the things which are esteemed accidental whence it may be we are strangely delivered Sometimes we have so in the things which we see to befall others by Thunder Lightning Storms at Sea or Land For all the works of God especially those that are rare and strange have a voice whereby he speaks unto us The first thing suggested unto a spiritual Mind in such seasons will be God is in this place he is present that liveth and seeth as Hagar confessed on the like occasion Gen. 16.13 14. 3. Have frequent Thoughts of Gods Omnipotency or his Almighty Power This most men it may be suppose they need not much Exhortation unto for none ever doubted of it who doth not grant it on all occasions Men grant it indeed in general for eternal Power is inseparable from the first notion of the Divine Being So are they conjoyned by the Apostle his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 Yet few believe it for themselves and as they ought Indeed to believe the Almighty Power of God with reference unto our selves and all our Concernments Temporal and Eternal is one of the highest and most Noble Acts of Faith which includes all others in it For this is that which God at first proposed alone as the proper Object of our Faith in our entrance into Covenant with him Gen. 17.1 I am God Almighty That which Job arrived unto after his long exercise and Tryal I know saith he thou canst do every thing and no Thought of thine can be hindred Chap. 42.2 God hath spoken once saith the Psalmist twice have I heard this that Power belongs unto God Psal. 62.11 It was that which God saw it necessary frequently to instruct him in For we are ready to be affected with the Appearances of present power in Creatures and to suppose that all things will go according unto their wills because of their power But it is quite otherwise all creatures are poor feeble Ciphers that can do nothing Power belongs unto God it is a flower of his Crown Imperial which he will suffer none to usurp if the proudest of them go beyond the Bounds and Limits of his present Permission he will send Worms to eat them up as he did to Herod It is utterly impossible we should walk before God unto his Glory or with any real peace comfort or satisfaction in our own Souls unless our minds are continually exercised with Thoughts of his Almighty Power Every thing that befalls us every thing that we hear of which hath the Least of Danger in it will discompose our Minds and either make us tremble like the leaves of the Forrest that are shaken with the wind or betake our selves to foolish or sinful relief unless we are firmly established in the Faith hereof Consider the Promises of God unto the Church which are upon Record and as yet unaccomplished consider the present state of the Church in the world with all that belongs unto it in all the fears and dangers they are exposed unto in all the evils they are exercised withall and we shall quickly find that unless this Sheat-anchor be well fix'd we shall be tossed up and down at all uncertainties and exposed to most violent Temptations Rev. 19.6 Unto this end are we call'd hereunto by God himself in his Answer unto the despondent complaints of the Church in its greatest dangers and calamities Isa. 40. 28 29 30 31. Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the Everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary There is no searching of his understanding He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint Take one Instance which is the continual concernment of us all We are obnoxious unto Death every moment It is never the further from any of us because we think not of it as we ought This will lay our Bodies in the dust from whence they will have no more disposition nor power in themselves to rise again than any other part of the mould of the Earth Their recovery must be an act of external Almighty Power when God shall have a desire to the work of his hands when he shall call and we shall answer him out of the dust And it will transmit the Soul into an invisible world putting a final End unto all Relations Enjoyments and Circumstances here below I speak not of them who are stout-hearted and far from Righteousness who live and dye like Beasts or under the power of horrible Presumption without any due Thoughts of their future and Eternal state But as unto others what comfort or satisfaction can any man have in his Life whereon his All depends and which is passing from him every moment unless he hath continual Thoughts of the mighty power of God whereby he is able to receive his departing Soul and to raise his Body out of the dust Not to insist on more particulars Thus is it with them who are Spiritually minded thus must it be with us all if we pretend a Title unto that Priviledge They are filled with Thoughts of God in opposition unto that Character of wicked men that God is not in all their Thoughts And it is greatly to be feared that many of us when we come to be weighed in this Ballance will be found too Light Men may be in the performance of outward Dutyes they may hear the Word with some delight and do many things gladly they may escape the pollutions that are in the world through Lust and not run out into the same compass of Excess and Riot with other men yet may they be strangers unto inward Thoughts of God with delight and complacency I cannot understand how it can be otherwise with them whose minds are over and over filled with earthly things however they may satisfie themselves with pretences of their Callings and lawful Enjoyments or not any way inordinately set on the Pleasures or Profits of the world To walk with God to live unto him is not meerly to be found in an Abstinence from outward sins and in the performance of outward Duties though with Diligence in the Multiplication of them All this may be done upon such Principles for such Ends with such a frame of heart as to find no Acceptance with God It is our Hearts that he requireth and we can no way give them unto him but by our Affections and holy Thoughts of him with delight This it is to be spiritually minded this it is to walk with God Let no man deceive himself unless he thus abound in holy Thoughts of God unless our Meditation of him be sweet unto us all that we else pretend unto will fail us in the
