strangely satisfy us Yet just such is that River that River of Comforts which flows in GOD's House When our Souls drink of it it inebriates them as I may say with holy Joys and fills them with Pleasures and divine Delights like those at GOD's Right Hand for ever Which considered we need not by the way wonder at that strange Passion which raged in King David and transported Him with desire of joining in GOD's Worship when He was in Exile and under unhappy Exclusion from it * ver 2. My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the LORD my Heart and my Flesh cry out for the living GOD. And in another place †Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after Thee O GOD. My Soul thirsteth for GOD for the Living GOD when shall I come and appear before GOD And again ‖ Psal 63.1 2. O GOD my Soul thirsteth for Thee my Flesh longeth after Thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is to see Thy Power and Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Now how came it to be thus with the King of Israel What occasion'd these extraordinary Affections and Emotions of his In all likelihood at present he was banisht And being unfortunately driven out of his Territories his Mind one would think might have been taken up with that sad calamity Or else the busy thoughts of recovering his Crown and Kingdom from which he was forced should have ingross'd it in a manner entirely to themselves Yet we plainly see that it stood quite another way even to GOD's Worship and the Place where it was publicly celebrated The loss of these was that which he lamented and the Reinjoyment of them was that which he desired For these he longed for these he thirsted and that so violently that his very Soul panted and even fainted for them But why so There must be some good Reason for so great Eagerness some mighty Cause of so marvellous an Effect And truly he more than insinuates what it was where he tells us as before was noted that his Soul thirsted to see GOD's Power and Glory as he had seen it in the Sanctuary There 's an Answer to the Query which may well satisfy us without seeking farther The excellent Prince as he was a constant frequenter of GOD's House so he was throughly acquainted with that River of Pleasures which flowed in it He had very often been very sensible of those truly Powerful and Glorious Comforts which there descend upon the Servants of GOD and this made him so passionately and impatiently desirous of joining with them in public Duties Now if such measures of divine Comforts as produced these Effects came down upon the Religious in their public Performances under the Law what Fulness of Comforts must rest upon those in their sacred Offices who are faithful Professors of the Gospel For as betwixt the Legal and Evangelical Dispensations there is as much difference as there is between Moses and CHRIST so between the respective Comforts of each there is as great Difference as there is betwixt the cloudiest and the clearest Day or betwixt the rising and the meridian Sun But then hence it will follow that Christians who exceed the Jews in comforts should excell them as to Duties and the Service of GOD as having more excellent Incouragements to the same And so in Truth they do The matchless Comforts which they there meet with do greatly indear GOD's House and Ordinances They make them forward to them and also pleased with and in them beyond all Measure and Expression When in outward communion with the great GOD they feel themselves affected with inward Consolations with deep Sensations of Divine Pleasure and ineffable Perceptions of ravishing Delights the high Satisfactions they find in His Ordinances do strangely captivate their very Souls and most sweetly enamour them on the same So sweetly and passionately that if all this World and a thousand better were profer'd to draw them from those Ordinances they would be no Temptation in the Least to them to relinquish and desert them They would refuse any thing they would reject every thing and that with holy Rage and scornful Indignation rather than choose to be barred from GOD's Ordinances * In Sancto magna est consolatio in Psal 36.8 where they perceive such an affluence of Comforts For as S. Austin says in the Sanctuary there is great Consolation And this I must add That the plenty of divine Comforts which they there meet with are not only happily felt by themselves but are sometimes plainly seen by others in lively Symptoms or Indications hard to be conceal'd Thus I have observ'd of zealous Christians that after their Converse with GOD in Duty particularly at His own Mysterious Table a more than ordinary lightsom pleasant Air hath appeared in their Faces Their hidden Joys have shined in their Countenances and that they abounded with inward Consolations was outwardly manifest in their sprightly Visages I could discern methoughts that they had received JESUS by the serious graceful Gayness of their Aspects and the Spirits have danc'd so chearfully