of thy glorious Majesty and the place where thine honour dwelleth There thou makest the largest discoveries of thy self and grantest the fullest communications of thy grace O let me take sweet counsel with thy people and go to serve and honour thee in their company I Wish that the Confederacy of the wicked in sin may provoke me to a league with the Israel of God for a free trade and commerce in holiness Shall they whose lusts are often contrary and set them at variance unite against God and his holy ways and shall not we whose graces are ever alike and of a cementing nature not joyn together for God and his Worship Do they conspire to defile and destroy each others souls as if vitiated nature did not lead them fast enough to sin or as if they could not run singly quick enough to Hell and shall not we encourage one another in the Worship of the living God and provoke one another to love and to good works O how much do the servants of Satan by their conjunctions in evil shame the Children of God for their backwardness in good Their Master is the Prince of darkness a cruel Tyrant a roaring Lyon that goeth about seeking whom he may devour Their work is far worse then any Turkish slavery its bondage to corruptionâ— the service of unrighteousness the diversity and contrariety of their Lords their lusts tearing them as it were in peâ—â—es for the promoting of their particular interests Their wages is the vengeance of the eternal fire the worm that never dieth and the fire that never goeth out after all their vassallage to their barbarous Masters and hardships which they have been put to in making provision for and gratifying such opposite furies they are recompenced with extremity and eternity of torments yet they can unite their hearts and hands and heads for the advancement of so hellish a Lord about the prosecution of so base and divelish a work and to earn so miserable a reward when the Souldiers of Christ whose Captain is the Lord of Hosts the most courteous and compassionate General whose combats and contests which they are called to are Noble and Heroick and whose Crown and Garland will be beyond all comparison and apprehension blessed and glorious do rather fight against themselves then against their enemies or for their endless happineâ— Ah foolish Christians who hath bewitched us May we not well blush that Satan should even out-boast the living God in the unity of his Subjects that the children of this world should be wiser in their generation then the children of light Alas is it a time for Mariners to be quarreling when their enemies are joyned in discharging their Cannons against them and the Bullets flie thick amongst them Is it a time for Christians to be wrangling when their Adversaries are united in a confederacy to destroy them all Lord thou hast promised that thy people in the days of the Gospel shall no more envy one another that the Wolf and the Laâ—b shall feed together and the Lion shall eat straw like the Bullock and dust shall be the Serpents meat that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all thy holy mountain Thy dear Son when leaving an ungrateful World left Peace as one legacy to his Children not onely peace with thee but also among themselves thou knowest how much his heart was set upon it when he begd so hard so earnestly so affectionately of thee this blessing a little before he went to lay down the price of it Let it please thee for thy Promise sake to make all thine of one heart and one way for because thou hast spoken it therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer before thee this day Let it please thee for thy Sons sake whom thou hearest always to take away all envyings and wrath and emulation and strife out of the hearts of thy people and heal thy Sion in its breaches for thou seest it shaketh I Wish that the injury I do my self by unnecessary solitariness may make me the more in love with good society My God hath told me Wo to him that is alone David was alone when Satan drew him to defile his Neighbours Wife Whilst the Sheep flock together they are safe as being under the Shepherds eye but if one stragle from the rest it s quickly a prey to the ravenous Wolf It s no hard matter to rob that house that stands far from Neighbours The cruel Pyrate Satan watcheth for those Vessels that sail without a convoy The order is observable in the narration of Demas his Apostacy Demas hath left us and hath embraced this present World He first left the Company of the faithful and then openly denyed the faith Christian conference is a good help to perseverance but they that forsake the communion of Saints will quickly disown the profession of sanctity If Rabbits keep within the Pales amongst their fellows there is Law to secure them against the violence of strangers but if any wander from the Warren they are a lawful prize for any man and prey to any Dog What an ill case is he in that travelling in a dark night falls and hath none to help him up that wanders and hath none to shew him the right way that is set upon by Theives and Murderers and hath none near him to defend and secure him Such is the condition of those that neglect the communion of Saints Hence it is that our great and sworn enemy raiseth the dust of dissention