considerations should be propounded to us as it is easie to shew that eternal things are far better than temporal and spiritual things than carnal if Conscience I say should come in and represent the ill state wherein we are yet because the poyse of our hearts doth customarily carry us another way we are not inclined to God or to the concernments of eternal life for it is not argument meerly will do it In a pair of scales though the weights be equalâ⦠yet if the scales be not equal there may be wrong done so though the argument be never so powerful yet if the heart that weighs them be customarily engaged and carried away with the momentany and cursory delights of the flesh alas these will sway us and affect us more than all those pure everlasting delights we may enjoy by communion with God In all reason a lesser good should not be preferred before a greater And worldly delights which are not only base and dreggy but also short and vanishing and the occasion of much evil to us these should not be preferred before eternal happiness But here lies our misery though the pleasures which affect us be less in themselves yet our habitual propension and customary inclination to them is greater Look as in a pair of Ballances though the weight of the one side be lesser yet if the scales be not even and equal pendent if the beam be longer on the one side than the other the lesser weight on the longer side of the beam will over-poize the greater weight on the shorter side So while the soul is perverted by evil customs and the heart doth hang more to temporal things than to spiritual and eternal certainly there must be something from above that must determine us Mans heart can never be sway'd until the Lord joins the assistance of his grace 3. There is Gods curse or penal hardness For as nature groweth into a custom so by our sinful customs God is provoked and doth withdraw those common influences of grace by which our condition might be bettered and in justice he gives up our hearts to their own sway Hos. 4. 17. Ephraim is joined to Idols let him alone Psal. 81. 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels So that we have not those frequent checks and gripes of Conscience those warnings and good thoughts as before Let him alone Providence let him alone Conscience let him alone and the sinner is left to his own will Therefore out of all the work remaineth to be Gods alone who only hath authority to pardon and power to cure the distempers of our hearts he hath authority to take off that judicial hardness which he as a Judg may continue upon us and which the Saints deprecate in these forms of speeches Incline my heart to thy testimonies c. And so he hath power to take off the natural and customary hardness which is in us For the heart of man is in his hand as the rivers of water Prov. 21. 1. and can as easily draw us out to good as water followeth when the Trench is cut But what needeth more arguing in the case David saith here Lord incline mine heart And 1 King 8. 58. The Lord be with us that he may incline our hearts unto him to walk in all his ways and keep his commandment It is Gods work alone to bend the crooked stick the other way But you will say This work sometimes is ascribed to man for instance ver 112. of this Psalm I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end And Ioshua chap. 24. 23. Incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel I answer these places do only note our subordinate operation or the voluntary motion and resolution on our part When God hath bent us and inclined us to do his will when God hath made our love to act and poise us to that which is spiritual and good then we do incline we bend our hearts this way So that all these expressions do not imply a co-ordinate but subordinate operation on mans part Fifthly In this change there is a weakning of the old inclination to carnal vanities and there 's a new bent and frame of heart bestowed upon us The heart is taken off from the love of base objects and then fixed upon that which is good Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart c. First there 's a circumcising a paring away of the fleshliness of the heart then an unfeigned love to God So Ezek. 36. 26 27. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes First the untowardness of the will and affections is removed and then a heart is given to us which is tractable and pliable for gracious purposes First the weeds are plucked up then we are planted wholly with a right seed Or first we cast off the Old-man then put on the new Ephes. 4. 22 23. The natural inbred corruption which daily grows worse and worse is more and more done away as we cast off the old rotten garment when we put on new Sixthly When our hearts are thus changed they are ever and anon apt to return to the old bent and byass again For David a renewed man he doth thus speak to God O Lord incline my heart to thy testimonies and not unto covetousness He found his heart bowing and warping back again and being sensible of the distemper he complains of it to God The inclination that is in them to evil is not so lost to the best of Gods children but it will return unless God still draw us after him The Spouse saith Cant. 1. 4. Draw me and we will run after thee The Spouse of Christ those that were already taken into communion with him they say Draw me This is not a work to be done once and no more but often to be renewed and repeated in the soul for there are some reliques of our natural averseness from God and enmity to the yoke of his word yet left in the heart Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit There are two active Principles within us and they are always warring one upon another Therefore there is need not only to be inclined at first and drawn towards God but we must go to him again and again and pray to him daily that he would continue the bent of our hearts right and weaken carnal affections that we may mind better things USE 1. The Use is to set you right in point of doctrine as to the necessity of grace to bring us into a state of doing God's will because some do grant the necessity of grace in words but in deed they make it void Pelagius at first gave all to Nature acknowledged no
suppose command us the contrary forbid us all respect to himself commanding us to worship false Gods transform and misrepresent his Glory by Images and fall down before Stocks and Stones blaspheme his Name continually and despise all those glorious Attributes which do so clearly shine forth in the Creation if he had commanded us to be impious to our Parents to fill the World with Murders Adulteries Robberies to pursue others with Slanders and False-witnessings to covet and take what is another Mans Wife Ox or Ass the heart of Man cannot allow such a Conceit nay the fiercest Beasts would abhor it if they were capable of receiving such an Impression Now surely a Law so reasonable so evident so conducing to the honouring of God Government of our selves and Commerce with others should be very welcom and acceptable to a gracious Heart 2. The State and Frame of a renewed Heart they are fitted and suited to these Commandments and do obey them not onely because injoyned but because inclined Nothing is pleasant to Men but what is suitable to their Nature so that may be delightful to one which is loathsom to another as the Food and Converse of a Beast is loathsom to a Man one Mans Pleasure is anothers Pain There is a great deal of difference between a carnal and a spiritual Mind the Heart sanctified and unsanctified Ezek. 36. 26 27. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and keep my judgments to do them When the Heart is fitted and suited by Principles of Grace the Work is not tedious but delightful Things are easie and difficult according to the poise and inclination of the Soul so Heb. 8. 10. I will write my laws upon their hearts and put them into their minds The Law without suiteth with an Inclination within and when things meet which are suitable to one another there is a delight Psal. 40. 8. Thy law is in my heart I delight to do thy will O God There is an Inclination not Necessary as in Natural Agents but Voluntary as in Rational Agents There is an Inclination in Natural Agents as in light Bodies to move upwards heavy Bodies to move downwards in Rational Agents when a Man is bent by his Love and Choice This latter David speaketh of Psal. 119. 36. Encline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness The Heart of Man standeth between two Objects the Laws of God and Carnal Vanities In our Natural estate we are wholly bent to please the Flesh in our Renewed Estate there is a new bent put upon the Heart now the old bent is not wholly gone though overmastered and overpowered The false Bias of Corruption will still incline us to the Delights of Sense but the new Bias to the way everlasting to spiritual eternal Happiness as that prevaileth we love and delight in the Commandments of God 3. The Helps and Assistances of the Spirit go further and increase this Delight in the way of God's Commandments God doth not onely renew our Wills and fit us with an inward power to do the things that are pleasing in his sight but exciteth and actuateth that Power by the renewed Influences of his Grace Phil. 2. 13. He giveth us to will and to do not onely a Will or an urging and inclination to do good but because of the opposition of the Flesh and manifold Temptations he gives also a Power to perform what we are inclined unto And where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. or a readiness of Mind to perform all things required of us not onely with diligence but delight 4. The great encouragements which attend Obedience as the Rewards of Godliness both in this Life and the next The Rewards of Godliness in this Life I shall speak of in the next Head for the Future the End sweetens the Means to us We have no mean End but the eternal Enjoyment of God in a complete state of Glory and Happiness Now this hath an influence upon the Love and Delight of the Saints to sweeten their Labours and Difficulties and Temptations The Scripture every where witnesseth 1 Cor. 15. 58. Therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Phil. 3. 14. I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus Rom. 5. 2. We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God And Rom. 8. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us 5. Present comfortable Experience 1. In the general of Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost 1. Peace which is the natural result of the Rectitude of our Actions The fruit of righteousness is peace Isa. 32. 17. And Psal. 119. 165. Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them Pax est tranquillitas ordinis That Description fits internal Peace as well as external When all things keep their Order Affections are obedient to Reason and Reason is guided by the Spirit of God according to his Word there is a Quiet and Rest from Accusations in the Soul 2. Joy in the Holy Ghost is distinct from the former Rom. 14. 17. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost These two differ in the Author Peace of Conscience is the Testimony of our own Souls approving the good we have done Joy in the Holy Ghost is a more immediate Impression of the comforting Spirit Rom. 15. 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the holy Ghost They differ in their Measure Peace is a Rest from Trouble Joy a sweet Reflexion upon our good condition or happy estate It is in the Body a freedom from a Disease and a chearfulness after a good Meal or in the State Peace when no Mutinies and Disturbances Joy when some notable Benefit or Profit accrueth to the State So here they differ in their Subjects the Heathen so far as they did good might have a kind of Peace or Freedom from self-accusing and tormenting Fears Rom. 2. 15. Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts in the mean time excusing or else accusing one another but a stranger intermedleth not with these joys The Spirit where a Sanctifier there he is a Comforter They differ in the Ground The Joy of the holy Ghost is not meerly from a good Conscience as to a particular Action but from a good Estate as being accepted with God who is our Supreme Judge and assured
to you as bodily refreshment to a weary panting Traveller or water to one that is in a great thirst This is that the heart mindeth most studieth most remembreth most that you never have enough of it and are longing for more If there be such an affection it is a good sign for sensitive stirring is not so great an evidence as a setled constitution of Spirit 3. These holy desires as they have something of burthen so something of pleasure in them Though the absence of the thing desired be a trouble yet the exercise of holy desire is a pleasure to us because it is an act of love the more our hearts are enlarged in them the greater it is even before satisfaction While we are hungring and thirsting we are blessed It is a blessed thing to be a Desirer Matth. 5. 6. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled 3. This is a desire which God will satisfie Psal. 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Isai. 44. 3. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground This insatiate thirst of Grace and comfort shall be satisfied Iohn 7. 37 38. In the last day the great day of the feast Iesus stood and cryed saying If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that believeth on me as the Scripture saith out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living water The soul is prepared by it for fruition Isai. 55. 1. Hoe every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price If we would get it First We must get a new heart which is the soul of these desires and is Gods promised gift in the Covenant Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh Secondly Mortifie and moderate your affections to the World and worldly things and meddle sparingly with the comforts thereof otherwise your hearts will be apt immoderately to leak out after them to the interruption of the spiritual life SERMON CXLV PSAL. CXIX VER 132. Look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do to those that love thy name THE Prophet having praised the Word and expressed his affection to it presents his Petition to God for a favourable look from him upon the account of his Grace and mercy according to the manner and law of his dispensations towards others of his people They that love the word may with the like confidence expect the Grace of God Observe in the Words I. The Petition or favour asked Look thou upon me II. The ground of asking or the cause of that favour And be merciful unto me III. The terms according to which it is dispensed As thou usest to do secundum judicium according to the Law or according to thy custome towards those that love thy Name IV. The description of Gods people They love his name These are the especial objects of Grace and Favour I shall explain the words as I go over the several Branches I. I begin with the Petition Look thou upon me The Septuagint reads it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Other Translations Aspice me or respice me Ainsworth Turn thy face unto me Psal. 26. 16. Turn thou unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted God seemeth now and then to turn away from his people in their distresses to turn the back upon them and not the face as it is Ier. 18. 17. I will scatter them as with an East-wind before the enemy I will shew them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity They had dealt so first with God Ier. 2. 17. Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way So David God might have seemed to have turned the back upon him Our Translation cometh to the same effect Look upon me Gods looking implyeth two things viz. His Favour and his Providence First His Favour as Isai. 66. 2. To this man will I look that is of a contrite heart that is I will be gracious unto him smile upon him give him evidences of my love Secondly His Providence The Providence of God is usually set forth by his eye Prov. 12. 3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good Now God hath a double eye an avenging eye and a gracious eye The avenging eye Amos 9. 4. I will set mine eyes upon them for evil and not for good The other 2 Chr. 16. 9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him Accordingly this act of looking is either First With a revengeful eye So upon their enemies 1 Chron. 12. 17. The God of our fathers look thereon and rebuke it 2 Chron. 24. 22. The Lord look thereon and requite it said Zachary the Son of Iehojadah the Priest This is the look of anger But Secondly There is the look of love and benign Aspect as Astrologers speak So Exod. 3. 7. I have surely seen the affliction of iny people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters for I know their sorrows And Lam. 3. 50. Till the Lord look down and behold from heaven So doth he beg here that God would look upon him with a gracious eye In this gracious Aspect two things are notable viz. His observation and his compassion First His observation He taketh notice of their condition and oppressed innocency Neh. 1. 6. Let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee now day and night What have eyes to do with hearing To behold their pitiful and desolate condition So 2 Sam. 16. 12. It may be that the Lord will look upon mine affliction and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day Secondly His compassion God doth take to heart the distresses of his people and hath a tender pity and compassion over them Psal. 25. 18. Look upon mine affliction and my pain He doth not only take notice of but take to heart their sorrows as appeareth by some gracious effect and deliverance wrought for them So looking implieth both his affection and actual Providence for them Doctr. The Children of God apprehend it as a great favour if he will but look upon them So saith David Look thou upon me Which request expresseth his modesty one short glimpse of Gods favour a look of kindness would be a great matter to him in this vale of tears A look is welcome to a broken and
efficacy of the word is a pledge of the truth of it 2. 'T is a Commodious Instrument for this End and Purpose for there is a Wisdom in all Gods Institutions He that looketh upon an Axe will say this is an instrument made to cut So he that looketh upon the Scriptures must needs say this is a means to purifie The Word is more Morally accommodated to work upon the heart of man then any other Instrument Means or Doctrine in the World Now the Word doth so commodiously serve for this purpose because there are 1. Such pure Precepts 2. Such pure Examples 3. Such great helps to Purity 4. Great encouragements to Purity 5. Such great Terrours to disswade men from sin 1. There are pure Precepts setting forth the Nature of that Purity that is pleasing to God and so on the one hand they serve to humble us for our natural filthiness for verum est Index sui et obliqui Truth sheweth it self and discovereth errour also Iam. 1. 23. 'T is such a pure Doctrine that it sheweth a man his natural face and discovers soul spots And on the other side by these Precepts and Doctrines we are urged and injoyned to seek after true Purity and Holiness of the right Constitution 1 Tim. 1. 5. The end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and a good Conscience and Faith unfeigned The Word telleth us God will be served and that he will be served with a pure heart the right End and Scope of the whole Law as 't is a Gospel Rule is love to God and Man flowing from a sincere and renewed heart and a good Conscience rightly informed of Gods Will and Faith unfeigned apprehending the Grace of God towards us in Christ our Redeemer So that you see there is required of us not only good Actions but good Principles and Ends. The Apostle telleth us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the work of the Law was written upon Mans heart Rom. 2. 14. Natural Conscience will take notice of some gross Acts urge to some external Conformity and show of Duty But the Word of God taketh notice not only of acts but the frame of the heart not only of sins but also of lusts If ever there were an instrument fitted to do a thing the Word is fitted to make men pure and holy Briefly then the Word requireth purity of Heart and Life that we should be pure in heart Matth. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God and pure in Life Blessed are the undefiled in the way Ps. 119. 1. you have both in one place Iam. 4. 8. Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your Hearts ye double minded both must be cleansed both heart and hands But we must first begin with the Heart The Heart is that polluted Fountain from whence floweth all the pollution of Life Matth. 15. 19. Out of the Heart proceed evil thoughts Murthers Adulteries Blasphemies c. 'T is in vain to cleanse the out-side unless the Heart be cleansed and therefore the Scripture presseth us to wash our hearts from wickedness Ier. 4. 14. There is the difficulty 'T is more easie to heal an outward wound than to stanch an inward bleeding and the cause is within The purity of the outside is loathsome to God unless the heart be cleansed 't is more easie to prevent disorders in our Conversations than to cleanse our hearts and therefore the Scripture mainly calleth upon you to purge out sin out of the heart Matth. 23. 26 27. Therefore the great design of the Word of God with which it travaileth is to get the heart clean as Elisha when he would cure the brackishness of the Waters cast falt into the Fountain so doth the Word of God seek to cleanse the hearts of men and all its wooings and pleadings and intreaties tend to this 2. There are pure Examples and Patterns we miscarry by low Examples and grow loose and careless seeing others to be so therefore the Word is still to keep us humble under our defects unsatisfied with our present measure always contending and striving towards the mark it propoundeth all manner of examples to us It propoundeth the example of God 1 Pet. 1. 15. Be ye holy as he that hath called you is Holy in all manner of Conversation God is holy in all his ways and Righteous in all his works and so should we be And the Scripture presseth us to be holy as Christ is holy 1 Iohn 3. 3. He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as Christ is pure 'T is impossible there should be an exact equality yet some answerable Conformity there should be God is essentially immutably infinitely holy He loveth himself so much as he can be loved His Essence and his Being is the same with his Holiness Our Holiness is a superadded Quality Gods Holiness is like a vessel of pure Gold where the substance is the same with the lustre but our holiness is like a vessel of Earth gilded with Gold the substance is one thing the varnish another But yet this God and Christ must ever be before our Eyes we must be holy as he is holy we must always be encreasing in holiness We must come into an abiding state of holiness There must be some kind of Conformity between God and us and Christ and us and head and members must be all of a piece He will shoot farther that aimeth at a Star than he that aimeth at a shrub So he will be more holy that doth as God doth than he that doth as sinful Creatures do like himself Nay the Scripture propoundeth the example of the Saints Heb. 6. 12. We need all kind of examples As we need high and glorious examples that we may not rest in any low degrees and beginnings of purity So lower examples that we may not be discouraged and think it impossible And therefore the Saints of God are propounded to us Men and Women of like affections with us the same natural interests and we the same grace with them the way to heaven is a troden path all along you may see the foot-steps of the Saints before you 3. The Scripture offereth great Helps to purity Christ dyed to purchase it for us Ephes. 5. 27. He gave himself for us that he might Sanctifie and Cleanse us by the washing of water through the Word And God hath promised to give this clean heart to them that seek after it and undertaketh to give what he requireth Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my judgements
as long as he sits still feels not the lameness of his joints but upon exercise 't is sensible Now these prayers are a profession of weakness upon a trial Rom. 7. 18. For to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not That presupposeth a search Not I cannot but I find not and then we run to prayer Every prayer is an acknowledgment of our weakness and dependance Who would ask that of another which he thinketh to be in his own power 3. That the Creature may express his readiness God will have us will though we cannot do It is true he giveth both Phil. 2. 13. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure But the one by preventing the other by assisting grace Rom. 7. 18. Though we are unable to do what we should yet it is the desire of our hearts Prayer is the expression of our desire When we heartily beg grace it is a sign the Commandment is not grievous but our lusts It much discovereth a mans heart what he counteth to be his bondage and the yoke 1 Ioh. 5. 3. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous Which do we groan under the burden of the Law or the body of death That is best seen by our heartiness in prayer 4. To bring us to lye at his feet God will be owned not only as a Law-giver but as a fountain of Grace The precept cometh from God to drive us to God his Soveraignty maketh way for his grace He calleth upon us for obedience that we may call upon him for help First he giveth us a Law that he may afterwards give us an heart Gods end is to bring us upon our knees As hard Providences conduce to bring God and us together so do hard Commandments Till we be reduced to a distress we never think seriously of dealing with God Use. It teacheth us what to do when we meet with any thing that is difficult and impossible to us as to repent believe to renounce a bewitching lust or perform a spiritual duty Two ways we are apt to miscarry in such a case either by murmuring against God as if he were harsh and austere and had reaped where he hath not sown and gathered where he hath not strewed or by casting off all out of a foolish despondency Cut at heart or else wax faint These are the two evils I shall never get rid of this naughty heart Or else we fret against God Prov. 19. 3. The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the Lord. Now to prevent these evils spread the case before the Lord in this manner 1 Acknowledg the debt God will keep up the sense of his Authority his command must be the reason of our care as well as his promise the ground of our hope 2 Confess your Impotency 2 Cor. 3. 5. Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God This is to empty the bucket before we go to the fountain When we are full of self there is no room for grace 3 Own Gods power Mat. 19. 26. But Iesus beheld them and saith unto them With men this is impossible but with God all things are possible The difficulties that we meet with in the way to Heaven should serve only to make us despair of our own strength and abilities not of Gods with whom nothing is impossible It is a relief to consider of the Divine power from whence we fetch all our supplies necessary to life and godliness 4 Deal with God earnestly about help The Command sheweth how pleasing such requests are to God and you own God not only as a Law-giver but Author of Grac. Do not come in a lukewarm careless fashion but Oh that my heart were directed Sluggish wishes will do no good you bespeak your own denial when you ask grace as a thing of course Ier. 31. 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God 2. The next thing that we may note is the serious desire that is in Gods people after Holiness Mark it is not a velleity but a volition Oh that noteth the vehemency and heartiness 'T is his first desire David had hitherto spoken assertively when he cometh to speak Supplications his first and chief request to God is Oh that my ways were directed c. Mark again It is not a desire of happiness but holiness not Oh that I were blessed but Oh that my ways were directed A mind to know a will to obey and a memory to keep in mind Gods precepts It is Practical holiness O that my ways God hath his ways They walk in his ways vers 3. And we have our ways Oh that my ways were directed That is all my thoughts counsels inclinations speeches actions were directed by thy statutes Every Commandment is a Royal Edict a statute which God hath made for the governing of the World Now the Saints have this desire of Holiness 1. From the new Nature that is in them The Appetite followeth the Nature Gal. 5. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Desires being the vigorous bent of the soul discover the temper of it The carnal nature puts forth its self in lustings so doth the new nature The main thing we have by grace is a new heart that is new loves new desires and new delights Rom. 8. 5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit 2. Out of love to God which implieth subjection and conformity to him Love to God is testified by a desire of subjection for his love is a love of bounty ours a love of duty 1 Ioh. 5. 3. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous It is the great desire of their souls that they may be subject to God As he that loveth would not offend the party loved so it is their desire to please God in all things And as Holiness implieth a conformity to God they study to be like him It is their hope their desire their care their hope 1 Iohn 3. 2. But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is It is their desire and care in every Ordinance 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And it
in present delights and contentments The loss of God's favour carnal men know not how to value but the Saints prefer it above life the favour of God is better than life Psal. 63. 3. therefore if the Lord do but suspend the wonted manifestations of his grace and favour how are their hearts troubled Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Psal. 30. 7. A child of God that lives by his favour cannot brook his absence therefore when they lose the sweet sense of his favour and reconciliation with him O what a trouble is this to their souls Other men make no reckoning of it at all And so for sin common spirits value it only by the damage that it doth to their worldly interests when it costs them dear they may hang the head Jer. 2. 9. Now know what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake the Lord. A worldly man may know something of the evil of sin in the effects of it but a child of God seeth into the nature of it they value it by the wrong by the offence that is done to God and so are humbled more for the evil in sin than for the evil after sin So for the wrath of God carnal men have gross thoughts of it and may howl upon their beds when their pleasant things are taken from them but God's children are humbled because their Father is angry they observe more the displeasure of God in afflicting Providences than others do and one spark of God's wrath lighting into their consciences O what sad effects doth it work more than all other straits whatsoever Thus they have a clearer understanding they see more into the dreadfulness of God's wrath into the evil of sin and they know how to prize and value his favour more than others 2. They have delicate and tender affections Grace that gives us a new heart doth also give us a soft heart Ezek. 36. 26. I will put a new heart into them what kind of heart a heart of flesh as the old heart that is taken out is a heart of stone A new soft heart doth sooner receive the impression of divine terror than another heart doth A stamp is more easily left upon wax or a soft thing than upon a stone Or thus a slave hath a thicker skin than one nobly born tenderly brought up therefore he is not so sensible of stripes A wicked man hath more cause to be troubled than a godly man but he is not a man of sense he hath a heart of stone and therefore is not so affected either with God's dealings with him or his dealings with God Look as the weight of the blows must not only be considered but the delicateness of the constitution so because their hearts are of a softer and more tender constitution being hearts of flesh and receptive of a deeper impression therefore their sorrows exceed the sorrows of other men Thirdly The good that they expect is exceeding great and their exercise is accordingly for after the rate of our comforts so are our afflictions Wicked men that have nothing to expect in the World to come but horrors and pains they wallow now in ease and plenty Luk. 16. 25. Son in thy life-time thou receivedst thy good things God will be behind-hand with none of his creatures those that do him common service have common blessings in a larger measure than his own people have they have their good things that is such as their hearts chuse and affect But now good men that expect another happiness they must be content to be harras'd and exercis'd that they may be fitted and prepared for the enjoyment of this happiness As the stones that were to be set in the Temple were to be hewn and squar'd so are they to be hewn squar'd and exercised with bitter and sharp things that they may be prepared for the more glory USE 1. Then carnal men are not fit to judg of the Saints when they report their experiences if it be with them above the rate of other men When afflicted consciences speak of their wounds or revived hearts of their comforts their joys are supernatural and so are their sorrows and therefore a natural man thinks all to be but fancy all those joys of the Spirit that they are but Fanatick delusions and he doth not understand the weight of their sorrows When a man is well to see to and hath health strength and wealth they marvel what should make such a man heavy all their care is to eat drink and be merry and therefore because they are not acquainted with the exercises of a feeling conscience they think all this trouble is but a little mopishness and melancholy Poor contrite sinners who are ready to weep out their hearts at their eyes can only understand such expressions as these My soul melteth away for heaviness There 's another manner of thing in trouble of conscience than the carnal world doth imagine and many that have all well about them great Estates much befriended and esteemed in the world yea for the best things yet when God hides his face poor souls how are they troubled If he do but let a spark of his wrath into conscience and hide his face from them it 's a greater burden to them than all the miseries of the world David was a man valiant that had a heart as the heart of a Lyon 2 Sam. 17. 10. He was a man cheerful called the sweet Singer of Israel 2 Sam. 23. 1. of a ruddy sanguine complexion and a great Master of Musick He was no fool but a man wise as the Angel of God and yet you see what a bitter sense he had of his spiritual condition And when a man so stout and valiant so cheerful so wise complains so heavily will you count this mopishness and foolish melancholy But alas men that never knew the weight of sin cannot otherwise conceive of it they were never acquainted with the infiniteness of God nor power of his anger and have not a due sense of Eternity therefore they think so slightly of these matters of the spiritual life USE 2. Be not too secure of spiritual joys We warn you often of security or falling asleep in temporal comforts and we must warn you of this kind of security also in spiritual All things change You may find David in this Psalm in a different posture of spirit sometimes rejoycing in the Word of God above all riches and at other times his soul melteth away for very heaviness God's own people are liable to great trouble of spirit therefore you should not be secure as to these spiritual enjoyments which come and go according to God's pleasure Men that build too much upon spiritual suavities or sensible consolations occasion a snare to their own souls partly as they are less watchful for the present like Mariners which have been at Sea when they get into the Haven take down their tackling and make merry and think never to see
he hath begun Phil. 1. 16. The Apostle most notably sets it forth 1 Pet. 5. 10. The God of all grace make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you All these words concern the habit or the seed of grace in the soul and to shew Gods concurrence towards our preservation in the spiritual state he useth these words Make you perfect that notes the addition of degrees that are yet wanting stablish you that notes defending that grace which is already planted in the heart from temptation and dangers and strengthen you that is give you power for action or ability for working and settle you that is to fasten the root more and more All may be represented in a Tree look as a Tree grown downward in the root is defended from the nipping of the weather and stablisht and strengthned against injuries from beasts and being fill'd with sap springs forth and becomes fruitful so the Lord settle you c. 3. There 's a concurrence of God to the act Grace in habit is not enough but it must be actuated and directed About the act there are two things The Holy Spirit actuates the grace that is implanted draws it forth into exercise so it is said Phil. 2. 13. It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do that is he does apply that grace in our heart set it awork and then there 's a directing or regulation of the soul to action 2 Thes. 3. 5. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God c. Thus God plants grace in the heart by preventing us with his mercy and loving-kindness taking us into favour then he doth stablish us and perfect it root it in the soul more and more Then as to the act he doth excite and strengthen us Secondly The uses for which we have this strength from God It serves for three Uses for doing for suffering and for conflicting to bear us out in conflict as our necessities are many so must our strength be 1. Strength to perform duties Weariness and uncomfortableness will soon fall upon our hearts and we shall hang off from God if the Lord doth not put forth a new force and a new quickning upon our hearts therefore the Spouse saith Cant. 1. 4. Draw me and we will run after thee And here in this Psalm When the Lord shall enlarge my heart I will run the ways of his commandments If we would be carried on with any fervour and motion towards God we must go forth in the strength of God The soul is a tender thing and soon discomposed When we think to go forth and shake our selves as at other times as Sampson we shall find fetters and restraints upon our soul. Therefore God's work must ever be done in God's strength 2. Strength for bearing of burdens with patience that we may not faint under them Col. 1. 11. Strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness That we may not faint under our affliction Prov. 24. 10. If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small God's children before they go to Heaven will have their tryals they will have many burdens upon them Heb. 6. 12. Be ye followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises There needs not only faith but patience There will be trouble Now a heavy burden need have good shoulders We pray for strength that we may break through difficulties and afflictions that we meet in our passage to heaven 3. Strength for conflicts that we may break through temptations A Christian is not only to use the Trowel but the Sword We cannot think to discharge duties or bear afflictions without a battel and conflict therefore we need the strength of the Lord's grace to carry us through Satan is the great enemy with whom we conflict he is the manager of the temptation This is the course of it the World is the bait the Flesh is the Traitor that works within men which gives advantage to Satan the Devil lyeth hidden and by worldly things seeks to draw off our hearts from God Now we are assaulted on every side sometimes by the pleasures of the world sometimes by the frowns and crosses of it so that a Christian needs to be fit for all conditions Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me for every way will the Devil be inticing us to sin Now these Conflicts are either solicitations to sin or tend to weaken our comfort and in both respects we must have strength from God Satan's first temptation is to draw us to sin if he cannot weaken grace then to disturb our comfort if not to deny God yet that we may suspect our own estate and therefore he follows us with blasphemies and other temptations until he hath made our lives wearisome till we call our condition into question and therefore as grace is strengthned so is comfort Neh. 8. 11. The joy of the Lord is your strength Thus I have shew'd what is this spiritual strength and what we beg of God when we say Strengthen me And how this is given out in what manner God conveyeth this strength to the soul how sutable to our nature to our temper to our employment Thirdly How God is concerned in it David goes to God for this benefit Lord strengthen me From first to last he doth all We do not stand by the stability of our own resolutions nor stand by the stability of gracious habits in our selves unless the Lord supply new strength Not by the stability of our own resolutions for these will soon fail for David was under a resolution to keep close to God yet he saith My feet had well nigh slipt what upheld him Thy right hand upheld me I was mightily shaken all purposes of holding on of godliness were even gone but I am continually with thee Neither is it the stability of gracious habits in themselves for of themselves they are poor vanishing things faith love and fear of God of themselves will soon vanish Rev. 3. 2. Be watchful strengthen the things which remain that are ready to dye These are ready to dye therefore are only maintained by a renewed strength from God It is the power of God that is engaged in our preservation I might shew in what order we have this from God we are not only kept in general by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. but all the persons work The Father his act is Judicial Eph. 3. 14. I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ that he would grant you to be strengthned with might in the inner man He issueth the grant that such souls coming in Christ's name and petitioning relief should obtain it And God the Son hath bought this strength for us and he intercedes for constant supply and therefore it is said Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things through Christ. Christ puts in
grace to them is an argument why he will give more grace to them Two things will be here discussed 1. The necessity of the efficacious assistance of grace that we may walk worthy of God in all well-pleasing 2. How acceptable a frame of heart it is when we are once brought to delight in the ways of God Doct. 1. For the first That God from first to last doth make us to go in the path of his Commandments David was a renewed man a man that had gotten his heart into a good frame for he owneth his delight in the paths of Gods Commandments yet he begs for new strength and quickning Make me to go Lead or walk me Sept. First That at first conversion God maketh us go in the path of his Commandments that 's clear by Scripture for it is said Ephes. 2. 10. That we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them When we are renewed we are as it were created over again there is a power given us that we had not before to do this work Clearly the Apostle doth not speak there of the first Creation the end of our first Creation was to serve God but he speaks of supernatural renovation for he saith We are created in Christ Iesus There was a twofold Creation at first Ex nihilo ex inhabili materia either that which God created out of nothing or if out of pre-existent matter yet such as was wholly unfit and indisposed for those things that were to be made of it Now this latter suits with us We are created in Christ Iesus to good works that is we were altogether indisposed before to that which is good We have our natural powers but they are wholly vitiously inclined till the Lord worketh on us and infuseth a principle of new life till then we cannot do any thing that is spiritually good But when the Lord createth us anew he furnisheth us with an inward power and ability to do good What David prays for Make me to go in the way of thy commandments God promiseth Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes God puts his spirit a new principle of grace When the Gospel is proposed to a man his will must be determined by something either by an object or a quality not by the proposal meerly of the object without for the Scripture shews there must be some work upon the heart some Divine quality infused within to incline and bend us to what is good Well then first there must be an infusion of the principles of grace In sinning there the mischief began with an act Adam sinned and that infected his nature But in grace the method is contrary the principle must be before the action God first sanctifieth our natures and then we act holily and this difference there is between acquired and infused habits Acquired habits follow action for frequent acts beget an habit as often swimming makes us expert in swimming and much writing expert in writing but gracious habits are infused and so preceed the act as a wheel runs round not to make it self round but because it is round Indeed there is a farther radication of grace by frequent acts as the means which God blesseth Now by this first work of grace we have three advantages 1. An inclination and tendency towards what is good As all natures imply a propensity to those things which agree to such a nature As sparks fly upward and a stone moves downward it 's their natural propensity so in the new nature there 's a new bent and tendency of heart which is to live unto God Gal. 2. 19. there 's an inclination towards God and holy things and therefore the Apostle presseth them by virtue of this grace received to act according to the tendency of the new nature Rom. 6. 13. Yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead that 's his argument As soon as the life of grace is infused the soul bends towards God 2. A preparation of heart for holy actions There is a principle that will carry them to it These Vessels are fitted and prepared for their Master's use and are prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. 2. 21. they are fitted and rigged for all holy actions and employments Eph. 2. 10. Created unto good works which God hath prepared that we should walk in them He hath prepared them for us and us to them There is a sutableness in the new nature to what God requireth As every creature is furnished with power and faculties sutable to those operations that belong to them so when the Lord infuseth the principles of grace and works upon the heart we are suited to every good work so that we need not new faculties but new operations of grace to excite and move us A ship that 's rigged and fitted with sails ready for a voyage needs a Pilot to guide and steer it so we need influences of grace Therefore when the Spirit is shed upon us afterwards it is in another manner than upon the unregenerate The unregenerate are objects of grace but the renewed are instruments of grace he works upon the one but he works by the other 3. There is a power and an ability to do good works when we are renewed if otherwise one of God's most precious gifts would be in vain if we were altogether without strength That 's the description of carnal nature Rom. 5. 6. We were without strength therefore there is a power which must be improved not rested in Gal. 5. 25. If ye live in the spirit walk in the spirit There is an operation that accompanieth every life and if there be a life of grace there will be a walking And Col. 2. 6. As ye have received Christ so walk in him Grace received must not lye idle but be put forth into act Thus God creates and infuseth such divine qualities as may give us a tendency and preparation of heart and strength to do that which may be pleasing to him Secondly He vouchsafeth his quickning actuating assisting grace for the improving these principles infused that their operations may be carried forth with more success Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes God gives not only life but the constant motion of that life Natural things do not act without his daily Providential influence and therefore it is said Prov. 20. 12. God gives the hearing ear and the seeing eye not only doth give the eye and ear the faculty but the act of hearing and act of seeing he concurs to that and therefore God concurs by his actual assistance sometimes in a more liberal and plentiful manner by the freer aids and assistances of his grace and sometimes more sparingly according to his own pleasure He doth not only give us the habits of grace he worketh all
that 's no fault of our Portion but the defect of our Capacity Though we have not that fulness that we shall have hereafter yet we have it initially Here we have the First-fruits have it virtually hope and look for it there is something begun in the Soul that will increase towards this Satisfaction certainly this is a Portion that can alone be possest with Content God is satisfied with himself and sufficient to his own Happiness therefore surely there is enough in him to fill the Creature That which fills an Ocean will fill a Bucket that which will fill a Gallon will fill a Pint those Revenues that will defray an Emperours Expences are enough for a Beggar or Poor man So when the Lord himself is satisfied with himself and it is his happiness to enjoy himself there needs no more there is enough in God to satisfy If our desires run out after other things they are desires not to be satisfied but to be mortified If we hunger after other Contentments they are like feverish desires not to be satisfied but to be abated in the Soul for he that fills all things hath enough to fill up our Hearts Sixthly Complacency and Delight That which a Man would take pleasure in there where he may have abundant matter of rejoycing and Delight this a Man would choose for his Portion Now in God he hath the truest and sincerest Delight This is matter of rejoycing as David saith Psal. 16. 7. The Lord is my Portion what then I have a goodly Heritage here 's that which will revive and refresh my Heart enough There is no rejoycing that is sincere but this As the Discomforts of the New Creature are more real than all other Discomforts and pierce deeper a wounded Spirit who can bear so the Joyes of the New Creature none goe so deep Psal. 4. 6. Thou hast put more gladness into my heart c. Others do but tickle the Senses a little refresh the outward Man please the more bruitish part but this the Heart And this is such a joy as can be better felt than uttered 2 Pet. 1. 8. It is unspeakable and none can know the strength and sweetness of it till it be felt a Stranger cannot conceive it doth not intermeddle with his joy Prov. 14. 10. One drop of this is more than an Ocean of carnal Pleasure When we have other things without God we can never be serious Take the merriest Blades in the World and dig them to the bottom still there is something of sadness and remorse that doth sowre all their Content Conscience is secretly repining and ready to imbitter their Joy Though men strive to bear it down yet it 's ever returning upon them therefore they cannot be truly chearfull The most jolly Sinners have their Pangs that take off the edge of their Bravery Carnal Rejoycing makes a great noise like Thorns under a Pot but it 's but a blaze and gone But this is a solid Joy and Comfort wherewith a Man may look death in the face with chearfulness and think of the World to come and not be sad Alas a little thing puts the merriest Sinner into the Stocks of Conscience He that makes it his business to adde one Pleasure to another and spend his days in vanity how soon is his Mirth removed Therefore if a Man would choose a Portion to have Joy at the higest Rate he should choose God for his Portion II. How comes a godly Man to look upon God under this Notion that no less will content him but God himself why he hath another apprehension and another manner of heart to close with him than carnal Men his Understanding is inlightned and his Heart inclined by Grace 1. He sees more into the worth of Spiritual and Heavenly Things He hath Faith which is the Evidence of things not seen of things that do not lie under the judgment of Sense and present Reason he can spy things under a Vail and his eyes are opened to see what is the Riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints Eph. 1. 17 18. and therefore he is convinced of the fullness and sufficiency that is in God and the emptiness and straitness that is in the Creature God hath given him Counsel his Reins instruct him Psal. 16. 7. All by Nature are blind ignorant apt to dote upon the Creature but by Grace their eyes are opened that they have another manner of discerning that they do not see things onely by discourse but their Hearts are affected Others may discourse but they have not this divine Light and spiritual Understanding by which spiritual Things may be discerned as matters of Opinion they may but not as matters of Choice A carnal Man may argue out with Reason the Worth and Excellency of God but he hath not a refined Apprehension and perswasive Counsel which is in God's People 2. Their Hearts are inclined to choose him for their Portion They do not onely see an alluring worth in the Object but there 's an attracting Vertue by which the Heart is drawn in to God Iohn 6. 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him The great Article of the Covenant of Grace is to take God for our God Now all the Articles of the New Covenant are not onely Precepts ââ¦ut Promises The conditions of the Covenant are conditions in the Covenant God gives what he requires And therefore as the great Article of the Covenant is to take God for our God so the great Blessing of the Covenant is to have a new Heart or a new placing of our Desires and Affections Sin lieth in a Conversion from God to the Creature Grace in turning us to God again The Change is mainly seen in fixing our chiefest Good and our last End God gives his People a Heart to close with him and accept of him as their Portion to fix upon him as their chiefest Good and their last End Use 1. To reprove them that do not take God for their Portion Godly Men must have God himself they prefer him above all and saving Grace above other Benefits Psal. 4. 6 7. There 's the dispositions of the Godly and the Carnal The many say who will shew us any good but Lord lift up the Light of thy Countenance upon us A carnal Man is for Good in common any Good but not for the Light of God's Countenance nothing will satisfy the Saints but the Light of God's Countenance they prefer him above his Gifts and among his Gifts they prefer saving Graces and renewing Mercies such as begin and confirm them in their Union with God in Christ. But carnal Men go no further than the World they choose not God but his Gifts and among these not the best but the common sort such as suite with the Appetite of the fleshly Nature and the more brutish part of these Riches Pleasures and Honours and these too not as coming from God but as
Goodness of God than we are to any Duty therefore doth the Psalmist stir up all sorts of Persons to note the invisible hand of Providence that reacheth out Supplies to them whether they have business by Sea or by Land whether in Sickness or in Health in all the varieties of the present Life he is still stirring them up to mind their Mercies and inviteth them by God's late Favours to the Praise and Acknowledgment of his Goodness his communicating his Goodness so freely to undeserving and ill-deserving Persons and following them with more and more Mercies There is none of us but have Reasons enough and Obligations enough lying upon us to make Observations in this kind every Experience and new Proof should put us upon this Acknowledgment Certainly they are the wisest sort of Men who do observe God's Providence 3. It is the fruit of deep and ponderous Meditation Glances never warm the Heart it is our serious and deliberate Thoughts which affect us therefore the Children of God should be thinking of his Goodness displayed in all his Works especially in Redemption by Christ Eph. 3. 18 19. To comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of God which passeth knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God To be ravished with Love affected with Love always thinking of Love speaking of love expressing their sense of Love that is a work behoving Saints We should often meditate upon and set our minds awork upon this Goodness by frequent and serious thoughts of it for the strengthning of our Faith and quickening of our Love to God 4. It is the fruit of inward and spiritual Tast 1 Pet. 2. 3. If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious So Psalm 34. 8. O tast and see that the Lord is good Do not be content with hear-say but get a Tast that is an inward and experimental Knowledg of the Goodness of God in Christ that we may know it not onely by guess and imagination but by Sense and Feeling the one half of it cannot be told you Optima demonstratio est à sensibus Secondly Why we need to labour so much after a deep Sense of this 1. To check our natural Legalism and the dark and distrustfull Prejudices of our own Hearts there is a secret guiltiness in us that breedeth misgiving Thoughts of God We have many suspicious Thoughts of him being guilty Creatures because we onely represent him to our selves as a consuming Fire or as cloathed with Justice and Vengeance watching an opportunity of doing us harm and shut out all thoughts of Goodness and Mercy yet when he proclaimeth his Name he telleth Moses he would make his Goodness pass before him God is wonderfully good in his Nature and he delighteth in the communications of his Goodness nothing pleaseth him better than his Word the business of it is to represent him good Mercy pleaseth him Micah 7. 18. Who is a God like unto Thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy Mercy rejoyceth over Judgment Psalm 118. 1. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his Mercy endureth for ever His Works speak him good there is no part of the World that we can set our Eyes upon but it offereth matter of Praise to God for his Bounty to his Creatures especially to Man Psalm 33. 5. The Earth is full of the Goodness of the Lord the whole Earth is full of his Goodness and will you draw an ill Picture of him in your Minds as if he were harsh and severe and his Service were intolerable No The Lord is good and doth good 2. That we may justify God against the Prejudices of the unbelieving World and invite them from our own Experience to make trial of God So Psalm 34. 8. O tast and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him A Report of a Report signifieth little what we have found our selves we can confidently recommend to others When we have felt his dealing with our selves we can intreat them to see what waiting upon God will come to let any man make the Experiment keep close to God in Obedience and Reliance and he shall find him to be a gracious Master others that have dark thoughts of God like the Spies they bring an ill report upon his Ways 3. To humble the Creature we have not a right sight of God unless all created Perfections vanish before him The Creatures are but some Shadows Pictures Resemblances or equivocal Shapes of God Whatever Name they have of Good Wise Strong Beautifull True or such like it is but a borrowed Speech from God whose image they have and if the Creature usurpeth its Being as originally belonging to themselves it is as if the Picture should call it self a true and living Man I am and there is none beside me holdeth true of God's Being and all his Perfections Natural or Moral The Creatures may be good or better or best compared among themselves but we are frail and nothing if compared with God There is none good but one and that is God That Goodness which we have in participation from him will appear no Goodness in comparison of him The Heavens themselves are not clean in his sight Job 25. 5 6. Behold even to the Moon and it shineth not yea the Stars are not pure in his sight How much less Man that is a worm and the Son of Man which is a worm And elsewhere Iob 4. 18. Behold he putteth no trust in his Servants and his Angels he chargeth with Folly Mutability in the Angelical Nature When Isaiah had seen God and heard the Angels cry out Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Isa. 6. 5. Then said I woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts The consideration of his Goodness obscureth all the glory and praise of the Creature as when the Sun is up the lustre of the Stars is no more seen When we compare our selves with one another one may be called bad another good but with God no man is good He is Good but we are Evil he is Heaven but we are Hell he is all Perfection we are all Weakness In respect of his Goodness nothing in us deserveth that Name as lesser light in the view of a greater is a darkness When Iob had seen God he could not look upon himself with any patience Iob 42. 5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes That is a true sight of God that abaseth and lesseneth all things besides God not onely in Opinion but
quite the contrary way They see the mercy of God that the things of Nature keep ordinarily one constant course and are not terrified with the frequent change thereof yea they are thereby confirmed in the belief of the Lord's constancy and faithfulness But men in love with their lusts make a woful use of this consideration hardning themselves in their conceit that there shall never be a change and so sin more securely See the like in other things 1 Cor. 7. 29. 1 Cor. 15. 32. Iude 24. Rom. 6. 2. 2 Sam. 7. 2. with Haggai 1. 2. 1 Sam. 3. 18. 2 Kings 6 33. USE 2. When ever you look to Heaven remember that Within you have a God who hath fixed his residence and shewn his glory there and made it the seat both of his mercy and justice You have also there a Saviour who after he had dyed for our sins sate down at the right hand of Majesty to see his promises accomplished and by his word to subdue the whole world There are Angels that fulfil his commandment hearkning to the voice of his word Psal. 103. 21. There are glorified Saints who see God face to face and dwell with him for evermore and came thither by the same Covenant which is propounded to us as the Charter of our peace and hope Without we see the Sun and Moon and all the heavenly Bodies move in that fixed course and order wherein God hath set them And will God shew his constancy in the course of Nature and be fickle and changeable in the Covenant of Grace wherein he hath disposed the order and method of his mercies USE 3. To cure our Unbelief by considering how God's Grace is setled in the Covenant so as to leave no cause or occasion of doubting or suspecting the truth and certainty of those blessings which he hath promised us And shall we live in jealousie as if we were not upon such sure terms with God If we transact with another about certain benefits the Transaction may prove to no purpose if the matter about which we contract with them hath no Being or the terms be impossible or the conveyance be not firm and strong so as to hold good in Law Now none of these can be imagined in our entring into Covenant with God For 1. Eternal Life is not a Chimaera or a thing that hath no Being you might run uncertainly 1 Cor. 9. 24. if it were a Dream or a well-devised Fable No 't is the greatest reality in the world Heb. 4. 9. we cannot be mistaken we see it before us in the promises so confirmed 2. 'T is not upon impossible terms but such as are performable by the grace of God Eph. 2. 8. By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God And the Apostle telleth us Rom. 4. 16. it is of grace that it may be sure to all the seed 'T is grace maketh it sure God giveth what he requireth There are conditions that concern making Covenant and keeping Covenant First Conditions for making Covenant Jer. 24. 7 I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord. Ezek. 36. ââ¦6 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I bestow upon you After this for keeping Covenant This is a Covenant that keepeth us as well as we keep it Ier. 32. 40 41. I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me So Ezek. 36. 27. There is a promise of influence I will put my Spirit into you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them This to prevent the danger of Discovenanting 3. Or that the Conveyance be not strong and firm so as to make a Plea in Law for it is as strongly confirmed as any thing can be by God's word and oath as before it is upon record in Heaven among the ancient decrees of God 'T is written in the word for our comfort yea upon our hearts 'T is sealed by the blood of Christ Heb. 9. 16 17. sealed by the Spirit Eph. 1. 13. And therefore the Conveyance will bear a Plea both now in Prayer and hereafter before the Tribunal of God we may shew him his promises plead the satisfaction of Christ as he pleadeth it in Heaven Heb 9. 24. But where is there room for any doubt If any it must be of your qualification for on God's part all is ordered and sure and there two things First That all the qualifications of the Gospel must be Evangelically interpreted not legally not in absolute perfection but prevalent degree Mark 9. 29. and Can. 5. 2. Secondly Your only way to obtain comfort is to make the qualification more explicite 1 Iohn 2. 5 Whosoever keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby we know that we are in him And 1 Iohn 3. 19. Hereby we know that we are of the truth 4. Let nothing that is uncertain keep you from this blessed and sure Covenant all things without it are uncertain Riches are uncertain 1 Tim. 6. 17. The like may be said of Honours they are slippery places of Friends Health Life itself Now do not forsake your own mercies for lying vanities Some vain thing or other taketh us off from God and seeking his favor which will certainly prove a Lye to you therefore employ your time care and thoughts about these things 5. If the Covenant be setled never expect to alter it or module it and bring it down to your fancies and humors 'T is God only that can prescribe Conditions and Laws of Commerce between us and him Man is not allowed to prescribe the Conditions or treat about the making of them but is only bound to submit to what God was pleased to prescribe and to fulfil the Conditions without disputing They are not left free and indifferent for us to debate them and modifie and mitigate and bring them down to our own liking and humor We are to take hold not to appoint Isa. 56. 4. and Rom. 10. 3. so that it bindeth our duty as well as assureth our comfort our vote cometh too late to retract and alter God's eternal decrees What would you have to be done for your freedom from Hell and the wrath of God Oh that God would alter those severe Constitutions which he hath made and not insist so strictly on the self-denying duties required in the Gospel Covenant for the salvation of sinners You may as well ask that God should repeal the Ordinances of Nature turn night into day and day into night for your sakes But if the Gospel-Covenant were repealed that you may be more secure what then In what a case are you then What will you hold by then You have no hope if the Gospel stand in force but what hope would you have if the Gospel were abolished Must the whole world be ruined to establish your security and indulgence to sin Oh! surely this
