Thanksgiving The Experience of the Grace of God in and upon Believers is sweet unto their Souls But one way or other they cleave unto them all they have not a prevailing Aversation unto any of them They have a regard unto all Gods Precepts a delight in all his Councels a Love to himself and all his Ways Whatever other Change is wrought on the Affections if they be not Spiritually renewed it is not so with them For as they do not cleave unto any Spiritual Things in their own true proper nature in a due manner because of the Evidences of the Presence of God in them so there are alwayes some of them whereunto those whose Affections are not renewed do maintain an Aversation and an Enmity And although this Frame doth not instantly discover it self yet it will do so upon any especial Tryal So was it with the Hearers of our Saviour Joh. 6. There was a great Impression made on their Affections by what he taught them concerning the Bread of God that came down from Heaven and gave Life unto the World For they cryed thereon Lord evermore give us of this Bread v. 34. But when the Mystery of it was further explained unto them they liked it not but cryed This is a hard Saying who can bear it v. 60 and thereon fell off both from him and his Doctrine although they had followed him so long as to be esteemed his Disciples v. 66. I say therefore whensoever Mens Affections are not renewed whatever other Change may have been wrought upon them as they have no true delight in any Spiritual things or truths for themselves and in their own Nature so there are some Instances wherein they will maintain their natural Enmity and Aversation unto them This is the first difference between Affections Spiritually renewed and those which from any other Causes may have some kind of Change wrought in them CHAP. XIIII The second Difference between Affections Spiritually renewed and those who have been only Changed by Light and Conviction Grounds and Reasons of Mens Delight in Duties of Divine Worship and of their Diligence in their Performance whose Minds are not Spiritually Minded THe second Difference lyeth herein That there may be a Change in the Affections wherein Men may have Delight in the Duties of Religious Worship and Diligence in their Observance but it is the Spiritual Revovation of the Affections that gives Delight in God through Christ in any Duty of Religious Worship whatever Where the truth of the Gospel is known and publickly Professed there is great variety in the Minds Wayes and Practices of Men about the Duties of Religious Worship Many are profane in their Minds and Lives who practically at least despise or wholly neglect the Observance of them These are stout hearted and far from Righteousness Tit. 1.16 Some attend unto them formally and Coursorily from the Principles of their Education and it may be out of some Convictions they have of their necessity But many there are who in the Way they choose and are pleased withal are diligent in their Observance and that with great Delight who yet give no Evidence of the Spiritual Renovation of their Minds Yea the way whereby some express their Devotion in them being Superstitious and Idolatrous is inconsistent with that or any other Saving Grace This therefore we must diligently enquire into or search into the grounds and reasons of Mens delight in Divine Worship according unto their Convictions of the way of it and yet continue in their Minds altogether unrenewed And 1 Men may be greatly affected with the Outward Part of Divine Worship and the manner of the performance thereof who have no delight in what is internal real and Spiritual therein Joh. 5.35 He was a burning and a shining Light and ye were willing for a season to rejoyce in this Light So many were delighted in the preaching of Ezekiel because of his Eloquence and Elegancy of his Parables Chap. 33.31 32. This gave them both delight and diligence in hearing whereon they call themselves the People of God though they continued to live in Sin their Hearts went after Covetousness The same may befall many at present with reference unto the Spiritual Gifts of those by whom the Word is dispensed I deny not but that Men may be more delighted more satisfyed with the Gifts the Preaching of one than another and yet be sincere in their delight in the Dispensation of the Word for they may find more Spiritual Advantage thereby than by the Gifts of others and things so prepared as to be suited unto their Edification more than elsewhere But that which at present we insist on hath respect only unto some outward Circumstances pleasing the Minds of men 2 Tim. 2.3 4. This was principally evident under the Old Testament whil'st they had carnal Ordinances and a worldly Sanctuary Oft times under that Dispensation the People were given up unto all sorts of Idolatry and Superstition And when they were not so yet were the Body of them carnal and unholy as is evident from the whole tract of Gods dealings with them by his Prophets and in his Providences Yet had they great delight in the Outward Solemnities of their Worship placing all their trust of Acceptance with God therein They who did truely and really believe looked through them all unto Christ whom they did foresignify without which the things were a Yoke unto them and a Burthen almost insupportable Act. 15. But those who were Carnal delighted in the things themselves and for their Sakes rejected him who was the Life and Substance of them all And this proved the great means of the Apostacy of the Christian Church also For to maintain some Appearance of Spiritual Affections men introduced Carnal Incitations of them into Evangelical Worship such as singing with Musick and pompous Ceremonies For they find such things needful to reconcile the Worship of God unto their Minds and Affections and through