Chaff with unquenchable Fire and will this not surely be brought to pass Mat. 3.12 Heaven and Earth may sooner pass away than one jot or tittle of his Word shall pass Mat. 5.16 Things that will certainly come to pass if they concern us in this life only though they be not near yet they are not slighted by us But if they are near and certain and highly concerning the thoughts thereof will rush in upon us and prevail against the greatest necessity of nature they will disturb our Rest and make us forget to eat our Bread Could a Man that were to be tryed for his Life to morrow or a day or two hence eat his Meat quietly or lie down upon his Bed in peace and take his Rest Psal 4.8 And canst thou read the Threats or Promises in the Word of God that concern thee so unspeakably and may be made good within one day or hour for all thou knowest and yet be no more overwhelmed with Joy or Terror They that are not awakened with the serious affecting thoughts of the most certain and near accomplishment of all that is threatned or promised in the Word of God will certainly be condemned in the number of those that do forget it These are the second sort of those that forget God Those that think not upon his sacred venerable Word 3. Thirdly They forget God indeed that overlook his most observable Works and regard not his remarkable Providences The Works of the Lord are great both of Creation and Provivence sought out of all them that have pleasure in them Psal 3.2 And those that have no pleasure in them will be sure to forget them There be several ways by which the Works and Providence of God is overlooked or several persons guilty of this sin 1. First They are signally guilty that deny Gods Providence in the Rule and Dispose of all Affairs either directly or by plain consequence There are none that deny it in the first sense that is directly and expresly but plain Atheists of which I would there were none in this Nation that believe in their Hearts that all things come to pass by Fate or Chance But they deny Providence by Consequence and Interpretation that are so intent upon Means and Instruments whereby any effect is brought to pass or rather upon the Effect it self that they do not at all look up any higher Psal 10.4 The Wicked thorow the Pride of his Countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts thy Judgments are far above out of his sight These lie under a deep guilt of this sin 2. Secondly They are guilty of this Wickedness also that can find out nothing among all the works of Creation and Providence so worthy their Observation as to captivate their Souls to the highest Reverence of their Author Highest I mean not in respect of the degrees of Reverence but of the kinds that is though he hath a Reverence for this Object and another for that another for a third yet he hath Highest and most principal veneration for him who doth so incomparably manage all things And who hath impudence enough to plead for that man that hath an understanding and considering Faculty and such Wonders to behold both in Heaven and Earth such Providences towards the World in general and such towards the Church in special and yer God no higher in his Judgment and Affections in his Thoughts and Heart than a full Chest and a little painted Skin and an adored Lust What hast thou heard the Voice of the Lord so often in Thunder and Lightning and seen the dreadful effects of them Hast thou not heard of a little of his Breath shut up in the caverns of the Earth that hath made this stable Body of the Earth to shake and tremble and rent and torn the very bowels thereof and overturned whole Cities at once Hast thou heard of the Division of Jordan and the Red Sea how the Waters parted and left a path-way in the midst of them whilst the People passed over of whom God had taken on him the Care and Conduct And how Pharaoh and his mighty Host were afterward overwhelmed by the same Waters who were their professed Enemies Hast thou read and believed what he did for Hezekiah when the proud King of Assyria threatned to swallow him up How he accepted his Tears heard his Prayers and an Army of Two hundred thousand men almost all struck dead in one night What he did for wicked Manasseh though he had filled Jerusalem with Idols and Blood yet how mercifully he heard him when he cryed to him in Chains Look into the sacred History or read over any profane History or consult thine own Eyes and Ears what thou hast seen or heard what he hath done to and for his Enemies and what he hath done for his Church or any parts or members of it and if thou canst be a Sot or Block under all and have Mens Persons in admiration because of advantage to thee Jude 16. rather than reverence and adore the Lord and mighty Worker of all take that thine is and go thy way thou art one that does overlook the Works of God 3. Thirdly They overlook the Works and Providence of God whose lives are ordered in a course of crossness and contradiction to them As History reports of Sardanapalus that he lay in Bed all day and rose at night when others went to Bed and so turned the day into night and the night into day So when God calleth by his Providence I mean by some formidable signs of his displeasure to Fasting and Weeping and Mourning and to girding with Sack-cloth and Baldness and behold Joy and Gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep eating Flesh and drinking Wine Esay 22.12 13. that will not see when the hand of God is lifted up 26.11 When God is â—utting up and throwing down and disgracing all worldly Pride They are seeking great things for themselves and feeding themselves with proud thoughts of what they have or what they hope to have Jer. 45.4 5. When God is pulling down the proud they are delighting themselves in Pride and Oppression of those that cannot defend themselves When God is searching for Sin they are hiding of it and when he is shewing his dislike of it and would stop the poison that it should spread no further it 's sweet in their Mouths they hide it under their Tongue they spare it and forsake it not Job 20.12 13. What a proud contempt of his Providence is it to sit still and shut our Eyes and not consider them Psal 111.4 He hath made his wonderful workâ— to be remembred But what a Pride is that that when God is debasing Men we will exalt them when God is visiting Sin and Transgression they are incouraging it in themselves or others and will not be searched but instead of starving their Lusts and Corruptions are making Provision for them When God is telling Men plainly of their
of Earthly Prosperity but that 's but a meer negative and no positive Act whereas true Contentment is something positive And that Soul that hath it doth not only hold its peace and say nothing to the contrary but with deliberation speaketh Peace to a Man upon the surest and most infallible grounds The plain truth is the Soul of an ambitious and voluptuous Worldling may seem to be satisfied and acquiesce if he hath what the World can afford him because he doth not believe or consider The end of all things is at hand 1 Pet. 4.7 But sense hath a full mastery over him being gratified to the full and doth make the Mind drunk that it cannot make an impartial enquiry into the worth of what the Man for the present is so much pleased with O if such a one did consider and believe he would like his condition worse than that of the vilest Begger He could not look into the Word of God and see such dreadful passages against those that have their Affections set upon the World and Pleasures thereof nor read the terrible Description of those Men that have the Riches of this World and are not rich towards God Luke 12.21 and not tremble and even throw away such Earthly Luggage that is such an impediment in the way to Salvation if he could not be otherwise rid of it And as the inconsiderate Mans great and principal End is no higher so he is as foolish and void of Understanding in his choice of the means whereby he would attain his End Alas that ever Men that have such excellent parts and means for their Improvement that are bred up to more Understanding than other Men should so disparage their very Reason and Judgmenâ— as to think that Hawking and Hunting and Carding and Dicing and Courting and Feasting and such like Courses should bring a Man to Content and Happiness If they did but consider they could not possibly judge this unless their Reason were besotted and there were some considerable flaw in their understanding Faculty I deny not but in reference to their intended End they have made a wise and prudent choice and hit upon the fittest means Their end being the pleasing of the Flesh what can they do more wisely than to make provision for it to fulfil the Lusts and Desires thereof Rom. 13.14 and to live at Ease And so the Children of this World as our Saviour hath affirmed are wiser in their Generation than the Children of Light Luke 16.8 Their end though by accident being to lose the Life which is to come what can they do more shrewdly than to save this present Life Since their end is to destroy their Souls can they take a more prudent course than to love the World and the things of the World and keep all thoughts of a future state out of their Minds as much as may be lest they should be converted and saved This their way is their folly Psal 49.13 But the Man that Considers will look higher and be sure to project for all Eternity and make nothing his chief End but what will never fail and therefore hath a wiser reach than the most applauded admired Wit that is Earthly Minded And he is as wise in the choice of the means whereby he makes towards his End they being no other than what God himself hath prescribed and therefore can never miscarry his End is to save his Life for ever and therefore he will venture to lose it here Matth. 