work of Natural Reason working Opinion or at most knowledge differs as much as knowledge and Opinion Those things of God that are discoverable by natural Reason receive another kind of impression upon the Soul by the work of God as is evident by the Effects and Operations each have upon the Soul Rom. 1.21 When they knew God yet they glorified him not as God. 3. Of Love therefore so called because the Principal part of the Message that the Soul is acquainted with is a Message of Love and Goodness and so the Will inclined and ingaged to love that Goodness And this is the fruit of the work of God's Spirit 1. Mediately and naturally presupposing the former work of Illumination for some Objects are of so light a nature that when they are known all the work of the Soul is done so they are only known that they may be known But these objects of our Faith they do include a Goodness and Conveniency for the Soul and therefore being known they are desired so that in natural Consequence the Spirit of God if it demonstrates these Truths to the Soul it doth by consequence engage the Love of the Soul to them It is true that Education Instruction and Discipline may make us know these Truths speculatively and yet our Soul not affected with them but the Conviction which is wrought by the Power of God's Spirit is not so thin or jejune a union of these Truths to the understanding but deeper and more radicated and consequently doth more effectually work upon the Will and therefore it is the Logick of the Apostle 1 John 2.4 He that saith he knoweth God and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see The Argument is from the Negation of the necessary Effect or Consequent to the Negation of the Cause or Antecedent as if he should have said Wheresoever there is no true Obedience to the Will and Command of God there is certainly no Love of God. It is the conclusion of Truth and Reason Joh. 14.23 If a man love me he will keep my words And wheresoever there is a true knowledge of God there must of necessity be a true Love unto God because it doth represent God as the chiefest only and most suitable Good to the Soul. It is true that notional and speculative knowledge of God that is wrought by natural discourse cannot or at least seldom doth arrive to that full apprehension of the Goodness of God and consequently doth not raise up the Heart to that height of Love and Obedience for our Reason is weak and the disproportion between Him and our Understanding is infinite and therefore he hath chosen to reveal it unto us in his Word and Son and by his own Power working Knowledge in us And by this we see why the renovation and conversion unto God is sometimes expressed under the name of Knowledge John 17.3 This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God c. Colos 3.10 Having put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge 2 Cor. 4.6 For God who commanded the 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 Christ c. Sometimes under the name of Trusting and depending upon God Galat. 3.6 Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness sometimes under the name of Love Jud. 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God 1 Tim. 1.14 with faith and love which is in Christ 2 Tim. 1.13 2 Thes 2.10 Receiving the Love of the Truth sometimes under the name of Obedience James 1.27 Pure religion and undefiled c. James 2. per tot 1 John 2.29 Every one that doth righteousness is born of him so sometimes under the name of Repentance Fear of God c. For all this is but one work of this Spirit of Grace and but the several Emanations of the same work of the Spirit of God upon the Soul diversified only in the faculties or objects the first act in Nature is Light and when it convinceth the heart of the sinfulness of sin that works Repentance when of the Promises of God that breeds Dependence and Confidence when of the Goodness and Love of God in Christ that breeds Love unto him Watchfulness over our selves Obedience to his Will when of the Majesty and Justice of God it breeds Fear and Reverence when of our own vileness it breeds Humility so that all these are but the bringing home and joyning of those Convictions wrought in our Understanding unto the Will and Affections and thereupon these Effects do as naturally follow upon this work of Illumination and Conviction wrought by the Spirit of God as the like Effects do arise upon natural convictions of Objects of inferiour kinds and goodness 2. But this is not all there is a work of strength and power upon the Will Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure As the death and disability was in both Faculties so the Life is conveyed into both universally And this Power of God's Spirit is not only in the first acts of our Conversion to him but it goes along with us All those actions which are pleasing to God are wrought by the same Spirit of Christ by which they were at first animated It is a Spirit of Supplication in our Prayers Rom. 8.26 The Spirit maketh intercession c. A Spirit of Access for our Prayers Eph. 2.18 A Spirit of Assurance and Sonship Gal. 3.6 Eph. 1.16 A Spirit of Wisdom to direct us in our difficulties Ephes 1.17 A Spirit of Comfort and Joy in our Distresses Rom. 14.17 A Spirit of Fruitfulness in our Conversation Galat. 5.22 25. A Spirit of Perseverance 1 Pet. 1.5 Ye are preserved by the power of God through faith unto salvation CHAP. X. How our Vnion with Christ is wrought on Man's part viz. By Faith Hope and Love. HITHERTO we have seen the motion of the Love of God to his Creature by which it may appear the whole Business of Man's Salvation is the work of God and Man appears in a manner passive in all the parts of it In the sending Light into his Understanding he is passive In the enabling the Understanding to receive this Light he is still passive In the subduing the Will to the entertainment of it he is still passive Yet there is some kind of motion in us which though it be the Work of our Creator in the first giving of it and againâ— his Work in reviving quickening and enabling it yet he is pleased to require it from us and to expect it of us Mori movemus And that are principally these three Faith Hope and Love we find them oftentimes joyned together 1 Tim. 1.14 The Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is
in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus Gal. 5.5 For we through the Spirit wait for the Hope of Righteousness by Faith for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing noâ— uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love 1 Cor. 13.13 Now abideth Faith Hope and Love c. But of these distinctly and how any or all of these do either unite or move us unto Union with our Saviour 1. Faith which is taken in a double sense 1. For that firm and sound Assent of the Mind to Divine Truths wrote by the Spirit of God and so differs little or nothing from supernatural Knowledge and thus Heb. 11.1 Faith is the evidence of things not seen and hath for its Objects all Divine Truths And as Christ dwells in our Hearts by Faith thus taken Ephes 3.17 so other Truths dwell in the Heart by this Faith viz. objectively so that Faith thus taken is more properly an act upon the Soul than an act of it for in our Assent to any Truth our Soul is in truth passive the strength of the Conviction conquers the Soul. 2. For that motion of the Soul whereby it rests casts and adventures it self upon the Promises of God in Christ for Remission and Salvation and so differs from the former in these three respects 1. In the Latitude of its Object it is more restrained than the former 2. In the Order of its Being it is subsequent in the Order of Nature to the former and produced by it 3. In the Manner of its working In the work of supernatural Knowledge or Assent the Soul is passive in this though it be the work of God yet the Soul is more active As the Sun when it shines upon a solid Body doth cause a reflection of his own beaâ—s so when the Light of Grace falls upon the Heart in this special act of Faith as in that or Love there is a reflection from the Soul back to God. And therefore those Expressions of Faith in the Scripture import a motion in the Soul Christ comes into the Soul by his Light and Spirit and the Soul again comes to Christ Joh. 6.45 He that hath learned of the Father cometh unto me As Christ abides in the Heart by the former act of Faith so by this latter the Soul abides and incorporates into him and both these we have joyned together John 15.4 Abide in me and I in you Now this act of the Soul is the most natural result upon the true discovery of a Man 's own Condition God's promise and Christ's mediation unto the Soul. When a Man finds that the Sentence of Death is passed upon him that nevertheless God in infinite Love and Mercy hath sent his Son to be his Satisfaction and Righteousness and hath promised and proclaimed by him and in him and only by him Peace and Reconciliation and that without exception of any person though laden with never so much guilt and sin and without any difficult Conditions Whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 John 6.40 That he is appointed a Sacrifice by him whom we offended John 3.16 God so loved the world c. The Son of God and able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him Heb. 7.25 The most genuine and natural motion of the Soul in such a condition and thus convinced is Trust Affiance and Divolution of the Soul upon this Promise of God in Christ And it is an observable thing how the Wise and Merciful Providence of God hath ordered all things so that we might be even necessitated to the right way of our Salvation and to cast our selves upon it All were concluded under a common guilt by the voluntary offence of Adam Rom. 5.12 And if we could derive our Being from another then we might escape the Guilt and that Guilt brought with it Death in the World both eternal and temporal bound upon us by irreversible Sentence of an omnipotent God. But cannot I by my future obedience emerit this guilt No. What thou doest for the future is but thy Duty and thou canst not out-act it But grant thy future obedience might satisfie for the guilt under which thou liest thou shalt have the Copy of that Rule which I required from thee and once enabled thee to perform Do this and live But be sure thou do it without turning to the right hand or the left with thy whole Might and Mind and Soul without the least aversion and that out of the meer Principle of Love and Duty and Obedience and thy future observance may expiate that original guilt yet our Condition had been still dâ—sperate because as the Obedience was impossible so the least miscarriage had been fatal for cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.10 So we find an universal Guilt and Curse gone over all and all this discovered to drive us to a Saviour Galat. 