shall confine all that I have to say to kindle and stir up this Affection First It is most highly congruous and doth very much beseem a reasonable Creature And that for these following Reasons Reason 1. First Because God is the most excellent and lovely Object And as in reason the greatest Beauty caeteris paribus should attract the strongest Love so the contrary implies absurdity and contradiction which Reason doth abhor For what can it be less than a Contradiction for one that hath understanding to prefer a less good before a greater there being equality and likeness in all other Circumstances The same rational Appetite that prompts us to love Goodness doth also encline us to love the greatest Good with the greatest heat and fervour of Affection But especially when the difference is so vast as it is between God and all competitory Good whatsoever They are but like a Drop to the whole Ocean or a small Dust compared to the whole Globe of Earth A single Beam of Light may as well stand up and vye Glory as with the Sun And a little Sword of Grass may better compare with the Spirit of Life and Vegetation and all the Flowers of the Field as any Created Good may hold up its head against God Shall I say As far as the East is from the West or as far as the Heaven is above the Earth so great is the distance between God and all Creatures put together Or rather the distance is a thousand times greater even infinite and incomprehensible and far beyond any created Capacity to conceive His Excellency is most apparent above all other Things 1. In that all the kinds and degrees of Excellency and Perfection are united in him which are but scattered and divided amongst the Creatures and that which they have but some faint degree of dwelleth in him in the highest measure of fulness and exuperancy So that if there be any Beauty or Glory in the Frame of Heaven and Earth or any Creatures in them contained that can stir up desire and attract our Love the same Motive with infinite Advantage may be fetch'd from the most lovely Nature of God And though the things with which Mortal Men are commonly moved are not formally in God because they imply imperfection such as are Worldly Riches Corporeal Beauty Sensual Pleasures and all those Accommodations which suit that part of us which is Flesh and Blood yet they are in him these several ways 1. Per viam Eminentiae by way of Excellency as the rational Soul doth eminently contain the sensitive though not formally And as the understanding of Man that invents Watches and Clocks and other Utensils is far better than they and doth eminently contain them 2. Per viam Causalitatis by way of Efficiency in that he is able to produce and create any of these things with the least Word of his Mouth He is therefore eminently able to furnish out all good to the Soul that loveth him And so he hath promised To give them the desires of their Heart that delight in him Psal 37.4 And therefore the Apostle had ground enough to tell us That Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man in this life to understand the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 And David had cause enough for such a passionate Invitation O tast and see that the Lord is good blessed is the Man that trusteth in him Which Trust supposeth and implieth Love 2. He is the productive Cause of all that is desirable and truly Good as I just intimated before He is the Womb from whence all other Good hath its birth and original For he hath made Heaven and Earth and all that in them is Psalm 95.5 The Sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry Land And Psal 104. per totum There 's no Virtue Comeliness or Perfection in any Creature but he is the Author of it The Influences of the Heaven and the Fertility of the Earth and all the Verdure and Glory of the Grass and Flowers of the Field do but declare and set forth his infinite Perfection Who watereth the Hills from his Chambers and the Earth is satisfied with the Fruit of his Works And causeth the Grass to grow for the Cattel and Herb for the Service of Man that he may bring forth Food out of the Earth And Wine that maketh glad the Heart of Man and Oyl to make his Face to shine and Bread which strengthneth 〈…〉 15. And hath 〈…〉 beauty and 〈…〉 all his 〈…〉 Matth. 