them they appear to have great delight therein Could some men but in their thoughts seperate Divine Service from that Outward Order those Methods of Variety Shew and Melody wherewith they are affected they would have no Delight in it but look upon it as a thing that must be endured How can it be otherwise conceived of among the Papists they will with much earnestness many Evidences of Devotion sometimes with difficulty and danger repair unto their Solemn Worship And yet when they are present understand not one Word whereby their Minds might be excited unto the real actings of Faith Love and Delight in God Only Order Ceremony Musick and other Incentives of Carnal Affections make great Impression on them Affections Spiritually renewed are not concerned in these things Yea if those in whom they are should be engag'd in the use of them they would find them means of diverting their Minds from the proper work of Divine Worship rather than an advantage therein It will appear so unto themselves unless they
Faith and Profession in these our dayes The Bellies of men cleave unto the Dust or their Affections unto earthly things I speak not of those who by Rapine Deceit and Oppression strive to enrich themselves nor of those who design nothing more than the Attainment of Greatness and Promotions in the world though not by wayes of open wickedness least of all of them who make Religion and perhaps their Ministry therein a Means for the attaining Secular ends and Preferments No wise man can suppose such persons any of them to be spiritually minded and it is most easie to disprove all their pretences But I intend only those at present whose wayes and Means of attaining Riches are lawfull honest and unblameable who use them with some moderation and do profess that their Portion lyes in better things so as it is hard to fasten a Conviction on them in matter of their conversation Whatever may seem to reflect upon them they esteem it to be that whose omission would make them foolish in their Affairs or negligent in their Duty But even among these also there is oft times that inordinate Love unto present things that esteem and valuation of them that concernment in them as are not consistent with their being Spiritually minded With some their Relations with some their Enjoyments with most both in Conjunction are an Idol which they set up in their hearts and secretly bow down unto About these are their Hopes and Fears exercised on them is their Love in them is their Delight They are wholly taken up with their own concerns count all lost that is not spent on them and all time mispent that is not engaged about them Yet the things which they do they judge to be good in themselves their hearts do not condemn them as to the Matter of them The Valuation they have of their Relations and Enjoyments they suppose to be lawful within the bounds which they have assigned unto it Their care about them is in their own minds but their Duty It is no easie matter it requires much Spiritual Wisdom to fix right boundaries unto our Affections and their actings about Earthly things But let men plead and pretend what they please I shall offer one Rule in this case which will not fail And this is that when men are so confident in the good State and measure of their affections and their Actings towards earthly things as that they will oppose their ingagements into them unto known Duties of Religion Piety and Charity they are gone into a sinfull excess Is there a State of the Poor that requires their Liberality and Bounty you must excuse them they have Families to provide for when what is expected from them signifies nothing at all as unto a due provision for their Families nor is what would lessen their Inheritances or Portions one Penny in the issue Are they called to an Attendance on seasons of Religious Duties they are so full of Business that it is impossible for them to have leisure for any such occasions so by all ways declaring that they are under the power of a prevalent predominant Affection unto earthly things This fills all places with lifeless sapless useless Professors who approve themselves in their condition whilest it is visibly unspiritual and withering The Heart will have something whereon in a way of Preheminence it will fix it self and its Affections This in all its perpetual motions it seeks for rest and satisfaction in And every man hath an Edge the Edge of his Affections is set one way or other though it be more keen in some than others And whereas all sorts of things that the Heart can fix upon or turn the Edge of its Affections unto are distributed by the Apostle into things above and things beneath things Heavenly and things Earthly if we have not such a view and prospect of Heavenly things as to cause our Hearts to cleave unto them and delight in them let us pretend what we will it is impossible but that we shall be under the power of a predominant Affection unto the things of this World Herein lyes the great Danger of Multitudes at this present season For let men profess what they will under the power of this frame their Eternal state is in hazard every moment And Persons are ingaged in it in great variety of Degrees And we may cast them under two Heads 1. Some do not at all understand that things are amiss with them or that they are much to be blamed They plead as was before observed that they are all lawful things which their hearts do cleave unto and which it is their Duty to take care of and regard May they not delight in their own Relations especially at such a time when others break and cancel all Duties and bonds of Relation in the service of and provision they make for their Lusts May they not be careful in good and honest wayes of diligence about the things of the world when the most either lavish their time away in