speaks in another case is the love of God perfected as to its exercise it hath now perfectly attained its end when it hath not left so much as a craving desire not a wish unsatisfied the soul cannot say I wish it were better O thâ—t I hâ—d â—ut this one thing more to 〈◊〉 my hâ—ppiâ—â—ss It hath neither pretence nor inclination to think such a thought Divine Love is now at rest It was travailing big with gracious designs before it hath now delivered it self It would rather create new heavens every moment then not satisfie but it hath now done it to the full the utmost capacity of the soul is filled up it can be no happier then it is This is loves triumph over all the miseries wants and desires of a languishing soul. The appropriate peculiar glory of Dâ—vâ—ne love If all the excellencies of their whole creation besides were contracted into one glorious creature it would never be capable of this boast I have satisfied one soul. The love of God leaves none unsatisfied but the proud despisers of it Now is the eternal Sabbath of love Now it enters into rest having finish't all its works it views them over now with delight for â—o they are all Good its works of Pardon of Justification and Adoption Its works of Regeneration of Conversion and Sanctification its establishing quickning comforting works they are all good good in themselves and in this their end the satisfaction and reposâ— of blessed souls Now divine love puts on the Crown ascends the Throne and the many Miriads of glorified Spirits fall down about it and adore All professe to owe to it the satisfying pleasures they all injoy Who can consider the unspeakable satisfaction of those blessed Spirits and not also reflect upon this exalted greatness of divine love 2. 'T is again great love if we consider wherewith they shall be satisfied The sight and participation of the Divine glory his face his likeness his represented and impressed glory There may be great love that never undertakes nor studies to satisfie all the desires of the persons we cast our love upon especially where nothing will satisfie but high and great matters The love of God knows no difficulties nor can be overset The greater the performance or vouchsafement the more suitable to Divine Love It hath resolved to give the soul a plenary satisfaction perfectly to content all its desires and â—nce nothing else can do it but an eternal beholding of the glorious face of the Divine Majesty and a transformation into his own likeness that shall not be with-held Yea it hath created refined inlarged its capacity on purpose that it might be satisfied with nothing less Great love may sometimes be signified by a glance the offered view of a willing face Thus our Lord Jesus invites his Church to discover her own love and answer his Let me see thy face c. Cant. â— 14. Love is not more becomingly exprest or gratified then by mutual looks ubi amor 〈◊〉 oculus How great is that love that purposely layes aside the vail that never turns away its own nor permits the aversion of the beholders eye throughout eternity Now we see in a glass then face to face as if never weary of beholding on either part but on that part the condiscention lies is the transcendent admirable love That a generous beneficent the other till it be satisfied here a craving indigent love And how inexpressible a condiscension is this poor wretches many of whom possibly were once so low that a strutting Grandee would have thought himself affronted by their look and have met with threatning rebukes their overdaring venturous eye lo now they are permitted to stand before Princes that 's a mean thing to feed their eyes with Dâ—vine glory to view the face of God He sets them before his face for ever And that eternal vision begets in them an eternal likeness they behold and partake glory at once that their joy may be full They behold not a glorious God with deformed souls that would render them a perpetual abomination and torment to themselves Love cannot permit that Heaven should be their affliction that they should have cause to loath and be weary of themselves in that presence It satisfies them by cloathing and filling them with glory by making them partake of the Divine likeness as well as behold it 'T is reckon'd a great expression of a complying love but to give a Picture when the parties loved only permit themselves to view in a mute representation a vicarious face This is much more a vital image as before Gods one living likeness propagated in the soul the inchoation of it is called the Divine Nature the seed of God what amazing love is this of the great God to a worm not to give over till he have assimilated it to his own glory till it appear as a ray of light begotten of the Father of Lights Every one saith the Apostle that doth righteousness is â—orn of him and then it follows Behold what manner of love to be â—he sons of God to be likâ— him to see him as he is c. How great a word is that spoken in reference to our present state to make us partakers of his holiness And as well it might 't is instanc't as an effect and argâ—ment of love for sure chastening it self abstracted from that end of it doth not import love Whâ—m the Lord loveth he chesteneth and then by and by in the same series and line of discourse is added to make nâ— partakers of his his holiness Love always either supposes similitude or intends it and is sufficiently argued by it either way And sure the love of God cannot be more directly expressed then in his first intending to make a