in their Eyes as if their heavenly LORD taken into their Hearts had looked out at those sparkling Windows Now where such mighty Comforts as these fall in with holy Duties Private and Public they must strangely invigorate the Performers of them and bring in such Accessions of Heavenly Strength as will effectually conduce to their Settlement in Religion And they that are fixt in true Religion may well pass for blessed here on Earth So they were accounted and ever esteemed by the best of Men and so they must be according to the Word of the infallible GOD. For the HOLY GHOST speaking of such a one in the first Psalm describes him thus His delight is in the Law of the LORD and in His Law doth he meditate Day and Night He is so well grounded and confirmed in Religion that he is always studying the Law of Heaven in order to the conscionable Keeping of it That is his Temper but what 's His Condition No less than Blessed as the first Word of that Psalm informs us Nor is He there called Blessed only but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessednesses As if He were Blessedness it self in the very abstract an Heap or aggregate Body of Beatitudes The least that can be meant is that he is Blessed in all respects or Capacities In his Soul in his Body in his Duties in his Estate c. But then remember we must that this Blessedness proceeds from Confirmation in Religion and that Confirmation flows from Spiritual Comforts and that those Comforts come in by Holy Mourning And so it is necessary as necessary for us to Mourn piously as it is for us to take the readiest Course to be thus Blessed that Exercise being a grand Instrument of this Beatitude CHAP. X. A Sixth Motive to Mourning in General
shift your Posture and Imployment in favour of your fainting tiring Zeal For tho' the Spirit in it self be strong and so very willing and forward to persist yet being clogg'd and loaden with the burthen of this flesh it may very well want Support and Respite Here therefore rising up from your humble Prostration read a Chapter or two of the Lamentations or of some other Book in the Bible Unless you had rather make use of any practical Piece of some pious Author by you That so by remitting the Intensness of your Devotion you may recover a more lively degree of Fervency And then prostrating again in the Heavenly Presence supplicate thus A Supplication respecting our own and this Nation 's Sins O GOD most Gracious and Compassionate look down look down from Heaven I beseech Thee with an eye of Mercy of tenderest Mercy upon this miserably sinful Nation We have offended Thee greatly but LORD do Thou pity us We have provoked Thee strangely but LORD do Thou spare us We have dishonoured Thee shamefully but LORD do Thou pardon us It is of Thy * Lam. 3.22 Mercy that we are not consumed in our Sins O let the same Thy Mercy which hath forborn us in them absolve us from them And that Thou mayst freely forgive us all our Sins help us to repent unfeignedly of the same Awaken our Consciences into a due sense of our Guilt and smite our Hearts with Godly remorse and contrition for it and let us so bewail our Evil deeds as finally to forsake them and return †Hos 14.1 unto the LORD from whom we are fallen Open our Eyes O our good GOD that we may ‖ Luk. 19.42 see the things which belong to our peace and incline us effectually to consider and pursue them that so Thou mayst be fully reconciled to us and turn away * Jer. 18.22 Thy Wrath and Thy Judgments from us We know O LORD we know we have cause to fear Thy Judgments great cause to tremble in Expectation of them nor can heavier come than our Crying sins deserve and call for But in Mercy with-hold those dreadful Severities which with greatest Justice Thou might'st sadly inflict Or if we have so wretchedly wearied out Thy Patience that Thou art immutably resolv'd to give us up to Punishment Yet then O GOD whose Compassions fail not deal not with us after our Iniquities but in the midst of Judgment remember Mercy Let thy Rod correct but not destroy us and let the Smart we suffer end in thy Favour Sanctify all thy Dispensations to us and be they never so bitter let them turn to our Advantage But of all Evils Thou shalt bring upon us deprive us not O GOD and Father of Mercy of the Light of Thy Truth of the Purity of Thy Worship of the Solemnity of Thine Ordinances of the Liberty of Thy House of the Help of Thy Ministers But tho' we have long since forfeited these precious Injoyments yet so far overlook our provoking unworthiness as to continue them to us and also to our Posterity in succeeding Generations so long as the Sun and Moon shall endure And let these inestimable Mercies continu'd to us have their proper Influence and Effects upon us Let them banish Ignorance and abolish Atheism and drive away Infidelity Superstition and Prophaneness Let them lead us on to such Meekness of Wisdom and Sweetness of Temper and Lowliness of Mind and Holiness of Life as may conduce effectually to the healing