the Proffers of his Love Oh with what an a king Heart will the Infidel then say Why did he dye for me since I was resolved to dye for my self If he had not died for me this Death had never been so terrible as now I feel it O that any one would bring an Argument and convince me now that Christ died not for me then should I escape the greatest part of my Torment I would not torment thee with such thoughts as these now if it were not in hope to prevent such tormenting thoughts when time is past Let me earnestly entreat thee whoever thou art that art in this doleful condition either speedily to believe in Christ or believe it thine own Conscience will one day prove thy most terrible Executioner So much for the First Motive that should Teach us to prize and exercise Faith viz. Consider the Miseries of an Unbeliever But it is not my design to fright the Sinner unto Christ neither is it possible that Fear only should work true Belief and produce a justifying Faith All that I have said hitherto is to deter the Sinner from such a damning Sin as Unbelief but these be Arguments of another Nature to attract the Sinner unto Christ Consider therefore 2. Secondly What Christ hath done to draw the Heart of Sinners to him and to engage them to believe He hath given his Soul an Offering to the death and stood in the very flames of his Father's wrath that he might keep away the burning intolerable heat thereof from us and bore the grievous burden of our sins He stript himself even to the greatest Poverty and Nakedness that he might Cloth us and emptied himself that we might be filled 2 Cor. 8.9 Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that tho he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich When we were fallen into the deepest reproach and shame he made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the Form of a Servant that he might advance us to the highest dignity and honour 2 Phill. 6.7 He humbled himself to the death that he might procure our life he made a low stoop that he might lift us up when sin had cast us down He took upon him the humane Nature that he might make us partakers of the Divine Nature Heb. 2.14 compared with 2 Pet. 1.4 Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself likewise took part with them that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and purchase for us exceeding rich and precious Promises that by them we might be made partakers of the Divine Nature It was no small Endearment of himself to us to pass by the Angels and put forth his hand to help us For verily he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham 2 Heb. 16. He rejoyced in the habitable parts of the Earth and his delight was among the Children of Men Prov. 8.3 It 's his earnest desire that thou shouldst have the benefits of his Death and enjoy what he hath so dearly purchased and therefore he invites thee to believe in him because otherwise thou canst have no advantage by his Death If thou hast any understanding or ingenuity lay the Love of Christ to Heart and consider how unspeakably great it is it 's past words to express it it is so much beyond example let thy thoughts dwell upon it and never give over the serious consideration of his Sufferings and Death for such as thou art till thy Heart melt and yield and till thou canst with Love and Thankfulness resign thy self to him as one that doth deliberately resolve to be his Loyal Subject and Disciple Methinks after thou hast heard what he hath done for thee thou shouldst be ready to do any thing and stick at nothing that he bids thee do that thou mightst shew the most grateful resentment of his love But when he commands thee nothing but for thy greatest advantage that is to leave thy deadly Enemies and forsake thy self-destroying Courses and come unto him thy greatest Friend and live under his Government to refuse such a gracious Offer shews that thou art void of all true understanding ingenuity and sense of thy own Benefit and Advantage Hadst thou rather live under the cruel Laws of a deadly malitious Enemy and one that neither can nor will protect thee when the most dreadful storms are coming on thee Than under the Government of one that beareth the greatest love and compassion to thee and hath the greatest Wisdom to direct thee the greatest Power to protect thee and whose Laws are the most perfect Rule of Life and the greatest Tendency to the Peace Welfare and Perfection of Christ's loyal faithful Subjects Hadst thou rather serve a Tyrant and professed Enemy in Chains and Slavery than a rightful just and gracious Soveraign that hath given such Demonstrations of the most wonderful and â—â—â—pendious love to such as thou art whose Service is perfect Freedom who hath contrived all his Laws for the benefit of his true Subjects and sincere Disciples If the Love of Christ testified by such exquisite Sufferings and Death and thy own Welfare and Felicity will not prevail with thee to throw off the Yoke of Satan and the World and Flesh and to become a Believer and cause thee to say from thy Heart with those in the Prophet Isaiah 26.13 O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had Dominion over us but by thee only will we make mention of thy Name 3. Thirdly Remember that Faith is the first Grace that brings thee into a justified state Condition All that thou hast or canst do before thou dost believe in Christ is of no avail to thy Justification and Salvation It 's Faith that unites the Soul to Christ and till it be united to him it can receive no saving benefit from him when first the sinner doth heartily consent that Christ shall be his King and Teacher and he will be his Subject and Disciple he is morally joyned and united unto Christ as the Soveraign and Subject make one Body Politick of which every Subject is a Member and the King is the Head and as the Master and the Scholars are morally united then begins our union with Christ and our participation of the benefits which he hath purchased when we first enter our selves into his School and list our selves under his Government and Protection God hath peremptorily resolved that none shall have the special Benefits of his Death but those that submit themselves to him Amongst which Justification is the first and then th◠〈◊〉 follow in their due place and order 〈…〉 by Faith we have Peace 〈…〉 〈…〉 â—â—pt 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 of Eternal Salvation 〈…〉 â—se that actually obey him so neither 〈…〉 the Means of their Justification to any 〈…〉 as by Faith and Cordial Subjection resolve to obey
2 Tim. 3.16 and shew how by Doctrine Reproof Correction and Instruction in Righteousness all the visible Creatures would help on this Remembrance of God and therefore forgetfulness of God hath the greater sin by how much it prevailes against the greater means vouchsafed by God for its cure But least that way shâ—uld not seem so intelligible and convincing I shall chuse rather to nominate four other ways whereby the several Creatures do provoke man to have God highest in their Remembrance 1. They all offer themselves to his sight and by that to his understanding to inform him in the glorious Perfections of God which they palpably discover and therefore are very serviceable in the work of Contemplation No one so sottish as to imagine they could make themselves then they must be made by another that 's God but such infinite variety and such rare and excellent works must suppose and therefore put any one that thinks on them in mind of infinite Wisdom and Skill infinite Goodness and Power in the creating of them 2. They serve for his Food and Rayment and are the means to keep him alive that could not live a day without them Let him that thinks he is least of all beholding to the Creatures consider whether he could live an hour without the Air he sucks in or how many days he could live without Food which one Creature or another serves in every day and then let him think who hath made and doth supply every Creature to him and forget God if he can 3. They serve for his other necessary uses in great delightful variety The Horse to fetch in and carry out both himself and other things and to remove his Luggage from place to place The Wood and Stones to build his Habitation and the Art and Workmanship of Man to adorn it the Dog to keep it and all things conspire together to make him as happy as he can be in the absence of God even a Lord on Earth because God hath appointed him so to be and hath he not yet enough to advance his great Benefactor in his Heart 4. They serve also for his Recreation and sober Pleasure and Refreshment when he hath been tired by his more serious Employments and yet to forget God whose Praise and Service these Creatures do so constantly bespeak by their so beneficial service to us All these steps lead up the sin to a higher guilt In a word to have all the Senses assaulted by the several Objects that God hath furnished to them The