house for these to keep off so to come so seldom for them which have fed so high at the Kings Table to sall to their Trash their Husks this is a shame indeed as if the Devil kept a better house than God Christians doth God deserve this at your hands How unkindly do you think he takes this from you What will the world say Look how his own acquaintance despise him How will the Devil insult O how do the hearts of your fellow Christians ake to see how strange your carriage is How do they tremble to think what if that fine House be built upon the Sand Christians you which seldom or complementally visit God bethink your selves well what you do when you begin to be cold in your affections to this Friend remember from whence you are fallen and repent and do your first works remember what entertainment you have sometimes had at Gods House forget not all his Kindnesses of all the Creatures in the world you have no cause to carry your selves so towards God I tell you again the World stands by and looks on to see what there is in you more than in others they mark your lives more than you are aware of it may be Wherefore look to your selves take heed how you carry your selves before them O why should they see your faces pale when you may feed so highly O shew them by your countenance that you feed upon wholsome food O let your breath smell sweet let your discourse be more savoury of the things of God! Labour to maintain a sweet constant unintermitted intercourse with God to walk with him O little do you think what you loose by your coming so seldom to this Friend I appeal to your own experience was not that dish you eat last at his Table sweet And what do you think that God doth not still keep as good a House as he did Do you believe that he hath spent all his best Wines Can that Fountain ever be emptied Is there not Bread and good Chear enough in your Fathers house Believe it God hath other kind of Entertainment richer Chear better Fare still to make you welcome with if you would not be so strange if you will but come oftener to him As for Christians methinks I need not use so many words to perswade you methinks you that know how sweet his company is should desire to be never out of it Christians I tell you plainly if you ever expect true peace in your life and true joy and comfort at death it 's your only way to keep close to God visit him oft by secret Prayer and other kind of Duties and then you shall ever and anon meet with that which will sweeten your greatest diligence and abundantly make amends for your pains Knock at his door ask for him and resolve to stay tili he come though he come not at the first second or third knocking yet I am sure he is within and will come at last if you will but wait and when you have once again met with him O let him not go but tell him seriously that you can't bear his absence he shall be your God and Friend living and dying death it self shall not part you Go also and tell your Friends you have found him whom your soul loves that you have met with Jesus and see if you can get them to come out and see him bid them to taste and see how good the Lord is commend him all you can to your poor Christ-less Friends But you are not the persons that I intended to speak to only thus a little by the by that I may a little warm my own heart and yours in this great duty of maintaining an intimate close converse and acquaintance with God But my business is to go out into the High ways and Hedges and to invite poor wandring strangers that have nothing to live upon themselves and that do not know what a noble open house God keeps that never tasted of his kindness in Christ to come to this Royal Feast and to Eat their fill of such food as they can never eat too much of never be surfeited with Vuto you O men I call and my voice is unto the sons of men O ye simple ones understand wisdom and ye fools he ye of an understanding heart Prov. 8.4 5. Hear O ye deaf and see O blind let the dead hear the voice of God and live Then hear what I have been speaking of I have almost done my message consider well of these things as you tender the displeasure of God as you value your Souls be serious remember what it is that I have been discoursing to you about Read it over again and study on it Read and Pray Pray and Read and turn this exhortation into Prayer take with you words and say O that this might be the Sermon that might bring me acquainted with God! O that this might be the man that might bring me to some knowledg of Christ O that this might be the happy day wherein a Match may be concluded between my soul and the precious Jesus But alas alas where are the hearts that are thus smitten Where are the Souls that are any white taken with this infinite Beauty How few have any real love or good-will for Christ O who hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed Though I and many hundreds more have been pleading thus with sinners though some of the Embassadors of peace weep bitterly that their message is no more kindly entertained though their publick Preaching be followed with private Prayers and secret Groans though they expostulate the case with poor refractory Creatures with all the earnestness that they can for their lives though we use the most powerful arguments that we can and deliver them with all the vehemency seriousness and compassion that we can for our Souls Yet how are the greatest part of our hearers unconcerned Is not a great part of our Auditory as stupid and senceless as the very