wiser than God who hath appointed such helps as these and so by taking a preposterous course do bring mischief upon their own Souls God blasts and curses those single performances which take from his more publick Ordinances This is like the Manna which the Israelits gathered unseasonably it putrified and stank and worms bred in it so are those duties which are performed singly and solitarily and unseasonably when the Meetings and Assemblies of Gods people are neglected There are others who are soon wearied and cloyed with Ordinances they have soon enough of such things as these instead of saying here with David When shall we come and appear before God they say When shall we be gone and depart from him like those in Mal. 1.13 Ye have said what a weariness is it and Amos 8.5 When will the new moon and the sabbath be gone There are some who are never more uneasie than when they are at Ordinances Oh how many carnal persons and formalists are there who have only an outside of Religion and scarce so much who look upon the Worship of God as a matter of course and fashion and so accordingly come to it Vse 2. Let it be a word of Exhortation long after delight in and bless God for Ordinances It is the greatest happiness that we are capable of here in this life that whiles we cannot see God face to face as we shall one day in Heaven yet we may now see him in the glass of his Ordinances in his Word in his Sacraments and by prayer converse with him That which carnal men and worldly spirits count a burden and tediousness to them let us look upon as a very high priviledg and reckon it as our greatest advantage and rejoyce in it and to quicken and inlarge our desires Muse upon the excellency of Ordinances for excellency apprehended is that which will move desires discern that these things are good and good and necessary for us by partaking of these we shall get our corruptions mortified our graces strengthned our spiritual decays supplied more ability gained to serve God in our whole conversation and more evidence and assurance of Gods love in Jesus Christ obtained And remember when you come to Ordinances resolve to put hard for it to enjoy such sensible Communion with God in them that you may come off in a better and more spiritual frame of heart than you came on resolve with the Father Nunquam a te absque recidam When I come before the Lord I will never go away without him The reason why there is no more good got by ordinances is because we do not meet God in them and the reason why we do not meet God is because we do not so earnestly desire and look for him whenever therefore you appear before God in ordinances make it your business to see God to taste of Gods to get down something of God upon your hearts some impressions of God upon your spirits 2 Secondly Gods people do long and pant after the immediate fruition and presence of God in Heaven Here they enjoy God by faith not by sight here in a mediate dark and imperfect manner through providences and ordinances as through a glass darkly but there face to face we shall know as we are known as the Apost 1 Cor. 13.12 Now Gods people long after God in this way The spirit and the bride saith come Rev. 22.17 They daily pray that Gods Kingdom may come that the number of the Elect may be accomplished and Christ may come to judgment They wait for the adoption the redemption of the body Rom. 8.23 They love the appearing of Christ 2 Tim. 4.8 Heb. 9.28 They look for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.13 The Reason why Gods people do long after the immediate fruition and presence of God in heaven is because they believe they shall be perfectly delivered from all those evils that they are liable to while they are here in this world and that they shall be made perfectly blessed 1. They count upon this they shall be freed from all evils they are subject to in this life As 1. From the evil of sin Oh this is the great evil that Gods people complain of with so much sadness here the flesh turneth against the spirit there shall be no such thing hereafter there shall be no blindness in the mind nor perverseness in the will nor disorder in the affections no pride nor slothfulness no carnal-mindedness no fleshliness no coldness and deadness of heart and affection no uneven walking no grieving the spirit of God or the spirits of their Brethren no unholy thought word or action 2. They shall be freed from the evil of temptation this world is a place of snares and valley of temptations what abundance of temptations are we assaulted with here continually from the Devil the world and our corrupt natures but there shall be none of these in heaven In paradise there was a tempter but none in heaven Satans walk and rendezvous is on the earth Job 1.7 but he never came into Heaven since he was cast out 3. From the injuries and molestation of evil men no place on earth is exempted from molestation by the Devil and his instruments but heaven is a place where such shall never enter there the children of wickedness and sons of violence shall not afflict any more there is no Mesech nor tents of Kedar to be complained of nor false brethren unfaithful unsound hypocritical persons that are secret enemies to truth and piety now discouraging no destroying company in heaven 4. They shall be freed from all divisions The divisions and differences and dissentions even among the godly which this state of imperfection on earth is liable to and lamentably cumbred with do create much trouble and many disquietments are multiplied