Eye to be fed with so many delightful sights of several things The Ear with such various Harmony and Sound The Taste with so many distinct and grateful Relishes of things which the wisdom of the Creator hath provided and offered to that Sense And the Objects of the other Senses are multiplied to as great a variety And is it not monstrous for the mind of man to have so many Monitors and yet to forget God in despight of all 3. Thirdly He hath moreover given us his Son that we might not want an Argument of the greatest force to provoke a remembrance of him When we were like to withstand all other Arguments and to lose the sense of all his other mercies towards us and to perish in a wicked oblivion and forgetfulness of God for ever He hath taken such a course that one would think should create a memory of him where there was none at all of him before and should recover those that are the most desperately gone in forgetfulness and force them to say that the love of Christ constraineth them 2 Cor. 5.14 Would not a Malefactor that 's sentenced and condemned to die take it for a favour indeed and place that man high in his Remembrance that should step between him and death and release him with the loss of his own life especially if he were a Person of Honour and Degree And doth it not deserve a Remembrance not a Customary but a substantial Remembrance when the highest and most honourable Person that ever lived in the World hath laid down his life in the room of ours Sure we think we are not so beholding to him as we are when such an obligation as this wiâ—l prevail no more to exalt God in our Hearts If this be not an obligation that doth inforce a gracious Remembrance now I am sure it is such a one that will enforce a tormenting Remembrance hereafter When the thought of such a mercy so wickedly slighted shall be a raging fire in their Bowels and then they shall not be able to forget it What 's the matter that such a motive is put off and not regarded by too many I am sure there 's nothing but flat downright wickedness can make a man so sleepy and forgetful If such a Breath as this will not kindle the love of God in our Hearts if such a spur will not prick us forward to the duty of Remembrance It 's not because we want Arguments but because we want Grace and how we should want Grace if we were apprehensive of the mercy would be very difficult to resolve and how we should not be apprehensive if we did but think frequently of it would be as impossible to determine So that you see the wickedness of this sin is ultimatly resolved into not thinking or bending our selves to think what we have received Well we are left to take our choice the death of Christ will either oblige us to the duty of Remembrance or aggravate the sin of forgetfulness Lastly We have the Spirit Word and all the Ordinances of God to beget and cherish this Remembrance of God I joyn all these together because I would not multiply particulars too much Obj. But you may say Though the Death of Christ and the Gift of the Spirit are Arguments of great strength and may do good service to quicken up a Believer that 's backward to this work yet how can they compel a wicked man or one that forgets God since Christ died for none but the Elect and none can know themselves to be such but such as have true Faith and know they have it and so also for the Spirit and therefore these Arguments are cogent to none but such as these Answer That Christ gave himself intentionally for all men and that God accepted his Sacrifice to that universal end is so plain in Scripture that scarce any truth is plainer 1 Tim. 2.6 Who gave himself a ransom for all 1 John 2.2 And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World But because some evade those places by distinguishing of All and World that All is sometimes taken for some and World for part of the World As if the Apostle fore-saw such Quirks and meant to stop every Mouth his words are not liable to evasion Heb. 2.9 That he by the Grace of God should taste of Death for every Man And to make mention
may find in Parsons Resolut Part 2. Yet to conclude this Argument Let it be considered how punctually Christ foretold what should befall himself from his own Countrey-Men and some of his Disciples How he should be denyed betrayed and put to death yea the death of the Cross and that he should rise again the third day That the Holy Ghost should be poured forth on his Disciples at the Day of Pentecost and often told those that discoursed with him the Thoughts of their Hearts and what they would do and did exactly predict the Destruction of the Jews their City and Temple which accordingly fell out And then let it be considered what God saith in 41 Esai 22. wherein God provoketh the Idols of the Gentiles to make proof of their Divinity saying Let them shew unto us what shall happen Let them shew the former things what they be that we may consider them and know the latter end of them or declare us things for to come shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods Intimating that it is a sufficient proof of a Deity to foreshew what is to come when the thing is meerly contingent Other Proofs of the Divine Authority of Scripture may be drawn FIrst From the Antiquity of these Books Josephus tells us in his Second Book against Appion That their Law-giver he means Moses was more Antient than all the Law-givers that are mentioned in Antiquity And that Lycurgus and all those that Greece wonders at are but Novices and of much later standing compared unto him and St. Austin De Civit. Dei l. 18. c. 37. In the days of some of our Prophets the Gentile Philosophers were not in being yea the Seven wise Men of Greece and those Secretists of Nature that were of a higher date Anaximander Anaximenes and Anaxagoras neither were they so antient as some of our Prophets They were far more antient than the oldest Historiographers among the Heathen viz. Helanicus Herodotus Pherecydes Thucydides Xenophon And albeit the Gentiles had some Poets before as Orpheus Homer Hesiod yet the eldest of these arrived no higher than the days of King Solomon who was 500 years after Moses the first Pen-Man of the Bible Along time after this most of the Heathen Gods were unborn as the Gentiles themselves in their Genealogies of them do confess And as for Abraham he was Elder than Jupiter Neptune and Plato And yet before Abraham do the Scriptures contain the History of 2000 years The oldest Histories extant beside the Histories of the Bible are about the Theban Wars and the Funerals of Troy as Lucretius intimates in these Verses Cur supra bellum Thebanum Funera Troiae Non alias alii quoque res cecinere Poetae But these are of far later Date than the History of the Creation and Flood Another Argument may be drawn from the particular Men that wrote them who were such as in no reason can be suspected of Deceit or Falsehood They were plain simple honest Men and such as had the Approbation of their Enemies for their innocent Life and Conversation They were never accused of any Fault charged with any Crime except that they taught a Doctrin quite contrary to the Manners and Practices both of Jews and Gentiles And this stirred up their Rage and Malice against them and being so provoked you may be sure they spake the worst they could of them And if they could have found any thing to alledge against them you should have heard it again and again They had Enemies enough that lay at watch to discredit their Testimony if they had been able that so they might have hindred the further growth of that Religion that so much crossed their worldly ends They could not hope to compass any worldly Interest or get any temporal Advantage by such a Course as this Nay rather they were sure to bring all the World about their Ears and to undo themselves thereby And they expected no less but were ready to venture their Lives upon the Credit of this Word which they proclaimed openly to the World and preached boldly to the Faces of their Enemies that threatned them with the greatest Cruelties The Testimony they gave to our Saviour's Divinity and miraculous Acts they stood to and boldly defended to the very Face of the bloody Sanedrim that murthered him whilst they had spight enough in their hearts and power in their hands to put them to death and gnashed upon them with their Teeth Had they intended by Forgery to advance themselves in the World they would have taken a more likely Course and curried Favour with the great Ones of the World that had it in their power to gratifie their desires and they would have invented a lye more to their own advantage It 's the manner of Impostors and those that love lying to contrive nothing sooner than that which they think will be most grateful to their Hearers True some of them were Fishermen and if indeed they had fish'd for themselves they would have baited their Hooks with such things as they knew the Fishes lik'd and not with such things