poor soul like him while he loves it with compassion and then imprinting and perfecting that likeness that he may love it with eternal delight Love is here the first and the last the beginning and end in all this business CHAP. XIV The 7th Inference That since this blessedness is limited to a qualified subject I in righteousness the unrighteous are necessarily lest excludâ—d The 8th Inference That righteousness is no vain thing in as much as it hath so happy an issue and ends so well 7. COnsidering this blessedness is not common but limited â—o a qualified subject I in righteousness person cloth'd in righteâ—usness Iâ— evidently follows Thâ— unrighteous are necâ—ssâ—â—ily excluded and shut out can have no pâ—râ— nor pâ—rtion in this blessedness The same thing that the Apostle tells us without an inference Know ye not that the unrighteouss shall not inherit the Kingdom of God c. Intimating that to be a most confessed known thing Know ye not is it possible ye can be ignorant of this The natural necessity of what hath been here infeâ—'d hath been argued already from the consideration of the nature of this blessedness The legal necessity of it arising from
divine wisdom in that former Notion when in that glasse that speculum aeternitatis we shall have the lively view of all that truth the knowledge whereof can be any way possible and grateful to our natures and in his light see light when all those vast treasures of wisedom and knowledge which already by their alliance to Christ Saints are interested in shall lye open to us When the tree of Knowledge shall be without enclosure and the most voluptuous Epicurism in reference to it be innocent Where there shall neither be lust nor forbidden fruit no withholding of desirable knowledge nor affectation of undesirable When the pleasure of speculation shall be without the toil and that maxime be eternally antiquated that increased knowledge increases sorrow As to the other notion of it how can it be lesse grateful to behold the wisdom that made and govern'd the world that compast so great designs and this no longer in its effects but in it self Those works were honourable and glorious sought of all them that have pleasure in them What will be the glory of their cause It would gratifie some mens curiosity to behold the unusual motion of some rare automaton but an ingenious person would with much more pleasure prie into the secret Springs of that motion and observe its inward frame and parts and their dependence and order each to other 'T is comely to behold the exterior oeconomy of a well govern'd people when great affairs are by orderly conduct brought to happy issues but to have been at the helm to have seen the pertinent proper application of such and such maximes to the incident cases to have known all the reasons of state heard debates observ'd with what great sagacity inconveniencies have been foreseen and with what diligence prevented would much more gratifie an inquiring Genius When the Records of Eternity shall be exposed to view all the counsels and results of that profound wisdom lookt into how will it transport when it shall be discern'd loâ— thus were the designes laid here were the apt junctures and admirable dependencies of things which when acted upon the stage of the world seem'd so perplext and crosse so full of mysterious intricacy If Saint Paul were so ravisht at those more obscure appearances of divine wisdom which we find him admiring Rom. 11. 33. O the depths c. what satisfaction will it yield to have a perfect modell of the deep thoughts and counsels of God presented to open view How is the happiness of Solomons Servants magnified that had the priviledge continually to stand before him and hear his wisdom But this happiness will be proportionably greater as Solomons God is greater than he 2. The glory of his power will add comliness to the Object of this Vision Power duly placed and allay'd is lovely Beauty consists much in a Symmetrie or proportion of parts So must there be a concurrence of divine perfections to compose and make up the beautiful complexion of his face to give us a right aspect the true Idea of God And here his power hath a necessary ingrediency How incoherent and disagreeing with it self were the motion of an impotent God His power gives lively strokes to his glory 'T is called glorious power or the power of glory Yea 't is simply called glory it self the Apostle tells us Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father when 't is plain he means power And the same Apostle prayes on the behalf of the Ephesians that God would grant them according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might c. How frequently are power and glory ascribed to him in conjunction intimating that as he is powerful he is glorious And certainly even this glory cannot but cast a grateful aspect upon the blessed soul and be infinitely pleasant to behold What triumphs doth it now raise in gracious Spirits to behold the exertions of it in his works to read its descriptions in his word while as yet he holds back the face of his throne while the countenance of inthroned Majesty cannot be seen when so little a portion is heard of him and the thunder of his power so little understood The infinitely fainter Rayes of this power in a creature power in that unspeakable diminution and abatement that derived precarious power when 't is innocently used is observed with pleasure Here is power in the throne power in its chief and highest seat essential and