Both must be done with the whole Man or regarded both in heart and practice It is not enough to leave off evil but to hate it nor to do good but we must do it with a love and an affection Compare three places Isa. 1. 16. Cease to do evil learn to do well Amos 5. 15. Hate the evil love the good And it is exprest with a further emphasis Rom. 12. 9. Abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good These places comparââ¦d together will shew that the outward act is not only to be regarded but the frame of the heart There should not only be an abstinence from the act of sin but mortifying of the love of it for there are many that outwardly forbear sin but yet do not inwardly hate it On the other side we are not only to do good but there must be a love to good for many may externally do good when the heart abhors it And on the other side if there be a love to good God passeth by many failings it should not be a bare hatred or a cold love but such as hath life and vehemency in it abhorring that which is evil and cleaving to that which is good the soul of Ionathan cleaved to David it must be a knitting love There is Haman's refraining and David's refraining Esther 5. 10. It is said Haman refrained himself when his heart boiled with rancor and malice against Mordecai and there 's David refraining in the Text I refrained my heart from every evil way His heart is engaged when the heart cleaves to him not easily to separate 3 Both are regarded and both with the whole man now the one is required in order to the other we must refrain from evil that we may do good and do good that we may refrain from evil mortification and vivification do mutually help each other The more lively grace is the more sin droopeth the more lively sin is the more is the new nature oppressed Without refraining our feet from evil there is no doing of good for vivification is increased according to the degree of mortification 1 Pet. 2. 24. That we being dead to sin might be alive to righteousness As long as we are alive to sin active and delighting in the commission thereof we are dead to righteousness But now as the love and life of sin is weakned in our hearts so is grace introduced and we are quickned and carried on with more strength in holy duties the strength and fervor of the soul is diverted and runs in another channel the same affections that are carried out to sin the same current and stream of soul that ran out towards our selves then is carried in a way of grace the same affections but carried out to other objects And so on the other side wherever there is an affection to good there will be a cordial detestation to evil the affection to the one will awaken and increase the hatred of the other for still the soul draws that way which our affections carry them 4 As the one must be done in order to the other so our care in the first place must be to avoid evil or to stand at a distance from every known sin he begins with that as necessary to the other first I refrained my feet and then that I might keep thy Law he was to be more exact in a course of obedience In planting of grace God keeps this method he roots up the weeds and then plants us wholly with a right seed and so far as we are active under God in the work we first put off the old man with his deceitful lusts and then put on the new man Eph. 4. 22. We put off the rags of sin before we put on the garments of salvation The Plants of righteousness they will not thrive in an unhumbled proud impenitent heart therefore God's first work is the destruction of sin and then the introduction of grace The heart is purifi'd for Faith as well as purifi'd by Faith first it must be purifi'd for Faith that being the work of the Spirit of God for Iohn 5. 44. How can ye believe that seek honour one of another As long as any fleshly lust remains unmortifi'd be it Ambition Vain-glory affecting Honour Reputation Esteem in the world the heart is not purifi'd 2dly the heart is purifi'd by Faith Acts 15. 9. more and more this corruption is wrought out And then the heart is purifi'd for fear I will give a new heart Jer. 32. 40. And then purifi'd by fear as Iob feared God Iob 1. 1. So the heart is purifi'd for love and by love for love Deut. 30. 6. And the Lord will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul. A Believer is to be consider'd in the act of conversion and in the state of conversion in the act of conversion so first we turn from evil by a sound remorse true grace is first planted first purified for grace then purified by grace Iob feared God then eschewed evil preparing grace is implanted in us then it hath an exercise upon us for the weakning of sin more and more 5 Keeping at a distance from evil it must be as it is evil and contrary to the holy nature and will of God I observe this because David did not refrain his feet from evil upon any foreign and accidental reasons for fear of men or any sinister and by-respect but meerly out of tender love and respect to the Law of God to testifie his obedience to him I refrained my feet from every evil way And what was his motive That I might keep thy Word A Child of God hates sin as it is contrary to his drift and purpose If we do not love good for good-sake it is not good we love but some other thing that cleaves to it the temporal benefit that we think will come thereby so if we do not nate evil as evil but because of the loss and detriment that attends the practice of it it is not sin that we hate but inconveniences As Austin saith of the Eternal Reward There are many Non peccare metuunt sed ardere They are not afraid to sin but are afraid to be damned So a natural conscience may upon foreign and accidental reasons stand aloof off from sin as a Dog may forbear a morsel for fear of the Cudgel convinced Men may forbear sin out of horror of conscience and not out of any serious dislike of heart against it Briefly there is Custom Education Penalty of Law Infamy shame of the World difficulty of compassing Sin shame in practising these are but accidental reasons these may make us refrain they may breed a casual dislike but not a natural hatred for a gracious refraining must be upon a religious reason David gives an account not only of his practice but his motive I refrained my feet from every evil way And why
want of those good things for which he comes and his unability to supply himself with any thing without God nay his ill deservings how just he might be denied of God and cursed by all manner of plagues how he hath forfeited all manner of blessings this must be at the bottom 2. The Sacrifices implied an eying of the Redeemer by vertue of whose oblation and intercession we are accepted with God for every one that came with his Sacrifice was to lay his hand upon the head of the Beast to put his sins there to shew Christ bore the iniquity of us all and in every Prayer we make there is this Evangelical Equity by vertue of the old Sacrifice remaining upon us that we should eye the Redeemer even Christ Jesus our Lord Who hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor Eph. 5. 2. He is the Expiatory Sacrifice and therefore in all our supplicatory or gratulatory offerings to God we must still look to him The word an offering relates to things destitute of life that were dedicated to God as Flour Oil Frankincense that which was signified thereby was accomplish'd in Christ And for the other word Sacrifice gave himself as an offering and sacrifice The Beasts whose blood was shed those things which had life in them were call'd a real Sacrifice offer'd to God to appease his justice Thus Christ Jesus was given as a Sacrifice to obtain all manner of blessings for us We should look upon God as an Allsufficient Fountain of grace and the Author of every good gift depending upon him for his goodness and bounty for Christ's sake 3. In Sacrifices there was implied a renewing of Covenant so the Lord saith Psal. 50. 5. Gather my Saints together that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice As they did dedicate the Beast offer'd to God so was the Worshipper to dedicate himself to God Now we must renew this dedication of our selves to the Lord's service all this was morally in the Sacrifices and is to be done every day in our future prayers with brokenness of heart eying our Redeemer casting our whole dependance upon him and in a sense of his love dedicating and devoting our selves to God Secondly For the other duty of Thanksgiving and Praise for mercies receiv'd Every point and passage of his undeserv'd favor to be own'd and praise thereof to be given to God and still to look on all done not for our sakes but for the sake of Christ Jesus You read under the Law Lev. 3. 3. when the thank-offering was brought to God it was to be laid upon the top of the burnt-offering First they were to bring the burnt-offering and offer that to God then to lay upon it the peace or thank-offering to shew that first we must be reconcil'd to God and by vertue of that all mercies descend and come down upon us and then upon this solemn occasion they were to give up themselves anew to the Lord. So the Apostle presseth this Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And this is one part of the offering of our lips namely when we come solemnly by vertue of every mercy receiv'd and promise obedience anew and afresh to God To apply this 1 Are you Priests 2 Do you offer Sacrifices of prayer and praise to God continually First Are you Priests unto God Are you Priests by separation Hath God call'd you out from amongst men Psal. 4. 3. The Lord hath set apart the man that is godly for himself Hath God call'd you off from sin to holiness from Self to Christ from the Creature to God For these are the three things wherein Conversion consists From the Creature to God as our last end from Self to Christ as the onely means to come to God and from sin to holiness as the onely way to get an interest in Christ. Are you call'd off from the common course of living wherein most men are involv'd that you may live and act for God Are you Priests by Unction Are you anointed by the Spirit as to gifts and graces and qualifi'd and made meet for this holy ministration unto God Christ hath purchas'd gifts in some measure for his people For as we were maim'd in Adam not only as to graces but also as to gifts so is our restitution by Christ that the plaister may be as broad as the sore We have necessary gifts given us by vertue of his Ascension whereby we may lay open our state and case to God Indeed all God's people have not a like measure of gifts and carnal men may come behind in no gift therefore have you the grace of prayer Zech. 12. 10. I will pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplication Have you a heart qualifi'd by grace made meet to converse with God The tendency and disposition of your souls that carrieth you to God Grace that seeks a vent and utterance in prayer and holy converses with God And are you Priests by Purgation Every Priest was to be washt in the great Laver Are you washt and purg'd from sin that you may serve God acceptably Mal. 3. 3. first they must be purifi'd then offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness God will not take a gift out of a carnal man's hand and therefore you should look to this that you be purifi'd and purg'd Secondly Do you offer spiritual Sacrifices to God of Prayer and Praise 1. Prayer a duty very kindly to the Saints It is natural to them it is as it were the sphere of their activity the Spirit discovers himself to men in Prayer as soon as they are converted to God they will fall a praying and be dealing with God often in this kind therefore the children of God are described by this as a duty wherein they are most exercis'd Zeph. 3. 10. My Suppliants And Psal. 24. 6. This is a generation of them that seek thee To shew this is a vital act a usual and constant expressing of the new nature that is put into them surely they that love God will be always seeking him and a broken heart sensible of its condition can never want an Errand to the Throne of Grace You are to offer Sacrifices as they did under the Law now under the Law there was a daily Sacrifice every morning they were to offer a Lamb without spot Num. 28. 3. to shew that every morning they should come and sue out their pardon by Christ and every evening to look to the Messiah the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World that was the intent of the Type Now I reason thus certainly we have as much need as they we are sinners as well as that people which liv'd under that dispensation therefore every morning we must look to the Lamb of God Nay we have more reason for
without the Will The dreggs of things come out with squeezing and wringing Duty is best done when like life-honey it droppeth of its own accord chearful and hearty service only pleaseth the Lord. Now that is chearful service which cometh not from the influence of bye-ends and foreign motives or the compulsion of a natural Conscience or legal fears but from the native inclination and bent of the heart 1 Iohn 5. 3. This is love to keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous the work is not grievous but pleasant because suitable to the principles that are in us 't is not done against the hair Cain offered Sacrifice but with a grudging mind 'T is somewhere said They offered to the Lord whose hearts made them willing When the heart is in it 't is not constrained forced service but natural and genuine not like water out of a Still but like water out of a Fountain 2. For uniform obedience to serve God in the whole tenour of our lives that needs an heart inclined that may be as a constant Spring of holiness A man may force himself now and then to actions displeasing to himself but his constant course is according to his natural bent and inclination Haman could refrain himself from Murther but his heart still boiled with rancour and malice When men look only to the refraining of outward actions or the restraining the outward man it will never hold the bent of the heart will discover it self and so they will be off and on with God the compulsion of Conscience will sometimes urge them to God but the inclination of the heart will draw them to evil therefore God wisheth that his people had a heart to serve him Deut. 5. 29. 3. Constant obedience that can never be till the heart be inclined Iudas was a Disciple for a while but Satan entered into his heart Luke 22. 3. Ananias joined himself to the people of God but Satan filled his heart Simon Magus was baptized but his heart was not right with God Act. 8. 22. here is the great defect but now when God gets possession of the heart there he dwelleth Eph. 3. 17. there he abideth as in his strong Cittadel and from thence commandeth all the faculties of the Soul and the Members of the Body Use 1. To press you to get this bent of heart otherwise all your labour in Religion will be in vain every difficulty will put you out of the way and make you think of a revolt from God till this the work of Grace is not begun Gods first gift is a new heart Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give unto you and a new Spirit will I put within you without this you can never hold out but you will be uncertain and mutable in the profession of godliness whatever restraints are upon you for a time sin will be breaking out ever and anon with violence and at length men will return with the Dog to the vomit and with the Sow to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2. 20. Oh then go to God for it Ier. 17. 10. say Heal me O Lord and I shall be healed save me and I shall be saved 2. Carry forth the work of God so far as you receive it follow after to apprehend that for which we are apprehended of Christ Phil. 3. 12. Use 2. Have we such an heart an heart inclined to do the will of God First though there be such a bent and inclination there will be failings yea reluctancies and oppositions Rom. 7. 8. To will is present with me yet how to perform that which is good I find not There is a ready will asserted and a weak discharge complained of observe 't is a will not a wish a weak discharge not that nothing is done but not all that good that is required nor in that purity the work doth not perfectly answer the will nor the motions of the Spirit by which it is excited and mark this weakness is not rested in but complained of and not only complained of but resisted I find not that implieth he sought it for the word finding implieth a diligent search he laid about him on every side he did not expect it should come by chance or a lazy enquiry 2. If wrought 1. How was it wrought in you Did God turn thee and thou wast turned Were you ever brought to self-resignation By what steps was this work carried on Thy heart was naturally wedded to thy lusts and to carnal vanity did ever God make you see the odiousness of sin the vanity of the Creature the insufficiency of self Evil men seek contentment in the world as long as Conscience will let them hold out in that way you cannot cleave to God till you are rent off from the world and self was there ever such a separation such a rending work Conversion or the altering the bent of the heart lieth in three things in turning from the Creature to God from self to Christ from sin to holiness How to God by making us a willing people to yield up our selves to his service How drawn from self to Christ To seek all this good in him How from sin to holiness By seeing the beauty of Gods ways Paul found it a sensible work before he was brought to this self-resignation Act. 9. 6. Lord What wilt thou have me to do How did God draw you or drive you to this 2. How is this bent of heart kept up towards God Nature is apt to recoil and the heart to return to its own bent and biass again David beggeth verse 36. Incline my heart to thy testimonies 'T is an hard matter to keep up a bent of heart towards God it will cost us much watching striving praying to keep it fixed The frame of mans heart is changeable and various doth not always continue at the same pass and lust will waken and be pressing and importunate deadness will creep upon us the great business of the spiritual life is to keep the bent of the heart steady neglected Grace will suffer decay and worldly vanities and listlesness and deadness to holy things will incroach upon the Soul and a gracious heart is much discomposed As a Needle that bendeth towards the Pole may be jogged and put aside though it cannot rest there but turneth thither again so the bent of the Soul towards God may be much disordered and we may lose much of our free Spirit and ready mind and grow uncomfortable and unchearful in Gods service and it may cost us much sorrow and deep humiliation to get in frame again a cold profession is easily maintained but to keep up a spiritual inclination is the work of labour and cost 3. How doth it work in you This bent of heart is seen in two things First in pulling back the heart from those sins to which corrupt Nature doth incline us Nature carrieth us to carnal things There is something within that puts you on and
something without to draw you forward Nature thrusteth Occasion inviteth but Grace interposeth and checketh the motion Gal. 5. 17. The spirit lusteth against the flesh 't is against the bent and inclination of the New Nature there is a back Biass Ioseph had a temptation we read of occasion inviting but not of Nature inclining but presently his heart recoiled The heart of man is seldome without these counterbuffs 't is an advantage to have the new Nature as ready to check as the old Nature to urge and solicite 1 Iohn 3. 9. He cannot sin for his seed remaineth in him 2. In putting on the heart upon Duties that are against the hair and bent of corruption Such acts of obedience as are most troublesome and burthensome to the flesh as are laborious costly dangerous Laborious as private Worship wrestling with God in Prayer holding the heart to Meditation and self-Examination sluggish Nature is apt to shrink but love constraineth 2 Cor. 5. 14. Spiritual Worship and such as is altogether without secular encouragement that 's tedious to work truth into the heart to commune with God to ransack Conscience 't is troublesome but thy striving will overcome it So there is costly and chargeable work as Alms Contributions to publick good there must be a striving to bring the heart to it Then for actions dangerous as publick Contests for Gods Glory or keeping a good Conscience though with cost to our selves our great work is to keep the will afoot Nature is slow to what is good a Coachman in his journey is always quickning his Horses and stirring them up so must we quicken a sluggish will do what we can though we cannot do all that we should the will must hold up still A Prisoner escaped would go as far as he can but his Bolts will not suffer to make long Journies but yet he thinketh he can never get far enough so this will is a disposition that puts us upon striving to do our utmost for God 2. The matter resolved on To perform thy Statutes always unto the end Uniform obedience always or all his days As long as life lasteth we must be always ready to observe all Gods Commands which notes the continuity of our obedience sincerity and perpetuity of it We are to engage our hearts by a serious resolution to serve him and that not by fits and starts but always not for a time but to the end Resolve to cleave to him to hold him fast that he may not go to keep our hold fast that we may not go Take notice of the first decays and let us keep our hold fast and bewail often the inconstancy of our hearts that we are so unconstant in that which is good Every hour our hearts are changed in a duty What a Proteus would man be if his thoughts were visible in the best duty that ever he performed Rom. 7. 18. Evil is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not our Devotion comes by pangs and fits now humble anon proud now meek anon passionate not the same men in a duty and act of a duty unstable as water Compare it with Gods constancy his unchangeable nature his love to us that we may be ashamed of our levity from everlasting to everlasting God is where he was the same the same to those that believe in him Secondly This to the end Gods Grace holdeth out to the end so should our obedience He that hath begun a good work will perfect it c. Consider how unreasonable it is to desire God to be ours unto the end if we are not his Psal. 48. 14. He is our God for ever and ever he will be our Guide till death He doth not lay down the conduct of his Providence So Psal. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel and afterwards receive me to Glory We can give nothing to God our obedience is but a profession of homage if God be always in our eye we shall be always in his We receive life breath and motion from him every moment he sustaineth us every day and hour yieldeth new mercy God watcheth over us when we are asleep yet how much of our time passeth away when we do not perform one act of love to God! The Devil is awake when we sleep to do us a mischief but the God of Israel never slumbereth nor sleepeth how can we offend him Let us then take up this serious resolution To perform Gods Statutes always to the end SERMON CXXIV PSAL. CXIX VER 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love THere are in men two great influencing affections Love and Hatred one serves for choice and pursuit the other for flight and aversation The great work of Grace is to fix these upon their proper objects if we could but set our love and hatred right we should do well enough in the spiritual life Man fallen is but the Anagram of man in innocency we have the same affections but they are misplaced we love where we should hate and hate where we should love our affections are like a member out of joint out of its proper place as if the arms should hang backward If men knew how to bestow their love and hatred they would be other manner of persons than now they are In the Text we are taught what to do in both by Davids example see how he bestowed his love and hatred I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love Love was made for God and for all that is of Gods side his Law his Ordinances his Image c. but hatred was made for sin All sin must be hated of what kind and degree soever it be Every drop of water is water and every spark of fire is fire so the least degree of sin is sin Thoughts are but a partial act a tendency towards an action and yet thoughts are sin Of all the operations of the soul the world thinketh a man should be least troubled about his thoughts of all actual breaches of the Law these are most secret therefore we think thoughts are free and subject to no tribunal Most of the Religion that is in the world is but mans observance and therefore we let thoughts go without dislike or remorse because they do not betray us to shame or punishment These are most venial in mans account they are but partial or half acts What! not a thought pass but we must make conscience of it this is intolerable Once more of all thoughts vain thoughts would escape censure A thought that hath apparent wickedness in it a murtherous or an unclean thought a natural Conscience will rise up in armes against it but vain thoughts we think are not to be stood upon Oh but David was sensible that these were contrary to the Law of God transgressions as well as other thoughts and therefore inconsistent with his Love to God I hate vain thoughts Secondly He bestows his love on the Law Naturally
dispensation As thou usest to do to those that love thy name The Word is I. According to the Law and Right II. According to the use and custome According to the mercy promised and usually bestowed upon those that love thee Both sences not improper I. The first sence According to the Law and Right Prout est jus diligentium nomen tuum so some The Vulgar Secundum judicium Amyraldus glosseth thus Pro illa misericordia quam inter te timentes nomen tuum constituisti Others Secundum Ius Foedus illud Take it thus and it beareth a good sence for there is the obligation of Justice and the obligation of Grace a Judgment of righteousness and a Judgment of mercy This merciful Judgment the Saints appeal unto I cannot exclude this for otherwise this Verse would not have one of those ten Words which express the Word or Law of God Doctr. That there is a gracious way of right established between God and his people according to which they may expect mercies This will be best understood by comparing the two Covenants their agreement and disagreement not in all things but such as are pertinent 1. Let us see how the two Covenants agree First They agree in their Author God appointed both and man is only to accept or take hold of what is offered Man was not thinking of any such thing when God instituted the first Gen. 2. 17. But of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye or revealed the second Gen. 3. 15. It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel For God to enter into a Covenant with the Creature either of Works or Grace was an act of condescension and who is he that could bid the Almighty humble himself and prescribe Conditions and Laws of Commerce between God and us but only God alone Man did not give the Conditions or treat with God about the making of them what they should be but only was bound to submit to what God was pleased to prescribe In the Covenant of Works God gave forth the Conditions of life and a Law and a penalty and in the Covenant of Grace man is bound to submit to the Conditions without disputing They are not left free and indifferent for us to debate upon and to modifie and bring them down to our own liking and humour but to yield to them and take hold upon them not to appoint them Isai. 56. 4. Thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and chuse the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant Rom. 10. 3. For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God Secondly They agree in the moving cause which in both was the Grace of God The first Covenant it was Grace for God to make it It was the Grace of God to accept of mans perfect obedience so as to make him sure of eternal life on the pââ¦rformance of it Though the last Covenant hath the honour by way of eminency to be styled the Covenant of Grace yet the first was so though the condition of it was perfect obedience and the reward had respect to personal righteousness It was of Grace also that God would at all covenant and enter into Bonds with man who was not his Equal and give his word to any of the works of his hands It was Grace that endowed man with original righteousness and fitted him and enabled him to keep that Covenant His absolute Soveraign owed him no more than the rest of the Creatures which he had made Grace engaged the reward there was no more merit in Adam's obedience than in ours Luke 17 10. So likewise ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Nor did his work bear proportion to the eternal reward Thirdly They agree in the Parties God and man in both Covenants not any other Creatures superior or inferior to man rational or irrational the principal contracting parties were publick persons Adam Iesus Rom. 5. 18. Therefore as by the offence of one man judgment came upon all to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life 1 Cor. 1. 15. 47. The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from heaven The first and second Adam for them and all their Heirs Fourthly That God giveth sufficiency of strength in both these Covenants to the parties with whom he made them to fulfil the Conditions thereof To Adam Eccl. 7. 29. Lo this only have I found that God hath made man upright but they have sought out many inventions To Adam natural to us supernatural strength Ezek. 36. 27. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them Heb. 8. 10. This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts Fifthly In both God kept up his Sovereignty and by his condescension did not part with any thing of his dominion over man In the Covenant of Works he ruled by a Law written on mens hearts Rom. 2. 15. Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their Consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another So by Grace the Believer is not freed from the Law of Nature which being almost obliterated and blotted out of the heart of man and become very unlegible it pleased God to set it forth in a new Edition and to write it over again in the heart of a renewed man Heb. 8. 10. I will put my Law into their minds and write it in their hearts Ephes. 4. 24. And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Though God admitted us to new Conditions of favour yet he still requireth subjection on our part and that we owne him as Lord and Sovereign requiring obedience and service at our hands or else he taketh a liberty to visit our transgressions with Rods Psal. 89. 31 32. If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandments then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Sixthly In both Covenants there is a mutual obligation on both parties this ariseth from the very nature of a Covenant Contractus est consensio ad constituendam obligationem quâ alter alteri sit obnoxius In every Covenant there is a tye on both sides and some reason of right There is no obligation of debt between God and us but an obligation of Grace Deus non
resigned our selves to Christ and the hands of Consecration have passed upon us When Ananias had dedicated that which was in his power and kept back part for private use God struck him dead in the place Acts 3. 5. And if we alienate our selves who were Christs before the Consecration of how much sorer vengeance shall we be guilty Gods Complaint was just Ezek. 16. 20. Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured And if Satan hath a full interest in you by doing his lusts as he had in them by that Rite of Worship is not the wrong done to God the same 2. It is a sure note of a carnal heart For it is not only incongruous that a renewed man should let sin reign but impossible De jure it ought not de facto it shall not be The exhortation and promise Rom. 6. 12. with 14. verse 12. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies There is the exhortation while you have these mortal bodies sin will dwell in you but let it not reign over you God suffereth it to dwell in us for our exercise not our ruine Then the promise Verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace Let not shall not It is true sin remaineth in the godly but it reigneth not there 'T is dejectum quodammodo non ejectum tamen Cast down in regard of regency not cast out in regard of inherency Like the Beasts in Daniel Dan. 7. 12. They had their dominion taken away though their lives prolonged for a season Some degree of life but their reign broken The Israelites could not wholly expel the Canaanites yet they kept them under There will be pride earthliness unbelief and sensuality dwelling moving working in them but it hath not its wonted power over them Christ will not reckon men slaves to sin by their having sin in them nor yet by their daily failings and infirmities or by their falling now and then into foul faults by the violence of a temptation unless they make a constant trade of sin and be under the dominion of it without controul and set up no course of mortification against it 3. The reign of sin is so mischievous Sin when it once gets the Throne groweth outragious and involveth us in many inconveniences e're we can get out again Therefore they that know the service of sin as we all do by sad experience should use all caution that it never bring them into bondage again The work and wages of sin are very different from Gods work and wages The Apostle compareth them when he disswadeth them from the reign of sin Rom. 6. 21 22. For when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those thing is death But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life You have had full experience of the fruits of sin of Satans work what fruit then before you had tasted better things before you had a contrary principle set up in your hearts you are ashamed now to think of that course now you know better things But what fruit then Satans work is drudgery and his reward death The Devil hath one bad property which no other master how cruel soever hath To plague and torment them most which have done him most continual and faithful service Those that have sinned most have most horror and every degree of service hath a proportionable degree of shame and punishment He is an unreasonable Tyrant in exacting service without rest and intermission The most cruel Oppressors Turks and Infidels give some rest to their Captives but sin is unsatisfiable Men spend all their means and all their time and all their strength in the pursuit of it yet all is little enough And what is the reward of all but death and destruction Now judge you to whom should we yield obedience and who hath most right to be Sovereign He who made us and redeemed us and preserveth us every day none but he can claim title to us he to whom we are Debtors by so many Vows so many Obligations Or else Satan our worst enemy who is posting us on to our own destruction 4. It is so uncomely and misbecoming the new estate wherein we have so many helps and encouragements to resist sin First For helps you have an opposite principle to give check to it the seed of God or new nature Since Christ hath put Grace into your hearts to resist sin 't is your Duty not to suffer it to be idle and unfruitful Rom. 6. 11 12. Reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof You want no ability to encourage you have an observing witness to give check to it the Spirit of God who will help you in this work Rom. 8. 13. He will be your Second neither we without the Spirit nor the Spirit without us There is a life and power goeth along with every Gospel-Truth Laziness pretendeth want of power but what is too hard for this Spirit Then Secondly For encouragement In every war are two notable encouragements goodness of the Quarrel and hopes of Victory as David 1 Sam. 17. 36. We have these in our Conflict and Combat with sin First Our Quarrel and our Cause is good 't is the Quarrel of the Lord of Hosts which you fight We stand with Christ our Redeemer who came ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he might destroy the works of the Devil He hath begun the battle we do but labour to keep under that enemy which Christ hath begun to slay and destroy Sin is not only an enemy to us but to him 'T is against him and hindreth his Glory in the World and the subjection of his Creatures and Servants Were it not for sin what a glorious Potentate would Christ be even in the judgment of the world Secondly Hope of the Victory Our strife will end and it will end well Those that are really earnestly striving against sin are sure to conquer Rom. 6. 14. Let not sin reign c. And it shall not If there be but a likelihood of Victory we are encouraged to fight here a Christian may triumph before the Victory Non aequè glorietur accinctus ac discinctus 1 Kings 20. 11. Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off There will come a good and happy issue in the end even a Conquest of sin For the present we overcome it in part it shall not finally and totally overcome us in this World and shortly all strife will be over Rom. 16. 20. The God of
distinction between them and wicked men made more clear and sensible by the activity and vigour of Grace and their diligence and care of Salvation which the wicked neglect awakened by new influences from God and therefore do they so often pray for Quickning Accordingly God in the New Covenant as the God of their Life and Salvation hath undertaken to keep them fresh and lively and therefore when ever we are under deadness we should not be satisfied with it or think it a light evil but present our condition to God looking to the Promise of the New Covenant wherein God hath promised to put his Spirit into our hearts to cause us to walk in his wayes But because all these Points have been often discussed I shall only handle this one Point Doctrine That in the Lord Iehovah there are great and tender Mercies First I shall open the Mercy of God Secondly The Adjuncts the Greatness and Tenderness of them First I shall open the Mercy of God That Mercy is one of Gods Attributes the Scripture is plain and clear Psal. 62. 12. Also unto thee O Lord belongeth Mercy he had said before once hath God spoken and twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God This is an evident and certain Truth that God is Almighty and hath all power to avenge his Enemies and Reward his Friends but because this is not a sufficient Foundation for our Trust there wanteth more to invite the Creature to depend upon God than his bare Power and Ability to help us there must be also an assurance of his Readiness to do what he is able and that we have in this other Attribute which is as proper and as much belonging to God as Power and that is Mercy Yea 't is an Attribute in the exercise of which God delights most of all Mich. 7. 18. Because he delighteth in mercy God delighteth himself in all his Attributes yea in the manifestation of them to the World but chiefly in Acts of Mercy These come readily from him and unextorted Though God willeth the Punishment of a sinner for the manifestation of his Justice yet these Acts of his Vengeance are not so pleasing to God as the Acts of his Mercy for he never doth them of his own accord but is provoked Acts of Mercy flow from him like life-honey but acts of Vengeance are his strange work Isa. 28. 21. Bees give honey naturally sting when provoked therefore God is no where called pater ultionum whereas he is called pater miserationum 2 Cor. 1. 3. The father of mercies 'T is the Original and Fountain-cause of all our Comfort get an Interest in his Mercy and all his other Attributes shall be for our good Mercy will set a-work his Wisdom to contrive his Power to Accomplish what is for our Comfort and Salvation his Justice and Wrath to avenge your quarrel all other Attributes are serviceable to Mercy among the things that are ascribed to God there is this order that one is given as a reason of the other As in the business of our Salvation why doth God discover himself with so much Wisdom and Power Because of his Mercy Of his Mercy hath he saved us Tit. 3. 4 5. Of his Mercy quickned us Eph. 2. 4 5. Of his Mercy begotten us to a lively hope 2 Pet. 1. 3. But what moved him to shew Mercy to us You can go no higher unless you assign a Cause like itself God who is rich in Mercy out of his great love wherewith he hath loved us indeed so he shewed Mercy because he would 1. The Goodness of the Divine Nature as it doth discover itself to the Creature is called Benignity or Bounty sometimes Grace and sometimes Mercy The first issue or effect of the Divine Goodness is his Benignity or Bounty by which God by giving something to the Creatures sheweth himself Liberal or Bountiful this is his goodness to the Creature as a Creature Thus he hath given being to all things bare Life to some Sense to others and to Man and Angels Reason and Grace The next Term by which the Goodness of God is expressed is Grace by which he freely giveth to the Creature all that good which they have beyond all possibility of Requital The third Term is Mercy which implyeth the ready inclination that is in God to relieve our Misery notwithstanding Sin These three Terms agree in this that they all express the Goodness of God or his Communication of himself to the Creature God knoweth himself loveth himself but he cannot be said to be Bountiful or Gracious or Merciful to himself these things respect us And again that none of these can be reciprocated or turned back from the Creature to God we may Love God who hath loved us first 1 Ioh. 4. 19. but Mercy or Grace never results from the Creature to God we know God and love him but cannot be said to be Merciful to him He giveth out Mercy and Grace but receiveth none thus they agree but they differ in that Bounty or Goodness respects the Creature as a Creature Grace respects the Creature as being able to make no recompense to God or to Merit any thing at his hands but Mercy addeth these two things to the former as supposing us in Misery the Object of it is persona miserabilis or as finding us under demerit or ill deserving and appoints a remedy for us God doth good to the Angels that never sinned out of Grace but to Man fallen out of Mercy so that his Mercy is nothing else but his proneness to help a man in Misery notwithstanding Sin 2. We must distinguish between Mercy as 't is an Attribute in God and the Acts and Effects of it as they are terminated upon the Creature As 't is an Attribute in God Psal. 103. 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious so 't is Infinite as his Nature is but in the Effects as to us there is a great difference Mercy is one in the Fountain many in the Streams because there are divers Effects divers wayes of shewing mercy Mercy in the Effect may cease as when the Angels turned Devils and when God threatneth to take away his mercies from us but God doth not cease to be merciful in himself the effects of Gods mercy are more or less but the Attribute in God is not so Mercy as an Attribute doth not oppose Justice but the effects of Gods mercy may be and are contrary to the effects of his Justice as Punishment is contrary to Blessing 3. Gods Mercy is either General or Special or Peculiar First Gods general mercy hath for the Object of it not only men even them that are strangers to the Faith but also all the Creatures for 't is said Psal. 145. 5. His tender mercies are over all his works God helpeth the poor brute Creatures in their needs and doth supply them with provision convenient for them then there is his special mercy to Man helping and succouring him in
in rugged ways though we oftentimes stumble yet if our soul be with him we may have comfort Use. I. This is for the Conviction of divers Persons that they do no more serve God in their Souls do not keep his Testimonies 1. There are some that neither serve God with body or soul as all loose Persons who do not so much as make a shew of his service they are all for their brutish Pleasures their souls to hunt them out and their bodies to pursue and follow them Their Souls is a cage of unclean Birds and a stye of all filthiness and their Bodies only a strainer for Meats and Drinks to pass thorough or a Channel for Lust to run in so that they have nothing at all to spare for God The Soul is an ill guide suggesting all manner of evil and the body a ready instrument to accomplish it These are those that yield up their Members to Uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity Rom. 6. 19. Oh! time will come when God will tear them in pieces and rend the guilty Soul from the imbraces of the unwilling body A sad time 't will be for these the Soul will curse the Body as an ill Instrument the Body the Soul as a corrupt Guide and curse the day of their first union when they cannot expect but to meet again in flames 2. Some that give their Bodies to God but withhold their Souls from him How may this be done Answ. 1. Generally When Men content themselves with a naked Profession of Christianity and some external Conformity thereunto 'T is a stupid Religion that consists in outward Actions Iudas was externally a Disciple but Satan entred into his heart Luk. 22. 3. Ananias joyned himself to the People of God but Satan filled his heart Acts 5. 3. Simon Magus was Baptized but his heart was not right with God Acts 8. 22. Many Men may not only make Profession but perform many good Actions Be as to external conformity blameless yet till their hearts are subdued to God they should not be satisfied with their Condition Though you pray with the Pharisee Luk. 18. Pay thy Vowes with the Harlot Prov. 7. Offer Sacrifice with Cain Fast with Iezabel sell thine Inheritance to give to the Poor with Ananias and Saphira 't is all in vain without the heart Many Hypocrites are all Ear to Hear all Tongue to Talk all Face to Appear but not an Heart to Obey Something must be done for Religion for Fashion sake and shame of the World yea though thou dost not dissemble do many things yet if your hearts be not renewed and changed all is nothing you do not keep the Testimonies of the Lord with your Souls 2. And more Particularly When Men make conscience of Ceremonies and outsides rather then sincere Obedience As the Pharisees Matth. 23. 25 26. They make clean the outside of the cup and platter but within are full of extortion and excess Pretend great purity in eating their Meat but care not with how great Iniquity they purchase it Papists think they have done enough if they mutter over a few idle Words without Spirit and Life the most part of their service 't is but that of the body without the soul they Worship in a strange Language not knowing what they do or say and nearer home draw nigh with their Lips when their Hearts is far from him Matth. 5. 8. These leave their Hearts at home the Devil findeth them other work that suffer their Hearts to straggle and to be like the Fools Eyes in the corners of the Earth when with their Bodies they are ingaged in serious and solemn Duties of Gods Worship Use. II. Is to press you to serve God with your hearts and souls as well as your bodies 1. This is the Character of true Worshippers Rom. 1. 9. My God whom I serve in the spirit And 2 Tim. 1. 3. God whom I serve with a pure conscience This was peculiar to Paul alone 't is the description of the spiritual Circumcision Phil. 3. 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Iesus and have no confidence in the flesh These are such as are true Worshippers 2. God will accept of no other for he looketh for the heart and knoweth whether we give it him yea or no Men care not for fawning and the obsequiousness of empty Courtships but look for reality if they could discern it 2 Kings 10. 15. Is thy heart right as my heart is with thy heart 't was Iehu's question to Ionadab the Son of Rechab Dost thou as really affect me as I do thee And Men do not look to the Matter of the Gift but the Mind of the Giver and will God think you who can infallibly Judge and will one day bring the hidden thoughts of the heart to Light 1 Cor. 4. 5. will he be put off with shows and empty formalities Well then see that your Souls be in it otherwise he will not accept of Rivers of Oyl and thousands of Rams All your Pomp and Cost upon outside services is lost But 't is not every soul that will keep Gods Testimonies when the People said all that the Lord hath spoken we will do it Deut. 5. 29. Oh that they had such an heart It must be such an heart for man is naturally averse from God sin sets up its Throne in the Heart and thence diffuseth its Venom into his Actions Gen. 6. 5. It must be 1. A Broken Heart 2. A Renewed Heart 3. An Heart purified by Faith 4. And Acted by Love 1. A Broken Heart it must be Psal. 51. 11. for before that all that we do is forced and superficial We are never serious till acquainted with brokenness of heart but serve God in a slight careless fashion That bruising is to cast into a new Mould 't is a preparative to the New Heart Wheat is not Bread till it be Grinded and a crack'd Vessel cannot be renewed till it be melted in the Furnace Nor we formed anew till we be first melted humbled and broken for sin 2. The Heart must be Renewed by Grace for 't is a Renewed Soul only that keepeth the Commandments Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give unto you and a new spirit will I put into you and then I will cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments to do them The Hearts of the Sons of men are fully set in them to do evil till God change them and renew a right Spirit within them Prov. 10. 20. The heart of the wicked is nothing worth A vain sottish sensual careless heart will never do God any service there must be Life before there can be Action A supernatural Principle before there can be supernatural operation for all things act according to their form All that we do else is but like Adulterating Coin Guilding over Copper or Brass 3. An Heart purified by Faith Acts 15. 9. There are
Heaven in order in one whole Body is like an Army in Rout and most are forced to get home in straggling Parties Now every tender Soul should Long for Gods Salvation to get up to that Counsel of Souls who with perfect Harmony are Lauding and Praising God for evermore Heb. 12. 23. Use. I. Is to reprove them that are loth to leave this woful Life and do not long and prepare for a better God driveth us out of the World as he did Lot out of Sodom yet we are loth to depart as if it were better to be Miserable apart from God and Christ then happy with them Surely they are far from the Spirit of true Christians who would live alwayes here are at home in the World and cannot endure to think of a remove There are two Causes of this 1. An Unmortifyed Heart 2. An Unsettled Conscience 1. An Unmortified Heart they are not yet weaned from the World their Hearts are set upon satisfying the Vile Lusts of the Body carry it as if their Portion lay in this World Psal. 17. 14. sucking yet upon the Worlds Dugg they have no longing nor desire for that Happiness and Glory which God hath provided for them that love him they desire no other Portion than what they have in hand 2. And the other cause is an Unsettled Conscience some fear the state of the other World rather than desire it and long for it there are two degrees notknowing for certain it shall go well with us and not knowing for certain but that it shall go ill with us both suppress this desire especially the latter Use. II. Is to Rowse up our languid and cold Affections that they may more earnestly be carryed out after heavenly things that we may seek after them with more Fervency and Constancy and Self-denial The Motives to press us are these 1. God giveth Heaven to none but to those that Look and Long for it Men may go to Hell against their Wills but none go to Heaven against their Wills In a Punishment there is a force offered to us but not in a Reward We suffer what we would not as Christ saith to Peter another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not Ioh. 21. 18. But happiness must be imbraced pursued and sought after Well then let the concernments of the other World more take up our Hearts and Minds and stand as at heavens Gate expecting when God will open the door and call you in Christ will appear to them that look for him Heb. 9. 28. 2. The Children of God Long to see God in his Ordinances Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of God all the dayes of my Life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple And Psal. 42. 2. My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Psal. 63. 1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Now if there be so Great and Longing a desire to see the glory of the Lord in a Glass wherein so little of his Glory is seen with any comfort and satisfaction how much more to see him immediately face to face if a Glimpse be so comfortable what will the immediate Vision of God then be surely if this be Salvation every one of us should long for this Salvation 3. If it be not worth our Desire 't is little worth the Estate being so excellent such a compleat Redemption from all our Troubles so perfect and so full an happiness in Body and Soul will not you send a groan or an hearty Act of Volition after it 't is great ingratitude that when Christ hath procured a great state of blessedness for us at a very dear rate we should value it no more he procured it by a life of Labour and Sorrow and the Pangs of a bitter Cursed death and when all is done we little regard it surely if we choose it for our happiness there will be longing and looking for it No man will fly from his own happiness a mans heart will be where his Treasure is Math. 6. 21. if you prize it you will sigh and groan after it the Apostle saith Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã If you count it better to be there than else where you will be desiring to be there and longing to be there for we are always longing for that which is better chiefly for that which is best of all there is the best estate the best work the best company all is better if you count it so it will be no difficult thing to bring you earnestly to desire it 4. All the Ordinances serve to stir up this longing after Heaven and to awaken these desires in us the Word is our Charter for Heaven or Gods Testament wherein this rich Legacy is bequeathed to us that every time we Read it or Hear it or Meditate upon it we may get a step higher and our Hearts more drawn out after Heavenly things In Prayer whether in Company or Alone 't is but to raise and act these heavenly Desires there we groan and long for Gods Salvation In the Lords Supper we come solemnly to put our selves in mind of the new Wine we shall drink in our Fathers Kingdom Matth. 26. 29. to put a new heavenly Relish upon our Hearts 5. The Imperfection of our present Estate We are now imperfect and streightened like a Fish in a Pail or small vessel of Water which cannot keep it alive it would fain be in the Ocean or swiming in the broad and large Rivers So we are pent up cannot do what we would there is a larger Estate when filled up with all the fulness of God that Holiness we have now maketh us look for it and long for it and surely Holiness was never designed for our Torment 6. We are hastning into the other World apace and therefore we more desire it Natural motion is in principio tardior in sine velecior the nearer to fruition the more impatient of the want of it When a Man is drawing home after a long Journey every Mile is as tedious as two We are drawing nigh to the other World let us leave this willingly not by force let not Trouble chase us out of it but Love and Desire draw us out of it God doth loosen our Roots by little and little that we may now be sit for a Remove the Pins of our Tabernacle are taken down insensibly and by leisurely Degrees Now as fast as we are going out of this World we should be going into another the inner Man Renewed day by day
like lost Sheep We have not alwaies so clear and so deep a sense of our duty as we ought and find not such lively Powerful and Effectual thoughts of God and Heavenly things and so clear a sense so that the directive part fails us Then for our Wills which should command us where the Imperial Power resides they are imperfect There is I confess in the Regenerate a sincere Will to please God in all things but it is not a perfect Will so that our Willing and Nilling our Consent and Dissent is not so powerful as it ought to be but the Will being tainted by the Neighbour-hood of a distempered sense it yields a little and bends to the Flesh and gives way to Evil and many times it opposeth that which is good at least we are often overtaken in a Fault being inconsiderately and suddainly surprized as the Apostle useth that expression Gal. 6. 1. If a man be overtaken in a fault Though a Regenerate man hath a new Light put into his mind he is renewed in the Spirit of his mind though he hath a new bent and biass put upon his heart yet the Imperial and Directive Power have Flesh in them still and the Wisdom of the Flesh is so ingrain'd and kneaded into our Natures that it cannot be totally dispossessed no more then we can sever the Leven and the Dough when once they are mingled together If there be a defect in the Governing and Leading part of the Soul there will be disorders in the Life and Conversation Come we now from the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the leading faculties to the faculties which should be commanded and directed Alas they are by sin grown Obstinate and Masterly and are so eagerly set upon their objects carnal vanities that they will not be reclaimed but rebel against the Direction of Conscience and inclinations of the renewed Will The Apostle speaks of a Law of his Members warring against the Law of his Mind Rom. 7. 23. In the lower in the more sensitive faculties there is much head-strong opposition against the directions of the Will We have but a slender feeble Guide The leading part of the Will is defective and thereis much of the Wisdom of the Flesh there 'T is a trouble to the Flesh to be restrained from what it desires and inclines us to as a head-strong Horse is loath to be governed therefore we yield and suffer our selves to be transported and led away by our passions and carnal affections Now though the rebellious and disobedient disposition of the Appetite and Senses is in a great measure broken and subdued in us by the Power of Grace yet the best have somewhat of inordinate sensuality and weakness and being imperfect are tempted by the World and Sense as well as others Well then ever weigh in your mind for your direction these two grand Reasons of all the weakness that is in the Saints there is the debility and the weakness of the Leading and Commanding part and the rebelling of the inferiour faculties which should be Ruled and Commanded 1. The Debility and Weakness of the Leading and Commanding part of the Soul And thence is it that we are so inconsiderate so dull of apprehension have such dark and ineffectual thoughts of God and Heavenly things and thence is it that the Will doth not so potently and rulingly Command the directive faculties but is apt to yield to that it doth not stand upon its Authority as it was wont to do 2. The other part is the Rebellion of the Inferious faculties and stubbornness of our sensual and carnal inclinations Look as in a Kingdom and Common Wealth where are Rebellious Subjects and a Feeble Empire things must needs run into disorder so here the Reyns are managed very weak there 's a Feeble Empire in the Soul and here are strong Rebellioââ¦s desires not easily controul'd and so draw the Soul away To make this more evident a little I shall shew the order of all Humane Operations if rightly constituted Their actions are Governed in this manner The Understanding and the Conscience they are to guide and direct the Will the Will according to right Reason and Conscience moves the Affections the Affections according to the Councel and Command of the Understanding and Will move the Bodily spirits the Bodily spirits they move the Senses and Members of the Body but now by Corruption there is a manifest Inversion and Change for Bodily pleasure doth affect the Senses the Senses corrupt the Phantasy the Phantasy moves the Bodily spirits and by them the lighter part of the Affections the affections by their violence and inclination Captivate the Will and Blind the Mind and so the Man is carried head-long to his own destruction Now though this servitude be in a great measure broken in them that are called into the Liberty of Gods Children they are not Slaves to their Lusts and the vain pleasures of this Life Yet too too often the Senses are too Masterly and too too often transmit Objects into the soul in a Rebellious way against the command of Sanctified Reason and Conscience Affections are stirred by Thoughts and Thoughts by Objects thus represented I am the larger in this that you may more perfectly understand the Reason of the Weakness of the Saints 2. The violence of Temptations As Sheep may be driven out of the Pasture by the Wolfe so is a poor Soul hurried into Evil to commit known Sin or omit known Duty by the incursion and shock of Temptations though for the main he doth adhere to Christ by Faith Love and New Obedience Thus Peter was drawn to deny Christ and many are drawn in the violence of a passion to do things which their Hearts do utterly condemn and disallow In a storm it is hard for a skilful Pilot to stear aright and though it be dangerous to dash against the Rocks yet Christians come off without a total Shipwrack though they may be sore bruised and battered In such hurries Gods Children may go astray but God will not suffer them to be totally lost David wandred far as well as Saul but God sought David again he would not lose him so A strong Temptation may drive us out of the way as sheep when Thieves come are driven out of the Fold whither else they would not have gone 3. The Lord may withdraw himself for just and wise Reasons and then when the Shepherd is gone aside we have neither Wisdom to direct our selves nor Strength to defend our selves As when Moses went away for a while how soon did Israel corrupt their way So if God be gone we see how little we can keep our selves God left Hezekiah to try him 2 Chron. 32. 31. God will shew us what is in our hearts and that our standing is not of our selves We represent our selves to our selves in a feigned likeness and therefore God will truly shew our selves to our selves we do not know what pride and passion and carnality lies hid
their posterity approve the same that is they live by the same Principles are as greedy upon worldly satisfactions as ever those were that have gone before that neglected God and heavenly things and went down to the grave and their honour was laid in the dust Until the Lord take off our heart by the light and power of his grace we remain as sottish and foolish and worldly as they Thus you see how much it concerns you to be right in the notion of true blessedness Doct. 2. That sincere constant uniform obedience to Gods Law is the only way to true blessedness This is called a way and this way is said to be Gods Law and in this way we must be undefiled which implies not absolute purity and Legal perfection but Gospel sincerity and in this way we must walk which notes both uniformity and constancy it must be our course and we must persevere therein Three things need to be opened 1. Speak to the Rule 2. Of conformity to the Rule that it must be sincere uniform and constant 3. How this is the way to true happiness what respect it hath to true blessedness First The Rule is the Law of God All created beings have a Rule Christs humane nature was the highest of all Creatures and yet it is to be in subjection to God he is under a Rule Gal. 4. 4. made of a Woman made under the Law The Angels they have many Immunities above man they are freed from death from the necessities of meat and drink but they are not freed from the Law they are not sui juris at their own dispose They obey his Commands hearkning unto the voice of his word Psal. 103. 20. Inanimate Creatures Sun Moon Stars are under a Law of Providence under a Covenant of night and day Psal. 148. 6. He hath also stablished them for ever he hath made a decree which shall not pass They have their courses and appointed motions and keep to the just points of their Compass All Creatures are under a Law according to which they move and act Much more now is Man under a Law because he hath Election and Choice But if the Law were not a rule to a Christian as some Antinomians have that opinon if it were not in force then there should be no sin or duty for where there is no Law there is no transgression for the nature of sin is the transgression of the Law 1 Ioh. 3. 4. Rom. 4. 15. Certainly the Law as a rule is a very great priviledge and surely Christ did not come to lessen or abolish the priviledges of his people Deut. 4. 4. There is no nation have such Statutes Psal. 147. 20. He hath made known his Statutes to Israel was their Prerogative If the Law might be disannulled as to New Creatures then why doth the Spirit of God write it with such legible Characters in their hearts This is promised as the great blessing of the Covenant of grace Heb. 8. 10. Now that which the Spirit engraves upon the heart would Christ come to deface and abolish The Law was written upon Tables of Stone and the great work of the Spirit is to write it upon the Table of the heart and the Ark was a Chest where the Law was kept and with allusion to it God saith I will put my Law into their heart Clearly then there is a Rule and this Rule is the Law of God now this Rule must be consulted with upon all occasions if we would obtain true blessedness both to inform us and to awe us First To inform us that we may not act short or over 1. Not short There are many false Rules with which men please themselves and are but so many by-ways that lead us off from our own happiness for instance Good meaning that 's a false Rule the world lives by guess and devout aims But if good meaning were a Rule a man may oppose the interest of Christ destroy his servants and all upon good meaning Ioh. 16. 2. These that kill you will think they do God good service men may grosly err that follow a blind Conscience Custom that is another It is no matter what others have done before us but what Christ did before them all If Custom carry it most of Christs institutions would be out of doors Example of others that 's no good Rule it is not for us to go where others have gone before but what 's the true way Matth. 7. 14. The broad way that leads to destruction and many walk therein the path to Hell is most beaten we are not always to follow the track they are dead Fishes which swim down the stream we are not to be led away with Custom and Example and do as others do Our own desires and inclinations are not our Rule O how miserable should we be if our Lust were our Law if the bent of our hearts were our Rule Iude 16. walking after their own lusts is the description of those that were monsters of men that had outgrown all feelings of Conscience The Laws of Men are not our Rule 'T is too narrow and short to commend us to God to be punctual to the Laws of men and no more Psal. 19. 7. The Law of God is perfect converting the Soul To convince us of sin to humble the heart to reduce and bring us back to God there 's no rule for this but the Law of God Men make Laws as Taylors do garments to fit the crooked bodies they serve for to suit the humours of the people to be governed by these Laws surely they are not a sufficient Rule to convince us of sin and to guide us to true happiness A civil orderly man is one thing and a godly renewed man another It is Gods prerogative to give a Law to the Conscience and the renewed motions of the heart Humane Laws are good to establish converse with man but too short to establish Communion with God and therefore we must consult with the Rule which is the Law of the Lord that we may not come short of true blessedness 2. That we may not act over There is a superstitious and an Apocryphal Holiness which is contrary to a genuine and Scriptural Holiness yea destructive to it it is like the Concubine to the Wife it draws away respects due to the true Religion Now what is this kind of Holiness It is a temporary flesh-pleasing Religion which consists in a conformity to outward Rites and Ceremonies and external mortifications such as is practised by the Papists and Formalists after the Commandments and Doctrines of men Col. 2. 23. Which things indeed have a shew of wisdom in will-worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh God will not thank them that give more than he requireth These things have a shew of wisdom As Brass-money may be fairer than true Coyn though not of such a value So this will-worship and