of our Divisions and the composing of our Differences Let them so fill us with Love and unite us in Peace that the GOD †2 Cor. 13.11 of Love and Peace may be with us and Truth and Righteousness establisht amongst us and we may no more dishonour our Reformed Doctrines by our Dissolute Practices A general Intercession AND O Merciful GOD who ‖ 1 Tim. 2.4 wouldst have all Men to be saved * Psal 67.2 make thy saving Health known unto all Nations Let Strangers to Thy Truth and Enemies to Thy Gospel be made acquainted with Thy Will and obedient to Thy Word Be good to thy holy Catholic Church Purify it from Sin and preserve it from Error Free it from Fears and secure it in Dangers And where any in it are under Troubles or Persecutions arm them with such Courage that they may suffer with Constancy till they obtain Deliverance or be Crowned with Victory By Faith unfeigned knit all its Members firmly to Thy Self and by mutual Love to one another Settle it in Truth I most humbly beseech Thee and establish it in Peace Crown it with Prosperity and exalt it in Righteousness Fill every one in it with such divine Graces and Perfections from Heaven as may make it the Light and the Joy and the Glory and the Praise of the whole Earth Lead all Nations into it O GOD that the People of this World may become the Sheep of thy Pasture and we may all make but one most holy and happy Fold under that most good and great Shepherd the LORD JESUS CHRIST O that the time were come for Thee to have such Mercy upon Sion LORD let that Blessed time come Bless all Christian Kings and Governours As they bear Thy Name and are Thine Ordinance and act by Thy Power so let them carefully imitate Thy MAJESTY Let them rule their People with Mercy and Justice and make such wise Provisions for them as shall greatly advance both their present Welfare and their future Happiness Be with the Bishops and Pastors of Thy Flock Make them vigilant in their Stations and diligent in their Functions and zealous for Thy Honour and the Souls of Men. †1 Tim. 4.16 Let them take heed to themselves as well as to their Doctrines and not only teach Men to be good by their sound Instructions but provoke them to it by their powerful Examples Pour down thy Mercy upon the Neighbourhood I am of and upon this Family to which I belong upon my Relatives and Friends and upon all that have desired my Prayers and need them Grant them such a Faith in thy Doctrines such an Hope in thy Promises such a Fear of thy Threatnings as may put them upon dutiful Obedience to thy Commands Keep them from all known and presumptuous Sins and if there be any secret Wickedness in them let them so search their Hearts as presently to find it so try their Way as immediately to turn from it and that with the greatest Detestation and Abhorrency And to the End they may abhorr every evil Way do Thou ‖ Psal 139.24 lead them in the Way everlasting Even in the Way of Truth and Sincerity of Meekness and Temperance of Justice and Charity of Purity and Humility of Peace and Salvation And if at any time while we live Thou * Deut. 32.41 whet'st thy glittering Sword and thine hand takes hold on Judgment to execute it generally on the People of this Land secure if Thou
vanquisht and the Parties urged and solicited by them most happily secured Now this Kindness divine Comforts do us when Temptations assault us They dash them to pieces or help us to do it by diluting or deadning the Pleasures which they proffer And that they do by out-shooting Temptations as I may say in their own Bow or by producing higher Pleasures in us than any that they can allure us with For when two sorts of Pleasures are tendred to us common sense will incline us to the sweetest And look how far one sort excells the other and so far it recommends it self more forcibly to our choice tho' at the same time it diminishes our Estimate of the other and causes us to despise it as inferior to it and the more for thrusting it self into competition with that sweeter pleasure Now when Temptations court us tho' they bring pleasures with them to recommend them yet if comforts strike in at the same Juncture they will come attended with so much nobler and sweeter Pleasures that those of Sin which gild the Temptation or set it off will be nothing to them For be they never so high these will far surmount them be they never so sweet these will far out-vie them And therefore for us to close with them and to reject these would be to go against inward Sense as well as against Reason and to prove our selves stupid as well as inconsiderate Whence it will follow that if Comforts and Temptations chance to be co-incident or to come together we must as certainly refuse the Pleasures of the latter for the Pleasures of the former and so by resisting bring the Power of Temptations to a stand it is impossible but People in their right Wits must preferr Gold before Dirt. As it is impossible but Christians * Heb. 5.14 who have their senses exercised to discern Good and Evil