end I am the Lord I change not Jesus Christ yesterday to Day and the same for ever His works indeed of the first Creation are changable to the worse and weaker but so is not he of old hast thou laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure they all of them shall wax old like a Garment but thou art the same And so are all his works of the second Creation The renewing graces of his holy Spirit the older they are the newer and fresher and more flourishing they grow They that are partakers of them can say as Caleb did to Joshua Forty Years old was I when Moses sent me to espie the Land I am this Day fourscore and five Years old as yet I am as strong this Day as I was the Day when Moses sent me as my strength was then even so is my strength now for War both to go out and to come in So it is said of Moses who was an hundred and twenty Years old when he dyed yet his Eye was not dim nor his natural force abated How much more may it be said of the everlasting Lord God that his Eyes are as sharp sighted as ever nor is his Divine force abated The Eyes of the Lord run too and fro throughout the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him Is his hand shortned that it cannot redeem Or have I no power to deliver Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his Eare heavy that it cannot hear And as his Power is so is his Mercy and Truth The Mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto Childrens Children Thy faithfulness is unto all Generations This House therefore with all its Furniture is alway new and fresh which can be said of no other nor is it new formally only but also effectively Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary His strength never decayeth nor doth his will ever alter towards his who by a never failing Power of the Holy Spirit are carryed as it were upon Eagles Wings to Heaven to the mark of their supernal Calling Yea their Wings grow like unto Eagles that is they grow young and renew in spiritual Vigour 9. It is a dwelling house dwelling in as well as dwelt in an habitation inhabiting in each of its Inhabitants which no other house is God is oft said to dwell in Heaven Unto thee will I lift up mine Eyes O thou that dwellest in the Heavens Look down from Heaven and behold from the Habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory I dwell in the High and Holy Place The Heaven is my Throne We must not understand this placing God in Heaven as if he were totally circumscribed there for this is contrary to his infinite greatness Behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord. Nor must we think he is so in Heaven as if his sight of things below were hindered by Heaven as a Curtain drawn before him as those great Fools thought for this is contrary to his Omnisciency But he is said to be in Heaven because he doth there most immediatly and visibly manifest his Majesty and exhibit the fulness of his Glory and because from thence he doth most manifest his powerful providence wisdome justice and mercy we are commanded when we pray to him to conceive of him as being in Heaven to teach us to raise our Souls as high in praise as possibly we can above the Earth beyond Heaven our thoughts cannot soar As also how to make Prayers pleasing to God both for matter and manner God is as oft said to dwell on Earth to have his Residence among his ancient People in the Land wherein they dwelt Defile not the Land which ye shall inhabit wherein I dwell for I the Lord dwell among the Children of Israel The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his Habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Blessed be the Lord out of Zion which dwelleth at Hierusalem I have surely built thee an House to dwell in A setled place for thee to abide in for ever In that place as in the flitting Tabernacle which Moses made he caused his Name to dwell that is he made manifest and known in those places the sacred Signs of his Presence as it were by his own proper name His Majesty and Glory in singular and wonderful effects of Grace and Power Every regenerate and faithful Man and Woman hath ever been is and will be owned and acknowledged the Temple of the Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Ye are the Temple of the Living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you Know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God These things are signifyed by this dwelling of the Spirit in Believers 1. That his Spirit is effectual and mighty to possess and govern them enlightning their minds to know and powerfully guiding them to do the known will of God 2. That his Presence is continual not as of a Guest who lodgeth for a Night at an Inne and is gone next Day nor as a Sojourner but as an owner and Possessor to abide for ever I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abâ—de with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth he dwelleth in you and shall be in you 3. The manner of his Presence not by Infiniteness of Power as he is present to all Creatures to sustain them but by his grace and healthful effects If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he shall quicken your immortal Souls and mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you 10. It is a movable Habitation according to the motion of those that dwell in it accompanying them whithersoever they go covering them where-soever they are Some Creatures carry their Houses about with them So doth every new Creature They are never out of this their own House The Israelites during their abode in the Wilderness dwelt in Tents Forty Years The Arabians and other People do so constantly having no firm Habitations In time of War and in travelling these moveable Houses were and still are in use Places to dwell in so made as they might be