the pursuit of bestial Lusts or heap them up by deceit and Oppression May they not contrive for the promotion of their children in the world to adde the other hundred or thousand pounds unto their Advancement that they may be in as good condition as others seeing he is worse than an Infidel who provides not for his own family By such reasonings and secret Thoughts do many justifie themselves in their earthly mindedness And so fixed they are in the Approbation of themselves that if you urge them to their Duty you shall loose their acquaintance if they do not become your Enemies for telling them the Truth Yea they will avoid one Duty that lyeth not against their earthly Interest because it leads unto another They will not ingage in Religious Assemblies or be constant unto their Duty in them for fear Dutyes of Charity should be required of them or expected from them On what Grounds such Persons can satisfie themselves that they are Spiritually-minded I know not I shall leave only one Rule with Persons that are thus minded Where our Love unto the world hath prevailed by its reasonings pleas and pretences to take away our fear and jealousy over our own hearts lest we should inordinately love it there it is assuredly predominant in us 2. Others are sensible of the evil of their hearts at least are jealous and afraid lest it should be found that their hearts do cleave inordinately unto these things Hence they endeavour to contend against this evil sometimes by forcing themselves unto such Acts of Piety or Charity as are contrary unto that frame and sometimes by labouring a change of the frame it self Especially they will do so when God is pleased to awaken them by Trials and Afflictions such as write Vanity and Emptiness on all earthly enjoyments But for the most part they strive not lawfully and so obtain not what they seem to aim at This Disease with many is mortal
all the actings of our souls in Spiritual Judgment as well as natural Affection and I do not understand how a man can be a sincere Believer unto whom sin is not the greatest Burden and sorrow Wherefore in the first place it belongs unto the true Notion of Heaven that it is a State wherein we shall be eternally freed from sin and all the concernments of it but only the exaltation of the Glory of Gods Grace in Christ by the pardon of it He that truely hates sin and abhorrs it whose principal Desire and Design of Life is to be freed from it so far as it is possible who walks in self Abasement through a sence of his many Disappointments when he hoped it should act in him no more cannot as I judge but frequently betake himself for Refreshment unto Thoughts of that state wherein he shall be freed from it and triumph over it unto eternity This is a Notion of Heaven that is easily apprehended and fixed on the Mind which we may dwell upon unto the great advantage and satisfaction of our Souls Frequent Thoughts and Meditations of Heaven under this notion do argue a man to be Spiritually minded For it is a convincing Evidence that sin is a Burden unto him that he longs to be delivered from it and all its consequents that no Thoughts are more welcome unto him than those of that state wherein sin shall be no more And although men are troubled about their sins and would desirously be freed from them so far as they perplex their Minds and make their Consciences uneasie yet if they are not much in the prospect of this Relief if they find not Refreshment in it I fear their trouble is not such as it ought to be Wherefore when men can so wrangle and wrestle with their Convictions of sin and yet take up the best of their Relief in hopes that it will be better with them at some times or other in this world without longing Desires after that state wherein sin shall be no more they can give no evidence that they are Spiritually minded It is quite otherwise with sincere Believers in the exercise of this Duty The considerations of the Grace and Love of God of the Blood of Christ of the Purity and Holiness of that good Spirit that dwelleth in them of the Light Grace and Mercy which they have attained through the Promises of the Gospel are those which make the Remainders of sin most grievous and burdensom unto them This is that which even breaks their hearts and makes some of them go mourning all the day long namely that any thing of that which alone God hates should be found in them or be remaining with them It is in this condition an Evidence that they are Spiritually minded if together with watchful endeavours for the universal mortification of sin and utter excision of it both root and branch they constantly adde these Thoughts of that blessed State wherein they shall be absolutely and eternally freed from all sin with Refreshment Delight and Complacency These things belong unto our Direction for the fixing of our Thoughts and Meditations on things above This the meanest and weakest person who hath the least spark of Sincerity and Grace is capable of apprehending and able to practise And it is that which the sense they have of the evil of sin will put them on every day if they shut not their eyes against the Light of the Refreshment that is in it Let them who cannot arise in their minds unto fixed and stable Thoughts of any other notion of these Invisible things dwell on this consideration of them wherein they will find no small Spiritual Advantage and Refreshment unto their Souls 2. As unto the Positive Part of this glorious future State the Thoughts and apprehensions of men are very various And that we may know as well what to avoid as what to embrace we shall a little reflect on some of them 1. Many are able to entertain no rational Conceptions about a future state of Blessedness and Glory no notions wherein either Faith or Reason is concerned Imagination they have of