men 3. When we search out our defects and are ever bewailing them with kindly remorse Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death 4. When we run by faith to Christ Jesus and sue out our pardon and peace in Christs name until we come to be compleat in him Col. 1. 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledg of God SERMON IV. PSAL. CXIX 3. They also do no iniquity they walk in his ways STILL the Psalmist continues the description of a blessed man In the two first Verses Holiness which is the way to and evidence of Blessedness is considered with respect to the Subject and the Object of it the Life and the Heart of man The Life of man Blessed are the undefiled in the way The Heart of man They seek him with the whole heart Now Holiness is considered in the parts of it Negatively and Positively The two parts of Holiness are an eschewing of sin and studying to please God You have both in this Verse They also do no iniquity they walk in his ways First You have the blessed man described negatively They do no iniquity Upon hearing the words presently there occurs a doubt How then can any man be blessed for there is not a man that liveth and sinneth not Eccles. 7. 20. and Jam. 3. 2. In many things we offend all To deny it is a flat lye against the truth and against our own experience If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1. 8. The expression may be abused on the one side to establish the impeccability and perfection of the Saints on the other side it may be abused by persons of a weak and tender conscience to the hinderance of their comfort and rejoycing in God When they shall hear this is the character of a blessed man they do no iniquity they are very apt to conclude against their own regeneration because of their daily failings To avoid these difficulties I shall enquire 1. What it is to do iniquity 2. Who are the persons among the sons of men that may be said to do no iniquity First What it is to do iniquity If we make it our trade and practice to continue in wilful disobedience To sin is one thing but to make sin our work is another 1 Joh. 3. 9. He that is born of God doth not commit sin he doth not work sin And Matt. 7. 23. Depart from me ye that work iniquity That 's the Character of the Reprobate workers of iniquity So Joh. 8. 34. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin Sin is their constant trade Psal. 139. 24. See if there be any wicked way in me None are absolutely freed from sin but it is not their trade their way their work When a man makes it his study and business to carry on a course of sin then he is said to do iniquity Secondly Who are those that are said to do no iniquity in Gods account though they fail often thorough weakness of the flesh and violence of temptation Answer 1. All such as are renewed by grace and reconciled to God by Christ Jesus to these God imputeth no sin to condemnation and in his account they do no iniquity Notable is that 1 King 14. 8. it is said of David He kept my Commandments and followed me with all his heart and did that only which was right in mine eyes How can that be We may trace David by his failings they are upon record every where in the word yet here a Veil is drawn upon them God laid them not to his charge There is a double reason why their failings are not laid to their charge partly because of their general state they are in Christ taken into favour through him and there 's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 1. therefore particular errors and escapes do not alter their condition Which is not to be understood as if a man should not be humbled and ask God pardon for his infirmities no for then they prove iniquities they will lye upon record against us It was a gross fancy of the Valentinians that held they were not defiled with sin whatsoever they committed though base and obscene persons yet still they were as gold in the dirt No no we are to recover our selves by repentance to sue out the favour of God When David humbled himself and had repented then saith Nathan 2 Sam. 12. 13. The Lord hath put away thy sin Partly too because their bent and habitual inclination is to do otherwise They set themselves to comply with Gods will to seek and serve the Lord though they are clogged with many infirmities A wicked man sinneth with deliberation and delight his bent is to do evil he makes provision for lusts Rom. 13. 12. and serves them by a voluntary subjection Tit. 3. 3. But those that are renewed by grace are not debtors to the flesh they have taken another debt and obligation upon them which is to serve the Lord Rom. 8. 12. Partly too because their general course and way is to do otherwise Unumquodque operatur secundum suam formam Every thing works according to its form the constant actions of Nature are according to the kind So the new creature his constant operations are according to grace A man is known by his custom and the course of his endeavours what is his business If a man be constantly easily frequently carried away to sin it discovers a habit of soul and the temper of his heart Meadows may be overflown but marish ground is drowned with the return of every Tide A child of God may be carried away and act contrary to the bent and inclination of the new nature but when men are drown'd and overcome with the return of every temptation and carried away it argues a habit of sin And partly because sin never carries it away clearly but with some dislikes and resistances of the new nature The children of God make it their business to avoid all sin by watching praying mortifying Psal. 39. 1. I said I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue And then there is a resistance of the sin God hath planted graces in their hearts the fear of his Majesty that works a resistance and therefore there is not a full allowance of what they do This resistance sometimes is more strong then the temptation is overcome How can I do this wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39. Sometimes it is more weak and then sin carries it though against the will of a holy man Rom. 7. 15 18. The evil which I hate that do I. It is the evil which they hate they protest against it they are like men which are opprest by the power of the enemy And then there 's a remorse after the sin David's heart
so they have their particular corruptions which are more suitable to their temper and course of life Peter seems to be inclin'd to Tergiversation and to shrinking in a time of trouble We find him often triping in that kind in the denial of his Master again Gal. 2. 12. it is said he dissembled and complied with the Iews therefore Paul withstood him to his face for he was to be blamed It is evident by experience there are particular corruptions to which the children of God are more inclinable this appears by the great power and sway they bear in commanding other evils to be committed by their falling into them out of inward propensity when outward temptations are few or weak or none at all and when resistance is made yet they are more pestered and haunted with them than with other temptations which is a constant matter of exercise and humiliation to them Secondly Wherein doth grace now discover it self where 's the difference 1. In that they cannot fall into those iniquities wherein there is an absolute contrariety to grace as hatred of God total Apostasie so they cannot sin the sin unto death 1 Joh. 5. 16. 2. In that they do not sin with the whole heart Psal. 119. 176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant for I do not forget thy commandments There was somewhat of God in the heart when he was conscious to himself of strayings and wandrings and David saith elsewhere I have not departed wickedly from thy precepts When they sin it is with the dislike and reluctancy of the new nature it is rather a rape than a consent Bernard saith A child of God suffers sin rather than acts it and his hearts protest is against it 3. It is not their course not constant easie and frequent Relapses into gross sins they argue an habitual aversion from God for a habit is determined by the constancy and uniformity of acts therefore it is but now and then under some great temptation There is sin and there is a way of sin Psal. 139. 24. Search me and see if there be any way of wickedness in me as Chrysostome glosseth 4. When they fall they do not rest in sin Shall they fall and shall they not arise Jer. 8. 4. They may fall into the dirt but they do not lye and wallow there like swine in the mire A fountain may be mudded but it works it self clean again The needle that hath been touched with the load-stone may be jogged and discomposed but it never leaves till it turn towards the Pole again Gods children have their failings but they sue out their pardon run to their Advocate 1 Ioh. 3. 1. humble themselves before God 5. Their falls are sanctified When they have smarted under sin they grow more watchful and more circumspect A child of God may have the worse in praelio in the battel but not in bello in the war Sometimes the carnal part may get the victory and they may fall foul but see the issue Psal. 51. 6. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom David had sinned against the Lord but I have learned wisdom never to trust a naughty heart more but to look to my self better 6. Grace discovers it self by the constant endeavours which they make against sin What 's the constant course a Christian takes They groan under the reliques of sin it is their burden that they have such an evil nature Rom. 7. 24. They fly to Gods grace in Christ for daily pardon 1 Ioh. 1. 9. They are ever washing their garments in the Lambs blood Rev. 7. and every day are cleansing themselves from the filthiness and defilement they contract by sin Ioh. 13. 10. He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet An allusion to a man that hath been a journey in those Countries where they went bare foot when he came home he must wash his feet So a man that is reconciled to God though he hath been in the Bath in the fountain which God hath opened for uncleanness yet every day he must be washing his feet cleansing himself by the blood of Christ more and more because he contracts new defilement Then by using all endeavours against it Col. 3. 5. as prayer striving watching cutting off the provisions of the flesh improving the death of Christ. They do not voluntarily and without opposition live under sin and the slavish tyranny of it Their bent and habitual inclination is to do otherwise therefore they are said to do no iniquity whereas those that are wretchless and careless of their souls sin and never lay it to heart they are the workers of iniquity Use 2. If this be the character of a blessed man To make it our business to avoid sin Then here 's caution to God's people 1. To beware of all sin 2. To be very cautious against gross sins committed against the light of conscience 3. To beware of continuance in sin First To beware of all sin The more you have the mark of a blessed man 1 Joh. 2. 1. These things I write unto you that you sin not Though you have a pardon and cleansing by the blood of Christ though you have an Advocate yet sin not Now the motives to set on this Caution are taken from God from our selves from the nature of sin 1. From God Sin not why because it is an offence to God Consider how contrary sin is to all the persons in the Trinity To God the Father as a Lawgiver being a contempt of his Authority 1 Ioh. 3. 4. Sin is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a transgression of the Law that is an act of disloyalty and rebellion against the Crown of Heaven Open sin doth as it were proclaim rebellion and war against God and privy sin is conspiracy against him All creatures have a Law Psal. 148. 6. Thou hast set to them a Decree beyond which they cannot pass And they are less exorbitant in their motions than we are It is a greater violation to the Law of Nature for man to sin than for the Sea to break its bounds The Creatures have not sense and reason yet they do not pass beyond the Law which God hath set them This should prevail with the new creature especially whose hearts God hath suited to the Law so that they offer a violence to their own conscience Take heed of entring into the lists with God of despising his Authority Every sin that is committed slights the Law which forbids it 2 Sam. 12. 9. Wherefore despisest thou his commandments God stands much upon his Law one tittle shall not pass away and you despise it go about to make it void when you give way to sin Nay it is an abuse of his Love 1 Joh. 3. 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed us you are children and sons of God and will you slight his love Your sins are like Absoloms treason against his Father The Rechabites are commended for
thy people This is a special blessing God bestoweth upon his own children Again these concern the better part the inward man the spirit the soul which is the man He doth us more favour which heals a wound in the body than he that only soweth up a rent in our garment for the body is more than raiment so he that doth good to our souls is more than he that doth good to our bodies which gives outward blessings because these are above the body Again these are pledges of eternal blessings in heavenly places He hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places But why is it said he hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places why there they began and there they are consummated there was their first purpose and there 's the final accomplishment A man may have the world and yet never the nearer heaven but when he hath grace and learned Gods statutes and his heart is gained to obedience of Gods will this is more than gold silver and great riches Again these dispose the heart to thankfulness There 's an occasion to praise God and a heart to praise him outward mercies give us an occasion but spiritual mercies give a disposition Other things are but motives to praise God but these are preparations And then other things they are given in judgment these things cannot A man may have an estate in judgment but he cannot have Christ and grace in judgment These things are always given in mercy Use. Well then the use is to reprove us that we are no more sensible of spiritual benefits We love the body more than the soul and therefore have a quick sense of bodily mercies But now in soul-concernments we are not the like affected It is for want of observation to descry the progress of grace and Gods dealings with the inward man Col. 4. 2. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving And it is for want of affection we are wrought upon by carnal arguments mercies of flesh and blood and showers of rain food and gladness these things make us praise God but that which we get from God in an Ordinance we are not so sensible of 3. I observe again Those that have learned Gods righteous Judgments they are only fit to praise God Psal. 33. 1. Praise is comely for the upright It is unseemly in a wicked mans mouth that he should be praising of God it is his duty but it is not so comely but praise to the upright this is suitable Canticum novum vetus homo male concordant saith Austin the new song the psalm of praise and the old-man make but ill musick We need a new heart if we would go about this work It is an exercise becoming the godly We should be reconciled to God and have his grace and favour Under the Law they were to bring their peace-offering and lay it on the top of the burnt-offering Levit. 3. When we come to offer a thank-offering to God we should be in a state of amity and friendship with him that 's the clear moral of that ceremony Sing with grace in your hearts Col. 3. 16. Others have not such matter nor such hearts to praise God they are but tinkling cymbals but those that have grace it is acceptable and comely for them 4. I observe again I will praise thee when I shall have learned c. Those that profit by the word they are bound to praise God and acknowledg him as the Author of all that they have got The grace of a teachable heart we have it from him therefore the honour must be his He that gave the Law he it is that writes it upon the heart Alas we in our selves are but like the wild-asses colt Job 11. 12. both for rudeness of understanding and also for unruliness of affection Well then if we be tamed and subdued he must have all the glory and the praise Psal. 16. 7. Blessed be God that gave me counsel in my reins It was God which made the word effectual and counsel'd us how to chuse him for our portion We were as indocible and uncapable as others If God had left us to our own swing what fools should we be Use. It reproves us because we are so apt to intercept the Revenues of the Crown of Heaven and to convert them to our own use like Rebels against God This proud pronoun Ego I I is always interposing this Babel which I have built We are sacrificing to this proud self This I have done and if God be mentioned it is but for fashion-sake as those women in the Prophet Isaiah Only call us by thy name we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel I allude to it God must bear the name but we sacrifice to our selves in all we get as if it were our own acquiring God I thank thee saith the Pharisee yet he trusted in himself that he was righteous Luk. 14. O learn then the commendable modesty of Gods servants of ascribing all to God Luk. 19. 16. he doth not say my industry but thy pound hath gained another And by the grace of God I am what I am And I laboured more abundantly than they all He corrects it presently Yet not I but the grace of God that was with me 1 Cor. 15. 10. So again Gal. 2. 20. I live and then presently not I but Christ liveth in me Thus should we learn to be faithful and loyal to God and deal with him as Ioab did to David when he was like to surprise Rabbah and take it 2 Sam. 12. 28. Encamp against the city and take it lest I take the city and it be called after my name Let us be very jealous that we do not get into Gods place and self interpose and peark up with what we have attained unto for the Lord must have all the glory the praise must be his The Fourth Circumstance in the Text is the manner of performing this duty of rendring praise with an upright heart I shall not discourse of uprightness in general but uprightness in praising God God must be praised with a great deal of uprightness of soul that 's the note This uprightness in praising lyeth in two things not only with the tongue but the heart not only with the heart but the life 1. Not only with the tongue but with the heart Psal. 103. 1. Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name Mark not only with my tongue with my glory as he calls it but with my soul Formal speeches are but an empty prattle which God regards not Psal. 47. 7. Sing ye praises with understanding It is fit the noblest faculty should be imployed in the noblest work this is the noblest work to praise God therefore all that is within us must be summoned Church-adversaries took up a customary form Zech. 11. 5. Blessed be the Lord for I am rich And in Nehemiah it is
well with you for the present but matters to come are put off little cared for Amos 6. 3. 2. In Hearing do not hear slightly but hide the Word in your heart that it be not imbezilled by thy own negligence forgetfulness running into carnal distractions that it be not purloined by Satan that he may not snatch away the good seed out of thy soul. When the Word is preached there is more company present than is visible there are Angels and Devils in the Assembly When ever the Sons of God meet together Satan is present with them The Devil is present to divert the mind by wandring thoughts by raising prejudices that we may cast out the Word or by excuses delays evasions putting it off to others when we begin to have some sensibleness of our sin and danger The Devil is loth to let us go too far lest Christ get a subject into his Kingdom Oh therefore labour to get something into thy heart by every Sermon some fresh notion or consideration is given out to set you a work in the spiritual life A conscientious waiting upon God will find something every time It is sad to consider how many have heard much and laid up little or nothing at all it may be they have laid it up in their Note-books but not laid up the word in their hearts 3. For Meditation Meditate upon the Word do not study the Word in a cursory manner or content your selves with a slight taste or a little volatile affection but ponder it seriously that it may enter into your very heart Hasty and perfunctory thoughts work nothing Meat must be well chewed and digested if you would have it turn into good blood and spirits you must follow it close till it settle into some affection So much for David's practice I have hid thy word in my heart The second thing is the aim and end of it That I may not sin against thee Doct. 2. In hiding the word in our hearts there must be a right end our knowledg of it and delight in it must be directed to practice 1. We must not study the Word meerly out of curiosity that we may know what is said there as men will pry into Civil Art and Discipline so the Athenians flocked about Paul Act. 17. 18 19 20 21. so for novelty sake men may have an affection and a delight in the Word Ioh. 5. 35. Ye rejoiced in his light for a season There are certain Adulterous affections we have to the Word when it is new and fresh but when it grows stale we loath it This affection to the Word is soon spent 2. We must not hide the Word in our heart meerly that we may be able to teach others that we may make a gainful trade of it Alas a man may teach others and be himself a cast-away Look as in coyning of money an iron-stamp may impress the character and print upon a piece of gold and silver so God may use the gifts and knowledg of some men to beget faith in others and perish themselves Mat. 7. 21. We haue prophesied in thy name yet depart from me I know you not 3. This must not be our end neither not meerly for delight Largeness of knowledg brings a content with it as it is an addition to our perfection Truth is the object of our understanding and may please an unsanctified mind not meerly out of subserviency to some base and inferiour ends that we may get esteem in the world or the repute of knowing persons but as it is an elevation of the understanding Every delight in truth is not a delight in God There is a natural oblectation we have in the contemplation of any sublime truth this is meerly a delight in the work of our own faculties when the affections are terminated in bare knowledg as it is a high and mysterious truth as it is a delectation to the understanding 4. We are not meerly to study the Word for the comfortableness of it and the suitableness to the Conscience As man is a reasonable creature he will delight in knowledg and as he hath a Conscience presageous of death and judgment to come he may delight in the comfort of it Many search out Promises that do not affect precepts The stony-ground seemed to have a joy they may delight in the comfortable part of Religion but this joy comes to nothing this gladsome forward spring is no sure Prognostication of a plentiful harvest Then do we receive the word a right when we look to the holy part and mortifie our natural desires and affections Many deal with the word as Great men do with fleshly companions are willing to entertain them at their Tables to hear their Discourse because of the pleasantness of their mirth but to enter into bonds for them and discharge them from debt or better their fortunes that they will not do So many will give Christ and the Word and the comfortable part of it entertainment but they are loth to take the duty of the Gospel upon themselves Therefore it is not enough to study the word meerly that we may cherish our own persons with the comfortable part of it but we must also study the holy part of it and that which doth require our duty Let us labour to hide the word in our hearts as David did I have hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee SERMON XIII PSAL. CXIX 12. Blessed art thou O Lord teach me thy statutes IN these words you have 1. A Compellation Blessed art thou O Lord. 2. A Supplication Teach me thy statutes 1. Branch The Compellation carrieth the force of an argument Because thou art blessed O Lord therefore teach me And therefore I shall open the sense of this title that is here given to God so as I may still make good the argument For the sense God may be said to be blessed objectivè or subjectivè First Objectively as he is the Object of our blessedness it is our blessedness to enjoy God Psal. 144. 15. Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. That is our blessedness to have God for our portion As soon as we are admitted into Covenant with God we have a right to him I am thy God and we have the full consummation of it when we enter into heaven there we have the highest enjoyment of God that we are capable of We have many fruitless and unquiet cares to enjoy the creatures which are neither blessed in themselves nor can make us blessed But now God is our summum bonum our chief good The enjoyment of him is the chiefest good Still we are capable of a higher happiness until we enjoy God In other things we can neither have satisfaction nor security the creature cannot satisfie nor yet secure us in the enjoyment of it self In this sense the argument will hold good Blessed art thou O Lord that is Thou art the object of my blessedness my blessedness lyeth
must be used for God he made them bought them and if we belong to him we gave them up with other things to him We did not reserve our tongues when we resigned and surrendred our selves to the Lords use we did not make exception the same argument which holds good for the whole body why it should be possessed in sanctification and honour holds good for every part of it 1 Cor. 6. 12. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods Thy whole is Gods thy spirit thy body and every part thy wit strength hand tongue is all Gods and therefore he expects to be glorified by thy tongue They were Rebels that said Psal. 12. 4. Our lips are our own who is Lord over us There is nothing we have that is ours but God's Our hearts are not our own to think what we will nor our tongues our own to speak what we will God expects service from the tongue otherwise we must be answerable for it when our Soveraign Lord calls us to an account Now it is strange God should have so clear a right to our speech and language and yet so little a share therein Give unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods Thy tongue and thy lips whose are they If thou couldst make thy tongue of thy self then thou mightst use it for thy self but since you had it from God you must use it for God But alas how little are men mindful of this Follow them all the day you get not one word of God from them they use their tongues as if they were their own not Gods 2. It is the glory of the tongue to serve God in this kind It is the most excellent member in the body when it is well used for the glory of God and edification of others therefore called our glory often in the Psalms Awake my glory that is my tongue and what is glory in the Old Testament is rendred tongue in the New Acts 2. Our tongue is our glory why because we have this advantage by it we may speak for God Therewith bless we God Jam. 3. 9. The benefit of speech it is our priviledg above Angels and Beasts Angels they have reason but no tongues and Beasts they have tongues but no reason to guide them and act them But now we have tongues and reason both that we may declare our Makers praise Surely this member and instrument was not given us to savour meats and drinks that is not the highest use of it but to express the senses and affections of the mind not to utter vain frothy frivolous things what an abuse is that but to comfort and instruct one another in the things of God It is our glory 3. Every creature hath a voice like it self and therefore so should the new creature have The Ox bellows the Ass brayeth Goats and Sheep may be known by their bleat and so is a man by the tenor of his discourse As the constitution of the mind is so are their words A wicked man hath a vain heart and therefore his discourse is idle and frivolous Prov. 10. 20. The tongue of the just is as choice silver but the heart of the wicked is little worth The antithesis shews it should have been said the tongue of the wicked is little worth but he would point at the cause of it the heart of the wicked There 's a quick intercourse between the tongue and the heart Now because the heart of the wicked is nothing worth all his thoughts and musings are vain he goes grinding chaff in his mind all the day his mind like a Mill is always at work not upon corn that it might be bread for his soul but upon chaff therefore because his heart is nothing worth his tongue is nothing worth The tongue of the just is as choice silver it brings in a great deal of treasure But take a wicked man all the workings of his heart his thoughts and discourses when summed up together the product and total sum at night is nothing but vanity The Lord seeth all their thoughts are but vain A vain heart will have vain speeches and so a cankered sinner will have cankered discourse as a putrid breath discovereth rotten lungs Every mans speech is as his humor is come to a covetous person he will be discoursing of Farms Oxen Bargains Wares and such like Come to an Epicurean Gallant to a Voluptuary and he will be telling you of Horses Games Dogs Meats Drinks merry company Go to the Ambitious they will be talking of Honours Offices and the like As they are of the flesh so their talk savours of fleshly things Every man hath a voice like himself he speaks according to the constitution of his mind Go to the discontented man he will be talking of his Adversaries telling of affronts wrongs and publick offences received But a godly man hath a voice too like himself he will be declaring the judgments of Gods mouth he will be speaking out of the word of God of things within his sphere and suitable to his kind Mat. 12. 35. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth ' forth good things Still the Tap runs according to the Liquor with which the Vessel is fill'd and a mans speech bewrays him of what kind he is and therefore since every creature hath a voice like himself so should the new creature have 4. I shall argue from the nature of Good which is communicative and loves to propagate it self Omne bonum sui diffusivum Luke 22. 32. Thou being converted strengthen thy brethren He had had experience of a changeable heart now go strengthen others Fire turneth all things about it into fire Leven pierceth through the whole lump So grace seeks to propagate and diffuse it self Therefore when the work of God is written upon a mans mind and laid up in his heart he will be declaring and speaking of it to others Naturalists observe that Mules and creatures which are of a Mungrel race do not procreate after their kind so the false Christians are not for propagating and enlarging Christs interest they are not so warm spiritual and heavenly in their discourses Andrew when acquainted with Christ calls Peter and both call Nathanael John 1. 41 45. We have found the Messiah Iohn calls his Disciples As a Hen when she hath found a Worm or a Barley-corn clucks for her Chickens that they may come and partake of it with her so a man acquainted with Christ who hath tasted that the Lord is gracious he cannot hold he will be calling upon his friends and relations to come and share with him of the same grace As they have more of God they will improve it for the comfort of others and are willing to take hold of all opportunities to this end 5. It discovereth plenty of knowledg and a good esteem of the word 1. Plenty of
of Gods Testimonies which ariseth from the conscience of practical obedience not from contemplation only and 't is best to be found when we come to practise and perform what we know It is said of Wisdom Prov. 3. 17. All her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace There is not only a sweetness in our Priviledges but in our Duties No man knoweth the contentment of walking closely with God but he that hath tried So Mic. 2. 7. Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly Not only speak good but do good There is a certain performance of what the word saith when it is said it may be accounted done but to whom to them that know it and are able to talk of it No but to them that walk And will every slight endeavour and the presumption of conformity to the rule serve the turn No to them that walk uprightly that sincerely frame themselves to obey Gods will with the greatest exactness and care they can use Oh what good what reviving of heart and chearfulness do they find in this work Briefly this delight in the way of Gods Testimonies that you may not be mistaken differeth from that contentment and serenity of mind which is the fruit of integrity or moral sincerity There is some degree of comfort that accompanieth any good action as heat doth fire the conscience so far as he doth good hath some kind of peace in it The Heathens by Gods general bounty and goodness had a conscience excusing when they did good as well as accusing when they did evil Rom. 2. 15. Their thoughts in the mean time accusing or else excusing one another ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by turns And this excusing cannot be without some sweetness and contentment of mind Sacer intra nos spiritus sedet bonorum malorúmque nostrorum observator custos hic prout à nobis tractatus est ita nos ipse tractat saith Seneca This may be without faith whereas we speak of such a joy as is founded in faith though found in the ways of obedience in Christs service Mat. 11. 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your souls In short there is delight the duty and the dispensation for it is both promised and required Delight in Gods ways is promised as a gift of God and as the result of our obedience Isa. 58. 13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath a delight c. Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord c. And Cant. 2. 3. I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste There is sweetness God bestoweth or sensible consolation which must be distinguished from that delight which is a fruit of our gracious esteem I can exclude neither though that delight which is the fruit of our esteem of the word is principally here intended the one is more durable than the other A gracious affection to the word and ways of God should ever remain with us but we are not always feasted with spiritual suavities now and then we have them and when they have done their work they return to God As in the Vision made to Peter the sheet that was shewed him was received up again into heaven Acts 10. 16. when Peter was informed of Gods will so this comfort returneth to the giver when it hath done its work refreshed our hearts and engaged us to wait upon God II. How a gracious heart rejoyceth more in the way of Gods Testimonies than in all Riches 1. There is a broad difference in the things themselves and therefore there should be in our affections to them for our affections should be carryed out according to the worth of things otherwise if an object of less worth have more of our hearts than an object of more value they are like members out of joynt they are not in their proper place There is a great distance between the things themselves as much as there is between the enjoyment of God and the creature and therefore there must be a considerable difference in our affections to them If the difference be so nice that thou canst hardly distinguish which thy heart is more affected with the enjoyment of God in the way of his Testimonies or the enjoyment of wealth and worldly accommodations or if the disproportion be on the worlds side that hath more of thy esteem and complacency then God is not thy chiefest good thou lovest the creature more than God which is inconsistent with Grace for this is the prime act of grace to chuse God for our chiefest good 2. We must distinguish between the sensitive stirring of the affections and the solid complacency of the soul. It is possible a child of God may be more sensibly moved by temporal things as they do more strike upon the senses but the supreme and prevailing delight of the soul is in spiritual things in the way of Gods testimonies To exemplifie this by the contrary affection as in Sorrow a temporal loss may to sense more stir the affections as to bodily expression of them than a spiritual as the drawing of a tooth or any present pain may make us cry out more than the languishings of a Consumption whereas the other may go nearer to the heart and causeth a more lasting trouble So in Joy a man may be pleased with earthly conveniences and yet his solid esteem is more in spiritual things As a Trifle may provoke laughter more than a solid benefit that accrueth to us Therefore the case is not to be decided by the intensiveness of the sensitive expression so much as by the appretiation of the soul. In this sense the point is to be understood he would lose all the world rather than dispense with his obedience to God This is selling all for the pearl of price spoken of Mat. 13. 46. All other things are trampled upon and renounced for this one's sake that we may enjoy God in Christ. And truly this affection to the word is not easily to be found for we often see that men for a little gain will break all the Commandments of God as things not to be stood upon when any temporal commodity is in chace and in the pursuit of worldly riches care not how they neglect Christ and heavenly things III. The reasons why they rejoice more in the way of Gods Testimonies than in all Riches 1. Because of the sutableness of these things to the new nature Every thing hath a kind of joy when it enjoys that which is good for it the ground doth pleasantly receive a shower of rain after drowth the natural man eateth and drinketh and his heart is filled with gladness So the spiritual man is affected with that which is agreeable to the divine nature Every thing is preferred according
Rhetorick in heaven And certainly the more heavenly we are the more perfect in grace the more wisdom shall we see in plain Scriptural truth infinitely exceeding all the wisdom of the Heathen Many think the word of God too plain for their mouths to preach it others too stale for their ears to hear it and they must have the fancies of men Jer. 8. 9. They have rejected my word and what wisdom is in them It is strange to see how many will disguise Religion to please the lusts of men They mock Christ as the soldiers did that put a Centurions Coat upon him for a Robe and then Hail King of the Iews So they wrap up Christ in the foolish garments of their own fancy and so expose him to mockage rather than reverence 3. This satiety bewrays it self by our affections too novel opinions and erroneous conceits 2 Tim. 4. 3. The time will come that they will not endure sound doctrine having itching ears and shall turn away their cars from the truth and shall be turned unto fables Observe it when you will That soul is nigh to spiritual blasting that begins to have a loathing of a plain truth and men must have new things and conceits in Religion and so grow weary of opinions as they do of fashions and then by Gods just judgment they run from one fancy to another till they quite run themselves out of breath and have shaken off all Religion and good conscience Therefore take heed of being given up to this vertiginous spirit to be turned and tost up and down with every wind of doctrine Eph. 4. 14. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Apostles word signifies to be carried round in a circle he alludes to a Mariners Compass that is carried by every wind this wind takes them and then another such light chaff are men when they begin to loath the plain truths of God But it is an argument of a gracious heart when we can receive old truth with new affections and look for the power of God and new quicknings 4. This levity and instability of spirit is because they look for all the virtue of Religion from their notions and their opinions and not from Christ then they think this change of opinion shall make them better their hearts shall be changed They try experiments so long till the Lord hath given them up to a spirit of infatuation and then all comes to nothing but they as a brand are fit for the burning 5. By our worldly projects Men shew a loathing of this word by their eagerness to the world their hearts with Martha are cumbred with many things while Mary sate at the feet of Jesus to hear his word Luke 10. We are very fervorous in worldly affairs there we can experiment this kind of affection which David speaks of to the word Beware of this coldness to the word it is an ill symptome both to Nations and persons USE 2. To press us to get this fervent and constant affection to the word To this end consider 1. Whose word it is Gods word and your best affections are due to him Isa. 26. 8. Our desires are to thee and to the remembrance of thy name There you shall hear of God there God hath displayed his name Our desires are to thee not only so but to thy memorial to the remembrance of thy name that is to his word which is as the bellows to blow up the sparks and to quicken our affections to him 2. See what benefits we have by the word of God how beneficial it is To enlighten and direct us To quicken and comfort us To supply and strengthen us 1. To enlighten and direct us Light is pleasant saith Solomon it 's a good thing to behold the Sun with our eyes Eccles. 11. 7. If light natural be pleasant what is light spiritual therefore the Psalmist compares the Word to the Sun the visible World can no more be without the one than the intellectual World can be without the other and the one doth as much rejoyce the heart as the other Psal. 19. 8. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the judgments of the Lord are pure enlightning the eyes Oh it is a comfort to have light to see our way when men begin to have a conscience about heavenly things O then they judg so indeed To others we speak in vain when we tell them what light they shall have by the word They say those that live under the Pole Arctick at the Autumnal Equinoctial the Sun setteth to them and doth not rise again till the Vernal and so are six whole months under a perpetual night as if they were buried in a grave but at the time of its return with what clapping of hands and expressions of joy do they welcome the Sun again into their parts So when the word of God is made known to us how should we welcome it The City of Geneva gave this for a Motto Post tenebras lux After darkness light implying that the return of the Gospel was as light after a long darkness as the coming of the Sun again to those Northern people While Paul and his company were in that great storm at Sea when they saw neither Sun nor Stars for many days and were afraid they should fall upon rocks and dangerous shelves O with what longing did they expect to see day again Acts 27. So a poor bewildred soul that hath lost its way or when a child of God doth see but by half a light how desirable is sure direction Now this cannot be had but from the word of God To the law and to the testimony 2. To comfort us in all straits In the word of God there 's a salve for every sore and a promise for every condition God hath plentifully opened his good will to sinners Therefore the children of God when they labour under the guilt of sin there they can hear of Gods promises of pardon Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Against Apostasie they have that promise Jer. 32. 40. I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me When they are under weak performances the word will tell them The Lord will spare you and pity you as a man spares his only son Mal. 3. 17. and when they lye under troubles inconveniences and deep crosses there 's a promise The Lord will be with them in affliction the word will shew them Christ in the affliction and heaven beyond the affliction and then they are comforted 1 Cor. 10. 13. When they are troubled about worldly provisions providing for themselves and families it saith Be contented I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 5. When their children come to their minds and thoughts what will become of them when
the request We pray for giving success to such an enterprize why that we may serve God safely God will bring it about another way Fifthly If God do not give us the blessings themselves we ask yet he gives us many experiences by the by in the manner of asking one way or other something comes into the soul by praying to God as those in Psal. 84. their end was to go to Ierusalem but in passing through the valley of Baca they met with a Well by the way So we meet with something by the way some light or some sweet refreshing some new consideration to set us a work in the spiritual life By praying to God unawares unthought of by you there are many principles of faith drawn forth in the view of conscience not noted before some truth or other presented to the heart or some spiritual benefit that comes in with fresh light and power that was never aimed at by us USE 1. If God be so ready to hear his people Let us not throw away our prayers as children shoot away their arrows but let us observe Gods answer what comes in upon every prayer in every address you make to God put the soul in a posture of expectation Psal. 5. 3. I will pray and look up and Psal. 85. 8. I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people See what God speaks when you have been praying and calling upon him It argues a slight formal spirit when you do not observe what comes in upon your addresses To quicken you to this know 1. If you observe not his answer God loseth a great deal of honour and praise for 't is said Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in time of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Every answer of prayer makes for the glory of God and Col. 4. 2. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving You are not only to see how your hearts are carried out in prayer but watch for God's answer that you may gather matter of praise We should not be so barren in gratulation as usually we are if we were as ready to observe our experiences as to lay forth our necessities 2. You lose many an argument of trust and confidence Answers of Prayer are an argument against Atheism which is so natural to us and inbred in our hearts it perswades us that there is a gracious being Psal. 65. 2. O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come we have called upon him and found that there is a God and against the natural unbelief which doubts of his truth in his Promises Psal. 18. 30. The word of the Lord is a tried word he is a buckler to all those that trust in him Well saith the soul I will build upon it another time there is more than letters and syllables in it there is something that speaks Gods heart so Psal. 116. 2. The Lord hath heard my voice and my supplications because he hath enclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live Promises shall not lye by as a dead stock I will be pleading them 3. It encreaseth our love to God when we see how mindful he is of us and kind to us in our necessities it is a very taking thing Visits maintain friendship so when God is mindful of us it maintains an intercourse between God and us Psal. 116. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my supplications Therefore observe what comes in upon your prayers especially when your hearts are earnestly carried out by the impulses of his grace USE 2. To admire the goodness of God to poor creatures that he should be at leisure to attend our requests I declared my ways and he heard me When a poor soul that is of no regard among men shall come with conflicts and temptations and the Lord presently hear him it renders his grace truly admirable Psal. 34. 6. This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles He doth not say this eminent Prophet or this great King but this poor man O! that such contemptible persons as we should have such audience For Great ones here in the world to let a poor man tell his tale at large that would be counted great patience much more if he finds relief in the case But beyond all this observe the goodness of God The more we declare our ways the sooner doth he hear us he doth not turn away from us when we tell him plainly we cannot believe in him or trust in him Come to a man and tell him You have made me great promises but I cannot believe you speak truth this will provoke him but when you come to the Lord and say Lord thou hast made a great many promises though we cannot trust him as we should yet we have declared our sins conflicts temptations yet Lord pity our weakness Thirdly Here is his Petition Teach me thy statutes First I observe David having been once heard of God expects to be heard in the like manner again Here Thou hast heard me and then comes with a new request Teach me thy statutes Doct. 1. Those that have sped with God in one address they will be dealing with God for more mercy For so doth David The reason is 1. Because God is where he was at first he is not weary by giving nor doth waste by giving but what he hath done that he can do and will do still I AM is God's name not I was or will be for ever remaining in the same constant tenor of goodness and power His Providence is still new and fresh every morning God is but one always like himself He hath not so spent himself but he can work again Creatures have soon spent their allowance but God cannot be exhausted There 's no decays of Love or Power in him no wrinkle in the brow of Eternity There was is and will be a God 2. Experience breeds Confidence the Apostle teacheth us so Rom. 5. 4. when we have had former experience of Gods readiness to hear us it is an argument that breeds confidence of the like audience for the future He that delivered me out of the mouth of the Lion c. God that hath been gracious surely will be gracious still for then Promises are sensibly confirmed and then former mercies are pledges of future By giving God becomes a debtor Mat. 6. 25. Is not life more than meat and the body than raiment Our Saviours argument this was If God give life he will give food if a body he will give raiment If he hath given grace the earnest of the Spirit he will give glory If he hath given us Christ he will give us other things together with him If he hath begun with us he will end with us Phil. 1. 6. One mercy is the pledg of another 3. We are endeared to God not only by
storm more and so lose that which they are so confident of keeping by their negligence and carelesness their spiritual comfort is gone And there 's another mischief the loss is more heavy because it was never thought of And therefore in preparation of heart we should be ready to lose our inward comforts as well as Estates and outward conveniences In Heaven alone we have continual day without cloudings or night but here there will be changes USE 3. Let us not judg of our condition if this should be our case that is if we should lye under pressing troubles such as do even break our spirits This was the case of the Son of God his soul was troubled and he knew not what to say Joh. 12. 30. My soul is troubled what shall I say And many of his choicest servants have been sorely exercised Heman an heir of Heaven and yet compassed about with the pains of hell Iob not only spoil'd of all his goods but for a time shut out from the comforts of God's Spirit Our business in such a case is not to examine and judg but to trust Neither to determine of our condition one side or other but to stay our hearts upon God and so to make use of offers and inviting promises when we cannot make use of conditional and assuring promises So Isa. 50. 10. He that walketh in darkness and seeth no light is directed let him trust in the name of the Lord. That 's our business in such a case of deep distress to make a new title rather than dispute the old one and stay our hearts on God's mercy Thus much concerning David's case which because it often comes under consideration in this Psalm I would pass over more briefly II. I come from David's Case to his Petition or Request to God Strengthen thou me according to thy word Where you have 1. The Request it self 2. An Argument to enforce it First The Request it self Strengthen me that 's the benefit asked Doct. 1. Observe this in the general He doth but now and then drop out a request for temporal safety but all along his main desire is for grace and for support rather than deliverance The children of God the main thing that their hearts run upon is sustentation and spiritual support rather than outward deliverance Psal. 138. 3. I called upon the Lord and he heard me and strengthned me with strength in my soul. Mark David judgeth that to be an audience to be a hearing of prayer though he had not deliverance yet he had experience of inward comfort that was it which supported him The children of God value themselves by the inward man rather than the outward What David here prays for himself Paul prays for others Eph. 3. 16. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man Yea they are contented with the decays of the outward man so that the inward man may encrease in strength 2 Cor. 4. 16. Though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day The outward man in Paul's dialect is the body with the conveniencies and all the appurtenances thereof as Health Beauty Strength Wealth all this is the outward man Now this is not a Christian's desire to encrease in the world or to make a fair shew in the flesh no but his heart is set upon this to grow stronger in the Spirit that the soul as furnished with the graces of the Spirit may thrive this is the inner man To insist upon this a little 1. It is the inward man that is esteemed with God and therefore that 's it the Saints mainly look after God doth not look upon men according to their outward condition pomp and appearances in the world but according to the inward endowments of the heart 1 Sam. 16. 7. Mans eye is upon the outward appearance but God regards the heart and the hidden man of the heart that is said to be an ornament of great price with God 1 Pet. 3. 4. Intellectual beauty is that which is esteemed in heaven and Spiritual wealth is only currant in the other world Poor creatures that are led by sense they esteem one another by these outward things but God esteems men by grace by the soul how that is cherished and strengthened and though we are otherwise never so well accomplished we are hated if we have not his Image stampt upon us 2. The everlasting welfare of the whole person depends upon the flourishing of the inward man when we come to put off the upper garment of the flesh the poor soul will be destitute naked and harbourless if we have made no provision for it 2 Cor. 5. 3. and then both body and soul are undone for ever when the soul is to be thrown out of doors whither will it go if it hath not an eternal building in heaven to receive it The soul is the man the body follows the state of the soul but the soul doth not follow the state of the body The life of God which he doth begin in the soul does in time renew and perfect the body too The Apostle saith Rom. 6. 11. The spirit that now dwelleth in us will raise up our mortal bodies But now those that seek to preserve the outward man with the neglect of the inner in time ruine both body and soul. Well then here 's their care 3. The loss of the outward man may be recompenced and made up by the strength of grace that is put into the inner man but the loss of the inner man cannot be made up by the perfections of the outward man A man that is afflicted in his outward estate God makes it up in grace if he makes him rich in faith in the experiences of his favour the loss is made up and supplied more abundantly and the children of God can comfort themselves in this that their inward man is strengthened and renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4. 16. So that a man may be happy not withstanding breaches made upon the outward man But when there 's a wounded spirit and God breaks into the inward man then what good will riches estate and all these things do they are as unsavoury things as the white of an egg 4. The outward man may fit us for converse with men but the inward man with God We need bodies and Organs of speech and reason and present supplies which fit us to converse with men but we converse with God by thoughts and by grace and by the perfections of the inward man this fits us for communion with him 5. The life and strength of the inward man is a more noble thing than the strength of the outward man or the bodily life for it draws nearer to the life of God as the life and strength of the body draws nearer to the life pleasure and happiness of a beast By the bodily life we eat drink labour sleep
to throw off the scum but she hath wearied her self with lyes And in this sense it is said Hosea 7. 16. They return but not to the most high they are like a deceitful bow that is they did not seriously intend when they did promise As a man that shoots if he do not level right and take care to direct the arrow to the mark it will never hit So they shoot that is they cast out promises to flatter God till they get out of trouble but they do not seriously set their hearts to accomplish it Secondly As to men there are three sorts of lyes Mendacium jocosum officiosum perniciosum there 's the sporting lye tending to our recreation and delight there 's the officious lye tending to our own and others profit and there 's the pernicious and hurtful lye tending to our neighbours prejudice 1. The sporting lye when an untruth is devised for merriment We have no instance of this in Scripture but it is a sin to speak untruth and we must not make a jest of sin Prov. 26. 19. As a mad-man that casteth firebrands arrows and death so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour and saith Am not I in sport Have we nothing wherewith to refresh our neighbour but with the breach of Gods Law If a Christian will be merry let him sing Psalms Jam. 1. 13. let him give thanks Eph. 5. 4. Not filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks that is let him remember the sweet loves of God in Jesus Christ and that 's spiritual refreshment to a gracious heart Let him not speak things against the sense of his own mind let him use honest recreation Certainly we that are to give an account for every idle word should not allow the sporting lye Now to this sporting lye a Fable or Parable is not to be reduced for that 's only an artificial way of representing the truth with the more advantage and putting of it into sensible terms which most are apt to apprehend As Iotham brings in the trees that went forth to anoint a King over them Iudg. 9. 8. Neither such sharp and piercing Ironies as we find used by holy men in Scripture 1 Kings 18. 27. As Elijah mocked them and said Cry aloud for he is a God either he is talking c. For this is a notable way to make truth strike upon the heart with some force and therefore this must not be reduced to this sporting lye 2. The officious lye for the help and relief of others Many instances of this we have in Scripture Thus Rebekah teacheth Iacob to lye that he might gain the blessing Gen. 27. and the Egyptian Midwives saved the male-children of the Israelites by feigning they were delivered before they came to them Exod. 1. 21. yet it is said they feared God and it is rewarded by God Non remunerata est fallacia sed benevolentia not their lye but their mercy is rewarded their mercy is commended as proceeding from the fear of God and their infirmities are pardoned So Rahab spared the lives of the spies by telling the men of her City that they were gone when she had hid them under the stalks of flax Ioshua 2. 4 5 6. Thus Michol to save David from the fury of her Father feigned him sick 1 Sam. 19. 14. and David advised Ionathan to an officious lye 1 Sam. 20. 6 7. so 26 28 29 verses Thus Hushai by temporizing with Absolom preserved David 2 Sam. 16. 17 18 19. to divide his counsels pretendeth hearty affection to him 3. There 's a pernicious lye that is to the hurt and prejudice of another Of this nature was the first lye by which all mankind was ruined the Devils lye to our first Parents Ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3. 4 5. And of this nature was the Patriarchs lye concerning Ioseph when they spake to his Father Gen. 37. 31 32. This have we found and know not whether it be thy sons coat or no yet they knew well enough And that of the Iewish Elders that said Mat. 28. 12 13. Say ye his Disciples came and stole him away while we slept All these are severely forbidden but especially in point of witnessing in Courts of Judicature Exod. 23. 1. Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness and verse 7. Keep thee far from a false matter c. Now some question whether all these lyes be sins or no sporting or officious lyes All these sorts of lyes are sins For 1. The Scripture condemns all without restriction Eph. 4. 25. Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbour Rev. 21. 8. all lyars are shut out of the new Ierusalem And all lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone and Rev. 22. 15. Whosoever loveth and maketh a lye 2. They all violate the natural Order and Conformity which God hath appointed between the heart and the tongue and though officious lyes are not for the hurt but the good of others yet it is to the hurt and prejudice of truth a man is not to lye for the glory of God therefore certainly not for the good of another man you hurt your own soul more by sin than you can do him good Augustine treating of officious lyes he tells of one Firmus who was Firmus nomine firmior voluntate Firm by name but more firm and fixed by will and resolved purpose therefore when one was pursued for casual homicide he conceal'd him and being asked for him answered Nec mentire se posse nec hominem prodere He could neither lye nor betray him So much for the first thing namely what is a lye and lying Secondly For the Reasons why the Children of God should be far from it 1. In regard of outward Commerce That which is contrary to humane society that should be odious to the Children of God who as they are in a peculiar sense members one of another so are also of the same Political body and therefore should speak truth one to another Eph. 4. 25. Humane society is mostly upheld by truth Where there is no truth there can be no trust where there is no trust there can be no commerce it makes men unfit to be trusted When a man hath much counterfeit money offered to him in payment though there may be some true gold and silver yet he casts it away and suspecteth it all Men that are given to lying can have no credit nor faith with man so they are unfit for human commerce therefore it should be far from men Nay it is the right of our neighbour that we should speak truth for speech is a kind of traffique and commerce and therefore it is a kind of theft to defraud your neighbour of his right if you give him false words for true Now because it is the band and foundation of human society therefore it should be far from
from the beginning as the good Angels continued in their first estate Men that are engaged in an evil course often continue in it without retractation they are no changelings always the same that 's no honour to them Luther when he was charged with apostasie for appearing against the Pope Confitetur se Apostatam esse sed beatum sanctum qui fidem Diabolo datam non servavit He confesseth he was an Apostate but a holy and blessed one that he did not keep touch with the Devil Constancy must ever be understood with respect to a right choice for to break faith with Satan is not matter of dishonour but of praise We must go on with an accurate prosecution for that giveth us experience and causeth us to find joy and sweetness and power in the truth and is a great means of constancy If men would be constant the next thing they must do is to practise that Religion they chuse and live under the power of it Holiness is a great means of constancy 1 Tim. 3. 9. Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience As precious liquors are best kept in clean vessels so is the mystery of faith in a pure conscience Men may be stubborn in their opinions out of natural courage and the engagement of credit and interests but this is of little worth without practical godliness their Orthodoxy and rightness in opinion will not bring them to heaven nor shall they be saved because they are of such a sect or party But then all must be closed up by persevering in our resolutions otherwise all our former zeal will be lost I have chosen the way of truth thy judgments have I laid before me and then now I have stuck unto thy testimonies O Lord put me not to shame 2 John 8. Look to your selves that ye lose not those things which ye have wrought All that a man hath done and suffered watching striving praying they come to nothing unless we stick to it and persevere Under the Law a Nazarite was to begin his days of separation again if he had defiled himself if he had separated himself for a year and kept his vow within two days of the year he was to begin all anew Numb 6. 12. and the interpretation of that type I cannot give you better than in the Prophets words Ezek. 18. 24. When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be remembred When they turn head against their former profession it comes to nothing Thus you see what a perfect dependence there is between this Verse and the former In the words there is 1. A profession I have stuck unto thy testimonies 2. A prayer O Lord put me not to shame First For the profession I have stuck to thy testimonies Saith Chrysostom he doth not say I have followed thy testimonies but stuck or cleaved stuck so fast that nothing could remove him no difficulties tryals shakings he was still firm Doct. Those that have chosen the way of God and begin to conform their practice thereunto ought with all constancy to persevere therein First We have the same reasons to continue that we had to begin at first there 's the same loveliness in God's ways Christ is as sweet as ever Heaven is as good as ever if there be any difference there is more reason to continue than there was to begin why because we have more experience of the sweetness of Christ you knew him heretofore only by report and hearsay but now when you have walked in the way of holiness then you know him by experience and if you have tasted 1 Pet. 2. 2. then certainly you should not fall off afterwards Upon trial Christ is sweeter and the longer you have kept to conscience heaven is nearer and would a man miscarry and be discouraged when he is ready to put into the Haven Rom. 13. 11. Your salvation is nearer than when you first believed The nearer we are to the enjoyment of any good the more impatient in the want of it As natural motion we find swifter in the end because it 's nearer to the center but Violent motion is swiftest at first as when a stone is thrown upward it is swifter at first but when the impression of the external force is more spent then the motion is weaker It argues that you are not seriously through with God if you should break with him after some profession of his Name now your motion should be more earnest more strong towards him I speak this because we are so apt to cast off our first faith 1 Tim. 5. 12. and to lose our first love Rev. 2. 4. and to grow remiss and lazy and neglect our first works 2 Chron. 17. 3. Iehoshaphat is said to walk in the first ways of his father David We see many at the first are carried on with a great deal of affection and zeal and there are many promising beginnings of a very flourishing spring but yet they are no sure prognostications of a joyful harvest why consider with your selves we have the same reasons to continue as to begin yea much more as heaven is nearer In a marriage-relation true affection encreaseth but adulterous love is only hot while it is new If our hearts be upright with God we will encrease with zeal for his glory and love to his testimonies Secondly The danger and mischievous effects of apostasie and falling off that 's another reason why we should stick to his testimonies 1. It is more dishonourable to God than a simple refusal for you bring an ill report upon him as if he were not a good Master A wicked man that refuseth grace doth not so much dishonour God because his refusal is supposed to be the fruit of his prejudice but now you that cast him off after tryal your apostasie is supposed to be the fruit of your experience as if the Devil were a better Master when you have tried both you return to him again Tertullian in his Book de Poenitentia hath this saying After you have tried God you do as it were deliberately judg Satans service to be better or at least you do not find that in God you did expect Therefore the honour of God is mightily concerned and lies at stake when you fall off after you have seemed to begin with him with a great deal of accurateness And God pleads for himself and stands for his credit which seems to be wronged by this apostasie Ier. 2. 5. casting off his service for the Idols of the Nation What iniquity have your fathers sound in me that they are gone far from me And Mic. 6. 3. O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me What can you complain of God Is God hard to be pleased backward to reward What cause of distast have you found in him for implicitely you do as it were accuse him 2.