10.39 His end is to get him Everlasting Honour and to embalm his Name to all Eternity and therefore he doth rejoyce when Men revile him and speak all evil of him falsly for Christs sake Thus you see that Consideration maketh a Man truly and solidly wise This is the first benefit of Consideration 2. Consideration is a work accompanied with the sweetest Pleasure and Contentment The meer agitation and exercise of the Intellectual is sweet to one that knows how to employ them But when moreover the Objects of the Mind are such as do enlighten purifie and rejoyce the Heart such a Man if he know how to manage the work must needs advance himself to a high degree of pleasure The reason why some Christians grow weary and faint in the Service of God and walk heavily in the bitterness of their Souls a great part of their Life if not all is because they do not more frequently approach the Fountain of Joy and Gladness in their Meditations of him and do not so well consider the evil of Sin to forsake it more heartily nor clear up their interest in Christ and Evidences for Heaven by daily Consideration Were these things better considered they would be better known and what a pleasure would it be to think upon God and Heaven and Christ if we had but 〈…〉 â—â—â—erest in them Thus you see some of the fruits of Consideration Fourthly As the benefits of Consideration are unspeakably great so the mischiefs of Inconsideracy are as sad 1. God threatens it heavily Psal 28.5 Because they consider or gard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his Hands he will destroy them and not build them up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because they did not understand in the Original for Consideration and Vnderstanding are so near a kin that they are both expressed by the same word and Esay 5.12 13. And the Harp and the Viol and the Tabret are in their Feasts but they regard not the Work of the Lord nor consider the operation of his Hands So Hos 7.2 They consider not in their Hearts that I remember all their Wickedness now their own doings have beset them about they are before my Face Neither doth he barely threaten some Execution is done Job 34.26 27. He striketh them as wicked Men in the open sight of others and the Reason follows because they turned back from him and would not consider any of his ways 2. It 's an Argument of Brutishness and Folly Psal 92.5 6. O Lord how great are thy Works and thy Thoughts very deep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Man that 's led by Lust and not by Reason we render it a Brutish Man knoweth not neither doth a Fool understand or consider this As it is Reason and Understanding that makes a Man differ from a Bruit and become more excellent than a Beast so Consideration is nothing else but the use of his Reason without which he must needs live like a Beast To speak plainly he that will not use his Reason and consider and so live like a Man that should be guided by this higher Principle he will be guided by a lower Principle and be led by Sense and Feeling as a Beast is And a little that is present and felt shall weigh more with such a one than one that 's to come though ten times greater Hence it is that though God threaten a wicked Man and one that lives by sense with Hell and Damnation it hath no
is among the Saints and such as excel in wisdom Psal 16.3 O what a blessing hath God bestowed upon the man or woman to whom he hath given a considering mind How quickly is such a man promoted and brought to unspeakable honour yea to find approbation with God! Such a man is quickly higher by head and shoulders as it s said of Saul than the rest of the inconsiderate doting World I have more understanding saith David than all my teachers for thy Testimonies are my meditation Psal 119.99 You that are yet captivated to the love of any thing here on Earth and like to perish in that state If you will but attentively consider what you dote upon and what you venture for it you would perceive your danger and certainly make your escape and feel the vertue of this excellent duty of Consideration And your present content would make you sick of your former delight And the Honourablest men on earth that had not feasted on this food would seem to you but vile and contemptible persons Methinks I see the man recovered by Consideration tâ—king up his parable like Balaam and saying Thus saith the man whose eyes consideration hath opened He saith who hath heard the words of God and seen the Vision of the Almighty How goodly are the Tents in which God dwelleth and the tabernacles of their hearts where God hath his habitation As the Valleys are they spread forth as Gardens by the Rivers side as the Trees of Ligh-Aloâ—s which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar Trees besides the waters Numb 24.3 4 5 6. And as Consideration would recover the dead and bring them out of the Grave of â—gnorance and Corruption and shew them the excellency of Divine wisdom and purity so that it would keep them in breath that are already translated from death to life and inspire fresh vigour and cheerfulness into all their services it would fill their hearts with a burning love to God and make their lives as a shining light before men It would strengthen their faith and fortify their hopes and put a fresh complexion upon their must withering and consumptive Graces and make their heart to abound and run over with joy and gladness By this time no doubt you see something of the worth and excellency of Consideration and what a gainful trade it is Will you therefore bend your minds to consider and spend more of your time in this work I know the corrupted heart of man is backward to this exercise though it be of such flat necessity and of such eternal advantage yea though it breed so much delight and pleasure after we have gotten some skill and made some progress in the work and have gotten some power over our own affections and can bespeak them in the most suitable moving way For cure therefore of this backwardness I have given you some quickning Considerations to stir you up to this duty and to gain the consent of your wills to this necessary duty In hopes therefore that you are convinced of the necessity of the duty and fully resolved on the performance and that you will not neglect such a duty any longer nor stand in the way of your own light and comfort I come next to give you some Help and Assistance for the more comfortable and successful management and performance of the work And First Endeavour to your power to shun all Impediments but especially those that are most likely to stupify and unfit your minds for Consideration they are obvious I need only to put you in remembrance First Take heed that you sin not maliciously 1. with Wilfulness and Presumption For Divines usually distinguish of Three sorts of Sins 1. Sins of Ignorance when through want of knowledge we transgress the Law of God and do that unwittingly which if we had known to be a violation of the Law of God we would not have done 2. Sins of Infirmity such as are committed through the unavoidableness unruliness of our Sense Phantasy or Passion which are not wholly under the power and command of Reason no not when it is truly enlightned and sanctified 3. Such as are committed with Knowledge and Deliberation when it is in our power to avoid them and will not what these are I need not inform you every one may be his own judge These last sort are called by some Sins of Malice and how much such sins as these will hinder all duty as well as Consideration there is no Christian of any experience but knows too well And therefore David prayeth especially against such sins as these Psal 19.13 Keep back thy servant from Presumptuous Sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and innocent from the great transgression If thou hast any good affection to this duty and art convinc'd that thy Soul will certainly perish without frequent serious consideration thou hast need to take heed of such sins as these Believe it these will wound thy Conscience break thy inward peace mightily provoke the Lord and draw away the Spirit from thee and fill thee with disturbing fears and besot thy mind that it shall not be fit for Consideration or if not such sins as these will dispose thee to hide thy self and get into thee dark and slie consideration as that which will discover thy shame and make thee odious to thy self Never think to bend thy mind to an impartial consideration of God and his Attributes and the Equity of Laws nor to think of thy latter end and the life to come to any purpose or to hear a right answer from thy Soul when thou puttest the question whether it be sanctified or unsanctified whilst thou givest thy consent and allowest thy self to live in any known sin I may say of Consideration as Mr. Bolton said of Prayer That it will make thee leave such presumptuous sinning Or else such sins will make thee to cast off Consideration you may as well hope to reconcile light and darkness as to bring these to any agreement Where Consideration is in any strength there will be no wilful sin or else Hell it self Art thou one that allowest thy self in the habitual neglect of any known duty Canst thou freely indulge thy self in any unjust or ungodly practice Are thy Thoughts at liberty to think vainly and wickedly without curb or controll Is thy Tongue at liberty to utter falshood and deceit to call evil good or good evil to plead any unrighteous causes or to disgrace any way that thou knowest in thy Conscience God approveth of Art thou wilfully proud or uncharitable and art thou intemperate in thy Appetite or Passions or commonly guilty of any such sin that thy own Conscience doth condemn No wonder then if Consideration be an unpleasant work to thee and if thy Thoughts turn away from him that abhorreth all iniquity but that especially which is wilful and allowed It is no marvel that Meditation is seldom or never in the word of the Lord
him and lift up thy heart to him with reverence nor feel the fire kindle in thy heart and thy self willing to be offered up as a whole Burnt-offering in that fire To offer up Body and Soul with all their several faculties and actions as a living Sacrifice to him is but thy reasonable service Rom. 12.1 As it is his end why he made thee so it should be thy end to have his works continually in thine eye his Word ever in thine heart and his praises everlastingly in thy mouth This was the resolution of David and should be thine I will sing unto the Lord saith he as long as I live I will sing praises to my God whilst I have my being My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord Psal 104.33 34. Consider that he hath infinite wisdom and therefore is fit to rule thee and all the world he hath infinite power and therefore its stark madness for such a Worm to resist him one word of his mouth will undo the Body and Soul for ever one angry frown of his Countenance will make thee wither and turn that moving body of thine into a dead and lifeless Clod yea and send thy Soul into eternal misery Didst thou but consider the holiness of his Nature and how much he abhorreth all sin and wickedness wouldst thou dare to commit it with so much boldness Didst thou but consider what a piercing eye he hath to whom the darkness and the light are both alike Psal 139.12 wouldst thou think to cover and conceal thy Sins from him or use craft and subtilty to blind his eyes Thou dost not consider what he is whilst thou usest such silly shifts as these are they do but provoke a wise man that hath but a Beam of Gods infinite wisdom how much more are they like to provoke him There 's nothing like ingenuity and plain dealing and humble confessing of thy Sin when thou hast to do with him Consideration of the Divine Purity and Justice would be a very effectual defence against all unjust and unrighteous practices If thou dost but consider what antipathy there is in Sin to the Divine Nature and what an affront it is to the Majesty of Heaven and Earth it would not go down so easily nor be such a sweet morsel to thee When men begin to take off the eye of their Consideration from God then they begin to walk in darkness and know not at what they stumble What makes men so vain and wicked in their imaginations and practices but because God is not in all their thoughts by Consideration What makes the ungodly to prefer the pleasures of Sin which are but for a season but because they do not eye and consider the recompence of reward What makes men either to neglect to come to God by prayer or to put up faint and cold supplications to him but that they consider not that he is and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him Thou wouldst not murmur