must preferr Life before Death and the solid vital Delights of Heaven before the frothy deadly and damnable Complacencies of lewd and vile and vitious Satisfactions And if Comforts do not always keep Time with Temptations yet that will not hinder them from strengthening us against them For as when they come before them they fortify us in way of Preparative so when they follow them they fortify us against others yet to come by recompencing our Constancy in those already past To what hath been said we may add that these sacred Comforts do not baffle Temptations and sink them only by their own proper Weight but also as they help us to look upward and inable us to form fair and lovely Idea's of those Superlative Joys and Consolations above The Man that never beheld the glorious Sun will know the better what to make of it if he sees but the twinkling Stars And the viewing and sounding some large and deep Lake will help us to conceive what the Ocean is So from the holy Comforts we feel in this Life we may argue and conclude what shall be in the next And if our present Comforts can convince us that there are more and better to come and our present Capacity of injoying these Comforts can also convince us that better Capacities of injoying better Comforts are now dormant in us and shall at last be awakened and drawn forth into Action than which nothing can be more probable then these Comforts which we have as they point out others which are ours in Expectancy and Reserve must strengthen us more against Temptations still For when the single Pleasures of the Comforts we possess can swallow up the biggest unlawful Pleasures that can tempt us then when they open us a Window into Heaven as it were and back their own Force with the Prospect of others much beyond themselves the sight of those Comforts in Reversion together with the sweetness of these in our Fruition cannot but double our Courage against Temptations Be they never so pressing and importunate here 's enough methinks to make us so inflexible to them that even Stiffness it self should bend and yield sooner than we Will not this be a most blessed Circumstance Yet thus Blessed thus really and highly Blessed shalt Thou be if thou wilt but make one amongst Holy Mourners For they that mourn shall assuredly be comforted and Comforts will fortify against all Temptations CHAP. XIII The Ninth Motive to Mourning in General being the Sixth Branch of that Blessedness which springs from the Comforts annexed to Holy Mourning They animate us against the Fear of Death and instead of Dreading make us Desire it THO' Good Men differ greatly from others in regard of their Principles and their Practices their Perfections and their Privileges yet they are made of the same Matter and so must consist of the same Nature and consequently must be liable to the same Destiny with the Rest And so they are for Death being the * Eccles 7.2 End of all Men the very best of Men cannot escape it And as the best are mortal and must die as well as others so they are too subject to the Fear of Death also tho' others are more afflicted with it than they To the Heathen for Instance it was the most dreadful thing According to †Aristot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of their greatest Philosophers the most Terrible of all Terribles And well might it be so to such as knew so little what they should be after it Nor is it less formidable to ill living Christians when they come to suffer it And in Reference to the Impious it is that Bildad calls it ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King of Terrors or Conturbations Job 18.14 And as it is called so it really is to all ungodly Persons the most terrible and troublesome Evil that can befall them They fear to think of it They fear to bear of it and they fear to view it at a distance but when it approaches them they faint and sink and are amazed and astonished Nor can I blame them for being so over-powred with Dread For as Death is their Enemy so when it comes GOD knows 't is to do them a sad Office To rend their immortal Souls from their Bodies and to hale them out into the eternal State And there we believe but two Conditions of abode Heaven and Hell For the first they are unfit and for the second how shall they endure it Well therefore may they fear and tremble too when they are about to die nor can they ever do it too much Now tho' good Men are not thus afraid of Death as indeed they have not equal cause for it yet in them the Fear of Death is too predominant It may be somewhat of this Timorousness discover'd it self in that good Man's Petition when he prayed O my GOD take me not away in the midst of my Days Psal 102.24 For what but Fear should make him more loth to die in his middle-age than when he should be older And therefore the Philosophic Emperour who knew