6.29 It 's true he is no way the 〈…〉 though he be the Cauâ—â— of all that is desirable any other ways 〈◊〉 as he made Man to whom that Monster and Abortion is wholly to be ascribed though it be so greedily desired and committed But yet though it be actually so much desired by Man through his Ignorance and Mistake and the Corruption of his blinded and distempered Faculties yet is not desirable indeed nor truly good any otherwise than Chalk and Coals and Ashes are to one that hath the Pica and is distempered in the Stomach I am forced to confess though with grief of Heart and to the shame and reproach of Mankind that Man is come to that pass that he may drink Iniquity like Water Job 15.16 And call Evil Good and Good Evil and put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness Bitter for Sweet and Sweet for Bitter Isaiah 5.20 But then it is because the Foundations of his Soul are all out of course and Sense hath got the upper hand and Reason is under Feet and his Head stands where his Feet should do Alas It is a sad Consideration that the best of God's Creatures here on Earth is become the worst of Monsters But this is no derogation from God's infinite Fulness and Perfection that he is not the Productive Cause of such a Poyson as this and the Father of such a deformed loathsome Birth Reason 2d Secondly It doth most highly beseem a Reasonable Creature to love God above all because God hath most obliged us His Love to us bids highest for the highest Return of Love again If there were any thing in Heaven or Earth that had more obliged us than God it had not been than a Fault neither could Reason have risen up and accused us if we had loved that thing more than God But now that all Creatures both in Heaven and Earth are silent and have nothing to say and the love of God hath so loud a Tongue and his infinite transcendent Favours do bespeak our Hearts so strongly what an unpardonable sin is it to love any thing more than him The Good we receive from others is by his Special Command and Appointment what we receive therefore from them we are indebted unto God for He is the first Mover they are but his Instruments to bring his Favours to us Now though his Personal
had been meer Heathens and looked for no other Life and if we had no fear of Judgment Nay have we stuck at those sins that Turks and Heathens do abhor It 's a true though a shameful confession And now shall we pity a suffering and not abhor a sinful People Hath the Lord broke in upon us before many a fair warning we have had ubera many times before we have felt verbera we have had lightning before thunder Are not all these Examples that he hath set before us both in sacred and prophane Writ so many Warning-pieces shot off to prevent the approaching Enemy Doth he not say to us by his Word as he did to the Rebellious Jews Jer. 7.12 Go ye now unto Shiloe where I set my Name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my People Israel Go ye to the City and Temple of Jerusalem and see what I have done for the wickedness thereof Go ye to Sodom to the old World see how their sins have found them out Consult the several Nations to which the Prophets pronounced their several burdens and see how they have sped for their Iniquities Cast thine Eye upon Greece and other parts of Christendom upon whom the Lord hath let in the overflowing Scourge the barbarous Turk for their kicking at his Sacrificies and negligence in his Worship Look upon Germany where the Lord made such fearful Desolation time not yet out of mind Remember the late unnatural War and Bloodshed in our own Nation how it emptied the Nation plagued the Inhabitants for wickededness burneth as the fire it shall devour the Bryers and Thorns Esay 9.18 How long hath the Lord waited on us expecting fruit looking for Reformation Think not that the Lord dealeth hardly charge him not foolishly if he call for the Sicle for the Harvest is ripe the Presses are full the Fat 's overflow for our Iniquities are risen high Joel 3.13 What could the Lord have done more for us in a way of mercy than he hath done and therefore no wonder that Judgment follow us Thus if thou hast a worthy Remembrance of God thou wilt consider his more remarkable Providences and plead the cause of his Justice in the present sad condition into which sin hath brought us Vse Exhortation If then it be such a sin to forget God as there hath been proof enough it is then let this stir us up to more frequent thoughts of God and to a more worthy Remembrance of him What such a Remembrance doth import I think I need not waste time to shew since it is opposed to forgetfulness and contraries do discover each other by these two known and obvious Rules 1. Contraries in or about the same Subject and the subject of the one is neither larger nor scanter than the other e. g. Sight and Blindness are about the Eye The same Air is the Subject both of Light and Darkness and Vertue and Vice are subjected in the same Soul though not at the same time 2. Though Contraries are about the same Subject yet they have contrary Affections e. g. If Vertue be lovely Vice is Odious If Light discovers all things than Darkness covers all things Since therefore 1. As I said Forgetfulness is not an act of the Memory only so neither is Remembrance And 2. As every degree of Remembrance doth not acquit a Man from the odious guilt of Forgetfulness