thereby but in heaven there is but one mind one mouth as there is but one truth not so much as a different apprehension among all the thousands and millions of Saints there 5. They shall be freed from all bodily ailes pains weakness infirmities all afflictions whatsoever no sin therefore no sorrow in heaven all tears shall be wiped away no more of these tears that arise from the various Tryals of this weary life such as are Wants Straits Losses Crosses in Name or Estates Relations Injoyments nothing but Love in Heaven God will never knit his Brow nor chide nor strike never hide his face there but they shall live under the smiles of his Face and light of his Countenance without interruption 2. The people of God do believe and hope for a perfect injoyment of all good It is not a meer negative happiness that the Saints in Heaven partake of a not being miserable an absence from evil but also the positive presence and injoyment of all good according to that of the Psal 16.11 In the presence of God is fulness of joy and at his
delights therein but I am not yet ripe but I desire I may be fitted for his great store-house When I look upon my self I find my self filthy and altogether polluted then I left my self but not hopeless but gave my self to God and he took me but I should have said that God made me pure and I polluted my self then I gave my self to God and he cleanfed me and he will take me to himself and I shall never be filthy more Here we are like little children just like so many little children when they are out in the dirt to play their Mother calls them to come in to be drest made handsome and fine for their Fathers and Friends to look upon them and they out of their childishness run away the further into the dirt and will not come when called So it is with us our heavenly Father calls us and we out of childishness run away from him in the Wilderness to sin and follow vanity rather than be drest for Eternity by our Heavenly Father It is with us here as if a Noble Person should make a feast and invite many guests and he invites them into his inner Room his best Parlour but they run away or stay in some outer Room in some filthy nasty Place So it is with God the Father He makes a great Feast and invites the Children of men to come some come in the inner Room into the best Parlour but the most stay in the worst Room without O this is sad and will be so for ever I have heard my Saviour say That wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat and strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it My dear Brothers and Sisters If you live after my departure have a care to enter in at the strait gate do not spend time vainly and make fair promises and afterward be idle and vain be careful to please God and his Spirit and do not please the flesh that hath been too much therefore do not please your selves and mispend time as in looking in glasses and the like but look more into the Glass of the Word of God This night hath been a comfortable night to me Here one asked if much speaking would not do her hurt She replied The Lord gives in more Strength and proceeded thus Improve all friends and interests for your souls good whatsoever you do for God it shall not lose its reward my desires were for spiritual things and so I desire you my Parents Brothers and Sisters that your aims and ends may be for spiritual things I have had much affliction but the greatest were those that troubled my spirit This night hath been quick and it made me mind mortality the more time runs away quick we know not our own time I believe it will be a considerable time before the day of general Judgment but we know not how near the day of our partlcnlar Judgment is therefore strive to prepare for that day Have our Saviour rooted fast in you Those thar are in Christ shall be received into Abrahams Isaacs and Jacobs Bosoms and be with the Twelve Apostles and with all other gracious persons that are departed as †She knew and had heard Mr. Vincent preach and had desired him to recommend her case to God Mr. Tho. Vincent and Mr. Whiddon and others The hearing some and reading the books of others hath made me very joyful As Mr. Joseph Alleins and others And you have joyed me heretofore O that I might be an Instrument to give in a little comfort to you Our Saviour saith Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of God and he shall go no more out and I will give him a new name Rev. 3. Again my Saviour saith Rejoice not that the spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice that your names are written in Heaven I have cause to rejoice all that I can which is but little that my name is writren in Heaven for who so is not shall be cast out into outer darkness let that be stampt upon your consciences but for me I desire to praise him that made me Again my Saviour faith My Sheep hear my voice and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and none shall pluck them out of mine hand I have exceedingly grieved to think how many shall go into the lake of eternal fire but mostly fearing lest any of these present should over and over and over have I grieved for them O now think upon it while time lasts this is a precious day this is a good day a day of salvation It is said To him that overcometh I will give a white stone and in the stone a new name which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it Here she hreathed a little afterward thus There was never a covetous person more desired riches or a drunkard his cups or a gluttonous