the Victory over Original Corruption and evil Habits they apply themselves to God in the Name of Christ not only owning all Christian Doctrine and obeying all Christian Precepts which are remote conditions and helps of Mortification but in special considering that Christ by his merit procured power against Sin as well as Pardon which both are given upon no other account but only for the sake of Christ therefore they beg of God that according to his promise he would subdue Iniquities Mic. 7.19 He would graciously please to bestow upon them for Christ's sake that strength by his Spirit in their inner Man which may enable them to conquer and keep under their Concupiscence the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof and upon the help of his Spirit so beg'd they rely and depend and trust to it in every assault and motion of Sin lifting up their Hearts to God in Christ for renewed Power to resist and suppress it and keep themselves pure distrusting themselves that they may put their whole trust in the living God upon whom thus fixing their affiance they wait in patience and watchfulness and the use of his Ordinances for Christ to be made their Sanctification and Redemption from the Dominion and Tyranny or Rebellion of Sin which by degrees is granted them and this Exercise of Faith in Prayer and Prayer means is the immediate and next condition of the grant of power against Sin which is followed with the use both of Rational and Scriptural Considerations care to prevent all occasions or irritations of Concupiscence and other evil Dispositions an early endeavour to suppress the first Motions and Lustings c. but the power of these is not trusted to as sufficient but Gods alone in the use of these helps to overcome and crucifie the evil of their Natures and all that are rooted in it and flow from it Act then solely under God look after such an effectual Faith that carrying thee above all Visibles to the invisible God will under his Influence purifie thy Heart work by Love and reduce thy Will into Subjection to God and grow herein daily 'T was much that Philosophers should make it one of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Governing Prenotions Will nothing but what God Wills and that decantate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Follow God Arrian l. 3. c. 26. p. 362. and l. 2. c. 16. p. 217. Marc. Anton. l. 10. §. 11. Seneca de vita beat c. 15. Arrian l. 4. c. 12. p. 426. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Seneca subjoyns In regno nati sumus Deo parere libertas est In a Kingdom are we born to obey God is liberty Yea 't is Royal Liberty Arrianus I have one to be subject to to obey even God c. Oh! let not Infidels rise up in Judgment to condemn thee for a Rebel against the Will of God in his Precepts or Providences 'T is an ugly thing for a Christian to have a Will a Separate Will The Will of Man is a Bedlam except in Conjunction with and Subordination to God The liberty of the Will of Man consists in Servitude to God Excellently Arrianus I am Gods freeman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arr. l. 4. c 3. p. 380. and friend that I may voluntarily obey him I must set nothing in competition not my Body not my Possessions not Principality not Fame no nothing at all c. In Summ labour to form all thy Faculties after the best Paterns and imitate such in thine Actions Christianity is an Imitation of the Nature Life and Actions of Christ * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nys M. Antonin l. 10. 8. Cl Alex. Strom. l. 5. Marc. Anton. could say God wills that all Rational Beings should be like him not flatter him Clemens of Alexandria makes account that Plato thought similitude to God the end of Philosophy This the Philosopher may propose but the true Christian only attains The Exhortations to it in the Scriptures are many Eph. 5.1 2. 1 Cor. 11 1. consequentially 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 8.29 Luk. 6.36 1 Joh. 3.3 17. 1 Pet. 1.16 Matth. 5.48 A Christian unlike Christ is a contradiction as a godly Man not God-like When Christ dwells in the Heart by Faith he will transform it and the Life into the likeness of his own Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ says Paul nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the Flesh is by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me This is that living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit he after mentions Chap. 5.25 Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 2 Cor. 3.18 Wilt thou not then Oh my Soul aspire after this 'T is high above thee a strange Mystery to thy carnal part and so at first is every thing of God yet nothing is to be despaired of that is enjoyn'd by God whose Precepts are his Power whose Word his Work And if God who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness and it obeyed do also command the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ to shine into thine Heart 2 Cor. 4.6 That will much more obey the voice of his Almighty Grace and this Light is Life this Life Love this Love universal Conformity to God For God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 and Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.8.10 Gal. 5.14 Oh thou Blessed Spirit God of Love descend into and shed