day or else we shall soon miscarry by our mistakes and prejudices David is often pressing God with this request Lord teach me which plainly sheweth that not only Novices but men of great holiness and experience need new direction every day The shameful miscarriages of Gods wisest people are enough to shew the necessity of this and the many cautions in the Word of God do abundantly confirm it Prov. 3. 5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths There is nothing that keepeth up our dependance upon God and should quicken us in our daily prayers as the sense of this Many times we come to God in the morning and pray coldly and drowsily because we go forth to the occasions of the day in the presumption of our wit but it is a thousand to one but we smart for our folly before the evening come Alass such is the inconstancy and uncertainty of mans understanding that unless we have continual light and direction from God and he lead us by the hand through all our affairs passion or unbelief or some carnal affection will make us stumble and dash against one Divine precept or another This concerneth all Christians much more those in publick station whose good or evil is of a more universal influence such was David Men of place and power and interest had need have this often in their mouths and hearts Lord teach me the way of thy statutes Homer has a notable saying in his Odysses ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã See Causabon Ep. 702. a most Divine sentence from an Heathen Poet that mortal man should not be proud of his wit for he hath no more understanding of his affairs than God giveth him from day to day A Sentence so admired by the Heathens that many of them transcribed it in their writings with admiration as Clemens Alexandrinus speaketh of Archilochus who as he took other things from Homer so his putting into his Verse thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Augustin de Civitate Dei telleth us Lib. 5. Cap. 8. Cicero rendred it into Latin verse thus though with some loss of the sense Tales sunt hominum mentes quales Pater ipse Iupiter auctiferas lustravit lumine terras I quote all this to shew you how precious such an hint was to Heathens as expressing a great deal of reason and shall not we Christians wait upon God for the continual direction of his Spirit Now there is a Twofold Reason for this 1. Because this actuateth our knowledg which would otherwise lye asleep in the habit and then though we are wise in Generals we should be to seek for direction in particular cases or at least not have such a lively sense of Gods will as to check the present temptations we meet with in the course of our affairs and do too often induce us to miscarry The temptation being dexterously managed by Satan and entertained by our present thoughts will easily overbear a latent principle long ago received unless it be afresh revived and set awork by Gods Spirit therefore we need that the Spirit should be our Monitor and cause Truths formerly delivered to return with fresh force upon the heart And indeed it is his main work to bring things to our remembrance Joh. 14. 26. and to blow up our light and knowledg into an actual resistance of whatever is contrary to the will of God or to furnish us with seasonable thoughts in every business and temptation 2. We have but a glimmering light when we are blinded with passions and are in some sort ignorant of what we know cannot deduce those conclusions which are evidently contained in known and avowed Principles Hagar could not see the Well before her eyes by reason of her passion and grief till God opened her eyes Gen. 21. 19. And God opened her eyes and she saw a Well of water The ground was not opened to cause the fountain to bubble up but her eyes were opened to see it And Calvin giveth the reason why she saw it not because Dolore attonita quod expositum erat oculis ãâã cernebat things at hand cannot be seen when the mind is diverted by the impression of some strong passion and it is true of the eyes of the mind we do not see what we see being overcome by love or fear or hope or anger or some cloud that interposeth from the passions As David when he fumbled about Gods Providence being blinded by the prospering of the wicked calleth himself beast for not discerning his duty in so plain a case Psal. 73. 22. So foolish was I and ignorant and as a beast before thee In the perplexities of his mind he could not see clear principles of faith which before he had sufficiently learned but could not then make use of for the setling and composing his heart First Use is for Information 1. The difference between the way of God and the way of sin We have need of none to teach us to do evil Vitia eatiam sine magistro discuntur we have that from nature but in the way of God we must be taught and taught again God must be our Teacher and daily Monitor 2. It informs us that as to knowledg and direction there must be much done Poor man lying in the darkness and shadow of death it was necessary for him 1. That some Doctrine should be revealed by God by which he might understand how God stood affected towards him and he ought to be affected towards God 2. That this Doctrine being revealed by God it should be kept safe and sound free from oblivion and corruption in some publick and authentick record especially in these last times when not only the Canon is enlarged but the Church propagated far and near and obnoxious to so many calamities and men are short-lived and there are not such Authentick witnesses to preserve the credit of a Divine Revelation 3. That this writing and record be known to come from Gods own hand by some infallible proof to the end that it may be entertained with the more reverence 4. To own this Authority and discern Gods mind we need a suitable faculty or an heart disposed by the Holy Ghost to receive the proof which God offereth namely that we should be renewed in the spirit of our minds and open our eyes 5. It is not enough to own our rule but we must be continually excited to study it that we may come to a saving measure of the knowledg of Gods mind in the word 6. After some knowledg our ignorance is apt to return upon us unless the Holy Ghost do still inlighten us and warn us of our duty upon all occasions 2 Use. In the sincerity of your hearts go to God for his teaching 1. God is pleased with the request 1 King 3. 9 10. Give therefore thy servant an
our works for us Isa. 26. 12. Now this actual help is necessary 1. Partly to direct us Psal. 74. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory We need not only a principle within and a rule without but need also a guide Though we have grace in our hearts though we have the Law of God to direct us yet we need also a guide upon all occasions the Rule is the Scripture and the Guide is the Spirit of God 2. Partly to quicken and excite us by effectual motions The heart of man is very changeable and it is like the eye easily discomposed and put out of frame Deadness creeps upon us and we drive on heavily in the work of God Psal. 119. 37. Quicken thou me in thy way God doth renew the vigor of the life of grace upon all occasions 3. Partly to corroborate and strengthen that which we have received and make it encrease and grow in the soul and more firmly rooted there Eph. 3. 16. The Apostle prays That God would strengthen you with might by his spirit in the inner man the inward man the frame of grace that we have received needs to be strengthned encreased and be more deeply rooted in the soul. So 1 Pet. 5. 10. The God of all grace make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you Many words are used to shew how God is interested in maintaining and keeping a foot the grace he hath planted in the soul. 4. Partly in protecting and defending them against the incursions and assaults of the Devil The regenerate are not only escaped out of his clutches but appointed to be his Judges which an envious and proud spirit cannot endure therefore he maligneth assaulteth and besiegeth them with temptations daily therefore Christ prays Joh. 17. 11. Keep through thy own name those whom thou hast given me When a City is besieged fresh supplies are sent in they are not kept to their standing-provision so it is not the ordinary power of God that doth preserve and keep us from danger there 's new relief and fresh strength We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 2 Pet. 1. 5. Now we experience the help we have from God partly by the change and frame of our heart when we are acted by him and when we are not When God by the impulsions of his grace doth quicken and awaken our hearts we are carried on with a great deal of earnestness and strength but at other times we seem to be much bound and have not those breathings from the Spirit of God to fill our sails and carry us on with the same life and strength Yea in the same duty how is a Christian up and down carried out sometimes with a great deal of zeal and warmth but if God withdraw that assistance before the duty be over how do the affections flag So that we are like the wards of a Lock kept up while the key is turned but fall again when the key is turned the other way While the work of grace is powerful we are kept in a warm and heavenly plight Thus as to duties we need spiritual relief Likewise in temptations when we are ready to fall into such a sin with great proneness of heart and the Lord quickens and excites us by his grace It is often with a Christian as with David Psal. 73. 2. My feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipt even carried away by the violence of Satan and importunate motions of our own lusts then the Lord gives grace to help in a time of need Heb. 4. 16. in the Original it is no more but this seasonable relief God vouchsafeth Object I but are we to do nothing when we are indisposed This case is often traversed in this Psalm 1. The Precept of God falls upon us as reasonable creatures and doth not consider whether we are disposed or indisposed and God's influence is not our rule but our help We are to stir up our selves the Lord complains Isa. 64. 7. There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of me And Timothy is bid to stir up the gift of God which is in him 2 Tim. 1. 6. God's assistance will be best expected in a way of doing Up and be doing and the Lord will be with thee 2 Chron. When we stir up our selves and set our selves to the work in the conscience of our duty we can better expect God's help and assistance 2. In great distempers there may be some pause Elisha would not prophesie when he was under a passion of anger therefore he calls for a Minstrel to sing a Psalm 2 King 3. 13 14 15. and as he plaid upon an Instrument the Spirit of the Lord came upon him He was under a passion offended with the King of Israel therefore he would not prophesie until his spirit was composed Certainly we are not to run head-long upon duties in the midst of these distempers Sailing is more safely delayed in time of an extreme storm When the heart is put into some great disorder in a great storm of spirit the distemper should first be mourned for and prayed against The Reasons why that from first to last he must make us to go in the way of his Commandments 1. God keeps this power in his own hands that his grace might be all in all and 't is the glory of his actions always to set the crown upon graces head Not only those permanent and fixed habits which constitute the new man but those daily supplies without which the motions and operations of the spiritual life would be at a stand are for grace When the Lord reckons with his servants about the improvement of their talents he doth not say My industry but Lord thy pound Luke 19. 18. He puts all the honour upon grace So 1 Cor. 16. 10. Not I but the grace of God So Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me So that still they are giving the glory to grace Acts are more perfect than habits therefore if we had only the power from God and acts from our selves we should not give all to God That acts are more perfect than the power is clear it is more perfect to understand than to have a power to understand power is in order to the act and the end is more noble than the means 2. This is a very great encouragement to us to set upon the exercise of grace in the midst of weaknesses and several difficulties and temptations wherewith we are encompassed because God will enable and assist us he will not leave us to our standing strength but he concurs Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling why for it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure When God will concur to the will and to the deed to both when we have wind and tide he is very lazy that will not take his
advantage and ply the oar then And the Apostle was not disheartned with the several conditions he was to run through in his passage to heaven Phil. 4. 13. I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me When we have such an able Second God is at our right hand Psal. 16. 8. we need not be so dismayed with temptations and difficulties we meet with in the progress of our duty though we have many letts and hindrances yet God will cause us to walk in his ways 3. This keeps us humble and lowly in our own conceit and that is very necessary for us For pride is that sin which cleaves to us all our life and is called pride of life and lasts as long as life lasts How doth this keep us humble and lowly Partly thus because we have all by gift What hast thou that thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4. 7. All the strength that we have is but borrowed and who will be proud that is more in debt than others We would laugh at a Groom that is proud of his Master's Horse All grace comes from God Shall vve usurp the honour due to God And partly because vve have but from hand to mouth Though vve have all from God yet vve should soon grovv proud if God did not diet us and give out renevved evidences of his love and care over us by degrees some novv some then by fresh influences and acts of grace Look as David prays Psal. 59. 11. of his outvvard enemies Destroy them not O Lord lest my people forget scatter them by thy power and bring them down O! if all enemies vvere destroyed at once the people vvould forget thee the deliverance vvould be past antiquated and out of date and vvould not be so freshly thought of nor produce such vvarm affections in the hearts of his people So it is true in the spiritual World God doth not destroy all at once but brings dovvn our spiritual enemies that vve may acknovvledge vvhence vve have it And partly because this is a means to make us sensible of the mutability of our nature for when all depends upon God his coming and going it will make us see what poor creatures we are of our selves when he comes we are able to do something when he goes what poor creatures are we 2 Chron. 32. 31. God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart When vve are renevved yet vve are not fully recovered there 's a great deal of tang and taste of the old leaven and if God leave us vve shall soon sin vvhereas if vve vvere carried on vvith an even constant tenor of grace that is in our ovvn keeping vve should be proud 4. It endears the heart to God and God to the heart by acts of friendship and familiarity as it extracts from us acts of prayer and dependance and as we receive new supplies and daily influences of grace from him God is more endeared to the soul by his multiplied free gifts Look as at every lifting up of the foot there are new influences of life go to that stirring and motion so all in the spiritual life are his acts of grace If so much rain fell in one day as would suffice for seven years there would be no notice taken of Gods acts of Providence God would not have such witness to keep up his memory to the sons of men so here if we had all graces in our souls and needed not new excitement but he dispensed all at once God and we should grow strangers When the Prodigal had his portion in his own hands he leaves his father and therefore there must be continual acts of kindness to maintain a holy friendship between God and us USE 1. Look after renewing grace see whether there be a principle of life in you or no whether you be his workmanship in Christ Jesus Better never be his creature if not a new creature a dog is in a better condition You can do nothing in the spiritual life until there be a principle In vain to expect new operation before a new creation be past upon you The stream cannot be maintained without the spring 2. Let us pray for strength upon all occasions and beg the renewings of Gods efficacious grace that we may avoid sin and be ready to every good work Alas there are many discouragements from without and sundry baits which tickle the flesh and would seduce us from our duty unless the Lord stand by us and protect and strengthen us within Deadness will soon creep upon us and our heart run out of order look after new influences of grace this will make you ready to every good work not only the remote preparation but the furniture of the faculties and abilities Lo I come to do thy will and this will make you fruitful otherwise you will be as dry trees in Gods garden And this will make you lively and constant not off and on but fixed with God 3. If all depends upon God then let us not by any negligence of ours or by presumptuous sins provoke God to withdraw his assisting grace from us This is the Apostles meaning when he saith Phil. 2. 12 13. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling c. O take heed go about the business of Religion with holy caution and jealousie over your selves and fear the Lords displeasure for all depends upon him Dependance among men begets observance where men have their meat drink clothing they will be careful to please there So work out your Salvation c. for it is God that worketh in you c. you have all from God the business of the spiritual life will be interrupted and be at a stand if God with-hold his grace Every sin weakens that you have already and provokes God to with-hold his hand that he will not give more That which is the greatest ground of comfort and confidence is always the greatest ground of fear and trembling It 's a ground of great comfort and confidence in the spiritual life that he will help us in every action of ours and it is a ground also of the greatest fear and trembling that we should be careful not to offend him upon whom all depends The second point Doct. 2. That they which delight in Gods Commandments will beg his gracious assistance and are most likely to speed in their requests I make it to be both the reason of asking and the reason of granting First The reason of asking 1. What is this delight in God what is necessary to it 2. What are the fruits and effects of it First What is necessary to it 1. A new nature for what we do naturally we do with complacency and delight That which is forced and done against the grain and bent of our hearts can never be delightful and therefore there needs a principle of grace within Psal. 112. 1. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his
commandments Where there is true grace and the fear of God there we will delight greatly So Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inward man Where there is an inner man a frame of grace in the heart that will bring delight See the character of a blessed man Psal. 1. 2. His delight is in the Law of the Lord. Quite contrary to the hypocrite he may act from compulsions and urgings of conscience from Legal bondage it may be a sin-offering but it is not a thank-offering he cannot do it with that delight and complacency that God hath required Iob 27. 10. it is said Will he always call upon God will he delight himself in the Almighty In his pang in his distress when his Conscience pincheth him sore he will be calling upon God I but hath he any delight in God he wants sincere grace Some time he may come with his flocks and herds to seek the Lord Hos. 5. 6. And cry arise Lord save us Jer. 2. 27. Some unwilling services he may perform upon foreign reasons from constraint from his affliction and anguish of soul but these things are never done with delight there needs then a principle of grace 2. Peace of conscience or a sense of our reconciliation with God is very necessary to this delight in the ways of God Rom. 5. 11. We joy in God as those that have received the attonement Christ hath made the Atonement now when we receive the Atonement that is are possest of it and look upon our selves as involved in the reconciliation Christ hath made for us then we joy in God The joy of a good Conscience is necessary to this delight in the ways of God 3. A good frame of heart must be kept up for the joy of a Christian may be impaired by his own folly and prevalency of carnal distempers There is dulness and a damp that is apt to creep upon us either by carnal pleasure or worldly lusts and cares we may abate of our chearfulness Christ tells us Luk. 21. 34. that both of them overcharge the heart Or some presumptuous sin lately committed when the weight of it lyeth upon the Conscience we lose this free spirit Psal. 51. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit Our delight is quenched and we lose that free spirit which otherwise we should have And therefore we must watch against carnal distempers and also presumptuous sins that we may not lose our liberty and our comfortableness in Gods service For when a Christian hath a good frame of heart he is filled as with gladness and the joy of the Lord is as oyl to the wheels and it strengthens his affections and he is carried on with a great deal of chearfulness 4. There is needful too some experience for besides the joy of God there is the inward pleasure of a good conversation The ways of God are all ways of pleasantness to them that walk in them Prov. 3. 17. They which will make trial will find Christs yoke easie yea they will find a sweetness in Gods ways beyond whatever they could think or expect Some experience of the pleasantness in the paths of wisdom breeds great delight Secondly What are the effects of this delight 1. A chearfulness of spirit a ready obedience Psal. 40. 8. I delight to do thy will O my God They find more solid joy in living holily than in all the pleasure of sin and vanity of the world therefore they chearfully practise that which God requireth of them 2. They are full of joy and gladness in all their approaches to God Psal. 122. 1. I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. O then they can go to God and draw off from the distractions of this world that they may unbosom themselves that they may be in Gods company either in publick or private 3. They are weaned from earthly pleasures when they have tasted of this hidden manna the Garlick and Onions of Egypt lose their relish and they find more sweetness more rejoicing in the testimony of their Consciences than ever they could find in the world It is their meat and drink to do the will of God to be just holy temperate strict to walk closely with God here 's their pleasure and delight of their souls Ioh. 4. 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work Now the Reasons of this They which have their hearts set upon holiness must have delight A man whose heart is set upon earthly things will come and howl for corn wine and oyl outward enjoyments Hos. 7. And a man that makes a loose profession of Religion would fain be feasted with comforts and eased of the smart of his Conscience he loves to hear of the priviledg part of Christianity but they come not to God with a true heart whatever profession they make Heb. 10. 27. They embrace Christ as Iudas kist him to betray him or as Ioab embraced Amasa that he might smite him under the fifth rib so these are so earnest for pardon of sin and the priviledg part of Christianity but mind not the higher part which is Sanctification But now a man that is fallen in love with holiness and whose heart is sincerely bent to God desires grace to incline his heart to God and the ways of God and keep exactly with him Secondly As this is the reason of asking so likewise of granting make me to go in the path of thy Commandments for therein do I delight Take four Considerations for this 1. God will add grace to grace When God hath given the will he will give the deed further grace to add new influences to his own seed We tell God of the dispositions that are in our hearts that he may perfect them and ripen his own seed Ioh. 1. 16. Of his fulness have all we received and grace for grace Grace upon grace or grace after grace Gods giving one grace is an argument why he will give more grace 2. God looks after affection rather than action Sometimes he takes the will for the deed but never the deed for the will Where there is a will and delight in his ways that 's it which is most acceptable to him Look as to love sin is more than to commit it a man may commit it out of frailty but he that loves and cherisheth it it 's exceeding bad So where there is delight in the ways of God and the soul is gained to them this is that God looks after the affection 3. Of all our affections delight and complacency is most acceptable The Promise is made to such Psal. 37. 4. Delight thy self in the Lord and he will give thee the desire of thine heart It is a slander that the hypocrite brings upon God Iob 34. 9. He hath said It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God There
necessity of divine grace but when this proud doctrine found little countenance he called Nature by the name of Grace and when that deceit was discovered he acknowledged no other grace but outward instruction or the benefit of external revelation that a man might by the word of God know and be put in mind of his duty Being yet driven further he acknowledged the grace of pardon and before a man could do any thing acceptably there was a necessity of the remission of sin and then he might obey God perfectly But that not sufficing he acknowledged another grace the Example of Christ which doth both secure our rule and encourage our practice and so made the grace of Christ to consist not in the secret efficacy of his Spirit but only in the example of Christ. But being driven further to acknowledg the same internal grace I mean his followers they made it to consist in some illumination of the understanding or some moral perswasion by probable argument to excite the will and this not absolutely necessary but only for facilitation as a horse to a journey which otherwise a man might go on foot I but the law was impossible through our flesh Rom. 8. 3. But all this is short of that divine grace that is necessary Now there are others grant the secret influences of God's grace but make the will of man to be a co-ordinate cause with God namely that God doth propound the object hold forth inducing considerations give some remote power and assistance but still there 's an indifferency in the will of man to accept and refuse as liketh him best Besides all this there is a prevailing efficacy or a real influence from the Spirit of God on the will whereby it is moved infallibly and certainly to close with those things which God propounds unto him God worketh efficaciously and determinately not leaving it to the liberty of man's will to chuse or refuse it but man is determined inclined and actually poised by the grace of God to that which is good USE 2. To press you to lay to heart these things 1. Be sensible of the strength and sway of thy affections to temporal objects there the work begins And till we have a sight of the disease we are not careful after a remedy David though regenerate took notice of some worldly tendencies in his heart and if we observe our hearts we shall find so Paul groaned under the reliques of the flesh and so should we under our bondage by sin And then 2. bewail it to the Lord I am as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke Jer. 31. 14. to bewail this stiffness of heart and the treachery of sin whereby we are inchanted wholly bent to that which is evil And 3. observe the abating of this strength of affection and weaning of thy soul from such desires for then the work of grace goes on when we begin to savour other things and have inclinations of soul towards that which is heavenly and spiritual They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit And then 4. to press you to perpetual watchfulness over your own hearts that you do not return to your old bent and biass again for certainly thus they will do if we do not keep a severe hand over them and be lifting up our affections to things that are above where God is and Christ at the right hand of God SERMON XLI PSAL. CXIX 36. And not unto covetousness DOCTRINE 2. THAT covetousness or an inordinate desire of worldly things is the great lett or hindrance of complying with Gods testimonies By way of proof I need to produce but that Scripture 1 John 5. 3 4. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world The reason implies that if we had a greater conquest over worldly affections it would not be so grievous to us to keep Gods Commandments For the Apostles argument is built upon this supposition that God's commands are only burdensome to them that lye under the power of carnal affections All the difficulty in obedience cometh from our temptations to the contrary Now all or most temptations from Satan and our own flesh have their strength from the World and its suitableness to our affections Master your love to the World and temptations lose their strength To make this more clear let us see 1. What is covetousness 2. How it hindreth from complying with Gods testimonies First What is covetousness I shall give the nature the causes the discoveries of it First The nature of it It is an inordinate desire of having more wealth than the Lord alloweth in the fair course of his Providence and a delight in worldly things as our chiefest good 1. There is an unsatisfied desire of having more We may desire temporal good things for necessity and service We carry about earthly tabernacles that must be supported with earthly things and therefore God alloweth us to seek them in a moderate way But now when these desires grow vehement and impatient of check and by an immodest importunity are still craveing for more it is an evil disease and it must be looked unto in time or it will prove baneful to the soul. There is a vital heat necessary to our preservation and there are unnatural praedatorious heats which argue a distemper See how this desire is exprest in Scripture 1 Tim. 6. 10. He that will be rich falls into temptation and a snare c. He doth not say he that is rich but he that will be rich he that hath fixed that as his scope and makes that his business For the will is known by fixedness of intention and earnestness of prosecution he that makes it his work to grow great in the world So Prov. 15. 27. He that is greedy of gain troubles his own house Desires are the vigorous motions of the will when they are eager impatient and immoderate then they discover this evil inclination of soul. So Eccles. 5. 10. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with encrease This is also vanity There is a spiritual Dropsie when our desires grow the more the more we receive and enjoy as fire by the addition of new fuel grows more fierce the more the flame increaseth The contrary to this is exprest by Agur and should be the temper of every gracious heart Prov. 30. 8. Give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me As to worldly things we should be indifferent and refer our selves to the fair allowance of God's Providence that he might carve out our portion and do by us according to his own pleasure 2. Not only this greedy thirst discovereth covetousness but a complacency delight and acquiescency of soul in worldly enjoyments So Christ Jesus in his Parable
of the body see how they are described in Scripture Psal. 127. 2. They rise early they sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows And Psal 39. 6. He disquieteth himself in vain By biting cares Eccles. 2. 23. All his days are sorrows and his travel grief yea his heart taketh not rest in the night Eccles. 4. 8. There is no end of his labours neither is his eye satisfied with riches Men are full of biting cares cruciating unquiet thoughts and so pierce themselves through with many sorrows 1 Tim. 6. 10. Riches are compared to thorns not only for choaking the good seed but as piercing us through with many sorrows as they prove troublesome comforts to a covetous man And they wrong the soul when the heart is dead and opprest by them Lukâ⦠21. 34. Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life The heart is burdened and oppressed so as it hath no life and vigor for spiritual things but is unbelieving and hard-hearted the following the world brings a deadness upon us and these preposterous and eager pursuits spend the strength of our affections so that God and Religion is justled out and hath no due respect the lean kine devour the fat and Sarah is thrust out of doors instead of Hagar Thus is greedy getting seen by unjust means and the immoderate use of lawful means to the oppression of the body and soul. 2. The other discovery is an unworthy detention Prov. 11. 24. There is that with-holdeth more than is meet but it tendeth to poverty This covetousness in keeping is seen partly 1. By a sordid dispensing of our estate or a denying of our selves and others that relief which they should have Our selves Eccl. 4. 8. He bereaveth his own soul of good that is of the comforts of the present life But chiefly denying of others that relief they should have A duty which our Religion often presseth us to Luk. 12. 33. Sell that ye have and give alms provide your selves bags which wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approacheth nor moth corrupteth We should rather scatter than hoard The only means to discover we are not covetous and to keep our selves from the filth of this and other sins is to be much in charity and distributing to those that have need Luk. 11. 41. Give alms of such things as you have and behold all things are clean unto you It bringeth a blessing purgeth the soul from that stain which it secretly contracteth by possessing worldly things as our fingers are defiled by telling of money But now when men are backward this way part with a drop of blood as soon as any thing for Gods use When they shut up their bowels against the miseries of others then is there this unmeet with-holding 2. By our lothness to part with these things for the testimony of a good Conscience When we are put to trial as Ioseph was to lose our coat that we may keep our Consciences I mean to part with these outward things or to defile our selves by compliance with men when we are put to this trial those that will with-hold and can dispense with the conscience of their duty to God they are guilty of this sin 2 Tim. 4. 10. Demas hath forsaken us having loved this present world O it 's a mighty insinuating thing that gets into the hearts of those that profess Religion many times so that they cannot deny any small conveniencies for God But the contrary is in those Saints that take joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing that they have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance Heb. 10. 34. 3. It appears again when we are loth to part with them in a way of submission to Gods Providence Grief at worldly losses shews that these things have gained too much of our love If we did rejoice in them when we have them as if we rejoiced not then we would weep for the loss of them as though we wept not 1 Cor. 7. 31. They are both coupled together for one makes way for the other So we find the other couple 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to temperance patience Where there is temperance and moderation in the use of worldly things there will be patience a submission to God in the loss of them He lost them without grief because he possest them without love The greatness of our affliction comes from our affection to these things Did we sit more loose from our earthly comforts it would not be so irksome to part with them Grief is always a sign of affection Ioh. 11. 34. And Iesus wept and then they said Behold how he loved him When we are surprized with so great sorrow and trouble at the parting of outward things it may be said behold how we loved them Our hearts are not at so great an indifferency as they should be The root of all trouble of spirit lyeth in our inordinate affection Get off that and then what comfortable lives might we live Secondly I am to shew how it hindreth us from complying with Gods Testimonies I shall do it by these Arguments 1. It disposeth and inclineth the soul to all evil to break every Command and Law of God 1 Tim. 6. 10. The love of money is the root of all evil Let that once get into the heart and reign there and then a man will stick at no sin he becomes as Chrysostome speaks a ready prey to the Devil such a man doth but stand watching for a temptation that Satan may draw him to one sin or other Mica 2. 2. They covet fields and take them by violence First they covet suffer that to possess the heart and a man will stop at nothing but break out into all that is unseemly Let Iudas be but enured to the bag and inchant his thoughts with this pleasing supposition that he may make a gain of his Master and he will soon come to a quid dabitis what will ye give me and I will deliver him unto you he will soon betray him Gehazi let him but affect a reward and he will dishonour God and lay a stumbling-block in the way of that noble Syrian that new Convert Is this a time to take bribes c. Let Achans heart be but tickled and pleased a little with the sight and he will be purloyning the wedg of gold and the Babylonish garment Tell Balaam but of gold and silver and he will curse Israel against his conscience he will venture though there be an Angel in the way to stop him Let Ahab but have a mind to Naboths Vineyard and he will soon consent to Naboths blood Ananias and Saphira let them but look upon what they part withal let but covetousness prevail upon their hearts and they will keep back part of that which is dedicated to God Simon Magus will deny Religion and return to his old sorceries again that he may be
a greater portion of worldly things and that sets you upon carking and if you have not this you cannot see how you and yours can be provided for Cure this how by Gods Promises 1 Pet. 5. 7. Cast all your care upon him for he careth for you Cannot you trust God upon security of a Promise Cannot you go on in well doing when the Lord hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Cure it by observing the usual course of Gods Providence God provides for the young Ravens he clothes the Lillies It is Christs argument will he be more kind to a Raven than a child Will he take more care of a flower than of a Son one that is in Covenant with him Cure it by holy maxims and considerations Remember all dependeth upon Gods blessing Luk. 12. 15. Take heed and beware of covetousness How should we do so For a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Alas all is in Gods hand both being and well-being life and estate and all things else God can soon blast abundance and can relieve us in the deepest wants He can give you a sufficiency in your deep poverty 2 Cor. 8. 2. If you should go on carking and caring and feathering your nests God may take you off or set your nests on fire A little serves the turn to bring us to Heaven And when our desires are moderate God will not fail Prov. 16. 8. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right 2. For discontent with your portion that you may not always be craving more meditate upon the baseness and vanity of worldly things They do but deceive us with a vain shew they cannot give us any true joy of heart or peace of Conscience or security against future evil they cannot give you health of body nor add one cubit to your stature nor one day to your lives now should we disquiet our selves for a vain shew shall there be such toil in getting such fear of losing when they are of no more use to us in the hour of death When you need strength and comfort most all these things will leave you shiftless helpless if they continue with you so long Nay reason thus the more estate the more danger the greater charge lyeth upon you Larger gates do but open to larger cares There is more duty more danger more snares more temptations When you have more you will be more difficultly saved It is a truth pronounced by the Lord of Truth That it is a hard matter for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It will be more hard to keep the flesh in order to guide our spirits aright in the ways of God If you must needs be coveting labouring and carking you are called to better things Ioh. 6. 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life Covet the best gifts 1 Cor. 12. 31. Be as passionate for grace as others are for the world If once you were acquainted with these better things it would be so with you you would never leave the fair and fresh pastures of grace for the barren heath of the world If you did once tast the sweet of Heavenly things then let dogs scramble for bones and scraps you have hidden Manna to feed upon the sense of Gods love to look after hopes of everlasting glory wherewith to solace your souls If once you did tast of these everlasting riches you would do so 1 Tim. 6. 10 11. There are many that through the love of mony have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows But thou O man of God flee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness Let the men of the world whose portion and happiness lyeth here scramble for these things but you that profess your selves Children of God follow after all the gifts and graces of the Spirit let that be your holy covetousness to increase in these things SERMON XLII PSAL. CXIX Vers. 37. Turn thou away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity and quicken thou me in thy way DAvid still continueth his requests to God for Grace and intituleth him to the whole Work He had prayed before that God would incline his Heart Now that he would Turn away his Eyes from beholding worldly Vanities In this Prayer there are two Branches the one concerneth Mortification the other Vivification 1. Turn away Then Quicken c. The first request is for the removing the Impediments of obedience the other for Addition of new degrees of Grace These two are fitly joyned for they have a natural Influence upon one another unless we turn away our Eyes from Vanity we shall soon contract a deadness of Heart Nothing causeth it so much as an inordinate liberty in carnal Vanities when our affections are alive to other things they are dead to God therefore the less we let loose our Hearts to these things the more lively and Chearful in the work of Obedience On the other side the more the Vigour of Grace is renewed and the Habits of it quickned into actual exercise the more is Sin mortified and Subdued Sin dieth and our Senses are restored to their proper use These two requests are fitly joyned Let us consider them asunder 1. Turn away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity There observe 1. The Object Vanity 2. The Faculty mine Eyes 3. The Act of Grace desired The removing of this Faculty from this Object 1. The Object Vanity Thereby is meant carnal and worldly Things worldly Pleasures worldly Honour worldly Profits all these are called Vanity because they have no solid happiness in them and do so easily fade and Perish Thus 't is said Prov. 31. 30. Favour is deceitful and Beauty is Vain The same is true of any other Transporting Object Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity Eccle. 1. 2. and Iob. 15. 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in Vanity for Vanity shall be his recompence Rom. 8. 20. The Creature is made Vanity By vanity there is understood the vain things of the World which do so often deceive us as to the happiness they promise 2. The Faculty is mentioned the Eye t is Imployed and commanded by the Heart But this inkindleth new Flames there and as it is set a work by it so it sets the Heart a work again It is the Instrument of increasing Sin in us 3. The act Turn away Our evil delight is too apt to fix it and become a Snare to us till God cureth both Heart and Sense by Grace He prayeth not from beholding it altogether but from beholding as a Snare Doct. It concerneth those that would walk with God to have their Eyes turned away from worldly things I shall give you the meaning in these Propositions 1. He that would be quickned carried out with Life and Vigour in the ways of God must first be Mortified dye unto Sin The
for his Iustice in rendring every one their due according to his Covenant or for his Holiness for his requiring approving delighting in the Obedience of the Creature and for his Mercy for giving out Grace to men and for his veracity and faithfulness in making good his Promise which is a branch of his Gospel Justice or Righteousness as thou art faithful in making good thy Promises and never wanting to those that make use of thy Word so Lord quicken me Three Points 1. To love and long for a holy and perfect and intire subjection to the Will of God is a good frame of heart 2. Those that do indeed long for Holiness will see a need of new quickning 3. Those that would have quickning must seek to God who hath promised to satisfie them that desire Grace to walk with him Doct. 1. To love and long for a holy and perfect and intire Subjection to the Will of God is a good frame of heart This may be Confirmed by these Considerations 1. All Natures have a propension unto their perfect estate as Fire to go upward where its place is and heavy bodies to move downward where is their seat and rest Plants have a vertue in their Seed which is ever working to produce their Flower Beasts have an appetite by which their nature is nourished and preserved and Man hath a desire to prepare and fit him for that which is good and proper for him The Psalmist tells us That God openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal. 145. 16. There is an instinct in every living thing which leads them towards the sustaining and perfecting of that nature which they have That which is called Inclination in the Creatures without Life Attraction of nourishment in Plants and Appetite in the Beasts is in Man Desire And so now proportionably the New-creature the Saints they have an appetite suitable to their nature 1 Pet. 2. 2. As new-born Babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that they may grow thereby Appetite still followeth Life and prepares men for receiving things good for them Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou hast prepared their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear A desire of relief vented in Prayer prepares and fits us to receive those blessings which are good for us And therefore as all natures have a propension to their perfect estate so those that are new creatures long and vehemently tend towards holiness 2. Desires set upon Holiness are an affection properly exercised and upon its due Object Desire it is an earnest reaching forth of the soul after good absent and not yet attained The Object of it is something good and the more truly good it is the more is our desire justified There are certain bastard goods of a base and transitory nature as pleasure profit we may easily over-lash and exceed in these things But on holiness which is more high and noble and is truly good and of greater vicinity and nearness to our chiefest good than those other things are we cannot exceed there the faculty is rightly placed When we are hasty and passionate for these other things the heart is corrupted it is hard to escape sin Prov. 28. 22. He that makes haste to be rich cannot be Innocent and he that loves pleasure is in danger of not loving God or loving it more than God 2 Tim. 3. 4. But now in holiness there is no such snare a man cannot be holy enough nor like enough to God and therefore here we may freely let out our affections to the full When our desires are freely let out to other things they are like a member out of Joynt as when the arms hang backward but here they are in their proper place this is that which cannot be loved beyond what it doth deserve A Christian should set no manner of bounds to himself in holiness for he is to be holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. and to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Mat. 5. 48. And then desire is not only after that which is good but after a good absent Desire ariseth from a sense of vacuity and emptiness emptiness is the cause of Appetites and therefore it is compared to hunger and thirst Mat. 5. 6. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness So it is in desiring holiness we have not yet attained Phil. 3. 13. There is an indigence and emptiness we are not already perfect we want more than we have and our enjoyments are little in comparison of our expectations And therefore we should make a swifter Progress towards the mark and with more earnestness of soul should press after that sinless estate we expect That little we have doth but quicken us to enquire after more not cloy but provoke the appetite As a man hath a better stomach sometimes when he doth begin to eat So when we begin with God and have tasted of holiness and tasted of comfort being brought into a sense of obedience and subjection to God we should desire more for certainly he is not good that doth not desire to be better So that David might well say I have longed after thy Precepts 3. Consider the nature of these Desires they are the genuine Birth and Off-spring of the Soul Motions of the Heart freest from constraint and so do best discover the Temper of it and shew that it is not tainted and Byassed with secular and worldly Delights No man can be constrained to will that which he doth not Love Practises may be over-rull'd Ill men they dare not Act so much evil as they desire for fear of Shame Punishment and other By-ends And good men do not Act so much good as they do desire because of that weak and imperfect State wherein they are Paul was better at Willing than at Doing 7. Rom. 18. To Will is present with me but how to Perform that which is good I find not And other of the Saints of God though they could not plead their Exact performance and their full and effectual Compliance with the will of God yet have Pleaded their desires 26. Isa. 8. The desire of our Soul is to thy Name 1. Nehe. 11. We desire to fear thy Name And Peter appeals to Christs Omnisciency Lord thou knowest that I Love thee Iohn 21. 17. The Temper and Constitution of their Hearts and the strength of Grace is seen more in desiring many times than in doing These are the Pulses by which you may feel the state of your Souls when there are longing and vehement Desires of your Souls after Gods Precepts 4. Consider the use and necessity of these desires still the Point will be justified The natural use of desire is to engage us to Act and to keep us up in an earnest Profecution of that which is good for us notwithstanding the Oppositions and Discouragments which come between Desire and Fruition For all good
6. 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his Servants ye are whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness Now Man rightly constituted his Actions are thus governed The Understanding and Conscience prescribe to the Will the Will according to right Reason and Conscience moveth the Affections the Affections according to the command and counsel of the Will move the bodily Spirits and Members of the Body But by Corruption there is a manifest Inversion and Change Pleasures affect the Senses the Senses corrupt the Phantasie Phantasie moveth the Bodily Spirits they the Affections and by their violence the Will is carried captive Man blinded and so Man goeth on headlong to his own destruction The corrupt Passions are like wild Horses that do not obey the Driver but draw to Precipices for his destruction Therefore Basil of Seleucia calleth a carnal Man a Slave that runs after the Chariots of his own Passions and corrupt Affections 3. Consider the great tyranny and power of Sin it leaveth us no right and power to dispose of our selves and our Actions and so Men cannot help themselves when they would as is sensible in them that are convinced of better and do worse they see what they should do but do not do it being drawn away by their own Lusts. Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor Sin hath gotten such a deep interest in their Actions and command over their Affections that they cannot leave what they know to be naught or follow that which they conceive to be good And this Bondage is more sensible in them that have some kind of remorse and trouble with their Convictions either from temporal inconvenience shame or loss and yet cannot leave their Lusts and so in despair resolve to go on and make the best of it Ier. 18. 12. And they said There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart Jer. 2. 25. Thou hast said there is no hope no for I have loved strangers and after them will I go Yea further that have a kindly remorse from the conviction of the Spirit Ier. 31. 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke And so Paul Rom. 7. 14. I am carnal sold under sin 4. Consider how this Bondage is always increased by Custom which is a second Nature or an inveterate Disease not easily cured Ier. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good who are accustomed to do evil The more he continueth in this course the less able to help himself the more he sinneth the more he is inthralled to sin as a Nail the more it is knocked the more it is fastned in the Wood. First a man yields up himself to Sin as a Servant by Covenant Rom. 6. 16. Know ye not to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey that is gives up his principal Time Actions and Employments Then a Servant by Conquest 2 Pet. 2. 19. While they promise them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage A Sinner is under the dominion of Sin as an hired Servant and a Captive We first willingly and by our own default run into it and after cannot rid our selves of it Ligatus eram non ferro alieno sed mea ferrea voluntate velle meum tenebat inimicus me mihi catenam fecerat constrinxerat me Lord I am bound not with Iron but with an obstinate Will I gave my Will to mine Enemy and he made a Chain of it to bind me and keep me from thee Quippe ex voluntate perversa facta est libido dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudo non resistitur facta est necessitas Aug. Confes. lib. 8. cap. 5. A perverse Will gave way to Lustings and Lustings made way for a Custom and a Custom let alone brought a Necessity upon me that I can do nothing but sin against thee And after that Reformidam quasi mortem consuetudinis mutationem Aug. Confes. lib. 8. cap. 7. Thus are we by little and little enslaved brought under the power of every Toy Things are lawful as subordinate helps but we contrary to the Law of Reason and the Inclinations to true Happiness immoderately desire them and these Desires being excessive get a compleat Victory over our Souls and at length we are brought under the power of every Creature 1 Cor. 6. 12. All things are lawful but I will not be brought under the power of any 5. There is one thing more that maketh the Carnal Life to be a meer Slavery and that is the Fear and Terror which doth arise from the consciousness of Sin the fear of Death and Damnation and Wrath to come which doggeth Sin at the heels When Adam sinned he was afraid Gen. 3. 7. And carnal Men are all their life-time subject to bondage through the fear of death Heb. 2. 15. There is a Fire smothering in the bosom of a Sinner and sometimes it flashes out in actual gripes and horrors they have grievous damps of heart so that Sinners are so far Bond-men that they dare not seriously call themselves to an account for the expence of their Time and Employments which every one should do nor think seriously of Death or God's Judgment or Hell He that is always under the check of a cruel Master cannot be said to be a Freeman Now so is every Man that is not in Christ let him be never so great and mighty and powerful he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã subject to bondage in danger of hidden fears easily awakened in his heart Well then call you this a Free Life As jolly and jocund as wicked Men seem to be or as great as they are it is a liberty of the Flesh taken by Men not given by God the quietness of the Flesh but bane of the Soul 2. On the contrary The true Liberty is in the ways of God 1. There we are directed how to attain to our great End which is true Blessedness Mat. 7. 14. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it A way of Sin seemeth broad and easie to the Flesh but it is strait and hard to the Spirit and the way of Duty strait and narrow to the Flesh but because it is to Life it is broad to the Spirit or new Nature I shall walk at liberty To a renewed Heart the Divine Commandments are not grievous 1 Iohn 5. 3. for by this means they come to enjoy God and walk to their own Happiness and attain to the End for which they were made A poor heart goes home chearfully
