Body of Sin and Death shall never enter with you into Life the Motions of Sin shall for ever cease in that Eternal Rest Are you here oppressed with Sorrows Do Afflictions overwhelm you Why there God shall kiss your blubbered Eyes dry again and wipe with his own Hands all Tears from your Eyes Are you pester'd here with Temptations and doth the evil One without intermission haunt you with black and hellish Thoughts with dreadful and horrible Dejections There you shall be quite beyond the Cast of all his fiery Darts and instead of these you shall have within you an ever-living Fountain bubling up spiritual and sprightly Contemplations and holy Raptures for ever such as you never knew when you were here upon Earth no not when you were in the most spiritual and heavenly Frame Are you here clouded and cast down with Desertions and doth God sometimes hide his Face from you in Displeasure In Heaven there shall be an everlasting Sun-shine God shall look freely and stedfastly upon you and you shall no more see him through a Glass darkly but Face to Face without any interruption or obscurity Think O Soul and then think of any Thing else if thou canst What is it to see the Father of Lights in his own Rays What is it to see the Sun of Righteousness lie in the Bosom of the Father of Lights What is it to feel the eternal Warmth and Influence of the Holy Ghost springing from both these Lights What is it to converse with Holy Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect to join with them in singing the same Hallelujahs for ever And when you have thought all this think once more Heaven is all this and more also Well then since Heaven is such and since such a Heaven as this is may be yours what should I say more but only with the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.1 Having these Promises dearly Beloved Promises of so certain and vast a Glory as this is let us cleanse and purify our selves from all filthiness and pollution both of Flesh and Spirit and perfect Holiness in the fear of God Is this Heaven attainable upon your Working Will God give it into Wages after working Will he share Stars nay will he share himself and his Christ among you Truly methinks Christians should not have patience to hear any more methinks it is too much dulness to indure another Motive besides this Why do you not interrupt me then Why do you not cry out What shall we do that we may work the Works of God Why do you not say and pray Lord work in us both to will and to do of thy good pleasure Why is there not such a holy Tumour and Disturbance among you some Questioning some Praying some Resolveing all some way or other testifying a sense of Salvation upon you But alas there is a general Silence Men and Women set as quiet in their Seats as if their Seats were filled rather with Monuments than with Men as if Heaven and eternal Salvation were of no Concernment for them to look after And wherefore is all this but because their Sight is short and their Faith weak They do not see afar off nor believe a far off Heaven they look upon as at a great distance and very unwilling they are to go so long upon Trust and sensual Persons as they are they look for present Reward and present Wages and will not stir till they have received it And this is the Reason why the Consideration of this great and infinite Glory affects Men no more they look for something present Well be it so Will God's Work bring in no present Profit The Reward in working for Salvation is great Yes it will and that such as you your selves shall acknowledge to be great And therefore Secondly Besides those set Wages that are to be received at the end of our Lives there are many Vails and occasional Incomes that accrew to God's Servants in the performance of their Work As First 1. God will provide for us while we are working Such are assured that God will provide for them while they are doing of his Work he hath assured them of the Mercies and good Things of this Life by Promise I do not say of the troublesome abundance of them but of the Enjoyment of them so far forth as they are Mercies and good Things Godliness says the Apostle is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4.8 having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come It hath the Promises of this Life and that is a large Charter by vertue whereof God feeds them and cloaths them and provides Sustenance and comfortable Enjoyments for all those that work in his Service And therefore that I may note it by the way most Men are greatly mistaken that labour and toil in the World to get Riches and great Estates this is not the right thriving Course if you would grow Rich First seek the kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof work out your own Salvation Labour for the true Riches and this will not only increase and improve your inward Graces but inincrease and improve your outward Mercies also It is true indeed Earth Worms may by carking and caring by pinching and drudging increase their heap of Dirt but let who will for my part I will not nor cannot call that Man a rich Man that hath more Curses than Enjoyments Well thus we see what great Vails God gives his Servants he gives them not only those of another Life but those of this Life so far as they are Mercies and that is one Vail Secondly As God provides for his Servants while they are working so their very Work is Wages and Reward enough for it self If God should only give us our Labour for our Pains as we use to say and never bestow a Penny more upon us than what we get in his Service we were even in that sufficiently rewarded It was certainly a violent Pang of distempered Zeal in that Person that carried Fire in the one Hand and Water in the other and being demanded a Reason of it his Answer was He would burn up Paradise and quench Hell-fire that so God might be served and Holiness embraced upon no other Motives than themselves This was a violent Pang and cannot be allowed this Fire was strange Fire and this Water was too much muddied to be Water of the Sanctuary But yet certainly that Man who abstracting from the Consideration of Heaven and Hell eternal Rewards and Punishments would not rather choose the Works of God and the Ways of Holiness than the Works of Sin and the Ways of Iniquity let that Man know he never yet had much Acquaintance with that Way and with that Work What says holy David concerning the Commandments of God In keeping them there is great Reward not only after keeping them when those Commands that have here been the Rule of our Holiness and Obedience
follow them They rest from their Labours First They rest from their Labour in working under Affliction 1. No Affliction in Heaven Sometimes Afflictions are Spurs and Incentives and sometimes they are Burthens and Discouragements to Obedience But when we arrive at Heaven we shall no longer need the Spur to quicken us nor shall we any longer bare that Burthen to oppress us but cast it down at Heavens Gate where never Sorrow nor Suffering durst yet appear And 2. No Desertion in Heaven Secondly In Heaven you shall rest from your Labour in working under Desertion Now though you do work yet it may be you apprehend God frowning upon you and finding fault with all that you do Now it may be though God doth cause the clear Light of his Precepts and Spirit to shine before you to direct you what your Work is that you should do yet he makes it dismal Darkness behind you and shuts up the Light of his Comfort that you cannot see what Work you have done and this is your great Trouble you work and labour and yet you know not whether you shall be accepted Obedience were easy and pleasant Work says the Soul if I knew that God did regard me but alas I pray and he shuts out my Prayer from him I lay hold upon him but he shakes me off in displeasure I obey but he rejects all my Services and this is the Anguish and Torture of my Life This indeed is Matter of great Grief and Trouble But know Oh Soul thou shalt not long work thus in the dark shortly thou shalt be above these Clouds and then thou shalt see that those Prayers that thou thought'st were vainly scatter'd and lost in the Air are become a Cloud of sweet Incense hovering before the Throne of God And those Tears that thou thought'st were dropt in vain upon the Earth are all gathered up and preserved in God's Bottle And those poor Duties of thine that for their own meanness and vileness thou thought'st God would scorn yet thro' that worth that is put upon them by the Intercession of Christ are ranked in the same degree of Acceptation as the most perfect Services of the Angels themselves are Have but patience a while and continue working and thou shalt see a happy Issue when the Clouds of Darkness and Desertion that now lie upon thy Spirit shall be all scattered and blown away 3. In Heaven there is Rest from Sin Thirdly You shall also rest from your Labour in working against the continual Workings of your own Corruptions which shall then at once both cease to act and cease to be And this indeed is the great Thing that makes it such a blessed Rest to the People of God Indeed God cuts you out your Work in his Commands but it is the old Man within you that makes it to be tedious irksome and difficult unto you God makes it not so but your Corruption makes it so and this it doth two ways First By deadning your Heart to it And Secondly By turning your Heart against it Deadness and dulness to and averseness from the ways of holy Obedience are the greatest cause of all that Toil and Pains that most take in the Work and Service of God if ever they will bring it to a good issue Now both these shall shortly cease and be removed if you but wait and continue striving against them 1. In Heaven there is Rest from labouring with a dead heart in the ways of God First You shall rest from all that Labour that you take with a dead and heavy Heart in the ways of God Now you are continually calling upon it Awake awake my Glory now you are continually tugging of it to get it a little more forward lifting of it up to get it a little higher towards God and Heaven Now you stand in need of continual quickning Grace to actuate and excite those Lumps of Lead that lie heavy within your Breasts and it is the greatest disquietment of your Lives that you find your Hearts so heartless and listless to what is holy and spiritual It is with them as with some great Bells that you must pull long at the Rope before you can make them sound Is not this the daily Complaint of God's Children that their Hearts are dull and heavy and they cannot raise them and this makes the ways of Obedience yea this makes their very Lives become burthensome Well have but patience for a while and continue still to struggle against this sad Indisposition and it will not be long before you shall rest from this Labour also Though now you are as Birds whose Bodies are too heavy for their Wings when you stretch them forth and would fain be soaring up to Heaven you can only run up and down and flutter upon the Earth yet shortly these heavy and cloggy Bodies shall fall off and you shall be all Wing free from all Deadness and Straitness Distraction and Weariness in the Ways of God that now afflict you Then shall your Affections be always intent and not languish always burning and yet never waste nor consume every Motion of your Soul shall then shoot themselves to God as quick as the Lightning and yet constant as the Sun-beams And those who are now out-stript by weak and underling Christians shall then be able to keep pace in their Obedience even with the Holy Angels themselves 2. In Heaven there shall be a resting from the opposition of our Heart against Duty And then Secondly In Heaven there shall be a resting from all that Labour that the People of God now take in the ways of holy Obedience through the averseness of their Hearts from them and the opposition of their Hearts against them There is that contradiction in the carnal part against what is holy and spiritual that the Godly cannot bring themselves to the performance of it without much Strife and Contention the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and when the spiritual part calleth for holy Thoughts and heavenly Affections the corrupt and fleshy part sends forth noisome and stinking Vapours obstructing the Good that we would do and infecting that little Good that we do perform So that as if working were not a sufficient Imployment a Christian must Fight that he may Work and this is it that makes working for Salvation so laborious because we must Fight and Work at once But it shall not be long before that which hinders shall be removed and then as you are not under a sad necessity of offending God so also you shall be under a most blessed necessity of serving God and shall find no more trouble in that Service than in those Actions which you now cannot but do And thus shall you have a happy Rest from all that Labour and Pains that your Corruptions here made you take And therefore be incouraged to persevere in well-doing perfect the Work you have undertaken in spight of all opposition from your own corrupt Hearts
