him according to his declared Will We continually depend upon him every moment In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17. 28. and surely Dependance should beget Observance and therefore Men should be loth to break with God or carefull to reconcile themselves to him on whom they depend every Moment Acts 12. 20. Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon but they came with one accord to him and having made Blastus the Kings Chamberlain their Friend desired peace because their Country was nourished by the Kings Country Therefore it is extreame Unthankfulness Stupidity and Brutishness for them to carry themselves so unthankfully towards God who giveth them Life and Being and all things The Bruites themselves who have no capacity to know God as the first Cause of all Being yet take notice of the next hand from whence they receive their Supplies Isa. 1. 3. The Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Masters Crib and in their kind express their Gratitude to such as feed them and make much of them but Wicked men take no notice of the God who hath made them and kept them at the expence and care of his Providence and hath been beneficial to them all their days but as they slight their Law-giver so they requite their great Benefactour with unkindness and Provocation 4. It is a disowning of his Propriety in them as if they were not his own and God had not power to doe with his own as he pleaseth The Creature is absolutely at God's dispose not onely as he hath a Jurisdiction over us as our Law-giver and King over his Subjects but as a Proprietary and Owner over his Goods A Prince hath a more absolute Power over his Lands and Goods then over his Subjects God is not onely a Ruler but an owner as he made us out of nothing and bought us when worse then nothing and still keepeth us from returning into our original nothing and shall those who are absolutely his own withdraw themselves from him and live according to their own Will and speak and doe what they list what is this but a plain denyal of God's Propriety and Lordship over us as those Psalm 12. 4. Who have said With our Tongues will we prevaile our Lips are our own who is Lord over us surely it should strike us with horrour to think that any Creatures should thus take upon them Sin robbeth God of his Propriety in the Creatures If we consider his natural Right Sin is such an Injury and Wrong to God as Theft and Robbery if we consider our own Covenant as we voluntarily acknowledge God's Propriety in us so it is Adultery breach of Marriage Vow and with respect to the devoting and consecrating our selves to him so it is Sacriledge 3. It is a contempt of God's glorious Majesty What else shall we make of a plain contest with him or a flat contradiction of his holy Will for whilst we make our depraved Will the Rule and Guide of our Actions against his holy Will we plainly contend with him whose Will shall stand his or ours and so justle him out of the Throne and pluck the Crown off his Head and the Scepter out of his Hands and usurpe his Authority and so slight the Eternal Power of this glorious King as if he were not able to avenge the wrong done to his Majesty and we could make good our party against him 1 Cor. 10. 22. Do we provoke the Lord to Iealousie are we stronger then he Isa. 45. 9. Woe to him that striveth with his maker let the Potsherd strive with the Potsherds of the Earth surely they that strive with their Maker will find God too hard for them Now all these and many more Considerations should make a Serious Christian sensible when he considereth how God is dishonoured in the World 2. Their Punishment This relateth to the Sanction by Penalties and Rewards They that forsake the Law have quite devested themselves of all Hope and cast off all dread of Him The Law offereth Death or Life to the Transgressors and Observers of it Deut. 30. 15. Behold I have set before you Good and Life Death and Evil. Now this is as little believed as the Precept is obeyed and thence cometh all their Boldness in sinning and Coldness in Duty 1. God allureth us to Obedience by Promises of this World and the next which if they were believed Men would be more forward and ready to comply with his Will As to the Promises of the next World he hath told us of Eternal Life Surely God meaneth as he speaketh in his Word he will make good his Word to the Obedient but the Sinner thinketh not so and therefore is loth to undergoe the Difficulties of Obedience because he hath so little Sense and Certainty of fulfilling the Promise The Apostle telleth us Heb. 11. 6. That without Faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently serve him implying that if the Fundamental Truths of God's Being and Bounty were believed we could not be so careless as we are not so barren and unfruitfull as we are but Unbelief lyeth at the botton of all our Carelesness 1 Cor. 15. 58. Be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. They that know what a Reward is prepared for the Righteous cannot but be serious and diligent themselves and pity others and be troubled at their neglect Oh what a good God they deprive themselves off and throw away their Souls for a Trifle But because the Lord knoweth how apt we are to be led by things present to Sense that work strongly upon our Apprehensions and that things absent and future lie in another World and wanting the help of Sense to convey them to our Minds make little impression upon our Hearts therefore God draws us to our Duty by present Benefits Even Carnal Nature is apt to be pleased with these kind of Mercies Protection Provision and worldly Comforts Psal. 119. This I had because I kept thy Precepts Matth. 6. 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added to you 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godliness is profitable to all things having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come But alas the naughty Heart cannot depend on God for the Effects of his common Goodness Men distrust Providence and therefore take their own Course which is a grief and trouble to a gracious Heart to see they cannot depend on God for things of a present Accomplishment 2. The other part of the Sanction are his Threatnings and Punishments Now in what a direfull Condition are all the deserters of God's Law besides the loss of Heaven there is Eternal fire which is the portion of the Wicked
compared with Wealth p. 489 490 491 619 It teaches many excellent Lessons p. 592 593 It deserves Love for the Author Matter Use p. 622 It 's a full Declaration of Gods mind p. 8 153 It 's a certain Declaration of his Mind and Will p. 8 It declares 1. what we must do 2. whether we do it or no 3. what we may expect from God p. 9 It is self-evidencing p. 9 It will excuse or accuse in the day of Judgment p. 6 It 's not only a Direction but an Injunction p. 24 349 It 's a Light by day a Lamp by night p. 687 688 why 689 It s a rule and an Instrument p 53 688 In it we are to consider 1. the Authority 2. the Ministry of it p. 488 892 It 's a Glass to shew us our spots and water to wash them away p. 54 Three main uses of the Word of God p. 491 It 's 1. the Sts. Direction 2. their Support 3. their Charter p. 97 491 619 866 867 It makes rich and happy p. 86 488 489 490 It is an Antidote against sin and a Cordial against sorrow p. 120 151 152 688 359 333 It is Comfort in two Respects p. 688 354 359 It is Bread and Water p. 124 126 How we are to be affected towards the Word p. 620 It is pure in many Respects 1. in it self 2. it makes the Soul pure and that 1. as 't is the appointed Instrument of the spirit 2. as 't is a proper Instrument for Purification 3. as it proposes Precepts Examples and other helps for Purity p. 857 858 It is Righteousness all Righteousness c. p. 1068 It ought to be our Meditation p. 576 It 's a Light proved from 1. the Autâ—…or 2. Instruments 3. the ends of it p. 690 691 It is our Comfort in the day of outward Trouble and inward Anguish It gives these Comforts 1. the Priviledges of the afflicted 2. the blessedness of another World acceptation with God p. 887 619 v. Commandements Believers may humbly challenge God upon his word p. 324 It may be hidden in two Respects 1. in respect of the outward Administration 2. in respect of the inward Influence and Efficacy p. 151 152 It is as good as Gods actual Performance or Deed p. 444 There are wonders in Gods word to be seen when God opens the Eye p. 112 880 881 882 What Gods opening the eyes contributes to the sight of them p. 112 Words idle words weigh heavy in Gods Ballance p. 39 Words are the Female Issue of the Soul Works the Male Issue p. 89 Works Covenants of Grace and Works wherein they agree and wherein they differ p. 906 907 908 909 Word of God upon the Soul may be mentioned before him and pleaded to him in Prayer and how p. 60 61 When God intends to work he sets Prayer on work p. 860 Work of God in what respects and sense ascribed to the Creature and why p. 751 God is always at work for us p. 340 World not our home not to be abused p. 117 It is preserved for the Elects sake p. 859 The spirit of this World p. 572 The spirit of God and the spirit of this World differ p. 478 Love of worldly things two great causes of it 1. A distrust of Gods Care 2. discontent with Gods allowance p. 255 present world p. 1089 Worship false worship severely punished p. 39 Worship of God his Interest therein p. 852 True Zeal appears for purity of Worship and against the corruption of it p. 852 Worship corrupted by Papists p. 205 206 False Worship makes men 1. subtle 2. cruel p. 739 Wounding and healing Gods Praerogative p. 511 Wrath of God They that walk closely with God are discharged from it p. 7 Y. YOkâ—… of Afflictions to be born from the youth p. 883 Young and raw Christians have much Zeal little Knowledge p. 452 Young Christians may have more true Wisdom than aged Persons p. 653 654 Young Men exhorted to beware of evil Company as the Pest and Bane of Youth p. 776 Young men not to be discouraged nor despised p. 654 655 Encouragement to Youth and to those that educate them p. 655 Youth regardless of serious work p. 52 God must be remembred in youth Reasons of it p. 52 53 Youth is tainted with sin p. 52 How a young man may cleanse his ways p. 55 Advantages of remembring God in Youth p. 397 Z. ZEal for false Worship quenches the fire of real Godliness p. 5 It is a high degree of Love It consumes the natural Spirits p. 849 Zeal great and pure becomes those that have any Affection for the ways and word of God p. 650 It is hottest in cold times p. 865 Zeal Spiritual and Carnal their differences Carnal Zeal is faulty in the 1. Cause 2. the Object 3. Measure p. 850 Zeal spiritual described 1. by its Causes 2. Object 3. Effects 4. usefulness to publick Reformation 5. use in private Christian Exercises p. 851 852 Blind Zeal a cause of Persecution p. 144 Iâ—… makes a man a prey for the Devil p. 685 Young Christians have much Zeal but little Knowledge p. 452 Zeal shews it self for purity of worship p. 852 Zeal now is less when there 's more light p. 657 Zion Mourners in Zion and Sinners in Zion p. 929 FINIS
lusts and worldly interests The next reason is because they must be spiritually discerned that is to know them inwardly throughly and with some relish and savour there must be an higher light there must be a cognation and proportion between the object and the faculty Divine things must be seen by a divine light and spiritual things by a spiritual light Sense which is the light of beasts cannot trace the workings or flights of Reason in her contemplations We cannot see a Soul or an Angel by the light of a Candle so fleshly wisdom cannot judg of divine things The object must be not only revealed but we must have an answerable light so that when you have done all you must say How can I understand without an Interpreter Acts 8. 31. And this Interpreter must be the Spirit of God Ejus est interpretari cujus est condere To discern so as to make a right judgment and estimate of things dependeth upon Gods help 4. When this blindness is in part cured yet still we need that God should open our eyes to the very last We know nothing as we ought to know David a regenerate man and well instructed prayeth to have his eyes opened for we need more light every day Luk. 24. 45. Then opened he their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures Christ first opened the Scriptures then he opened their understandings USE 1. To shew us the reason why the word prevaileth so little when it is preached with power and evidence their eyes are not opened Isa. 53. 1. Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed No teaching will prevail till we are taught of God USE 2. What need we have to consult with God whenever we make use of the word in Reading Hearing Study In Reading when thou openest the Bible to read say Lord open mine eyes When thou Hearest beg a sight of the Truth and how to apply it for thy comfort Haec audiunt quasi somniantes Luther saith of the most In seeing they see not in hearing they hear not There was a Fountain by Hagar but she could not see it Gen. 21. 19. God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water and she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the Lad to drink So for Study it is dangerous to set upon the study of divine things in the strength of wit and human helps Men go forth in the strength of their own parts or lean upon the judgment of Writers and so are left in darkness and confusion We would sooner come to the decision of a truth if we would go to God and desire him to rend the vail of Prejudices and Interests USE 3. Is to press us to seek after this blessing the opening of the eyes Magnifie the creating-power of God 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledg of God in the face of Iesus Christ. Make use of Christ Col. 2. 5. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg Beg it earnestly of him the Apostle prayeth Eph. 1. 17 18. That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledg of him The eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling c. Yea mourn for it in cases of dubious anxiety Iohn wept when the book of the seven seals was not opened Rev. 5. 4. Mourn over your ignorance refer all to practice Joh. 7. 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Wait for light in the use of means with a simple docile sincere humble mind Psal. 25. 9. The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way Doct. 2. Those whose eyes are opened by God they see wondrous things in his word more than ever they thought Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law Law is not taken strictly for the Covenant of works nor for the Decalogue as a Rule of life but more generally for the whole word of God which is full of wonders or high and heavenly mysteries In the Decalogue or Moral Law there is wonderful purity when we get a spiritual sense of it Psal. 119. 96. I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandments are exceeding broad and Psal. 19. 7 8. The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes A wonderful Equity Rom. 7. 12. The law is holy and the commandment is holy just and good A marvellous wisdom Deut. 4. 6. Keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people In the whole word of God the harmony and correspondence between all the parts how the mystery grew from a dark revelation to clearer is admirable In the Gospel every Article of faith is a mystery to be wondered at the Person of Christ 1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit c. A Virgin conceiveth the Word is made flesh the redemption and reconciliation of mankind is the wonderful work of the Lords Grace It is the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery 1 Cor. 2. 7. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world to our glory And 't is called the mystery hidden from ages Eph. 3. 9. The glory of heaven is admirable Eph. 1. 18. The riches of the glory of the Inheritance of the Saints in light That a clod of earth should be made an heir of heaven deserves the highest wonder All these are mysteries So the wonderful effects of the word in convincing sinners 1 Cor. 14. 25. Thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth Heb. 4. 12. The word of God is quick and powerful sharper than a two-edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart It is a searching and discovering word John 4. 29. See a man that hath told me all that ever I did In changing sinners 1 Pet. 2. 9. That ye may shew forth the praises of him that hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light Peter's getting out of prison was nothing to it In comforting Every Grace is a Mystery to depend upon
teach us to do otherwise we love our selves more than our neighbour and our neighbour more than God out of self-interest we comply with the lusts of men and in complying with the lusts of men make bold with God This wisdom every one that would keep Gods law must learn That we are bound to none so much as to God from whom we have life and breath and all things that none can reward our obedience so surely so largely as God who can bear us out when men fail that none can punish our disobedience so much as God If these considerations were more in our hearts we would not sin so boldly nor serve God so fearfully and cowardly as usually we do nor comply with men to the wrong of our souls We may refuse obedience in a particular instance where we do not refuse subjection 2. That heaven is to be preferred before earth and the salvation of our souls before the interests and concernments of our bodies Mat. 6. 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you And whosoever fail in this point of wisdom are very fools Luke 12. 10. But God said unto him Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided There should be no delays in heavenly matters We busie our selves about other things and defer our care for eternity from day to day but this should be sought before every other thing 3. That present affliction is to be chosen rather than future and temporal rather than eternal A wise man would have the best at last for to fall from happiness is the utmost degree of misery miserum est fuisse beatum And therefore better suffer now with hopes of reward in another world than take pleasure now to endure pains to come 2 Tim. 2. 3. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good souldier of Iesus Christ. It is better do so than to have all our hopes spent Son in thy life time thou receivedst thy good things Luke 16. 25. That which is present is temporal that which is to come is eternal 2 Cor. 4. 18. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal The good and evil of the present state is soon over Now we stand not upon a short evil so we may compass a great good 4. That things of profit and pleasure must give place to things that belong to godliness vertue and honesty for the bastard good must give place to the true real good Profit and pleasure are but bastard goods They are counted understanding men in the world that make pleasure give way to profit therefore Solomon saith Where there are no oxen the cribb is clean yet there is much gain by the labour of the oxe I am sure he is an understanding man before God that maketh both give way to honesty and godliness for the same reason that will sway us to make pleasure give way to profit will also teach us to make profit give way to the interest of grace as for instance That pleasure is a base thing as being the happiness of beasts so is profit as being the happiness of the children of this world in contradistinction to holiness the perfection of the next The pleasure of sense is only in this life so is worldly gain onely serviceable in our pilgrimage pleasure in the excess destroyeth profit so doth profit destroy grace As the world scorneth a man that hath wasted an estate upon his pleasures so do God and Angels that for the abundance of his wealth maketh havock of a good conscience and neglecteth things to come Godliness is the great gain 1 Tim. 6. 5. 5. That the greatest suffering is to be chosen before the least sin In sufferings the offence is done to us in sin the offence is done to God The evil of suffering is but for a moment the evil of sin for ever in suffering we lose the favour of men in sin we lose the favour of God suffering bringeth inconvenience upon the body sin upon the soul suffering is only evil in our sense sin whether we feel it yea or no It requireth spiritual wisdom and understanding to choose of evils the least as well as of goods the best Moses Heb. 11. 25. chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season 6. That a general good is to be chosen before a particular and that which yieldeth all things rather than that which will yield a limited and particular comfort Riches will avail against poverty and honours against disgrace but godliness is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4. 8. it will yield righteousness comfort and peace eternal and food and rayment maintenance and eternal life Now these and many such principles must be ingraffed in the heart if we would keep Gods laws The reasonableness of such propositions in the Theory may easily appear but as to practice we are governed by sense and humane passion which judgeth the quite contrary of all this and causes us to make bold with God because afraid of men to follow earthly things with the greatest delight and earnestness and spiritual things in a formal and careless manner to be all for the present and nothing for things to come and to sell the birthright for a mess of pottage to make a wound in our souls to avoid a scratch in our bodies and for a little particular contentment to neglect the things of God 4. Understanding is necessary that we may judg aright of time and place and manner of doing that we may do not only things good but well where to go where to stand still as 't is said they sought of God a right way Isa. 8. 21. And David behaved himself wisely in all that he did 1 Sam. 18. 5. It is for the glory of God and the credit of Religion and the peace of our own souls that we should regard circumstances as well as actions and discern time and judgment that we do not destroy what we would build up Therefore understanding is necessary See further verse the 98th of this Psalm 5. Because our affections answer our understanding If we understand not how can we believe if we believe not how can we love if we love not how can we do Knowledg perswasion affection practice these follow one another where the faculties of the soul are rightly governed and kept in a due subordination Indeed by the fall the order is subverted Tit. 3. 3. serving divers lusts and pleasures Objects strike upon the senses sense moveth the fancy fancy moveth the bodily spirits the bodily spirits move the affections and these blind the mind and lead the will captive But a true understanding makes us more stedfast Now all these