in them and dis-esteem the chiefest Benefit which is to be obtained by them whence should Zeal for them delight in them or diligence in attendance unto them arise Let not any please themselves under the Power of such decayes they are Indications of their Inward Frame and those infallible Such Persons will grow cold careless and negligent as unto the Duties of publick Worship they will put themselves neither to Charge nor Trouble about them every Occasion of Life diverts them and finds ready Entertainment in their Minds And when they do attend upon them it is with great Indifferency and Unconcernedness Yet would they have it thought that all is still well within as ever it was they have as good a respect unto Religion as any But these things openly discover an ulcerous Disease in the very Souls of Men as evidently as if it were written on their Foreheads what ever they pretend unto the contrary they are under the Power of woful Decayes from all due regard unto Spiritual and Eternal Things And I would avoid the Society of such Persons as those who carry an infectious Disease about them unless it were to help on their Cure But herein it is that Affections Spiritually renewed do manifest themselves When we do delight in and value the Duties of Gods Worship because we find by Experience that they are and have been unto us meanes of communicating a Sense and renewed Pledges of the Love of God in Christ with all the Benefits and Priviledges which depend thereon then are our Affections renewed in and by the Holy Ghost Secondly They come for Supplies of Internal Sanctifying strengthning Grace This is the second great Design of Believers in their Approaches unto God in his VVorship The want hereof as unto Measures and Degrees they find in themselves and are sensible of it Yea therein lyes the great Burden of the Souls of Believers in this VVorld All that we do in the Life of God may be referred unto two Heads First The Observance of all Duties of Obedience And Secondly The Conflict with and Conquest over Temptations About these things are we continually exercised Hence the great thing which we desire labour for and pant after is Spiritual Strength and Ability for the Discharge of our selves in a due manner with respect unto these things This is that which every true Believer groaneth after in the inward Man and which he preferreth infinitely above all Earthly Things So he may have Grace sufficient in any competent measure for these ends let what will befal him he desireth no more in this VVorld God in Christ is the only Fountain of all this Grace There is not one Drachm of it to be obtained but from him alone And as he doth communicate it unto us of his own Soveraign Goodness and Pleasure so the ordinary way and meanes whereby he will do it are the Duties of his Worship Isaiah 40.28 29 30 31. Hast thou not known Hast thou not heard that the Everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the Ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary There is no searching of his Understanding He giveth Power to the faint and to them that have no Might he increaseth Strength Even the Youths shall faint and be weary and the Young Men shall utterly fail But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their Strength they shall mount up with Wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint All Grace and Spiritual Strength is originally seated in the nature of God v. 28. But what relief can that afford unto us who are weak feeble fainting He will act suitably unto his nature in the Communication of this Grace and Power v. 29. But how shall we have an Interest in this Grace in these Opperations wait on him in the Ordinances of his Worship v. 31. The Word as Preached is the Food of our Souls whereby God administreth Growth and Strength unto them Joh. 17.17 1 Pet. 2.23 Desire sayeth he the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby But what Encouragement have we thereunto if so be sayeth he you have tasted that the Lord is gracious If in and by the Dispensation of this Word you have had Experience of the Grace the Goodness the Kindness of God unto your Souls you cannot but desire it and delight in it And otherwise you will not do so When men have fate some good while under the Dispensation of the VVord and in the enjoyment of other Ordinances without tasting in them and by them that the Lord is gracious they will grow weary of it and them Wherefore Prayer is the way of his Appointment for the Application of our Souls unto him to obtain a Participation of all needful Grace which therefore he hath proposed unto us in the Promises of the Covenant that we may know what to ask and how to plead for it In the Sacraments the same Promises are seal'd unto us and the Grace represented in them effectually exhibited Meditation confirms our Souls in the Exercise of Faith about it and is the especial Opening of the Heart unto the Reception of it By these meanes I say doth God communicate all Supplies of renewing strengthening and sanctifying Grace unto us that we may live unto him in all Holy Obedience and be able to get the Victory over our Temptations Under this Apprehension do Believers approach unto God in the Ordinances of his Worship They come unto them as the meanes of Gods Communication unto their Souls Hence they cleave unto them with