the grace contrary to the lust that is stirring if it be pride and vain-glory in the applause of men think how ridiculous it were for a criminall to please himself in the esteem and honour his fellow-prisoners render him forgetting how guilty he is before his Judge If thou beginnest to be powred loosely out and as it were dissolved in frolick mirth and jovialty correct that vainnesse and gayety of spirit by the grave and sober thoughts of death and judgement and eâ—ernity Rule 6 If this avail not fall instantly to prayer and indeed all along the whole encounter with thy lusts Pray continually lift up thy heart to God with sighs and groans unutterable Oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down Tell him thy lusts are his enemies as well as thine tell him they are too strong for thee beg of him that he would interpose and make bare his arme and get himself a glorious name Awake Isa 51.9 awake put on strength O arme of the Lord awake as in the ancient dayes in the generations of old Art not thou it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon Intreat him of all love to pity thee even by his very bowels and not to let the enemy triumph over thee Tell him thou knowest not what to do but thy eyes are towards him Bemoan thy self before him and plead his glory with him and his truth and faithfulness Spread his own gracious promises in his eyes Psal 27.14 Isa 40.28 29 30 31. Psal 55.22 1 Pet. 5.7 Such Ejaculations or Meditations as these are mighty usefull Gods children find them so in the very paroxisme and assault But if the Temptation continue get into thy Closet and humble thy self greatly before thy God throw thy self at his feet tell him thou wilt not rise till he hath given thee a token for good no thou art resolved there to lye hanging on him and not to let him go untill he bless thee O how welcome is every honest heart to the father of Spirits when it comes on such an errand and in such a manner to the throne of grace God cannot chuse but melt in pity and tendernesse over his poor desolate ones when he sees the anguish of their souls How can I give thee up O Ephraim my bowels are troubled for thee Jer. 31.20 Isa 49.14 they will not give me leave to forget thee Is Ephraim my dear son I do earnestly remember him I wil surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Give not over wrestling like Jacob Gen. 32.26 27 28. till thou risest Israel one who hast power with God and prevailest And it is worth observing that the Lord takes pleasure to be called the mighty God of Jacob and the Lord God of Israel as if he reckoned it an honour that once the worme Jacob wrestled with his omnipotence and overcame him he seems to glory in his being conquered and chuseth that for his name and for his memoriall throughout generations which is an everlasting monument that a poor frail man got the day of him So much doth the effectuall fervent prayer of the righteous prevail Perhaps sometime it may be requisite to joyne secret fasting with thy prayer It may be the Devil that tempts thee is of that kind that will not go out but by prayer and fasting Mat. 17.21 Thus Daniel lay prostrate at Gods feet till a hand touched him and set him upon his knees and the voice said to him O Daniel greatly beloved c. Dan. cap. 10. vers 2 3 compared with 10 11. with 18 19. verses When thou hast done this Rise up and buckle on the shield of faith Rule 7 which is able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one Ephes 6 16. Cloath thy soul with an heroick confidence in the power and faithfulnesse of thy God and in the name and majesty of the Lord of hosts bid battle to thy lusts and to all the powers of darknesse Prov. 7.16 Take heed of going out in thy own single strength for lust hath cast down many strong men wounded While thou art kâ—eping thine owne heart with all diligence forget not by faith to bring the great keeper of Israel in If any other man could have kept his own heart sure the man after Gods own heart could have done it Virg. Aeneid Si Pergama dextra Defendi possent etiam hac defensa fuissent But the matter of Vriah and Bathsheba stands on record to all posterity to the contrary For except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain Psalm 127.1 Do not venture to grapple with the roaring Lyon but in the strength of the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah who is also the Lamb of God and the great shepheard of Israel Isa 40.11 that carries his lambs in his bosome and whether should the pursued Lamb betake it self but into that shepheaâ—ds arms In time of trouble spirituall as well as other he will hide thee in the secret of his Tabernacle in his pavilion will he hide thee and set thee as upon a rocke Psal 27.5 He never fails