so neither is every degree of Forgetfulness inconsistent with this Remembrance If God have the Soveraignty and Preheminence in thy Heart he will accept it otherwise it is not a Remembrance worthy of him I need say no more for if we know what it is to forget God we cannot but know what is to Remember him If we know who they are that forget God we must needs know who they are that Remember him But least what hath been spoken should not be so Remembered and set together I shall only give a short draught of the Duty or rather bring it fresh to your Remembrance that you may know whether the Exhortation tendeth and not be excited to you know not what In a word therefore This Remembrance of God implies such frequent and worthy thoughts of God as command the Affections of our Hearts and the Actions of our Lives more than any thing else besides And is it not pity that the Heart of Man should be so backward to this duty and so hardly prompted to such a sightly and becoming work and that all that can be spoke to recommend this duty and to spur up to this Remembrance unless God set it home is like to be at best but like the beating or cutting the Air which seems to receive a wound but it presently closeth again and no abiding impression is left behind Alas alas that we should stuff our Hearts with Feathers and think upon vanity and never tire and that the bias of our Souls should be quite another way than towards God! That he that should be our sweetest Meditation is so great a stranger to us How seldom do we erect a thought to him or think on him with pleasure and delight We can even lose our selves in vain and earthly thoughts and think on nothing else almost from morning to night But he that is our support all the day long is ever about our Paths and about our Bed for our defence and safety hath a poor little share in our Thoughts and Affections Art thou not fully satisfied that he is to be loved with all thy Heart and Soul and Strength and that he is worthy of Love and Obedience and a thousand fold more than thou art able to give The excellency of his Nature and Goodness unto thee must needs exâ—ort this confession How can we better employ our Thoughts than upon him that gave us our Thinking Faculty To what better purpose canst thou use thy Reason than to fetch something from every Object that is presented to thee to put thee in mind of God Every thing is big with Instruction and proffers its help to bring thee nearer unto God if thou wilt be taught Thou canst take no better course to advance thy self than to advance him in thy thoughts Thou canst make no better use of Creatures than to make them a means to bring God and thy Heart together To the Heavens and to the Earth and to all that is in them and if they teach thee not this Lesson it is because they are Traytors and not Creatures but the fault is thine and not theirs Thou canst not make a better use of Scripture than to imprint God deeper in thy Remembrance To the Laws and to the Testimonies if they teach thee not thus much it is because thou wilt not learn and there is no light in thee Esay 8.20 As thou lovest thy self and thine own welfare make thine advantage of every thing to promote him higher in thy Mind and Heart Since thou hast so much Instruction round about thee to
believe we are well when our case is too much to be lamented and God hath not left this Town altogether without this Mercy If Consideration be so preparative to the highest Wisdom and so necessary to the Knowledge and Love of God and all solid Content and Peace then all the means whereby it is promoted should be welcome to us And our Deafness to these Providences and Inconsideracy notwithstanding we have so many advantages to bring us to Consideration of their miserable woful condition that forget God hath the greater sin This is the second help to Consideration that should humble us for the neglect of it viz. because we have so many advantages to awaken us to this duty Thirdly As Consideration is a work of absolute necessity where there is time and Capacity in regard of the worth and greatness of the matters which so much concern us and in regard of the help and assistance that God gives us to this duty so the Fruit and Benefits of Consideration are unspeakably great I shall name two 1. It is Wisdom to consider yea it 's both a sign and a cause of it where Consideration is it argues there is Wisdom already and the frequent exercise thereof will make the Person wiser and both are intimated Psal 107.43 Whoso is wise will observe these things There Consideration is a sign of Wisdom and they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Here it is the cause it produceth Understanding and Wisdom in a higher measure so that Wisdom is both the antecedent and consequent of Consideration and doth both go before and