9 10. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most High thy Habitation there shall no evil befall thee neither shall any Plague come nigh thy dwelling IT is as natural for all Men to desire happiness as it is For the sparks to flie upwards To make them happy there is required an absence of all oppressing evils and a concurrence of all things necessary convenient and decent Among and above many other things an habitation or resting place for their bodies is needful to their outward happiness without which they cannot but be miserable whatever other good things they may enjoy Herein our blessed Saviour seems to prefer the felicity of Foxes and Fowles before his own The Foxes have Holes and the Birds of the Aire have Nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head The better House any Man hath the more happy he is in that He that hath the best is happiest Now that House is best that is higher stronger larger more lightsome warm and better furnished with provisions and all desirable accommodations than any other That is not subject to any casualties and which secures its Inhabitants from all manner of evil present and future And withall is a resting place for their Souls They that have such an habitation cannot but be acknowledged by all the World to be the only happy People in the World If the Question be where such an habitation can be found Where such a People And by what means they become thus superlatively happy This Text resolveth it The habitation is the Lord who was David's refuge even the most High Find him and this habitation is found The People are such as he to whom David directs his Speech whom the Lord himself describes and ownes a little after He hath set his love upon me he hath known my Name The meanes whereby this People come to be possessed of this happiness it is by their own making Because thou hast made the Lord c. Who the Lord is it is well known even Israel's God the same whom we Christians own and worship One in Essence Three in Subsistence the Father the Son the Holy Ghost What and what a One he is his Name Jehovah in part imports an Absolute Simple Infinite Independent and Immutable Beeing That he is a real habitation appears by all those places of Scripture where Men are said to Dwell in God whereof we shall have occasion hereafter He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall lodge under the shaddow of the Almighty He that keepeth his Commandements dwelleth in him Hereby we know that we dwell in him because he hath given us of his Spirit Whoso shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God he dwelleth in God He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God That he is such an Habitation as hath been formerly mentioned and consequently the best as far surpassing all others even the choicest under Heaven as the stateliest Pallace in the World doth the poorest Cottage or Heaven Earth and infinitely more is now to be proved And hereby the Conclusion asserted will be evinced to be a truth That all and only they are the most yea the only happy People upon Earth whose Habitation the Lord Jehovah is 1. Begin we with the Properties of this House The first whereof is Height expressed in the Text. The Scituation of it is exceeding high The Babel-builders designed to erect a Tower whose top might reach unto Heaven This is far above it They that are in it are out of danger of any deluge beyond the reach of Men or Devils David calleth God his high Tower And he that can as David could prove God to be his Habitation is said to dwell in height 2. It is also a non-such for strength Hear that holy Man of God thankfully acknowledging what God had been for him in times past Thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong Tower from the Enemy And what he was at present Thou art my strong refuge And he not only prayeth that God would still be his strong habitation whereunto he might continually resort his strong Rock for an house of defence to save him But frequently declares his confidence that as God was so he would ever be as he wished and how oft doth he call him his strength His Son tells us he is the same to every one that is as he was The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the Righteous runneth to it and is safe And the Prophet Esay praiseth God for this Thou hast been a strength to the Poor a strength to the needy in his distress a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the Wall The greatest Canon-bullets shot against the Walls of this House make no more Impression do no more execution than Paper-pellets shot against a Wall of Brass or Marble 3. It is a House exceeding large this is accounted a great commodity of a House to have Roomes enow and Room enough Solomon intimates as much when he saith it is better to dwell in a Corner of the House top than with a brawling Woman in a wide House To have any thing we use too narrow or too streight is very troublesome The Bed is shorter than that a Man can stretch himself on it and the Covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it In God there is Room more than enough both for the understanding and affections of Man to expatiate themselves in Canst thou by searching finde out God Canst thou by searching finde out the