Christians How many are there that are full of rage one against another for being either for a Form of Prayer or against it either for the Ceremonies or against them that never searched into the state of the Controversie and never took pains to examine the Arguments on both sides which in all reason they ought to have done or else at least to have restrained their Tongues from such unreasonable and sinful censures and reproaches These I say are the Persons that are most guilty nay upon the matter the only guilty Persons except such whom base Lust and Interest doth corrupt and work to these animosities 5. Converse much with your selves It is want of business at home in mens own hearts that makes them ramble so much abroad and rake into the Lives of others Study your selves more and other men less Did you search your own hearts and lives you would find so much cause of self-judging and self-abhorring that you would have little cause to despise others and much cause of compassion towards others 6. Judg of others as you would do of your selves and your own Actions It is worth our consideration what a great difference there is between the Judgment men pass upon themselves and other men As for themselves all their Errors are but small mistakes and all their sins against God however attended with ugly circumstances of light of consent of the will custom and allowance yet they are but sins of Infirmity if themselves may be Judges in their own Cause Their injuries to men are but small and trivial offences and they do indeed expect both from God and Man a Pardon of course which if they have not they judg God tobe harsh and severe Men to be cruel and implacable But when they come to pass Judgment upon other Men the Tables are turned some mistakes are damnable delusions and all their sins against God which they can observe are evidences of a naughty heart and inconsistent with Grace and the Offences of others against them are inexcusable and intolerable great affronts and Indignities whereas on the contrary thou shouldest as it was said of a great Man Be severe to thy self and Candid to others Because thou knowest more wickedness by thy self and more aggravation of thy own sins than of all the sins that are in the World But at least all the reason and Justice in the World requires this that thou shouldest weigh thy self and others in the same Balance that thou shouldest try thy own and their Actions by the same Touch-stone and more need not be done Thou who art so prone to flatter thy self wouldest certainly be more indulgent to other men and pass a more favourable construction upon their Actions What Light must shine in our Works Serm. XXII Matth. 5.16 Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven THE Work designed for this time is to resolve this practical Case What is that Light which must shine before Men in the Works of Christ's Disciples for the Glorifying of God But the Explication of the Text is therein included The Son of Righteousness Jesus Christ who giveth Light to every one that cometh into the World or coming into the World giveth Light to all from his fulness hath bespangled the Inferiour Heavens his Church with many fulgent Stars appointed freely to communicate the Heavenly light which they had freely received In his corporal presence he prepared them and his Spirit having moved on the darkned World he unresistably said at the descent of the Holy Ghost Let there be Light and there was Light beginning at Jerusalem but not fixed to any determinate place But what he gave them necessarily and antecedently they were to Exercise as Free Agents by a command more resistable which here he gives them Having told them their Office and given them their Names v. 14. Ye are the Lights of the World he next tells them how they must be useful They must be conspicuous 1. Because the Church where they are placed is like a City on a Hill which cannot be hid 2. Because it 's the end of him that lighteth them and sets them up not to put them under a Bushel but on a Candlestick to give light to all his House And therefore no men's silencing or prohibitions no difficulties or sufferings will excuse them from their Duty Lights they are and Shine they must But lest they should think that it is Preaching only which he meaneth he here commanding them their Duty lets them know that the splendour of Christianity is in Works as well as Words And thereby giveth us cause to think that it is all his Disciples or Christians that he speaketh to though first and eminently to the Apostles and Teachers of the World 1. By Light he meaneth both the Illuminating knowledg which must be uttered by Words and the Splendour or Glory of Holiness which must be refulgent in their Lives 2. He calls it Your Light as being their own in his Graces as the Subjects and their own in Exercise as the Actors though both under him 3. It must Shine that is Appear in its splendour for the Illumination and conviction of the World 4. It must So shine as is fittest to attain these ends It is not every twinkling that will answer their great obligations 5. It must be Before men that is both those within and especially those without the Church that are but Men. 6. It must be a Light shining in Good Works and their Own Works For that is the grand difference between the Disciples of Christ and others He teacheth them not only to know and talk well but to Do well And he maketh men such as he Teacheth them to be Non magna loquimur sed vivimus said Tertullian 7. That Men may see doth signifie both the necessary refulgent quality of their Works and also the end of God and them 8. But it is not Hypocritical ostentation of what they are not nor of what they are and have as for their own Glory to be honoured and praised of Men but for the Glorifying of God Who is called their Father to shew their obligation to him and to encourage them by the honour and comfort of their Relation and to shew why their Works will tend to the glorifying of God even because they are so nearly related to him And he is said to be in Heaven because there he appeareth operatively in his Glory to the beautifying of Holy Spirits As the Soul is said to be in the Head and we look a man in the face when we talk to him as if there principally we saw the Man because it is in the Head that it operateth by Reason So much of the meaning of the Words Many Doctrines the Text affordeth us as 1. Christ's Disciples are the Lights of the World both in the splendour of Wisdom and Holiness 2. Their most eminent and convincing splendour is in
not and therefore as for all those Actions they did for the Church of God though God did gain Honour by them yet they did not honour God nor were they accepted of him because they were not in Christ Vse of Exhort To study the Name of the Lord Jesus for by how much the more we know of his Name by so much the more we shall trust in him Psal 9.10 It is the Name which is above every Name Phil. 2.9 His Name is as sweet precious Ointment poured forth Cant. 1.3 The richest Treasuries of Grace are laid up in that Name of Christ John 1.16 Study it that you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the height and depth c. of it that you may be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.18 19. There is a surpassing Excellency as in that Name so in the knowledge of it Phil. 3.8 for by this knowledge we come to the fairest and clearest discoveries of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ the Lord shines into the hearts of such Students and communicates a glorious Light unto them We come by this knowledge as to see into the Treasuries of Grace in him so to possess and enjoy them and this knowledge carries Eternal Life with it John 17.3 The next Use is of Reproof 1. Too many of great parts Learning and Worth yet have ambitiously affected a great name in the Church and in the World to gain followers and make a party to be cry'd up as teaching Men Mat. 23.8 9 10. This was it which Christ saw was a very prevailing evil among the Scribes and Pharisees and utterly decried it saying be not called Rabbi Rabbi that is do not affect to be so called or through Pride and Ambition delight in these Titles Augustine was a Person of great Piety and Parts and he abhorred this Spiritual preheminency which he took notice of in many in his time who took up their Religion and Faith upon trust and upon the Credit of some Men of great name in the Church non ad 〈…〉 nomen ambulo said he Christi