conforms it self to the body and only adheres to objects visible corporeal As water being put into a square vessel hath a square form into a round vessel hath a round form so the soul being infused into the body is led by it and accommodates all its faculties and operations to the welfare of the body And thence comes our ignorance averseness of sâ—…ul from holiness unruliness of appetite and inclination to sensual things In short without grace a mans mind is carried headlong after worldly vanities As water runs where it finds a passage so the soul of man being destitute of the Image of God finds a passage towards temporal things and so runs out that way 2. As man is thus corrupted and prone to worldly objects by natural inclination so by invelerate custom As soon as we are born we follow our sensual appetite and the first years of mans life are meerly governed by sense and the pleasures thereof are born and bred up with us and deeply ingraven in our natures and by constant living in the world conversing with corporeal objects the taint increaseth upon us and so we are more deeply dyed and setled in a worldly frame and we live in the pursuit of honour gain and pleasure according as the particular temper of our bodies and course of our interest do determine us Ier. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Custom is as another nature and hardly left We find by experience the more we are accustomed to any course of life the more we delight in it and are weaned from it with a very great difficulty Every act disposeth the soul to the habit and after the habit or custom is produced then every new deliberate act adds a stiffness of bent or sway unto the faculty into which the custom is seated and the longer this evil custom is continued the more easily are we carried away with temptations that suit it and more hardly sway'd to the contrary Now this stiffness of will in a carnal course is that which the Scripture calls hardness of heart and a heart of stone for a man is ensnared by these customs and of all customs covetousness or worldliness is the most dangerous Why because this is a sin of more credit and less infamy in the world And this will multiply its acts in the soul most and works uncessantly Having hearts exercised with covetous practices 2 Pet. 2. 14. Well then these lusts being born and bred up with us from our infancy they plead prescription Religion that comes afterward and finds us biass'd and prepossest with other inclinations which by reason of long use is not easily broken and shaken off as upon trial when ever we are call'd upon or begin to apply our selves to the ways of life we shall be easily sensible of this stiffness of heart and obstinacy that bends us another way Thirdly The heart being thus deeply engaged to temporal things or things base and earthly it cannot be set upon that which is spiritual and heavenly for David propounds these things here as inconsistent To thy testimonies Lord and not to covetousness If the heart be addicted to worldly things it is necessarily averse from God and his testimonies for the habitual bent of the heart to any one sin is inconsistent with grace or a through obedience to Gods will That which the heart is inclined to hath the throne Now when we enquire after grace Have I grace or no Have I the work of God upon my heart The question is not what there is of God in the heart but whether that of God hath the throne Something of God is in the heart of the wickedest man that is and something of sin in the best heart that is therefore which way in the sway the bent the habitual and prevailing inclination of the soul what hath the dominion Sin hath not the dominion for ye are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6. 14. What hath the prevalency of the heart Though the Conscience takes part with God as it may strongly in a wicked man yet which way is the bent of our souls And as all sin in its reign is inconsistent with grace so much more worldly affections Mat. 6. 24. No man can serve two masters c. It is as inconsistent as for a man to look two ways at once And the Chaldee on this very Text Incline my heart to thy testimonies read it and not unto mammon You cannot be inclined to God and manimon 1 Joh. 2. 15. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him The world draws men from the love of God and from his service And labour after temporal things deadens and hindreth us from looking after things which are eternal and we lose the relish of things to come and things spiritual the more the love of worldly things doth increase upon us The School-men say of worldliness it is that which most of all draws us off from God as our last end and chief good and make us cleave to the Creature therefore it is called Adultery and Idolatry Adultery Jam. 4. 4. as it draws away our love delight and complacency from God and Idolatry Col. 3. 5. as it diverts our trust and placeth it in Wealth and sublunary things The Glutton or Sensualist's love is withdrawn from God and therefore his belly is said to be his God Phil. 3. 19. Interpretatively that 's a man's God which is the last end of his actions and upon which all his thoughts affections and endeavours run most But now covetousness is not only a spiritual fornication and adultery which draws off our affections from God but Idolatry Considering our relation in the Covenant it is spiritual adultery and above this 't is idolatry because men think they can never be happy well nor have any comfortable being unless they have a great portion of these outward things Fourthly This frame of heart cannot be altered until we be changed by God's grace why for there is no principle remaining in us that can alter this frame or make us so far unsatisfied with our present state as to look after other things that can break the force of our natural and customary inclinations There are three things which lye against the change of the heart towards God 1. There 's Nature which wholly carrieth us to please the flesh and inordinately to seek the good of the body Now nature cannot rise higher than it self and determine it self to things above its sphear and compass As the Philosopher saith of water it cannot be forced to rise higher than its fountain Our actions cannot exceed their principle which is self-love But besides this 2. There 's Custom added to Nature which makes it more stiff and obstinate so that if it may be supposed that Conscience is sensible of our mistake and ill choice and some weighty
a greater portion of worldly things and that sets you upon carking and if you have not this you cannot see how you and yours can be provided for Cure this how by Gods Promises 1 Pet. 5. 7. Cast all your care upon him for he careth for you Cannot you trust God upon security of a Promise Cannot you go on in well doing when the Lord hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Cure it by observing the usual course of Gods Providence God provides for the young Ravens he clothes the Lillies It is Christs argument will he be more kind to a Raven than a child Will he take more care of a flower than of a Son one that is in Covenant with him Cure it by holy maxims and considerations Remember all dependeth upon Gods blessing Luk. 12. 15. Take heed and beware of covetousness How should we do so For a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Alas all is in Gods hand both being and well-being life and estate and all things else God can soon blast abundance and can relieve us in the deepest wants He can give you a sufficiency in your deep poverty 2 Cor. 8. 2. If you should go on carking and caring and feathering your nests God may take you off or set your nests on fire A little serves the turn to bring us to Heaven And when our desires are moderate God will not fail Prov. 16. 8. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right 2. For discontent with your portion that you may not always be craving more meditate upon the baseness and vanity of worldly things They do but deceive us with a vain shew they cannot give us any true joy of heart or peace of Conscience or security against future evil they cannot give you health of body nor add one cubit to your stature nor one day to your lives now should we disquiet our selves for a vain shew shall there be such toil in getting such fear of losing when they are of no more use to us in the hour of death When you need strength and comfort most all these things will leave you shiftless helpless if they continue with you so long Nay reason thus the more estate the more danger the greater charge lyeth upon you Larger gates do but open to larger cares There is more duty more danger more snares more temptations When you have more you will be more difficultly saved It is a truth pronounced by the Lord of Truth That it is a hard matter for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It will be more hard to keep the flesh in order to guide our spirits aright in the ways of God If you must needs be coveting labouring and carking you are called to better things Ioh. 6. 27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life Covet the best gifts 1 Cor. 12. 31. Be as passionate for grace as others are for the world If once you were acquainted with these better things it would be so with you you would never leave the fair and fresh pastures of grace for the barren heath of the world If you did once tast the sweet of Heavenly things then let dogs scramble for bones and scraps you have hidden Manna to feed upon the sense of Gods love to look after hopes of everlasting glory wherewith to solace your souls If once you did tast of these everlasting riches you would do so 1 Tim. 6. 10 11. There are many that through the love of mony have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows But thou O man of God flee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness Let the men of the world whose portion and happiness lyeth here scramble for these things but you that profess your selves Children of God follow after all the gifts and graces of the Spirit let that be your holy covetousness to increase in these things SERMON XLII PSAL. CXIX Vers. 37. Turn thou away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity and quicken thou me in thy way DAvid still continueth his requests to God for Grace and intituleth him to the whole Work He had prayed before that God would incline his Heart Now that he would Turn away his Eyes from beholding worldly Vanities In this Prayer there are two Branches the one concerneth Mortification the other Vivification 1. Turn away Then Quicken c. The first request is for the removing the Impediments of obedience the other for Addition of new degrees of Grace These two are fitly joyned for they have a natural Influence upon one another unless we turn away our Eyes from Vanity we shall soon contract a deadness of Heart Nothing causeth it so much as an inordinate liberty in carnal Vanities when our affections are alive to other things they are dead to God therefore the less we let loose our Hearts to these things the more lively and Chearful in the work of Obedience On the other side the more the Vigour of Grace is renewed and the Habits of it quickned into actual exercise the more is Sin mortified and Subdued Sin dieth and our Senses are restored to their proper use These two requests are fitly joyned Let us consider them asunder 1. Turn away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity There observe 1. The Object Vanity 2. The Faculty mine Eyes 3. The Act of Grace desired The removing of this Faculty from this Object 1. The Object Vanity Thereby is meant carnal and worldly Things worldly Pleasures worldly Honour worldly Profits all these are called Vanity because they have no solid happiness in them and do so easily fade and Perish Thus 't is said Prov. 31. 30. Favour is deceitful and Beauty is Vain The same is true of any other Transporting Object Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity Eccle. 1. 2. and Iob. 15. 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in Vanity for Vanity shall be his recompence Rom. 8. 20. The Creature is made Vanity By vanity there is understood the vain things of the World which do so often deceive us as to the happiness they promise 2. The Faculty is mentioned the Eye t is Imployed and commanded by the Heart But this inkindleth new Flames there and as it is set a work by it so it sets the Heart a work again It is the Instrument of increasing Sin in us 3. The act Turn away Our evil delight is too apt to fix it and become a Snare to us till God cureth both Heart and Sense by Grace He prayeth not from beholding it altogether but from beholding as a Snare Doct. It concerneth those that would walk with God to have their Eyes turned away from worldly things I shall give you the meaning in these Propositions 1. He that would be quickned carried out with Life and Vigour in the ways of God must first be Mortified dye unto Sin The
stupid and scornfull as not to cast a look upon him Then we begin to be serious when thoughts of God are more fastened upon our Hearts 2. Why did he make thee not in vain for no wise Agent will make a thing to no purpose especially with such advice Let us make Man Certainly not for a Life of Sin to break his Laws and follow your Lusts and satisfy your fleshly Desires was this God's end that the Creature might rebel against himself This is not consistent with his Goodness to make us for such an end or if so why did he make the Rules of Justice and Equity natural to us so that Man is a Law to himself Rom. 2. 14. nor for Sport and Recreation to eate drink and be merry or to melt away your days in Ease and Idleness He spake rather like a Beast than like a Man Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry thou hast goods laid up for many years Luke 12. 19. If merely for Pleasures why did he give us a Conscience the bruit Beasts are fitter for such an use who have no Conscience and therefore no remorse to imbitter their Pleasures What was the End for which God made us was it to gather Wealth and that the Soul might cater for the Body and we might live well here in the World No for then God's Work would terminate in it self And why were such noble Faculties given us such an high flying Reason that hath a sense of another World if this were all God's end that we might grovel here upon Earth and scrape and heap up this World's Riches We see they are the basest of Men who are given to these kind of pursuits Surely this was not God's end but why was it Prov. 16. 4. God hath made all things for himself for his Glory and so Man to glorify him and enjoy him The Beasts were made to glorify him in their kind but Man to enjoy him This is my End to seek after God to please him to serve him Psal. 14. 2. The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God God that hath fixed his End observeth what Man doth in compliance with it what affection and care they have to find him please him glorify him Reason will tell us as well as Scripture that the first Cause must be the last End and we must end there where we began at first 1 Cor. 10. 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatever ye doe doe all to the Glory of God Well then I was not made for nothing not to sin away my Life nor to sport it away nor to talk it away nor to drudg it away in the servile and basest Offices of this Life my end is to enjoy God and my work and business is to serve and glorify him 3. How little you have answered this End God complaineth of our backwardness to this Work Ier. 8. 6. No Man repented of his wickedness saying what have I done God upon a review found every days work good very good in themselves and their correspondence and frame Gen. 1. 31. But when we consider our Ways we shall find that all is evil very evil We have too long gone on in a course of Sin and the more we go on the more we shall goe astray and wander from the great End for which we were created which was God's Service and Honour Oh consider your Ways especially when Conscience is set awork by the Word or when we smart under the folly of our own wandrings and God maketh us sensible of our mistake by some smart Scourge if we never seriously thought on our Ways before then is a time to think of them and to count it a Mercy that we are not left to goe on in a course of Sin without checks and disappointments Oh look upon the drift and course of your Lives and Actions pry into every corner of them what have I been doing hitherto spending my days in Vanity and Sin have I remembred my Creatour made it my work to serve him my scope to glorify him have I looked after this as the unum necessarium the great Law and Business of my Life that I might enjoy Communion with God Oh for how long a time hath God been kept out of his right and I have been sowing to the Flesh and never minded the great Errand for which I was sent into the World None can excuse himself 4. The unkindness and baseness of such a course that you may make it odious to the Soul God hath not onely made me but kept me and provided for me day after day The God which fed me all my life-time saith Iacob Gen. 48. 15. I have been fed at his Table cloathed at his cost defended kept when long agoe God might have struck me dead in my Sins and yet all this while I have not thought of God to pay the return of my thanks and obedience to my great Benefactour The vâ—…ry Beasts are more dutifull in their kind to Man who as God's Instrument provideth for them Isa. 1. 3. The Ox knows his owner and the Ass his Masters Crib but my People will not know Israel will not consider How senseless have I been of the great Obligations wherein I stand bound to God there is the fault we do not know and will not consider what hath been done to God for this 5. What it will come to or what will become of you if you should still so continue or if I should go on in this course what will be my portion for ever nothing but an eternal Separation from God and endless Torments with the Devil and his Angels Psal. 50. 22. Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Oh this is the means to awaken the Conscience and to affect the Heart with high and right thoughts of God What will be the end of those that goe far away from God if they do not make hast to come home to him eternal and merciless Vengeance for God will not always bear with forgetfull Sinners they shall be torn in pieces the Soul sent to Hell and the Body to the Grave Oh it concerneth the poor impenitent wretch that now goeth on fearless in a course of Sin immediately to stop in his march lest he be hurried away to the place of Torment and there be no escaping Now urge this upon the Heart and exercise your Thoughts in the remembrance of it and if you have overcome and overwrestled some former qualmes of Conscience now lay it to heart and doe so no more It may be the hour is at hand when God will take away your Souls from you and all your Sins shall be set in order before you and the stupid Conscience that is now senseless shall have a lively feeling of all your Rebellions and Unkindnesses done to God as the Paper which was but
sharpness of apprehension in carnal Things but dull slow and blind in spiritual and heavenly Things Thoughts are spent freely and unweariedly about the one but there is a tediousness and barrenness about the other a Will backward to what is good but a strange bent and urging to what is evil in that which is good we need a Spur in evil a Bridle these things persevere with us but how fickle and changable in any holy Resolution the Memory slippery in what is good but firm and strong in what is evil the Affections quick easily stirred like Tinder catch fire at every spark but as to that which is good they are like fire in green Wood hardly kept in with much blowing Again our delight is soon moved by things pleasing to Sense a carnal gust and savour is very natural to us and rise with us Rom. 8. 5. but averse from the chiefest good and every thing that leadeth to it Surely then we have need to goe to God and complain of Corruption sometimes under the notion of a blind and dark Mind begging the illumination of the Spirit sometimes under the notion of a dead hard Heart or an unperswadable Will begging his inclining as well as inlightning Grace Surely they are strangely hardened that do not see a need of a spiritual Understanding Nay God's Children after Grace received though sanctified betimes yet halt of the old Maim dull in Spirituals alive and active in carnal Matters Carnal and worldly Men act more uniformly and suitably to their Principles than the Children of God to theirs Luke 16. 8. The Children of this world are wiser in their generation than the Children of light that is more dexterous in the course of their Affairs Grace for the present worketh but a partial Cure we have the advantage in matter of Motive we have better and higher things to mind but they have the advantage in matter of Principle their Principles are unbroken but the Principles of the best are mixed we cannot doe what we would in heavenly things there is the back-bias of Corruption that turns us away and therefore they need to be instant with God to heal their Souls sometimes a blind Mind and sometimes a distempered Heart 5. We must be new made and born again before we can be apt or able to know or doe the Will of God as Christ inferreth the necessity of Regeneration from the corruption of Nature he had been discoursing with Nicodemus You cannot enter into the Kingdome of God For that which is born of the flesh is flesh John 3. 5 6. Our Souls naturally accommodate themselves to the Flesh and seek the good of the Flesh and all our Thoughts and Care and Life and Love runs that way now what was lost in Adam can onely be recovered in Christ 't is not enough that God's hands have once made us and fashioned us but there is a necessity of being made and fashioned anew of becoming his workmanship in Christ Iesus Eph. 2. 10. and so the words of the Text may be interpreted in this sense Thou hast made me once Lord new make me thy hands made me O Lord give me a new Heart that I may obey thee In the first Birth God gave us a natural Understanding in the second a spiritual Understanding that we may learn his Commandments First that we may be good and then doe good The first Birth gave us the natural Faculty the second the Grace or those divine Qualities which were lost by Adam's Sin better never been born unless born again better be a Beast than a Man if the Lord give us not the knowledge of himself in Christ. The Beasts when they die their Misery and Happiness dieth with them Death puts an end to their Pain and Pleasure but we that have Reason and Conscience to foresee the end and know the way enter into perfect Happiness or Misery at death unless the Lord sanctify this Reason and give us an heart to know him in Christ and choose that which is good Man is but a higher kind of Beast a wiser sort of Beast Psalm 49. 12. for his Soul is onely employed to cater for the Body and his Reason is prostituted to Sense the Beast rides the Man We are not distinguished from the Bruits by our Senses but our Understanding and our Reason but in a carnal Man the Soul is a kind of Sense 't is wholly imployed about the animal Life There is not a more brutish Creature in the World than a worldly wicked Man Well then David had need to pray Lord thou hast given me Reason give me the knowledge of thy self and thy blessed Will 6. When we seek this Grace or any degree of it 't is a proper Argument to urge that we are God's Creatures so doth David here I am now come to my very Business and therefore I shall a little shew how far Creation is pleadable and may any way incourage us to ask spiritual Understanding and renewing Grace 1. In the general I shall lay down this 'T is a good way of reasoning with God to ask another Gift because we have received one already 'T is not a good way of reasoning with Man because he wastes by giving but a good way with God and that upon a double account Partly because in some cases Deus donando debet God by giving doth in effect bind himself to give more as by giving Life to give Food by giving a Body to give Rayment Matth. 6. 25. God by sending such a Creature into the World chargeth his Providence to maintain him as long as he will use him for his glory God loveth to crown his own Gifts Zech. 3. 2. Is not this a brand plucked out of the burnings The thing pleaded there is was not this a Brand plucked out of the fire one Mercy is pleaded to obtain another Mercy So God bindeth himself to give perseverance 2 Cor. 1. 10. but this is not the case here for by giving common Benefits he doth not bind himself to give saving Graces And partly too because he doth not waste by giving his mercy endureth for ever The same reason is given for all those Mercies Psalm 136. Why the Lord chose a Church maintaineth his Church giveth daily bread his mercy endureth for ever God is where he was at first he giveth liberally and upbraideth not James 1. 5. he doth not say I have given already Now a former common Mercy sheweth God's readiness and freeness to give the Inclination to doe good still abideth with him he is as ready and as free to give still daily Bread his mercy endureth for ever spiritual Wisdome his mercy endureth for ever indeed the giving of daily Bread doth not necessarily bind God to give spiritual Wisdome but that which is not a sure ground to expect may be a probable incouragement to ask and learn this that though nothing can satisfy Unbelief yet Faith can pick Arguments out of any thing and make use of