attain in Glory where our whole Work to all Eternity shall be to love and please God or else that Perfection that consists in its Sincerity in this Life If we take it for that perfection of Love that shall for ever burn in our Hearts when we our selves shall be made perfect so it is certain it will cast out all tormenting Fears for certainly if in Heaven Hope it self shall be abolished much more shall Fear be abolished for there every Saint shall have much more than a full assurance even a full fruition of Glory and they shall know themselves to be for ever confirmed in that blessed state which shall prevent all doubts and fears If we understand it of that perfection of Love that we may attain to in this Life so also the strong and vigorous actings of Love to God casteth out all tormenting Fears It is not possible that that Soul that actually loves God with a vigorous and most ardent Affection should at the same time be rack'd with distracting fears of Hell and Damnation for it is the sense of God's Love unto the Soul that draws from it reciprocal Love again unto God We love him says the Apostle because he first loved us That is as strong as our apprehensions are of God's Love to us so strong will our Love be in its returns to God again Water riseth naturally as high as its Spring wherefore the assurance of God's Love being the Spring from whence our Love flows such as is our Love such will be our assurance also If then our Love be strong in its actings it must needs cast out Fear because it flows from that assurance with which tormenting Fear is utterly inconsistent But then there is another kind of Fear that is not tormenting and that is an awful frame of Heart struck with reverential apprehensions of God's infinite Majesty and our own vileness and unworthiness and this perfect Love doth not cast out but perfects this awful sedate calm fear of God The Angels and the glorified Saints in Heaven whose Love is so perfect that it can neither admit of an increase or abatement yet they stand in aw and fear of the terrible Majesty of the great God the same infinit Excelencies of the divine Nature that attract their Love doth also excite their Fear See how the Prophet makes this an Argument to fear God Jer. 10.7 Who would not fear thee O King of Saints For said he in all the Earth there is none like unto thee One would rather think Gods unparallel Excellencies and Perfections should be a Motive to Love who would not love thee O King of Saints since there is none in all the Earth like thee Yea but filial Fear and filial Love are of so near a kind and cognation that they may well be enforced by one and the same Argument Who would not fear thee for in all the Earth there is none like thee This is the Excellency of divine Love it is an attractive of Love and it is an excitement unto Fear Well then though we have no chilling Fear of a hot and scorching Hell yet let us have an awful reverential Fear of the glorious God whose Excellencies are such as cannot be matched nor scarcely imitable by any in Heaven or in Earth Thirdly 3. A holy Fear of God is not contrary to the Spirit of Adoption The Fear of God is not contrary to that free Spirit of Adoption which we receive in our first Conversion It may perhaps seem to some that the Apostle opposeth them in Rom. 8.15 You have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to Fear but the Spirit of Adoption whereby you cry Abba Father To this I Answer That by the Spirit of Bondage here the Apostle means the legal Work of the holy Ghost in Conviction that is preparatory to Conversion which Work usually is accompanied with dreadful Terrors apprehending God not as a reconciled Father but as an incensed and severe Judge why now says the Apostle You have not received this Spirit of Bondage again thus to fear this is not that Fear that the consideration of God as your God and reconciled Father excited to you this is not that Fear that the Apostle exhorts Christians unto but an awful reverential Fear of God whereby we should stand in aw of his dread Majesty so as to be preserved from whatever may be an offence to his Purity and if in any Night of Desertion it should happen that the Hearts of true Believers should be overwhelmed with dismal Fears apprehending God as enraged and incensed against them standing in doubt of the goodness of their spiritual Condition if this seize upon them after they have had the Spirit of Adoption let them know this Fear is not from a Work of the Holy Ghost in them they have not received the Spirit of Bondage again so to fear it is not a Work of the Holy Ghost to excite in them doubts and fears of their spiritual Condition after they have once had assurance of the goodness thereof but it ariseth either from some Ignorance or from some Sin that they have committed that interposeth betwixt them and the clear sight of the discoveries of God's Love Now for the better understanding of this place because I judge it pertinent to my present purpose I shall open it to you somewhat largely in these following Particulars 1. The Work of Conversion is usually carried on by legal Fear and Terrors First The preparatory Work of Conversion is usually carried on in the Soul by legal Fears and Terrors I call that a legal Fear that is wrought in the Soul by the Dread-Threatnings and Denunciations of the Law The Law if we take it in its native Rigour without the merciful qualification of Gospel-grace thunder'd out nothing but Execrations Wrath and Vengeance against every Transgressor of it representing God armed also with his almighty Power to destroy them this is that Glass that shew'd them their old Sins in most ugly Shapes now they see them stare ghastly upon their Consciences that before allured them the Scene is quite changed and there are nothing but dreadful Apparitions of Death and Hell fleeting now before them Hell belsh'd in their very Faces God brandished his flaming Sword over them ready to reeve their Hearts asunder they that lately were secure and fearless now stand quaking under the fearful expectations of that fiery Wrath and Indignation that they neither have hope to escape nor yet have they Strength or Patience to endure This is that legal Fear that the Curse and Threatnings of the Law when set home in their full acrimony work in the Hearts of convinced Sinners Secondly 2. Slavish Fear engenders unto Bondage This legal Fear is slavish and engenders unto Bondage There is Bondage under the reigning Power of Sin and there is a Bondage under the terrifying Power of Sin The former makes a Man a Slave unto the Devil and the latter makes a Man a
Slave unto God And such Slaves are all convinced Sinners that have not yet arrived to the free and filial Spirit of Adoption but are kept under Bondage under the Wrath of God and manacled in the Fetters of their own Fears So saith the Apostle Heb. 2.15 To deliver them who through fear of Death and of Hell that follows after it were all their Life-time subject unto Bondage Thirdly 3. Slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit This slavish Fear is wrought in the Soul by the Spirit of God though it be slavish for it is his Office to convince as well as to comfort and to cast down by the Terrors of the Law as well as to raise up by the Promises of the Gospel In John 16.8 He shall convince the World of Sin and therefore it is said in this place Rom. 8.15 We have not received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear Rom. 8.15 implying that those Terrors that seize upon the Conscience are the Work of the Holy Ghost We bring our selves into Bondage under Sin and he brings us into Bondage under Fear If therefore at any time thou who art a secure Sinner art suddenly surprized with fearful and trembling Thoughts concerning thy present state of Sin and thy future state of Wrath beware thou listen not to any that would persuade thee it is nothing but a Fit of Melancholy or a Temptation of Satan to drive thee to Despair but know assuredly thy Conscience is now under the Hand of the Holy Ghost himself he raiseth those Tempests of Fear in thee and as usually it is fatal to divert and hush them so is it no less than ignorant Blasphemy to impute his Works to Melancholy or to the Temptations of Satan Fourthly When the Soul is prepared for the Work of Grace by the Work of Conviction 4. When the Spirit hath been a Spirit of Bondage it becomes a Spirit of Adoption when it is prepared for Comfort by the Work of Humiliation the same Spirit that was before a Spirit of Bondage becomes now a Spirit of Adoption that is the Holy Ghost persuades and assures us of the love and favour of God and enables us through divine Light beaming in upon our Consciences to behold him as a gracious and a reconciled Father whom before we trembled at as a stern and terrible Judge The same Wind that in a raging Storm tosseth the Sea too and fro in restless Heaps in a Calm doth only gently move and fan it with pleasing Purles So is it here that Spirit of God that in Conviction raiseth a Tempest in the Conscience afterwards the same Spirit breaths forth a sweet Calm of Peace and Comfort upon it The same Spirit that before was a Spirit of Bondage when the Soul is sufficiently thereby prepared for Grace becomes a Spirit of Adoption This is that Spirit of Adoption that is here spoken of and is called so because it witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God by Adoption God hath but one Son by eternal Generation and that is Jesus Christ called therefore The only begotten of the Father John 1.14 He hath many Sons by Creation even all Mankind so Adam is called The Son of God Luke 3.38 He hath many Sons also by Adoption even all that are effectually called according to the purpose of his Grace all that are sanctified who are of Strangers made Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself who is the natural Son of God as it is Rom. 8.17 Now because it is the Work of the Holy Ghost to testifie to us this our great Privilege that we are enrolled in the Family of Heaven and become the Children of God therefore he is called the Spirit of Adoption that is the Spirit that witnesseth to us our Adoption Fifthly To whom the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption 5. Where the Spirit hath once been a Spirit of Adoption it never more becomes a Spirit of Bondage it never more becomes to them a Spirit of Bondage and Fear That is it never again proclaims War after it hath spoken Peace it never represents God as an inraged Enemy after it hath represented him as a reconciled Father It is true the Spirit of God always keeps up his convincing Office in the Soul of the most assured Saint it convinceth them of Sin and of Wrath due to them for Sin A twofold Conviction of Sin But now there is a twofold Conviction there is a Conviction of the Evil of particular Actions and there is a Conviction of the Evil of our State and Condition Why now though upon particular Miscarriages of Gods Children the Holy Ghost secretly smited their Consciences shewing them the Guilt and Evil of their Sins