nomen tenea pertâ—em si essem de pâ—â—te pauli â—â—â—omodo non per irem si essem ex parte Donatâ— recedâ—â—t 〈…〉 I walk not according to the names 〈◊〉 Titles 〈…〉 of Christ I should perish if I took 〈…〉 more under the name of Donatus away 〈…〉 the same Augustine in Soliloquio speaking of Christ saith vocast◠〈◊〉 nâ—mine tuo signasti me sanguine tuo unxisti me oleo tuo de quo a ictus fuist at à te Christo dicerer Christianus Thou hast signed me with thy Blood thou hast called me by thy Name I have been anointed by thee and from Christ I am a Christian And Luther Tom. 2. Wittemb saith primum oro nomen meum taceatur nemo Lutheranus sed Christianus appelletur Quid est Lutherus atqui Doctrina non est mea nec pro quopiam sum Crucifixus Vnde mihi putido vermium Sacco hoc accideret ut filii Christi à meo vilissimo nomine denominentur Absit amici deleamus Schismatica nomina denominemur à Christo cujus Doctrinam habemus I desire first that my name may be concealed and that none should be called a Lutheran but a Christian What is Luther my Doctrine is not mine but Christs I was not crucified for any How comes it to pass that I who am but a filthy stinking bag of Worms that any of the Sons of Christ should be denominated from my Name Away with these Schismatical names let us be denominated from Christ from whom alone we have our Doctrine This very thing of affectation of a Name and Fame in the Church hath been very pernicious The greatest Heresies have been owned propagated and maintained upon this account as _____ L. 1. C. 20. tells us the Simonians from Simon Magus and Justin Martyr in his Dialogue saith some have been call'd Marcionites others Valentinians others Bazilidians * _____ some by one name some by another from their first Founders But Lactantius tells us l. 4. de vera sapientia when once men come under such denominations Christiani esse desierunt qui Christi nomine amisso humana externa vocabula induerunt they cease to be Christians when they come under humane names and titles in matters of Religion and therefore Paul would have none follow him further than he followed Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 He rejects the honours which some would have put upon him with an indignation some affected to be call'd by his and other great names in the Church 1 Cor. 1.12 13. Some said they were of Paul c. but when he comes to speak as to himself he speaks with an abhorrence that any should set up his name with Christs What was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized into the name of Paul God forbid that any should be guilty of so great a sin as to come under that denomination 2. Others are to be blamed even the generality of Professors that having taken the Name of Christ upon them and are called by his Name are a reproach to this high and holy Name who are so far from doing all things in the Name of Christ as they do nothing in his Name but do live against that Name they do not depart from iniquity as every Christian upon that account ought to do 2 Tim. 2.19 How many say they are Christians but are not Rev. 3.9 He calls it Blasphemy in them that said they were Jews that is Christians but were not they pretended indeed to be true Christians but held such Doctrines and lived in such lewd sinful practices as were opposite to Christ Such persons profane the sacred Name of Christ who live in such a way as cast a blot and imputation upon him Christians as such should be so far from the practice even of such sins as many have very light thoughts of that they must not so much as name them Eph. 5.3 4. Fornication Uncleanness and Covetousness must not so much as be named by them The Lord Christ and his Gospel suffer more by Christians that bear his Name than by others that despise him they open the mouths of the enemy to blaspheme the holy Name of Christ and the Religion of Christ Jam. 2.7 They blaspheme that worthy Name by which they are called He had spoken before of some Professors who had the Faith of the Lord Jesus with respect of persons v. 1 2 and 6. proud rich ones that did oppress others such men by their wicked practices did blaspheme the Name of Christ by such practices they did cast a blot and scandal upon the Religion which they did profess and by that means caused others to blaspheme the Name of Christ To the like purpose Paul speaks concerning the Jews who were high pretenders to the Law yet lived in the continual breach of it Rom. 2.24 Through them the Name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles
Cant. 3. This is to call the day Honourable Thirdly Then we call it Honourable when we have a precious esteem of every moment of Sabbath-time and jealous lest any drop of it should run waste even the filings of Gold and the dust of Diamonds are pretious No man can call the Sabbath Glorious that sets light by an hour or minute or moment of so Divine a creation Time is a ring of Gold but the Sabbath is the rich sparkling Diamond in it Davids heart smote him for cutting off but a lap of Sauls Royal coat So should ours for profaning or unprofitably wasting any part of Christ's day It is like his seamless coat and cannot be divided without sacriledge Fourthly The day is honourable when we have a singular esteem of all the Institutions and Ordinances of the day When Prayer is precious and the word Read Preached is precious when singing of Psalms is precious the Sacraments precious when every one in its time and order is observed with such due regard that none do justle out or exclude the other but one doth catch in the other as the links in a chain of Gold Fifthly When it is the grief of our souls that we can keep Sabbaths no better and strive cordially and conscientiously to keep the next better than we did the last Sixthly and lastly when we are careful that all ours as well as our selves keep Sabbaths this is a main clause in our obedience to the 4th commandment Thou thy Son and thy Daughter thy man-servant and thy maid-servant c. Every one in their several capacities must keep the Sabbath To be strict our selves in the duties of a Sabbath and careless what the rest of our Families do whether our children or servants steep or be idle dance or play at cards sing idle songs or take Gods name in vain c. This is not to call the Sabbath Honourable Deut. 5.14 Gen. 8.19 I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. And shalt honour him or glorifie him From Cabad honorare The verb in the Hebrew Vecibbactto may be rendred It or Him but the sence seems to incline to the latter Him rather than It the day having had its title of veneration put upon it before honourable this may more properperly belong to God even to the whole blessed and glorious Trinity requiring at the hands of every one that enjoyeth this blessed priviledge of a Sabbath that they ascribe the honour and glory of it unto God and that is done 1. When we make divine Authority the sole ground of our separating and sanctifying the whole day to his peculiar Service and Worship without alienating any part or parcel of that holy time to our own carnal uses and purposes Keep the Sabbath day to sanctifie it there 's the duty as the Lord thy God commanded thee there 's the Authority 2. When as we make Gods command our ground so we make Gods glory our end When we make it our design to set up God Father Son and Holy Ghost in all his glorious and infinite perfections in our Adorations and Admirations upon that his holy day And that is done in a special manner when we make it the great business of a Sabbath To ascribe to each glorious Person in the Trinity the glory of his proper work and operation whereby he challengeth a title to and interest in the Sabbath ex gra 1. When we ascribe to God the Father the glory of the stupendious work of Creation and that is done by a due contemplation of all his glorious Attributes shining forth in this beautiful structure of heaven and earth celebrated by the Royal Psalmist in Psal 19. v. 1. The heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the firmament sheweth his handy work the transcendent excellencies of the glorious Jehovah are conspicuous and illustrious in this admirable Theatre of the world that is to say 1. His Power 1. In creating all things out of nothing 2. And that by a word of his mouth 2. His Wisdom In making all things in such a beautiful and exact manner and order Galen l. de usu partium As the great Physitian said of the body of man no man can come after God and say this might have