir to though he knew not distinctly what they should be then to see a shilling already his own with his own eyes CHAP. XXX The addition of two Rules that more specially respect the yet future season of this blessedness after this life viz. Rule 7. That we patiently wait for it until death Rule 8. That we love not too much this present life THere are yet two more Rules to be superadded that respect the season of this blessedness when we awake i. e. not till we go out of time into eternity not till we pass out of the drowsie darkness of our present state till the night be over with us and the vigorous light of the everlasting day do shine upon us Hence therefore it will be further necessary 7. That while the appointed proper season of this blessedness
petite questions that with many are so hotly agitated for recreation sake or to try his wit and exercise his reasâ—n without stirring his passions to the disturbance of others or himself here an innocent divertisement and the best purpose that things of that nature are capable of serving But when contention becomes a mans element and he cannot live out of that fire strains his wit and racks his invention to find matter of quarrel is resolved nothing said or done by others shall please him onely because he means to please him in dissentiâ—g Disputes onely that he may dispute and loves dissension for it self This is the unnatural humour that hath so unspeakably troubled the Church and despised Religion and filled mens Souls with wind and vanity Yea with fire and fury This hath made Christians gladiaters and the Christian World a clamorous Theater while men have equally affected to contend and to make ostentation of their ability so to do And surely as it is highly pleasurable to reâ—â—re ones sâ—lf so it is charitable to call aside others out of this noise and throng to consider silently and feed upon the known and agree'd things of our Religion which immediately lead to both the duties and delights of it Among which there are none more evident and undoubted none lesse intangled with controversie none more profitable and pleasant then the future blessedness of the righteous which this discourse Treats of The last end is a matter to little disputable that 't is commonly thought which is elsewhere more distinctly spoken to not to be the object of election and so not of deliberation consequently but of simple intention onely because men are supposed to be generally agree'd as touching that And the knowledge and intention of it is apparently the very soul of Religion animates direct enlivens and sweetens the whole thereof Without which Religion were the vainest irrational and most unsavoury thing in the World And because the more clearly this our last end is understood the more powerfully and sweetly it attracts and moves the Soul this Treatise endeavours to give as plain and positive a state and nation of it as the Text insisted on compared with other Scriptures would afford to so weak an eye And because men are so apt to abuse themselves with the vain and self-contradicting hopes of attaining this end without ever having their spirits framed to it or walking in the way that leads thereto as if they could come to Heaven by chance or without any design or care of theirs The proportion is indeavoured to be shewn between that Divine likeness in the vision and participation whereof this Blessedness consists and the Righteousness that disposes and leads to it Which may it be monitory to the ungodly and profane who hate and scorn the likeness of God where-ever they hehold it And let me tell such from better-instructed Pagans That there is nothing more like or more acceptable to God then a man that is in the temper of his Soul truly good who excells other men as he is himself excelled pardon his Hyperbole by the immortal God That between God and good men there is a friendship by means of vertue a friendship yea a kindred a likeness inasmuch truly as the good man differs from God but in time here sprinkle a grain or two being his Disciple Imitatour and very of-spring That God is full of indignation against such as reproach one that is alike to him or that praise one that is contrarily affected or unlike buâ— such is the good man i. e. he is one like God A good man as it shortly after follows is the holiest thing in the World and a wicked man the most polluted thing And let me warn such haters of holiness and holy men in the words of this Authâ—urs immediately subjoyned And this I say for this cause that thou being but a man the son of a man no more offend in speaking aginst an Hero One who is a Son of God Me thinks men should be ashamed to proâ—esse the belief of a life to come while they cannot behold withâ—ut indignation nor mention but with derision that holiness without which it can never be attained and which is indeed the seed and principle of the thing it self But such are not likely much to trouble themselves with this discourse There 's little in it indeed of Art or Ornament to invite or gratifie such as the Subject it self invites not And nothing at all but what was apprehended might be some way useful The affectation of garnishing a margent with the names of Authours I have ever thought a vain pedantry yet have not declined the occasional use of a few that occurred He that writes to the World must reckon himself debter to the wise and unwise If what is done shall be found with any to have promoted its proper end His praises to God shall follow it as his prayers do that it may who professes himself A Well willer to the Souls of men J. H. Christian Reader YOu whose hearts are set on Heaven who are dayly laying up a treasure there here is a welcome messenger to tell you more thâ—n perhaps you have well considered of the nature of your future Blessedness and to illustrate â—he Map of the Land of promise and to bring you another cluster of its grapes Here is a useful help to make you know that Holiness doth perticipate of Glory and that Heaven is at least Virtually in â—he Seed of Grace Though this life be properly called a life of Faith as contradistinct from the â—â—ntuition and fruition hereafter as well as from the lower life of sence yet is it a great truth and not sufficiently considered and improved that we have here more than Faith to acquaint us with the Blessedness expected Between Faith and Glory there is the Spirit of Holiness the love of God the heavenly desires which are kindled by Faith and are thâ—se branches on which the happy flower and fruit must grow They are the name and mark of God upon us They are our Earnest our Pledg and the first fruits And is not this more than a word of prâ—mise only Therefore though all Christians must lively Faith marvell not that I tell you that you may you must have more than Faith Is not a Pledge and Earnest a first Fruits more Therefore have Christians not only a Spirit to evidence their Title but also some foretast â—f Heaven it self for Faith in Christ is to recover us to God and so much as we have of God so much of fruition And so much as Faith hath kindled in you of â— love of God so much foretaste you have of Heâ—ven for you are deceived if you think that any â— Notion speaketh more to you of Heaven and of yâ—â— Ultimate end than THE LOVE OF GOD And though no unsound ill-grounded Faith â—â—serve to cause this sacred Love yet when it caused it over-tops this cause
in no suspence puzled with no doubts whether such consequencies withhold such conclusions be rightly infer'd anâ— so are not retarded from giving a present unwavering assent Here are no perplexing intricacies no dubious hallucinations or uncertain guesses we see things as they are by â— simple and undeceiving light with both subjective and objective certainty being secure both from doubt and error 2. Faith How magnificent things doth Scripture speak of this grace which the experience also of such as have been wont to liâ—â— by it i. e. to make it the governing principle of their lives doth abundantly confirm Hoâ— clear are its apprehensions 't is the evidence â— things not seen how sweet its enjoyments whom not seeing ye love and though now you 〈◊〉 him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Even the Heathen Theology hath magnifie it above knowledge What is it saith one that unites us with the self-goodness and 〈◊〉 joyns us thereto that it quiets or gives reâ—â— to all our action and motion I will expressâ— it in one word 't is faith it self which unâ—speakably and after a hidden manner doâ— unite and conjoyn happy souls with the selâ— good For saith he it concerns us neither in a way of Science or with any iâ— perfection to enquire after the good but 〈◊〉 behold our selves in the divine light and 〈◊〉 shutting our eyes to be placed in thâ— unknown and secret unity of beings And a latter writer gives us this as a conclusion from that former Author That as Faith which is credulity is below Science so that Faith which is truly so called is super-substantially above Science and intelligence immediately uniting us to God But 't is evident intuitive knowledge far exceeds even faith also 1. 'T is more distinct and clear Faith is taking a thing upon report Who hath believed â—ur report And they are more general languid apprehensions we have of things this way Faith enters at the â—ar it comes by hearing And if we comâ—â—re the perceptions of these two external 〈◊〉 that of hearing and sight the latter is unspeakably more clear and satisfying He that hath knowledge of a forreign Country only by report of another hath very indistinct apprehensions of it in comparison of him who hath travell'd it himself While the Queen of Sheba only heard of Solomons glory she could not satisfie her self without an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—ght of her own eye and when she saw it 〈◊〉 â—aith the one half was not told her of whâ—â— she now beheld The Ear more slowly and gradually receives and the Tongue more defectively expresses to another an account of things than ones ocular inspection would take it in But as to the excellency of this 〈…〉 above Faith the comparison 〈…〉 knowing by the ministry of a more 〈◊〉 sense and a less noble but knowing by dependance on a less noble and without dependence upon any at all When God hath been pleased to afford discoveries in that way of Vision to men in the body his Prophets c. he hath usually bound up all their senses by sleep or trances sense hath had no part or lot in this matter unto believing it must necessarily concurr 2. More affective What we see even with our external eye much more powerfully moves our heart than what we onely give credit to upon hearsay The Queen of Sheba much admired no doubt Solomons famed splendor and magnificence while she only heard of it but when she saw it it puts her into an extasie it ravish'd away her soul she had no more spirit c. What would the sight of the Divine glory do if God did not strengthen with all might were there not as well glorious power to support as powerful glory to transform Job had heard of God by the hearing of the ear but when once his eye saw him whether that were by the appearance of any sensible glory which is probable enough for 't is said the Lord answered him out of the whirlewind or whether by a more immediate revelation 't is less-material what work did it make in his soul The Devils believe and tremble so impressive are the pre-apprehensions of Judgment to come and the consequents thereof with them yet their present torment thence is no torment in comparison art thou come to torment us before the time of what they expect Let wicked men consider this they will have their intuitions in hell too were your belief and terror thereupon with reference to the eternal Judgment and the impendent wrath of God equal to what the Devils themselves have upon the same account actual sensation will make you more exceed your selves in point of misery than the Devils do now exceed you There is no doubt a proportionable difference between the impressions of present faith and future vision with holy souls Now not seeing yet believing they rejoyce with joy unspeakable their present joy cannot be spoken their future then cannot be thought Experience daily tells us how greatly sensible present objects have the advantage upon us beyond those that are spiritual and distant though infinitely more excellent and important When the tables are turned the now sensible things disappear a new scene of things invisible and eternal is immediately presented to our view the excellency of the objects the disposedness of the subjects the nature of the act shall all multiply the advantages on this part How affective will this vision be beyond what we have ever found the faint apprehensions of our so much disadvantaged faith to amount to A kind message from an indulgent Father to his far-distant Son informing of his welfare and yet continuing love will much affect but the sight of his Fathers face will even transport and overcome him with joy But further consider this intuition a little more particularly and absolutely in it self So you may take this somewhat distincter account of it in some few particulars corresponding to those by which the object the glory to be beheld was lately characterized 1. It will be a vigorous efficacious intuition as that which it beholds is the most excellent even the divine glory such an object cannot be beheld but with an eye full of lively vigour a sparkling a radient eye A weak eye would be struck blind would fail and be closed up at the first glance We must suppose then this Vision to be accompanied with the highest vitality the strongest energy A mighty plenitude of Spirit and Power no lesse than the divine nothing but the divine power can sufficiently fortifie the soul to behold divine glory When the Apostle speaks only of his desire of glory he that hath wrought us to this self same thing saith he is God he that hath moulded us suitably framed us for this thing as the word signifieth is God 't is the work of a Deity to make a Soul desire Glory certainly then 't is his work to give the