compared with all that may be called life Life is either Natural Spiritual or Eternal Compare it with life Natural and there the Psalmist will tell you Psal. 63. 3. Thy loving-kindness is better than life life is not life without it without the feeling of this love or the hope of feeling it it is little worth To have the light of the Sun which is the comfort of the senses without the light of God's Countenance which is the comfort of the soul is a sad and dark estate especially to the Children of God that know they are made for another world and for this onely in their passage thither Natural life onely giveth us a capacity to injoy the comforts of sense which are base dreggy and corruptive but the special favour of God lets us into such consolations as perfect the Soul and affects it with a greater pleasure than our natural faculties are capable of life natural is a frail brittle thing but these saving effects of Gods mercy lay a Foundation of eternal happiness Life natural may grow a burden but the love of God is never burdensome the days may come in which there is no pleasure Eccl. 12. 1. Job 33. 20. his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty food in sickness and age in troubles of Conscience Men do pretty well with their worldly happiness till God rebuke man for sin then all the glory profit and pleasure of the creature doth us no good Psal. 39. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Iudas halter'd himself when filled with the sense of Gods wrath Iob chose strangling rather than life At death when all worldly things cease and are of no more use to us the sense of Gods love will be of great use to us All the world understand the worth and value of Gods love when death cometh then a child of God feeleth it Oh saith he I would not for all the world but that I had made sure of the love of God before this hour how terrible else would it have been to leave all and leap out into an unknown world Ier. 17. 9. The unjust man at his latter end shall be a fool and Iob 27. 8. What is the hope of the Hypocrite if he hath gained when God cometh to take away his Soul 2. Life Spiritual the Soul hath no life but in communion with God who is the fountain of this new life now the more sensible and close this is the more they live the vitality of this life lyeth in the sensible participation of the effects of his special grace and mercy then we have it more abundantly Iohn 10. 10. not onely living but lively 3. For eternal life a comfortable sense of Gods mercy is the beginning and pledg of the true and heavenly life Rom. 5. 4 5 6. The shedding abroad the love of God in the heart of a believer maketh this his hope sure and certain he needeth not be ashamed for he hath earnest beforehand 2. Gods favour furnisheth us with a remedy against all evils and miseries i. e. wants troubles sins The want of other things may be supplyed by the love of God but the want of the love of God cannot be supplyed with any thing else if poor in the world yet we may be rich in faith Iam. 2. 5. if afflicted destitute yet this loss may be made up by the presence of God in the Soul 2 Cor. 4. 16. As our outward man decayeth our inward man is renewed day by day If they want the creature they have God there is no want of a candle when they have the Sun if they want health the Soul may be in good plight 3. Epist. Iohn 2. as Gaius had a healthy soul in a sickly body If they want liberty they ly open to the visits of his grace the Spirit of God is no stranger to them nor can his company and comforts be shut out Tertullian telleth the Martyrs you went out of the prison when you went into it and were but sequestred from the world that you might converse with God the greatest prisoners are those that are at large darkened with ignorance chained with lusts committed not by the Proconsul but God If they want the favour of men they have the favour of God God smileth when the world frowneth they may be Banished but every place is alike near to God and Heaven Some climates are nearer and some further off from the Sun but all alike near to the Sun of Righteousness Ibi pater ubi patria that is our Country where God is we are harrassed beaten afflicted in sundry manners but the sting is gone therod that is dip'd in guilt smarteth most but a pardoned man may rejoyce in tribulations Rom. 5. 1 2. But now on the contrary suppose a man high in honour wallowing in wealth spending his time and wealth in ease and pleasure but after all this God will bring him to Judgment the world is his friend but God is his enemy and he is all his life time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14. not always felt but soon awakened and during the time of his comfort and delight he is danceing about the brink of hell liable to an eternal curse and there is but the slender thread of a frail life between him and execution a few serious sober thoughts undoe him 2. Sin that is the great evil both as to the guilt of it and the wages of it the guilt and obliquity of it no creature can provide a plaister for this sore to get our Consciences setled and our natures healed this is the special fruit of Gods mercy in Christ his business is to save us from sin Matt. 1. 21. Acts. 3. 26. God having raised up his son Iesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquity Rom. 11. 26. There shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Iacob have Gods Image repaired and restored to his Grace and Favour those that have felt sin a burden nothing will satisfie till the Lord looks graciously upon them 3. The favour of the Lord is the fountain of all blessings Get an interest in his special mercy and then all things are yours you have God for your God who commandeth all things 1 Cor. 3. 22. Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all things are yours Matt. 6. 33. First seek the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you Prov. 10. 22. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it 4. It sweetens every Comfort a piece of bread with the love of God is a plentifull feast A little that a righteous man hath is better than the revenue of many wicked Quid prodest regium alimentum si ad Gehennam pascat What profiteth it to be fatted
2. There are certain things that cannot be discerned by external senses yet a Christian may have a feeling of them by internal sense 3. The outward senses sometimes set the inward senses awork 1. Because in those things which are liable to external sense a man may have an outward sense of them when he hath not an inward as in Seeing Tasting Touching In Seeing Deut. 29. 2. compar'd with ver 4. Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt and yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day They saw yet had not an heart to see they saw those wonders with the eyes of their body they had a sense outward and natural but not a sense inward and spiritual So for Taste There is a Taste of God's goodness in the creature all taste it by their outward senses Psal. 145. 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works The wicked are not excepted from this taste for the creatures are as useful for the preservation of their lives as the lives of others They do not mind God's love in it and so do rather taste the creature than God's goodness in the creature but the child of God tasteth his love therein The Fly finds no Honey in the Flower but the Bee doth A fleshly â—…alate relisheth only the gross pleasure of the creature not that refined delight which a spiritual Palate hath who hath a double sweetness it doth not only receive the creature for its natural use but it tasts God and feels the love of God in the conscience as well as the warmth of the creature in his bowels So for Feeling Ier. 3. 25. We lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God Men may feel the blows of his Providence and be sensible of the natural inconvenience yet they have not a spiritual feeling so as to be affected with God's displeasure and have a kindly impression left upon the soul that may make them return to God 2. It differs from the outward senses because they can by a spiritual sense discern that which cannot be discerned by the outward sense as in that place Heb. 11. 27. By faith Moses saw him that was invisible See the invisible God and are as much affected with his eye and presence as if he were before the eyes of the body as others are awed by the presence of a worldly Potentate this is matter of internal sense So for Taste they have meat which the world knows not of invisible comforts Iohn 4. 37. They have hidden Manna to feed upon and are as deeply affected with a sense of God's love and hopes of eternal life as others are with all outward dainties Then as to Feeling many things the outward sense cannot discern sometimes they feel spiritual agonies heart-breakings when all is well and sound without a man would wonder what they should be troubled about that abound in wealth and all worldly comforts and accommodations they have an inward feeling they feel that which worldly men feel not when they are afflicted in their spirits carnal comforts can work nothing upon them when they are afflicted outwardly spiritual comforts ease their heart And as they feel soul-agonies and soul-comforts so they feel the operations of the spiritual life they have a feeling of the power of the Spirit working in them they live and know that they live Now no man knows that he lives but by sense therefore if a Child of God knows he lives he hath internal sense as well as external We know we live naturally by natural sense and we know we live spiritually by spiritual sense Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me He lived and knew that he lived they have a life which they feel within themselves the operations and motions of the spiritual life they feel its impulsions to duty its abhorrencies from sin tendency of soul to God and spiritual supports and they feel the stirrings of the old nature workings of heart towards sin and vanity which the outward senses cannot discover 3. The outward senses sometimes set the inward senses a work The sweetness of those good things which are liable to sense put us in mind of the sweetness of better things as the Prodigal's Husks put him in mind of the Bread in his Father's House or as the Priests of Mercury among the Heathen when they were eating Figs they were to cry Truth is sweet because the god whom they worshipped was supposed to be the inventer of Arts and the discoverer of Truth So Christians when by the outward taste they find any thing sweet the inward sense is set a work and they have a more lively feeling of spiritual comforts as David Honey is sweet but the Word of God was sweeter than honey to him or the honey-comb Thus Christ when he was eating Bread Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God Luk. 14. 15. and they that have Christ's Spirit they act suitably 2 This sense differs from a bare and simple act of the understanding why for a man may know things that he doth not feel Simple apprehension is one thing and an impression another An apprehension of the sharpness of pain is not a feeling of the sharpness of pain Jesus Christ had a full apprehension of his sufferings all his life-long but felt them not until his agonies therefore he said Iohn 12. 27. Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say We have Notions of good and evil when we neither taste the one nor the other It is one thing to know sin to be the greatest evil and another thing to feel it to be so to know the excellency of Christ's love and to taste the sweetness of it this doth not only constitute a difference between a renewed and carnal man but sometimes between a renewed man and himself 1. Between renewed men and carnal men they know the same truths yet have not the same affections A carnal man may talk of truths according to godliness and may dispute of them and hold opinions about them but doth not taste them so he does but know the grace of God in conceit not in truth and reality as the expression is Col. 1. 6. As a man only that hath read of Honey may have a fancy and imagination of the sweetness of it but he that tasts it knows it in truth and in effect they know the grace of God and the happiness of being in communion with God by the light of nature in conceit but not in reality but the other they taste it If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious 1 Pet. 2. 3. There 's an impression of sweetness left upon the soul and real experience of the goodness of God in Christ so as to make them affect him with all
spirit Be careful for the Soul that you may keep up a lively faith and a constant sense of blessedness to come and so rejoyce in God Oh how much time and pains do men waste in decking and trimming the Body when in the mean time they neglect their Souls We may all fall a weeping when we consider how little we look after this inner life to keep that in heart and vigour SERMON CXXVIII PSAL. CXIX VER 116 117. And let me not be ashamed of my hope Hold thou me up and I shall be safe and I will have respect unto thy Statutes continually IN the former Verse I observed David begs two things Confirmation in waiting and the full and final accomplishment of his hopes Something remains upon the 116th Verse Let me not be ashamed of my hope Hope follows faith and nourisheth it Faith assures there is a promise hope looks out for the accomplishment of it Now David having fixed his hope upon the mercies of God begs Let me not be ashamed that is that hope may not be disappointed for hope disappointed brings shame Man is conscious of the folly and rashness in conceiving such a hope Iob 6. 20. They were confounded because they had hoped they came thither and were ashamed They looked for water from the Brooks of Tema but when they were dried up they were confounded and ashamed That breeds shame when we are frustrated in our expectations There is a hope that will leave us ashamed and there is another hope that will not leave us ashamed for David goes to God and desires him to accomplish his hope There is a Christian hope that is founded upon the mercies and promises of God and encouraged by experience of God that will never deceive us I shall speak of that hope that will bring shame and confusion and that is twofold worldly hope and carnal security 1. Worldly hopes such as are built upon worldly men and worldly things Upon worldly men they are mutable and so may deceive us sometimes their minds may change the favour of man is a deceitful thing As Cardinal Wolsey said in his distress If I had served God as diligently as I have done the King he would not have given me over in my grey hairs but it 's a just reward for my study to do him service not regarding the service of God to do him pleasure Let God be true and every man a Liar A man makes way for shame that humours the lusts of others and wrongs his Conscience and first or last they will find it is better to put confidence in God than the greatest Potentates in the World Psal. 118. 8. and therefore it should be our chief care to apply our selves to God and study his pleasure rather than to please men and conform our selves to their uncertain minds and interests To attend God daily and be at his beck is a stable happiness the other is a poor thing to build upon Mens affections are mutable and so is their condition too Psal. 62. 9. Surely men of high degree are a lye and men of low degree are vanity Whoever trusts in men high or low are sure to be deceived in their expectations And therefore we should think of it beforehand lest we be left in the dirt when we think they should bear us out 1 Kings 1. 21. When my Lord the King shall sleep with his Fathers I and my Son Solomon shall be counted offenders When the Scene is shifted and new Actors come upon the Stage none so liable to be hated as those that promised to themselves a perpetual happiness by the favour of men This is a hope that will leave us ashamed And then worldly things they that hope in these for their happiness will be ashamed There are two remarkable Seasons when this hope leaves us ashamed in the time of distress of conscience and in the day of death In time of distress of conscience Psal. 39. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a Moth. When sin finds us out and Conscience goes to work upon the sense of its own guilt O then what will all the plenty of worldly Comforts do us good The Creatures then have spent their allowance and can help us no more What good will an Estate do And all the pomp and bravery of the World will be of no more use to us than a rich shoo to a gouty foot Prov. 18. 14. A wounded spirit who can bear But now he that hath chosen God for his portion in all distress and calamities can revive his hopes So also in the hour of death Iob 27. 8. What is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God shall take away his soul When God puts the Bond in suit though man hath gained where 's his hope when God delivers him over to the Executioner to Chains of darkness 2. Carnal security will leave us ashamed Men living in their sins hope they shall do well enough and expect mercy to bear all and pardon all though they be not so strict and nice as others yet they shall do as well as they This hope is compared to a Spiders Web Iob 8. 12. a poor slight thing that is gone with the blast of every temptation when the Besome comes both Spider and Web are swept away And it is said Iob 11. 20. The hope of the wicked is like the giving up of the Ghost and these in a moment take an everlasting farewel of their hopes So their hopes fail in the greatest extremity This carnal and secure hope in God presumption of his mercy it is but a waking dream as a dream fills men with vain delusions and phantasms It is notably set out by the Prophet Isai. 29. 8. They shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty There will an awakening time come and then the Dream of a hungry man torments him more Carnal men are like Dreamers that lose all as soon as they are awake though they dream of enjoying Scepters and Crowns yet they are in the midst of Bonds and Irons Vain elūsions do they please themselves with that make way for eternal sorrow and shame Let us see how this false hope of the wicked differs from the true hope of Gods Children First This hope is not indeed built upon God God hath the name but indeed they trust upon other things as those women the Prophet speaks of Isai. 4. 1. We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach So they call their hope ◅fter Gods name but their hearts are born up with other things as appears because when outward things fail they are at a loss and begin to awake out of their dream especially in adistressed case when it pincheth hard Secondly It is not a serious and advised trust
To press you to walk according to this rule if you would be blessed To this end let me press you to take the Law of God for your Rule the Spirit of God for your Guide the Promises for your encouragement and the Glory of God for your end 1. Take the Law of God for your Rule Study the mind of God and know the way to Heaven and keep exactly in it It is an argument of sincerity when a man is careful to practise all that he knows and to be inquisitive to know more even the whole will of God and when the heart is held under awe of Gods word If a Commandement stand in the way it is more to a gracious heart than if a thousand Bears and Lyons were in the way more than if an Angel stood in the way with a flaming sword Prov. 13. 13. He that feareth the Commandment shall be rewarded Would you have blessings from God fear the Commandment It is not he that fears wrath punishment inconveniencies troubles of the world molestations of the flesh no but he that dares not make bold with a Commandment As Ier. 35. 6. Go bring a temptation set pots of Wine before the Rechabites O they durst not drink of them why Ionadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying Ye shall drink no wine Thus a child of God doth reason when the Devil comes and sets a temptation before him and being zealous for God dares not comply with the lusts and humours of men though they should promise him peace happiness and plenty A wicked man makes no bones of a Commandment but a godly man when he is in a right posture of spirit and the awe of God is upon him dare not knowingly and wittingly go aside and depart from God 2. Take the Spirit of God for your Guide We can never walk in Gods way without the conduct of Gods Spirit We must not only have a way but a voice to direct us when we are wandering Isa. 30. 21. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying This is the way walk in it Sheep have a Shepherd as well as a Fold and children that learn to write must have a Teacher as well as a Copy and so it is not enough to have a Rule but we must have a Guide a Monitor to put us in mind of our duty The Israelites had a pillar of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night The Gospel-Church is not destitute of a Guide Psal. 37. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory The Spirit of God is the Guide and Director to warn us of our duty 3. The Promises for your encouragement If you look elsewhere and live by sense and not by faith you shall have discouragements enough How shall a man carry himself through the temptations of the world with honour to God 2 Pet. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruptions that are in the world through lust When we have promises to bear us up this will carry us clear through temptations and make us act generously nobly and keep close to him 4. Fix the Glory of God for your aim else it is but a carnal course The spiritual life is a living to God Gal. 2. 20. when he is made the end of every action You have a journey to take and whether you sleep or wake your journey is still a going As in a ship whether men sit lye or walk whether they eat or sleep the ship holds on its course and makes towards its Port. So you all are going into another World either to Heaven or Hell the broad or the narrow way and then do but consider how comfortable it will be at your journey's end in a dying hour to have been undefiled in the way then wicked men that are defiled in their way will wish they had kept more close and exact with God even those that now wonder at the niceness and zeal of others when they see that they must in earnest into another world oh then that they had been more exact and watchful and stuck closer to the Rule in their practice discourses compliances Men will have other notions then of holiness than they had before oh then they 'l wish that they had beem more circumspect Christ commended the unjust Steward for remembring that in time he should be put out of his Stewardship You will all fail within a little while then your poor shiftless naked souls must launch out into another world and immediately come to God How comfortable will it be then to have walked closely according to the line of Obedience The Third Point That a close walker not only shall be blessed but is blessed in hand as well as in hope How is he blessed 1. He is freed from wrath he hath his discharge and the blessedness of a pardoned man Joh. 5. 24. He that believeth on Christ hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation for he hath passed from death to life he is out of danger of perishing which is a great mercy 2. He is taken into favour and respect with God Joh. 15. 14. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you There is a real friendship made up between us and Christ not only in point of harmony and agreement of mind but mutual delight and fellowship with each other 3. He is under the special care and conduct of Gods Providence that he may not miscarry 1 Cor. 3. 23. All things are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods All the conditions of his life are over-ruled for good his blessings are sanctified and his miseries unstinged Rom. 8. 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose 4. He hath a sure Covenant-right to everlasting glory 1 Joh. 3. 1. Behold now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be c. Is a Title nothing before we come to enjoy the Estate We count a Worldly Heir happy as well as a Possessor and are not Gods Heirs happy 5. He hath sweet experiences of Gods goodness towards him here in this world Psal. 17. 15. As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness The joy of the presence and sense of the Lords love will counterbalance all worldly joys 6. He hath a great deal of peace Gal. 6. 16. And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God Obedience and holy walking bringeth peace Great peace have they which love thy Law and nothing shall offend them Psal. 119. 165. As there is peace in nature when all things keep their place and order This peace others cannot