thereby bringing them to Repentance and a godly Sorrow yet the Holy Ghost never again testified to them that they are in a graceless unregenerate and sinful Estate and Condition and in a State of Wrath and Condemnation it brings them to a deep Humiliation by convincing them of the Evil of their Actions but it never brings them into legal Terrors by convincing them of a sinful State neither indeed can it be so for the Spirit of God is a Spirit of Truth and to witness that we are yet Children of Wrath who are indeed the adopted Children of God this were a false Testimony and therefore utterly abhorred by the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Truth Doth the same Fountain send forth sweet Water and bitter Doth there proceed from one and the same Mouth Blessings and Curses Certainly the same Spirit that hath once pronounced us to be in the Love and Favour of God never after pronounceth us to be Cursed and under the Wrath of God Object But you will say Have not the best of God's Children sometimes concluded themselves to be reprobated and cast away Have they not lain under sad and fearful apprehensions of God's Wrath Have not some of them who formerly walked in the Light of God's Countenance and flourished in their Assurance yet afterwards have been so dejected that they would not entertain any comfort or hopes of Mercy and Salvation Answ To this I Answer It is true it may indeed so happen that those Saints whose Joys and Comforts are at one time fresh and verdent at another time wither and drop off so that they look upon themselves as rotten Trees destinated to make Fuel for Hell Whence proceeds this It is not from the Spirit of God but as carnal Men are apt to mistake the first Work of Conviction for Melancholy or for Temptation so this really proceeds from one of these two Causes When the Children of God after full assurance come again not only to entertain Doubts of their Condition but also to despair of themselves looking on themselves as Persons that God hath singled out to Destruction this proceeds not from the Holy Ghost but from Melancholy or Temptation Sometimes natural Melancholy obstructs
the sense of divine Comfort As it is in clear Water when it is still and transparent the Sun shines to the very bottom but if you stir the Mud presently it grows so thick that no Light can pierce into it So is it with the Children of God though their apprehensions of God's Love be as clear and transparent sometimes as the very Air that the Angels and glorified Saints breath in in Heaven yet if once the muddy Humor of Melancholy stirs they become dark so that no Light or Ray of Comfort can break in to the deserted Soul And then sometimes the Devil causeth these Tragedies by his Temptations that so if it were possible he might drive them to Dispair he hated their Graces he envies their Comforts and therefore he would persuade them that all their former Joys were but Delusions proud Dreams and presumptuous Fansies and that they are still in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity and by such Suggestions as these are when he cannot hinder the Work of Grace he strives what he can to hinder the Sense of Comfort When therefore those that have once rejoyced under the comfortable Persuasions of God's Love to them the Holy Ghost witnessing himself to them to be a Spirit of Adoption by being in them a Spirit of Sanctification if they now find themselves under the Bondage of legal Fears and Terrors and slavish Dejections looking upon themselves as under the revenging Wrath of God and as Persons devoted to Destruction let them know such Fears proceed not from the Convictions of the Spirit of God who hath been a Spirit of Adoption but it proceeds from the Delusions of Satan for those that once receive the Spirit of Adoption never receive the Spirit of Bondage again to fear that is to fear with a slavish tormenting Fear Sixthly 6. We ought to fear God tho' we know him to be our God A reverential filial Fear of God may and ought to possess our Souls while the Spirit of God who is a Spirit of Adoption is by the clearest Evidences actually witnessing our Son-ship to us Let Men boast what they will of their high Gospel-attainments yet certainly they have not the genuine Disposition of God's Children whose Love to him is not mingled with Fear and whose Fear of him is not encreased by their Love Love it is the Gage and Measure of all our Affections and according to the proportion of our Love to God such will be our Fear that is the more we love God the more we shall fear his Displeasure and the Loss of his Favour It is in vain for us to pretend love to God as our Father unless we fear him also as our Lord and Master Christ who was his only begotten Son and certainly had much more clear assurance of the love and favour of God than any adopted Sons can possibly have yet the Scripture ascribes an holy awful reverential Fear of God even unto him Heb. 5.7 When he offered up Prayers with strong Cries and Tears and was heard in that he feared it may be render'd he was heard because of his godly Fear So in Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord speaking of Christ If therefore he feared God who was himself to be feared as God equal to him and his eternal Son how much more ought we to fear the great God who are as it were but Up-starts in the Family of Heaven we wretched and forlorn Out-casts that were but lately raked out of the Dunghil and by meer Pity taken up into the Bosom of God and nurtured as his Children And thus you see the Fear of God is not in the least contrary to the free Spirit of Adoption Fourthly 4. A Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing in God An awful Fear of God is no Impediment to a holy Rejoycing Indeed slavish Fear damps all true Joy Those that Fear and expect the Revengings of God cannot have any true Joy they may have a kind of mad Jollity that spends it self in Noise and Tumults that may roar out Songs of Mirth only to drown the loud Roarings of their own Consciences Such as these are like your new Liquor that works over into Foam and Froth when the bottom is thick and troubl'd So in this false Joy the Countenance runs over with Laughter when yet the Heart is brim full of the Wrath of God of such the wise Man speaks Prov. 14.13 Prov. 14.13 Even in Laughter the Heart is sorrowful But now a filial fear of God puts no check at all upon our holy Rejoycing in him spiritual Joy is not of that flashy Nature but it is a sober and a severe Grace it is Joy mixed with Fear and because of the mixture of these two together the fear of God with joy in the Lord therefore we find these two are promiscuously ascribed each to other so in Isa 60.5 Their Hearts shall fear and be enlarged You know it is the property of Joy to extend and enlarge the Heart Fear contracts and draws it together but here Fear is said to dilate the Heart to denote to us that a Christians Fear is always conjoyned and mingled together with his Joy And so on the other Hand it is said Psal 2.11 Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord with Fear and rejoyce with Trembling Fear with Trembling is more proper and natural but because of the mixture of these two Graces in the Heart of a Christian therefore the Holy Ghost thus expresseth it Rejoyce with Trembling for great Joys as well as great Fears cause a kind of trembling and fluttering in the Heart As it was with the two Women whom the Angels assured of Christ's Resurrection Mat. 28.8 Mat. 28.8 They departed from the Sepulchre with Fear and great Joy So is it with those Christians who by the Eye of Faith looking upon the Death and into the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ are assured that he is risen for their Justification cannot but have their Hearts filled with a quaking and a fearful Joy Even a Christians strong Praises are breathed out with a shaking and a trembling Voice so that godly Fear is no Impediment to a holy and a severe Rejoycing in God as our Saviour Fifthly 5. Godly fear lays no check on our freedom and boldness with God Godly Fear lays no check upon our holy freedom and boldness with God God hath established a Throne of Grace whereon he sets and unto which he invites his People to approach with a becoming Confidence Heb. 4.16 Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace As that Emperor counted his Clemency disparaged when any delivered a Petition to him with a shaking Hand as though he doubted of his Favour so God loves when we make our Addresses to him that we should do it with full assurance of Faith nothing doubting of acceptance with him and of an Answer
from accusing and condemning of you So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE UPON Perseverance IN PRAYER WITH Exhortations thereunto ON 1 THESSAL v. 17. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE UPON Perseverance IN PRAYER 1 THESS v. 17. Pray without ceasing THIS Text is one of those many Commands that the Apostle lays down in this Chapter being now almost at the end and close of his Epistle and not willing to omit the mentioning of Duties so necessary for their Practice he pours them out in short but weighty Exhortations the Connexion betwixt most of them is dark if there be any I shall not therefore vex the Words by tacking them either to the precedent or subsequent Verses by any forced Coherence but take them as they are in themselves in one entire Proposition and so they contain in them a Duty and that is Prayer and the manner also of performing of it and that is without ceasing and both of these do administer to us this plain Doctrin Doctrin That it is a Christians Duty to pray incessantly This is a plain and necessary Point and I intend to handle it in as plain and familiar a Method And there are two Things that I shall enquire into First What it is to Pray And then Secondly What it is to Pray without ceasing 1. What it is to Pray 1. I shall begin with the First What it is to Pray I Answer To Pray is by the Assistance and Help of the Holy Ghost in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ with Faith and Fervency to make an humble representation of our Desires unto God for those Things that are according to his Will with submission to his Pleasure and with reference to his Honour This is that holy Duty of Prayer in which of all that belong to Religion the Soul usually enjoys the most near and sweet Communion with God When we are oppressed with Guilt or overwhelmed with Fears and Griefs what sweeter Retreat than to betake our selves to our God and to our Father into whose Bosom we may unload all our Burdens It is the greatest solace of an afflicted Mind to lie prostrate before the Lord and melt it self down in holy Tears and in holy Affections at his Feet Hence it is said of Hannah 1 Sam. 1.18 That after she had poured out her Soul before God her Countenance was no more sad And therefore this is not so much our Duty as our Privilege it is the Happiness of the glorious Angels in Heaven and of the Spirits of just Men made perfect that they are always near unto God in their Attendance upon him that they are Waiters about his Throne And Prayer gives to us the very same high Privilege and brings us into the Presence and before the Throne of the same God only with this difference they draw near to a Throne of Glory and we draw near to a Throne of Grace Let us now take a more particular View of this excellent Duty of Prayer according to the Description given of it 1. The efficient cause of Prayer is the Spirit First The efficient cause of Prayer is the Holy Ghost then we Pray when we breath out those Requests unto God that the Holy Ghost hath breathed unto us and therefore it is said Rom. 8.26 The Spirit helpeth our Infirmities Rom. 8.26 for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Sighs and Groans that cannot be uttered All Prayers that are not dictated by the Holy Ghost is but howling in God's esteem And though wicked Men in their Distresses may be very passionate and very vehement in their Requests yet they have no Promise that their Prayers shall prevail with