abroad thy Nature in my Heart kindle Oh thou ever adorable Breath of God and blow up this Holy Ardour and Flame that as a Seraphim I may ascend in a transport of Delight and Joy to thy Throne and perpetually burn upon thine Altar and being like thee in Love I shall through Love be like thee in all things Am I a Professor am I a Believer am I a knowing a weeping a discoursing a practising a just a dispassionate a temperate a bountiful and liberal a condescending a friendly Person Yet if I have not if I am not Love I have I am nothing The reason of 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3. will carry this and more Neither extraordinary gifts of Tongues prophesie abstruse Speculation Miracles nor extraordinary Practices as beggering my self to give to the Poor receiving the Crown of Martyrdom under the most cruel Tortures voluntarily submitted to are at all available without Love therefore much less things of a common and ordinary Nature Love is all in all Thy Repentance thy Faith thy Hope thy Prayers thy Vows thy Obedience are good and acceptable if Spirited with Love without it they and all beside that thou canst possibly be and do are but all as a Sacrifice of Swines Blood and blessing an Idol there 's nothing of Life in them nothing of Soul because nothing of God because nothing of Love Oh
Perfection and plenitude of Essence Existence Substance Glory that more of God is every where than of any thing that there is not so much Soul in a body Light in the Sun Matter in the Universe as there is of God in each that they are not as he is They are but derivative Beings of a thin lank Constitution in comparison of that amplitude and fullness of Being in God who is every thing in the utmost Perfection that he can possible be from Eternity to Eternity unalterable and every where the same boundless Perfection that he is any where And wilt thou dare to be or speak or do any thing unbecoming so august so awful so glorious a Presence Shall the eye of a Worm Job 25.6 give Law to thy Tongue and Hands and shall not the Sovereign Majesty of Heaven and Earth have an Empire in thy Conscience Oh do not dare to be other now than at Judgment thou wilt wish thou hadst been For thy Judge is no less present although thou be less sensible Enforce upon thy self nay rather with a spontaneous and generous Freedom of Spirit out of choice entertain and take complacency in such Considerations alway as may better thee because not to be better for them is to be worse ineffectual Thoughts of God being like to be effectual for thy confusion If the Rays of Divine Glory that shine into thy reasoning Powers have no influence upon thy Appetite and Actions if notwithstanding them thou can'st be as vain frothy carnal secure rocky unsavoury unbelieving formal hypocritical worldly lustful lazy disobedient as if thou didst still sit in darkness and the shadow of Death if thy apprehensions of the super-intendency of Heaven do not over-awe thy unruly untoward Will into compliance with that Will which is supreme and universal Goodness do not quicken thee to Penitence and Holiness to an intire and upright observance of the whole Condition of the Covenant of Grace with a persevering resolution and endeavour thou wilt certainly find Oh my Soul that this Light will be mighty to aggravate thy Sin and Punishment everlastingly Oh for a heart so to work toward God under its Sensations of the Unfathomableness of his Understanding Universalness of his Presence Particularity of his Observance Amplitude of his Goodness Beauty of his Holiness Severity and Impartiality of his Justice Extensiveness of his Power in fine Greatness and Incomprehensibleness of his Majesty and Glory as to be altogether unsatisfiable till it can centre it self upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as its only Happiness in an absolute Renunciation of every thing that stands in competition with him and be willing out of love to him readily to embrace his Laws submit to the Government of his Son Jesus Christ and the Conduct of his Spirit of Truth and Grace which if these Thoughts of God will not prevail upon thee to do nothing can since there is infinitely less of Argument in every finite thing nay in all together than there is in the Infiniteness of God Wilt thou hence then be perswaded Oh my Soul to acknowledge that God in all thy ways whom thus thou knowst in some degree though but very imperfect Wilt thou fear and reverence his Greatness love and delight in his Goodness conform to his Holiness stand in awe of his Justice in all things subjugate and submit thy self to his Soveraign Authority and Will as the best and wisest Thine own interest as well as the reason of the thing and the command of thy Maker requires thy speedy and thorow resolution If thou wilt not bid an everlasting adieu to all the Comforts of Heaven thou must thus humbly seek after them which if thou do really 't is no presumption to claim them as thine Eternal Inheritance and Portion This appertains to the First Commandment we shall derive another part of the Psalmist's Character from the Second CHAP. III. A Second Character of the Subject of Comfort Prayer 2. THe Sacred Penman here was a Man of Prayer the whole Psalm is a solemn Address to God and 't is not like the fumbling of one unaccustomed thus to converse