to be discharged seriously A man is very careful that hath taken a trust upon him to preserve it No men that have given up their names to Christ but they have taken up this trust upon them to keep his precepts therefore we should do it with all diligence and heedfulness of soul. 6. We have no other plea to evidence our sincerity we are guilty of many defects and cannot do as we would where lyes our evidence then when we set our selves to obey and aim at the highest exactness to serve him with our best affections and strength A child of God he doth not do all that God hath required but he doth his best and then that 's a sign the heart is upright For what is this diligence but our utmost study and endeavour after perfection to avoid all known evils and to practise all known duties and that with as much care as we can Now this is an argument of our sincerity and then our slips are but failings which God will spare pity pardon Mal. 3. 17. I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him c. Where a man is careless and failings are allowed then they are iniquities A father out of indulgence may pass by a failing when his son waits upon him suppose when he spills the wine and breaks the glass but surely will not allow him to throw it down carelesly or willfully We have no other plea to evidence our sincerity but this Use. It presseth us whatever we do for the great God to do it with all our might Eccles. 9. 10. There is no weighty thing can be done without diligence much more the keeping the Commandment Satan is diligent in tempting and we our selves are weak and infirm we cannot do the least thing as we should And the danger of miscarrying is so great that surely it will require all our care Wherein should we shew this diligence and exactness when we keep all the parts of the Law and that at all times and places and that with the whole man 1. When we strive to keep the Law in all the points of it this was Paul's Exercise Acts 24. 16. To keep a good Conscience void of offence both towards God and man Mark here was his great business this is to be diligent when a man labours to keep a good Conscience always And saith he herein or upon this do I exercise my self that is upon this encouragement upon hope of a blessed Resurrection for that 's spoken of there There are wages and recompences enough in Heaven therefore we should not grudg at a little work that we may not be drawn willingly from the least part of our duty 2. When we do it at all times and places and in all company then it 's a sign we mind the work then are we diligent Psal. 106. 3. Blessed is he that doth righteousness at all times Not only now and then but 't is his constant course We do not judg mens complexions by the colour they have when they sit before the fire We cannot judg of men by a fit and pang when they are under the awe of an Ordinance or in good company but when at all times he labours to keep up a warmth of heart towards God 3. When he labours to do this with his whole man not only in pretence and with his body or outward man but with inward affections Rom. 1. 9. My God whom I serve in the spirit And the true people of God are described Phil. 3. 3. To worship God in the spirit When they labour to bring their hearts under the power of Gods precepts and do not only mind conformity of the outward man this is to keep the precepts of God diligently All this is to be understood not in exact perfection but it is to be understood of our striving labouring watching of our praying and of our exercising our selves hereunto that we may with our whole man come under the full obedience of the Law of God and may manifest it upon all occasions at all times in all companies and places and this is an evidence of our sincerity SERMON VI. PSAL. CXIX 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes IN the former Verse he had spoken of God's Authority now he beggeth grace to obey Thou hast commanded and Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes 1. Note That it is the use and duty of the people of God to turn precepts into prayers That this is the practice of God's children appeareth Ier. 31. 18. Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God God had said Turn you and you shall live and they ask it of God Turn us as he required it of them 'T was Austin's prayer Da quod jubes jube quod vis Give what thou requirest and require what thou wilt It is the duty of the Saints for 1. It suiteth with the Gospel-Covenant where precepts and promises go hand in hand where God giveth what he commandeth and worketh all our works in us and for us They are not conditions of the Covenant only but a part of it What God hath required at our hands that we may desire at his hands God is no Pharaoh to require brick where he giveth no straw Lex jubet gratia juvat The Articles of the New Covenant are not only put into the form of precepts but promises The Law giveth no strength to perform any thing but the Gospel offereth Grace 2. Because by this means the ends of God are fulfilled Why doth God require what we cannot perform by our own strength He doth it 1. To keep up his right 2. To convince us of our impotency and that upon a trial without his grace we cannot do his work 3. That the creature may express his readiness to obey 4. To bring us to lye at his feet for grace Now when we turn precepts into prayers all these ends are accomplished First To keep up his right If we have lost our power there is no reason God should lose his right A drunken servant is under the obligation and duty of a servant still he is unable to do his Masters work but he is bound to it It is unreasonable that another should suffer through my default Well then God may well command the faln creature to keep his precepts diligently Now when we deal earnestly with God about it it argueth a sense of his authority upon our hearts If we were not held under the awe of the commandment why should we be so earnest about it If men were more sensible of their obligation we should have more prayers in this kind This is the will of God and how shall I do to observe it 2. To convince us of our impotency and that upon a trial practical conviction is best We may discourse of the weakness and insufficiency of the Creature but we are not affected with it till we try A diseased man
young or had more leisure and rest In that I have meditated and conferred You must continue still in a holy course To begin to build and leave unfinished is an argument of folly There is always the same reason for going on that there was for beginning both for necessity profit and sweetness We have no licence to slack and give over till all be finished Phil. 2. 12. Work out your own salvation otherwise all you do is in vain yet not in vain Gal. 3. 4. in vain as to final reward yet not in vain as to encrease of punishment You lose your cost your watchings striving prayings but you will gain a more heavy punishment so that it had been better you had never begun 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them You bring an ill report upon God your sense of the worth of heavenly things must needs be greater for your making trial and therefore your punishment for neglect the greater Into the Vineyard they came at several hours but all tarried till the close of the day Some called sooner some later but all held out till the end Heb. 6. 10 11. You have ministred and must minister you have prayed and must pray you have heard the word with gladness and must hear still Many in youth are zealous but when their first heats are spent grow worldly careless and ready to sound a retreat from God The fire of the Altar was never to go out so should the life and warmth and vigour of our affections to the word of God be ever preserved God is the same still and so is the word and therefore we should ever be the same in our respects to it The Devil in policy lets men alone for a while to manifest some respect to the ways of God that they may after do Religion a They are full of zeal strict holy diligent in attendance upon Ordinances he never troubleth them but is at truce with them all this while till they get some name for the profession of godliness and then he knoweth their fall will be the more scandalous and ignominious not only to themselves but to their profession They are forward and hot men a while till they have run themselves out of breath and then by a notable defection shame themselves and harden others 2. Compare it with the 13th verse I have declared now I will meditate To be warm and affectionate in our expressions of respect to the Word before others and to slight it in our own hearts argueth gross hypocrisie Therefore David would not only confer but meditate Many talk with others but not with their own soul. Commune with your hearts and be still True zeal is uniform when there is no witness but God it acts alike 3. Refer it to the 14th Verse David had spoken of his delight in the Law now that he would meditate therein in both not to boast but to excite others by his example that is to be understood all along when he speaketh of his diligence in and about the Law of God But mark first the word was his delight and then his meditation Delight causeth meditation and meditation encreaseth delight Psal. 1. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night A man that delighteth in the Law of God will exercise his mind therein Our thoughts follow our affections It is tedious and irksome to the flesh to meditate but delight will carry us out The smallest actions when we have no delight in them seem tedious and burdensome It was no great matter for Haman to lead Mordecai's Horse yet a burdensome offensive service because it was against his will The difficulty that we find in holy duties lyeth not in the duties themselves but in the awkwardness of our affections Many think they have no parts and therefore they cannot meditate He that findeth an heart to this work will find an head Delight will set the mind a-work for we are apt to muse and pause upon that which is pleasing to us Why are not holy thoughts as natural and as kindly to us as carnal The defect is in the heart I have rejoyced in thy testimonies saith David and therefore I will meditate in thy statutes In the words there is a double expression of Davids love to the Law of God 1. I will meditate in thy precepts 2. I will have respect to thy ways Concerning which observe 1. In both the notion by which the word of God is expressed and diversified Precepts Ways The word precepts implieth Gods Authority by which the counsels of the word are ratified Ways implieth a certain direction for our walk to heaven There are Gods ways to us declared in his Promises so it is said Psal. 25. 10. All the paths of God are mercy and truth Our ways to God ver 4. of that Psalm Shew me thy ways teach me thy paths These are his precepts 2. Observe the one is the fruit of the other I will meditate and then I will have respect Meditation is in order to practice and if it be right it will beget a respect to the ways of God We do not meditate that we may rest in contemplation but in order to obedience Joshua 1. 8. Thou shalt meditate in the book of the law day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein So Phil. 4. 8 9. Think of these things do these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when you cast up your accounts and consider what God hath required of you it is that you may set upon the work Meditation is not a flourishing of the wit that we may please the fancy by playing with divine truths Sense is diseased that must be fed with quails but a serious inculcation of them upon the heart that we may urge it to practice Nor yet an acquainting our selves with the word that we may speak of it in company Conference is for others Meditation for our selves when we are alone Words are but the female issue of our thoughts works the male Nor meerly to store our selves with curious notions and subtil inquiries study searcheth out a truth but Meditation improveth it for practical use it is better to be sincere than subtil 3. Observe this practical obedience is expressed by having respect unto the ways of God To respect Gods ways is to take heed that we do not turn out of them to regard them and our selves observe to do them Josh. 1. 8. and it is called elsewhere pondering our path Prov. 4. 26. ponder the path of thy feet that we
a step-mother yet you remember you have a better home From whence do you fetch your supports in any cross Doth this comfort you in the midst of the molestations of the World They do not know your birth your breeding your hopes nor your expectations Strangers may be abused in a foreign place when we come home this will be forgotten The Saints walk up and down like a Prince that travels abroad in disguise though he be slighted abused he doth not appear what he shall be You have a glorious inheritance reserved for you this is your Cordial and the reviving of your souls and that which doth your heart good to think of and so you can be contented to suffer loss and inconveniences upon these hopes The discourse between Modestus a Governour under Valens and Basil in Nazianzen his twentieth Oration is very notable I shall only transcribe what is exactly to the purpose in hand When he threatned him with banishment I know no banishment saith he who know no abiding-place here in the world I do not count this place mine nor can I say the other is not mine rather all is Gods whose stranger and pilgrim I am This was that which supported him in the midst of those threatnings Therefore from whence do you fetch your support 5. If Religion be kept up in heigth and majesty the World will count you strangers they will stand wondering at your conversation 1 Pet. 4. 4. Men gaze upon those that come hither in a foreign habit that do not conform to the fashions of the countrey and so a child of God is wondred at that walks in a counter-motion to the studies and practices of other men as one that is not conformed to the world Rom. 12. 2. What do you discover of the spirit of your Countrey so as to convince others Thus much by way of enquiry namely Whether we are strangers yea or no USE 2. Behave your selves as strangers here upon earth 1. Avoid fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2. 11. these cloud the eye and besot the heart and make us altogether for a present good they weaken our desires of heaven 't is the Apostles argument As strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts The flesh-pots of Egypt made Israel to despise Canaan and so this is that which will take off our hearts from things to come from the inheritance of the Saints in light and from that blessed estate God hath promised 2. Grasp not at too much of the World but what comes with a fair Providence upon honest endeavours accept with thanks 1 Tim. 6. 9. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare c. The Devil hath you upon the hip when you make that your business and scope not he that is but will be rich that fixes that as his scope Then the heart is filled with sins and the head with cares 3. If an Estate comes in slowly remember a little will serve our turns to heaven more would be but a burden and snare Those that have their portion here most of Worldly things what do they get by it a little belly-cheer Psal. 17. 14. and they leave the rest to their babes Dainty cheer is no great matter and to leave our posterity great is but to leave them in a snare Children are under a Providence and a Covenant as well as we and it is blasphemous to think we can provide for them better than God 4. If God give abundance rest not in them with a carnal complacency Psal. 62. 10. If riches encrease set not your heart on them Suffer not thy heart to rejoyce in them as your only portion so as to grow proud of them so as to count them your good things Luke 16. 25. you that are strangers have better things to mind 5. Keep up a warm respect to your everlasting home It is not enough to despise the world but you must look after a better Countrey Many of a slight temper may despise Worldly Profits their Corruptions do not run out that way Heb. 13. 14. We have here no abiding city but we seek one to come Desires thoughts and groans these are the harbingers of the soul that we send into the Land of Promise By this means we tell God that we would be at home 6. Enjoy as much of Heaven as you can in your Pilgrimage in Ordinances in the first-fruits of the Spirit in communion with Saints Grace is but young-Glory and joy in the Holy Ghost is the Suburbs of Heaven and therefore you should get somewhat of your Countrey before you come at it As the Winds do carry the Odors and sweet-smells of Arabia into the neighbouring-provinces so by the breathings of the Holy Ghost upon our hearts do we get a smell of the upper Paradise it is in some measure begun in us before we can get thither and therefore enjoy as much of Heaven as possibly you can in the time of your pilgrimage We have our taste here it is begun in union with Christ and in the work of grace upon the heart And in Ordinances Prayer brings us to the throne of grace it gives us an entrance into Gods presence Heb. 10. 19. the Apostle calls it a boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Iesus A Christian enters heaven while he is here in the world In the word preached Heaven is brought down to us The Gospel is call'd the Kingdom of Heaven And by reading we do as it were converse with the Saints departed that writ what we read Meditation it brings us into the company of God it puts our heads above the clouds amongst the midst of blessed spirits there as if we saw Jesus Christ upon the throne and his Saints triumphing about him Communion of Saints it is Heaven begun therefore you that are strangers should much delight there A man that is abroad would be glad to meet with his own Countrey-men we should be glad of company to go with us to Heaven these are to be our companions for evermore therefore we should converse with them here II. I proceed to the latter clause Hide not thy commandment from me Here 's his Request To make short work of it I shall endeavour to make out the connexion and sense of these words in these Propositions 1. Every man here upon earth especially a godly man is but a stranger and passenger Every man is so in point of condition he must go hence and quit all his enjoyments in the world wicked men whether they will or no but a godly man is so in affection and cannot be satisfied with his present state This I have insisted upon 2. It concerns him that is a stranger to look after a better and more durable state Every man should do so He that lives here for a while is concerned his greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest therefore Eternity should be his scope A godly man will do so Those whose hearts are not set
in present delights and contentments The loss of God's favour carnal men know not how to value but the Saints prefer it above life the favour of God is better than life Psal. 63. 3. therefore if the Lord do but suspend the wonted manifestations of his grace and favour how are their hearts troubled Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Psal. 30. 7. A child of God that lives by his favour cannot brook his absence therefore when they lose the sweet sense of his favour and reconciliation with him O what a trouble is this to their souls Other men make no reckoning of it at all And so for sin common spirits value it only by the damage that it doth to their worldly interests when it costs them dear they may hang the head Jer. 2. 9. Now know what an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake the Lord. A worldly man may know something of the evil of sin in the effects of it but a child of God seeth into the nature of it they value it by the wrong by the offence that is done to God and so are humbled more for the evil in sin than for the evil after sin So for the wrath of God carnal men have gross thoughts of it and may howl upon their beds when their pleasant things are taken from them but God's children are humbled because their Father is angry they observe more the displeasure of God in afflicting Providences than others do and one spark of God's wrath lighting into their consciences O what sad effects doth it work more than all other straits whatsoever Thus they have a clearer understanding they see more into the dreadfulness of God's wrath into the evil of sin and they know how to prize and value his favour more than others 2. They have delicate and tender affections Grace that gives us a new heart doth also give us a soft heart Ezek. 36. 26. I will put a new heart into them what kind of heart a heart of flesh as the old heart that is taken out is a heart of stone A new soft heart doth sooner receive the impression of divine terror than another heart doth A stamp is more easily left upon wax or a soft thing than upon a stone Or thus a slave hath a thicker skin than one nobly born tenderly brought up therefore he is not so sensible of stripes A wicked man hath more cause to be troubled than a godly man but he is not a man of sense he hath a heart of stone and therefore is not so affected either with God's dealings with him or his dealings with God Look as the weight of the blows must not only be considered but the delicateness of the constitution so because their hearts are of a softer and more tender constitution being hearts of flesh and receptive of a deeper impression therefore their sorrows exceed the sorrows of other men Thirdly The good that they expect is exceeding great and their exercise is accordingly for after the rate of our comforts so are our afflictions Wicked men that have nothing to expect in the World to come but horrors and pains they wallow now in ease and plenty Luk. 16. 25. Son in thy life-time thou receivedst thy good things God will be behind-hand with none of his creatures those that do him common service have common blessings in a larger measure than his own people have they have their good things that is such as their hearts chuse and affect But now good men that expect another happiness they must be content to be harras'd and exercis'd that they may be fitted and prepared for the enjoyment of this happiness As the stones that were to be set in the Temple were to be hewn and squar'd so are they to be hewn squar'd and exercised with bitter and sharp things that they may be prepared for the more glory USE 1. Then carnal men are not fit to judg of the Saints when they report their experiences if it be with them above the rate of other men When afflicted consciences speak of their wounds or revived hearts of their comforts their joys are supernatural and so are their sorrows and therefore a natural man thinks all to be but fancy all those joys of the Spirit that they are but Fanatick delusions and he doth not understand the weight of their sorrows When a man is well to see to and hath health strength and wealth they marvel what should make such a man heavy all their care is to eat drink and be merry and therefore because they are not acquainted with the exercises of a feeling conscience they think all this trouble is but a little mopishness and melancholy Poor contrite sinners who are ready to weep out their hearts at their eyes can only understand such expressions as these My soul melteth away for heaviness There 's another manner of thing in trouble of conscience than the carnal world doth imagine and many that have all well about them great Estates much befriended and esteemed in the world yea for the best things yet when God hides his face poor souls how are they troubled If he do but let a spark of his wrath into conscience and hide his face from them it 's a greater burden to them than all the miseries of the world David was a man valiant that had a heart as the heart of a Lyon 2 Sam. 17. 10. He was a man cheerful called the sweet Singer of Israel 2 Sam. 23. 1. of a ruddy sanguine complexion and a great Master of Musick He was no fool but a man wise as the Angel of God and yet you see what a bitter sense he had of his spiritual condition And when a man so stout and valiant so cheerful so wise complains so heavily will you count this mopishness and foolish melancholy But alas men that never knew the weight of sin cannot otherwise conceive of it they were never acquainted with the infiniteness of God nor power of his anger and have not a due sense of Eternity therefore they think so slightly of these matters of the spiritual life USE 2. Be not too secure of spiritual joys We warn you often of security or falling asleep in temporal comforts and we must warn you of this kind of security also in spiritual All things change You may find David in this Psalm in a different posture of spirit sometimes rejoycing in the Word of God above all riches and at other times his soul melteth away for very heaviness God's own people are liable to great trouble of spirit therefore you should not be secure as to these spiritual enjoyments which come and go according to God's pleasure Men that build too much upon spiritual suavities or sensible consolations occasion a snare to their own souls partly as they are less watchful for the present like Mariners which have been at Sea when they get into the Haven take down their tackling and make merry and think never to see