compose the soul and reduce it to so quiet a consistency in the midst of storms and tempests how perfect and contentful a repose will the immediate vision and injoyment of God afford it in that serene and peaceful region where it shall dwell for ever free from any molestation from without or principle of dis-rest within CHAP. IX The Pleasure arising from knowing or considering our selves to be like God from considering it 1. Absolutely 2. Comparatively or respectively to the former state of the soul. To the state of lost souls To its pattern To the way of accomplishment To the souls own expectations To what it secures The Pleasure whereto it disposes of union communion A comparison of this Righteousness with this Blessedness 2. HEre is also to be considered the pleasure and satisfaction involv'd in this assimilation to God as it is known or reflâ—cted on or that arises from the cognosci of this likeness We have hitherto discoursed of the pleasure of being like God as that is apprehended by a spiritual sensation a feeling of that inward rectitude that happy pleasure of souls now perfectly restored We have yet to consider a further pleasure which acrews from the souls animadversion upon it self its contemplating its self thus happily transformed And though that very sensation be not without some animadversion as indeed no sensible perception can be performed without it yet we must conceive a consequent animadversion which is much more explicite and distinct and which therefore yields a very great addition of Satisfaction and delight As when the blessed soul shall turn its eye upon it self and designedly compose and set it self to consider its present state and frame the consideration it shall now have of it self and this likeness imprest upon it may be either Absolute or Comparative respective 1. Absolute How pleasing a spectacle will this be when the glorified soul shall now intentively behold its own glorious frame When it shall dwell in the contemplation of it self view it self round on every part turn its eye from glory to glory from beauty to beauty from one excellency to another and trace over the whole draught of this image this so exquisite piece of divine workmanship drawn out in its full perfection upon it self When the glorified eye and divinely enlightned and inspirited mind shall apply it self to criticize and make a judgment upon every several lineament every touch and stroke shall stay it self and scrupulously insist upon every part view at leisure every character of glory the blessed God hath instamp't upon it how will this likeness now satisfie And that expression of the blessed Apostle taken notice of upon some other occasion formerly The glory to be revealed in us seems to import in it a reference to such a self intuition What serves revelation for but in order to vision What is it but an exposing things to view and what is revealed in us is chiefly exposed to our own view All the time from the the Souls first conversion till now God hath been as it were at work upon it He that wrought us to c. hath been labouring it shaping it polishing it spreading his own glory upon it inlaying inameling it with glory now at last the whole work is revealed the Curtain is drawn aside the blessed Soul awakes Come now saith God behold my work see what I have done upon thee Let my work now see the light I dare expose it to the censure of the most curious eye let thine own have the pleasure of beholding it It was a work carried on in a Mystery secretly wrought as in the lower parts of the earth as we alluded before by a Spirit that came and went no man could tell how Besides that in the general only we knew we should be like him it did not yet appear what we should be now it appears There is a revelation of this glory O the ravishing pleasure of its first appearance and it will be a glory always fresh and flourishing as Job's expression is my glory was fresh in me and will afford a fresh undecaying pleasure for ever 2. The blessed soul may also be supposed to have a comparative and respective consideration of this impressed glory That is so as to compare it with and refer it to several things that may come into consideration with it and may so heighten its own delight in the contemplation thereof 1. If we consider this impression of glory in reference to its former loathsâ—me deformities that were upon it and which are now vanished and gone How unconceivable a pleasure will arise from this comparison when the soul shall consider at once what it is and what once it was and thus bethink it self I that did sometimes bear the accursed image of the Prince of darkness do now represent and partake of the holy pure nature of the Father of lights I was a meer Chaos an hideous heap of Deformity Confusion and Darkness But he that made light to shine out of darkness shined into me to give the knowledge of the light of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ and since made my way as the shining light shining brighter and brighter unto this perfect day I was an habitation of Dragons a Cage of noisom lusts that as Serpents and Vipers were winding to and fro through all my faculties and powers and preying upon my very vitals Then was I hateful to God and an hater of him sin and vanity had all my heart The charming invitations and allurements of grace were as musick to a dead man to think a serious thought of God or breath forth an affectionate desire after him was as much against my heart as to pluck out mine own eyes or offer violence to mine own life After I began to live the Spiritual new life how slow and faint was my progress and tendency towards perfection how indisposed did I find my self to the proper actions of that life To go about any holy spiritual work was too often as to climb an Hill or strive against the stream or as an attempt to fly without wings I have sometime said to my heart Come now le ts go pray love God think of heaven but O how listless to these things how lifeless in them Impressions made how quickly lost gracious frames how soon wrought of and gone characters of glory rac'd out and overspread with earth and dirt Divine comeliness hath now at length made me perfect The glory of God doth now incloath me they are his ornaments I now wear He hath made me that lately lay among the pots as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold he hath put another nature into me the true likeness of his own holy divine nature He hath now perfectly master'd and wrought out the enmity of my heart against him Now to be with God is my very element Loving admiring praising him are as natural as breathing once
satisfaction and blessedness of the expecting soul. And wherein it may do so is not altogether unapprehensible Admit that a Spirit had it never been imbodied might be as well without a body or that it might be as well provided of a body out of other materials 't is no unreasonable supposition that a connate aptitude to a body should render humane souls more happy in a body sufficiently attempered to their most noble operations And how much doth relation and propriety endear things otherwise mean and inconsiderable or why should it be thought strange that a soul connaturallized tâ— matter should be more particularly inclined to a particular portion thereof So as that it should appropriate such a part and say 't is mine And will it not be a pleasure to have a vitalitâ— diffused through what even more remotely appertains to me to have every thing belonging to the Supposition perfectly vindicated from the Tyrannous dominion of death The returnâ—ing of the Spirits into a benumb'd or sleeping toe or finger adds a contentment to a maâ— which he wanted before Nor is it hence neâ—cessary the Soul should covet a re-union wiâ—â— every effluvious particle of its former body A desire implanted by God in a reasonable soul will aim at what is convenient not whâ— shall be cumbersome or monstrous And how pleasant will it be to comtemplatâ— and admire the wisdom and power of thâ— great Creatour in this so glorious a change when I shall find a Clod of Earth an Heaâ— of Dâ—st refined into a Celestial purity anâ— brightness when what was sown in corruptiâ—â— shall be raised in incorruption what was sown 〈◊〉 dishonour is raised in glory what was sown in weakness is raised in power what was sown a natural body is raised a Spiritual body When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal an immortality and death be wholly swallowed up in victory So that this awaking may well be understood to carry that in it which may bespeak it the proper season of the Saints consummate satisfaction and blessedness But besides what it carries in it self there are other more extrinsical concurrents that do further signalize this season and import a great increase of blessedness then to Gods holy ones The body of Christ is now compleated the fulness of him that filleth all in all and all the so nearly related parts cannot but partake in perfection and reflected glory of the whole There is joy in Heaven at the conversion of one sinner though he have a troublesome Scene yet to pass over afterwards in a tempting wicked unquiet world how much more when the many sons shall be all brought to glory together The designes are all now accomplished and wound up into the most glorious result and issue whereof the Divine Providence had been as in travel for so many thousand years 'T is now seen how exquisite wisdom govern'd the world and how steady a tendency the most intricate and perplexed Methods of Providence had to one stated and most worthy end Specially the constitution administration and ends of the Mediatours Kingdom are now beheld in the exact aptitudes order and conspicuous glory when so blessed an issue and success shall commend and crown the whole undertaking The Divine Authority is now universally acknowledged and adored his Justice is vindicated and satisfied his Grace demonstrated and magnified to the uttermost The whole assembly of Saints solemnly acquitted by publique sentence presented spotless and without blemish to God and adjudged to eternal blessedness 'T is the day of solemn triumph and jubilation upon the finishing of all Gods works from the creation of the world wherein the Lord Jesus appears to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all that believe Upon which ensues the resignation of the Mediatours Kingdome all the ends being now attained that the Father â—imself may be immediately all in all How aptly then are the fuller manifestations of God the more glorious display of all his Attributes the larger and more abundant Effusions of himself reserv'd as the best Wine to the last unto this joyful day Created perfections couldnot have been before so absolute but they might admit of improvement Their capacities not so large but they might be extended further and then who can doubt but that divine communications may also have a proportionable increase and that upon the concourse of so many great occasions they shall have so CHAP. XI An Introduction to the use of the Doctrine hitherto proposed The Use divided into Inferences