self-originated power the root and fountain the very Element of power power in its proper situation in its native place to which it belongs God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God It languishes in a Creature as in an alien Subject If I speak of strength lo he is strong saith Job q. d. Created power is not worth the speaking of Here is the power that deserves the name that is so indeed How satisfying a pleasure will this afford to contemplate this radical power this all-creating all-ruling power the principle of all action motion and life throughout the whole Creation This will be as natural a pleasure as the Child takes in the Mothers bosom and in imbracing the womb that bare it How grateful to behold whence the vast frame of nature Sprang what stretcht out the Heavens established the Earth sustained all things what turned the mighty Wheels of Providence throughout all the successions of time what ordered and changed times and seasons chained up Devils restrained the outrages of a tumultuous world preserved Gods little Flock especially what gave Being to the new Creation The exceeding greatness of power that wrought in them that believed c. what made hearts love God imbrace a Saviour what it was that overcame their own and made them a willing people in that memorable day How delightful a contemplation to think with so inlarged an understanding of the possible effects of this power and so far as a creature can range into infinity to view innumerable creations in the creative power of God And yet how pleasant to think not only of the extents but of the restraints of this power and how when none could limit it became ordinate and did limit it self that since it could do so much it did no more turned not sooner a degenerous world into flames withhheld it self from premature revenge that had abortiv'd the womb of Love and cut off all the hopes of this blessed Eternity that is now attained This also speaks the greatness of power Let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken the Lord is gracious long-suffering c. This was his mightiest power whereby he overcame himself Fortior est qui se c. 3. And what do we think of the ravishing aspects of his Love when it shall now be open fac'd and have laid aside its vail when his amiable smiles shall be chekered with no
dwelling with it self and keeping within its own bounds of its own accord The unrenewed soul can no more contain it self within its own termes or limits is as little self consistent as a raging flame or an impetuous tempest Indeed it s own lusts perpetually as so many vultures rend and tear it and the more when they want external objects Then as hunger their fury is all turned inward and they prey upon intestines upon their own subject but unto endless torment not satisfaction In what posture is this soul for rest and blessedness The nature of this change sufficiently speakes its own design 'T is an introduction of the primordia the very principles of blessedness And Scripture as plainly speaks the design of God He regenerates to the undefiled inheritance Makes meet for it works formes or fashions the soul unto that self same thing viz. to desire groan after that blessed state and consequently to acquiesce and rest therein Therefore vain man that dreamest of being happy without undergoing such a change how art thou trying thy skill to abstract a thing from it self For the prerequired righteousness whereunto thou must be changed and this blessedness are in kind and nature the same thing as much as a Child and a man Thou pretendest thou would'st have that perfected which thou canst not indure should ever be begun Thou settest thy self to prevent and suppresse what in its own nature and by Divine Ordination tends to the accomplishment of thy own pretended desires Thou wouldst have the Tree without ever admitting the Seed or Plant. thou wouldst have heat and canst not indure the least warmth so besotted a thing is a carnal heart Thirdly That in as much as this blessedness consists in the satisfactory sight and participation of Gods own likeness unto whom the soul is habitually averse This change must chiefly stand in its becoming holy or godly or in the alteration of its dispositions and inclinations as to God Otherwise the design and end of it is not attained We are required to follow peace with all men but here the accent is put and holiness without which no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. 'T is therefore a vain thing in reference to what we have now under consideration viz. the possibility of attaining this blessedness to speak of any other changes that fall short of or are of another kind from the right disposition of heart Godward This change we are now considering is no other then the proper adequate impress of the Gospel-discovery upon mens spirits as we have largely shewn the righteousness is in which it terminates The sum of that discovery is That God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself The proper impress of it therefore is the actual reconciliation of the soul to God through Christ a friendly well affected posture of Spirit towards God our last end and highest good and towards Christ our only way since the Apostacy of attaining and injoying it To rest therefore in any other good dispositions or indowments of mind is as much besides the business as impertinent to the present purpose as if one design'd to the Government of a City should satisfie himself that he hath the skill to play well on a