shall confine all that I have to say to kindle and stir up this Affection First It is most highly congruous and doth very much beseem a reasonable Creature And that for these following Reasons Reason 1. First Because God is the most excellent and lovely Object And as in reason the greatest Beauty caeteris paribus should attract the strongest Love so the contrary implies absurdity and contradiction which Reason doth abhor For what can it be less than a Contradiction for one that hath understanding to prefer a less good before a greater there being equality and likeness in all other Circumstances The same rational Appetite that prompts us to love Goodness doth also encline us to love the greatest Good with the greatest heat and fervour of Affection But especially when the difference is so vast as it is between God and all competitory Good whatsoever They are but like a Drop to the whole Ocean or a small Dust compared to the whole Globe of Earth A single Beam of Light may as well stand up and vye Glory as with the Sun And a little Sword of Grass may better compare with the Spirit of Life and Vegetation and all the Flowers of the Field as any Created Good may hold up its head against God Shall I say As far as the East is from the West or as far as the Heaven is above the Earth so great is the distance between God and all Creatures put together Or rather the distance is a thousand times greater even infinite and incomprehensible and far beyond any created Capacity to conceive His Excellency is most apparent above all other Things 1. In that all the kinds and degrees of Excellency and Perfection are united in him which are but scattered and divided amongst the Creatures and that which they have but some faint degree of dwelleth in him in the highest measure of fulness and exuperancy So that if there be any Beauty or Glory in the Frame of Heaven and Earth or any Creatures in them contained that can stir up desire and attract our Love the same Motive with infinite Advantage may be fetch'd from the most lovely Nature of God And though the things with which Mortal Men are commonly moved are not formally in God because they imply imperfection such as are Worldly Riches Corporeal Beauty Sensual Pleasures and all those Accommodations which suit that part of us which is Flesh and Blood yet they are in him these several ways 1. Per viam Eminentiae by way of Excellency as the rational Soul doth eminently contain the sensitive though not formally And as the understanding of Man that invents Watches and Clocks and other Utensils is far better than they and doth eminently contain them 2. Per viam Causalitatis by way of Efficiency in that he is able to produce and create any of these things with the least Word of his Mouth He is therefore eminently able to furnish out all good to the Soul that loveth him And so he hath promised To give them the desires of their Heart that delight in him Psal 37.4 And therefore the Apostle had ground enough to tell us That Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man in this life to understand the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 And David had cause enough for such a passionate Invitation O tast and see that the Lord is good blessed is the Man that trusteth in him Which Trust supposeth and implieth Love 2. He is the productive Cause of all that is desirable and truly Good as I just intimated before He is the Womb from whence all other Good hath its birth and original For he hath made Heaven and Earth and all that in them is Psalm 95.5 The Sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry Land And Psal 104. per totum There 's no Virtue Comeliness or Perfection in any Creature but he is the Author of it The Influences of the Heaven and the Fertility of the Earth and all the Verdure and Glory of the Grass and Flowers of the Field do but declare and set forth his infinite Perfection Who watereth the Hills from his Chambers and the Earth is satisfied with the Fruit of his Works And causeth the Grass to grow for the Cattel and Herb for the Service of Man that he may bring forth Food out of the Earth And Wine that maketh glad the Heart of Man and Oyl to make his Face to shine and Bread which strengthneth 〈…〉 15. And hath 〈…〉 beauty and 〈…〉 all his 〈…〉 Matth. 