the sins of the wicked there is a book of remembrance writ of all thy good words and there is a bottle to bottle up all thy teares now how easie is it for thee to cast into this treasury a thousand holy thoughts a day to what a numberlesse number would they arise to in few years and by these not any businesse is hindred thou mayest ride thou mayest eat and drink thou mayest sell and buy thou mayest walk for all them now if every holy thought do adde something to thy grace here and to thy glory hereafter and since they do not hinder but sweeten and sanctifie all imployments why doest thou not treasure up these against the day of the Lord 5. Consid. Fifthly Consider seriously the excellencies of the Scriptures for we are not sensible enough of their worth nor do we firmly nor feelingly enough believe that they are the Word of God Suppose that by some infallible arguments it might be demonstrated that there were a Prophet now in England with what extraordinary care and observation would you observe his words that he spake in the Name of the Lord if when thou werâ— pouring out thy soul before God humbly begging of him that he would discover to thee more the things that belong to thy peace and thou shouldest have an Angel from Heaven coming unto thee as one did to Cornelius or that our Saviour should himselfe speak to thee from Heaven as he did to Paul when thou shalt say as he did Lord what would'st thou have me to do With what reverence and attention would'st thou observe and what obedience to a tittle would'st thou give to such Messages Wouldest thou not mark every word and every syllable and wouldest not vary from them one jot Well thou shouldest give no lesse reverence nor obedience unto the Word of God then unto them If thy friend speaks to thee or writes to thee so thou art sure that it is his hand they are both of equal authority with thee and why should not the word of God immediately spoken from Heaven or written be so too of equall authority with thee to have an Angel from heaven to tel thee what thou should'st do is a stronger temptation to pride but there is no more of reality in it to move thee to obedience then there is in the written word nay may I not say lesse for the word of God is the rule by which we must judg their Messages and not their Messages the rule by which we must judg the Word of God for if an Angel from Heaven should preach another doctrine let him be accursed Now there is no reason thou believing the Bible to be the Word of God which we all professe but thou shouldest with as much care endeavour to understand and practise what therein is written If wee will do but as Luther did that hee might understand Rom. 3. 25 26. fast and pray when wee finde any place of Scripture too difficult to be understood or when we found our corruptions so strong that wee obeyed not when it is understood If wee sought the Lord by prayer and fasting a duty generally neglected and by some condemned though by the Apostles commended and practised surely wee should both understand more of the minde of God and live more sutable to what what wee know 6. Considerat Sixthly Consider that howsoever we esteem it it matters not without question the enjoyment of God is infinite happinesse for doe but truly and really consider wherein doth the happinesse of Angels consist Doth it not consist in the vision fruition and union with God Is not God their all and shall he not be ours when we come thither How comes it to passe that it is not so now Nay it is so but how comes it to passe that it is not so to us Either the Angels are deceived in making of it their happinesse or wee must be deceived in not making of it ours we cannot have the face to say That if the Angels knew what pleasure there were in eating and drinking and other vain and wicked pleasures of the word they would never spend their eternity in singing the praises in beholding the face and admiring the excellency of God yet though we are ashamed to say thus yet by our lives we generally hold forth this blasphemy and proclaime it to the whole world nay let me raise this one step higher the blessednesse of God wherein doth it consist the creature is not his happinesse but himselfe and if God be enough for himselfe shall be not be enough for thee of dust and ashes his enjoyment of himself is his happinesse how comes it to passe that it is not thine God doth command invite thee entreat thee to enjoy him nay indeed what is it that God requires of thee but this even to admire love and enjoy him in the secret of thy soul thou wilt not thou preferrest every trifle before him thou wilt go and see a carnall friend for carnall ends rather then spend thy time in the enjoyment of him who is the praise and above the praise of men and Angels to all eternity pray to him who onely can discover his love and excellencies to thee that he would make thee taste of this hidden Manna that he would draw away the vail before thine eyes that thou mayst be no longer ignorant of this truth that he would purge out those corruptions out of thy heart that thou mayst relish and experiment the sweetnesse of it 7. Consid. Seventhly Consider that we have three enemies the world the flesh and the Divel Consider this I say fully and feelingly for few there are that live so much as a tittle of this truth or who lives as if the World was his implacable enemie for do we not generally into all our actions put something of that poysonous ingredient viz. a desire to please men and to get their good word and will Wee ought not to scandalize any one as much as in us lies