Delight so far as their Affections are renewed So the Spouse testifyeth of her self I sate down under his Shadow with great Delight Cant 2.3 In these Ordinances is the protecting refreshing Presence of Christ. This she rested in with great Delight As they come unto them with these Designs and Expectations so they have Experience of the Spiritual Benefits and Advantages which they receive by them which more and more engageth them unto them in their Affections and Delights All these things those who have a Change wrought in their Affections but not a Spiritual Renovation are Strangers unto They neither have the Design before mentioned in coming to them nor the Experience of this Efficacy now proposed in their Attendance on them But these Benefits are great as for Instance when Men find the worth and Effect of the Word Preached on their Souls in its enlightning refreshing strengthening transforming Power when they find their Hearts warmed their Graces excited and strengthened the Love of God improved their Disponding Spirits under Trials and Temptations relieved their whole Souls gradually more and more Conformed unto Christ when they find themselves by it extricated out of Snares Doubts Fears Temptations and brought unto Satisfaction and Rest they cannot but delight in the Dispensation of it and rejoyce in it as the Food of their Souls And it is a great Hinderance unto the Encrease of Spiritual Life and
a thought of him How foolish was I to be wanting to such or such an Opportunity I am in Arrears unto my self and have no rest untill I be satisfied I say if indeed we are Spiritually minded we will duely and carefully call over the consideration of those times and seasons wherein we ought to have Exercised our selves in Spiritual Thoughts and if we have lost them or any of them mourn over our own negligence But if we can omit and lose such Seasons or Opportunities from time to time without regret or self-reflections it is to be fear'd that we wax worse and worse Way will be made hereby for further Omissions untill we grow wholly cold about them And indeed that woful loss of time that is found amongst many Professors is greatly to be bewail'd Some lose it on themselves by a continual track of fruitless Impertinent Thoughts about their own concerns Some in vain converse with ohers wherein for the most part they edifie one another unto vanity How much of this time might nay ought to be redeemed for holy Meditations The Good Lord make all Professors sensible of their loss of former seasons that they may be the more watchful for the future in this great concernment of their Souls Little do some think what Light what Assurance what Joy what readiness for the Cross or for Heaven they might have attained had they laid hold on all just seasons of exercising their Thoughts about Spiritual things which they have enjoyed who now are at a loss in all and surprized with every fear or difficulty that doth befall them This is the first thing that belongs unto our being Spiritually minded for although it doth not absolutely or essentially consist therein yet is it inseparable from it and the most undeceiving Indication of it And thus of abounding and abiding in Thoughts about Spiritual things such as arise and spring naturally from a living Principle a Spiritual Frame and Disposition of Heart within CHAP. V. The Objects of Spiritual Thoughts or what they are conversant about evidencing them in whom they are to be Spiritually minded Rules directing unto steadiness in the Contemplation of Heavenly things Motives to fix our Thoughts with Steadiness in them BEfore I proceed unto the next general Head and which is the Principal thing the foundation of the Grace and Duty enquired after some things must be spoken to render what hath been already insisted on yet more particularly useful And this is to enquire what are or what ought to be the special Objects of those Thoughts which under the Qualifications laid down are the Evidences of our being Spiritually minded And it may be we may be useful unto many herein by helping of them to fix their minds which are apt to rove into all uncertainty For this is befallen us through the disorder and weakness of the faculties of our Souls that sometimes what the mind guides leads and directs unto in things Spiritual and Heavenly our wills and Affections through their Depravation and Corruption will not comply withal and so the good designings of the mind are lost Sometimes what the Will and Affections are inclin'd unto and ready for the mind through its weakness and inconstancy cannot lead them to the accomplishment of so to will is present with us but how to perform that will we know not So many are barren in this Duty because they know not what to fix upon nor how to Exercise their Thoughts when they have chosen a subject for their Meditations Hence they spend their time in fruitless Desires that they could use their Thoughts unto more purpose rather than make any Progress in the Duty it self They tire themselves not because they are not willing to go but because they cannot find their way Wherefore both these things shall be spoken unto both what are the proper Objects of our Spiritual Thoughts and how we may be steady in our Contemplations of them And I shall unto this purpose first give some general Rules and then some particular Instances in way of Direction 1. Observe the especial Calls of Providence and apply your minds unto Thoughts of the Duties required in them and by them There is a voice in all signal Dispensations of Providence The voice of the Lord cryeth unto the City the men of wisdom shall see thy Name hear ye the rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 There is a Call a Cry in every Rod of God in every chastising Providence and therein makes a Declaration of