with the Divine Majesty the Genius of it gives abundant evidence that it hath been a familiar and frequent practice with such gravity of Expression with such liberty of Spirit with such a holy Parrhesy and Confidence with such variety of Arguments with such endearments of affection does he plead with God as one that long had liv'd upon the trade and was a good Proficient in this heavenly art of Wrestling with God And indeed 't is generally under this Duty that the Lord administers the solace and satisfaction of his Love to revive a drooping Heart Whoever is unacquainted with Prayer is utterly an alien from Divine Peace Those that live most with God in this exercise receive most from God enjoy most in him to sweeten their Spirits under all their Sorrows his Promise engaging him to be found in a way of Peace and Contentation of all those that diligently seek him Beside that his own Glory engages him to answer the Petitions of Peace which are put up in the Name and put into the Hands of his only Begotten to be presented to his Majesty perfumed with the Incense of his Mediation Joh. 14.13 Whatever ye shall ask in my Name that will I do Wherefore is it because you ask or for the merit of your Devotions or the strength of your Faith or the fervency of of your Spirits or the forcibleness of your Arguments or the urgency of your Importunities c. No but I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son Oh gracious Redeemer Oh precious Promise Oh blessed Hope How strong and rich are thy Consolations especially considering the relation which this Promise stands in to another immediately succeeding it viz. that of a Comforter the Holy Spirit which our blessed Mediator prevail'd with his Father to bestow that he might give us an Experiment of the prevatence of Prayer ver 16. I will 〈◊〉 the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever As if he had said my personal Prayer you shall to your satisfaction find effectual but this further assurance will I give you that the Prayers you put up in my Name shall be no less efficacious than those I my self present in mine own Person for upon my request you shall be endow'd with the same Spirit that breaths out mine and my Merit is not confin'd to my Person the vertue thereof will be extended to your pleadings in my Name through the co-operation of that Holy One who shall be your aid and with unutterable groans cointercede for you Indeed this Heavenly Dove comes only in at the Window of Prayer but we must put forth our hand to take it and heartily humbly believingly to beg it is as little as we can do if we sluggishly put our hand into our Bosom and refuse this labour
and the Herd and their Soul shall be as a Watered Garden c. Yea there ' t is The Blessings of this Life are then good indeed when the Donation of the Goodness of the Lord Divine Love with them gives them a Relish incomparable Job sometimes consulted his Bed for Comfort Job 7.13 and 't is no little satisfaction to enjoy the quiet Repose of a single Night But what are all the downy Contents of this Nature to the Everlasting Repose and Rest both of Body and Soul in the Love of God who though he be an everliving Activity yet is an ever-loving quiet resting Place for all that having been wearied out with the Sins and Labours and Troubles and Miseries of a Cumbersome World betake themselves to him as their only Contentation Cant. 3. King Solomon as a Type of Christ made Himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conjugal Bed This the Original Word may seem indeed most properly to signifie from the 7th Verse where the Espousals plainly refer to this that Exhortation being grounded upon this Narration the midst thereof being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strowed with Love for the Daughters of Jerusalem A Bed of Ease indeed The Whole World cannot Afford a Bed as soft as Love as sweet as the refreshing Love of an infinitely Lovely and Loving God I have read of a Man who not content with Epicureism in Retail resolv'd at once to gratifie every Sence with an accumulated Association of all imaginable Sensualities yet all was only the Swinish Pleasure of a Day But there is an Eternity of Delights in the Favour of God first to the Soul but redounding to the Sence also Truly Light is sweet and 't is good for the Eyes to behold the Sun 't is a Periphrasis of Life as the Connexion with the followng Verse demonstrates Eccl. 11.7 8. How delicious is the Flavour and Fragrancy of Odours and the inexplicable Varieties and Ravishments of Sounds c. But are these worthy to be thought of in Comparison of the ever Refreshing Light of God's Countenance the Never-fading Delights of Divine Love and Goodness the Unimitable Splendour of the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 who is the Brightness of his Fathers Glory Heb. 1.2 the savour of Christ's Precious Oyntments Cant. 1.3 The rapturous Melody of the Celestial Quire but above all the every thing Harmonious Beautiful Lovely Glorious in the Divine Nature wherein our very sense shall be in a generous transport with the highest incomparable supersensual everlasting Gratifications much more our Minds For the Goodness of God is every thing pleasing profitable honest in the utmost eminency of Glory There 's no mole in this Beauty no spots in this