been better so in the Fabrick of Heaven and Earth neither man nor Angels can say here is a Defect and there is a redundancy it had been better there had been more Suns and fewer stars more land and less Sea c. No when the divine prophet had stood and in his most serious contemplation looked through the Creation he could spye out nothing that could have been otherwise but breaks out in admiration O Lord how manifold are thy works In wisdom hast thou made them all he could see nothing from one end of the Universe to the other but what speaks infinite perfection In wisdom hast thou made them all and as the Omnipotency and wisdom of God is magnified in the Creation so also 3. His bounty in bestowing all this visible creation upon man for his use and benefit as one saith God made man last that he might bring him as a father brings his son into an house ready furnished This is one branch of our honouring God when we ascribe to God the Father the glory of the work of Creation Secondly When we ascribe to God the Son the glory of his most glorious work of Redemption wherein these particulars are wonderful 1. His inessable incarnation 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh i. e. The invisible God made visible in a bâ—dy of flesh This was a Mystery indeed A Son in Heaven without a Mother Gal 4.4 And a Son on Earth without a Father Secondly Christ his stupendious being made under the Law Behold he that made the Law was made under the Law under the Ceremonial Law that he might abolish it under the Moral Law The preceptive power of it that he might fulfill it that so every believer might have a Righteousness which he may call his own Rom. 10.4 The maledictive power of it that he might take it away Gal. 3.13 3. Christ his work of Redemption was principally transacted by his death and passion for therein he laid down pretium Redemptionis Acts 20.28 the price of Redemption which was his own precious blood 1 Pet. 1.18 19 20. 4. This great work and mystery of our Redemption was perfectly consummated in Christ his glorious Resurrection Col. 2.15 wherein he spoiled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some render it in it and would refer it to his Cross but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood here in the masculine gender not in the neuter and so to be translanted in himself Christ rising from the dead like a conqueror lead
temptations to secure and advance his evidences and therefore is so much conversant in secret prayer The glory of the King's daughter shines within Psal 45.13 arrayed with clothes of gold but they are the spangled and glittering hangings of the closet of her heart when she entertains communion with her Lord. The more a Saint converses with his own heart the more he searches his spiritual wants and feels his spiritual joys 2. Because a sincere heart aims at the eye of God he knows that God being a spirit loves to converse with our spirits and to speak to the heart more than the outward ear Hos 2.14 He labours to walk before God as being always in his sight but especially when he presents himself at the footstool of mercy Because God is invisible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An invisible God is delighted with invisible prayers Chrysost when no eye sees but his he takes most pleasure in the secret glances of a holy heart Therefore a gracious soul prays in secret with the same diligence and care nay sometimes more when in a holy frame that he may reap the comfort of his sincerity before the eyes of God Job 31.33 But no more of this let 's descend to the question deducible from the words a question of no less importance than daily use and of peculiar concernment to the growth of every Christian Quest Quest How to manage secret prayer that it may be prevalent with God to the comfort and satisfaction of the soul For methods sake I shall divide it into two branches 1. How to manage secret prayer that it may prevail with God 2. How to discern and discover answers to secret prayer that the soul may acquiesce and be satisfied that it hath prevailed with God Before I handle these I would briefly prove the duty and its usefulness leaving some cases about its attendants and circumstances towards the close As to the duty it self the text is plain and distinct in the point yet further observe in Solomon's prayer that if any man besides the community of the people of Israel shall present his supplication to God 1 Kings 8 38 v. 39. 2 Chron. 6.29 30. 2 Chron. 7.1 he there prays for a gracious and particular answer and we know Solomon's prayer was answered by fire and therefore hence we may learn a promise given forth to personal prayer Besides the many special and particular injunctions unto individual persons in the case as Job 22.27 and 33.26 Psal 32.6 and 50.15 c. wives as well as husbands are to pray apart Zech. 12.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solitary alone by themselves and Jam. 5.13 We may argue this point from the constant practice of the holy Saints of God in all ages but especially of our blessed Lord and 't is our wisdom to walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous Prov. 2.20 what should I speak of Abraham Eliezar Isaac Jacob Moses Hannah Hezekiah David and Daniel The time would fail me to bring in the cloud of Witnesses our Lord we find sometimes in a Desert in a Mountain in a Garden at prayer Cornelius in his house and Peter upon the house top in secret supplications to God The experience of God's gracious presence and answers sent in upon secret prayer as in the stories of Eliezer Jabez Nehemiah Zechariah 2 Chron. 4.10 Nehem. 2.4 Psal 32.6 Cornelius and Paul c. For this cause because David was heard shall every one that is godly pray unto him I might urge the usefulness nay in some cases the necessities of secret applications to God 1. Are we not guilty of secret sins in the light of God's countenance that cannot ought not to be confessed with or before others insomuch that near relations are exhorted to secret and solitary duties Zechariah 12.12 1 Cor. 7.4 2. Are there not personal wants that we would prefer to God alone 3. Are there not some special mercies and deliverances that concern our own persons more peculiarly which should engage to commune with our own hearts and offer the sacrifices of righteousness to God Psal 4.45 4. May there not be found some requests to be poured out more particularly in secret as to other persons and as to affairs of the Church of God which may not commodiously be insisted upon in common 5. Do not sometimes emergent and urgent passions spring out of the soul in secret that are not comely in society 6. To argue from the text may not the souls secret addresses about inward sorrows and joys Prov. 14.10 2 Sam. 18 3◠be a sweet testimony of the sincerity and integrity of the heart when the heart knoweth its own bitterness and a stranger intermeddles not with his joy perhaps a man has an Ishmael an Absalom a Rehoboam to weep for Job 16.19 20. and therefore gets into an inward chamber where behold his witness is in heaven and his record on high and when others may scorn or pity his eye poureth out tears unto God To end this when a holy soul is close in secret what complacency does it take when it has bolted out the world and retired to a place that none knows of to be free from the disturbances and distractions that often violate family communion when 't is in the secret of the face of God in the hidden place of the most high Psal 31.20.91.1 Job 29.4 and in the shadow of the Almighty oh how safe how comfortable These and the like I pass by neither can I insist upon secret prayer under the variety of mental and vocal nor enlarge upon it as sudden occasional or ejaculatory referring somewhat of this toward the end Let 's address then to the first question in answer whereto I must preface that some things which aptly belong to secret prayer yet being in some measure coincident with all prayer publick private and secret it 's congruous to treat of such as are of great use as to the management of our present duty and therefore must refer to a double head 1. Quest How to manage secret prayer as 't is coincident with prayer in general so that it may prevail 1. Use some preparation before it rush not suddenly into the awful presence of God Sanctuary preparation is necessary to sanctuary communion Such suitable preparatory frames of the heart come down from God Thou wilt prepare the heart and cause thine ear to hear 'T was a good saying of one intime devotè nunquam mens orat quae se c. praemeditationibus priùs non excitat He never prays ardently Psal 10.17 Richard de S. Vict. de erud hom in t l. 1. c. 7. Dan. 9.3 2 Chron. 20.3 Isa 26.9 that does not premeditate savourly Daniel when he made that famous prayer it 's said he set his face to seek the Lord. Jehoshaphat also set himself to seek the Lord. The Church in her soul desires the Lord in the