stones they tread on The more is our sorrow we fear as to the most of them that hear us what we speak is lost It may be they may be a little affected just at the hearing or for an hour or two but O that these truths might have a lively and abiding impression on mens hearts I fear O that they were causeless fears I fear that most of you that have heard of these things will go away and quickly forget what weighty things you have heard perhaps some of you may say the man was very earnest and some of his Expressions were piercing O Friends I hope it is not your commendation that I desire O that I may with a single heart respect Gods glory I say again I would not be pleased with your praise nor would I fear your dispraise it 's your Souls I want and may but I manage my great work in this successfully and see you acquainted with God
are separated from our sins we cannot be united to God Thus ye see our separation from God and our necessity of returning to God before there can be any acquaintance with him Thirdly To our acquaintance with God is required an abiding with God We reckon not our selves acquainted with any person upon the first meeting or when there hath passed but a word or two between us but it is supposed to acquaintance that we have made a considerable stay with him and have had frequent access to him Thus it is between God and us we must not only come to him but abide with him or else we shall never be acquainted with him Joh. 8.13 If ye continue in my Word then are ye my Disciples So I say if you return to God and continue with God then shall ye be acquainted with him indeed Acquaintance signifies not a bare Act but a State or Habit. Now this is the difference between an Act and a State that an Act is passing and is gone but a State signifies an abiding and continuance There may be a drawing nigh to God without abiding and continuing with God upon some deep Conviction or strange providence or eminent danger as it is said In their affliction they will seek me early Yet they may soon forget and forsake God This is but a seeming and practical approaching to God a drawing nigh in appearance when the heart is far from God but that approaching to God which makes acquaintance with God is abiding with him Those that are acquainted with a spiritual life know these things what they are and that they are the greatest realities in the world they know that sometimes there is a greater nearness of their souls to God they are sensible of the approaches of their heart to God and of the withdrawing of their souls from God they know what it is for the soul to feel the approaches of God and his smiles sill their souls with unspeakable Comfort And to feel God withdrawing from the soul this clouds their joy and makes them go mourning They can tell you at such a time they were brought unto his Banquetting-house and his Banner over them was Love They can tell you at such time Christ came into his Garden to eat his pleasant Fruits at such a time they heard the voice of their Beloved saying Open to me my Sister my Spouse my Love my Dove my Vndefiled And when the soul hath neglected this knock of Christ to open to him that then he hath withdrawn I opened to my Beloved but my Beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone These things are the experiences of a precious child of God which I fear are little felt and little known amongst us but where these things are not there is no acquaintance with God For First They do know him Secondly They draw nigh to him they have near access to him Thirdly They have intimate Converse with him This is another thing required to acquaintance We are not said to be acquainted with any person unless we have had intimate converse with him We may be next Neighbours and yet have no Acquaintance unless our conversation hath been mutual So it is between God and us there may be a nighness between the Soul and God and yet no Acquaintance between the Soul and God We are nigh to God in our dependance upon him we are near to God by his immediate providence and sustentation of us and by his Omnipotence There is a nearness to God by way of Dedication As God set apart the Children of Israel to be a people near unto himself so the visible Church of God is nearer to him then those that are not of the Church There is a nearness of Dedication among us by Baptism But all this may be without Acquaintance There is therefore required to our Acquaintance with God an intimate converse with God We have great converse with those who are of the Family or society with us Now such is our acquaintance with God as those who are of his Family God is called the Father of the Families of all the earth and the visible Church is reckoned as Gods Family but in a great Family there may be little Acquaintance with those persons which be of remote employments but to acquaintance with God there must be such a relation as implies familiar converse This intimacy that the people of God have to him is expressed by the nearest relations in Scripture As Abraham is called The Friend of God 2 Chron. 