them When wee beate ordinary spices we heed not so much every dust but some flies out and falls on the ground But if Bezar-stone or some speciall choice costly spice bee beaten then there is care had of every dust that the least bee not lost So though God may afflict the choicest spirits of his servants yet hee is very carefull that their spirits faile not before him as for other common ordinary spirits hee cares not much to let them faile and sinke in their affliction but this is the mercifull care of God over those spirits whom he highly esteems of Fourthly The excellencies of this spirit are eternall excellencies they shall abide for ever not vanish not be taken away as common gifts and other mercies shall as Ezech. 46. 17. If a Prince give of his inheritance to one of his servants it is to bee his but for a time and to returne unto the Prince againe but his inheritance shall be to his sonnes for them for ever So when God gives any thing to common men who are but his servants at best it must returne againe GOD will call for all his mercies from them againe but these soule-mercies of his children shall be their inheritance for ever Hence God calls his Church an eternall Excellency Esay 60. 15. But fifthly and principally these other spirits are most honourable creatures indeed because they are reserved for other mercies GOD gives common mercies to common spirits but hee reserves his choice mercies for choice spirits With the pure thou wilt shew thy selfe pure saith David in the 2 Sam. 22. 27. The words are with the choice thou wilt shew thy selfe choice Abraham gave Ishmael and Hagar a bottle of water and a few raisins and sent them away but the inheritance was reserved for Isaac So God gives to other men a few ordinary mercies but his glorious mercies hee reserves for these peculiar ones and as it is said of Iehosaphat 2 Chron. 21. 3. he gave his other sonnes great gifts of silver gold precious things fenced Cities but the Kingdome he gave to Iehoram because he was the first borne So God gives these outward mercies to other men but the mercies of his Kingdome are reserved for these men of choice spirits who are the first borne the chiefe and most excellent of all Gods creatures in this world Now we are the sonnes of God saith S. Iohn but it appeares not what wee shall bee there is more to come hereafter they have not spirits that will be satisfied with the things of this world and therefore are not as ordinary men who have their portion in the things of this world God delights to fill the capacities of all his creatures with sutable good now these other spirits by that choice excellency of them are made capable of farre higher mercies than the world can afford they must be the good things of another world that can fill them and those are reserved for them The bodies of the Saints because they are joyned to such pretious soules shall be like the glory of the Sunne yea excell in glory How glorious then shall their souls be for whose sake their bodies shall bee thus glorious Wee look upon great heires who have great inheritances to come with high esteeme though they have little for the present These are the great heires of heaven Coheires with Iesus Christ himselfe these they are who are delivered from the wrath to come and to be made partakers of the glory that is to be revealed The Lord gives them no great matters in comparison now because hee hath reserved so much for them afterwards As nature is not very exquisite in her worke in inferiour things where she intends some higher excellency So the God of Nature intending such high and glorious things hereafter for his Saints doth no so much regard to give them these inferiour things for the present But what are those reserved mercies you speake of that God hath for these Not entending a Treatise of that glory that God hath for his choice ones onely take these five generals First These mercies are prepared mercies prepared before the foundations of the world were laid and againe prepared by Iesus Christ who is gone before to heaven to that end as hee tels us himselfe To prepare Mansions for us Iohn 14. 1. Now this is spoken after the manner of men who do not use to make long and great preparations but for some great worke in hand Surely these mercies must needs be great which the wisedome power and mercy of God hath been from all eternity preparing Secondly They are other mercies than Adam than Man-kinde should have had than they could have attained unto if he had stood in his innocencie Man indeed should then have beene for ever happy but not according to that height of happinesse and glory that now is provided for those who are the beloved of the Lord. Thirdly These reserved mercies are such as must set out Gods Magnanimity that God may shew to Angels and all his creatures what his infinite wisdome power and goodnesse can do for poore creatures to raise their conditions to a height of glory surely that glory must needs be high that is raised for that end If a King should doe any thing of purpose to shew his magnificence it must needs be some great thing it is not a common ordinary thing that can set forth the Magnificence of a King much lesse that can set forth the Magnificence of the great God When Ahasbuerus would make a feast and Nebuchadnezzar would build a Pallace to shew to their people their greatnesse they were great things so surely here that which must shew