something that is great and glorious but what it is they know not No wonder if such Persons have no delight in no use of Thoughts of Heaven When their Imaginations have fluctuated up and down in all uncertainties for a while they are swallowed up in nothing Glorious and therefore desirable they take it for granted that it must be But nothing can be so unto them but what is suitable unto their present Dispositions Inclinations and Principles And hereof there is nothing in the true Spiritual Glory of Heaven or in the eternal enjoyment of God These things are not suited unto the Wills of their minds and of the flesh and therefore they cannot rise up unto any constant desires of them Hence to please themselves they begin to imagine what is not But whereas what is truely Heaven pleaseth them not and what doth please them is not Heaven nor there to be found they seldom or never endeavour in good earnest to exercise their Thoughts about it It were well if Darkness and Ignorance of the true nature of the future State and eternal Glory did not exceedingly prejudice Believers themselves as unto their Delight in them and Meditations about them They have nothing fixed or stated in their Minds which they can betake themselves unto in their Thoughts when they would contemplate about them And by the way whatever doth divert the minds of men from the power and life of Spiritual Worship as do all pompous Solemnities in the performance of it doth greatly hinder them as unto right Conceptions of our future state There was a Promise of Eternal Life given unto the Saints under the Old Testament But whereas they were obliged unto a Worship that was carnal and outwardly pompous they never had clear and distinct Apprehensions of the future state of Glory For Life and Immortality were brought to Light by the Gospel Wherefore although no man living can see or find out the infinite Riches of Eternal Glory yet is it the Duty of all to be acquainted with the Nature of it in general so as that they may have fixed Thoughts of it Love unto it earnest Desires after it all under its own true and proper Notion 2. So great a Part of Mankind as the Mahumetans unto whom God hath given all the principal and most desirable parts of the World to inhabit and possess do conceive the state of future Blessedness to consist in the full satisfaction of their sensual Lusts and Pleasures An Evidence this is that the Religion which they profess hath no power or Efficacy on their Minds to change them from the Love of Sin or placing their Happiness in fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh. It doth not at all enlighten their Minds to discern a Beauty in Spiritual things nor excite their Affections unto the Love of them nor free the Soul
in any place it behoveth them that are concerned to have an Eye and regard unto all their Enemies and their Attempts against them But if they are Vigilant and diligent in their Oppositition unto those that are without that visibly contend with them and in the mean time Neglect such as trayterously act within among themselves betraying their Councels and weakning their Strength they will be undoubtedly ruined Wise men do first take care of what is within as knowing if they are there betrayed all they do against their open Enemies is to no purpose In the warfare wherein we are engag'd we have Enemies of all sorts that openly and visibly in various Temptations fight against our Souls These it is our Duty to watch against to conflict with and to seek a conquest over But it is this internal vanity of mind that endeavours in all things to betray us to weaken us in all our Graces or to hinder their due operations and to open the doors of our Hearts unto our cursed Enemies If our principal Endeavour be not to discover suppress and destroy this Traytor we shall not succed in our spiritual warfare This therefore being the original cause of all that disabilty of mind as unto steadiness in holy Thoughts and Meditations whereof you do complain when you are affected therewith turn unto the consideration of that from whence it doth proceed Labour to be humbled greatly and to walk humbly under a sence of the Remainders of this Vanity of mind So some wholesom Fruits may be taken from this bitter Root and Meat may come out of this Eater If when you cannot abide in holy Thoughts of God and your Relation unto him you reflect on this cause of it to your further Humiliation and self-abasement your Good designs and purposes are not lost Let such an one say I began to think of God of his Love and Grace in Christ Jesus of my Duty towards him and where now in a few minutes do I find my self I am got into the Ends of the earth into things useless and earthly or am at such a loss as that I have no mind to proceed in the work wherein I was ingaged O wretched man that I am what a cursed Enemy have I within me I am asham'd of my self weary of my self loath my self who shall deliver me from this Body of Death Such Thoughts may be as useful unto him as those which he first designed True it is we can never be freed absolutely from all the Effects of this Vanity and Instability of Mind in this world Vnchangeable cleaving unto God alwayes in all the Powers and Affections of our Minds is reserved for Heaven But yet great degrees may be attained in the conquest and expulsion of it such as I fear few have experience of yet ought all to the labour after If we apply our selves as we ought to the increase of Spiritual Light and Grace if we labour diligently to abide and abound in Thoughts of spiritual things and that in Love to them and delight in them if we watch against the entertainment and approbation of such Thoughts and things in our minds as whereby this vain frame is pleased and confirmed there is though not an absolute perfection yet a blessed