3.22 The Scripture hath concluded all under a sin that the promise by the â—aith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe We find a righteous Law given to our Nature but as the Obedience is unsatisfactory for a past Guilt so the Observance is become impossible by reason of our Corruption whereby our disobedience is rather excited than abated Rom. 7.8 When the commandment came sin revived and I died And all this still to drive us to the necessity of a Saviour Rom. 8.12 What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh Thus in the midst of all those difficulties a Saviour presents himself with the suffrage of God the attestation of Types and Prophecies with reconciliation of all the difficulties which perplexed our Inquiries with Ability to save to the uttermost with Mercy and Acceptation and Pardon and Righteousness and Happiness offered and proclaimed to all and that upon most unhazardable and easie terms only believe him and trust on him So then Faith is nothing else but that result of dependance upon and confidence in and adherence unto Christ which follows upon the sound Conviction of the Truth of God concerning him It is true the Faith of the Ancients differed much in the distinctness of its acting and object from the Faith which is now required as Abraham's Faith Caleb's Faith c. But in this they both agreed 1. That it was a Confidence and Trusting upon God in that which was revealed unto them by God. The Promises of a Son was made to Abraham and he rested upon God for the performance The Promise of Canaan to the Jews and Caleb and the believing Jews rested upon the Power and Truth of God to perform it So with us God hath promised Mercy
Of the Supream End of Man. Page 61 CHAP. V. Of the Means of attaining the Supream End of Man. Page 80 CHAP. VI. Of the Credibility of the Sacred Scriptures Page 99 The CONTENTS of the CHAPTERS OF THE SECOND PART CHAP. I. OF the Existence and Attributes of God. Page 117 CHAP. II. Of the Acts and Works of God and 1. Of his Eternal Counsel Page 123 CHAP. III. Of the Execution of the Eternal Counsel of God in his Works of Creation and Providence Page 145 CHAP. IV. Of the Providence of God in special concerning Man in order to his supream End. Page 150 CHAP. V. Of the Restitution of Man by Christ Page 169 CHAP. VI. Predictions and Types of Christ Page 176 CHAP. VII Of the Efficacy of the Satisfaction of Christ and the Congruity of it to right Reason Page 195 CHAP. VIII Of the great Work of our Redemption What it is How effected and for whom Page 201 CHAP. IX Of the Means which God hath appointed to make this Sacrifice of Christ effectual viz. Vnion with Christ and how the same is wrought on God's part Page 231 CHAP. X. How our Vnion with Christ is wrought on Man's part viz. By Faith Hope and Love. Page 243 CHAP. XI Why or by what reason the act of Faith worketh our Vnion with Christ and so our Justification in the sight of God. Page 262 CHAP. XII The Effects of our Vnion with Christ Page 268 CHAP. XIII Concerning the putting off the Old Man and 1. What it is Page 276 CHAP. XIV How the Old Man is to be put off and 1. by Repentance Page 288 CHAP. XV. Of Mortification and the Means thereof and 1. Of Meditation Page 295 CHAP. XVI Meditation of the Vnreasonableness of the Dominion of Lust Page 302 CHAP. XVII Of Prayer Page 324 CHAP. XVIII Of Watchfulness and first in respect of God. Page 328 CHAP. XIX Of Watchfulness in respect of our Selves our Senses Words and Appetite Page 332 CHAP. XX. Of Watchfulness over our Affections and Passions of Love Anger and Fear Page 335 CHAP. XXI Of Watchfulness over our Hope Confidence and Joy. Page 343 CHAP. XXII Of Watchfulness over our Grief 1. In reference to God for Sin 2. In reference to Externals Page 353 CHAP. XXIII Of Watchfulness over our Will Conscience and Spirit Page 364 CHAP. XXIV Of the new Life or Sanctification and the necessity of it Page 379 CHAP. XXV Of the Means of Sanctification and 1. On God's part his Word and his Spirit Page 386 CHAP. XXVI Of the Means of Sanctification 2. On Man's part viz. Faith Love Fear Hope Page 392 CHAP. XXVII Of the Extent and Degrees of Sanctification Page 403 CHAP. XXVIII Of the Parts of Sanctification and 1. In reference to our Selves Sobriety Page 413 CHAP. XXIX Of Sanctification in reference to our Neighbour viz. Righteousness the Habit and Rule of it Page 435 CHAP. XXX Of the general Precepts of Righteousness given by Christ and 1. Loving our Neighbour as our self Page 447 CHAP. XXXI Of the second general Precept of Righteousness Doing as we would be done unto A Brief Astract of the Christian Religion Page 461 Considerations Seasonable at all Times for the Cleansing of the Heart and Life Page 475 A SUMMARY Of what is contain'd in this DISCOURSE OF THE Knowledge of GOD and of our Selves PART I. By the Light of NATURE Chap. I. Of the Attributes of God I. OF Knowledge what it is and how wrought Page 1 2 II. That there is a First Being and Cause of all things Page 4 What may thence be deduced concerning it Page 7 viz. 1. His Eternity Page 8 1. Without Beginning ibid. 2. Without Succession ib. 3. Without End. Page 9 2. His Immensity which includes His. 1. Exemption from Circumscription Page 10 2. Omnipresence ib. 3. Exemption from Succession or division of Parts Page 11 3. His Indivisibility in Opposition to 1. Divisibility ibid. 2. Multiplicity ib. 4. Simplicity Page 12 5. Perfection Page 13 Whence it followeth That he is 1. A most pure Act. Page 14 2. A substantial Act. ibid. 3. Ens vivens Page 15 4. An Intellectual Being Omniscient ib. 5. Ens Liberrimum Page 16 6. Ens summe Bonum ib. Whence arise these Conclusions 1. That he is perfectly happy Page 17 2. The supream End of all things Page 18 7. Most just Page 21 9. Immutable Page 24 Chap. II. His Acts Immanent and Emanant Page 25 1. Creation Page 27 28 2. Providence disposing all things to their several Ends. Page 31 In respect of 1. Himself Page 32 2. The things produced viz. ib. 1. Natural Page 33 2. Contingent Page 35 3. Voluntary Page 36 Ch. III. Of Man considerable in 1. What he hath in common with other inferiour Beings Page 40 2. His Eminence above them in his Soul 1. It s Substance which is 1. Immaterial Page 40 2. Immortal Page 41 2. Its Faculties Page 44 Page 1. The Vnderstanding which hath Page 1. A threefold Power 1. A Receptive or Passive Page 45 2. Retentive ib. 3. Active or discussive Page 46 Page 2. Several Acts and Habits as 1. Knowledge Page 46 2. Wisdom Page 48 3. Conscience Page 51 Page 2. The Will its motion in respect of 1. The Object Page 56 2. Principles Page 58 The immediate Cause of Man's miscarriage Page 1. His Vnderstanding Page 2. His Will. Chap. IV. The Supream End of Man I. What viz. a Good commensurate to the Soul and therefore 1. Immaterial Page 63 2. Immortal Page 64 3. Distinct from the Soul it self Page 65 4. A true and real Good. Page 66 5. An infinite and Vniversal Good. ibid. And therefore nothing but God himself Page 67 II. And how that may be that God can be the adequate Object of Man's Felicity Page 68 Chap. V. The Means to attain it 1. What naturally they were ib. 2. Whether still the same Page 84 1. The Defects in 1. His Vnderstanding ib. 2. His Will. Page 89 2. The Consequents Page 92 3. What now for his Restitution Page 93 1. Not any thing in Man or the Creature ib. 2. But by God 96. revealed in The Holy Scriptures 98. their Châ—p VI. 1. Credibility Page 99 2. Contents v. Part 2. OF THE Knowledge of God and of our Selves PART II. By the Sacred Scriptures Pag. 117. THE Contents of the Holy Scriptures concerning I. God 1. His Existence Page 117 2. His Nature and Attributes Page 118 3. Manner of Subsistence Page 122 4. Acts and Works Page 123 II. His Counsel which is 1. Eternal Page 123 2. Immutable Page 125 3. Free. Page 126 4. Wise ibid. Which is eminent in 1. Predetermining the means Page 127 2. So as they move according to their own Nature whether 1. Necessary Page 129 2. Voluntary Page 131 3. Contingent Page 133 3. Independent upon one another ib. 5. Irresistible Page 135 6. Vniversal ib. Two Difficulties How the Predetermination 1. Of the Acts of voluntary Agents can consist with the Liberty of