Question proposed to me to answer at this time is this What are the Duties of Masters and Servants and how both must eye their Master which is in heaven Before I come to the direct answer to this Question I shall make way to it by laying down a preliminary consideration or two First That God did in infinite wisdom make all things though of a far different nature Some beings he made more excellent and indowed them with noble faculties fitted for communion with himself and some of these he hath placed in a higher and some in a lower orb and yet all making the glory of infinite wisdom shine more clearly He sets one creature higher and another lower one to rule and the other to be ruled And of the same kind he advanceth one above another and yet with no injustice or wrong to any but for the mutual help one of another the beauty and harmony of the whole Vniverse and the more visible displaying of his own unsearchable wisdom Psal 104.24 Gen. 1.31 If all the Stars were Suns how intolerable would their heat and light be if the whole body were eyes how much of its use and excellency would it lose What a Chaos and heap of confusion would the Woald be without government and how can government be without superiority and inferiority It was not without good reason that the Philosopher said Hierocles in Py. Car. That there was a method of perfect wisdom in the making of all things and it was not by chance that they are what they are but the contrivance of the most excellent counsel Who could have mended what God hath made What could be better ordered than what infinite Goodness hath done Ar. Epist l. 2 c. 7. Anton. ex Palat. l. 7. Ec. 3.11 and who but a fool would desire that things should be otherwise than Wisdom it self hath determined Oh! what cause hath every one to adore God in every thing who hath made every thing beautiful in its place and season What cause have all to sit down content and thankful in that place where God hath fixed them how unreasonable and blasphemous are the repinings of some that are ready to quarrel with their Maker and to impeach him as guilty of partiality cruelty and injustice that hath not advanced them to a higher richer and more honourable condition then they are in Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it why hast thou made me thus What diabolical pride and arrogance is this for the Creature to accuse and condemn his Creator Shall folly it self indict wisdom must God come to his Creatures Barr must he give thee an account of his actings art thou able to bear his pleadings and canst thou without sinking into nothing stand before his glory what obligation didst thou lay upon God to bring thee out of nothing into something did he stand in any need of thy being what was there in thee that should commend thee to God to advance thee above a toad or a dog I could here expatiate were it not a little besides my design To conclude I think it would be far better for us all to learn of that excellent Moralist who said Epictetus That though he was lame and almost blind and none of the richest yet because he was partaker of Reason he had cause to magnifie the distinguishing goodness of his Maker and could wish that all men would more adore and admire God and as for his part it should be his work while he had a being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar. Epist. l. 1. c. 16. and he did call all to joyn in consort to his praise who hath made all things in so excellent an order and harmony Did we all consider what God is and what we are methinks it should effectually silence discontent and leave no room for any thing but love praise and gratitude O! would to God there were a little of that order harmony and wisdom in our actions that is in God's and that we could act like them that study to imitate their Maker O! that with Paul we could learn still to be content in whatsoever condition we are in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id l. 2. c. 14. and if we have spoken or thought any thing derogatory to the infinite Wisdom to repent and abhor our selves in dust and ashes and turn our murmurings against God that it is no better with us into admiration that we are not worse every state on this side eternal misery is advancement above what we deserve and a mercy we can never be thankful enough for Secondly As God did in infinite wisdom make every thing and placed every thing in that sphear that was most fit for it so it is the highest excellency of the creature to shine in his orb and be regular in his motion I mean It is every one's duty and excellency to fill up that place and relation that God hath set him in with duty The whole World is a great Army and God is the General of this Army and he appoints every one their station and rank and in keeping of it exactly is security honour and reward God makes one a King another a Subject one a Master another a Servant one rich another poor and he is really most excellent that is so in the faithful discharge of the state and relation he is in A good Servant is far better than a bad Master a good Subject than a wicked Prince he that is not relatively good is not really good He that breaks his rank to get a higher and safe place may be likelier to meet with destruction than promotion Adam's loss of Paradise and the Angel's loss of Heaven are sufficient demonstrations of this truth The World is a Stage saith the Stoick and in it every one hath his part to act and it 's our commendation and wisdom to act our part well whether it be a Prince or a Beggar a Father or a Child a Master or a Servant Psal 101.2 This was holy David's care and resolution He would behave himself wisely in a perfect way and how shall that be done better than by walking before God in his house with a perfect heart What was Abraham commended for more than his faithfulness and was this the least act of his faithfulness to instruct bis Family and teach them the fear of God Joshua was a man of great gallantry and resolution but I am ready to think he never acted both more bravely Josh 24.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epict. than when he said As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Socrates laughed at them for fools that endeavoured to perswade him to leave instructing the youth God saith he hath set me in this station and how can I leave it O how few Christians exceed this Heathen nay who almost comes near him if he lived as well as he spake It 's too true a proof that there is but little
but it prepares us for and in a sense enters us into the Work of the other World for that I conceive lyes much in the holy use of the Tongue we hear of no other imployment of the Saints in glory but that they night and day are praising God he is always in their eyes he is ever in their mouth The work of Heaven will not be uncouth to them that have been much Exercised in holy Heavenly Discourse on Earth but for others that can scarce frame their mouths to a good word on Earth for my part I know not what they will do in Heaven though I think there is no great danger of their coming thither 3. No Discourse is so pleasant next to the Songs of Angels the pious conference of holy men is the sweetest melody our ears can be entertained with other things comparatively found harsh to the things of God neither at the instant affect the Ear with that pleasure nor afterwards leave it in that composure To reflect a little by way of comparison And first let us listen a little to what the World says a buzze there is in both ears but what do we hear Such a man hath play'd the Knave and such a man hath play'd the Fool such a Family is at great Discord or in great distress such a Nation is involved in War or such a Person hath shed the blood of War in Peace for ordinary we hear nothing but what it is a vexation to hear nothing but what may make our Ears to tingle or if ought seems at present to tickle them as profane Jests and idle stories may for a while do this tickling ends in torment the Ear is put out of Order and the