of Truth Rules of Duty 1. Inference That Blessedness consists not in any sensual injoyment 2. Inference The Spirit of man since 't is capable of so high a Blessedness a Being of high excellency AND now is our greatest work yet behind the improvement of so momentous a truth to the affecting and transforming of hearts That if the Lord shall so far vouchsafe his assistance and blessing they may taste the sweetness feel the power and bear the impresse and image of it This is the work both of greatest necessity difficulty and excellency and unto which all that hath been done hitherto is but subservient and introductive Give me leave therefore Reader to stop thee here and demand of thee ere thou go further hast thou any design in turning over these leaves of bettering thy Spirit of getting a more refined heavenly temper of soul art thou weary of thy dross and earth and longing for the first fruits the beginnings of glory dost thou wish for a soul meet for the blessedness hitherto described What is here written is designed for thy help and furtherance But if thou art looking on these pages with a wanton rolling eye hunting for novelties or what may gratifie a prurient wit a coy and squeamish fancy Go read a Romance or some piece of Drollery know here 's nothing for thy turn and dread to meddle with matters of everlasting concernment without a serious Spirit read not another line till thou have sighed out this request Lord keep me from trifling with the things of Eternity Charge thy soul to consider that what thou art now reading must be added to thy account against the great day 'T is amazing to think with what vanity of mind the most weighty things of Religion are entertained amongst Christians Things that should swallow up our souls drink up our Spirits are heard as a tale that is told disregarded by most scorned by too many What can be spoken so important or of so tremendous consequence or of so confessed truth or with so awful solemnity and premised mention of the sacred name of the Lord as not to find either a very slight entertainment or contemptuous rejection and this by persons avowing themselves Christians We seem to have little or no advantage in urging men upon their own principles and with things they most readily and professedly assent to Their hearts are as much untouch't and void of impression by the
supreme desire till it attain to the fulness thereof We have here a plainly-implyed description of the posture and tendencies of such a soul even of a sanctified holy Soul which had therefore undergone this blessed change towards this state of blessedness I shall saith he be satisfied with thy likeness q. d. I cannot be satisfied otherwise We have seen how great a change is necessary to dispose the Soul to this blessedness which being once wrought nothing else can now satisfie it Such a thing is this blessedness I speak now of so much of it as is previous and conducing to satisfaction or of blessedness materially considered the Divine Glory to be beheld and participated 'T is of that nature it makes the Soul restless it lets it not be quiet after it hath got some apprehension of it till it attain the full enjoyment The whole life of such a one is a continual seeking Gods face So attractive is this glory of a subject rightly disposed to it While others crave Corn and Wine this is the summe of the holy Souls desires Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance c. The same thing is the object of its present desires that shall be of its eternal satisfaction and enjoyment This is now it s one thing the request insisted on to behold the beauty of the Lord c. and while in any measure it doth so yet 't is still looking for this blessed hope still hoping to be like him see him as he is the expectation of satisfaction in this state implies the restless working of desire till then for what is this satisfaction but the fulfilling of our desires the perfecting of the souls motions in a complacential rest Motion and rest do exactly correspond each to other Nothing can naturally rest in any place to which it was not before naturally inclin'd to move and the rest is proportionably more compos'd and steady according as the motion was stronger and more vigorous By how much the heavier any body is so much the stronger and less resistible is its motion downward and then accordingly it is less moveable when it hath attained its resting place 'T is therefore a vanity and contradiction to speak of the Souls being satisfied in that which it was not before desirous of And that state which it shall ultimately and eternally acquiesse in with a rest that must therefore be understood to be most composed and sedate towards it must it needs move with the strongest and most unsatisfied desire a desire that is supreme prevalent and triumphant over all other desires and over all obstructions to it self least capable of diversion or of pitching upon any thing short of the terme aimed at Ask therefore the holy Soul What is thy Supreme desire and so far as it understands it self it must answer to see and partake the divine glory to behold the blessed face of God till his likeness be transfused through all my powers and his entire image be perfectly formed in me present to my view what else you will I can be satisfied in nothing else but this Therefore this leaves a black note upon those wretched souls that are wholly strangers to such desires that would be better satisfied to dwell always in dust that shun the blessed face of God as Hell it self and to whom the most despicable vanity is a more desirable sight then that of divine glory Miserable souls consider your state can that be your blessedness which you desire not or do you think God will receive any into his blessed presence to whom it shall be a burden methinks upon the reading of this you should presently doom your selves and see your sentence written in your breasts compare your hearts with his holy mans See if there be any thing like this in the temper of your Spirits and never think well of your selves till you find it so 5. The knowledge of God and conformity to him are in their own nature apt to satisfie the desires of the soul and even noâ— actually do so in the measure wherein they are attained Some things are not of a satisfying nature there is nothing tending to satisfaction in them And then the continual heaping together of such things doth no more towards satisfaction then the accumulating of Mathematical Points would towards the compacting of a solid body or the multiplication of Ciphers only to the making of a summe But what shall one day satisfi hath in it self a Power and aptitude thereto The act when ever it is supposes the power Therefore the hungry craving soul that would sain be hâ—ppy but knows not how needs not spend its dayes in making uncertain guesses and fruitless attempts and trials It ma◠〈◊〉 â—ts hovering thoughts and upon afâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 given say I have now found at 〈…〉 satisfaction may be had and have 〈◊〉 this to do to bend all my powers hither and intend this one thing the possessing my self of this blessed rest earnestly to inâ—e 〈◊〉 and patiently to wait for it Happy discovery welcome tidings I now know which waâ— to turn my eye and direct my pursuit I shall no longer spend my â—â—if in dubious toilsome wandrings in anxious vaâ—n inquiries I have found I have found blessedness is here If I can but get a lively efficacious sight of God I have enough Shew me the Father and it suffices Let the weary wandring soul bethink it self and retire to God he will not mock thee with shadows as the world hath done This is eternal life to know him the onely true God and Jesâ—â— Christ whom he hath sent A part from Christ thou canst not know nor see him with fruit and comfort but the Gospel revelation which is the Revelation of God in Christ gives thee a lovely prospect of him His Glory shines in the face of Jesus Christ and when by beholding it thou art changed into the same likeness and findest thy self gradually changing more and more from glory to glory thou wilt find thy self accordingly in a gradual tendency towards satisfaction and blessedness That is do but seriously set thy self to study and contemplate the Being and Attributes of God and then look upon him as through the Mediatour he is willing to be reconcil'd to thee and become thy God and so long let thine eye fix and dwell here till it affect thy heart and the proper impress of the Gospel be by the Spirit of the Lord instamp't upon it till thou find thy self wrought to a compliance with his holy will and his image formed in thee and thou hast soon experience thou art entring into his est and wilt relish a more satisfying 〈◊〉 in this blessed change then all thy 〈◊〉 sensual injoyments did ever afford thee before Surely if the perfect vision and perception of his glorious likeness will yield a compleat satisfaction at last the initial and progressive tendencies towards the former will proportionably infer the latter 'T is obvious hence to
and that their end was without honour but now how are they numbred among the sons of God and their lot is among the Saints They that were too wise before to mind so mean a thing as Religion the world through wâ—sdâ—m knew not God strange wisdom that could so wisely baffle Conscience and put fallacies upon their own souls that had so ingenious shifts to elude a conviction and direct any serious thought from fastening upon their spirits that were wont so slily to jeere holiness seemed as they meant to laugh Religion out of countenance they will now know that a circumspect walking a faithful redeeming of time and improving it in order to eternity was to do not as fools but as wise and begin to think of themselves now as lost as all wise and sober men thought of them before CHAP. XVI The second general Head of the improvement or use of the Doctrine propounded from the Text containing certain Rules or prescriptions of duty connatural thereto Rule 1. That we settle in our minds the true notion of this blessedness Rule 2. That we compare the temper of our own spirits with it and labour thence to discern whether we may lay claim to it or no. THus far we have the the account of the Truths to be considered and weigh'd that have dependence on the Doctrine of the Text. Next follows the duties to be practis'd and done in reference thereto which I shall lay down in the ensuing Rules or Prescriptions That we admit and settle the distinct notion of this blessedness in our minds and judgements That we fix in our own souls apprehensions agreeable to the account this Scripture hath given us of it This is a counsel leading and introductive to the rest and which if it obtain with us will have a general influence upon the whole course of that practice which the Doctrine already opened calls for As our apprehensions of this blessedness are more distinct and clear it may be expected more powerfully to command our hearts and lives Hence it is in great part the Spirits and conversations of Christians have so little savour and appearance of heaven in them We rest in some general and confused notion of it in which there is little either of efficacy or pleasure we descend not into a particular inquiry and consideration what it is Our thoughts of it are gloomy and obscure and hence is our Spirit naturally listless and indifferent towards it and rather contents it self to sit still in a Region all lightsome round about and among objects it hath some present acquaintance with then venture it self forth as into a new world which it knows but little of And hence our lives are low and carnal they look not as though we were seeking the heavenly Country and indeed who can be in good earnest in seeking after an unknown state This is owing to our negligence an infidelity The blessed God hath not been shy and reserv'd hath not hidden or concealed from us the glory of the other world nor lock't up Heaven to us nor left us to the uncertain guesses of our own imagination the wild fictions of an unguided phansie which would have created us a poetical heaven only and have mock't us with false Elysiums But though much be yet within the vail he hath been liberal in his discoveries to us Life and Immortality are brought to light in the Gospel The future blessedness though some refined Heathens have had near guesses at it is certainly apprehensible by the measure onely of Gods revelation of it For who can determine with certainty of the effects of Divine good pleasure 'T is your Fathers good pleasure to give you a Kingdom Who can tell before hand