and repine at any of Gods Providences towards thee if thou didst but consider what Equity Wisdom and Mercy there is in all his dealings towards thee thou wouldst endure the Cross and despise the shame if thou didst but seriously consider the joys that are set before thee thou wouldst be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord if thou didst but consider thy labour cannot be in vain in the Lord. I advise thee therefore to consider and think more frequently what an impartial righteous Judge thou hast to do with in thy actions and how dear thou shalt pay for thy Sin one of these days if thou wilt commit it and this would spur thee forward to thy duty when thou wouldst neglect it and keep thee backward from Sinful practice when thou wouldst commit it Let my counsel therefore be acceptable to thee have God more frequently in thy Meditations consider that he seeth and knoweth thy ways that he abhorreth all wickedness both of heart and life that he is the Governour of the World to whom all these things are as nothing that commandeth the Beings of Heaven and Earth that hath the Winds and the Sea and Men and Devils in the Chain of his Providence that was from all Eternity and is the same for ever and ever but thou art of yesterday and knowest nothing Job 8.9 Thou mayst resist the will of his Command and Precept because it is to try thee but thou canst not withstand the will of his purpose what he doth will peremptorily shall come to pass The Counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all Generations Psa 33.11 If thou lovest thy own Soul let God be continually before thy eyes it is because thou knowest him not that thou art so unlike him it is because thou art not acquainted with him that thy heart is so void of love to him it is because thou understandest him not that thou dost so little fear and reverence him And why hast thou so little knowledge and understanding of him but because thou considerest him not Didst thou but well consider his Omnipotency thou wouldst fear him more than all the world beside Didst thou but consider his Veracity thou wouldst take his word for the greatest security and give more credit to it than if thou hadst the word and Oath of the most trusty and sufficient men thou wouldst certainly believe the threatnings thereof and foresee the accomplishment of the promises thereof as if they were already made good and steer thy life according to the most wise and excellent precepts thereof Consider but his faithfulness and thou wilt see no reason to distrust him They that know thy Name saith the Prophet David will trust in thee for thou Lord hast never forsaken those that trust in thee Psal 9.10 Thou wouldst venture thy life and all thy comforts upon his Word come what will thou wouldst trust in the Lord and do good Psal 37.3 And whilst thou art intent upon thy duty wouldst not fear though men and Devils should combine against thee and the more experience thou hast the more thou wouldst be confident and say It 's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man It 's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.8 9. Do but consider that he is a Spirit and thou wilt abhor a meer bodily service and tremble to let thy lips go when thy heart imagineth deceit and is not imployed in his worship and thou wouldest worship him in spirit and in truth John 4.23 24. Therefore men worship him they know not how nor care not in what manner because they worship they know not what Ver. 22. Men would not dare to offer up to him the Sacrifice of fools if they did but consider with whom they have to do Eccles 5.1 Neither would they come with dead hearts before the living God This is the
blasphemous apprehensions which consists of two principal parts in which all the rest is included First Hearty Thanksgiving for what they have and do receive Secondly And fervent prayer for what they want by which a better Testimony is given to God than by their richest oblations And this the very Heathen could discern by their Candle Immunis aram saith Horace c. They confessed that a Soul breathing forth its self in holy Hymns is more acceptable to God than the richest Gums or sweetest Wood that can sume upon the Altar But these Jews were so Intoxicated that they thought they did a high favour to God whilst they took his name into their mouths and declared his Statutes though they perfectly hated to be reform'd though they consented to these and were guilty of Adultery and gave their Mouth to ill and their Tongue to frame deceit yea they made nothing of casting Slanders and Reproaches upon their dearest Friends ver 17 18 19 20. Yea and to compleat their wickedness to the full they interpreted the patience of God towards them all this while as an approbation of their abominable Wickedness ver before the Text. These things hast thou done and I kept silence that is I patiently forbore thee a long time and thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self Then follows the Sentence But I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes and make thee feel what it is to mock God and be guilty of such Wickedness The words are the Application of this that hath been taught in the former part of the Psalm That since God will upon no terms be reconciled to Iniquity nor hold his peace always at those practices which his Soul hateth though the persons being guilty set them off with the Paint and Varnish of the most specious outward Observances and make a most boasting mention of his Name and cry the Temple of the Lord. Since this is Gods peremptory Resolution be wise Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Where you have 1. The Use that they and we are to make of the righteous and impartial Sentence that God will pass upon Wickedness dress it how we will or an Exhortation to a weighty Duty NOW CONSIDER THIS 2. The persons that are to make this use of it or to whom the Exhortation is directed that is such as forget God YE THAT FORGET GOD. 3. The Reasons to enforce this Duty upon these forgetful Ones is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. From the Extremity LEST I TEAR YOU IN PIECES as the Lion teareth in pieces the Prey it lights upon 2. From the unavoidableness of Gods Wrath and the impossibility of Escape AND THERE BE NONE TO DELIVER or snatch out of my hands The foregoing Metaphor from the Lion being continued see Hosea 5.14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a Lion and as a young Lion to the House of Judah I even I will tear and go away I will take away and none shall rescue him And Micah 5.8 And the Remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a Lion among the Beasts of the Forrest as a young Lyon among the flecks of sheep who if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces and none can deliver The Points that enwrap the whole substance of the words are THESE TWO First That Forgetfulness of God is a fearful and dangerous sin and will expose such as are guilty of it to the unavoidable wrath of God Secondly That Consideration is one of the principal means on our part to bring us to the Remembrance of God at the first and to prevent â—â—â—getfulness afterwards or to recover us out of that degree of forgetfulness into which we may possibly fall The method that I shall take to infuse the first Doctrine and to get it into our hearts and Lives shall be 1. To begin with the Understanding by which Door every Truth must enter that can make any solid operation upon the other Faculties to prepare them for practice and to shew 1. What it is to forget God in the General 2. More particularly who they are that are guilty of this sin And 3. I shall shew you the heinousness and danger of this sin in the Inferences and then on 4. To a closer Application First What it is to forget God in the General To which I answer To forget God is Not to have that impress of his Existence Perfections and Relations to us upon our several Faculties nor those frequent reverential and affectionate thoughts of him that do enable us to a Sovereign Love and Obedience to him 1. In which Description Note First That forgetfulness is not the act of the Memory only in this place but there is some of this poison in all the Faculties for the Rule is solid and worth the observation That no Act is compleat that is not the act of the whole Man Understanding Will and Executive Power because they are united in one Frame and there is no action that 's virtuous and vicious for that I mean by moral to which every one of these Wheels of the Soul do not contribute something and therefore if the hand of a Clock or Watch move regularly every one of the inward Wheels is moved rightly and is free from fault oâ— blame but if the hand go false all the inward parts of the Fabrick move amiss though perchance the fault â—ye principally in one peculiar part but yet the errour is propagated to the whole So if any action of man be faulty the whole man is culpable and the fault is either originally or by derivation in every power and faculty of the Man so Love to God supposeth 1. A Knowledg worthy of him in the Understanding Complacency in the Will endeavours of Conformity to and union with him in the powers that are to execute or else the act of Love is not rational and compleat To have some motion in the will or affections that is not caused by a foregoing notice or consideration that is weighty of him is a Fanatical Love a flash that will be as soon out as in and never set his hand and his feet a work in his service so we are said to know God when we have not only a notion of him in the understanding but suitable motion in the will and affections This is Life Eternal to know Thee John 17.3 This is the manner of Scripture yea and common discourse when we speak of moral Acts that is such as persons endued with understanding and free will do perform And though the denomination or name be taken sometime from one faculty sometime from another yet the rest are usually implyed or supposed subservient actions are in common speech silently implyed in the principal and hence that Rule that Divines so frequently inculcate That words of knowledg and sense imply affections and actions The Lord knoweth