follow after it Sin in Scripture is frequently branded with the name of Folly because it proceedeth from Folly and maketh a Man more and more foolish that committeth it Psal 85.8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his People and to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly i. e. Sin Job 4.18 He charged his Angels with Folly that is with Sin and so threw them down to Hell And they that are guilty of it are called Fools and Foolish Psal 5.5 The Foolish cannot stand in thy sight Who are they the later clause telleth us Thou hatest all the workers of Iniquity And that it proceedeth from Folly from whence it is denominated we have evidence enough in Scripture The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God Psal 14.1 Where Atheismâ—s ascribed to Folly as the Fruit of it First a Fool and then an Atheist where by Fool is meant not a Natural or one that 's born with a Crack or Defect in his Intellectuals but one that 's weak thorough wilful Inconsideracy and by works of Darkness hath clouded and sotted his Understanding as those in Rom. 1.21 Whose foolish Heart was darkened by their vam Imaginations So Jer. 4.22 My People is foolish they have not known me The sense whereof may be so as to make Folly either the cause or the effect of not knowing God viz. Because my People are Foolish therefore they know not me or else because they are ignorant of me therefore they are Foolish Now then as nothing doth more promote Folly than Inconsideracy so nothing doth more befriend Wisdom than Consideration It digs deep and finds out the bottom and discovers the highest Cause of all things which is the true Description of Wisdom contemplative or as it is in the Understanding for so the Schools define it Sapientia vera est radicare de omnibus secundum altissimam Causam Altissima autem Causa est Voluntas divina sive lex quae voluntatem Dei Hominibus manifestat When the careless inconsiderate Person whom God hath blessed with Health and Content and Success looks no higher than the Air he breaths in to which he ascribes his Health or the Estate he hath to which he attributes his Content or his own Prudence to which he imputes his Success On the other side when the Inconsiderate Person whom God hath afflicted is pur-blind and can see no farther than an unwholesome Air a bad Dyet an envious troublesome Neighbour or the general Contagion now among us by the which he thinks he is afflicted in his Estate Name or Health I say when the Inconsiderate Person either in Prosperity or Adversity stops here and goes no further the considerate Person is wise indeed and looks above and beyond all these and seeth the Spring that setteth all the Wheels a going the primitive and over-ruling cause that commands all the other 1. Suitably to their own Nature 2. And according to the counsel of his own will In the one appears his admirable Wisdom in the other his Almighty Power And according to this judgment of things he is both affected and instructed and therefore his Heart is not lifted up with Pride but thankfulness unto God when he is enriched with his Mercies and the Streams wherewith he is refreshed set his Heart a longing for the Fountain This effect upon David had all his temporal Mercies they made him cry out for the Living God Psal 84.2 My Soul thirsteth for God for the Living God when shall I come and appear before God Psal 42.2 And this influence they will have in a sincere degree and measure upon all true Believers neither will they make any sinful haste to get away from the Rod when God sendeth it they know nothing can come without his special appointment And therefore though Troubles flow in upon him and come toward him like a swelling Tide and threaten to swallow him up though Enemies come upon him with Rage and Fury and the Devil and his own Corruption come upon him like a Tempest as if they would bear down and utterly overwhelm him yet in this he is confident he cannot utterly sink if he be a Believer Though a sinner doth evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not God Eccles 8.12 13. So Esay 3.10 Say ye to the Righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings And as Consideration is the direct way to Wisdom which is in the Understanding so it is a ready way to that other Wisdom which is in the practical Faculties This Wisdom the Schools define to be Habitus discretivus optimi Finis Electivus optimorum mediorum Such a habit as disposeth a Man to discern and intend the best end and to elect the best means The highest end that an inconsiderate Man doth intend is no higher than the World it is at best but some Sensual Comfort some Carnal Satisfaction that 's fitted to his baser part and does no better service than accommodate his Flesh I confess his Soul also may seem to be content whilst he hath a fulness