The Law is an enemy to them that count it an enemy and a friend to them that count it a friend 'T is a rule of life to them that delight in it and count it a great mercy to know it and to be subdued to the practice of it But it is a Covenant of Works to them that withdraw the shoulder count it an heavy burden not to be born Well then which do you complain of the Law or your Corruptions What are you troubled with light or lusts A gracious heart groaneth not under the strictness of the Law but under the body of death not because God hath required so much but because they can do no more Doct. 3. That the Law is granted to us or written upon our hearts out of Gods meer grace Grant it graciously saith David I will do it saith God and God will do it upon his own reasons The Conditions of the Covenant are conditions in the Covenant and the Articles that bind us are also promises wherein God is bound to bestow so great a benefit upon poor creatures which doth encourage us to wait for this work with the more confidence We are sensible we have not the law so intimately so closely applied as we should have Lord grant it graciously It is his work to give us a greater sense and care of it SERMON XXXI PSAL. CXIX 30. I have chosen the way of truth thy judgments have I laid before me DAVID asserts his sincerity here in two things 1. In the rightness of his choice I have chosen the way of thy truth 2. In the accurateness of his prosecution Thy judgments have I laid before me First For his choice I have chosen the way of thy truth God having granted him his Law he did reject all false ways of Religion and continued in the profession of the truth of God and the strict observance thereof There are many controversies and doubtful thoughts among the sons of men about Religion all being varnisht with specious pretences so that a man knows not which way to chuse till by the Spirit he be enabled to take the direction of the Word that resolveth all his scruples and makes him sit down in the way which God hath pointed for him Thus David as an effect of Gods grace avoucheth his own chusing the way of truth By the way of truth is meant true Religion as 2 Pet. 2. 2. By whom the way of truth is evil spoken of It is elsewhere called the good way wherein we should walk 1 King 8. 36. and the way of God Psal. 27. 11. and the way of understanding Prov. 9. 6. and the way of holiness Isa. 55. 8. and the way of righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 21. Better they had not known the way of righteousness that is never to have known the Gospel which is called the way of righteousness It is called also the way of life Prov. 6. 23. And reproofs of instruction are the way of life and the way of salvation as Acts 16. 17. the Pythoness gave this testimony to the Apostles These are the servants of God which shew unto us the way of salvation Now all these expressions have their use and significancy for the way of truth or the true way to happiness is a good way shewed us by God who can only discover it and therefore called the way of the Lord or the way of God in the place before quoted And Act. 28. 25 26. it is manifested by God and leadeth us to God The Christian Doctrine was that way of Truth revealed by him who is prima Veritas the first Truth The ways wherein God cometh to us are his Mercy and Truth and the ways wherein we come to God is the way of True Religion prescribed by him it is the way of understanding because it maketh us wise as to the great affairs of our souls and unto the end of our lives and beings and the way of holiness and righteousness as directing us in all duties to God and man and the way of life and salvation because it brings us to everlasting happiness This way David chose by the direction of God's Word and Spirit Secondly There follows the evidence of his sincerity the accurate prosecution of his choice Thy judgments have I laid before me The Sept. read it I have not forgotten thy judgments By judgments is meant God's word according to the sentence of which every man shall receive his doom He that walketh in a way condemned by the word shall not prosper for God's word is Judgment and Execution shall surely follow and by this word David got his direction how to chuse this way of Truth and this he laid before him as his line his desire was to follow what was right and true not only as to his general course and way of profession but in all his actions and so it noteth his fixed purpose to live according to this blessed Rule which God hath given him To have a holy Rule and an unholy life is unconsonant inconsistent A Christian should be a lively transcript of that Religion he doth profess If the way be a way of Truth he must always set it before him and walk exactly The Points are two 1. That there being many crooked paths in the world it concerns us to chuse the way of truth 2. That when we have chosen the way of truth or taken up the profession of the true Religion the Rules and Institutions of it should ever be before us There are two great faults of men one in point of choice the other in point of pursuit Either they do not chuse right or they do not live up according to the Rules of their profession both are prevented by these points Doct. 1. That there being many crooked paths in the world it concerns us to chuse the way of Truth I shall give you the sense of it in these Eight Propositions or Considerations Prop. 1. The Lord in his holy Providence hath so permitted it that there ever have been and are and for ought we can see will be controversies about the way of truth and right worship There was such a disease introduced into the World by the full that most of the remedies which men chuse do but shew the strength and malignâ—… of the disease they chuse out false ways of coming to God and returning to him Micah 4. 5. All people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever Mark there is his God and our God and then all people noting their common agreement in error all people will every man noting their diversity as to the particular false way of Religion and worship which they take up to themselves when they turn their back upon the true God and the knowledge of him then they are endless in seeking out false Gods Jonah 1. 5. They cryed every man to his God Among Pagans even in one Ship there
by the Scriptures which apparently are acknowledged by them to be the Word without running to unwritten traditions and the authority of men Again all this is recommended with the special presence of God as to gifts and graces blessing these Churches continually more and more Therefore if ever a man will find rest for his soul and be soundly quiet within himself here he must fix and chuse and take up the way of truth Popery is but Heathenism disguised with a Christian name their penal satisfactions are like the gashing and launcing of Baal's Priests their Mediators of Intercession are like the doctrines of Demons among the Gentiles for they had their middle Powers glorified Heroes their Holy water suits with the Heathen Lustrations their costly offerings to their Images answer to the Sacrifices and Oblations to appease their gods which the Idolaters would give for the sin of their souls adoring their Reliques is like the respects the heathens had to their departed Heroes And as they had their Tutelar gods for every City so these their Saints for every City and Nation their S. Sebastian for the Pestilence their Apollonia for their Tooth-ach and the like It is easie to rake in this dirt It was not for the Devil's interest when the Ensign of the Gospel was lifted up to draw men to downright Heathenism therefore he did more secretly mingle the Customs and Superstitions of the Gentiles with the food of life like poyson conveyed in perfume that the souls of men might be more infected alienated and drawn from God Popery doth not only add to the true Religion but destroys it and is contrary to it Let any considering man that is not prejudiced compare the face of the Roman Synagogue with the beauty of the Reformed Churches and they will see where Christianity lyes there you will find another Sacrifice for expiation of sin than the death of Christ the Communion of the Cup so expresly commanded in the word of God taken away from the people reading the Scriptures forbidden to Laicks as if the word of God were a dangerous book Prayers in an unknown language Images set up and so they are guilty if not of primitive Idolatry which all the water in the Sea cannot wash them clear of yet certainly of secondary Idolatry which is the setting up an Idol in God's Worship contrary to the Second Commandment the Image of the Invisible God represented by stones and pictures Invocation of Saints and Angels allowed the doctrine of Transubstantiation contrary to the end of the Sacrament works of Supererogation Popes pardons Purgatory for faults already committed as if Christ had not already satisfied Papal Infallibility not only contrary to faith but sense and reason their ridiculous Mass and Ceremonies and many such human inventions besides the word and against it But the Protestants are contented with the simplicity of the Scriptures the word of God and the true Sacraments of Christ. Therefore you see what is the way of truth we should stick to Prop. 8. That in the private differences among the professors of the Reformed Protestant Religion a man is to chuse the best way but to hold charity towards Dissenters In the true Church in matters of lesser moment there may be sundry differences For until men have the same degree of light it cannot be expected they should be all of a mind Babes will think one thing grown persons will have other apprehensions sick persons will have their frenzies and doubtings which the sound cannot like The Apostle's rule is Phil. 3. 15 16. Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you c. There are two parts of that Rule the perfect must be thus minded they that are fully instructed in the mind of God they must practise as they believe strings in tune must not be brought down to those that are out of tune But if others tainted with error do not give a through assent to all divine truth yet let us walk together saith the Apostle so far as we are agreed God that hath begun to enlighten them in other things will in time discover their mistakes Thus far the true Christian Charity takes place This should be our Rule Here we are agreed in the Christian Reformed Religion and in all the points of it let us walk together so far and in lesser differences let us bear with and forbear one another in love I speak now of Christian toleration for the Magistrates toleration and forbearance how far he is to interpose that 's another case Eph. 4. 2. With all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love What is bearing with one another not conniving at their sin or neglecting ways to reclaim them or forbear our profession when God calls us to it they are great cases how far profession may be suspended and how far it may be carried on but to restore them with meekness to own them in those things wherein they are owned by God not to practise that Antichristian humor which is now gotten into Protestantism of unchurching unministring unchristianing one another but to own one another in all those things wherein we are agreed without imposing or censuring not rending into factions not endeavouring to destroy all that we may promote the particular interest of one party to the prejudice of the whole but walking under one common Rule and if others shall prove peevish and if angry brethren shall call us bastards and disclaim us as not belonging to the same Father we ought not to reject them but still call them brethren if they will not joyn with us we cannot help it yet they are brethren notwithstanding that disclaim and how pettishly and frowardly soever they carry themselves in their differences a good Christian should take up this resolution their tongue is not Christs fan to purge his floor though they may condemn things which Christ will own to bear their reproofs and love them still for the iniquity of their carriage doth not take away our obligation to them As in the relation of Inferiors we are bound to be obedient to the froward as well as to the gentle Parents and Masters so in the duties that are to pass between equals we are to bear with the froward and to overcome their inclinations For though we have corruptions that are apt to alienate us and will put us upon furious passions uncomely heats and divisions yet God forbid we should omit any part of our duty to them for uncharitable brethren are brethren still SERMON XXXII PSALM CXIX 30. I have chosen the way of Truth thy judgments have I laid before me I Come now to answer an Objection which may be made Obj. But if you be so earnest to maintain unity among your own Sects why do you separate from the Papists who are Christians as well as you and own many things of Christianity wherein
offence Christians what Religion is it you are of Is it not the Christian Religion whose great interest and work it is to draw you off from the concernments of the present world unto things to come The whole drift and frame of the Christian Religion is to draw mens hearts off from earthly things and to comfort and support them under the troubles inconveniences and molestations of the flesh therefore for a Christian to hope an exemption from them is to make the doctrine of the Gospel as incongruous and useless as to talk of bladders and the art of swimming to a man that never goes to sea nor intends to go off from the firm land 3. A great occasion to shake the faith of many is Scandals the evil practices of those that profess the name of God O! when they run into disorder especially into all manner of unrighteousness and iniquity and cruel things and make no conscience of the duties of their relations as subjects as children and the like it is a mighty offence and we that have to do with persons and sinners of all sorts find it a very hard matter to keep them from Atheism such stumbling blocks having been laid in their way Scandal's far more dangerous than Persecution There are many that have been gained by the patience courage and constancy of the Martyrs but never any were gained by the scandalous falls of professors Persecutions do only work upon our fear which may be allayed by proposal of the Crown of life but by scandalous actions how many settle into a resolved hardness of heart In crosses and persecutions a man may have secret likings of truth and a purpose to own it but by scandal She dislikes the way of God of Religion it self it begets a base and vile esteem thereof in the hearts of men so they are loose and fall off And this mischief doth not only prevail with the lighter sort of Christians but many times those which have had some taste it makes them fly off exceedingly Matt. 18. 7. There will be offences but wo be unto them by whom they come Christ hath told us all will not walk up to the Religion they own therefore we must stand out against this temptation Secondly Be fortified within by taking heed to the causes of apostasie and falling off from the truth either in judgment or practice What is there will make men apostates 1. Ungrounded assents A choice lightly made is lightly altered When we do not resolve upon evidence and have not taken up the ways of God upon clear light we shall turn and wind to and fro as the posture of our interest is changed First we must try all things then hold fast 1 Thes. 5. 21. Men waver hither and thither for want of solid rooting in truth they take up things hand over head and then like light chaff they are driven about with every wind of doctrine Eph. 4. 14. Half conviction leaveth us open to changes Iames 1. 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways A man that seems to have a faith concerning such a thing then seems to have a doubt concerning such a thing sometimes led by his faith at other times carried away by his doubts If we have not a clear and full perswasion of the ways of God in our own minds we shall never be constant 2. Want of solid rooting in grace that is rooted in faith Col. 2. 7. or rooted and grounded in Love Eph. 3. 17. as to both it is said Heb. 13. 9. It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace that is by a sound sense of the love of God in Christ. A sweet superficial tast may be lost but a sound sense of the love of God in Christ will engage us to him O! we have felt so much sweetness and have had such real proof of the goodness of Christ that all the world cannot take us off The more experience you have and the deeper it is the more you will be confirmed The most of us content our selves but in a superficial tast When we hear of the doctrine of salvation by Christ we are somewhat pleased and tickled with it but this is not that which doth establish us but a deep sense of God's grace or feeling the blood of Christ pacifying our Consciences this is that which establisheth our heart and setleth us against apostasie 3. Unmortified lusts which must have some error to countenance them By an inordinate respect to worldly interests we are sure to miscarry A man governed by lusts will be at uncertainty according as he is swayed by the fear or favour of men or his carnal hopes 2 Tim. 4. 10. Demas hath forsaken us having loved this present world If a man hath love to present things if that be not subdued and purged out of his heart he will never be stable never upright with God It may be he may stand when put upon some little self-denial for Christ he may endure some petty loss or some tender assault I but at length the man will be carried away as Ioab that turned after Adonijah though he turned not after Absolom 1 King 2. 28. there will some temptation come that will carry them away though at first they seem to stand their ground as long as lust remains unmortified in the heart 4. Sometimes a faulty-easiness As there is an ingenuous facility The wisdom that is from above is gentle and easie to be entreated Jam. 3. 17. so there 's a faulty easiness when men cannot say nay when they change their Religion with their company out of a desire to please all and Camelion-like they change colour with every object Some are of such a facile easie nature soon perswaded into great inconvenience This faulty-easiness always makes bold with God and conscience to please men when we are of this temper Jer. 38. 5. The King is not he that can do any thing against you It is not a good disposition but baseness and pusillanimity It is observed of Chrysostome though a good man in the main yet he ran into many inconveniences why because he was through simplicity and plainness of his nature easily to be wrought upon Therefore though a good man in regard of the sweetness of his temper and converse should be as a Load-stone yet he should be also resolute and severe in the things of God Paul though they did even break his heart they could not break his purpose 5. Self-confidence when we think to bear it out with natural courage and resolution as Peter did Though all men forsake thee yet will not I. We are soon over-born and a light temptation will do it God gives men over that trust in themselves For the Lord takes it to be his honour to be the Saints Guardian to keep the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2. 9. He will be owned and depended upon 6. There 's an itch of Novelty when men are weary of old truths and
your selves in your father's anger when he seemeth to go cross to our prayers and hopes and gives to wicked men advantages against us Numb 12. 14. If her father had but spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven days When God doth not make good the confidence of his people rather the contrary the confidence of their enemies does as it were spit in their face then it is time to take shame to themselves and humble themselves before the Lord. SERMON XXXIV PSALM CXIX 32. I will run the way of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart IN these words there are two parts 1. A supposition of strength or help from God When thou shalt enlarge my heart 2. A resolution of duty I will run the way of thy Commandments Where 1. observe that he resolves I will 2. The matter of the resolution the way of thy commandments 3. The manner how he would carry on this purpose intimated in the word run with all diligence and earnestness of soul. The Text will give us occasion to speak 1. Of the benefit of an enlarged heart 2. The necessary precedency of this work on God's part before there can be any serious bent or motion of heart towards God on our part 3. The subsequent resolution of the Saints to engage their hearts to live to God 4. With what earnestness alacrity and vigor of spirit this work is to be carried on I will run First Let me speak of the enlarged heart the blessing here asked of God The point from hence is Doct. Enlargement of heart is a blessing necessary for them that would keep God's Laws David is sensible of the want of it and therefore goes to God for it 1. I shall speak of the nature of this benefit 2. The necessity of it First As to the nature what this enlargement of heart is There 's a general and a particular enlargement of heart 1. The general enlargement is at regeneration or conversion to God when we are freed from the bonds of natural slavery and the curse of the Law and the power of sin to serve God cheerfully then is our heart said to be enlarged This is spoken of in Scripture Joh. 8. 36. If the son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed There are two things notable in that Scripture that this is freedom indeed and that we have it by the Son 1. That this is the truest liberty then are we free indeed How large and ample soever our condition and portion be in the world we are but slaves without this freedom As Austin said of Rome that she was Domitrix gentium captiva vitiorum the Mistriss of the Nations and a slave to Vices so vicious men are very slaves how free and large soever their condition be in the world Ioseph was sold as a bond-slave into Egypt but his Mistress that was overcome by her own lust was the true captive and Ioseph was free indeed 2. The other thing observable from this Text is That we have this liberty by Christ he purchased it for us this enlargement of heart from the captivity of sin cost dear Look as the Roman Captain said Acts 25. 28. With a great sum obtained I this freedom They were tender of the violation of this priviledg of being a Citizen of Rome a free-born Roman because it cost so dear and when the liberties of a Nation are bought with a great deal of treasure and blood no wonder that they are so dear and precious to them and that they are so willing to stand for their liberty Certainly our liberty by Christ was dearly bought One place more I shall mention Rom. 13. 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death The Covenant of grace is there called the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the Covenant of works is called the law of sin and death To open the place The Covenant of grace that 's accompanied with the law of the spirit the Covenant of works that 's the law of the letter that only gives us the letter and the naked knowledg of our duty Lex jubet gratia juvat 't is the law of the spirit and not only so but the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus because it works from the spirit of Christ and conforms us to the life of Christ as our Original pattern Well then this law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus it makes us free This freedom though purchased by Christ yet is applied executed and accomplished by the Spirit The spirit makes us free and from what from the law of sin and death that is from the law as a Covenant of works which is therefore called a law of sin and death because it convinceth of sin and bindeth over to death it is the ministry of death to condemnation to the fallen creature Let us see what this general enlargement and freedom is from these places It consists in two things A freedom from the power and from the guilt of sin or the curse and obligation to eternal damnation The first sort of freedom from the power of sin is spoken of Rom. 6. 18. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness There is a freedom from sin and a freedom for sin or a freedom from righteousness as it is called v. 20. When you were the servants of sin saith the Apostle you were free from righteousness To be under the dominion of sin is the greatest slavery and to be under the dominion of grace is the greatest liberty and enlargement Then is a man free from righteousness when he hath no impulsions nor inclinations of heart to that which is good when righteousness hath no command over him when he will not be held under the restraints of grace when he hath no fear to offend or care to please God But on the other side then is a man free from sin when he can thwart his lust always warring against it cutting off the provisions of the flesh when he hath no purpose and care to act his lust but it is always the bent and inclination of his heart to please God and this is our liberty and enlargement The other part of this liberty and enlargement is when we are freed from the bondage of conscience or fears of death and hell Every Covenant hath a suitable operation of the spirit attending upon it The Covenant of works hath an operation of the spirit of bondage the Covenant of grace hath an operation of the spirit of adoption I say the Covenant of works rightly thought of produceth nothing in the fallen creature but bondage or a dreadful sense of their misery it is called the spirit of bondage and every one which passeth out of that Covenant hath a feeling of it Rom. 8. 15. You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear You had it