as would drive the Fish away They would have accommodated their Words to the tickling of their Ears and the satisfying of their Lusts But they knew it was not their own Word which they preached but the Word of God and therefore it must not be falsified for any Mens pleasure And therefore they despised Pleasures and contemned both the Hatred and Kindness of Men and exposed themselves to the bitterest Sufferings rather than conceal it from the World What place is here for the least suspition of untruth Now in Matter of Fact as Grotius tells us we ought verily to stand to unsuspected Testimonies And if as Ovid affirms Vbi praemia Falsi Nulla ratam Testis debet habere fidem How much more authentick is the Testimony when it hath no Reward but the bitterest usage that enraged Malice can bring about Another Argument may be taken from the Harmony Consent and perpetual unison Agreement of all the Writers of these Sacred Doctrins The witness of Lyers would vary and never come up to a perfect unison and Agreement But now there is one even Thread runs thorough all the Parts of Scripture not at all divided or entangled or rather one and the same Spirit animates the whole and quickens every the least part thereof Though to unstudied Men that have not made exact and diligent search into them there may seem to be some Contradiction yet Men that have div'd into them and have made the deepest search have fairly reconciled all these seeming Repugnancies and have put to silence all Gain-sayers and it is no more than all Writings are liable to though they be never so conform and agreeable to themselves yet they may seem to clash to an injudicious Reader Another Argument may be taken from the Duration and Continuance of these Writings in despight of all that have
out of Heaven for their sin nor prepared such a place of endless and unsufferable Torment for such as are found guilty of it in the General Account He had never brought such a Deluge upon the old World and swept away all of them save Eight Persons Nor dropt down such a consuming Fire upon those Four Citys and the Inhabitants thereof Man Woman and Child if he had not been a bitter Enemy to sin If you should see a Father that tenderly loves his Children and bears a most dear Affection to them to persecute them to the Death and express the greatest Cruelty towards them you would surely say that it must be some high Provocation that can thus prevail to extinguish such inbred natural Affection to them And if you could be consident that he were a just and righteous Person that would not do such a cruel Act without a great and weighty Cause you must then say That they must be guilty of some horrid Act that can thus turn the Bowels of such a tender Father and exasperate them into such a rage The Case is the same here only with this difference that God hath infinitely more love and tender bowels to us his Creatures and the Workmanship of his Hands than the tenderest Father or Mother here upon Earth Isaiah 49.15 Can a woman forget her sucking chila that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget but I will not forget And yet what terrible and remarkable Judgments doth he execute upon some of them both here and hereafter Not only single Persons but whole Nations yea how dreadful and heavy is his hand upon those that are his Children not only by Creation but Regeneration also insomuch that they often complain that the Arrows of the Almighty stick fast in them and drink up their Spirits Job 6.4 Thus Job David Heman and many others of God's dearest Servants have complained Can any Man of reason ever think that ever God thus deals with them without some great and weighty Cause especially when it is so certain that Fury dwelleth not in him Isaiah 27.4 And he cannot be moved by any of those wild irrational and ungoverned Passions as Man is He that believes not this either believes that there is no God or else knows not what such a Being doth essentially involve But yet though we have a fall certainly that God is more tender and affectionate to Men than any Father or Mother in the World yet it is as certain that he loveth Righteousness and Equity and Truth more than all the Creatures in the World because these are a part of his own Essence but Creatures are not And therefore he stands obliged to vindicate these though it be with the Ruin of all Mankind And thus he would certainly do even destroy all the Works of his Hands if his righteous Law which is but the Transcript of his Nature could not be otherwise righted He can make another World with a Word of his Mouth But he cannot make as I may say with reverence another God Every sin strikes at the very Being of God and toucheth the very Apple of his Eye And therefore the Word of God tells us plainly That Sin is the only Make-bate between God and his Creatures that hath pull'd down all those heavy Calamities and Judgments upon the World that ever we read or heard of But the Death of his only Natural Son for the Sins of the World which he took upon him to expiate and satisfie for is such a demonstration of God's deadly and implacable Hatred against all Sin and Ungodliness that no Man in reason should ever after doubt of it Every Man that is truly penitent and sorry for his sin is apprehensive of this in some good Measure And this is the First Act that Godly Sorrow and Repentance doth imply Secondly He that unfeignedly grieveth for his sin must be very sensible how dishonourable it is to God I know it 's beyond the reach of any Creature to do him any real Dishonour But yet doth he not lose his Reputation amongst Men by every sin that is committed Are not some or other animated thereby to do the like or else if it be secretly committed is not the sinner himself more hardned thereby and disposed to more perverse unworthy Apprehensions of God It is certain he is He cannot think him so holy just and righteous as he is because Judgment is not speedily executed on him And how doth the Devil triumph and all those malicious Spirits that attend him to see a Child so unnatural to his Father as every sinner is to God How doth it feed his Malice and Pride to see him make a Creature that cares so little for him as every sinner doth He that is affected with his sin to purpose knows and is cut to the heart for the dishonour done to him by his sin and that he hath so much stained his holy Attributes and Perfections and mis-represented him to the World Thirdly He that is truly penitent for his sin is deeply sensible of those great Obligations he lies under to perform a perfect obedience to God He is his Creature I and the chief of his Creatures in this lower World made on purpose for his service shaped in his own likeness fitted for it encouraged to it That can never be happy but in his Favour and therefore was sufficiently concerned to seek and prize it above all things And to shun and avoid sin whereby he must needs lose it All Creatures upon Earth were placed at his Feet and put into his Hands to give him their best Assistance and Encouragement for this Service The good and welfare of the whole inferiour World depended upon his Obedience to God and the observance of that Law he had written upon his very Nature And therefore so soon as ever he sinned he involved all the Creatures that were made subject to him in the same Curse and Condemnation so that the whole Creation is now in Bondage and groans to be delivered into the glorious Liberty of God's Children And the earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 21 22. Never was any Child so much obliged to observe the Will of his Father Nor any Subject to Obey his rightful Prince and Soveraign Nor any Slave and Vassal to fulfil the Command of his Lord as we are to do the Will of our Creatour But what do I make such a Comparison as this There 's a thousand fold more obligation upon us to tender a perfect Obedience to God than there can be upon any Subject or Child or Servant to obey the strictest Laws of the best Father Lord or Sovereign here on Earth And yet what Man so mad as to incur their displeasure if they can help it Or who would not wash away such an Offence with many Tears if there were any hope to find Mercy and Favour with them in