the greatnesse of the great God must needs be great indeed Fourthly These mercies must be such as may shew to Angels and all the world how infinitly well pleased God the Father is with the obedience of his Sonne in giving himself up to death for the purchase of mercy Surely that mercy thus purchased must needs be great If there had beene no higher good for man but to eat and drink and to have pleasure to the flesh certainly Christ would never have died to have purchased this but there were higher things then these which Christ look'd at these are but poore things for God to shew by them how infinitely he is well pleased with the obedience of his sonne to the death that which must demonstrate this cannot but bee very great what ever it bee and that yea the fulnesse of that is the mercy reserved for these choice ones Fiftly Other mercies in some respect higher than the very blessed Angels themselves have For 1 Mans nature is more highly advanced than theirs being hypostatically united to the Divine Nature 2 The righteousnesse whereby the Saints come to glory is a higher righteousnesse a more excellent righteousnesse than that of the Angels though theirs be perfect in its kinde theirs is the righteousnesse but of
Lord the apprehension of the presence of the Lord damps all and therefore they desire not to have mention made of the Name of the Lord Amos 6. 10. So to rejoyce as to be able to blesse God for our joy so to rejoyce as to make the presence of God the chief matter of 〈…〉 joy indeed this 〈…〉 for the spirit to feed upon such comforts is a choyce blessing indeed They are spirituall comforts for they are administred to the soule by a speciall worke of the Holy Ghost it is the office that the Holy Ghost is designed to by the Father and the Sonne to bee the Comforter to bring in sutable comforts to the spirits of his setvants and surely the holy Ghost will not be failing in this worke of his as the Father and the Sonne have been full and glorious in all their workes so is the Holy Ghost in his and therefore such must be the comforts of the spirits of Gods servants as must manifest a glorious worke of the Holy Ghost in the discharge of that he is sent to doe by the Father and the Sonne No marvaile then though the Apostle called this joy unspeakeable and glorious Consider what a difference must there needes be betweene the comfort that a little meat and drinke and vaine sports afford and the comforts of the Holy Ghost which hee conveyes into the soules of the godly by the appointment of the Father and the Sonne Surely these must needs be soule-satisfying soule-ravishing consolations God is the God of all consolation therefore here are all consolations There is surely infinite good sweetnesse treasures of all excellency in God and what are they all for but to bee comforts for the spirits of his servants to rejoyce in these are not for common ordinary spirits they have meate the world knowes not of a stranger shall not intermeddle in these joyes men of ranke quality as they are in higher condition than others so their comforts and delights are much different from the delights of ordinary people As God hath raised the condition of his people higher than other men so he hath raised their comforts Childrens bread from the Lords owne table is provided for them while husks and swill serves worldly spirits Their comforts such as are the delights of God himselfe of Iesus Christ they partake with them in their joyes and surely such joyes as they come and joyne with them in must needs be sweet and glorious indeed I and my Father sayes Christ will come and sup with them and they shall sup with mee They have dainties which their spirits feed upon that are savoury even to the Father and the Lord Iesus Christ Surely the world mistakes who thinks the life of godlinesse not to be a comfortable life as if the most excellent and highest life should have the worst and lowest condition surely it is a grosse mistake to think that the spirits of the Saints should bee the most sad and melancholy spirits Gods Spirit witnesses of them that they are the children of the Light yea that they are light If they be sad it is because they meddle too much with things below it is when their spirits are down when they get up their spirits to heavenly things then they can rejoyce and sweetly delight themselves their hearts are inlarged their soules are filled with joy The Birds doe not use to sing when they are on the ground but when got up into the ayre when on the top of trees then they sing sweetly If they be sad and melancholy it is because they differ no more from the world than they doe because they retaine so much likenesse to your spirits stil in them were they freed altogether from the likenesse there remaines in them to your spirits they would never be sad more but their spirits would be filled with everlasting joy For the present they joy in things sutable to them and sutablenes is the thing that causes comfort in any creature If the Swine could expresse it self it would tell you that no such comfort as in Swill and Dung and wonders that any other creature can take comfort in any other thing like to this because this is the most sutable to their natures Thus worldly brutish spirits because these low vile things are so sutable to them they thinke there can bee no such comfort in any other thing these things they rejoyce in for they know no better