by no means entertain an Imagination that at your own Pleasure you can work in your selves to will and to do but always acknowledge the necessity and Efficacy of the Grace of Christ and glorifie that Grace saying when you obey and labour it is not I but the Grace of God that is with me 4. Earnestly desire that your Hearts may be circumcised to love both the Lord himself and his Service likewise It is a Promise worth more and if made good to us will enrich us more than the Wealth of both the Indies Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy Heart and the Heart of thy Seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul that thou mayst live An Heart to love him is his own Gift and the Heart must be circumcised by himself before it will be brought to love him The Prophet speaks of the Foreskin of the Heart that must be taken away Now this Foreskin of the Heart is Carnal and Worldly Love together with Enmity against God and his Law Cry to the Lord according to his good Word of Promise to mortifie the one and to subdue the other And that he would give you a new Heart and Nature cause a new Light to shine that may manifest his glorious Goodness in the Face of Christ and so direct your Hearts into the Love of himself If he be truly loved he will be the more willingly obeyed and truly his Precepts are worthy to be loved too the better they are kept the more truly excellent are those that keep them And themselves are kept in more perfect Peace The Psalmist says My Soul hath kept thy Testimonies and I love them exceedingly Psal 119. 167. and no wonder for he had said before v. 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Such a Lord such a Law deserves Love and Love will sweeten Service it will not count this Service tedious but mightily incline the Heart to Perseverance in its Duty 5. Let your Fear and Awe of the Lord's Majesty when you attend upon him be joyn'd with an Hope in his Mercy If Fear and Hope are thus joyned together as you will be the more encouraged in God so God will take the more Pleasure in you For the Lord takes Pleasure in them that fear him and in those that hope in his Mercy Psal â—47 11. The Mercy of God is magnified in his Word on purpose that Hope may be raised and rise still higher and higher This Lord on whom you ought to attend is rich in Mercy His merciful Kindness is great Psal 117. 2. He has Mercy not upon the account of Merit in Man but because he will have Mercy Rom. 9. 18. And how often is it said Psal 136. that his Mercy endures for ever Here is a large and firm Foundation for Hope to build on And if your Hope be not presumptuous but of a purifying Nature you may from such a merciful Lord confidently expect that Grace and those good things you need in time And when your short time is at an end the best things of all unto eternity I have done with the second Doctrine Doct. III. I come now to the third and last Doctrine which I principally design to insist on That Attendance upon the Lord should be without Distractien 'T is not only Apostacy from the Faith and the Practice of Religion which the Apostle bids us to take heed of which is a more gross departing away from God but he cautions against any Withdrawings of Heart from that Lord with whom we have to do Therefore in a time of Distress and Persecution he prefers a single State before Wedlock not that Marriage in it self considered has any thing of Sin in it for 't is honourable in all not that a single State in it self has any thing of Holiness but because the Cares that attend Marriage are apt to distract the Mind and to hinder the things that belong to the Lord from being cared for as they ought and might be Indeed in the Context there is a plain Intimation that 't is a great part of Christian Prudence so to order our secular Affairs and to make choice of such a Condition of Life as may be most subservient to our spiritual Designs and may least interfere with our main Business which is the Lord's Service that that may be done without Distraction They are pronounced to be the blessed ones who keep God's Testimonies and that seek him with the whole Heart Psal 119. 2. And since the whole Heart must seek him the Thoughts the Affections the all of the Heart must attend upon him nothing of the Soul must be absent or withdrawn The Prophet speaks of the Hearts engaging to approach unto God Jer. 30. 21. For who is this that engageth his Heart to approach unto me Saith the Lord. That the Heart may be thus engaged for God it must be disengaged from other things and all that is within it too must be engaged to approach to him When Moses and the Children of Israel were to go into the Wilderness to serve the Lord They went with their young and old with their Flocks and their herds there was not an Hoof left behind Exod. 10. 