Tutors in the world cannot help one poor soul to the saving knowledge of God It is God that teacheth man knowledge Psal 94.10 He who made light in the first Creation only can cause light in the new Creation 2 Cor. 4.6 But God who caused light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ He that at first said Let there be light when darkness cover'd the face of the world and there was light a corporeal light can command spiritual light and the knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ who is the express Image of his person Therefore the Apostle betakes himself to God for the gift Praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ would give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him c. 1 Eph. 17 18. So David often Psal 119.18 34 35 125 143 144. Rev. 3.18 Reader art thou blind take the Counsel of thy Saviour Go to him for eye salve that thou mayest see and be confident he that bids thee come to him for that will bid thee welcome when thou comest Rev. 3.18 None knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Math. 11.27 Therefore whoever thou art that sittest in darkness and in the shadow of death go to the Sun for light go to the Sun of Righteousness in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.9 for the light of the knowledge of God Dost thou not know the sinfulness and misery of a blind dark state that vengeance is the fruit of this ignorance Psal 79.6 that God will pour out his wrath upon them that know him not Go therefore as the blind man to the Lord Jesus Christ Cry sigh mourn pray Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me though he hear not presently hold on continue instant in Prayer though the Devil and flesh rebuke thee as the multitude him yet hold on call louder Jesus thou Son of David Mat. 32. to 37. Have mercy on me Lord that I might receive my sight And doubt not but he will have pity on thee as he had on him and touch thine eye and give thee to see the things of thy peace for thine encouragement thou hast his promise Jer. 24.7 I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord Jer. 31.34 They shall all know me from the least to the greatest So James 1.6 Hoseah 2.20 Heb. 8.8 9. O with what hope may'st thou sue these Bonds and plead these promises when he that made them is a God that cannot lye 1 Tit. 2. and therefore cannot but perform them Again observe how kindly he took it of Solomon when he bid Solomon ask what he would that he asked wisdom 2 Chron. 1.10 Give me wisdom and knowledge saith Solomon And the thing which Solomon asked pleased the Lord 1 Kings 3.10 And the Lord said unto Solomon Because this was in thine heart because thou hast not asked riches nor honour nor the life of thine enemies nor long life Wisdom and knowledge is granted to thee and I will give thee wealth and honour v. 11. When a poor creature sensible of its blindness and darkness lyeth at the feet of God begging spiritual light and sight the heart of the Redeemer is taken with such a request and subscribes the petition with Wisdom and Knowledge is granted to thee Be but diligent Reader in the use of these means and thou mayest be confident of success If thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou seekest her as Silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasure then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God For the Lord giveth wisdome out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding Prov. 2.3 4 5 6. CHAP. XXV 2. Ex. To choose this incomparable God for our portion with some Motives thereunto 2. IF this God be such an incomparable God then choose this God for thy portion and take him for thy happiness Is it possible for thee to read so much of the incomparableness of God in his Being Attributes Works and Word and not desire him Thou canst hardly see an excellent person but thou art wishing him for thy Friend thy Companion nor an excellent Estate but thou art wishing it were thine Inheritance thy portion and canst thou hear of him who is excellency it self originally Job 13.11 the spring and standard of all excellency in others whose name alone is excellent Psal 14.13 and not wish O that this incomparable God were my Friend my Father my Head my Husband my Lot my Portion Who will give me to drink of the water of the Well of Bethlehem O who will help me to drink of the well of Salvation of the fountain of living waters of the pure River that floweth from the throne of God and the Lamb Canst thou hear so much of his worth though infinitely short and not desire him Is it possible for a rational creature to read of such a bottomless treasure of such boundless pleasure of such an infinite unconceivable good and not covet the enjoyment of it O man where are thy wits whither art thou fallen art thou a man or a beast Ah didst thou know the gift of God and what it is that is offered thee thou wouldst scorn the highest honours sweetest carnal delights greatest riches yea trample upon all the Crowns and Kingdoms of this world for it It 's an ineffable priviledge that thou art a creature capable of so vast an happiness it 's a special favour that thou hast leave to aspire after such an immense inheritance and when it s tender'd to thee wilt thou refuse it wilt thou neglect it O wilt thou not give it all acceptation Having spoken in another Treatise to this particular I shall here only offer two or three things to thy serious thoughts and proceed to a third exhortation 1. Consider what is offer'd thee when the incomparable God is offered thee for thy portion And truly to explain this head fully would require the Pen yea exceed the skil of an Angel None can tell what God is but God himself All the sheets in the explication of the Doctrine speak somwhat of him but not the thousand thousandth part of that excellency that is in him Reader I may tell thee when God is offered thee the greatest good that ever was that ever will be that ever can be is offered thee there never was or can be the like offer'd thee more than Heaven and Earth than both Worlds than Millions of Worlds is offered thee This God who is offered thee is the King of Kings the Lord of Lords the God of Gods the blessed and glorious Potentate the first Cause the original Being Self-sufficient All-sufficient absolutely perfect uncapable of any addition or diminution This God who is offer'd thee