but if their natures were changed their greatest comfort would be in the despising and vilifying such comforts S. Augustine before his conversion could not tell how hee should want those delights hee found so much contentment in but after when his nature was changed when hee had another spirit put into him then he sayes O how sweet is it to bee without those former sweet delights You thinke we have no comforts or at least not like yours know we can taste naturall comforts as well as you if the poyson of sinne bee not mixed with them and God gives us leave to reioyce in them God hath made these outward comforts for his setvants Surely God hath not made the flowers for Spiders and Frogges but rather for the Bee to suck honey out of them wee can taste another manner of sweetnesse in them than you can for we can taste the love of God through them we can taste them as the comforts that flow from that God in whom all comfort is we can taste them as fore-runners of eternall comforts A Bee can sucke her honey out of a flower that a Flie cannot doe But besides these there are other conveyances of comforts through which our spirits finde comforts to feed on namely the Ordinances where the Lord lets out himself in a blessed sweet manner to the soules of his servants and yet besides God communicates many comforts immediately 2 Thess 2. 16. Now our Lord Iesus Christ himselfe and GOD even our Father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation Doe you thinke we have no comforts What did Iesus Christ come into the world suffer so many sorrowes and miseries die such a painfull death and all to bring us to a more sorrowfull estate than we had before Let us alone with our comforts wee envy not yours As Tertullian sayes in his Apologie against the Gentiles Wherein doe we offend you If we beleeve there are other pleasures if wee will not delight in our selves it is our own wrong wee reject those things that please you and you are not delighted with ours CAP. 11. Wherein the excellencie of this gracious spirit appeares THus they are men of another spirit and this is their excellencie A spirit thus differenced from the world where all this is found is an excellent spirit indeed Here is true worth all the bravery and glory of the world not worthy to be mentioned with this The soule is the excellencie of a man and this is the excellencie of the soule
here 's the misery we are not sensible of this if wee have our desires in the creature we are quieted and satisfied whereas if our hearts were fully after the Lord as they ought when wee are before him wee should crie to him as Moses in another case Exod. 33. Except thy presence goe with mee Lord send mee not hence 9 One that followes God fully is willing to engage and binde himselfe to God by the most full and strong bonds and engagements that can be his spirit is at the greatest liberty when hee is most strongly bound to the Lord. That place in the 2 Chron. 15. 12 is very observable for this Asa and his people enter into a Covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soule yea so as whosoever would not seeke the Lord God should bee put to death whether small or great man or woman and they sware unto the Lord with shoutings and with trumpets and with cornets But were they not afterwards troubled that they had so tied and bound themselves would they not have thought it better to have been at more liberty No surely for Verse 15. the Text sayes that all Iudah rejoyced at the oath and this reason is given Because they had sworne with all their heart and sought him with their whole soule When any seek God with their whole heart with their whole soule they are not only willing to engage themselves to God but they rejoyce in their engagements Thus Nehemiah whose heart was fully set for God did himselfe and got the Princes the Priests Levites and People to make a sure covenant to write it to seale it Chap. 9. 38. And as if this were not engagement enough they further enter into a curse and into an oath to walke in Gods Law to observe and doe all the Commandements of the Lord and his Judgements and his Statutes Thus David discovers the fulnesse of his spirit in following after the Lord in that he not onely promises but sweares hee will keep the righteous Judgements of the Lord Psal 119. 106. It is a signe that mens hearts are not fully taken off from their sinne when they doe not fully come off in the Covenant of the Lord. No may some say it is because wee often covenant with God and finde wee are overcome againe and doe breake covenant with him and therefore we are afraid to enter into covenant any more Is it not better not to covenant than not to performe I answer It is true if men covenant and wilfully neglect they were better not covenant at all but if when wee enter into covenant wee have the testimony of our consciences that we labour as in the sight of God to fulfill our covenants wee make and it is the burthen of our soules that we saile in them then I say that wee are still to goe on and engage our selves further our covenants doe not aggravate our sinne but in time they will help us against our sinne this is one way that God hath appointed to strengthen us and therefore wee must not complaine of weaknesse and yet neglect any way appointed by GOD to get strength by 10 To follow God fully is to abide in all these constant to the end of our dayes That is we must be constant in Gods wayes not thinke it enough to enter into them by fits and starts but the wayes of God must be our ordinary track Prov. 16. 