Almighty to perfection 'T is as high as Heaven What canst thou do deeper than Hell What canst thou know the measure thereof is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea His Commandements are exceeding broad How much more are his Attributes Absolute and Relative proper and figurative God bid Abraham to walk through the Land of Canaan which is called a good Land and a large good because large in the length of it and in the breadth of it And he bids every Child of Abraham to whom he gives himself for a possession as he gave that Land to Abraham to walk within and pass through all his Divine Properties going out of one Room into another as also his great and precious promises Nor shall they have cause to complain of straitness as the Churches Children do in their Mothers eares The place is too strait for me give place to me that I may dwell To whom we may conceive her giving them this Answer Children though your bodies may be present in your Earthly dwellings the faculties of your souls have space enough abundantly more than your faculties can conceive in God who saith to every Saint of his dwelling in him apt to make the like complaint as Paul to the Corinthians Ye
plenty of meat and drink and cloaths and Silver and Gold and Armor for defence and offence have the denomination given them by the generality of People and are only cryed up empty ones have no bodies good word Take notice of some passages of Scripture to this purpose from the mouths both of Prophane and Divine Pen-men yea of Divinity it self How many hired Servants in my Fathers House have Bread enough and to spare We shall finde all precious substance we shall fill our Houses with spoyle If Balak would give me his House full of Silver and Gold Through wisdome is a House builded and by knowledge shall the Chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches Thou shalt save Goats milk enough for thy food for the food of thy Houshold and for the food of thy Maidens Thy Barnes shall be filled with plenty and thy Presses shall burst out with new Wine Wealth and Riches shall be in his House They possessed Houses full of all good the Floors shall be full of Wheat and the Fat 's shall overflow with Corn and Oyle Some very good People who had House-room enough have had therein next to nothing The Widdow of Zarephath going into her House to fetch the Prophet Elijah a little Water in a Vessel which he begged of her to drink makes this answer to him craving that she would also bring him a morsel of Bread in her Hand As the Lord thy God liveth I have not a Cake but a handful of Meal in a Barrel and a little Oyl in a Cruse this was all her store Such an answer gave a certain Woman of the Wives of the Sons of the Prophets unto Elisha Tell me said he What hast thou in the House Thy Hand-maid said she hath not any thing in the House save a Pot of Oyle In this House which we have in hand there is not only No want of any thing which is on the Earth the good report given of Laish by the five Searchers But here is also all the good things that Heaven it self is able to afford Witness him that was caught up thither and saw what was in those Mansions Blessing God for blessing him and all his fellow-Members of this blessed Family withall spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ Begin we with Provisions of food They to whom it is given to dwell in God shall be sure not to want either Corporal or Spiritual sustenance but enjoy both in abundance 1. For their bodies this is one of the encouragements given to the Saints of God to fear and seek him O fear the Lord O ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lyons do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing in the Day of Famine they shall be satisfied The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his Soul but the belly of the wicked shall want They shall alway have Bread and Water enough As those hundred Prophets had in that time of great dearth whom Obediah fed by fifty in a Cave Bread shall be given them their Waters shall be sure Likened unto Men that dwell in an unpregnable Fort well provided with Victuals to hold out a Siege And there Bread and Water is sure as is not else-where to be found For there is a blessing in both which are also of the choicest and God himself feeds them therewith I should have fed them saith the Lord to his professing People had they hearkened unto me to come and live in him but they would not with the finest of the Wheat and with Honey out of the Rock should I have satisfied them No courser Bread than wheaten doth every hinde or Servant of this House eat That which is materially pulse beanes pease which some of them are fain sometimes to feed upon is virtually the fat of wheat So it was to Daniel and his three Companions whose countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the Children which did eat the portion of the Kings meat Nor can they be scanted He whos 's the Earth is and the fulness thereof having said Thou shalt eat thy Bread without scarceness I will abundantly bless her Provision I will satisfie her Poor with Bread In case they have but an handful of Meal He can make it suffice them and theirs many Days yea enable them to go in the strength of one Cake baken on the Coales forty Days yea to make five Loaves feed no fewer than five thousand Men besides Women and Children nor shall there want a concurence of his will with his power if need be Though Miracles are said to be ceased every one of the House shall have their Daily bread according