we ought to be all things to all men but it is that we may gain them to God not to our selves If this truth was ingraven on our hearts That it is as possible to go to heaven and please the Divel as go to heaven and please the world I say if we were fully perswaded in our hearts of that Truth we would neither wonder the World hates us nor endeavour that it should love us we should not endeavour nor cast away our pains to do that which is absolutely impossible So then if we resolve to be Christians wee must neither fear nor care what the World can say of or do unto us And we should in all our actions of Religion not so much as once bring it into our consideration to think what men will say or do unto us if we do so or so except it be by their dislike to help our selves to know what is right for though it is not an absolute rule yet it is a generall
thick clay didst thou ever pray with half that earnestnesse for grace as ambitious men do sue for places and preferments or a condemned man for a pardon Didst thou ever seriously and from the very bottom of thy heart and soul say Well by the blessing of God I wil not speak an idle word nor imploy my self in things that profit not hast thou said with David I have sworne and I will perform thy righteous Judgments Psal. 119. 106. or as in the 20. or with the Apostle I fight not as one beating the ayr but I press thorow towards the mark and forget the things that are behind c. So that if thou shalt say that one cannot live thus I say again there is no question thou canst not live holily doing no more then thou doest neither the word of God nor any one that knows the ways of God ever said or thought that thou couldst upon these terms do any thing to purpose in the attainment of holiness for our Saviour plainly says We must strive to enter in at the strait gate and that many shal seek to enter in with such seeking that comes not to the height of striving and shal not be able if thou shouldest bid thy servant lift such a piece of timber and he should go with his little finger to lift it and not being able should tell thee that he could not lift it wouldest thou not think that he mocked thee in stead of obeying thee so when we shall complain of Religion that it is too difficult a thing we cannot attain it and yet we will not so much as touch it scarce with one of our fingers may not God justly say that we do but mock him and unjustly murmur against his commands complaining of their difficulty when we never tried in using the meanes he hath appointed us what might be done Furthermore Let us consider how far many of Gods servants whose stories are recorded in the sacred Scriptures have gon in this way of perfection it is said that Enoch walked with God and that Noah was perfect in his generations and walked with God Can we possibly think that these Expressions import no more then that sometimes when they had little or nothing else to do they spent their time in prayer and meditation of divine matters or that they did no more then usually men do in the morning spend some small time in prayer and then take their leave of God all the day as it were compounding with God for two or three prayers a day but doth it not much rather import a sweet constant and strict communion with God for doubtlesse Enoch found so much sweetnesse in his walk with God that he could not be content with that communion that earth could afford him And of all the Patriarks before the Flood we read of none that lived so few years upon earth as Enoch did and doubtlesse those years which he did live were more tedious to him to be so long absent from the full fruitition of God then if he had lived ten times as long and had not tasted of those joyes in comparison of which the pleasures of this world are but as the gall of Aspes What thinke we of Abraham Moses David and Daniel with how much faith zeal meeknesse holinesse breathings after God did they live What high expressions of joy love and heavenly desires are there in the Psalms What doe we think all these holy Examples are set down in the Scripture to find us matter of discourse or that the wisedome of God set down an idaea of holinesse as Plato hath done of a Common-wealth or were they not set down for our imitation thousands of expressions almost in the Psalmes we must make strange Hyperboles and say they were but Davids Rhetorick or else we must needs acknowledge that he was a Gyant in compariof us in spirituall matters O what heavenly spirituall frame of heart had he surely his righteousnesse in comparison of Christs was but as filthy rags but in respect of ours a glorious robe and now I pray what reason is there in the world why we might not live as holily as they but that we take it for granted we cannot and so never strive 't is true to think our selves holier then the meanest Saint is pride but not to strive to be as holy as the highest Saint is sin what means had they to attaine holinesse that we have not They had prayer meditation reading hearing so have we if their prayers and meditations were more servent and more heavenly who must we blame God is not a barren wildernesse unto us and his grace is as sufficient for us as for them they had Circumcision and the Passeover the brests of the new Testament are as full of graces as those of the old nay doubtlesse in respect of meanes they are farre more abundantly glorious in our dayes then in theirs in respect of the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the mysteries of salvation may we not say as our Saviour does that of all that was born of Women there