God Sometimes indeed God doth hear them and out of his common Bounty and Goodness grants to them those temporal good Things that they crave he that hears the young Ravens when they cry he that hears the lowing of the Oxen sometimes also hears wicked Men under their Afflictions when they roar to him as wild Bulls in a Net as the Prophet expresseth it but yet such Prayers of wicked Men tho' they are answered yet they are never accepted God accepts no Petitions but such as are presented to him through the Intercession of Christ now Christ makes Intercession for none in Heaven but only for such in whose Hearts the Spirit makes Intercession here upon Earth their Prayers alone ascend up to God as sweet Incense being perfumed with that much Incense that Christ offers up with the Prayers of all the Saints God always hears and answers them either in the very Thing that they pray for or else in what oftentimes is far better when they ask that which will be to their own Hurt then he answers them graciously by denying them In James 16. the Apostle tells us there Jam. 5.16 That the effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much This indeed may seem a needless Tautology to say an effectual Prayer availeth for it is but one and the same thing to avail and to be effectual but if we consult the Original we shall find the Words may be translated The in-wrought Prayer and possibly we may with more Congruity render it thus The Prayer of a righteous Man wrought in him that is to say by the Spirit of God such a Prayer availeth much Secondly As the efficient cause of our Prayers is the Holy Ghost 2. God is the Object of Prayer essentially and personally consider'd so the only Object of our Prayers is God for it is a representation of our Wants and Desires unto him Now God may be consider'd either essentially or personally and under both respects we may direct our Prayers unto him 1. All the Persons in the Trinity are to be prayed unto First If we consider the Persons of the glorious Trinity so they are all adorable with this Act of divine Worship None will deny but that we may direct our Prayers unto God the Father and that God the Son may be distinctly prayed unto we have an uncontroulable Instance in that of S. Stephen Acts 7.59 Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit yea Acts 7.59 and this Adoration is due not only to the Divine Nature of Christ which was from all Eternity the same in Being in Majesty and Glory with the Father but it is also due unto Christ as Mediator as God-Man and so his humane Nature is also joined in the participation of this high Honour through its union to the Divine Nature The very Angels in Heaven are commanded to adore him as God-Man as Mediator Heb. 1.6 Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth in his first begotten into the World that is when he brought him into the World as Man he saith and let all the Angels of God worship him Indeed we no
the Holy Ghost we must pray conditionally if the Lord will for these Things are not absolutely necessary neither are they absolutely promised to us by God neither any degree of Grace or any Consolation of the Spirit is absolutely promised to us But however our Prayers ought to be so much the more fervent and importunate for these Things than for outward temporal Things by how much these are of far greater concernment than the other Thirdly 3. We may also pray for temporal Blessings conditionally To pray for outward and worldly Blessings is not contrary to the Will of God for he hath promised to bestow them But then as his Promise is conditional if it may stand with our good so truly also must our Prayers be conditional that God would give them to us if it may stand with his Will and with our Good whatsoever we thus ask we do it according to the Will of God and we are sure of speeding in our Request either by the obtaining of our Desires or by being blessed with a Denial for alas we are blind and ignorant Creatures and cannot look into the Designs and Drift of Providence and see how God hath laid in order Good and Evil in his own purpose oftentimes we mistake Evil for Good because of the present appearance of Good that it hath yea so short-sighted are we that we can look no farther than outward and present appearance but God who sees through the whole Series and Connexion of his own Counsels he knows many times that those Things we account and desire as Good are really evil and therefore it is our Wisdom to resign up all our Desires to his disposal and to say Lord though such temporal Enjoyments may seem good and desirable to me at present yet thou art infinitely wise and thou knowest what the Consequence and Issue of them will be I beg them if they may stand with thy Will and if thou seest they will be as really good for me as I suppose them now to be if they be not so I beg the Favour of a Denial This is the right Frame that a Christian ought to have upon his Heart when he comes to beg temporal Mercies of God and whilst he thus asks any worldly Comforts he cannot ask amiss It was an excellent Saying of the Satyrist We ask those Things of God says he that please our present Humours and Desires but God gives those things that are best and fittest for us for we are dearer to him saith the Heathen than we are to our selves And says another very well it is mercy in God not to hear us when we ask Things that are evil and when he refuseth us in such Requests it is that he might not circumvent us in our own Prayers for indeed whilst we ask rashly and intemperately whatever we foolishly set our Hearts upon God need take no other course to plague and punish us than by hearing and answering of us So much for the matter of our Prayer it must be for Things that are according to God's Will Fourthly 4. How we must pray Observe also the manner how our Prayers must be directed unto God That is 1. In 〈◊〉 Name of Christ First We must pray in the Name of Christ Before the Fall Man might boldly have gone to God in his own Name and speak to him upon his own account but since the great Breach made betwixt Heaven and Earth since that great Quarrel and Enmity arose betwixt God and Man there is no hope of Man's finding acceptance with God upon his own account and therefore he must go to God in the Name of a Mediator Hence Christ saith If ye ask any thing in my Name I will do it for you John 14.31 Now to ask in the Name of Christ is nothing else but in all our Addresses to God to plead his Merits and to depend upon his Mediation for the obtaining of those good Things that we desire It was truly said God heareth not Sinners John 9.31 John 9.31 And how then can we who are Sinners yea the chiefest of Sinners hope for audience and acceptance with him who heareth none such But yet though God heareth not Sinners yet he always heareth his Son who is continually making Intercession for Sinners yea and he always heareth Sinners that come to him in the Name of his Son and by Faith tender up his Merits through which alone they expect Favour and to prevail with God All Things go by Favour and Friendship in the Court of Heaven if we stand upon our own Merits and Deserts we shall be shamefully disappointed in our Expectations no Merit takes place in Heaven but only the Merit of the Lord Jesus Christ and whilst we argue that by Faith with God we come to him in the Name of his Son Secondly 2. We must pray in Faith Jam. 1.6 Our Prayers must be put up with Faith James 1.6 Let him ask in Faith says the Apostle nothing wavering for let not such a Man that is let not such a Man that wavers think to receive any good Thing of God Heb. 11.6 So in Heb. 11.6 He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him Faith is the Souls Hand whereby it receives those Blessings that God willingly bestows Now this is the Reason why though we do so often pray to God yet we are still so indigent and necessitous God's Ears are not heavy his Arms are not shortned neither are his Bowels dried up no still he hath the same Power the same Will and the same Love to his Children that ever he had but we want a Hand to receive those Mercies that God hath a Heart and a Hand to give forth unto us and that 's the reason of our Necessitousness notwithstanding we do so often come before God in Prayer 3. Prayer must be with Affection and Fervency Rom. 12.14 Thirdly Our Prayers must be put up as with Faith so with Fervency also and therefore it is required that we should be fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.14 and so the forecited place The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much We should strive to kindle in our Souls a holy Flame of heavenly Affections when we come to God in Prayer The Prayers of the Saints were typified under the old Law by Incense but now no Incense was to be offered up without Fire So truly there should be no Prayer offered up to God without the Fire and Flame of holy Affections and Fervency How do you think that a dull and heavy Prayer should mount up as high as Heaven Or that God should hearken or regard what we speak when we scarce regard what we speak our selves That for the manner of our Prayer Fifthly 5. The End of all our Prayers must be the Glory of God We must observe the End that we ought to aim at in our
learned Predecessors for with such has that See been blessed ever since the Reformation And undoubtedly his Death will be extreamly lamented in that Country and sure I am the Poor will have great reason to bewail it for to them he was exceeding generous and charitable and gave great Sums every Year amongst them besides the Tenth of his Revenues which he constantly laid by for such uses and did also allow good Yearly Pensions to Students in the University to Ministers Widows and other distressed Persons and did put Children to Trades and largely contribute to the Building and Repairing of some Churches and designed greater things if God had spared him to return But alas he is gone and our poor unsetled Church has an extraordinary loss in him 'T is a sharp Stroke an additional Judgment to lose him now But to God's Holy Will we must submit as he willingly and chearfully did when Death approached He resigned all with great Christian Courage and discoursed Philosophically and Divinely of the Vanity and Uncertainty of all Sublunary Things and setled all his Desires upon the Things above and not long before his death he discoursed of the Necessity and Sincerity of Repentance and Uniform Obedience in such a manner and inveighed with such any Holy Zeal against the Sins of these Nations as might make the greatest Debauchees of our Age quake and tremble to have heard him And then with reflecting on himself he did with great Grief and Sorrow with Sighs and Tears bewail the least Failures of his Life and spent his Last Days in Self-examination in Repentance and Prayer and with great Devotion received the Holy Sacrament in which he found much Joy and Comfort and had such Inward Peace and Antepasts of Bliss that he longed to be dissolved and to be with Christ and did very often beg of God to take him And on Thursday last his Prayer was heard and God in his Mercy took him out of the Troubles of this Life and called him up amongst the Blessed and changed his Fading Mitre into a Crown of Eternal Glory What then remains but that we imitate his Virtue honour his Memory and commit his Body to his Dormitory there to sleep till the Resurrection when he and all who have been diligent and industrious painful and laborious in the Ministry and have been Precedents of Piety and Holiness of Justice and Integrity will meet their Flocks with Joy and Comfort and for turning them to Righteousness shall shine as Stars for ever and ever Which God grant we may all do c. A TABLE OF THE Discourses Sermons IN THIS VOLUME PRactical Christianity Recommended urg'd and Encourag'd in working out our own Salvation Or A Discourse on Philippians 2.12 13. Wherefore my Beloved as ye have always Obeyed not as in my Presence only but now much more in my Absence work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good Pleasure The Assurance