436 1. Natural Page 436 437 2. The Word of God absolutely in it self Page 438 1. The Law 1. Moral Page 438 2. Ceremonial Page 441 3. Judicial ibid. 2. The Prophets Page 442 3. The Gospel which contains a most excellent Rule of Righteousness in 1. The Example of Christ Page 443 2. The Precepts and Counsels Page 444 Page 1. General 1. Love of our Neighbour Page 448 2. Doing as we would be done unto Page 456 2. Particular things Page 1. To be done Page 2. To be suffered 3. Parts 3. God. A Brief Abstract of the Christian Religion Page 461 Seasonable Considerations for the Cleansing of the Heart and Life Page 473 A DISCOURSE OF THE Knowledge of God and of our Selves PART I. By the Light of Nature CHAP. I. Of the Existence and Attributes of God. I. ALL things but the Soul it self are extrinsecal to the Soul and therefore of necessity the Knowledge of all other things is extrinsecal to the Soul for Knowledge is nothing else but the true impression and shape of the thing known in the Understanding or a conception conform to the thing conceived And although the Soul in its own nature be apta nata to receive such impressions and doth therefore naturally desire and affect it yet it is as impossible for the Soul to know till the Object be some way applied to it as for a Looking-glass to reflect without first uniting of a Species of some Body to it that may be reflected The Means whereby the Scibile or thing to be known is united to the Soul and consequently Knowledge is wrought is threefold viz. 1. Supernatural Thus Almighty God in the first Creation of Man did fasten certain Principles of Truth in Man by his immediate discovery especially the Knowledge of Himself and his Will which was properly the Image or Impression of God in his Understanding This was not essential to the Soul but a Habit or Quality which God put into his Understanding and therefore though his Knowledge decayed by his Fall yet his Soul continued the same 2. Artificial Thus Knowledge is derived from Man to Man by signs of those impressions of Truth c. that are wrought in his Understanding that communicates it Thus Knowledge is acquired by Writing Speech and other Signs that are agreed upon to communicate Intelligence from the understanding of one Man to the understanding of another though mediante sensu Thus the Reliques of the knowledge of God in Adam were derived to his Posterity though still it grew for the most part of Men weaker and corrupter 3. Natural And this may be divided into these three branches viz. 1. Simple Apprehension Thus when any object singly by the Ear or Eye or other Sense is let into the Phantasy and so shewn to the Understanding without either affirming or denying any thing concerning it 2. Complex Apprehensions whereby either duo scibilia are joyned together in an Affirmation or Negation and this is a Proposition which again is of two kinds viz. either that which is most universal and therefore the first proposition that is framed in the understanding viz. that it is or est or est ens For that notion doth necessarily and upon the first view of any object joyn it self with it in the understanding Other propositions are more complex or remote as that God is good c. For the first question in the Understanding is Whether it be to which that general proposition answers and in the next place What it is to which the second sort of complex notions answer Now of this second kind of complex notions there are two kinds viz. either such as without the help of any Discourse or Ratiocination present themselves from the object to the understanding as this The Man is red the Man and the red being both objects of Sense and meeting in the same subject or else such as either the thing affirmed or the thing whereof the affirmation is or both are things that do not immediately fall within our Senses as the Man is a substance or the Spirit is a substance These though originally derived from sense yet they are refined by the help of Discourse 3. Conclusions drawn either from these simple or complex apprehensions which flow into our understanding immediately by our Senses and this is Rational Discourse a Faculty or Power put into Man whereby he is beyond all other visible Creatures and whereby all his actions whether Civil or Religious are and ought to be guided This is that Power whereby we may improve even sensible Objects Apprehensions and Observations to attain more sublime and high discoveries and rise from Effects to their Causes till at last we attain to the First Cause of all things So we may conclude that the Knowledge of our Creator though it fall not within the reach of our Sense and so falls not immediately within the reach of our Understanding yet by the ascents and steps of Rational Discourse so much may be gathered as may leave an Atheist without excuse God having given to Man even in his lapsed condition besides other Providential helps a stock of Visibles and a Rational Faculty to improve that stock to some measure of the Knowledge of himself For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that they are without excuse Rom 1.20 Therefore as on the one side we are to avoid curiosity in measuring the infinite Mysteries of Truth by our own finite Understandings so on the other side we must beware of Supineness and Neglect of imploying that treasure of God's Works and his Light or Reason in us to that end for which it was principally intrusted with us even the knowledge of our Creator yet still humbly concluding with Elihu Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me II. The first and most Magisterial Truth in the World upon which all other truths do depend is this That there is a First Being and Cause of all other Beings This is evident by clear Reason 1. Either we must admit a First Cause or else an actual infiniteness of Succession of Causes The latter is impossible in Nature because it is impossible there can be that which is infinite and yet successive for then it would follow That that which is actually infinite in number should be yet more infinite because there are new Successions on Causes and Causations Again it is impossible that there should be an eternal dependance of Causes one upon another without a First because then the whole Collection of those Causes taken all together must needs likewise be actually depending and if so then upon themselves and that is impossible for the immediate Cause of the Effect doth not depend upon its Effect but immediately upon its Cause Therefore this bundle of dependent causes must depend upon some one among them which is independent And impossible
and Glory that thy Being can return unto him But had he given thee a simple Being thy Debt had not been so great so have the most unaccomplisht Creatures But thy Being was dressed with an Intellectual Nature and that Nature furnished with Fruition of Happiness filling the uttermost extent of its Capacity and that Happiness guarded with such a Law as was suitable to that Nature full of Beauty and Order in the obedience whereof thou didst at once perform thy Duty and improve thy Felicity But thou rejectedst all this and becamest a Rebel to thy God and a ruine to thy self and thou hast improved thy ruine and rebellion by a voluntary rejection of thy Duty and thy Happiness until this hour And what canst thou expect but a just return of an infinite Vengeance from an omnipotent injured Creator for so ungrateful a breach of an infinite Obligation But consider what thy Lord hath done for thee for all this and stay thy self and wonder Thy Lord proclaims Return thou backsliding Soul and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you Jer. 12. Hadst thou offended thine Equal for thy offended Equal to have solicited thy Reconciliation had deserved Acceptation and Love But for the infinite God to whom thou owest an infinite Duty and hast violated it who is able to annihilate thee and can receive no advantage by thy return to solicit it with an offer of a Reprieve nay of a Pardon But here 's not all our Deliverance from the Wrath of God is wonder enough Let me now be as one of my Father's hired Servants No there is more yet 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of love he is content to accept of us as Sons But what must the Price be of so great a Change or who shall give it Thy Lord whom thou hast thus injured hath paid the Price of thy Redemption and such a Price as Heaven and Earth may wonder at the mention of it The Son of God lays down his Life for his Rebels Pardon and Assumption into a Partnership with him in his own Kingdom But thou art not for all this at the End of thy Debt this Price is rendred to thee upon easie terms Believe and live and this Life accompanied with infinite Advantages even Communion with this Creator But yet like the murmuring Israelite thou wilt die with the Manna between thy Teeth unless God who hath given thee such a Price of thy Redemption enable thee to receive him He sends his Spirit into thy Heart with Light and Life to strive with thy unbelieving Heart and to subdue it and to cleanse thy filthy and polluted Heart to bring Redemption into thy Heart and to solicite perswade importune thy Heart to receive him for thy own Good. What remains then but that thou shouldest ever admire that Love that hath done all this for thee that thou shouldest in all humility and humble reverence return love to thy Lord and magnifie his condescension that he is pleased to accept the Love of his poor Creature that thou study not to grieve the Spirit of that God that hath taken this pains and care with thee for thy good not to crucifie again that Christ that hath died for thee that thou labour to find out what is the Will of thy Lord and to obey it and to walk in love as Christ also loved us and hath given himself for us Ephes 5.2 Now according to the measure of the true Knowledge of God and of his Love in Christ is the measure of our Love to him and as that Knowledge is the immediate cause of its production so it must of necessity be the measure of