Sabbath-breaking careless performance of his Service and Worship Selfishness Inordinate love of and Adulterous Affections to any Creature and hiding Pride from Man and turning our Eyes from a fond Admiration of Creatures and laying them in the dust They will not endure it but fret and murmur in their hearts and are ready to say as the Rebellious Followers of Korah did to Moses Wilt thou put out these Eyes of ours We will not come down we will not deny our selves nor be crossed in our wills nor leave our shame When God is putting the Bridle into their Mouths and laying a Curb and Restraint upon their Intemperance Pride and Luxury and bringing into contempt their Gallantry and swaggering Bravery they will not endure the Curb but rage and foam and grow mad and bite the Bridle that holds them in and reply as the remnant Jews did after the Captivity when they sent Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord for their Direction and liked not the Answer that he brought Jer. 44.16 17. We will not hearken to thee but will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth of our own Mouth we will let our Hearts with a full rein to any thing they desire for when we have done thus we were well and saw no evil when we leave off to shew favour and courtesie to our selves who shall befriend us when we begin to cry shame on our selves all men will cry shame on us and if once we come down and lie in the dust all men will trample upon us Those are some of the shifts that carnal Wisdom and Reason alledgeth whereby it would frustrate the Invitations of Mercy When God is calling for the Plumb Line and meting out a Nation for Destruction Amos 7.7 when he is drawing the lines of confusion in a place 1 Sam. 2.8 and marking it for Judgment they cry as the Inhabitants of Ephraim once did The Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Esay 9.10 And though we may not be gotten up to such a degree of wickedness as this is it will concern us to make search and inquiry whether there be no seed of this wicked nature in us I am too much out of doubt that there is much of crossness and contradiction to the will of God in the best heart and too loth are the best to veil and stoop to the will of God when it crosseth ours but it will be fitter to help on this search in the Application 4. Lastly They overlook both his Attributes Word and Works all at once that put him off with shadows instead of substance that give him a few flattering words and shews for the inward worship and purity of their hearts This is the very instance of the Psalm a part of which we have now before us What an affront is this to remember him with the Mouth that he may be cast out of the Heart where he will have more to do than all the World or else abhor that person and his service whose heart it is To wash the outside with the paint of an external profession and to have a Heart full of Pride and unmortified Lusts full of putrid noisom Filth is not to play the Christian but the Pharisee To profess God at Home and at Church in our Houses and his House and to joyn with his Servants in the Externals of his Worship to read his Word and sing his Praises with our Lips and in Heart and Life to subvert the Christian Faith is not to be a Disciple but a Judas To give God the most glorious Attributes and Titles and call him thy Creator Lord and Governour and to acknowledge thou hast all from his Bounty and yet to deny him the Service and Obedience due to his Laws this is not to remember but to forget him If I be a Father where is mine Honour If I be a Master where is my fear saith God Mal. 1.6 Is not the Lord a Spirit and will he be put off with a meer bodily service only I know he will have the service of the body also he will have the Tongue and the Knee and an External Reverence that may be of good Example to others But thou art guilty of Hypocrisie and Folly both if this be all that thou canst spare if thou go not further thou mayst be a very devil in thy heart when thou haâ—st Oyl and Butter in thy Mouth and when thou speakest the smoothest words to God thou mayst have war and enmity to him in thy heart thou mayst fetch a sigh or a groan for sin at a pretty easie rate but God will not take this instead of Self-denial and mortification of thy Lusts but will abhor their shews and complements that cover hatred with lying Lips When God calls to the proud Person to come down and sit in the dust and humble himself will it be an acceptable service if he would offer him something else or will he take the fruit of the Body for the sin of the Soul Mich. 6.7 I mean a shew of humility in going softly speaking faintly looking sadly instead of true lowliness and poverty of Spirit I speak not against the outward signs they are good when accompanied with the thing signified but when we deceive our selves with these and think to deceive God also True humility consists in a universal submission to the Will of God and ready obedience to all his Laws when they cross our interest in the world as when they do promote it And he that hath not this in a prevailing measure and degree God will look upon him afar off let him come as near as he will with his Tongue or Knee Psal 138.6 and he will plentifully reward as a proud doer Psal 40.4.31.23 When God calleth to search our hearts and try our ways and remember our doings It will not serve turn to remember the doings of others and to seâ—â—ch and censure them to lay heavy burdens upon the City or Countrey and not to touch them with one of our Fingers not but we may and must confess the sins of the whole Nation when Gods hand is upon a whole Nation and calls it to repentance but if we remember not our own sins with a weeping heavy heart also and do not loath our selves for all our own abominations Ezek. 36.31 and feellingly confess with shame and detestation the sins that lie nearest our hearts and take it for a mercy to have the scourge of a just and smarting rod as well as the charge of a holy convincing word that we have not only threatning which we have made a shift to slight so often but some execution to make sin odious to us and to recover us to a due sense and apprehension of it If we have brought our selves to such a death in sin that we cannot understand what it is until we feel it it 's a mercy to feel that we may understand But let
Gods Word c. so the whole do provoke to a Remembrance of God If the Heathens that want this written Word of God are notwithstanding bound to keep up a Memory of their Maker worthy of his Majesty what an obligation then is the written Word of God to us that have 〈◊〉 to get the knowledge of God and to feed our thoughts with a delightful remembrance of him And as the Word of God so all the Ordinances of God are strong inforcements to this duty How fit a means is Prayer and Meditation and singing of Psalms and participation of the Supper of the Lord and the Conference of Holy Persons together to cure the Atheism of our hearts and to keep us from being unmindful of him if we mind and attend what we do As oft as we receive the Sacrament we are bid to do it in remembrance of him 1 Cor. 11.24 25. And what shall we forget him whilst we have such execellent means to get a sight of his Glory and to draw near to him and acquaint our Souls with him What a sin must it needs be to forget God whilst we are calling to him by Prayer or when he is calling to us and proclaiming his Soveraignty over us his right in us his readiness to receive us Judge what impudence it is to confer and talk of him to eat and drink in his prefence to celebrate his Sabbaths which were appointed as special helps to this Remembrance and yet to forget him To pray and hear and receive the symbols of his Grace and yet to have a heart void of true Remembrance is such an aggravation of this sin as will strike home sooner or later Thus you see the aggravations of the sin of Forgetfulness that arise from the Obligations we have on God's part to remember him And as they that forget God sin against high Obligations on God's part so Secondly They sin against great Obligations 2. On their own part Against 1. Promise and Covenant 2. Oath 3. Profession And therefore they that forget God in despight of all these Obligations are 1. First False and perfidious in a high degree to break Word and Promise with Man and to be false to one like our self is enough to imprint a mark of infamy and disgrace that will stick by as long as life lasteth and to blast such a mans reputation to all that know him And how hard a matter is it to wipe off such a reproach especially if it were a deliberate act in a matter of concernment And who will repose any trust in such a man that hath deceived the just expectation of another in any momentous affair by the breach of his Faith that hath any acquaintance with him When a Man hath so behaved himself that none can lay any hold on what he saith and no trust and confidence can be placed in him he is unfit for Humane Society But to be false and perfidious with God is far more ignominious and exposeth to worser shame and fouler consequences for Man hath incomparably greater obligations to truth and sincerity toward God than towards Men. His hatred of such injustice and unfaithfulness is greater than the most upright Man upon Earth can have and he can far better discover and will more exemplary punish it than any Man hath power or authority to do and none hath or can have that juâ—isdiction over us that God hath If falseness lying and perfidiousness be so hateful to some even because they have the Image of God but imperfectly renewed on themselves we may be sure that God abhors it By thy Precepts I get understanding saith David and therefore I hate every false way Psal 119.104 c. Psal 101.7 c. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my House he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight But the breach of Promise and Covenant is a high degree of Falshood and Perfidiousness A Promise when 't is made to God is called by a special name a Vow Now what it is to break a Vow Solomon will inform us Eccl. 5.4 5. When thou vowest a Vow to God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed Better it is thou shouldst not vow than that thou shouldst vow and not pay The reason is because he that hath made a Vow or Promise to God if it be in a case where he was free before his Promise is now under a Bond and if he doth not perform he is insnared by the words of his own mouth and therefore is a fool but if it be in a case where he was bound before he is now bound faster and hath a streighter Obligation and in case of Non-performance he is guilty of greater sin and folly And the more frequently any Vow or Promise hath been made the more guilty and perfidious is he that hath failed in the performance and the Justice to which he hath made himself liable is the more exacting And the breach of a solemn Covenant or Contract is sinful in a higher degree than the bare breach of Promise because in a Covenant there is a further motive to Truth and faithful performance than in a meer Promise for the advantage and emolument that he expects from the party with whom he hath contracted So that he is perfidious and injust in a higher measure What a sin must it needs be to thrust God out of thy Heart and forget him to whom thou hast so often promised and vowed Remembrance for besides thy Baptismal Vow and Promise every time thou presentest thy self before him in Publick Private or Secret thou renewest thy Covenant and Promise to have him for thy All in All and canst thou indeed make him thy All in All and not remember him Canst thou pray by thy self or joyn with others and not lay any further Obligations upon thy self Doth that man confess his sin indeed or mock God that doth not desire the help of God's Grace and promise in the strength thereof to forsake and renounce it And can a man promise to let go his sin and yet not ingage himself to the Remembrance of God which must be the chief means to seperate and remove it Can any man pray for mercy and yet not oblige himself by that Prayer to Remember his Benefactor Can any man be said to thank God for any benefit he hath received and not promise to order his Conversation aright that is to his Glory that hath done so much for him These are the three general parts of Prayer and every one of them implies a new Promise and Obligation to this Remembrance But besides these vertual and implicite Engagements how oft hast thou expresly promised to be his faithful Servant to live to thy Redeemer to be his Disciple to take his Yoke on thee How oft hast thou consented and said Amen when from the Word of God thou hast been told thus much when the Preacher hath convinced thee