20.7 Jehoshaphat prayes unto God and saith Art not thon our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gave it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh to his Friend Exod. 33.11 John 15.15 Henceforth I call you not servants but friends for the servant knows not what his Lord doth but I have called you Friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you Now by Friend is commonly understood a state of converse and society one with another And this intimacy is expressed likewise by the relation of Husband and Wife Isa 54.5 For thy Maker is thy Husband Hos 2.7 Then shall she say I will go and return to my Husband for then was it better with me than now By Husband there is meant God And the whole Book of the Canticles is a relation of the mutual converse betwixt God his people betwixt Christ and his Church under the relation of a Bridegroom and his Spouse Now what converse more intimate than between Husband and Wife Such is that between a soul acquainted with God and God Again this is shadowed out to us under the relation of a Father and his Children 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the father hath be stowed upon us that we should be called his sons And the holy Spirit is given to be the Spirit of Adoption in the hearts of Gods people Rom. 8.15.16 Ye have received the spirit of Adoption whereby ye cry Abba Father The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God What is signified by this Relation but a nigh union and intimate converse between the soul and God And this is necessary to our acquaintance with God even intimate converse with God By this I mean a nearness of employment when the Objects of our employments are the same then are we said to converse with God when we are employed about those things wherein God is most When there is as it were a mutual commerce and trading between the soul and God man giving himself up to God and God giving himself out to man man taking up the interest of God and God undertaking for the interest of man these such like actings are the converse which the soul hath with God I speak of things which the men of the world are not acquainted with
for the cause of Complacency and Love is a likeness between the Lover and Beloved God doth not love us with a love of complacency till we are like him nor do we love God till we are made like God Now our beholding God and being acquainted with him is a great way to our being made like to God 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open faoe beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Thus you see that love is likewise required to our acquaintance with God without it no acquaintance I have in the first part spoken of the Nature of acquaintance with God in five particulars There must be First A Knowledg of God Secondly Nigh access to God Thirdly Familiar converse with God Fourthly Mutual communication between us and God Fifthly An affectionate love towards God The next thing should be to shew that man is to be acquainted with God but we will first take a review of these things We have taken these things into our understandings now let us set our hearts to these things for in these things is the life of Religion If there be acquaintance with God then gross wickedness drops off as scales from an ulcerated body when the constitution of the body is mended In acquaintance with God will be your only true comfort in this life and the perfection of it is the very happiness of Heaven Let us then behold till our hearts earnestly desire till our souls be drawn out after acquaintance with God If God be to be known to be approached unto to be conversed with by me will he communicate himself to me and I my self to him Oh that he would love me that I might love him Oh blessed are they that know him as they are known of him It is good for me to draw night to him A day in his Court is better than a thousand elswhere My soul longeth ye fainteth for the Courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God Oh that I were received into converse with God! that I night hear his voice and see his countenance for his voice is sweet and his countenance comly Oh that I might communicate my self to God and that he would give himself to me Oh that I might love him that I were sick of Love that I might die in love that I might lose my self in his Love as a small drop in the unfathomless depth of his Love that I might dwell in the eternal love of him This is acquaintance with God Acquaint now therefore thy self with God and be at peace so shall good come unto thee We now proceed to the next thing which is to evidence it to be the duty of man to acquaint himself with God This then is that into which the whole Scripture runs as into a common Channel The Scriptures are a discovery of Gods proceedings with man under a double Covenant and this is the great design of God in both Covenants The first Covenant was That while man did remain in obedience to God God would give man free and intimate acquaintance with himself But if man became disobedient then he should be dispossessed of an interest in God and of Communion with him which was that death threatned upon the eating the forbidden Fruit. The death of the body is its being separated from the Soul but the death of the Soul is in separation from God Now immediately upon Adams transgression man becomes unacquainted with God so that upon the hearing of the voice of the Lord they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden What a woful case is man naturally in He hath lost his acquaintance with God and was in a way never never to recover it upon Gods approach he flees And such is the nature of all sin it puts a man into a disposition to greater sins Every departure from God inclines towards a greater In the first Covenant this is the whole of it it is both a command to keep nigh to God and a promise of Gods being nigh to them and a threatning of Gods