6.29 It 's true he is no way the 〈…〉 though he be the Cauâ—â— of all that is desirable any other ways 〈◊〉 as he made Man to whom that Monster and Abortion is wholly to be ascribed though it be so greedily desired and committed But yet though it be actually so much desired by Man through his Ignorance and Mistake and the Corruption of his blinded and distempered Faculties yet is not desirable indeed nor truly good any otherwise than Chalk and Coals and Ashes are to one that hath the Pica and is distempered in the Stomach I am forced to confess though with grief of Heart and to the shame and reproach of Mankind that Man is come to that pass that he may drink Iniquity like Water Job 15.16 And call Evil Good and Good Evil and put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness Bitter for Sweet and Sweet for Bitter Isaiah 5.20 But then it is because the Foundations of his Soul are all out of course and Sense hath got the upper hand and Reason is under Feet and his Head stands where his Feet should do Alas It is a sad Consideration that the best of God's Creatures here on Earth is become the worst of Monsters But this is no derogation from God's infinite Fulness and Perfection that he is not the Productive Cause of such a Poyson as this and the Father of such a deformed loathsome Birth Reason 2d Secondly It doth most highly beseem a Reasonable Creature to love God above all because God hath most obliged us His Love to us bids highest for the highest Return of Love again If there were any thing in Heaven or Earth that had more obliged us than God it had not been than a Fault neither could Reason have risen up and accused us if we had loved that thing more than God But now that all Creatures both in Heaven and Earth are silent and have nothing to say and the love of God hath so loud a Tongue and his infinite transcendent Favours do bespeak our Hearts so strongly what an unpardonable sin is it to love any thing more than him The Good we receive from others is by his Special Command and Appointment what we receive therefore from them we are indebted unto God for He is the first Mover they are but his Instruments to bring his Favours to us Now though his Personal
pine away thy self from day to day with earnest desires and endeavours after it Thou wert made for God and thy Soul will be restless till it return to him Consideration would convince thee that thus it is think then more frequently what is that work thou wert made for Thirdly The next thing worth your most serious Consideration is how well you have answered the end of your Creation You see what a wise just holy and impartial God you have to do with and that you are his Creatures and wherefore he hath made you and endued you with such Faculties and given you such various helps and encouragements Now consider how well you have used them how you have improved your several Talents and served your Maker and kept the Statutes and Judgments he hath given you Have you had your heart in Heaven or in Earth ever since you came hither Have you lived to God or without God in the world Have you lived in the love and praises of your Maker and in perfect obedience to his Laws or have you not rather extinguished all love of God in your hearts and violated all his righteous Laws and preferred the wisdom of the Flesh before the wisdom of the Spirit and set your selves to oppose his Government Though it may be you have not sinned against him on set purpose and directly opposed him yet have you not neglected to consult his will and when you have known your duty in many particulars have you not refused to obey Let your own Consciences be the Judge Have you kept the fear of God always before your eyes Hath no corrupt communication proceeded out of your mouth Have no idle blasphemous wicked thoughts crept into your hearts Have you been just and righteous in all your dealings towards God and Men Have you stood up for the honour of God against all his Enemies and faithfully reproved Sin and done all your works with respect to Gods glory or have you not overlooked that and minded your own worldly interest and cherished revengeful proud ambitious thoughts in your own hearts and countenanced Sin in others at least have you not been silent when Gods Name hath been lightly used in every trivial matter and his Sabbaths profan'd and his Word derided There 's none of us but must confess we have neglected this great work too much at the best how much more at the worst Our Hereditary Corruption was enough to make us odious in the pure Eyes of God for ever what then shall we plead for our Actual Sins which are multiplied to such a number that we cannot reckon them up So that there is no man that is not liable to the Wrath of God and the Condemning Sentence of his Law Consider whether you have not been treasuring up Wrath all your days and destroying your selves and preferring Dung and Dross before him Did he make thee to affront and dishonour him and prefer a trifle before him Did he make thee to scrape after the world to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Bethink thy self and consider whether thou hast discharged thy Duty and answered the Ends of thy Creation and done all to the glory of God and you will see Cause enough to abhor your self Fourthly Being thus obnoxious to Gods displeasure and liable to Death and Condemnation consider in the fourth place whether you are sensible of your Sin and Misery and whether you have accepted the grace which the Gospel offers to you There 's no remedy but you must