the eyes of them that look up to him nor makes his people ashamed of their hope What time thou art afraid trust in him His name is a strong tower Cast thy care upon him and expect the same pity from thy God which the men of Iabesh-Gilead found from Saul when Nabash the barbarous Ammonite would have put out their right eyes To morrow ere the Sun be hot ye shall have help 1 Sam. 11.9 If the King of Israels bowels yerned over those poor men shall not the bowels of the God of Israel over those that fear him Yes upon his honour truth and faithfulnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serpens hebr he will not suffer that cruell Nahash to allude to the signification of the word that old Serpent to have his will upon them if he doth not come to day he will to morrow ere the Sun be hot Lift up your heads therefore O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in Who is this King of glory The LORD strong and mighty the LORD mighty in battle Psal 24.7 8. Thus was Joseph rescued from the Archers that shot at him and sorely grieved him His bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the arms of the mighty God of Jacob Gen. 49.23 24. Vse 1 Information I come at length to the Use We are to learn hence That our souls are not as they came out of the father of Spirits hands they appear as it were wrong risen in the world and begin to tread awry the very first steps they measure on the stage of Earth All the symptomes of degeneracy are upon them The best of men that ever yet blest the earth with their Residence upon it except that Son of man who was only so by the mothers side being by the Fathers
draw near to him and perform all our worship to him As Abraham is held forth to us a Pattern of Faith so he may be to us a Pattern of worship in as much as all true worship to God is performed by Faith by Faith in Christ Such apprehensions thererefore Abraham had of God in his worship such apprehensions of God we are to have in our worship and as Abraham had those conceptions of God by Faith in Christ so can we have the like conceptions of God by Faith in Christ only 1. Those apprehensions Abraham had of God did beget as we have shewn high thoughts of God with such apprehensions of God we must perfoâ—m all our worship See what high thoughts of God his people have alwaies had in worshipping him Neh. 9.5 6. 1 Tim. 1.17 1 Tim. 6.16 Low thoughts of God will ever perform but low base contemptible Service and Woâ—ship they brought God the blind the lame the sick for Sâ—crifice Mal. 1. Go saith God present them to your Governour and see if he do not scorn your present as undervalued by it Ver. 8. And should I accept this at your hands which a petty Lord will reject with indignation Ver. 13. For I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts Ver. 14. Now such high thoughts and conceptions of God with which all our Worship must be performed to him can spring only from the manifestations of God in Christ who is the highest Revelation of the glory of God Isa 40.5 The brightness the effulgency of his glory Heb. 1.3 When God had yielded to give Moses a sight of his glory he put him into the Clist of the Rock which was a * Dr. Rainolds Psa 110. p. 166 resemblance of Christ as a Learned Divine hath observed and so made his glory to pass before him Exod. 33.22 Certainly Moses had here a sight of Gods glory beyond all that ever he had seen before Compare with this that Text 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commanded light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ All the other manifestations of Gods glory were but dark and dim in comparison of those which appear in the face of Jesus Christ Therefore we can attâ—in no where such high so great so glorious Conceptions of God as in Jesus Christ 2. Abraham had such Conceptions of God as humbled emptied and abased him in himself in comparison of God and with such apprehensions of God must we perform all our Worship to him Psal 95.6 We are exhorted to come and worship and bow down and kneel In all Worship we are to testifie as our absolute subjection to God so our humblest submission to him Observe what self-abasing thoughts the apprehensions of Gods goodness wrought in David when he went to worship before the Lord 2 Sam. 7.18 19 20. Now such Conceptions of God which above all others humble and lessen and abase the Creâ—ture before God See Salkeld de Ang. c. 34 35. Aquin part 1 quest 62. Art 1. they spring principally from the manifesta ion of God in Christ It is the general opinion of the Schoolmen that the Angels in the first instant of their Creation did not enjoy that sight of God we call Beatifical Vision and that the Angels that fell never had sight of it at all for if they had they could