17. The high way of the upright is to depart from evil It is his common road and constant course and wee must continue faithfull before the Lord unto the death It is the commendation of Hezechiah 2 King 8. 6. He clave unto the Lord and departed not And David Psal 119. 112. he saith Hee hath enclined his heart to performe Gods statutes alway but as if that expression were not enough to signifie his continuance he addes even unto the end Iob 17. 9. The righteous holds on his way A heart that hath given up it selfe fully to God doth never forsake him There is no Apostate in the world but if we could trace him along in his wayes to his very beginning we might find that in the entrance of his profession there was not a full giving up himself to God there was not an absolute surrender made of all that he was and had unto the Lord. It may bee said of him as it was of Amaziah That though he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord yet he did it not with a perfect heart There are three Reasons why it must needs be that that man which followes God fully must needs follow him constantly and for ever First because where ever the Lord brings any to follow him fully hee causeth such a perfect breach betweene sinne and that soule as there is no possibility that ever there should be a reconciliation made that the breach should bee made up againe An unsound heart so falls out with his sinne as there is a possibility of reconcilement and therefore when such a one findes trouble in Gods service hee is willing to enter into parly againe upon termes of agreement with his sinne but it is not so with a truly godly heart there is such a breach made as there is no hope of reconciliation It was Achitophels policie to get Absolon to stick to him so as never to leave him To take away the feare that there might be lest Absolon in time might bee reconciled to his father and so leave him therefore he sought to make such a breach betweene him and his father as there should never be any hope of reconciliation and so hee might bee the surer to keepe constant to him and the people that joyned with him and therefore hee advised that Absolon should goe in to his fathers Concubines upon the house top in the sight of all the people 2 Sam. 16. 21 22. It is the wisedome of God that he may have followers never to leave him to make such breaches betweene sinne and their soules at first so as there may never bee hope of peace betweene them againe As the Devill when he would draw one to be his for ever hee seekes to make great breaches betweene God and him that if hee should have ever any thoughts of returning he may discourage and sinke his spirit with thoughts of despaire telling him there is no hope of good in returning that way and therefore it were better for him to continue as he is as Ier. 2. 25. Thou saidst there is no hope No for I have loved strangers and after them will I goe When the Devill gets one who hath beene forward in the profession of religion to Apostatize hee labours to make such a breach betweene him and his former course as not onely to fall off from it but to hate it and to persecure it and to turne deadly enemie to it and then both the devill and wicked men think
to the soule but how pleasant then is the fruit when it comes to ripenesse The more fully we follow on in Gods wayes the more full will the testimony of the witnesses both in heaven and earth bee in witnessing our blessed estate unto us Those three witnesses in heaven the Father Word and Holy Ghost and those three on earth the spirit water and the blood of which S. Iohn in his 1 Epistle 5. 7 8. they will all come with their full testimony to that soule which followes God fully By following the Lord fully wee keep our evidences cleare sinne blots and blurs our evidences that oftentimes wee cannot reade them but when the heart keeps close to God and walks fully with him then all is kept faire The Kingdome of God consists in righteousnesse peace and joy the more fully wee are brought into his Kingdome the more fully wee are under his government as there will bee the more righteousnesse so the more peace and joy Es 9. 7. Of the encrease of his government and peace there shall bee no end saith the Text. The more encrease there is of Christs government in the soule the more full it is the more peace will be there Seventhly there is great reason that wee should walke fully after the Lord because the way that God cals us to walke in is a most blessed and holy way In the 21. Revelation 21. verse The streets of Ierusalem that is the wayes of Gods people in his Church wherein they are to walke they are said to bee of pure gold and as it were transparent glasse they are golden wayes they are bright shining wayes Prov. 3. 