Lute or he that intends Phisick that he is well seen in Architecture The general Scope and Tenor of the Gospel tells thee O man plainly enough what the business is thou must intend if thou wilfully overlook it not in order to thy blessedness 'T is written to draw thee into fellowship with the Father and the Son that thy joy may be full It aimes at the bringing of thee into a state of blessedness in God through Christ and is therefore the instrument by which God would forme thy heart thereto The seal by which to make the first impression of his image upon thee Which will then as steadily incline and determine thy soul towards him as the magnetique touch ascertains the posture of the Needle wherefore doth he there discover his own heart but to melt and win and transform thine The wâ—rd of grace is the seed of the new Creature Through the exceeding great and precious promises he makes souls partake of the divine nature Grace is firstly reveal'd to teach the denial of ungodliness c. Turn thy thoughts hither then and consider what is there done upon thy soul by the Gospel to attemper and conform it to God wherein hath thy heart answered this its visible design and intendment Thou art but in a delirious dream till thou seriously bethinkest thy self of this For otherwise how can the aversion of thy heart from him escape thy daily observation thou canst not be without evidences of it what pleasure dost thou take in retiring thy self with God what care to redeem time onely for converse with him had'st thou not rather be any where else In a time of vacancy from business and company when thou hast so great a variety of things before thee among which to chuse an object for thy thoughts do they not naturally fall upon any thing rather then God! Nor do thou think to shift off this by assigning the mear natural cause for if there were not somewhat more in the matter why is it not so with all He upon whom this change had passed could say My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lipâ— when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches My meditation of him shall be 〈◊〉 I will be glad in the Lord. How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sunt of them If I should count them they are more in number then the sand when I wake I am still with thee Yea in the way of thy judgment O God have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee With my Soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I sâ—ck thee early c. Therefore plain it is there is a sinful distemper to be wrought out an ungodly disposition of heart which it concerns thee not to rest till thou see removed Fourthly Consider that to become godly or this change of inclinations and dispositiâ—ns towards God is that which of all other the soul doth most strongly reluctate and strive against and which therefore it undergoes with greatest difficulty and reget 'T is an horrid and amazing thing it should be so but Scripture and experience leave it undoubted that so it is What! that the highest Excellency the most perfect Beauty Loveliness and Love it self should so little attract a reasonable Spiritual being that issued thence His own off-spring so unkind what more then monstrous unnaturalness is this so to disaffect ones own Original 'T were easie to accumulate and heap up considerations that would render this astonishingly strange
So things are reckon'd upon several accounts either as they are more rare and unfrequent which is the vulgar way of estimating wonders or as their causes are of more difficult investigation or if they are moral wonders as they are more unreasonable or causeless upon this last account Christ marvelled at the Jews unbelief And so is this hatred justly marvellous as being altogether without a cause But thence to infer there is no such thing were to dispute against the Sun No truth hath more of light and evidence in it though none more of â—â—rrâ—ur and prodigie To how many thousand objects is the mind of man indifferent can turn it self to this or that run with facility all points of the Compass among the whole universe of beings but assay only to draw it to God and it recoiles Thoughts and affections revolt and decline all converse with that blessed object Toward other objects it freely opens and dilates it self as under the benign beams of a warm Sun there are placid complacential emotions amicable sprightly converses and imbraces Towards God only it is presently contracted and shut up Life retires and it becomes as a stone cold â—rigid and impenetrable The quite contrary to what is required which also those very precepts do plainly imply 't is alive to sin to the world to vanity but crucified mortified dead to God and Jesus Christ. The natures of many men that are harsh fierce and savage admit of various cultivations and refinings and by moral precept the exercise and improvement of reason with a severe animadversion and observance of themselves they become mild tractable gentle meek The story of the Physiognamists guess at the temper of Socrates is known but of all other the disaffected soul is least inclinable ever to become good natur'd towards God wherein grace or holiness doth consist Here 't is most unperswadable never facile to this change One would have thought no affection should have been so natural so deeply inwrought into the spirit of man as an affection towards the Father of Spirits but here he most of all discovers himself to be without natural â—ffection surely here is a sad proof that such