not have fallen But what they talk of the good Angels meriting that Beatifical Vision of God in the second or third instant of their Creation is Popish foppery Divines unanimously attribute their station and stability in holiness to Jesus Christ We may upon good grounds also attribute to Jesus Christ their first admission into the presence sight enjoyment of God their state of supernatural blessedness Pardon this digression it is to make the way clear for the demonstration in hand viz. That the Angels before they had a sight of God or of themselves in Christ many of them waxed proud and fell the same pride that ruined some might have ruined all but after they had a sight of God in Christ how humble were they That Vision spoken of Isa 6.1 2. was manifestly an appearance of the glory of God in Jesus Christ I saw the Lord upon his Throne high and lifted up and his Train filled the Temple what the carriage of the Seraphims was towards God in this his appearance is exprest Each one had six wings with twain they did fly noting their ready execution of Gods Commands with twain they did cover their faces noting their natural impotency in themselves to behold the surpassing brightness of Divine Glory with twain they covered their feet as humbled in the sense and shame of their own Creature imperfection in comparison of the infinite purity and holiness of God Thus when Moses had had a sight of the glory of God in Christ He made haste he bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped Exod. 34.8 Quickly is the soul humbled at the manifestations of God in Christ In Christ we have seen God humbling emptying lessening dishonouring himself for us Phil. 2.5 6 7. Who can be proud that hath had a true sight of God humbled for him By the manifestatioâ—s of God in Christ are begotten the deepest soul humiliations for sin Zach. 12.10 They shall look on Me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him and they shall be in bitterness for him This great sorrow was not for the piercing of the Humanity of Christ barely considered but for piercing God in Christ though the Godhead was not in the least passive therefore that bloud which was shed is called The bloud of God Acts 20.28 and that person who was pierced called The Lord of glory 1 Cor. 2.8 Sins against the manifestations of the Love Mercy Grace Compassions Goodness and Glory of God in Christ beget the deepest humiliation of soul in all our Confessions 3. Abraham had such Conceptions of God as did represent him gracious propitious benevolous to the Creature a bountiful rewarder of him that serveth him notwithstanding the greatness of God or the unworthiness of the Creature Such apprehensions we must have of God in all our approaches to him in all our performances of duty and worship When Cain could not apprehend so much favour and grace in God as could pardon his sin and remove his punishment he then went out from the presence of the Lord Gen. 4.13.16 That is as Interpreters of good note render it he left the Church of God in his Fathers Family the Worship of God the Ordinances of God the service of God the profession of God and all Such as cannot have apprehensions of God as gracious propitious will not come into the presence of God Nor such as cannot apprehend him a bountiful rewarder of them that come to him They bid God depart from them who question whether God can do any thing for them or
is a sluce-gate to the current of Gods grace and favour Jupiter rained a shower of gold into Danaes lap but God will never rain a shower of grace joy and comfort into a sluggards heart If you loose the blessed sight of God here in ordinances you shall lose the beatifical sight of God hereafter in glory 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord then have we the kernel of a duty every thing else is but a shâ—ll when our employment is on Earâ—h and our enjoyment in Heaven when we have so sought Gods Face that our face comes away shining and we have so poured out our hearts to God that God hath powred out his heart to us that we return home like Bees loaded with honey filled with the comforts of the Holy Ghost VII Consider the infinite and wonderful glory greatnesse majesty of him you appear before and approach unto in your duties A God you are not able to conceive nor I to expresse See how the Scripture shadows him out unto us and indeed it is but a shadow in comparison of his substance Isa 40.12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out Heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a ballance vers 15. behold the nations are as a drop of the bucket and are counted as the small dust of the ballance behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing vers 