its Degree And although both the knowledge of his Absolute Goodness which excites the love of Desire and the knowledge of his Benefactoriness to us which increaseth the love of Gratitude or Benevolence are mingled in every Soul that truly loves God yet according to the different degrees of the discoveries of either to the Soul so are the different manners of their working upon the Soul. The knowledge of the Perfection and Absolute Goodness of God is more suitable to an Angelical Nature and therefore produceth an high Angelical and Intellectual Love for this Love begins with the Judgment But because our Nature as it now stands as it arrives seldom to such a Knowledge so seldom to such a Love and that Love which comes into the Heart meerly upon such Contemplations is weak mingled with Servile Fear unactive because the Knowledge like the Sun in a Cloud shines dim and the Heat proves waterish and weak But the knowledge of the Goodness of God to us as it draws the Goodness of God nearer to us in Sense so it strikes more our Affections which God hath placed in us for this End. And this was the motive of Love and consequently of Obedience both under the Law and under the Gospel though the Expressions of that Love under the Law had more in them of Sense and under the Gospel more of Spirit Deut. 30.20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and obey his voice and cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy days c. Luk. 7.47 Her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much Christ argues from the measure of her Love to the measure of God's Goodness to her and her Sense of it And here we have the true Principle of all true Obedience to God The bare External act of any thing commanded by God unless it move from a Heart or Principle conformable to the Will of God is no Obedience for all External actions taking them divided from the Will they are all of one kind and nature The very same act proceeding from a Soul differently principled may be an act of Obedience viz. when proceeding from an obedient loving Heart an act of compulsion when proceeding from a bare servile Heart a bruitish act when it proceeds from a Soul not moved with any Consideration and an act of malignity against God when done out of a malicious cunning design Some even preached the Gospel for Envy Phil. 1.16 So then as the Knowledge of the Goodness and Love of God to us is the immediate cause of the return of our Love to God so this love of the Soul unto God is the true and immediate Principle of all true Obedience unto God Now these are the genuine and natural Effects of Love to God 1. It makes a Man to make God and his Honour and Glory the highest and supream End of all his actions And this must needs be so in Reason For as the great End of all the works of God are his own Honour so where there is true Love to God it cannot chuse but make the Soul value that most which God most values As he must needs be convinced in his Judgment that that which God makes his End must needs be the chief End of the Creatures actions so where this Affection is it
conception unto action and improve Joseph's question Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God Thy Creator thy Judge beholds thee Let it be the matter of thy humiliation to consider that thou hast stained the habitation of his presence by admitting a sinful thought that thou hast in his presence and in his place nourished it into a resolution And therefore let it be at last thy care at least to kill this resolution before it comes to action by improving this practical consideration of the presence of the Holy Glorious and Terrible God And if notwithstanding this consideration thy Soul shrink not from thy purpose or if thou reject the consideration of his presence that thou mayest the more quietly and contentedly sin or if thou precipitate thy resolution into action lest the consideration of his presence should step into thy heart and divert thee Thy sin is heightned and thou addest contempt of God unto thy offence by rejecting the Light and Grace that might and would if brought to thy heart restrain thee and with the presumptuous sinner in Job 21.14 thou sayest to God Depart from me for I desire not the knowledge of thy ways And it is no wonder if he take thee at thy word and depart from thee to all Eternity by the presence of his Love and Goodness though his severe and angry Eye and presence ever rest upon thee Again Is the God of Heaven an Eye-witness of thy carriage when either by thy self or others thou art solicited to evil Take courage to resist this temptation because thy Creator sees thee Ask thy temptation whether it can secure thee from the sight and wrath of God whether it can countervail thy damage in displeasing him that beholds thee Dost thou want Courage or Resolution to oppose it Consider thy Lord stands by to see and observe and reward thee in thy opposition Couldest thou see but that Glory that hath commanded thy resistance of evil and how near it stands by thee all the choicest solicitations to any sin would die in their first offer against thee Dost thou doubt thy strength to oppose it Know that thou canst not want strength if thou hast but resolution It is thy cowardise makes thee weak it is not thy weakness that makes thee cowardly All the men in the World nor all the Devils in Hell could not fasten a sin upon thee unless thou first consent But suppose thou doubtest thy own heart yet consider thy Maker's presence who is by thee and able to support thee if thou wilt but lay hold of his strength and that strength of his he offers thee if thou wilt but take it And it is not possible thou shouldest wanr it if thou seriously consider that he is present for it is an act of thy Faith whereby thou dost believe his presence and by the same act thou dost partake of all that Goodness and Truth and Mercy which accompanies his presence and will bear thee up against the most accomplisht temptation Consider that the Presence of God that beholds thy carriage in a temptation as it must needs add an infinite dishonour and shame and confusion that in the presence of the Glorious and Pure God thou shouldest sink under a base temptation contrary to the Commands and Holiness of him that beholds thee so it cannot chuse but strengthen thee against the strongest temptation by the anticipation of that comfort and contentment that thou must needs have by holding thine integrity when such thoughts as these shall move thy heart I am now solicited to break my Maker's Command for a perishing profit or pleasure whatsoever my success be I know the Glorious Holy Mighty God sees my demeanour even he that hath his reward in his hand of Indignation and Vengeance and shame in case I yield to this unworthy solicitation And Approbation Glory and Immortality in case I stick to his Command and shall I in the presence of the Almighty and Glorious God prefer the satisfaction of an unworthy lust or temptation with shame in the presence of my Creator before my Obedience unto him even in his own sight when he looks upon me and encourageth me with a promise of strength to assist me and of Glory to reward me To be able to hear in my own conscience the suffrage of the Lord of Heaven beholding me Well done good and faithful servant were enough to overweigh all my Obedience though it were possible that it could be divided from what follows Enter into thy master's joy Again Art thou in any temporal Calamity be it what it will the consideration of the presence of God will make thy condition comfortable Psal 23.3 Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me My Wants are great and my Reproaches are great and my Enemies my Pains my Dangers my Losses my Discomforts are great But they are not hid from God he is present and his Wisdom and if he saw it not fit for me to be afflicted it is enough I have learned to acknowledge his Wisdom and with patience and chearfulness to submit to him who measures out every dram of this bitter potion to most wise Ends and yet stands by to manage it He is present and his Power and Omnipotence and my Prayers have no long journey to come unto him when my Exigences are at the highest his Power is enough and near enough to help me in the very article of necessity and when I am sinking with Peter he hath an arm near enough to rescue me from the ripe and victorious danger He is present and his Compassion and Mercy and Tenderness and Faithfulness who will not suffer me to be tempted above what I am able to bear It is his Mercy that hath thus much or thus long afflicted me for so much the necessity of my Soul it may be did require Psal 119.75 Thy Judgments are right and thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me And that I am afflicted no more it is thy Mercy For he stands by and sees what measure consists with my Good and when the measure begins to exceed my strength and either easeth my burden or helps me to bear it In all their afflictions he was afflicted Isa 63.9 He is present and his All-sufficiency and this is enough to swallow up all the bitterness and darkness of my extreamest misery The comfort and beauty and goodness of every thing in it self or which it can reach out to me by fruition or participation is that which is derived to it only from the Wisdom Power and Goodness of God and there is no more of good in the Creature than what he lends it neither can it communicate to me more nor can I receive more from it than what he enables it to give and me to receive And the Creatures are but those Vessels accommodated and fitted to my Nature out of which I drink that good that he hath