compose and purifie the Mind and make Sin more odious and fortifie us against the Baits of Sense which are the occasion of all the Sin in the World All our Joy is to be considered with respect to its Use and Profit Eccles. 2. 2. I said of laughter It is mad and of mirth What doth it The more a Man delighteth in God and in the Ways of God the more he cleaveth to him and resolveth to go on in this Course and Temptations to Sensual Delights do less prevail for the joy of the Lord is our strength The safety of the Spiritual Life lieth in the keeping up our Joy and Delight in it Heb. 3. 6. Whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end Isa. 64. 5. Thou meetest him who rejoyceth and worketh righteousness But now Carnal Delights intoxicate the Mind and fill it with Vanity and Folly The Sensitive Lure hath more power over us to draw into the slavery of Sin Tit. 3. 3. For we our selves were also foolish deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures Surely then the healing Delights should be preferred before the killing wounding Pleasures that so often prove a snare to us 2. The Object is to be considered thy commandments Here observe 1. David did not place his Delight in Folly or Filthiness as they do that glory in their shame or delight in Sin and giving contentment to the Lusts of the Flesh as the Apostle speaks of some that sport themselves in their own deceivings 2 Pet. 2. 13. that do not onely live in sin but make a sport of it beguiling their own hearts with groundless apprehensions that there is no such evil and hazard therein as the Word declareth and Conscience sometimes suggesteth they are beholden to their sottish Error and Delusion for their Mirth Neither did he place his Delight in Temporal trifles the Honours and Pleasures and Profits of the World as bruitish Worldlings do but in the Word of God as the Seed of the New Life the Rule of his Conversation the Charter of his Hopes that blessed Word by which his Heart might be renewed and sanctified his Conscience setled his Mind acquainted with his Creators Will and his Affections raised to the Hopes of Glory The Matter which feedeth our Pleasures sheweth the Excellency or Baseness of it If like Beetles we delight in a Dunghil rather than a Garden or the Paradise of God's Word it shews a base mean Spirit as Swine in wallowing in the mire or Dogs to eat their own Vomit Our Temper and Inclination is known by our Complacency or Displacency Rom. 7. 5. For when we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Therefore see which your hearts carry you to to the World or the Word of God The most part of the World are carried to the Pleasures of Sense and mastered by them but a Divine Spirit or Nature put into us makes us look after other things 2 Pet. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises even of the great blessings of the new Covenant such as Pardon of Sin Eternal Life c. 2. Not onely in the Promissory but Mandatory part of the Word Commandments is the Notion in the Text. There is matter of great Joy contained in the Promises but they must not be looked upon as exclusive of the Precepts but inclusive Promises are spoken of Psal. 119. 111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart They contain spiritual and heavenly Riches and so are matter of Joy to a believing Soul but the Commandments call for Duty on our parts The Precepts appoint us a pleasant Work shew us what is to be done and left undone These Restraints are grateful to the New Nature for the compliance of the Will with the Will of God and its conformity to his Law hath a Pleasure annexed to it A renewed Soul would be subject to God in all things therefore delights in his Commandments without limitation or distinction 3. It is not in the Study or Contemplation of the Justice and Equity of these Commandments but in the Obedience and Practice of them There is a pleasure in the Study and Contemplation for every Truth breedeth a delectation in the mind Psal. 19. 8. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the soul. It is a blessed and pleasant thing to have a sure Rule commending it self with great evidence to our Consciences and manifesting it self to be of God therefore the sight of the Purity and Certainty of the Word of God is a great pleasure to any considering Mind no other Study to be compared with it But the Joy of Speculation or Contemplation is nothing to that of Practice Nothing maketh the Heart more chearful than a good Conscience or a constant walking in the way of God's Commandments 2 Cor. 1. 12. Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that with simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God I have had my conversation in the world Let me give you this Gradation The Pleasures of Contemplation exceed those of Sense and the Delights of the Mind are more sincere and real than those of the Body for the more noble the Faculty is the more capable of Delight A Man in his Study about Natural things hath a truer pleasure than the greatest Epicure in the most exquisite enjoyment of Sense Prov. 24. 13 14. My son eat thou honey because it is good and the honey-comb which is sweet to thy taste so shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul when thou hast found it then there shall be a reward and thy expectation shall not be cut off But especially the Contemplation of Divine things is pleasant the Objects are more sublime certain necessary profitable and here we are more deeply concerned than in the Study of Nature Surely this is sweeter than Honey and Honey-comb to understand and contemplate the way of Salvation by Christ This is an Heaven upon Earth to know these things Iohn 17. 3. This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent As much as the Pleasures of the Natural Mind do exceed these Bodily Pleasures so much do these Pleasures of Faith and Spiritual Knowledge exceed those of the Natural Mind These things the Angels desire to pry into Now the Delights of Practical Obedience do far exceed those which are the meer result of Speculation and Contemplation Why Because they give us a more intimate feeling of the Truth and Worth of these things and our Right in them thereby is more secured and our Delight in them is heightned by the supernatural Operation of the Holy Ghost The Joy of the Spirit is said to be unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 18. In short
sheweth that we are all Strangers here for if here we do not live for ever and yet we have Souls that will live for ever there must be some other place to which we are tending The Body is dust in its Composition and Resolution Eccles. 12. 7. Then shall the Body return to the Earth as it was Nature may teach us so much but Faith that assureth us of the Resurrection of the Dead doth more bind this Consideration upon us We are Mortal and all things about us are liable to their Mortality and therefore here we must be still passing to another Place 2. Here we have no Rest Micah 2. 10. Arise and depart hence for this is not your Rest that is hereafter Heb. 4. 9. There remaineth therefore a Rest for the People of God Our Home we count the place of our Repose Now there is no Rest and Content in this World which is a place of Vanity Misery and Discomfort Yea to the Children of God there are stronger Motives than Crosses to drive them from the World daily Temptations and our often falling by them Crosses are grievous to all but Sin is more grievous to the Godly and nothing makes them more weary of the World then the constant indwelling and frequent outbreaking of Corruption and Sin Rom. 7. 24. Oh miserable Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death The Apostle was exercised with many Crosses but this doth make him complain in the bitterness of his Soul not of his Misery but of his Corruption which he found continually rebelling against God Many complain of their Crosses that complain not of Sin to loath the World for Crosses alone is neither the Mark nor Work of Grace a Beast can forsake the place where he findeth neither Meat nor Rest but because we are sinning here whilst others are glorifying God this is the trouble of the Saints 3. They believe and look for a better Estate after this life is over 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens No Man can be a right Sojourner on Earth who doth not look for an abode in Heaven for that which doth most effectually draw off the heart of Man from this World is the Expectation of a far better State in the World to come 2 Cor. 4. 18. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Heathens could call the World an Inn but they had onely glimmering Conceptions of another World A Christian that believeth it and looketh for it on God's Assurance he is onely the joyfull Stranger and the Pilgrim Common Sense will teach us the necessity of leaving this World but Faith can onely assure us of another they are Believers and Expectants of Heaven 4. They do not onely look for it but seek after it We reade of both looking and seeking Heb. 11. 14. They declare plainly that they seek a Country Heb. 13. 14. Here we have no continuing City but we seek one to come Seeking implyeth Diligence in the Use of Means all the Life of a Christian is nothing but the seeking after another Country every day advancing a step nearer to Heaven and therefore their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã their Conversation is said to be in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. This is their great business upon Earth to doe all to eternal Ends all other Works and Labours are but upon the bie and subordinate to this Their main care is to obtain this blessed Condition therefore they use Word Sacraments that they may grow in Grace Faith Repentance New obedience Every degree in Grace is another step towards Heaven Psal. 84. 4. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose hearts are the ways of them vers 6. They goe from strength to strength every one of them in Zion appeareth before God Some of the Sains are in Patria others in Via still bending homeward 5. Because they are so the Children of God are dealt with as Strangers Difference of scope and drift will procure alienation of Affection 1 Pet. 4. 4. Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of Riot speaking evil of you And Iohn 15. 19. If ye were of the world the world would love its own but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Other cannot be expected but that the Servants of the Lord should be ill-rewarded and treated here not onely out of the Worlds Ignorance they know not our birth breeding expectations hope 1 Iohn 3. 2. Beloved now are we the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is but Enmity as the different Carriage of the one puts a disgrace upon the course of Life which the other do affect the one fixeth their home here the other looketh for it elsewhere and the World is sensible this is an Excellency and therefore those that are at the bottom of the Hill envy and malign those that are a-top Use. Are we thus minded There are two sorts of men in the World the one is of the Devil and the other is of God for all men seek their Rest and Happiness on Earth or Rest in Heaven Naturally Men were all of the first Number for the Rational Soul without Grace accommodateth it self to the Interests of the Body but when sublimated and transformed by Grace the World cannot satisfy it and it can find nothing there which may finally quiet its desires for the new Life infused hath other aimes and tendencies As Saints are new born from Heaven so for Heaven and therefore the new Nature cannot satisfy it self in the injoyment of the Creature with the absence of God The Apostle saith while at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 6 7. In this Life we are not capable of the glorious Presence of God it is not consistent with our Mortality And our being present with him in the Spirit is but a Tast that doth provoke rather then cloy the Appetite Rom. 8. 23. Our selves also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body These Tasts do but make us long for more they are sent down from Heaven to draw us up to that place of our Rest where this Glory and Blessedness is in fullness Now which sort are you of the City of God or under the Dominion of Sathan and the power of worldly Lusts 1. There are some that take up here and never consider whence they are nor whither they are
Idolatry or cured of that but by Grace Covetousness is Idolatry because it draws off our Love Fear Trust from God and his Service to Riches and so proves a snare to the Soul Idolatry in our affections is more dangerous than gross Idolatry in our opinions and outward worship when our affections carry us out to another Good 5. Again out of Gratitude when God doth all for us can we deny him any thing Dost thou love God as the chiefest Good and wilt not thou fear to offend him Who ever chooseth God for his Portion will have David's disposition I have said I will keep thy Words he will be exact and punctual to keep in with God SERMON LXV PSAL. CXIX 58. I Intreated thy Favour with my whole Heart be mercifull unto me according to thy Word IN the former Verse I took notice of two Parts David's Protestation Thou art my Portion and his Resolution I will keep thy Words To either of the Branches this Verse may be supposed to have Respect To the former thus as a second Evidence if we make God our Portion this will necessarily follow we shall desire his favour above all things else Our Portion is that Good which we choose renouncing all things else therefore when our hearts are set upon it whom have I in Heaven but Thee Psal. 73. 25. When you entreat his Favour with your whole heart that 's the Evidence God is your Portion Or you may referr it to the latter Clause thus I said I will keep thy Words therefore I intreat thy Favour We cannot carry on a good purpose without God's Favour unless He assist us therein When we are most resolved we must expect opposition and assaults both from within and without The Devil will seek all he can to oppose you and to shake your Resolutions and your Lusts will rage a new upon a severe restraint Therefore those that resolve to enter into a strict course must seek Relief from God's Favour and Mercy as David here I intreated thy Favour with my whole Heart In the Words we have an account of David's Practice upon a Choice and Resolution he betook himself to Prayer Here you have 1. The Object or Principle thing sought Gods Favour 2. The manner with my whole Heart with a sincere Affection He doth not say with his Lips onely but his Heart and not with his Heart onely but with his whole Heart 3. The summ of his request or the Fountain of all that he expected from God be Mercifull to me 4. The rule or ground of his Expectation according to thy Word The meaning is that God according to his promise would graciously help him I. For the first I intreated thy Favour or as it is in the Hebrew I painfully sought thy Face meaning that he did with importunate and humble suit beg the smile of Gods councountenance by Face is meant Favour Prov. 29. 26. Many seek the Rulers Favour it is the Rulers face that he may look chearfully upon them and I painfully sought so the Word signifies it notes such importunity as is necessary for so great a Blessing The note is this Doct. Gods People those that have made him their Portion they earnestly and constantly above all things desire his Favour 1. This God calls for Psal. 105. 4. Seek the Lord seek his Face evermore None have such Communion with God but they need seek more Psal. 27. 8. Thou saidst seek my Face Thy Face Lord will I seek Thou saidst it is that which God speaks in all his Ordinances the whole drift of the Word is to press us to get and keep the sense of God's love ever fresh in our Hearts 2. The Nature of the Saints carries them to it This is the difference between them and carnal men Psal. 4. 6 7. The light of his Countenance is spoken of either with Allusion to the Sun whose Light displaid chears the Plants or with Allusion to the smiles of a Friend one good look from God the Children of God preferr above all the World All earthly things cannot please them so much as a smile from God nor put such gladness in their Hearts But more especially do they seek it most painfully 1. When they have never as yet attained any sense of it but lye under doubts fears and auxious uncertainty then if God will but look upon them make out his Love to their Consciences what a comfort will that be to them A man may want assurance and have Grace but he cannot slight assurance and have Grace He that is without it may be one of Gods Children but he that doth not look after it and is satisfied without it certainly is none of that number Therefore this is the desire and earnest prayer of all Gods People in common that God would cause his Face to shine upon them Psal. 80. 17. Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shine forth that is that sittest upon the Mercy Seat O that he would be good to them in Christ for between the Cherubims there was the Mercy Seat where God sate the meaning is that he would a little dart in Beams of Comfort to their Consciences 2. They thus painfully intreat the Favour of God when they have lost it by sin for then they are afflicted with a double evil want of so great a comfort and a sense of their own folly A sense of Gods favour may be with-held out of meer Soveraignty yet even then God's Children will be earnest but when it is withdrawn out of Justice as a correction for our folly and careless walking there is greater cause of earnestness that we may redeem and recover our loss again Then we are to be more earnest Turn us again Lord God of Hosts and cause thine anger towards us to cease Psal. 80. 7. By their former experience they know the sweetness of God's favour and by their present loss the bitterness of the want of it Basil hath a notable Comparison he saith if an Object be too bright it must be set at a distance from the Eye that we may see better so worldly things must be set at a distance from us therefore God seems to be at a distance hides his Face that his People might know by the loss and want of it how to value their Blessings How far do they discover their earnestness 1. In that they seek it above all other things above Corn Wine and Oil. This is not their painful desire to be made great rich high honourable happy in the World All the World doth them no good without the favour of God As all the Stars though they shine together do not dispel the darkness of the Night so no Creatures can comfort us sufficiently when God hides his Face from them Psal. 30. 1. Thou didst hide thy Face and I was troubled They cannot finde God as they were wont As at Funeral Feasts dear Friends have little comfort when they miss their old Friend that was wont to bid them
or a serious searching and inquiring in what Condition we are before God This is necessary to Conversion and turning to the Lord Lam. 3. 40. Let us search and try our ways and turn unto the Lord. There needeth a serious calling our selves to an account or a strict view and survey of our former Courses if we would amend what is amiss in them and still as we renew our Repentance this Course must we take 2. As it relateth to present Actions or the Ways wherein we are to walk so it implieth prudent Consideration before we doe any thing let us see our Warrant that we may doe nothing but what is agreeable to God's Word Prov. 4. 26 27. Ponder the paths of thy Feet and let all thy Ways be established Turn not to the right hand or to the left remove thy foot from evil We have a narrow Line to walk by but a foot of Ground to go upon and therefore we should not walk at hap-hazzard but with much exactness Eph. 5. 15. See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise therefore we need to weigh all our Actions in the ballance of the Sanctuary that if any thing displease God we may avoide it The Conscience of our weakness and the strictness of our Rule should make us take the better heed to our selves 3. With respect to the Tendency and Issues of things and so it noteth Fore consideration or Deliberation in order to Choice God biddeth his People stand upon the ways and see and enquire after the old paths which is the good way and walk therein Jer. 6. 16. As Travellers when they are at a loss or in doubt of their way seeing divers paths before them are carefull to informe themselves aright that they may take the next readiest and best way for their Journeys end An awakened Conscience is like Hercules in Bivio there are two ways present themselves the way of Sin and Flesh-pleasing and the way of God's Commandments or as it is Matth. 7. 13 14. the broad way and the narrow way the broad way of Sin seemeth pleasant and inticing but it leadeth to death the narrow way is rough and craggy troublesome to Flesh and Bloud but the end is Life and Peace Now the Soul debateth upon the Choice which of these is better by weighing the loss and gain on either side and the final Issue and Tendency of both these ways or rather the awakened Soul ââ¦s in the case of a Man that is yet to choose or like a Man that is out of the way and wants his usual marks he bethinketh himself if I go on in this broad beaten roade of Corruption I am sure to go down to the Chambers of Death and perish evermore Oh but let me make a stop it is better to take God's Direction than the way of mine own Heart it is a way that will undoe me for ever hitherto I have gone awry how shall I doe to get into the right way I would be happy and this Course will never make me so surely it is better to take God's Counsel than to please the Flesh. No Course will satisfy Conscience no Course will make you happy but a Life led according to the Word of God Thus you see it implieth 1. An examination of our past Course or a looking into our own Estate 2. A carefull watch over future Actions 3. A consideration of the issue and event of things I have viewed my life past I have been wrong and I see it will be bitterness in the issue therefore I purpose to give up my self to a course of Obedience and therefore to consider well of my Actions for the future Now this is a Work that is not once to be done but always As often as we look to our selves we shall finde something that needeth amendment and therefore we need to press the Heart with new and pregnant thoughts to minde our Duty and to use constant Caution and taking heed to our ways that we may not goe wrong Psal. 39. 1. Thus did David to keep his Heart right I thought on my ways 2. The Objects of this consideration or the things that must be considered that may be gathered out of the former discourse But 1. Who made thee Eccl. 12. 1. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy Youth It is a great advantage to call to mind whose Creatures we are for this will shame us that we have done no more than we have done for Him from whom we have all that we have and this in Youth when the effects of this creating bounty are most fresh upon our Senses in good earnest consider who was it that made thee a reasonable Creature Not a Stone and without Life nor a Plant and without Sense nor a Beast and without Reason but a Man with Reason and Understanding and Will and Affections that thou mayst know him and love him and enjoy him And hast thou never thought of the God that made thee Art thou of those Hair-brain'd Fools that goe on rashly in a course of Sin and God is not in all their thoughts Psalm 10. 4. How canst thou look upon the Body without thoughts of him whose workmanship it is or think of thy Soul without thinking of God whose Image and Superscription it bears and without whom thou canst not so much as think shall it be troublesome to thee to have frequent thoughts of God when thou canst go musing of Vanity all the day long shall every trifle find a room in thy Heart when God findeth no room there He is not far from every one of us Acts 17. 27. but we are far from him He is before thee behind thee round about thee yea within thee or else thou couldst not keep thy Breath in thy Body for a moment and wilt thou not then take some time to season thy Heart with thoughts of God the first miscarriage of Men came from this Rom. 1. 28. They liked not to retain God in their Knowledge thoughts of God and right opinions of God were a burthen to them and therefore they gave up themselves to an ungodly Course and evil State of Mind And wilt thou put such a scorn and contempt upon thy Creatour as never seriously to think of him yea when thoughts of God rush in upon thy Mind to turn them out as unwelcome Guests this is to degenerate into the State of Devils a part of whose torment it is to think of God they believe and tremble the more explicite thoughts they have of the Name of God the more is their Horrour increased Oh then let thy Meditations of God be sweet and serious Psalm 104. 34. Every thing that passeth before thine eyes proclaim an invisible God an Infinite and Eternal Power that made thee and all things else shall the Heavens above the Earth beneath thee say Remember God and every Creature every pile of Grass thou treadest upon call to thee Remember God and wilt thou be so
a Mountain Remember if the Devil can but get us to delay he hath us fast enough If he can but get us to put it off to day then to morrow then the next day shall be as that Austin when he had Conviction upon him he prays from his Conscience Lord mortifie my Lusts but not yet Satans morrow will never come There 's no end of delays He tells you of to morrow and another season but that season will never come 2. Let not the World choak the Word It is notable the choaking the good Seed which was scattered among Thorns Christ expounds it of the World now what of the World choaketh it Matth. 13. 22. he instanceth in the cares of the World And Luke instanceth in the pleasures of this Life he adds voluptuous living Luke 8. 14. And Mark hath it more generally the cares of this Life Mark 4. 19. and the lusts of other things choak the Word The meaning of all those places is this Many a man hath some beams of Light darted into his Bosom and he begins to have serious and anxious thoughts of his Eternal condition I but then the pleasures and cares of the World interpose and they must be first served and so the Conviction is lost Sometimes a man is full of business and cannot attend to carry on this Work at other times he is loth to forgoe his voluptuous course there 's some sport he must attend upon and so the Word is lost When you have Conviction upon you you are under God's arrest when you go and get out of the chains of Conscience without Gods leave you break prison All business must give way to your great business and follow that close till you come to some issue Matth. 8. 21. Follow me saith Christ suffer me first to go bury my Father nay saith Christ Let the dead bury the dead but do thou follow me How specious soever the work be we must call off our Souls Let not these beams of Conviction which are darted into your Bosom be quenched 3. Consult not with the Flesh as a friend in the case when your heart begins to work towards God Gal. 1. 16. Immediately I consulted not with Flesh and Blood It is notable the Word signifies to lay down a burden to lay down our cares and difficulties in a friends Bosom when a man hath any trouble upon him he communicates it to his Friend Now you have a burden upon you you begin to be sensible you are in a wrong course and must turn to God do not lay down your burdens in the Flesh's Bosom they will tell you this is but a pang and melancholy qualm and would furnish you with a great many seeming reasons to put it off frivolous excuses sloathful pretences carnal fears and idle allegations therefore consult not with the ââ¦lesh as with a friend in the case 4. Be not discouraged with tediousness and difficulty which upon a trial you will find in the ways of God Many that carry on their Convictions to a resolution and their good resolutions to some performance when they find it to be a difficult and tedious business a thing that is irksom to the flesh they throw up all and there 's an end of the Conviction that was upon them A Bullock at first yoaking is most unruly untill he be accustomed to it so afterwards Duty will be more sweet and easy if you will but take Christs yoak upon tryal you shall find it is a sweet Yoke Matth. 11. 29. and remember Difficulties in the service of God should rather excite than discourage Will you serve God with that which cost you nothing will you think to go to Heaven and not enter in at the strait Gate Remember this is one of our way-marks Counterbalance difficulty with reward and punishment and pains of duty with the pains of Hell the pleasure of Sin with the reward of eternal Life urge your Souls with the equity in Christ's ways and the filthiness and turpitude in those sinfull Courses 5. If you have discouragements from God and he seems to withdraw or withhold his Grace remember he is not at your beck if he gives nothing he oweth nothing If he should not give present comfort strength and help usually it may be so for your tryal We are never brought to a through Obedience until we come to this resolution Let God do what he will I will do what he hath commanded till we yield to God's Sovereignty and venture through his denials and the suspensions of his Grace As the Woman of Canaan he first answereth her not a word when he answers his Speech is more discouraging than his silence It is not meet to take the Childrens Bread and give it to Dogs She ventures through all these discouragements Christ yields at length O Woman great is thy Faith be it unto thee as thou wilt God will bring his Creatures to such a through Obedience You may have no visits of his Love no beam of his Grace though you meet with a dumb Oracle and he seems to cast you off and you have many fears yet venture through with a holy Obstinacy that you will not give over as Iob 13. 15. Though he kill me yet will I put my trust in him When you follow God with such an Obstinacy of Obedience though he should appear never so contrary yet we will incourage our selves in waiting upon him Thus be severe to your purpose 2. For Positive Directions 1. Observe the Call of God There are certain Seasons when God more especially doth approach the heart of a Sinner when Christ knocks Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock How doth Christ knock by the motions of his Grace when the Word sets Conscience a work one time or other God meets with the heart of every man that lives under the Gospel so that his Conscience tells him I must be another man or I am an undone man for ever Then Christ knocks when Conscience is thus set a work when the Waters are stirr'd then is the time to put in for cure Now observe this that you may welcome the authority of his Truth To resist Christ in this work is a dangerous thing for a Woman to destroy the Child in the Womb is Murther so to resist Christ in this work that is going on towards the New Birth is Spiritual Murther 2. Be sure this work come to some effect To stifle Convictions that 's very dangerous There is no Iron so hard as that which hath been often heated and often quenched so no hearts so hard as those that have had many Convictions and have quenched them 1 Thes. 5. 20. Quench not the Spirit You have great qualms of Conscience Felix he trââ¦bles I but it came to nothing many mens hearts are rouzed but it does no good A man that sleeps upon a Bridge may dream that he is falling into the Water and so dream that he may shake every Limb of him and
Fornication 1 Thess. 5. 8 9. 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 For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Iesus Christ. 1 Pet. 2. 15. For so is the will of God that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men Certainly no private respect desire of our own pleasure and profit should hinder us but we must respect one Command as well as another otherwise our Obedience is partial A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia if we believe the Commandments we must believe all Where a Disposition is allowed to break any one of God's Laws the heart is not right God's Sovereignty once acknowledged is alike potent to restrain every Inclination to Acts displeasing to God and contrary to our Duty one as well as another Secondly The Text may be considered Relatively with respect to the matter in hand and so it may be conceived as a Reason of asking or as a Reason of granting 1. As a Reason of asking 1. It giveth a Character of them that believe they that believe God's Commandments will desire to know them more to be more accurate in knowing their Duty and the weight and consequence of it they are willing to practise all that it requireth and so are willing to prove what is the acceptable will of the Lord. Eph. 5. 17. Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is they would not doe any thing doubtingly Rom. 14. 23. He that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of Faith for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin nor according to the Wills of Men Gal. 1. 10. For do I now perswade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I yet pleased men I should not be the Servant of Christ. They would avoid all appearance of evil 1 Thess. 5. 22. occasions to evil Rom. 13. 14. Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof They know the weight and consequence of these things 2. It giveth us an intimation of the necessity of growth none believe so much but they may believe more 1 Iohn 5. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God and they may obey more embrace the Word more David beggeth he may doe so always there is some new thing to be learned in the Scripture 3. That Faith planted in the heart is nourished and increased by more Knowledge and Understanding 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to your Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge there is an implicite and an explicite Faith ââ¦rtet discentem credere swallowing Pills not chewing them 2. As a Reason of granting believing God's Commandments is a Disposition that hath a Promise of more Knowledge to be communicated 1. God by one act of Grace maketh way for another First he giveth this first Favour of receiving the Word by Faith as Divine worthy to be believed and obeyed then to understand it and apprehend it more perfectly Discretion and Judgment to goe about Duties wisely 2. God giveth according to the Creatures receptions they that are dutifull and docile and willing to comply with their Duty already known shall know more The Use is If we expect more Illumination let us believe as much as is manifested already to us with a mind to practise SERMON LXXVI PSAL. CXIX 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy Word IN this Verse you may observe two things 1. The evil of Prosperity Before I was afflicted I went astray 2. The good of Adversity but now have I kept thy Word Before wandring but now attentive to his Duty Or if you will here is the Necessity of Afflictions and the Utility of them 1. The Necessity Before I was afflicted I went astray Some think that David in his own person representeth the wantonness and stubbornness of all Mankind if it should be so yet the person in whom the instance is given is notable if this were the disposition of the Prophet and Man of God and he needeth this Discipline we much more If he could say it in truth of heart that he was made worse by his Prosperity we need always to be jealous of our selves and were it not for the scourge we should forget our Duty and the Obedience we owe to God 2. The Utility and Benefit of Afflictions but now have I kept thy Word Keeping the Law is a general word the use of God's Rod is to bring us home unto God and the Affliction driveth us to make better use of his Word it changeth us from Vanity to Seriousness from Errour to Truth from Stubbornness to Teachfulness from Pride to Modesty It is commonly said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the Apostle telleth us that Iesus Christ himself learned obedience by the things which he suffered Heb. 5. 8. And here David was the better for the Cross so should we Or rather you may in the words observe three things 1. A Confession of his wandring I went astray 2. The Course God took to reduce him to his Duty I was afflicted 3. The success or effect of that Course I have kept thy Word Theodoret expresseth this in three words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I was sick I was cut or let bloud I was well or recovered my health again 1. The one giveth us the cause of Afflictions they are for Sin I went astray Wherein there is a secret acknowledgment of his guilt that his Sin was the cause of the Chastisement God brought upon him 2. The true notion and nature of Affliction to the People of God the Cross changeth its nature and is not poena a destructive Punishment but remedium delinquentium a medicinal Dispensation and a means of our cure 3. The end of them is Obedience or keeping God's Word The summ of the whole is I was out of the way but thy Rod hath reduced me and brought me into it again Aben Ezra conceiveth that in this last Clause he intimateth a desire of deliverance because the Rod had done its work rather I think he expresseth his frame and temper when he was delivered and accordingly I shall make use of it by and by I might observe many Points but the Doctrine from the whole Verse is Doctr. That the end of God's afflicting is to reduce his afflicted and straying People into the right way I shall explain the Point by these Considerations 1. That Man is of a straying nature apt to turn out of the way that leadeth to God and to true Happiness We are all so by nature Isa. 53. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray Sheep of all Creatures are exceeding subject to stray if not tended and kept in the better
sharpness of apprehension in carnal Things but dull slow and blind in spiritual and heavenly Things Thoughts are spent freely and unweariedly about the one but there is a tediousness and barrenness about the other a Will backward to what is good but a strange bent and urging to what is evil in that which is good we need a Spur in evil a Bridle these things persevere with us but how fickle and changable in any holy Resolution the Memory slippery in what is good but firm and strong in what is evil the Affections quick easily stirred like Tinder catch fire at every spark but as to that which is good they are like fire in green Wood hardly kept in with much blowing Again our delight is soon moved by things pleasing to Sense a carnal gust and savour is very natural to us and rise with us Rom. 8. 5. but averse from the chiefest good and every thing that leadeth to it Surely then we have need to goe to God and complain of Corruption sometimes under the notion of a blind and dark Mind begging the illumination of the Spirit sometimes under the notion of a dead hard Heart or an unperswadable Will begging his inclining as well as inlightning Grace Surely they are strangely hardened that do not see a need of a spiritual Understanding Nay God's Children after Grace received though sanctified betimes yet halt of the old Maim dull in Spirituals alive and active in carnal Matters Carnal and worldly Men act more uniformly and suitably to their Principles than the Children of God to theirs Luke 16. 8. The Children of this world are wiser in their generation than the Children of light that is more dexterous in the course of their Affairs Grace for the present worketh but a partial Cure we have the advantage in matter of Motive we have better and higher things to mind but they have the advantage in matter of Principle their Principles are unbroken but the Principles of the best are mixed we cannot doe what we would in heavenly things there is the back-bias of Corruption that turns us away and therefore they need to be instant with God to heal their Souls sometimes a blind Mind and sometimes a distempered Heart 5. We must be new made and born again before we can be apt or able to know or doe the Will of God as Christ inferreth the necessity of Regeneration from the corruption of Nature he had been discoursing with Nicodemus You cannot enter into the Kingdome of God For that which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 5 6. Our Souls naturally accommodate themselves to the Flesh and seek the good of the Flesh and all our Thoughts and Care and Life and Love runs that way now what was lost in Adam can onely be recovered in Christ 't is not enough that God's hands have once made us and fashioned us but there is a necessity of being made and fashioned anew of becoming his workmanship in Christ Iesus Eph. 2. 10. and so the words of the Text may be interpreted in this sense Thou hast made me once Lord new make me thy hands made me O Lord give me a new Heart that I may obey thee In the first Birth God gave us a natural Understanding in the second a spiritual Understanding that we may learn his Commandments First that we may be good and then doe good The first Birth gave us the natural Faculty the second the Grace or those divine Qualities which were lost by Adam's Sin better never been born unless born again better be a Beast than a Man if the Lord give us not the knowledge of himself in Christ. The Beasts when they die their Misery and Happiness dieth with them Death puts an end to their Pain and Pleasure but we that have Reason and Conscience to foresee the end and know the way enter into perfect Happiness or Misery at death unless the Lord sanctify this Reason and give us an heart to know him in Christ and choose that which is good Man is but a higher kind of Beast a wiser sort of Beast Psalm 49. 12. for his Soul is onely employed to cater for the Body and his Reason is prostituted to Sense the Beast rides the Man We are not distinguished from the Bruits by our Senses but our Understanding and our Reason but in a carnal Man the Soul is a kind of Sense 't is wholly imployed about the animal Life There is not a more brutish Creature in the World than a worldly wicked Man Well then David had need to pray Lord thou hast given me Reason give me the knowledge of thy self and thy blessed Will 6. When we seek this Grace or any degree of it 't is a proper Argument to urge that we are God's Creatures so doth David here I am now come to my very Business and therefore I shall a little shew how far Creation is pleadable and may any way incourage us to ask spiritual Understanding and renewing Grace 1. In the general I shall lay down this 'T is a good way of reasoning with God to ask another Gift because we have received one already 'T is not a good way of reasoning with Man because he wastes by giving but a good way with God and that upon a double account Partly because in some cases Deus donando debet God by giving doth in effect bind himself to give more as by giving Life to give Food by giving a Body to give Rayment Matth. 6. 25. God by sending such a Creature into the World chargeth his Providence to maintain him as long as he will use him for his glory God loveth to crown his own Gifts Zech. 3. 2. Is not this a brand plucked out of the burnings The thing pleaded there is was not this a Brand plucked out of the fire one Mercy is pleaded to obtain another Mercy So God bindeth himself to give perseverance 2 Cor. 1. 10. but this is not the case here for by giving common Benefits he doth not bind himself to give saving Graces And partly too because he doth not waste by giving his mercy endureth for ever The same reason is given for all those Mercies Psalm 136. Why the Lord chose a Church maintaineth his Church giveth daily bread his mercy endureth for ever God is where he was at first he giveth liberally and upbraideth not James 1. 5. he doth not say I have given already Now a former common Mercy sheweth God's readiness and freeness to give the Inclination to doe good still abideth with him he is as ready and as free to give still daily Bread his mercy endureth for ever spiritual Wisdome his mercy endureth for ever indeed the giving of daily Bread doth not necessarily bind God to give spiritual Wisdome but that which is not a sure ground to expect may be a probable incouragement to ask and learn this that though nothing can satisfy Unbelief yet Faith can pick Arguments out of any thing and make use of
the most common Benefits of Creation to strengthen it self 2. God beareth much affection to Man as he is his Creature and the work of his Hands and the Saints plead it when they would be spared and when they would be saved As Iob 10. 3. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands So verse the 8th of that Chapter Thy hands have made me and fashioned me and yet thou dost destroy me The summe and effect of these Pleas is 'T is strange that God should despise his own Workmanship especially a piece of such Excellency as Man is Surely God is the readier to doe good to Man because he is the work of his Hands We see Artificers when they have made an excellent Work they are very chary and tender of it and will not destroy it and break it in pieces An instinct of Nature teacheth us to love that which is our own by natural Production so 't is an Argument moving the Lord to much Compassion to tell him that we are his Workmanship Isa. 64. 8 9. But now O Lord thou art our Father we are the Clay thou art our Potter we are all the work of thine hands Be not wroth with us very sore O Lord this raiseth in us some hope of speeding and prevailing with God The words of the Text are emphatical made and fashioned God hath bestowed much care upon us to make and fashion us and therefore he will pity us and spare us Iob 14. 15. Thou shalt call and I will answer thee thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands All these places shew there is an Argument in it that may raise our Faith when other Arguments faile 3. Creation implieth some hope because God forsaketh none but those who forsake him first He might destroy us for our original Sin as we destroy Serpents of a venomous nature before they have actually done any harm though Man hath lost his Goodness God hath not Every one of us in person doth actually break with God before he breaketh with us 2 Chron. 15. 2. If ye forsake him he will forsake you 1 Chron. 28. 9. David telleth Solomon If thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever he will not acknowledge thee Take this rightly That God giveth Grace to any is his Goodness that to one more than another is his distinguishing and elective Love that he denieth Grace to any is long of themselves chargeable upon the Creature who abuse that common Grace which if improved might have made them better yea though all deserve to be denied the Grace of the Redeemer yet 't is not denied till after many wilfull Refusals and by gross Impenitency we turn the back upon God when we will not implore our Creatours Bounty but obstinately refuse it 4. Seeing God is our Creatour and the end of our Creation is to serve God we may the more confidently ask the Grace which is necessary to inable us to serve him that the same creating Mercy which layeth on the Obligation may help to discharge the Debt God is no Pharaoh to require Brick and give no Straw to appoint Work and not to provide Grace though he hath not absolutely promised to every individual Person converting Grace yet he hath appointed certain Means for the Ungodly which they are bound to use in order to Conversion and if we consider the goodness of God and the nature of those Means 't is a great incouragement Surely the assistances of Grace are always ready Matt. 22. 5. Come to the feast all things are ready None can tax him of backwardness So our Saviour taxes the Iews Matth. 23. 37. I would have gathered thee as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wing but you would not When did God ever faile the waiting Soul or put away the Creature that sought after Grace to serve him He is often beforehand with us never behindhand and we grossly and hainously forfeit all our Means and Helps before we lose them 5. There is incouragement to Faith à pari from the resemblance and likeness that is between his making us at first and his new-making of us in Iesus Christ. 'T is called a Creation Eph. 2. 10. Eph. 4. 24. The new man which after God is created c. 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts The Authour is the same God to whom it belongeth to create We have the humane Nature from him and can have it from no other much less can we have the divine Nature from any other but him Psalm 51. 5. or else we shall not have it at all 'T is not implanted in our Nature or attainable by any industry of ours 'T is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth Rom. 9. 16. but the immediate work of God 't is the work of his Omnipotency So dead and indisposed are we by nature to Holiness and Grace that no less than creating Power is required to work it in us Besides we were created freely without any merit of ours so we expect from the same Goodness such saving Knowledge as may change our Hearts there is this double incouragement there is God's Omnipotent Power and his free giving us his Image at first Rom. 4. 17. 6. If we consider the manner of pleading and the good frame of heart implied in the Pleader we may better understand the cogency of the Argument and though the Argument its self doth not necessarily infer the help of Grace yet the manner of pleading sheweth some preparative work of Grace and such meet the Lord in the stated order of Commerce between him and his Creatures and shall receive his Blessing And then the Argument will be strong in this Petition give understanding that I may learn thy Commandments here are many things implied such as are wrought by God in those to whom God will vouchsafe the Grace 1. An acknowledgment of the Debt that Man being God's Creature is obliged to serve him as he was not made by himself so not for himself and should no more cease from intending God as an End than he can cease from depending on God as a Principle Now 't is long ere we are brought to this you know how the Rebels are described and set out Psalm 12. 4. Our Tongues are our own who is Lord over us Now God hath gained one great end with us when we are sensible of our obligation to him and are brought to acknowledge the Debt and that Love Duty and Service we owe to him Wherefore doth God press Duty upon carnal Men who are no way competent or able to perform it Divines tell us to demand his right as a Creditor doth of a prodigal Debtour and to make us sensible that we stand bound to God in the debt of Obedience 2. Here is a Will to pay or an Heart set upon Service and Obedience for this is a Speech
would desire to know more of God therefore the Word is dear and precious to them because it discovers so much of God Hosea 6. 3. This is their property they follow on to know the Lord. They do not content themselves with their first and infant Notions but aspire to know him more and more for their love fear and trust and all doth depend upon the knowledge of God If we had more knowledge of God we should love him more and trust him more Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee We know God but as men born blind know the fire they know there is such a thing as fire for they feel it warm them but what it is they know not so that there is a God we know but what he is we know little and indeed we can never search him out to perfection a finite creature can never fully comprehend that which is infinite The Saints are following on to know the Lord they desire to know more and more and there is no such means to discover God to them as this way 2 The use of the Word is to convert the soul and to bring it home to God Psal. 19. 7. The Law of God is perfect converting the soul. There is the perfection of God's Word it is God's instrument for converting of souls or turning of them back to him again For Conversion take it in its whole latitude compriseth this to humble us to cleanse us to bind up our broken hearts because of all these uses the children of God love his Word It serves 1. To humble us for sin Ier. 23. 29. Is not my Word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces He appeals to it as things that we may find by experience that the Word of God is not only a hammer to break but a fire to melt As a batter'd Vessel when it is to be new form'd must be melted that it may be capable of this new form so no such way to melt the heart and make it capable of God's pââ¦pose as the Word of God no such thing to break the heart no such terrors and agonies like those the Word works and to melt the heart to make it pliable to God's use no such thing as the Word of God to affect us for sin for sin as it is a breach of God's Law or an offence to God 2. It hath this use to cleanse the heart and subdue it to the obedience of Christ Psal. 119. 9. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word Young men who more stubborn and boistrous than they that are carried on with great strength and fervor in the very heat of their rebellion against God Well the Word of God can cleanse the heart of a young man As Plato saith of Youth That it is such a Beast as will not easily come to hand Now for cicurating and taming this Beast for the captivating those rebellious affections in youth and cleansing and working out the filthiness that is in us nothing like the Word and it is by these spiritual weapons that every thought is brought into captivity to Christ 2 Cor. 10. and then as it is obstinate the power of the Word breaks the force of our lusts 3. For comforting and binding up the broken hearted Humane wisdom and eloquence can do nothing to purpose this way but when God by the Word reveals to a man his righteousness then his flesh shall come again as a childs he shall return to the days of his youth Iob 33. 25. Though a man before did walk up and down as a Ghost was as it were a walking Skeleton and his marrow was suck'd out of his bones by the terrors of the Lord that were upon him yet when he hath Godââ¦s Word to shew under God's hand for his pardon this brings his comfort his flesh shall revive he shall return fresher than a child and shall return to the days of his youth his strength joy and comfort shall come again therefore O how they love the Law because they have felt in their heart it must be God's Word for that which wounds must also heal 3 To make us perfect as well as to begin the work 2 Tim. 3. 17. it is said The Word of God is able to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished to all good works so that in this perfection there are three Uses for which the Word serves 1. For building up in Faith or increasing in internal Grace The Word of God is not only for Novices but for grown persons that there may be a continual dropping into the lamps as it was in the Vision of Zechariah Acts 20. 32. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified It is not enough to lay a foundation but there must be a building up Now what is that which builds us up The word of his grace that is God's blessing upon the reading and hearing the Word for the Apostle speaks it when he was taking leave of the Ephesians I commend you to God and the word of his grace that is the word of grace sent among them by their ordinary Officers continued to them blessing the reading and hearing the Word by their ordinary Officers there would be no need of Paul the room should be supplied Habits of grace must still be maintained by fresh influences and they always come into us by the Word of God therefore after we are converted and born again the Word is useful that we may grow thereby 2 Pet. 2. 2. 2. To direct our practice that 's one use the Word serves for so it is said 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place In this state of ignorance wherein we are for that 's figured by those words in a dark place sure it is a great blessing to have a light shining to us that we may not wander and fall into the snares wherewith we are encompassed We are apt to forget and mistake our way we are very forgetful and our way is narrow hardly found and hardly kept and Satan is full of wiles and deceits like an ignis fatuus ready to lead us out of the way therefore we had need have a sure guide and a sure light Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths It is a light not only to our paths for the choice of our general way but for all our steps to direct us in all our ways 3. To comfort us in all conditions under our crosses confusions and difficulties we have all from the Word of God Psal. 119. 50. This is my comfort in my affliction for thy Word hath