26. And when we go to serve our God we should go with our all No Power of our Souls should be exempted not so much as a Thought should be left behind In the handling of this Doctrine I shall First tell you what Distraction in attending upon God is Secondly What it is to attend upon the Lord without Distraction Thirdly Assign the Reasons why with such Care we should take heed of Distraction in serving him Answer in the fourth place some Cases of Conscience about these Distractions Fifthly make Application In the first place I am to tell you what Distraction in attending upon God is 'T is the first Step to the Cure to know our Disease and to have a right Sense of it Several things are here to be premised 1. Distraction is the Fault of the Heart That deceitful and wicked thing how many Faults has it And how often does it withdraw when we have to do with God flying as Jonah from his Presence and being any where but where it should be Indeed sometimes this Distraction does but too visibly and scandalously appear by unnecessary Whisperings by Salutations when Persons are in God's Sanctuary and Service by the wandring of the Eye and other irreverent Carriage and Behaviour in the time of Worship These when ordinarily allowed are plain Indications that the Heart is not in God's Work and which is worse cares not to be engaged therein And how blameworthy then is it It is the Heart which foolishly departs from the Lord. It is not so right and stedfast with him as it should be Psal 78. 8. A Generation that set not their Heart aright and whose Spirit was not stedfast with God has a Brand set
the more thou talkest of it unto them thou conversest with the more it will administer Grace to the Hearers The second Duty is hearing the Word preached And that you may hear the word with less distraction 1. Look beyond Preachers unto that God who sends them and speaks to you by them Look beyond the earthen Vessels unto the Treasure which they bring and upon the Word that is preached as the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ who is the Image of God 2 Cor. 4. 4 7. Preachers of the Gospel are Christ's Ambassadors and they are sent to treat with you about Peace with God and by them God beseeches you to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. How beautiful should you count the Feet of them who preach the Gospel of Peace and bring glad tidings of good things Rom. 10. 15. Such Tidings are too good distractedly and heedlesly to be heard And he that sends them is too great to be thus contemned When you sit before the Ministers of Christ and the Stewards of the Mysteries of God remember what our Lord himself says Luke 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me 2. Apprehend who are ready if you hear distractedly and without care to catch away the Word from you as soon as 't is spoken Evil Angels are compared to the Fowls of the Air who hover about the Sower to devour the Seed as soon as it is sown Luk. 8. 5. These evil Spirits are fitly compared to Fowls for they are many and how do they come flocking into our Religious Assemblies 'T is desirable to have Souls come flying to Christ as Doves to their Windows but it may startle us to understand that Devils came flocking into Churches to catch away the Word which is preached there These Enemies as they are many so as Fowls they are above us and consequently not so easie is it to resist them How many Sermons have these evil Angels stolen And the Sermons they have stolen they have them to shew against heedless Hearers at the Day of reckoning 3. Make a Covenant with your Eyes that your hearing may be the less distracted and more attentive Fix not your sight upon any alluring and ensnaring Objects or any thing which may divert you And as your Eyes must be turned away from beholding Vanity that you may be quickned in the way of your Duty so be sure to keep your Eyes waking If sleep locks up the Senses how fast must the Heart the mean time be barr'd against the Word of God! Eutichus a Church Sleeper is an Example upon Record sinking down with sleep while Paul was preaching he fell down and was taken up dead Act. 20. 9. They that sleep at a Sermon scandalously reject and despise the word preached Satan is a most wakeful Witness against them and his Arms are the Cradle in which they are rockt 4. Beg that the Lord himself would open your Hearts to attend to his Word It was he who opened the Heart of Lydia and then she attended to those things which were spoken by Paul Acts 16. 14. 'T is the Lord that makes way for the Word into the Mind that it may be heeded and understood and he makes way for the Word into the Heart that the Heart may be changed and cleansed thereby Joh. 15. 3. Now are ye clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you 'T is dreadful to provoke the Lord so as to be like unto provoking Israel to whom Moses speaks thus Deut. 29. 4. The Lord hath not given you an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear unto this Day And it will be worse if you love to have it thus still O think thus that distracted hearing may cause the word of Life to become deadly to you and God may judicially and yet justly harden your Hearts lest you should see and hear and understand and convert and be healed Isa 6. 10. 5. Let the word preached be mixt with Faith and received with Love The Apostle tells us that the Word preached did not profit the hearers of it not being mix'd with Faith in them that hear'd it Heb. 4. 2. Commands will be heeded and obeyed that are indeed believed to be of God Threatnings and Promises that are most firmly credited cannot but be minded and have a mighty influence The Word also is to be received in the Love of it that you may be saved The design of this Word is your deliverance from sin and misery your Peace your Purity and Perfection your eternal Redemption and Glory and therefore it commends it self exceedingly to your Aflections A sincere love to the Word will command the Thoughts of the Heart and hinder the Word from being disregarded 6. Remember that the Word which you hear is your Life There is a carelesness of life in heedlesness and distraction in hearing the Word of God Deut. 32. 