just is as the shining-light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Therefore when a man doth heartily apply himself to the things of God and acknowledging his defects doth go on from faith to faith Rom. 1. 17. from love to love and from obedience to obedience Heb. 6. 10. and doth study to bring his heart into a farther conformity to God not looking back to Sodom or turning back to Egypt God accepteth of these desires and constant and uniform endeavours and will spare us as a man spareth his only son that serveth him Mal. 3. 17. as a son an only son that is obsequious for the main though he hath his failings and escapes There is in them integrity but not perfection all parts of holiness though not degrees As in the body every muscle and vein and artery hath its use thus all Israel is said to seek the Lord with their whole desire 2 Chron. 15. 15. And all Iudah rejoiced at the oath for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire 'T is said of Asa That he sought the Lord with his whole heart yet the high places were not taken away Now the Reasons why we must keep the Law with our whole heart are these following 1. He that giveth a part only to God giveth nothing to God for that part that is reserved will in time draw the whole after it The Devil keepeth an interest in us as long as any one lust remaineth unmortified as Pharaoh stood hucking he would fain have a pawn of their return first their children then their flocks and herds must be left behind them He knew this was the way to bring them back again So Satan hath a pawn and knoweth that all will fall to him at last Hos. 10. 2. Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty halting between God and Idols When men are not wholly and solely for God but divided between him and other things God will be justled out at last Grace is but a stranger sin is a native and therefore most likely to prevail and by long use and custom is most strongly rooted Herod did many things but his Herodias drew him back into Satans snare A bird tyed by the leg may flutter up and down and make some shew of escape but he is under command still So may men have a conscience for God and some affections for God but the world and the flesh have the greater share in them Therefore though they do many things yet still God hath no supreme interest in their souls And therefore when their darling lusts interpose all Gods interest in them signifieth nothing As for instance A man that is given to please the flesh but in all other things findeth no difficulty can worship give alms findeth no reluctancy to these duties unless when they cross his living after the flesh which in time swalloweth up his conscience and all his profession and practice A man addicted to the world can deny his appetite seem very serious in holy duties but the world prevaileth and in time maketh him weary of all other things 2. The whole man is God's by every kind of right and title and therefore when he requireth the whole heart he doth but require that which is his own God gave us the whole by Creation preserveth the whole redeemeth the whole and promiseth to glorifie the whole If we had been mangled in Creation we would have been troubled if born without hands or feet If God should turn us off to our selves to keep that part to our selves which we reserved from him or if he should make such a division at death take a part to Heaven or if Christ had bought part 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods If you have had any good work upon you God hath sanctified the whole in a gospel-Gospel-sense that is every part 1 Thes. 5. 23. And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Not only conscience but will and affections appetite and body And you have given all to him for his use I am my beloveds not a part but the whole He could not endure Ananias that kept back part of the price all is his due When the world pleasure ambition pride desire of riches unchaste love desire a part in us we may remember we have no affections to dispose of without Gods leave 'T is all his and it is sacriledg to rob or detain any part from God Shall I alienate that which is Gods to satisfie the world the flesh and the Devil It is his by Creation Redemption Donation when our flesh or the world or Satan detain any part this is with Reuben to go up unto our fathers bed Use 1. Is to reprove those that do not give God the heart in their service 2ly Not the whole heart 1. Not the heart but content themselves with outward profession Jer. 12. 2. Thou art near in their mouth but far from their reins God is often in their speech but they have no hearty affection never was there an Age higher in notions and colder in practice of Christianity The heart is all it is the Terminus actionum ad intra fons actionum ad extra It is the bound of those actions that look inward The senses report to the phantasy that to the mind and the mind counsels the heart If wisdom enter the heart Prov. 2. 10. It is the well-spring of those actions that look outward to the life Prov. 4. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Mat. 15. 19. and Prov. 4. 4. Let thy heart retain my words keep my commandments and live Then other things will follow 2. It reproves those that do not give God the whole heart for he requireth that and surely all is too little for so great and so good a master God will have the heart so that no part of it be lest for others or for our selves to dispose of as we will the true mother would not have the child divided 1 Kings 3. 26. God will have all or nothing he will not part stakes with Satan but Satan if he cannot have all will be content with a part But who are they that do not give God the whole heart 1st Those that are for God in their consciences but not in their affections Conscience many times taketh Gods part their affections are for the world but their consciences are for God as convinced men that do some outward work commanded in the law but they have no love to the work this will not serve the turn for whatever is done by constraint or the mere compulsion of a natural conscience can never hold long Nature will return to its byass again however men force themselves
some great one So that there is no sin be it never so foul but covetousness will make it plausible and reconcile it to the consciences of men 2. As it doth dispose and incline the soul to all evil so it incapacitates us for God's service both in our general and particular calling In our general calling it makes us incapable of serving God why it destroys the principle of obedience is contrary to the matter of obedience it slights the rewards of obedience 1. It destroys the Principle of obedience which is the love of God This is that which constrains us which carrieth us out with life and sweetness in God's service Now 1 Joh. 2. 5. If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him It destroys the principle that should act us in obedience 2. It is contrary to the matter of obedience which are the commands of God The command of God and Mammon are contrary Mat. 6. 24. What are his commands God saith Pity the afflicted relieve the miserable venture all for a good conscience seek heaven in the first place seek it with your choicest affection your earnest diligence What saith Mammon Be sparing of your substance follow the World as hard as you can stick at nothing lye steal swear forswear comply with the lusts of men then you shall be rich Well now you see he that is rul'd by Mammon or sway'd by the inordinate love of worldly good can never serve God he is enslav'd to another Master he loves Wealth above all he trusts it more than God's Providence he serves it more than God himself Though his tongue dares not say that the earth is better than heaven that the things of this life are better than the favour of God yet his life saith it for more of his heart and care runs out upon these matters In short it unfits you not only for one duty but for all duties required of us God's Laws you know require respect to God your neighbour and to your selves Now he that is a slave to Mammon overcome by the love of Worldly things denies that which is due to God his trust his love his choice affection He denies what is necessary for his neighbour And he denies what is comfortable for himself He is unthankful to God unmerciful to his neighbour and cruel to himself 3. He slights the encouragements of Obedience which are the rewards of God as it weakens our future hopes and depresseth the heart from looking after Spiritual and Heavenly things They despise their birth-right for a mess of Pottage And when they are invited to the Wedding the choice things God hath provided for us in the Gospel they prefer their Farm Oxen Merchandize before it As it unfits us for the duty of our general so for our particular callings and relations The love of the world will make him altogether unfit for Magistracy Ministry the Master of a family or any such relation In Magistracy who are the men that are qualified for that office Exod. 18. 22. Such as fear God men of truth hating covetousness Let covetousness possess the heart a little and it will make a man act unworthily timorously with a base heart Nay for a piece of bread will that man transgress Take a Minister and what a poor meal-mouth'd Minister will he make if his heart be carried out with love to worldly things therefore it is the qualification of his person 1 Tim. 3. 3. Not greedy of filthy lucre Let a Minister be greedy of gain it makes him sordid low spirited flattering and dawbing to curry favour with men more intent upon his gain and profit than the saving of Souls So for his work 1 Pet. 5. 2. Feed the flock of God which is among you not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind What a low flat Ministry will that be that is inspired with no other aim and impulsion but the sense of his own profit If that be his great inducement to undertake that calling and his great encouragement in discharging the duty of that calling how will men strain themselves to please men especially great ones and writh themselves into all postures and shapes that they may sooth the humours and lusts of others he will curse where God hath blessed if he be such as Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness It is a powerful imperious lust saith God Will you pollute me for handfuls of barly and pieces of bread to slay the souls that should not die and to save the souls alive that should not live Then you shall have them declaiming against the good hardning the evil complying with the fashions of the world So in other callings if a man be called to be a Master of a family Prov. 15. 27. He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house What a trouble and burden will this man be to his servants and all about him and how little will he glorifie God in that relation Nay in all other stations this will make him an oppressing Landlord a false Tradesman an ill neighbour And therefore it is the very pest and bane of humane Societies Thus you see how it unfits us for the service of God both in our general and particular calling The 3. Reason it hinders the receiving of good and those means of Reformation that should make us better It fills us with prejudice against whatever shall be spoken for God and for the concernments of another world Luk. 16. 14. And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and derided him Come with any strict and holy Doctrine that shall carry out men to the interest of another life and they will make a scoff at it If the Word stir us a little and make us anxious and thoughtful about our eternal condition the thorns which are the cares of this world choak the good seed Mat. 13. it stifles our conviction while it distracts our head with cares and puts us out of all thought about things to come If a man begins to do some outward thing it makes him soon weary of Religion and attendance upon the duties thereof Amos 8. 5. When will the Sabbath be gone that we may set forth wheat They think all lost that is bestowed upon God As Seneca said of the Iews they were a foolish people they lost the full seventh of their lives because of the Sabbath So they think all Sabbath-time lost Nay it distracts in duty Ezek. 33. 31. With their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness It interlines our prayers and the world will still be creeping in and when we are offering incense to God we shall be mingling sulphur and brimstone of worldly thoughts with it our minds will be taken up with worldly projects and then it perverts the good we do as they followed Christ for the loaves Ioh. 6. It turneth Religion into Venale Artificium a trade to live by If they do good things
or the Infusion of Grace 2. For the renewing the vigour of the life of Grace the renewed Influence of God whereby this Grace is stirred up in our hearts First for Regeneration or the Infusion of Grace Ephes. 2. 1 2. When we were dead in Trespasses and Sins yet now hath he quickned us then we are quickned or made alive to God when we are new born when there is an habitual Principle of Grace put into our hearts Secondly Quickning is put for the renewed excitation of Grace when the life that we have received is carried on to some further increase and so 't is twofold either by way of Comfort in our Afflictions or enlivening in a way of Holiness 1. Comfort in afflictions and so 't is opposed to fainting which is occasioned by too deep a sense of present troubles and distrust of God and the supplies of his Grace when the affliction is heavy upon us we are like Birds dead in the nest and are so overcome that we have no Spirit nor Courage in the service of God Psal. 119. 50. This is my Comfort in affliction for thy word hath quickened me Then we are said to be quickened when he raiseth up our hearts above the trouble by refining our suffering Graces as Faith Hope and Patience Thus he is said to revive the Contrite one Isa. â—…7 15. To restore comfort to us and to refresh us with the Sense of his Love 2. There is a quickening in Duty which is opposed to deadness of Spirit which is apt to creep upon us that is occasioned by Negligence and sloathfulness in the business of the spiritual Life Now to quicken us God exciteth his grace in us An Instrument though never so well in tune soon grows out of Order A Key seldom turned rusts in the Lock so Graces that are not kept a work lose their Exercise and grow Luke-warm or else 't is occasioned by carnal Liberty or intermeddling with worldly things These bring a Brawn and deadness upon the Heart and the Soul is depressed by the cares of this World Luk. 21. 34. Now when you are under this Temper of soul desire the Lord to Quicken you by new influences of Grace 2. Let me shew the necessity of this quickening how needful ' t is 1. 'T is needful for without it our general standing is questionable whether we belong to God or no 1 Pet. 2. 5. Ye are living stones built up into a spiritual House t is not enough to be a stone in Christs building but we must be living Stones not only members of his body but living members I cannot say such a one hath no grace but when they have it not it renders their Condition very questionable a man may be living when he is not lively 2. Without it we cannot perform our Duties aright Religion to a dead heart is a very irkesome thing When we are dead-hearted we do our Duties as if we did them not in our general course of obedience we must go to God Psal. 119. 88. Quicken me after thy loving Kindness so shall I keep the Testimonies of thy Mouth Then we do good to good purpose indeed t is not enough for us to pray but we must pray with life and Vigour Psal. 80. 18. Quicken me and I will call upon thy Name so we should hear with Life not in a dull Careless Fashion Math. 13. 15. 3. All the Graces that are planted in us tend to beget quickening as Faith Hope and Love these are the Graces that set us a work and make us lively in the Exercise of the spiritual Life Faith that works by Love Gall. 5. 6. It sets the Soul a work by apprehending the sense of Gods love whereas otherwise t is but a dead Faith 1 Iam. 2. 16. Then for love what is the Influence of that it constrains the Soul it takes the soul along with it 2 Cor. 5. 14. and Rom. 12. 1. And then hope 't is called a lively Hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. all Grace is put into us to make us Lively not only the Grace of Sanctification but the Grace of Iustification is bestowed upon us for this end that we may be cheerful in Gods service Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ purge our Consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God Sin and guilt make us dead and heavy hearted but now the blood of Christ is sprinkled upon the Conscience and the sentence of Death taken away then we are made cheerful to serve the living God Attributes are suited to the case in hand he is called the living God because he must be served in a living manner 4. All the Ordinances which God hath appointed are to get and increase this Liveliness in us Wherefore hath God appointed the Word Isa. 55. 3. Hear and your Souls shall live t is to promote the Life of Grace and that we may have new Incouragment to go on in the ways of God Moses when he received the Law is said to receive the lively Oracles of God Acts 7. 38. 10. So the doctrine of Christ they are all Spirit and Life and serve to beget Life in us As the redemption of the world by Christ the joys of Heaven the torments of Hell they are all quickening truths and propounded to us to keep us in Life and Vigour The Lords supper why was that appointed There we come to tast the flesh of Christ who was given for the Life of the world Iohn 6. That we might sensibly exercise our Faith upon Christ that we might be more sensible of our Obligations to him that we might be the more excited in the diligent pursuit of things to come Use 1. Is reproof David considereth the Dulness and Deadness of his Spirit which many do not but go on in a cold Tract of duties and never reguard the frame of their Hearts It is a good sign to observe our spiritual Temper and accordingly go to God Most observe their Bodies but very few their Souls If the body be ill at ease or out of Order they complain presently but love waxeth cold and their Zeal for God and delight in him is abated yet they never lay it to Heart Secondly To exhort us to get and keep this lively frame of heart 1. Get it Pray for it liveliness in obedience doth depend upon Gods Blessing unless he put life and keep life in our Souls all cometh to nothing Come to God upon the account of his Glory Psal. 143. 11. Quicken me O Lord for thy Name sake for thy Righteousness sake bring my Soul out of Trouble His tender Mercies Psal. 119. 156. Great are thy tender Mercies O Lord quicken me according to thy Iudgments Come to him upon the account of Christ Iohn 10. 10. I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly And John 7. 38. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his Belly shall flow Rivers
full assurance of understanding The best have but a fluctuating doubting knowledge of spiritual Truths Not a full assurance and Perswasion of them Therefore we need to ask Establishment Thirdly consider the Utility and Profit of it when once the Word is established to us we shall know how to Live and how to Dye and upon what terms to maintain Comfort and Holiness whereas otherwise men Live loosly and carelesly 4. Heb. 2. The Word Profited not not being mixed with Faith in them that heard it Until the word of God be owned as it is a divine and infallible Truth it hath no Efficacy upon us When it is received meerly by Conjecture as a Possible truth it works but weakly I but then it profits when we receive the word of God as the Word of God as a certain truth when the soul comes to determine surely these are truths in which I am deeply concerned upon which my eternal Life or Death doth depend without this God can have no service and we no Comfort but are at a great uncertainty of Spirit On the other side let me tell you that all our Coldness in Duty and all our Boldness in sinning it comes from unbelief 1. Our Coldness in Duty What 's the reason when God offereth such great things to us as the eternal enjoyment of himself Glory Comfort and Happiness as much as heart can wish that men are so dead hearted liveless and careless in the ways of God when our work is so good our ways so Excellent what 's the reason of all our Coldness and Carelesness in the Profession of Religion We have not a lively Sense of Eternity we do not bellive God upon his word if we did it would put Life into us Saith the Apostle 3 Phil. 14. This one thing I mind and I press towards the work Why For the prize of the high calling of God in Iesus Christ. When we mind our work seriously and above all other things not superficially and by the By when we can see the prize of our high calling as to run and hold the eye upon the mark then he presseth onward that he may not lose the garland So when we feel the rewards of Grace when we are perswaded of them this puts Spirit into us and encourageth us against all deadness and faintness I press on ward then with a great deal of vehemency and earnestly So 1 Cor. 15. 58. Be ye stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord here is the description of a Godly man How shall we do to keep the heart in such an earnest frame By a sound Belief of the Promises for so it follows for as much as you know that your Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord If holiness doth not flourish there is a Worm at the Root Atheism and Unbelief lies at the heart and the want of such an assent to those great and glorious Promises which God hath made known to us in Christ. 2. Our boldness in sinning Why do men go on securely in ways of disobedience against God because they do not know whether the Word be true yea or no. If a man had Heaven and Hell in his Eye if he were soundly perswaded of these things certainly he would not venture the loss of Heaven for a trifle and would not upon such small temptations run the hazard of everlasting torments You cannot drive an ass the most stupid creature into the fire which is burning before his eyes So if these things were before our eyes we would not be so bold with God and so daring as we are Temptation to sin must needs prevail with us when we have not Faith for when the Temptation is strong and Faith weak where are we A man will yield to his base Lusts for there is present profit present pleasure and we have no undoubted certainty of the rewards of obedience and of the promises which are to be set against the Temptation But now when we consider we have so great and precious Promises this will make us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit we will not easily sin against God kick against the pricks and run upon danger laid before our eyes In vain is the snare laid in the sight of a Bird. Use 1. To reprove us for looking so little after the establishment of the Word There are many that content themselves with a loose profession of the name of Christ but are not established in a sound Belief of the Scriptures Ask them why they are of this and that Religion They have been taught so been brought up in it and so they might have been Mahometans upon the same account that they are Christians if they had been bred there where the name of Mahomet is of more request than the name of Christ. But then there are others that live by guess and carry on some natural Devotion but their Souls were never acquainted with the mystery of Grace never soundly established in it they have a conjecture There are others that can dispute for their Religion that see a reasonableness in the Christian Faith and why they should be of this Opinion rather than that I but their hearts were never subdued to God Hath the Spirit established Divine truths upon thy Soul and wrought these things upon thy heart hath it convinced thy Judgment awakned thy Conscience changed thy heart given thee any taste of Gods love in Christ drawn thee out of the World into near and sweet Communion with God truths are by him establisht to us and represented with evidence and power 1 Cor. 2. 4. Alas all else we can attain to is but cold and fruitless notion which will not warm the heart some cursory opinions that will not hold thy heart under the awe of God and guide thee in the paths of Holiness to eternal Life and therefore rest not in this that you have some knowledge concerning Christ and priviledges by him But are your hearts established have you a sence of these truths wrought in you by the Holy Ghost Use 2. It exhorteth us to use the means whereby the Word may be established 1. Chiefly observe Experiences how it is accomplished in the course of Gods Providence and inward feeling of thy own heart What answers of Prayer have you when you have been wrestling with God and putting his Promises in Suit at the Throne of Grace Every day God is fulfilling one Promise or another to train us up to look for more at his hands That we may trust him for our Inheritance and our final Blessing he first giveth us a proof of his Truth in lesser matters The more you observe the dealings of God with your own Souls and the fulfilling his Word to you the more will your heart be confirmed against Atheism and established in the belief of the Divine Authority of the Scripture It concerns us much to look to this that our hearts be firmly setled against Atheism especially when