degree of Heavenly Mindedness to be attain'd and therein the nearest approach unto Glory that in this world we are capable of If a man cannot attain an Athletick Constitution of Health or a strength like that of Sampson yet if he be wise he will not omit the use of such means as may make him to be useful in the ordinary Duties of Life And although we cannot attain Perfection in this matter which yet is our Duty to be continually pressing after yet if we are wise will be endeavouring such a cure of this spiritual distemper as we may be able to discharge all the duties of the Life of God But if men in all other things feed the Vanity of their own Minds if they permit them to Rove continually after things foolish sensual and earthly if they wilfully supply them with Objects unto that End and labour not by all means for the Mortification of this evil frame in vain shall they desire or expect to bring them at any time on any occasion to be Steady in the Thoughts of Heavenly things If it be thus with any as it is to be feared it is with many it is their duty to mind the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the first place Make the Tree Good and then the Fruit will be Good and not before When the power of Sanctifying Grace hath made the Mind habitually Spiritual and Heavenly Thoughts of such things will be natural unto it and accompanyed with delight But they will not be so untill the God of Peace have Sanctified us in our whole Spirits Souls and Bodies whereby we may be preserved blameless unto the comeing of Jesus Christ. 2. Be alwaies sensible of your own Insufficincy to raise in your Minds or to managed spiritual Thoughts or Thoughts of things spiritual and Heavenly in a due manner But in this case men are apt to suppose that as they may so they can think of what they please Thoughts are their own and therefore be they of what sort they will they need no assistance for them They cannot think as they ought they can do nothing at all And nothing will convince them of their folly untill they are burdened with an experience of the contrary as unto Spiritual things But the advice given is expressely laid down by the Apostle in the Instance of himself 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God He speaks principally of Ministers of the Gospel and that of such as were most eminently furnished with Spiritual Gifts and Graces as he declares v. 6. And If it be so with them and that with respect unto the work and Duties of their Calling how much more is it so with others who have not their Graces nor their Offices Wherefore if men without regard unto the present actual Grace of God and the supplies of his Spirit do suppose that they can of themselves exercise their Minds in spiritual Thoughts and so only fret at themselves when they fall into disappointment not knowing what is the matter with them they will live in a lifeless barren frame all their dayes By the strength of their natural Abilities men may frame Thoughts of God and heavenly things in their Minds according unto the knowledge they have of them They may Methodize them by Rules of Art and express them elegantly unto others But even while they do so they may be far enough from being spiritually minded For there may be in their Thoughts no actings of Faith Love or holy Delight in God or any Grace at all But such alone are things which we enquire after they are such only as wherein the Graces of the Spirit
them into a course of neglecting Duty it self Wherefore it is our wisdom to set apart constantly some part of our time unto the exercise of our thoughts about spiritual things in the way of Meditation And I shall close this discourse with some Directions in this particular unto them who complain of their disability for the discharge of this duty 1. Choose and separate a fit time or Season a time of freedom from other Occasions and diversions And because it is our duty to redeem time with respect unto holy Duties such a season may be the more useful the more the purchase of it stands us in We are not at any Time to serve God with what costs us nought nor with any Time that comes within the same Rule If we will allow only the Refuse of our Time unto this duty when we have nothing else to do and it may be through weariness of Occasions are fit for nothing else we are not to expect any great success in it This is one pregnant reason why men are so cold and formal so lifeless in spiritual duties namely the Times and Seasons which they allot unto them When the Body is wearied with the labour and occasions of the day and it may be the mind in its natural faculties indisposed even by the means of necessary refreshment men think themselves meet to Treat with God about the great concernments of his Glory and their own Souls This is that which God condemneth by the Prophet Mal. 1.8 And if you offer the blind for Sacrifice is it not evil and if you offer the lame and sick is it not evil offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Both the Law of Nature and all the Laws of holy Institutions do require that we should serve God with the best that we have as all the fat of the Inwards was to be offered in Sacrifice And shall we think to offer that Time unto God wherein we are unmeet to appear before an earthly Ruler Yet such in my account are the Seasons especially the evening seasons that most men choose for the duties of their holy Worship And you may do well to consider that beyond the day and time which he hath taken unto himself by an Everlasting Law how little of the Choice of your time you have offered unto God as a Free-will-offering that you may be excited to future diligence If therefore you seriously intend this Duty choose the Seasons for it wherein you are most fit when even the natural vigour of your spirits is most free and active Possibly some will say this may be such a time as when the occasions of the world do call most earnestly for your attendance unto them I say that is the Season I would recommend And if you can conquer our minds to redeem it for God at that rate your endeavours in it will be prosperous However trust not to times that will offer themselves Take them not up at hazard Let the time it self be a free-will Offering to God taken from the Top of the heap or the Choicest part of your useful Time 2. Preparation of Mind unto a due Reverence of God and spiritual things is required previously hereunto When we go about this duty if we rush into thoughts of heavenly things without a due reverential preparation we shall quickly find ourselves at a loss See the Rule Eccles. 