as they are taught to pray And as Agar prayed in faith nothing doubting nor were ever any of them in David's observation put to the Trade of begging their bread Though some of them have in all Ages been constrained to live of Almes for exercise and tryal which is a noble way of living And so the Waters given them to drink they are not like these of Marah and Jericho bitter and naught but sweet and wholsome If they be otherwise naturally they are by a Tree or Salt cast in presently sweetned and healed with which as with Honey distilled out of the Rock their thirst is wonderfully quenched 2. As for their Souls there is in this House abundantly more and better Provision of all manner of Food for all sorts of Persons that are of the Family Nehemiah tells us of what a great Table he kept and what was provided for him daily Viz. one Oxe and six choice Sheep also Fowles and once in ten Dayes store of all sorts of Wine Solomon's Provisions for one Day was thirty Measures of fine flower and threescore Measures of Meal ten fat Oxen out of the Pasture and an hundred Sheep beside Harts and Roe-bucks and fallow Deer and fatted Fowle But all his great store is but as a drop to the Ocean in comparison of the spiritual Provision prepared every day for the Saints to feed upon in this House The Word of God and God the Word are a million of times more in quantity and virtue to nourish and cheer How sweet are thy Words unto my Taste Sweeter than honey unto my mouth Thy words were found and I did eat them and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoycing of my Heart O Book insinite sweetness Let my heart Suck every Letter and a honey gain Precious for every Greif in any part To cheer the brest to mollifie all pain Thou aut all health health thriving 'till it make A full Eternity Thou art a Mass Of strange delights where we may wish and take Here is milk for Babes the first Principles of the Oracles of God and strong
all fulness with marrow What is Wines on the Lees what are all earthly royal dainties to these rich graces and Divine special favours and blessings offered and bestowed and participated of in the Sacraments At which sumptuous and delicious banquet every worthy receiver that has made due preparation by self examination is or should be much affected and ravished As the Divine Poet was who thus expresseth himself First as to the manner of Importation and submission Herb. H. Com. Not in rich Ornament or fine Aray Nor in a Wedge of Gold Thou who for me wast sold To me dost now thy self convey For so thou should'st without me stil have been Leaving within me Sin But by the way of nourishment strength Thou creepest into my Breast Making thy Way my Rest And thy small quantities my length Which spread their Forces into every part Meeting Sins force and art Yet can these not get over to my Soul Leaping the Wall that parts Our Souls and fleshly Hearts But as the out-works they may controll My Rebel-flesh and carrying thy Name Affright both sin and shame Only thy grace which with these Elements comes Knoweth the ready way And hath the Privy Key Op'ning the Souls most subtile Roomes While those to Spirits refin'd at Door attend Dispatches from their Friend Give me my Captive Soul or take My Body also thither Another life like this will make Them both to be together Before that Sin turn'd Flesh to stone And all our Lump to leaven A fervent sigh might well have blown Our innocent Earth to Heaven For sure when Adam did not know To sin or sin to smother He might to Heav'n from Paradise go As from one Room to another Thou hast restor'd us to this ease By this thy Heavenly blood Which I can go to when I please And leave the Earth to their food When he was pleased to go to this Heavenly Banquet and he was so pleased as oft as might be and so should every godly Christian hear him warbling this Divine Rapture Idem the Banquet Welcome sweet and sacred cheer Welcome deer With me in me live and dwell For thy neatness passeth sight Thy delight Passeth Tongue to taste or tell O what sweetness from the Bowl Fills my Soul Such as is and makes Divine Is some Star fled from the Sphere Melted there As we Sugar melt in Wine Or hath sweetness in the Bread Made a head To subdue the smell of Sin Flow'rs and gums and powders giving All their living Lest the Enemy should win Doubtless neither Star nor Flower Hath the Power Such a sweetness to impart Only God who gives perfumes Flesh assumes And with it perfumes my heart But as Pomanders and sweet Wood Still are good Yet being bruised are better sented God to shew how far his love Could improve Here as broken is presented c. Let the wonder of this pitty Be my ditty And take up my lines and life Hearken under pain of Death Hands and breath Strive in this and love the strife Nor found he this food beyond all degrees of comparison nourishing and strengthning but he feeleth it also most effectually healing Physick as appeares by what he speaks to his pratling Conscience which call'd every fair look sowl every sweet Dish sower If thou persist I will tell thee That I have Physick to expell thee And the Receipt shall be My Saviours Blood when ever at his board I do but taste it straight it cleanseth me And leaves thee not a Word No not a Tooth or Nail to scratch And at my actions carp or catch Here is therefore no such provision of food no such sumptuous fair in any House as this Solomon's so much admired was as Husks yea and stark hunger compared to this and each of the Houshold fares alike And they have both Dinner and