being hard to come by unless Desires be strongly fixed men are soon put out of the Humour and so nothing would be done to any purpose in the World Surely Holiness that is so difficult and distasteful to Flesh and Blood would be but little looked after if there were not strength of Desires to keep it up Therefore is this affection that we may encounter Difficulties and Oppositions As Nehe. 4. 6. When there were Difficulties and Straits it is said They built the Wall for the People had a mind to work that is their Hearts were set upon it So if we had a mind to any Excellent thing it is this mind that keeps us up in the midst of all Difficulties and Labours All excellent Things are hard to come by it is so in Earthly matters much more in Spiritual The Lord will have it so to make us Prize them more for things soon got are little esteemed As riotous Heirs which know not how to get an Estate lavishly spend it A man is chary of what is hardly gotten Iacob prized Rachel the more because he was forced to serve for her so long So we shall prize Heavenly things the more when they cost us a great deal of Diligence and Labour to get them Now sluggish Desires soon fail but Vehement longings keep the Heart a work 5. Consider the issue of these Desires As they come from a good Cause which is the new Nature and a new Life for Appetite follows Life so they tend to a good Effect are sure of a good Accomplishment and Satisfaction God is wont to give Spiritual things to those that desire them there the Rule is Ask and have It is not so in carnal Things many that seek and hunt after them with all the Strength and Labour of their Souls at length are miserably disappointed But all the Promises run for Satisfaction to a Hungry Thirsty Earnest and Longing Soul 5. Math. 6. Those that are hungry and have a strong Desire upon them he will fill 1. Luke 51. And open thy Mouthwide and I will fill it 81. Psal. 10. They that open unto him as the thirsty Land for the Rain God that gives Velle to Will will give Posse to Do First the Desire and then the Satisfaction and therefore where there is this strength of Desire though there may be some failing in other things in our Endeavours and Performances yet the Lord will accept it 6. It argues some nearness to compleat Fruition or to full Satisfaction in Heaven when we begin to be more earnest after Holiness than we were before and after more of God and his Grace and Image to be set up in our Souls The more we desire Holiness the more ripe for Heaven This is a Rule The nearer we are to any good thing our Hearts are set upon the more impatient in the want of it as natural Motions are swifter in the end than in the beginning though violent Motions are swifter in the beginning while the impression of the stone lasts it is swift but afterwards it abates So when the Soul beats so strongly after God and Holiness and larger measures of Grace 't is a sign we are Ripening apace for Heaven Paul when he was grown aged in Christianity then he saith Rom. 7. 24. Who shall deliver me from this Body of Death As what we translate in the Psalms O that Salvation were come out of Sion It is in the Hebrew Who shall give Salvation So here it is an Hebreisme Who shall that is O that I were delivered He had many afflictions he was in Perills often Scourged Whipped Persecuted but he doth not say O that I could get rid of this troublesome Life of affliction but it was the Body of Death the remainders of Corruption was most burdensome to him The Children of God their Pulses beat strongly when they are upon the Confines of Eternity and their full and final Consummation These men begin to Ripen for their Heavenly State into which God will translate them Use 1. For Conviction of several sorts of Persons that are sar from this Temper and frame of Heart To begin with the most Notorious 1. Some desire Sin with a passionate Earnestness Iob 15. 16. He drinketh iniquity like Water As a thirsty Beast in those hot Countries would drink in water so did they drink in Sin Most wicked men are mad when their Lusts are set a working and there are some whose constant frame of Heart it is who make hast who march furiously as if they were afraid of coming to Hell too late bear down Conscience Word and all before them that set themselves to do Evil with both hands earnestly that have a strong desire after Sin and are carried out with as impatient longing after Sin as the Children of God such Eminent ones of God after Holiness 2. Some have no desire to the ways of God at all Iob 21. 14. They say unto God depart from us For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways the Hearts of many say so though their Tongues do not They are those which shut out the Light that cannot endure a searching Ministry lest it should trouble their Lusts disturb the Devils Kingdom that banish the thoughts of God out of their Hearts lest it revive the Sense of their Obligation to duty that set Conscience a challenging Gods right in their Souls that keep off from the Light 3. There are some that are insatiable in worldly things but have no Savour of these Heavenly and Holy things they are Thirsty for the Earth But God is not in all their thoughts Psal. 10. 4. a little Grace will serve their turn and think there is more ado than needs about Heaven and Heavenly things Alass the very contrary is true a little of the World will serve their turn here below If men had not a mind to increase their Temptations and Snares about a frail and temporal Life why do they make so much ado When many times they are taken away before they have Roasted what they have got in Hunting God takes them away but their Eternal estate is little looked after Riches qualifie us not but Holiness doth qualifie us for Heaven and it is our Ornament before God and his holy Angels And woe be to us if our poor Souls be thrust out Naked and Uncloathed in the other World Can we hunger and hanker after these lying Vanities and have no Hungering and Thirsting after Grace a little time will wear out the distinction of Rich and Poor High and Low but the distinction of Holy and Good will continue to Eternity Think of that time when not only the World but the Lust will pass away The lust of the World may be gone before we are out of the World as in Sickness and Pains but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever When we are Sick and Dying we have some kind of Notions and Apprehensions of these things then we can long and wish
manner of Obedience If he will give us a heart and a little liberty to confess his Name and serve him we should not be backward or uncertain but walk closely with him 2. This would give him assistance and strength If God do daily give assistance we shall stand if not we fall and faulter this will be a means of his perseverance not only engage and oblige him but help him to hold out to the end Then mark the constancy of this Obedience continually and for ever and ever David would not keep it for a fit or for a few days or a year but always even to the end of his Life Here are three words to the same sence continually for ever and ever And the Septuagint expresseth it thus I shall keep thy Law always and for ever and for ever and ever four words there This heaping of words is not in vain 1. It shews the difficulty of perseverance unless Believers do strongly persist in the resistance of Temptation they will soon be turned out of the way therefore David binds his heart firmly we must do it now yea always unto the end 2. He expresseth his vehemency of Affection Those that are deeply affected with any thing are wont to express themselves as largely as they can As Paul that had a deep sence of Gods Power 1 Eph. 19. Exceeding Greatness of his Power according to the working of his mighty Power He heaps up several words because his sence of them was so great So David here doth heap up words continually and for ever and for ever and ever 3. Some think the words are so many that they may express not only this life but that which is to come I will keep them continually and for ever and ever that is all the days of my life and in the other world So Chrysostom I will keep them continually c. points out the other life where there will be pure and exact keeping of the Law of God Here we are every hour in danger but then we shall be put out of all danger and without fear of sinning we shall remain in a full and perfect righteousness we hope for that which we have not attained unto and this doth encourage us for the present so would he make David express himself 4. If we must distinguish these words I suppose they imply the continuity and perpetuity of Obedience the Continuity of Obedience that he would serve God continually without Intermission and the Perpetuity of Obedience that he would serve God for ever and ever without defection and revolt at all times and to the end Doct. Constancy and Perseverance in Obedience is the Commendation of it When David promiseth to obey he saith he would do it continually for ever and ever This is the Obedience God longs for 5 Deut. 29. O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments always Here we find all things which are requisite to Gods service the Sincerity of it that they had a heart the gracious Principle which works in Obedience a heart to fear me the Universality of it to keep all my Commands and the Perpetuity of it to keep them always They are in a good mood now as if God had said O that they had a heart to do it always Christ redeemed us to this end 1 Luke 74 75. Delivered us out of the hands of our Enemies that we might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him not for a while only but all the days of our Life I shall distinguish of a double Constancy and Perseverance and under each Branch give some Reasons with their Applications 1. A Perseverance without Intermission 2. Without Defection Both are necessary 1. Branch First a Perseverance without Intermission We should at all times and in all places serve God and not by Fits and Starts as it is said of the twelve Tribes 26 Acts 12. They served God instantly day and night alone and in company in all Conditions adverse and prosperous in all Actions common and sacred God must be served and obeyed Let me give some Considerations to enforce it to serve God continually 1. The Law of God doth universally bind and the Obligation thereof never ceaseth so as there can be no truce with Sin for a while nor any intermission of Grace for a moment Prov. 6. 21 22. O my Son keep thy Fathers Commandments and forsake not the Law of thy Mother Bind them continually upon thine heart and tye them about thy Neck The Commandments of God he calls them the Law of the Father and Mother for Solomon speaks as to young ones and Children as those that had been trained up by their Parents Now these must be looked upon as having a perpetual Obligation to direct us and keep us sleeping and waking we must have them always in our sight Every motion and every Operation of ours is under a Law our thoughts and words are under a Law and our actions are under a Law all that we speak and all that we do it is still under a Rule The Law of God is of perpetual use to shew us what we must do and what we must leave undone O how exact should we be if we did regard this and were mindful of the perpetual Obligation of the Law 2. Grace planted in the heart should be always working The Fire on the Altar was never to go out and so Grace should be always working and influence all our actions civil and sacred 1 Pet. 1. 15. Be ye holy as he that hath called you is holy in all manner of Conversation There is no part of a Christians Conversation which should not savor of Holiness not only his Religious but his common and civil Actions The Pots in Ierusalem and the Horse-Bells were to bear Gods Impress as well as the Vessels and Utensils of the Temple 14 Zech. As the Sun is placed in the middle of the Heavens to diffuse his Influence and scatter his Beams up and down the world and nothing is hid from his Light so is Grace planted in the Heart to diffuse its influence into every part of his Conversation and therefore Grace where it is true it is always at work There are some parts of the Body that are never out of Action as the Heart and Lungs wherever a man goes and whatever he goes about yet they always do their Office So some Graces are of continual Exercise as the Fear of God Prov. 23. 7. Be thou in the fear of God all the day long A Christian doth not only pray in the fear of God but Eat Drink and Trade in the Fear of God So the Love of God in referring all things to his Glory whether they be Acts of Worship or Acts of Charity or of our Callings or Recreations Grace hath an influence upon these and is still to be at work upon these 1 Cor. 10. 31. And so Faith is always at work in
often are they disappointed but if their Hopes should succeed and they should make themselves this way Eternal yet when the Pageantry of this World is over the great ungodly Men of the World who have Names Lands Families in the general Resurrection shall be Poor Base Contemptible whereas he that made it his Business to look after the World to come shall be Glorious for ever 4. When once our Qualification is clear every step of our remove out of this World is an approach to our abiding City Our Salvation nearer Rom. 13. 11. than when we first believed And 2 Cor. 4. 16. though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day 5. Every degree of Grace makes your Qualification clearer Col. 1. 12. giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light and 1 Tim. 6. 18. laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal life Evidences are encreased when ripening for Heaven more and more 2. Let us carry our selves as such as count our best Estate in this World as the House of our Pilgrimage 1. Let us with great Joy and Delight of heart entertain the Promises of the Life to come resolving to hold and hugg them and esteem them and make much of them till the Performance come Heb. 11. 13. These all died in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth 2. Let us take heed of what may divert us and besot us and hinder us in our heavenly Journey 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly Lusts which war against the Soul A Relish of the Pleasures that offer themselves in the course of our Pilgrimage spoileth the sense that we have of the World to come and weakens our care and pursuit of it 3. Let us be contented with those Provisions that God in his Providence affordeth us by the way though they be mean and scanty 1 Tim. 6. 8. having food and raiment let us be content for we brought nothing into the world and it is certain we can carry nothing out we came into the World contented with a Cradle and must go out contented with a Grave therefore if we want the Pomp of the World let it not trouble us we have such allowance as our Heavenly Father seeth necessary for us till our great Inheritance cometh in hand 4. If the World increase upon us we should take the more care that we may have the Comfort of it in the World to come Rev. 14. 13. Their works follow them Luk. 16. 9. Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations There is no other way to shew our weanedness in a full Estate nor to keep our hearts clean or to express our deep sense of the World to come but this 2. Doct. That during this Estate and the inconveniencies thereof God's Children find matter of Rejoycing in his Word 1. Let us consider how this Point lieth in this Text. 1. The Psalmist had a sufficient sense of the inconveniencies of the House of his Pilgrimage his absence from God for therefore he counts it a Pilgrimage the many affronts and dishonours that are done to God in the World which go near to a gracious heart who espouseth God's quarrel and interest therefore he saith Horrour hath taken hold upon me because men keep not thy Law nay and possibly his own Afflictions and Troubles for many Interpreters suppose him now expelled from Ierusalem and driven to wander up and down in the Forrests and Wildernesses yet then could he comfort himself in God and pass over his time in meditating on his Precepts and Promises The troubles and inconveniencies of our Pilgrimage are easily disregarded by them that have no sense of them or are slight-hearted or whose time of Trial is not yet come but then is strength of Grace seen when we can overcome sense of Trouble by the incouragements which the bare naked Word of God offereth If David were now in Exile it was a trouble to him not to enjoy the Ordinances and Means of Grace with the rest of God's People but to deceive the tediousness of it by God's Word that is the Trial. If we can depend upon the Promise when nothing but the Promise is left us there are no Difficulties too great for the Comfort of God's Word to allay 2. The Psalmist speaketh not of what he would doe but what he had done thy Statutes have been my Songs Experience of the Comfort of the Word is more than a Resolution to seek it there in his Resolution he would have been a Pattern of Duty but now he is a President of Comfort That which hath been may be God that hath given a Promise and Comfort to his Saints before will continue it in all Ages 3. The Psalmist speaketh not of an ordinary Joy but such as was ready to break out into singing which noteth the heart is full and can hold no longer without some vent and utterance As Paul and Silas were so full of Joy that they sang at midnight in the Stocks 2. Now I come to the Reasons why God's Pilgrims find matter of rejoycing in his Word during the time of their Exile and absence from God and all the Inconveniencies that attend it 1. Some on the Words part 2. Some on the part of him that rejoyceth 1. On the Words part God's Pilgrims can rejoyce in it 1. There they have the Discovery and Promise of eternal Life It telleth them of their Country a firm deed and conveyance is a Comfort to us before we have possession 2 Pet. 1. 4. To us are given exceeding great and precious Promises that being made partakers of the Divine nature we may escape the Corruptions that are in the world through Lust. In the Word there are Promises neither of small things of things of a little moment nor of things that we have nothing to doe with but of great moment and weight and given to us The Promises make the things promised certain to those to whom they do belong though they be not yet actually in their Possession and therefore the Children of God are delighted in them and so far as that their hearts are drawn off from worldly things They that adhere to them and prize the Comfort which they offer have something in them above natural Men or the ordinary sort of those that live in the World 2. There they have sure direction how they may attain this Blessedness which the Promises speak of and that is a great Comfort in the midst of the Darkness and Uncertainty of the present Life The Word of God is said to be a light that shineth to us
welcome at the House so when God is gone what comfort can they take in their Portion Many will say why are you pensive and sad you have a great many Friends a great Estate O you doe not know the wound of a gracious Heart and how little these things are in comparison of the Favour of God 2. They manifest it in this their contentedness with Him though they are kept low and bare in outward things Psal. 17. 15. As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness It 's enough for them to have the Face of God though they do not flourish in worldly plenty as others do when in the exercise of Grace they can finde God propitious behold his Face in Righteousness If they have not the Candle they have the Sun If they goe to God they are welcome upon all occasions If the World frown upon them God doth not so they are beloved of him and in Favour with him and that satisfieth them What may be the reasons why the Children of God so prize his Favour 1. The worth of the thing it self Psal. 63. 3. Thy Favour is better than Life better than all Comforts better in its Self for this is that which we are never weary of A man may be weary of all outward Comforts Dayes may come wherein there is no pleasure Eccl. 12. At that time the soul abhors dainty Food Job 33. Pleasure nay Life it self may be a burden but none ever was weary of the Love of God that cannot be a burden This doth not fatiate and cloy us Again the Love of God cannot be supplied and recompensed by other things when a man looseth other things it may be made up in better If a man be poor in this World God hath chosen him to be rich in Faith If afflicted and destitute of outward Provisions yet they have inward Comforts and Graces and they will supply and make up this loss But the loss of Gods Favour cannot be supplied when that departs from you and a man looseth the hope he seemeth to have what a sorry comfort is it having forfeited the Love of God to seek our amends in the Creature Then this is a more durable than the present life Other Comforts fail but the Love of God never fails This is the Original of all other Comforts Psal. 30. 7. By thy Favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong and Psal. 44. 3. Their own Arm did not save them but the light of thy Countenance because thou hadst a Favour unto them Sure it is better to drink of the Fountain than of the Stream all is from the Favour of God In short it is the Vitality and the cause of Life and the cause of all Comfort This is better than Life 2. They are affected with that which is their true Misery therefore they most importunately begg the Favour of God Every man prays according to the sense that he hath according to that which he counts his Misery He that hath a sense of no other Calamity but to be poor scorned or exposed to contempt or the absence of the Creature prays accordingly sometimes he houls like a dogg in pain or Beasts that want Food Hos. 7. 14. But he that hath a deeper sense of his greatest necessities he is affected with sin which is the cause of all trouble therefore he must have the Favour of God and the Grace of God A godly and a carnal Man differ as a Child and a Man in their Apprehensions about pain and trouble A Child is sick and would be eased of its present smart and pain looks to nothing but that but an understanding Man knows the cause must be taken away a Child speaks according to the sense and apprehension it hath take away his aking head or burning heat but the understanding Man looks not onely after present ease but health that the root of the Distemper may be removed So a worldly Man would have affliction gone and looks no further but a godly Man hath a deeper sense he must have the Favour of God therefore his heart works painfully within him till this be obtained 3. They intreat the Favour of God with all their hearts because their business lies mainly with God Their work is to walk closely with God and keep up a strict Communion with him A carnal Man's business lies with God sometimes in his Trouble but when he licks himself whole and is at ease he can live without it But a godly Mans business is always with God for God is always with him in Trouble and out of Trouble Therefore that 's a notable Speech Psal. 91. 9. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most High thy habitation A Refuge that 's a place of retreat in time of War A Habitation there 's our residence in time of Peace when every one sits under his own Vine and Fig-tree Now a godly Man makes God not onely his Refuge but his Habitation therefore it concerns him to prize the Favour of God and keep in with him for he is otherwise at an utter loss therefore he must study to get all clear if God be angry with him his business is at a stand and he cannot walk chearfully with him from whom he expects all Use 1. To reprove those that are indifferent whether they enjoy God's Favour yea or no so they may enjoy the Creature they are satisfied Surely God is not these Mens Portion for their onely care is what they shall eat how they may be cloathed how to live well in the World but were never acquainted with this kind of trouble about God's Favour Psal. 10. 4. It is said The Wicked through the pride of his Countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts He never troubles himself how to keep in with God it never goes to his Heart He is such an one as can bring to pass whatever he projecteth and desireth without troubling himself with the Fetters of Religion and the care of a strict Duty he can live at large and yet obtain his Hearts desire and thinketh them the onely Wise men fit for his imitation that can increase in worldly Injoyments without troubling themselves with such niceties as perplex others he scorneth to trouble himself with Prayer and the observances which are necessary to waiting upon God Again it reproves those that lie stupid and senseless under God's active Displeasure These are not as gross as the former but make some profession of respect to God but have not yet a tender sense of God's accesses and recesses his comings and goings when the Lord hides himself from their Prayers and doth not give out the wonted influences of his Grace and Comfort they mind it not do not with earnestness seek to recover it again If you did make this your business without interruption when you have not the smiles of God the want of this