MATHE ' HALE Miles Capitalis Gustic de Banco Regis Ano 1681 For W. Shrowsbery at the Sign of the Bible In Duck Lane 〈…〉 sculp 〈…〉 A DISCOURSE OF THE Knowledge of God and of our Selves I. By the Light of Nature II. By the Sacred Scriptures WRITTEN BY Sir MATTHEW HALE Knight late Chief Justice of the King's Bench in his younger time for his private Meditation and Exercise To which are added A Brief Abstract of the Christian Religion AND Considerations seasonable at all Times for the Cleansing of the Heart and Life By the same AUTHOR LONDON Printed by B. W. for William Shrowsbery at the Sign of the Bible in Duke-Lane MDCLXXXVIII THE PREFACE IN the Publication of this Book I design for the Reader a double Benefit 1. A useful and profitable Book 2. A clear Prospect into an Exemplary Life of a very eminent and famous Person The Book I may be bold to say is of it self such and yet I have good reason to hope that the great and known Worth of the Author which yet this very Book will further discover and demonstrate and the Esteem the World hath always had of him will make it more such But lest I should prejudice both it and its Author by unseasonably raising the Reader 's expectation I must to do Right and Justice to the Author acquaint the Reader with some particulars fit for his notice and consideration concerning the Author's Intention his manner of Writing it and the Work it self And 1. I may with much Confidence upon what I knew of the Author's mind and design in general in all his Writings of this kind and upon some Observations peculiar to this assure the Reader that it was not written with any Intention or thoughts that ever it should be published He had undoubtedly no other aim or design in it than what I have already mentioned in the Preface to the first Volume of his Contemplations He was a man who had an extraordinary faculty of doing much in a little time And yet did he as highly value and was as great a Husband of his time as any man I have known or read of But of no part of his time was he more frugal than of that which was set apart for Sacred Uses that none of that might be suffered to run waste especially of the Christian Sabbath or Lord's Day he was most religiously observant both in Publick and in Private in his Family and in his Study And his religious Observation thereof did not only procure to himself as he always believed a special Blessing upon his Employment of the rest of his time in his other Studies and Secular business but hath moreover produced which he little expected what may prove of great use and benefit to many others For that part of those dayes which did intervene between Evening Sermon and Supper-time he usually imployed in Pious Meditations and having a very ready hand at writing he usually wrote his thoughts that he might the better hold them intent to what he was about and keep them from wandring This was his first and principal reason for it He had indeed some thoughts of some other Uses that he or his might make thereof as that afterward reviewing what he had written long before he might see what Progress he had made in the mean time and possibly they might be of some use or benefit to some of his Family But what I first mentioned was the first and principal occasion and Motive to it Of the shorter Discourses I found divers of the Originals in the hands of his Children and Servants and a great part of the rest in a very neglected condition till I perswaded and prevailed with him to let them be collected and bound together in Volumes But of these among which this was one I am well satisfied there were none which he intended when he wrote them should ever be Printed though he hath since wrote others which he intended for the Publick But upon this occasion hath he written first and last many pious and useful Discourses which whether intended by him for the Press or not I am of opinion may do much good in the World if they were printed 2. His usual Manner of writing these things was this When he had resolved on the Subject the first thing He usually did was with his pen upon some loose piece of paper and sometimes upon a corner or the margin of the Paper he wrote on to draw a Scheme of his whole Discourse or of so much of it as he designed at that time to consider This done he tap'd his thoughts and let them run as he expressed it to me himself and they usually ran as fast as his hand though a very ready one could trace them insomuch that in that space as he hath told me he often wrote two sheets and at other times between one and two and I have my self known him write according to that proportion when I have been reading in the same room with him for divers hours together So that these writings are plainly a kind of extempore Meditations only they came from a Head and Heart well fraught with a rich Treasure of Humane and Divine Knowledge which the famous Legislator Justinian makes the necessary qualifications of a compleat Lawyer And here it is farther to be observed that all his larger Tracts such as this which could not be finished at one time were written upon great intervals of time and such wherein much business of a quite different Nature had interposed which usually interrupt the thread of a Mans thoughts 3. Concerning the Book it self the Reader may of himself perceive that it was not finished but that he had designed to have continued it farther He hath written a particular Tract Of doing as we would be done to which is the Subject at which this is left off But that as I take it was written long since this and not intended for any Continuation of it but it had been very proper to have been joyned with it had I had any Transcript of it Upon perusal of the Manuscript of his own hand-writing it may be further observed 1. That it was the Original draught and no Transcript for therein as I remember may in some places be seen some of those very Schemes which he first drew when he began to write 2. That he had not so much as revised any part of it it being for the most part as fair and without any Alteration as if it were a Transcript 3. The Original is one continued Discourse without any Distinction of Parts or Chapters or so much as any Title superscribed But I conceive it a very methodical Discourse and such as may very aptly be distinguished into those Parts and Chapters and under those Titles which I have assigned as it now appears in the Print And this is a further evidence that he did not design it for the Press Of the two Parts of it the first is wholly
and Happiness to them that believe on Christ the Soul resteth and trusteth in the Truth and Power of God in Christ for it 2. In that the Faith of both had a termination in Christ though theirs more indistinctly and confusedly in respect that the same was not so clearly revealed unto them In that Promise to Abraham In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed wherein the Gospel was preached to Abraham Galat. 3.8 Abraham did see Christ and rejoyced John 8.56 And so for the rest of those ancient Fathers Rom. 10.4 They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ Now the Effects of Faith are of two kinds 1. In reference to God our Justification God having of his free Goodness exhibited the Righteousness of Christ and his Satisfaction to be theirs that shall truly know it and rest upon it Rom. Chap. 3 4 5 c. Galat. 2.16 2. In reference to us Peace with God Rom. 5.1 In him that is our Peace-maker Humility because the Righteousness whereby we are justified is none of ours Rom. 3.27 Where then is boasting worketh by Love Galat. 5.6 2. Hope is but modally or objectively distinguished from Faith for the same spiritual Life which is wrought in the Soul and brings Light with it when it looks upon Christ with Dependance and Recumbency is called Faith when it looks upon the fulfilling of these Promises yet unfulfilled with Expectation and Assurance is called Hope They are but the actings of the same spiritual Life with diversity only 〈◊〉 to the diversity of Objects Hence they are many times taken for the same thing Heb. 11. 〈◊〉 the substance of things hoped for Ephes 4.4 One Hâ—pe of your calling Galat. 5.5 We through the Spirit wait for the Hope of righteousness by Faith Rom. 8.24 We are saved by Hope 1 Pet. 1.4 Begotten again unto a lively Hope And the Fruit of this Hope must of necessity be Joy Reâ—â—ycing in Hope Rom. 12.12 And such a Joy as at once takes off the vexation sorrow and anxiety that the greatest Affliction in this world can afford and likewise the fixing of the Soul with over much Delight upon any thing that it here enjoys because it looks beyond both upon a Recompence of Reward that allays the bitterness of the greatest Affliction 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Heb. 11. and allays the Delight of the greatest temporal Enjoyment Heb. 11.26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt Purifies the Heart John 3.3 He that hath this hope purgeth himself even as he is pure that is winds up his Heart to such a Condition as is suitable to his Expectation 3. Love This is that first and great Commandment Deut. 6.5 Matth. 22.37 And therefore is the fulfilling of the whole Law Galat. 5.14 Rom. 13.8 Because it puts the only true and active Principle in the Heart which carries him to all true Obedience It is the highest Grace 1 Cor. 13.13 And that wherein consisâ—ed the Perfection of Humane and Angelical Nature because it was not only his Duty but his Happiness It was his Duty because the chiefest Good deserved his chiefest Love even out of a Principle of Nature and his Happiness because in this regular motion of the Creature to his Creator God was pleased to exibit himself to his Creature and according to the measure of his Love was the measure of his Fruition And in the Restitution of his Creature God is pleased to restore this quality to the Soul Gal. 5.22 The first fruit of the Spirit is Love 2 Tim. 1.7 The Spirit of Love 1 Tim. 1.14 with Faith and Love 2 Thes 2.10 receiving the Love of the Truth Ephes 4.15 speaking the truth in Love Jude 21. keep your selves in the Love of God now this Love is wrought by a double means 1. By the Knowledge of God as he is the Best and Universal Good and therefore it is impossible that there can be the true Knowledge of God but there must be the true Love of God 1 John 4.