and strife amongst Christians to make them keep aloof from each other knowing that much of their welfare and safety doth depend upon their keeping together He knoweth its best fishing in troubled waters O my soul Now thou beholdest in these wicked days the high winds of divisions and passions amongst the Children of God how ready they are to Martyr one anothers names and it s to be feared to Murther one anothers bodies if infinite power did not over-rule and prevent it thou mayst gather assuredly that Satan was the Conjurer to raise them I have read of a Tree that if some of the boughs of it be cast into a Ship they cause a mutiny betwixt the Passengers and Mariners to the ruine of both Dost thou not think that Satan hath cast some such branches into the Vessel of the Church at this day that instead of uniting their strength against him and his Kingdom and instead of joyning their power to improve every gale for their furtherance towards their blissful Haven they might fall together by the ears destroy one another and save their enemies a labour O that for the divisions of Sion I could have great searchings great sorrows of heart Lord thy Saints in the Primitive times were famous for their love to each other Their very enemies would with admiration cry out See how the Christians love one another Thy Jerusalem heretofore was a City compact together at unity within
for it is cruel O my soul enter not thou into their secrets mine honour be not thou united unto them for in their anger they seek to destroy souls and in their self-will they dig pits to cause others to fall Because they cannot defile the brethren they defame the brother-hood and disgrace them whom they cannot deceive Let the heat of their lust increase my longing after that place where there is no Judas among thine Apostles no Demas among thy Disciples where all the Society will be of one mouth and mind of one heart and way where all the Companyâ— will joyn in consort and the whole Celestial Qâ—ire tune their strings and raise their voices to the highest pitch in sounding thine excellencies and singing thy praises without sin or ceasing There will be no Tobias to indict thy children of Treason against men for their faithfulness to thee There will be no Ahab to accuse thy best servants as troublers of the state for reproving the Idolatries and enormities of the Church There will be no Balaam trying his hellish tricks to make thy people a prey to their bodily foes and a provocation by their sins to thy Majesty There will be no Tares in that Field no Straw in that Barn no Vessels of dishonour in that House Into it can in no wise enter any thing that defileth or is unclean The Company there will be not tempting me to wickedness or taxing me with preciseness but part of my felicity O what an happy day will it be when all prophane Esaus and scoffing Ishmaels shall be cast out of the House and I shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob and with none but the holy of the Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven Holy Father let the skirt of thy mercy cover all my iniquities and failings in evil company and grant that my carriage amongst such persons whilst I am through thy providence forced to be amongst them may be so pious and gracious that at that great Harvest-day when thou wilt separate the chaff from the good corn and burn it up with unquenchable fire I may be wholly free from their vicious infections and vexatious presence and associate with the Spirits of just men made perfect an innumerable company of Angels the General Assembly and Church of the first born and enjoy them all in and with thy blessed self for ever and ever Amen CHAP. IV. How Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness in good Company With a Good Wish about that Particular HAving dispatched the Christians carriage in evil I proceed to his behaviour in good Company The Communion of Saints is the most desirable and delectable society that the whole creation affordeth God himself is pleased to delight in the Assembles of his people He loveth the gates of Zion where they met together above all the dwellings of Jacob Psa. 87. 2. The evil spirit is for solitariness he walketh in solitary places seeking rest Mat. 12. But God is for society he dwelleth among his children and bestoweth his choicest comforts upon the Congregations of his poor The Father provideth the greatest cheer and maketh the best feast when many of his Children come together to wait upon him though each coming singly is welcome to his Table The Spirit of God fell down in an extraordinary measure upon the Primitive Christians when they were gathered together in one place and with one consent Act. 2. 1 2. Naturalists tell us that strife and quarrelling among the Bees is a sign that the Queen-Bee is about to leave the Hive and be gone It s plain that when the Disciples were scattered every man to his ow◠〈◊〉 the Lord â—â—suâ— wâ—s leaving themâ— but when they were met together with one accord then he came unto them and said Peace be unto you receive ye the Holy Ghost Joh. 20. God cannot affect contentious spirits he would not appear in a blustring wind or in an earth-quak but in a still low voice when the difference between Abraham and Lot was over then God appeared to Abraham Gen. 13. 