Supper every Day of the same delicates that which Matthew calls a Dinner Luke calls a Supper And they are called upon to feed heartrly Eat O Friends Drink yea drink abnndantly O well-beloved Nor are there any such fellow-Commoners to Dine and Sup with any where as here These are all Noble Honourable Persons The choicest and most excellent Kings and Priests A chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a peculiar People Yea the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Dines and Sups with them Mephibosheth thought it no small honour that David set him among them that did eat at his own Table How great honour must it then be to sit at Christs Table who is David's Lord And to increase their comfort they have assurance of the same Session with him in the Kingdome of Glory I appoint you saith he a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed me that ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdome Nor are there any such servitures in any House as in this to wit the Holy Angels Are they not all Ministering Spirits sent forth to Minister for them who shall he Heirs of Salvation There are that make them both Cooks and Butlers that dress and dish up and bring in the provision of this continual Feast attend at Table and Minister Cups of Consolation And moreover wait upon every Member of this Family when they go abroad about the works of their Callings and in all the changes of their life who have care of them besides this common attendance a peculiar Guardian of Angels from their new birth at least as some probably gather from sundry Scriptures Nor are there any such Vessels in any House to serve up the Meat and Drink in as are in this The Dishes Spoons Covers and Bowles belonging to the Sanctuary were all of pure Gold so were all the Vessels of the pure Table All the drinking Vessels of King Solomon were of Gold and all the Vessels of the House of the forrest of Lebanon were of pure Gold At that Royal Feast which Ahasuerus made to all his Princes and Servants That lasted an hundred and fourscore Days They gave them Drink in Vessels of Gold The Vessels of this House wherein the Saints dwell and wherein they have their Meat and Drink served up are much more precious than the Gold that perisheth which is corruptible how pure soever even great and precious promises in which are contained all the choicest Viands that Earth and Heaven can yield both for the nourishment of Soul and Body For Godliness is profitable for all things having the promise of the Life that now is and that which is to come Nor are there any such Seats to rest both Souls and Bodies on in taking repast in any House as in this Kings have had their Seats for themselves and by them for their Children and Favorites on which they sate down to eat meat they were terrestrial these coelestial places We read of the great King sitting at his Table with his Spouse
sitting with him presented Him with the exercise of her Virtues And of his sitting down with his Twelve Disciples to eat the Passover and before this with many Publicans and Sinners All penitent Sinners whose habitation the Lord is ever had still have and ever shall have this Priviledge to sit with Christ in Heavenly places which are no other than the Loves of God in Christ from which Seats neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to seperate them Nor any such Beds to take rest in which the now named Loves make Herb. Evens My God thou art all Love Not one poor Minute scapes thy Breast But brings a favour from above And in this Love more than in Bed I rest The softest down Beds compared to these are harder than stones on which as little true rest can be taken as Ahasuerus took the Day before Mordecai was to be hanged on that Night could not the King sleep or as Job had when he wanted the sense of these Divine Loves When I say my Bed shall ease me my Couch shall ease my Complaints then thou scarest me with Dreames and terrifiest me with Visions In this Bed of assurance of Divine Love Jacob slept sweetly comforted by a Vision made by a Sign namely a Ladder set upon the Earth the top whereof reached unto Heaven c. and in words promising the Land whereon he slept a numerous posterity and protection in his going out and coming home when his Body lay on the cold Ground and his Head on a Stone And in the same Bed David slept securely when surrounded with Enemies I laid me down and slept and I will not be afraid of ten thousand of People that have set themselves against me round about Yea when their Bodies are upon Sick-beds God himself twines them makes them soft stirring up Feathers of Consolation under them The Lord will strengthen him upon the Bed of languishing Thou wilt make all his Bed in his Sickness Nor is there in any House such Linnen for Bed and Board which is spread and used as oft as rest or repast is taken and hath an influence into both making them comfortable yea into the very Dishes and Vessels wherein the Meat and Drink is served up making them precious and permanent and into the Couches or places of repose corporal as well as spiritual without which those would have no grateful relish nor these any refreshing sweetness Such as Jeremy found wrapped therein upon this I awaked and beheld and my sleep was sweet unto me But especially this Linnen serves for the cloathing this Houshold imparting not only warmth to which sufficient hath been spoken but also Ornament beyond compare To her speaking of the Church the Lamb's Wife was granted that she should be arrayed in fine