46 47. Set your hearts unto all the Words which I testifie among you this Day for it is not a vain thing for you for it is your Life Prov. 7. 2. Keep my Commandments and live and my Law as the Apple of your Eye Isa 55. 3. Incline your Ear come unto me hear and your Soul shall live and I will make with you an everlasting Covenant even the sure Mercies of David And further to fix your attention to the Word preached be all of you perswaded that you who are now in the Sanctuary must shortly stand at the Judgment-Seat of Christ and the Word which he has spoken the same shall judge you at the last day Joh. 12. 48. Then you must render an account of your Stewardship and how all your Talents have been improved and you must be judged and receive according to your Works And sure I am that the Sentence which will then be pronounced whether it be of Absolution Come ye Blessed or of Condemnation Go ye Cursed cannot but be heard without distraction Both the one and the other of these Sentences must needs be heeded by all upon whom they are passed the one being so very comfortable and the other so terrible and confounding A third Duty which I shall insist on is Prayer now that you may with less distraction call upon the Name of God 1. Consider whose Name it is you are taking into your Mouths Deut. 28. 58. That glorious and fearful Name THE LORD THY GOD. A Name which should never be in the Lips without the profoundest Reverence in the Heart The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King at his Wrath the Earth doth tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation Jer. 10. 10 11. This God whom you pray to is infinitely more above you than the greatest Emperour is above the meanest Worms
he refused to go out free at the year of release and had his Ear boared with an Awl to the Post of the Door to signifie his resolution to serve his Master continually To profess Service to the Lord and then to depart from him is highly to reproach and dishonour him and in effect to say that fleshly and worldly Lusts are better Lords than He 't is more notoriously to despise him and to harden others in their contempt of him and of his Word and Commandments Attenders upon God give not over following him in all those ways he has commanded them to walk in They follow on to know him they follow him fully and being upheld with the right hand of his Righteousness their Souls follow hard after him Psal 63. 8. And whom should they follow to whom else should they go The Lord has the words of Eternal Life He alone has Grace and Honour and Glory and all good things else to give and to go away from him is to lose all this and to tread the path which leads to Eternal Death Attenders upon God cannot change their Lord but they must change for the worse nay the very best for the very worst of all therefore they are unchangeably his stedfast and unmovable always abiding and abounding in his Work and Service In the third place I am to speak of several sorts of Attending upon God It will be needful to insist particularly on these that you may have a more distinct understanding of your Duty in the Extent and Latitude of it The Scripture makes a great difference between Attendance and Attendance upon God so that there are diverse kinds of it as shall be manifested in these following Distinctions I. There is an Attendance upon God which is with the lips and body only and that which is with the Heart also I begin with this distinction to prevent Hypocrisie and Formality in Religious Duties whereby the Jealous God is so much provoked and Professors deceive others but principally cheat and ruine their own Souls 1. An Attendance which is with the lips and body only God by the Prophet spake against this and by his own Son shews the vanity of it and how displeasing 't is to him Mat. 15. 7 8. Ye Hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you saying This People draweth near unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me The body indeed is to give Attendance as being the Temple of the Spirit The Tongue is then most Angelical and Man's Glory when most enlargedly it does confess to God call upon and praise and magnifie his Name But if when the eyes are lift up towards Heaven the hands are stretched forth with great eagerness the knees bowe with seeming Humility and Devotion and the words of the mouth are serious and holy and with appearing fervency all this while the heart keeps aloof and at a distance from God values not his love his grace or Communion with him but goes after its pleasures lusts and covetousness Alas Here is only a dead and rotten carcass of a Duty without a Soul and 't is very loathsom and abominable In all Religious Performances if the heart does not at all care to draw near 't is certain the Lord will not draw near neither as to his gracious presence And if God be not found in the Duty nor the Heart of the performer found there how unprofitable must the performance needs be 2. There is an Attendance upon God not with the Body only but with the Heart also He speaketh unto us as unto Children and saith My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. Give him never so much without this you give him nothing that he cares for The Heart does the chief part in the pure and acceptable Worship of God The Heart must keep his Commandments else they are not kept Prov. 3. 