his Name his Holiness his Power his Greatness This every wise substantial man will labour to discern and so comply with the call God is greatly provoked when it is otherwise Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be asham'd Isa. 26.11 If therefore we would apply our selves unto our present Duty we are wisely to consider what is the voice of God in his present providential Dispensations in the World Hearken not unto any who would give another Interpretation of them but that they are plain Declarations of his Displeasure and Indignation against the sins of men Is not his wrath in them reveal'd from Heaven against the ungodliness of men especially such as detain the Truth in unrighteousness or false Hypocritical Professors of the Gospel Doth he not also signally declare the uncertainty and instability of Earthly Enjoyments from Life it self to a Shoo-latchet As also how vain and foolish it is to adhere inordinately unto them The fingers that appeared writing on the Wall the Doom of Belshazzar did it in Characters that none read and words that none could understand but Daniel But the present Call of God in these things is made plain upon Tables that he may run who readeth it If the Heavens gather blackness with Clouds and it thunder over us if any that are on their Journey will not believe that there is a Storm a coming they must bear the severity of it Suppose then this to be the Voice of Providence suppose there be in it these Indications of the mind and will of God what are the Duties that we are called unto thereby They may be referred unto two Heads 1. A diligent search into our selves and an holy Watch over our selves with respect unto those ways and sins which the displeasure of God is declared against That present Providences are Indications of Gods Anger and Displeasure we take for granted But when this is done the most are apt to cast the Causes of them on others and to excuse themselves so long as they see others more wicked and prosligate than themselves openly guilty of such Crimes as they abhor the Thoughts of they cast all the wrath on them and fear nothing but that they shall suffer with them But alas When the storm came on the Ship at Sea wherein there was but one person that feared God upon an Enquiry for whose sake it came the Lot fell on him Jon. 1.7 The cause of
reckon that the Sufferings of this present time are not to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us there is no comparison between them as if one had as much Evil and Misery in them as the other hath of Good and Blessedness as though his State was any way to be complained of who must undergo the one whilest he hath an interest in the other or as though to escape the one he hazard the enjoyment of the other It is inseparable from our Nature to have a fear of and aversation from great distressing Sufferings that are above the power of Nature to bear Even our Lord Jesus himself having taken on him all the sinless Properties of our Natures had a fear and aversation though holy and gracious with respect unto his own Those who through a stout-heartedness do contemn them before their Approach boasting in themselves of their Abilities to undergo them censuring such as will not unadvisedly engage in them are such as seldom glorify God when they are really to conflict with them Peter alone trusted unto himself that he would not forsake his Master and seemed to take the Warning ill that they should all do so and he alone denyed him All Church Stories are filled with Instances of such as having born themselves high before the Approach of Trials have shamefully miscarried when their Trials have come Wherefore it is moreover allowed unto us to use all lawfull means for the avoiding of them Both Rules and Examples of the Scripture give sufficient warranty for it But there are Times and Seasons wherein without any Tergiversation they are to be undergone unto the Glory of God and in the discharge of our Duty confessing Christ before men as we would be owned by him before his Father in Heaven All things do now call us to prepare for such a season to be Martyrs in Resolution though we should never really lose our lives by Violence Nothing will give us this Preparation but to have our minds exercised in the Contemplation of Heavenly things of things that are Invisible and Eternal He who is thus Spiritually Minded who hath his Thoughts and Affections set on things above will have alwayes in a Readiness what to oppose unto any circumstance of his Sufferings Those views which such an one hath had by Faith of the increated Glories above of the things in Heavenly Places where Christ sits at the right hand of God of the Glory within the Vail whereby they have been realized and made present unto his Soul will now visit him every moment abide with him continually and put forth their efficacy unto his supportment and refreshment Alas what will become of many of us who are grovelling continually on the Earth whose Bellies cleave unto the Dust who are strangers unto the Thoughts of Heavenly Things when distressing troubles shall befall us Why shall we think that refreshing Thoughts of things above will then visit our Souls when we resisted their admittance in dayes of Peace Do you come to me in your distress saith Jepthe when in the time of your Peace you drove me from you When we would thus think of Heavenly things to our Refreshment we shall hardly get them to make an abode with us I know God can come in by the mighty Power of his Spirit and Grace to support and comfort the Souls of them who are called and even surprized into the greatest of Sufferings Yet do I know also that it is our Duty not to Tempt him in the neglect of the ways and means which he hath appointed for the communication of his Grace unto us Our Lord Jesus Christ himself as the Author and finisher of our Faith for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the Shame Heb. 12.2 His Mediatory Glory in the Salvation of the Church was the Matter of the Joy set before him This he took the view and prospect of in all his Sufferings unto his Refreshment and Supportment And his Example as the Author and finisher of our Faith is more efficaciously instructive than any other Rule or Precept Eternal Glory is set before us also It is the Design of Gods Wisdom and Grace that by the contemplation of it we should relieve our selves in all our Sufferings yea and rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory How many of those blessed Souls now in the enjoyment of God and Glory who passed through fiery Trials and great Tribulations were enabled to sing and rejoyce in the Flames by a Prepossession of this Glory in their Minds through Believing yea some have been so filled with them as to take off all sence of pain under the most exquisite Tortures When Stephen was to be Stoned to encourage him in his Sufferings and comfort him in it the Heavens were opened and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God Who can conceive what contempt of all the Rage and madness of the Jews what a neglect of all the pains of Death this view raised his holy Soul unto To obtain therefore such views frequently by Faith as they do who are truely Spiritually minded is the most effectual way to encourage us unto all our Sufferings The Apostle gives us the force of this encouragement in a comparison with Earthly things 1 Cor. 9.25 Every man who striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things Now they do it to obtain a corruptible Crown but we an incorruptible If men when a corruptible Crown of vain Honour and Applause is proposed unto them will do and endure all that is needfull for the Attainment of it and relieve themselves in their hardships with Thoughts and Imaginations of attaining it grounded on uncertain hopes shall not we who have a Crown immortal and invisible proposed unto us and that with the highest assurance of the enjoyment of it chearfully undergo endure and suffer what we are to go through in the way unto it 4. This is the most effectual Means to wean the heart and affections from things here below to keep the mind unto an undervaluation yea a Contempt of them as occasion shall require For there is a season wherein there is such a contempt required in us of all Relations and enjoyments as our Saviour calleth the hating of them that is not absolutely but comparatively in comparison of him and the Gospel with the Duties which belong unto our Profession Luke 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Some I fear if they did but consider it would be apt to say This is an hard saying who can bear it and others cry out with the Disciples in another case Lord who then can be saved But it is the Word whereby we must be judged nor can we be the Disciples of Christ on any other Terms But here in an especial manner lyes the wound and weakness of
mistake to suppose that any external Duties of Worship as hearing the Word Prayer or the Sacraments are appointed for themselves or accepted for themselves Such thoughts the Jews of Old had concerning their Sacrifices namely that they were appointed for their own Sakes and were acceptable Service unto God meerly on their own Account Wherefore God to deliver them from this pernicious Mistake affirms ofttimes that he never appointed them at all that is for any such End Jer. 7.22 23. Isa. 1.12 13 14 c. And now under the Gospel Sundry things destructive to the Souls of men have proceeded from such a Supposition Some hereon have alwayes satisfyed and contented themselves with the external Observance of them without desiring or endeavouring any holy communion with God in them or by them This constitutes the State and Condition mentioned Rev. 3.1 And by following this tract the generality of Christians do wander out of the Way they cannot leave them nor do know how to use them unto their Advantage until they come wholly unto that woful State Isai. 29.13 And some to establish this Deceit have taught that there is much more in the Outward Work of these Duties than ever God put into them and that they are sanctifyed meerly by Vertue of the Work wrought But all the Duties of the Second Commandment as are all Instituted Ordinances of Worship are but means to express and exercise those of the First as Faith Love Fear Trust and Delight in God The end of them all is that through them and by them we may act those Graces on God in Christ Where this is not attended unto when the Souls of Men do not apply themselves unto this Exercise of Grace in them let them be never so Solemn as to their Outward Performance be attended unto with Diligence be performed with earnestness and delight they are neither acceptable unto God nor beneficial unto themselves Isai. 1.11 This therefore is the first general Spring of the Love of Believers of them whose Affections are Spiritually renewed unto the Ordinances of Divine Worship and their delight in them They have Experience that in and by them their Faith and Love are excited unto a gracious Exercise of themselves on God in Christ. And when they find it otherwise with them they can have no rest in their Souls For this end are they ordained sanctifyed and blessed of God and therefore are effectual means of it when their Efficacy is not defeated by Unbelief And those who have no Experience hereof in their attendance unto them do as hath been said fall into pernitious Extreams Some continue their Observance with little regard unto God in Cursed Formality So they make them a means of their ruine by Countenancing of them in their Security Others utterly reject them at least the most Solemn