perish for ever and have the Judgment of Everlasting Condemnation if Consideration do not bring you to Repentance and wound your hearts with the bitter sense and feeling of your Sin O consider that it was the mere mercy of God that any such terms were offered to you he might have left you as he did the fallen Angels and therefore if now you shall slight a pardon and refuse to lay your sin to heart and to be humbled and broken for it and to come to Christ with a loving and thankful heart that he would cleanse and purifie you by his Word and Spirit your case condition will be the more doleful your Judgment at the Great Day will be more Intolerable I know you have verbally Renounced the World the Devil and the Flesh in your Baptismal promise but have you Really and Unfeignedly Renounced them in heart and life Are you Convinced that nothing can wash away the stain of any the least of your Sins but the Blood of Christ much less wipe away the Sins of your whole Life Have you throughly considered the necessity of his Blood to procure your Pardon the necessity of his Spirit to Sanctifie you And that there is no Name under Heaven by which you can be saved but his but if you be such that loath your selves for all former Sins and are weary of a corrupt and sinful Nature and Christ be the chiefest among ten Thousand to your Soul then though you have so much crossed the end of your Creation and committed so much Sin it shall not be charged on you the Blood of Christ will certainly cleanse you from all your Sin If this faith be not yet wrought in you consideration must open and soften your Heart and make way for it If you did but frequently consider what priviledges they are forthwith admitted to that do believe and what a fearful looking for of Judgment there remaineth for unbelievers you would hasten to make your escape from the Stormy Wind and Tempest Suppose that some Mortal distemper had seized on you and this will certainly be your case ere long do but a little consider what the priviledges of a believer will be worth to you then how sweet the promise of forgiveness by Christ will be to your tast Yea sweeter than the Honey to your throat Psal 119.103 Do but let your thoughts run upon this Subject and tell you How happy you would count your self if you were united to Christ and a true member of his body reconciled to God and pardoned adopted into his family and received into his especial protection what would you give then to be acquitted from all your former sins to have the sting of Death pull'd out to land safe at your desired Harbour to dye in the Lord and to have a Convoy of blessed Angels to carry your soul to endless Joy say what you would give then to be secured from the sensible sears of Hell and Death and to lie down in the Grave in Peace and Safety and to have nothing then to make you afraid Why if you are a Penitent Believer and belong to Christ there will be comfort for you in the Hour when all the World shall signifie nothing to you Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil Prov. 1.33 When natural strength will be sure to fail you and your Soul is going out from your Body where it hath so long dwelt
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
such a Case How much more would a sinner bewail his Offences committed against him that is his Creatour and Sovereign and hath absolute dominion over him and the power of Eternal Life and Death in his hands Thou canst not endure his displeasure if he doth but frown Nor live without his favour if he should totally withdraw it but an hour As he commandeth the Sun to shed his light and influence upon thee so he clotheth the Heaven with blackness and maketh Sackcloth their covering when he pleaseth Isaiah 50.3 If thou didst but know and consider the one half of the infinite Mercies he doth bestow upon thee and the worth of them it would make thee sure to break into bitter complaints for all thy odious Transgressions especially when thou knowest before-hand That the Penitent are so sure to speed and find Mercy with him This is a Third Act That Godly Sorrow if it be sincere doth imply even a deep sense of all the Obligations every one of us lies under to abstain from all Appearance of Evil. Fourthly He that would bewail his sin aright must be sensible how shameful it is and destructive to his own Soul and Body It prevents his Reason and makes him far more vile than a Creature that wants that Faculty It animates his Senses to all insolency it makes his Passions masterless and unruly it destroys the Health of the Body the Peace and Composure of the Mind it fills the Conscience with perpetual Remorse and Unquietness And all these Effects do as naturally flow from it as Poyson doth from a Toad or Serpent And thus it would punish it self although God should inflict no other punishment than what will inevitably follow such sinful inordinate Acts and such abuse of