what so free and boundless goodness will do further then as he himself discovers it The discoverâ— is as free as the donation The things that eye hath not seen and ear not heard and which hâ—ve not entred into the heart of man God hath revealed to us by his Spirit and it follows v. 12. We hâ—ve received the Spirit of God that we might know the things freely given us of God The Spirit is both the principle of the external revelation as having inspired the Scriptures which foreshew this glory and of the internal revelation also to enlighten blind minds that would otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never be able to discover things at so great a distance see afâ—r off Therefore called the Spirit of wisdom and revelation by which the eyes of the understanding are inlightned to know the hope of that calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the Saints as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is most fitly to be rendred But this internal discovery is made by the mediation and interveniencie of the external Therefore having that before our eyes we are to apply our minds to the study and consideration of it and in that way to expect the free illumination of the holy Spirit In the mean time we must charge our ignorance and the darkness of our cloudy thoughts touching these things upon our carelesness that we do not attend or our incredulity that we will not believe what God hath revealed concerning them 't is therefore a dutiful attention and reverential Faith that must settle and fix the notion of this blessedness If we will not regard nor give credit to what God hath discovered concerning it we may sit still in a torpid disconsolate darkness which we our selves are the authors of or which is no less pernicious compass our selves with sparks beaten out of our own Forge walk in the light of our own fire cheat our souls with the fond dream of an imagined Heaven no where to be found till we at length lye down in sorrow How perverse are the imaginations of men in this as in reference to the way so in respect of the end also For as they take upon them to fancy another way to happâ—ness quite besides and against the plain word of God so do they imagine to themselves another kind of happiness such as shall gratâ—fie onely the sensual desires a Mahometâ—n indeed a Fools Paradise or at best 't is but a negative Heaven they many times enâ—ertain in their thoughts of which their sense too is the onely measure a state wherein nothing shall offend or incommodate the flesh in which they shall not hunger or 〈◊〉 or feel want and when they have thus stated the matter in their own thoughts we cannot beat them out of it but that they desire to go to heaven viz. the heaven of their own making when did they conceive it truly and fully they would find their hearts to abhor from it even as hell it self Therefore here we should exercise an authority over our selves and awaken conscience to its proper work and business and demand of it Is it not reasonable these divine discoveries should take place with me hath not God spoken plainly enough
why should my heart any longer hang in doubt within me or look wishly towards future glory as if it were an uncouth thing or is it reasonable to confront my own imaginations to his discoveries Charge conscience with the duty it owes to God in such a case and let his revelations be received with the reverence and resignation which they challenge and in them study and contemplate the blessedness of awakened souls till you have agreed with your self fully how to conceive it Run over every part of it in your thoughts view the several divine excellencies which you are hereafter to see and imitate and think what every thing will contribute to the satisfaction and contentment of your Spirits This is a matter of unspeakable consequence Therefore to be as clear as is possible you may digest what is recommended to you in this Rule into these more particular directions 1. Resolve with your selves to make the divine revelation of this blessedness the prime measure â—nd reason of all your apprehensions concerning it Fix that purpose in your own hearts so to order all your conceptions about it that when you demand of your selves What do I conceive of the future blessedness and why do I conceive so the divine revelation may answer both the questions I apprehend what God hath revealed and because he hath so revealed The Lord of heaven sure best understands it and can best help us to the understanding of it If it be said of the origen of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it may much more be said of the stâ—â—e of the other we understand it by faith That must inform and perfect our intellectuals in this matter 2. Therefore reject and sever from the notion of this blessedness whatsoever is alien to the account Scripture gives us of it Think not that sensual pleasure that a liberty of sinning that an exemption from the divine dominion distance and estrangedness from God which by nature you wickedlâ— affect can have any ingrediency into or consistency with this state of blessedness 3. Gather up into it whatsoever you can find by the Scripture-discovery to appertain or belong thereto Let your notion of it be to your uttermost not only true but comprehensive and full and as particular and positive as Gods revelation will warrant Especially remember 't is a spiritual blessedness that consists in the refining and perfecting of your Spirits by the vision and likeness of the holy God and the satisfying of them thereby for ever 4. Get the notion of this blessedness deeply imprinted in your minds so as to abide with you that you may not be alwayes at a loss and change you apprehensions every time you come to think of it Let a once-well formed Idaea a clear full state of it be preserv'd entire and be as a lively image alwayes before your eyes which you may readily view upon all occasions 2. That having well fixed the notion of this blessedness in your minds you seriously reflect upon yourself and compare the temper of your Spirit with it that you may find out how it is affected thereto and thence judge in what likelihood you are of enjoying it The general aversion of mens Spirits to this so necessary work of self-reflection is one of the most deplorable Symptoms of lapsed degenerate humanity The wickedness that hath overspread the nature of man and a secret consciousness and misgiving hath made men afraid of themselves and studiously to decline all acquaintance with their own souls to shun themselves as Ghosts and Spectives they cannot indure to appear to themselves You can hardly impose a severer task upon a wicked man than to go retire an hour or two and commune with himself he knows not how to face his own thoughts His own soul is a Devil to him as indeed it will be in hell the most frightful tormenting Devil Yet what power is there in man more excellent more appropriate to reasonable nature than that of reflecting of turning his thoughts upon himself Sense must here confess it self out done The eye that sees other objects cannot see it self But the mind a rational Sun can not only project its beams but revert them make its thoughts turn inward It can see its own face contemplate it self And how useful an indowment is this to the nature of man If he err he might perpetuate his error and wander infinitely if he had not this self-reflecting power and if he do well never know without it the comfort of a rational self-approbation Which comfort Paganish morality hath valued so highly as to account it did associate a man with the inhabitants of heaven and make him lead his life as among the gods as their Pagan language is Though the name of this reflecting power Conscience they were less acquainted with the thing it self they reckon'd as a kind of indwelling Deity as may be seen at large in those Discourses of Maximus Tyrius and Apuleius both upon the same subject concerning the god of Socrates And another giving this precept Familiarize thy self with the gods adds and this shalt thou do if thou bear thy mind becomingly towards them being well pleased with the things they give and doing the things that may please thy Daemon or Genius whom saith he the most high God which they mean by Jupiter hath put into every man as as a derivation or extraction from himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be his president and guide viz. every ones own mind and reason And this mind or reason in that notion of it as we approve our selves to it and study to please it is the same thing we intend by the name of Conscience And how high account they had of this work of self-reflection may appear in that they entituled the Oracle to that document Know thy self esteeming it above humane discovery and that it could have no lower than a divine Original therefore consecrating and writing it up in golden Characters in their Delphick Temple as Pliny informs us for an heavenly-inspired dictate Among Christians that enjoy the benefit of the Gospel-revelation in which men may behold themselves as one may his natural face in a glass how highly should this self-knowledge be prized and how fully attained The Gospel discovers at the same time the ugly deformities of a mans soul and the means of attaining a true spiritual comliness Yea it is it self the instrument of impressing the divine image and glory upon mens Spirits which when it is in any measure done they become most sociable and conversable with themselves and when 't is but in doing it so convincingly and with so piercing energy layes open the very thoughts of mens hearts so thoroughly rips up and diffects the soul so directly turns and strictly holds a mans eye intent upon himself so powerfully urges and obliges the sinner to mind and study his own soul that where it hath affected any thing been any way operative
Title to thy Estate would'st thou not think it reasonable to inquire into thy case and is it not much more desirable in a matter of this consequence to be at some certainty and prudent to indeavour it if it may possibly be attain'd Whence let me further ask Fourthly Canst thou pretend it to be impossible Hath God left thee under a necessitated ignorance in this matter or denied thee sufficient means of knowing how 't is with thee in respect of thy Spiritual Estate Though he have not given thee a List or told thee the Number or Names of his Sanctified ones yet hath he not sufficiently described the persons and given thee characters by which they may be known And hath he not furnish't thee with a self reflecting power by which thou art inabled to look into thy self and discern whether thou be of them or no Doth he not offer and afford to serious diligent souls the assisting light of his blessed Spirit to guide and succeed the inquirie And if thou find it difficult to come to a speedy clear issue to make a present certain judgment of thy case ought not that to ingage thee to a patient continued diligence rather then a rash despairing madness to desist and cast off all In as much as the difficultie though great is not insuperable and the necessity and advantage incomparably greater And though divers other things do confessedly fall in the principal difficultie lies in thy aversation and unwillingness Thou art not put to traverse the Creation to climb Heaven or dig through the Earth but thy work lies nigh thee in thy own heart and Spirit and what is so nigh or should be so familiar to thee as thy self 'T is but casting thy eye upon thy own soul to discern which way 't is inclin'd and bent thou art urged to Which is that we propounded next to discover Viz. 2. That we are to judge of the hopefulness of our enjoying this blessedness by the present habitude or disposedness of our spirits thereto For what is that righteousness which qualifies for it but the impress of the Gospel upon the minds and hearts of men The Gospel-revelation is the onely Rule and Measure of that righteousness It must therefore consist in conformity thereto And look to the frame and design of the Gospel-revelation and what doth so directly correspond to it as that very habitude and disposedness of spirit for this blessednesse whereof we speak Nothing so answers the Gospel as a propension of heart towards God gratifi'd in part now and increasing till it find a full satisfaction a desire of knowing him and of being like him 'T is the whole design of the Gospel which reveals his glory in the face of Jesus Christ to work and form the spirits of men to this They therefore whose spirits are thus wrought and framed are righteous by the Gospel-measure