of them and therein both the Wisdom and Grace and Authority of God by whom they are appointed Because through the Power of their own Unbelief they find nothing in them This being the immediate end of all Divine Institutions this being the only way whereby we may give Glory unto God in their Observance which is their ultimate End in this World this being the Design in general of Believers in that Obedience they yield unto the Lord Christ in their diligent Observation of them We may consider how in what way and by what meanes those whose Affections are Spiritually renewed do and ought to apply their Minds and Souls unto their Observance And we may consider herein first What they do design and then what they endeavour to be found in the Exercise and Practice of in their use and Enjoyment First They come unto them with this Desire Design and Expectation namely to be enabled directed and excited by them unto the Exercise of Divine Faith and Love VVhen it is not so with any where there is not this Design they do in various degrees take the Name of God in vain in their Observance These are Approximationes Dei The ways of drawing nigh unto God as they are every where called in Scripture To suppose that a drawing nigh unto God may consist meerly in the Outward Performance of Duty VVhatever be its Solemnity is to reject all due Reverence of him Forasmuch saith the Lord as this People draw near me with their Mouth and with their Lips do honour me but have removed their Hearts far from me therefore I will proceed against them Isaiah 29.13 The Mouth and Lips are put by a Synechdoche for all the means of outward worship and honour These men may use diligently attend unto whil'st their Hearts are far from God that is when they do not draw nigh to him by Faith and Love But all this VVorship is rejected of God with the highest Tokens of his displeasure and Indignation against it First Our Souls then have no way of approach unto God in Duties of VVorship but by Faith no way of adherance or cleaving unto him but by Love no way of abiding in him but by Fear Reverence and Delight When ever these are not in Excercise Outward Duties of Worship are so far from being a meanes of such an Approach unto him as that they set us at a greater Distance from him than we were before at least are utterly useless and fruitless unto us So indeed they are unto the most who come unto them they know not why and behave themselves under them they care not how Nor is there any evil in the Hearts and ways of Men whereof God complaineth more in his Word as that which is accompanied with the highest Contempt of him And because these Ordinances of Divine Worship are means which the VVisdom and Grace of God hath appointed unto this end namely the Exercise and Increase of Divine Faith and Love and therefore doth Sanctify and Bless them thereunto I do not believe that they have any Delight in the Exercise of these Graces nor do design growth in them by whom these great meanes of them are despised or neglected And although I have seen those Vallies of publick Worship forsaken either on Pretences of higher Attainments in Faith Light and Love than to stand in need of them any more or on a Foolish Opinion that they cease upon the Dispensation of the Spirit which is given unto us to make them useful and effectual or on some Provocations that have been given unto some Men or which they have taken unto themselves which they have thought they could revenge by a neglect of Publick Administrations or through Slavish Peace and Negligence in times of Difficulty as is the manner of some who forsake the Assemblies of the Saints Heb. 16.25 Yet I never saw but it issued in a great decay if not in an utter loss of all exercise of Faith and Love and sometimes in open Profaneness For such Persons Contemn the way and meanes which God in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness hath appointed for their Exercise and Increase and this shall
of the divine Nature our dependance on him and relation unto him And this is that which in the first place Believers design in all the Duties of divine Worship And the Pattern set us by our Blessed Saviour in the Prayer he taught his Disciples directs us thereunto All the first Requests of it concern immediately the Glory of God and the Advancement thereof For therein also all the Blessedness and Safety of the Church is included Those who fail in this design do err in all that they do they never tend unto the mark proposed unto them But this is that which principally animates the Souls of them that believe in all their Duties this their universal Relation unto him and Love in that Relation makes necessary Wherefore that way and means whereby they may directly and solemnly ascribe and give Glory unto God is pretious and delightful unto them And such are all the duties of divine Worship These are some of the things wherein the respect of Affections Spiritually renewed unto Ordinances and Duties of divine Worship doth differ from the Actings of Affections towards the same Object which are not so santifyed and renewed There are yet other things accompanied with the same Evidence of the difference between Affections Spiritually renewed and those which have only a general Change wrought in them by Convictions and some outward Occasions which must in one or two Instances more be insisted on with the Consideration of such Cases as derive from them For my design herein is not only to declare when our Minds are Spiritually renewed but also what is the nature and operation of our Affections whereby we are constituted and denominated Spiritually-Minded which is the Subject of our whole Enquiry Herein then we shall proceed CHAP. XVI Assimulation unto things Heavenly and Spiritual in Affections Spiritually renewed This Assimulation the