14. As God delights in the company of his Children Isa 62. 4. Thou shalt be called Hephzibah i.e. my delight is in her so the Saints delight in communion with one another things of like Nature desire to be joyned together Love the consequent of likeness hath an attractive power and covets the presence of the party beloved Balm put into the Bee hives causeth the Bees to come together and others to come to them Grace like fire soders together those that before differed Hence Saints are like Doves they flie in troops to their windows Isa. 60. 8. Though the Pellicane be a melancholly Bird and naturally inclineth to desarts yet when they remove their places they go in companies and the first stay for the last as they flie over the Mountains Isa. 34. 11â— Eph. 2. 14. Though Saints love sometimes to be solitary as having secret business with their God yet they do not forsake the assembling themselves together That verse Psa. 84. 7. which we read they go from strength to strength every one of them in Sion appearing before God Iunius reads it and so it is in the Hebrew They go from Company to Company as they went up to Jerusalem they went in troopes and companies Possibly we translate it strength because much of our safety consisteth in good society He that travails alone is eaâ—ily made a prey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One man is no man Even Counties that have been large have drawn themselves into Associations for mutual and common defence Hebron which was a type of the Church takes its name from Cabar to accompany and thence Chebron or Hebron a pleasant or delectable society The Saints are all One Family One Houshold One Body One Sheep-fold One Brother-hood One Building one Vine-yard one Army one Spouse to shew that oneness which ought to be in affection among them Christ tells us of his Spouse Cant. 6.9 My Dove is one the onely one of her Mother Hence the Primitive Christians though some thousands are said to be of one heart and of one soul of one heart in unity of affection and of one soul in unity of judgement Act. 4. 32. In Tertullians time the Heathen admired the Christians for their love saying Look how the Christians love one another Jerusalem is a City compact together at unity within it self Psa. 122. 3. Babel was confounded by diversity of tongues and the Citizens of Zion are confirmed by being of the same mind and mouth by speaking all the same thing O how many arguments doth the Spirit of God use to perswade them to oneness and unity He tels them they have one Father Rom. 8. 14. One Mother Gal. 4. 26. that they are begotten by the same immortal seed 1 Pet. 1. 23. and nourished by the same milk 1 Pet. 2. 2. He calls them co-workers in the same labours co-heirs of the same life Rom. 16. 3. and 8.
it self Why is it now divided and the walls broken down and the inhabitants all in all in an uprore that all that go by waste it and laugh at it saying Is this the beautiful City Is this the Church of Christ Aha! so would we have it O look down from Heaven and pity mount Sion where thou wast wont to dwell Should thy children fall out by the way to the gratifying thine enemies dishonouring thy name and wounding their own souls Should the members of the same body cut and lance and tear each other Though Dogs and Wolves the wicked of the world tear out one anothers bowels yet the Sheep of Christ should live together in love How long shall it be before thou biddest with a word of power thy people return from pursuing their brethren Shall the Sword devour for ever Thou knowest it will be bitterness in the end For thy names sake unite the hearts of all thy chosen not onely by faith to thy dear Son but also by unfaigned and forbearing love each to other I Wish that my great coldness and backwardness to what is good may invite me to associate with them who will warm and quicken me How averse is my flesh to every work of Christianity how weak is my spirit in their performance how untowardly doth it enter upon them how formally doth it go through with them my carriage in them is wholly unsutable to their weight and worth and what need then do I stand in of help from others As in a material house the walls need support from the strong timber and the timber needs even the nails and spikes to fasten it together So in the Spiritual Temple the weak Christians need the strong to support and uphold them and the strong need the weak if for nothing else yet to call forth those gifts of counselling and that grace of pity and compassion which they owe to them If the strongest want each other that the eye the most knowing Christian cannot say to the hand the most active I have no need of thee much more do those that are weak want supply and support from others Nature teacheth me this lesson The weakest creatures amongst Fish or Fowls or Beasts go usually in flocks and Companies The Ivy and Vine and Hop not being able to bear up themselves will by a natural instinct â—ling about the Tree or Pole or Hedge or Wall that is near them Were I but as sensible of my own weakness as I ought to be I should both earnestly desire and heartily accept the assistance of others It is the Wisdom of my God to let none of his Children have all things