Sun no Night to this Day but an immense and eternal variety of all delectable Excellencies in an invariable unity of unblemishable Perfection nothing to give a check to the Appetite to interrupt and abate the pleasure of Enjoyment or put a period to the solace accruing from it It singularly pleases a Man to be well thought of and well provided for When Men are low yet if their Reputation run high it bears up their Spirits in the depression of their Estates and as Noble Blood in the Veins is by many accounted an essential Dignity when their Wealth and Substance falls into detriment that their Heart cannot stoop to any servile Offices or Imployments below the Grandeur of its more stately and generous Pulsations their Glory they think shines as the Sun through a Cloud and is like a Cordial Elixir in a fainting fit of Fortune So Credit of both kinds Fame Trust both as it imports the Honour of a fair Reputation and Good Name and as it entitles a Man to a right in the kindness of his Friend and the belief of all Men that every one speaks well of him is ready to do well to him all Honour him all Credit him and freely Concredit their all with him this is valued as much as Money in the Purse The Wisest of Men prefers it as more eligible Prov. 22.1 and affirms that it makes the Bones fat Prov. 15.30 But if the Love of God put a value upon us and worthless that we are we have nothing else to recommend us as the Kings Stamp upon a Brass Farthing if he ennoble us with his Grace Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus that we can derive our Pedegree and Extraction from Heaven through the New Birth this is the truest sweetest noblest Satisfaction We are indeed the basest through Sin of the whole Creation God made us at first through his Image next in honour to the Holy Angels Psal 8.5 We by our Apostacy and Corruption make our selves not a little lower than Devils and in this debasement does Divine Goodness find us but here it does not leave us Love and Love alone exalts us and crowns us with Glory Dignity and Hon ur and how high we are in the account of Love however base in our selves is demonstrated by the price it was willing to pay for our Redemption Nothing rais'd us to this height in the estimate of Love but only Love according to Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord did not set his Love upon you because ye were moe c. But because the Lord loved you c. His Love was its own and only motive and why should it not What can be a more noble Incitement to it than the Glory of its most excellent communicative Nature What mov'd it at first to design an Object to diffuse its benign influences upon What lovely qualities were in a non-entity to draw it out into such admirable Condescentions Let it then go no less than self-sufficient all-sufficient without the subsidiary invitement of all external Objects Divine Goodness neither needs nor desires a Procatarctick cause And this is a Comfort unspeakable Were I to bring my wellcome to Heaven and to be dignified with the honour of so renowned a degree of Perfection as to be able to stand upon my Reputation before God and not beg his good Opinion but merit it the Conscience of my deficiency and demerit would for ever confound me But since Love brings my all with it and its arguments to respect me are derived from its own Bowels and its height is so wonderful that there can be no proportion in the highest created goodness to it so as to deserve it and its depth so unfathomable that the greatest misdeservings cannot put a bar to the liberty of its actings for the relief even of the Chief of Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Have I not a World of reason to cast off all melancholy desponding Imaginations and solace my self in this Paradise of everlasting Love and free Grace Oh Joy unspeakable and full of Glory To be well provided for is next The World had rather live by Sight than Faith He 's but ill to live all whose Wealth is in another Man's Pocket and may be puft away with the malevolent Breath of
there promised and least we should object incapacity to enjoy and be happy in so rich and glorious Blessings 't is added as the Crown of all that he will dispose and prepare our Hearts for it by engraving thereon his Holy Laws by that means perfectly removing all obstructions to our Hopes and occasions of our Fears that with a full assurance we may enter upon our Inheritance of his Everlasting Consolations This he hath most plainly revealed this he does most fully accomplish to his chosen Servants If we be partakers of his Nature and Image through the Law of the Spirit of Life in our Hearts setting us free from the Law of Sin and Death all is our own and how is it possible for him that knows all this that really believes and feels it by any scruples and jealousies to make his Life miserable Dispel then Oh my Soul those Clouds and Mists that benight thy Understanding thereby turning the Day in thy Will and Affections into Darkness Endeavour to open the Windows that the Glory of God in the Face of Christ may shine upon thee with a powerful Ray to warm impregnate and spirit thee with a new divine Fervour Strength and Life Study the Scriptures which are a bright Beam of the Sun of Righteousness a fair Pourtraicture of that Eternal Essential Word of God who is