It 's the Lord that giveth understanding but it is to such as consider and no other And as neither of the former will speed without the frequent repeated act of Consideration not Correction not Instruction so neither 3. Will his Favour and Mercies properly so called for I know both the former may be called Mercies and Favours in a larger sense These I say that are Mercies to present sense and feeling will do no good or else a great deal of hurt without Consideration God will lose our acknowledgment of them and we the blessed comfortable fruits of them What the Prophet saith of a wicked Man I may well say of an Inconsiderate Man Esay 26.10 Let Favour be shewed to such a one yet will he not remember whence it is nor learn Righteousness And therefore Samuel presseth this Duty as the fittest to bring the stupid Israelites to the Remembrance of God implied in the terms Fear and Service Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth for consider how great things he hath done for you 1 Sam. 12.24 And as Consideration is the likeliest means to bring a Man home to the Remembrance of God in Christ at first and to improve Correction Instruction and Mercy to the end so it is as successful to recover a Man after a Relapse into Forgetfulness To this Remedy David was beholding though never a whit the less to God who put him upon the use of it I thought on my wars saith he and turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies Psal 119.59 And Peter was thus recovered after his shameful Forgetting of Christ and Denial of him and Peter remembred 1. Thought upon and considered the words which Jesus said unto him Before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice and he went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26.75 And Elihu proposeth this to Job as a proper Remedy to abase and humble him that so much insisted upon his own vindication and remembred not his infinite distance from God as he should have done and therefore brought him to the Bar of his own perverted Judgment Hearken unto this O Job stand still and consider the wondrous works of God Job 37.14 And this course cured him I have heard of thee saith he with the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eyes seeth thee Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes Job 42.5 6. He did before stretch his own Righteousness so far and confine the Soveraignty of God as if he had done unjustly or cruelly in afflicting one so innocent as he was But when he had more attentively considered the Majesty and Glory of God and his wonderful Power according to the scheme and draught that Elihu had set before him Then the Bladder was prick'd and he was humbled in his own thoughts and saw that for his very Integrity which he held so fast and justified so much he was beholding to God for And as Consideration is a means to bring the Heart to God at first and to recover the Heart to him when it begins to depart by unbelief so it is an excellent help to increase and strengthen this Remembrance to strain it to a higher peg and make it more intense and vigorous My Heart was hot within me while I was musing the Fire burned then spake I with my Tongue Psal 39.3 The Consideration of Gods immutable Goodness and everlasting Favour and the brevity and vanity of all other things stirr'd the Fire and awakened his Heart to a more savoury Remembrance of God when he had considered how many disgraces Riches did lie open to and what a blast Mans Life is he subjoyns And now O Lord what wait I for my hope is even in thee Psal 39.7 And while the thoughts of Believers are inditing good matters their Tongue is as the Pen of a ready Writer quick to express the praises of God Psal 45.1 And Davids desires after God grew more strong and impetuous when he thinks on the Pleasure and Priviledge of Communion with God from which he was banished in the Wilderness When I think on or remember these things I pour out my Soul in me for I had gone with the multitude with the voice nf Joy and Praise He means to the publick and solemn Worship of God And now the Consideration of his want of these Priviledges cut this gash in his Heart and made this gaping of his desires after God Caution I know there are other means to be used besides Consideration but this is 1. The leading act to bring on all the other that have any subserviency to this Remembrance of God And 2. The act that inspires Life and Soul into all other means whither they be such as are near to the end such as are near Repentance Mortification Faith and all internal Grace Holiness or such as are more remote from the end As Reading Hearing Prayer Holy Conference whose success doth usually depend upon Consideration and as it is the leading act 3. So it is the act in which most are defective and for want of which so many do miscarry and lose themselves for ever and therefore I call it a principle means to beget and cherish the Remembrance of God as I have proved And so much for the Reasons I come now to the Application 1. Reproof FIrst If Consideration be a means so necessary to the Remembrance of God then here 's sad tidings to the Inconsiderate Such Men must needs Forget God unless he were to be seen with Corporal Eyes and his glorious Perfections did lie open unto sense But alas what a poor superficial Beauty can that discover it can pierce no farther than the surface of a bodily Object and the external Accidents it 's a meer stranger to the inward make and composition of such gross beings as these are and discerns not that which is most essential to them Much less can sense discern the Nature of Spirits and find out the infinite depths of the Divine Nature and search out the Dimensions of his Glory It 's usually such persons as these that make use of no other fool than sense to build themselves up in knowledge that have so much Atheism in their thoughts But it 's another Eye that must inform us of the Being and Perfections of God and make known to us both his Immensity and Eternity whereby all his other Attributes and Perfections become bottomless and unsearchable This Eye is two fold according to the double light that is afforded to us for discovery The Eye of 1. Reason 2. Faith According to the double light of 1. Nature 2. Scripture which doth discover the Object to these two Eyes There are but three ways by which we can come to gain any knowledge of God or any other thing either 1. By sense so we come to know that the Snow is white or that Grass is green Or 2. By way of Deduction or Inference or Ratiocination so we come to know the Sun is up though we see it not because we see
Righteous art thou O Lord in the Sentence which thou hast passed in the Judgment which thou hast executed Psal 119.137 Thou hast poured forth thy wrath and indignation on them and given them gall and bitterness to drink for they are worthy You shall then wish that your faculty to consider were gone it will follow you so close and be such a perpetual honour to you or rather that you had never had reason and understanding to consider then you might have both liv'd and died like a beast Whereas now though you have liv'd like a beast that you must die like a man that hath Memory Reason Foresight Judgment and Affections that will all conspire together to overwhelm you with eternal shame Why had I reason will the Soul say then but to prevent this misery Why had I will to choose when Life and Death were set before me and could choose no better Had it not been a wiser course to have troubled my self a little while with some few Thoughts of it then now to feel it for ever Why did God threaten Hell and destruction in his Word and set it forth with so much Terrour to mine apprehensions but that I might consider and escape it Why did he appoint the Ministerial Office but that knowing the Terrours of the Lord they might perswade men 2 Cor. 5.11 What could nothing prevail with one but what I now feel and must forever undergo Think not to say then I had not time to consider neither had I skill to follow such a work as this It 's not so much a knowing Head as an honest Heart that 's required to this work The Truths are but few and plain that thy Heart is to dwell upon and the certainty of them is beyond all doubt and question Whatever difference of Opinion there may be in other things yet here is no controversy all are agreed that man hath an Immortal Soul that there is a Life to come That the Happiness of man lies in these two things 1. In being like to God 2. In loving him and being loved by him that sin hath made us unlike to him and therefore must be repented of That Christ will purge away their guilt and sin and renew them by his Spirit that love him and consent to be ruled by him and will take him for their Physitian That there is a day in which God will summon all the World before him and Judge them Impartially according as they have believed or not believed in Christ to everlasting joy or 〈◊〉 These things are certain in the highest 〈◊〉 and there is none that doubteth 〈…〉 but either an Atheist or an 〈…〉 are the Truths that God hath 〈…〉 in great mercy and compassion 〈…〉 commanded every one 〈…〉 Poer and Rich 〈…〉 think upon when they are 〈…〉 when they are walk 〈…〉 when they lye down and 〈…〉 they rise up and to teach them diligently to their Children and to live as those that do believe and consider them Woe to the man or woman that considers not these things good it had been for him or her if they had never been born Wilt thou not think of those things It is because thou art void of understanding and hast chose the way of destruction If thou wilt not be perswaded now to consider thou wilt forget thy latter end thou wilt forget thine Immortal Soul and God will be forgotten and a little sensual pleasure will weigh more with thee than Eternal Life and Happiness And when the day of thy dishress is come upon thee thou wilt wish that thou hadst rather forgot to eat thy Bread than these things should have been forgotten and to fill up thy measure and make thee perfectly miserable God will forget thee forever Psal 50.22 Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tare you in peices and there be none to aeliver I Have set some of the Motives before you that should stir you up to Consideration and shewed you in part what a mischief it is for this faculty to lie dead which is given us by God to quicken those that are dead to the Life of Grace and Holiness and to make them strong and lively and vigorous Christians that are quickned by the spirit of Christ and have set their affections upon things above and not upon things here on Earth This is the way that God hath prescribed for Rational Creatures to get home to God that are revolted from him and to recover their affections to the right owner that are intangled in the love of Earth and vanity If they would but consider would feed upon Swinish pleasures no longer nor suffer their Souls to be charmed with more