affection doth not ascend The whole duty of man as to the principle of it resolves into love That is the fulfilling of the Law As to its object the two Tables devide it between God and our neighbour And accordingly divide that love Upon those two Branches whereof love to God and love to our neighbour hang all the Law and the Prophets The wickedness of the world hath kil'd this love at the very root and indisposed the nature of man to all exercises of it either way whether towards God or his neighbour It hath not only rendred man unmeet for holy communion with God but in a great measure for civil society with one another It hath destroyed good nature made men false envious barbarous turn'd the world especially the dark places of the Earth where the light of the Gospel shines not into habitations of cruelty But who sees not the enmity and disaffection of mens hearts towards God is the more deeply rooted and less superable evil The beloved Apostle gives us a plain and sad intimation how the case is as to this when he reasons thus He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen He argues from the less to the greater and this is the ground upon which his argument is built That the loving of God is a matter of greater difficulty and from which the Spirit of mâ—n is more remote then the loving of his neighbour And he withall insinuates an account why it is so Gods remoteness from our sense which is indeed a cause but no excuse For is our so gross sensuality no sin that nothing should affect our hearts but what we can see with our eyes as if our sense were the onely measure or judg of excellencies We are not all flesh what have we done with our souls if we cannot see God with our eyes why do we not with our minds at least so much of him we might as to discern his excellency above all things else How come our souls to lose their dominion and to be so slavishly subject to a ruling sense But the reason less concerns our present purpose that whereof it is the reason that implyed assertion that men are in a less disposition to the love of God then their neighbour is the sad truth we are now considering There are certain homilitical vertues that much adorn and polish the nature of man Urbanity Fidelity Justice Patience of Injuries Compassion towards the Miserable c. and indeed without these the world would break up and all civil societies disband if at least they did not in some degree obtain But in the mean time men are at the greatest distance imaginable from any disposition to society with God They have some love for one another but none for him And yet it must be remembred that love to our neighbour and all the consequent exertions of it becoming dutie by the Divine Law ought to be performed as acts of obedience to God and therefore ought to grow from the stock and root of a Divine Love I mean love to God They are otherwise but Spurious Vertues Bastard Fruits men gather not Grapes of Thorns c. they grow from a Tree of another kind and what ever semblance they may have of the true they want their constituent form their life and soul. Though love to the brethren is made a character of the regenerate state of having past from death to life 'T is yet but a more remote and is it self brought to trial by this higher and more immediate one and which is more intimately connatural to the new creature even the Love of God By this we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his Commandments A respect to God specifies every Vertue and Duty What ever is loved and served and not in him and for him servato ordine finiâ— as the School-phrase is becomes an Idol and that love and service is Idolatry And what a discovery is here of disaffection to God that in the exercise of such the above mentioned vertues one single act shall be torn from it self from its specifying moral â—orm onely to leave out him A promise shall be kept but without any respect to God for even the promises made to him are broken without any scruple That which is anothers shall be rendred to him but God shall not be regarded in the business An alms given for the Lords sake left out That which concerns my neighbour often done but what concerns God therein as it were studiously omitted This is what he that runs may read that though the hearts of men are not to one another as they should they are much more â—verse towards God Men are easier of acquaintance
made knâ—â—â— inâ—ers upon thee a necessitie of obeying unless thou think the â—reâ—ch between God and thee is better to be healed by Rebellion And that the onely way to expiate wickedness were to continue and multiply them Is it a needless thing to comply with the will of him that gave thee breath and being and whose power is so absolute over thee as to all thy concernments both of time and eternity Again while thou pretendest these things are needless come now speak out freely what are the more necessary affairs wherein thou art so deeply ingaged that thou can'st not suffer a diversion what is the service and gratification of thy flesh and sense so important a business that thou can'st be at no leasure for that more needless work of saving thy soul where is thy reason and thy modesty Dost thou mind none other from day to day but necessary affairs Dost thou use when thou art tempted to vain dalliances empty discourses intemperate indulgence to thy appetite so to answer the temptation It is not necessary or art thou so destitute of all Conscience and shame to think it unnecessary to work out thy salvation to