of Heaven and Salvation a powerful Motive to serve God with Fear In a Discourse on Hebrews 12.28 29. Wherefore we having received a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear For our God is a Consuming Fire A Discourse of the Nature Corruption and Renewing of the Conscience With Accounts of the Moment of having a Conscience void of Offence to God and Men from Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience void of Offence towards God and towards Men. A Discourse upon Perseverance in Prayer With Exhortations thereunto On 1 Thess 5.17 Pray without ceasing A Discourse upon the Omnipresence of God With the Improvements thereof From Psal 139.7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there If I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me BOOKS Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. A Practical Exposition on the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer in two Volumes in Quarto The Vanity of the World with other Sermons in 8 vo Sermons or Discourses on several Scriptures in Four Volumes in Octavo The Almost Christian discovered in some Sermons on Acts 26.28 All these written by the Right Reverend Father in God Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-derry Bishop Vsher's Life and Letters By Dr. Parr in Folio 's Body of Divinity or the Sum and Substance of the Christian Religion Folio 's 22 Sermons on several Subjects Fol. Josephus's History of the Jews Folio Dr. Bates's Harmony of the Divine Attributes Octavo Charron of Wisdom in three Books All Dr. Anthony Walker 's Works viz. The Sinfulness and Danger of delaying Repentance The Vertuous Woman or the Life of the Countess of Warwick The Vertuous Wife or the Life of Mrs. Eliz. Walker His Sermons of Water-drinking Preached at Tunbridge-wells c. The Worthy Communicant a Treatise shewing the due Order of Receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The 17th Edition By Jeremiah Dyke The Poor Doubting Christian drawn unto Christ By Thomas Hooker Ovid's Metamorphosis in English Verse By George Sandys Aesop's Fables in Prose with Cuts Solitude improved by Divine Meditation By Nathaniel Ranew late Rector of Felsted in Essex Practical Discourses concerning Death and Heaven By Nathaniel Ranew Correction Instruction or a Treatise of Afflictions By Tho. Case The Principles of Christian Religion with a brief Method of the Doctrine thereof By Bishop Vsher The sinfulness of Sin and the fulness of Christ In two Sermons By W. Bridge Practical Christianity RECOMMENDED Urg'd Encourag'd In working out our own SALVATION OR A DISCOURSE ON Philippians ii 12 13. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. Practical CHRISTIANITY Recommended Vrged and Encouraged In Working out our own SALVATION Phil. ii 12.13 Wherefore my Beloved as ye have always Obeyed not as in my Presence only but now much more in my Absence work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good Pleasure THE whole Sum of Christianity is Comprehended in two Points in Knowledg Introduction and in Obedience The one is Conversant about things Supernaturally Revealed and the other about Duties Supernaturally Performed Now although there be so wide a difference between these two yet where they are suffered to run on in a course they will one fall into the other and Gospel Revelations will make way for and lead unto Gospel Obedience Yea indeed there is no Divine Truth how Abstracted how Sublime and Speculative soever it may
so should a Christian pass from one Duty to another and draw forth the sweetness of Communion with God from every one of them 3. To work for Salvation a difficult Work Thirdly To evince the greatness of this Work consider it is a Work that must be carried on against many Encounters and strong Oppositions that a Christian will certainly meet with within are strong Corruptions without are strong Temptations you have a treacherous and deceitful Heart within and this Traitor holds Intelligence and League with your great Enemy the Devil without You are sure to meet with Difficulties Affronts and Discouragements from a peevish ill-condition'd World in which you live Never any yet could scape free to Heaven without meeting with these Things And doth not all this call upon you to work and strive for Salvation Is it a time to sit still when you have all this Opposition to break through so many Temptations to resist so many Corruptions to mortify Satan that old Serpent to repel and make him become a flying Serpent Doth not all this require a morose Constancy and a kind of sour Resolvedness to go thorough the ways of Obedience notwithstanding all Opposition These great Things are not to be atchieved without great Pains and Labour and therefore if you resolve to do no more than a few heartless Wishes no more than a few more heartless Duties will amount to never raise your Expectations so high as Salvation for let me tell you Salvation will not be obtained at such a rate as this no there must be great Struglings and Labour with earnest Contendings if ever you intend to be saved And thus much for the first Argument taken from the consideration of the greatness of the Work To work Salvation out is a great Work and requireth great Pains But lest the setting out the greatness of this Work should rather deter and fright Men from it than excite and quicken their Endeavours to it let me add a second Thing And that is to consider what an infinite 2. It is infinite Mercy that Sinners may work for Salvation incomparable Mercy it is that God will allow you to work for your Lives that he sets Life and Death before you and gives them into your Hands to take your Choice If you will indulge your Sloth then you choose Death but Life may be yours if you will It will indeed cost you much Pains and Labour but yet it may be yours And is it not infinite Mercy that Salvation and Happiness may be yours though upon any Terms Wicked Men are apt to say O how happy had we been if God had never commanded us to Work if he had never required from us such harsh and difficult Duties if we were but once free from this hard Task and heavy Burden of Obedience But alas foolish Sinners they know not what they say as happy as they count this to be yet if God required no working from them he should then shew them just so much Mercy as he doth to the Devils and damned Spirits and no more from whom God requires no Duty as well as from whom he receives no Duty and unto whom he intends no Mercy You think it a hard Restraint possibly to be kept under the strict Commands of the Law Oh! that God required no such Observances from you But what do you desire herein but only the unhappy Priviledge of the Damned to be without Law and without Commands But should God send to the Spirits now imprison'd and should he declare to them that if they would Work they should be saved oh how would they leap in their Chains at such glad Tidings as these are and count it part of Salvation that there was but a possibility of it No but God commands nothing from them because he intends nothing but Wrath upon them he will not vouchsafe so much Mercy to them as to require those Duties from them that you repine and murmur at as grievous And furthermore consider this if you do not now work but perish under your Sloth in Hell you will think it an infinite Mercy if God would command you more rigid and severe Obedience than ever he commanded from you on Earth It would be a great Mercy there if it might be your Duty to Repent and Pray and Believe nay you would count a Command then to be as comfortable as a Promise for indeed there is no Command but connotes a Promise No but these things shall not so much as be your Duty in Hell for there you shall be freed for ever from this rigorous and dreadful Law of God that now you so much complain of and murmur against Oh! therefore be persuaded while you are yet under the Mercy of the Law give me leave to call it so and while you have so many Promises couched in every Command before God hath left off his merciful Commanding before the time of Duty be expired be persuaded to Work Delay not you know not how long God will vouchsafe to require any thing from you and as soon as that ceaseth truly you are in Hell And this is the second Argument to press this Duty upon you Work and that speedily too while you may Work there is hope that upon your working you may be saved and therefore while God calls upon you and whilst he will accept of Obedience from you it is time for you to begin to work 3. Time to work for Salvation in is very short Thirdly Consider what a short scantling of Time is allowed you to do your great Work in And this I shall branch out into two Particulars First Consider how sad it will be for your Time to be run out before your great Work be done Alas what are threescore Years if we were all sure to live so long from the date of this present moment How short a space is it for us to do that which is of eternal Concernment in and yet how few of us shall live to that which we so improperly call old Age Our Candle is lighted and it is but small at the best and to how many of us is it already sunk in the Socket and brought to a Snuff and how soon the Breath of God may blow it out neither you nor I know Night is hastning upon us the Grave expects us and bids other Corpses make room for us Death is ready to grasp us in its cold Arms and to carry us before God's Tribunal and alas how little of our great Work is done What can any shew that they have done Where are the actings of Faith the labour of Love the perfect Works of Patience Where are those Graces that are either begotten or increased Where are the Corruptions that you have mortify'd These are Works that require Ages to perform them in and yet you neglect them that have but a few Days nay possibly but a few Minutes to do them in But what is God severe Is God unjust to require so
Self-love truly regular when Men love their own Souls as God loves them Now Gods love to the Souls of Men is such that though He wills all Men to be saved yet he wills that none shall be saved but through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth And whilst we love our selves if we observe the same method and order this Self-love is always commendable and necessary Desires after eternal Happiness and Salvation are natural to that Soul that is truly conscious of its own Immortality and eternal unalterable State and Condition and when these Desires are directed to future Happiness through present Holiness then are they regular and become gracious We are not so straitly limited by Gods Sovereignty over us but while we fix one Eye upon our Work we may fix the other on our Reward God is not so strict in his Prerogative over us as to require Service from us from what we have already received from him He is not as a cruel Lord and Master to say Obey me though afterwards you perish see to it that you love and glorifie me though I eternally punish you though considering that infinite distance we stand at from God we could object nothing against the Equity of his Proceedings No but God hath so graciously twisted his Glory and our Duty together that while we promote the one we do also promote the other and while we work for God we do but work for our selves Now are there any that need to be persuaded to love themselves Is it not the great and general Sin that all Men love and seek themselves And do not Men by becoming Self-lovers become Self-destroyers Yes they do so but it is because they seek themselves out of Gods way that therefore they lose themselves for ever Religion and Holiness are not such severe things as to exclude Self-love nay right Self-love is that which is no where to be found separate from true Grace Ministers call upon Men to exercise Self-denial and Self-abhorrence and this the foolish World mistakes as if so be they exhorted them to divorce themselves from themselves to lay aside all respect and consideration of Self and to offer violence to the most common Principles of Self-preservation No would to God we all sought our selves more earnestly and constantly