1. My Son forget not my Law but let thy Heart keep my Commandments The Psalmist lifted up his very Soul to God Psal 25. 1. this the Lord look'd at and liked Those Graces which are to be acted in Attendance upon God as Faith and holy Reverence Love Desire and Hope and such like the Heart is the Seat of them and 't is by the Heart that they are exercised And when the Heart being cleansed from its Defilements and weaned from the Allurements of this World draws very near to God and God also draws very near these his nearer approaches how reviving how healing and confirming are they When the Spirit of a Saint does before the time in a sense return to God who gave it and converse with him in the heavenly places that converse how high and joyful and beneficial is it found When Moses came down from the Mount where he had been with God his Face did shine and when the Heart has been above in Heaven a clearer light does shine into it and 't is more gloriously transformed into the Divine Image and Nature II. There is an Attendance upon God which is voluntary and which is through constraint and forced 1. An Attendance which is voluntary When God by his powerful Grace inclines and determines the Will to himself so that He is chosen and his special Favour and Blessings are valued above all things A mighty strength is put forth and yet without coaction in bending the Will of Man towards God and to his Will which naturally is so perverse and obstinate in Evil that 't is fitly compared to an Iron Sinew What a Power is it which makes it pliable Psal 110. 3. Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power And when to will is thus wrought the Heart is then enlarged and at liberty to come to God and to do its Duty There is a renewed Nature which is principium motus a principle of spiritual Motion This is notably expressed Zach. 8. 21. And the Inhabitants of one City shall go to another saying let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of Hosts I will go also The like temper we find Jer. 50. 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their Faces thitherward saying come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten 2. There is an Attendance which is through constraint and forced The Heart is not right with God nor taken with himself at all But pressing necessity drives the Soul to him for some benefit which none but he can bestow Or there are some indications of God's Anger and Displeasure The effects of which they which attend upon him feel or fear whereupon they are forced to cry for mercy Such kind of Attenders were those Psal 78. 34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him they returned and enquired early after God they remembered that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their Mouth and lyed unto him
Thousands and Millions of Souls On this Christian Sabbath what kind of Attendance on God should ours be Before the day comes it should be longed for and when 't is come it should be most welcom Assoon as our Senses are unlock't in the Morning our Souls should be as it were caught up to the third Heaven and there continue until Night Our Lord is risen indeed and we should rise with him and seek those things which are above where he sits at the right hand of God Col. 3. 1. Things on Earth will be intruding into our Hearts and Thoughts but no Entertainment must be given them A Desire or Wish must not be allowed them unless it be that we may not be distracted with them When Abraham was just come to Mount Moriah he says to his Servants Abide you here and I and the Lad will go yonder and Worship Gen. 22. 5. So when the Lord's Day comes we should say to all our Worldly Businesses and Concerns Abide as you are cease from our Care and Thoughts whilst we and our Hearts ascend unto the Hill of the Lord and Worship This day is appointed for our more solemn approaches unto God and that we may have more intimate Fellowship with him and if Communion with him be enjoyed we shall find so much Grace and Strength and Peace therein that we shall be perfectly of the Psalmist's mind That a day in God's Courts is better than a Thousand Psal 84. 10. The very Palaces of the wicked are contemptible No place under Heaven is so desirable as the Sanctuary 2. There is an Attendance upon God on other days He is the Lord of our time and therefore every day he should have some part of it We should be careful to know how he would have us to employ that time which himself gives and will call us to account for We should live the rest of our time in the Flesh to the Will of God not to the Lusts of other Men or our own 1 Pet. 4. 2. and we should grieve that so much has been wasted to his Displeasure and Dishonour David was glad to go up to the House of God on the Sabbath but he was also a daily Attender on him Psal 86. 3. Be merciful unto me O Lord for I cry unto thee daily So Heman Psal 88. 