5.1 2. Grace to serve God with reverence and Godly fear is required in all things wherein we have to do with him as in this duty we have in an immediate and especial manner Endeavour therefore in the first place to get your hearts deeply affected with an awful reverence of God and an holy regard unto the heavenly nature of the things you would meditate upon Hereby your Minds will be composed and the roots of other thoughts be they vain or earthly which are apt to arise and divert you from this duty will be cast out The principles of these contrary Thoughts are like Jacob and Esau they struggle in the same womb and often-times Esau will come first forth and for a while seem to carry the Birth-right If various thoughts do conflict in our Minds some for this world and some for another those for this world may carry it for a season But where a due Reverence of God hath cast out the Bond-woman and her Children the workings of the Flesh in its vain Thoughts and Imaginations the Mind will be at liberty to exercise it self on spiritual things 3. Earnest Desires after a renewed sence and relish of Spiritual things are required hereunto If we ingage into this duty meerly on a conviction of the necessity of it or set our selves about it because we think we ought to do so and it will not be well done utterly to neglect it we may not expect to be successeful in it But when the Soul hath at any time tasted that the Lord is gracious when its Meditations on him have been sweet when Spiritual things have had a Savour and Relish in the mind and Affections and hereon it comes unto this duty with earnest desires to have the like tastes the like experience yea to have them encreased then is it in the way of an hopeful progress And this also will make us persevere in our endeavours to go through with what we undertake namely when we do know by former Experience what is to be attained in it if we dig and search for it as Treasure If you shall think that the right discharge of this duty may be otherwise attained if you suppose that it deserves not all this Cost and charge about it Judge by what is past whether it be not adviseable to give it over and let it alone As good lye quietly on the ground as continually attempt to rise and never once effect it Remember how many successeless attempts you have made upon it and all have come to nothing or that which is as bad as nothing I cannot say that in this way you shall alwayes succeed But I fear you will never have success in this duty without such things as are of the same nature and use with it When after this Preparation you find your selves yet perplexed and entangled not able comfortably to persist in Spiritual Thoughts unto your Refreshment take these two Directions for your Relief 1. Cry and Sigh to God for Help and Relief Bewail the darkness weakness and instability of your Minds so as to groan within your selves for Deliverance And if your designed Mediâ—â—…ions do issue only in a renewed gracious sense of your own Weakness and Insufficiency with Application unto God for Supplyes of Strength they are by no means lost as unto a Spiritual account The thoughts of Hezekiah in his Meditations did not seem to have any great Order or consistency when he so exprest them Like a Crane or a Swallow so did I chatter I did mourn as a Dove Mine eyes
Judgements Dangers Sicknesses Apprehensions of the approach of Death Psal. 34 78.35 37. These things take men off for a season from their greedy Delight in earthly things and the pursuit of the Interest of Lust in making Provision for the Flesh. On many other Occasions by great variety of Causes there may be temporary Impressions made on the Affections that shall seem for a season to have turned the stream of them And thereon we have many who every day will be wholly as it were for God resolved to forsake Sin and all the Pleasures of it but the next return unto all their former Excesses For this is the Effect of those Impressions that whereas Men ordinarily are predominantly acted by Love Desire and Delight which lead them to act according unto the true natural Principles of the Soul now they are for a Season acted by Fear and Dread which put a kind of Force on all their Inclinations Hereon they have other thoughts of Good and Evil of Things Eternal and Tmporal of God and their own Duty for a season And hereon some of them may and do perswade themselves that there is a Change in their Hearts and Affections which there is not like a Man who perswades himself that he hath lost his Ague because his present Fit is over The next trial of Temptation carries them away again unto the World and Sin There are sometimes sudden Impressions made on Spiritual Affections which are always of great Advantage to the Soul renewing its Engagements unto God and Duty So was it with Jacob Gen. 28.16 17 18 19 20. So is it often with Believers in hearing the Word and other Occasions On all of them they renew their cleavings unto God with Love and Delight But the Effect of these Impressions on unrenewed Affections