and Folly and darest not publish thy Levity Shame or Wickedness unto holy and discerning Men Nay it may be not to Men as wicked as thy self Such a reproach is folly vanity and wickedness unto any man Yea Why dost thou retire into thy own heart as if thou wouldst lock all up and make all sure and there exercise thy self in Pride Envy Self-conceit Uncleanness and act these sins with confidence and security in the darkness of thy heart which if another like thy self did but see thou wouldst not know where to hide thy self for shame And yet because all hath been transacted with so much silence and secrecy thou hast no disposition to blush or be ashamed but like the Whore in the Prov. Thou eatest and wipest thy mouth and say'st What shame have I done And dost thou think there is no witness of thy shameful wicked acts No Eye to take notice Better all the World had seen thee than he that stands but for a cypher to thy deluded forgetful Heart I might here run over all the Attributes of God both Essential Subsistential and Relative and oppress your Memory with particulars But having given these instances I leave the rest to your Meditations Yet before I leave this head and proceed to the second I shall add thus much of the Attributes of God in general 5. They may be said to forget them all at once that forget themselves and live not under a sense of their great necessities nor think considerately and perswade themselves day by day that they are poor and miserable and blind and naked Rev. 3.17 They that are rich in their own apprehensions and increased in Goods and have need of nothing must needs be stout and insolent and cannot escape this sin of Forgetfulness Jesurun that is Israel waxed fat and kicked against God Deut. 32.15 and they never remembred him to the purpose till they themselves by consideration or God by his Judgments did inforce a sense of their necessities on them When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and inquired early after God And they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer which before they forgot Psa 78.34 35. And yet so soon as ever they were out of streights and warm in Prosperity and thought they had no need they forgot God again They remembred not his hand nor the day when he delivered them from the Enemy ver 42. That man must needs send up cold and careless Prayers to God day by day that feels none or but little need of God How can be confess with a broken heart the sins that never come near his heart nor were a burthen to him How can that man magnifie or seek the Grace of God every day that doth not verily think he needs it every day How can he worthily admire his Redeemer who hath loved him and washed his Soul in his Blood that feels not his own Guilt and doth not frequently renew loathing and abhorring thoughts of it How can he lift up his Heart to the Father of Lights for the Spirit of Illumination that doth not sufficiently apprehend and bewail his own Ignorance and the darkness of his uncertain mind How can he rejoyce in the hopes of the Glory of God that foolishly adores and cheat himself with the Glory of this World The day of Deliverance and full Redemption will never be a pleasant Meditation unto him that feels not himself oppressed with his sins and is as heartily weary of that Burthen as he is of Sickness when it afflicts his Body Never think to meditate on Gods Justice with any Savour or Delight unless you bend your thoughts to consider the mischiefs of Injustice and how particular Families and Nations yea and the whole World are perverted and disturbed with Iniquity Thou wilt never apply thy Heart to God for Wisdom to live well unless thou remember thy latter end and what hast the comforts of this World make to get away from thee Can he live above in his thoughts with any content and satisfaction that doth not die daily and not often think with some seriousness that he may daily die It 's wisdom therefore to give entertainment to such thoughts How many have shut their Eyes in a healthful Sleep who have waked in another World We give too large scope to our account while we reckon seven years for a Life when we see so many dispatch'd within the Circle and Revolution of half that time and though we are such a blast our selves yet our comforts are oftentimes dead and buried before us and leave us the surviving Executors of our own misery When God hath put all things here below into the Bill of Mortality what a foolish thought is it to think that this or that shall escape which we have set our hearts upon and how sinful to take the Bill and write down this or that or the other when God hath condemned no less than all If thou forget these things God would be forgotten and one or two slight thoughts of these things will never excuse from forgetfulness These are the first sort of Men that forget God 2. Secondly They forget God that either forget or think but little on his sacred and most venerable Word when they have it continually before them I will not go about now to describe the woful state and condition of that Man that hath the Word so much in his Eyes yea in his Ears and not in his Heart and therefore cannot remember it in any saving degree or measure nor torment such a one before his time neither can I tell him the nature and danger of his Sin so well as Death or Judgment will be sure to tell him It must needs be a staring affrighting Sin when Conscience shall come to see it throughly that God hath written to us the Great things of his Law and we have counted them as a common thing Hosea 8.12 It 's in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Amplitudines or Honorabilia legis and they counted them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a strange thing i. They made themselves strange to them or these things were strange to them and seldom in their Thoughts This is a wicked requital of such a strange and wonderful Love More particularly They forget the Word of God 1. That have not a high and transcendent Reverence of the Authority thereof 2. They that are not in any considerable measure affected with the important matters which it sets before them 3. That are not awakened by any serious thoughts of the most certain and near accomplishment of all that is either threatned or promised therein I say again They that are not awed by its Authority nor moved with its Importance nor rouzed by its certainty 1. To yield hearty Subjection unto Christ 2. To his Laws 3. And by a deliberate Resolution to renounce either self or whatsoever doth oppose them will never escape this guilt but be numbred
Sabbath-breaking careless performance of his Service and Worship Selfishness Inordinate love of and Adulterous Affections to any Creature and hiding Pride from Man and turning our Eyes from a fond Admiration of Creatures and laying them in the dust They will not endure it but fret and murmur in their hearts and are ready to say as the Rebellious Followers of Korah did to Moses Wilt thou put out these Eyes of ours We will not come down we will not deny our selves nor be crossed in our wills nor leave our shame When God is putting the Bridle into their Mouths and laying a Curb and Restraint upon their Intemperance Pride and Luxury and bringing into contempt their Gallantry and swaggering Bravery they will not endure the Curb but rage and foam and grow mad and bite the Bridle that holds them in and reply as the remnant Jews did after the Captivity when they sent Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord for their Direction and liked not the Answer that he brought Jer. 44.16 17. We will not hearken to thee but will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth of our own Mouth we will let our Hearts with a full rein to any thing they desire for when we have done thus we were well and saw no evil when we leave off to shew favour and courtesie to our selves who shall befriend us when we begin to cry shame on our selves all men will cry shame on us and if once we come down and lie in the dust all men will trample upon us Those are some of the shifts that carnal Wisdom and Reason alledgeth whereby it would frustrate the Invitations of Mercy When God is calling for the Plumb Line and meting out a Nation for Destruction Amos 7.7 when he is drawing the lines of confusion in a place 1 Sam. 2.8 and marking it for Judgment they cry as the Inhabitants of Ephraim once did The Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Esay 9.10 And though we may not be gotten up to such a degree of wickedness as this is it will concern us to make search and inquiry whether there be no seed of this wicked nature in us I am too much out of doubt that there is much of crossness and contradiction to the will of God in the best heart and too loth are the best to veil and stoop to the will of God when it crosseth ours but it will be fitter to help on this search in the Application 4. Lastly They overlook both his Attributes Word and Works all at once that put him off with shadows instead of substance that give him a few flattering words and shews for the inward worship and purity of their hearts This is the very instance of the Psalm a part of which we have now before us What an affront is this to remember him with the Mouth that he may be cast out of the Heart where he will have more to do than all the World or else abhor that person and his service whose heart it is To wash the outside with the paint of an external profession and to have a Heart full of Pride and unmortified Lusts full of putrid noisom Filth is not to play the Christian but the Pharisee To profess God at Home and at Church in our Houses and his House and to joyn with his Servants