the Reason and Faculties that Man is possessed of It procures the hatred of God and the shame of Men and breeds a continual Worm at home that will gnaw in twain the Thred of this Life and will then feed upon Soul and Body to their everlasting pain and torment hereafter Fifthly He that is truly penitent and doth lament his sin as he ought doth know and consider the Merit of his sin and what Wages it deserves He is sensible that the least sin committed against such a Majesty by a Creature so much obliged and enabled to the contrary deserves damnation and that he can make God no recompence for the wrong and injury it doth him And he understands in some good measure what Eternal Damnation doth imply And then when he calls to mind the infinite Number he hath committed and how oft he hath deserved such a dreadful Reward and that yet he is invited to Repentance and knows that he shall find Mercy if he repent from the bottom of his Heart This melts him into Tears and dissolveth his rocky Heart and maketh it to feel what heretofore he made light matter of Sixthly As the penitent sinner is sensible of all the foregoing Particulars so he is acquainted with his own personal Transgressions not only that he is a sinner in general but what actual wickedness he is every day guilty of How little his Thoughts Words or Actions come up to the Rule at the best and how often they utterly thwart and contradict the Rule and what are his Master-Corruptions and where the strength of his sin lies He is also deeply sensible of his sinful Nature that he brought with him into the World and how cross it is to the Will of God expressed in his Word and Law and altogether unlike the Nature that God gave Man at the first Seventhly He doth hereupon judge himself exceeding vile and even loath himself for his Abominations Ezek. 36.31 When he thinketh upon his odious ways he is heartily ashamed and counteth himself unworthy of any outward Mercy and wondreth at the Mercies that God doth bestow so contrary to his deserts He seriously judgeth himself more wretched and miserable by reason of his sin and an Object of greater shame and contempt than if he had liv'd in the greatest poverty and want without sin as knowing that one makes him contemptible only to such as judge according to outward appearance but the other to those that judge righteous judgment He knows that sin makes him a Beast or a Devil in Humane shape and is a Disgrace and Reproach to all his Faculties and quite perverts the very frame and design of them For what is sin but an absurd and unreasonable Act Actus debito ordine privatus as the School-men define it and supposeth the Senses and their Objects to be in chief power and command and the nobler Part I mean his Rational and Immortal Spirit to be chained up and lye by as a Prisoner in Fetters or which is worse to be a voluntary Servant and Drudge to the stinking corruptible part of Man What Lord that hath the Spirit of a Man would endure to be a drudge to his Servant It 's a sad sight to see a Prince a Captive to his Subjects or a Lord to be in the hand and power of his Slaves led up and down in Chains at the will and pleasure of him that is but of a base and degenerate Breed compared with himself It was a great aggravation of Job's pitiful Condition that contemptible persons had him in derision whose Fathers he would have disdained to have set with the Doggs of his Flock Job 30.1 That Children of Fools and Base Men that were viler than the Earth made him their Song and By-word and that they did abhor him and flee far from him and not spare to spit in his Face vers 8 9 10. It was a very doleful pitiful sight to see Edward the Second so barbarously entreated by Gourney and made to sit upon a Mole-hill whilst the Barber shaved him and to take cold Water out of a Ditch to wash him with which the patient King seeing told them that in despight of them he would have warm Water at his Barbing and therewithal poured down Tears in abundance It 's a much sadder Spectacle to see Sense trample upon Reason and the Flesh that is of so base a descent to domineer over the Soul that 's born of God and is of the Blood-Royal made to rule and govern as the very Heathen could tell Animi imperio Corporis servitio utimur saith Salast And what 's the Fruit of such a Monstrous Disorder when Flesh and Sense do exercise such an oppressive usurping Power and that Faculty that makes a Man is perfectly cow'd Why This unspeakable Mischief is the Fruit thereof Earth is preferr'd before Heaven The Creature before the Creator The momentary pleasures of Sin before the durable and everlasting Felicity And Men chuse rather to be Termers in these decaying Comforts that expire with their Lives than to have the Propriety of an Eternal Inheritance hereafter that shall never be out-dated These and the like Considerations make the sinner to judge himself a vile Person a Reproach to Humane