9. Lord I have called daily upon thee I have stretched out my Hands unto thee And Daniel rather than omit praying daily unto God ventured to be cast into the Lion's Den and God miraculously appears for him his Mouth having been open so often in fervent Supplication God shuts the Lions Mouths that though in the Den among them they did not make a Prey of him Every day we should be in the Fear of God and have Faith in him and if in the midst of our Worldly Business our Hearts frequently step aside to attend on God in mental Applications to him that attendance will be both acceptable and profitable But some times every day we should sequester our selves from other business that this greatest and best business may be minded which is to draw near to God 6. There is an attendance upon God in a time of Liberty and a Calm and an attending upon him in a time of Persecution and a Storm In a time of Liberty the Lord has many Followers who leave him when a Storm of Persecution beats in their Faces When the King of Navarre was about to Apostatize to Popery and Beza came to confirm him in the Truth he made this Answer That he would never go so far to Sea as not to be able to put to Shore when he pleased He shewed plainly that he could turn Papist to get the Kingdom of France but he was resolved not to go through much Tribulation to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Hearers compared to stony ground heard the Gospel with forwardness and joy while the Gospel and Prosperity were conjoyned but when Persecution and Tribulation arose because of the Word they were offended they kept not their standing but in that time of Temptation fell away Mat. 13. 20 21. We should be other kind of attendants than so Let us count the cost of being Disciples and conclude that Grace and Glory will quit the cost Our Lord was offended at nothing that was to be done or suffered for our Redemption surely neither his Commands nor his Cross should be matter of offence to us but still we should remain his followers I might also add another distinction There is an attendance upon God in Earth and in Heaven the one is Duty the other is Reward the one is short the other is endless and yet in that Service there shall not be the least weariness nay so far from that that there will be fulness of Joy and everlasting Pleasure Thus I have spoken of the several sorts of attending upon God In the fourth place I am to assign the reasons why the Children of Men ought to give their attendance upon God 1. The Command to attend upon God is written on the Heart of Man by Nature There is both the Creed and the Law of Nature There are several Truths that are apparent without a supernatural Revelation as that there is a God that he rules the World that he sees all the works of the Children of Men and that he will call them to an account for all that they have done There are also Commands which are written in the Hearts of Men. Rom. 2. 14. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their Hearts and among these Commands this is as plain as any That God is to be worshipped The Gentiles therefore are blamed because this Command was not observed Rom. 1. 21. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Now as sins have their peculiar aggravations that are committed against the Light of Nature so neglect of Duty is highly aggravated when 't is evident by the Light of Nature that such Duty ought to be performed 2. Attendance upon God is frequently called for and urged in the Scripture The Lord spake this with his own Voice from Heaven and afterwards wrote it with his own Hand upon the Tables of Stone that we should have no other Gods before him that we should not Worship Idols that we should not take his Name in vain Exod. 20. Our Lord repeats what was enjoyned long before Mat. 4. 10. It is written thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve and he says Joh. 4. 24. God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and in Truth So Psal 22. 23. Ye that fear the Lord praise him all ye the Seed of Jacob glorifie him and
and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart The Man after God's own Heart said that the Meditations of God are sweet Psal 104. 34. He was glad when they said to him let us go into the House of the Lord Psal 122. 1. He tells us who is the Man that may have what he will all his desire granted 't is he whose delight is in God Psal 37. 4. Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desire of thy Heart He is the blessed Man who takes no pleasure in the counsel way or seemingly easest Seat of the Wicked but his delight is in the Law of the Lord Psal 1. 1 2. And why should he not with delight be served at present since in his Kingdom by all he will be praised with the highest Rapture of Joy for ever 8. Our Attendance upon God should be in all Ordinances It is produced as an Argument that that excellent couple mentioned Luke 1. 6. were both righteous before God because they walked in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Under the Old Testament there was an Ordinance of God that was to be administred betimes even to the Infants and that was Circumcision and though Abraham at the first Institution of this Ordinance believed and was circumcised at Age as also were the Men of his Houshold and though Circumcision is called a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4. 11. Yet Infants also were circumcised these little ones are said to enter into Covenant with the Lord their God Deut. 29. 11 12. Under the New Testament our Lord Jesus does not cast these Infants out of his Church and Covenant but says Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God Mark 10. 14. The Apostle Peter after he had exhorted to Baptism says The Promise is unto you and to your Children Acts 2. 