a drop Others A whisper or smallest part of a Voice that which is known of God to that which God is and is in God is but like a drop to the vast Ocean and as a Whisper to a loud terrible Thunder How little a portion is heard of him Surely much is heard of him from the Voice of his Almighty Works of Creation and Providence and especially from the Voice of his Word and his own Mouth in the holy Scriptures But how little is heard of him in comparison of that immense excellency which is in him and which he is Heathens hear somewhat of him Rom. 1.20 21. His Saints on Earth hear much more of him Psal 63.3 4 5 6. Perfect Spirits in Heaven hear most of all of him 2 Cor. 12.3 4. 1 Cor. 13.12 Yet by all these a very little portion is heard of him The Being of God is like the Peace of God which passeth all understanding Philip. 4.7 And like the Love of Christ which passeth all knowledge Ephes 3.19 This onely can be known of God that he can never be known fully and this onely can be comprehended of him that he cannot be comprehended Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection It 's as high as Heaven what canst thou do Deeper then Hell what canst thou know The measure thereof is longer then the Earth and broader then the Sea Job 11.8 9. Canst thou by searching find out God It 's a strong Negation i. e. 'T is impossible by all the help and advantage of Nature and Art and Grace and Diligence yea and perfect Glory too to find out God fully Dost thou a poor mean vile man saith Zophar think to contain and comprehend him whom the Heavens and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain or comprehend Art thou so silly as to conceive that the short line of thy understanding should fadom his bottomless Being It is not in vain for thee to seek him but it is altogether in vain for thee to search him Though he be not far from thee yet he is far above thee and far beyond thee far above thy thoughts and beyond thy conceptions He dwelleth in that Light that is inaccessible whom no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6.16 They who see him face to face i. e. most clearly and fully see but little of him Clouds and Darkness are in this sense ever about him As in a dark day we see the beams but not the body of the Sun so even in Heaven the highest Angels rather see his rays and beams then his infinite Being Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection Men who seek God may find him Prov. 8.17 Math. 7.7 but they cannot find him to perfection The word for perfection signifieth the height or utmost accomplishment of a thing Somewhat of God may be known but not all They who find out most are far from finding out the utmost of him The Sun and all the coelestial Lights may sooner be grasped in the hollow of mans hand and the vast Hills and Mountains weighed in a pair of common Scales then the Almighty found out to perfection Natural questions soon pose the most learned men the forms even of inanimate Creatures are Riddles to most How frequently do the greatest Schollars betake themselves to secret Sympathies and Antipathies and occult qualities as the Cloak and cover of their Ignorance Eccles 11.5 Canst thou know how the Bones grow of her that is with Child O how much more must Divine questions exceed humane understanding It is as high as Heaven what canst thou do It 's as the highnesses of Heaven Take all the Heights and Elevations all the Spheres and Altitudes of Heaven and try if thou canst reach them with thy short Arm yea climb up the highest Stories the loftiest Pinnacles touch if thou canst the several Orbes yet the knowledge of this God or this God the object of knowledge is above and beyond all What a Fool would he be thought who should undertake to ascend the starry Heavens yet he who would find out God to perfection must climb much higher The Heavens are famous for their height yea the starry Heavens that some wonder that the eyes of man are not tired before they reach them Prov. 25.3 The Heavens for height and the Earth for depth Yet the third Heavens are much higher then they but the most high God is far higher then the highest Heavens Deeper then Hell what canst thou know Heaven and Hell are at the greatest distance and are most remote from our apprehensions Who knoweth what is done in Heaven what in Hell what is enjoyed in the one or suffered in the other no more can any know what God is Who knoweth the nature number order motions influence of the heavenly Bodies something is conjecturally delivered about them nothing certain much less doth any know the number nature order wonder worship of the coelestial Courtiers in the third Heavens of the thousand thousand that are before God the ten thousand times ten thousand that minister to him least of all can any know that Being that made all these that preserveth all these that ordereth and governeth animateth and actuateth all these that gives them all that they are and enableth them