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God And this is an Act grounded upon a rational Judgment which even by the very Law and Rule of Nature teacheth us to value and esteem that most which is the greatest Good. 2. By the Knowledge of the Love of God to us The absolute Goodness of God deserves our Love but the communication of his Goodness to his Creature commands it The former doth most immediately work upon our Judgment and so is a love of Apprehension the latter upon our Wills and so is a love of Affection and yet both upon right Reason for as the Law of Nature teacheth us to love the Chiefest Good so the same Law of Nature teacheth us to love those most that do us most Good and consequently love us most Now when God by his Spirit sheds abroad his Love into the Heart and we once come to know the Love of Christ passing Knowledge Ephes 3.19 The Soul even out of a natural ingenuity being rescued by the Spirit of God from that malignity that sin and corruption had wrought in it cannot chuse but return to God again that hath done so much for so undeserving a Creature And therefore this was the great Wisdom and Goodness of God in sending Christ in the Flesh to die for us when we were Enemies and in revealing that Goodness of his therein that in a way proportionable to the conception and operation of our Souls we might understand the greatness of his Love to us 1 John 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God 1 John 4.9 In this was manifested the love of God Ephes 2.4 But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead c. God commandeth his love to us c. All which being brought to a Soul that hath life in him must needs work Love to God again 1 John 4.19 We love him becâ—use he loved us first As it is the Love of God that gives us Power to love him for it is the first cause of our Happiness and consequently of our Love to God wherein consists our Happiness so it is the immediate cause of our Love to him When the Soul is convinced of so much Love from so great a God to so poor a Creature in very Ingenuity and Gratitude it cannot chuse but return an humble and hearty Love to his Creator again Methinks the Soul in the contemplation of the Goodness and Love of God might bespeak it self to this effect So immense and infinite is the Goodness and Beauty of thy God that were thy Being possible to be independent upon him he would deserve the most boundless and infinite motion of thy Love unto him But here is yet farther infinitude added to an infinitude he gave thee thy Being from nothing which was an infinite act of his Goodness and Power unto thee and doth and may justly challenge the highest tribute of Love
and Heirship Galat. 4.7 Heirs of God through Christ Now all these three Graces of God wrought in our 〈◊〉 by the Spirit of God are motions unto Union 〈…〉 is the first act of the Soul and there◠〈…〉 this Union is formally maâ—e 〈…〉 to be justified by Faith Rom. 3.28 To partake of of the Righteousness of God by Faith Rom. 3.22 Phil. 3.9 viz. That by the Eternal Counsel and Goodness of God Christ is put in the place of him that believes in respect of his sins and he that believes is in the sight of God put in place or stead of Christ and by that means is judged righteous in the sight of God even by that very Righteousness which was the Righteousness of Christ the Mediator And when we speak of Faith we must not intend that work of the Spirit of God in our Souls whereby we believe for by the very same work is wrought belief love of God and hope in him But it is that act of that Life so wrought which doth believe Now we shall consider Why or by what reason the act of Faith worketh our Vnion with Christ and so our Justification in the sight of God 1. Because it is the Will of God John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life He that is the great dispenser of his own Goodness is pleased that this shall be the means of that Dispensation In ancient times before the coming of Christ he was pleased to use other immediate Instruments such were Circumcision Obedience to those Laws which he gave these had not their Efficacy of themselves for they were indifferent things but they had their Efficacy upon these grounds 1. The Divine Institution to that End 2. The mingling of the Efficacy of the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ with 3. A performance of them with an Obediential and believing Heart which though it was not always accompanied with an explicite and actual belief of Christ yet it was not without thus much Faith viz. That it was a thing injoined by God for some special Purpose for the good of his Creature And thus likewise in Infants who are not capable of an actual exercise of Faith God hath questionless some secret efficacious means of the application of Christ's Sacrifice unto them Thus proportionable to the Condition of his Elect in all times and Conditions God is pleased to proportion a means to make this Sacrifice effectual To the ancient Fathers that had not the same opportunity of believing in respect Christ was not revealed to them so clearly as to us it was his Will to appoint at least a more implicite and obscure act of Faith They were shut up unto the Faith that should afterwards be revealed Galat. 3.23 2. Because Faith is the first act of the New Life wrought in the Heart by the Spirit of God tending to Union It is true that Knowledge is that which precedes all the works of Grace in the Soul but in this the Soul is not so much active as passive and Knowledge doth not of it self unite the Soul to the Object viz. Christ as it doth unite the Object to the Soul But the first motion of the Soul to Union is not that Faith of Assent which differs not from Knowledge but the Faith of Recumbency or Adherence And this priority of the act of Faith is not in time for Life is wrought all at once in the Soul but in Nature and actual operation And this priority of Faith in this sense is upon three grounds 1. In respect of the nature of the Act. 2. In respect of the nature of that Truth upon which it fixeth 3. In respect of the Condition of the Creature 1. In respect of the nature of the Act The Creature is created essentially depending upon God and Dependance is the first relative act of the Creature unto the Creator as it is the first relation so the first motion of a rational Creature unto God is by an act of Dependance and Recumbence upon his Truth and Goodness And herein consisted as the first act of Union in our uncorrupted Nature unto God so herein was the first breach that was made upon Man Gen. 3.1 Yea hath God said c. Man's Duty was Recumbency and Trust and Reliance upon the Goodness of his Creator and the Devil weakens his Faith or Dependance upon his God and deceives him His first Fall was Distrust in the Word and Goodness of God and his first Recovery must be by Recumbency upon him his Truth and Goodness 2. In respect of the nature of the Message It is a Message that as it requires so it concerns our Faith and Recumbency It is a Promise of Mercy and Peace unto as many as believe the Message According to the nature of the thing known is the motion of the Heart towards it This is a Message of Deliverance and Peace with a Command to rest upon it therefore of necessity the first act must be Recumbence John 11.40 Said I not if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the Glory of God Exod. 14.13 Fear not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The first act that a Message of Deliverance from God worketh upon the Heart that entertains it is Recumbency and Resting upon the Truth and Power of God. 3. In respect of the Condition that this Message of Deliverance finds us in We are incompassed every where with Guilt and the avenger of blood pursues that guilt and we cannot by any means find any Power in our selves or in any other Creature to escape it The Soul being seriously convinced of this God presents unto it the Satisfaction and Righteousness of Christ his Promise of Acceptation of it and our deliverance from his wrath by it And now the Soul like a Man ready to be drowned first lays hold of the Cable that is thrown out to him even before it hath leisure to contemplate the Goodness of him that did it So the condition of our Misery teacheth us first to clasp the Promise of Mercy and Salvation in Christ and then to consider and contemplate the great Mercy and Goodness of God and to entertain it with Love and Thankfulness An extream Exigence will give a Man some confidence to adventure upon a difficult and unlikely occasion of deliverance because it is possible his Condition may be bettered it cannot be made worse 2 Kings 8.4 Why sit we here until we die if we enter into the City the Famine is in the City and we shall die there if we sit still here we die also Now therefore let us fâ—ll into the Host of the Assyrians if they save us alive 〈…〉 live and if they kill us we shall but die Even so even in a way of Reason may the Soul debate with it seâ—f I find my Condition miserable and I know not how to avoid it when I look into my self I find