Heart as being defiled is not a little discomposed He could see so little pleasure in the Speeches that he abhorred the Songs of Sinners as having no harmony in them their Mirth was rather his Sorrow Eccl. 7.5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the Wise than for a man to hear the Song of Fools But 2. In listning to holy Discourse we hear of the Love of God the glory of Heaven the Graces that do shine in some the Duties that are performed by others we hear of an end that shall be put to all earthly troubles whereby the sharpest sufferings are allayed and by what we may hear further death it self comes to be despised Are the stories we hear on one Ear and the other to be compared we may hearken long enough e're the Ear will be satisfied with hearing except we chance to hear something from Heaven all the good News is in the Word of God and to be heard from good men that bring us stories there-from 4. By neglecting holy Discourse you may lose opportunities of good both to your selves and others that you will wish you had taken 1. It may be as to your selves you were in Company with Persons eminent for grace and knowledg here was an opportunity of doing your own Soul good but by the stream of your impertinent tattle all savoury Discourse was diverted that Season was neglected afterwards you see your lack of knowledg the Instrument is removed Ah Fools do we not then cry out of our selves the opportunity is gone and we are undone How must it gall an awakned Jew to think what Discourse he had with Jesus Christ Is it lawful to give Tribute to Caesar Here is a Woman caught in Adultery Why do not thy Disciples Fast c. Ah! had I nothing else to enquire of my Saviour Would it not have been more pertinent to have asked what I shall do to be saved But he is gone and I must die in my sins How many Persons have we sent away that have had a word of wisdom in their hearts having learnt only what a Clock it was what weather what News forgetting to ask our own hearts what all this was to us and enquire of them things worthy of their wisdom and our learning Secondly as to others you may rue the opportunities you have lost here lay a poor wretch with one foot in Hell would he not have started back if he had had light to Discover his Danger Well you are together something you must say the same breath would serve for a compassionate admonition as a complacent impertinency which will redound to neither of your advantages you part the man dies in his sins and in the midst of Hell cryes out against you one word of yours might have saved me you had me you might have told me of my danger you forbore I hardned the Lord reward your negligence Oh give not poor Souls occasion to rail at you in Hell for your sinful silence or impertinent converse with them here on Earth You will pretend it may be want of matter in excuse for your forbearing holy Discourse Object No Friend it was want of mind Answ thou art not straitned in thy Subject but in thy self Religious matter has no End Eternity is not sufficient for it but thou art resolved also it shall have no beginning Well you know your duty and do as likes you 3. In order to the right management of our Tongue especial regard must be had to its scope what is aimed at in every motion of it either immediately or ultimately for without some scope it is vain talk and according to the goodness or badness of our scope it is ordinarily good or bad talk I say ordinarily for some talk is so bad that it is scarce capable of a good scope much less of being made good by it yet less evil it does become to instance in blasphemy and lying great moral evils both in their own Nature and no design can destroy the Nature of them in that the Word of God allows not but forbids the doing of evil that good may come of it yet speeches materially so have been passed over the evil as of simplicity pardoned and the good aimed at in them as of sincerity rather rewarded As Paul Rahab and the Egyptian Midwives might be instances but let us take heed of making them Examples But ordinarily as I said before the Scope does much unto the Specification of the Speech so much 1. That fair Speeches become foul if dirty designs be couched under them or carried on by them he cryes out therefore for help against the Flatterer as if he was a Murtherer Psal 12.1 2 3. Help Lord for the faithful fail they speak vanity every one with his Neighbour with flattering lips c. the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips Psal 55.21 His words are softer than Oyl yet are they drawn Swords The like may be said of the fawning Woman that entices to vice Prov. 5.3 4. The Lips of a strange Woman drop as an Honey-comb but her end is bitter as Wormwood sharp as a two-edged Sword 2. Good Speeches become evil to the users of them if evil be meant by them as if we couch under them to cover sinful purposes
known to be really the Saviour of the World and by making his followers better than others that he and his Doctrine and Religion are known to be the best Travellers tell me that nothing so much hindreth the conversion of the Mahometans as their daily Experience that the Lives of the Greek Christians and others that Live among them are too ordinarily worse than theirs More drunkenness and more falshood lying deceit it 's said are among those Christians than among the Turks If that be true those are no true Christians but woe be to them by whom such offence cometh I have oft heard those Souldiers justly censured as profane who turn Churches into Stables without great necessity But how much more hurtfully profane are they who for carnal ends confound the World and the Church and keep the multitude of the most sensual ungodly Persons in their Communion without ever calling them Personally to Repentance and use the Church Keys but to revenge themselves on those that differ from them in some Opinions or that cross their Interest and wills or that seem too smart and zealous in the dislike of their Carnality Sloth and Church-pollutions When the Churches are as full of scandalous sinners as the Assemblies of Infidels and Heathens the World will hardly ever believe that Infidelity and Heathenism is not as good as the Christian Faith It is more by Persons than by Precepts that the World will judge of Christ and Christianity And what Men on Earth do more scandalize the World more expose Christianity to reproach more harden Infidels more injure Christ and serve the Devil than they that fill the Church with impious Carnal Pastors as in the Church of Rome and then with impious Carnal People maintained constantly in her Communion without any open disowning by a distinguishing reforming Discipline When such Pastors are no better than the soberer sort of Heathens save only in their Opinion and formal words and when their ordinary Communicants are no better it 's no thanks to them if all turn not Infidels that know them and if Christianity be contemned and decay out of the World And it 's long of such that disorderly separations attempt that Discipline and distinguishing of the godly and the notoriously wicked which such ungodly Pastors will not attempt See Lev. 19.17 Mat. 18.15 16. 1 Cor. 5. Tit. 3.10 Jer. 15.19 Psal 15. 