delusion nor prefer the imaginary dream of a sluggard before the happiness of a man that is awake and whose eyes are open Consideration would shew such a man the difference between Earth and Heaven rectify his judgment in this great point viz. where mans happiness lies And tell him roundly how the world hath cheated him with more shews and phantastick pleasures and put a picture into his hand instead of real felicity It would clear his Eye-sight and make him quite of another mind than once he was when Inconsideracy had blinded him and the world had befool'd him and he would see much more reason to live in the love of God looking for the mercies of his Redeemer unto eternal Life Jude the 21. than ever he did to live in carnal love and delights Consideration would bring the world and all its pleasures as much into disgrace as ever Inconsideracy brough◠them into credit And men that snatch'd at the riches and vain glory of the world before as a sweet bit to be purchased upon any terms would after they are enlightened by Consideration suspect all its soberest pleasures and those that come in upon the fairest terms What a Confession should you have from such a man of the foolishness and madness of his former Conversation when he liv'd upon Air and Trash as other Inconsiderate men still do Such a one as Paul's Tit. 3.3 For we our selves saith he describing his state before Consideration undeceived him were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures Then you should hear him bitterly accuse and condemn the soberest course he formerly took when the World had the Supremacy in his mind and heart Strange it would be to see a man so much altered for the better and advanced to such an improvement in knowledge and vertue as by impartial sober and considerate Thoughts might be done He was it may be before a covetous busie worldling that scrap'd and dig'd his happiness out of the dirt and said it up on Earth Whose God was his belly whose glory was his shame that minded Earthly things Phil. 3.19 But now his conversation is in Heaven and there he hath laid up his Treasure And digs for Wisdom as for Silver and searcheth for it as for hid Treasure Prov. 2.4 And his delight
health and strength and friends may prove treacherous and unfaithful all thy worldly hopes may become like a Spiders Web Job 8.14 The Heavens over thy head may turn into darkness and the Sun and Stars may refuse to give their light the Earth may fail under thy feet and reel to and fro and stagger like a Drunken Man and the Inhabitants thereof may be at their wits end but the Word of God will never fail thee it shall be accomplished in despight of all opposing power and the threatnings and promises thereof shall stand when all other things shall fall to the ground and be like water that 's spilt on it that cannot be gathered up again Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one jot nor tittle of the Word of God shall pass till all be fulfilled Mat. 5.18 And Mat. 24.35 God that hath established the Earth so firmly though it hang upon nothing and it abideth and shall abide till the great Earthquake shall come he that hath fixed the Ordinances of Heaven and Earth and setled the appointed times and seasons of Spring and Summer Winter and Harvest Day and Night and they continue to this daâ— without variation according to his Decree for all are his servants Psal 119.90 91. and Gen. 8.22 will make good the word that is gone out of his mouth and it shall not return till it hath accomplish'd that which he hath spoken Isa 55.11 And therefore David acknowledgeth that he had magnified his Word above all his Name So much for the matter of our Consideration or the things that we should frequently consider I conclude with that in Psal 107.43 Who so is wise will consider these things and they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. I come in the next place to speak to the manner or to shew how Consideration shold be exercised First after you have lift up your heart to God for the heavenly Light and Assistance set your self seriously to the duty as in his sight and presence Trifling with all matters of moment is inconsistent with the nature of such things and betrays our folly But it is the bane and poison of all Religion and a wicked disparagement both to that and our selves if whatsoever our hand findeth to do we should do it with our might Eccles 9.10 then much more should we rouze up our selves and put to all our strength when we have works of the greatest consequence in our hands we must not be slothful in such business as this is especially but fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain is a precept that extends it self to all Religious Acts and strictly forbids a slight and customary performance of them Thou art guilty of Irreverence and contempt of such sacred things and consequently of God himself to whom they are nearly related when thou medlest in them with a careless and wandring spirit and mayest expect that the anger of the Lord should wax hot against thee when thou art so cold in his service If God threatned to spew the Church of Laodicea out of his mouth because she was but lukewarm in his service Rev. 3.16 He will certainly deal worse with them that are stone-cold in their approaches to him The heart and soul of Consideration and all other Religious Acts are wanting when the heart and soul and strength are not imployed in them For when earnestness and serious intention of the mind and heart are deficient it not only turns Religious Acts into meer form but makes them utterly unsuccessful You will miss of your intended purpose when you come to God and seek for mercy in a careless and customary manner you will never obtain wisdom at the hands of God if you know not how to be importunate for it when you are shut up in affliction and misery and cannot get out if you cannot cry aloud and knock at the door of grace it will never be opened to you The Lord will give you a praying spirit fervent in supplication if ever he intend to give you the thing prayed for He will give you a heart seriously to Consider if ever he work the saving truths into your heart if you are not serious in the service of God you cannot be sincere and how well God will accept that service in which sincerity is wanting look into the word of God and Judge The Consideration I am pressing you to is a principal part of Gods Worship I speak not of that which is occasional and ordinary for such Consideration must accompany all your Actions both toward God and men if ever they be prudently managed but of that Consideration which is set and solemn and that requires some time to be set apart for it as well as Prayer and other Duty during which time we must no more intermix our thoughts with worldly matters then we must in Prayer and Hearing and Reading the Word of God But our Meditations must be tied to the most weighty saving truths till we begin to feel the power of them upon our hearts that so they may command our Lives 'T is such serious Consideration as this about the greatest and uncontroverted truths for some set time together till suitable affections and resolutions be kindled in us which is such an excellent part of Gods Worship because it inspires the Soul with Life and Fitness for all other Worship and Service and if you do not awaken and call up the powers of your Soul and seriously imploy them in this work of Consideration you are never like to see the beauty and excellency of these saving truths nor to feel the mighty power of them Ignorance and prejudice have so fast closed the eyes of your understanding that unless you rub hard they will never be opened and the affections are so backward to the most weighty things that unless they be set upon in good earnest and enforced by the evidence and mighty power of these truths they will not stir to any purpose nor ripen your Soul for Practice Secondly You must narrowly watch over your heart and keep it close to the work and when it refuseth you must use the Authority God hath given you over it to compel it Though the Soul hath not that absolute command over its own thoughts and affections which once it had before it rebelled against God yet it hath not quite lost its Soveraignty and power Experience doth sufficiently assure us that we can command our thoughts to this or that subject keep them on it if we will take pains with them even those that want the special Grace of God and are unsanctified in heart can yet bend their thoughts to think on God his Attributes and his Word and Works the Life to come the vanity of Creatures and make very pertinent moving discourses on them else none can Preach but such as are endued with saving Light and Knowledge much more may they command
and which afterwards fell out punctually as they were foretold must needs be the Word of God But the Writings of the Old and New Testament contain such Prophecies and Predictions Therefore The Major Proposition needs no proof Si est divinatio tum sunt dii was Cicero's Argument The Minor is this That there are many Future Events that depend meerly upon the Arbitrary Will of Man and pure Casualty punctually foretold in the Scripture and as punctually fulfilled may be demonstrated by Induction of Instances out of the Old and New Testament Instance the First IT was foretold to Abraham that he should have an Issue and that his Posterity out of his own Loyns should be as the Sand of the Sea when as yet he had no Child nor was ever like to have he and Sarah being old and past such hopes Rom. 4.19 And that he and his Seed should inherit the Land of Canaan and the like 400 years before it came to pass Gen. 15.13 14 15. contains the Prophecy Know for a certain that thy Seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs 400 years and shall serve them and be evil entreated of them Notwithstanding the Nations which they serve will I judge and afterwards they shall come out with great Substance Thus much was foretold 400 years before it came to pass when no likelyhood of the things did yet appear And how exactly was this Prophecy fulfilled by the ruin of the Aegyptians and the deliverance of the Israelites even at the very time foretold not only the Book of Exodus doth declare but even the Consent of Heathen Writers Porphyr Lib. 4. Cont. X nos And Jewish Histories do put it beyond all doubt Josephus and others And it is especially to be remarked that This Prophecy was so notorious and common amongst the Jews from Abraham's time down to Moses which is computed to be 300 years that is from Abraham's Death to Moses Birth and so delivered by Tradition from Fathers to Children that it was their only Support in the time of their Sojourning amongst the Aegyptians and that which gave courage to Moses when he led them thorough the wilderness Another Prediction IS contained in Gen. 49. ver 8 9 10. There Jacob in his last Testament to his Son Judah tells him Thy Brethren shall praise thee and the Children of thy Father shall bow down unto thee The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his Feet until Shiloh come This all the Jews expound of the Messiah The Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Septuag render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onkelos the Author of the