in the Externals of his Worship to read his Word and sing his Praises with our Lips and in Heart and Life to subvert the Christian Faith is not to be a Disciple but a Judas To give God the most glorious Attributes and Titles and call him thy Creator Lord and Governour and to acknowledge thou hast all from his Bounty and yet to deny him the Service and Obedience due to his Laws this is not to remember but to forget him If I be a Father where is mine Honour If I be a Master where is my fear saith God Mal. 1.6 Is not the Lord a Spirit and will he be put off with a meer bodily service only I know he will have the service of the body also he will have the Tongue and the Knee and an External Reverence that may be of good Example to others But thou art guilty of Hypocrisie and Folly both if this be all that thou canst spare if thou go not further thou mayst be a very devil in thy heart when thou haâ—st Oyl and Butter in thy Mouth and when thou speakest the smoothest words to God thou mayst have war and enmity to him in thy heart thou mayst fetch a sigh or a groan for sin at a pretty easie rate but God will not take this instead of Self-denial and mortification of thy Lusts but will abhor their shews and complements that cover hatred with lying Lips When God calls to the proud Person to come down and sit in the dust and humble himself will it be an acceptable service if he would offer him something else or will he take the fruit of the Body for the sin of the Soul Mich. 6.7 I mean a shew of humility in going softly speaking faintly looking sadly instead of true lowliness and poverty of Spirit I speak not against the outward signs they are good when accompanied with the thing signified but when we deceive our selves with these and think to deceive God also True humility consists in a universal submission to the Will of God and ready obedience to all his Laws when they cross our interest in the world as when they do promote it And he that hath not this in a prevailing measure and degree God will look upon him afar off let him come as near as he will with his Tongue or Knee Psal 138.6 and he will plentifully reward as a proud doer Psal 40.4.31.23 When God calleth to search our hearts and try our ways and remember our doings It will not serve turn to remember the doings of others and to seâ—â—ch and censure them to lay heavy burdens upon the City or Countrey and not to touch them with one of our Fingers not but we may and must confess the sins of the whole Nation when Gods hand is upon a whole Nation and calls it to repentance but if we remember not our own sins with a weeping heavy heart also and do not loath our selves for all our own abominations Ezek. 36.31 and feellingly confess with shame and detestation the sins that lie nearest our hearts and take it for a mercy to have the scourge of a just and smarting rod as well as the charge of a holy convincing word that we have not only threatning which we have made a shift to slight so often but some execution to make sin odious to us and to recover us to a due sense and apprehension of it If we have brought our selves to such a death in sin that we cannot understand what it is until we feel it it 's a mercy to feel that we may understand But let
the Question lest I should be too tedious The Common Directions which I shall propose are By way of 1 Consideration 2. Exercise Consider therefore 1. What a fearful and dangerous sin it is to forget God 2 What a shame it is to be unmindful of him 3. What are the benefits of preferinging God in our Remembrance before all other things For the First I have already shewed what a heinous and dangerous sin it is to forget God from whence it may be fetch'd for our Consideration I shall give a brief Recapitulation Consider then what Obligations thou sin'st against if thou shut God out of thy Remembrance 1. On God's part 1. He gave thee thy Faculties to this very end 2. And hath purposely set Heaven and Earth before thee to exercise these Faculties and to put thee in Remembrance of him 3. He hath sent his Son to put thee in mind of him 4. He hath given thee his Spirit Word and all his Ordinances to awake thee to remember him Think then what Gilt the breach of all these Obligations on Gods part will bring upon thee if yet thou shalt forget him Consider what Obligations also thou sinnest against 2. On thy own part Thou sinnest against 1. Thy solomn Vow 2. Covenant 3. Oath 4. Profession If these particulars be taken into thy consideration thou wilt not sure count it a venial sin to forget God and consequently it will be a means to bring thee to the Remembrance I am directing to Consider also the danger as well as the guiltiness of this sin 1. It may betray thee to all other sin and absurdity 2. It will provoke God to forget thee in a way of mercy 3. It will cause him to Remember thee in a way of Judgment If thon art one that dost believe and wilt consider thus much it will prepare thee for the duty we are now upon and be a help to a worthy Remembrance of him For every thing that hath the nature of a motive to a practical Duty hath the nature of a means or help to the performance of the Duty The Reason is because cause it is a necessary means to any Duty to bring the Will to a thorough Resolution Now all motives are the most proper means ro bring the Will to such a Determination So much for the first thing that we are to consider Secondly Consider also what a shame it is to forget God and to be unmindful of him Hast thou no ingenuity 1. Canst thou forget him that remembreth thee every hour 2. Canst thou forget him in prosperity whom thou wilt remember in thy necessity 3. Dost thou not blush to prefer empty unsatisfactory and transitory things in thy Remembrance before God But these things I have already insisted on and therefore do but now name them as matter of our consideration as a second sort of motives and therefore fit means to help on this Remembrance Thirdly If thou wouldst be in the number of those that exalt God above all things in their Remembrance then consider what advantage will accrue to thee by such a Remembrance I know these may be also called motives as all means by way of consideration are But yet they are all distinct and different kinds of motives and have their effect upon three several passions 1. The first sort taken from the consideration of the greatness and danger of the sin of not Remembring God are rather to fright us from the sin of forgetfulness than to draw us to the duty of Remembrance 2. The second sort are intended to work upon Ingenuity where there is any and to excite shame in those that neglect such a becoming duty 3. And the third sort taken from the benefits and advantage of this Remembrance are directly to excite Love and Desire and hereby to attract the Heart to the performance of a work so beneficial I come now therefore to propose the Benefits that will follow such a worthy Remembrance of God as a means to this duty First Consider If thou art one that Remembrest God with the most prizing valuing thoughts thou art translated from Death to Life If St. John make the predominant love of the Brethren to be so sure an evidence of this Translation 1 John 3.14 We know that we are passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren Then much more doth the sincere love of God give us full security that we are thus advanced But the predominant love of God is implied in this Remembrance as the essential part of it according to the known Rule words of Sense and Understanding in Morallity essentially involve Affections and Actions If they go alone all moral Acts are incompleat unless they be both in the understanding and will in the Mind and Heart If therefore thou art one that thus remembrest God thou hast this grand priviledge whose name is Legion and contains such a number under it Death is a name of terror and sounds dreadful to all whose Ears it hath not stop'd and is the sum and abridgment of all that 's either hateful or fearful And therefore all the penalty that God threatneth for the breach of such a perfect Righteous Law as he gave to Man was comprized in the word Death And if it be not enough to vindicate the Law from contempt of such as do but hear it yet it will teach them at least not to despise it that feel it And as Death is a Name pregnant with Dread and Horror so Life is the most comfortable Sound and carries all that 's desirable in the Bowels of it And it is put in Scripture to signifie 1. All Happiness 2. Perpetuity And therefore it was the only Sanction that God added to his Law by way of Remuneration Do this and Live Where Life is opposed to the Death that is threatned to the Transgressors As Death therefore is comprehensive of all Misery so Life is a complication of all Happiness And as it is put for all Felicity so for Perpetuity Psal 56.7 In his favour is Life 1. Perpetuity as appears by the opposeâ—â—â— in the former part of the verse His Anger endures but a moment that is it 's short but in his Favour is Life 1. It 's lasting and perpetual Now Death is of three sorts opposed to a three fold Life 1. Natural 2. Moral 3. Metaphorical Natural Death is the privation of all sense Death Moral is the privation of all Love in the Will to Vertue and propension to Goodness for want of which Love it is dead to all vertuous Life and Action and feels no sweetness in them because the principle of that Life is wanting For Love is the Principium Vitae in morallibus Love is the principle of Life in the Moral Spiritual or gracious Life And as Natural Death doth not only deprive the Body of all Sense and Motion but renders it unfit for the Soul to dwell in and be united to and so dissolves the union between these two So Morally