Linnen clean and white for the fine Linnen is the Righteousness of Saints Of old great and honourable Persons were cloathed with fine Linnen Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in Vestures of fine Linnen Mordecai went out from the presence of the King in Royal Apparel and with a Garment of fine Linnen Dives was cloathed in Purple and fine Linnen The High Priests Garments were made of Gold and of Blue and of Purple Scarlet and of fine Linnen The Ephod and the curious Girdle the Coat and the Miter and so were the Vestures of his Sons which are said to be for Glory and for Beauty that is to make them Venerable and Majestick in the executing of their Office Every faithful Christian Man or Woman is a sacred King a Royal Priest hath Royal blood running in his Veins Was born not of blood is not such by natural Generation nor of the will of the flesh But of God by the power of his Spirit unto his own Image and so is higher than the Kings of the Earth hath Power as a King to subdue and keep under the rebellious motions and lusts of his own corrupt reason and will and is by faith partaker of Christs royal Dignity and Will being with him annexed Heir of an Heavenly Kingdome He is also made partaker of the Dignity of Christ's Priesthood better than the Levitical Priesthood which was not after the Order of Melchisedeck having God propitious to him by his Death having access to God by Prayer through his intercession and to offer spiritual sacrifices to him the Sacrifice of Prayer that is the fruit of the Lips giving thanks to his Name To do good also and to communicate for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased The Linnen wherewith these spiritual Kings and Priests are apparelled being the Righteousness of Christ's humane Nature called the Righteousness of God Because he is the Supream Author of it and appointed his Son who was true God for to fulfil and to acquire it out of his meer grace and imputes it to the Elect and accepts it for their absolution as far surpasseth in fineness purity and whiteness that wherewith Earthly Princes and Priests were arrayed as the finest Flax doth the coursest Sack or Hair-cloath For it is Angelical yea more pure and bright and transcendently glorious and makes them appear so The Kings Daughter is all glorious within Yea Glory it self in the abstract yea they do appear so not only in the Eyes of God but even in the Eyes of the Nations of the World as appeares by these words of admiration uttered by them Who is she that looketh forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an Army with Banners And this by reason of those gorgeous outward Garments and Jewels that cast a shining lustre wherewith they are invested and adorned Cap a pe like Herod in his Cloath of Silver which being beaten by the Sun-beames dazled the Peoples Eyes The exercise and exerting of those glorious Virtues mentioned by the Apostle Bowels of Mercies kindness meekness of mind long-suffering and charity which is the Bond of Perfection make them to shine as lights in the World He that will look into the Wardroab of this House shall finde besides these very many changes of rich Rayment fitted for all Sexes and Ages which being put on and worn abroad must needs make them glorious in the Eyes of all beholders And as there is no such Vestry in any House as this so neither is there any such Armony In the Tower of David which was builded for an Armory there hang a Thousand Bucklers all Shields of Mighty Men. There is in this one Shield of more worth to all intents and purposes than all those a thousand times told over The Shield of Faith a spiritual Shield serving to beat back and bear off all the fierce Temptations of Satan To quench all his Fiery Darts to hinder their pernicious working By
better discern of one than of another it will be needful to speak a word or two to each of them That is a New heart which is furnished with a new spirit that is to say new dispositions inclinations and habits It 's called new because it 's opposed to the old spirit that of the World and of the Devil who by breathing on Men makes them go an end into old courses And because it s ever fresh and green and comfortable to them that have it That is a Broken heart which is smitten and pierced with remorse for sin broken down and brought low all high thoughts laid flat and level Broken off from the wayes of sin and stubborness in pursuit of those wayes Broken up as fallow ground made soft and tender as Josiahs was That 's an open heart which is enlightned to see our estate by nature and bewail it And to see comfort in Christ and rejoyce in it To have it also enlarged towards God's faithful Ministers as Lydia's was towards Paul and his fellow-labourers who constrained them to come into her House and abide there as also to run the way of God's Commandments A Single heart is opposed to eye-service and to carnal wisdom and to double mindedness and to guile A Whole heart is a willing heart when we are willing to a thing we use to say with all our hearts It 's opposed to a heart withdrawing it self and to a heart divided willing to lay hold on God and the World too and that fulfilleth not to walk after God That heart is pure that suffers no sin to abide in it without disallowance It being both against the judgment and will and when after falling into sin there is a speedy rising again with self-abhorring 1. A Perfect heart includes integrity and uprightness The heart is then intire when it is sanctified throughout and when there is a study and