Babylonish Targum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which denote the Soveraignty or Highest Power Political This was accomplished 2000 years after at the Coming of Christ For at that time King Herod a Stranger put out quite the Line of Judah from the Government of Jury when this Prophecy was first spoken 1. The Sons of Jacob were few in Number and never like to be a distinct Nation of themselves or to depart out of Aegypt 2. And if they should thrive into a Nation and have a Scepter of their own yet was it unlikely that Judah and his Posterity should ever come to sway the Scepter for that he had three elder Brothers Reuben Simeon and Levi who in all likelihood were to be preferred before him And 3. when Moses recorded this Prophecy which was divers hundred years after Jacob had spoken it it was yet more unlikely For that Moses then present in Government was of the Tribe of Levi and Joshua designed by God to succeed him was of the Tribe of Ephraim And yet 4. Consider farther that after him the Judges succeeded which ruled almost 400 years and yet no appearance of the Accomplishment of this Prophecy At length they come to have Kings to rule but yet Judah seems to be forgotten and Saul a person of the Tribe of Benjamin was chosen and he endued with divers Children to succeed him And who would then have thought that this Prophecy would ever have been fulfilled But the Counsel of the Lord must stand And therefore when none dreamed of such a thing A poor Shepherd is chosen out of the Tribe of Judah to be a King and the Government so established in his Posterity that it held out for more than 1200 years together till Herod's time which is more than any one Family in the whole World beside can shew for its Nobility and Continuance in Government Another Prophecy IS Mentioned in the 1 Kings 13.1 2 3. And behold there came a Man of God out of Judah by the command of the Lord unto Bethel and Jeroboam stood by the Altar to offer Incense And he cryed against the Altar in the Word of the Lord and said O Altar Altar thus saith the Lord Behold a Child shall be born of the House of David Josiah by Name and upon thee shall he offer the Priests of the High Places that burn Incense upon thee and Mens bones shall be burnt on thee This was more than 300 years before Josiah was born And this was registred presently according to the Manner of those Times and the Miracles that happened about the Fact As that the Altar cleft in twain And that Jeroboam stretching forth his hand to apprehend him had his hand withered until it was restored by the Man of God's Prayers There passed 300 years and Josiah was born and came to reign in Judah and one day coming to Bethel to overthrow the Altar and to destroy the Sepulchers of those Idolatrous Priests lit upon the Tomb where the Man of God was buried with the Superscription upon it which he left untouched as is declared 2 Kings 23.15 16 17. Never was there any Nation upon the Earth that can produce such Prophesies as these so certain so particular so long foretold before the time and so exactly fulfilled But the Holy Scriptures are full of these The next Prophecy IS recorded of Cyrus Esaiah 44.28 foretold 200 years before Cyrus was born when there was not the least probability of such a thing He saith to Cyrus thou art my Shepherd and he shall perform all my desire saying also to Jerusalem thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy foundation shall be surely laid all which was punctually fulfilled by Cyrus Ezra 1. c. And that there might be no possible suspition of Forgery in this Matter This Book of Esaiah was pronounced openly to the People as other Prophesies were and published into many thousand hands before the Captivity of Babylon fell out and then carried also with the People and dispersed in Chaldea and other parts of the World A vast number of these Prophesies may be mustered up in the Old and New Testament though the Instances already produced are all out of the Old Testament These Instances with many other better improved you
unto God all ye lands Psal 5.11 But let those that put their trust in thoe rejoyce let them shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy Name rejoyce in thee Secondly Scriptures that command Praise Psal 35.28 My tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long Psal 118.28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee Thou art my God and I will exalt thee Psal 34.1 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth Psal 66.2 Sing forth the honour of his Name make his praise glorious Psal 66.8 O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard Psal 48.1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the City of our God in the Mountain of his Holiness Psal 135.3 Praise ye the Lord for the Lord is good sing praises unto his Name for it is pleasant Psal 147.1 Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Verse 12. Praise the Lord O Jerusalem praise thy God O Sion In the 148 Psalm all Creatures are called upon and excited to the praises of God which must be meant but objectively of all irrational Creatures And rational Creatures are implied when others that have not reason are spoken to Psal 148.13 Praise the Name of the Lord for his Name only is excellent and his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven Psal 149.1 Praise ye the Lord sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of the saints Psal 149.6 Let the high praises of God be in their Mouth 1 of the saints Psal 150.1 2 3. Praise ye the Lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power Thirdly Scriptures provoking to Thankfulness Psal 109.4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing we ought to give thanks Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him Psal 69.30 I will praise the name of God with a song and magnifie him with thanksgiving Psal 118.1 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his Mercy endureth for ever Vers 29. The same Reason is insisted on 36 times Psal 136.1 2 3. And the Reasons largely insisted on in the rest of the Psalm Psal 26.6 7. I will wash mine hands in innocency and so will I compass thine altar O Lord that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wonderful works Psal 30.4 Sing unto the Lord ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness THere 's nothing that more becomes a Believer nor so well suits his Spiritual Heavenly Nature nor is a better Indication of a Child of God and one that hath attained to a perfect Man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ than to delight and be skilful in this Noble Work And without all dispute There 's nothing that a corrupt Heart is more averse and backward to and hath less skill in There is indeed a joyful merry Heart pre-requisite to this Exercise but such a one as the World intermedleth not with but is the greatest stranger to of all things you can imagine Though there 's none love Mirth and Joy so passionately as the worldling yet his Mirth is quite of another stamp It 's the meer distortion of the Countenance or at best but the dilatation of the Blood and Spirits It is not the delectation and contentment of the Mind and Spirit It 's the laughter of a Fool a meer brutish sensual delight that they are so fond of Not the solid serious pleasure of a Saint and one that is perfectly in his right mind And thus to be merry after their Fashion is no hard nor difficult Task 'T is but be Mad and let go the Reigns of all good Government of a Mans self It is but to gratifie every desire and live at Randome and prosper in Folly and this will screw up a Carnal Mind to very profuse Laughter and Merriment All the Town shall quickly hear of it and perceive it too plainly in the Vanity Pride and Insolency of their Carriage And there 's no surer way to damp and dead the Spirit of these Men and to drive them into a melancholy dumpish vein than to spring some Heavenly Discourse that savoureth of Heavenly Wisdom and tendeth to the Divine Praises It 's easie to vent a little Froth and Mirth at a Feast or in a Jovial Meeting or when the Spirits are cheared with Wine and Carnal Pleasure But to be glad in the Lord to rejoyce in the meditation of his Excellent Greatness and Perfection even when the Flocks are cut off from the Fold and there is no Herd in the Stall and the Vine yieldeth not her Encrease and the labour of the Olive doth fail and all Earthly Comforts are wanting Then to rejoyce in the most High and to vent forth freely in Thanks and Praises unto him is the Top and Perfection of Piety But this is a strain that the merriest Worldling can never reach while he continues to be such Other Mirth needs great Restraint but this hath need of all Encouragement and Promotion it being so much above the Sphaere of corrupted Nature to do it to purpose And as some slight Praise I doubt not may come from the Mouth of one not yet ingrafted into Christ by a lively Faith from the sense of Common Mercies and General Grace So on the other side even a Believer through the weakness of his Grace and the distemper of his Body and the want of Exercise in this Duty may make but little Musick and be a very Bungler in this Work And so lose the Comfort and Strength that a Heart fervent and frequent in this Duty would daily get But before I say any thing to stir up to this Exercise I will first shew what 's requisite to or implied in this Joy and Delight in God and true Gratitude and Praise I put them all together because there is much Affinity and Correspondence between them And therefore As to the Subject of these Acts or the Person that must exert them he must be thus qualified and prepared 1. He must be of an open cheerful Temper There 's none more unfit for this Duty than the lumpish sad and heavy Heart Though I deny not but sadness and heaviness of Spirit is sometimes a Duty after the Commission of sin especially great and wilful sin till by renewed Sorrow Confession and a more cautelous Heed to prevent it for the future and the application of Christ's Blood by Faith the Cause of such Sadness be removed But a constant habitual sadness and despondency that neither Faith nor