third necessity and lay a faster obligation upon our selves by charging it upon our own souls and obliging our selves by deliberate vow and resolution to as Consciscientious performance of it as we do of Prayer or any other duty that we dare not neglect lest we should not be able to rise or go to Bed without fear and the disturbance of a guilty mind Thirdly It will be a singular advantage to the work of Consideration though more remote to be temperate Now Temperance is taken in the widest compass for Moderation in the use of all Earthly Comforts And in this larger extent it 's taken when Epictetus comprehends all Vertue in those two words Temperance and Patience or Abstinence and Sustinence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or else it 's taken in its narrower compass for Moderation in those more gross and bodyty pleasures such as Meat and Drinks and 〈◊〉 or Essentinacy it 's Temperance in this more restrained sence that I here recommend to you Though I know as it 's taken in its widest acception it must needs farther it more 〈◊〉 because it includes the other and much more but then it would be co-incident with the second impediment which was to shun all â—â—ordiâ—aâ—e delights in any thing here on Earth The mind that is oppressed with Meat and 〈◊〉 and dispirited with Venery and made 〈◊〉 with Daâ—â—ance and Effeminacy is not fit for Contemplation either Solemn or Occasional unless it be of Carnal or Corpoâ—eal Beautâ—â— it is altogether â—â—meer for the pure and spirituall Contemplation of the Divine Excellencies and the ravishing Beauty of Holiness that are not enjoyed but by one that 's clear in understanding and pure in heart which they can never be which sot and pollute themselves with such muddy and impure delights The duty of Set and Solemn Contemplation requireth an illuminated attentive mind and a chearful heart if it be performed with any considerable Success But now Whoredom and Wine and new Wine take away the Heart Hos 4.11 They defraud this duty of that sprightfulness vigour and affection that it requires and the Understanding that 's perpetually smoak'd with the Fumes that rise from an over-charged Stomach hath few Lucida intervalla and is never perspicacious and sit for such contemplation I deny not but some degrees of this intemperance may consist with this duty and there may be some vacancy for a little dull exercise of this work But if this disease be grown to any height or prevalency the mind will be so listless and the affections will be so earthly that you may as well move a Block as such a surfeited soul to these Sublime and Raised Meditations It will be like Anselm's Bird with a heavy weight tyed to the Leg of it when it begins to fly and lift up it self or rather it will have no disposition to fly at all O that all Gluttons and Drunkards and Persons addicted to Filthiness and Wantonness were well sensible of this that are like to perish for ever for want of that Consideration that should save them from destruction Little do they think how they starve in the midst of such Plenty and how lean and famished their Souls are whilst Their eyes stick out with fatness Psal 73.7 Hence it is that your Gluttons and Wine-bibers and the rest of our Belly-Gods are so little acquainted with the life to come and that they so little relish any discourse with themselves or others about Heavenly things and that the Lord is not the Portion of their Cup Psal 16.5 Hence it is that those that are so familiar at the Cookes-Shop or Tavern are so strange to the place of Gods Residence and inter-meddle not with the Heavenly Joys But although it be this gross Intemperance and Sensuality that is so Point Blank an enemy to Consideration yet I must say also that every degree of Intemperance doth much hinder the duty and interrupt the joy and pleasure thereof For as it is a Sin against God and much provokes him to withdraw and conceal himself so it is a very malignant Enemy to the health and vivacity of Mind that this duty calls for for it weakens the Brain and spoils the Memory which should supply matter to Meditation and which is worse it brutifyes the heart When the Store-house of the Body is full the Store-house of the Mind must needs be empty of every thing but Fumes and Vapors with which it is like enough to abound and such Notions as these minister to No wonder if God be seldom in such Mens Memories or Hearts Therefore the Prophet complaineth of the full-fed Israelites that they were estranged from the Lord According to their Pasture so were they filled they were filled and their heart was exalted therefore have they forgotten me saith the Lord Hos 13.6 And why so but because such Fulness and Intemperance will not let Men consider and without this God must needs be forgotten because he lies not open to the bodily eye or sence it is the pure mind and heart that must see him both here and hereafter and if these that are pure in heart are the blessed men Mat. 5.8 Then they are cursed that are impure in mind and heart through Intemperance and other Lusts because they neither do now by consideration nor shall hereafter see God in the Beatifical Vision but Temperance disposeth unto both Fourthly If you have any good Evidence that Christ is yours and you are his it will very much promote and sweeten the work of Consideration I know that Consideration is a necessary means to bring a man to Christ and to turn the course of his affections and conversation but yet so soon as a man feels this work done that the world is resolutely forsaken and God is heartily chosen the Soul will be then better disposed to contemplate the glory of God and Heaven to turn its thoughts upon the promises of the Gospel when it hath some interest and propriety in them yea and to think with pleasure upon the threatnings of Gods Word the nearness of death the Worm of Conscience that shall torment the wicked for ever and ever after it hath made some good escape and the bitterness of death is past and the Sting pull'd out It 's no absurdity nor contradiction that Consideration should bring a man to Christ and that the knowledge of a mans interest in Christ should prompt him to and further him in the work of Consideration that Consideration should beget Grace and that Grace again should beget Consideration This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is frequent both in Nature and Grace What more proper to bring a man to Repentance than to consider the folly of his ways the filthiness and danger of his Sin and the terrour and unavoidableness of Gods wrath Who more like to be burthened with his transgressions and feel the load of his iniquities than he that frequently considers what misery it brings upon him both here and hereafter and how impossible
weapons that were in their hands to ruin and destroy it All which laid together is no less than a demonstration of a Divine and Almighty Power in succeeding such an unlikely Work Secondly And as it was at first planted by no less than a Divine Power so the same mighty Assistance was necessary and therefore observable in its Propagation It was impossible that such a Doctrin should spread and subdue the World to its obedience as it quickly did unless infinite wisdom and power had made way and blessed it How could it have got so much ground and have run so swiftly thorough the World if he that rideth upon a Cherub and flyeth upon the wings of the wind Psal 18.10 had not carried it In the space of Thirty Years or thereabouts as appears by uncontrouled History it spread it self far and near not only in Judea and all Asia yea thorough the whole Roman Empire but beyond it also It sounded in the Ears of Parthians and Indians It shot it self like Lightning thorough the places where it made its progress and melted Mens Hearts whilst their Bodies were untouched Though it was such an Enemy to the Pride Pomp and Glory of the World which it was purposely intended to disparage that it might make way for a despised crucified Christ to reign in the Earth yet it soon got into the Courts of Princes and into the Consistories of Sage and Wise Counsellours and into the Academies of Learning and prevailed over all opposing