17. The wayes of wisdome are the wayes of pleasantnesse and all her paths are peace There is not any one Command of God wherein hee would have us to follow him but it is very lovely there is much good in it God requires nothing of us but that which is most just and holy as God is holy in all his workes so he is holy in all his Commands they are no other but that which if our hearts were as they ought wee would choose to our selves A righteous man is a law to himselfe he sees that good that beauty that equity in all Gods Lawes as hee would choose them to himselfe were hee left at his owne liberty What one thing is there in Gods Law that could bee spared What is there that thou couldst bee glad to bee exempted from It may bee in the strength of temptation when some lust is up working the flesh would faine have some liberty but upon due serious thoughts looking into the bottome of things a gracious soule closeth with the Law and loveth it as gold yea fine gold and breakes for the longing it hath not to the reward of obedience to Gods Statutes and Judgements but to the Statutes and Judgements of God themselves as David saith his soule did Howsoever our path in following the Lord may seeme rugged and hard to the flesh in regard of the afflictions and troubles it meets withall in it yet where there is a spirituall eye the way of holinesse appeares to it exceeding lovely and beautifull Though David Psa 23. supposed the worst that might befall him in his way as that he might walke through the valley of the shadow of death yet he cals his way greene pastures and saith Godwill leade him by the still waters It is true the wayes of God are grievous to the wicked but very good and delightfull to the Saints because they are the wayes of holinesse as Esay 35. 8. And a high-way shall be there and it shall bee called the way of holinesse The uncleane shall not passe over it Eightly the consideration of the end of our way should bee a strong motive to draw our hearts fully after the Lord in it the entrance into it is sweet the midst of it more as before we have shewed but the end of it most sweet of all there is that comming that will fully recompence all Consider of the sweetnesse of the end of our way 1 In that period of it that will be at death and 2 In that glorious reward we shall have in heaven That sweet and blessed comfort that the full following of the Lord brings at death is enough to recompence all the trouble and hardship that wee meet withall in our way while we are following of him This hath caused many Saints of God to lie triumphing when they have been upon their death-beds blessing the Lord that ever they knew his wayes that euer he drew their hearts to follow after him in them When Hezekiah received the message of death Esay 38. 2 3 he turned his face to the wall and said Remember O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight and Hezechiah wept sore O the sweetnesse that possessed the heart of Hezekiah which did flow from the testimony of his conscience that hee had fully walked after the Lord with a perfect heart the verbe there I have walked is in that Mood in the Originall that addes to the signification of it It signifies I have continually without ceasing walked Thus Luther who was a man whose spirit was exceeding full in his love unto and walking after the Lord Jesus Christ while hee lived and when hee came to die his spirit was as full of comfort and joy as before it was full of zeale and courage these expressions brake from him O my heavenly Father O God the Father of the Lord Iesus Christ the God of all comfort I give thee thanks that thou hast revealed thy Sonne Iesus Christ to mee whom I have beleeved whom I have professed whom I have loved whom I have honoured whom the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the rout of wicked men have persecuted and contemned and now I beseech thee O my Lord Iesus Christ receive my soule my heavenly Father although my body is to be laid downe yet I certainly know that I shall for ever remaine with thee neither can I by any be pulled out of thy hands The grace of Gods Spirit oftentimes appeares most in the glory of it when death approacheth because grace and glory is then about to meet That soule that hath followed God fully here when it comes to depart out of the body it onely changeth the place nor the company which was the speech of a late reverend holy Divine of ours a little before his death I shall change my place saith hee but not my company meaning that as he had conversed with God and followed after the Lord here in this World hee was now going to converse with him and to follow after him more fully in a better World Death to such a soule it is but Gods calling of it from the lower gallery of this World to the upper gallery of Heaven to walke with him there Here
from them for the Scripture saith He despised the shame and endured the Crosse but when his Father hid his face from him then he was in an agony then his spirit began to bee amazed then his soule was sorowfull to the death then hee fals groveling upon the ground then he sweats drops of water and bloud then hee cries out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee These spirituall desertions in their degree Gods servants often meet withall in their way so as if they had not choice spirits some speciall worke of God in their soules they would certainly fall and sinke in it Now put all these together and we see it is not every ordinary spirit that is like to goe on fully after the Lord it must needs bee some thing extraordinary that preserves a spark in the midst of waves that preserves a candle light in the midst of storms and tempests Never wonder then or bee offended to see so many to fall off from God few men have choice spirits those who are godly expect no other from most professors and therefore they are not troubled when they see this fall out They went out from us because they were not