good evidence of the new nature it is a sign you have gotten that other heart that new spirit which must have new comfort new supports 1 Pet. 2. 3 4. As new born babes you desire the sincere milk of the Word If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious Hereby we may know the new man by his appetite and savor Life is known by this as much as by any one thing else 2. This will give you a more assured knowledge of the truth and worth of spiritual and heavenly things whereas otherwise we shall but talk of them by rote until we experiment the comfort and sweetness of them in our own souls then we will see there is more than Notions in promises the Word of God is not a well devised Fable and golden Dream for our taste will be our confirmation The greatest demonstration is from the senses 1 Iohn 5. 10. the Believer hath a testimony of the truth of Religion within himself in his own heart O! it is a great advantage to have our remedy there where our danger lies in the heart where Atheism and Disbelief lurks to have spiritual sense there when you have a real experience of them then Satan cannot have such advantage and atheistical and unbelieving thoughts such advantage for you have felt the benefit of spiritual things It is a great advantage against temptation when you have had a sense when you do not only know by hear say and guess that the Word is sweet but you have had a taste as a man that hath been at the fire knows it warms when we can not only say with him we have heard the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings but with the men of Samaria we have seen him our selves 3. The life of grace mightily depends upon it all your liveliness in grace depends upon this taste therefore get it When you have no taste you lose your appetite and when you lose your appetite you lose your strength and when you lose your strength all goes to ruine in the soul sin prevails and deadness increaseth upon the soul. All the strength comfort and vitality of your lives depend upon your taste 4. It is this taste that will make you more useful to others That which we have seen heard and tasted that we commend to others A report of a report and tradition it may be or not that 's a cold thing this is not a valid testimony Ay but when you can speak of that which you have felt and tasted your eyes have seen and hands handled of the Word of Life 1 Iohn 1. 1. When it is matter of sense then we can speak boldly and affectionately as the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 4. That we might comfort them which are in trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God When we our selves are comforted of God and that which we speak is the result of our own experience it makes us more useful in our Christian converse The Prophet Ezekiel was to eat his own Prophesies and St. Iohn to eat the Book the meaning is they must digest it What we communicate to others we must digest it our selves that finding it sweet we may speak the more effectually for God 2 Do not lose this taste O it 's a sad thing to lose these spiritual senses Hypocrites their taste doth lightly come and lightly go they have a little vanishing sweetness now and then but it 's soon gone it 's a sad thing to lose our spiritual taste It may be lost in a great measure sometimes a Christian hath it and sometimes he hath it not at least not in such a degree as formerly Experience shews it may be lost too too often all the business will be to discern the first tendencies of this evil when we begin to lose our taste and spiritual senses This may be discerned with respect to the three fold object of this taste heavenly Gift the good Word of God and Powers of the World to come 1. Heavenly Gift that 's Christ Jesus When we do not so highly value the love of God in Christ and prize his blood and the precious effects of it when we do not so earnestly beg pardon of sin and hunger and thirst after his righteousness when we have not that former earnestness and strength of desire to enjoy Christ time was when thou thoughtest no terms too dear for him when thy heart made hard pursuit after him but now thou art grown cold and careless and so pass him by lightly as a full stomach with meat with which it is cloyââ¦d when you are not so earnest and zealous for Christ it 's a sign you have lost your taste 2. Your tasting of the good Word of God When you slight the Word either in not reading hearing meditating in it so frequently as you were wont to do oh time was when you could say No honey or honey-comb so sweet as this to my poor soul Psal. 19. 10. when you could hardly call off your thoughts now you are more unfrequent in these godly exercises or else if conversant about it not with that life and that affection in a more customary manner you can read of the love of God and sufferings of Christ Jesus without any love to him again can read the Promises and they seem to be but like dry Chips and wither'd Flowers and not yield that marrow and fatness to you You can read the promises of eternal life and have not that joy thankfulness and blessing of God You could hardly contain your selves before but cry out Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and blessed be God that hath visited and redeemed his people Now your affections are more flat and cold and have not that relish in holy conference sweetness in hearing and that contentment of soul in meditating 3. You may lose your taste in the Powers of the World to come when you grow more mindless of God and eternal blessedness when you have not such fresh and warm thoughts as you were wont to have when your desires hopes expectations of the life to come is abated you have not that lively hope 1 Pet. 3. 3. to quicken you for the attaining of eternal blessedness While this taste is fresh upon the hearts of Christians they are for Heaven for God carried on with vigor and strength in the way of holiness but when your hearts are carried out to worldly vanity and you relish more the honour applause fulness of estate worldly increase and you are grown more cold in heavenly things you have lost this taste of the Powers of the World to come Heb. 6. 4. The causes of this One is want of a due esteem not an esteem in an Idea naked or abstract notion from those thoughts out of a temptation No man is so unreasonable but if he be a little enlightned with Christianity will say The favor of God is better than all things Ay but want of that
prey is a man to Satan and is carried headlong to destroying courses when a man hath more zeal and earnestness of spirit than knowledge to guide him how will he stumble and dash upon things that are very contrary to the will of God 2 If they can discern them they shall not have a heart and skill to remedy them without understanding VVe shall not have a heart for light will be urging calling upon us minding us of our duty warning us of danger whereas otherwise we shall go on tamely like an Ox to the slaughter and like a Fool to the correction of the Stocks we shall not have this restless importunity of Conscience which is a great restraint of sin And then we shall not have the skill for all is misapplied and misconceived by an ignorant spirit for the whole business of his Religion is making Cordials instead of Purges and Potions instead of Antidotes catching at Promises when Threatnings belong to him lulling his soul asleep with new strains of grace when he should awaken himself to duty 2. Never count your selves to have profited in any thing till your hearts are awakened into a further hatred of sin Christians they are but Notions it is not saving knowledge unless it be in order to practice men have no understanding that have not this active and rooted enmity against sin Psal. 111. 10. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments They that hate sin more and are more weary of corruption He is made wiser by the Word that is made better by it It is not the talker against but the hater of iniquity that is the wise man If wisdom enters upon the heart and breaks out in our practice by that is our thriving in knowledge to be measured 1 Iohn 2. 3. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments This was God's scope in giving the Word not to make trial of mens wits who could most sharply conceive or of their memories who could most faithfully retain or of their eloquence who could most nimbly discourse but of the sincerity of the heart who could most obediently submit to the will of God Ier. 22. 16. when he had spoke of hating of sin and doing good Was not this to know me saith the Lord This is to know God to hate sin Outward things were not made for sight only but for use as Herbs Plants and Stars so our Reason and the Scriptures the Lord hath given us it is not only for sight but for use that we may be wise to salvation not that we may please our selves with acute notions about the things of God but seriously set our hearts to practise The fourth thing in this general Point is That this wisdom and understanding is gotten by God's precepts Mark I hate every false way why Because by thy precepts I get understanding Where have we it by studying God's Word Rom. 3. 20. By the Law is the knowledge of sin How is the knowledge of sin by the Law three ways according to the nature of the sin according to who is the sinner and according to the guilt and dreadful estate of them that lie in a state of sin so the knowledge of sin that is the nature of it and where it lives and where it reigns and what will be the effects of it all this knowledge is by the Law 1. By the Law is the knowledge of sin quoad naturam peccati There are many things we should never know but by the Law of God though we have some general notions of good and evil Rom. 7. 7. saith the Apostle I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Those first stirrings and secret lingrings of heart and inclinations to that which is cross to the Will of God that they go before all consent of will and all delight these things we could never discern by the light of nature 2. Quoad subjectum what is the sinner and who is guilty of it So Rom. 7. 9. I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I died He saw his lost miserable undone condition by the Law of God The acts of sin are discovered by the Word of God it discovers the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. and state of sin our natural face the condition wherein we are is to be seen in this glass 3. Quoad reatum magnitudinem peccati what will be the effects of it Rom. 5. 20. The Law entred that the offence might abound Therefore the Law was given that it might work a deep sense of the evil consequents of sin and what wrath man was bound over to for violating the righteous Law The Law represents the heinous nature of sin as it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a transgression of the Law as it strikes at God's Being or at God's Authority seeks to justle him out of the Throne as it contradicts his Sovereignty and plucks the Scepter out of his hand and the Crown from his head and makes men to say Who is Lord over us As if we had nothing to guide us but our own Lusts the Word of God discovers this pride of heart and then the manifold mischiefs of sin are discovered we get this understanding by the Word It is better to know these mischiefs of sin by the threatnings of the Word than by our own bitter experience it is sin that separates from God and renders us uncapable of all blessings Use 1. Study your selves and take a view of the case and state of your souls by the glass of the Word see what you gain by every reading hearing every time you converse with him what is given out to convince you of sin or awaken your soul against sin 2. When you consult with the Word beg the light of the Spirit which is only lively and efficacious The Apostle speaks of knowing things in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and of power 1 Cor. 2. 4. There is the same demonstration of the Spirit there 's a manifest difference between the evidence of Reason and Arguments held out from a natural understanding and between the illumination or the demonstration of the Spirit There are many that may have a full knowledge of the letter and the sense of the words as they lie open to the evidence of reason yet be without the light and power of those truths for that 's a fruit of the demonstration of the Spirit the lively light of the Holy Ghost that goes along with the word SERMON CXII PSAL. CXIX VER 105. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path THE present world as much as it suits with our carnal nature 't is but like a howling wilderness with respect to Canaan in which there are many crooked paths and dangerous precipices yea many privy snares and secret ambushes laid for us by
he is reduced to exigences then is the time to put the Bonds in suit God by promise hath made himself a Debtor As having nothing yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6. 10. They have all things in the promise though nothing in sense If we have but one gracious promise left to subsist upon we cannot be poor 't is better riches than all the world for then our right to God and eternal Life still remaineth If an Estate here should last till death yet then certainly men try the weakness of their portion When other men find the worthlesness and baseness of their portion you find the sweetness fulness and comfort of yours Carnal men have but an Estate for life at best Luke 16. 25. Son in thy life time thou receivedst thy good things when they come to die they can look for no more then they find the gnawing Worm of Conscience prove matter of vexation and torment but then your heritage comes to the full Psal. 73. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Not only when all outward comforts fail all Creatures in the world have spent their allowance but when the flesh begins to fail when we consume and faint away and hasten to the Grave Lord then thou failest not thou art the strength of my heart and my portion for ever We have an interest in the eternal God and we shall live eternally to enjoy him God lives for ever and we live for ever that we may enjoy God 2. Now I come to give the Reasons Why it is the property of Believers to chuse this for their portion and why no others can do it It is the property of Believers to do so upon two Grounds 1. Because of the wisedome that is in Faith Faith is a spiritual prudence You shall see Faith is opposed not only to ignorance but to folly because it teacheth us to make a wise choice Reason makes us wise to chuse a good portion in this World The Children of this world are wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light Luke 16. 9. But Faith is for the inward and spiritual life Worldly men are wise in worldly employments to make a wise choice and accomplish such things they affect turn and wind in the world there they excel the Children of God but Faith makes us wise for Eternity and therefore it chuseth the better portion Faith is a spiritual light and seeth a worth in other things It is a notable Saying Prov. 23. 4. Labour not to be rich cease from thine own wisdom How came these two things to be coupled If we had no better wisedom than our own we should spend our time strength and care to labour to be rich Humane wisedom doth only incline and enable us to the affairs of the present life but God infuseth a supernatural light into the Saints they have counsel from the Lord Psal. 16. 7. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel my reins also instruct me in the night seasons as if he had said Ah Lord if I am left to my self and the workings of my own natural spirit I should be as vain and foolish as others are but thou hast given me counsel 2. The next Reason is Because of the nobleness and height of spirit that is in Faith Faith will not be satisfied with any slight fancies it must have better things than the world yieldeth The great priviledg of the Covenant and work of Grace is to give us a new heart that is another manner of Spirit than we had before Our natural spirit is the spirit of the world a cheap vile low spirit that will be satisfied with every base thing Every man seeketh something for his portion for no man hath sufficiency in himself but seeketh it without natural men go no further than the world riches honour pleasure they seek it some in one thing some in another there is none more unsatisfied than a worldly man for his heart cannot find rest and yet none are sooner satisfied a worldly man is not dainty but taketh up what is next at hand You think there is no such excellent spirited men as they that have high designs in the world and can atchieve Greatness and Honour But a poor Christian is of a more excellent spirit these things will not give him contentment nothing on this side God Faith yieldeth a man a choise spirit it makes us take the testimonies of the Lord for our heritage A renewed Soul it hath its aspirings it gets up to God and will not be satisfied with worldly delights but thou art my portion saith my soul Lam. 3. 24. Others hunt after other things beneath God Heaven the Graces of the Spirit the righteousness of Christ. Therefore thus it must needs be the property of Gods Children because they have another understanding and another heart And then none but the Children of God can have these priviledges Why Because though they are very magnificent and glorious yet they are invisible and for the most part future and to come they make no fair shew in the flesh this is hidden Manna meat and drink the world knows not of Carnal men look upon an Estate that lies in the Covenant to be but a notion and mere conceit and they cannot believe they shall be provided for if God bears the purse for them they cannot live immediately upon God they must have something visible outward and glorious and partly this inheritance is to come therefore they cannot have this property Heb. 6. 12. Be ye Followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises The testimonies of the Lord are an inheritance we cannot come at presently there needs a great deal of faith and patience in waiting upon God As a hired Servant must have money from Quarter to Quarter and cannot with the Child expect when the inheritance will befall him A carnal heart dares not trust God cannot tarry his leisure wicked men have their reward Mat. 6. 2. they must have present wages glory honour and profit here they discharge God of other things because it 's a thing which costs them much waiting an humble dependance upon God conflicts with many difficulties and hardships carnal men see no beauty in it and because it is to come it turns their Stomachs SERMON CXXII PSAL. CXIX VER III. Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart USE 1. It informs us what 's the reason why a Believer that hath nothing in hand nothing to live upon yet is not only patient but comfortable and joyful as the men of the world when their Corn Wine and Oil encrease Whence are these men maintained supplied and kept up at such a rate of cheerfulness Their inheritance lies in the promise As Christ said I have meat and drink the world knows not of so they have Land and Estate the world knows
lodged till they are laid up in the heart In giving out duty and service we begin with the heart we must go so deep or else all that we do is of no worth the heart is the spring of motion that sets all the wheels a working Psal. 45. 1. My heart inditeth a good matter my tongue is as the Pen of a ready Writer ready to praise God and serve him When the Prophet would cure the brackishness of the water he cast salt into the Spring Our heart is blind 1 Chron. 22. 19. Now set your heart to seek the Lord. There is a setting and fixing the heart which is the fruit of Grace and ground of obedience 1. 'T is the fruit of Grace by Nature the heart is averse from God desireth not to serve or enjoy him See what the Scripture saith of mans heart Prov. 10. 20. The heart of the wicked is nothing worth a Sty and Nest of unclean Birds Gen. 6. 5. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart are only evil continually The Scripture doth much set out the heart of man 't is foolish vain deceitful Ier. 17. 9. vain earthly unclean proud There is a strange Beadroll Mark 7. 21 22 23. Out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts Adulteries Fornications Murthers Thefts Covetousness Deceit Lasciviousness an evil eye Blasphemy Pride Foolishness 'T was in or else it would never come out If a man should vomit nothing but Knives Daggers Pistols and other instruments of destruction of what a monstrous complexion would you judge that man to be O no such Monster in the world as mans heart if let alone to its own bent it would grow worse every day as putrified flesh grows more noisome every day but now God by his Grace giveth a new heart that hath other dispositions and inclinations an heart that loveth God and delights in God tends to God a new heart is the great blessing of the Covenant Ezek. 36. 26. a new heart is a new placing of our desires and delights for by these the heart is known 2. 'T is the ground of obedience for the heart is the main wheel of the Soul that moveth other things a Bowl is made round before it runneth round Deut. 5. 20. O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me there must be somewhat to bear up our resolutions But more particularly What is this bent and inclination of heart And first negatively 1. 'T is not a simple approbation of the ways of God Many go so far as to approve what is good to condemn themselves for not doing it to praise others that are holy can be content that those that are under their power should take to the ways of God as dissolute Parents would have their Children soberly brought up video meliora probóque Act. 5. 13. The people magnified them yet durst not join themselves with the Disciples of Christ. Saul said unto David 1 Sam. 24. 17. Thou art more righteous than I yet David was fain to go to his hold as the Woman in Luke 11. 27 28. cried out Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps that gave thee suck but Christ said Rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it 2. 'T is not a bare desire or wish Many that live ill could wish to live well Balaam had his wishes but went on in his course Numb 23. 10. some flashes they have a spark is not enough to set the heart on fire in holy things in carnal things 't is enough many such languid motions carnal men have yea many cold prayers that God would make them better but the soul of the Sluggard desireth and hath nothing for his hands refuse to labour they do not set themselves in good earnest to get that Grace they wish for Would I were at such a place but never stir a foot would I had written such a task and never put Pen to Paper 3. 'T is not an hypocritical will or as one called it a copulative will we would but with such or such a condition I would if it did not cost me so dear if I were not to mortifie Lusts to deny friends interests relations they would come to the Supper Matth. 22. but one had marrried a Wife another had a Yoke of Oxen to prove another had found Merchandise this is no full and perfect will No doubt but the Chapman would have the Wares but he will not come to the price a Christian should say I will whatever it cost me I will whatever come of it Psal. 27. 4. One thing I have desired of the Lord and this I will seek after 2. Positively Then is the heart inclined 1. When the judgment determineth for God and comes to a full Decree about obedience to him Act. 11. 23. Paul exhorted them That with full purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord that 's the fruit of Conversion not a little liking or hovering or faint resolution but a full purpose an absolute positive decree in the will to owne God and his ways whatever it cost us a full consent to the duty of the Covenant 2. When the will is poized and swayed with love and delight and the heart is made suitable to obedience Thy Law is in my heart and I delight to do thy will O God Psal. 40. 8. Many times the Law of God is written in the mind many have good apprehensions but the will is not swayed bent this way Amor meus est pondus meum eò feror quocunque feror when there is a natural inclination 2. When this bent of will is seconded with constant endeavours to attain what we resolve upon and there is a continual striving to make good the Articles of our perfect resignation or first surrender of our selves to God Phil. 3. 12. I follow after that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ. God taketh hold of us by his Grace and we carry on this Grace in the way of diligent pursuit or constant obedience 'T is not one endeavour or two but such as hath its constant force hath not its pangs of devotion but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to will is present with me Rom. 7. 18. 't is a daily habitual constant will not a volatile devotion that cometh upon us now and then but such a will as is present as constant as evil is Rom. 7. 21. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whereever you go or whatever you are about you carry a sinning nature about with you 't is urging the heart to vanity folly and lust so this will is present urging the heart to good and stirring up to holy motions 2. Let me now shew you the necessity of this inclined heart that we may yield to God chearful uniform and constant obedience 1. That we may yield to God chearful obedience in all our services God looketh for a ready mind God that accepts the Will for the Deed never accepts the Deed
Grace permanentis or else per modum auxilii transientis First There 's habitual Grace call'd in Scripture the new heart and new spiââ¦t Ezek. 36. 26. and by St. Iohn call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Iohn 3. 9. the abiding feed and by St. Paul 2 Cor. 5. 17. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the new Creature All these expressions intend those fixed and permanent habits which are the principles of holy actions Secondly There 's actual Grace for the former is not enough to carry us through all Duties and to uphold us in all the varieties of this mortal condition Why Quia non totaliter sanat habitual Grace works not a total but only a partial cure though there be the new Creature wrought though there be an abiding seed yet there is something of sin and something of the Flesh still left in the Soul Therefore we want perpetual supplies of actual Grace Now this kind of Grace serveth for divers uses 1. To direct us in the exercise of Grace formerly received A Ship already rigged needs a Pilot so although God hath renewed the heart yet there needs direction how to exercise and put forth that Grace that we have received therefore David Psal. 119. 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes and 2 Thess. 3. 5. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God c. In the exercise of every Grace we need new directions from God 2. To excite and quicken the habits of Grace This is like blowing up the sparks of fire that are buried under the Ashes There needs continual excitation which is often sought by the Saints Quicken me O Lord according to thy word And draw me saith the Spouse Cant. 1. 4. 3. This actual Grace serves for this use to strengthen them in the operation and to facilitate the work This is that which is exprest Psal. 119. 32. When thou shalt enlarge my heart that when the inclination of the renewed heart to good things is powerfully set a work this is like filling the Sails with a good wind which carries on the Ship merrily to its Port and Haven 4. Use it to sustain protect and defend the Grace that we have against the assaults and temptations and varieties and casualties of the present life And this is that which is meant here Uphold me Lord that I may live Now this use of Gods actual assistance by way of sustentation and protection is necessary for us upon three grounds First Because of the natural changeableness of our spirits Secondly Because of daily assaults from Satan Thirdly Because of the great impression which our temporal condition makes upon us First Because of the natural changeableness of our spirits Man of himself is an unstable Creature Take him at the best he is but a Creature and to be a Creature and to be mutable is all one God found no stability in the Angels they are Creatures and therefore they might sin God only is impeccable and why Quia Deus est because he is God but all Creatures may fail Angels fell and Adam fell in innocency and how can we hope to stand unless God uphold us The best of Gods Children are often troubled with fits of unbelief and decays of love their faith and love are not always at one stay and tenour but sometimes more and sometimes less David felt the waverings and was afraid of himself therefore saith to God Uphold me that I may live And so all that have any spiritual experience see that without continual Grace they cannot live and keep Body and Soul together They find that often purposes and resolutions are upon them to those things that are good but within a while their hearts sink again Such is the inconstancy and uncertainty of their affections now they hope anon they fear now a great flush of affections anon dead again now humble anon proud now meek anon passionate now confident then full of fears and anguish like men sick of an Ague sometimes well and sometimes ill What a Proteus would even a good man seem if all his affections and passions were visible and liable to the notice of the World none differ so much from them as they seem to differ from themselves sometimes they are like Trees loaden with Fruit at another time they are like Trees in the Winter which though they seem to have life in the Root yet to appearance they differ little from those that are stark dead Nay in those very particular Graces for which they are eminent how have they failed Abraham that was the Father of the faithful so eminent for Faith yet in Abimelech's Countrey he discovered much carnal fear Gen. 20. Moses that was the meekest man upon Earth yet in what a froward passion was he when he struck the Rock twice Numb 20. 10 11. And he spake unadvisedly with his lips Psal. 106. 33. which God took so heinously that he only gave him a sight of Canaan and would not permit him to enter Peter is noted to have the greatest fervency and zeal of all the Apostles you know he had so much courage that he ventures against a Band of men that came to attacque Christ and yet how was he surprized with cowardise and sinful fear at a Damsels Question And therefore we need this sustaining Grace and to go to ââ¦d Lord uphold me The Wards of the Lock are held up only while the Key is turned so God must uphold us or we fall Or let me express it thus As Meteors are kept up in the Air while the Sun stays that which first drew them up must keep them up or else they fall to the Ground so we sink presently when this sustaining Grace is withdrawn Or as Moses When he was but a while in the Mount with God how soon the people fell to Idolatry so if God be but away we shall be found as unstable as water Secondly Because of the daily assaults of Satan When a poor soul is gotten out of his hands he pursues him with continual malice 1 Pet. 5. 8. no less doth he aim at than the utter destruction of our souls and wrestles to recover the prey to plunge us in that estate of misery wherein himself lies therefore we must be defended and protected every day When Cities are besieged they are not left to their ordinary strength and standing provision but fresh supplies of men and Ammunition are sent to their relief so God deals with us As we are unstable Creatures we need the continual assistance of God for all depends on him in esse conservare operari But here 's another Consideration to help to uphold us under assault When the Disciples were tost to and fro and shaken with sundry temptations then Christ prays that their faith may not fail begs further assistance Luke 22. 31. so when Paul was buffeted by Satan God makes him a promise of additional Grace 2 Cor. 12. 9. My Grace is sufficient for thee We need further help
whatever cometh if they be mighty God is mightier if they be crafty God is wiser 'T is a great crime to fear men so as not to trust in God 't is a great sin to fear men so as not to fear God when we comply with them in things displeasing to God this is to set men above God Secondly We come to the limitation end or fruit of this suretiship For good There are three Expositions of this Clause as noting the end the cause the event 1. Undertake for me ut sim bonus justus so Rabbi Arama on the place be surety for me that I may be good Theodoret expounds it Undertake that I shall make good my resolution of keeping thy Law He that enjoineth undertaketh though we have precepts and promises without Gods undertaking we shall never be able to perform our Duty 2. In good so some read it God would not take his part in an evil Cause to commend a wrong Cause to Gods protection is to provoke him to hasten our punishment to make us serve under our Oppressours But when we have a good Cause and a good Conscience he will owne us we cannot expect he should maintain us and bear us out in the Devils service wherein we have intangled our selves by our own sin 3. For good so 't is often rendered Psal. 86. 17. Shew me a token for good Jer. 14. 11. Pray not for this people for good So Neh. 13. 31. Remember me O my God for good So here Be surety for thy servant for good Doctr. We should only desire the interposing of Gods Providence so as may be for good to us I shall first give you the Reasons and then give you some Rules concerning this good here mentioned Reason 1. Because then we pray according to Gods undertaking Psal. 34. 10. But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing they may want food want rayment want many things but they shall want no good thing Psal. 84. 11. No good thing will he withhold He may keep us low and bare withhold many temporal mercies from us feed us from hand to mouth and short Commons may be sweet and wholesome and deny to give us larger revenues and incomes If they were good for us we should have them God withholds these things so as our need and good doth require Ier. 24. 5. Whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Caldeans for their good Their Captivity was for good Reas. 2. Because then we pray according to the new Nature old Nature would have ease the new Nature would have Grace the flesh would be pleased but the spirit would be profited and God hears not the voice of the flesh but spirit in prayer Rom. 8. 27. He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God 2. Let me give you some Rules 1. This good is not always the good of the flesh not always the good of prosperity Sometimes the good of prosperity may be good Prov. 24. 25. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come upon them A good blessing shall come upon them that plead Gods Cause against the wicked There is the blessing of prosperity-good and adversity-good All good is more or less so as it cometh near or less near the chiefest good therefore that is good that tendeth to make us spiritually better more like to God and capable of Communion with him Lam. 3. 27. It is good for a man that he bear the Yoke in his youth That is good which conduceth to our everlasting good 2. God knoweth what is better for us than we do our selves We ask a Knife wherewith to cut our selves It would be the greatest misery if God should always carve out our condition according to our own fancy we would soon pray our selves into a snare if our will were the rule of our prayers and ask that which would be cruelty in God to grant I will give you an instance in Lot Gen. 19. 17 18. Make haste escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed I cannot saith he escape to the mountain behold now this City is near it is but a little one and my soul shall live Lot presenteth his own fancy to Gods counsel and choice for him this little place was in the Plain he was perswaded the shower of brimstone would overtake him before he got thither Often 't is thus with us though God should command and we obey we lift up our will above his and doat upon our own fancies and will prescribe to God think 't is better to live by sense than by faith This mountain was the weaker Border of the Plain Now this was weakness in Lot surely God that had took him out of Sodom by the hand of the Angels strucken the Sodomites with blindness which was an instance of Gods great power and goodness to him Now compare the seventeenth and eighteenth Verses with the thirtieth Verse And Lot went out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain he and his two Daughters with him for he feared to dwell in Zoar and he dwelt in a Cave he and his two Daughters Mark here when God biddeth him go to the mountain then he goeth to Zoar when God gave him leave to tarry in Zoar then he goes and dwells in the mountain he was afraid in Zoar when he saw the horrible desolation of all the Country about it Now see the ill success of his own choice and how badly we provide for our selves A little time will shew us our sin and folly his abode in the mountain drew him to incest Another instance Hos. 13. 11. I gave them a King in mine anger and took him away in my wrath God may let things succeed with us to our hurt If we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us 1 John 5. 14. God is a God of wisdom he knoweth certainly what will be good for us He is a God of Bowels and loveth us dearly and will certainly cast all things for the best therefore God is to be Judge both for time and kind of our deliverance otherwise we may meet with wrath in every condition whether we want or have our will but if we referr it to him we shall never want what is best for us The Shepherd must chuse our Pastures whether lean or fat bare or full grounds the Child is not to be governed by his fancy but the Fathers discretion nor the sick man by his own fancy but the Physicians skill our will is not the chief reason of all things 3. That which is not good may be good and though for the present we see it not yet we shall see it though not good in its nature it may be good in its fruit Rom. 8. 28. We know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God a little faith and a
he God is pure and holy they know yet how can he bear with the enemy in their treachery and violence against the Church So brutified are they that they know not how to reconcile his Dispensations with his Nature and Attributes though they have Faith enough to justifie God yet Atheism enough to question his Providence When the heart is over-charged with fears Psal. 73. 1. Yet God is good to Israel my feet were almost gone my steps well nigh slipped They hold fast the Conclusion Yet God is good to Israel yet cannot maintain it against all objections 3. Carnal affections are hasty and impetuous and if God give not a present satisfaction they question all his love and care of them Psal. 31. 22. I said in my heart I am cut off Isai. 49. 14. Zion said The Lord hath forsaken and my God hath forgotten me Jon. 2. 4. And he said I am cast out of thy sight So that did not God confute his unbelief by some sudden experience as in the first instance or the Word contain a suitable supply as in the second or the principle of Grace in some measure withstand but I will look towards thy holy Temple the soul would be swallowed up in the Whirlpool of despair Thus hasty and precipitant are we while we hearken to the voice of the flesh we are apt to count all our troubles Gods total desertion of us Such an hasty principle have we within us that will hurry us to desperate Conclusions as if it were in vain to wait upon God any longer 4. Mutability in man What a flush of faith and zeal have we at first as Stuffs have a great gloss at first wearing We lose as our first love so our first faith Gal. 5. 7. Ye did run well who did hinder you There is a great forwardness at first which abateth afterwards and men grow remiss faint in your minds Heb. 12. 3. from one degree to another Thirdly That this failing is but an infirmity of the Saints though their hope be weak and ready to faint 't is not quite dead First T is an infirmity of the better sort not like the Atheism and malignity of the wicked Some Diseases shew a good constitution and seize on none but such This Distemper is not incident to carnal men Isai. 38. 14. Mine eyes fail with looking up It argueth a vehemency in our hope they that do not mind things are never troubled with such a spiritual Disease for this failing cannot be but where there is vehemency of desire and expectation Those that desire little of the salvation of Gods people feel none of this Secondly There is a difference between them and others though they have their weaknesses yet their faith doth not quite expire there is a twig of righteousness still to trust to they are weary of watching but they do not give over waiting and say as he 2 Kings 6. 3â⦠What should I wait for the Lord any longer Fainting is one thing and quite dead is another they strive against the temptation though no end of their difficulties appeareth they attend still keep looking though the vigour of the eyâ⦠be abated by long exercise There is life in the Saints though not that liveliness they could wish for they do not fall and rise no more and are quite thrown down with every blast of a temptation Thirdly They confess their weakness to God as David doth here acquainteth God with it and so shame themselves out of the temptation and beg new strength 'T is an excellent way of curing such Distempers to lay them forth before God in prayer for he helpeth the weak in their Conflicts When we debate dark Cases with our own hearts we intangle our selves the more Use 1. It reproveth our tenderness when we cannot bear a little while What! not watch with me one hour Matth. 26. 40. David kept waiting till his eyes failed Some their whole Voyage is Storms Christ indents with us to take up our Cross daily Luke 9. 22. who are all their life time kept under this discipline and can we bear no check from Providence We would have all done in an hour or in a year can bear nothing when God calleth us to bear much and long cannot endure to abate a little of our wonted contentment when God will strip us of all 2. Let us provide for long sufferings All colours will not hold as long as the Cloath lasts We need a great deal of Grace because we know not how long our great troubles may last Sometimes sufferings are like to be long First When the Cross maketh little improvement carrieth little Conviction with it While the stubborness of the Child continueth the blows are continued God will withdraw till they acknowledge their offence Hos. 5. 15. When we eye instruments and pour our rage upon them or instruments are minded and we hope to be delivered some other way when we repent not Secondly When provocations are long Deut. 28. 58 59. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law that is written in this Book that thou mayst fear this glorious and fearful Name THE LORD THY GOD then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed even great plagues and of long continuance and sore sicknesses and of long continuance SERMON CXXXVI PSAL. CXIX VER 124. Deal with thy Servant according to thy mercy and teach me thy Statutes IN this Verse we have two requests the one general the other particular wherein he would have the Lord exercise his mercy to him Shew thy mercy to me in teaching me thy Law The one respects the priviledgâ⦠part of Religion the other the duty-part The one concerns time past or the pardon of sin already committed Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy the other prevention of sin for the time to come that I may perform my Duty for the future Teach me thy Statutes Mercy is the ground of his request teaching Gods Law the matter of it He would have this gift bestowed on him freely First Branch Deal with thy servant c. Where we have I. His relation to God Thy servant II. The terms upon which he would have God deal with him not according to my works but according to thy mercy 1. His relation is mentioned either first as a part of his Plea as if he had said Lord thou art merciful to all for thy tender mercy is over all thy works Psal. 145. 9. much more to thy Servants now I am thy Servant Gods Servants have a special claim and interest in God besides his general bounty they expect his special mercy and favour Psal. 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thine hand-maid Clear that that you are some of Gods servants once and then you may the better expect your Masters bounty Or Secondly To shew his need of mercy though Gods servant Such an Emphasis it seemeth to
same which Mahometans have to the Alchoran Education in it Ancestors embracing of it the countenance of the Law the custom of the Country c. 3. The manner or way how we come by it by much prayer and serious deliberation Some by chance are surprized and affected with a good motion suddenly good but habitually bad they will in all haste become religious but alas this estimation or approbation of Gods ways is entertained but for a time but afterwards vanisheth and cometh to nothing There must be a clear distinct knowledge of the excellency of Gods ways otherwise in a fit or in a good mood we chuse that which is good but the interest in evil not being renounced in heart it causeth an easie retreat into the former sinful course Fourthly It must be such an esteem as hath a lively and effectual influence upon our hearts and ways There is a liking that only produceth a velleity and wish and doth not engage the soul to prosecute the things willed or forsake the things nilled but there is such an effectual liking and esteem as will produce a constant habitual willingness that will have the authority of a principle and hath a powerful command over the whole soul to set it a working to do the will of God and will admit of no contradiction by contrary desires but maketh us act with life power and earnestness Cold and inconstant wishes produce no fruit in the heart the general course of most mens lives is as if they had no liking to the Law of God It may be they may dislike and sacrifice some of their weaker lusts and smaller interests which they can well spare but corruption doth ordinarily bear sway in their hearts and lives In the Text 't is I esteem all thy precepts and hate every false way 'T is true a man that approveth the Law is not wholly freed from sin There are sins of ordinary infirmity that cleave to us while we are in the world yea taint our best actions Isai. 64. 6. But we are all as an unclean thing all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags And sometimes though there be a principle of Grace a Child of God may be over-born by the violence of a temptation carried into presumptuous sins which may make strange havock in the soul. David prayeth Psal. 19. 14. that God would keep him from presumptuous sins but for the most part the Children of God are influenced by their consent and esteem of the Law of God And the renewed part for the generality hath the upper hand and prevaileth and the flesh is weakened as the house of David grew stronger and stronger 2 Sam. 3. 1. and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker Fifthly It must be an universal not partial esteem I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right Psal. 119. 6. When I have respect to all thy Commandments Luke 1. 6. Zachary and Elizabeth walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of God blameless Acts 3. 22. Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And he shall fulfil all my will 'T is not enough to be right in Commands in general or the lump but in this and that particular not in some but in all We pretend to give up our selves to the will of God in the general but particulars we stick at Men are convinced that holiness is necessary that they must have some Religion therefore when they take up Duty in the lump and abstract notion or naked consent it doth not exasperate opposite propensions Ye cannot serve the Lord c. saith Ioshua Josh. 24. 18 19. but when they come to particulars and see what it is to wait upon a holy and jealous God they tire and grow weary so that there must be a consent and purpose to obey not some but all and every one without exception not partial like that of Herod to Iohn Mark 6. 20. He did many things The worst man in the world loveth some good and hateth some evil but he doth not esteem all Gods Commandments in every point Nay the great enemy of our salvation Satan can be content to let us yield to God in many things if he would be contented with half our duty one sin reserved keepeth afoot his interest in our hearts as a Bird tyed by the Leg is fast enough The Devil will suffer men to do many things but if he hath them fast by one lust be it an inclination to sensuality or love to the world he is contented The World likes many things in Religion they are good and profitable for men but sticketh at others To live godly in Christ Jesus will draw on persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. The flesh will dispense with us to do many things for the more cleanly conveyance of others if it can but get us to spare the bosome lust which the soul delighteth in Every man as he is inslaved by his own customes opposeth one this Law another that the proud man doth not approve of that Law that doth forbid his pride nor the sensual man that which toucheth his intemperance and unbridled Appetite nor the worldly man his covetousness cannot endure that part of the Law that would abridge him of his gain Nothing more common than to cast off what liketh us not in the Law of God and to wish there were no precept given in that kind but our consent must be to all in general and to this and that in particular Many could be content with Gods Law so far as it doth not cross their carnal interest or hinder their corrupt desires but we must esteem all the Laws of God they are all holy just and good not one excepted all conduce to perfect our Nature and make us happy Creatures they all conduce to the benefit of humane Nature they are all enjoyned by the authority of the same God God spake all these words They are linked as Rings in a Chain one preserveth another they are all necessary for our eternal happiness not one given in vain So much thou continuest thine own misery and art defective in the way that leadeth to true happiness as thou art willing to indulge to any one sin They are all written in the hearts of Gods Children Heb. 8. 10. all suited to the new Nature and he hath given Grace to keep all 1 Pet. 1. 15. perfection of parts not of degrees The new Creature is not maimed in the birth A Child hath not the bulk and strength of a man Want of perfection of parts cannot be supplied by any after-growth Nay all are necessary to our Communion with God Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Matth. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments c. If we dispense with our selves in the least things we are not fit for Communion with God 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having such promises of Gods being in us and dwelling in us and
them at present but could easily be reconciled They seek not after the death but the restraint and imprisonment of their corruptions and lusts that they may not disgrace or otherwise prejudice them Nothing contents the regenerate but the killing and mortification of them they would have them dealt with as Samuel by Agag hewn in pieces therefore they study revenge upon their sins Gal. 5. 24. Crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts Fourthly From the state of the regenerate They have sin in them but yet they hate it Their will and consent to sin is always abated and made remiss by a contrary principle the Grace that is in their wills Gal. 5. 17. The spirit lusteth against the flesh Sin cannot reign in them with a full and uncontrouled dominion Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you Use 1. How few are there that are Gods Children for how few are there that hate sin Some love it Iob 20. 12 13. and the love of sin is the life of it and what is it they hate They hate the Word that discovers sin Iohn 3. 20. they hate Gods Messengers that do cry aloud against sin and do rub their sores as Ahab said of Micaiah He doth never prophesie good of me they hate the Magistrate that would reform them they hate Gods image in his Saints they cannot endure the lustre of holiness that shineth forth in them Use 2. Do we indeed hate sin We had need look after this 1. Because this is the true principle of resistance against sin Till a man hateth it the soul is not throughly resolved against it as a man is never throughly gained to God till he love holiness for holiness sake his affections may be bribed with other considerations but then he is rooted in godliness So a man is not resolved against sin till he hate it for its own sake He may be frighted out of sin for a Fit put out of humour with it but his heart is in again with his old lusts till there be a detestation of sin But when once he cometh to hate it perswasions cannot easily move him nor example draw him nor difficulties compel him to that which is evil nor allurements that have a great force upon us Straightway he followed her But they cast away sin with indignation Hos. 14. 8. What have I any more to do with Idols 2. This is a true distinctive Note between good and bad Men may forbear sin that do not hate it they forbear it by constraint for fear of punishment shame worldly ends but regard it in their hearts Psal. 66. 18. The Dog hath a mind to the Pail but feareth the Cudgel But God judgeth not as man judgeth SERMON CXLI PSAL. CXIX VER 129. Thy Testimonies are wonderful therefore doth my Soul keep them IN the Words are two Parts I. The dignity and excellency of Gods testimonies Thy testimonies are wonderful II. The effect it had upon David's heart Therefore doth my soul keep them Accordingly two Points Doctr. 1. That the testimonies of God when duly considered and throughly understood will indeed be found to be wonderful Doctr. 2. The wonderful excellency of the word should beget in our hearts a readiness and diligent care to keep it Doctr. 1. The Testimonies of God are wonderful First the word in it self is wonderful as containing Truths of a sublime nature Secondly It is wonderful in its effects as it produceth effects rare and strange First In it self considered it is sometimes called the mystery of Faith as it containeth Principles of Faith and sometimes a mystery of Godliness as it containeth rules of practice As it is a mystery of Faith there are many strange Doctrines in it above the reach of mans capacity which we could neither invent nor understand unless we be enlightened by the spirit of God as that three to be one and one to be three God to be made man c. these are riddles to a carnal mind and as it is a Rule of Faith still it offereth matter of wonder the duty of man being represented with such exactness and comprehensiveness Psalm 119. 96. I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandment is exceeding broad Secondly What rare effects it produceth where it is entertained it maketh a Christian become a wonder to himself and others 1. A wonder to himself 1 Pet. 2. 9. He hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light There is no man converted by the word of God but hath cause to wonder at his own estate at the condescension of God in plucking him as a brand out of the burning or that woful condition wherein he was before when others are left to perish Ioh. 14. 22. Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us and not unto the world and then that we are brought into the possession of such excellent priviledges as we enjoy in our new estate peace that passeth all understanding Phil. 4. 7. joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. Priviledges greater than can be imagined or expressed So are their hearts ravished in the sense of their Reconciliation with God and Communion with him So also in giving them such an undoubted right to an everlasting blessed Estate in the Heavens 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him He hath promised them an happiness which they can never think of but every day they must fall a wondring anew and all this wrought by an exceeding great power working together with the word Eph. 1. 19. As Peter wondred at his own deliverance when chains and gates and bars did all give way to the power of the Angel that brought him forth Acts 12. 9 10 11. And he went out and followed him and wist not that it was true that was done by the Angel but thought he saw a vision When they were past the first and the second ward they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city which opened to them of its own accord and they went out and passed on through one street and forthwith the Angel departed from him And when Peter was come to himself he said Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his Angel and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Iews So may every one that is converted to God stand wondring when he considereth how from whence and to what he is called by God all this is wonderful indeed There is more of God seen in inward Experiences than in outward in converting comforting quickening and carrying on the work of grace in our own hearts than in governing the courses of nature therefore the Apostle appealeth to this internal Power Eph. 3. 20. Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to
be desire or no. Fifthly Gods Children have these desires because they see more in the Word than others do or can do Spiritual discerning is an help to spiritual affections They whose eyes are anointed with spiritual eye-salve see wonders in the Law and so are wondrously affected with them But why should Gods Children see more 1. They look through the Spectacles of Faith they believe the Commands to be the Commands of the great God the promises to be the promises of God and therefore as good as performance and so what to others seems fancies and fine dreams to them are the chiefest realities Heb. 11. 13. These all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them Who would having the promises be so strangely transported but they that are strongly perswaded Faith that looketh upon the things promised as sure and near maketh them more active and lively They that have not Faith or do not exercise Faith have but cold affections but they who believe these wonderful felicities which the Word of God speaketh of long to enjoy what they are sure is true 2. They look into it with an eye of love and love sets a price on things They see more of the loveliness of spiritual things than others do Mens affections are according to the constitution of their souls or the end they propound to themselves They that are carnally disposed know all things after the Flesh and value them by the interests of the flesh as that is gratified and they that are spiritually disposed are affected accordingly as mens Genius lyeth And that is the reason why eminent Grace hath strong affections which carnal men are not competent Judges of It seemeth improbable to them that a man should have such fervent desires of holiness and be able to speak thus to God I opened my mouth and panted for I longed for thy Commandments The constitution of their souls is quite otherwise and their hearts hang world-ward they have not such a sense of their duty and do not make it their business to please God and so having no deep sense and Conscience of their Duty they do not see such a need of the Word as their Guide and Help They have no love to these things therefore no passionate desire for this is the order the will chuseth love desireth the union desire presseth to endeavours after it but now a godly man that maketh it his business to please God the principal desires and choice of his will is to be what God would have him to be and to do what God would have him to do 3. Because they have experience Two things quicken our affection to any thing that is good viz. The knowledge of the worth and use of things and our want of them And the Children of God know both of these by experience in the course of that life wherein they are engaged and nothing is known so intimately and pressingly as what is known by experience By experience they see the want of the Word of God and in comforts and helps not only when God first touched their hearts with care of saving their souls and they were humble and parched with a sense of sin and wrath all things were then unsavoury as the White of an Egg then they longed they panted for one comfortable word from God one passage of Scripture to give them ease and the Word becometh as necessary as meat to the hungry and drink to the thirsty and cool Air to the weary Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and ye shall find rest to your souls But still they are sensible of their spiritual necessities so as they cannot breathe without it nor thrive without it they find such a necessity of it It is the food of their souls the seed and principle of their Being the rule of their lives the means of their growth the Charter of their hopes their defence and strength in temptations and assaults Christ himself guarded himself with the Word when he was assaulted Now being practically convinced of this they must needs have vehement longings after it and after a more full understanding of it They find by experience that the Soul is apt to faint as well as the Body Heb. 12. 3. Lest ye be weary and faint in your minds and that in all these things nothing relieveth them but the comfort and direction God giveth them in his Word Sixthly The more godly any are the more they feel these strong affections All that have life their Pulses do not beat alike strongly some are weak others more robust So it is in Grace some have larger souls than others and so as they are more in action for God they must have more supplies and a greater measure of Spirit and Grace these long and pant In others there is a greater sluggishness and narrowness of mind and they rest satisfied with what they have their spiritual affections are not so raised and therefore every one that is godly is not acquainted with this panting and breathing and longing they have so much appetite as is necessary to maintain the new Creature but not these enlarged desires I confess you are to judge by your willingness rather than the passionate stirrings of your affections It is the heart which God requireth and if he hath the will he hath the heart But yet affectionate workings of the soul towards spiritual and heavenly things are very sweet and such as all Christians should strive for but not the best marks by which to judge of our estate There may be a solid and sincere intention and choice when there is little stirring perceived in the affections If the will be fixedly set for God the man is upright Yet you are to endeavour to raise your affections to that height which is suitable to the excellency of the object especially when it is movingly represented to us our desires should be upon the wing It is a Duty as far as we can reach it we should The more the soul is refined from the dregs of carnal longings and worldly lusts the more are they enlarged towards God and as their passionate desires of earthly things are abated so their spiritual desires are enlarged David saith Psal. 119. 36. Encline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness And the Apostle Col. 3. 2. Set your affections on things above and not on things on earth The more the heart is given to the one the more it is taken off from the other Riches honours and pleasures as these are loved they hinder this noble working of the soul this breaking longing panting for better things Worldly things have a great advantage over our affections because they are sensible and near us and our knowledge of them is clear and by the senses obtrude and thrust themselves upon the soul. Therefore use them with a guard and restraint Seventhly Though this