power yea the more it was cut and wounded the more it grew up and shot forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianz. Orat. Duris ut Ilex tonsa bipennibus Nigrae feraci frondis in Algido Per damna per caedes ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro Object And though bare Success be no Argument of Truth or a good Cause because we see that Lyes and Falsehood have succeeded and perverted very considerable Numbers of Men. Thus Mahumetism doth prevail over a great part of the World to this day Answer Yet in the Case of the Christian Religion a Doctrin so contrary to the World which hath been propagated not by Fire and Sword but by Argument and Perswasion by Sufferings and Persecution here Success is both a demonstration of Truth and of the Power of God when like Lightning as I said before it shall melt Mens Hearts and not touch their Bodies with any force As for the Religion of Mahomet it 's no wonder that such a carnal Flesh-pleasing Doctrin that doth so highly gratifie the Lusts of Men should so take with them and quickly spread it self especially when it had so many Advantages of Power and Policy to diffuse it Fire and Sword were the Arguments that Mahomet used to support his Cause and to encrease his Followers But Christ took a quite contrary course and very unlikely to succeed but that it had the Countenance and Approbation of Him who knew well enough how to prosper it with a mighty success With which since the Christian Cause hath been so miraculously blessed it 's a Proof beyond exception that God hath owned it and consequently the Scriptures that contain this Doctrin were inspired by God because they lay claim to such inspiration and pretend to be the Word of Almighty God This is more than sufficient to prove in the General God's Approbation of the whole Scripture But yet more particularly Consider how exactly the Promises and Threatnings of this Word have been fulfilled and made good in all Ages and Successions of the Church And this will manifest that God hath owned this Doctrin ex superabundanti After his Predictions concerning his own Death and Suffering and the Manner together with the Means and Instruments of it were accomplished and that he was Crucified by his own Country-men and mocked and spit upon and numbred amongst Transgressors his Garments parted his side pierced and such like circumstances punctually fulfilled according as he had foretold and that he was risen the Third Day and had shewed himself openly to his Disciples for their encouragement and the strengthning of their Faith and that he had ascended to Heaven in their sight He promised that he would send the Holy Ghost and endue them with power from above to work Miracles and to speak with Tongues which Promise was accordingly fulfilled For on the day of Pentecost when they were assembled at Jerusalem which other Histories as well as the Sacred affirm and none contradict He promised also his extraordinary Power and Presence with them and wonderful success and all came to pass in like manner He threatneth the hardning of the Jews and the conversion of the Gentiles And were they not accordingly affected Moreover he promised Blessing and Peace to the diligent observers of his Statutes And have not many remarkable Providences made good this Word of Promise With what joy and inward comfort unutterable have the faithful Servants of Christ triumphed in their very sufferings Many of the Martyrs that have sealed the Truth of Christ with their very Blood have sung at the Stake and have professed an inward ravishment of Spirit I and that Men of a grave and discreet and no Fanatical credulous Spirit Instances might be produced in great number Let Mahomet now or any other Religion whatsoever produce as good Testimony for the Truth of their Religion if they can as what is here produced to declare the Approbation Countenance and Favour of God to this Religion which Christ taught and his Followers embraced and maintained to the death And although God doth not daily shew forth these confirming Signs and Tokens of Christianity or that Religion which Christ in the New Testament hath taught both by his Mouth and Example yet sometimes he is pleased to give such clear and convincing Testimonies and Tokens of his Approbation not liable to any exception that they might be for standing Monuments to others ever after And such as will not acknowledge them but either take them for Fables or ascribe them to Chance or Fortune and act their wickedness in defiance of such Examples such Persons God meets with now and then even still to vindicate the Credit of those former Stories and to reinforce their Authority I could run over the Decalogue which is the sum and substance of the Divine Laws contained in the Scripture and shew you how God hath remarkably punished the more notable and famous Transgressours of all these Laws and the contempt of the Book in which these Laws are contained and the derision of his Messengers which he hath ordained to proclame and expound these Laws and to provoke and perswade Men to the hearty observance of them It would be an endless labour to produce all the Instances that are to be found in credible Authors of this kind So much in Confirmation of the Second Argument Argument III. 3. THose Writings that contain peremptory Predictions of Future Things purely contingent which no eye but God's could possibly foresee
endeavoured to suppress them They had certainly perished in the Flames long before now if God had not walked in the midst of Fire with them How did the Jews on the one hand and the Heathen Emperours on the other conspire both to root out the Men and the Doctrin which they published and taught You know what General Persecutions there have been at once of all the Christians throughout the World and how many Thousands have been slaughtered by the Roman Emperours Commands I need not tell you that there were Ten of these General Persecutions and yet all would not do Julian strictly prohibited all Christian Schools thinking by that Means to root Christianity out of the World and yet the Success was not answerable to his Malice Antiochus Epiphanes commanded all the Holy Writings should be burnt as the History of the Maccabees will inform you 1 Macc. 1.59 yet God preserved them And Dioclesian Author of the Tenth Persecution commanded by Proclamation the Holy Scriptures to be burnt where ever they were found throughout the Roman Empire as Euseb relates l. 8. c. 3. If the Scriptures had not been the Word of God they had never surviv'd so much Malice and the vigilant Endeavours of so many subtil and potent Enemies to destroy them out of the World nor escap'd the combined furious Attempts both of Jews and Gentiles to blot them out of the Memory of Mankind Moreover If all that were hitherto produced were not enough to demonstrate the Divine Authority of Scripture and to satisfie and confirm the Mind in this weighty Truth I might add by way of Accumulation other Proofs from the Majesty Purity and Efficacy of this Word which so far excels all Humane Writings in these particulars And also from the Profession of Men and Martyrs that did and were ready to dye for it Men of great Parts and Integrity that would not have parted with their Lives without a sufficient Cause As also from the destruction of the Grand Opposers of it And the Consent of so many Men in all Ages and those that had the greatest Advantages throughly to scan and know the Truth and the Assent of very Adversaries All which do prove ex super abundanti that the Scriptures are the most Sacred Word of God and Written by Divine Inspiration To conclude therefore with some little Exhortation in a Point of such Weight and Moment Remember in your Meditations to strengthen this Intellectual Grace which lies in the Firm and Active Belief of the Divine Authority of Scripture Get and keep such Clear Evidence and Demonstration of its Divinity that may satisfie your Soul and enforce the most practical Assent That you may read the Threatnings with Reverence and a suitable Fear as those that God will certainly make good and execute upon those that fall under them That you may read the Promises with full perswasion of their Accomplishment to those that have their part and interest in them and so feel the forcible power of them to quicken you to your Duty That you may read the Precepts not as idle Storys but as the Commands of God Look that you evidently see the Name of God upon the Doctrin and History thereof and it will have another Effect than a bare opinionative or implicit belief grounded upon the bare word of Man could produce Your Assent will be suitable to your Evidence and the Effect and Influence it hath upon your Heart and Life will be suitable to your Assent It 's time well spent to read over and consider those Treatises that convince the Divine Authority of Scripture The better the Ground-work is laid the more firm will the Superstructure be When once thou art solidly and throughly perswaded that God is the Author of the Scriptures thou wilt expect a Treasure there that is not to be found in any Humane Writings any farther than they contain this Doctrin in them If you delight in Falshood and Lyes and love Darkness rather than Light search not here nor expect that Scripture should gratifie you But if thou art a Lover of Truth a Lover of Wisdom then come hither and dig into these Mines and God that was the Author will open thine Eyes if thou truly desire to be informed Some Considerations to help on the daily Exercise of Faith in Christ or Subjection to the Sovereignty of our Redeemer Scriptures that require Faith in Christ and shew us its Nature 1 John 12. As many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting Life Verse 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God Verse 36. He that believeth on the Son hath Everlasting life that is quo ad jus or Inchoative And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him John 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Luke 19.27 Those mine Enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me Heb. 5.9 And being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Life and Salvation to all them that obey him Matth. 