39. And the Apostle Paul affirms That the Children of Believing Parents are Holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. they are therefore Members of the Body of Christ Now 't is plainly signified that Baptism is the Privilege of all in that Body 1 Cor. 12. 13. We are all baptized into one Body Indeed some that mind the Sound of Scripture more than the Sense of it when they read Repent and be baptized Believe and be baptized conclude that none but those that are at Age and capable of professing their Faith and Repentance ought to partake of this Ordinance But they would do well to consider who these were that in Scripture repented believed and were baptized they were either * Under the Name of Jews I take in all Proselytes to the Jewish Religion Jews or Heathens that were converted to the Christian Faith at Age and if thousands of such should be converted now now also at Age Baptism ought to be administred to them upon their repenting and believing But in the whole New Testament we do not find any baptized at Age whose Parents were Christians at their Birth Yet several without Scripture warrant are thus baptized at this day Oh that there were less disputing about Infant-Baptism and more care to improve it All Infants that go to Heaven are baptized with the Blood and Spirit of Christ they are justified and sanctified thereby This Justification and Sanctification all that have been baptized should desire to partake of Other Ordinances also should be engaged in for the Lord who has instituted them is ready to own and bless them and himself to be found in them Who that is wise would neglect any one of them since none of them are appointed in vain nay every one of them to serious engagers has been experienced abundantly Beneficial The Lord is to be atteâ—â—â—ed upon how and in what way soever he pleases in the Closet in the Family in the Sanctuary at the Table or any other way that he has ordained Blessed are all they that wait for him 9. Every Attendance upon God should make every Attender better 'T is thought by some that Creatures in the Waters as long as they live they grow still greater Saints as long as they live should still be growing in Grace and be more full of all Goodness They should grow as the Lilly cast forth their roots as Lebanon their branches should spread and their beauty be as the Olive-tree Hos 14. 5 6. God is ready to be as the dew to them that from Him their Fruit may be found It is really a fault in Believers if every time they wait upon the Lord they come not away from him with more Wisdom Strength and Grace and Peace than they had since he is ready to impart such Blessings as these and gives them Liberally without upbraiding USE IV. Shall be of Consolation to them that thus as I have directed do attend apon God Isa 40. 1. Comfort ye Comfort ye my People saith your God with Joy you may come and draw most pure and refreshing Waters out of the Wells of Salvation You are the Children of Peace and the Peace of God is to rest upon you For your Comfort take notice of these things following 1. God puts an high value upon his sincere Attendants He had a special respect to Abel and that excellent Sacrifice that he offered Though the Heaven be his Throne and the Earth his Foot-stool yet to that Man will he look as being well pleased with him that is Poor and of a contrite Spirit and that trembles at his Word Isa 56. 1 2. He remembers the kindness of their Youth the love of their Espousals Jer. 2. 2. and their willing Consecration of themselves to be Holiness to the Lord. He has taken notice of all their Desires and Groans and their Cries to himself and their frequent speaking one to another that they might confirm and encourage one another in the worst of Times and Trials to continue his Attendants still Mal. 3. 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard and did so well approve them that a Book of Remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name 2. God delights over his sincere Attendants to do them good He takes pleasure in the Prosperity of his Servants they are in Heaviness by Affliction only when there is need of it he delights especially to see their Souls prosper As he opens his Armory and brings forth the Weapons of his Indignation against the Wicked so he opens his Treasures of Bounty and Goodness to his Servants that they may be supplied abundantly He does them good with a good Will his whole Heart and Soul is with them Jer. 32. 41. when his hand is open to them He is ready to fulfil their Desires to grant their Requests Nay when their Thoughts are most Comprehensive and they crave never so much he is able and ready to do for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceeding
the Beasts of the Field the Fowl of the Air and the Fish of the Sea and whatever passeth through the paths of the Seas How easie is it for him to provide things of this nature who has so much who has all of them in his own keeping But far better Blessings than these he has in his hand to bestow and of the best Blessings he is most liberal When we knock at his door we should remember how rich he is whose all things are and that this Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him Rom. 10. 12. 4. God is Lord Redeemer of his People and a mighty Lord indeed he shews himself in the Redemption of them Jer. 50. 34. Their Redeemer is strong the Lord of Hosts is his Name he shall thorowly plead their cause that he may give rest to them Redemption supposes that redeemed ones were enslaved lost and under a Curse To redeem must needs be granted an high act of Mercy and Grace and of force and might likewise The Lord is a Redeemer by Power and Conquest he throws down the Dominion of Sin demolishes its strongest holds he thrusts Mammon out of the Throne of the heart he treads Satan under his Peoples feet in a Sense also he is a Redeemer by Commutation God became Man that he might stand in Man's room suffer in Man's nature and be Man's Surety and Saviour And he redeems by paying a price and that the Price might be of infinite value he gave no less than himself for those whom he has redeemed 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are not your own for yea are bought with a price therefore glorifie God which bought you in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods And in Gal. 2. 20. He loved me says the Apostle and gave himself for me The Prey and the Captives are delivered out of the hands of that terrible Enemy the Prince of Darkness Believers are redeemed from the Curse of the Law by him who was made Flesh Sin and a Curse for them They may triumph indeed because the first death is unstung the Grave has lost its Victory and none of them shall be seized and hurt by the second death This Lord Redeemer How should he be attended upon How should sinful and lost Souls before they are lost past recovery being sensible of their danger come flocking to him in great numbers flying as a Cloud and as Doves to their Windows 5. God is Lord and Law-giver and all are bound to obey those Laws he gives them His Laws are the best that ever were given In the keeping of these Laws lies true Goodness and Sin which is incomparably the foulest and most pernicious and worst of all Evils is a Transgression of these Laws which God has delivered to us How often in the New Testament do we read of the Kingdom of God! And Kingdom implies a King and Laws and that there are Subjects who must obey the one and the other The Cross of Christ excludes not Christians Sufferings but their Sufferings are not expiatory of Sin as his were and the Obedience of Christ excludes not Christians Obedience but his was meritorious theirs is not How strictly soever some may take the Gospel and say 't is all Promises I am sure the Gospel as it represents it self takes in Commands Christ is a King to be obeyed as well as a Propitiatory Sacrifice to be rested on and he is the Author of Salvation to all them that obey him and they that obey not the Gospel which shews it has Laws to be obeyed shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Heb. 5. 9. 2 Thess 1. 8 9. Faith in Christ does not make Believers lawless nay the Apostle speaks with some vehemency Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Rom. 3. 31. Indeed we are not under the Law i. e. under the Curse of the Law if we are true Believers nor under it as a Covenant Do this and live we are not to hope for Justification nor to fear Condemnation by it But the Law is a Rule which we are bound to act and walk according to and unto this Rule our Hearts and Lives with great Care and Conscience should be conformed And that these Laws may be the better observed the Lord and Law-giver must be more eyed He takes notice whether we yield Obedience and is most ready to assist us to obey And he should always be set before us both as our Observer and our Helper too Psal 16. 8. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved 6. God is Lord who has power to save and to destroy James 4. 12. There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy Who art thou that judgest another He has the power of Life and Death Death that is eternal Life that is everlasting He is the Lord of Hosts all Creatures are at his command and beck and are ready either to be the Executioners of his Wrath or to serve him in his gracious purposes and pleasure He is that mighty God who lifts up his hand to Heaven and says I live for ever I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand Deut. 32. 39 40. All sorts of Life are from God that of Nature Grace and Glory He can raise those that attend upon him from the brink of the Grave and rescue them out of the very jaws of Death Psal 30. 2 3. O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me O Lord thou hast brought up my Soul from the Grace thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down into the Pit 2 Cor. 1. 9 10. We had the Sentence of Death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God who raiseth the Dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us God is he who quickens and makes those Spiritually alive that were dead in sins and trespasses He reverses the Sentence of Death which the Law had passed upon them gives them a new Life and Nature and inables them to walk in newness of Life 'T is a mighty Voice attended with his powerful Spirit which raises the Dead in sin and makes them live to God John 5. 25. Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live And when this Spiritual Life is wrought 't is really eternal Life in the Seed and Blossom and into eternal Life at length it shall be ripened and perfected The sanctifying Grace of the Spirit is likened unto water because 't is of a cleansing refreshing and fructifying nature and this Grace shall still be acting and