person to fill his appetite or an unclean person to satisfie his lust or an ambitious man honour or a sick person a physician or a hungry man meat or a thirsty person drink never any that is naked or cold more desired clothes or heat or a sorrowful person ever more desired to be comforted or an indebted person more desired a surety never a weak person more desired to be strengthned never any of those persons hath more desired any of those things than I have desired the grace of the eternal spirit None of them hath been more desirous of any thing than I have been even with longing for Christ and the Graces of the Spirit The Graces of the Spirit are love of God faith in Jesus Christ hatred of sin hungring after righteousness long-ruffering c. all these and many more I have exceedingly longed for And now my Parents tho I cannot cast your natural bread yer I trust I am full of the bread of life and shall be so for evermore There is a fulness of fat things in the house not made with hands in Heaven There God and Christ sit on the Throne and the Saints shall 〈◊〉 where too for they shall judg the world O that we would judg our selves now I gave my self to God and when I have been weak and sick he hath strengthed me through Grace The Lord will not be limited If here be any that have done me any wrong or offence I 〈◊〉 not I do heartily forgive you and all the World I bear no enmity to any person or thing in the world but against sin Whether you forgive me or not for the wrongs I have done you I know not but if the eternal God forgive me it will be well with me and then if any should kill me I reckon no more of it than of a flea on my hand The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope and trust in him
pain full seven weeks The first day whereof in the Morning she delivered this following Speech The foregoing night had been very trouble some with her she having had little o no rest very much sickness whereupon she had a desire to see her Parents faces once more together they being called came forthwith into her Chamber her Brothers and Sisters after a little while came in likewise Her Father asked her how she did She answered I have had this Night many sweats and colds and have been very weak and in much pain but yet it hath been a very good night with me for therein I have had many comfortable refreshing thoughts Her Father replyed that in Heaven there are no sweats or colds no sickness or weakness Whereupon she began to speak at first very sparingly with long stops and pauses through weakness of body and stoppage of breath but after a little while she spake wonderfully quick and fast faster than ordinarily when in health Thus she began When Shimei cursed Dovid some that were nigh would have gone and taken off his life but David replied let him curse the Lord hath bid him David was a great and noble person and Shimei was a wicked man and should David so noble a Person take it so patiently as to say let him curse And I am a little piece of dust not so much as this pointing at her singers end yea not so much as this holding up the utmost corner of a linnen cloth yea I am nothing nothing nothing to thee Lord and shall the Lord from himself thus visit me and shall not I bear it patiently that have deserved infinitely infinitely infinitely more Let the Lord do to me and with me what pleaseth him Here a little stop afterward thus My Dear Parents you must not suffer your inferior part meaning the Flesh corruption and Carnal Affections as afterward she expressed her self you must not suffer your inferior part to rise up and prevail over the higher and spiritual part You must not murmur or repine whatsoever befals me Know that there is nothing comes to pass by Fortune or Chance Gods will cannot be altered or changed in the least His Will is Holy Just and Good and howsoever it be with me it is according to the Good Will of God Then she called for some cordial and her Father stept a little out of her presence When he was come again she thus spake Have you been with the Father There hath been and there is one with the Father meaning Jesus Christ our Intercessor as afterward she expressed her self for me and tho I am filthy dust yet the Goodness of the Father hath followed me all the days of my life and it is the Lords mercy that you and I and all others are not consumed I see that his compassions fail not The Lord doth not grieve or afflict the Children of men willingly and tho he afflict yet he will not cast off and the Lord is breathing in more breath to make me ready a living Soul for himself I have lived twenty years as I take it from your selves but I have been a sinful piece of dust yet there is enough in him to make me white again I am in a weak house but I wait for a house in Heaven whose Builder and Maker is God I desire my dear Parents and dear Sisters that my words may be in sincerity and may take deep root in you through the Spirit of God Then she took a little Liquor after which she proceeded thus I desire that the words I speak may be with a sanctified Spirit and pure conscience I have lived in the world and have been so * Tho she thus speak of her self yet she was a very lowly and humble maid high I would not be contented with this and that but did still look higher but that was vanity Now I see it is better to live in the Courts of the Lord than in the Tents of wickedness tho it were ten thousand years Now I desire you my dear Parents and Sisters I do not know how long I shall live neither doth any man know his time but if you