about them or a sufficiency to live of themselves without being beholden to their Neighbours to invite and necessitate them to mutual commerce Those that are very able to advise others do yet in their own cases take advice from others The Lawyer will not trust himself in a case of his own estate nor the Physitian in a distemper in his own body but will both desire counsel and direction from their friends A stander by doth many times see more then an actor and is more fit to judge the action then the Agent We are too near our selves to see our own doings and to be right in our judgements of our selves Those that stand at a due distance from us see more clearly and judge more truly Self-love so blinds us that we judge those diseases not unpleasing in our selves which we loath in others O that I might be so affected both with my ignorance of the right way and my proneness to allow my self in my wandrings that I may make use of those Guides which free grace affordeth me Lord give me such sense of my unskilfulness in the wiles and devices of Satan of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of my own heart and of my inability to steer the vessel of my soul aright amongst those shelves and sands and storms which I am sure to encounter that I may take up those Pilots which thou providest for me at every Port and so at last arrive in safety at thy glorious City I Wish that I may watch my self amongst the godly as well as amongst the wicked lest Satan do me that injury by a friend which he could not by an enemy Davids familiar friâ—nd conspired his ruine the Son of David was betrayed with a kiss from his friend and though my charity to my friends forâ—ids me to think them as bad as either yet my charity to my self commands me to stand upon my guard Anglers for Fish do frequently catch one fish with another as the greater with the smaller Sure I am Satan is subtile enough to bait his hook with that which is most likely to take and hath too often caught one Christian with another The best friends are but men and have flesh in them as well as Spirit and what know I but the wicked one may tempt them to tempt me as not ignorant of their prevalency over me None was so likely to deceive the Prophet of the Lord as the Old Prophet that pretended a commission from the same power and himself a Servant of the same Master Who can so probably perswade me to a work of darkness as he that is or at least transformes himself into an Angel of light Besides I am apt to be the more careless when I am amongst them that I judge true Christians In a crowd where Cheats usually resort and execute their hellish Trade I look to my money but when I am amongst them whom I suppose to be honest I think that care needless and so may the easier be deceived Lord thou hast commanded me to keep my heart with all diligence I acknowledge I have been too secure when amongst thy Saints as beleiving their work to be onely to advance thine not Satans interest in the World O give me to Consider that when the Sons of God gather together Satan is also amongst them and he is both policick and active to defile me that he may destroy me that I may even amongst them watch and pray and so not enter into temptation I Wish that I may never spend my precious time amongst Christians as the Athenians who never understood the worth of that commodity used to waste it onely in telling and hearing of nâ—ws but as Christ amongst his Disciples in discoursing of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God O what pity is it that a thing of such infinite value should be spoiled and laid out to little purpose I sâ—ould befool him that should throw down pails of Bezerwater to wash common sinks or gutturs which would serve for such excellent use as to comfort our vitals and to refresh and revive drooping and fainting Spirits Who would not abhor that vanity of Nero in shooing his Horses with precious gold and causing that costly mettal to be trampled under foot in the dirt which was worthy to be the materials
nourishment Fluxes in the mind as in the outward man are arguments and authors of weakness The milk must be set some time before it will turn into Cream The longer Physick remains within me tâ—e more operative it will be The flame of Davids extraordinary affection to Gods Law was kindled at the hot fire of his constant meditation O how love I thy Law it is my meditation all the day His love was hot burning coals He speaks not barely by way of affirmation I love thy law and by way interrogation How love I thy Law but also by way of Admiration O how love I thy Law But his abiding thoughts on it were the warm beams which beating constantly upon him put him into such a violent heat It is my meditation all the day As the Hen by sitting on her eggs some weeks warmeth them and hatcheth young ones so may I by applying savoury subjects home to my soul and brooding some considerable time on them bring forth new affections and new actions Though my affections seem as dead as the Shunamites son by stretching my thoughts thus on them I shall warm and enliven them Many blows drive a nail to the head many thoughts settle a truth on the heart O that I might not onely at some times exchange a few words with the subject of my meditation