than we do and that we all knew wherein our greatest Interest and Concernment did lie then should we not leave our great Work undone nor gratifie the Sloth of our corrupt Humors and the sinful propensions of our carnal part nor should we think what we do for Sin and Satan we do for our selves no all this is to hate our selves And wicked Men at the last Day shall know they have been their own most bitter and most implacable Enemies that they would not be content with any thing less than their own eternal Ruin A true Christian is the only selfish Man in the World all others they are not Self-lovers but Self-destroyers What shall I say more than this The Apostle asks Did ever any Man hate his own Flesh Did ever any Man delight to gash and burn to wrack and torture himself Truly I may ask the quite contrary Do almost any love their own Spirits their spiritual part their Souls This they wound and gash by many a bloody Sin this they burn and fear by hardness and impenitency this they go about to torture and torment in Hell for ever Oh therefore be persuaded at length to take pity on your selves considering you are but destroying while you think you are embracing of your selves and that will be found but Self-murder at last which you now call Self-love Thirdly A complacential Love to 3. Love to our Work makes it easie and Delight in your Work is a great furtherance of it A wicked Man serves God grudgingly he murmurs at Duties and looks upon them only as Tasks and Burthens thinking every thing he doth for God too much too heavy and weighty The Commands of God are all of them hard Sayings and grievous Impositions that he cannot bear he could believe Christ sooner in any thing than when he tells him Mat. 11.28 My Yoke is easy and my Burthen is light Here he cannot believe Christ Thus much time saith the slothful Sinner must I spend in Prayer and there must I humble my self to God whom I hate and confess before him those Sins that I love and beg that Grace that I have slighted so much time must I spend in reading the Law that I never mean to observe perusing over only the Sentence of my Condemnation and so often must I fix and dwell upon holy and spiritual Thoughts which never at any time darted into or passed intransiently but they did discompose me and leave me a damp and sadness upon my Spirit behind them and therefore because there is not a holy complacency and delight in the Service of God all such Mens Endeavours are both faint inconstant and languish while they are about them and seldom do they re-assume them again But a true Christian works with abundance of Delight and Chearfulness in the Service of God in every Duty his Soul is filled full of holy Affections by which it soars up to Heaven Duties are Meat and Drink to him spiritual Manna in which he takes more satisfaction and contentment than wicked Men do in their Sins and therefore he performs these Duties so earnestly because he doth it with complacency All that he repines at is that natural Necessity sinful Weakness and Infirmities and worldly Employments that do purloin so much of his time from this great Work Now when once the Heart is brought to such a frame and temper as this thus to delight in Obedience and in the Work and Service of God then will this working for Salvation go on with Power Thirdly 3. Working for Salvation must be with Fear and Trembling Another Direction is that in the Text Work for Salvation with Fear and Trembling A trembling Hand best performs a Christians Work Now this Fear is not a Fear of distrust or dispondency for that is so contrary to this Duty of working for Salvation as that it stupifies and benums all Endeavours and is a great Enemy to the performance of this Duty But First It is a Fear of Solicitude and Carefulness as it stands opposed to carnal security and that presumption that is the common and ordinary Destruction of most Men. This holy Fear is the best preservative of true Grace The Apostle therefore tells us Thou standest by Faith Rom. 11.20 be not high-minded but fear implying they would not stand long though they stood by Faith unless they were upheld with godly Fear And the Reason is because it is the property of Fear to foresee and forecast Dangers and to put the Soul in a posture of defence and security before they approach For as the wise Man tells us The prudent Man foreseeth the Evil and hideth himself Prov. 20.3
is the only Time and Season for working Secondly As you must work speedily without delay so you must work constantly without cessation or intermission To stand still is to backslide and to cease working is to undo and unravel what you have wrought You are not like Men that row in a still Water that tho' they slack their Course yet they find themselves in the same station but you are to go against Tide and Stream the Tide of your own Corruptions and the Stream of other Mens Actions and Examples and the least intermission here will be to your Loss hereby you will be carried down the Tide much yea and much Pains and Labour will scarce suffice to regain what a little Sloth hath lost So much for this Text. The Lord make what hath been spoken profitable Amen THE ASSURANCE OF Heaven and Salvation A Powerful MOTIVE TO Serve God with Fear IN A DISCOURSE ON HEBREWS xii 28. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. THE ASSURANCE OF Heaven and Salvation A Powerful MOTIVE TO Serve God with Fear Heb. 12.28 29. Wherefore we having received a Kingdom that cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire THIS Text contains in it a Doctrin a Use and a Motive The Doctrin is We have received a Kingdom that cannot be moved The Use or Inference from thence is this Therefore let us serve God And the Motive to enforce this Exhortation is in these Words For our God is a consuming fire In the first part which is the Thesis or Position We have received a Kingdom that cannot be moved We must know there is a twofold Kingdom a Kingdom of Grace set up in the Heart of a Saint where Christ alone reigns as sole Monarch and Sovereign and a Kingdom of Glory prepared for us in the highest Heavens where we shall reign as Kings with Christ for ever Saints have a Kingdom in a fourfold Respect If we take it in the former sense for the Kingdom of Grace so the Apostle saith we have a Kingdom that is we have it already in Possession Christ hath established his Dominion over every Believer and though he sits personally upon his Throne in Heaven yet he rules in us by the Vice-gerency and Deputation of his Spirit that received Commission from him and also by the Law of his Word enacted by it If we understand it in the latter sense for the Kingdom of Glory which seems most congruous to the Design of the Apostle so also we have a Kingdom and that in a fourfold sense First By Grace giving us the earnest of it by Faith realizing of it by Hope embracing it and by the Promises assuring of it First 1. Saints have a Kingdom in the first Fruits of it We have a Kingdom of Glory in the Earnest and first Fruits of it The Comforts and Graces of the Spirit are very often in Scripture called the Earnest of our Inheritance So you have it in 2 Cor. 1.22 and in Eph. 1.14 Now an Earnest you know is always part of the Bargain So God to assure us that he is in earnest when he promiseth Heaven and Glory to us hath already given us part of it in the Graces of his Spirit Grace and Glory are one and the same thing in a different Print in a smaller and a greater Letter here we have Heaven in seminal Inchoation hereafter we shall have it in consummate Perfection Glory lies couched and and compacted in Grace as the beauty of a Flower lies couched and eclipsed in the Seed therefore the Psalmist saith Psal 97. That Light is sown for the Righteous that is Psal 97. the Light of Joy and of a future Life are in the Graces of Gods Children as in their Seed and they shall certainly bud and sprout forth into perfect Happiness Secondly We have a Kingdom of Glory 2. Faith realizeth it because Faith realizeth things future and gives an existence and being to things that are not This is that Grace to which nothing is past nor nothing future it contracts all things into present time and makes all actually existent it draws Things that are at a great distance from it near to it self and thus the Galatians Faith represented the death of Christ so visibly to them that the Apostle told them He was crucified among them Gal. 3.1 Gal. 3.1 It dives down into the gulf of future times and fetcheth up things that as yet are not It is much at one to a strong Faith to have Heaven or to believe it this Grace makes Heaven as really present as if it were already in Possession and therefore it is called in Heb. 11.1 The evidence of things not seen and the substance of things hoped for it is the very being of things hoped for the being of those things that as yet have no being Thirdly 3. Hope embraceth it We have a Kingdom as in the view of Faith so also in the embraces of Hope And therefore Hope is called The Anchor of the Soul that entreth into that within the Vail Heb. 6.19 that is Heb. 6.19 into Heaven it lays hold on all that Glory that is there laid up and kept in reversion for us Hope is in it self a solid and substantial Possession for it stirs up the same Affections it excites the same Joy Delight and Complacency as Fruition it self doth It is the Taster of all our Comforts and if they be but temporal it not only tasts them but sometimes quite devours them and leaves us in suspence whether it be not better to be Expectants than Enjoyers Heavenly Hope gives the same real contentment and satisfaction that antedates our Glory and puts us into the Possession of our Inheritance whilst we are yet in our Nonage only it doth not spend and devour its Object before Hand as earthly Hope doth Fourthly 4. God hath assured them of it by Promise We have a Kingdom of Glory because God hath assured to us the possession of it by his immutable word of Promise And therefore it is called Eternal Life which God that cannot lie hath promised Tit. 1.2 Gods Word is as good Security as actual Possession It is this Word that gives us Right and Title to it and this Right we may well call ours Hence we have it and it is observable Mark 16.16 He that believeth shall be saved Here is assurance of Salvation for the future But in John 3.18 Joh. 3.18 there it is He that believeth not is condemned already He that believeth shall be saved he that believeth not is condemned already why Unbelievers are no more actually condemned than Believers are actually saved only what God promiseth or what God threatneth it is all one whether he saith it is done or it shall be done for Damnation is