are neither Spiritual nor durable Yea for the most part they are but Checks given in the Providence of God unto the raging of their Lusts. Psal. 9.20 Secondly They are liable unto an habitual Change This the Experience of all Ages gives Testimony to There may be an habitual Change wrought in the Passions and Affections of the Mind as unto the inordinate and violent pursuit of their Inclinations without any gracious Renovation of them Education Philosophy or Reason long Afflictions Spiritual Light and Gifts have wrought this Change So Saul upon his Call to be King became another Man Hereby Persons naturally passionate and furious have been made sedate and moderate and those who have been sensual have become temperate yea and haters of Religion to be Professors of it All these things and many more of the like nature have proceeded from a Change wrought upon the Affections only whil'st the Mind Will and Conscience have been totally unsanctified By this Change where it is alone no man ever became Spiritually-Minded For whereas there are two parts of the Depravation of our Affections that whereby they are turned off from God and that whereby they inordinately cleave unto other things their Change principally if not only respects the latter They are brought into some Order with respect unto present things The Mind is not continually tossed up and down by them as the Waves of the Sea that are troubled and cast up mire and dirt They do not carry those in whom they are into vitious sensual Actions but they allow them to make Vertue in Moderation Sobriety Temperance Fidelity and Usefulness in several Ways to be their Design And it is admirable to think what Degrees of Eminency in all sorts of Moral Vertues upon this one Principle of moderating the Affections even many among the Heathens attained unto But as unto their Aversation from God and Spiritual things in the true Spiritual Notion of them they are not cured by this Change At least this Change may be and yet this latter not be wrought Again This Alteration doth but turn the Course or Stream of Mens Affections it doth not change the Nature of them They are the same in their Spring and Fountain as ever they were only they are habituated unto another Course than what of themselves they are inclined unto You may take a young Whelp of the most fierce and savage Creatures as of a Tygar or a Wolf and by custom or usage make it as tame and harmless as any domestick Creature a Dog or the like But although it may be turned unto quite another way or course of acting than what it was of it self enclined unto yet its nature is not changed And therefore frequently on Occasion Opportunity or Provocation it will fall into its own savage Inclination And having tasted of the Blood of Creatures it will never be reclaimed So is it with the depraved Affections of men with respect unto their Change their streams are turned they are habituated unto a new Course their Nature is not altered at least not from rational unto Spiritual from earthly unto heavenly Yet this is that which was most beautiful and desirable in nature the Glory of it and the utmost of its Attainments He who has by any means proceeded unto such a moderation of his Affections as to render him kind benign patient useful preferring publick Good before private inordinate and temporate in all things will rise up in Judgement against those who professing themselves to be under the Conduct of the Light of Grace do yet by being morose angry selfish wordly manifest that their Affections are not subdued by the Power of that Grace Wherefore that we may be Spiritually-minded there is yet another work upon our Affections required which is their internal Renovation whereby not only the Course of their Actings is changed but their Nature is altered and Spiritually renewed I intend that which is expressed in that great Evangelical Promise Isai. 17.6 7 8 9. The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb the Leopard shall lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lion and the Fatlings together and a little Child shall lead them and the Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lye down together and the Lion shall eat Straw like the Ox and the sucking Child shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned Child shall put his Hand on the Cockatrice Den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain A Change and Alteration is promised in the Natures Principles and first Inclinations of the worst and most Savage Sinners who pass under the Power of Gospel Grace This is that which is required of us in a way of Duty Ephes. 4.13 And be ye renewed in the Spirit of your Minds There is a Renovation of the Mind it self by the Communication of Spiritual Saving Light and Understanding thereunto whereof I have treated elsewhere at large see Rom. 12.2 Ephes. 1.17 18. But the Spirit of the Mind that whereby it is enlivened lead and disposed unto its Actings that is to be renewed also The Spirit of the Mind is in this Place opposed unto