Work of Faith How and whereby Reasons of the want of Growth in our Spiritual Affections as unto this Assimulation WHen Affections are Spiritually renewed in their Exercise or fixing of themselves on Spiritual things There is an Assimulation wrought in them and in the whole Soul unto those Spiritual and Heavenly things by Faith But when there is a Change in them only from other Causes and Occasions and not from Renewing Grace there is an Assimulation effected of Spiritual and Heavenly Things unto themselves unto those Affections by Imagination This must somewhat at large be spoken unto as that which gives the most eminent Distinction between the Frames of Mind whose difference we enquire into And to that end we shall cast our consideration of it into the ensuing Observations First Affections Spiritually renewed are in all their Actings in their whole Exercise under the Guidance and Conduct of Faith It is Faith which in its Spiritual Light hath the leading of the Soul in the whole Life of God we live here by Faith as we shall do hereafter by Light If our Affections deviate or decline in the least from the Guidance of the Faith they degenerate from their Spirituality and give up themselves unto the Service of Superstition Next unto corrupt secular Interest in the management of crafty selfish Seducers this hath been the great in-let of all Superstition and false Worship into the World Blind Affection groping in the dark after Spiritual Things having not the Saving Light of Faith to conduct them have seduced the Minds of Men into all manner of Superstitions Imaginations and Practices continuing to do so at this day And wherever they will lead the way when Faith goeth not before them to discover both way and end they that lead and the Mind that is led must fall into one Snare and Pit or another Wherefore Affections that are Spiritually renewed move not act not but as Faith discovers their Object and directs them unto it It is Faith that works by Love we can love nothing sincerely with divine Love but what we believe Savingly with Divine Faith Let our Affections unto any Spiritual Things be never so vehement if they spring not from Faith if they are not guided by it they are neither accepted with God nor will promote the Interest of Spirituality and Holiness in our own Souls Heb. 11.6 Mat. 6.22 23. And this is the reason whence we oft times see great and plausible Appearances of Spiritual Affections which yet endure only for a Season They have been awakened excited acted by one means or another outward or inward but not having the Light of Faith to guide them unto their proper Object they either wither and dye as unto any appearing of Spiritual Motions or else keep the Mind tossed up and down in perpetual disquietment without rest or Peace The foolish Man wearieth himself because he cannot find the way to the City So was it with them who on the account of their Attendance unto the Doctrine of Christ are called his Disciples Joh. 6. Having preached unto them about the Bread which came down from Heaven and giveth Life unto them that feed they were greatly affected with it and cryed out Lord evermore give us of this Bread v. 34. But when he proceeded to declare the Mystery of it they having not Faith to discern and apprehend it their Affections immediately decayed and they forsook both him and his Doctrine vers 66. We may consider one especial Instance of this nature Persons every day fall under great and effectual Convictions of Sin and of their danger or certain Misery thereby This stirs up and acts all their Affections especially their Fears Hopes Desires Sorrow Self-Revenge according as their Condition calls for them Hence sometimes they grow restless in their Complaints and turn themselves every way for relief like men that are out of the way and bewildred in the night But in this State and Condition tell them of the only proper way and means of their Relief which let the World say what it will is Christ and his Righteousness alone with the Grace of God in him and they quickly discover that they are strange things unto them such as they do not understand nor indeed approve They cannot see them they cannot discern them nor any Beauty in them for which they should be desired Wherefore after their Affections have been tossed up and down for a season under the Power and Torment of this Conviction they come unto one or other of these Issues with them For either they utterly decay and the Mind looseth all sense of any Impressions from them so as that they wonder in themselves whence they were so foolish as to be tossed and troubled with such melancholy Fancies and so commonly prove as bad a sort of Men as live upon the Earth or they take up in a formal legal Profession wherein they never attain to be Spiritually-Minded This is the best end that our Affections towards Spiritual things not guided by the Light of Faith do come unto Secondly Faith hath a clear prospect into and Apprehension of Spiritual things