occasionally as I do with a friend passing by my door but also at set times invite it as Lot did the Angels to stay with me all night being confident it will pay me bountifully as they him for my charges in its entertainment Yet I would not onely have my affections renewed but also my actions reformed by my meditations If I meditate what is good to be done and do not the good meditated on I lose my labour and take much pains to no purpose Cogitation is the sowing of the seed Action is the springing of it up the former is hidden and under ground the latter is visible and many are the better for it If the seed should still lye buried in the earth it is but lost and thrown away t is the springing of it up that causeth the Harvest Meditation is the womb of my actions action is the Midwife of my meditations An evil and imperfect conception if it hath the favour of a birth yet the mind is but delivered of a monster and of that which had better been stifled in the womb then ever seen the light A good and perfect conception if it want strength for its birth perisheth and comes to nothing like Ephraim It playeth the part of an unwise Son and stayeth in the place of the breaking forth of Children Its pity that such conceptions should prove abortive or such beautiful children be still-born Lord thou hast appointed me to meditate seriously on thy statutes and those excellent subjects contained in them I confess my heart is unwilling to this needful and gainful work and apt to be unfaithful in the management of this sacred duty If thou pleasest not to lay thy charge upon it and to use thy power over it it will either wholly omit it or perform it to no purpose Why should it not dwell now upon thee by meditation with whom I hope to dwell for ever What unspeakable joy might I receive in and from thy self could I but get above this earth and flesh O who will bring me into that strong City not made with hands Who will lead me into thy holy hill of Sion by meditation Wilt not thou O God Grant me thy Spirit I beseech thee that my spirit which lives upon thee may be united in thinking of thee and may live wholly to thee O my soul now thou art spending thy self in Wishes set upon the work and turn thy prayers into practice for an example and pattern to others and for thy profit There is one Attribute of thy God to which thou art infinitely indebted and beholden for every moments abode on this side the unquenchable sire even his Patience and long-suffering Ah where hadst thou been at this hour had not that Attribute stood thy friend Let the kindness thou hast received from it encourage thee to a serious consideration of it Old acquaintance and former courtesies may well plead and prevail also with thee to afford it entertainment for some time in thy thoughts What is this Patience of thy God to whiâ—h thou art so much engaged It is his gracious will wherâ—by he beareth long and forbeareth his sinful creatures It is that Attribute whereby he beareth their reproach and forbeareth revenge It is sometimes called slowness to anger Psal. 103. â— He is not easily overcome by the provocations of men but striveth to overcome them by his patience A small matter doth not incense him to anger he is not presently put into a fury and his wrath is not easily heightned into revenge Thou wast a trangressor from the womb for mine name sake I will defer mine anger and refrain for thee that I cut thee not off Isa. 48. 8,9 It is sometimes called long-suffering Exod. 34. 6. He expecteth and waiteth a long time for the repentance of sinners He doth not onely pity our misery which is his mercy and notwithstanding all our wickedness and unworthiness load us with benefits which is his grace but also bear many days many years with our infirmities which is his long-suffering Men are transgressors in the womb before they are able to go they go astray yet after a thousand and thousand affronts from the womb to the tomb he bears with them Forty years long was I grieved with this generation Infants or green wood are fit fuel for the eternal fire yet he forbears rotten Okes and old sinners They owe an infinite debt to Iustice and are liable every moment to the prison of Hell but Patience stoppeth the arrest of destructionâ— Rom. 9.12 This Patience of thy God is amplified by considering 1. How odious sin is to him the evil of sin never obtained a good look from God Thou art of purer eyes then to behold iniquity He seeth all sins with an eye of observation but he seeth no sin with an eye of approbation T is not out of any love to sin that he is so long-suffering towards sinners for sin is the object of his anger and dislike He is angry with sinners every day Sin is the object of his wrath which is anger boyled up to its greatest heat The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighttousness and ungodliness of men Nay it s the object of his hatred which is the highest degree of detestation Hatred is abhorrency heightned to an implacability Bare anger might be appeased wrath might be pacified but hatred is irreconcileable The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity Six things doth the Lord hate yea seven are an abomination to him There is an antipathy in his nature against the smallest sin as sin is