Consideratiun of the great and high Hope to which we are restored by the purchace of Christ and the great Incongruity that there is between continuing in Sin and that Hope We expect to be brought to an innumerable company of Angels to the Assembly of the first born to the Spirits of just Men made perfect to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant to God the Judge of all Heb. 12.22 c. to be make like unto the Son of God and to be partakers of his Sonship and Inheritance 1 John 3.2 To partake of his Spirit to see the brightness of the glory of God in Christ now all these are holy how unsuitable a thing is it for a Man that hath his Hope not to purifie himself even as he is pure 1 John 3.3 This will teach a Man to bespeak his Heart thus Is the Presence of God thy Hope he is the Holy Holy Holy Lord that is of purer Eyes than to behold or to be beholden by any unclean thing If therefore thou commit Sin thou livest below thy Hope either therefore let thy Hope be answerable to thy Life or thy Life to thy Hope 3. A serious Consideration of the Presence of the Great and Just and Powerful God his Eyes run to and fro through the Earth to behold the Evil and the Good 2 Chron. 16.9 He is acquainted with all my ways Psal 139.3 His Eyes are upon all the ways of the Children of Men Jer. 32.19 The Hearts of Men Prov. 15.11 and all things are naked and manifest before him with whom we have to do And darest thou sin before the face of thy Judge who sees thee and whose Power or Justice thou canst not escape this is so great a Controll that were it soundly and deeply considered it would stifle even the first motions of sin and therefore it is the great work of our own wicked Heart either to gull themselves into a perswasion that God sees not Job 22.13 or else in plain English to forbid him their Hearts they say to God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 22.14 4. A deep Consideration of the Nature and Consequences of Sin It is a Violation of a Righteous and Just Law the Law of a Just and Righteous God a Law the conformity whereunto is the Perfection and Blessedness of the Creature By this sin I lose my Communion with my Creator and consequently Peace within my self whiles I commit it my fruition is but short and mingled with Fear because the end of it Death is in some degree present with my Soul and sowers that transitory Content which I enjoy in it and when it is finished it brings forth Sorrow and Shame and Death and if that Sorrow end in Repentance yet the bitterness of that Sorrow overweighs the Pleasure that I had in its commission and according to the measure of the delight I had in my sin so and much more is the measure of my sorrow in repenting and yet for all this that Peace which I had formerly with my God and my Conscience very hardly recovered and God though he pardons my sin yet either not at all or not suddenly trusting me with that measure of Communion with him which I formerly enjoyed and abused But if the sorrow of Repentance wait not upon my sin a worse sorrow attends it the sin is past and so is the contentment but the storm that attends it is Everlasting the loss of the light of God's love the loss of an Eternal weight of Glory the terrible appearance of an angry God cloathed with as much Terror as Justice provoked Patience abused and Mercy contemned by a most indebted Creature can assume And this Terror shaken into the most tender and sensible parts of the Soul by the hand of Omnipotence it self and that unto all Eternity when my Life shall be full of nothing but the preapprehensions of my future misery my death the terrible inexorable and inevitable passage to it Shall I then so madly prize the satisfying of a base a perishing Lust for a season thus throw away my God my Happiness my self when the thing it self is so base and transitory and the wages so sad and dismal It shall be my care to avoid to subdue to crucifie that which as it cannot satisfie so it will certainly torment and ruine me And since I find my Lusts to be so easily actuated into Sin by every Temptation I shall by the Grace of God as avoid the latter so keep a strict hand over the former and it shall be my hourly care to ransack and examine and search my Heart what is moulding there and to cleanse and wash it from its pollutions or at least to mingle my Tears and Sorrows with them that so they may be weary of my Heart or my Heart of them But Lord Who understandeth the errors of his life Cleanse thou me from my secret sins and keep thy servant from presumptuous sins Psal 19.12 5. Frequent Considerations of the Shortness of Life the Lord hath given me a great Work to do to work out my salvation with fear and trembling and the Time wherein I have to do it is in this Life and that but a short and an uncertain Life the great Enemies to my Soul are the Lusts of my Flesh and of my Mind which fight against my Soul If the work be not done in my Life-time the Door is shut and who knows whether this or that Sin which I am now about to commit may not be concluded with my Life and then in what a case am I how shall I appear before the Holy and Eternal God with the stain of that sin upon me or if he prolong my days yet who knows whether he will not seal up my Soul with impenitency If my Lust prevail upon me now it gathers strength and vexeth that Spirit which must only enable me for the future to repent and resist it and if I get the Victory over the contestations of the Spirit of God my Conquest ends in my own Misery and Slavery It may be I have over-matched and stifled the Perswasions of the Spirit of God of that Lighit which he hath set up in my Conscience that did sting me in the midst of my Cariere after my Lusts and mingled them with bitterness to my discontent and now I pursue my Desires without interruption yet when I remember that Death is at my heels and will overtake me before I can overtake my Contentment in the things I pursue that if I over-live a sudden unexpected Death yet the Harbingers of Death Sickness or Age cannot be far off and either of these as they will take off the edge of my Pursuit and fruitions of my Lusts and render them insipid so they will thereby give leisure and opportunity to me to cast up the Accounts of my past Life and find therein nothing but Vanity and Unprofitableness Time that might have been improved to Eternity irrecoverably
and execute the most exquisite satisfaction it can for those Lusts of the Flesh Now as any Man that hath so much command of his Mind as a little to call it off from this drudgery cannot chuse but conclude the extream unfitness and uncomeliness of such a transposition of his Faculties so when it pleaseth God to open our Eyes that we can see the state and frame of our Minds and Souls as once the Prophet's Servant's Eyes were opened to see that better sight of the heavenly Host we should see more confusion discrepancy and disorder in our Souls more cruelty mischief and filthiness by reason of the rule of those Lusts within us than if we should see the Slaves of a once well-governed City in a Rebellion mastering their Lords and making them serve to their basest Commands rifling their Treasures burning their Habitations and turning all places Orders and things into ruine and confusion And therefore the study of the reducing these Rebels to their former subjection even by strict severity and discipline which is the Business of Mortification cannot chuse but be a most rational Work. Now from this disorder that ariseth in the Soul by the Old Man which is nothing else but the inverting and displacing of those powers and motions of the Creature from that beautiful and conformable Place and Order wherein God had once set them proceed all those enormities and confusions that are in the World James 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members Lust hath made a disorder and tumult within and there it cannot rest long but works the like without also God hath set every thing in his place and order and bounded it with certain Limits and Rules and as long as they keep within their Places Orders and Rules there is Beauty and Concordance with it self and other things but when that Order and Rule of things is broken then follows Confusion and Deformity and as the things so displaced disagree with other things that are in their Places and Orders so those must needs disagree with them much more must things that are out of their Places and Orders disagree one with another When a Man over-mastered by any Lust meets with another Man over-mastered with the same or any other Lust there must needs be a discord between them these are the Works of the Flesh ad extra Gal. 5.19 2. The Lust of the Eyes The wise Man tells us The Eye is not satisfied with seeing Prov. 27.20 Eccles 1.8 And this is natural to the capacity of that sense and may be useful But that which is principally meant by this Lust is the over-eager prosecution of such Objects as are most delightful to the Eye viz. of Wealth which is Covetousness and of Honour or High Place which is Ambition These two Lusts are prosecuted upon a double ground 1. As things pleasing to our sight insomuch that the Wise Man concludes that the greatest good in the most substantial of them is the beholding of them with the Eyes of the Owner Eccles 5.11 But this is not all for we see even in â—ind Men the same desire of Wealth and Glory as in others Therefore 2. A mistaken Over-vaâ—â—ation of them as things of the most absolute use and safety The natural Man makes himself as he is constituted in this Life his chiefest End and according as the several judgments and dispositions of Men they take up several ways for the improvement or security or pleasure of their temporal Being here the Voluptuous