putting them away far from him man breaking the first Covenant The immediate effect of it was the sin of fleeing from God quite contrary to that acquaintance Instead of their former apprehensions of God they seem to have forgotten his omnipresence instead of peace with God they have nothing but dread and torment in the thoughts of God instead of drawing nigh to God they run away from him instead of converse with God they choose never to have to do with him more instead of giving themselves up to God they if it had been possible would have hid themselves from God Acquaintance with God is the sum of the first Covenant unacquaintance with God is the misery of the breach of the Covenant This is likewise the great design and purpose of God in the second Covenant The second Covenant is this When God beheld man in a miserable condition by reason of the breach of the Frst Covenant in the unsearchable riches of his goodness according to the eternal purpose of his good Will towards Man he made an agreement with his Son to send him amongst a generation of sinful Men that if he would undertake to bring them back into acquaintance with the Father he was willing and ready to receive them again into acquaintance with him the Son being the express Image of his Fathers will and person hath the same good will to man with the Father and is ready to close with his Fathers proposals and so enters into a Covenant with the Father to satisfie Divine Justice and to take away Sin and to take away the middle wall of Separation to recover a chosen generation and to bring them back again to God Thus he became the head of another Covenant between God and man And as the first Covenant was made with Adam for him and his seed So the second Covenant is made with Jesus Christ for him and his seed Because that the first Covenant was broken in Adam therefore the second Covenant was put into surer hands into the hands of the Son the second Adam the Lord from heaven Now I say that the great design and purpose of this second Covenant is in reference to mans acquaintance with God is clear This is held forth to us in that parable of the lost sheep Luke 15.45 When the shepheard had lost one sheep he leaves the flock and seeks for that which was lost So when man was lost by sin Jesus Christ leaves all to recover and fetch home that which was lost We are all gon astray like lost sheep as David saith of himself Psal 119. Christ is come to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19.10 and Ephes 2.13 14. But now in Christ Jesus they who somtimes were afar-off are made nigh by the blood of
and Earth and the dangerous hazzards that it did run every moment upon that account but the Soul thought very well of its own state it slattered it self in its own in-iniquity the man thinks he is rich and increased in goods and hath need of nothing but when he comes to look into his Purse to open his Treasury and to tell over all his Gold and Silver in the light why then he perceives a sad mistake all his Silver is drossie and the best Riches that he hath is but dung When the light comes in he sees the darkness of his Understanding the perverseness of his will the disorderliness of his Affections the distemper of the whole soul He before took himself for a beautiful creature but by his light this glass he sees his beauty is great deformity he beholds heaps of lusts crawling up and down which before lay undiscerned and then that man that reckoned himself so happy cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me what shall I do to be saved I am undone undone how shall I live where shall I dwell for ever Time was that the man admired what the Ministers ailed to Keep such a stir about sin but now he wonders that they are no more earnest in their preaching of it down It was a little while ago that he thought himself whole but now he feels himself sick to the very heart wounded sainting and ready to dye he made full account that he was pure but now he cries out unclean unclean it was not long since he said with indignation am I blind also but now he cries out and will not be silenced have mercy upon me Jesus thou Son of David and grant that I may receive my sight His language is much altered he can now say was ever such a sinner as I pardoned Will such a prodigal ever be received shall such foul offences as mine be forgiven if God should look upon me and give me a Christ and pitty me and cast his skirts over me while I lye in my blood if the Lord should look upon me it would be such a wonder that all that ever heard of it may justly admire Now the man which thought himself the best of Saints believes himself as bad as the worst of sinners When a man begins to be acquainted with God he begins also to know himself He that saw no need of washing by Christ would now have hands feet head and heart all washt He that thought himself sometimes far enough from Hell now begins to admire that he did not fall into it and although there be a sweet alteration in him for the better and Saints begin to delight very much in him yet he wonders that any one should see any thing in him that should cause any affection in them towards him much more to inflame their hearts in such vehement love to him if he hear of any reproaches that are cast upon him he is ready to say with that wise stoick Epist If he had known me better he would have spoke much worse of me If any praise him he judgeâ—h that it proceeds from their ignorance of his weakness rather then from any knowledge of