live to see such a time that this my weak Tabernacle lie before you you would not be moved at it but say good is the will of the Lord in all his doings I am sorry that I should bestow so much of the breath that the Lord hath given me in vain words but there is enough in Jesus Christ to make it up again I rejoice to see you my dear Parents and Sisters but I should rejoice more to see you in our Fathers house If we do well here it will be well with us in our Fathers house and howsoever it be with me now I hope it will be well with me when this Tabernable is dissolved I have desired sometimes to live in some Town or City but the Lord in his Providence hindred it and it was to fit me for his heavenly City I am sorry for nothing that ever I have done but what hath not been agreeing to the good will of God Concerning my being next to God who was the first Author and chief Giver thereof I received it from you my Parents and I do return hearty thanks to God and also to you and as for my being so for my maintenance I give thanks to God and to you unfeigned thanks I am sorry for the dishonour the great great great dishonour I have done against the Great God and next for the dishonour to you My Sisters I desire you to mind the things of the eternal Spirit if you neglect now while here you will lose it for ever and if you do not find your selves striving against sin now you will not find the benefit hereafter Here a little pause afterward thus This Night hath been a painful one but yet a sweet night to me the sweetest that ever I have enjoyed I have had many sweet inward refreshings in it I have sometime thought to speak of spiritual things but could not the flesh hath hindred but now I will keep the flesh under I have heard my Saviour say you must not think what you shall speak and now I find it so He Christ is my Saviour You were talking last night of Mr. * A Godly Ministor who departed this life a little before this i me Whiddon and I think as I believed that he was a good man I have some time grieved and stranged at it that God takes away such †He being as to his age in the best of his time men but then I thought as men gather their fruit and as you that have but a little do by your †It being the time of Gathering in such fruit apples you gather them in for store and use hereafter and you take some delight therein and you may do so so the Father when he hath made his servants ripe then he gathers them to himself for store for eternity and he
Blessed are all those that trust in him The last Psalm that ever I heard was the fifteenth the description of a Citizen of Zion And the last Hymn that ever I heard was that entituled Trust in Gods Providence it was very good There it is said The righteous shall not be forsaken or his seed beg their bread A righteous man may have a wicked child as David had an Absalom but the righteous-children of the righteous shall not want their bread The eternal Spirit shall be their comfort Should I live a long time in the world I should not want for I know the Eternal God will supply me The words I speak I know not in what order they are but they are as the Spirit directs and helps me The Lord is good to his servants to all that trust in him I hope I shall be ashamed of nothing but for the works of the flesh The Lord is the same yesterday to day and for ever He is Alpha and Omega the first and the last and my times are in Gods hand My dear Father so long as you trust in the Lord you have your reward with the Father which is in Heaven Father you must be patient with your little Daughter in the flesh I have been in heats and colds but the Lord is able to raise me up as well as to cast me down I desire when my departure is at hand that I may lie down in peace The Grave is a sweet bed I never found such a sweet bed as that bed the Grave is to me in all my life This flesh is laid down in dishonour but it shall be raised in Glory About a year ago I was you know where For certainty sake one asked her saying where do you mean To which another that stood by said I think she means at Morton was it not She replied yea it was There I heard a good man I believe he is so he spake from the spirit I believe he did But when I went unto him once and again hoping to receive some comfort from him in private He was to me strange and filent and his silence at first much troubled me but since I trust my Father which is in Heaven his mind was to teach me himself that was by my close studying of good books and earnest prayer thereby he would teach me himself His mind in that which I went to a man to be resolved in and thereby he comforted me and it was that himself might have all the Glory My dear Brothers and Sisters I love you so well that I could give you my heart I have many good books and I made many * She privately earned some small matter with her needle when able and it was to bestow it in books as she did every envy thereof shifts that is according to the flesh to get them but never wronged any person in the least for them And I have one paper written when in much pain which I shall leave with you Think upon that but mostly think upon the Glorious God and upon the preciousness of your own immortal souls they are more worth than ten thousand worlds I have been much troubled and I have gone to God and have received much comfort but never had so much joy and comfort in all my life as when I was I think you know where Here one asked where To which another near her said I think she meaneth when she was at Mr. Serles at the Lords Supper