11.28 29. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my Yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest to your souls John 5.22 23 24. For the Father judgeth no Man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son That all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which sent him Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting Life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from Death to Life BEfore I come to the Motives that should animate us to the frequent and delightful Exercise of Faith which must be daily kept in the Mind and Thoughts or some of the like Nature it 's necessary that we well understand the Nature of that Faith which is of such daily Use and unspeakable Advantage in the whole Christian Life For the better and more distinct Understanding whereof we must take notice that in the Word of God we are informed of a Twofold Kingdom of God 1. The First as Creatour 2. The Second as Redeemer And both these have their different Constitution and Administration Whilst Man stood in his Integrity he was under the Laws and Government of his Creatour and then Faith in God as his Creatour and Sovereign was the Radical and Fundamental Virtue which whilst it did continue firm and inviolate he was happy in the Favour of God and never
by Faith and you need not doubt be your sickness never so mortal you honour him exceedingly when you see your manifold and deadly Distempers and cast your selves upon his Skill 5. Fifthly By Faith thou art made Partaker of all the Benefits of Christ's Incarnation Life and Death Those that were thine but conditionally before are now made absolutely thine If thou art heartily Christ's Subject thou shalt have thy share in all the Priviledges and Immunities of his most wise powerful and happy Government and find that his Yoke is most desirable Matth. 11.28.29 If thou doest consent deliberately and sincerely to be his Disciple thou shalt have the unspeakable Advantages of such a skilful and effectual Teacher And what Tongue is able to express how many and great they are If thou art heartily willing to be his Patient he can and will cure all thy Maladies and Distempers in his due time and restore thy Soul to its Primitive health and soundness again he will enlighten thy Mind and purifie thy Heart and bend thy Will to a chearful Compliance with the Will of God and put such a Rellish into thy Soul of Divine and Heavenly Things that shall make thee long after God and the Wisdom Grace and Holiness that make thee like to him And then it will be no hard matter to have thy Heart in Heaven thy Discourse of Heavenly Things and thy Delight in Heavenly Company Then the Biass of thy Soul will constantly encline thee to rejoyce in the Lord and live continually in his love and praise and in the love of all Men specially the Servants of God and the Heirs of Glory When thou hast once sworn Fealty to Christ with thy Heart For every baptized Christian doth it with his Mouth or by the Mouth of his Parents and art gotten under his Shelter and Protection The Lord shall be thy Keeper the Lord shall be thy Shade upon thy Right Hand The Sun shall not smite thee by Day nor the Moon by Night The Lord shall preserve thee from all Evil he shall preserve thy soul Psal 121.6 7 8. Thou shalt not be affraid for the terrour by Night nor for the Arrow that flyeth by Day Psal 91.6 Then shall he fill thy Mouth with laughter and thy Lips with rejoycing Job 8.21 Mistake me not as if I intimated that every true Believer hath actually this Joy and Peace but he hath the Foundation of it and he would rejoyce if he saw this Grace in himself But it is the Malice of Satan to keep some sincere Christians in the dark and to keep them from discerning their interest in Christ and the grace of God in them that he might defraud them of their Comfort and keep them continually under Trouble But though he take away their Comfort from them yet he shall not take away God's Favour from them They shall still be kept by his mighty Power through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 All the Benefits that are necessary to Salvation they shall actually have and the rest as they are fit for them 6. And lastly Be their Portion here what it will they shall have the Blessing of God with it Which will make all things to work together for Good to them Rom. 8.28 He shall be like the Tree planted by the Rivers of Water which bringeth forth his Fruit in due season his Leaf also shall not wither and look whatsoever he doth it shall prosper Psalm 1.3 Blessed shall be thy Basket and thy Store Deut. 28.5 God shall bless thy Poverty and thy Riches Thy more plentiful or more mean Estate Whether thou have Health or Sickness it shall turn to thy Advantage in the End Thy Friends shall be a Blessing to thee yea and so shall thine Enemies be also As there is a secret blast of God's displeasure upon the wicked and all that he hath so the breath and inspiration of the Almighty teacheth Believers wisdom how to order all their steps The steps of a good Man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way Though he fall yet shall he not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand Ps 37.23 When the Curse of the Lord is in the House of the â—â—icked he will be sure to bless the Habitation of â—â—â—evers Prov. 3. Considerations to provoke and stir up the Superlative Love of God in the Heart John 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandments Psal 91.41 Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath known my Name Prov. 8.17 I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me Matth. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind This is the first and greatest Commandment And Deut. 6.5 and Luke 10.27 to the same purpose Matth. 10.37 He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me And Luke 14.26 1 John 4.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love And Verse 16. God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Psal 31.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints Psal 145.20 The Lord preserveth them that love him Rom. 8.28 All things shall work together for good to them that love God Rom. 10.13 Love is the fulfilling of the Law 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Gal. 5.22 The Fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy and Peace AS there is no surer proof of a Child of God than the predominant Love of him because Love is the principal and commanding Affection which includes and governs all the rest and the whole life with a subserviency to the Object to which it is mainly devoted so there is no better Exercise than for a rational Creature to study seriously and to give diligence to thrive in this Grace To which blosâ—ed end it is wisdom to treasure up Matter which either Reason or Faith can suggest out of the Word or Providences of God in the Heart and to digest and draw it forth by daily Meditation whereby this sovereign Affection may be fed and excited Some help hereto the few following Considerations will administer if they be impartially weighed by a Heart fully at leasure and not immersed in worldly Affairs nor entangled with any other impertinent Matters The which every soul may amplifie as it is able and to which many more may be superadded First There is nothing more highly congruous nor doth better become a Creature that hath reason and understanding than to love God above all and daily to grow in this Grace Secondly And it is the highest Dignity and Honour that an intelligent discursive Nature is capable of Thirdly And it brings in the greatest Profit and Advantage To these three general Heads I