desire to attain perfection of degrees and a readiness to do all whatsoever God calls for and a constant holding unto God Following hard after him Keeping race with him And it is then upright when it is solid and true great just and when it is led by a right rule and aimes at a right end Such a heart as this God loves and dwells in and if you provide such a dwelling place for God he will be your dwelling place Qu. But is all this or any of this in the power of meer natural Men Such as you have been all this while perswading and advising to do Is it not severally taught and held that no Man can do any thing to help forward or further his own conversion Is it not a truth that no natural Man hath any desire of grace or of the means of grace never thinks of it because he is dead in trespasses and sins and how can a dead Man desire Life or use any means to attain it Nor when God by his Word makes offer of his grace can he perceive it Nor when he doth by God's Word and Spirit beginning to enlighten him in some measure to perceive it is he able to imbrace it Because wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God and because he is under the power of Satan And is not the Religion of the Papists convinced of gross error for teaching that the natural man is able both by his free-will to prepare himself for grace and to accept of grace when it is offered Yea to desire it like the Man that lay in the way to Jericho half dead yea and to do some good works If all this were true yet it hinders not but that God's Ministers may and ought to call upon natural Men to do what they can to reach forth their utmost towards grace for the obtaining of it Hear ye deaf and look ye blind that ye may see Some power they had which they are commanded to exaert and act and they are reproved for not doing what they could Ye Hypocrites ye can discern the face of the Skie and how is it that ye cannot discern this time Yea and why even of your selves That is your own Conscience dictates to you so many proofs of God's truth and God's Kingdom being set forth so clearly unto you by so many marks and tokens Judge ye not what is right that is to say that I am the Messias you have so long looked for They had therefore power to judge of the Visitation of Grace and God's Kingdom and in the Verses following they are told they neglected the time of God's patience It would befall them as a Debtor who suffers himself to be imprisoned after wearying out his Creditor namely that they should finde no more grace or pardon at his hands Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is neer Nor ought Nature to be laid over-low Grace is Nature's perction what does it but repair the decayes of Nature Nature is the matter and Grace the Forme of God's Kingdom both in Earth and Heaven It Figures and Formeth Nature to the Image of God Moreover this is the way of God's exhibiting grace there is a necessity of Natures concurrence First this must precede as we are taught to pray for our daily bread before forgiveness of sins God cannot save an unwilling Man the will being uncapable of force and violence and all possibilities divine are carried on in an ordinary way of Man's industry who must therefore carry on himself as far as he can which whoso doth not hath no ground to expect common grace He that doth may expect to receive supernaturals common And he that abides with God in these may probably expect supernaturals special Qu. What are the abilities which Nature may and must reach forth in the pursuit of saving grace Answ She may and must approve the good ways of God More purity of Principles being left in Mans mind and conscience than in his will and affections That devilish Sorceress could say I see and allow and like that which is good and honest though I pursue and practice the contrary That sentence and principle pressed by our Saviour All things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye unto them was the Posie of an Heathen Emperour 2. She may and must assay and make after Lift at the Commandments of God as a blind Horse having heard a noise hath been seen to lift up his head and turn that way where the noise came And a Child being commanded by his Father to reach a thing which he cannot will put to the little strength it hath and tug at it to remove bear and bring it 3. Matter of duty and obedience may be done by a natural Man They did well that took heed to the Word as to a light shining in a dark place though the Day-star was not yet risen in their hearts There is no outward exercise of Religion but we finde graceless
underneath you and you shall be able both to do and suffer all things through him that strengthneth you Upon all these and many more accounts Ascribe the strength unto God his excellency is over Israel and his strength is in the Heavens The God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his People Blessed be God From the third property of your Habitation Viz. Largeness Learn rightly to conceive of this property holding forth the infiniteness immensness and omnipresence of God being without quantity and measure every where both within and without the World filling all places with his essence as the whole Soul is said to be in the whole Body and in every part of it so is God whole and wholly in every part of the World Behold the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee His greatness is unsearchable infinite and incomprehensible The Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my Footstool Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God