his worth and if he hear any such language he is ready to tremble for fear of his own heart and cries out not unto me not unto me but unto his name be the praise yet not I but Christ which dwelleth in me Thus it is with one that begins to have some saving knowledge of God the nearer he comes to God the further he goes from himself the more he sees of him and his righteousness the less he sees of his own the more he is exalted the more he debateth himself like those four and twenty Elders he lays his Crown at the feet of God Thus it was with Job when God as I may so say stood at a greater distance from him he is ready to speak a little too highly he stands much upon his own righteousness he stifly justifieth himself but when the holy God comes a little nearer to him when he throws off that dark cloud with which he had mantled himself and when he caused that glorious brightness to break forth upon Job and made him to see a glance of his Holiness Wisdom and Justice then how is he even ashamed and confounded within himself that he should ever stand so much upon his ovvn justification Job 42.5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee Wherefore I abbor my self and repent in dust and ashes When he comes to be better acquainted with God how strangely is his note changed and I might say when he was thus abased how speedily doth God raise him to a wonder A man may hear of God twenty years together and yet never abhor himself with dust and ashes never see any vileness that is in his nature never be brought off from his own righteousness never admire that he is kept out of hell O but when he comes to see God and to be acquainted with him how doth he cry out of himself as unworthy to breath in the air as deserving nothing but wrath then he hath not a word to say for the goodness of his own heart now he can say with astonishement O infinite patience O unmeasureable goodness O the dephts of Gods love He must be merciful indeed that can pardon such sins That must be goodness indeed that can be so to me That is love with a witness that can imbrace such a loathsome monster What was it that made Abraham call himself dust and ashes What made David to say he was a worm and no man What made Isaiah speak so debasingly of himself why these were the Friends of God they had visions of that holy One When is it that the people of God are most ingenuous in their confesions when do they most freely pour our their souls before God When is it that they most readily open their soars and desire that they should be searched but when this great Chyrurgion comes to their chamber those which before where whole are now sick full of plague soars head and heart sick dangerously sick and no whole part in them they can say more against themselves now then ever the Minister could they can aggravate their sins and lay loads upon themselves and they see themselves vile and even are ready to wonder that the earth did not open and swallow them up before this they admire that God should indure them so long and think it no small miracle that they were not crushed in the Egge that they were not cast from the darkness of the Womb to the darkness of Hell Now they can cry out of Original Sin and the indisposition of their souls to any thing that is good and inclination to that which is bad They say as well as David That they were born in sin and in iniquity did their mother conceive them they
of his maker when he is well studied in this point is the stiffest Conformist he sticks close to the righteous Cannons of the holy God and will not by his good will turn to the right hand or to the left He that was sometimes very unlike God when he is brought nigh unto him his countenance is changed his features are altered and the lineaments of Gods image appear very lively in his face and the more he is in Gods company and the older he grows the more he grows like him O how doth such a one shine what a Majesty Glory and Beauty is there in is face the oftner he comes to God the more he is taken with his Excellency the more he labours to imitate him He studies what God is and as far as his nature is capable of it in this life he desires to be like him If God be true and faithful he dare not be salse but he will hate the way of lying if God be free and bountiful he thinks it very ill becomes one of his children to hide his face from his own flesh to shut up his bowels to be void of natural affection If purity be so eminent in God he knows that impurity would not be commendable in himself In a word he desires in every thing to carry himself as one whose highest ambition is to speak act and think as one that would be like God It was bravely spoken of him Sen. 3.73 especially if we consider what the man was who told his Friend that call'd him to Heaven in compendium To get as much happines as this place this soul while in this body is capable of that is to get God for his Friend to be like him This is a short cut so glory a Soul carried to Heaven or Heaven brought down to the Soul A full and perfect conformity and likeness to God is the very Glory of Glory and a partial conformity to him upon earth is his unspeakable honour in this life O were men and women better acquainted with God they would sparkle and shine in their Generation so that their enemies should be forced to say that a Saint is another kind of Creature then a sensual sinner O why stand you then so far off from God! come nearer him and the rays of his glorious Image will reflect from your lives Be