they God is the great Arbiter of all affairs in the World where all Appeals rest can go no higher than the will of God therefore he must needs be just Thirdly This was Gods great end in giving Jesus Christ that he might be known to be a just God therefore he stood so punctually upon satisfaction that the Sinner must dye or the Surety No Surety so fit to keep up the honour of his Law and honour of his Justice in the Consciences of men as the Son of God Rom. 3. 24 25 26. God had a mind to be gracious to the Creature but without any disparagement to his Justice Now how should this be All the wise men in the World that had any sense of the Nature and Being of God busied themselves in this enquiry How God could be merciful to the Creature and yet just but all their devices were vain and frivolous until God himself found out a ransome and remedy for us as it is Iob 33. 24. Here was the difficulty God would preserve the Notions which the Creature had of his Being and Justice inviolable he would be known as one that would stand to his Law which he had made for the Government of the World Now there was no way to keep up the credit of it but these two strict execution or sufficient satisfaction The execution would have destroyed all the inferior world the reasonable Creatures at least and the love and wisdom and mercy of God would not permit that the world should be destroyed so soon as it was made and man left remediless in everlasting misery Well then strict execution would not do it therefore satisfaction must be the remedy and such satisfaction as might be sufficient to procure the ends of the Law to keep up the honour of Gods Justice in the Consciences of men Now this was done by Jesus Christ whom God had set forth to declare his righteousness that he might exercise his mercy without prejudice to his justice If this ransom had not been found we should either have slighted God and not stood in awe of him or else we had been for ever left under the curse and under doubtfulness and scruple wherewith we should have appeased him but the Lord found out such a means to our hands that he might declare he was a righteous God Foââ¦rthly I prove it from the Divine Nature infused into us As many as are made partakers of Gods Grace are more just than others they hate sin and Sinners so we read Ephes. 4. 24. That the new man was created after God in righteousness and true holiness After God that is after the image and pattern of God Now if the new Creature be made after such a pattern then certainly God was righteous We find by experience the more God-like and vertuous any are the more just they are more apt to give every one his due to live without wrong to any and the more their hearts are set against that which is base and unworthy Therefore certainly God is righteous for he hath put such a quality as the Copy of his Nature into the hearts of men Object If God be so just why then does the way of the wicked prosper Why are those that desire to be faithful with God so afflicted and calamitous This is a Wind that hath shaken the tallest Cedars in Lebanon The choicest Saints of God have been exceedingly hurried and tossed to and fro in their thoughts by this objection against the righteousness of God Ier. 12. 1. Righteous art thou O Lord yet let me plead with thee He holds fast this principle but yet Lord saith he I am not satisfied Let me talk to thee of thy Iudgments that I may be better informed why doth the way of the wicked prosper So David Psal. 73. 1. Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart but yet the wicked thrive and prosper and there 's no bands in their death So Hab. 1. 13. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil c. Lord saith he I know thou art ãâã holy God but why can thy Providence then look upon them in the world that deal trecherously and perversely The clearest sighted Saints may be so bemisted many times that they are not able to reconcile Gods dispensations with his Nature and Attributes and so quarrel with and reproach and impeach his Providence Yea the Heathens that knew little of sin and righteousness were troubled at the afflictions of the good and the flourishing of the wicked and questioned the Being of a God upon this account and therefore there are two Heathens which have written two worthy Treatises to vindicate the Providence of God Seneca hath written one Treatise Cur malè bonis benè malis to shew why the good may be afflicted though there be a God and Plutarch hath written another Treatise De sera Numinis vindicta why the wicked may be spared and suffered to flourish in the world though there be a God to take notice of humane affairs These Heathens had a sense of this difficulty for 't is an obvious objection I answer First In general Gods dispensations are just though we see not the reason of them The Saints hold their Principle Lord I confess thou art righteous Ier. 12. 1. Hab. 1. 13. The Justice of God must be acknowledged in all his dealings with us and others though it appear not to our reason which indeed cannot discern well and therefore is unmeet to judge of such high matters as these are Psal. 36. 6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains thy judgments are a great deep The Judgments of God are such a Deep as we cannot easily fathome the bottom of and therefore though we do not see the Justice of it we must believe it and prefer faith above sense The Lord may deal otherwise in many things with us than we can express and see the reason of his doing and yet he is always just and holy in his proceedings and it is the duty of his people to believe it Psal. 97. 2. Clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his Throne Augustine's words are a good Comment upon that passage The Judgments of God saith he are sometimes secret but always just saepe occulta nunquam injusta We know not what to make of it Clouds and darkness are round about it I but though they are unsearchable and secret they are managed with great judgment and rectitude But more particularly to come to speak to the things mentioned in the objection 1. As to the flourishing of the wicked three things to that First Gods Word doth sufficiently declare his displeasure against them though his Providence doth not There is sententia lata sed dilata Eccl. 8. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Mark there 's a Sentence
the word of God many pretend to have an high estimation and respect to the Doctrine of God when they cannot digest the directions of it because 't is contrary to their desires and carnal affections they reserve something in their hearts that makes their love questionable they that have not a real love to the word of God are but lightly tinctur'd with Religion not deeply dyed The stony ground received the word with joy Men may have strong affections and strange stirrings in their souls and yet not be right with God But here 's an undoubted Evidence to love the Word for it's purity A mans love may be questionable because he may love the word upon forreign motives either because of Novelty or fineness of expression or publique countenance and credit or external advantage Iohn 6. 26. Vix diligitur Iesus propter Iesum Or they may love it for internal reasons as 't is a good word as they that tasted of the power of the world to come they may look upon it for pleasure and profit but not as good and holy many look upon the Gospel as good and profitable as offering peace and pardon and comfort and eternal life nature that hath naturally a sense of Religion hath also an hunger after immortality and blessedness and therefore the promises of the Gospel may be greedily catched after as offering everlasting Life and Blessedness but now a love to that which is pure and holy leaveth a more durable impression upon the soul. And further many have a liking to the purity of the word and a general approbation of it as 't is a fit rule for Creatures to live by yet unless there be a strong prevailing affection all comes to nothing and therefore nothing but this love to the word because of its purity is unquestionable 4. Unless we love the word as pure we shall fail in many other parts of Religion we shall not love God as we ought for God is lovely not only as the Fountain of blessedness but as he is the most pure and perfect Being He was diligibilis naturae before any emanation of goodness passed from him We are to love him in desertions when we feel no good from him and he seemeth to write bitter things against us Isa. 26. 8. So that we cannot discharge this duty to love God as he is a pure and perfect Being if we do not love the word because 't is pure And we shall not love the Saints as we ought without this Psalm 16. 3. We are to love them for the Image of God in them If you love them that love you what thanks have you Matth. 5. 46. We are to love the Saints as Saints and for that reason Once more we are to hate sin as filthy as 't is a gross absurdity and deordination of the humane nature Psal. 96. 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil Now till we have this frame of heart to love the Law as 't is pure we can do none of these things For there is the same reason for the one as for the other and therefore 't is not a nicity but a necessary frame of heart Use. 1. Is to inform us that they can never love God and his ways that hate purity till their hearts be changed There are a sort of men in the world whose hearts rise against purity for if they see any make Conscience of sin they brand them with the name of Puritans so those that seek to keep themselves from sin and the more holy they are they are an eye-sore to them Now can they say I love thy Law because 't is pure and cannot endure to see it copied out in others Oh! What a vile disposition is this in you to be despisers of that which is good 2 Tim. 3. 3. None live up to the purity of their profession but you scorn them and let me tell you you scorn that which is most glorious in God himself Would a Father take it well that a slave should mock his child because 't is like him So will God take it well that you should scorn those that are good because they are like their heavenly Father These are of the seed of the Serpent who are full of Enmity they have the old Antipathy Gen. 3. 15. Prov. 29. 27. 'T is a vile scorn of the God of heaven to hate a man for his holiness And they can never love the Law whatever they pretend that do not love the Law for it's purity a carnal distempered appetite hath no tast for the Word of God as 't is a direction to holiness 2 Cor 2. 14. 2. Use is Information to Inform us in what rank to place Principles There are several sorts of Principles there are some that are false and rotten and some more tolerable and some good and sound and some rare and excellent 1. There are some false and rotten principles as carnal Example and Custom Men will do as they have done or as others do they will own the Religion that their Fathers have done be it what it will by the same reason you may serve Mahomet as well as Christ. A man that standeth upon the Vantage ground is not taller than another such are of no better Constitution than the Turks only they stand upon the Vantage ground Another rotten principle is Vain-glory to be seen of Men Mat. 6. they pray and give almes to be seen of Men. Come see my Zeal for the Lord of Hosts saith Iehu Vain-glory many times filleth the sails and carries us on in the Service of God So secular and worldly Interests and Ends as the Pharisees made long prayers that they might devour Widows houses Mat. 23. that is they made long Prayers and show of Devotion to be trusted with the management of Widows Estates to make a prey of them All that I shall say to this principle is this that 't is better for the World that men would serve God any how that Christ should be served out of Vain-glory then not served at all as the Apostle saith some preach Christ out of envy and others out of good will but I am glad so Christ be preached Phil. 1. 18. though they themselves be rotten hearted Hypocrites yet the World fares the better for it 2. There are some more tolerable Principles the hope of Temporal Mercies When we come and Pray and do not seek the Favour of God but seek Temporal Mercies Hosea 7. 14. They howled upon their beds for Corn and Wine Or the fear of Temporal Judgments Isa. 58. 5. Ier. 2. 16. when all that they do is to remove some Temporal Judgment in their Afflictions they will seek me right early And I think I may add one thing more here the fear of Eternal Death when 't is alone otherwise 't is a Grace they shall be Damned else and so 't is a sleepy sop to appease an accusing Conscience and so 't is but a sin-offering Though it requireth some Faith to fear
which importeth his Integrity and Sincerity in Praying Doctrine Our Prayers to God must be Sincere as well as Fervent The Heart must be in them and the whole Heart This noteth 1. Seriousness that we heed what we say otherwise we do not pour out our Hearts before God 'T is so far from being a Spiritual act that it is not a Rational act but like the Parrots speaking by Rote or as Children say their Prayers and we must not be always Children Surely we do not speak to God as God as an All-seeing Spirit if we do not mind what we say Ioh. 4. 24. And Prov. 28. 23. Burning lips and a wicked heart are as a pot-sheard covered with silver Dross 2. A hearty Desire or Affectionateness Praying from Memory and Invention and praying from Affection are two distinct things yea praying from Conscience and praying from the Heart Many times the Mind is in prayer when the Heart is not in it The mind or Conscience dictates what is fit to be asked but the heart doth not consent or not urge it to make any such suit to God and so the prayer is repeated in the very making Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear me The Understanding Judgeth that a meet prayer but the heart is byassed the contrary way to some known sin Therefore as David calleth all that is within him to bless God Psal. 103. 1. so to pray to him Memory Understanding Conscience Will Affections all that is within us must attend upon this work that which God heareth is Desire Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the Humble Thou wilt prepare their Heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear So Psal. 145. 19. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their Cry and will save them 3. The Prevalency of these Affections That God and his Interest be uppermost in the Soul and the Heart be effectually bent towards him for prayer is not a work barely of our natural Faculties but of Grace guiding ordering and inclining those Faculties not onely a work of Understanding and Will but of Faith Love Fear Zeal Hatred of sin Temperance Patience and other virtues which do bend the Heart towards God and draw it off from other things and without them the understanding will not be clear and have any deep sense of the worth of spiritual things 2 Pet. 1. 19. without these The Will is remiss and they never pursue them in good earnest we may wish for them but shall not Will them As Balaam Oh that I might die the death of the righteous But he loved the wages of iniquity 2 Pet. 2. 15. and so spake words which his Heart allowed not The Affections will be diverted to other things and we cannot have those Longings and strong Desires after Grace Psal. 119. 36. And Col. 3. 2. or at best but a little passionate earnestness for the present 4. An Universal Care to please God in all things without harbouring any known sin in our Hearts Psal. 66. 18. And Psal. 17. 3. Thou hast proved mine Heart thou hast visited me in the night thou hast tryed me and shalt find nothing Nothing contrary to the new Covenant no Guile nothing in his heart contrary to what was in his Mouth So no insincerity found Iob 11. 13 14. If thou prepare thine heart and stretch out thy hand towards him If iniquity be in thy hand put it far away and let not wickedness dwell in thy Tabernacles If you mean to call upon God with any Confidence all that is displeasing to him must be cast out of the Heart This is the best preparation all filth must be swept out when you come to the Holy God for he will not do us good till we are fit to receive good Therefore if you mean to stretch out your hand in prayer thus you must do then may you lift up your Face without spot have boldness and Confidence in Prayer but when the Heart is wedded to any vanity God will not hear Iob 35. 13. Surely God will not hear vanity neither will the Almighty regard it Use. Is to perswade us to pray with our whole Hearts For 1. God will not be mocked Gal. 6. 7. that is in vain you may venture to mock God put him off with vain pretences but it will cost you dear He knoweth the thoughts afar off Psal. 139. 2. And Heb. 4. 12 13. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than aââ¦y two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Ioints and Marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight But all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Though Man cannot find you out yet God can 2. God hath expresly told you the prayer of the Upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. He will pardon many defects but he will not pardon want of Sincerity either in the Person or prayer Though you cannot bring the Pomp of Gifts or exact Righteousness yet if sincere God will delight in you he measureth your prayer by that 3. Where there is a Moral Integrity you do not dissemble God can find the defect of supernatural Integrity Deut. 5. 29. I have heard the voice of the words of this People which they have spoken unto thee they have well said in all that they have spoken Oh that there were such an heart in them c. Therefore be sure your lips do not feign Psal. 17. 1. and pretend more grace than you have so that for the main your hearts be upright seriously readily bent to please him in all things To this end 1. the Tongue must not only pray but the Heart How dare you tell God to his face that you love him and fear him and trust in him when there is no such matter No such Forgery as Counterfeiting the Voice of Gods Spirit The Heart should be first and chief in prayer Psal. 41. 1. And Lam. 3. 4. Lift up your Hearts with your hands to God in the Heavens There is the chief Voice the hand without it is nothing 2. You must make Conscience of Graces as well as Gifts yea more than Gifts 1 Cor. 12. last verse But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way with 1 Cor. 13. 1 2. And bewail unbrokenness of Heart more than brokenness of Expression if you chatter like Cranes yet if there be a holy desire in it God will hear 3. You must pray earnestly in secret as well as in Company Matth. 6. 5 6. When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the Corners of the Streets that they may be seen of men But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when
thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in Secret c. We have more inlargement there because we represent our own Case to God Mourn apart Ier. 13. 17. My Soul shall weep in Secret places We are flat cold loose careless in private strive to speak with the same power life holiness in private as you would in publick 4. What you would be in Prayer you must be out of Prayer Prov. 26. 7. The Legs of the lame are not equal so is a Parable in the mouth of a Fool. As the legs of the Lame one doth not answer another They are devout all of a fire in their Prayers but neglectful of God in their Conversations Eph. 6. 18. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit watching thereunto with all perseverance Prov. 28. 9. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be an abomination He doth not live his Prayers We must live in the same frame 5. You must pray as affectionately for Heavenly as you would for Earthly things A Carnal Mans Mind and Heart is upon Worldly things and Spiritual things lye by contrary to Matth. 6. 33. where we are bid First to seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof c. And Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple They have no savour for other requests but can find tender affections for safety ease sloth other Petitions do but bear these Company there is their business with God if God will give these things we will give a discharge for other things So that their prayers do not come from Grace but Nature Thanks to his natural Necessities for all the Affections he hath in Prayer 6. We must not onely have our Flashes and good Moods So Balaam Numb 23. 10. Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his So those Ioh. 6. 34. Then said they unto him Lord evermore give us this bread Strange strivings for the present but it is onely for Priviledges 'T is vanishing Iob 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he alwaies call upon God They would have Heaven without Holiness Pardon of sin rather than power against it or a new heart He will pray when he seeth his Time as men take strong-waters in a Pang he hath a praying fit upon him in Adversity not in Prosperity Hosea 5. 15. In their Affliction they will seek me early 7. As you Pray to God so you must intirely Trust him Iames 1. 6 7. Let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the Sea driven with the Wind and tossed A Carnal Man wavereth he would fain have help from God but his heart runneth upon other things Hosea 7. 11. Ephraim is like a silly Dove without Heart they Call to Aegypt they Go to Assyria Their Hearts are for seeking to other Refuges however they call to God among the rest Ahaz would not ask a sign that would engage him to depend upon God and keep him from running to other shifts Sometimes he thinketh Prayer will do it and by and by desponds dareth not trust God upon his Prayers he knoweth not what course to take whither to shift for himself or to tarry Gods leisure But one that commits all to God is fixed Psal. 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil Tydings his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. He is freed from Anxious Cares SERMON CLXIII PSALM CXIX VER 145. I Cryed with my whole Heart hear me O Lord I will keep thy Statutes SEcondly Here is the Petition Hear me or as it is in the Heb. Answer me not in Words but Deeds Doctrine Gods Children when they pray are earnest for an Answer To give you some Instances Psal. 85. 8. I will hear what God the Lord will speak A Gracious Heart doth not make Prayer a vain babling or an empty prattle but a Gracious Exercise that will in time get an Answer and obtain a good return or blessing from the Lord. Therefore they are listening and hearkening after News from Heaven if they can hear any thing from God how he receiveth their Prayers and what he will do for them Micah 7. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my Salvation My God will hear me They are not only waiting but observing and watching what cometh in upon prayer for they are certain 't is not breath poured out into the Air but a petition commended to their God who hath promised to hear them So Hab. 2. 1. I will stand upon my Watch and set me upon the Tower and will watch to see what he will say to me He compareth himself to a Watchman that is spying abroad if he can get any intelligence of any approaching Comfort So Psal. 5. 3. I will pray and look up as Elijah if he could spy a Cloud any preparation towards Mercy Reasons 1. Because they dare not take Gods Name in Vain as all do that pray cursorily and never regard what cometh of it like foolish Boys that knock at a door in wantonness but have no business and therefore will not stay till somebody cometh to open the door 'T is a great sin to take Gods Name in Vain in any Act of Worship much more in Prayer Now all do so that go about this duty as a task not as a means to do their Souls good or to obtain Blessings from God when I hear meerly that I may hear or receive the Lords Supper and rest in the act of receiving Every Ordinance must be gone about in Faith and Obedience expecting the ends of the Duty as well as being imployed in the Acts of it If you do it in good earnest and with respect to Gods institution you must do so All the Ordinances come under a fourfold Notion as Duties as Priviledges as Means as Talents As Duties injoyned and a part of our homage and Obedience to God this will breed an awe upon our Conscience to keep us to a due and constant observance of them 't is not a matter Arbitrary but our necessary Duty As Priviledges this keepeth us from weariness that we may not consider them as a burdensome task As Means of our growth and improvement that notion is necessary that we may not rest in the work wrought but look after the Grace dispensed thereby As Talents for which we must give an account which will quicken us to more earnest diligence in the Improvement Some do not look upon them as Duties and so neglect them Others not as Priviledges and so do not prize them are not Joyful in the house of Prayer Others not as Means and so rest in the bare performance without looking after the fruits to
escape was some while after 2 By giving in spiritual Manifestations to the Soul though he doth not give the particular Mercy prayed for As when upon the prayer he reviveth the soul of him that prayeth Iob 33. 26. He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable to him and he shall see his face with joy The Lord giveth them the light of his Countenance and special discoveries of his love or support till the Mercy come Psal. 138. 3. In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my Soul Support is an Answer such an Answer had Paul My Grace is sufficient for thee Or when the heart is quieted though we do not know what God will do with our requests yet satisfied in the discharge of our Duty and that we have commended the matter to God So it is said of Hannah When she had prayed her Countenance was no more sad 1 Sam. 1. 18. And Phil. 4. 6 7. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Iesus Christ. Sometimes by a secret Impression of Confidence or a strong inclination to hope well of the thing prayed for Psal. 6. 8. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping Or Experiences as they that travailed to Ierusalem passing through the Valley Baca they met with a Well by the way Psal. 84. 6. a sweet refreshing thought or some help in the Spiritual Life by serious dealing with God some Consideration to set you a work or some new ingagement of the soul to God as a recompence of the Duty some Principles of Faith drawn forth in the view of Conscience not shewed before Some truth or other presented with fresh Life and vigour upon the heart 3. Sometimes by way of Commutation and Exchange and so God doth answer the prayer though he doth not give the mercy prayed for When he giveth another thing that is as good or better for the party that prayeth though not in kind the same yet in worth and value as good This Commutation may be three wayes First In regard of the Person praying David fasts and humbleth and melteth his soul for his Persecutors Psal. 35. 13. and it returned into his own bosom was converted to his own benefit his fasting had no effect upon them but his Charity did not lose its reward David prayeth for his first Child by Bathsheba but that Child dieth and God giveth Solomon instead thereof 2 Sam. 12. 15. Noah Daniel Iob shall save their own Souls Ezek. 14. 14. Your peace shall return to you again Luk. 10. 5 6. the Comfort of discharging their Duty Secondly In regard of the matter Carnal things are begged and Spiritual things are given Acts 1. 6 7. The Apostles asked him wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel They did not receive the Kingdom to Israel but received the promise of the Spirit Moses would fain enter into Canaan with the People Deut. 3. 23 24. And God said let it suffice thee speak no more of this matter but God gave him a Pisgah sight and ease of the trouble of Wars We would have speedy riddance of Trouble but God thinketh not fit as showers that come by drops soak into the Earth better then those that come in a Tempest and Hurricane We ask for Ease in Troubles and God will give Courage under Troubles Lam. 3. 55 56 57. I called upon thy name O Lord out of the low dungeon Thou hast heard my voice hide not thine ear at my breathing at my cry Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee thou saidst Fear not His gracious and powerful Presence in Trouble was enough Christ was heard in that he feared Heb. 5. 7. not saved from that Hour but supported and strengthened in it Iob sacrificed prayed for his Children when they were Feasting Iob 1. 5. and though they were all destroyed God gave him Patience verse 22. for in all that befell him he sinned not nor charged God foolishly Thirdly In regard of means we pray such means may not miscarry God will use other As Abraham would fain have Ishmael the Child of the Promise but God intended Isaac Gen. 17. 18. O that Ishmael might live before thee Thus doth God often blast instruments we most expect good from and maketh use of others to be Instruments for our good which we did least expect it from God may give us our Will in Anger when the Mercy turneth to our hurt Therefore the kind of Gods Answer must be referred to his own Will in all things for which we are not to pray Absolutely and when we have discharged our Duty endeavoured to approve our Hearts to God take what Answer he will give Doct. 2. From the manner of praying with the whole Heart the Saints have the more confidence of being heard in Prayer David alledgeth his crying with the whole heart as an hopeful intimation of a gracious Answer 1. Because a Prayer rightly made hath the assurance of a Promise the Promise is Ioh. 16. 24. Ask and you shall receive that your joy may be full Now this beareth no exception but that we ask according to his Will 1 Ioh. 5. 14. Si bona petant boni bene ad bonum Good men asking good things in the name of Christ for a good end thou canst not miss 2. Where there is sincerity and fervency we have two witnesses to establish our Comfort and Hope the Spirit of God that knoweth the deep things of God and the Spirit of Man that knoweth the things that are in man Gods Spirit who stirreth up these groans in us Rom. 8. 26 27. He that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God And the Testimony of our own Spirits that we have done our part and discharged our Duty and so have true Joy and Confidence Iob 16. 19 20. My witness is in heaven and my record is on high My friends scorn me but mine eye poureth out teares to God 3. God doth not use to send them away comfortless that call upon him in spirit and truth because by one grace he maketh way for another by the grace of Assistance for the grace of Acceptance Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou hast prepared their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear Where God hath given an Heart to speak he will afford an ear to hear for God will not lose his own work he cannot refuse those requests which are according to the direction of his Word and the motions of his holy Spirit when they are brought to him Use. This exhorteth us to look more after the manner of praying An earnest and sincere prayer cannot miscarry judge by this and you cannot want
Quickning David ever and anon reneweth his request and he is loth to be denied and therefore before he saith Quicken me he saith Hear my Voice Doctrine II. The main Argument which Gods Children have to plead in Prayer is his own favour and Loving-kindness That 's David ' s Argument in the Text Hear my voice according to thy loving-kindness Doctrine III. The Mercy and Loving-kindness of God manifested and impledged in the Promises of the Gospel doth notably incourage us to ask help from him For David doth not only say according to thy Loving-kindness but according to thy Judgment For the first Point One Blessing which the Children of God do see a need often and earnestly to ask of God is Quickening Here I shall inquire 1. What is Quickening 2. Give you some Reasons why the Children of God do see a need so often and earnestly to ask it of God I. What is Quickening 1. By Quickening some understand restitution to Happiness for a Calamitous man is as one dead and buried under deep and heavy Troubles and their recovery is a life from the Dead or a reviving from the Grave so Quickning seemeth to be taken Psal. 71. 20. Thou which hast shewed me great and sore Troubles shalt quicken me again and bring me up from the depths of the Earth 2. Othersunderstand by Quickning the renewing and increasing in him the Vigour of his Spiritual Life That he beggeth that God would revive increase and preserve that Life which he had already given that it might be perfected and consummated in Glory That he might be ever ready to bring forth the habits of Grace into Acts. The Use which we should make of it is to press you 1. To be sensible of the temper of your Hearts and see whether you want Quickning yea or no The feeling of spiritual deadness argueth some life and sense yet left You have attained to so much of life and do retain it in such a measure as to be able to bemoan your selves to God Most observe their bodies but very few their souls if their Bodies be ill at ease or out of order they complain Men that go on in a Track of Customary Duties see no need of quickning therefore this humble sense is a good sign Matins and Vespers coldly run over never put us upon the feeling of indispositions but onely Duties done with some spirit and life As a Smith blows not the Bellows on cold iron or a dead Coal Who would seek quickning when not serious in the work They that go on in the cold wont of Duties never regard the frame of their Hearts 2. When you want quickning ask it of God He brought us into the state of Life at first and therefore every moment we must beg of him that he would quicken us that he would continue it and perfect his own work Cant. 1. 4. Draw me we will run after thee There is no running no preserving the Vitality of Grace without his renewed influence Psal. 22. 29. None can keep alive his own Soul Therefore when we find this deadness or decay of Life to whom should we go but to the fountain of Life to repair it no Creature doth subsist of itself or act of itself 3. Ask it earnestly David prefaceth a general Prayer before this request and saith hear my voice as loth to be denied Many ask it of Course rather use it as a mannerly form when they are entring upon holy Duties than a broken-hearted request See you desire it heartily Psal 119. 40. Behold I have longed after thy precepts quicken thou me in thy righteousness A mans heart is set upon it and will not sit down with the distemper as contented and satisfied with a dead frame of Heart quickning is for longing Souls that would fain do the work of God with a more perfect Heart 4. Expect this Grace in and through Jesus Christ who came down from Heaven for this end Ioh. 10. 10. I am come that they might have life and might have it more abundantly That was his end in coming into the World to procure life for his People and not only bare life but liveliness and comfort yea glory hereafter He died to purchase it for us Ioh. 6. 51. This is my flesh which I give for the life of the world His Incarnation and taking on him our Nature is the Channel and Conduit through which the quickning virtue that is in the Godhead is conveyed to us And his offering up himself in that nature by his Eternal Spirit doth purchase and merit the Application and Anââ¦unciation of this his quickning virtue to our souls and prepareth him to be fit meat for souls That same Flesh and Humane Nature of Christ that is offered up a Ransom to Justice is also the Bread of Life for souls to feed upon Souls are fed with Meditations upon his Death and Sufferings the Bread which he giveth by way of Application is his Flesh which he gave by way of Ransom every renewed act of Faith draweth an increase of Life from him 5. Consider how God worketh it in us The Father of Spirits loveth to work with his own tools These three agree in one The Spirit the Word and the renewed Heart The one is the Author the other the Instrument and the last the Object There is the Spirit acting and the Habit of Grace acted upon and the Word and Sacraments are the instruments and means For God will do it rationally and by a lively light God forceth not the nature of second causes against their own inclination 't is pleasing to him when we desire him to renew his work and to bring forth the actings of Grace out of his own seed and to blow with the wind the breath of his Spirit on the Gardens that the spices may flow out Cant. 4. 15. if one of these be wanting there can be no quickning Not the Spirit for he applyeth all and doth all in the Heart of Believers 't is from him that we have the new life of Grace and all the activity of it Gal. 5. 25. If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit Then there must be a renewed Heart for God doth first infuse the principles of the new Life and gracious habits and power into the soul. Next he doth actuate those powers or stir them up to do what is good otherwise we do but blow to a dead Coal Then the Word and Sacraments come as Gods means which are fitted to work upon the New Creature These are full of spiritual Reason and suited to the sanctified understandings of Men and Women 6. Consider Gods loving-kindness how ready he is to grant this He will not deny the gift of the Holy Ghost to them that ask him Luk. 11. 13. 'T is an Argument not a Pari but a minore ad majus God is more able and willing to give than earthly Parents who are but half Fathers This is a spiritual and necessary Blessing
and God is too Fatherly to deny it to his Children You may deny an Apple to a wanton Child but you will not deny Bread to a fainting Child The bowels of a Father will not permit you to do that you may deny them superfluities in wisdom but your love will not permit you to deny them necessaries Meat is not so necessary to revive and refresh the Body as Grace for the Soul and his Holy Inspirations to act and guide you And will God deny these requests 7. Know when you have received Quickning Many Christians look for rapt and extatick Motions and so do not own the work of God when it hath passed upon them they under-rate their own Experiences and so cannot take notice of Gods Faithfulness Sense Appetite and Activity are the fruits of life and quickning 1. We have the more sense of indwelling Sin as an heavy Burthen Rom. 7. 24. None groan so sorely as those that are made partakers of a new Life Elementa non gravitant in suis locis a delicate Constitution is more sensible of pain Wicked Men scarce feel deep wounds given to their Conscience nor have any remorse for gross sins Gods Children their hearts smite them for the smallest disorders and irregularities 2. Appetite after Christ his Graces and Comforts 1 Pet. 2. 2. the more life any have the more craving of Food to maintain it in being they are always hungering and thirsting after God Matth. 5. 6. our Appetite will be after the things that conduce to the maintaining and preserving that being which they have If a man lose his Appetite the body pineth and languisheth and strength decayeth desire prepareth the soul to take in its supplies Your Life is in good plight when that is desired ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and 't will be a means of Spiritual growth a kindly appetite after this Milk They are under a great decay who have lost their Appetite after the Gospel 3. Activity in Duties That we may honour Christ 1 Pet. 2. 4 5. To whom coming as a living stone ye also as lively stones are built up into a spiritual House Christ liveth and we live by him as the stones in the building carry a proportion with the corner-stone So Christians as the body with the Head It must needs be so because of Gods Spirit dwelling in us Ezek. 36. 27. Ioh. 7. 37. and because of the Graces in a Christian Faith and Love Faith working by Love is the great evidence of the new Creature If Faith and Love be strong it will quicken us to do much for God the apprehension of Faith doth enliven our notions of God Christ Heaven and Hell Faith puts Life into our thoughts of him Love is a notable pleader and urger 2 Cor. 5. 14. The Love of Christ constraineth us c. Secondly The Reasons why c. 1. They that have so much to do with God do see a need of it for he is a living God and will be served in a lively manner Rom. 12. 11. Not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. They that serve the Lord Negatively must not be slothful in business Affirmatively fervent in spirit God will not be served negligently coldly but with Life and earnestness The twelve Tribes served God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã instantly Act. 26. 7. Instantly serving God with the uttermost of their strength He that hath a Right to our all must have our best surely he will not be put off with every slight thing Now the Children of God that are sensible of this are earnest for quickning that they may serve God in such a way as becometh him with Life and Power and Zeal for the manner in every Duty is to be regarded as well as the matter A man may do many things that are good but there is no Life in what he doth He prayeth but without any life in Prayer dead in Prayer Heareth but no Life in Hearing dull of Hearing All things in a Christian may be counterfeited but Life cannot be counterfeited that cannot be painted 2. They are acquainted with themselves and observe the frame and posture of their own spirits Now they that know themselves will see a need of Quickning 1 Because of the instability and changeable frame of mans Heart it hardly stayeth long in the same state now 't is up and anon 't is down as the constant experience of the Saints witness Sometimes they have a forwardness and strong propension of Heart to that which is good at other times a lothness and dulness or unfitness to perform any spiritual service when their Will is more remiss and their Affections unbent 'T is not indeed the constant frame of their Hearts yet it is a disease incident to the Saints even good men may feel a slowness of Heart to comply with the will of God and some hanging off from Duty Spontancae lassitudines sunt signa imminentis morbi so is this laziness and backwardness of spirit a sign of some great spiritual distemper Sometimes they are carried with great largeness of Heart and full sail of Affections at other times they are in bonds and streights that they cannot pour out their Hearts before God Psal. 77. 4. I am sore troubled that I cannot speak sometimes they have great Life and Vigour at other times no such lively stirrings but are flat and cold and dead when with Sampson they think to go forth and shake themselves as at other times Iudges 16. 20. by sad Experience they find that their Locks are gone that their Understandings are lean sapless and their Affections cold and their Delight and Vigour lost Man is a sinful weak inconstant Creature his heart is as unstable as water and much of this levity and instability remaineth with us after Grace as is seen in the various postures of spirit that we are under 2 Because of the constant opposition of the Flesh. There is an opposite Principle in our Hearts Gal. 5. 17. The body of Death that dwelleth in us doth always resist the life of the Spirit in us and therefore God must renew the influences of his Grace to preserve Life There are desires against desires and delights against delights this must needs abate our Vigour The Spirit draweth one way the Flesh another 'T is drawing Iam. 1. 14. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed 'T is depressing Heb. 12. 1. Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a Cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us Carnal Affections hang as a weight retarding us in our Heavenly flight and motions 'T is warring Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin And therefore the Lord had need to cherish the new Creature and good seed which cannot but be weakned with this opposition 3 Because our outward condition doth
draw us to the same Fountain of Grace for Pardon and Life to our selves These Examples do more than the Doctrinal declaration because they do not onely shew that Mercy and Grace may be had but that it hath been attained unto by those who in all respects did judge themselves and were really unworthy of it as unable to lay hold of it and to make good use of it afterwards as we our selves The Ice is broken the Ford ridden before us therefore we may venture our Salvation and Acceptance with God upon the same Grace 3 His former love to our selves At first he took us with all our faults and betrothed us unto himself in Loving-kindness and tender Mercy Hosea 2. 19. and therefore he will still do us good freely and bountifully And so we may answer all Objections from Gods wonted goodness towards us When he hath entred into Covenant with us out of his Love and Bounty we may well expect that upon the same terms he should keep Covenant The continuance is more easily believed and asked than the beginning and first grant Psal. 36. 10. O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee and thy righteousness to the upright in heart When by Experience we have found what it can do for unworthy creatures we may the better expect it should help us upon all occasions 4. The End why God exerciseth it which is his Glory even the glory of his Grace and Loving-kindness That that might be acknowledged and exemplified by those that are partakers of it even to be altogether glorious Eph. 1. 6. To the praise of his glorious grace wherein he hath accepted us in the beloved That it may be owned and esteemed as free and liberal and working of its own accord We only cross Gods End when we do not plead it admire it and esteem it highly and improve it for our Comfort for this is Gods End in the whole business of our Salvation from first to last that Men and Angels might be excited to set forth the praises of his rich Mercy and free Grace And here is a new incouragement to ask gracious supplies of God according to his Loving-kindness or upon the account of that Attribute even that his Grace may be more esteemed and exalted in our hearts Psal. 109. 21. But do thou for me O God the Lord for thy names-sake because thy mercy is good deliver thou me It concerneth him in point of his chief honour and glory to do good to his People that he may be known and owned to be a good and a gracious or loving God Use Well then If this be the great plea of the Saints 1. Let us meditate often of the Loving-kindness of God of his pitying and pardoning and lovingly intreating poor sinful and broken-hearted creatures that come to him This should be our daily Meditation bonum est primum potentissimum nomen Dei saith Damascene It is the first-born and chiefest name of God We cannot conceive of God by any thing that concerneth us so much as his Goodness by that we know him and for that we love him We admire him with Reverence for his other Titles but this doth first insinuate with us and command our respect to him The first Temptation that ever was in the World was to weaken the conceit of his Goodness in the heart of the creature as if God were envious harsh and sowre in his restraints still it is a great Temptation yet God is good to Israel Psal. 73. 1. Oh let us fortifie our Hearts with frequent thoughts of his Goodness and Loving-kindness As we should do this every day so especially upon the Sabbath day Psal. 92. 2. I will shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night We should do this with all the advantage we can use more especially when we are in his presence conversing with him and ministring before him Psal. 48. 9. We have thought of thy loving-kindness O God in the midst of thy Temple We should often and seriously think when we come to God surely now we have to do with a loving and gracious God whether we wait upon him in Prayer or the Word or Sacraments if any prayer to make or comfort to expect 2. Observe the fruits and effects of it and value them They that are Students in Providence shall not seek long before they find God to be a God full of loving-kindness and tender Mercy Psal. 107. Whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. Few regard it or look after it but they that do pry into the course of his dealings shall not be without many instances of Gods love and free favour to them now when you have found it out value it Psal. 63. 3. Because thy loving-kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee You shall have rich experiences such as will fill you with joy unspeakable and glorious to be esteemed above all comforts whatsoever 3. Praise God for it This should be a lively motive to praise him Psal. 138. 2. I will worship towards thy Temple and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth These two are the cause of all we have 't is without any deserving of ours only because we have to do with a gracious and faithful God Isa. 63. 7. I will mention the loving-kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving-kindness The Prophet speaketh as if he could never find words enough or pregnant enough to express his sense of Gods gracious dealing so bountifully had he dealt with his People 4. Let us improve this loving-kindness and readiness of Gods Mercy to help penitent Supplicants 1. In a way of Trust the least degree of which is enough to keep the sinner from running away from him how grievous soever his offences and demerits be yet come to him say as David Psal. 51. 1. Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving-kindness according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Yea make it a ground of confidence and support Psal. 69. 16. Hear me O Lord for thy loving-kindness is good turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies 2. In a way of Fear that we may not interrupt the sense of it or stop the current of his good will Psal. 26. 3. Thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth 'T is the ground of all our Confidence lose not that the Lord taketh notice of them that trust in his goodness Nahum 1. 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him There is one word yet undiscussed According to thy Iudgment Some
by Iudgment understand Wisdom and Prudence the Word will sometimes bear that sense Micah 3. 8. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of Iudgment c. As we say a man of Judgment for an Understanding Person In this sense According to thy Iudgment will be As thou thinkest fit but surely Iudgment here is to be understood in the notion of his Covenant or the Rule according to which he judgeth of men for it is one of the Terms by which the word is expressed Iudgement is sometimes put for the Covenant of Works or his strict renumerative Justice David declineth it under this notion Psal. 143. 2. Enter not into Iudgment with thy servant O Lord. And this is called by the Apostle Iudgment without Mercy Iam. 2. 13. Sometimes for the Covenant of Grace and free promises of God or that merciful right which he hath established between him and his People wherein God acteth as an Absolving and Pardoning Judge Of this see verse 132. And of this the Prophet speaketh Isa. 1. 27. Zion shall be redeemed with Iudgment that is by his Mercy promised according to his Judgment David desireth to be Quickned From thence observe Doctrine III. That Gods Mercy and Loving-kindness manifested and impledged in the Promises of the Gospel doth notably incourage us to ask help from him You have heard what incouragment we have by the Loving-kindness of God Now what we have over and above that by his Iudgment I. Quickning and Enlivening Grace is promised in the new Covenant 1. In General From the general undertaking of the Covenant The Covenant of Grace differeth from all other Covenants in the World because every thing that is required therein is also promised and therefore 't is called The Promise Gal. 3. 18. because God hath promised both the Reward and the Condition Faith and Perseverance therein as well as Righteousness Pardon and Life The new Heart to bring us into the Covenant and the continual assistance of Grace to keep us in that Covenant And so it differs from the usual Covenants that pass between man and man Among men each Party undertaketh for and looketh after his own part of the Covenant but leaveth the other to look to his Duty and his part of the ingagement But here the Duties required of us are undertaken for by him that requireth them No man filleth his Neighbours hand with any thing to pay his Rent to him or enableth him to do what he hath covenanted to do But God filleth our hand with a stock yea more than a stock of Habitual Grace with Actual Influences to draw forth habits into Act and doth with strength so far enable us to perform every commanded Duty that in the performance thereof we may be accepted Ezek. 36. 26 27. God owneth there not onely the Principles of Acting but also the Excitement of these Principles yea the very Act it self He hath undertaken to infuse the Principle and stir up the Acts and Exercise of it I will cause you to walk in my Statutes So Ier. 32. 39 40. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and of their children after them and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Besides Converting Grace superadded influences It differeth from the Covenant of Works that had more of a Law and less of a Promise there was a promise of Reward to the Obeyer but no promise of giving Obedience God indeed gave Adam a stock of Habitual Grace but no promise of Assisting Grace There Man was to keep the Covenant here in effect the Covenant keepeth us Ier. 32. 40. And indeed therein lyeth the exceeding graciousness of the Covenant of Grace that God undertaketh for both parties and worketh in his people all that is required for entring into and keeping this Covenant with him 2. In Particular This part of actual influence which is more especially called Quickning is promised in the Covenant of Grace for the Covenant concerneth mainly the Life of Grace the care of which he hath taken into his own hands not to lay it down till it be perfected in the life of Glory And therefore alloweth his Children to repair to him when their life is any way enfeebled or decayed So that besides that the general undertaking of his Covenant will warrant such a plea his particular promises of Preserving and Restoring our Life will embolden us to ask quickning For with respect to his Judgment or Covenant-ingagement God is called The God of our life Psal. 42. 8. And The strength of our life Psal. 27. 1. The care of life Bodily Spiritual and Everlasting lyeth upon him By vertue of the Covenant he hath undertaken to keep it feed it renew it in all the decays of it till we be possessed of the Life of Glory II. The Advantage we have from this Promise We have a double Argument not onely from Gods Mercy but his Truth Both which do assure us that God is not onely easie to be intreated but bound and tyed by his own free condescension His Loving-kindness sheweth that he may do it for us his Judgment that in some part he will do it He is not onely inclined but obliged which is a new ground of Hope His Promise in the New Covenant inferreth a debt of Favour though not of Justice when God hath bound himself by promise both his Mercy and Fidelity are concerned to do us good We have not onely the freeness of Gods love to incourage us but the certainty of his help ingaged in the Promise God inviteth men to him by his Grace and ingageth his Truth to do them good The Nature of God is one incouragement he is wonderful ready to do good but in his Covenant he hath established a right to Believers to seek his Mercy so that all is made more sure and comfortable to us Use. Is to encourage the People of God when they miss his help in the Spiritual Life to lay open their Case to God The thought of strict Justice striketh us dumb there is no claiming by that Covenant but the remembrance of this Merciful Right or Judgment should open our Mouthes in Prayer and loosen our Tongues in acquainting God with our case Lord I want that Life and Quickning which thy promises seem to speak of You may do it with the more confidence for these Reasons First Consider the Tenour of this Judgment or the Terms thereof The mildness of the Court in which you plead 't is not a Covenant of Justice but of Favour in it Grace taketh the Throne not Justice The Judge is Christ The Law according to which Judgment is given is the Gospel our Plea is Grace not Merit The Persons allowed to plead are penitent Sinners Yea they are not