to all that they do Deeper then Hell what canst thou know Who knoweth the Mines and Minerals which lie in the bosome in the bowels of the Earth Who knoweth the place of Saphires the Coral the Pearls and the precious Onix Job 28.5 6 7 8. Out of the Earth cometh Bread c. The stones of it are the place of Saphires and it hath dust of Gold There is a path which no Fowl knoweth and which the Vultures Eye hath not seen The Lyons Whelps have not trodden it nor the fierce Lyon passed by it Much less doth any know the Miseries of the Damned the extremity universality eternity of their Torments Who ever returned from that place to tell us what they suffered there or if they had whose Understanding is large enough to conceive them Who knoweth the Power of thine Anger according to thy Fear so is thy Wrath Psal 90.11 Least of all can any know that God Job 28.3 who setteth an end to Darkness and searcheth out all Perfection the stones of darkness and the shadow of Death Before whom Hell and Destruction are naked and open who formeth the costly Jewels secret from the Eyes of covetous Mortals who layeth the dark Vault of Hell and storeth it with Fire and Brimstone and gnawing Worms and blackness of darkness and all the Instruments of eternal Death The measure thereof is longer then the Earth The Earth is long from one end of it to another Mathematicians tell us from East to West it 's 22000 miles but the knowledge of God is much longer the measure thereof is beyond all measure And broader then the Sea The Ocean is exceeding broad it seems to them that Sail on it to be
conversations we must walk with God therefore we are commanded to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23.17 But because in Ordinances we have more immediately and specially to do with him then we are said to appear before him Psal 42.2 therefore we are bound therein to be most aweful and reverential Subjects shew most reverence in the presence Chamber of their Soveraign O with what awe and dread should mortals appear in the presence of him who inhabiteth eternity should dust and ashes draw nigh to the mighty Possessor of heaven and earth Eccl. 5.1 2. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the Sacrifice of Fools be not rash with thy mouth let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God but why all this care and caution for God is in Heaven and thou art on Earth His incomparable Majesty calleth for incomparable reverence Majesty is dreadful He is cloathed with Majesty Ps 39.1 All over Majesty therefore let all the earth stand in awe of him He is adorned surrounded with Majesty therefore we must be filled with the awe of him Isa 2.10 19 20. Fear and Majesty are three times conjoyned His incomparable power calls for incomparable reverence Power is aweful and the greater the power is the greater awe is required Math. 10.28 Fear not them that can kill the Body and can do no more but fear him who is able to cast Soul and Body into Hell As if Christ had said I know you are of timerous spirits and men of fearful tempers ye are apt to tremble and to be frighted at every thing well I will direct you how you may make this passion advantagious to you viz. by turning the stream into its proper channel by placing your fear on its proper object I will tell you of one worthy of your fear who deserveth to be feared So Luke 12.4 5. I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear I will offer you an object meet for your fear Fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him You are apt like Children to be frighted with Bug-bears and to dread them that can onely raze the Skin and pinch the Flesh and at the most can but take from you a life that will fall of it self within a few dayes well I 'le advise you whom to stand in awe of fear him that can kill you and damn you that can send your bodies to the grave and your souls to unquenchable flames yea I say unto you fear him 2. This incomparable God calls for incomparable humility and lowliness of Spirit from us The height of God must lay man low and the matchless excellency of God make him base in his own eyes When we behold our selves in the Glass of those that have little or nothing that is good or praise-worthy or that have less than our selves then we spread out our plumes and are puft up with pride and judge our selves comely creatures but if we would behold our selves in the glass of the Incomparable God in whose sight the Heavens are unclean in whose presence Angels vail their faces to whom ten thousand Suns are perfect darkness and all the world less than nothing how should we pluck in our plumes and abhor our selves for our pride Man never comes to a right knowledge of himself what a pitiful abominable wretch he is till he comes to a right knowledge of God what an excellent incomparable Majesty he is As when men stand high and look downward on those below them that are meaner and viler than themselves their heads are giddy and swim with conceitedness they then are some body in their own opinions but when they look upwards to the Great God the Sun the Soul the substance of all worth and excellency that Meagrum or high-mindedness is prevented The best men upon a sight of God the incomparable God though the more excellent he is the more cause they have of joy in having so rich a portion yet instead of loving have loathed themselves and instead of admiring have abhor'd themselves When Isaiah saw the God of glory sitting on his Throne in his brightness and beauty encircled with Millions of coelestial Courtiers covering their faces as ashamed of their drops in the presence of the Ocean and crying Holy Holy Holy as apprehending his purity beyond all their expressions and his perfections exceeding all their apprehensions what thoughts had he of himself O what a poor pitiful contemptible creature did he think himself yea what an uncomely loathsome abominable creature was he in his own eye Woe to me saith he I am undone I am a man of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the Lord of Hosts Isa 6.4 5. 