acquainted with him and you shall be like him keep much in his company by Faith secret Prayer and Meditation and you will be more Holy Divine Spiritual 12. The last effect of this acquaintance with God which I shall name is this it will make a man better far more Excellent in all states and relations all his Friends will have the better life with him the whole Family it may be where he dwells will fare the better for him If he be a Child he is more dutiful to his Parent then he was while he was unacquainted with God If he be a Servant he is more diligent and Faithful then before he serves not with eye service but doth what he doth with singleness of heart as unto the Lord If he be a master it makes him more exemplary and makes him to take care that his Houshold should serve the Lord he had rather his servants should make bold with him then God he is concerned for the honour of God in his Family as much as his own if he be a Father he is careful to bring up his children for God he is more Spiritual in his affections to them and desirous to leave them God for their Father Friend Portion as he is a neighbour he follows peace with all men and holiness because he hath seen God How sweet and amiable doth acquaintance with God make a man how ready to heal divisions how full of goodness and charity how ready to do good unto all but especially to those that be of the Houshold of Faith how compassionate and tender-hearted how ready to provoke others also to love and good works so that the whole Parish lives the quieter all the poor fare the better all the neighbourhood some way or other is beholding to him one that knows God himself doth what he can to get others acquainted with God too how sweetly doth he commend the way of wisdom with what earnestness and pitty doth he plead with sinners and labour to teach transgressors the paths of God that sinners may be converted unto him How doth he set before them the necessity of a change the danger of their present state and the excellent qualities of this Friend that he would bring them acquainted with telling them that time was that he also was as they are and thought his condition as safe as they do their's but that it pleased the Lord by his word to open his eyes and to reveal to him the need that he had of Christ and to inable him to accept of him and to prize him above the whole world In all conditions and relations he commends Religion and shews that godliness where it is in the power and life of it is a brave thing which makes so great an alteration in a man for the better If he be sick he rejoyceth and thinks cheerfully of death the grave and Eternity and in this state demeans himself so that standers-by can't but be convinced of the reality of invisibles and to think sure there is something more then ordinary in acquaintance with God which makes men so undaunted and with so much gallantry to meet death sure their condition is better then ours or else they could never be so joyful at such a time as this is Then he tells of the use of a Christ the benefit of a Redeemer in a dying hour and how infinitely it is for their interest in Time to provide for Eternity if he be well he desires to improve his health for God and to serve his Maker with the strength of Body and Soul If he be poor he shews a pattern of Patience Meekness Thankfulness and lets the world understand that godliness with content is great gain if he be rich he desires to be rich in good works also and to trade with such trifles as Gold and Silver for rich commodities as Grace Peace and Glory with the things of this world for the things of another To lay up for himself Treasure which neither Moth can corrupt nor Thieves break through and steal and to make to himself a Friend of the unrighteous Mammon to be a Faithful steward of those Talents that his great Lord and Master hath committed to his trust he shows how great a good it is to be great and good too This is the man which doth adorn the Gospel this is the Christian which doth credit his profession this t is to be intimately acquainted with God! O how useful might men and women be in their generations were they but more in Gods company O what a savour would there be of their Graces in the place where they live How
projects signifie Is this friendship Can you mean any good by all this What do you say of your condition Do you ever complain and that feelingly of your enemy against God Did you ever observe what a desperate wicked spirit you have against your Maker and were you ever made sensible of the danger of such a state and ashamed and grieved to the very soul that you should ever engage against so good a God why then I am confident you can't but cry out with all the strength and earnestness of your soul for a peace you can't but desire to meet with your adversary quickly while he is in the way But if you see nothing at all of the Treachery and Baseness that is in your heart search and search again it 's your Ignorance and Blindness and not the goodness of your state that makes you to know nothing by your self What are you better than David he was so jealous of his own heart that he dared not to trust to his own Examination of it but he desires the great Heart-searcher to help him in this work Are you more excellent than Paul after his Conversion Had he more reason to complain of himself than you have O be at leisure to look within and get Davids Candle and Lanthorn to go into those dark corners of your soul with it and it may be you may see that