and by thâ—t righteousness are evidently entituled and fitted for this blessedness Yea that righteousness hath in it or rather is the elements the first Principles the seed of this blessedness There can therefore be no surer Rule or Mark whereby to judge our states whether we have to do with this blessedness may expect it yea or no than this How stand we affected towards it in what disposition are our hearts thereto Those fruits of righteousnesse by which the soul is qualified to appear without offence in the day of Christ the several graces of the Sanctifying Spirit are nothing else but so many holy Principles all disposing the soul towards this blessednesse and the way to it Mortification Self-denial and godly sorrow take it off from other objects the World Self and Sin Repentance â—that part of it which respects God turns the course of its motion towards God the end Faith directs it through Christ the way Love makes it more freely desire earnestly joy pleasantly hope confidently humility evenly fear circumspectly patience constantly and perseveringly All conspire to give the Soul aright disposition towards this blessedness The result of them all is heavenliness an heavenly temper of spirit For they all one way or other as so many Lines and Rayes have respect to a blessedness in God which is heaven as the point at which they aim and the cuspis the point in which they meet in order to the touching of that objective point is heavenliness This is the ultemate and immediate disposition of heart for this blessedness the result the terminus productus of the whole work of righteousness in the Soul by which 't is said to be as it were gnota ad gloriam begotten to the eternal inheritance Concerning this therefore chiefly institute thy inquiry Demand of thy self is my soul yet made heavenly bent upon eternal blessednesse or no And here thou mayest easily apprehend of how great concernment it is to have the right notion of heaven or future blessedness as was urged under the foregoing Rule For if thou take for it another thing thou missest thy mark and art quite beside thy business But if thou retain a right and scriptural state and notion of it the Rule thou art to judge by is sure They shall have heaven whose hearts are intent upon it and framed to it Scripture is every where pregnant and full of this The Apostle plainly intimates this will be the rule of Gods final judgment Certainly it cannot be unsafe for us to judge our selves by the same Rule He tells us when God shall judge every one according to his works the great business of the judgment day eternal life shall be the portion of them who by patient continuance in well doing sought glory and honour and immortality which are but other expressions of the same thing what can be more plain They shall have eternal life and glory that seek it whose hearts are towards it Again speaking of true Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. in a way of contradiction from Pseudo-Christians such as he saith were enemies of the Crosse he gives us among other this brand of these latter that they did mind earthly things and tells us their end would be destruction but gives us this opposite character of the other our conversation is in heaven our trade and business our daily negotiations as well as the priviledges of our Citizen-ship lie there as his expression imports and thence intimates the opposite end of such whence we look for a Saviour not destruction but salvation And in the same Context of Scripture where they that are risen with Christ and who shall appear with him in glory are requir'd to fet their mind on things above not on things on the earth That we may understand this not to be their duty onely but their character we are immediately told they who do not so mortifie not their earthly members those lusts that dispose men towards the earth and to grovel in the dust as the graces of the Spirit dispose them heaven-ward and to converse with glory
made knâ—â—â— inâ—ers upon thee a necessitie of obeying unless thou think the â—reâ—ch between God and thee is better to be healed by Rebellion And that the onely way to expiate wickedness were to continue and multiply them Is it a needless thing to comply with the will of him that gave thee breath and being and whose power is so absolute over thee as to all thy concernments both of time and eternity Again while thou pretendest these things are needless come now speak out freely what are the more necessary affairs wherein thou art so deeply ingaged that thou can'st not suffer a diversion what is the service and gratification of thy flesh and sense so important a business that thou can'st be at no leasure for that more needless work of saving thy soul where is thy reason and thy modesty Dost thou mind none other from day to day but necessary affairs Dost thou use when thou art tempted to vain dalliances empty discourses intemperate indulgence to thy appetite so to answer the temptation It is not necessary or art thou so destitute of all Conscience and shame to think it unnecessary to work out thy salvation to strive to enter in at the strait gate that leads to life but most indispensably necessary to be very critically curious about what thou shalt eat and drink and put on and how to spend thy time with greatest ease and pleasure to thy flesh that it may not have the least cause to complain it is neglected Thy pretence That God is wont to be found of them that sought him not to the purpose thou intendest it is a most ignorant or malicious abuse of Scripture The Prophet is in that Text foretelling the calling of the Gentiles who while they remained such did not 't is true enquire after God but then he expresly first tells us personating God I am sought of them that asked not for me that is after the Gospel came among them and then 't is added I am found upon this seeking plainly of 〈◊〉 that sought me not i. e. who once in their former darkness before I revealed my self in the Gospel-dispensation to them that sought me not q. d. I am now sought of a people that lately sought me not nor asked after me and I am found of them But what 's this to thy case whom God hath been in Gospel earnestly inviting to seek after him and thou all this while refusest to comply with the invitation And suppose thou hear of some rare instances of persons suddenly snatch't by the hand of Grace out of the mid'st of their wickedness as fire-brands out of the fire Is it therefore the safest course to go on in a manifest rebellion against God till possibly he may do so by thee also how many thousand may have dropt into Hell since thou heard'st of such an instance as a worthy person speaks to that purpose If thou hast heard of one Elijah fed by Ravens and of some thousands by our Saviours miracles canst thou thence plead a repeal of that law to the world they that will not labour shall not eat or is it a safer or wiser course to wait till food drop into thy mouth from Heaven then to use a prudent care for the maintenance of thy life If thou say thou hearest but of few that are wrought upon in this way of their own foregoing expectation and indeavour Remember and let the thought of â—t startle thee that there are but few that are â—aved And therefore are so few wrought upon in this way because so few will be perswaded to it But can'st thou say though God hath not bound himself to the meer natural endeavours of his creature neither that ever any took this course and persisted with faithful diligence but they suceeded in it What thou talkest of the freeness of Gods grace looks like an hypocritical pretence Is there no way to honour his grace but by affronting his authourity but to sin that grace may abound Sure grace will be better pleased by obedience than by such sacrifice For a miserable perishing wretch to use Gods means to help it self doth that look like merit Is the Beggar afraid thou should'st interpret his coming to thy door and seeking thy alms to signifie as if he thought he had deserved them I hope thou wilt acknowledge thy self less then the least of all Gods mercies and that thou canst not deserve from him a morsel of bread may'st thou not therefore in thy necessity labour for thy living least thou should'st intrench upon the freeness of Divine bounty With as much wisdome and reason mightest thou decline the use of all other means to preserve thy life which thou must owe always to free mercy to eat when thou art hungry to take physick when thou art sick least thou should'st intimate thy self to have merited the strength and health sought thereby Nor can I think of any rational pretence that can more plausibly be insisted on then these that have been thus briefly discust And it must needs be difficult to bring any appearance of reason for the patronage of so ill a cause as the careless giving up of a mans soul to perish eternally that is visibly capable of eternal blessedness And certainly were we once apprehensive of the case the attempt of disputing a man into such a resolution would appear much more ridiculous then if one should gravely urge arguments to all the neighbourhood to perswade them to burn their houses to put out their eyes to kill their children or cut their own Throats And sure let all imaginable pretences be debated to the uttermost and it will appear that nothing with-holds men from putting forth all their might in the indeavour of getting a Spirit Suitable to this blessedness but an obstinately perverse and sluggish heart dispoil'd and naked of all shew of reason and excuse And though that be a hard task to reason against meer will yet that being the way to make men willing and the latter part of the work proposed in pursuance of this direction I shall recommend only some such considerations as the Text it self will suggest for the stirring up and perswading of slothful reluctant hearts chusing those as the most proper limits and not being willing to be infinite herein as amidst so great a variety of considerations to that purpose one might That in general which I shall propose shall be onely the misery of the unrighteous whereof we may take a view in the opposite blessedness here described The contradictories whereto will afford a Negative The Contraries apositive description of this misery So that each consideration will be double which I shall now rather glance at then insist upon 1. Consider then if thou be found at last unqualified for this blessedness How wilt thou bear it to be banish't eternally from the blessed face of God There will be those that shall behold that face in righteousness so shalt not thou The wicked is
an advantage them whom I most intend to such as sin within the nearer call and reach of mercy that sin not to the utmost latitude Even such as lead the strictest lives and are seldom found to transgress are not their sins found to begin with forgetting God Did they eye God more would they not sin lesse frequently and with greater regret You his Saints that have made a Covenant with him by Sacrifice that profess the greatest love and devotedness to him and seem willing your selves to become sacrifices and lay down your lives for his sake what is it a harder thing to give him a look a thought or is it not too common a thing without necessity and then not without injury to withhold these from him Let us bethink our selves are not the principal distempers of our Spirits and disorders yet observable in our lives to be refer'd hither As to enjoyned services what should we venture on omissions if we had God in our eye or serve him with so declining backward hearts Should we dare to let pass a day in the Even whereof we might write down nothing done for God this day Or should we serve him as an hard Master with sluggish despondent Spirits The Apostle forbids servants to serve with eyeâ— service as men-pleasers meaning they should eye men less and God more Sure as to him our service is not enough eye-service We probably eye men more than we should but we do not eye Him enough Hence such hanging of hands such feebleness of knees such laziness and indifferency so little of an active zeal and laborious diligence so little fervency of Spirit in serving the Lord. Hence also such an aversion to hazardous services such fear of attempting any thing though never so apparent important Duty that may prove costly or hath danger in it We look not to him that is invisible And as to forbidden things should we be so proud so passionate so earthly so sensual if we had God more in view Should we so much seek our selves and indulge our own wills and humors drive a design with such solicitude and