Then she said yea it was so O the joy and comfort that I then received It was such as I never had in all my life I cannot express it When many others stayed in the outer rooms and outer Courts as hinted before through their cowardliness and childishness with such 't is sad But had I breath for ever I could not do enough for my Saviour I return praises to the Eternal God for himself and for my Saviour and for the Holy Ghost The Lord will cease a little and refresh me before I go hence and shall be here no more Tho I have but a little breath yet the Lord can give in more if I had none he can raise me up again The will of the Lord be done Here she breathed a little and afterward with an austere countenance and her voice altered she thus proceeded A Backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways Backsliding is a filthy thing but a good man shall be satisfied from within himself in his heart and conscience by the Spirit of God God made all things at first very good but the best was the living Soul but we all sinned and were good for nothing but to lie with Devils then God sent his Son to redeem his Elect And I trust I am one of them but I cannot as yet assure my self my hope is in the Lord for ever and ever I trust in him I trust in him I commit my self to him for ever and ever and ever Amen The Lord will give in more Grace I wait for him and for him alone All that I am and all that I enjoy is the Lords Hitherto one wrote in short-hand but not all that she spake lack abundance Here she stopt whereupon the writer ceased A little while after she spake again much more but the pen being laid aside and she spake so fast and all in short sentences that none thereof was written Next a Copy of the written Paper aforementioned of her own composing which she had delivered as her last legacy to her Brothers and Sisters whom she obliged by promise to improve to the Glory of God and the good of their own souls and was the last thing that ever she wrote But before you have an account thereof give me leave to premise this request to the Reader That in reading he would mind by whom written viz that he would mind her sex age and education A maid young and plain And likewise that he would mind for whom designed and intended viz. for her Brothers Sisters of whom there were double the number younger to those that were elder than her self all young Considering this and the intention of her affection towards them so let none naustate at the plainness of the stile or phrase or if now and then he find repeated and used the same matter words or Texts of Scripture or somewhat borrowed from others Such to whom this plain fare is beneath may leave it Such to whom it affords any savoury relish let them feed on it and improve it A Copy of the last things written by Damaris Pearse O that I could but win Souls to Christ Prov. 11.30 ALL men by nature are under the power of their sins Psal 51.5 They are naturally bent to do evil their hearts are bent after sin and iniquity and it is by the convincing awakening and sanctifying power of Gods Spirit that the hearts of any are changed And except a man be converted and born again he cannot enter into the
the small company in comparison of them that shall be saved Mat. 7.13 14. I am a poor weak Creature and it hath pleased the great God to cause distempers and weakness and sickness to light on my body These two years and †This was written at least a year and half before she died and she sickly two years and a quarter before she wrote it quarter I never having a days health in this time but very much distemper and infirmity on my body Many times I have thought that the Lord had sent the Messenger of Death to take me at that time out of this present life but by his good hand my life is lengthened unto this present hour Beside all this I have had great trouble and perplexity in Spirit and mind which none but God doth know of which I could never have stood under had not the Lord wonderfully supported me and born me up under it by his mighty hand Now I desire not so much the restoring of my body for I do think I shall never have the enjoyment of health more in this world tho it is not impossible with God But if it were the Lords Will that I should have health again I do hope by his help and assistance to improve it to his praise and glory Tho I have a sinful and corrupt heart within me yet the Lord is mighty to save and help and succor those that trust that put their trust in him Now the Will of the Lord must be done and I desire that the Lord would lay no more on me than he would enable me to bear with patience and that he would comfort me under his afflicting hand and that all sin and guilt cleaving to me may be fully expiated and discharged through the blood of Christ and that the Lord would give me assurance of his love through Jesus Christ tho I am a sinful creature That I may have true and saving faith to lay hold on the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation that I may never fall away from him If the Lord should leave me to my self then I shall perish eternally but I trust in the Lord and hope that he will pour down his rich and precious mercies on me for Jesus Christs sake that my soul may be truly and perfectly sanctified by his holy Spirit and that I may never be lead aside by the devices of Satan and the corruption of my heart and the deceitfulness of this world but that my soul may be stablished in righteousness and confirmed in the end that I may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ that I may have a sure interest in the Lord Jesus then I shall be happy to all eternity O my desire is that however the Lord be pleased to deal with my body that it may go well with my Soul to eternity and that I may have the enjoyment of God through Christ for there is nothing else can give real comfort to any Soul I hope that the Lord hath begun a good work in me and that he will make it perfect in the end and that he will sanctifie his dealings towards me that it may be for his glory and my eternal comfort and I desire that my will may be throughly resigned up into the will of God either for life or death and that I may have much of Gods presence with me and may always have good thoughts of him and of his dealings towards me in all that he doth or shall lay upon me and that I may improve all his mercies for his glory and my eternal comfort and that when he is pleased to put an end to this temporal life that my Soul may be fitted for Spiritual and eternal life in Jesus Christ O now that people would seriously think what shall become of their Souls considering how great the multitude is that go in the broad way that leadeth to destruction and how few there be that enter in at the strait gate that leadeth unto life as Mat. 7.13 14. We have but a little time to live here in this world and that is of very great concernment that we should make a good improvement of it eternity doth depend upon it as we live here so it will be with us to eternity we are now brought upon the Stage of this world here to act our parts for a whole eternity if we make not a wise choice now we are undone for ever What our present choice is such must our everlasting condition be Luk. 10.42 Luk. 16.25 Now is your time to repent of your sins and to make peace with God it cannot be done after death now is the time that Christ is offered unto you and if you will not receive him now you shall never have any part in him hereafter now is the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is the time you may be accepted of by God and therefore do not stop the mouth of Conscience for if you do it will be the greatest Witness against you hereafter then it will tare and lash you and be a continual torment For their worm shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched Isa 66.24 If you now refuse the calls of God your conscience will continually accuse you hereafter therefore have a care do not refuse to hearken to Gods call for it you refuse now you shall never have any calls nor invitations from God hereafter Have you any business any concern of greater importance to you than the concern of your souls and eternity If you are to appear before some earthly Judg especially if it be about a matter that concerns your life O how thoughtful are you to have all things ready and in order in reference thereunto and should not you be as thoughtful and as careful to make all ready and to set all right in order to your appearing before the Judg of all the earth and that about a matter which concerns the life of your souls about a matter of eternal life or death Well what shall I say Will you set about this great business this great concern Or is it all one with you whether you live or die are saved or damned to all eternity Oh that people would consider how near they are to eternity How near we are to our everlasting habitation You are all going down amain the stream of time into the great ocean and you will shortly come thither There is not a step you step nor a breath you draw nor a word you speak nor a moment of time you live but hath an influence upon eternity Oh now that unconverted sinners would set about this great work to prepare for their souls and eternity before they go hence and be no more in this world Sinners will you set about this great business Your work is wholly yet to do tho it may be your day far spent your glass is almost run your sun near setting and all your work to do Oh 't is high time for
not here set down in that order as to time in which they were by her spoken She spoke them as occasion was offered and she able to speak but here many of them are placed under several Heads to bring them into some order Now concerning the whole it may be said These are the fragments that remain had there been that provident care as injoyned in another case to gather up all that nothing thereof had been lost the Collection would have been much greater and better such as it is the Lord bless to the Spiritual advantage of all those that shall peruse it PSAL. 42.1 2. 1. As the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God 2. My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God THE Words that I have now read unto you were often in the mouth and repeated by our deceased Friend and now Blessed Saint in Heaven in the time of her sickness And I was desired by her dear Relation to treat on them at this time which is the occasion of my turning aside from my former Subject This Psalm as is conceived by Commentators was penned by David tho it hath not his inscription upon it as many others have not when he was driven from the Sanctuary and publick Worship of God by Absaloms Rebellion or which is more probable by Sauls Persecution who hunted him from place to place and pursued him as a Partridg upon the Mountains as he himself doth complain 1 Sam. 26.20 The Title of the Psalm is Maschil commending the Doctrine of the Psalm as useful and necessary to instruct the Godly how to carry themselves under his grievous cross of banishment from the ordinances