within which may make your heart to ake and your joynts to quiver and your spirits to faint within you Paul was sometime as confident as you he took no notice of the Enmity that was within against God though he was as full of it as an Asp is of Poyson yet before he came acquainted with God the case was altered with him he was of another mind when that light shined about him he cried out Lord what wilt thou have me to do he now thinks it is hard kicking against the Pricks dangerous opposing of God and persecuting of Christ in any of his Members and he desires nothing in the world so much as to be reconciled to God and to have him for his friend whom before he fought against as an Enemy II. DIRECTION My next Direction to those which would be acquainted with God shall be this Get an humble heart which is the consequent of the former God will exalt none to this high honour of being his Friends but such as have low Thoughts of themselves The humble are the persons that he will raise these are they that he will converse most with these are the great Favourites of Heaven which God doth delight to honour Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them which are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit God is nigh to them with Reverence be it spoken God takes so much complacency in the company of such that he can't endure to have them far from him he must have them always nigh to him always under his eyes as for these broken ones he will to be sure not leave them long not go far from them but will be ready at hand to set their bones to bind up their wounds to keep them from sestering It may be he may put them to much pain before he brings the Cure to perfection but it is to prevent future Aches He is a foolish cruel Chirurgeon who for fear of putting his Patient to some pain never searcheth the wound but skins it over presently and a wise man will not think him unmerciful that puts him to exquisite pain so he make a through Cure of it Thus God doth by his Patients sometimes when the nature of their Distemper calls for it But however he will be sure not to be out of the way when they want him most It 's possible they may look upon themselves as forgotten by God they may not know their Physician when he is by them and they may take their Friend for an Enemy they may think God far oft when he is near but when their eyes are opened and their distemper is pretty well worn off they will with shame and thankfulness acknowledge their Error nay they do from their souls confess that they do not deserve the least look of Kindness from God but to be counted strangers and enemies but God will let them know that he loves to act like himself that is like a God of Love Mercy and Goodness and that they are the persons that he hath set his heart upon he will have them in his Bosome never leave them nor forsake them and though these contrite ones many times look upon themselves as lost yet God will save them and they shall sing a Song of thankfulness amongst his delivered ones Again the Sacrifices of God are a broken heart A broken and a contrite Spirit O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 The proud sinner he may bring his stalled Oxen multitudes of Rams and Sheep und his Rivers of Oyl and yet all this while not be accepted There is another kind of Sacrifice that would be ten thousand times more acceptable to God We read that Sacrifices have been despised Prayers long Prayers have been rejected Sabbaths New-Moons and Solemn Assemblies the Lord hath sometimes abhorred but we never read that he despised the Sacrifice of an humble heart the Prayers of such always have an answer one way or other their poor performances their chatterings and mournings are sweet melody and powerful Rhetorick in Gods ear Who are the men that have most of Gods company who are they which he doth most frequently visit Are they not such as look upon themselves as the chiefest of sinners These are they which are wrapped up into the third Heaven None have so much of Heaven upon Earth as those that wonder that the Earth doth not swallow them up and that they are not in Hell But O saith the humble Soul God is the high and mighty God and infinite in his Holiness and Justice how then can such a Creature as I ever expect that he should so much as cast his eye upon me Yes sweet soul such is the infinite condescension and goodness of God that he will sooner look upon thee than another And if you can't credit my words here what he speaks himself Isa 7.15 Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of my contrite ones The thoughts of Gods Majesty Eternity and Holiness may and with good reason too awe that Soul that hath low thought of it self Every sinner hath cause enough to cry out with astonishment Will God look upon such a vile sinful wretch as I am Will he that is infinite in holiness take any notice of me except to shew his displeasure against me What shall I do sure such a creature as I can't without a miracle have a