intention of mind for our private interests should we walk at such a latitude and more consult our own inclination than our rule allow our selves in so much vanity of conversation did we mind God as we ought And do we not sensibly punish our selves in this neglect what a dismal Chaos is this world while we see not God in it To live destitute of a divine presence to discern no beam of the heavenly glory To go up and down day by day and perceive nothing of God no glimmering no appearance this is disconsolate as well as sinful darkness What can we make of Creatures what of the daily events of Providence if we see not in them the glory of a Deity if we do not contemplate and adore the divine wisedom power and goodness diffused every where Our practical Atheism and inobservance of God makes the World become to us the region and shadow of death states us as among Ghosts and Spectres makes all things look with a ghastly face imprints death upon every thing we see encircles us with gloomy dreadful shades and with uncomfortable apparitions To behold the tragical Spectacles alwayes in view the violent lusts the rapine and rage of some the calamitous suffrings the miseries and ruines of others to hear every corner resounding with the insultations of the Oppressor and the mournful groans of the oppressed what a painful continuing death were it to be in the world without God! At the best all things were but a vanishing scheme an Image seen in the dark The Creation a thing the fashion whereof were passing away The whole Contexture and System of Providence were meer confusion without the least concinnity or order Religion an acknowledged triâ—le a meer mockery What to wink our selves into so much darkness and desolation And by sealing up our eyes against the divine light and glory to confirm so formidable miseries upon our own souls how dreadfully shall we herein revenge our own folly in nullifying him to our selves who is the All in All Sure there is little of Heaven in all this But if now we open our eyes upon that all-comprehending glory apply them to a steady intuition of God how heavenly a life shall we then live in the world To have God alwayes in view as the director and end of all our actions To make our eye crave leave of God to consult him ere we adventure upon any thing and implore his guidance and blessing Upon all occasions to direct our prayers to him and look up To make our eye await his commanding look ready to receive all intimations of his will this is an angelical life To be as those ministers of his that are alwayes ready to do his pleasure To make our eye do him homage and expresse our dependence and trust To approve our selves in every thing to him and act as alwayes in his presence observing still how his eye observes us and exposing our selves willingly to its inspection and search contented alwayes he should see through and through us Surely there is much of heaven in this life so we should endeavour to live here I cannot omit to give you this instruction in the words of an Heathen we ought saith he so to live as alwayes within view order our cogitations as if some one might or can look into the very inwards of our breast For to what purpose is it to hide any thing from man from God nothing can be hid he is continually present to our Spirits and comes amidst our inmost thoughts c. This is to walk in the light amidst a serene placid mild light that infuses no unquiet thoughts amidst no guilty fears nothing that can disturb or annoy us To eye God in all our comforts and observe the smiling aspect of his face when he dispenses them to us To eye Him in all our afflictions and consider the paternal wisdom that instructs us in them how would this increase our mercies and mitigate our troubles To eye Him in all his Creatures and observe the various prints of the Creators glory instampt upon them With how lively a lustre would it cloath the world and make every thing look with a pleasant face what an heaven were it to look upon God as filling all in all and how sweetly would it ere-while raise our souls into some such sweet seraphick strains holy holy the whole earth is full of his glory To eye Him in his Providences and consider how all events are with infinite wisdom disposed into an apt subserviency to his holy Will and Ends. What difficulties would hence be solved what seeming inconsistencies reconcil'd and how much would it contribute to the ease and quiet of our minds To eye Him in his Christ the expresse Image of his person the brightness of his glory and in the Christian Oeconomy the Gospel-revelation and Ordinances through
could not be content with the light of the Sun without the help of a candle or a spark and speaking of the constancy of the vertuous man saith he They do ill that say such an evil iâ— tolerable to him such a one intolerable anâ— that confine the greatness of his mind within certain bounds and limits Adversity he tells us overcomes us if it be not wholly overcome Epicurus saith he the very patron of your sloth acknowledges yet thiâ— unhappy events can seldom disturb the minâ— of a vertuous person and he adds how haâ— he almost uttered the voice of a man pray saith he speak out a little morâ— boldly and say he is above them altogether Such apprehensions the more vertuous Heathen have had of the efficacy and defensative poweâ— of Moral goodness however defective theiâ— notion might be of the thing it self Hencâ— Sâ—crates the Pâ—gan Martyr is reported to havâ— cryed out when those persons were perseâ—cuting him to death Anytus and Meletus can kill me but they cannot hurt me And Anaxarchus the Phylosopher having sharply reproved Nicoerean and being by him ordered to be beaten to death with iron Malets bids strike on strike on thou may'st saith he break in pieces this vessel of Anaxarchus but Anaxarchus himself thou canst not touch Shall Christianity here confess it self out-vy'd shall we to the reproach of our Religion yield the day to Pagan-morality and renew the occasion of the ancient complaint That the Faith of Christians is out-done by the Heathen infidelity It is I remember the challenge of Cecilius in Minucius There is Socrates saith he the Prince of Wisdom whosoever of you Christians is great enough to attempt it let him imitate him if he can Methinks we should be ambitious to tell the world in our lives for Christians should live great things not speak them that a greater then Socrates is here to let them see in us our represented pattern to shew forth higher vertues then those of Socrates even his who hath called us out of darkness into his glorious and marvellous light Certain it is that the Sacred Oracles of the Gospel set before us a more excellent pattern and speak things not less magnificent but much more modest and perspicuous With less pomp of words they give us a much clearer account of a far more excellent temper of mind and prescribe the direct and certain way of attaining it Do but view over the many passages of Scripture occasionally glanc't at Chap. 7. But we grope as in the dark for blessedness we stumble at noon day as in the night and wander as if we had no eyes we mistake our business and lay the Scene of an happy state at a great distance from us in things which we cannot reach and which if we could it were to little purpose Not to speak of grosser sensualists whom at present I have less in my eye Is there not a more refined sort of persons that neglecting the great business of inspecting and labouring to better and improve their spirits are wholly taken up about the affairs of another Sphere that are more solicitous for better times for a better world then better spirits That seem to think all the happiness they are capable of on earth is bound up in this or that external state of things Not that the care of all publique concernments should be laid aside Least of all a just solicitude for the Churches welfare but that should not be pretended when our own interest is the one thing with us And when we are really solicitous about the Churches interests we should state them aright God designs the afflictions of his people for their Spiritual good therefore that is a much greater good then their exemption from suffering these evils otherwise his means should eat up his end and be more expensive then that will countervail which were an imprudence no man of tolerable discretion would be guilty of We should desire the outward prosperity of Sion for it is a real good but in as much as it hath in it the goodness not of an end but onely and that but sometimes neither of a means not a constant but a mutable goodness not a principal but a lesser subordinate goodness we must not desire it absolutely nor chiefly but with submissive limited desires If our hearts are grieved to hear of the sufferings of the Church of God in the world but not of their sins If we more sensibly regret at any time the persecutions and opressions they undergo than their spiritual distempers their earthliness pride cold love to God fervent animosities towards each other It speaks an uninstructed carnal mind We take no right measure of the interests of Religion or the Churches welfare and do most probably mistake our selves as much in judging of our own and measure theirs by our own mistaken model And this is the mischievous cheat many put upon their own souls and would obtrude too often upon others too that overlooking the great design of the Gospel to transform mens spirits and change them into the Divine likeness they think 't is Religion enough to espouse a party and adopt an Opinion and then vogue themselves friends to Religion according to the measure of their zeal for their own party or Opinion And give a very pregnant proof of that zeal by magnifying or inveighing against the times according as they favour or frown upon their empty unspirited Religion It being indeed such a secret consciousness whereof they herein bewray as hath no other life in it then what it owes to external favour and countenance And therefore all publique rebukes are justly apprehended mortal to it whereas that substantial Religion that adequately answers the design and is animated by the Spirit of the Gospel possesses the Souls of them that own it with a secure confidence that it can live in any times and hold their Souls in life also Hence they go on their way with a free unsolicitous chearfulness enjoying silently in their own bosomes that repose and rest which naturally results from a sound and well composed temper of Spirit They know their happiness depends upon nothing without them That they hold it by a better tenure then that of the worlds courtesie They can be quiet in the midst of storms and abound in the want of all things They can in patience possess their own souâ— and in them a vital spring of true pleasure when they are driven out of all other possessions They know the living sense of these words that the good man is satisfied from himself that to be Spiritually minded is life and peace that nothing can harm them that are followers of the good That the way to see good dayes is to keep their tongue from evil and their lips from speaking gâ—â—le to depart from evil and do good to seek peace and pursue it They cannot live in bad times They carry that about them that will make the worst