flourishes in the World Guilt within dulls his Happiness and makes it insipid yea imbitters the same and makes it unsavoury And in case he declines or falls under Misfortunes the same Guilt aggravates and inrages his Miseries It adds extreamly to the weight of his Calamities and sets so terrible an Edge upon them as makes them to cut more deeply and direfully And as the Guilt which Impious Men have contracted tortures them thus wofully while they live so it racks them a thousand ten thousand times worse when they come to die if they be not senseless of their sad condition Then quick Apprehensions of the Justice of GOD and of their own unworthiness break in upon them And being once entred they startle their Minds and they awaken their Souls that before perhaps slept securely in sin and dreamt of nothing but Ease and Pleasure And the same Apprehensions that rowze them out of their wretched Security help them to form right Notions of Death They tell them plainly and they tell them truly what it must be to their unprepared Spirits Namely a Messenger of Wrath and an Instrument of Vengeance and a sad Consignation to endless Torments A terrible Breach which the divine Anger makes upon them whereat Condemnation and their Ruine enter When GOD summons them from hence out of the Body they can think no other than that 't is to send them directly to Hell and to confine them for ever to the Regions of Darkness and the Prisons of Sorrow and the cursed Habitations of rebellious Sinners And when once they are convinc'd that their Passage hence is a Descent to everlasting Plagues and Miseries how must they fear and what Horrors will seize them when they feel it approaching As the * De Serres Historian relates concerning Lewis the Eleventh of France when he drew on a pace to his Dissolution he strictly charged all about him that they should not so much as mention that cruel Word Death to him And no wonder that from the aforesaid conviction such excessive Fear should arise to such as die impenitent For when Men perceive that they are sinking down into the bottomless Depths of eternal Sufferings how can they chuse but be lamentably overwhelmed with raging Horrors Nor does the amazing Prospect of this dismal Calamity overset Men with Fears only at their last Hour but hurries them on to other Expressions of their Astonishing Troubles For when they feel they must die and that Death will convey them to interminable Punishments then poor Souls they sigh and lament Then they ring their Hands and they tear their Hair and they curse the Day that ever they were born to be so unhappy Then they sigh when they are awake and they start in their sleep and are continually frighted with such inward Terrors that they would gladly run away even from themselves if so be they did know but how and whither Then they call for Ease but they cannot have it they seek for Rest but they cannot find it and therefore bursting out into doleful Tears in the heighth of bitter but fruitless Passion to those about them they make either this or the like heavy complaint Now we are undone O wretched Creatures we are lost for ever We might have been saved if we would and we verily thought we should have been so but alas we find that we were greatly deceived For our Hopes are now gone and our Confidence is quite sunk we are leaving the World and GOD hath left us and who can relieve whom He rejects Once we were offered Peace and Love and might have had them both upon easy Terms But those blessed Tenders are now over and the Hand that kindly reach'd them towards us is armed with Rage and stretcht out with fierce Indignation against us Oh the precious Hours that we imbezilled the sweet Opportunities that we neglected the gracious Invitations that we refused the holy Motions that we resisted the heavenly Glories that we despised Foolish rash and senseless Creatures that we were to do it O that we might but repeat our Lives that we might injoy these Mercies but once again But here 's the thing that breaks our Hearts we know that this shall never be Our Time is spent and Grace is past the LORD is just and we must perish Such are the Wailings of hopless Sinners and in such mournful Strains as these they sometimes relate their Death-bed Miseries And let none blame them as if they were too querulous at such a time they have cause enough for the Complaints they make Yea when in bitterest Words and loudest Out-cries they express their Grief they rate the Accents of it too low their Sorrow is bigger than their Lamentation Grant O GOD of Mercies we beseech thee that we may never fall under the one and never have occasion to take up the other Of all the sad Spectacles in the whole World I think none more lamentable than to see a wicked Man upon his Death-Bed To see how the nearer he draws to dying the more afraid still he is to do it because he is unfit With what terrible Anguish must this Fear of his needs sting his Soul and how intolerable must that Anguish be because it is incurable Yea the truth is in reference to the ungodly Death is armed with a double sting before it comes it strikes them with the Sting of woful Horror when