was none like John the Baptist and yet the least in the times of the Gospel is or may be greater then he and what enemies or hinderances have we that they had not Was Satan the flesh the world all or either of these not their enemies as much as ours or had they better weapons and armour to fight against them then we have we have the armour of God they could have no better if you shall say you had a great family to provide for weighty affaires and imployments lay upon you and these are great hinderances in all these they exceed thee and yet they were no hinderances to them in comparison of that generally they are to us Abraham drew three hundred out of his family to deliver Lot besides what men women and children were left behinde Job had also a great family he was a Judge and a Prince and yet notwithstanding in all the whole world there was none like unto him So David had a whole Kingdome to look to besides continuall wars and yet how often did he pray every day how frequent was he in meditation without all question did we make it our business to intreat the Lord for strength grace to serve him were we frequent servent enough in such desires did we seek for wisdome as for silver and search for understanding as for hid treasures we might do wonders in religion in comparison of what we do And if you shall say that all these you speake of are Prophets I answer what then for the gifts of prophecy are not gifts of sanctification but of edification they might have been as holy and not have been Prophets and they might have prophesied and yet been workers of iniquity But to returne to what we spake surely if men had faith and that wrought by love as it should do if we were as watchfull over our wayes as wee might be if we were
are many disseminata vacua in all imployments of the world which might and ought to be filled up with spirituall thoughts and as it is with Bees though they gather honey from a flower they leave it as fragrant and as fresh as they found it so we gathering and mixing spirituall thoughts with and from our worldly businesse we hinder it not at all for as a vessel that is full of sand will hold almost as much water as if there were no sand in it so when we are full of imployments we may hold a thousand holy thoughts and as a ship can hardly be so fild with chests or other lading but there will be so many corners unfild up wherein Diamonds of such great value might be put in that they would be more worth then all the lading of the Ship so those thoughts of God and spirituall things which we might have in the midst of our other employments may be of farre greater value then they Fourthly Take heed of perfunctory and careless resisting of temptations but what thou dost in that particular as in spirituall things do it with all thy might for to think and weakly to resolve against sin will not hinder but aggravate thine offence and it is one of the Divels policies to let a man alone to thinke of severall Motives and make some faint resolutions against any sin when hee sees that hee hath him fast enough for he knows that the more Motives and Resolutions wee sin against the more wee are hardened and GOD is provoked And as it is with a Town that is besieged they will willingly let so many of their enemies in as they know they are able to master so Satan when hee sees that the Motives and Resolutions that enter into the soul are too weak hee willingly suffers them to enter for perfunctory performance of duties and feeble resisting of temptations are equally dangerous if the later be not the worst by the former we get no spirituall good and by the later we overcome no spirituall evill 5. Caut. Take heed of making others sin either by scandall or being a temptation to them by example or provocation it is a good way when one hath to deal with a passionate man not onely to prepare our selves for the Combate by prayer and resolutions and keeping a strong guard upon our hearts that we may not be overcome with passion howsoever he shall use us either in word or in deed but to take special care and to use all means to keep him from passion for there is a wretched joy that our hearts are subject to take in the sins of others thinking them to be a foil to our innocency to have others very passionate when we are very meek there is a secret delight that the heart is prone to take but it proceeds from a desperate pride in us who desire to have our excellencies made manifest though with the dishonour of God and damnation of our brother but there is a great deal of hel in it and charity rejoyceth not in ill 1 Cor. 13. 6. Caut. Take heed of studying high speculative points whatsoever for when our thoughts are exceedingly intent in finding out truths all the fire is in the top of the chimney and none is left upon the hearth generally high speculations leave the heart cold without devotion for generally there is a great deal of curiosity and pride in such studies for commonly we desire to be accounted knowing men in searching into whys and how 's of Gods works and truths as why God made the tree of knowledg of good and evill and how there can be three persons and but one God therefore in all reading joyn prayer whether it be in the reading of humane or divine things and take speciall care that the love of God go not out nor grow cold in you That which I have heard of one is a good practice that whatsoever book he was reading every leafe that he turned over he would look what was become of his heart and of God and would not begin till he had sent up some prayers to the Lord for direction Advises 1. Adv. First Concerning writing many wayes thou art to employ that for thy advantage First Write down all those spiritual passages out of Sermons books discourses wherin thou hast found most relish and spirituall profit Secondly Keep a Register of all the mercies that God hath bestowed upon thee whether it be temporall or spiritual but especially thy spirituall experiences and his manifestations of his love if ever the terrors of the Almighty was upon thee the wayes of Gods providence in supporting thee and how and when and in what manner he delivered thee And so for the discoveries of his love and concerning the mercies God hath bestowed upon thee how and whether and when he answers your prayers as also all the speciall ways of Gods providence to other spirituall persons in temporalls or spirituals and when thou findest thy heart dull and cold in love or weak in faith these experiences of Gods goodnesse to thy selfe and others will be an excellent means to enflame and strengthen thee Lastly Keepe a Diurnall of thy life in respect of the spirituall passages of every day set downe whether thou didst awake with God or whether the world had the first fruits of thy thoughts and how thou didst performe spirituall duties whether with relish fervency or delights or otherwise mark and set down when thy heart made any default intermitting its communion with God and all the severall sins that thou canst take notice of that thou hast committed that day and what mercies thou hast received and when there is any mercy that thou prayest for some marke should be set untill thou hast an answer of that prayer from God and that day the Lord gives thee that answer make a reference from that day to the day of praying for that mercy 2. Adv. Secondly Choose some spirituall friend one or more to whom thou mayst wholly unbosome thy self in all spiritual matters but a great deal of caution need to be had in this particular he need to be one of a 1000 that thou choosest thus thou needest have a grâ—at deal of Experince of his spirituall wisedome humility and experience of the ways of God for be he never so learned though he understand all mysteries and all knowledge though he hath never such excellent gifts of edification yet if he be not an experienced Christian thou wilt little benefit either by his society or counsell for when he speaks of spirituall and experimentall truths and the discourses of such truths are the very life of the communion of Saints I say that his discourses concerning such matters be he never so learned if he be not experienced in them will be without life or relish he will seldom speak of such things but when he does it it will be with so much heaviness that thou mayst cleerly perceive he doth speak but by rote
of Christ we think had we lived in his dayes we would have gone to him and acknowledged our sins and craved pardon and direction and scarce doubt but we should have obtained both but we consider no◠we have as neer and as certain a way to obtain them now as then nay we have the same way as they had for it was their faith that made them whole and by faith we may be made so too in respect of spiritual diseases So if an Angel should bring a message from heaven to us how would we observe and follow it The Scripture should be of as great power and authority with us as that Message and indeed more for if it were possible that such a Message should contradict any thing in the Scripture the Scripture must be beleeved before it But of this more largely in the fifth Consideration Secondly Read every verse in the Bible with this consideration that the holy Spirit of God when hee inspired the Apostle Prophet or other Pen-men of the holy Scriptures to write that place did particularly intend thy good in it for wee must not conceive that the Scripture was written for their good only who lived in those times when those severall Books were published but to all ages for every particular man that should live in those severall generations The Scripture it self is plain in this particular Rom. 15. 4. For whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Deut. 29. 29. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but these things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever that we may do all the words of the Law Nay we read of a particular promise made to a particular person upon a speciall occasion if any part of Scripture were not to extend to every particular person that should live while the world lasts one would think it should be that yet even that very promise the Apostle brings even that as a promise particularly to be applied to every Christian compare but these places Heb. 13. 5. Josh. 1. 5. The Scripture like a well made Picture looks upon every one in particular so directly as if it looked upon none else we generally read the Scriptures as we hear Sermons without a particular and personall application of them if a godly Minister should come home to any one of our houses and take one aside and tell one privately and feelingly you professe your selves Christians but there is little or nothing of Christianity appears in your lives you live not as becomes the Gospel of Jesus Christ it would startle us we hear the same in the Pulpit and we let it passe as a thing not concerning us if one should come from an house of uncleanenesse and hear a voice from Heaven saying Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge it would strike terrour into that mans heart he reads the same words in the Scripture and they are a dead letter to him Thirdly Read the Scripture to a right end for which it was written not for custome or that you might be able to discourse and because you are ashamed to be ignorant of those things which you conceive every Christian should know and having an occasion divers times in company to talk of such matters then you would be loth to be able to say nothing but consider what end the Scripture was writ for Rō 15. 4 Rev. 3. 10. 1 Pet. 2. 2. 2 Tim. 3. 16. and many other places set them down our knowledge our affectionss and our lives are quite out of frame and thou must go to the holy Scriptures there to finde out directions to cure these distempers and in a word that thou may'st be able to know admire love fear trust and serve God more then thou doest thou should'st never read any part of the word of God without a particular intention to advantage thy selfe in these particulars by thy reading Fourthly Thou must humbly and earnestly pray to the Lord to give thee his Spirit to understand what thou readest in his Word take heed of going with thine own humane spirit and in the strength of thy learning to search out the deep things of God go to the shallowes of the workes which wee call the works of Nature and thou shalt finde that thou art not able to fathome them the winde thou hearest the sound thereof but knowest not whence it comes nor whither it goes and how canst thou presume to understand the great mysteries of God which the Angels themselves desire to look into without the help of the Spirit of God which teacheth wisdome secretly let thy desires be fervent for the things written in the Word of God are thy life desire the Lord to give thee a powerfull spirituall and experimentall knowledge of the truths that thou shalt read Fifthly Promise to the Lord that if he will but reveal to thee his will thou wilt do it and obey him in it whether it be good or evill Jer. 42. 6. whether it be pleasing or displeasing to thine own will we do not use to tell any one a receipt to cure a disease he is sick of if we know he is resolved not to take it nor do thou satisfie thy selfe with a neutrality to finde thy selfe neither resolved to follow nor not to follow what thou shalt understand it is an hard thing when one whom God hath loved so much shall give no other return of all his goodnesse but this that he doth not finde his heart to hate and rebell against him many people do little better then use the Scripture as a charme they think by reading so many Chapters a day they shall be cured of all spirituall diseases had they not as good think that by hanging some Chapters or two about their neck they shall be cured of some corporall disease if one should have a receipt to cure the gout and he should read it over every day twice or thrice and think thereby to be cured though he never took what was prescribed so it is with him that thinks the bare reading of the Word of God will do him any good without being beleeving and doing accordingly Sixthly When thou art thus prepared read that place which thou intendest to meditate of and consider what the true meaning of the place is to thy understanding thereof before thou didst crave the assistance of the Spirit of God but if the place be knotty and hard to be understood passe it by for such places are not proper places of meditation but of study thou must choose those places of Scripture as are fit for the affectionate not the speculative part of Divinity such as may more affect the heart then busie the braine to understand it and thou must not be curious to raise nice observations from the words but take those truths that lie open in the Text First Because those truths that lie hidden in one
place of Scripture are obvious in another Secondly Because when the braine is much imployed the heart lyes dead without affections Thirdly Because that time thou spendest in finding out curious observations may be farre more profitably spent in working thy heart to holy affections and resolutions from some other truth that will presently occur from the words Lastly It shewes that there is not so great spirituall hunger after righteousness as there should be for hungry men do not use to stand and pick bones when they have meat enough to eat Seventhly When thou hast raised any observation from the words then thou art to put one of these three questions to thy selfe Do I thus Is it thus with me and believe I thus One or two or all of these will belong to every Text some to all and all to some as Luke 12. 32. Fear not little flock it is your Fathers good will to give you the Kingdom Do I thus that is for the first branch Fear not do I fear Then Is it thus with me am I little in mine own eyes am I one of Christ's flock am I one of that small number that shall be saved Lastly Do I believe this that God will give the Kingdom of Heaven to such Eighthly If thou doest find that thou art doest or believest as the Word requires give God the praise humbly acknowledging that it is not thy doing at all either that thou art or doest or believest what thou shouldest and if thou findest that thou pridest thy selfe in stead of being thankfull as if they were from thy selfe or that by any of them as thine act thou mayest be justified then doe but think in how many other things thou failest and how even in these very particulars if thou considerest either the measure manner ground and end thou shalt find them all to be defective and thy best righteousnesse not onely to be ragged but filthy too Ninthly If thou findest that either it is not with thee or that thou dost not or beleevest not as the Word requires then First Humble thy self before the Lord and desire pardon and help for the future Secondly Seriously consider what is the reason if it be that thou beleevest not why thou art not established in that truth say to thy self O my soul God can neither be deceived nor deceive and that this is his word that we now read and meditate on is more certain then any reason that can possibly be brought against it consider that generally the howe 's and whyes of Gods truths and works are the things that stumble us as how can there be three persons and yet but one God and why should God hate Esau and love Jacob in those cases say to thy selfe that for the whys and howe 's of Gods word and truths it is curiosity and pride to enquire of them except God does reveal them and we ought to mortifie our desire of knowing them as that of our Saviour takes place in this case Blessed are they that beleeve and see not Thirdly Think with thy self if thou canst remember any other place or places that confirms the truth that thou doubts of Fourthly Know that that which thou art mainly to enquire of is of the meaning of the Word of God not of the truth of it for we are seriously to consider whether such a place holds forth such a point not it appearing to be the plaine meaning of the Text whether it be true or no if it be a thing that thou doest not which thou shouldst do or doest which thou shouldst not do then seriously consider what are the reasons and grounds of thy disobedience and thou shalt find them to be either the pleasure profit or honour of the world and say alas O my soul can we be so deceived as to be put off with vanities such as by experience we have known to be vanities and by faith much more Shall we leave an Heaven of joys the God of mercies shall we leave Christ who hath so loved us that he left all even the bosome of his Father and emptied himself of all his glory and filled himselfe with our misery shall we leave all these for these vanities which we must leave and will leave us Consider the impediments that hinder thee from doing thy duty consider the temptations and occasions of thy sin consider the means and motives to avoyd it remove the impediments avoyd the occasions use the means and think of the motives to do that which the Lord commandeth but thou must neither think to find out these nor to use the means or avoyd the occasions c. without imploring humbly and earnestly the direction and assistance of the Spirit of God to assist and direct thee in the premisses for you must know that you must find out and use spirituall Motives or else thy very avoyding of sin is sin when it is done upon carnall grounds or sinfull motives Tenthly When thou hast finished all thy Meditations First Thou art to entreat the Lord that hee would work all these truths upon thy heart and fasten them as a nail in a sure place that his Word may not be a dry brest unto thee nor thou a barren wildernesse unto it Secondly Thou art to blesse God for any spirituall frame of heart that is either wrought or discovered in thee by this Exercise Lastly Chuse some speciall truth or point in which thou are either most defective or wherein thou hast found most relish which thou hast most occasion to make use of that day and keep it by thee to think of and do as those that walk in a garden of fragrant flowers if one may have leave generally hee takes some along with him to smell to the rest of the day do thou binde up some spirituall truths out of thy Meditation and do likewise Last Adv. The last great Advice and that which must serve for an Antidote lest all the other Cautions and Advices being observed they should be turned into poyson to us is that we should often meditate and never be satisfied in our souls until we come to a cleer Gospel experimental knowledg of Christ without which indeed we are not worthy of the name of Christians for are wee not call'd Christians from the very name And doubtles if we have not a right knowledg of Christ we shall make up a Christ to our selves of our prayers and fastings and almes and repentance and woe be to that soul that at the last day shall have nothing to trust to but his graces and duties which will accuse him in stead of pleading his cause and two things especially we should endeavour to know of Christ first the excellency of the person and mysteries of Christ Secondly the love of Christ First For the excellency of his person though to say he was both God and man is indeed to include all yet some few things I shall speak to manifest this point First That all his people do receive
from him grace for grace John 1. 16. Now if we consider the vast emptinesse and spirituall wants of the people of God we must needs conclude that he must be an Ocean of excellency that must continually supply them Secondly For I shall be very brief setting down rather heads of Meditation then Sermon-wise to dilate upon them Consider the dignity of his sufferings for they did satisfie the Justice of God and that could not be satisfied without somthing of infinite value nor could it have been done by him save only by reason of the dignity of his person Thirdly Consider how he suffered though the pains he suffered were exceeding great yet was it without any abatement at all of his love of and confidence in God for while he satisfied the Justice of God by his passive obedience in suffering the penalty of the Law he also satisfied and fulfilled the righteousness of the Law by his active obedience which was a wonder full thing that in the midst of all his agony and all his Fathers anger while he was laying upon him the punishment of the iniquity of us all and spared him not that even then there should be no abatement at all of his confidence in and love of his Father but that he should love him and trust in him as much as at any other time for had there been any abatement and had he not loved God then with all his soul with all his might and with all his strength and the same may be said of his trusting in God his sufferings could never have satisfied for sinne but themselves had stood in need of forgivenesse Fourthly Consider that saying of our Saviour John 14. 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father the speech of Philip is as if he should say Wee indeed see a great deal of holinesse and wisdom in thy words and actions but would we could see the Father surely there would be a world of holinesse and wisdom in his words and actions if he would have lived amongst men as thou Lord hast done surely then it had sufficed Now our Saviours answer is as if he should say to Philip If the Father himselfe had taken humane nature and lived amongst men he would not have spoke one word more or otherwise nor done one action more or otherwise then I have done he would not nay could not have spoke or done more wisely then I have done So he that hath seen me hath seen my Father Fifthly Consider that those who have had the greatest and highest revelations of divine things have alwayes had the highest esteem of and have most magnified Christ Saint Paul rapt into the third heaven and saw and heard things there which was neither possible nor lawfull to be uttered yet no man speaks higher things of Christ then he he desires to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified accounts all other knowledg but drosse and dogs meat such knowledge as dogs and swine reprobates may have nay one step further the very Angels in heaven though they have the beatificall vision yet notwithstanding they desire to look into the great mysteries of the Gospel 1 Pet. 1. 12. Therefore never think that thou hast attained to any measure of Christian knowledge before thou seest an excellency in Christ and an heighth and depth in the mysteries of the Gospel which if thou shalt not do say within thy self it is so evident that nothing is more in the word of God that Christ is the end of all the ceremoniall Laws and all the Prophesies of the old Testament that all the Prophets nay all the Angels give witness and the Apostle cleerly says that there is no controversie of this matter of the greatnesse of Gospel mysteries and therefore that I do not admire them it certainly proceeds from my ignorance of them for if it proceeded from knowledge without doubt the Apostles that had more knowledg then I and the Angels which had more knowledg then the Apostles would never have desired to have known more of them And after thou hast wrought this upon thy heart and art fully convinced of the truth of it that there is no knowledg not onely not so profitable but not so sweet nor so excellent as this then humbly beseech the Lord that he would shew unto thee teaching thee by his Spirit the deep things of God and that he would not only do it to informe and enlighten thy understanding in but to inamour thy will of the beauties of the mysteries of Christ we stand doating and gazing upon hamane knowledge which is but like a poor glow-worme compared to the Sun of righteousnesse but alas poor thing it hath neither light nor heat compared to the truths of the Gospel and we must look upon Christ as the only author and finisher of our faith and justifier of our persons though we do all that hath been mentioned yet we must not so much as make our doings or not doings the least ingredient in our justification and as Solomon speaks concerning our wisdom so we must do in the matter of holinesse Leane not to thine own wisdome saith Solomon not onely not rely upon it but lean on it we must not partly trust in our own wisdom and partly in the wisdom of God but we must wholly rely upon his wisdom so we must not partly rely upon Christs merits and partly upon our own but wholly on Christ those sins which we do not commit we are not innocent of and those holy duties that we do perform we are not innocent in therefore neither can we escape hell nor attain heaven by any thing that wee do or not do and the reason why wee either avoyd sin or perform holy duties or frequent ordinances is not because thereby we shall be justified but that thereby wee may glorifie God and Christ and because therein wee have communion with Christ and are made more conformable unto him and made more capable of more of Christ When we go to some stately Palace where we have appointed to meet some deer friend whom wee love with our whole soul though we have never so much entertainment there when we come yet if wee neither see nor enjoy the company of our so exceedingly loved and desired friend wee rather weep then rejoyce notwithstanding the feasts and buildings which wee taste and see Prayer hearing the Word the Lords Supper are stately Ordinances and rich Feasts yet if we meet not Christ there they are but dry brests and barren wildernesses to a soul that loves Christ Secondly Now the main thing that hinders a poor soul from coming unto Christ is that it is not cleerly satisfied of Christs love and willingnesse to receive her to this point therefore by the blessing of God I shall speak more largely and as cleerly as the Lord shall inable me this therefore may be said to that point Art thou not satisfied of the love and willingnesse of Christ to receive thee What