of your spirits I shall recommend onely some few instances that you may see how little reason or inducement a soul conformed to the holy will of God hath to seek its comforts and content elsewhere Faith corresponds to the Truth of God as it respects Divine Revelations How pleasant is to give up our understandings to the conduct of so safe a guide to the view of so admirable things as he reveals It corresponds to his goodnesse as it respects his offers How delectible is it to be filling an empty Soul from the Divine fulnesse What pleasure attends the exercise of this Faith towards the Person of the Mediatour viewing him in all his Glorious Excellencies receiving him in all his gracious Communications by this Eye and Hand How pleasant is it to exercife it in reference to another world living by it in a daily prospect of eternity in reference to this world to live without care in a chearful dependence on him that hath undertaken to care for us Repentance is that by which we become like the holy God to whom our sin had made us most unlike before how sweet are kindly relentings penetential tears and the return of the Soul to its God and to a right mind And who can conceive the Ravishing Pleasures of love to God! wherein we not onely imitate but intimately unite with him who is Love it self How pleasant to let our Souls dissolve here and slow into the Ocean the element of love Our Fear corresponds to his Excellent Greatnesse and is not as it is a part of the New Creature in us a tormenting servile passion but a due respectfulness and observance of God and there is no mean pleasure in that holy awful seriousness unto which it composes and formes our Spirits Our Humility as it respects him answers his high excellency as it respects our own inferiours his gracious condescention How pleasant is it to fall before him And how connatural and agreable to a good Spirit to stoop low upon any occasion to do good Sincerity is a most Godlike excellency an imitation of his Truth as grounded in his All-sufficiency which sets him above the necessity or possibility of any advantage by collusion or deceit and corresponds to his Omnisciency and heart-searching eye It heightens a mans spirit to a holy and generous boldness makes him apprehend it beneath him to do an unworthy dishonest action that should need a palliation or a concealment And gives him the continual pleasure of self approbation to God whom he chiefly studies and desires to please Patience a prime Glory of the Divine Majestie continues a mans possession of his own Soul his Liberty his Dominion of himself He is if he can suffer nothing a Slave to his vilest and most sordid passions at home his own base fear and bruitish anger and effeminate grief and to any mans lusts and humours besides that he apprehends can do him hurt It keeps a mans Soul in a peaceful calm delivers him from that most unnatural self-torment defeats the impotent malice of his most implacable enemy who fain would vex him but cannot Justice the Great Attribute of the Judge of all the Earth as such so farre as the imppression of it takes place among men preserves the Common Peace of 〈◊〉 World and the Private Peace of each 〈◊〉 in his own bosome so that the former be not disturbed by doing of mutual injuries nor the latter by the conscience of having done them The brotherly love of fellow Christians the impression of that special love which God bears to them all admits them into one anothers bosomes and to all the indearments and pleasures of a mutual communion Love to enemies the expresse image of our heavenly Father by which we appear his children begotten of him overcomes evil by goodness blunts the double edge of revenge at least the sharper edge which is alwayes towards the Author of it secures our selves from wounding impressions and resentments turns keen anger into gentle pity and substitutes mild pleasant forgiveness in the room of the much uneasier thoughts and study of retaliation Mercifulnesse towards the distressed as our Father in Heaven is merciful heaps blessings upon our Souls and evidences our Title to what we are to live by the Divine mercy An universal benignity and propension to d◠good to all in imitation of the immense diffusive goodnesse of God is but kindnesse to our selves Rewards it self by that greater pleasure is in giving then in receiving and associates us with God in the blessedness of this work as well as in the disposition to it who exercises loving kindnesse in the Earth because delighteth therein Here are some of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the things wherein consists that our conformity to the divine Nature and Will which is proper to our present state And now who can estimate the blessedness of such a soul Can in a word the state of that soul be unhappy that is full of the Holy Gost full of Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance those blessed fruits of that blessed Spirit Blessedness is connaturalized unto this soul Every thing doth its part and all conspire to make it happy This soul is a Temple an habitation of holiness here dwells a Deity in his glory 'T is a Paradise a Garden of God Here he walks and converses daily delighted with its fragrant fruitfulness He that hath those things and aboundeth is not barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus he is the Sun and the knowledge of him the quickening beams that cherish and ripen these fruits But the soul that lacketh these things is a Desart a habitation of Devils Here is stupid disconsolate infidelity inflexible obstinacy and resolvedness for Hell Hatred and contempt of the Sovereign Majesty whom yet its secret misgiving thoughts tell it will be too hard for it at last Here is swoln pride and giddy vain-glory disguised hypocrisie and pining envy raging wrath and ravenous avarice with what you can imagine besides leading to misery and desolation You have then some prospect of a happy temper of Spirit It can now be no difficulty to you to frame an Idea of it in your thoughts to get a notional image or this likeness in the notion of it into your minds but that will avail you little if you have not the real image also that is your Spirits really fashioned and formed according thereto If having the knowledge of these things as the Pagan morallists expression before mentioned is of vertuous Rules and Precepts they become not habitual to you and your Spirits be not transfigured into them But now I treat with such as are supposed to have some such real impressions that they may be stir'd up to endeavour a further perfecting of them In order whereto I shall adde but this two-fold advice 1. Be very careful that this living Image such you have been formerly told it is may
as an end Religion doth not brutify men but make them more rational It s business is to guide them to blessedness It must therefore pitch their eyes upon it as the mark and 〈◊〉 they are to aim at and hold them intent there 'T is ingenuous and honourable to God that we should expresly avow it we come to Him for satisfaction to our Spirits not knowing whether else to apply our selves We turn our eyes upon Him we lay open our souls to receive impressions from Him for this very end This is an explicit acknowledment of Him as God our highest Soveraign good 2. Actually apply and accommodate divine visions and communications to this purpose Say O my Soul now come solace thy self in this appearance of God come take thy allowed pleasure in such exertions of God as thou dost now experience in thy self Recount thy happiness think how great it is how rich thou art on purpose that thy Spirit may grow more daily into a satisfied contented frame Often bethink thy self What is the great God doing for me that he thus reveals and imparts himself to my soul O how great things do those present pledges presignisie to me That thou may'st still more and more like thy portion and account it faln in pleasant places so as never to seek satisfaction in things of another kind though thou must still continue expecting and desiring more of the same kind And remember to this purpose there cannot be a greater participation of the misery of hell before-hand than a discontented Spirit perpetually restless and weary of it self nor of the blessedness of heaven than in a well-pleased satisfied contented frame of Spirit CHAP. XIX Rule 5. Directing to raise our desires above the actual or possible attainments of this our present and terminate them upon the future consummate state of Blessedness The Rule explained and pressed by sundry considerations Rule 6. That we add to a desirous pursuit a joyful expectation of this blessedness which is pursued in certain subordinate directions 5. THat notwithstanding all our present or possible attainments in this imperfect state on earth We direct fervent vigorous desires towards the perfect and consummate state of glory it self Not designing to our selves a plenary satisfaction and rest in any thing on this side of it That is that forgetting what is behind we reach forth not only to what is immediately before us the next step to be taken but that our eye and desire aim forward at the ultimate period of our race terminate upon the eternal glory it self and that not only as a measure according to which we would some way proportion our present attainments but at the very mark which it self we would fain hit and reach home to And that this be not only the habitual bent and tendency of our Spirits but that we keep up such desires in frequent and as much as is possible continual exercise Yea and that such actual desires be not only faint and sluggish wishes but full of lively efficacy and vigour in some measure proportionable to our last end and highest good beyond and above which we neither esteem nor expect any other enjoyment Whatsoever we may possibly attain to here we should still be far from projecting to our selves a state of rest on this side consummate glory but still urge our selves to a continual ascent so as to mount above not onely all enjoyments of any other kind but all degrees of enjoyment in this kind that are beneath perfection Still it must be remembred this is not the state of our final rest The Mass of Glory is yet in reserve we are not yet so high as the highest Heavens If we gain but the top of Mount Tabor we are apt to say 't is good to be here and forget the longer journey yet before us loath to think of a further advance when were our spirits right how far so ever we may suppose our selves to have attained it would be matter of continual joy to us to think high perfections are still attainable that we are yet capable of greater things then what we have hitherto compast our souls can yet comprehend more Nature intends what is most perfect in every Creature methinks the Divine Nature in the New Creature should not design lower or cease aspiring till it have attained its ultimate perfection its culminating point till Grace turn into Glory Let us therefore Christians bestir our selves let us open and turn our eyes upon the eternal glory Le ts view it well and then demand of our own souls why are our desires so faint and slothful why do they so seldom pierce through the interveining distance and reach home to what they prefessedly level at so rarely touch this blessed mark How can we forbear to be angry with our selves that so glorious an end should not more powerfully attract that our hearts should not more sensibly find themselves drawn and all the powers of the soul beset on work by the attractive power of that glory It certainly concerns us not to sit still under so manifest a distemper But if the proposal of the object the discourse all this while of this blessed state do not move us to make some further trials with our selves see what urging and reasoning with our souls what rubbing and chasing our hearts will do And there is a two fold trial we may in this kind make upon our spirits What the sense of shame will work with us whether our hearts cannot be made sensible to suppose how vile and wretched a temper it is to be undesirous of glory And then what sense of praise can effect or what impression it may make upon us to consider the excellency and worth the high reasonableness of that temper posture of soul which I am now perswading to a continual desirousness of that blessed glorious state 1. As to the former Let us bethink our selves can we answer it to God or to our own souls that we should indulge our selves in a continual negligence of our eternal blessedness A blessedness consisting in the Vision and Participation of the Divine Glory Have we been dreaming all this while that God hath been revealing to us this glorious state and setting this lovely prospect before our eyes Did it become us not to open our eyes while he was opening Heaven to us and representing the state which he designed to bring us to or will we say we have seen it and yet desire it not Have we been deaf and dead while he hath been calling us into eternal glory have all our senses been bound up all this while Hath he been speaking all along to sensless Statues to Stocks and Stones while he expected reasonable living souls should have received the voice and have returned an obedient complying answer And what answer could be expected to such a call a call to his Glory below this We desire it Lord we would fain be there And if we say we have not