Fear of God It is the same Exhortation that Solomon gives us Prov. 23.17 Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the Day long This is a true Christians frame when in all the Affairs and Actions of our Lives in what Company soever we are in or whatever we are doing the Fear of God is still upon us when in all our Converse in the World this Fear of God doth still fill and possess our Hearts I shall only give you a few Particulars and leave them to your serious Consideration First This holy Fear of God will keep you from a vain and frothy Spirit The Fear of God will keep you from a vain and frothy Spirit The Heart of Man is the great Receptacle of Thoughts the most part of them are light and feathery they fly up and down as thick and to as little purpose as Moats in a Sun-beam It is strange to observe what a giddy Thing the Mind of Man is As an empty Vessel rolls too and fro and is tossed up and down by every Wave never sailing steadily so is the vain Mind of Man driven by every foolish and impertinent Thought till the fear of God that is the Ballast of the Soul poise it and make its Course steady and even Certainly if any thing be of force to compose the Heart into a sober serious Frame it is the consideration of God's great and dreadful Majesty the fear of which will fill us with noble and substantial Thoughts how we may escape his Wrath and how we may secure to our selves eternal Happiness These are important Thoughts and they ought to be our great and only Care that so we may approve our selves to God and be at the last Day found of him in well-doing Before the Heart is ballasted with this Fear of God it runs after every vagrant Thought that comes cross us or fleets before us as Children run after every Feather that the Wind drives But now the Fear of God fixeth this fleetiness and brings the Heart to a holy consistency and solidity in its Thoughts It is this Fear that united the Heart and therefore David prays Psal 86.11 Vnite my Heart unto thee that I may fear thy Name Secondly The Fear of God is an excellent Preservative against all Sin The Fear of God is an excellent Preservative against all Sin Slavish Fear may keep wicked Men from committing gross and flagitious Crimes but this holy Fear over-awes the Heart from secret and hidden Sins yea from the Sins of the Heart that none can see but only God and a Man 's own Conscience and therefore it is said Psal Psal 19.9 19.9 The fear of the Lord is clean that is it keeps the Soul clean from the defilement of Sin Now there are Defilements of two sorts Defilements of the Flesh when Men wallow in gross and sensual Sins and Defilements also of the Spirit and such are they that reside in the Heart and break not forth into outward Act Now from both these the Fear of God cleanseth us So in 2 Cor. 2 Cor. 7.1 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves says the Apostle from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God And indeed where-ever the Fear of God is implanted it will over-awe us as well from offending God in our Thoughts as in our Actions and make us that we shall be as afraid of Sinning against him by Unbelief and Impenitency as well as by Murder and Blasphemy Thirdly This holy Fear of God is a most sovereign Preservative against Hypocrisie The Fear of God is a most sovereign Preservative against Hypocrisie What is Hypocrisie but only a mocking of God to his Face It is a design to put a solemn Cheat upon God Certainly where the Fear of God over-awes the Heart we shall not dare to abuse his holy and reverend Name as Hypocrites do in their making mention of him When we speak of him with our Lips but never think of him with our Hearts this is to abuse the holy and reverend Name of God and it is a sure Argument that they stand in no dread of God whose Hearts meditate Vanity with Eyes and Hands lifted up to Heaven Will any dare in the presence of a Prince while they pretend Reverence to him to use antick Gestures Would not this justly be interpreted a Contempt of him Why all the religious Gestures of Hypocrites are but Antick and while they move their Lips in Prayer without the corresponding motion of the Heart they do but make Mouths at God and how can they fear him that are thus audacious to scoff at him Yea the Scripture sets it down as a remarkable Matter when Hypocrites begin to fear God Isa 33.12.14 Isa 33.12 14. Hear ye and acknowledge my Might says God Why what 's the matter The Sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulness hath surprized the Hypocrites It is much easier to terrifie and daunt profligate Sinners than gross Hypocrites because Hypocrites by often dallying with God wear off all Sense and Dread of God and arrive at length to a plain contempt and scorn of him If therefore you would in every Duty approve your Hearts in Sincerity unto God nourish in you this holy Fear of his Majesty This Fear is that which makes a Christian single-hearted and as the Apostle commands Servants Col. 3.22 Col. 3.22 to obey their Masters not as Men-pleasers but in singleness of Heart fearing God So where this holy Fear of God possesseth the Soul it will cause all our Obedience to be performed in the singleness and integrity of our Hearts not so much to be seen of Men as to be accepted of God It is a remarkable place that in Josh 24.14 Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in Sincerity The Fear of God is of a mighty influence to Sincerity in all our Services and Performances that we render unto God it is that that will make the Heart sincere in them Fear the Lord and serve him in Sincerity Fourthly This holy Fear will put us upon all Endeavors to please God 4. The Fear of God will put us upon all Endeavors to please God and to gain favour with him This is the most natural effect of Fear to engage us to procure their Love whose Power we dread The Devil knew no such way to get himself Worship and Adoration as by terrifying the old Heathens and still he useth the same Artifice in those parts of the World where his Kingdom yet remains he appears in dreadful Shapes and terrifies them on purpose that he may extort from them a blind superstitious Worship So where the Soul is affected with a holy Fear of God it will engage it to please him and to avoid whatever may kindle his Anger And therefore says the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.9 10. 2 Cor. 5.9 10. We labour that we may be accepted of him and why so Yes says he for we must be judged by him
find me God stops his Ears against their Prayers who stop their Ears against his Law So you find it Prov. 28.9 Prov. 28.9 He that turneth away his Ears from hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be an Abomination And this is but Equity with God to refuse to hear them that refuse to hear him Wherefore should God give attention to us when we Pray more than we to him when he Speaks Secondly 2. Prayer must be with Affection If you would have God hear you you must be greatly affected with what you speak your selves Qui frigide rog at docet negare He that asks coldly begs only a Denial Certainly we cannot in reason expect that God should regard when we Pray when we do not regard our selves what we Pray How do you think a lazy Prayer that scarce drops out of your Lips should have Strength and Vigour enough to reach Heaven and to pierce through the Ears of God If you expect to shoot up a Prayer to Heaven you must draw it from a Soul full bent Thirdly 3. We must Pray with Patience We must come to God with Resolutions to wait for an Answer We must not give over Prayer because God doth not presently bestow a Mercy upon us that we desire this is not only to lose the Mercy it self but to lose our Prayers also God is a great God and King above all Gods and it is but his due State to be waited long upon in this Sense it is true He that believeth maketh not haste Certainly if we believe God to be infinitely wise to know the best Season to give us what we crave both for his Advantage and for ours also we shall not be in haste in our Suits or peevish because we are not strait answered but patiently wait God's leisure as knowing that God hath read our Petitions and will grant them when he seeth the fittest time 4. We must not make Requests for our Lusts Fourthly If you would pray so as to be heard be sure you put up no Requests in the behalf of your Lusts The Apostle gives the reason why of so many Prayers that are put up to God so few prove successful Jam. 4.2 James 4.2 You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss to consume it upon your Lusts Now to ask Blessings from God for our Lusts is when we beg any outward Mercy be it Wealth or Health or the like with reference to the gratifying of our own carnal and corrupt Desires therefore in James 4.4 the Apostle calls them Adulterers and Adulteresses Such Men are indeed like Adulteresses in this as they ask their Husbands those Things many times that they bestow upon them that they love better so wicked Men do many times ask those Mercies and Blessings of God that they intend to spend upon their Lusts that they love better than God and therefore it is no wonder that God who knows their secret Thoughts and Intents denies them Fifthly 5. We must put some stress upon our Prayers You must put some stress upon your Prayers if you would have them heard and accepted you must believe that it is to some purpose that you pray If we think it is of no great concernment to pray God will think it is of no great concernment to give what we pray for Sixthly 6. We must not put too much stress upon our Prayers You must take heed also that you do not put too much stress upon your Prayers that you do not set them up in the stead of Christ that you do not expect to merit by your Prayers the Things that you pray for but only look upon them as a Means and Ordinance that God hath appointed to obtain those good Things that you stand in need of 7. We must plead the merit of Christ in our Prayers Lastly You must be sure to make Jesus Christ your Friend when you come unto God or else all your Prayers are no better than scattered in the Air or spilt in the Carringe Benjamin was a Type of Christ in this respect Joseph chargeth his Brethren that they should not dare to see his Face again unless they brought their Brother Benjamin with them So truly they shall find no Welcome with God that do not bring their elder Brother Jesus Christ in the Arms of their Faith and plead his Merit and his Righteousness for the obtaining of their Desires So much for this Time and Text. A DISCOURSE UPON THE Omnipresence OF GOD WITH THE Improvements thereof FROM PSAL. cxxxix 7 8 9 10. By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-derry LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson A. and J. Churchill John Taylor and John Wyat. 1696. A DISCOURSE UPON THE Omnipresence OF GOD. Psal cxxxix 7 8 9 10. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Or whither shall I flee from thy Presence If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me THESE Words declare to us the glorious Attribute of God's Immensity or Omnipresence set forth in most elegant and lofty Terms as if the Prophet would mitigate that Dread that might well seize upon us from the consideration of the terrible Majesty of God being so near us by the sweetness and flourishing of the Expression Whither shall I go from thy Spirit This Question doth not imply that David was indeed contriving how to make an Escape from God nor pondering with himself in what forlorn Corner of the World he might lie obscure where the Presence of God should never apprehend him but this Interrogation serveth for a vehement Assertion Whither shall I go That is there is no Place where I can go or where I can imagine to go but thy Spirit and thy Presence will be with me Whither shall I go from thy Spirit That is either from thee who art a Spirit and so canst pierce and penetrate me be as truly and essentially in the very Bowels and Marrow of my Soul as my Soul is intimately and essentially in my Body From thy Spirit that is from thy Knowledge and thy Power thy Knowledge to detect and observe me thy Power to uphold or to crush me In what dark Corner or Cavern soever I should muffle my self yet thy presence is so universal that it would find me out for it stretcheth it self from Heaven to Hell If I make my Bed in Hell By Hell here may be meant either the Grave which is often so called in Scripture as Acts 2.27 Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see Cortion A Prophecy concerning Christ that is Thou wilt not leave my Person in the Grave so it is interpreted Verse 31. when it is said that his Soul was not left in Hell