In the first Verse we have Davids earnest longing and ardent desires after God set forth by the similitude of an Hart or Stag As the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks so panieth my soul after thee O God In the second Verse here is a repetition of the same desires under other expressions which amount to the same 'T is usual with those that have their affections set upon any thing in an importunate way as the thing is in their hearts and thoughts so in their mouths Thus it was with David here My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Tho these verses may assord us many useful instructions if we should take abroad the Words in the Particulars but because I shall not have time to insist on them I shall comprehend all in this point which is the main of the Verses Doct. That the affections and longings and desires of the people of God after God are very vehement ardent and importunate As the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks so panteth my soul after God and so in other places as Psal 84.2 My soul longeth yea fainteth for the Courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh crieth out for the Living God Psal 86.4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Psal 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times Psal 143.6 I stretch forth my hand unto thee my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land so the Church Isa 26.8 The desire of our soul is to thy name This is the temper and disposition of Gods people to long after God In the prosecution of this point I shall observe this method 1. To shew the Qualities or Conditions of these longings and desires that the people of God have after God 2. The Reasons why their affections and desires are so carried out after God 3. Wherein they chiefly long after God and pant to appear before him 1. The Qualities of these longings in the people of God after God are vehement and earnest We say that hunger and thirst are the strongest of natural appetites for by them our nature puts out all her strength for preservation when it is extremely straitned Thus the people of God desire God vehemently their desires are not flat languid cold wishes but high strong and fervent As the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks Nothing can satisfie him but water So Gods people are vehemently carried out after God With my whole Heart have I sought thee Psal 119.10 2. The desires of the people of God after God are constant which are not taken away till satisfied as you know thirst is and it must needs be so that Gods people do continually thirst after God because they never fully enjoy God in this life They tast of God here and are made partakers of some sweetness in him and this doth the more inlarge their spirits after him The desires of Gods people after God are fixed setled constant they will and do continue until they come fully to enjoy God 3. There is an holy impatiency in these longings and desires We read Exod. 17.2 3. that the people of Israel thirsted for water and they murmured and said to Moses Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us forth out of the land of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattel with thirst Gods people cannot well bear the absence of God They say as Rachel Gen. 30.1 Give me children or else I die Oh give us thy favour or else we cannot live thy favour is life yea better than life Psal 63.3 4. The desires of Gods people after God are accompanied with diligent endeavours You know that in thirst there are diligent endeavours The man that is athirst cries out for drink and runs for water Jer. 14.3 The Nobles sent their little ones to the waters they came to the pits and found no water He that is a thirst runs up and down digs in one place and tries in another that he may find water to refresh him so it is with the people of God in their desires after God They are complaining and acting and labouring and trying at every pit at every well at every ordinance They will pray and hear and read they are at every pool they are in every way of God if so be at length they may meet with and enjoy God Cant. 3.1 2. Saith the spouse I sought him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not I will rise now and go about the city in the streets and in the broad wayes I will seek him whom my soul loveth The second thing to be spoken to is the reason why the affections and desires of Gods people are thus carried out after God and the reason is this because God hath given them wisdom to understand and believe that their happiness consists in the injoyment of God Every one hath a strong propensity towards that in which he places his felicity whether supposed or real Gods people know that it can never be well with them till they have a right and interest in God and enjoy communion with him They know that God is first an all-sufficient