of us saith the Apostle Wicked men are offended because they know not what the worke of grace meanes and hence if they see a man make profession of Religion they make no difference as though there were as much to be expected from him as from another as though the cause of God fell when he fell no such matter If you see mens spirits proud slight earthly sensuall or carried with a greater violence than their principles will beare I doe not meane though their affections may sometimes goe beyond their knowledge but by principles I meane the rooted graces of God in their hearts as one may perceive in some there are not graces rooted sutable to their expressions outward wayes and when you see not an evennesse in the wayes of men then never expect from them any full following the Lord and if they fall off be not troubled let it be no more than you made account of before-hand would be Hence the world is mistaken who judge it stoutnesse and stubbornnesse of spirit in Gods servants that will go on in the wayes of godlines they are a kind of inflexible people there is no perswading of them there is no dealing with them No it is no stubbornnesse it is the choicenesse of their spirits that makes them to doe as they doe you judge it stubbornnesse because you doe not know the principles upō which they goe I confesse if I see a man stand constantly in his way and will not bee moved by the perswasions of others if I doe not understand the reasons upon which hee goes I cannot but thinke it stoutnesse and this is your case but if you did but know what are their reasons what are their powerfull motives that draw them on in the wayes of God you would not have such thoughts of them Their spirits within them constraine them as Elihu sayes of himselfe in another case Iob 32. 18. Take these convincements that it is not stubbornnesse but choicenesse of spirit that carries them on so unmoveable in their way 1. In other things they are as yeeldable as tractable as easie to bee perswaded as any men it is only in the matter of the Lord their God they are thus They can beare burthens upon their shoulders and cry out and resist as little as any if you will compell them to goe a mile they will be content if it may do good to goe two yea as far as the shooes of the preparation of the Gospell of peace will carry them who can beare wrongs and injuries from men better than they stubborne-spirited men cannot doe thus 2 Stubbornnesse is joyned with desire of revenge but in these dispositions there is all pity and compassion they pray for those who doe oppose them when they are reviled they revile not againe If sometimes their corruptions should bee stirred they are ashamed and confounded in their own thoughts for that they have done they mourne and lament in the bitternesse of their spirits for it Thirdly stubborne dispositions are not contracted on a sudden it is by degrees and continuance of time that alters nature but this disposition of being unmoveable in Gods wayes comes many times even of a sudden as soone as ever the heart is turned which is an evidence of a new principle put into it Fourthly stubborne hearts doe not use to seek God to uphold them to strengthen them to blesse them in that way they doe not blesse God for being with them helping of them to persist in their way as Gods servants doe they go to God to get strength to inable them to bee immoveable they give God the glory of it when they have found themselves inabled to withstand temptations Fiftly those who are of stubborn dispositions doe not use to bee most stubborne when the heart is most broken with afflictions stout hearts though in their prosperity are unyeeldable there is no dealing with them then their hearts are presently up if you move them to any thing they have no mind to their words are stout their answers are sierce but let afflictions come then as Es 29. 4. Their hearts are brought down and they speake as one out of the ground and their speech is low as one out of the dust then they are willing to heare what you say As the young Gallant that Salomon speakes of in Proverbs 5. there was no speaking to him in his prosperity but when his flesh and body were consumed then he mournes at the last and cries out How have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproofe I have not obeyed the voyce of my Teachers c. But now those that are godly in their greatest afflictions when their hearts are most broken when God humbles them most even then they are most settled and unmoveable in that way they walked in before and it is then the greatest griefe of their soules that they walked no closer with God in it than they did Have other thoughts then of Gods people than you have had do not accuse that of stubbornnesse that you doe not understand thinke with your selves that there may be something in their spirits more than you know of Let those who have this excellent choice spirit encourage themselvs in this that surely it will inable them to follow God fully let them know First that though they be weak if their spirits bee right if of the right kind they shall certainly hold out That which Christ said for the comfort of the Church of Philadelphia Revel 3. 8 they may apply for theirs Thou hast a little strength saith Christ and hast kept my Word and hast not denyed my Name A little strength if it bee right if it bee the strength of a sound spirit it will carry on the soule to keepe