neither did his Flesh see Corruption it is spoken so in Gen. 37.35 Jacob speaking concerning the supposed Death of his Son Joseph says I will go down into the Grave to my Son mourning Concerning the Resurrection of Christ from the Grave Gen. 37.35 Job 17.13 that word which we translate the Grave we translate also Hell Now saith the Prophet Though I should go down to the Grave and be covered from the sight and forgotten out of the mind and thoughts of Men yet thou art there and observest every Dust how it molders and crumbles away My Body cannot be more in the Grave than thou art there If we take Hell for the place of the damned God's presence is there likewise One would think if from any place God would exclude himself it should be from Hell since his presence is sufficient to make an Heaven any where but so infinite is his unlimited Being that when the Body is in the Grave and the Soul in Hell yet then is God present both with the Soul and with the Body If I make my Bed in Hell that is If I cover my self never so close and draw the Curtains of the thickest Darkness round about me If my Body should lye in the deepest Intrails of the Earth and my Soul be wrapt about with a Winding-sheet of Smoak and Flames yet thou art there and thy presence would soon find me out Job 26.6 Hell is naked before him and Destruction hath no covering Yea the Apostle tells us 2 Thess 1.9 That the Wicked in Hell shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his Power That is not only that their punishment shall be to be separated from the presence of the Lord but look how they are said to be punished from the glory of his Power so likewise are they to be punished from his Presence their Destruction shall be from the Glory of his Power that is his Power in inflicting most dreadful Punishments upon them and his Power in sustaining them under those Punishments when with one Hand the Lord shall hold them up in Hell and lift up the other as high as Heaven to give them redoubled Strokes of everlasting Vengeance So likewise they shall be punished from the presence of the Lord that is God himself will be present in Hell to torment and punish them that at the very same time that he shall be a cherishing God in Heaven he will be a tormenting God in Hell because in them he hath established his two great Thrones the one of his Mercy the other of his Justice But yet possibly there may be found some neglected place here below where God hath no such concernment to be present in it as he hath to be present in Heaven and in Hell Now saith the Psalmist Verse 9. If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thine Hand lead me and thy Right-hand shall hold me Wings of the Morning is an elegant Metaphor and by them we may conjecture is meant the Sun-beams called Wings because of their swift and speedy motion making their passage so sudden and so instantaneous as that they do prevent the observation of the Eye called the Wings of the Morning because the Dawn of the Morning comes flying in upon these Wings of the Sun and brings Light along with it and by beating and fanning of these Wings scatters the Darkness before it Now saith the Psalmist If I could pluck these Wings of the Morning the Sun-beams if I could imp my own Shoulders with them if I should fly as far and as swift as Light even in an instant to the uttermost parts of the Sea yea if in my flight I could spy out some Solitary Rock so formidable and dismal as if we might almost call in question whether ever a Providence had been there if I could pitch there on the top of it where never any thing had made its abode but Coldness Thunders and Tempests yet there shall thy Hand lead me and thy Right-hand shall hold me Thus you see the Text declares this Ubiquity and Omnipresence of God both in Heaven and Earth and Hell and in all Places and in all Things I shall first handle this Point Doctrinally and then Practically observing this Method I shall 1. Lay down some Positions 2. Demonstrate the Truth of them by some cogent and convincing Arguments 3. Answer some Objections which may be made against the Omnipresence of God 4. Make some Improvement of this Point The first Position I shall lay down is this Position 1. That God is intimately and essentially in all parts and places of the World yea this Presence being essential is also necessary so that it is simply impossible that God should not be wheresoever the Creature is By the World I mean whatsoever was at the beginning created by the Power of God the Heavens the Air the Earth and Sea and all things visible and invisible God is with them and in them all There are three things briefly to be touched upon here First That God is intimately present with the Creatures He passeth through their very Beings and Inward Parts he is in the very Center of their Essence and this flows from the Spirituality of his Essence From hence it is that it is impossible that he should be excluded out of the most close compacted Being Bodies cannot thus enter one another because of their gross and material Substances they can only stand without and knock for admission they cannot enter into the substance one of another Water when sucked up by a Spunge doth not pass into the substantial part of it but only fills up those Caverns and hollow Pores that were before filled with Air. The Air we breath in cannot enter into the Substance of our Bodies but only into those Pores and hollow Recesses that are by Nature fitted to receive it so of all other Corporeal Beings But Spirits are not tied up to this Law The Soul of Man because it is a Spirit resides not only in the empty void Spaces of the Body but also in the midst of the most solid and substantial part of it Angels who are a degree of Spiritual Beings above the Soul they cannot be excluded from being present in the most condensed Bodies and we know not how often they are in us we know not how often they pass through us nor how many of them are now present with us We read of no less than a Legion which is Six Thousand that quartered themselves together in one possessed person Mark 5.9 Then certainly God between whom and the Angels there is infinitely more distance than between Angels and Bodies cannot possibly be shut out of any Being but diffuseth himself to every part of his Creatures Secondly God is not only intimately present with his Creatures because as he is a Spirit he passeth through the most inmost part of them
but he is intimately present with all his Creatures at once And therein is his presence distinguished from the presence of Angels they indeed pass from one to another and be one in another they may possibly stretch and dilate themselves to a great compass but they cannot stretch themselves to an Vbiquitariness to be in all Beings at once If an Angel suddenly dart himself from one Point of the Heavens through the Center of the Earth to an opposite Point of the Heavens and by a motion of insinuation without impelling or driving the Air before him yet he is not in Heaven and Earth at once but when he is in one place he ceaseth to be in another but it is not so with God for he is every-where and in all things at once for ever therefore God tells us Do not I fill Heaven and Earth Jer. 23.24 He is so in them as that he doth not leave any one place void or empty of himself for were there any places where God were not then it could not be properly said to be filled with him Thirdly This Omnipresence of God is simply necessary not only for the preserving and upholding of his Creatures in their Beings and Operations but necessary to our very Beings for his own Essence is simple and he cannot withdraw from nor forsake any place or any thing with which his presence now is God cannot contract and lessen himself nor gather up his Essence into a narrow room and compass but as he is here in this very place which we now take up so he must and will be here to all Eternity Nor is this any imperfection as if God were not an Infinite Perfection and Excellence for this flows from the immutability of his Nature and Essence for should God remove himself he were not altogether unchangeable but with him there is neither change nor shadow of turning Jam. 1. What the Heathens thought of this Immensity and Omnipresence of God it is somewhat obscure some of them confined him to Heaven and were so far from affirming him present in all things that they thought he took no care of any thing below as being too mean and too unworthy for God to regard This was the Opinion of the Epicureans Acts 17.18 Others thought indeed that the Care and Providence of God reached to these ordinary things but not his Essence and the ground of their Errour was because they thought it most befitting the Majesty of God to sit only in Heaven a glorious and a becoming place and not to make himself so cheap and so common as to be present with Men and the Vile Things of the World But this is a weak Reason as I shall shew anon Some others among the Heathens had righter Apprehensions of this Divine Attribute one of them being to give a Description what God was tells us most admirably God was a Sphere whose Center was every-where and whose Circumference was no where A raised apprehension of the Divine Nature in an Heathen And another being demanded what God was made answer That God is an Infinite Point than which nothing can be said more almost or truer to declare this Omnipresence of God It is reported of Heraclitus the Philosopher when his Friend came to visit him being in an old rotten Hovel Come in come in saith he for God is here God is in the meanest Cottage as well as in the stateliest Palace the poorest Beggar cohabits with God as well as the greatest Princes for God is every-where present and sees all things Position 2. God is not only present in the World but he is infinitely existent also without the World and beyond all things but himself He is in all that Vast Tract of Nothing which we can imagine and beyond the Highest Heavens What Reason can say for this I shall anon shew In the mean time see that one positive place of Scripture 1 Kings 8.27 Behold the Heavens and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him And if God be not contained in them certainly he then must be infinitely beyond and above them He surmounts the Heaven of Heavens that is the very highest and uppermost Heavens which St. Paul calls the Third Heaven 2 Cor. 12. That glorious Place in which God doth most specially manifest himself and will do to all Eternity The Scripture tells us that though the Heaven of the glorified Angels and Saints be the place in which God will especially manifest his presence yet it is not that place unto which God will or doth confine his presence Isai 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool Where is the House that ye build unto me and where is the Place of my Rest For all those things hath mine Hand made As if God should have said Do not think to cloister me up within the Walls of the Temple no I am set upon the highest Heavens as upon my Throne and they are all under me and I am exalted far above them Many such glorious Expressions there are of God's Infiniteness and Immensity scattered up and down the Scripture which I shall not now spend time to recollect The Scripture you see owns it for a truth That God is Infinite in his Essence beyond the whole World which is one of those Divine Properties which poseth Reason to conceive how it is possible that since beyond the World there is nothing that God should exist there but though Reason cannot apprehend it yet from Reason as well as from Scripture it appears it must be so Position 3. As God exists every-where so all and whole God exists every-where So that all God is here and all God is there and all God is in every place and in every thing This is indeed a great and most unconceivable Mystery but yet it must needs be so because God is indivisible and simple and not compounded of Parts and therefore where-ever there is any of God's Essence there is all his Essence otherwise part of his Essence would be here and part there and part of it elsewhere which would be utterly repugnant to the simple and uncompounded Nature of God God's Attributes are his Essence Now there is no where where God is but there are all his Attributes and therefore where God is there is all his Essence He is a Spirit most Wise most Powerful most Just and the like here and there as well as in Heaven above yea and what is more to the astonishment of Reason than all this God is every-where Omnipresent and in every place And though it be common to all Spiritual Beings because they have no parts to have a totality in the whole and a totality in every part Indeed it is expressed in the Schools that Spirits are all in the whole and all in every part yet herein God hath a peculiar way of subsisting from other Spirits that not only his Essence alone is in every part of the World but also his Presence