16. and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering vers 17. all things before him are as nothing and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity Quae participatione nobis veneranda sunt in comparatione ejus memoranda non sunt Greg. Mor. l. 18. c. 27. Ex pede Herculem By this glorious description we may guesse and that is all at enough in God to scare us from coming to God in a dull and drowsie manner the Heathens who worship'd the Sun for their god durst not offer up any thing but a flying horse to him in sacrifice our God is more glorious swift seeing than ten thousand Suns therefore we should no◠〈◊〉 to offer up any thing but a winged Cherubim or swift flying 〈◊〉 to him in service VIII Consider how industrious and indefatigable an adversary you have that lies alwaies in ambush to wrong you yea to ruine you Sathan is the unwearied Peripatetick who walks up and down for prey and spoil Job 1.7 now the dull soul is his prey a slug ship is a purchase for the Pyrat and a sluggish soul for the Devil it is holy and wholsome advice given by Peter 1.5 8. Be sober be vigilant because your adversary the Devil as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may devour Mr. Hugh Latimer 's Sermon preached in the shrouds at Pauls Church in London 18. Jan. an 1548. of the Plough pag. 21. Prius conditionem complexionem uniuscujusque perspicit tum tentationis laqueos apponit Greg. Mor. lib. 9. the Devil saies pious and plain Latymer is the most diligent Bishop in England he is ever at his plough no Lording nor loytering may hinder him his office is to hinder Religion to maintain Superstition to set up Idolatry to teach all kind of Popery where his plough goes there away with Books and up with Candles away with Bibles and up with Beads away with the Light of the Gospel and up with the Light of Candles yea at noon-days How should this quicken us to be active for God and our soul that have an enemy so active alwaies against God and our soul You need not quicken a Mariner to Make out all the cloath he can that knows a Pyrat hath him in chase at stern timor addidit alas fear will spread the sails which are the wings of the ship the Devil the great Pyrat of souls to make prize and pillage of us and our graces hath us in daily pursute how careful should we be to fill the sails of our souls with the strong gales of the Spirit that he may neither overtake us nor take us IX Consider when you slothfully perform duties you do but mock God to act in the Service of God slothfully is interpretativè to act scornfully Wine is a mocker Pro. 20.1 i. e. Wine immoderately taken makes men dull dronish sluggish sleepy actions in a serious business are mocking actions drowzie service to God is but a mockery of God Gal. 6.7 God is not mocked i. e. God will not bear mockery X. Consider how active Christ was in doing us service he did omnem movere lapidem He was so enlarged about the thoughts of doing the work that he was straitned untill he was about it Luk. 12.50 I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitned untill it be accomplished i. e. I have a death of the Cross to suffer for Mans Redemption and I am pressed with an Antiperistasis untill I have finished it Or else as Grotius renders it I am with child of my Passion and how do I long for my delivery I am in pain untill I am in pain much like some women who breed their children with more pain than they do bring them forth When that day of his travel came it was the day of his triumph Plutarch Col. 2.15 Triumphing over them in it The Atheniâ—â—â—â—â—â—ru being informed by the Oracle That the People whose King should be slain in the Battel should be Conquerours disrobed himself went into the Enemies Quarters in the habit of a poor man with a burden on his back that he might steal a death to make his People Conquerours Christ disrobed himself of the Garments of Glory assumed the form of a servant endured contradictions of sinners held his peace when falsely charged that he might steal a death for his People that so they might be more than Conquerours Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame Shall Christ give you such a Copy of activity and will you blot and blur it with sloth and sluggishness Oh look on your Copy and fairly write after it 10. Beg the quickning Spirit this is instar omnium none like it as David said of Goliaths sword Sloth is the Kings Evil of the soul and none but the King of Heaven can cure it by his hand which is his Spirit Psal 119.32 I will run the way of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Idlenesse is the souls prison sloth is her shackle the Spirit of God only can knock off her fetters and give Goal-delivery to her Rom. 8.26 The Spirit helpeth our infirmities of ignorance dulnesse deadnesse