2 Thes 3. Rom. 16.17 2 Tim. 3.4 5. III. But O how great an honour is it to God and to Religion when Kings Princes and States do zealously devote their Power to God from whom they do receive it and labour to make their Kingdoms Holy When Truth Sobriety and Piety have the countenance of humane powers and Rulers wholly set themselves to further the faithful Preaching and practising of the Holy Faith and to Unite and strengthen the Ministers and Churches and to suppress Iniquity and be a terror to evil doers it taketh Satan's great advantage out of his hand and worketh on carnal Men by such means as they can feel and understand Not that God needs the help of Man but that he hath setled Officers and a Natural Order by which he usually worketh in the World And as it cannot be expected that an unholy Parent and Master should have a Holy Family or an unholy Pastor a Holy Church unless by extraordinary Mercy no more can we expect that ungodly Magistrates should have a godly Kingdom or Common-wealth of which the Sacred History of the Jewish and Israelitish Kings doth give you a full confirmation But this I must now say no more of And thus I have told you in Twenty particulars what are those good Works in which the Light of Christians must shine before Men to the Glorifying of God Object Doth not Mat. 5.10 11 12. Contradict all this Blessed are ye when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Answ No You must here distinguish 1. Of Men. 2. Of Righteousness and Good Works I. The Men that we have to do with are 1. Ordinary Natural Men Corrupted by Original sin but yet not hardened to Serpentine Malignity as some are 2. Or they are Men that by sinning against Nature and common Light are forsaken and given up to malignant minds II. The Good Works which Natural Light and humane Interest can discern and commend do differ from those which are merely Evangelical of Supernatural Revelation 1. Malignant Persons hardened in Enmity will scorn and persecute Holiness it self and even that Good which Reason Justifies and therefore are called unreasonable wicked Men 2 Thes 3.2 Good works with these Men make us odious unless they are such as gratifie their Lusts 2. But there are Natural Men not yet so hardened and forsaken who are usually them that the Gospel doth Convert And these have not yet so blinded Nature nor lost all sense of good and evil but that they honour him that doth good in all the Twenty particulars which I have named and think ill of those that do the contrary though yet they relish not the Christian Righteousness and things of Supernatural Revelation for want of Faith Let us briefly now apply it This informs us what an honourable state Christianity and true Godliness Vse 1 is when God hath made us to be the Lights of the world to shine before Men to the Glory of his Holiness as the Sun and Stars do to the Glory of his Power No wonder if in Glory we shall shine as Stars in the Firmament of our Father if we do so here Dan. 12.3 Mat. 13.43 Phil. 2.15 This must not make us proud but thankful for our Pride is our shame and our Humility is our Glory And what wonder if all the Powers of darkness do bend their endeavours Vse 2 to obscure this Sacred Light The Prince of darkness is the Enemy of the Father of Lights And this is the great war between Christ and Satan in the world Christ is the Light of the World and setteth up Ministerial Lights for the world and for his House his work is to send them forth to teach them and defend them and to send his Spirit to work in and by them to bring Men to the everlasting Light And Satan's work is to stir up all that he can against them high and low learned and unlearned and to put Christ's Lights both Ministers and People under a bushel and to make the world believe that they are their Enemies and come to hurt them that they may be hated as the Scorn and off-scouring of the world and to keep up Ignorance in Ministers themselves that the Churches Eyes being dark the darkness may be great But let us pray that God would forgive our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and turn their hearts and that he would open our Lips that our mouths may shew forth his praise and though his Ministers and People have their faulty weaknesses that he would be merciful to our Infirmities
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ for we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God and when Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we appear in Glory with him Mortifie therefore your earthly Members Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affections evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry You must not only deny all visible gross ungodliness which even the very Sons of Morality will decline and decay but also all worldly lusts and their secret operations living soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Take heed of slumbring in these secret lusts for ye are children of the light and of the day and therefore take heed that you sleep not as others do but watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that are drunk are drunk in the night but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the Breast plate of Faith and Love and for an Helmet the hope of salvation watching and praying always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape those things which shall befall the foolish Virgins and that ye may stand before the Son of man who is coming with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and therefore be sober and watch unto Prayer seeing the end of all things is at hand and look well to your Lamps which are your Watch-lights that they burn brightly in this World's Midnight and pray particularly for daily supplies of Oil and sincerity in all your Actions and Duties both to God and man never omitting to beg for Death-bed-Grace that so you may live and die to the honour of your Bridegroom And as for this present World use it as if you used it not and have no more to do with it than bare need requireth And set your Hearts and Houses and all your civil secular Affairs in order having your conversations in Heaven whence you look for Christ the Saviour And thus walking with God in the exercise of these gifts of Grace when we come to dye we shall change our places only but not our company And let none of you behold Death at a distance nor have it seldom in your thoughts but daily in your eye that you may not fear it when it cometh A Lion is not terrible to his Keeper that seeth him every day You must frequently converse with God Christ Death and Judgment For when Christ speaketh of his coming to Judgment he so expresseth it as if he were to come in their time to whom he spake it Matth. 24 42. Mark 13.33.35 36 37. Luke 21.34 35 36. And so indeed he did for he comes to every man at the hour of his Dissolution And we are his Agents or Factors in a foreign Land and how soon he may remind us home and call us to an Account we know not Say not therefore My Lord delayeth his coming lest we are thereby rocked into a midnight sleep and scared with a midnight-cry of Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him I shall not detain you much longer You have heard what those Graces are which are chiefly to be exercised in order to an actual preparation for the coming of Christ by Death and Judgment I now commend them to your daily exercise and for your encouragement therein shall leave a few Considerations with you and conclude First That the Door of eternal Rest and Glory shall stand open for you at Christ's coming to you by Death Why 1. Because you are ready and they that are ready go in with the Bridegroom God hath made you meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the Saints in light Col. 1.12 and hath wrought you for the self same thing 2 Cor. 5.5 You are a Vessel of Mercy prepared for Glory Rom. 9.23 2. You admitted Christ into the door of your hearts when there he stood and knocked Rev. 3.20 3. You had your conversation in Heaven whilst you lived here on earth It was your Father's house where you used daily to converse the doors whereof shall open to you at your Death Secondly Consider the place into which you shall be admitted for the wise Virgins shall enter into the King's Palace Psal 45.14 15. into Paradise the third Heavens your Father's House a City that hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God Heb. 11.10 A magnificent Structure surely that hath such a Builder and Maker 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that hath built the City most artificially and curiously and for publick shew as the original words do import Such a City it is yea a Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Mat. 25 34. The first hansel of God's workmanship Gen. 1.1 This is the place whither you shall enter Thirdly You shall enter thither with the Bridegroom even our Lord Jesus Christ and this is heaven enough viz. to be where Christ is Luke 23.42 43. John 14.3 17.24 Phil. 1.23 1 Thess 4.17 Heaven is described by being with Christ And when Christ shall descend from heaven with a shout to judge the world if all the Saints suppose should not descend with him but any of them be left behind what an alteration would they find in heaven whereas all of them going with Christ it is all one as if they were still in heaven with him You know Paul was caught up into the third heavens and yet when he comes to describe heaven and the Saints everlasting happiness there he calls it being for ever with Christ for this is a comprehensive expression How so 1. If the Saints shall be with Christ then shall they be exempt from all troubles and trials these fall off from them like Elijah's Mantle when he went to heaven There is now a glorious