3. This incomparable God calls for incomparable love the top the cream of our affections Good is the object of Love Amor est complacentia boni according to the Moralists the greater therefore the good is the greater love it requireth and God being the greatest good must have the greatest love This is the great and first command Math. 22.37 this is as I may say the only command Deut. 10.12 this is all the commands in one Rom. 13.10 Love is the Decalogue contracted and the Decalogue is love opened and explained Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy strength with all thy mind Math. 22.37 God being the greatest perfection must have the greatest affection The greatest love for God is Love 1 Joh. 4.8 calls for the greatest love He deserves the greatest extensively the heart soul mind strength the greatest intensively all the heart all the soul all the mind all the strength Reader thy love to him must be so great that thy love to thy father mother wife child house land and life must be hatred in comparison of it and in competition with it Luk. 14.26 The truth is there is nothing worthy of our love like God nay there is nothing worthy of our love beside God All our Friends and Relations and Estates and worldly Blessings are nothing lovely but as they are his creatures his comforts instruments for his glory and as they have relation to him Nay Sabbaths Sacraments seasons of grace are no more lovely than as they are his institutes and means of communion with his Majesty I love the habitation of thy house why because it is the place where thine honour dwelleth Psal 28.8 Once more grace it self is not lovely but as it 's the image and conformity unto the pleasure and delight of that which fitteth and maketh meet for the love embraces and fruition of this incomparable God Desire and Delight are the two acts of love distinguished only by the absence or presence of the object When the object beloved is absent the soul acts towards it in desire When the object is present the soul acteth towards
thee from all thine Adversaries And is not this condescention worthy of all admiration O what grace is it that the incomparable God who hath millions of glorious Angels waiting on him and ten thousand times ten thousand always ministring to him should thus wait on and watch over poor crawling worms night and day for good Act. 7.2 Job 7.20 Psal 4. ult Hosea 2.8 Gen. 32.9 10 11. Psal 34.3 4 5. Heb. 1.3 Psal 145.5 7. Job wonders that God should condescend to correct man for his faults What is man that thou dost magnifie him that thou settest thine heart upon him that thou visitest him every morning c. Job 7.17 18. How much then doth God condescend to be his constant guide and guard to keep him night and day least any hurt him O the grace of this God! This incomparable God doth much more magnifie his grace and condescention in the care he is pleas'd to take of mens precious souls Herein he sheweth the riches of his mercy the exceeding abundant riches of his grace Eph. 2.5 and 7. Reader is it not condescending grace in the highest degree nay beyond all degrees for this self-sufficient absolutely perfect incomparable God when the soul of man lay naked starving restless encompass'd with enemies unpittied of all creatures weltring in its blood gasping for breath ready every moment to fetch its last and to be siezed on by Divels drag'd to their Dungeon of darkness there to fry in untollerable flames for ever for him to look on man in this loathsom condition with an eye of favour and love to cloath it with the righteousness of a God to feed it with that flesh which is meat indeed and with that blood which is drink indeed to give it rest in his own bowels and bosome to bind up its wounds and raise it from the dead and make it free from the slavery of Satan and his bondage to sin and death and hell and to adopt it for his own child accept it as perfectly righteous marry it to his onely begotten the heir of all things dwell in it by his own blessed Spirit and carry it on eagles wings and conduct it safe through the wilderness of the world and in spight of all the Lyons and wolves and serpents and adders and Giants and Anachims and Canaanites that opposed it to bring it to an heavenly Canaan to fulness of joy and rivers of pleasures and crowns of life and weights of glory there to reign in and with his own incomparable Majesty for ages generations millions of ages yea unto all eternity Friend friend what is condescending grace if this be not Alas the incomparable God had no obligation to man he stood in no way need of man he is uncapable of the least good by man he would have been as happy as he is at present if the Race of mankind had been ruin'd and had perished Besides he was infinitely disobliged by man and had all the reason in the world to destroy him and yet he is pleased to be as studious of mans welfare and as solicitous about it as if it had been his own Abigail wondred that David anoynted to a Kingdom should take her to be his wife she scarce judged her self worthy to wash the feet of his servants 1 Sam. 25.41 Mayst not thou wonder more that the incomparable God should marry thee to himself who art unworthy to be his servant David admired that God should do so much for him hast