are exhorted unto 1 Cor. 15 58. Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the Work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Transient Affections with their occasional Operations deceive Multitudes oft times they are pregnant in their Actings as those that are most sincere and many Effects in Joys in Mournings in Complaints they will produce especially when excited by any outward Affliction Sickness and the like But their Goodness is like the early Cloud or morning Dew Let none therefore please themselves with the Operations of transient Affections with respect unto Spiritual things be they never so urgent or so pleasant or so frequent in their returns those that are sincere are at all times firm and stable 2 That the Soul do find a Spiritual Relish and Savour in the things which it so adheres unto The Affections are the Palate of the Soul whereby it tasts of all things which it receiveth or refuseth and it will not long cleave unto any thing which they find not a Savour and Relish in Something was spoken before of that Sweetness which is in Spiritual things and the tast of them consists in a gracious Sense of their Suitableness unto the Affections Inclinations and Dispositions of the Mind Hence they have no Relish unto Men of Carnal Minds Whoever therefore would know whether his Affections do sincerely adhere unto Spiritual things let him examine what Relish what Sweetness what Savour he findeth in them When he is pleased with them as the Palate with suitable and proper Food when he finds that he receives Nourishment by them in the inward man then doth he adhere unto them in a due manner This Spiritual Tast is the Ground of all Experience it is not what we have heard or understood only but what we have tryed and tasted whereof we have Experience This makes us long for what we have formerly enjoyed and strengthens Faith as unto what we pray for and expect In every darkness in every damp of Spirit under every apprehension of Dreadness or the withdrawing of the sense of Divine Love the Soul knoweth what it wants and what it doth desire Oh! saith such an one that it were now with me as in former dayes I know he who then gave me such refreshing Tasts of his own Goodness who made every thing of himself sweet and pleasant unto me can renew this work of his Grace towards me he can give me a new Spiritual Appetite and Relish and he can make all Spiritual things Savoury unto me again As a man under a Languishing Sickness or when he is chastened with strong pain so as that his Soul abhorreth Bread and his dayly Meat can remember what Appetite he had with what Gust and Relish he was wont to take in his Food in the dayes of his Health which makes him to know that there is such a Condition and to desire a return unto it So is it with a Sin sick Soul It can find no relish no gust no sweetness in Spiritual things He finds no Savour in the Bread of the Word nor any refreshment in the Ordinances of the Gospel which yet in themselves are dayly Meat a Feast of fat things and of Wine well refined Yet doth it remember former Days when all these things were sweet unto him And if he have any spark of Spiritual Life yet remaining it will stir him up to seek with all diligence after a Recovery How is it with you who are now under Spiritual Decays who find no Tast nor Relish in Spiritual things unto whom the Word is not savoury nor other Ordinances powerful call to mind how it hath been with you in former dayes and what ye found in these things if so be saith the Apostle that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious If you have not it is to be feared that you have never yet had the least sincere Love unto Spiritual things for where that is it will give a Spiritual Relish of them If you have how is it you can give your selves Rest one Moment without an Endeavour after the healing of your backsliding 3 It is required that our Affections be so set on Spiritual things so as to be a continual Spring of Spiritual thoughts and Meditations No man can be so forsaken of Reason as to suppose that he hath any sincere affections for what he thinks little on or not at all or that he can have a true Affection for any thing which will not stir up and ingenerate in him continual Thoughts about it Let men try themselves as unto their Relations or their Enjoyments or the Objects of their predominant Lusts and they will find how things are stated in their own Minds And therefore whereas all men pretend to love God and Christ and the wayes of God and yet know in their own Hearts that they little think of them or meditate upon them both their Pretence and Religion is vain Where our Affections are duely placed on Heavenly things so as that we are indeed Spiritually Minded they will be a constant Spring of Spiritual Thoughts and Meditation But this also hath been before spoken unto Fourthly When our Affections are thus applyed unto Spiritual things they will be prevalent and victorious against Solicitations unto the contrary or Allurements to draw them off unto any other Objects The work of all our Spiritual Adversaries is to sollicite and tempt our Affections to divert them from their proper Object There are some Temptations of Satan that make an immediate Impression on the Mind and Conscience Such are his Injection of diabolical Blasphemous Thoughts concerning God his Being Nature and Will and the Distresses which he reduceth men unto in their Consciences through Darkness and Misrepresentations of God and his Goodness But the high Road and constant Practice of all our Spiritual Adversaries is by the Solicitation of our Affections unto Objects that are in themselves or in the Degree of our Affections towards them evil and sinful Of the first are all sensual Pleasures of the Flesh in Drunkenness Uncleanness Gluttony Chambering and Wantonness with all sorts of Sensual Pleasures Of the latter is all our inordinate Love unto Self our Families and the whole World or the things of it Unto this end every thing in the whole World that may make Provision for Lust is made use of Herein consists the nature and efficacy of most of those Temptations which we have to conflict withal Solicitations they are of our Affections to draw them off from things Spiritual and Heavenly and to divert them unto other things Hereby do our Enemies endeavour to beguile us as the Serpent beguiled Eve with fair and false Representations of other Beloveds that our hearts be not preserved as a chast Virgin in all their Affections for Christ. And it is almost incredible how apt we are to be beguiled by the specious Pretences wherewith we are sollicited That our