past with that of cursed Misery Death to them is but an Inlet into Hell that Kingdom of Misery where Sorrow reigns without Measure or End And as they that are in this miserable state cannot but languish in grievous Tortures so they that feel themselves hasting to it cannot but lie under as grievous Fears But now when the righteous go from hence they do it in far more easy circumstances because they do it in a better condition They profess themselves strangers here upon Earth and they seek a City that hath Foundations in Heaven And as they have wisely laid up their Treasure there so their Hearts are with it already which makes them very willing to follow When their Turns come they never repine or quarrel at their Destiny nor lament the case of their dislodging Souls but lie down contentedly at the Feet of Providence and are really pleas'd that they have leave to be gone And one good Help to make them so is the Sweetness of their Passage Their uprightness according to the Royal Psalmist brings them Peace at the last And that Peace keeps all those Thorns out of their Death-bed Pillows or else plucks them thence which prick and gall ungodly Wretches and make their Heads to lie uneasy And when that is done instead of these Thorns it wreaths Olive Branches about their Temples fills them with Tranquillity and holy Quietness And then though Death comes never so suddenly and though when it comes it strikes never so furiously its fiercest Blow cannot make them unhappy They can bear it composedly and without Fear
of Scripture mistaken and misapplied First False Comforts are sometimes Effects of Nature Where the Spirits are good and the Bloud is sweet and the Ferments of the Body regular and even besides Health and Indolency we there find a constant readiness in Men or a standing Disposition to Lightsomness and Jollity So that if they of this Constitution who dwell as it were upon the Brinks of Joy be at any time carri'd by Just occasions but a little farther they forthwith step into the pleasing Passion it self And how they should come to be advanced to it and also raised to an high Pitch in it even by a natural complexional Efficiency is easy to apprehend Melancholy in conjunction with a sanguine Temper is able to do it For by mingling its brisk acrimonious Flatulency with a sweetish heavyish kind of Bloud it strikes upon the Nerves with such grateful Touches as cause delightful Titillations in the Body and so affect the Soul with much joy and pleasure Nor need we wonder that such joyous Comforts or Delights should result from meer nature or our bodily Temper if we do but consider how other things are very productive of the like Effects Wine for instance hath a power in it to chear our Spirits or as it is expressed in holy Stile * Psal 104.15 to make glad the Heart of Man Insomuch that Josephus says of it †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiq. li. 11. cap. 4. it even transports and regenerates Souls It puts a kind of new life into them by mending or raising the Temper of their Bodies and rendring them more healthful and vegete I speak of the moderate and sober use of it it being most baneful both to Soul and Body wherever it is taken in excess So Mela informs us that the Thracians who had no Wine suppli'd the want of it at their Feasts by a certain Seed And of such a Quality was that Seed that the Smoak of it caused Intoxication and Mirth Which things considered how Melancholy should cause high Joys within us will not be difficult to conceive For it is but allowing hypocondriacal Humors to have Affinity with Wine or its Vapours to have cognation with the Fumes of the Thracian Seed and the work is done And that Nature which out-does the most exquisite Chymists should refine Melancholy to such a Degree and sublimate or exalt it to such an Height as to make it so capable of the forementioned Operations as to fill us with joyous and triumphant Delights cannot be surprizing to the intelligent For they know very well that where Melancholy is predominant and duly heated and invigorated by a sanguine Temper or Constitution very strong Joys and even rapturous Delights will result from it So * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle expressly affirms that it produces Extasies and Joys of Mind and that too as he adds †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probl. sect 30. with singing And when Men may so overflow with Joys as that their Joys shall rise up into Raptures and their Raptures run out and spend themselves in singing must not the Gratifications they feel within be exceeding high Yet these are Fruits that may grow upon the bare stock of Nature and so may have nothing at all of the Good SPIRIT in them or of His true Consolations Secondly Inward Comforts False ones I mean may be Effects of a worse Cause than this they may be derived from Satan himself As GOD sheds abroad true Joys and heavenly Consolations into the Hearts of His Servants to encourage and strengthen