afar off Can any hide himself in secret Places that I shall not see him saith the Lord Do not I fill Heaven and Earth Yea and Hell too If I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there This must teach us to banish all gross conceits of God out of our mind and to detest the making any Picture of him by which he is denyed to be incomprehensible and to see him though invisible to be present with you where ever you are his Eye beholding whatsoever you are doing This Consideration filled David's heart with shame and sorrow for his sin and made it to lye so heavy upon his Conscience I have done this evil in thy sight All my care was to be secret to hide my sin from the Eyes of Men but all this while thine Eye was upon me There is no Man but would be restrained from many sins if they knew of any body that was by them to see what they did The Murderer Adulterer are brought in by Job imboldening themselves No Eye shall see me As if he had said if they knew there was any Eye to see them they durst not do it Moreover in all their Meditations Contemplations of God take as full a view of him as you can Hear him saying behold me behold me Especially take notice of the largeness and greatness of his goodness and bounty All the dimensions of its breadth length depth and heighth with admiration O how great is thy goodness which thou hast for them that fear thee As high as the Heaven is above the Earth as the space is between the East and West I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord his great goodness the multitude of his mercies And labour for largeness of heart in some sort answerable From the rest of the properties of this your habitation and from all the furniture in it and from each of the conveniencies belonging to it I shall leave you to gather comforts and duties in abundance having this one thing only more to do Namely to acquaint you with some of the Statutes Lawes and Ordinances of the House and earnestly to press upon you the Observation of them by promises and penalties annexed The general Laws of this House binding all that live in it are partly natural and partly supernatural The natural are Ten in Number called in Scripture Ten Words and some where One Word The Divine Law teaching and commanding Moral good and forbidding evil known by the Name of Moses Law Uttered and promulgate with God's own Mouth by his immediate Voice delivered in Fire and therefore termed a Fiery Law in the hearing of all Israel Afterwards written with his own Finger by a mere and miraculous divine Operation in Two Tables of Stone to signifie the perpetual use and continuance of it to the end of the World and so published and committed to the Church for all Ages as the Moral Law for Obedience to God our Soveraign Lord and King This self same Law did God engrave in Man's heart even when he created him For that before the written Law of Moses there was an unwritten Law of Nature must needs be granted because needs must they be bound to God who had their Beeing from him Nor could they have sinned against him if they had had no Law from him For where no Law is there is no transgression Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the Law But sin Men did all this space of time and were punished with a witness Witness Cain the old World Sodom Onan and innumerable of others and they were punished for the sins forbidden in Moses Law and the Apostle expresly teacheth that the Gentiles who never had the written Law of Moses had their Natural Law even this Law though less perfect imprinted in their Souls by which they were instructed and bound to do well and debarred from doing evil which are the two properties of all Lawes And these two properties called The work of the Law written in their Hearts they shewed their Conscience bearing witness their Hearts accusing or excusing one another The Conscience being but a correspondency and relation of a Man's Spirit unto the Law to bind or unbind condemn or absolve him Moreover the good Laws the Heathen made to punish the evils forbidden and to draw People to practice the good commanded in the Law of Moses and the endeavour of many of them to act accordingly argues the Unity of both Laws The reason of which unity is the unchangeableness of God who is alway the same Qu. What need was there of the repetition and renovation of this Law Or if there was need Why was it not sooner Answ To the former Branch though Nature brought the same things yet it did it very weakly and many conclusions were obliterated and others much obscured and all Mens hearts were weakly drawn to obey this Law very strong to obey the Law of sin And although the Law of Nature could scarce never have been extinguished in Principles and Grounds yet it might and was and would have been more in Applications Men took evil for good and good for evil and grew more and more vain in their imaginations To the latter Branch Man's heart was not after his Fall throughly humbled but thought his own reason sufficient for his Guide therefore God would leave the World a while to try them and let them see their own weakness Besides sin was not come quickly to such a pitch and height as afterward it did and yet we finde that God did by peece-meal and occasionally teach them this Law presently and almost equipollently before its solemn Proclamation The Unity of these two Laws lets you see as the constancy and Immutability of your God who is not as other Law-givers who build and pull down and whom a Man knows as well how to