in them 1 John 2.15 Whence is it that so few great ones go to Heaven and that it is next to impossible for such to be saved Is it not because they have chosen Mammon for their Friend rather than God He hath their heart their Love their Time their Service and they have little to spare for God therefore God hath but a little happiness a little heaven a short glory for them they shall have but a little of his sweet company little Acquaintance with him Why doth James speak so terribly to the rich men bid them go and weep and howl was it not because their riches were like to undoe them Did the wealthy man in the Parable live ever the longer for his riches or fare ever the better for his greatness when he came into another world There is no question but he might have more flatterers there is no doubt but he hath more worldly Friends but bring me a man upon the Earth that lets his heart without controle fly upon the world cleaves to it and takes it to be his best friend that knows God that 's acquainted with his Maker that prizeth his Redeemer It was a wise man who said that it 's absolutely impossible to mind externals and internals this world and another with earnestness at the same time but it was wisdom it self who said That no Servant can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other he cannot serve God and Mammon Mat. 5.24 c. 3. Take heed of Hypocrisie Who are the persons that God doth denounce his dreadful threatnings against Are they not such as honour him with their Lips when their Hearts is far from him With what Abhorrency doth he look upon such and all that they do Isa 1. They never bring their heart to visit God with and therefore they have little reason to expect that he should bring his Dainties to entertain them with 4. If you would be acquainted with God take heed of being acquainted with wicked company We read that many wicked men have fared the better for the company of the godly but we scarce ever heard that any godly man ever fared the better for being in the company of the wicked except they went on Gods Errand amongst them This is clear in the case of Lot who first lost his goods and was made a Captive by being in Sodom and though they were restored to him again for a while one would have thought that should have been a fair warning how he came again into such company yet because that would not do a while after you may read how dear Lot paid for dwelling in Sodom Poor man he lost all that he had and was fain to fly away without either Flocks or Herds and little more than his cloathes on his back and that which was more sad to leave some of his own dear Relations behind him roasting in those dismal flames Whereas had he never come to Sodom or upon the sight of their wickedness speedily left them it had been much better with him in many respects Jehosaphat fared never the better for joyning in affinity with his wicked Neighbours it had like to have cost him his life But were it only loss of Temporals that a man hazarded by such society the danger were not so considerable but the peril is greater than so for by it they make God stand at a distance they must never look to have such company and Gods company both together I mean when they do unnecessarily or delightfully converse with God If therefore you intend to be acquainted with God you must not have them always in your company whom he hates and which hate him and will labour all they can to cool your affections towards him Wherefore be ye not unequally yoaked with unbelievers For what Fellowship hath Righteousness with unrighteousness And what communion hath light with darkness And what concord hath Christ with Belial Or what part hath he that believeth with an Infidel And what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6.14 to the end But I would not here be mistaken as if I would commend an ungodly proud separation from all that are not just of our mind or as if a man ought to have nothing at all to do with wicked men no no Every one ought to do what he can in his place for the good of Souls O that Christians would thus converse more with their poor ignorant carnal Christless neighbours O that they would thus be more acquainted with the wicked and then they should have never the less of Gods company but the more but it is an unnecessary delightful associating of our selves with them that I mean especially such of them which will stifle every spiritual discourse and divert you from any thing that tends to the promoting of the interest of Religion and such as have frequently expressed their detestation of the way of Holiness and make but a mock at your serious Counsels stop their ears so who some Advice or make some undecent reflections upon the strict prosession of godliness such as labour to make you believe that all Religion but that which will consist with their wickedness is but a Fansie As for such as those abhor their company fly from them as those that have the plague the marks of death are upon them and you may write Lord have mercy upon us upon their doors but go not in lest you be Infected 5. If you would be acquainted with God take heed of unbelief Unbelief will make your soul depart from God and God quite to depart from your soul This This is one of those dreadful and God-estranging sins which leads on whole Legions against the Almighty This is that bold daring sin which gives Truth it self the lye and saith That the Word of God is false his Promises airy his Threatnings but a Wind But know this O sinner such a wind they be that will rise to a dreadful storm and turn your strong confidence up by the roots and blow them into Hell if you make no more of them than you do 6. If you would be acquainted with God beware of sensuality To be sensual and devillish are near akin To be lovers of pleasures and haters of God are usually concomitants in a word to fare deliciously every day and to be despised of God are no strange things But I wave the further prosecution of these things because they are so largely and