thereby glorified and praised given us to this End and Purpose to bless God Iam. 3. 9. As our Understanding was given us to know God and think on him so our Speech to speak of God to declare his excellent Perfections and to stir up others to praise him with us 4. Holiness the Fruit of it for as Iob said the sides of the Poor blessed him Iob 31. 20. so must our Lives praise God 1 Pet. 2. 9. sheweth forth his Vertues not in Word only but in Works Our Lives must be a constant Hymn to God though we should be silent We remember the Lords Excellencies that we may imitate them and express them to the Life the Children of God serve only for this Use to represent God to the World as the Image in the Glass representeth the Person that looketh in it So Isa. 40. 21. This people have I formed for my self they shall shew forth my praise The Impression of all the Divine Attributes and Perfections must be left upon us and Copied out by us plainly represented in our Wisdom Purity Faithfulness and Godliness Secondly The Motives Because there is no part of Gods Worship to which we are more indisposed Self-Love will put us upon Prayers and Supplications but Love of God upon Praises We are inclined to the one by our own Necessities but we need to be stirred up to the other by pressing Arguments I will only mention those which are heaped up together in one place Psal. 147. 1. Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comly 1. It is Good and Profitable a piece of service acceptable in Gods sight Psal. 50. 23. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me 'T is a part of that spiritual Worship required under the Gospel beyond all the sacrifices of the Law in other Duties we expect something from God but in this we bestow something on him All Gods Praises are a Believers advantage every Attribute is his store-house This is my beloved and my friend Cant. 5. 16. And Psal. 135. 5. For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all Gods Yea 't is Profitable as 't is Acceptable Psal. 67. 5 6 7. Let all the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee then shall the earth yield her increase and God even our God shall bless us God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him Pliny telleth us of a Fountain that would rise and swell and overflow at their playing of a Pipe or Flute and when they ceased would stop again The Fountain of Mercy riseth and swelleth and overfloweth with new supplies of Mercy when we praise and acknowledge the old 2. 'T is Pleasant and Delightful full of sweet Refreshment he that knoweth not this work is pleasant is unacquainted with it for this Ravishing Transporting Joy is matter of Experience When is the gracious heart more delighted then when it Feasts with God All acts of Obedience have a pleasure accompanying them especially acts of Worship being the Nobler part of the Spiritual Life and among them Praise Psal. 135. 3. Sing praises unto his name for it is good and pleasant 'T is our Duty in Heaven to Praise God when we are in our highest Felicity therefore this is a work wherein we should rejoyce to be employ'd 'T is our Reward rather than our Work the Heaven that we have upon Earth and nothing so sit to chear up the Spirit as to remember what a God we have in Christ the very nature of it hath allurement enough to a gracious Heart Psal. 92. 4. For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works when God blesseth our Meditations of his Works with gladness 3. 'T is Comely and Honourable to be about the Imployment of Angels to be Heralds to Proclaim the Lords Glory nothing so comely for us as Creatures who have our whole Being from him As new Creatures we are set apart to be to the praise of his glorious Grace in Christ Eph. 1. 12. It beareth all men as a debt which they owe to God though the wicked have no power to perform it Indeed the new Song doth ill become the old Heart but when there is an Obligation and a Capacity then it is comely indeed it becometh them to pay and God to receive it from them Psal. 33. 1. Praise is comely for the upright All are bound to Praise God yet none will do it cheerfully and acceptably save the Godly They have Obligations above all People in the World they have a Capacity and an Heart to do it and from them God most expecteth it Secondly The Continuance that we should never cease Praising God David saith here seven times a day which is the number of Perfection and elsewhere you shall find equivalent Expressions Psal. 34. 1. I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall be continually in my mouth So Heb. 13. 15. Let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually giving thanks unto his name So Eph. 5. 20. Giving thanks always unto God for all things What is the meaning of these extensive Particles Continually Alwayes and at all Times I Answer 't is not to be understood as if we were without intermission to be imployed in the actual exercise of formal and distinct Thanksgiving no there are other necessary Duties which sometimes must divert us from it but the meaning is 1. That there is continual occasion of Praising God God is continually Beneficial to us Blessing and Delivering his People every day and by new Mercies giveth new Matter of Praise and Thanksgiving and there are some standing Mercies which should never be forgotten but be remembred before God every day as Redemption by Christ with all the abundant Benefits and therefore the Gospel-Church is represented by four Beasts or four living weights together with four and twenty Elders who rest not day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Rev. 4. 8. This is spoken to shew that matter doth still continue of Lauding and Blessing God and David saith Psal. 71. 8. Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thine honour all the day There is no moment of time wherein we are not obliged to Praise and Glorifie God 2. This must be understood of the preparation of the heart without intermission we must cherish that disposition of heart which is necessary for it an habit of thankfulness an heart deeply affected with the Lords Excellencies and Mercies should ever be found in us and never laid aside the Instrument must be kept in Tune though it be not alwayes played upon David saith Psal. 57. 7. My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise There must be a prepared heart or a fixed purpose to Praise the Lord a renewed sense of Gods Favour and fresh experience of his Goodness to us do draw forth this preparation into Act yet
answerable to your hope 1 Thes. 2. 12. On the other side Hope study Promises Rom. 15. 4. The God of hope fill you with joy in believing he is not only the Object but the Author of it SERMON CLXXXII PSALM CXIX VER 167. My soul hath kept thy Testimonies and I love them exceedingly THE Man of God goeth on in his plea in the former verse he had spoken of the influence of his hope upon obedience Now of the influence of his Love and so more expresly and directly maketh out this Qualification or Title to the Promise mentioned verse 165. Before we go on let me Answer a Question or two First How can a gracious Heart speak so much of it self and insist so much upon the plea of Obedience Is not this contrary to our Saviours Doctrine who in the Parable of the Pharisee and Publican that went up to pray Luk. 18. Teach us to make use of the plea of Mercy not of Works 1. I Answer As to that part of the scruple which concerneth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that cannot be imagined to be faulty in David who was a Prophet and therefore to instruct the World propoundeth his own instance and setteth forth himself as a pattern of obtaining comfort in the way of Godliness 2. As to the plea of works they may be produced by way of Evidence not by way of Merit as they prove our interest in the Promises not as the ground of self-confidence The Pharisee he came not to beg an Alms but to receive a debt and therefore went away without any mark and testimony of the Divine favour and approbation But Holy Men plead this to God as expecting Mercy and Favour at his hands not in regard of any merit in themselves or of reward deservedly for the same done to them for they acknowledge all that they do or can do to be but duty and due debt But in regard of his Gracious Promise freely made unto them in an humble and modest manner they dare appeal to God himself for the sincerity and integrity of their hearts for their serious care and sedulous endeavours to please him and approve themselves to him Secondly But why is this plea reiterated for three verses together Answer Too much care cannot be used in making out an interest in so sweet a Promise and teacheth us this Iesson that we had need examine again and again before we can put in our claim Jesus Christ puts Peter to the question thrice Iohn 21. 15 16 17. Peter lovest thou me So here 't was Davids plea thrice repeated for the more assurance I have done thy Commandments my soul hath kept thy Testimonies and again I have kept thy Commandments and thy Precepts after a believer hath found marks of saving grace in himself it is Wisdom for him to examine them over and over again that he may be sure they are in him in Deed and in Truth the heart is deceitful our self-love is great our infirmities many and our graces so weak that we should not easily trust the search Truly such an holy Jealousie doth well become the best of Gods Children and doth only weaken the security of the Flesh not their rejoycing in the Lord. In the Words you have the Testimony of Davids Conscience concerning the sincerity of his Heart evidenced by two Notes I. The Sincerity of his Obedience my soul hath kept my Testimonies II. His exceeding love to the Word I Love them exceedingly or if you will by the manner of his Obedience and the principle of it I. The Spirituality of his Obedience my soul hath kept thy Testimonies mark the notion by which the act of Duty is expressed is varied in the former verse it 's I have done thy Commandments here it is I have kept thy Testimonies done more exexpressely noteth his sedulity and deligence kept his Constancy and diligence perseverance notwithstanding Temptations to the contrary And how kept them Saith he my soul hath kept them not with outward observance only but with inward and hearty respect My Soul that is my self a part for the whole and the better part I with my soul and so it sheweth his sincerity 't is an usual expression among the Hebrews when they would express their vehement affection to any thing to say they do it with their souls as Psal. 103. 1. Bless the Lord O my Soul and Luke 1. 45. My soul doth magnifie the Lord. As on the contrary vehemency of hatred Isa. 1. 14. Your New Moons and appointed Feasts my soul hateth that is I hate them with my heart The note is Doctrine God must be served with our Souls as well as our Bodies David saith My soul hath kept thy Testimonies 1. Because he hath a right to both as he made both and therefore hath required that both should serve him he that organized the body and framed it out of the dust of the ground did also breath into us the breath of Life and framed the spirit of man within him therefore since God may challenge all 't is fit he should have the best my son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. Look upon it whose Image and superscription doth it bear Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods he hath redeemed both 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God both in your body and spirits which are Gods Shall we rob God of his purchase so dearly bought We would not rob a man of his Goods and will you rob God He challengeth a peculiar right in Souls all Souls are mine and therefore they should be used and exercised for his glory If we use them for our selves only and not according to his direction we do as Reuben did that went up into his Fathers bed To withhold the Heart from God is Robbery nay Sacriledge which is the worst kind of Robbery For Gods right in Redemption is confirmed and owned by our Personal dedication in Baptism Once more God hath right to the Service of both body and soul because he offereth to Glorifie both and Reward both in the Heavenly Inheritance the Body and the Soul are Sisters and Co-heirs as Tertullian speaketh If we expect wages for both we must do work with both if God should make such a division at Death as men do all their Life to him can they be happy if any part of them be excluded Heaven If the Body and lifeless trunck were taken into Heaven and the Soul left in Torments what were you the better But that cannot be God will have all or no part therefore your whole Spirit and Soul and Body must be kept blameless unto the coming of the Lord Iesus Christ 1 Thess. 5. 23. Otherwise your souls cannot be joyned to God in Heaven if they be divided from him on Earth 2. Because this is service suitable to his nature when we serve him and obey him with our souls God is an All-seeing Spirit and
highly obliged for this discovery 't is the work of God to give us Counsel and should be matter of perpetual Thanksgiving to us III. The Use for which this knowledge serveth 1. To entertain Communion with God for the present for by knowing him we come to enjoy him Psal. 17. 15. As for me I will behold thy face in rightcousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness that 's more than to have a portion in this World And 1 Ioh. 1. 3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truely our fellowship is with the father and his son Iesus Christ. By Communion or Fellowship is not meant a society of Equals but the dutiful yet chearful attendance of an Inferiour on his Superiour the Creature on his Creator but yet so as that there is an holy intimacy and familiarity in it because we both love and are beloved of God in every Ordinance they draw nearer to God than others do for 1 Ioh. 1. 7. If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another All our Duties are the Converse of a sanctified Creature with an holy God and an humble Creature dealing with the blessed God for a supply of all their wants They pour out their Souls to him and he openeth his Ear and Bosom unto them he teacheth them his way and they walk in his paths Isa. 2. 3. They walk in the Fear of his Name and the Comforts of his Spirit Acts 9. 31. they seek his Glory as their great End and live in the sense of his dearest love 2. To enjoy him for ever this is life eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Ioh. 17. 3. Alas what is the knowing how to get Riches and Pleasures and the Vain-glory of the World to this Surely you that are taught of God your business is above other Mens while they drive on no greater Trade than providing for the Flesh or feathering a Nest that will quickly be pulled down they are providing for Everlasting Glory and Happiness They aim at nothing beyond this Life all their Cares are confined within the narrow bounds of Time and the compass of this World but these look higher and begin a life which shall be perfected in Heaven they are laying up treasure in Heaven IV. The manner of knowing things when taught of God they see things with greater Clearness and Certainty and Efficacy and Power 1. With greater Clearness Others know Words but they know Things and therefore know as they ought to know them They know the Grace of God in Truth Col. 1. 6. They have the spiritual discerning and that is a quite different thing from a literal discerning 1 Cor. 2. 14. He hath an experimental and sweeter knowledge than learned men that are ungodly He hath tasted that the Lord is Gracious the sweetness of his Love and the riches of his Grace in Christ. The Theory of Divine Knowledge though never so exact giveth us not this they have more of the Words and Notions but less of the thing itself they have the sign the other the thing signified they break the shell and the other eats the kernel they dress the meat but the others feed upon and digest it dig in the Mines of knowledge as Negroes but others have the Gold A rotten post may support a living Tree 2. With more Certainty There is a great deal of difference between taking up Religion out of Inspiration and out of Opinion or Tradition Faith is the gift of God but Credulity is received by the Report of Men. Men may guess at the truth by their own Wit they may talk of it by rote and according to what they read and hear from others but Divine Knowledge is the fruit of the Spirit Matth. 16. 17. Flesh and bloud hath not revealed these things unto thee but my Father which is in heaven Ioh. 4. 42. Now we believe not because of thy saying but we have heard him our selves and know indeed that this is the Christ the Saviour of the World And 1 Thes. 1. 5. For our Gospel came to you not in word only but in power and the Holy Ghost and in much assurance We never apprehend the Truth with any certainty nor can we discern Gods Impress on the Word but in the light of the Spirit Gods Illumination maketh our knowledge of things certain and infallible Know ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã assuredly Acts 2. 36. Ioh. 17. 8. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 'T is not a may be a bare possibility or likely to be a probability but it is sure to be and will be so a certainty that belongeth to Faith 3. For Efficacy and Power 1 Thes. 1. 5. For our Gospel came to you not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost Acts 6. 5. We are affected with the Truths we know yea transformed and changed by them 2 Cor. 3. 18. Changed into a Divine Nature 1 Pet. 1. 4. Our hearts are moulded and fitted for God and for every good work So that this is a benefit should be much acknowledged Use. I. Is to Inform us how the Saints do and should esteem this benefit of Divine Illumination In this Psalm they esteem it more than if God should bestow a great deal of wealth upon them See Psal. 119. 14. I rejoice in the way of thy Testimonies more than in all riches And 72 Verse More than thousands of gold and silver Once more they think themselves well a paid if they get it by sharp Afflictions though by loss of Health or Wealth Verse 71. It s good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes The reason is because they value it as a Mercy for which they can never enough be thankful Phil. 3. 8. Yea doubtless and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ The People of God have no reason to envy others that live in the Pomp of the World and the splendor of outward accommodations if he give them the saving knowledge of himself Prov. 3. 31 32. Envy not the oppressor and choose none of his wayes for the froward is an abomination to the Lord but his secret is with the righteous If God will teach us his Statutes though he keepeth us low 't is more to be one of Gods Disciples to be owned by him in an Ordinance than to live a Life of Pomp and Ease Secondly None are fit to praise God but those whom God hath taught Psal. 50. 16. What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenant into thy mouth The new song and the old heart
was not hearty and durable but only formal and Temporary 2 Because they take all occasions to inlarge themselves out of the stocks of Conscience and as soon as their fear is worn off away go all their Religious Pangs and thoughts of the other World and care about it How often is this verisied by daily Experience Many that were frightned into a course of Religion went on from Duty to Duty out of a Fear of being Damned but their Hearts were another way but afterwards they cast off all when they have sinned away these Fears As Herod feared Iohn and afterwards put him to death Mark 6. 19 20. Yea all the while they did good they had rather do otherwise if they durst and therefore did but watch the occasion to fly out 3 Because men of this frame dispute away Duties rather than practice them and are quarrelling at those things which the new Nature would sufficiently incline them unto if they had it In the New Testament God much trusts Love and the number and length of Duties is not stated so exactly because where the Love of God prevaileth in the Heart men will take all occasions of glorifying God and edifying themselves But when men quarrel How do you prove it to be my Duty to do so much and to give so much when the Duty its self is instituted Love will make God a reasonable allowance and not stand questioning how do you prove it to be my Duty to pray so often in my Family or in secret or hear so many Sermons which our constant necessities do loudly call for Men that have a love to a thing will take all occasions to enjoy it or be conversant about it and a willing heart is liberal and open to God and is rather disputing the restraint than the Command how do you prove it is not my Duty and is loth to be kept back from its delight 3. Some do good out of Craft and Design there is some By-end is the cause as Iehu was not so much Zealous for God as his own Interests 2 King 10. 16. And our Lord telleth us of some that make long Prayers to devour Widows Houses Matth. 23. 14. made Piety a colour and pretext to Oppression and that they might be trusted took as a shew of great Devotion And of this strain were those that followed Christ for the Loaves Ioh. 6. 20. To be fed with a Miracle and to live a life of sloth and ease God never set any good thing afoot but some temporal Interest grew upon it with which men were swayed more than with what belongeth to God Use. II. Is to perswade you to choose Gods Precepts I have chosen thy Precepts said the man of God To this end I shall give you both Motives and Directions Motives why you should choose them and then Directions in what manner things are to be attended upon in your choice First For the Motives 1. Choose them because they are Gods to whom you are indebted for Life Being and all things Shall we not obey him that made us and in whom still we live move and have our being We are debtors to him for all that we have and truly we cannot have a better Master He was angry with his People that when the Beasts would own their Benefactors that his People would not own him from whom they had all things Isa. 1. 3. The Brute-beasts the dullest of them the Oxe and the Ass are willing to serve those that feed them and pay a kind of gratitude and shall not we own God Every day your health strength and comforts come out of his hands so every nights Rest and Ease and after this can you sin against God that keeps you by Night and by day 2. These Precepts are all holy just and good What is it the Lord requires of you but to love him and serve him and fear him and forbear those things which hurt the Soul thus he speaks to Israel Deut. 10. 12. Surely these commands are not unreasonable nor grevious You dare not say sin is better that it is more profitable to please the flesh and to wallow in and seek after worldly things O why then dost thou not choose Gods Precepts before the work which Satan would put thee upon for these Precepts commend themselves by their own Evidence 3. In keeping them there 's a great deal of benefit 1. For the present there 's a deal of Comfort and Peace to be be found in the ways of God If there were no reward of Heaven yet there 's such comfort and peace that attends holy living even as heat from the fire that certainly this should draw our choice All her ways are ways of pleasantness Prov. 3. 17. And again the Prophet tells you the fruit of righteousness is peace A man that doth evil hath a sting in his Conscience and a wound in his own Soul But every good action is followed with a Serenity of Mind and an approbation from the heart of him thar doth it Nay you shall not only have Peace but Joy in the Holy Ghost for if you walk in the fear of God you walk in the comforts of his Spirit Acts 9. 31. And the Kingdom of God stands in Righteousness and Peace ay and a distinct Priviledge Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. What 's the difference between Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Peace is a Tranquility of mind resulting from the rectitude of our actions but this joy is an impression of the comforting Spirit This Joy it hath God for its Author he puts it into our hearts therefore it will more affect us then the bare Act of our natural faculties Peace it is an acquittance from Conscience but Joy in the Holy Ghost it is and Acquittance from God who is our Supream Judge and is the beginning of that endless joy which he hath prepared for them that love him in Heaven 2. For the future and final reward that is great and glorious indeed Surely the Glory of the Everlasting Kingdom should invite us to choose Gods Precepts whatever it may cost us to keep them for in choosing Holiness you choose Life and in choosing the ways of God you choose the heavenly inheritance which is the certain end and issue of them So Prov. 8. 35 36. Whoso findeth me findeth Life and obtaineth favour of the Lord But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul all they that hate me love death Christians when you are about choosing these are the terms propounded to you and they should be seriously weighed by us Evil and Death Good and Life will you choose Sin and Death or Holiness and Life Is the Pleasures of the Flesh for a few hours better then the endless Joy of the Saints If you believe Heaven and hell as you profess to do why should you stand demurring are you content to be thrust out from the presence of the Lord with the Devil and his Angels into unquenchable
Flames for a little contentment here in the World for a little ease and delight here given to your carnal Nature Is an Earthly Life that you cannot long hold more valuable then an Eternal Heaven you shall enjoy for ever no let us go to heaven though we get thither with many pains and sufferings If you forsake all not only in Vow and Purpose but Actually and in Deed yet still you have something better you shall be no looser in the end you shall so choose the blessed God and live with him for evermore and be fill'd with his Love as full as you can hold and be employed in his service and all this in an Eternal Perfection and glorified Estate 4. Motive Choose for you will never have cause to repent of your choice The Lord stands upon his Justification is very tender of giving his People any Cause to repent of his service Micah 6. 3. O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me Pray what hurt hath Holiness done you Who was ever the better for sinning or who was the worse for Holiness There was none that ever made a carnal choice but first or last they had cause to repent of it either they repent of it in a kindly manner while they may mend the matter or else they shall repent for ever in Misery but who ever repented of his Repentance or cursed the day of his new Birth To whom ever was it any grief of heart that they were acquainted with God and Christ or the way that leadeth unto life who dieth the sweeter death or who repents of their choice then the serious or the carnal Oh they that have chosen the World they cry out how the World hath deceived them but never any repented of choosing God and the wayes of God Let these things perswade you to choose his Precepts Secondly For Directions 1. In Choosing the Object is to be regarded Gods Precepts indefinitely all of them not one excepted the smallest as well as the greatest the troublesome as well as the easie the most neglected as well as the most observed we must choose all Gods Precepts not abate any thing but especially the main or the essential Precepts of Christianity or the Fundamental points of the Covenant Now the Question is What 's the Fundamental Point of the Covenant Truly that 's known by the form of Baptisme Baptisme is the solemn Seal of entring into Covenant with God it 's the Seal of our initiation or first entrance into Covenant with God Mat. 28. 19. Now what is it to be Baptised in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost when you first choose the ways of God here you must begin you must close with Father Son and Holy Ghost heartily take them to be your God that is you must close with God the Father as your All-sufficient Portion or chiefest happiness to be loved above all and also as your highest Lord that he may be served pleased and obeyed above all Well and in the name of the Son that is Jesus Christ he must be taken as your Saviour and Redeemer to bring you to God and to reconcile you to him And to be Baptised in the name of the Holy Ghost is this to take him as your Sanctifier Guide and Comforter to make you a holy people to God to cleanse your hearts from sin to write all Gods Laws upon your Hearts and put them into your Minds and to guide you by the Word and Ordinances to everlasting Life This is the main thing that is first to be minded because it contains all and doth necessarily infer the rest for otherwise to be resolute in some by-point of Religion though it be right this is but the Obstinacy of a Faction not the constancy of a Christian Zeal 2. As you must look to the Object of this choice so to the Causes of it and what are they An Enlightned Mind a renewed Heart a Love to God and then the Spirit of God enlightning and inclining our Hearts 1. An Enlightned Mind is a cause of choosing the ways of God when the Lord hath taught us his Precepts an enlightned mind discovers a beauty and amiableness in the ways of God Psal. 119. 128. I esteem all thy Precepts to be right and they are the rejoycing of my soul. 2. A Renewed Heart wherein all the precepts of God are written over again They were written upon our Hearts in Innocency but that 's a blurred Manuscript therefore in Regeneration they are written over again God writes his Law in our hearts and puts them in our inward parts Heb. 8. 10. and then the Law within suits with the Law without for the new Creature is created after God in Righteousness and true Holiness In true Holiness which relates to the first Table of the Law and Righteousness which relates to the second Table of the Law the renewed heart that hath this inclination and propension is carried out to them 3. Love to God for that 's implied in the choice Iohn 14. 21. He that hath my Commandements and keeps them he it is that loves me and he that loves me hath my Commandements and keeps them It follows the other way where there is love to God there will be choosing of his ways 4. Gods Spirit the Lord Enlightning and Inclining our Hearts to this choice God Enlightens for he teacheth us the way that we shall choose and when we see these things in the light of the Spirit then we see the Beauty of them Psal. 25. 12. It holds good as to the path of Life and in particular cases but chiefly in the main case God teacheth him the way that he shall choose And the Spirit of God enclines the Heart too as well as enlightens the Mind 1 Pet. 1. 22. Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit 3. There are the Effects of this Choice What are they Delight Diligence and Patience 1. Delight Psal. 40. 8. I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart When the Law is not only written in the Book but written in the heart then there 's a Delight a ready and willing Obedience It is spoken first of Christ of David it was said in Type it 's true also of all Believers for they have the Spirit of Christ and the same also is exprest of the People of God Psal. 112. 1. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments When a man hath chosen the precepts of God and bound himself in this way then his heart is taken with a delight 2. Diligence Gods Precepts are the great business and employment of our lives and then there 's a constant study to please him Col. 1. 9 10. Filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing We must do Gods Will and
1. Draws the heart from earth to heaven 2. Enlivens the heart in duty 3. Engages the heart against sin p. 787. 1037. Grounded on Gods word p. 927 Hope puts the soul upon diligence in prayer p. 927 1040 Humble carriage becomes us when we have most mercy p. 840 Humbling considerations under mercy p. 840 Humiliation caused by the consideration of the multititude of vain thoughts p. 761 Humiliation under Gods hand gives ground of hope p. 158 Humility caused by the fear of Gods judgments p. 811 Hypocrite appears best when he 's taken in pieces the sincere Christian when he 's taken all together p. 5 Hypocrites zealous about lesser slighty in great matters p. 33 Hypocrites discover'd by scandals p. 1032 Hypocrisie to serve God with the body not soul p. 1045 Hypocrisie to go from sin to sin from duty to sin from sin to duty c. p. 35 Hypocrisie to let God carry the name of our praises when we sacrifice to our selves p. 43. To be speaking of good things without hearts affected with their goodness p. 76. 89. Hypocrisie hateful to God p. 799 I. Idle words weigh heavy in Gods ballance p. 39 None of Gods servants must be idle p. 850 Idle discourses sinful p. 1065 1066 Iealous God exceeding jealous in matters of Worship p. 39. 852 Iewels Gods jewels are the worlds filth p. 141 Illumination by the word p. 629 Illumination of God necessary to a right understanding of Gods word p. 107. 853. A great mercy why p. 1057. A double work of God in Illumination p. 107 Several Uses of Divine Illumination p. 109 110. 852. 235 236. Worth of it in four things p 1059 1060 Imitation of God in his goodness p. 476 Immortality of the soul p. 890 Immoderate sorrow checked from the consideration of Gods justice and faithfulness in afflicting p 510 511 Immutability of Gods word emblems of it and reasons of it p. 574 890 A ground of comfort to Gods people p. 958 A reason of the immutability of our obedience p. 341 Impartiality of God in punishing and rewarding p 39 40. 810 Impatience in waiting for returns of prayer argues 1. Disobedience 2. Weak faith 3. Want of love 4. Want of patience p. 913 Impatience under delays whence p. 550. 913 From an opinion of our own merit p. 937 Impatience makes afflictions sharp and tedious p. 555 It is fed from a double spring p. 967 It causeth fainting under afflictions p 592 Importunity in prayer has great effects p. 911 Impotency of the Creature takes not away Gods right p. 28 Commands of God convince us of our impotency p. 29 We can do evil not good by our own power p. 247 Improvement of afflictions p. 557. By the word p. 592 Imprinting the word on the soul how discovered p. 890 Impudence to sin and not be ashamed p. 37 Inability to return and proneness to err the characters of fallen man p. 1101 Inclination to present things undoeth us p. 337 Inclination of the heart to Gods statutes what it is not what it is p. 752 753. 247 1. Negatively 1. It is not a simple approbation of the word 2. Nor a bare desire or wish 3. Nor a hypocritical will to the word 2. Affirmatively 1. It is a determination of the judgment for God 2. The will powerfully swayed to the word 3. Seconded with endeavours after new obedience p. 752 753 Inclination of the heart either from the world or to Gods testimonies is of the Lords grace p. 248 249 How God inclines the heart and how man p. 251 252 Indifferency in Religion reproved p. 206 Indirect means not to be used for relief p. 555 Indisposition of soul a Case whether we are to set upon duty under indispositions and deadness of soul resolved in eight Propositions p. 160 161 Indwelling of sin p. 18 19 Infinitely good God alone is so p. 384 Influence of Gods grace is not the warrant but the help of the soul in duties p. 160 We need continual influences of grace p. 979 Infirmities great sins may be but infirmities and smaller sins may be damnable transgressions how p. 19. 1107. Christ bears our infirmities p. 1107 How to distinguish between sins of infirmity and willful breaches of our Covenant p. 703 836 Infirmities unavoidable by the best p. 1102 They are to be watched against and repented of p. 1107 Ingenuous and open dealing with God procures audience p. 166 Ingratitude not to repent how that is p. 409 Inheritance of believers full sure lasting p. 744 745 Vid. Heritage Iniquity what it is to do iniquity who are they that do iniquity in God account p. 17 18 Iniquity comes to its height 1. when general 2. impudent 3. incorrigible 4. against nature c. p. 858 859 Injudiciousness either total or partial p 452 Injustice to God not to turn to him Now p. 409 Innocency gives holy boldness in prayer p. 36 136. 523 Innocency till it be lost a Christiââ¦n is not overcome p. 416 Innocency may be pleaded against men not God p 8ââ¦3 Innocent persons may be sore oppressed c. p 818 Inordinate desires of having more wealth than the Lord allows in a fair way of Providence is a main branch of covetousness p. 254 It is a natural evil the effects of it p. 257 258 259 Instruments of troubles too much eyed provoke God to anger p. 414 Whoever is the instrument God is the principal in all our afflictions p. 158 Insulting enemies not to be insulted over when Gods judgments fall upon them p. 810 Insulting over others in affliction reproved p. 812 Integrity and sincerity the whole heart p. 15 Integrity of parts p. 59 Inticements to sin what use may be made of them p. 738 Intimacy with few friendship with all that are godly p. 434 It must be improved for edification p. 434 Interest of God in the world lyes 1. In his Truth 2. His Worship 3. His Servants p. 851 852 Interest of God oftentimes stands alone yet God can carry it on though all the world be against it p. 143 Interest of God must be uppermost in the soul in prayer p. 903 Interest of a Christian is to keep in with God p. 152. 645 Interest in ââ¦d necessary that he be our portion p. 384 Interest in ãâã hearts of Gods people a rare mercy p. 504 Iourney to Heaven bespeaks provision against all weather Intermission of duty loseth ground p. 340 Interposition of God lawful to be desired in dangers Reasons p. 821 822 Only so far as may be for our good p. 823 Ioy of heart arising from a believers heritage 1. From the portion it self 2. From the disposition of a believers heart 3. From the dispensation of God p. 749 750. It is communicative p. 50 Ioy in Gods word must be mixt with reverence p. 100 Ioy in Gods word is 1. real 2. cordial 3. great 4. pure 5. it ends well 6. perverts not the heart 7. Overcomes sense of affliction p. 149 150 It 's
462. Mortification pressed p. 280 It helps and is helped by Vivification p. 659 Necessary to walking with God p. 277 278 Murmuring against Providence 1. In entertaining crosses with anger 2. Blessings with disdain-p 519 Caution against it p 485 It makes afflictions sharp and long p. 555 It 's cured by thanksgiving p. 421. 445 Reproof of murmuring in Gods children p. 928 510 From consideration of Gods faithfulness in afflicting us p. 510. Mourning for sins of others a constant disposition to it necessary and occasions often given p. 930. Special seasons that call for it Ibid. Vid. Lamentation Multiplying of expressions in Scriptures to the same purpose is not in vain p. 338 Mutability of the creature p. 779 Mutability of man aggravated from the immutability of Gods Testimonies p. 957 958 Mutual engagement between God and man in the Covenant p. 608 Mysteries though deep in themselves are yet revealed in a plain and familiar style p. 888 N. NAmes of contempt and scorn put upon the best parts of Religion by carnal men 1. Seriousness called Melancholy 2 Self-denial folly 3. Zeal sury 4. Holy singularity faction 5. Conversing with God Enthusiasm 6. Heavenly Discourse cantting 7. Faith credulity 8. Humility stupidness 9. Exact walking preciseness p. 337 338 Name of God well studied the way to remember him p. 367. Name of essence and attributes Ibid. Name of God is that whereby he is made known-9 362 Name of God glorified byacknowledging his mercies 445 Name of God taken in vain by slighty prayer p. 905 Name of the Church Afflicted tossed with tempests 882 Name a good name to be highly prized p. 137 138 To rob a man of his good name is the worst kind of theft p. 140. Nature the course of nature stable and regular an embleme of the stability of Gods Promises p. 583 584 All natures have a propension unto their perfection p. 303 Nature more susceptible of evil than good p. 933 Natural light and strength cannot help us out of our misery p. 110. Natural conscience takes notice only of gross sins p. 859 Natural men are bound to pray p. 160 Natural blindness an obstinate disease p. 171 172 Natural Instinct p. 123. Spiritual Instinct p. 123 Natural and gracious expectations distinguished 1083 Natural changeableness of our spirits shews the necessity of actual assisting grace p. 779 Nearness to God calls for our Reverence and Dependance p. 953 954 Nearness of God what it imports p. 947. What it is and how brought about-948 949 950 951 952 953 Nearer to God the more hateful the sin p. 804 Necessaries ought first to be sought p. 403 Necessities put us upon secret prayer p. 922 Negative faith may be in the wicked and negative distrust in the godly p. 884 Negative holiness not sufficient p. 658 Necessity a reason of desire after Gods word 124. 602 Necessity of chusing Gods precepts p. 1073 Neglect of God damnable as well as profaneness p. 777 Neglect of Gods word the cause of it p. 603 Neglect of God in trouble a great evil p. 917 Negligence in duty dishonourable to God p. 27 New heart Gods gift and the principle of durable obedience p. 753 754 New heart and soft heart both of grace p. 177 New nature the spring of holy desires p. 304 New nature Gods Commandments are suitable to it 316. It carries the soul to God p. 926 New creature in order to new obedience p. 497 New Testament God trusts love under that despensation p. 1076 Qu. Why God does not state duty so exactly under the New Testament as under the Old p. 1076 Night a season for converse with God p. 932 Vid. Watches of the Night Novelty an itch to it a ground of Apostasy p. 213 O. OAth lawful in some cases necessary p. 699 700 Arguments for an Oath p. 700 701 God is invoked as a witness and as a Judg p. 701 In what cases an Oath is lawful 1. In lawful matters 2. Weighty necessary things p. 702 Oath to God must be performed why p. 704 705. Obedience to Gods Laws indispensable p. 497 It must be given without delay why p. 402 403 Without arguing p. 939 940 It must be 1. Sincere 2. Constant 3. Uniform-5 Such Obedience is 1. The beginning 2. The evidence of blessedness p. 5 In Obedience three things are considerable 1. The Principle 2. The matter 3. The manner of it-751 Obedience to God is 1. Reasonable 2. Profitable p. 21 It must flow from a principle of love p. 862 It must be free and unconstrain'd p. 317 How to bring our hearts to it p. 317 Obedience which is 1. Laborious 2. Costly 3. Dangerous is troublesome to the flesh p. 754 755 Whether we are to resolve for Obedience when uncertain of Gods assistance p. 222 Obedience a necessary qualification of those that would be taught of God p. 155 Obedience to God our great security p. 690 Difficulties in the way of obedience overcome by consideration of Gods testimonies p. 892 Qu. How far we may ascribe our comforts and blessings to our Obedience p. 380 Obedience can never be right without hope of Salvation and hope can never be true without obedience to the Commandments p. 1040. See Reasons of both 1040 1041. Object and end of Worship Christ p. 12 Objections against the Scripture answered p. 694 695 696 697 Obscene Discourses an abomination to God p. 1064 Observance of Gods Commandments must be 1. Universal 2. Serious and diligent 3. Setled 4. Constant and persevering 5. From principles of Faith and love 6. Directed to a right end p. 319 320 Vid. Obedience Observe God observes how we carry it in our troubles p. 871. Observation of what passeth between God and us conduceth much to the comforting and quickning of the soul p. 603 Obstinacy there is a holy Obstinacy to cleave to God when he seems to thrust us from him p. 901 Occasions of Thanksgiving p. 425 Occasions of sin to be shunned p. 662 Occasional Meditation what it is how to be improved p. 90. Taking occasion to employ our selves about holy things a sign of a gracious heart p. 931 932 Office of Christ to reduce straying sheep p. 1107 Offerings Gods people have their spiritual offerings p. 720 721. They must be free-will offerings p. 723 Old-age makes sinners more unfit for Gods service-405 1042. Omission sins of Omission damnable-p 22. 26 Omnipresence of God p. 948 Omniscience of God a motive to Obedience p. 26 Omniscience cannot be deceived nor mocked p. 322 Opening the eyes by God shews great wonders in the Word p. 112 Opening our condition before God under sorrow and sin urged p. 165 166 Though God knows our case yet there is need to open our case before him p. 166 Vid. Laying open our case Open profession of Religion necessary p. 206 Opinions about the chiefest good very many St. Austin reckons up p. 288. ââ¦87 Opportunity to sin trys our sincerity p. 817 818 Opposition increaseth true Zeal p. 856 It
the plain handling of the Doctrines of Christian Religion according to the capacity of those that are weak in Knowledge and by Meat the more exact and curious handling those points Our weakness enforceth that we begin with the one but we must go on to the other for several reasons Partly because we are to grow in knowledge as well as other Graces 2 Pet. 1. 5. Give all diligence to add to your saith vertue to vertue knowledge Besides that knowledge that maketh way for Faith and Virtue there is a Knowledge to be added to it a great skill in divine things Partly because those obvious truths will be better improved and retained when we look more into them after-notions do explain and ground the former First we receive the Truth and after we are rooted and grounded in it Col. 1. 23. If ye continue in the Faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel An half light makes us very unsettled in our course but when we grow judicious have a fuller and clearer apprehension of Truths we are the more confirmed against the errour of the wicked Whereas otherwise light chaff is carried about with every wind Partly because the more we understand a Truth the more dominion it hath over our Faith and Practice For God beginneth with the understanding and Grace is multiplyed by Knowledge 2 Pet. 1. 2. Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you through the Knowledge of God and of Iesus our Lord. A truth simply understood hath not such operation and Force as when it is soundly and throughly understood Love aboundeth with Judgment Phil. 1. 9. And this I pray that your Love may abound yet more and more in Knowledge and in all Iudgment Secondly There are first Principles and fundamental Doctrines that must be first taught in a plain and easy way I say some things are initial and fundamental others additional and perfective we must regard both the one in our entrance the other in our growth the one are called the first principles of the Oracles of God Heb. 5. 12 c. partly because they are first in order and first to be taught and learned partly because they are chief and fundamental Truths of the Gospel upon which the rest depend most conducing to salvation the foundation laid well the building will stand the stronger They are reckoned up Heb. 6. 1 2. Therefore leaving the principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God of the Doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment In the general he calls them the principles of the Doctrine of Christ. The Doctrine of Christ is the summ of Religion he that hath learned it well hath learned all In particular repentance from dead works is made the first or that a sinful Creature must turn to God by Christ before he can be happy The next is faith towards God believing the promises and priviledges of the Gospel and depending on him till they be accomplished Indeed in these two is the summ of Religion sometimes comprized Acts 20. 21. Testifying both to the Iews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Iesus Christ. So Acts 5. 31. Him hath God raised up to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins Doctrine of Baptism it is the initiating Ordinance what it signifieth to what it obligeth Laying on of hands the way of Christs Officers entring into the Church Resurrection and last Judgment bindeth all 2. Because the prime truths are few and clear ignorant and unlearned people may know them they are milk Babes and Ignorants may swallow them as most easie of digestion Gods end in the Scripture being to guide his people to true happiness Those truths that are necessary to this end are few and clear and plainly set down that he that runneth may read them Though we reach not other Points yet if we get but to this door there is a great deal of profit Thirdly They which do not first learn these cannot profit much Some confused knowlege they may acquire but distinct clear and orderly understanding they never grow unto When men run before they can go they often get a knock They that were never well grounded are always mutable therefore before we are brought into the Chambers of knowledge we must stay in the Porch begin with most necessary things which are most clear and plain and thereby we are made capable of higher mysteries 2. Though all Christians must come to this pitch to know what is necessary to salvation yet we must not stay here nor always stay in the Porch nor always keep to our milk nor be always infants in understanding 1 Cor. 14. 20. Brethren be not Children in understanding Other things must be regarded or why hath God revealed them No part of Scripture is express'd in vain or at random but all by Divine direction though the first points are most necessary yet the rest are not superfluous but have their use 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness one part of Scripture as well as the other and maketh much for the encrease of spiritual knowledg comfort and godliness One part is milk another stronger meat but all is food for the soul. The grown are more ready to every good work more strong in the resistance of sin more stedfast in the truth therefore we should improve our knowledge If a man layeth the foundation and doth not carry on the building he loseth his cost therefore let us up to go on to perfection Use 1. Let us bless God for this door and porch that the Scriptures are so plain and clear in all things necessary to salvation Many complain of the difficulty and obscurity of Religion and the many Controversies that are about it and they know not what to chuse nor where to find the truth till the World be more of a mind It is true in some things there is difficulty but not in the most necessary things Pascimur apertis exercemur obscuris ibi fames pellitur hîc fastidium God has made his peoples way clear and sure in necessaries for which we have cause to bless his Name for exercising our diligence and dependance Something is difficult If those that complain of this difficulty would enter into the Porch that standeth open other things would soon be understood Whatever differences there are in Christendome all agree That there is one God Jesus Christ his only Son who dyed for the world and accordingly must be owned by his people that a man must be converted to God and become a new Creeture and walk holily or else shall never see God all are agreed in this Prepare
thy heart for entertaining the light and power of these truths and in due time God will shew thee other things In the mean time bless God that whatever is necessary is plain to them that are docile and heedful and willing to do the will of God As in the world the most necessary things are at hand the less necessary are hidden in the bowels of the Earth so in Scripture necessaries are facile and easie 2. Let us use this method in learning and teaching of others In learning our selves First Be sure to get a clear understanding of and firm assent unto the main plain truths of Scripture That there is one God Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that he is That Jesus Christ is the Son of God Iohn 17. 3. This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent It is a corner truth that enliveneth all Religion Matth. 16. 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God then Upon this Rock will I build my Church John 6. 69. We believe and are sure that thou art Christ the Son of the living God This is the great enlivening truth that hath influence both on faith and obedience We must believe that he is able to bring us to God Iohn 14. 6. Heb. 7. 25. and must be obeyed Heb. 5. 9. that every man needeth this Christ to bring him to God Acts 4. 12. There is a necessity of his merit that God may be propitious of his Spirit as the foundation of a new life that we may be reconciled to God that we should live holily because there is a day of account when every one shall receive according to his works We should bestow more cost upon the main truths to get a clear distinct knowledge of them there must be a removing of Rubbish and digging to lay the foundation of the knowledge of the principles of the Doctrine of Christ before there can be any safe building or going on unto perfection Heb. 6. and firm assent to them For he is the best Christian that doth most clearly understand and firmly believe these things Not the Opinionist the Disputer he that best promotes the interest of his party or side which are the distempers now afoot in Christendome Those truths well accepted would so purifie the heart as we should sooner discern Gods interest in other things and be able to find out that So for teaching our Children God reckons on it from his people Gen. 18. 19. For I know Abraham that he will command his Children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Iustice and Iudgment Deut. 6. 6 7. And these words that I command thee this day shall ââ¦e in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way when thou liest down and when thou risest up Train them up in wholesome truths in the nurture and admoniââ¦ion of the Lord Ephes. 6. 4. how to carry themselves towards God in matters of Religion how towards men in righteousness civility and good manners chiefly that they may be instructed in the knowledge of Christ and salvation by him 3. Let the entertainment we have upon our first entrance into the study of Religion encourage us to follow on to know the Lord that we may see more into his mind and counsel concerning us When we are first serious we have notable experience of light and comfort and power this is a bribe to draw us on further more light for it is a growing thing Prov. 4. 18. The path of the Iust is as the shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day more taste 1 Pet. 2. 3 4. If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming as to a living stone c. It should sharpen and put an edge upon our desires more power Iames 1. 18 19. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creation wherefore my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath You saw the entrance and your first acquaintance with the word succeeded well Doctr. II. By the word of God we get light or our understandings are enlightened Prov. 6. 23. For the Commandment is a lamp and the Law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life 1. Light is a great benefit This is the perfection of the rational Nature the benefit that we have above the Beasts He teacheth us more than the Beasts of the field They are guided by instinct ruled by a Rod of Iron we have Reason and in it more resemble God who is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 Iohn 1. 5. we come nearest to our happiness in heaven it is called The inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. Our knowledge is perfected and the vision of God is our happiness 1 Cor. 13. 12. For now we see through a glass darkly then face to face now I know in part then I shall know even as also I am known 2. This light hath excellent properties First It is lux manifestans it manifesteth it self and all things else How do I see the Sun but by the Sun by its own light how do I know the Scripture to be the Word of God but by the light that shineth in it commending it self to my Conscience So it manifests all things else By this light a man may see every thing in its own colours it layeth open all the frauds and impostures of Satan the vanity of worldly things the deceits of the heart the odiousness of sin Ephes. 5. 8. 13. All things that be reproved are made manifest by light for whatsoever doth make manifest is light It sets out the odiousness of sin as a breach of Gods most holy Law enmity against the Great God the procurer of his eternal wrath Nothing manifests things as this light doth Secondly It is lux dirigens a directing light that we may see our way and work As the Sun lighteth man to his labour so doth this direct us in all conditions Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths It directs us how to manage our selves in all conditions in prosperity adversity in all affairs paths steps in all the particular actions of our life it filleth us with spiritual prudence the wayfaring the fool a man of parts that is a stranger the man of mean parts all may meet with plain and clear directions hence to guide them in the way to Heaven Thirdly It is lux vivificans a quickening light Lux est vehiculum influentiarum Joh. 8. 12. I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of