them in the Works of Religion so the Devil who loves to ape the ALMIGHTY where he can does sometimes cast false Joys and delusive Comforts into the Hearts of his Vassals to animate and imbolden them in the Ways of unrighteousness For should they always walk on in Dulness and Darkness this might so startle them as to make them seriously bethink themselves It might so alarm and terrify them as at some time or other to fright them out of their vitious into virtuous Courses Now and then therefore he tantalizes them with some feeble Glimmerings of false Light and Comfort He darts some glaring Joys into their Souls to make them well opinion'd of themselves And perswading them by this means that their Condition is good tho' it be quite otherwise he so prevails with them to persist in Sin till at length they fall into irrecoverable Ruine Nor is it hard to conceive how the Evil Spirit should kindle this Fire of false Joys in our Breasts and warm us as it were with Comforts which flash from Hell For since an agreeable mixture of Melancholy with our Bloud can raise us as we have heard to an Elevation of rapturous Delights the Devil who hath power to actuate the Humors and Vapours in our Bodies especially if we be his Servants by his dexterous agitation of those Vapours and Humors inforcing them beyond their natural strength he may easily transport us with ravishing Satisfactions And thus the strange Delights which some Men feel and which they reckon to be divine Influences from above and blessed Productions of the HOLY GHOST are but natural Effects or Satanical Injections and so rather hellish Infusions than Inspirations from Heaven Thirdly False Comforts may proceed from Enthusiasm For where that prevails Imagination is strong Insomuch that the Mind which should always be under the government of free Reason is wholly sway'd by this lower Faculty And where Fancy rules it easily over-powers and bears down the Soul into a firm Belief of the Truth of what she vigorously apprehends be her Apprehensions never so enormous and extravagant Hence it hath come to pass that one Fanciful Enthusiast has conceited himself to be a Prophet or an Angel another has thought himself to be the true Messiah or the great Judge of the World another has boasted himself to be GOD the FATHER or the HOLY GHOST Now when the Strength of Fancy or Force of Imagination thus carries away the Mind into a credulous Assent to such wretched Mis-conceits these or the like Conceits naturally lift up Souls which fully believe them to be great Truths into very high Joys and Ravishments of Spirit Yet be they never so lofty or never so luscious they are but a corrupt and dangerous sort of Fruit as having nothing but Enthusiasm for their chiefest Root Fourthly False Comforts may arise from wrong Notions which Men have in Divinity Thus some too opinionative are mightily for absolute or irrespective Predestination Others for Justification by Faith alone Others for being justifi'd by CHRIST's Righteousness imputed And others again are as stiff Assertors and as strenuous Maintainers of that absurd Perswasion that GOD sees no Sin in His own Children Now they that firmly believe and fiercely contend for these and such Fancies conclude they are highly beneficial to them in their greatest Interests and so they are strangely affected with them and influenced by them and feel them
to deal with them in fury neither to pity them nor spare them nor once to hear them tho' they cried never so loud in His Ears In pursuance of this His terrible Resolution He appointed six men with slaughter-weapons in their hands to destroy these Sinners charging them in the Prophet's hearing to slay utterly old and young both Maids and little Children and Women ver 6. But amongst these there were some holy Mourners for the People's sins * Ver. 4. Men that sighed and cried for all the abominations that were done in the midst of them And what was to become of them how were they to speed As the Vision shows GOD was exceeding kind to them and by His gracious Providence extraordinary care was taken of them For among the six men aforesaid there was one that had a Writers Ink-horn by his side And him the LORD injoined to go through Jerusalem and to set a †Ib. mark upon the foreheads of these Mourners that so none of those Destroyers might come near any of them So far were they from being permitted to strike them that they might not dare so much as to come nigh them And be this Vision historical as relating to things past or prophetical as respecting things to come or perhaps both as capable of being either we may hope it contains nothing in reference to the Jewish but what may be made good as to the Christian Church So that if any of us be so pious and tender hearted as to sigh and mourn for the sad misdemeanours of that sinful people amongst which we live then when GOD sends forth destroying Angels to execute His Judgments on the grievous Offenders they may as some have been be markt out for an happy