to the Considerations which if seriously thought upon have Force enough to provoke and quicken to this Exercise First These Affections will stir and get strength if thine Eye be much upon God and all other Objects as much as may be be thrust out of thy Mind I mean his Attributes as they are expressed in his Word For as they are expressed in his Works they will be some farther Assistance to this Work His unchangeable Eternal Being His unsearchable Wisdom His uncontroulable Power that can do any thing that implies not a Contradiction His unexpressible Goodness His spotless Purity that abhors all unrighteousness and injustice And the rest of his most Adorable Perfections well thought upon according to that Description which the Holy Ghost giveth of them in the Scriptures will raise a Soul to such aâ— pitch that it shall find no ease or pleasure but in the High Praises of his Transcendent Majâ—sty and Greatness If the Heart be thus exercised the Tongue that 's most dumb will be loosed and even forced to cry out Thou only O Lord art worthy to be Adored For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory A little Glimpse of this Majesty made David though a Potent King to cry out What is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him Psalm 8.4 This made Job who had insisted so much before upon his own Righteousness and had stood so much upon his own Defence and Justification then to abhor himself when Elihu had presented him with some little Description of the Almighty and Independent Being To gaze a little upon the Majesty of a King and that Power of theirs whereby they can do almost what they please within the Limits of their Dominions makes some Men almost to fall down and worship them and give them the Honour that 's due only to God And they think Solomon's Argument warrant enough to such Adoration Where the Word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him what dost thou Eccles 8.4 The Parts and excellent Abilities of some wise and knowing Men procures them a very great Interest in the Affections and Esteem of others How much more should it make us to wonder and fall down and be even swallowed up with Admiration did we but look up and cast our Eye upon the Beauty Wisdom and Majesty of him that made all things and gave the things that are most glorious among Men that Lustre that maketh them so much to dazle their weak Eyes Take therefore O my Soul some short Transcript of the All-Glorious God out of his own inspired Word which upon that Account thou mayest give the more heed and credit to Job 11.7 8 9. Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou find out the Almighty to Perfection It is as high as Heaven what canst thou do Deeper than Hell what canst thou understand The Measure thereof is longer than the Earth and broader than the Sea Which shews us how incomprehensible he is in all his Perfections and how far exalted beyond the Reach of our Childish Apprehensions Not to discourage and turn away our Thoughts from him but to humble them and to qualifie us with due Reverence in the search of what he hath discovered and is to be known of him That so when we have stretch'd our Understandings to the highest we may have this to help home this Consideration He is far more amiable and perfect than I am able to understand Now the Perfections of God may be cast into Three Ranks For they are either of his 1. Intellect 2. Will. 3. Executive Faculty First His Intellectual Perfections the Scripture thus describes Isa 40.28 and Psal 147.5 His understanding is infinite and there is no searching it out In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. of his understanding there 's no Number in Isa it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. There 's no search All the Art we have cannot give a perfect Account of it or cast up the Totaâ— S m. A Figurative Expression Therefore itâ—s no wonder that Solomon tells us There 's neither Wisdom nor Understanding nor Counsel against the Lord Prov. 21.30 Yea the very Foolishness of God is wiser than Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 1.25 And therefore he regardeth not any that are Wise in Heart that is so far as to fear their Machinations and Contrivances against him or to accept their Persons Job 37.24 For there is a bundle of Madness and Folly bound up in the wisest Heart And our clearest Light is blemished with much Darkness But he is Light it self and in him there is no Darkness at all 1 John 1.5 Hence he is entitled the Father of Lights from whom all our Beams of saint and glimmering Light do proceed James 1.17 And therefore nothing is hid from his All-piercing Eye Psal 139.1 2 3 4. O Lord thou hast searched me and knowest me In Fonte 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pervestigatus or perscrutatus es me which signifies exact and diligent search and knowledge consequently Thou understandest my Thoughts afar off Thou art acquainted with all my ways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Thou art familiar to or accustomed to all my ways There 's not a Word in my Tongue but thou O Lord knowest it altogether And Verse 12. The darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee And Job 26.6 Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering And be sure that 's a place of the thickest and most palpable darkness and therefore in Scripture it 's called outward darkness alluding to the Aegyptian darkness which was so great For among all the Children of Israel there was Light but without them among the Aegyptians palpable darkness And Job 34.22 There 's no darkness nor shadow of death wherein the Workers of Iniquity can hide themselves from him And Prov. 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more the Hearts of the Children of Men Heb. 4.12 13. He is there said to discern the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked and as it were dissected before him As the Entrails of any Creature that is dissected by the Anatomist and cut up lye open to the Eye which before were hid Secondly The Perfections of his Will are all summ'd up in the Attribute of his Goodness which contains 1. His Bounty to all Creatures 2. His Justice in the Righteous Administration of all things 3. His Veracity or Fidelity 4. His Mercy and Compassion to all Rational Creatures 5. His special Love to Believers To which I might add his Clemency and Patience Thirdly The Perfection of his Executive Faculty is Omnipotency or Almightiness Fourthly Those Attributes which result from all these in conjunction are His 1. Greatness
2. Majesty 3. Glory 4. Lordship 5. Immutability Fifthly The Measure of all his Attributes is Infiniteness that is They have no Stint nor Measure As the Measure of his Being is Immensity Sixthly The Crown of all his Attributes is his Eternity Of these in order 1. His Bounty the Scripture thus expresseth Psalm 145.15 Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing Matth. 6.28 29. Consider the Lilies of the field they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say anto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these And Psal 104.27 28. These wait all upon thee speaking of the several living Creatures that thou mayest give them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand and they are filled with good 2. His Justice in the Righteous Government of all things the Holy Ghost thus sets forth Psalm 89.14 Justice and Judgment are the Habitation of thy Throne And Psal 9.8 He shall judge the World in Righteousness and minister Judgment to the World in uprightness Jerem. 32.19 Thine Eyes are upon all the Ways of the Sons of Men to give to every one according to his Ways and according to the Fruit of his doings Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right Rev. 15.3 Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints 3. His Veracity is thus described Numb 23.19 He is not as a Man that he should lye Hath he said it and spoken it and shall it not be made good Rom. 3.4 God is true and every man a lyar Heb. 10.23 God is faithful who hath promised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is to be credited or believed Psalm 138.2 I will woriship towards thy Holy Temple and praise thy Name for thy Loving-kindness and for thy Truth for thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Psalm 86.15 But thou O Lord art plenteous in Mercy and in Truth 4. His Mercy and Compassion to all Rational Creatures is thus expressed John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in him that dyeth or in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways For why will ye dye 1 Tim. 2.4 There it 's said that God would have all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth Besides 1. All those Scriptures that express the Death of Christ for sinners without limitation serve to this purpose such as 1 Tim. 2.6 Who gave himself a Ransome for all Men c. 2. All those Scriptures that contain a Commission to Preach the Gospel to all the World without Exception magnifie this Attribute to the full and make it shine forth gloriously such as Matth. 28.19 Go ye therefore and teach all Nations c. 3. Likewise all those Scriptures that promise Pardon and Salvation upon the Conditions of Repentance and Faith not excluding any from these Terms are a lively demonstration of this lovely Attribute such as 1 John 12. As many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe in his Name 4. So likewise all those Scriptures that set forth the Patience of God towards sinners in general may be reduced hither and serve under this Head 5. Lastly All those Scriptures that insist upon the Common Providences of God towards wicked Men and his veriest Enemies in supplying all their Necessities and giving them such a large portion of these outward Comforts bear ample Testimony to this Attribute and do very much exalt it such as Matth. 5.45 where God is said to make the Sun to shine upon the Evil and upon the Good and to send Rain on the just and on the unjust 5. His Special Love to Believers the Holy Ghost thus describeth Deut. 33.29 The Lord is the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency Psal 94.14 God will not cast off his Saints nor forsake his Inheritance And Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people and will beautifie them with salvation And Psal 1. last The Lord knoweth i. approveth the way of the Righteous Isa 49.16 There they are said to be graven on the Palms of his Hands and their Walls are ever in his sight And Vers 15. It 's said God cannot and will not forget them Moreover 1. All those Scriptures that entitle them to Pardon Reconciliation Adoption and Glory Comfort in all Conditions and a blessed Issue out of all their Troubles be they more or less and that entail a Blessing upon their Seed and Posterity are a sufficient proof of God's special Love to Believers and set it forth illustriously such as Psalm 97.11 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Eccles 8.12 13. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him c. Psal 102.28 The children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Psal 125.1 2. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth and for ever Rom. 8.28 All things work together for their good And Gal. 4.6 Because they are sons God will send forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts 2. All those Scriptures that contain their special relations unto God and Priviledges founded thereupon do lively set forth God's special Love to them Sixthly His Almightiness the Scripture thus expresseth besides the places where he is expresly styled Almighty Ephes 3.20 He is able to do abundantly above what we can think or speak Job 26.14 The thunder of his power who can understand Prov. 21.30 There is no wisdom power nor understanding against him Jerem. 27.5 He hath made the Earth and all that therein is by his great power Isa 40.22 23. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as Grass-hoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in That bringeth the Princes to nothing and maketh the Judges of the Earth as vanity Heb. 1.3 God is there said to uphold all things by the word of his power All those Scriptures that assert the Creation of the World or any part of it by God The Division of the Sea or other Waters miraculously The strange Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha