because of the bitter effects of sin yet his heart is secretly espoused to it He may repent of his dissembled severity and wish that himself may die rather than that his corrupt inclination should be pinion'd or put into little ease Rather strive to break the heart of old Adam to kill the very Root of an Hellish-Nature seek the destruction of whatsoever is disgustive to the Constitution of the new Creature that there may be no more hope of reconciliation unto sin than of the meeting of Heaven and Hell together Lay not down your sins as Weapons at the Foot of God as a Conqueror when you can no longer naintain the fight but out of Loyalty execute them with your own hand Cast them not only away in a Fright upon the Hue and Cry of your Conscience but pursue them to the Horns of the Altar drag them thence where they expect Protection and Sacrifice them with chearfulness otherwise they will mar and defeat all your Religious Services and the hope of future Glory Formalists descend to Hell more unsuspectedly under the Garb of Religious Vows and severe threats against their Lusts Thus some Parents in a short Passion Rate their Children out of their sight when they have done a shrewd turn yet they can immediately turn their Faces aside and smile at their unlucky Wit or after a short time cocker them the more Satan as a cunning Spinster leaves on the Distaff of a depraved Nature such pretended good resolutions as a Lock of Wool as a Pledg or advantage of future returning to draw out the Web of Iniquity to a greater extension than before Thus many Sinners purchase the Infamous Title of Sceptical Futurists in Repentance as they prove themselves to be Platonick Lovers of Vertue only in speculation For their Vows of Reformation must be interpreted as we read the Hebrew Dialect altogether backward Thus the more they tamper with and strain the Rusty Wards of a dissembling heart with some false Key of slight Reformation the harder it will be to open to the Motions and convictions of Christs Spirit 7. Improve weaning-Considerations such as these That persons of strong and fond affections to Creature-enjoyments are usually persons of strange and deep afflictions It 's thought that Abraham was toying and sporting with Isaac a little before the Command came to Sacrifice him Usually we follow our Idolized Comforts to the Grave with Mourning as Phaltiel did Michal to Bahurim when Ishbosheth snatcht her from him When the Lord observes that we grow fond of Strangers and familiar with the Worlds Temptations he puts out the Candle of prosperity and Seals up the Star-Light of all Creature-Comforts with which we have wantoniz'd in our fond admiration that we may depend on Him Alone as the God of our Light Comfort and Salvation When a dark Night of Affliction Steals on us then we run home to nestle in the Bosome of Divine-Alsufficiency though we had our Vagaries before in Courting every forreign Creature-Comfort to support and gratify our fleshly sensuality I will go and return unto my place that is confine and shut up my self in Heaven I will get me out of sight and Call that their weaning being apprehended more grievous they may under the depth of their distress seek me more early and earnestly Hos 5.15 David the Man after God's heart was chastened every Morning because when the Lord came to feel his Pulse how his Love and delight beat towards him he found the Frame of his heart to vary and faulter His very flesh and heart failed that he might cling the closer in distress Then Whom have I in Heaven but Thee Thus Israel became Jezrael the scattered Flock and her weaning by Captivity was in order to her betrothing Some there are whom neither smiles nor frowns neither Blows nor Charms of Love will wean Yet it is more ingenuous to be estranged from our Lusts by the Gracious and Spiritual appearances of the Lord than by imbittering the Breasts of the Creature or forcing the Lord to put on the disguize of an Enemy to affright us Usually we will not be weaned till we observe the Image of Death to sit upon the Eye-lids of our dearest Comforts Make therefore a wise contemperament of Love and Fear in your own Souls be won by the former and awed by the latter Fear may enter as a rivetting Wedg the first contest with our darling Lusts but Love can only compleat the Conquest A Child is weaned rather by singing to it than by blows 8. Be convinc'd of the Lords Love and Compassion in weaning you then you will more chearfully comply with the severest method of estranging you from a fond nestling in the bosom of any Lust The Lord's End is that you may arrive to a masculine State and Spirit in your Christian course that you may be fitted for more eminent service Thus Covenant-afflictions which are the Lord's Graving-Tools whereby he polishes his Saints for Glory are to be preferred before common Mercies and Right-hand weaning strokes before Left-hand Comforts and enjoyments It is for our Spiritual advantage that the Lord thus instructs us with severity by desertions persecution of Worldly Men and the frequent Alarm of temptation Therefore we should suit our selves to him we should not be humorsome and discontented at this necessary though bitter work In measure will the Lord debate it with his people in such a season How doth he bear long with their froward manners as with Israel in the Wilderness Ephraim resisted the Lord's weaning-strokes yet he did not give him over to the hardness of his heart He rather pittyed healed and led him restoring Comfort to him when himself and others lookt upon his State as desperate The Lord applyed his Ear and when Ephraim bemoaned his youthful Pranks and Excesses then the Lord's Bowels were troubled for him and he had Mercy on him as a pleasant Child when himself was ashamed in bearing the Reproach of his Youth How doth the Lord sing to his Childrens hearts while he weans them in a dark night of Affliction Isa 66.13.14 As one whom his Mother Comforts so will I Comfort you And when you shall see this What The happy Effect and Issue of your Captivity that I weaned you from the enjoyments of your own Land for your Spiritual advantage your heart shall rejoyce and your Bones shall flourish like a green Herb though you despondingly said they were dry and scattered as Chips about a saw-pit Abraham made a Feast when he weaned Isaac so God and his Angels rejoyce to see a Nursling of Satan become a Weanling unto Christ Such are now Feasted with the hidden Manna of Divine Consolation in their Wilderness-distresses they are Beautified with the white-Stone of Absolution as a peculiar remark of favour and honoured with the new Name of the Lord's adopted Darlings yea themselves can now rejoyce to tear the Body of sin Limb from Limb and can sing Triumphantly in the Funeral of the
from Above not lift up our hearts to Vanity but to the Lords Statutes by a sworn Allegiance Let us not suffer Earthly-mindedness to grow in Fashion when the most durable Comforts in the World pass away as a Fashion Be weaned and estranged from the Antick Customs Corrupt Examples and Sensual Enjoyments of the degenerate World So shall you Divinely Caress your Souls by training them up under the Severities of an Holy Discipline You shall not by any Hurry-Cane of Temptation from without or exorbitant Passions from within be shaken from the Center of true Rest by delusion in your Comforts or Impatiency in your sufferings You shall possess secure your Souls as to the Excellency of their Divine Constitution in the quick and clear Sentiment of Celestial Joys by a regular Conception of the Real Worth of whatever is suggested to their Fancy You shall become Impregnable in sincere resolutions to maintain a Heavenly Conversation and shall obtain an Heroick Fortitude under all your Tryals You shall Exercise a Rational Dominion over all Bruitish Passions which destroy all true Tranquillity of mind and Joy in the Holy Ghost Thus promoting a Weaned Frame you shall be prepared and made meet to be received with a triumphant Festivity into the Serene and Glorious Bosome of the blessed Jesus who is the perfect Archetype of Self-denial and the Universal-Diffusive-Center of true Felicity To which State that you may arrive is the unfeigned desire of Him who counts it his Duty and Priviledg to be and remain Your Christian Friend and Monitor in the Lord S. S. ERRATA Pag. 9. l. 8. f. command r. commend P. 116. l. 22. s crum r. Crumbe P. 131. l. 27. f. become Saints r. Saints become P. 132. l. 29. f. Eannot r. Cannot P. 137. l. 18. f. Chocie r. Choise P. 138. l. 11. f. Caudidates r. Candidates P. 143. l. 7. f. not so r. not so much There are some other small Errata's which the Author desires the Reader to mend with his Pen. Psal 131. V. 2 3. Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a Child that is weaned of his Mother my Soul is even as a weaned Child Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever THese words are Davids Apologetical Appeal to God the Searcher of all Hearts to confute and wipe off that malicious slander that he was an underminer of Saul's Regal Authority and an ambitious Projector to snatch the Crown from his Head Now said he what Plots can a weaned Child contrive in its Head I do not busie my self in Mysteries of State nor deal in the profound Politicks of the World Lord I Appeal to thy alsearching Eye who knowest all secrets whatsoever that my Heart is not haughty nor mine Eyes lofty These in the casting of them speak out much of the frame of the Soul They are the Heraldry of the Mind By the eyes we express and dart forth Pride Malice and Lust Sobriety a modest look without Heart-Humility is Hypocrifie and Lowliness of Heart without a modest Deportment is but a rude Profession In the Words are two General Parts 1. David's Protestation under the Form of an Oath thus some read the Words If I have or as I have behaved my self as a weaned-Child then or in so doing let the Lord vindicate my Integrity from false Aspersions So let the Lord deal by me as I have in uprightness supprest all Proud Aspiring Imaginations and Designs Obs We should be on good and sure Grounds in all those Appeals and Protestations which we make of our Hearts in the Frame and Working of them as in the sight of God who is the Heart-searcher and Avenger of all Hopocrisie Obs 2. David's Soul was first weaned by the Discipline of God's Spirit before he could behave himself as a weaned Child in the several afflictive occurrences of his Life Grace must first be implanted in the Heart to quiet and subdue its mutinous Passions and inordinate affections before the outward Conversation can be rectifyed The Lord can take no delight in the proud Heart of a froward Sinner Yet a Saint may without Presumption plead thus Lord own me for thy Child for I am one of thy Weanlings therefore come and take delight in thine own Work David appeals to God concerning his self-denying-frame as an evident Sign and Seal of his Approbation and Promotion Obs Before the Lord bestow great enjoyments of the Creature upon his Servants he prepares them by a weaned Frame of Heart so as to be indifferent about Worldly things My Soul David was a strong Man in Christ not a Babe who thus profest himself as a weaned Child Obs It requires not only Truth of Grace but much growth and proficiency in it to resign up the Heart to the severities of Mortification and constant Discipline of Self-denyal Obs David says not my Soul is only meek and humble as a Child but submissive as a weaned Child to every Divine Dispensation though never so harsh and bitter yea he rises higher Professing himself to be even as a weaned Child in all and every Respect The Rule of God's Word and Command is a stricter Pattern of self-denial than any Earthly Type of weaning No weanling from the Brest should outstrip a Saint in point of Mortification toward sinful sensual Delights or Creature-enjoyments Again David compares himself to a Child which is Passively weaned not which weans it self Weaning is not any pleasant Act of the Child 's own seeking or effecting Obs Mortification of sinful unruly Passions and inordinate affections is a Soul renewed-state bitter and declined by us at first we are meerly Patients under this Holy violence and Soul-saving severity we are unwilling and unable to effect in it our selves Again David compares himself to a Child weaned of his Mother not by some mercenary Nurse who being servile in the task proves often as froward and teasty as the Child Obs Saints should submit to the difficulty of a weaned Frame with a quiet Heart because the Lord designs it out of Wisdom and carrieth it on with great tenderness and Compassion The weaned Child is not forgotten much less forsaken or cast off Weaning is an Act and State of necessity and deep affection ratherthan of neglect or disesteem Hereby it grows up into a more solid knowledg of and more affectionate acquaintance with the Parent Should Children always lie soaking at the Breast they would not grow so strong nor spritely to perform service to their Parents they would not be apt to take down more solid Food Saints may be froward at present because they understand not the advantages of this pittiful severity yet afterwards they shall know and comply with the Lord's Design in weaning them Thus Christ informed Peter that there was a Mystery in his condescention to wash the Disciples Feet the better to induce Peter's compliance with it Thus David produces his experience and makes assurance thereof to the whole Spiritual Seed of Israel that
the Lord means no harm but much Spiritual advantage to his Children though he express much severity in weaning them Obs Saints ought to quicken one anothers Graces and Comforts by holding forth their mutual examples and experiences As if David had said upon the whole matter thus Lord hereby I gathered or inferred an Evidence that thou wouldest advance me to the Throne and undertake the Protection Care and Conduct of me because I have behaved my self as a Weaned Child I kept my Spirit low and humble I did not affect nor hunt after great things for my self I was very indifferent as to the outward enjoyments of the World Thou hast heapt them on me without my seeking Thou didst prepare me to injoy with an humble thankful Heart those accommodations which I could have been content to have been cut short of Lord thou knowest how I have carried towards thee as a weaned Child Thou also hast acted towards me as a tender indulgent Parent giving me what I could have born the denial of Therefore by my Example let Israel hope in the Lord even when he is suatcht from the Breasts of worldly enjoyments O! let Saints learn to live more dependently upon the Lords immediate Providence who thus rewards the self-denial of his weaned Children This is the scope and intended meaning of the Words The main Doctrine which I shall prosecute is this Doct. Every Christian should labour to get and maintain the Frame and Carriage of a weaned Child In prosperity to sit loose from Worldly comforts and enjoyments In Adversity to quiet and compose their pirit under all the saddest severest Dispensations which the Lord inflicts Or 't is the Duty Character and Disposition of every real Saint by Faith and Self-denial to quiet their spirits under the nearest and deepest Tryals By Faith we must live on Christ's Alsufficiency in greatest straits By Self-denial we must live to Christ by maintaining an equal indifferency of Spirit either to retain or resign our Comfortable enjoyments as the supream Lord shall dispose of them It becomes not that Masculine Heroical Grace of Faith to produce every petty service as a Demonstration of its Ingenuity Abrahams Tryal was no cheap Act of Religion when he was called to the foot of God to leave his native Country and become a Pilgrim in the Land of Promise Yet in weaning him from his Beloved Isaac so as to require him to offer him up for a Sacrifice This toucht severely upon the very Bowels of Natural Affection yea it seemed to offer violence to his Faith and the very veracity of that Divine Promise that in Isaac should all Nations be called and blessed O the height length depth and breadth of this Tryal None could lawfully impose such a Command but God nor could any so quickly and fully have Answered it but an Abraham whence he deserved the Title of the Father of the Faithful He stood not demurring much less murmured at the Command but thus he exprest the Innocency and weaned self-denyal of his Heart What is it O Lord that thou callest for is it my only begotten Son Isaac the Staff of my old Age I love him dearly but thee transcendently therefore he shall be no Corrival I obtained him by believing and I shall not lose him by obeying Though I be a Father thou art God and what I owe to my Child must alway be checkt and limited by what I owe to thee My Natural affection must and shall give place to my Spiritual special Duty Though I kill him thou canst quicken him Though I may part with my Son yet I can never lose my Isaac For thy Promise is sure for evermore that in Isaac shall my Seed be called Thus Abraham reconcil'd by a weaned Frame the seeming contradiction of the Command to the immutability of the Promise and chose rather to be held Guilty of Murther by the verdict of sense and carnal reason than to be taxt of mental Idolatry in an over-fond Affection to his Isaac He let God alone to perform his Word while himself kept an eye upon his Duty Do you go and imitate the Father of the Faithful I mean not in the same specifical attempt for it was only a Command by way of Tryal imposed by the lawful stamp of Divine Authority No such Revelation is now to be expected yet the general and implicite equity of it binds all and every Christian that we should alway retain a fixt weaned Frame to mortifie all inordinate Creature-Love and readily to resign up our nearest and dearest injoyments when the Supream Lord shall impose the Tryal So shall you justifie the Truth and command the strength of your Faith as Abraham did his by Self-denial and obtain the Title of a real Friend of God Such are content that the Will of the Lord should be served upon them as well as done by them or the promises fulfilled for them Now for fuller explication of the Nature of this weaned Frame I shall shew 1. Wherein it doth consist 2. How Natural and Spiritual weaning agree and differ 3. The Reasons why we should thus quiet our Spirits as weaned Children 4. I shall produce some discoveries of a counterfeit weaning which passes for real and genuine 5. I shall lay down the true Character or description of a weaned Saint 6. Some Motives or Arguments to perswade to a weaned Frame 7. and Lastly I shall lay in some Principles or Rules whereby we may get and maintain such an Evangelical Self-denying disposition For the First 1. It is the Judicious Elective Frame of every Regenerate person whereby he doth with a supernatural Patience silence the mutinous murmuring Passions of his Soul under the saddest methods which Divine Wisdom makes use of to estrange and mortifie his fond inordinate Love to every Lawful much more sinful enjoyment Or it is such a State in Grace not in Nature whereby the Heart is wrought not only to a patient submission but a chearful complacential rejoycing in whatever the Lord requires or dispenses for the Tryal of its Love and sincere Obedience both Active and Passive Or it is a choice Christian Frame received from our Union and Communion with Christ and the anointing of his Spirit whereby we renounce our Carnal Wisdom our froward perverse Will and all inordinacy of fond overvaluing and affecting of Creature-enjoyments Thus we resign all we are and have to the Sovereign Wise and Holy disposal of the Lord. Hereby we testifie the sincerity strength and perseverance of our Love as preferring the Lord alone to our delight before any Competitor whatsoever Natural and Spiritual weaning agree in these Respects 1. A weaned Child is very humble It hath no proud Heart attested by any scornful look or peevish Carriage They express no boasting Language to the disdain of others So a Saint is weaned from an overfond conceit of his own Worth and Excellency Vain Man would be wise he would pass for such in the Opinion of himself and others
Favour before all the delights and Courtship of the whole Creation Thus the Lord 's Marab's his Children whom he weans in the bitterness of their Spirit shall become his Naomies his fair Ones or Spouses of Delight yet first they must be desolate in themselves that they may learn to cleave to the Lord as the Center of their trust and satisfaction This is the very Law of their Espousals unto Christ 3. There is an absolute necessity of this weaned State otherwise the Spirit of the World Satan and Lust will rule in your hearts and hold you under their Vassalage How will every petty temptation worry out your formal faint resistance Nay you will never strike stroke out of the base treachery of your sensual-hearts Your Mouths will rather water after forbidden Fruit you will tempt the Tempter to tempt you and cast your selves as a Prey into the Jaws of this devouring Lyon How should the Apostacy of such who have surfeited on their Lusts to a loathing of all Religion season our hearts with a Holy-Fear not to disdain or oppose this Self-denying Frame O do not trust to the Eminency of your present profession but make God the Guide and Guardian of your hearts Get them thorowly weaned from the Love of Lusts and the World otherwise you will be exposed to an open renouncing of the Faith of Christ Voetius in his Disputes of Atheism relates of one Vaninus who was a sad instance in this respect He wrote a Book entituled the Amphitheater of Divine Providence to prove that there is a God yet afterwards he Apostatiz'd into a meer speculative dogmatizing Atheist and was burned at Paris for it Thus the fairest formalists make the subtlest Seducers the fiercest Persecutors and most desperate Atheists This appeared in the said Vaninus who being advized at his Execution to ask God the King and his Judges Pardon thus replyed I need not ask Pardon of God for I do not believe there is any nor of the King for I have broken none of his Laws nor of my Judges for were there a Hell I would send them all thither Thus the unclean Spirit re-entred to take up a surer Station without any fear of disturbance or a future dispossession Such will be the End of all Masquarading Professors who only make a Mock-show of Religion To such the impartial Judg will one day say as Isaac not out of any dimness of sight but exactness of search Come near thou Proud Pharisee thou peevish Hypocritical Worldling who didst question or quarrel at my Providence but never distrustedst thine own heart or ways Let me feel the Pulse of thy Soul how it beats and works toward me in Love and self-denyal What sayst thou Art thou a Weanling of Christ's or a Nursling and Fondling of Satans How sad will it then be to be estranged from the Bosom of the Lord for ever because such would not be divorced from the Breasts of Lusts and the World Even Children retain in their fancy the bitter severities used for their alienation from the Brest Let soaking Worldlings look on their tractable example and be ashamed of their own greedy snatching at Worldly prosperity though it poyson the Vital briskness of the Soul in not affecting an heavenly Conversation The second General Head How Natural and Spiritual Weaning differ 1. Some Children never live to be weaned but every New-Born Babe in Christ is actually weaned so as to deny it self in the Renunciation of Worldly Lusts and its confidence in its own Righteousness A general slight Conviction of the Creatures Vanity will not prove sufficient to wean us from all Priding in our own conceited Worth and the Opinion of self-sufficiency Nothing can supply the necessity and Divine Vsefulness of Faith or Regenerating Grace in working us to a weaned Frame For a meer form of Godliness spends it self in airy speculations and in boasting of a conceited Conquest over Lusts and the World But a Holy Frame of Heart is the Life of Christ himself dwelling and acting in every New-Born Christian in whom it hath a secret Vertue to accomplish a wonderful Conquest in weaning of the heart The power of Godliness begets Divine Fear this Contracts the heart toward the Creature and unites or inlarges it to God in Christ Now a Holy Oneness of Spirit fortifies the affections as the Rays of the Sun contracted into one point of the Burning-Glass inflames the nearest Object So a longing desire after Communion with the Lord consumes the Combustible matter of all temptations which damp our Spiritual Joy and oppress the Activity of our Obedience Godliness draws In and binds fast the heart to delight in the Lord abstractly for his own Divine and infinite perfections It brings with it an ingenuous freedom of spirit to serve the Lord with chearfulness as his Redeemed and peculiar Ones Godliness sets glorious priviledges and high hopes before a Saint these animate to do and suffer much for God Evangelical Promises applyed by Faith have a purifying vertue in them whereby they estrange us from inordinacy of affection toward the Grandure of the World Yea Godliness gathers strength by Conflicting with difficulties thereby approving the Souls Integrity and Chastity unto the Lord. 2. Difference Weaning is a State Proper and Peculiar unto Infancy and Childhood But every Aged Father in Christ stands more and more in need of Spiritual weaning because being arrived to any pitch in Grace they let fall their Watch and Christian-Circumspection they grow more self-Confident and the World more incroaches on them Their Love is usually more ardent and fearful to offend at first yea they are more Cautious and Curious of what they take into their Bosome lest they should transgress the Divine Law of Gratitude in their Espousals unto Christ Even David the Man after God's Heart prays in the sense of his imperfect weanedness Incline my heart unto thy Testimonies and not to the wanderings of Concupiscence Turn away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity Ps 119.36 37. Nature it self aims at perfection in Generation and the Growth of all Creatures Why should not the New-Creature much more by a Divine Instinct pursue the highest attainments in the Mysteries of a weaned State Paul was so advanced and improved this way that he profest that he acted the Man's part in his Christian high-Calling and had put away all Childish Dispositions Opinions and Practices 1 Cor. 13.11 His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or City-Life and Trade was dayly in Heaven thither he was rapt up in his Spiritual Thoughts Aims Affections and Designs Yea he strove to attain to the very Resurrection of the Dead Consider that Eminent Saints have been often foyled at the Exercise of that very Grace wherein they have been most expert for want of a watchful and progressive weaned Frame of Heart Even Abraham the Father and Pattern of the Faithful how Childishly is he afraid of losing his Life in Abimelech's Country He advised his Wife to Guard her Beauty
to be sure it will if you stupify your Souls and Caress them with sensual pleasures in the gratification of your Lusts What sinners will ye break away from the Worlds soft imbraces and prove Changelings in the profest Mystery of Iniquity to take up the severities of a mortified Conversation If there be any day of accompt for all your Vanities and Excesses yet you have time enough before you to be Pensive the Judg of Mankind is not yet upon his Circuit nor stands he yet before the door of your hearts as ready to depart that thereupon a Psalm of Mercy should be denied you as shut up under final impenitency and unbelief Thus Satan the World and sinners own sensual Hearts betray them to their Eternal Ruine But the Baits of Riches Honours and Pleasures become Fewel to Lusts rather than satisfie a humorsome Curiosity They become an Itch to the Pride of Life which we please oun selves to spread by rubbing They are not Restringent to our dropsical Intemperance of Covetousness nor any allay to the Tympany of an ambitious Pride Covetous Wretches who undermine others are like the blind Mole which spends its strength and Life in casting up Hillocks of purer Dust yet neither are made to discern their own Misery till the stroke of Death Irrecoverably seize upon them 4. Difference The Parent estranges the Child from the Brest out of self-ends To avoid the toyl of suckling or to take more liberty and Pleasure But the Lord weans every New-Born Christian for his proper advantage only to make him a farther partaker of his Holiness Heb. 12.9 10. The Child is froward because it knows not the Intention of the Mother But a Saint chearfully submits as Peter at last to have his Feet washt by Christ because he is assured that in Faithfulness the Lord corrects him for his instruction in the Mysteries of the Christian Institution O how Justly yet with a pitiful severity doth the Lord wean us to win us over to himself Would any one think of his Creator or make any serious provision for the Life to Come if the Breasts of the World were not imbittered by the disappointment of Carnal self-seeking designs To suffer a sinner to draw hard and long from a Lust is no real indulgence but an occasion of the sinners surfeiting and Induration Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone His sin shall become his punishment As that Pope said in sprinkling his supposed holy-water He who will be deceived let him be deceived So Sensualists suck Poyson and their own Eternal Ruine out of those harmless Creatures which to weaned Saints are sanctified sublimated and made truly comfortable Our folly will be inexcusable if after all Experiments of the Worlds Grand Cheats we shall contribute any Longer to our own vexation and self-wounding Why should we clog our affections these Dove-like Wings of the Soul with Mire and Dirt which should by Meditation lodg in the Bosom of God there to Caress us with pure Soul-satisfying Pleasures to all Eternity Why do we pant after the dust of the Earth which is the Serpents Curse Why do we in a restless Agony thirst after such empty Joys which end with a dulness and damp upon our Spirits 2. Difference The weaned Child pines and grows weak when taken from the Breast too soon but the earlier we forsake Sin and the World the better we thrive in our Spiritual Stock and Stature We obtain greater Vigor of Love and Zeal for God we become more Spiritual in our whole Conversation we experiment an increase of sweet Communion with the Father of our Spirits Enoch being weaned early from the corrupt examples of His Generation walked with God hand in hand as a great Favourite He soon grew a great Proficient in Grace therefore he commenced in Glory by a skip over the heads of the rest of the Patriarchs He lived only three hundred sixty five years as many as there are days in a year as if the perfection of Time as well as of Holiness were accomplisht in Him Therefore he was snatcht up to Heaven as being early ripe for it and lest the World should offer Violence to so flourishing a Plant of Paradise Weaned hearts whose Love keeps pace with Self-denial are less projecting for the World and most Officious to advance Christs Interest Satans Fondlings must lie at Ease and are rockt fast asleep in the Cradle of sinful sloth and security lest they should cry out of his Cruel Bondage A prosperous Estate proves very uneasie it pinnions all the Faculties of the Soul and makes them unwieldy that they cannot act vigorously nor chearfully in a Course of Righteousness Yet a weaned Saint mounts his head and heart above the Skies while his Feet stand upon the Earth as a Sea of Glass mixed with Fire He who fears the Lord shall dwell at ease as the Psalmist speaks or lodge in the Bosom of Divine Goodness where he may stretch out his affections in meditation upon the Immensity of Gods perfections to a full and Infinite Satisfaction Thus we save the Lord the Labour of acting terrible Tragedies upon us Yet commonly we are Active in increasing our own miseries when we become one Spirit with the defiling Vanities of the World As Rangeing-Deer if we prove Outlawries to Christ's Discipline and will not be weaned from such Temptations which dispirit us in his service we expose our selves to become the Mark of every Judgment and to be made a Prey to Satan Nor doth this weaned Frame fit us only to expedite all Christian Duties but it Steels us with Resolution and Fortitude in suffering for the Name and Testimony of Jesus Worldlings dread the very mention of the Cross much less are they Conformed unto it But every weaned Saint is a Cross-Bearer the greatest Tryals Difficulties and Severities of Mortification are Food to strengthen the Faith of such yea they are Trophies of their Self-denial Paul being weaned knew what it was to be emptied even while he abounded To be abased in Honour to be as sorrowing yet alway rejoycing in distress yet not in despair as Poor yet making many Rich as having nothing yet possessing all things Yea he protested that he delighted to die dayly to the Vigor of his Lusts and the Allurements of the World Herein Christ's Weanlings differ from Satans Sucklings or Hypocrites who pretend only to be weaned that the former have better tempered Eyes to behold inticing Objects unto sin and yet their Mouths not water Abraham might look on the Flames of Sodom which Indulgence was forbade to Lot lest that Prospect should make an Impression of Lusting on his heart toward his pleasant accommodations lest behind This was actually verified in his Wife Though she were fired thence yet she left her Heart behind therefore she lookt back with some regret she lookt and lookt again so long till she became as stiff and stupid as a Stone The Nazarites might drink Wine after they had in
Cast its Rider yet we must supply it with necessary Recruits This is far from making Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof The Apostle Paul who beat down his Body who gave it Club-Law the Black and Blew Eye that it might not cast an Amorous wanton Glance to court sensual Vanities yet knew how to observe a fit moderation in it He Censures all monastick self-imposed Severities which spare not the Body as a Device of Satan to destroy it rather than to bring it in subjection to the Spirit Christ himself would not have New Wine put into Old Bottles To signifie that immoderate Fastings Humicubations Pilgrimages and all extraordinary Sufferings or Tamings of the Flesh are not suitable to young Converts newly weaned lest they deter them from a chearful imbracing the Christian Institution and a constant Progress in Religion Pride usually springs up from the Root of such bitterness against the harmless support of Nature Popish Severities fatten Lusts while they starve the Body and while Men thus threaten to stub up their inordinate desires they water their Root the more by a secret complyance with them This Irregular Zeal blazes like Moses Bush in a threatning of Mens Lusts yet there is no heat of a just Revenge which may quite consume them Sinners deceive and more pollute their Souls by false Counterfeit un-Scriptural Arts and Rules of weaning 6. Another sort of Sinners not really weaned are such who being twitcht and bitten with the Worm of Conscience have a false Appetite raised towards the Bread of Life Thus the Capernaits cryed out in a transient Passion Lord evermore give us of this Bread And Marcella in the Croud of Christ's Auditors brake out into this exstatical Applause Blest is the Womb which bare thee Such are not weaned from the Love of their Lusts who commend the Preacher that they may be excused from being commanded by that Doctrine which he presses upon them for Obedidience unto Christ Others have too gross and carnal a conceit of Spiritual Ordinances who think these appointed to allay the sharp bitings of an inflamed exulcerated Conscience while they sin presumptuously By immoderate Belchings and stretching of their Appetite after Worldly flatulent crude Joys they eject and Vomit up the good juice of the Word and other Ordinances which should nourish their Souls to Eternal Life But if they do not puke and keck at the wholsom Food of Divine Truth yet there remains a Lipothymia or general faintness and failure of true affection which chills all endeavours after a Heavenly Conversation by too great Evacuations of that Spiritual nourishment which before was taken down Hence the solid parts of Christianity are dissipated and melt away so that the means of Grace which should allay their hunger toward the World become unprofitable This proves fatal because sinners easily deceive themselves with this Distemper as if it were a genuine hunger toward the Ordinances The Word Preacht may raise strains of great Joy in the hearing yet the heart not be renewed nor subdued to Christ's weaning Discipline Sucking Children have their smiles at their own pretty Fancies yet are not able to act their Reason in any reflection upon the Vanity and Deception of those Imaginations Phrentick sinners may Cant it in Religious Notions which is but a false conception of Spiritual Joy because it is only a transient passion raised from the briskness of the animal Spirits which fly up into the head yet infeeble afterwards the Executive faculties of the Soul because they have no tendency to produce a siricter course of Life Culinary fire may scorch more than Elementary yet this by a more Vital kindly heat best conserves health and ripens Fruits So violent sudden passions in sinners may transport them beyond the ordinary rank of Christians in some extraordinary services and sufferrings yet such seeming Zealots are so far from being weaned by self-denial that they were never sensible of the proper and real dispositions which introduce the form of a New-Ceature in Christ 7. Another sort in the contrary extreme are the Devils weanlings I mean such who pretend to be Comprehensors in the Christian State and to have arrived at perfection in Holiness These are really possest with a Dumb and Deaf Spirit they neither pray for Pardon of sin nor attend on any Gospel-Ministry because out of Pride Curiosity Fancy and Self-Conceit they presume they have Graspt the perfection of Divine Wisdom as a Monopoly to themselves How are such deluded being sensual and not having the Spirit of Christ whom they pretend to only Let such know that a State of Spiritual weaning doth not infer a Contempt of Gospel-Ordinances it rather increases a genuine strong Affection in hungring and thirsting after them The weaned Saint forsakes not his proper Spiritual Food for Wind and Trash but rather renews more earnest desires after the sincere Milk of the Word of Righteousness He lives not a separated Life from the Communion of Saints only he exchanges his former Diet which was the Dust of the Serpent for more solid and refined nourishment He forsakes not the first Principles in Christianity as contemptible Milk for Babes but proceeds to grow in Grace and in the Knowledg of God in Christ This more humbles and meekens him toward his Fellow-Saints by Self-denial It makes him more Holy and Heavenly more estranged from the World and the Vanities of it Like David he is driven into the Wilderness he doth not chuse to want publick Ordinances When he doth his Soul even then pants after the Living-God he thirsts with a more restless strong and impatient appetite to see the Lords Power and Glory so as he had injoyed him in the Sanctuary 8. Sort of sinners not weaned are broken-winded and impatient Suiters for Relief in their distress Such are not prevailed with to give Christ the quiet and full possession of their hearts in an universal Dominion over them because they are not content that he should speed or delay grant or deny their desires The Israelites were counted estranged from God because they waited not for his Counsels neither were stedfast in his Covenant While the Lords dispensations pleased them they sang his praises What a strong Rock what a pittiful Redeemer had they to befriend them Yet let him try their Patience in suspending his help how soon do they forget the wonders of his hand grow weary of his conduct suspect his care and faithfulness reproach him and fall to their old hank of murmuring But a Saint truly weaned doth not Antedate Divine Promises nor slack his own purposes of Obedience He doth not anticipate deliverance nor with a short-winded impatient peevishness snatch a Mercy out of the hand of the Lord before he be willing to bestow it Our mouths must not water after the forbidden Fruit of Sin nor after the overhasty fulfilling of any Promise Raw Fruit breeds Worms in Children Not to wait silently for the Ripening of deliverance is the
ready way to blast it or to anticipate it with a Curse Even Manna over-eagerly hoorded up stank and suddenly became as much loathed as it was impatiently longed for Had Jacob as plain a Man as he was been thorowly weaned from Self-seeking and Unbelief he had never attempted to have snatcht at the Promise while the Fruit hung unripe upon it nor to have forestalled the Blessing of his Father by the disguize of an Artificial Lye A weaned Saint so far as such will not turn aside to crooked ways and unlawful shifts to accomplish his design Faith doth not set a Man upon preposterous Courses Therefore let none pretend to trust in God's Promises while they make void his Laws That is an Orthodox Regular Faith which so bears Witness to the Truth of the Promise that it will not betray the Trust of Duty There is Power and Wisdom enough in the Womb of every Divine Promise to bring it self to the Birth without the Midwifery of any sinful expedients or excentrical practices to uphold the Lords fidelity by our dissimulation Therefore a weaned Frame doth not only produce a Working Suffering and Abstaining Patience from the forbidden Fruit of Sin but also an Expecting Waiting Patience in order to reap when Ripe the Blessing of every delayed Mercy A weaned Saint had rather have the Boon which he asks denied than cross the Rule in asking He is more troubled if his desires prove Inordinate than that the Lord takes no Order to speed and gratifie them He is very full and pregnant with holy desires yet his Importunity doth not justle out his Modesty He is a self-denying Supplicant his desires are neither peremptory nor impatient He will lie at Heaven-Gate though Relief do not hasten to him He esteems an heart made willing and able to wait as a Mercy equal to that he waits for And indeed it is part of an Answer as well as a Pledg of gratifying his Request 9. The ninth sort of Sinners not truly weaned are such who are Dumb under the Lord's weaning strokes which is more sad and dangerous than any sting of Affliction whatsoever There is a false quietness or silence of Spirit under Cross disappointments and sufferrings which differs very much from the generous Divine Submission and Acquiescency of a weaned Saint 1. It arises from want of inward Conviction of sin A spurious Patience is the sullenness and stoutness of a rebellious proud impenitent hard heart Foulness of Guilt produces Felness of Spirit 2. It flows from utter despair because such who are constrainedly patient and repine though they do not Rage conceit that the stroke of their wound is unparallel'd and incurable Amos 6.10 Hold thy peace be silent even from praying for we have plaid the part of Hypocrites so long that Now we may not make mention of much less Glory in the Name of the Lord. 3. Reason or Common sense may Argue sinners into a meer Moral Patience making a Vertue of Necessity Because when the Lord of Hosts takes hold on Judgment no Created power can strike his Sword out of his hand And what is without all Remedy must by silence be endured But a truly weaned Saint doth not only submit out of Duty and Conscience rather than Constraint but can also Cleave to God he will Clear and Justifie yea Bless him with a thankfull heart and a Fruitful Life when he lays his Ax to the Root of his dearest enjoyments Faith welcoms Afflictions as good Angels sent for its Instruction because they Cure our sinful Surfeits and Bleed us in the Master-Vein A weaned Saint counts himself less than the least of Divine Mercies even below the Lords condescention to Correct him He will joyn and take part with God against his own Interest and Enjoyments Yea he rejoyceth in the Lord abstractedly for himself when he is stript naked of all Earthly Comforts A supernatural Patience can rejoyce in Bonds sing in Prison Glory in Tribulation Triumph in Sufferings and count it self exalted in the deepest abasement for Righteousness sake A Real Christian maintains a Consistency in the tranquillity of his Mind while he Ploughs the Waves of every amazing Providence with the steedy Helm of an Heroick Faith guided by the Pole-Star of the Word of God He is anointed with the Spirit of Holiness as a Son of Peace therefore he murmurs not Thus Oyle asswages the Tempestuous Raging of the Sea His Faith works by Love and this puts a good Construction on every Divine Chastisement But now the Hypocrite who seems weaned by submissiveness in suffering sets a demure Countenance on a froward Heart His Patience is most-what selfish and theatrical to gain the Reputation of a Generous and Heroick Mind Yet out of desperate presumption he courts Death as the only Refuge of his Cowardise The Hypocrite studies his Hearts-ease in his seeming Patience He well knows that a Bird by fluttering draws the snare the straiter upon it self that a Fellon who attempts to break Prison is loaded with a heavier Chain that the stubborn Child by fretting and kicking gets nothing but more stinging Lashes Thus a Malefactor lays down his neck upon the Block as eaven cleaverly as he can lest if he should startle or resist he should increase his Torture But now a weaned Saint is patient because he espies Love in the Correction and hopes to experiment spiritual Advantage from his sufferings He can espy a bright Lamp of Salvation in the midst of the smoaking Furnace Honey in the Carcase of a Lion Halcyon-days in a Storm and is assured that of Thorns he shall gather Grapes and fetch Meat the hid Manna of Divine Consolation out of the Eater of some wasting devouring providence The Hypocrite may pretend to some degree of Softness of heart while scorcht by Affliction yet he soon returns to the folly of sin and discontent at his sufferings As the Flesh of a Peacock Roasted turns Raw again after a few hours Reservation On the contrary the magnanimous patience of a weaned Saint being insuperable is not stinted nor ordinarily Ruffled or discomposed by the severest sequestration of his nearest and dearest Earthly Joys His Faith can divorce the heart from the Heart the renewed part of a Christian from the Carnal and make the Soul forget its wonted Acts of excess in the Fond sallyings out of his Affections to the Creature All the use of mourning for the want or loss of Worldly accommodations is only This to revenge himself on his Lusts which he made the Idols of his heart He knows that sighs are too Spiritual a blast to be spent on any thing but his Sins Being fixt in the admiration of the Lords infinite excellencies no Worldly loss or gain can divert his intire Communion with the Fountain of pure Joy Thus he stains not his Christian profession with any sullen Tears in a Low afflicted state nor is transported with fond delights in an High-estate For he well considers that it is from the same
is that Spouse-like Girdle whereby the Christian is kept cleaving to the Lord's Alsufficiency for him to constitute the Essence of true happiness The Lord alone is the Foundation of his weanlings future Hopes and present Comforts For being United to him by Faith they cleave to him as the Center of their Love and Delight deriving all their satisfaction from his infinite and most amiable perfections Thus Faith and Self-denial are the two main Poles on which the whole weight of Christian Religion depends and the Practical improvement of it turns it self Hereby we are demonstrated to be truly weaned or mortified when all Self-arrogance or Confidence in our own Righteousness is rejected and the Creature becomes Nullified that Christ alone may be Magnified as all in all to compleat our Eternal Happiness To which must be added an Universal Free and Chearful Resignation of our whole Man to the Government of Christ's Word and Spirit Natural Carnal Men are only pretenders unto this Frame of heart whatever specious semblances thereof they may hold forth in the moral strictness of their Conversation For is it possible that persons should Evangelically be weaned by solid Conversion to the Lord and yet despise or oppose the genuine inseparable effects of it Without the power of Godliness of which Self-denial is the Spring or Soul there can be no thorow estrangement from the Love of Lusts or the Allurements of Worldly Vanities Therefore to beget increase and maintain a weaned Frame of heart I shall lay down these following Rules Rules to become truely weaned 1. Take heed of abusing Christian Liberty in the immoderate Use of things Lawful Thus Christ advised his very Apostles though weaned to a very high Degree in forsaking all things to testifie their sincerity in imbracing the Christian Institution Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting an the Cares of this Life Commonly we fear not a Snare in those Accommodations which the Lord of the Creation allows us for our refreshment in our Pilgrimage These must not prove as the Fruit of the Lote-Tree to some Travellers to make us forget our Divine Original our Heavenly Country while we sing the Worlds Tune in a strange Land viz. What shall we Eat Drink or wherewith shall we be Cloathed never caring to return to the Bosome of God as our Rest and proper Center Remember Sisera's Fate when the World Jael-like hath made us drunk with secular Cares and secured us in its Tent by gross stupidity it discovers its Courtesie to be full of Craft and Treachery For after an officious Indulgence which will exceed our desires in Kindness it will drive home the Nail of self-perplexing Fears and Sorrows not only to our Head but very Heart it self Thus the Gnosticks sported themselves with their own deceivings while they pleaded Christian Liberty that the whole Creation was purchased by Christ to maintain them as the only Iluminated Ones in all excess of rioting Thus they crost the design of Gospel-Grace which appeared to teach us to deny all ungodly Lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world Thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pleases it self so long in dancing about the Candle till it singes its Wings or consumes it self 2. Take a true estimate of the Creature in its Natural Worth rather than in that false Dress which your Imagination tricks it up in strip all Earthly Vanities out of their deceitful Varnish For Satan casts a strange Mist before our Eyes and perverts our Fancy to make us miserable by our own Consent Hence we expect more from the Creature than it can yield in its most quintessential injoyment or sublimated improvement How many who suppose themselves Rich in Grace have Worldly Designs as the Philosophers Stone beggared and made miscrable But weaned Saints are wary and advertised of this Delusion They will make use of the World but not trust to it to make them happy Therefore although they attain not that prosperity which Worldlings seek yet in their way to true happiness they meet with in their experience of the Worlds Vanity many rare and choice discoveries of divine Mysteries which they value before all enjoyments of the whole Creation 3. Study the Dignity of your precious immortal Heaven-born Souls Esteem of Worldâ—y injoyments at present as you will view and value them at Death as you will find them to bear a Rate in the dismal conflagration of the Universe Then the World shall undergo the punishment of a Witch for inchanting and deluding poor Mortals who have loved Vanity and trusted in the lying shadow of a tearing Bramble to despise the true Vine and Olive viz. the Sweetness of Christ who can only yield us perfect satisfaction 4. Maintain a mortifying Frame of Self-denial while you lie sucking at the Breasts of prosperity Put suppositions to your selves as Habakkuk of the Creatures failing you That the fulness of its injoyment may possibly be imbittered with a mixture of Vexation So shall it not overlay your Hopes by disappointment nor will your selves overcloy and surfeit your affections with forbidden Fruit in perverting of the true Use of Creature-Comforts and Enjoyments 5. Do not count your Happiness and Peace of mind to lie in the Change of your outward condition but get your dropsical Distemper Cured The sick Child may shift the Breast and yet not be reduced to a quiet Frame or vigorous State till it acquiesce in a Manly kind of Diet. Christians would you recover any Consistency in your Spiritual State and Souls-health Then resolve not only to weep out your sinful surfeits but be content that the Lord should bleed you in the Master-Vein A Revulsion of your Feverish and Voracious desires toward Creature-enjoyments will purifie the Vital Affections of your Souls by setling them on the Lord himself in a due measure and Order Yet afterward your selves must endeavour to maintain a more strict Discipline or Regiment over the Corrupt humors and fond foolish extravagancies of your desires 6. Esteem not of that to be real Mortification or a genuine weaning which only deads Corruption yet flows not from a thorow Renovation of the heart Sinners may abstain from their sinful Surfeits yet never abandon nor abominate them A thorow-weaned Frame is not the approving of Godliness in the General where the power is despised or hated Nor is it the condemning of Sin in general or the grosser Lusts of the Flesh though Men live in the allowance of secret sins and under the Dominion of speculative more retired refined Acts of sin What is this but to graft a new sin on the stock of an old Lust All sin grows deeper rooted and ingratiated by such a cleaverly conveying out of sight the chief favourite faln into some disgrace at present rather than any true Disgust which seeks the utter destruction of it A slight dislike of sin trusted to gives Satan a more quiet and deep possession The sinner may be weary of his Life
it strange that you run not with them to all excess of Riot therefore speak they evil of you Ye may be counted and pointed at as Monsters of singularity but better be weaned with the best than damned with the most This is a very excellent and blessed Frame in Christ's Esteem Consider Christ will come to Judgment and single out Scoffers at Religion to punish them as the first-born of the Devil Your Enemies are your Observers and may truly inform you of the Complexion of your Souls when friends will connive at your remisness in the exercise of Grace or immoderate pursuit of Earthly Vanities If mortified Saints shall not escape the Censure of such who surfeit on the World 's Luscious delights How much more would they revile thee if thou should'st not live up to thy Profession of a weaned Frame If thou should'st alway continue a Babe in Swadling Clothes Or pretend to be a strong Man in Christ and yet not be alienated from secular cares but be distracted 'twixt Hope and Fear continually Therefore Watch that you may answer the heighth of your Profession and may not afford just matter of Defamation in being strangers to a Self-denying Frame If otherwise wear it as your Crown 16. Delight in the Company of weaned Saints and in their advice David blest God for Ahigail's moderating Counsel who prevented him from avenging his own Quarrel upon a Churlish Nabal If one Child see another lye soaking at the Breast it will emulate it and repine So if a newly weaned Saint Converse with Worldlings who suck in full delights from Creature Enjoyments till they be even quackled with a flush of prosperity It may incline him to Envie while himself is made to hancker after the same excess Rather set before you the eminent Patterns of weaned Saints especially that transcendent exemplar of Christs Self-denyal and alienated heart-Frame from the Inordinate Love of the World not only by virtue of that habitual Grace which was inseparable from his humane Nature as united to the Deity but by that Actual contempt of sublunary Enjoyments which he exprest by choice rather than any providential or imposed Necessity Christ as the Creator of the Universe and supream Lord of all things yea the infinitely wise disposer of them best knew how to rate or value the Creature not by Fancy but its real Worth Yet he chose to make himself poor and of no reputation that we might not Idolize sublunary Vanities nor make Worldly prosperity the Badg of God's Good-will and Favor 17. Hearken not to Satans Cavils against a a weaned State nor to his sophistical Pleas Allurements to continue thee in thy sensual surfeits and excesses when Convictions prompt thee to quit his inchanting pleasures Believe not his perverted Quotation of Scripture to maintain a Carnal Worldly Frame and Course He will plead hath not Solomon said that the Lord hath set the World in Mans heart Eccl. 3.9 10 11 12. But how To study the Lord in it not to satisfie us in becoming of our Portion That Text is only meant of the innocent Scene of the Visible Creation and the Works of Divine Providence transacted upon the Stage of the World We are to Eye God in the Creature but not to make a God of the Creature We must take a Prospect in our deep Contemplation of the wonderful perfections of God Beaming forth in the works of his hand Therefore he took up six days to make the World in to signify that we should not slightly and cursorily meditate upon the harmless Scenes of Natures Workmanship We ought to fetch from the Book of the Creature Rational Arguments to drive home and clinch down the supernatural Truths of the Scripture which were before entered by the Spirit of God as the Wise Teacher of his weaned Saints From the constant Tenor of the Covenant of Nature we may and ought to confirm our Faith in the Covenant of God's Grace This method himself prescribes viz. we must study the Creature to know the Creator by it to make it a scaling Ladder to improve us in Heavenly Meditations We may descant on the Lord's perfections shining in the admirable Works of Creation and Providence yet must we not pervert the study and use of the Creature to place it next our hearts as our desired Portion to seek satisfaction in it as the Center of our desires and delights Quaenam insania frui utendis uti fruendis What folly and madness is it to enjoy the Creature which we should only make use of and to seek unto God only in distress whom we ought to enjoy by an Eternal complacential satisfaction Another Plea of Sinners is this Why should we be weaned from the World seeing the Lord when he took a survey of every Creature gave this Judgment of it that it was very Good I Answer 1. But we are very Bad in perverting the Innocent Workmanship of God made for an help and incouragement to promote Vertue to become the Snare of a Vicious Life The Creature in it self is very good but thy sin O Man hath put Vanity into it and subjected it to the Bondage of Corruption in forcing it to serve the humor of thy ranting imperious Lusts 2. Thou hadst need be Watchful and shy how thou transactest with the Creature because thou hast Corruption too too much in thy heart to make the most Innocent Creature prove the most deadly Snare In this respect the Ass reproved the madness of the Prophet when it bruised his Foot against the Wall to stop him in his Design of Covetousness and Execration of the Lord's Inheritance Was I ever wont to start aside or to serve so shrewd a turn upon thee But wonder not for thou hast rebelled against thy Maker therefore thou hast prompted me thus to put thee into little Ease by the disappointment of thy Hopes Thou hast not resigned up thy self to God but hast run a-madding after the Idols of thy heart therefore no wonder if the Creature whence thou expectest service fling thee out of the Saddle of thy prosperity and prove vexation to thee Say not when thou art tempted or corrected by the Creature that the Lord laid the Snare or delights in punishing thee Hath he not writ Vanity in Capital Letters on the Forehead of the Creature and thereby sorewarned thee not to trust in it Doth he not cry out O mortal Men how long will ye love Vanity will ye still pursue your Lusts hang about and cleave to them when they expose you to the greatest shame and mischief Chrysostome said if the whole World were to be his Auditory he would chuse that awakning Text to Preach on Yet though we Arm the Creature against our selves and infuse Poyson yea Treachery into it by our Lusts perverting the right use of it we securely repose our confidence in it till it betray us to our utter Ruine 18. Have we not good Reason to use all the Arts of weaning from the
Creature which thus bewitches and insnares us 1. Do not smile upon it as being in deep friendship with it but draw a Veil over its false Artificial inticing Beauty Put the Creature into the very same Dress into which the Apostacy of the first Adam betrayed it This made it not to be valued and shall we not stand at a distance from it in its Temptations 2. Speak not kindly nor familiarly to your Lusts to renew their old Fondness and acquaintance The Nurse keeps a deep silence when she would wean off a Child from cleaving to her Chide away a Temptation when it whispers in your Ear as Satans Factor to decoy you Hanker not after your Lusts as David after Absolom but hew them in pieces as Samuel did Agag Have you betrayed the honour of Christ and the integrity of your Souls in cleaving to Vanity and will you yet countenance cocker and plead in defence of your Lusts 3. Sing to your hearts be quieting them in the Lord 's tender Faithfulness Compassion and Alsufficiency when you are under the severest Method and course of weaning Psal 101.1 David resolved that of Mercy and Judgment he would sing For all the ways of the Lord are Mercy and Truth to such who keep his Covenant The 32. of Deuteronomy which consists of Mercy and Judgment is called Moses weaning Song to reduce Israel from a pursuit of their Idols as lying Vanities and to reunite and knit them to the Lord. 4. Keep a Record of all you experiences how the Lord sustained you when your Spirits were sinking in your weaning distresses Isa 63.7 8 9 10 11 12. 5. Let your weaning Design be carryed on by degrees not with violence Judahs Reformation was not Lasting because it was set on foot by the rapid Motion and over-bearing Authority of Josiah only Jer. 3.3 4 10 11 19 21 22. 6. Use no severity which is not of Divine prescription 7. Withdraw out of sight the Fewel Baits and Provocatives of your Lusts 19. Again would you be weaned then Covet to be dissolved in Affection from Worldly Vanities before you be dissolved in Person Weaned Saints covet to dye but dissolute Epicures groan because they must dye as having not answered the end of their Being and placing their Portion and Felicity in sublunary Enjoyments They Carowse so long at the Devils Wassal-Bowl till being intoxicated with a Reprobate mind they meet their Eternal destruction with laughter in the Face Labour to be above the fond Love of Natural Life and the slavish Fear of Deaths Artificial Cruelty Life were not worth the accepting it is attended with so many miseries were it not to make Provision for Eternal Happiness Neither is Death to be dreaded by such who demonstrate the Temper and disposition of a Pilgrim Charles the fifth forbade Death to be named in his Court under the penalty of Death But Moses dyed at the mouth of God readily at his Command because he had long before put off his Shoes the servile fear of Death in casting away all defiling terrene Affections which cling about a Worldling and make Death unwelcome Saints may well bow the head in submission and covet to dye because then and not till then they are perfeclty weaned when the Lord kisses their Souls out of their Bodies as welcome Guests to Glory It was reported of Ottomans great Horse that wheresoever he set his Foot no Grass could grow in that place So soon as a Saint by Death sets his Foot within the Portal of Celestial Glory the Weeds of his Lusts dye at the very Roots the Pride of all Flesh is stain'd and vamshes Again take beed of being hardened in Sin by Antiquity of Custom or by the outward successes and prosperity of Sinners Jer. 44.15.16 17. The Prophet refutes this Plea at 20 21 22. Ps 73.1 to 15. Lastly Wisely and Faithfully Improve all the Lords weaning-strokes on your selves or others Let others who have been Thunder struck and blasted even while they have lain soaking at the Breasts of the World and have dyed lamenting their own Folly and the Worlds Treachery too late be your warning-Peals But we readily turn off the prognosticks yea the very Executive part of God's Wrath as if our selves were not concerned in the dreadfulness of either An instance of the former you have in Vespasian who when he saw a Blazing Comet and a gaping Sepulchre thought to wave his own destiny with this prophane Jest that the former portended only the Death of the King of Persia who at that time wore long Hair The latter the death of the old Empress Julia who having one Foot in the Grave must of necessity suddenly yield to the stroke of Fate Wherefore think you hath the Lord of late made such changes in overturning overturning overturning by Pestilence War and the desolating Conflagration of our City but only to awaken us out of that pleasing Dream of sensuality into which the pleasures and profits of the World had insensibly betrayed us And yet how sottishly stupid are Sinners bewitcht with the Sirene songs of Lusts and the Worlds Flatteries Though frequent Earthly disappointments sing out the Passing-Bell of our dying Comforts and write a mournful Epitaph over the withering Glory of Creature-Enjoyments Yet we mind it not but cross the Lords wise Holy and Gracious designs by our security and clinging faster to the Creature We still pursue the Vanites of the World little considering that they will prove our vexation or our Ruine Like dying persons we grasp the harder whatsoever Vanity takes us by the hand Like drowning Men we catch at straws though they sloat swiftly away upon an ebbing Stream Sinners will ye still proclaim your folly and Phrensy in cleaving to an Aguish Breast which is crackt and chapt with flaws of disappointment which can yield nothing but corrupt humors and windy crudities which will gripe and torment your Consciences which will inflame your Pride and sensuality to the certain Ruine of your Souls Wherefore hath the Lord stained the Glory of all human Pride but to bring us low upon our Knees that himself alone may be exalted in reigning over our hearts and affections in which he will indure no Corrival or Competitor Yet still we more eagerly Court lying Vanities by how much the Lord would Rend them from us as the Pillows of our Security and the Purveiors of our Lusts Let me therefore in the fear of God and Love of your Souls perswade you to sit Loose from the fancied felicity of the World It 's both our Curse and Folly that we make our Lives uncomfortable to gather only Fewel for our Lusts The World will deal as Treacherously with us as Absolom's Mule did by him when we have most need of relief it will run from under us and leave us hanging in despair 'twixt Heaven and Hell Labour therefore to be Divinely born of God then you will trample the World under your feet and become sick of Love to Christ so shall
you Act suitably to the Law and Dignity of your Divine Original Then the World will not cast you into a deep sleep of Security that it may take away your Rib the strength of your Activity and Resolution to serve the Lord. Consider that if you be not Weanlings unto Christ this impartial Judg will at the last day reject you from his Bosome because you would not be estranged from the Brests of sensual pleasures Not to be weaned is the ready way at present to be dismounted from the pitch of worldly Excellency because we thought we ascended by our own wit and strength as the Carvers of our own Prosperity Now that you may not desist from the severities of this weaning Design but carry it on chearfully consider the present Advantages and the future Reward of it For present advantages This Frame will make Divine Commands prove delightful and not grievous as pleasant Bonds and Bridal-Ornaments No Tryal will sink you into a desponding fullenness or ignoble cowardize You will deport your selves as Pilgrims in a Land flowing with Milk and Hony The World may tempt you but it shall not corrupt the Virgin-purity and integrity of your Souls You will calmly bear and wisely improve reproofs from Men and Afflictions from God though they lay you prostrate in the dust You will not make a timorous retreat nor shameful Apostacy from the Truths and ways of Christ You will not wender nor wander after the Antichristian Whore to be poysoned by the inchanting Cup of her Abominations You will be able to tread Antipodes to Corrupt Customes and Examples and not be carried down the stream of Prophaneness with Atheists Worldlings and Epicures You will trade every Talent faithfully thrive under Ordinances fruitfully bear Afflictions manfully and destroy your Lusts in the minority of your Christian State You will worship the Lord with freedom and Ingenuity of Spirit not out of a sordid mercenary disposition nor with a slavish distraction You will serve your Generation with a publick Spirit not macerate your selves with Envy at the prosperity of the Wicked nor run over to them in Antick Fashions foolish Vanities and sensual Excesses You will compose the mutinous repining thoughts of a discontented Spirit By Recumbency on the Lords Alsufficiency in straits you will fetch in Serenity of mind and infinite satisfaction to your wants In the want of any thing the Lord will be to you instead of all things And in the Enjoyment of all himself abstractedly will be better than all because he is All and in All in every Creature-Excellency and Enjoyment If the Lord call you to lie prostrate in a Low condition you will come to his foot with submission and a ready chearfulness If you be sent on the forlorn hope a weaned frame of Self-denyal will make you adventure All for Christ and his Interest You will run out of your Estate Credit Safety and Life it self to give a proof of your weaned Frame and the vigour of your Love You will live on the Light of God's Countenance and not on the Smiles or Applause of Men. You will loath your own Righteousness as deformity it self and be content to shine in the Rayes of Christ's Compleatness You will be strangers to the Dunghil-profits and sensual-delights of the World but not to God nor the Frame of your hearts Your eyes will not be dazled with the Honours and Splendor of a Court your Zeal will not be muzzled by Self-Interest nor emasculated by the pleasures of this Life From the Mount of Communion with the Lord you will look down with contempt on the glory of Kingdoms and your Head not turn Giddy In the float of your Enjoyments you will be content to be empty by an Ebb of Riches In the heighth of your indowments you will descend by humility yea you will prefer one Crum of the hidden Manna before Crowns and Scepters You will ambitiously pursue no other Conquest than those of your own Lusts neither will you desire to run out an Eternity in the Enjoyment of sinful sensual pleasures You will be as content to bear the Cross of Christ as to wear his Crown You will injoy your selves most Comfortably when you most cross your own Wills to comply with Divine Commands and compleat your Obedience You will deny your Carnal Wisdom and subject it to the supposed foolishness of the Christian Institution You will come off roundly from all prejudices against the terms of closing with Christ that you may injoy him You will be willing to be abased so the Lord may have Honour by your Reproach as knowing that His Glory like the Sun is in a Declension when the Shadow of the Creatures Fame and Pride is longest You will Justify God in Condemning your selves and keep up honourable thoughts of him though he feed you with Gall and Wormwood You will cleave to the Lord when you cannot Judg of his Actings in the World and will follow him in the Race of Obedience when you cannot trace out the hidden foot-steps of his Providence You will prefer Subjection to Christ before Domination in the World and Poverty of Spirit before the Lustre of the greatest Natural indowments or acquired Excellencies You will mind high-things aspire to the Knowledge of Heavenly Mysteries and yet not be high-minded You will keep so much Stateliness as not to act below your Heavenly descent nor will you wilfully defile your selves with the least spot of Sin or Society of sinners You will come up to the pitch of Holiness as chusing it for it self though it come not attended with the outward accommodations and imbellishments of the World You will be patiently weaned from your own Peace and Comfort when the Lord hides his Face and favour for the Tryal of your sincerity yet even then you will prize Communion with God in Order to greater Degrees of Divine Conformity You will be Spiritual in all your Natural and Civil Transactions and when you have acted to the utmost in your Duty you will Judg your selves defective and unprofitable You will contemn the World by living much in Heaven your spiritual Life will be acted and carried on by the Vnction and Conduct of Christs Spirit So as to delight your selves in the Lord for his Infinite Perfections although you be stript of all Earthly Enjoyments But You will demand of me May not a Christian whose Conversation is in Heaven take delight in his external Comforts and yet not violate the Rule of Sobriety nor cast off the strict Discipline of Soul-weaning Mortification I Answer He may But with these Cautions and Limitations 1. He must distinguish betwixt the Vse and the Abuse of the Creature Then we pervert the right Use of it when we install it in the Throne of our Affections admiring and adoring it as God himself The Lord hath rankt the Creature in a Sphere subordinate unto himself Heaven must not change place with Earth nor things Temporal justle out of our hearts
the pursuit of our Eternal Interest When sublunary Vanities like Hagar aspire to the preheminence they must be cast forth with disdain 2. You must distinguish 'twixt a Transient delight by way of surprizal and a setled resolved delight by way of plenary consent The Discipline of Christs Camp will not Indulge so large Articles to the World as to resign up the heart to the inordinate Love of the most excellent Creature This is spiritual Adultery and Idolatry This Treachery is an inconsistent Heterodox practice to the power and purity of Christianity Every glance of admiration cast upon mundane Objects and which terminates therein is a great disloyalty and high breach of the Mariage-Covenant 'twixt Christ and the Soul As Solomon said to Bathsheba when she petitioned that Abishag the Shunamite might be given to Adonijab to Wife Dost thou know what thou hast ask'd Thou mightest with as little peril have ask't the Kingdom for him 1 Kings 2.22 There is no less than Treason in such a Request So when we importunately ask this and that and the other unsuitable boon at the hand of God may be not Reply Ask the Kingdom also For thou seekest Covertly to reject thy Allegiance unto Me to prefer Earthly Vanities for the gratification of thy Lusts Many times we beg the fulness of the Creature to our own destruction at least against the Comfort of our Life when the Lord Curses and Blasts it or crosses us by it though we do not forfeit our Interest in God himself 3. You must distinguish 'twixt a Gradual and a Superlative Delight 'twixt a Subordinate and an Inverted Love so as that the Creature should sway and over-rule the poise and bent of our Souls 4. You must distinguish 'twixt Loving and delighting in the Creature abstractedly from God for it self and a complacency in it only as it is a Lower Pledge of our Heavenly Fathers providential Love and Bounty For though the Lord give us all things liberally to enjoy yet it is with this reserved Limitation that we should enjoy God in the Creature and the Creature for God 5. You must distinguish 'twixt Tasting of the Creature by way of Tryal and experience as Solomons who distilled all the Quint-essentials of their excellencies that he might sum up Vanity at the Foot of his Survey and Accompt and betwixt Resting in and Trusting to the Creature as if it had any inherent power to make us happy 6. You must distinguish 'twixt a moderate limited delight and a passionate importunate Transporting Complacency which will not be delayed much less denyed or confined to any Competent allowance of Earthly Comforts This proves fatal when the Soul grows Dropsical and impetuous in its desires crying out as Rachel Give me Children or I dye When as ravenous Harpies we will adventure to snatch any Worldly accommodation out of the hand of God without or against his Will and Consent Such supplies are our Snares they are not the gifts of Divine Bounty but the Fewel of our Lusts and yet we esteem them as an Adequate portion to make up true Happiness and Contentment 7. You must distinguish 'twixt an indifferent mutable delight because the Creature in its own Nature is transient and perishing and a resolute fixt delight which terminates in it as the Center of satisfaction A Carnal heart which designes to be Rich will dive and digg as low as Hell to the bottom of the Stygian Lake for the ingrossing of Golden Sands But a Spiritual heart refers it self to God's allowance in these temporal Mercies It sets not up its Rest in the Creature as resolving not to seek any Happiness beyond it but uses it only as a Staff to lean on in its Pilgrimage not as a Bed to lie down on for Repose and Tranquillity of mind or in the midst of distresses Indeed the Bed is too short and the Covering too narrow to wrap up our Contentment in it Earthly things are my Provisions in the way to Canaan but not a sutable sufficient Portion to make me happy A Carnal heart loaths even Manna in the Wilderness and says 't is better to sit down by the Fleshpots of Egypt But a Gracious Soul will only Taste of the Creature as Jonathan did a little Hony dipping the tip of his Rod in it He stays not on this side Jordan but advances in his March toward Canaan The World is not his Rest he seeks a Heavenly Country and is not satisfied till he lye in Abrahams Bosom He doth not so stupidly caress his Soul with sensitive Enjoyments as to make him Careless whether he travel Homewards rather as the industrious Bee he lightly touches on Worldly delights in Order to the stocking the Hive of his Soul with an increase of Grace and Comfort 8. You must distinguish 'twixt delight in the Creature as 't is a shower of common Bounty and as 't is a Gift which comes from the Heart and special Love of God The former Dispensation gives only a Civil Right unto our Enjoyments but the latter Sanctifies and improves the true Use of the Creature for the Lord's honour and our Spiritual advantage Therefore if we would keep our hearts in a weaned Frame let us bound and moderate our affections to the Best of Creatures otherwise we shall discover an Impotency in Grace if not a Nullity As we must put the Sacrificing Knife of mortification to the Throat of every Rampant Lust So the moderating Restriction of Sobriety to the least extravagancy of our inordinate desires The Jews cryed up those superstitious ordinances viz. Touch not Tast not Handle not to the infringement of their Spiritual Liberty But it will be our Wisdome and safety to impose necessary Laws on our unruly and unsatiable affections toward Earthly Vanities So shall we not mistake wherein our chiefest Happiness consists neither shall we be slack and slight in pursuing it when discovered Some Hounds while they Course along pleasant Flowery-Fields are so taken with the fulsome Scent thereof that they either lose or forget their Prey But weaned Christians while they pass thorow variety of Creature-Delights are not so prone to be ravisht from the Contemplation of the Chiefest Good They lose not the exquisiteness of their Spiritual Sagacity neither do they admiringly dote on sublunary Profits and Pleasures nor neglect to pour out the strength of their Love and Delight on the Lord of the Creation as the only Center of true felicity and satisfaction Every Man hath some delightful Object or other to which he sacrifices his time and the strength of his Affections as to a Deity In this Sence we should make the Lord our Delight that we may say with David Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth whom I desire in Comparison This Spiritual Delight in the Lord contains not only the serious Contemplation of his Divine Excellencies in their suitableness to our present and future State of Happiness whereby a restless
to the full and will add no Sorrow with it Together with the Confluence of Creature-Comforts grow up greater Cares our Table many times proves a Snare and our Supplies our Surfeits But in the Complacential Love of God is no danger no fear of Excess or of making any forfeiture Here is no occasion of Repenance for misplacing of our hearts Other Delights cloy and satiate but do not satisfy But Spiritual Joys yield fresh sweetness without Satiety When we settle our Affections upon the Lord and his Excellencies we transplant them from Earth to Heaven to ripen in a better Climate We lose not but only exchange our Joys for more solid durable refined Comforts Regeneration Adoption to an Heavenly Inheritance and the Kisses of Christ's Spirit Sealing Communion with God through Christ is a greater Cause of Glorying than the highest Preferments in the World Therefore let poor Saints rejoyce that they are exalted in being weaned even to a Contempt of gilded Vanities and let Rich Saints Glory in this that they are Spiritually abased and made vile in their own Eyes as considering that Man is altogether Vanity in his best Estate For when his Gracious endowments are improved to the highest pitch of excellency they would yet fade away as the Beauty of a Flower were they not rooted and preserved in Christ Jesus What Hypocrites become by the Art of dissimulation appearing to Be that and Do that which they neither Are nor Act in Truth Such should Saints become by the right Art of Spiritual weaning In the prudent regulation and composure of their Natural passions they should carry it so as if they were not Men but Acted like Angels while they walk in the pathetick strains of Nature They must so contrive to bound and conceal their Passions for the want or loss of the Creature as if there were no reality in their weeping Yea in the highest Spring-Tide of prosperity they must rejoyce as if they rejoyced not Yet in the Exercise of Holy Duties they must so express reality as if they were All Affection made up with nothing else They must so weep for Sin as if their Head were a Fountain of Tears and so rejoyce in the Lord and his Image drawn out upon their Hearts as if they were Joy it self They must so Commerce and Trade with Heaven as if they were a Flame of Zeal an Holy-Covetousness and Emulation it self Yet Saints are so weaned from Ostentation by humility that though they be full of Holiness they pursue after more eminent Degrees as if they had none at all In point of Self-denyal he mourns for Sin as if he mourned not because he counts it no Compensation to Divine Justice He rejoyces in the Acting of his Graces as if he rejoyced not because though they be admirable endowments of the New-Creature yet they Eannot Create a Title unto Heavenly Glory as the Meritorious Cause thereof He trades with Christ in Holy Duties as if he traded not because he attributes no success to his own skill and industry yea his Spiritual gains or advantages are reaped and possest without observation by Carnal Persons towards whom his Conversation in Heaven while himself remains a Pilgrim on Earth is altogether a Mystery and a Riddle A weaned Self-denying Saint is silent and reserved in driving on secret Communion with the Lord yet is he not slight and remiss but sincerely fervent and fruitful in all the ways of Righteousness Thus Saints being weaned from their own Credit and Applause make the fittest and most active Projectors for Christ's Honour and the Propagation of his Kingdom But here it may be Objected by Christ's weak Babes I fear I am not Spiritually weaned because I cannot affirm that my Delight is fixed in the Lord. How little is my Mind Abstracted from Conversing with empty shadows and how deeply Immersed in sensitive feculent Delights How seldom do the discoveries of the Lords infinite Excellencies transform me into a God-like Life To this I Answer thus in the General I intended That foregoing Character of weaned Saints rather for the Imitation of Babes in Christ than to assert it to be the minimum quod sic the least Essential qualifications or Constitutive Properties of sincerity in Evangelical Weanlings Christians who falsly argue for a Nullity of Grace in themselves from its Impotency must consider that the right Art of Spiritual weaning is not easily learnt and practis'd because it is a Sacred Mystery Yet New-born Saints are under the Conduct of Christ's Spirit who safely and tenderly leads them through the Labyrinth of the Worlds Perplexing Cares and Temptations that they may not be devoured by the Minotaur of a Flesh-pleasing Sensuality Christ's very Babes have a supernatural Sagacity and Instinct to foresee their Dangers and being conscious of their own Infirmity to resist Temptations they have so much strength as to cry out incessantly Abba Father succour me with thy preventing assisting Grace that I may carry on that Weaning-Design to which by Baptism I stand obliged They can and do claim spiritual Kindred with God himself nor will they desist from pleading their spiritual Interest in his Wisdom Power Love Goodness and Faithfulness to shield them from Temptations and to promote their Self-denial to the Pitch of Heavenly-mindedness They will creep as well as they can into the Presence of their Father when they cannot run the way of his Commandments with inlargment of Affection answerable to their desire They testifie their Love and Gratitude their Prowess and Resolution against sin Satan and the World as they are Able therefore they shall though weakly weaned divide the Celestial Inheritance equally with the Angels who Excel in strength Take a really weaned Saint at the lowest Ebb of his Affections Godward yet he is to be preferred before the most Zealous Hypocrite because as the World and his Lusts are the Joy of his Soul so the Creature is the Soul of his Joy and his Joy only the Blaze of the Creature But the Newly weaned Christian doth not so eagerly intermeddle with worldly concernments as quite to Degenerate and Degrade himself from his Spiritual Constitution by becoming One Spirit with Sensitive Objects of a Base alloy He never so mixes his Heart with nor lifts it up to Creature-Vanities as quite to lose the Sagacity of his Soul in not apprehending any quick touch of the Divine Greatness or not relishing the sweetness of the Infinite Goodness of the Lord. Still there is a more potent supernatural Principle within him drawing off his heart from a Pursuit of the Dunghil-Profits and besotting-Pleasures of the World So that as the Needle in the Mariners Compass he is still restless till he Center in the Increated Perfections of the Supream Being and Original Source of All things Still he prays wean me and I shall be weaned for thou art my Praise that is the superexcellent Object of my Love and Delight If at any time Christ's weaned Babes wonder at the Grandure and
wander after the Allurements of the World by a short Gratification of their Senses yet they soon check their folly repent of it lay a solemn Charge on their deluded Souls that they should return to the Lord as their Genuine Rest by compleat Satisfaction in Him alone They beg to be establisht by the Magnetick Power and the most endearing Obligations of Divine Love They exercise on themselves all the Rules of Spiritual weaning with the greatest strictness and severity Their Self-denial holds Pace with their gradual discoveries of the Lord's Excellencies The motion of their Souls Heavenward mounts up sutably to their Acquaintance with their Heavenly Father Their Spiritual Light and Life are commensurate The weakest Babe in Christ digests his Knowledg into studious sincere Obedience although he be not swift upon the Wing because a dull Earthly Body clogs his Generous Soul Yet That Divine Nature which he hath received will grow up to a stronger Constitution till it cast and work out all those Obstructions of sensual Passions which at present damp his Spiritual Zeal and Comfort There is such an implanted principle of a Divine Life displaying it self in every New-born Christian that the estimation of the Lord 's lovely Beauty and infinite Worth Preponderates the excellencies of the whole Creation If the Weakest of Christ's Weanlings were put to his Choice whether he would lose an Interest in God or the Creature he would rather reject with the greatest abhorrency the the Worlds softest and tenderest Imbraces than those purest Delights which endear his heart to the Lord in the midst of all Temporal wants and losses If the Lord should say to a truly weaned Saint thou shalt be freed from Hell twelve Princes shall proceed from thee but I will not by Covenant bestow my self upon thee this very Restriction would be an Hell For it is only Propriety in God himself which can satisfy a Gracious heart It will deny it self to enjoy an Interest in God but if the Lord deny his Loving-kindness which is better than Life all other Enjoyments will be Joyless a weaned Saint will write upon them all The Glory is departed Then will Worldly Men believe that you are in good earnest in Professing your selves to be Pilgrims on Earth that there is a Kingdom which cannot be shaken which you are Expectants of and Candidates for when you most deny and debase your selves that God may be All in All. Weaned Saints will descend by Humility when they are advanced to the pitch of Heavenly-mindedness or the greatest Communications of the Lords Grace and Favour Then they see most cause of abasing themselves by constant Dependency on the Lord. Creatures the more excellent they are in their Being and Operation the more frail and brittle they would become if left to a Self-subsistency Even the Spirits of Just Men made perfect modestly and chearfully acknowledg that they shine with a Precarious Excellency borrowed from that Fountain of Light who Enamels their Crowns with Stars of Glory therefore they cast them down at the Foot of the Lamb. These Celestial Favourites applaud not their own perfections but while they sun themselves in the Rays of Christ's Divinity they pay a grateful Homage of Adoration to the Archetype of their Blessedness The perfect Vision of the God of Glory begets perfect Transformation in a Glorions State Yet the Saints Satisfaction is only in his Union with and Enjoyment of the Lord Himself as the Essential and Infinite Object of Happiness In the mean time as Sojourners upon Earth they tread all sublunary Vanities under their Feet Weaned Christians who wait upon the Lord are compared to Eagles Isa 40.31 This King of Birds hath a strong Wing a swift Flight a quick piercing Eye and is usually secure from the stroke of Thunder Heavenly contemplative Souls while such are above the reach of Satan's Temptations It is for Batts and Owls to flie near the foggy dull Earth But the Soul of a weaned Christian is of too Noble an Original to stoop so low as to think it can be beautified by the accession of any worldly accommodation They affect Earthly Conveniencies no further than they may be Advantages in seeking Heavenly Graces By an Art of Spiritual Chymistry they can sublimate the unrighteous Mammon into true Charity Honour into Humility and Worldly Pleasure into a Recreation of Divine Joy becoming the New-Man They Spiritualize all the dross of the Creature they make a Divine improvement on that very indifferent Comfort which Satan would Convert into a Snare They account a weaned State to be the Life of Heaven upon Earth Thus they take a Survey of the Holy-Land and enter Paradise in their thoughts before they take possession in their Persons Little do Worldlings know what transporting Delights weaned Saints enjoy in their secret Retirements from the World These Doves which seek Solitude for Holy Meditation have the fullest discoveries of Heavenly Glory How are their Wings covered over with Golden Apparitions in clear Revelations from the Spirit of Truth when their Judgments are not clouded with the gross Fumes and Vapors of Terrestrial Delights nor their Affections clog'd by sinking in the Bogs of Sensuality The very Vices of Worldlings are improved by Christ's Weanlings unto a Religious Imitation Covetous Men like Nero cruelly dig into the Bowels of their Mother-Earth to search for Veins of Gold and Silver which the God of Nature hath on purpose hid lest they should prove Traitors to his Majesty by winning over our Affections unto Vanity Yet such is their folly that like Antaeus or Consumptive Persons they think to recover the strength of Contentment by smelling to and embracing of the Earth But weaned Saints dig into the Rich Mines of the Scriptures thereby to discover and possess themselves of Christ in whom are hid all the Treasures of Divine Wisdom and the unseen Joys of Celestial Contemplation Yet are they not inquisitive by a bold Curiosity where God would have them Ignorant Weaned Saints being mindful of their Divine Original make every Creature-Comfort a distinct round in Jacob's Ladder whereon they climb to Heaven that they may obtain fuller Communion with the Father of their Spirits to beget sweeter and more satisfying Tastcs of Divine Love and Bounty They count it Honor enough to be New-born from Above and esteem it a Chiefer part of their Felicity that they are made meet and fit for Heaven than that their Names are engraven on their Celestial Mansions before they take the Triumphant Possession of them They are highly Ambitious even in their Pilgrimage yet 't is only to please the Lord in their Conversation which is carried on in a Mystery toward the World They constantly Lye sucking In pure Delights from the Ocean of Immense Felicity with more than Epicurean grediness When they obtain the Choicest and Richest Effusions of Divine Love they are Covetously restless and Impatiently thirsty after more of the Invigorating Influences of the Holy Spirit They Bathe their Dove-like Minds not in the Lethean Lake of Sensual Pleasures but in the Chrystal Streams of Truth and Righteousness They Prune their Wings viz. the discomposed Affections of their Souls by Heavenly Circumspection and Curiosity Their hearts are impregnated with Zeal by the Spirit of Life and Righteousness yet are they not puft up with Pride nor a conceited Self-Sufficiency under their highest attainments in Holiness or in Comfort Other Creatures may forget and forsake the Damme when weaned but every Self-denying Christian more cleaves to and waits upon the Lord as not able to subsist Alone nor lead a Separate Life from the Fountain of pure Joy when most incompast with the Enjoyments of the World or the Comfortable quickning influences of the Holy Spirit Even in Heaven they shall Most and Best admire yea Adore the Infinite Perfections of God in Christ They shall Eternally Acknowledg and Complacentially Descant on that Divine Power which subjected them to a weaned Estrangement from the World or any Confidence in a Self-Righteousness according to that Assertion of the Prophet Isa ch 45 v. 25. In the Lord shall all the Spiritual Seed of Israel be Justified and shall Glory Thus they shall rejoycingly Acquicsce not so in the State of their Personal Salvation as Triumph in the Lamb of God who Redeemed them by his Blood from Worldly Allurements and all pollutions of Flesh and Spirit To this Author and Finisher of our Faith to this Pattern of Self-Abasement who humbled Himself to the Death of the Cross that he might wean us from doting on Earthly Vanities and raise our hearts to admire and chuse the ever-Blessed Deity for our Al-satisfying Portion be ascribed as is most due All Honour Adoration and Glory both Now and to all Eternity Amen Amen FINIS
THE CHARACTER OF A Weaned Christian OR The Evangelical Art of promoting Self-denial BEING An Essay alluding to the Severities and Advantages of Infant-Weaning both Pleasant and Profitable Grounded On Psal 131. V. 2 3. By S. S. M. A. Formerly Fellow of St. John Bapt. Coll. Oxon now Minister of the Gospel in LONDON Matth. 18.3 Verily I say unto you Except ye be Converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven LONDON Printed for Dorman Newman and are to be sold at his Shops at the Kings-Arms in the Poultry and at the Ship and Anchor on the Bridg-Foot without the Gate 1675. To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Viner Knight and Baronet Lord Major of the City of LONDON Right Hon ble DIvine Providence designing a Special Kindness to this Metropolis for the advancement of Its Welfare demonstrated it by the impatient longing of Her Sons for your Lordships Election to the Pretorian Chair in which You were lately fixt by the most Unanimous Acclamations and Solemn Joy of all Ingenuous Spirits They well knew how Eminently the God of all Grace had qualified your Person for Government over this Renowned City The Obscure Author therefore of this weak Essay humbly craves your Pardon for his Presumption in sheltring it under the wing of so Judicious a Patron But your Honor 's Courteous reception and Equal Encouragement of All the Lovers of Vertue begets an hope That this honest Design to win Souls over to Christ by so despised a Method as a Perswasive to a Weaned Self-denying Frame may receive Life and Acceptation from the favourable Cast of your eye upon an Argument so unpleasing to the World's Fondlings and Admirers Your Vertuous Disposition hath set an Eminent Pattern of that Weaned Frame herein jejunely discoursed of For your Christian Humility signalizes your Real Worth upon which your political Grandure only waits as the Ornamental Shadowing of some rare Beauty which needs not any Artificial Commendation Your Contempt of the glittering Imbellishments of the World and resolute Aversation from Its sensual Blandishments Delights is sufficiently known and demonstrated But I desist from speaking Truth in this kind because You have an Humble opinion of your Self and I would not put Your Modesty as much to the Blush as I fear my Weaning discourse will prove an Appaleing Alarm to persons wholly Devoted to the pursuit of Sensual Enjoyments and the sordid Humor of Affecting to be flattered The Author heartily wishes that the Heavenly Discipline of Christ's Spirit may allure All Men to the love of Evangelical Self-denyal This would Promote and Secure their Best Everlasting Interest by a vigorous pursuit of the Real State of Blessedness In which that your Lordships Person may be preserved and establisht is the fervent Prayer of him who Dutifully remains Your Honors humble and Deeply obliged Servant S. S. TO THE Christian Reader SUch is Natures tender Care for the Universe that those Births prove of the most Benign Influence to the Babe whose Parent expires in Travel Thus Divine Providence Delights to display his Power and Goodness where envious Death most Conflicts as Contriving to exert It 's deepest Sting May the Conception and Edition of this Weak Essay obtain the Blessing of the Spirit of the Holy Jesus Then That Paroxysm of pain which seized on the Author in Preaching on part of this Argument and possibly begat a fainter reception of it will be over-ruled to an Advantage in the lively and deep Imprinting on the Heart what at first with some Roughness beat upon the Ear. The Author cannot but apprehend how unacceptable Weaning-Counsel is to persons addicted to Sensuality especially when conjoyned with Covetousness which is a Testy Vice as almost Universally grown in Fashion Yet the Father of Spirits is able so to Disciplinate and Change the Hearts of voluptuous Epicures and the Worlds Votaries that even Such shall be Reconciled to a Good Opinion of and Imbrace the Seemingly-bitter Severities of a Weaned State This was the chief Encouragement in exposing this Essay though of uncomely and unpolisht Features unto Publick view Otherwise as a wounded dispirited Deer bleeds to Death in some Shrub so this Discourse of Spiritual Weaning had been stifled under the Shrowd of a faint-hearted Obscurity rather than have adventured to Lisp out such unwelcome Advice to the Worlds Fondlings and admiring Paramours May the Blessing of Heaven assist every Inspector of this Essay in applying and improving of the Rules herein contained for the Acquiring and promoting of an Evangelical Self-denying Frame Thus being daily Conversant and skilful in this Mystery your hearts will be Abstracted from listning to the Worlds alluring-Charms and Estranged from pursuing Its vexatious Vanities The Vanity and wantonness of our hearts which sunk into a Sensual Life by Apostacy from the Cheifest Good infused a Poisonous Tincture and bewitching Charm into the External Creation which was Innocent and safe to Converse with by its Primitive Institution Yet by serious Reflection on the impatient Absurd longings of our humorsome Curiosity we might rectify and set boundaries to their Exorbitancies Thus David poured out the Waters of Bethlehem before the Lord with as great an Abhorrency as He had before exprest an Homicidial Rashness in jeoparding the Lives of those three mighty Men by breaking thorow the Host of the Philistins to obtain it If we would not buy our Pleasures with the danger or destruction of our Souls let us argue it coolely and in sober sadness with our hearts when our Lusts grow Rampant Let us say as David Are not these the Price of Bloud It is certain they will prove such Either of Christ's Blood to expiate our voluptuous Surfeits or of our Own to expose Us to destruction if we Continue to gratifie our Flesh-pleasing Sensuality against all Rules of Sobriety and the dictates of Right Reason which should bridle and subdue them How do most Men impose a Cheat upon their Souls while they Symbolically only seek and expect Heaven being Customarily buried with their Faces upward yet while they live they are not ashamed to lye bruitishly grovelling with their Affections on the Earth Mynes which are hid under ground tempt their thoughts and commit a Rape upon their Souls when the everlasting Joys of Heaven because unseen are despised by them Thus the unrighteous Mammon is Worshipt as a Deity Yet the very natural form of Minerals which grow as Sennertus reports in the shape of Serpents and of Hairs might forewarn them of those mischievous temptations which Poison and Suffocate all Generous dispositions Godward But weaned Christians foresee and dread a destructive snare even in those inticing Objects which Worldlings inshrine in their hearts so far are Saints from paying any Homage but rather an Holy Scorn toward whatever defiles and corrupts the Conscience or dispirits and divides the Heart from the Fountain of pure Celestial Joy Let us therefore as we would demonstrate our selves to be Divinely Born