thou not cause to say as he did Lord what am I and what is my Fathers house that thou hast brought me up hitherto pardoned instructed renewed me taken me into thy own Family and yet as if this were a small thing in thy sight thou speakest of thy servants house for a great while to come thou art pleased to speak of thy servant for an everlasting kingdom of honour and pleasure 2 Sam. 7.18 And this condescending grace or gracious condescention is much the more admirable if we consider the means by which this great work of mans recovery was effected The incomparable God that is so great so high without all bounds beyond all understanding becomes a weak weary hungry contemptible man Reader here is amazing condescension The Lord of all becomes a servant the Lord of glory becomes of no reputation the bread of Life is hungry and the only rest is weary and the Prince of life is put to death This is that which Angels pry into with such astonishing pleasure that God should become man the Lawgiver be made under the Law he that tempteth no man to evil neither can be tempted to evil should be violently tempted many days together by all the powers of darkness the only blessing should be made a curse that Liberty should be in bonds and truth itself belied and justice condemned and heaven be layd in the belly of the earth This is marvelous grace indeed such as passeth all knowledge Eph. 3.18 19. If all the glorious Cherubims and Seraphims Angels and Arch-angels had condescended to have been turned into Toads and Serpents it had not been by the thousandth part so great a condescention as for the incomparable God to become man for those Heavenly Spirits and Toads and Serpents do convenire in aliquo tertio meet in the Genus of Creatures there is but a finite difference between the former and the latter But God and Man meet in no Third in no Genus between them there is an infinite distance There never was there never shall be there never can be the like condescension CHAP. XXIII Labour for acquaintance with the Incomparable God Motives to it The knowledge of God is sanctifying satisfying saving SEcondly This Doctrine may be useful by way of Counsel 1. Study the knowledge of this God who is so incomparable We are all ambitious to be acquainted with persons that are eminent and excellent in place or power or parts or piety and judge it our interest and an honour to us so to be If we could hear of one as strong as Sampson whom no cords could hold who could slay hundreds with a Jaw-bone or of one as old as Methuselah who could tell us what was done in many Centuries of years or of one as wise as Solomon who could speak to the nature of all creatures and answer the hardest Questions we could put to him or of one as Holy as Adam in innocency or the elect Angels who never broke the law of their Maker but were as pure and perfect as when they came immediately out of his hands How should we throng and thrust and crowd to such men what pains should we take what cost should we be at to obtain the favour and honour of their acquaintance Surely we should think we could never view them enough or value them enough or know enough of them or discourse enough with them But alas what are such men if we could find them in the world to the blessed God what motes what drops
what poor pitiful Nothings what is a strong Sampson to the Almighty God but as straw as chaff as rotten wood as all weakness what is the Age of Methuselah to the duration of the eternal God to whose Age Millions of years add not a moment but as a minute as nothing Psal 39.5 What is the wisdom of Solomon to all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are in the only wise God but a curious web of folly Coloss 2.9 What is the holiness of an Angel to the holiness of God but as a candle to the Sun yea as perfect night and darkness to the Noon-day O therefore how shouldst thou labour to know this God how industrious shouldst thou be to be acquainted with him When the Queen of Sheba had heard of the extraordinary knowledge and abilities of Solomon she came from the utmost parts of the earth to see his person and to hear his wisdome But behold Reader a greater than Solomon is here Solomon was an Ideot an Innocent to this object which I request thee to know The understanding of God is infinite Psal 147.5 There is no searching of his understanding Isa 40.28 Indeed it is bottomless and therefore can never be found out His knowledge can never be known fully no not by Angels themselves Do men beat their brains and consume their bodies and waste their estates and deny themselves the pleasures of the flesh as many Heathen have done for the knowledge of nature of the heavenly bodies and their motions of the Sea and its ebbing and flowing of the earth and the creatures thereon when after all their search they were still at a loss and for all the knowledge they attained they proved but learned Dunces what wouldst thou then do for the knowledge of the God of nature of the mighty possessor of Heaven and Earth of him to whom all things are less than nothing of him the knowledge of whom will make thee wise to Salvation O Friend this is the only knowledge worth seeking worth getting worth prizing worth glorying in Jer. 9.23 24. Thus saith the Lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor the rich man glory in his riches Worldly knowledge strength wealth are not worth glorying in what then is The next verse tells you But let him that glorieth glory in this in what that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord c. This is a jewel that a man may boast of and glory in that he knoweth me that I am the Lord. There is an