the Brightness of his Father's Glory the express Image of his Person Let thy Mind in its Meditation dwell continually here with delight To ruminate hereupon Day and Night is the true method to attain the soundest Wisdom even that which is Eternal Life consisting in the saving effectual transforming experimental practical fruitional knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom be hath sent Joh. 17.3 2 Tim. 3.15 This is Wisdom unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus Be thy Intellectuals as bright as those of an Angel of Light in other things so as to understand all Mysteries Philosophical Political Theological yet if thou here be in the dark thou art but a Hell which though in its Physical being surrounded with Heaven yet is at the greatest moral distance from it and therefore no wonder if thou never seest the day break of Joy and Rest and Peace Ignorance which some account the Mother of Devotion but is indeed of Damnation is alway pregnant with Disquiets Troubles Fears The Night is full of Terrors Cant. 3.8 Lucretius adds As Children by Night so Men fear in the Light Omnia nobis fecimus tenebras nihil videmus c. Sen Ep. 110. But Seneca corrects him We make all things darkness to our selves we see nothing neither what 's hurtful nor what 's profitable yet ramble on without Pause or Prudence What a mad thing is Impetuousness in the dark But if we will the Day may dawn And thus If a Man will let in the knowledge of things Humane and Divine not merely to be dash'd but dyed with it again and again recognizing recollecting what he knows if he examine what is truly good and evil what falsly if he enquire what 's Honest what 's Filthy and what is Providence What can be spoke more wisely more truly This he prescribes as a Remedy against Fear which he makes the Daughter of Tradition rather than Truth A wise Man and then he must be good for Wickedness is Madness and Folly fears nothing slavishly Nemo nostrum quid veri esset excussit metum alter alteri tradidit ib. For nothing is formidable but to Ignorance false Opinion Improvidence and Wickedness Fix thy self therefore Oh my Soul upon the right Basis of Truth leading to Goodness and thou art above Gun-shot Nothing can hurt thee if it do not first debauch thee thy Mind with undue Sentiments and thy Heart thereby with corrupt Notions nothing can disquiet thee till it debase and abuse first thy Judgment and thy Conscience by it Good Intellectuals will promote good Morals Entertain high noble and worthy Conceptions of God and every thing that guides to God and this will singularly conduce to thy security against Vice and to thy establishment in Vertue and thereby in tranquility of Mind For two things concur to solid Consolation clearness of Apprehensions and calmness of Conscience Serenity above Tranquility below The worst of Men may have the one none but the godly wise have both The Devil has Light enough in his Understanding though he be the Prince of Darkness his Notions are sublime but Peace has he none A dreadful Storm may rage in the Conscience when the Sun shines clear in the Mind Men of great Parts and Gifts and deep Heads have not alway the quietest Hearts The simple Vnlearned saith one rise up and take Heaven by Violence whilst we with all our Learning drop down into Hell 'T is well if more Scholars be not found in Hell than Heaven 'T is not how much but how well a Man knows that is conducible to Peace On the other hand the Tempest may be hush'd and Conscience charm'd to a stilness but then the Heavens above are dark and cloudy and a new Storm sleeps in its causes if thou be an Enemy to God The Witness within may be gagg'd a while that it cannot speak out The Lion chain'd and muzzled in his Den that it cannot worry thee but afterward it will be let loose upon thee arm'd with the greater fury perhaps even in this Life and it is more tolerable to be lug'd into Goodness by a snarling snatching tearing Conscience now than have all thy Bones broke and devoured by it and the roaring Lion of Hell in his den of everlasting Darkness Wo wo be to that Man that never wanted or was without rest and quiet in his Mind A dumb Conscience is a dark one and If the Light that is in thee be Darkness how great is that Darkness If nothing within thee did ever proclaim War nothing has right to speak Peace He that never saw God as an Enemy never yet saw Him as a Friend If thou be ignorant of thy own State thou are ignorant of God unacquainted with his Peace with his Joy Thus Oh my Soul if thou be'st ambitious to enjoy any real approvable quietness in thy Mind thou must maintain in it clearness of Notion concerning God But although there be Light in the Heavens it may suffer an Eclipse or rather thou dost for the Light leaves not the Sun but the Earth if thy Corruptions as an opaque Body interpose Wickedness in the Heart opposes the efficacy of our Notions of God that although we retain them we are no better for them therefore 't would be better for us were we without them None lie deeper in outer Darkness than those that ascend highest in Light and Knowledge in this Life but improve it not He that knows his Master's Will and does it not and so his Master and loves him not shall be beaten with many stripes Our Passions are proportionable to our Sensations The more enlarged