Man the Covetous Man the Revengeful Man the Ambitious Man have all one End viz. Self But Self discovers it self several ways according to the several Dispositions and Principles that are in those several Men Wealth and Honour they are the Blessings of God and of excellent use to our present subsistence and may be desired and endeavoured for with moderation in order to our preservation posterity and safety But then it becomes a Lust when they are overvalued and consequently over eagerly prosecuted and then by degrees the Man is so captivated with it and habituated to it that as he placed his Felicity in his temporal Being here so he placeth the security strength and life of this Felicity in his Honour or Wealth and so makes it his God Colos 3.5 For as it is agreeable to our corrupt Nature to make that our Idol wherein or whereby we find the greatest sensible good conveyed to us be it an Onion or a Calf or a Crocodile as was the use of the Egyptians so if we once exceed those Bounds of Moderation which we ought to bear towards any sensible good it believes an Idol for it takes away part of that Portion of Love and Duty which we owe to God Prov. 18.10 11. The same that God is to a Man that is righteous the same doth a covetous Man make his Riches viz. his strong City It is impossible but Man must needs find himself a depending Creature upon somewhat without him he cannot live without Meat Drink Cloathing support against Injuries Violence and Want he hath lost the Knowledge of God upon whom in truth his dependance is and therefore fastens upon that which is most visibly in his way for his support Riches and External Power and this he concludes and resolves to compass per fas nefas even through the destruction and blood of those that stand in his way And having attained to some convenient proportion yet partly through the emptiness and deceitfulness of the Object which we pursue partly through the insatiableness of that Lust which we endeavour to satisfie we rest not in the pursuit though we grow secure in the enjoyment Soul thou hâ—st much laid up c. Luke 12.19 And thus this Lust robs God of that which is most due and dear unto him our Dependance and our Love so that it is impossible to serve them both Luke 16.13 Ye cannot serve God and Mammon For that which a Man most values will be sure to have most of his Heart Matth. 6.21 Now if there were the true Knowledge of God in our Hearts this Lust would die of it self If a Man considers that this Life consisteth not in the multitude of the things we enjoy Luke 12.15 That our heavenly Father who knoweth our wants requires us to cast our Care upon him Matth. 6.32 1 Pet. 5.7 That Promotion cometh not from the East nor West but it is God that setteth up one and casteth down another Psal 75.7 That he giveth all Creatures their Meat in due season Psal 145.16 That except he build the House they labour in vain that build it Psal 127.1 That he hath commanded us to cast our Burdens upon him and he will sustain us Psal 51.22 to commit our ways unto the Lord and trust in him and he shall bring it to pass Psal 37.5 that Riches are his Gift and commands us to trust in the Giver
in the Water and it shall not come near us Therefore O King we value not thy Power nor thy Rage for our Dependance is above them But this is not all If that great God whom we serve deliver us over to the swing of thy Rage we have learnt yet a higher Lesson our Faith and Experience hath taught us to trust in him and our Love hath taught us to obey him though he seem to disappoint our trust by delivering us unto thy Fury yet we will not forget to obey him he hath taught us to make his Will the measure and rule of ours both in what we suffer and in what we do we owe our Lives to him and thou art but his Instrument to take them from us when his Will commands our Lives we shall resign them with Patience but now his Glory requires them we will give them up with Chearfulness If we cannot live but upon so dear a rate as to offend our bountiful God farewell Life with Guilt and welcome Death with Innocence Know O King that the Presence and Love of our God hath taught us how to fear to offend yet to dare to die CHAP. XXI Of Watchfulness over our Hope Confidence and Joy. SET a Watch upon thy Hope and Confidence Place it aright and remember thou art essentially depending upon the great God and upon him only and all things below him have no more worth or strength in them than he derives to them and when they take up his place he ever breaks and disappoints them Yet such is the Atheism the Pride and Folly of our Hearts that it will place its confidence in any thing rather than where it should The distemper of this as of all other our Affections hath its beginning in the Blindness of our Judgments the want of a deep and practical knowledge of God and from hence our Confidences and Hopes fix and rest oftentimes in most vain and deceitful Objects Have therefore a watch and a corrective upon the motion of thy Soul towards any thing which thou hast wherein there seems any though never so little strength thy evil Heart will make it thy confidence and so a snare unto thee Is thy Wealth increased take heed to thy Confidence thy evil Heart will make it all one to have and to trust in Riches it will make thy Gold thy Confidence Job 31.24 to trust in thy Wealth and boast thy self in the multitude of thy Riches Psal 49.6 Psal 52.7 to make it thy strong Tower Prov. 10.15 to set thy Heart upon them Psal 62.10 And then this thy Confidence shall be thy Fall Prov. 11.28 Hast thou a fair Success in Externals look to thy Confidence though thou seest thy Creator in them yet thy evil Heart will make thee at least share thy Confidence between thy God and the Creature to conclude with Job that now thou shalt die in thy Nest Job 29.18 to behold the Sun when it shineth Job 31.26 to conclude with David that thou shalt never be moved Psal 30.6 and the jealous yet merciful God will hide his face and thou art troubled thereby to unsaâ—n thy Confidence upon the Creature and to teach thee to fix it upon thy Maker only Hast thou a Friend a Prince or Nation Confederate take heed to thy Confidence thou art apt to make this thy Friend thy Confidence Psal 41.9 my own familiar Friend in whom I trusted to put Confidence in this Prince Psal 118.9 Psal 146.3 And then he makes Egypt a broken Reed Isa 36.6 Ezek. 29.6 sends a Vengeance to pursue and overtake thee in the midst of thy Confederates Jer. 42.16 pours contempt upon thy Confidence Job 12.21 Hast thou Munitions Provisions for War take heed to thy Confidence thou wilt be ready to make thy Chariots and thy Horsemen thy Trust Psal 20.7 the multitude of thine Host thy Salvation Psal 33.16 â—o vaunt that thou art mighty and strong for the War Jer. 48.14 and then the great Lord rejects thy Confidences and writes disappointment upon them all Jer. â— 37 Hast thou a strong Body a dexterous deep foreseeing preventing Wit thy Counsels and Purposes followed with Successes answerable to thy Mind take â—eed to thy Confidence thy Heart is blind and cannot see rather than the next Causes not observing the great and fast Mover who manageth all things and will swell thee up into a self-confidence and dependance But suppose thy Confidence be right set â—eâ—ect of the Object yet see that it be grounded upon right Principles otherwise thy Confidence may be thy Presumption Examine thy very Recumbence upon thy Creator The immediate ground of any Confidence in God is a perswasion of his Power and a perswasion of his Love and in both these the corruption of our Nature doth discover it self and is fit to be considered 1. Touching his Power the Errors of our Trust on either hand in the Defect and in the Excess 1. Diffidence in his Power Psal 78.19 Can God furnish a table in the wilderness therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth Upon any Extremity though never so black and inevitable look upon the Power of God as able most easily to over-match it 2. Resting upon his Power without consulting with his Will This is Presumption when a Man without any Commission from his Maker shall entertain any desperate attempt This is for a vain Man to go about to ingage the Power of the great God against himself his Will his Purity his Wisdom his Purpose See thou hast a Commission from the Will of thy Creator for what thou art about and if so then cast thy self upon his Power when thou art acting by his Command doubt not but thou shalt act by his Power 2. Touching his Love this likewise yields Errors on both hands 1. In the defect principally when a Soul that doubts not of his Power because she knows him nor hath cause to doubt of his Love because her Peace is made yet such black storms and pre-apprehensions of dangers are gathered round about her that she cannot see the Love or Care of God towards her Psal 77.9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he shut up his tender mercies 2. In the Excess an ungrounded Presumption of the Love and Favour of God and herein are divers Mistakes 1. When a Man shall argue a personal and special Love of God unto him from External Successes and Events It is true that the Mercy and Love of God is over all his Works and the Happiness of Externals is the fruit of the Love of God as to his Creature but not a sufficient evidence of that special Love of God as to his Child they are fruits of his Bounty not always evidences of his Favour Experience of former Mercies in external successes and deliverances may and ought to strengthen that Confidence which is well grounded upon the Love of God Psal 77.11 1 Sam. 17.37 But they are not always infallible arguments of that Love When Blessings in Externals