excellency in all knowledge Knowledge is the eye of the Soul to direct it in its motions it is the lamp the light of the Soul set up by God himself to guide it in its actions The understanding of man is the candle of the Lord Prov. 20.27 Without knowledge the Soul is but a Dungeon of darkness and blackness full of confusion and terror But there is an incomparable excellency in the knowledge of this incomparable God The object doth elevate and heighten the act There is a vast difference between the knowledg of earthly things and heavenly things between the knowledge of wise strong faithful merciful just holy men and the only wise omnipotent unchangeable righteous most holy God Only before I proceed to the urging this Use I would desire thee Reader to take notice what knowledge of God it is which I am pressing thee to labour for it is not a meer notional speculative knowledge though a knowledge of apprehension is a duty necessary Eph. 5.17 Psal 143.8 Heb. 8.9 10. but an experimental knowledge Thou hast made me to know wisdom in my secret parts Psal 51.6 The heart is called the secret part because known only to God 1 Kings 8.39 such a knowledge as affecteth the heart with love to him and fear of him and hatred of what is contrary to him true knowledge takes the heart as well as takes the head Psal 1.6 1 Kings 8.38 Phil. 3.10 and influenceth the life 1 Joh. 2.4 He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a lyar and the truth is not in him Coloss 1.9 10. John 10.4 5. Right knowledge though it begin at the head doth not end there but falls down upon the heart to affect that and floweth out in the life to order and regulate that Coloss 1.10 We pray for you that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding for what end and to what purpose that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work To enforce this Use I shall give thee two or three Motives and as many means To encourage thee to study the knowledge of this God consider these three properties of it 1. The true knowledge of this God will be a sanctifying knowledge If thou hast any thing of a man I mean of Reason in thee holiness which was thy primitive perfection which is the Image of the incomparable God and will fit thee for his special love and eternal embraces will be a strong and cogent argument with thee Now this knowledge of God will conform thee to God render thee like unto him who is the pattern and standard of all excellency As I said before knowledge is the eye by which we see God and the vision of God causeth an assimulation to him 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 our God 2 Cor. 3.18 The Blackamore that often look'd on beautiful pictures brought forth a beautiful Son We are often changed into the postures and fashions yea and dispositions of those whom we much converse with on earth surely then acquaintance with the gracious and Holy God will make us in some measure to resemble him Other knowledge pollutes and defiles the soul Oftentimes the more men pick the lock of Natures Cabinet and look into her riches and treasury her secrets and mysteries the more Atheistical they are and forgetful of the God of Nature Hence Religio Medici is irreligion they see so much of the operations of nature that they ascribe the principal efficiency to the instrument And hence the wisdom of the Philosophers counted the wisest men in the world is folly 1 Cor. 3.19 And though they professed themselves to be wise yet they became fools and were guilty of all manner of wickedness Rom. 1.22 to the end And what was the reason but this they knew not God with all their knowledge 1 Cor. 1.21 Ignorant heads are ever accompanied with irreligious hearts and both are attended with Atheistical lives Eph. 4.18 The Apostle tells us of the Heathen that they were estranged from the life of God an holy life through the ignorance that was in them because of the blindness of their hearts So Hos 4.1 2 3 4.
But the knowledg of God purifieth the soul As the Sun conveyeth heat along with its light so grace is multiplied through the knowledge of God 2 Pet. 1.2 When Moses had convers'd with God in the Mount his feet shone that the Jews could not behold him When a Soul hath once acquainted himself with the blessed God his life will shine with holiness therefore David counselleth his Son Solomon to know the God of his Fathers and to serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind first to know him then to serve him 1 Chron. 28.9 This knowledge must needs be a sanctifying knowledge because it renders sin abominable the world contemptible God honourable and the soul the more humble The knowledge of God will render sin most abominable to the Soul it renders sin to be exceeding sinful The miseries that befall us in our estates names bodies souls nay all the curses of the Law and torments of the damned do not discover the ugly loathsome features and monstrous deformed nature of sin like the knowledge of this incomparable God Job confesseth his sin Job 42.2 I uttered things that I understood not nay he abhorreth himself for his sin v. 5. But whence came he who sometime justifyed himself too much now to abhor himself He gives us the reason or cause of it I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear I had some knowledge of thee before but now mine eyes see thee I now have a clearer and fuller knowledge of thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes The more we know the greatest good the more we shall hate the greatest evil The knowledge of God will render the world contemptible to a Christian None undervalue the Creature but those who have had a sight of the