door of partition between these and them they are all excluded viz. Sin Sorrow Afflictions Reproaches Necessities Persecutions Poverty Sickness Pain Death Curse wicked men and Devils you shall never be troubled with these any more 2. If they enter in with Christ they shall enjoy the Father in him John 20.17 and be filled with the Holy Ghost from them both and thereby with unspeakable consolations and the fulness of God and they shall live for ever in the immediate contemplation and vision and fruition of one God in three persons and be replenished to the brim with eternal love from them and to them 3. You shall enjoy the fellowship of an innumerable company of Angels and shall then know who they are and love them entirely and be as intimately beloved of them though now in your present state you cannot bear the presence of one of them 4. You shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and enjoy communion with the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 All this followeth from your entrance into Heaven with Christ Fourthly Consider that you shall enter into Heaven with Christ the Bridegroom and therefore to be married to him And hence again it will follow 1. That there will be the nearest relation possible between Christ and you for you shall be one conjugally for ever with him You are one with him mystically and matrimonially who is one with the Father essentially 2. You shall be invested with unutterable Glory seeing it is a Marriage-time wherein the Bridegroom and Bride shall shine in the richest Attire and Embroidery that is in all the Wardrobe of Heaven Christ and the Saints shall wear the very same Glory John 17.22 3. There shall be unconceivable Love Joy Delight and Complacency between the Bridegrom and the Bride and as the Bridegroom rejoyceth over the Bride so shall the Lord Jesus rejoyce over his Spouse O there will be a most glorious delightful loving sweet familiarity and conjugal rejoycing between Christ Jesus and the Saints Marriage-joy upon earth is usually great what then will that be in heaven when shall be fulfilled thâ—â— which Christ spake at his last Supper I will not drink of the fruit of the Vine until the day that I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom Mat. 26.29 Where by fruit of the Vine we understand Wine which maketh glad the heart of man Psal 104 15. and causeth it to rejoyce and shadoweth out the Love of Christ and Joys of Heaven to us Cant. 1.2 4. And by New we understand other Mark 16.17 with Acts 2.4 in the Original So that in this Marriage there shall be new i. e. other yea othergess wine viz. Love Joy and Rejoycing than there is in the Lord's Supper For Christ who kept the best wine to the last at the Marriage in Cana in Galilee will surely do so at his own Marriage at the last day 4. This Marriage is not on Earth but in Heaven and therefore it shall never dissolve as Marriages on Earth do but continue unto Eternity O how will the Holy Angels rejoice and sing at this Marriage For they that sang at the Birth of Christ when he lay in the Manger will sing to the purpose at his Marriage when he sitteth upon his Throne in the highest Glory Now the consideration of these things is greatly inducing to be very studious in actual preparations for the coming of Christ Be ye therefore much in the exercise of Faith Hope Love Repentance Goodness Mercy and works of Bounty Diligence and Faithfulness in your Callings Sobriety Watchfulness and Prayer that so at last you may have an entrance ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And now Brethren Abide in him that when he shall appear you may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming but lift up your heads with joy unspeakable and full of Glory Hear wisdom therefore and receive instruction that you may be wise in the latter end And God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ make you to encrease in all these Preparatory Graces to the end that he may establish your hearts unblameable in Holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints And now Grace be with all them that love him in sincerity Amen FINIS
such a prayer as this O that the Lord would lengthen this triumphant day and the (c) Jos 10.12 Lord heard his voice The tribes beyond Jordan in a (d) 2 Chr. 5 23. battel with the Hagarites Jehoshaphat in a sore strait (e) 18.31 at Ramoth Gilead Sampson ready to perish at Lehi (f) Judg. 15.18 16 28. with thirst and when blind exposed to contempt in the Temple of Dagon David near (g) 1 Sam. 30.6 stoning at Ziglag and when flying from Absalom in the ascent of (h) 2 Sam. 15.31 Mount Olivet Elisha at Dothan compast with a Syrian host (i) 2 King 6.17 Lord open the young man's eyes In the midst of lawful and laborious callings Boaz to the reapers (k) Ruth 2.4 the Lord be with you we may pray that our Oxen (l) Psal 129.8 may be strong to labour no breaking in or going out nor no complaining in our streets It sanctifies the plow as Jerom said of the fields of Bethlehem quocunque te verteris Psal 144.14 ad Marcellum p. 129 T. 1. arator stivam teneus Alleluja decantat c. The tillers of the field and the dressers of vineyards sang David's psalms it keeps the shop and inclines the hearts of customers it bars the doors it quenches fire it blesseth thy children (m) Psal 147.13 within thee it preserves thy going out and coming in (n) 128.1 Jacob found it to rest upon his children going a journey (a) Gen. 43.14 to Egypt it closes the eyes with (b) Psal 3.5.4 8. sweet sleep it (c) Job 3â— 10 Psal 139.18 given Songs in the night and wakens the soul in the arms of mercy It sits at the helm when a (d) Psal 107.28 Jon. 1.6 storm rises at sea it gives strength to Anchors in roads and prosperous gales to the venturous Merchant When in the palace at dinner Nehemiah presents the cup to his prince he presents also a Michtam a golden (e) Neh 3.4 2 Chro. 34 27 Luke 17.5 Gen. 49.18 2 Chron. 2 4. Act. 7 60. prayer to the King of Heaven at the reading of the law Josiah was heard as to some secret cries to Heaven At a holy conference in a journey the Disciples occasionally pray Lord increase our faith Jacob on his dying pillow predicting future events to his children falls into a holy rapture I have wait ed for thy salvation O Lord. At sacred death in martyrdom Zechariah cries out the Lord look upon it and require it and Stephen under a showr of stones melts in prayers for the stony hearts that slung them Lord lay not this sin unto their chage and our blessed Saviour in his greatest agonies makes a tender hearted prayer Father forgive them they know not what they do Luke 23 34. 1 Sam. 1.17 and lastly in the distresses of others Eli puts a sudden petition for Hannah the God of Israel grant thee thy petition In these and many like cases the holy word stores us with patterns for ejaculation in all extremities which I cannot now digest and improve only in a few words lets take a view of the usefulness of such a sudden flight of the soul to Heaven 1. It helps us to a speedy preparative for all duties Lam. 3 4â— with such an ejaculation le ts lift our hearts with our hands to God in the Heavens 2. It is a guard against secret sins in the first risings and the first assaults of temptation 3. It suffers not divine mercies to slip by unobserved in a wakeful Christian and proves a fruitful mother of gratitude and praise 4. It sanctifies all our worldly imployments 1 Tim 4. â— 5. it fastens the stakes in the hedge of divine protection and turns every thing to a blessing 5. It s a Saints buckler against sudden accidents a present antidote against frights and evil tidings It s good at all occasions and consecrates to us not only our meals but every gasp of air c. 6. It s a sweet companion that the severest enemies can't abridge us of Outward ordinances and closet duties they may cut off the little (a) Ezr. 9 8. nail in the holy place they may pluck out But no labyrinth no prison not the worst of company can hinder this coelo restat iter in the very face of adversaries we may lift our souls to God No more of this le ts briefly conclude with some uses Vse Vse Cant. 4 12. To convince such of their dangerous state that neglect sacred duties that have no heart-communion that draw no water out of this sealed fountain But all they do is in publick only it 's a suspicious token of hypocrisie since the kernel and soul of religion lies so much in the heart and closet mark the phrase in the text how it varies thy Father that is in secret be sees in secret God's eye is open upon thee in the closet and if thy eye be open upon his thou mayst see a glorious beauty The excellency of grace lies in making conscience of secret sins and secret duties 2. To examine such as perform secret duty but not from a sincere principle like Amaziah 2 Chron. 