throughly thou must to finde out what evill deprived thee of so great a good and in serious soule searching God will speak to thy conscience and conscience will speak plainly to thee and tell thee wherein thou didst give distaste to thy Comforter and what was the cause he forsook thy soule And when thou hast found out that evill which conscience tels thee deprived thee of so great a good thou must fall very foule with it how sweet soever it hath been unto thee Thy great worke must be to bring thy heart to a holy revenge upon this sin to abhorre it and thy selfe because of it and to become very vile as Iob saith and very low in thine owne eyes Bring thy heart to admire the infinite patience and mercy of God that things are no worse with thy soule That God had not cut thee off in the acting of that sinne for which he deserted thee that he hath left any place for repentance and given the least desire to set about this work And when thou art come thus farre possibly the light of Gods countenance may begin now and then to glance into thy soul as at some little cranny or at least some more then ordinary lightsomnesse may appear in thy dark dull soul as there doth in the dark morning some space of time before the Sun appears that had left this Horizon Now this beame of light or this little lightsomenesse of soule thou must much admire and acknowledge an unfathomed depth of love in it that God should so much as once stoope to cast an eye after thee more to give thy soule the least refreshing that did abuse flagons of love By this glimpse of light or glimmering light you are to strengthen your faith in the beliefe of this that light will more and more appeare as the light of the morning unto the perfect day and so consequently to follow God with so much the more fervency of prayer for the returne of his wonted kindnesse Toseph you know carried himselfe very roughly to his brethren which had abused him for some space of time and put them in great feare of the losse of their lives told them they were Spies and many harsh words he gave them and harsh looks but at last when his Brethren had brought to him Benjamin and discoursed a while Iosephs bowels began to work and he could no longer with-hold his brotherly love Come neare to me I pray you I am Ioseph your brother c. Gen. 45.4 Thus Christ our elder Brother deales with us who do unkindly unbrotherly use him he will handle us very roughly and put us in fear of the losse of our best lives he will make our consciences speake bitter things against us and let loose the Devill to tell us that we are Spies hypocrites and false friends to Christ in this distracted affrighted perplexed state hee may hold us many dayes many weeks many moneths but hee cannot hold in his brotherly love alwayes if wee patiently beare his frownes and kindly intreat him and bring Benjamin to him his own blood and merits this will make his bowels worke and make him unmask himselfe and say come neare to me O mourning soules tossed and not comforted I am Christ your elder brother whom yee unkindly used in a little wrath I hid my face from you but now with everlasting kindnesse will I embrace you Trinuni Deo gloria FINIS CHRISTS COMMUNION with his Church Militant 2. Tim. 4. verse 22. The Lord Iesus Christ bee with thy spirit THis Text is Pauls sweet affectionate farwell to Timothy Many grave and gracious instructions Paul had given Timothy but 't is not so much what man saith to the eare as as what Christ saith to the heart that workes effectually to set man about his duty and therefore doth Paul in the conclusion of all his Christian counsell to Timothy pathetically pray That the Lord Iesus Christ would be with his Spirit The best teaching of man is but as water spilt on the ground unlesse Christ inwardly teach the spirit If I am taught my duty by a Paul one in gifts not inferiour to the chiefest Apostles yet unlesse Christ bee with my spirit to make things take roote there all will die and wither like good seed cast into bad ground And therefore Paul saw it but needfull as to teach the eare so to intreate the Lord to teach and strengthen the spirit The Lord Iesus Christ bee with thy Spirit There is a great distance you know betweene the eare and the heart it is an easie thing for man to bring home things unto the one but no lesse then the Al-mighty power of Christ will bring home things unto the other There is an incomparable hardnesse upon the heart of man naturally it is harder then an Adamant now though a child with his little finger may make a dint upon dow yet a Gyant with all his strength cannot make dints upon an Adamant much lesse can all created strength make divine impressions upon the spirit of man and therefore it is that Paul doth implore an Almighty strength to doe this The Lord Iesus Christ bee with thy Spirit Why doth not Paul here wish riches and honours pleasures unto Timothy Is the bare presence of Christ with a mans spirit such a blessing To this I answer riches and honours c. they are bona but not optima good things but not the best things Earthly things though good in themselves yet are no further forth good to mee then as the Lord Jesus Christ is with my spirit to guide it to use them and therefore Paul as one truly wise prayed for the prime good for Timothy for that good which makes all other things worke together for good to wit That the Lord Iesus Christ would bee with his Spirit The point I intend to stand on is this That to have the Lord Iesus Christ with our spirits is a prime and principall blessing Paul here wisheth it to Timothy as a cardinall blessing The Lord Iesus Christ bee with thy spirit Enucleatio propositionis To have Christ with our spirits c. How can Christ bee present with man upon Earth who is now ascended and sitteth at the right Hand of his Father in Heaven The Apostle doth hint an answer to this question in the forme of his Prayer if you observe it The Lord Iesus Christ saith hee be with thy spirit Hee speakes of such a presence as will fitly yeeld Communion and fellowship to the spirit of man There is a double presence of Christ with man corporall and spirituall joyntly or meerly spirituall With just men made perfect in glory Christ is corporally present they behold his wounded Body made a glorious Body as a continuall assurance of the Resurrection of their owne vile bodies unto the same similitude And with them Christ is present spiritually filling them with those joyes the tast of which upon Earth is called unspeakable and full of