Creator neither can any trample on the riches honours and pleasures of this world but those who know him who is the riches and honours and pleasures of the other world They who never saw the Sun wonder at a Candle and they who never knew the blessed God wonder at and are fond of poor low things mean small pitiful things on earth But the whole world with all its Crowns and Scepters and Diadems and Delights is but a dunghill to him that hath seen the incomparable God Moses could refuse the honour of being the adopted Child of a Kings Heir reject the pleasures of Pharaoh's Court and prefer the reproaches of Christ before all the Treasures of Egypt when he had once got a sight of the Incomparable God Heb. 11.25 26 27. For he saw him that was invisible The knowledge of God will render God more honourable in our esteems The more we know of many things and persons the more we sleight and despise them The more we know sin the more we loath it the more we know our selves the more we abhor our selves but the more we know God the more we love him and the more we admire him The reason of all the contempt and affronts which we offer to God is our ignorance of him The whole world lyeth in wickedness as a beast in its dung or vermine in their slime 1 Joh. 5.19 but the reason is what Christ speaks Joh. 17.25 Father the world hath not known thee for the Apostle saith had they known they would never have Crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2.8 They who know God cannot but see infinite reason why they should love and fear and honour and please him all their dayes Why do you think is God so much wondred at and worshipped in his Church more than in other parts of the world Why doth he inhabit their highest praises Psal 22.3 and greatest blessings and thanksgivings but because he is known more there than in other parts of the world In Judah is God known therefore his name is great his name alone is excellent in Israel Psal 76.1 The knowledge of God makes us humble We never are so low in our own eyes as when we see the most high God The more we know of men that are more vain and foolish and wicked than our selves the more we are exalted and puffed up but the more we know of God of the great God the incomparable God the most holy God to whom we are as nothing less than nothing worse than nothing the more we abase our selves When David is acquainted with the excellency of God O Lord my Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth and thy glory is above the Heavens Psal 8.1 What low little diminutive thoughts hath he of himself and others v. 4. What is man or what is the Son of man What a poor pitiful contemptible thing is man What a vain empty insignificant nothing is the Son of man We are ashamed of our rush Candles or Glow-worms hide our heads in the presence of the Sun The holiest man abhors himself for his unholiness before the most Holy God So Job 25.2 Dominion and fear are with him v. 3. There is no number of his Armies v. 5. Behold even to the Moon and it shineth not and the Stars are not pure in his sight How much less man that is a worm and the Son of man that is a worm v. 6. A worm is the most despicable contemptible creature every beast trampleth on it such a creature is man in his own apprehensions when he once understandeth the incomparable God When Isaiah had seen the Lord of Hosts though he were an Holy man he cryeth out I am undone I am a man of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the Lord of Hosts Isa 6.3 4. He never saw so much of his own uncleanness as when he saw him in whose presence the Heavens are unclean Other knowledge like wind in a bladder puffeth up 1 Cor. 8.2 but the knowledge of God as fire nigh the bladder shrinks and shrivels it up to nothing 2. The knowledge of God is a satisfying knowledge A man may know much of Creatures and the more he knoweth the more unquiet and restless he is his knowledge as wind to the stomack may fill and pain and trouble him but cannot satisfie him for Creatures are not that savory meat which the heaven-born spiritual immortal Soul of man would have and must have if ever it be contented The greatest Students who have wearied and tired out their brains and bodies in the search of Natures secrets have found by experience that they spent their strength for what is not bread and their labour for what will not satisfie and they have known the truth of the Wise mans saying He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow Eccles 1.18 That knowledge which satisfieth must be of an object that is suitable in its spirituality to the nature of the Soul in its all-sufficiency to the manifold necessities of the Soul and in its immortality to the duration of the Soul if either of these be wanting in it the Soul cannot receive satisfaction by it because without all these the