25.2 that prays but not with a perfect heart like Ahab they mourn but with Crocodile tears such as do it only because they find precept or example for it and therefore to quiet conscience will into secret but converse only in the shell and trunk of a duty that rest in the naked performance but matter not whether they tast of the sweet streams that flow in from heaven in the golden pipe of an ordinance what account can such render that go into their closets but like Domitian to catch flies only Sueton. in Domit. c. 3. and when the doors are shut to the world their hearts are shut to heaven and communion with God He that sees in secret beholds the evil frame of such a heart and will one day openly punish it 3. To excite and awaken all to this excellent duty and to manage it in an excellent manner Would ye live delightfully would ye translate heaven to earth then keep up communion in secret prayer to know him to discern his face to behold the lustre of his eye that shines in secret Remember the glorious person that meets in your closets all the world yields not such a glittering beauty as a gracious person sees when he is in a happy frame at secret prayer Shut your eyes when ye come out for all other objects are but vile and fordid and not worth the glances of a noble soul O the sweetness the hidden manna that the soul tasts when in lively communion with God! Psal 31.19 Part of that which is laid up for Saints in glory let us a little relish our spirits with it 1. Consider what amorous agonies the soul delights to conflict with in serret fears that raise confidence humility that exalts tremblings that embolden bright clouds
that shine upon our Israelites in the night and darkness that inlightens solitudes full of heavenly company and tears brim-ful of joy and holy sighs like a cooling wind in harvest sweats of love and sick fits that are symptoms of health and holy faintings that are the soul's cordials a weariness to the flesh that is the healthful exercise of and vigor to the spirit and a continual motion that never tires it Geâ—s T. 2. K. K. 4. As Austin said of divine love illò feror quocunque feror pondus meum amor meus it 's the weight of my soul it carries me up and down in all that I speak and all that I act Quae major voluptas quam fastidium ipsius voluptatis Tertul. Eccl. 2.2 c. 7.6 4. Cant. 5.10.2.3 Rev. 2.7 1 Sam. 14.26 2. Its extasies and heavenly raptures which allure and draw the heart from earthly vanities when the soul shuts its eyes to worldly delights and says of laughter with Solomon it is mad and of mirth what dost thou can't warm its thoughts at the crackling of thorns under a pot nor be joyful in the house of fools 'T is the soul's pleasure to loath pleasure it self none so beautiful to him as Christ the chiefest of ten thousand no sweetness like that of the tree in the midst of the Wood the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God he sits under it with great delight while it drops sweeter than hony into his closet 3. It s admirable prophesies Prayer stands upon mount Zion with a divining presaging spirit It foretells great things to the Churches joy and its enemies terror (f) 1 King 19.6 Elijah at prayer in Horeb receives answer of the ruine of the house of Ahab and bid to go and anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi King over Israel The two witnesses under the (g) Rev. 11. Romish defection have power to smite the earth with plagues as oft as they will consonant to what Tertullian said of old (h) de orat votum Christianorum confusio nationum the prayers of Christians confounded the nations and so it will shortly prove the doom of Babylon comes out of the Temple When the sanctuary is full of the smoak of the incense of prayer Rev. 15.7.8.16 1. the seven Angels come out with the seven last vials full of the wrath of God to pour them out upon the Anti-Christian world Prayer calculates and hastens the ruine of Rome When the spirit of prayer (a) Joel 2.21 32.3.1 2. is once poured out it brings deliverance to mount Zion and gathers the nations into the vally of Jehoshaphat unto judgment Let 's never be discouraged if prayer fall to work and awaken Christ in the ship (b) Luk. 8.24 of the Church her storms will cease in a halcyon calm 4. Its comforting evidences Secret prayer duly managed is a notable evidence of adoption pray to thy Father who is and sees in secret who knows the secrets of thy heart thy groanings are not hid from him Psal 44.21.38 9. None but a child of promise has this sweet freedom with God as a Father 5. Its rewards and revenues Nothing revives and chears the spirit so much as answers of love and mercy from Heaven As it feasts the conscience with the royal dainties of sincerity so it sets a lustre upon every mercy as being the child of prayer our closets influence upon our shops our ships our fields and all we enjoy that they smell of divine blessing as David said of precepts Psal 119.56 the soul may say this I have because I urged the promises Vse 4. To pity the miserable blind world that know not where true comfort Vse 4 joy and strength is to be found that see no beauty in the ways of God Gen. 27.27 and feel no sweetness in communion with him that find no pleasure in closets but play-houses which Tertullian call'd the Devil's Churches that cry out with Esau they have enough Alas what enough can be in the Creature Gen. 33.9 Tertul. de spect c. 25.26 unless of dunghils rattles and vanities Oh how ignorant of Heavenly treasures of that fountain of mercies whereof prayer drinks and resreshes the spirit of a Saint That know not that blessed enough whereof Jacob speaks Gen. 33.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mibi omnia that Ocean of all things to be found in God Now Europe's in flames and the ark in danger he cares not though the one be burnt and the other in ashes so he be safe But if his concerns catch fire he knows not to repair but (f) 1 Sam. 28.7 2 King 1.2 to Endor or Ekron Such have no acquaintance with no help from God no interest in the keeper of souls The world 's a deplorable hospital the great Lazar-house of sick lame and impotent persons as Gerson terms it Gers To. 2.76 6. that have no face nor heart to go to the physician of souls But ah most lamentable is the state of some prostitute wretches of our age that are I fear almost incurably gone with spiritual ulcers in their lungs and eating putrid cancers in their tongues that breath nothing but venom and openly spit out their rotten Atheistical jeers against the spirit of prayer and make a mock at communion with God That scoff at what God hath promised as one of the choicest tokens of his love to the Church Zech. 12.10 Joel 2.28 32. Rom. 10.13 Joh. 7.39 and symptoms of the glory of the latter times when God will turn such Ishmaels into the desert Amos 8.10 Job 30.31 and their drunken Songs shall expire in dreadful howlings Prophaner than many heathens that in the Primitive times had some reverence for Christian worship though they persecuted But those of this adulterous Romish age 2 Pet. 2.12 like brute beasts speak evil of what they are ignorant and are in danger to perish utterly in their own corruption pity such if there be yet hope and commend their condition to God's mercy and penitent sorrow that they may weep here where tears prick not in hell where they scauld and burn and swell that river of brimstone Gerson T. 2. 49. KK 3. In the mean time O ye that fear the Lord be diligent to observe and interpret messages after secret prayer for the life and joy of a Christian is improved by it God has declared himself graciously pleased with secret prayer Dan. 9.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vâ—lans in lassitudine so as to send an Angel that glorious creature to fly into Daniel's chamber and he weary with flying he moved so swiftly volans in lassitudine as the original text expresses it What a high expression is this that even Angels are represented weary with hasty flights to bring Saints their answers and of what great account does the Lord esteem his praying people that Angels are exprest to be tired in bringing tidings of mercy 6. Meditate on