Mind is accompanied For First It is that which of all things the Lord Christ is most displeased with in Churches or Professors He pitties them in their Temptations he suffers with them in their Persecution he interceeds for them on their Surprizal but threatens them under their Spiritual Decayes Rev. 2.4 5. Chap. 3.2 This he cannot bear with as that which both reflects Dishonour upon himself and which he knows to be ruinous unto those in whom it is He will longer bear with them who are utterly dead than with those who abide under these Decayes Rev. 3.15 16. This is the only Case wherein he threatens to reject and cast off a Professing Church to take away his Candlestick from it unless it be that of False Worship and Idolatry He that spake thus unto the Churches of old speaks now the same unto us for he lives for ever and is alwayes the same and his Word is living and unchangeable There is not one of us who are under this Frame but the Lord Christ by his Word and Spirit testifyeth his displeasure against us and if he be against us who shall plead for us Consider what he says in this Case Revel 2.5 Chapter 3.3 O who can stand before these dreadful Intimations of his Displeasure The Lord help us to mind it least he in whom we profess to place our only trust be in our Tryal found our greatest Enemy Take heed of such sins as Christ himself our only Advocate hath put a mark upon as those which he will not save us in Secondly It is that wherewith above all things the Holy Spirit is grieved His work it is to give Grace an Encrease and Progress in our Souls He begins it and he carries it on And there can be no greater grief unto a wise and gratious Worker than to have his work decay and go backward under his hand This is the Occasion of those Complaints of God which we find in the Scripture of the unprofitableness and backsliding of Men after the use of means and remedies for their Fruitfulness and Cure What saith he could I have done more for my Vineyard than I have done Why then when I looked for Grapes did it bring forth wild Grapes Can any thing be apprehended to be such a just matter of Grief and Complaint unto the Holy Spirit to see and find those whom he had once raised up unto Holy and Heavenly Affections so as that their Delights were in and their Thoughts much upon the things that are above to become Earthly or sensual to have no sensible Actings of any of his Graces in them which is the State of them who are under the Power of Spiritual Decayes And this is the only cause wherein God speaks unto men in the way of complaint and Expostulation and useth all sorts of Arguments to convince them of their Folly herein When a wise tender and careful Parent hath been diligent in the use of all means for the Education of his Child and he for some time hath given good hopes of himself finds him to slacken in his diligence to be careless in his calling to delight in evil Company how solicitous is his heart about him how much is he grieved and affected with his miscarriage The heart of the Spirit of God is infinitely more tender towards us than that of the most affectionate Parent can be towards an only Child And when he with Cost and Care hath nourished and brought us up unto some Growth and Progress in Spiritual Affections wherein all his Concerns in us do lye for us to grow cold dul earthly-Minded to cleave unto the Pleasures or Lusts of this World how is he grieved how is he provoked It may be this Consideration of grieving the Holy Spirit is of no great weight with some they should have little Concernment herein if they could well free themselves in other Respects but let such Persons know it is impossible for them to give a greater Evidence of a profligate hardness in Sin Thirdly This is that which in an especial manner provoketh the Judgements of God against any Church as was intimated before When in the Order of Profession and Worship any Church hath a Name to live but as to the Power of Grace acting in the Affections is dead when it is not so cold as to forsake the external Institutions of Worship nor so hot as to enliven their Duties with Spiritual Affections the Lord Christ will not long bear with them yea Judgement will suddenly break out towards such an House of God Fourthly It is absolutely inconsistent with all Comfortable Assurance of the Love of God Whatever Persons under the Power of such a Frame pretend unto of that kind it is sinful Security not gracious Assurance or Peace And constantly as Professors grow cold and decay in their Spiritual Affections Stupidity of Conscience and Security of Mind do grow also uâ—on them It is so I say unless they are sometimes surprised or overtaken with some greater Sin which reflects severely on their Consciences and casts them for a time under Troubles and Distresses But that Peace with God and a comfortable Assurance of Salvation should be consistent with an habitual Decay in Grace especially in those Graces which should act themselves in our Affections is contrary to the whole Tenour and Testimony of the Scripture and the Supposition of it would be the Bane and Poyson of Religion I do not say that our Assurance and Peace with God do arise wholly from the Actings of Grace in us there are other Causes of them whereinto they are principally resolved But this I say under an habitual Declension or Decay of Grace in the Spirituality of our Affections no man can keep or maintain a gracious Sense of the Love of God or of Peace with him And therefore there is no Duty more severely to be pressed on all at this Day than a diligent Examination and Trial of the grounds of their Peace least it should be with any of them as it was with Luodicen who was satisfyed in her good State and Condition when it was most miserable and almost desperate Yea I must say that it is impossible that many Professors whom we see and converse withal should have any solid Peace with God Do men gather Figs from Thorns or Grapes from Thistles It is a Fruit that will not grow on a vain earthly selfish Frame of Mind and Conversation And therefore such Persons whatever they pretend are either asleep in a sinful Security or live on most uncertain Hopes which probably may deceive them Nothing can be so ruinous unto our Profession as once to suppose it is an easy Matter a thing of Course to maintain our Peace with God God forbid but that our utmost Diligence and continued Endeavours to thrive in every Grace should be required thereunto The whole Beauty and Glory of our Religion depends hereon To be Spiritually-Minded is Life and Peace 5. Such a decay as that described