Soul cannot be perfectly happy and till it find that which can make it perfectly happy it will be restless If it meet with an object that is suitable to its nature yet if it be not answerable to all its wants it will still be complaining wherein it is unsupplyed and so unquiet If it meet with an object that is suitable to its nature and answerable to all its wants yet if it be not eternal it must needs be full of fears and troubles in the fore-thoughts of its amission of so great a good which would imbitter the present possession of it For the soul being incorruptible and immortal it self cannot but desire that good which will run parallel with its own life and if it desire it nothing will fully satisfie it till it obtain such a good Now nothing in this world is suitable to the Souls nature the Soul is spiritual the things of this world are carnal nor answerable to the various indigencies of the Soul the Souls wants are many and in a manner infinite besides they are spiritual as pardon of Sin peace with God peace of Conscience c. when the good things of this life are particular finite and bodily nor equal to the Souls duration the Soul will abide and continue after millions of ages and generations for ever and ever but this world passeth away and all the good things thereof But this God whom I am perswading thee Reader to know and acquaint thy self with is in all these respects perfect and so will satisfie thy soul God is a spiritual good a Spirit Joh. 4.23 the Father of Spirits and so suitable to the nature of thy soul He is an universal good all good and so answerable to the many wants of thy Soul He is an eternal good a good that never dieth never fadeth a good that only hath immortality and so is equal to thy souls duration therefore the Disciple cryeth out to Christ shew us the Father and it sufficeth Joh. 10.8 and David tells us that he is fully pleased in having God for his portion Psal 14.5 6. Give any man both that which he would have and that which he should have and he is contented If indeed you give a man what he would have supposing it be that which he should not have his desires being depraved and vitiated he cannot be contented when he hath what he desired because lusts are unsatiable and sinful desires never satisfied thence the Heathen Emperours had their Inventors of new pleasures and possibly that may be the meaning of that place Rom. 1.28 The Heathen wearied with common invented unnatural delights But give a man what he would have suppose it be what he should have his desires being rectified and he is then at ease and rest He who knoweth God aright is fully satisfied in him when he once drinketh of the Fountain of living waters he thirsteth no more after other objects Joh. 4.14 Though the Soul stil desireth to know more of God till it come to that place where it shall know as it is known as David though satisfied with his portion Psal 16.4 5. yet thirsted after more of it Psal 63.1 2. yet it is quiet and contented in God And indeed the sweetness which it tasteth in acquaintance with the incomparable God makes it long after nearer and fuller acquaintance with him When Moses was once acquainted with God he begs that he might see and know more of his glory and the reason is because while God is the object there can be no satiety he being the God of all joy and consolation neither can there be such a full acquaintance as to cease desires after farther acquaintance he being an object still too great for the faculties to comprehend The desires of the glorified are without anxiety because they are satisfied in the object of their desires and their satisfaction or enjoyment is without satiety or loathing because they see still infinite cause to desire him When the Soul once comes to know God as the needle touch'd with the Loadstone when it turns to the North it is then quiet though before like the Dove it hover'd up and down over the waters of this world and could find no rest This knowledge if right diffuseth into the Soul a sweet tranquillity silent peace secret setled calmness besides a ravishing praevision and blessed fore-fruition of its fuller acquaintance in the other life 3. The knowledge of God is a saving knowledge Many perish for all their great knowledge of Creatures their knowledge may light them to the more dismal Chambers of death of blackness of darkness for ever Joh. 15.24 And indeed their knowledge like many Pigs of Silver in a Vessel sinking presseth them the deeper into Hell but the knowledge of God is saving God will know him in the other world who knows him in this He will be so far from knowing them hereafter who are ignorant of him here that he will come in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know not God 2 Thess 1.7 8. But he will own them and take acquaintance with them then that own him and are acquainted with him now Psal 91.14 I will set him on high because he hath known my name God will set him as high as Heaven who knoweth his name on earth Reader it 's as much worth as Heaven to thee to know this incomparable God This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.3 It is the morning though not the Meridian of Heaven it is the Bud though not the ripe fruit of glory it is the seed though not the harvest of the Inheritance above to know the true God and Jesus Christ This knowledge is of the same nature though not of the same measure with that in the other world Eph. 4.13 Now the Christian knoweth as a Child then he shall know as a man now he seeth God as it were at a distance through the prospective glass of faith but then he shall see God face to face Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now we know in part but then we shall know as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 CHAP. XXIV The Means of acquaintance with God A sense of our Ignorance Attendance on the word Fervent Prayer THe means which I shall offer as helpful to the attainment of his knowledge of God are these 1. Be sensible of thine ignorance of him A conceited Scholar is no good learner He that thinks he knoweth enough already will never be beholden to a Master to teach him more Seest thou a man wife in his own conceit there is more hope of a fool than of him Prov. 26.12 This was that which lock'd up the Pharisees in the dark dungeon of Ignorance they were blind Truth it self called them blind Mat. 23.16 17. But they conceited their eyes were good and so neglected the means of curing them Ye say ye see I do not say