been all this while a sleep we saw the light that shone upon us we heard the voice that called to us wherewith shall we then excuse our selves that our desires were not mov'd that our Souls were not presently in a flame was it then that we thought all a meer fixion that we durst not give credit to his word when it brought us the report of the everlasting Glory will we avow this Is this that we will stand by or what else have we left to say have we a more plausible reason to alledge that the discovery of such a glory mov'd us not to desire it then that we believed it not sure this is the truth of our case We should feel this heavenly fire alwayes burning in our breasts If our Infidelity did not quench the coal If we did believe we could not but desire But doth not the thoughts of this shake our very souls and fill us with horrour and trembling We that should be turn'd into indignation and ready to burn our selves with our own flame and all about us if one should give us the lie that we should dare to put the lye upon the Eternal Truth upon him whose Word gave stability and being to the world who made and sustains all things by it That awful Word That Word that shivers Rocks and melts down Mountains that make the inanimate Creation tremble that cna in a moment blast all things and dissolve the frame of Heaven and Earth which in the mean time it upholds is that become with us fabulous lying breath Those God-breath'd Oracles those Heavenly Records which discover and describe this blessed state are they false and foolish Legends must that be pretended at last if men durst that is so totally void of all pretence what should be the gain or advantage accrewing to that Eternal All-sufficient being What accession should be made to that infinite self-fulness by deluding a Worm Were it consistent with his Nature what could be his design to put a cheat upon poor mortal dust If thou dare not impute it to him such a deception had a beginning but what Author canst thou imagine of it or what end did it proceed from a good mind or a bad could a good and honest mind form so horribly wicked a design to impose an universal delusion and lye upon the world in the name of the true and holy God or could a wicked mind frame a design so directly level'd against wickedness or is there any thing so aptly and naturally tending to form the World to sobriety holiness purity of conversation as the discovery of this future state of glory and since the belief of future felicity is known to obtain universally among men who could be the Author of so common a deception If thou had'st the mind to impose a lie upon all the world what course would'st thou take how would'st thou lay the design or why dost thou in this case imagine what thou knowest not how to imagine And dost thou not without scruple believe many things of which thou never had'st so unquestionable evidence or must that Faith which is the foundation of thy Religion and eternal hopes be the most suspected shaking thing with thee and have of all other the least stability and rootedness in thy soul If thou can'st not excuse thy infidelity be ashamed of thy so cold and sluggish desires of this glorious state And doth it not argue a low sordid Spirit not to desire and aim at the perfection thou art capable of not to desire that blessedness which alone is suitable and satisfying to a reasonable and spiritual being Bethink thy self a little how low art thou sunk into the dirt of the earth how art thou plunged into the mity Ditch that even thine own clothes might adhor thee Is the Father of Spirits thy Father Is the world of Spirits thy Country Hast thou any relation to that Heavenly Progeny Art thou ally'd to that blessed Family and yet undesirous of the same blessedness Can'st thou savour nothing but what smells of the Earth Is nothing grateful to thy Soul but what is corrupted by so vicious and impure a tincture are all thy delights centred in a Dunghill and the polluted pleasures of a filthy world better to thee then the eternal visions and enjoyments of Heaven what art thou all made of Earth Is thy soul stupifi'd into a Clod hast thou no sense with thee of any thing better and more excellent can'st thou look upon no glorious thing with a pleased eye Are things onely desirable and lovely to thee as they are deformed O consider the corrupted distempered state of thy Spirit and how vile a disposition it hath contracted to it self Thine looks too like the Mundan◠Spirit The Spirit of the World The Apostle speaks of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of distinction we have not received the Spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God that we might know or see and no doubt 't is desire that animates that eye 't is not bare speculative intuition and no more the things freely given us of God Surely he whose desire doth not guide his eye to the beholding of those things hath received the Spirit of the world onely A Spirit that conforms him to this world makes him think onely thoughts of this world and drive the designs of this world and speak the language of this world A Spirit that connaturalizes him to the world makes him of a temper suitable to it He breathes onely worldly breath carries a worldly aspect is of a worldly conversation O poor low spirit that such a world should with-hold thee from the desire and pursuit of such glory Art thou not ashamed to think what thy desires are wont to pitch upon while they decline and wave this blessedness Methinks thy very shame should compel thee to quit the name of a Saint or a Man To forbear numbring thy self with any that pretend to immortality and go seek Pasture among the Beasts of the Field with them that live that low animal life that thou dost and expect no other And while thou so fallest in with the world how highly dost thou gratifie the pretending and usurping God of it The great fomentor of the sensual worldy genius The Spirit it self that works in the children of disobedienence and makes them follow the course of the world hold them fast bound in worldly lusts and leaves them captive at his will causes them after his own Serpentine manner to creep and crawl in the dust of the Earth He is most intimate to this apostate world informs it as it were and actuates it in every part i◠even one great soul to it The whole world lies in that wicked one as the body by best Philosophers is said to be in the Soul The world is said to be convicted when he is judged He having fall'n from a state of blessedness in God hath involv'd the world with himself
upon mens spirits they are certainly supposed to be in a good measure acquainted with themselves whatever others are Therefore the Apostle bids the Corinthians if they desire a proof of the power and truth of his ministery to consult themselves examine your selves and presently subjoyns know ye not your own selves intimating it was an unsupposeable thing they should be ignorant What Christians and not know your selves Can you have been under the Gospel so long and be strangers to yourselves none can think it Sure 't is a most reproachful thing a thing full of ignonimy and scandal that a man should name himself a Christian and yet be under grosse ignorance touching the temper and bent of his own soul. It signifies that such a one understands little of the design and tendency of the very religion he pretends to be of Yet he was a Christian by meer chance that he took up and continues his profession in a dream Christianity aims at nothing it gets a man nothing if it do not procure him a better Spirit 't is an empty insignificant thing it hath no design in it at all if it do not design this It pretends to nothing else It doth not offer men secular advantages emoluments honours it hath no such aim to make men in that sense rich or great or honourable but to make them holy and fit them for God He therefore loses all his labour and reward and shews himself a vain trifler in the matters of Religion that makes not this the scope and mark of his Christian profession and practice and herein he can do nothing without a constant self-inspection As it therefore highly concerns it well becomes a Christian under the Gospel to be in a continual observation and study of himself that he may know to what purpose he is a Christian and take notice what or whether any good impressions be yet made upon his Spirit whether he gain any thing by his Religion And if a man enter upon an enquirie into himself what more important question can he put then this In what posture am I as to my last and chief end how is my Spirit framed towards it This is the intendment and business of the Gospel To fit souls for blessedness and therefore if I would enquire what am I the better for the Gospel this is the sense and meaning of that very question is my soul wrought by it to any better disposition for blessedness Upon which the resolution of this depends am I ever likely to enjoy it yea or no That which may make any heart not deplorably stupid shake and tremble that such a thing should be drawn into question but the case with the most requires it and it must be so 'T is that therefore I would fain here awaken souls to and assist them in that is propound something in pursuance of the present direction which might both awaken them to move this great question and help them in discussing it Both which will be done in shewing the importance of this latter ultimate question in it self and then the subserviencie of the former subordinate one towards the deciding it These two things therefore I shall a little stay upon 1. To shew and urge the requisiteness of debating with ourselves the likelihood or hopefulnesse of our enjoying this blessednesse 2. To discover that the present habitude or disposedness of our Spirits to it is a very proper apt medium whereby to judge thereof First As to the former of these methinks our business should do it self and that the very mention of such a blessedness should naturally prompt souls to bethink themselves doth it belong to me have I any thing to do with it Methinks every one that hears of it should be beforehand with me and prevent me here Where is that stupid soul that reckons it an indifferent thing to attain this blessed state or fall short of it When thou hearest this is the common expectation of Saints to behold the face of God and be satisfi'd with his likeness when they awake Canst thou forbear to say with thy self and what shall become of me when I awake what kind of awaking shall I have shall I awake amid'st the beams of glory or flames of wrath If thou canst be perswaded to think this no matter of indifferency then stir up thy drowsie soul to a serious inquirie how 't is likely to fare with thee for ever and to that purpose put thy conscience to it to give a free sincere answer to these few Queries 1. Canst thou say thou art already certain of thy eternal blessedness Art thou so sure that thou need'st not enquire I know not who thou art that now readest these lines and therefore cannot judg of thy confidence whether it be right or wrong onely that thou may'st not answer too hastily consider a little that certainty of salvation is no common thing not among I speak you see of subjective certainty the heirs of salvation themselves How many of Gods holy ones that cannot say they are certain yea how few that can say they are That exhortation to a Church of Saints Work out your salvation with fear and trembling they of whom he expresseth such confidence Chap. 1. 6. over whom he so glories Chap. 4. 1. implyes this to be no common thing So doth Christs advice to his Disciples Strive to enter in at the strait gate and St. Peters to the scattered Jews that he saith had obtained like precious faith c. give diligence to make your calling and election sure with many more passages of like import Yea how full is the Scripture of the complaints of such crying out of broken bones of festering wounds of distraction by divine terrours Now what shall we say in this case when so eminent Saints have left us Records of the distresses and agonies of their Spirits under the apprehended displeasure of God may it not occasion us to suspend a while and consider have we much more reason to be confident then they And do we know none that lead stricter and more holy lives then we that are yet in the dark and at a losse in judging their Spiritual states I will not say that we must therefore think our selves bound to doubt because another possibly ter then we doth so Unknown accidents may much vary the cases But who would not think that reason and modesty had quite forsaken the world to hear where the odds is so vastly great the vain boasts of the loose generality compared with the humble solicitous doubts of many serious knowing Christians To see such trembling about their soul concernments who have walk't with God and served him long in prayers and tears when multitudes that have nothing whereon to bottom a confidence but Pride and Ignorance shall pretend themselves certain If drawing breath a while thou wilt suspect thou have reason not to be peremptory in thy confidence thou wilt sure think thy self concern'd to inquire further Urge