therefore they minded onely Worldly Matters and things from below And so it is with all others besides they have Worldly Earthly Unsavoury dispositions in them and therefore they desire no other things than such as may be suitable to them Oh that people would bethink themselves and lay to heart their notorious folly in letting out their affections upon such poor mean things of the world a little airy honour an empty pleasure beggarly treasures things of nought Amos 6.12 A Fashion 1 Cor. 7.31 A Fancy Act. 25.23 Vanities Eccles 1.2 Uncertain perishing things all the enjoyments and comforts of the world they are but as liquor in a brittle glass soon crackt and soon lost A Great Man a Bishop once boasted of three things that he could not lose his Riches Learning the Kings Favour but a while after in seeking a blessing on his meat he could not speak sence was forced to beg relief and before he died professed he was sure the King did care more for the worst of his dogs than for him Oh take off your affections from all worldly things study God his insmite perfections that he is an all-sufficient good a suitable permanent everlasting good and that you can never be truly happy till you have an interest in him Oh let out your affections after him Vse 2. Of Exhortation Consider your selves look into your selves where are your desires which way and to what coast do these winds of your souls drive you Is it towards God or towards the world You crave and thirst and long and desire something there is which you would have and cannot be satisfied till you have it now what is it Is it the husks of this world or is it bread Do you pant after the dust of the earth according to the Prophets Phrase Amos 2.7 Or with the Church The desire of our souls is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Isa 26.8 You are hungry and thirsty unquiet and unsatisfied what is the matter Do you like the dry earth gape and cleave for showers to bring forth Corn and wine Is the voice of your hearts Who will shew us any good or is it Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us Physitians judg of the state of their Patients bodies by their appetites they who long for trash speak their stomach foul they who hunger afer wholsom food are esteemed to be in health so ye may judge of the estate of your souls by your desires if you chiefly desire the trash of the world your spiritual state is not right But if you can say with David Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and here is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Blessed are you of the Lord you are in a safe condition but here have a care that your desires be qualified as I spake of before that they be constant desires not occasional desires as it is with some when at a Sermon or in time of danger and fear of death O then such cry out O for an interest in God for a reconciled God but after a while these desires are off again which argues them not to be a thirst which still holdeth on and increaseth changeable desires are false desires and look to it that your desires be ardent desires vehement not low flat weak indifferent as it is with many they pray as if they prayed not seek as if they seek not not pressing not wrestling striving with God Spiritual thirsts are not lazy wishes nor indifferent formal lukewarm requests there is alwayes an edg upon that spiritual appetite which we call thirsting Oh I beseech you consider your selves and know that this is your great interest to have ardent fervent desires after God and that you cannot be contented without an interest in his favour The third thing to be spoken to is Wherein the people of God chiefly long after God and pant to appear before him To this I shall say They do according to the exhibitions and conveyances that God makes of himself to his people Now know that God doth convey himself to his people 1. Here on earth in the way of his Ordinances 2. in Heaven by the immediate communication of himself And in both these respects they vehemently desire after God To speak to these two a little 1. Gods people desire God in ordinances thus it was with David here in this Psalm this was his great desire and longing he was debarrred of the ordinances and now he longs and thirsts after God with a great deal of vehemency and intention Now his soul thirsteth for God It appears that he desired after God in ordinances by that which is said in the 4th verse When I remember how I had gone with the multitude I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy day He minds the happiness of his former condition I had gone with the multitude I went to the house of God and we may see what impression this made upon his spirit when he compar'd his former condition with his present his very soul was grieved saith he When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me and this made him to break out in these words Oh when shall I appear before God and Psal 63.1 2. When he was in the Wilderness of Judah My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in thy sanctuary He desires to be restored to the publick ordinances and to his former injoyments of them he would have communion with God in his Ordinances he would have that communion which he had formerly so Psal 84.1 2 How amiable are thy tabernacles O Lord of Hosts My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh crïeth out for the living God Yea he envieth the bird the sparrow and the swallow who might come near the Altars when he was thrust from them and crieth out Blessed are they that dwell in the house of God ver 3 4. and Psal 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple His desire to enjoy God in ordinances had the chief place in his heart above all earthly desires and delights whatsoever one thing have I desired this only thing that I may dwell in the house of the Lord so again Psal 119.20 My soul breaketh for the longing it hath unto thy judgments at all times my soul breaketh What ardent strong desires were in the heart of David after the ordinance No question but David had communion with God in prvate in his closet in his own heart he was not neglective of private duties but frequent