condition Christ by his Spirit comes to him and shews him the fountaine of his blood how deep it is how free it is 1 Ioh. 1.7 How deepe it is that it will drowne all sin 1 Iohn 1.7 Sins after conversion as well as before sinnes often repeated as well as sins once only committed And then he shewes the wounded soule how free this fountaine is for any that hunger and thirst for it for any that are weary and heavie laden and desire to be eased by it and so by degrees drawes the wounded soule to wash his wounds in it by faith and so Christ heales and comforts him As the brethren of Ephraim comforted him when he mourned because the men of Gath had slaine his sons I Chro. 7.22 So Christ comes to us and comforts us when the Devill by his temptations hath almost slaine our soules hee like the good Samaritan powres in oyle and wine into our wounds and cures us Though Satan passe by and his limmes passe by and leave us comfortlesse in the day of our wounds and bleeding yet Christ cannot so full of bowels is he nor will not I will not leave you comfortlesse c. If a Christian lye languishing because of often and frequent relapses after promises and purposes to do better If this Christian in the anguish of his spirit speak to every godly friend as the Prophet did to his Therefore said I look away from me I will weepe bitterly labour not to comfort me because of the spoiling of the Daughter of my people Isay 12.4 Looke away from me O ye my Christian friends yea and you my faithfull Minister for I will weepe bitterly labour not to comfort mee because of the spoiling of my soule by so often sinning against vowes and promises favours and blessings Christ comes to this soule and will not leave him comfortlesse in this condition though it be indeed a very desperate condition The Comforter usually takes this course with this comfortlesse soule to powre in some oyle into his deepe wounds he reasoneth with him from the mercy of man to the mercy of God from a drop to the Ocean and it may be fastens upon his own language once delivered to Peter Peter came to our Saviour and said Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times Iesus saith unto him I say not unto thee untill seven times but untill seventy times seven Matth. 18.21,22 From this speech the Comforter thus reasoneth with this said and sore wounded soule viz If Christ would have Peter a sinfull man shew so much mercy to one so often offending him surely Christ a holy God and infinite in love is ready to shew much more compassion himselfe to those that are penitent though they have sinned times without number against him Thus the Comforter leades this desperate Christian as a weak wounded man by the hand from the mercy of man to the mercy of God and enables him this way after some space of time to take in comfort for Christ is resolved he will not leave this Christian comfortlesse Christ will never leave comming to this comfort lesse soule with this speech of his to Peter and others of like nature as Christ is well furnisht for a Comforter untill he hath brought him to drink willingly for Christ forceth no Physick upon any Patient of the cup of consolation more or lesse and the longer sick soules turn away their heads from this cup the more many times he perswades them to drink at last If Christ tentandi gratiâ for trials sake hide himselfe from a Christian so set him a mourning I shall shew you by and by how he comes to him This is a condition though of all deserted conditions the best which will make a Christian heart comfortlesse indeed Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Psal 30.7 Gods hiding his face though but for trials sake will so trouble a Christian that hee will quickly be a burthen to himself and feare round about as 't is said of Pashur 'T will make him weary of the night and weary of the day weary of his owne house weary of Gods house weary of mirth and account it madnesse weary of riches honours yea life it selfe and wish for death O that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let his hand loose and cut mee off then should I â—et have comfort then should I see the face of God which I long like Moses to see then would he lift up the light of his loving countenance and cause his face to shine gloriously upon me whereas now I walke in the vally and shadow of death dark dayes are all that goe over my head the glorious Sunne of righteousnesse shines not upon my soul from morning to night To this sad soule thus bemoaning himselfe for want of his beloved Christ his well beloved thus comfortably comes There hath no temptation taken hold on thee yet O mourning soule but that which is common to man and be assured of this that God is faithfull by whom thou art tempted and will not try thee above that which thou art able but with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to beare it 1 Cor. 10.19 For a moment O fairest of Women I say just cause to hide my face from thee to try the truth of thy love to me but know that with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee Thy dulnesse also in my serice and thy low-prising my company did something trouble me but know that the mountaines shall depart and the hils bee removed but my kindnesse shall never depart from thee for this is as the waters of Noah unto me as I have sworne that the waters of Noah should no more go over the Earth so have I sworne that I will not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee O thou afflicted and tossed with tempest and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with faire colours and lay thy foundations with Saphirs and I will make thy windowes of Agats and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant Saphirs Isay 45.8,9 Out of this sweet language of the Prophet to the naturall branch the Comforter will fetch such precious water of life to revive this deserted soule with these kisses of his lips will he so comfort him that he shall be constrained to say with David Thou which hast shewed me great troubles hast quickned me againe and hast brought me up againe from the depths of the Earth thou hast increased my joy and comforted me on every side Psal 71.6 I could hitherto O my God see thy back-parts some sad attributes of power and justice which did terrifie my soul to look on but loe now I see thy glory thou hast caused it gloriously