deliverance and secured by exemption from the common Destiny And if here be not sufficient reason why we should mourn for the sins of that Place or Nation we belong to all that are wise and good may judge For Deliverances granted under the Old Testament upon the same sort of Duties which continue under the New in reason should be granted to the performers of those Duties under the New For what 's the foundation or cause of those Deliverances but GOD's Mercy And His Mercy being more liberally dispens'd under the New Testament than the Old why should not Christians rightly fulfilling the common Duties share in the same kind of Deliverances that the Jews did for doing those Duties When Sodom was so dreadfully overthrown and all its ungodly Inhabitants perished how miraculously was Lot delivered And why Not only because he was righteous just Lot as St. Peter terms him but because he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vexed or oppressed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked and by mourning for their sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tormented his righteous Soul from day to day 2 Pet. 2.8 Sixthly We must mourn for the sins of others because Nature and Religion bind us to it We are Men and all Men are made of one blood Act. 17.26 and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sameness of blood should beget in us a Sympathy of Affections even to the whole Mass of living Mankind And where we have true kindness for any it will certainly express it self in compassion to them and our Pity will ever be proportionable to their Misery The consequence of which will be that we must naturally bewail Sinners most if we have but Grace to discern their Misery is greatest And then Religion as well as Nature obliges us to mourn for other mens sins For either they mourn for their own sins or they do not If they do we must comply with them Divine Command having made it our Duty to weep with them that weep Rom. 12.15 By which Precept we are Particularly ti'd to mourn with those that mourn for their sins inasmuch as by them that weep there are meant such as are under * Vid. Grot. in loc And Dr. Hammonds Annot. Censure for their sins and so in Sorrow for them If they do not mourn for their own sins we have the more Reason to do it for that To see that they who have so great cause to mourn upon their own account have yet no will GOD help them to set about it Lastly We must mourn for the sins of others because we may have been sharers in them St. Paul adviseth Timothy well and in him every Christian not to be partaker of other mens sins but have we followed this advice Perhaps we may not have commanded or counselled them to sin we may not have urg'd provoked or directly enticed or tempted them to sin But there are other ways whereby we may partake of others sins Thus we may have connived at it or flattered them in it we may not have warned them against it or reproved them for it but instead of all this by our ill Example we may have powerfully invited and encouraged them to it Now if by all or any of these means we have ever been accessary to others sins we have great Reason to mourn deeply for them Yea as great Reason as we have to mourn for our own For look how far we have contributed to them and so far they are ours as much as theirs or at least they are ours in too great a measure CHAP. XXII The first Aggravation of our own and others Sins considered as the first Suasive to Mourning for the same We have sinned against the greatest LIGHT As against the Light of Conscience Of the SPIRIT Of the Word Of Experience Of Ordinances Of Examples Of Admonitions And of humane Laws AFter Reasons for Mourning for our own and others Sins Suasives to the Work will here follow in their proper place And to persuade to this what can be more effectual than a thorough conviction of our exceeding sinfulness And to convince us of that we cannot do betther than take a serious view of some of the most hainous and affecting Aggravations of our own and other mens Sins Of these Aggravations I recommend but Three as so many Suasives to Mourning for both The First is this We have sinned against the greatest Light Men in the dark may easily mistake and either do or go amiss But then they have a good excuse for it as wanting Light the common Guide in all external Motions and Actions But in our moral Miscarriages we were never destitute of such Direction and so they 'll admit of no such Apology It was not through any want of Light but through our neglect or evil contempt of it that we have run into the Works of Darkness And whereas want of Light would have mitigated our Guilt the plenty of it which we have always injoyed does mightily heighten it For in sinning against GOD we have gone unworthily against the greatest Light which could reasonably be afforded us here in our present state and circumstances This will plainly appear if we look into the Eight Particulars that follow And. First We have