strive to enter in at the strait gate that leads to life but most indispensably necessary to be very critically curious about what thou shalt eat and drink and put on and how to spend thy time with greatest ease and pleasure to thy flesh that it may not have the least cause to complain it is neglected Thy pretence That God is wont to be found of them that sought him not to the purpose thou intendest it is a most ignorant or malicious abuse of Scripture The Prophet is in that Text foretelling the calling of the Gentiles who while they remained such did not 't is true enquire after God but then he expresly first tells us personating God I am sought of them that asked not for me that is after the Gospel came among them and then 't is added I am found upon this seeking plainly of 〈◊〉 that sought me not i. e. who once in their former darkness before I revealed my self in the Gospel-dispensation to them that sought me not q. d. I am now sought of a people that lately sought me not nor asked after me and I am found of them But what 's this to thy case whom God hath been in Gospel earnestly inviting to seek after him and thou all this while refusest to comply with the invitation And suppose thou hear of some rare instances of persons suddenly snatch't by the hand of Grace out of the mid'st of their wickedness as fire-brands out of the fire Is it therefore the safest course to go on in a manifest rebellion against God till possibly he may do so by thee also how many thousand may have dropt into Hell since thou heard'st of such an instance as a worthy person speaks to that purpose If thou hast heard of one Elijah fed by Ravens and of some thousands by our Saviours miracles canst thou thence plead a repeal of that law to the world they that will not labour shall not eat or is it a safer or wiser course to wait till food drop into thy mouth from Heaven then to use a prudent care for the maintenance of thy life If thou say thou hearest but of few that are wrought upon in this way of their own foregoing expectation and indeavour Remember and let the thought of â—t startle thee that there are but few that are â—aved And therefore are so few wrought upon in this way because so few will be perswaded to it But can'st thou say though God hath not bound himself to the meer natural endeavours of his creature neither that ever any took this course and persisted with faithful diligence but they suceeded in it What thou talkest of the freeness of Gods grace looks like an hypocritical pretence Is there no way to honour his grace but by affronting his authourity but to sin that grace may abound Sure grace will be better pleased by obedience than by such sacrifice For a miserable perishing wretch to use Gods means to help it self doth that look like merit Is the Beggar afraid thou should'st interpret his coming to thy door and seeking thy alms to signifie as if he thought he had deserved them I hope thou wilt acknowledge thy self less then the least of all Gods mercies and that thou canst not deserve from him a morsel of bread may'st thou not therefore in thy necessity labour for thy living least thou should'st intrench upon the freeness of Divine bounty With as much wisdome and reason mightest thou decline the use of all other means to preserve thy life which thou must owe always to free mercy to eat when thou art hungry to take physick when thou art sick least thou should'st intimate thy self to have merited the strength and health sought thereby Nor can I think of any rational pretence that can more plausibly be insisted on then these that have been thus briefly discust And it must needs be difficult to bring any appearance of reason for the patronage of so ill a cause as the careless giving up of a mans soul to perish eternally that is visibly capable of eternal blessedness And certainly were we once apprehensive of the case the attempt of disputing a man into such a resolution would appear much more ridiculous then if one should gravely urge arguments to all the neighbourhood to perswade them to burn their houses to put out their eyes to kill their children or cut their own Throats And sure let all imaginable pretences be debated to the uttermost and it will appear that nothing with-holds men from putting forth all their might in the indeavour of getting a Spirit Suitable to this blessedness but an obstinately perverse and sluggish heart dispoil'd and naked of all shew of reason and excuse And though that be a hard task to reason against meer will yet that being the way to make men willing and the latter part of the work proposed in pursuance of this direction I shall recommend only some such considerations as the Text it self will suggest for the stirring up and perswading of slothful reluctant hearts chusing those as the most proper limits and not being willing to be infinite herein as amidst so great a variety of considerations to that purpose one might That in general which I shall propose shall be onely the misery of the unrighteous whereof we may take a view in the opposite blessedness here described The contradictories whereto will afford a Negative The Contraries apositive description of this misery So that each consideration will be double which I shall now rather glance at then insist upon 1. Consider then if thou be found at last unqualified for this blessedness How wilt thou bear it to be banish't eternally from the blessed face of God There will be those that shall behold that face in righteousness so shalt not thou The wicked is