weighty matter of Life and Death Psal. 4. 4. Commune with your Hearts and be still this is the way to check sin and to come on most hopefully in a course of Obedience 3. Drive your thoughts to a Resolution to rectify whatever is amiss never leave thinking of your ways till you grow anxious about Eternal Life nor let your anxiousness cease till you bring it to somewhat grow to some resolution about the wayes of God Pray God to make your Consideration effectual 2 Tim. 2. 4. Consider what I have said and the Lord give you understanding in all things this is but the means God giveth the Grace SERMON LXVII PSAL. CXIX 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy Commandments IN the Verse immediately preceeding the Man of God speaks of Repentance as the Fruit of consideration and self-examining I considered my wayes and then turned my Feet to thy Testimonies But when did he turn for though we see the evil of our wayes we are naturally slow to get it redressed Therefore David did not onely turn to God but he did it speedily we have an account of that in this Verse I made haste c. this readiness in the work of Obedience is doubly exprest Affirmatively and Negatively Affirmatively I made haste Negatively I delayed not This double Expression increaseth the sence according to the manner of the Hebrews as Psal. 118. 17. I shall not die but live that is surely live so here I made haste and delaied not that is I verily delaied not a moment assoon as he had thought of his wayes and taken up resolutions of walking closely with God he did put it into Practice The Septuagint read the words thus I was ready and was not troubled or diverted by fear of danger Indeed besides our natural slowness to Good this is one usual ground of delaies we distract our selves with fears and when God hath made known his Will to us in many Duties we think of tarrying till the times are more quiet and favour our Practice and our Affairs are in a better posture A good improvement may be made of that translation But the words run better as they run more generally with us I made haste and delaied not c. and from thence observe Doct. That the call of God whether to amendment and newness of Life or to any particular Duty must be without delay obeyed To illustrate the point by these Reasons Reason 1. Ready Obedience is a good Evidence of a sound impression of Grace left upon our Hearts There 's a slighter conviction which breedeth a sense of Duty but doth not urge us throughly to the performance of it and so men stand reasoning instead of running debating the case with God and there 's a more sound conviction which is accompanied with a prevailing Efficacy and when we have this upon our Spirits then all excuses and delaies are laid aside and we come off readily and kindly in the way of complyance with Gods call This is Doctrinally spoken of Cant. 1. 4. Draw me and we will run after thee Running is an earnest and speedy motion from whence comes it From drawing it is a Fruit of drawing or the sweet and powerfull attraction which the Spirit of God useth in the Hearts of the Elect. Instances I might give you in several calls and conversions spoken of in Scripture When Christ called Andrew and Peter they left their Father and followed after him Mark 1. 20. So when Christ called Zaccheus he made haste and came down from the Tree and received him joyfully Luke 19. 6. So Christ to Matthew follow me and straightway he followed him Matth. 9. 9. Iulian the Apostate scoffs at these passages as if it were irrational to conceive such a thing could be that men should so soon leave their course of gain and their calling or else that Christs followers were a kind of sotts and fools weak and poor spirited Creatures that upon a word speaking they would come off presently all of a suddain but impulsions of the Spirit carry their own reason with them and draw the Heart without any more adoe But such as he were not acquainted with the workings of the Holy ghost in Conversion therefore scoff at these things So Gal. 1. 16. Immediately I conferred not with Flesh and Blood When our call is clear there needs no debate When Men stand reasoning instead of running there is not a through work upon them Reason 2. The sooner we turn to the wayes of God the better we speed How So 1. Partly in this that the Work goes on the more kindly as being carried forth in the strength of the present influence and impulsion of Grace whereas if the heart grow cold again it will be the more difficult A blow while the Iron is hot doth more than ten at another time when it grows cold again so when thy Heart grows cold thou wilt not have that advantage as when thou art under a warm conviction And indeed that 's the Devils cheat to speak of hereafter to elude the importunity of the present conviction that is upon you Iohn 5. 4. You know when the waters were stirred then was the time to put in he that stept in first had experience of the Sanative vertue of the Waters So when the Heart is stirred we should not lose this advantage but come on upon that call There are several Metaphors in Scripture that do express this sometimes we must open when God knocks Cant. 5. we must enter when God opens lest the door be shut against us Matth. 25. we must come forth when he bids us as Lot out of Sodom lest we perish when a thing is done speedily and in season it 's a great advantage 2. The more welcome to God the sooner we turn to him We value a gift not onely by its own worth but by the readiness of him that gives if we have it at first asking we count it a greater kindness and give the more thanks so the less we stand hucking with God and demurring upon his call the more acceptable is our Obedience Pharaoh did at length let Israel goe but was forced to it and with much adoe no thanks to him It is true indeed if we turn at length seriously heartily we are accepted with God but not so accepted as when we come in at first Surely the sewer calls we withstand the less we provoke God and the more ready entertainment do we finde The Spouse that would not open at the first knock but onely at length when her bowels were troubled when she thought of her unkindness then she went out to open to her Beloved but then her Beloved was gone You will not finde God at your beck when you dally with him Your Comforts will cost you longer waiting for when you make God wait for entrance and would not give way to the work of his Grace 3. You speed better because your personal benefit is the greater the sooner you
with fear and trembling In the time of our sojourning here we meet with many Temptations Baits without are many and the Flesh within us is importunate to be pleased and our account at the end of the Journey is very exact 1 Pet. 1. 17. And if ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work pass the time of your sojourning here in fear A false Heart is apt to betray us and the entertainments of sense to intice and corrupt us and we are assaulted on every side and Salvation and eternal Happiness is the thing in chase and pursuit if we come short of it we are undone for ever Heb. 4. 1. Having a promise of rest left with us let us fear lest we come short of it There is no mending Errours in the other World there we shall be convinced of our mistakes to our Confusion but not to our Conversion and Salvation II. The influence it hath upon keeping God's Precepts 1. In general this is one demonstration of it that the most eminent Servants of God have been commended for their Fear of God Iob cap. 1. 1. is said to be a man perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil He had a true Godliness or a filial awe of God which kept him from Sin and the Temptations whereby it might insinuate it self into his Soul So Obadia Ahabs Steward is described to be a man that feared God greatly 1 Kings 18. 3. and of one Hananiah it is said Nehem. 7. 2. that he feared God greatly above many others Men are more holy as the Fear of God doth more prevail in their hearts their tenderness both in avoiding and repenting of Sin increaseth according as they entertain the awe and fear of God in their hearts and here is the rise and fountain of all circumspect Walking As the Stream is dryed up that wanteth a Fountain so Godliness ceaseth as the Fear of God abateth 2. More particularly 1. It is the great pull-back and constant preservative of the Soul against Sin As the Beasts are contained in their subjection and obedience to Man by the fear that is upon them Gen. 7. 2. The dread of you shall be upon every Beast of the earth that they shall not hurt you So the Fear of God is upon us Exod. 20. 20. God is come to prove you that his fear may be before your faces that ye sin not Ioseph is an instance Gen. 39. 9. How can I doe this great wickedness and sin against God Abraham could promise himself little security in a place where no Fear of God was Gen. 20. 11. I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my Wifes sake Therefore Prov. 23. 17. be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long 2. It is the great excitement to Obedience 1. Duties of Religion will not reverently and seriously be performed unless there be a deep awe of God upon our Souls God will be sanctified in all that draw nigh unto him Lev. 10. 3. Now what is it to sanctify God in our hearts but to fear his Majesty and Greatness and Goodness Isa. 8. 13. Sanctify the Lord God of Hosts in your hearts and make him your Fear Therefore David desireth God to call in his stragling Thoughts and scattered Affections Psal. 86. 11. Unite my heart to the fear of thy Name so the serious Worshippers are described to be those that desire to fear his Name Nehem. 1. 11. 2. Duties towards Men will not be regarded in all times and places unless the Fear of God bear rule in our hearts As Servants when their Masters are absent neglect their work Col. 3. 22. Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh not with eye service as men pleasers but in singleness of heart fearing God A Christian is alike every where because God is alike every where He that feareth God needeth no other Theatre than his own Conscience nor other Spectatours than God and his holy Angels So to hinder us from contriving mischief in secret when others are not aware of it Levit. 19. 14. Thou shalt not curse the deaf man nor lay a stumbling block before the blind but shalt fear the Lord thy God The deaf hear not the blind seeth not but God seeth and heareth and that is enough to a gracious heart to bridle us when it is in our power to hurt others As Ioseph assureth his Brethren he would be just to them for I fear God Gen. 42. 18. Nehemiah did not convert the publick Treasures to his private use Nehem. 5. 15. so did not I for I fear God This grace when it is hazardous to be faithfull to men makes us to slight the danger Exod. 1. 17. The Midwives feared God and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them that kept them from obeying that cruel edict to their own hazard Neither hope of gain nor fear of loss can prevail where men fear God 3. It breedeth Zeal and Diligence in the great and general business of our Salvation and maketh us more carefull to approve our selves unto God in our whole course that we may be accepted of him 2 Cor. 7. 1. perfecting holiness in the fear of God God is a great God and will not be put off with any thing or served with a little Religiousness by the bie but with more than ordinary Care and Zeal and Diligence Now what inclineth us to this but the Fear of God or a Reverence of his Majesty and Goodness So Phil. 2. 12. Let us work out our Salvation with fear and trembling Salvation is not to be looked after between sleeping and waking no it requireth our greatest Attention as having a sense of the weightiness of the work upon our hearts The Use is to press to two things 1. To fear God 2. To keep his Precepts if we would come under the character of his People 1. To fear God Be not prejudiced against this Grace it is generally looked upon as a left-handed Grace 1. It is not contrary to our Blessedness Prov. 28. 14. Blessed is he that feareth always It doth not infringe the happiness of our Lives to be always in God's company mindfull of our Duty to him The Angels in Heaven always behold the Face of our Heavenly Father and in that Vision their supream Happiness consists There is a Fear of Angels and a Fear of Devils The Angels ever fear and reverence God the Devils believe and tremble the Angel's Fear is Reverence the Devil's Fear is Torment God doth not require that we should always perplex our selves with Terrours and Scruples that were a Torture not a Blessedness but God hath required that we should always have a deep sense of his Majesty and Goodness impressed upon our hearts In Heaven this Fear will not cease it is an essential respect due from the Creature to the Creatour and as we shall love him so fear
instance of Self-denial why so carefull to serve and glorifie God Rom. 14. 8. For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords they have given up themselves to be employed at his Command 2. Him they serve How do they serve him 1. They must serve God with the Spirit as well as the Body Rom. 1. 9. God is my Witness whom I serve with my Spirit in the Gospel of his Son So Phil 3. 3. We are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit Rom. 12. 11. Fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Rom. 7. 6. That we should serve in newness of Spirit When the heart is â—…enewed disposed and fitted for his fear and service there is an honest purpose and endeavour to serve him 2. You must serve him faithfully devoting your selves to do his Will and to seek his Glory Your intention trade and study must be to honour God and please him that if it be asked for whom are you at work for whom speaking or spending your time whose Business are you doing you may answer all is for God If the pleasing oâ—… the Flesh be their work or scope they are said to serve their own Bellies Rom. 16. 18. They that are such serve not the Lord Iesus but their own Belly 3. Chearfully having so good a Master let us take pleasure in our Work here is all good Good Master good Work good Wages certainly the more Good any man findeth God to be and the more good he himself hath received the more good he ought to be the Goodness of God should melt us and awe us There are two Questions every one of you should put to your selves What hath God done for you and what have you done for God When you thus serve God you may plead it to God as David Psal. 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant You may expect relief and protection and maintenance Servants have their dole and portion from their Masters hands Psal. 123. 2. As the eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God untill that he have mercy upon us He that doth Gods Will shall have his Protection and Blessing you have a sanctified Interest in all that falleth to your share 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods Lastly God will now and then visibly put some marks of distinction on them Mal. 3. 18. Then shall ye return and discern between the Righteous and the Wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not For a while their Glory may be clouded they may be hardly dealt with in the world but God hath his times of presenting all things in their own colours but the chief time of manifestation is hereafter when the Servants of Christ come to receive their full Reward then they find him to be a good Master indeed Iohn 12. 26. If any man serve me him will my Father honour 2. Doctr. That the good which God hath done for us should be thankfully acknowledged We should not be always craving always complaining there should be a mixture of thanksgiving Col. 4. 6. Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving together with the expression of our wants and desires there must be Thanksgiving for Favours already received 1. There is a time for all things for confessing Sin for begging Mercy for thankfull Acknowledgments though in every Address to God there should be somewhat of all these yet at certain seasons one is predominant In a time when God is offended Confession of sin in a time of great wants and streights Prayer in a time of great receivings Thanks The times that pass over us bring upon us many changes every change of dispensation must be sanctified by a sutable Duty As no condition is so bad but a good man can find an occasion of praising God and trusting in Him so no Condition so good but matter of Humbling and Self abasing will arise yet there are special Occasions that require the one or the other Opus diei in die suo James 5. 13. Is any among you afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing Psalms Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me 2. It is a disingenuous spirit to ask Mercy for supplying our Wants or delivering us from troubles and not acknowledge Mercy when that supply or deliverance is received Prayer is a work of necessity but Praise of mere Duty Self-love will put us upon Prayer but the Love of God upon Praise and Thanksgiving we pray because we need God we praise because we love God and have a sense of his Goodness to us Luke 17. 15. One of them when he saw that he was healed with a loud voice turned back and glorified God Most turn back upon the Mercy-Seat do not give Glory to God when their turn is served 3. It is for the glory and honour of God that his Servants should speak good of his Name When they are always complaining they bring an ill report upon the Ways of God like the Spies that went to view the Promised Land But it is a great invitation to others when we can tell them how good God hath been to us Psal. 34. 8. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him This doth draw in others to come and take share with us 4. It is for our profit the more thankfull for Mercies the more they are increased upon us As vapours return in showers The sea putteth out of her fulness into the rivers and they again refund into the Sea the water received thence Psal. 67. 5 6. Let the People praise thee O Lord. Then shall the Earth bring forth her increase When the Springs are low we pour in a little water into the Pump not to enrich the Fountain but to bring up more for our selves It is not only true of outward Increase but spiritual also Col. 2. 7. Be ye rooted in the Faith and abound therein with Thanksgiving If we give thanks for so much Grace as we have already received it is the way to increase our store we do no more thrive in Victory over Corruption or the increase of divers Graces because we do no more give Thanks 5. It prevents many sins I shall name two 1. Hardness of Heart When we are not thankfull for Blessings they prove an occasion to the Flesh and so our Table is made a snare Psal. 69. 22. and our welfare a Trap. Men go on stupidly receiving Blessings but do not acknowledge the Donor but when we own God upon all occasions
sufficiently sheweth how good it is to have the Mind illuminated and endowed with the true Knowledge of things In handling this Point I shall shew 1. What is the use of a sound Mind 2. Why this should be so often and earnestly asked 1. What is the use of a sound Mind There is a threefold Act of Judgment 1. To distinguish 2. To determine 3. To direct and order 1. To distinguish and judge rightly of things that differ that we may not mistake Errour for Truth and Evil for Good So the Apostle maketh it the great work of Judgment to discerne between Good and Evil Heb. 5. 14. But strong meat belongeth to those that are of full age even those who by reason of use have their Sense exercised to discerne both good and bad The things that are to be judged are true and false right and wrong necessary or indifferent expedient or inexpedient fit or unfit For many things are lawfull that are not expedient 1 Cor. 6. 12. All things are lawfull for me but all things are not expedient as to Time Place Persons Well then Judgment is a Spirit of discerning of Truth from Falsehood Good from Evil that we may approve what is Good and disallow the contrary So the spiritual man judgeth all things 1 Cor. 2. 15. That is Though he hath not an authoritative Judgment he hath a Judgment of Discretion and if he did stir up this gift of Discerning he might more easily understand his Duty and how far he is concerned in point of Conscience and in order to Salvation So 1 Cor. 10. 15. I speak as to wise men judge ye what I say The spiritually Wise if they would awaken the gifts of Grace received in Regeneration by Diligence and Prayer and heedfulness of Soul might sooner come to a resolution of their Doubts than usually they do As Bodily Tast doth discern things savory from unsavory profitable from noxious so is Judgment given us that we may distinguish between the Poysons which the World offereth in a golden Cup to impure Souls and that wholsome spiritual Milk which we suck out of the Breasts of Scripture between savory Food and hurtfull Diet how neatly soever cooked The Souls Tast is more necessary than the Bodies as the Soul is the better part and as our danger is greater and errours there cost us dearer 2. To determine and resolve practicum dictamen the Tast of the Soul is for God that bindeth our Duty upon us when there is a decree issued forth in the Soul that after we know our Duty there may be a resolvedness of Mind never to swerve from it First the distinguishing work proceedeth there is a clear and distinct approbation of God then the determining followeth this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 11. 23. The purpose of heart 2 Tim. 3. 10. Thou hast known fully my doctrine manner of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purpose The forme of this Decree and Resolution you have in Psalm 73. 28. But it is good for me to draw near to God This in the Soul hath the authority of a Principle he that meaneth to be a thorough Christian must set the bent and biass and purpose of his heart strongly upon it Psalm 39. 1. I said I will take heed to my ways So Psalm 32. 5. I said I will confess mine iniquities These Purposes have a powerfull command upon the whole Soul to set it a working whatever they purpose with this strong decree how backward soever the heart be otherwise They will excite and quicken us and admit of no contradiction it is our Judgments leade us and guide and poise us A man may have Knowledge and Learning and play the fool if his Judgment be not biassed a man never taketh any Course but his Judgment telleth him it is best and best for him all things considered It is not mens Knowledge leadeth them but their Judgments say to their Wills this is not for me the other conduceth most to my profit honour or delight but when the Judgment is in some measure set towards God then the man is for God 3. To direct as well as to decree so good Judgment and Knowledge serveth for the right guiding of our selves and all our Affairs Many are wise in generals that erre in particulars and have a Knowledge of Principles but their Affairs are under no conduct Particulars are nearer to Practice and very Learned men are deceived in Particulars Rom. 2. 20 21 22. An instructor of the Foolish a teacher of Babes which hast the form of Knowledge and of the Truth in the Law Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy self thou that preachest a man should not Steal dost thou Steal Thou that sayest a man should not commit Adultery dost thou commit Adultery thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge Therefore besides the general Rule the Knowledge of God's Will it is necessary to have the gift of Discretion when Particulars are cloathed with Circumstances There is an infinite variety of Circumstances which requireth a deale of prudence to determine them a man may easily discourse general Truths concerning God our Selves the state of the Church the privileges of Christianity but to direct them to particular Cases to govern our own Hearts and order our own Ways that is an harder thing Hos. 14. ult Whoso is wise and prudent c. Prov. 8. 12. I Wisdome dwell with Prudence To direct is harder than to determine or distinguish It is easier to distinguish of good and evil in the general to lay down conclusions upon the evidence of the goodness of the ways of God but to reduce our Knowledge to Practice in all Cases that is the great work of Judgment that we may know what becometh the Time the Place the Company where we are and may have that ordering of our Conversation aright Psalm 50. 23. to know how to carry our selves in all Relations Business civil sacred light serious that we neither offend in excess nor defect that we judge what is due to the Creatour and what is to be allowed to the Creature what is good what is better what is best of all that we know how to pay Reverence to Superiours how most profitably to converse with Equals what compassion to Inferiours how to doe good to them how to behave our selves as Husbands Wives Fathers Children Wisdome maketh us profitable in our Relations 1 Pet. 3. 7. Let Husbands dwell with Wives according to Knowledge There is much prudence and wisdome required to know how to converse profitably and Christianly with all that we have to doe with In short how to love our Friends in God and our Enemies for God how to converse secretly with God and to walk openly before men how to cherish the Flesh that it may not be unserviceable yet how to mortify it that it may not wax wanton against the Spirit how to doe all things in the fear of God in Meats Drinks Apparel
work of the Law written in their hearts There is veritas naturalis and veritas mystica some objects of Faith depend upon mere Revelation but the Commands of the moral Law are clearer than the Doctrines of Faith they are of Duties and things present not of Priviledges to be enjoyed hereafter such as the Promises offer to us Now it is easier to be convinced of present Duties than to be assured of some future things promised 2. That these Commandments be received with that Reverence that becometh the Sovereign Will and Pleasure of so great a Lord and Law-giver It is the work of Faith to acquaint us with the nature of God and his Attributes and work the sense of them into our hearts The great Governour of the World is invisible and we do not see him that is invisible but by Faith Heb. 11. 27. By Faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Temporal Potentates are before our eyes their Majesty may be seen and their terrours and rewards are matter of sense that there is an infinite Eternal and all-wise spirit who made all things and therefore hath right to command and give laws to all things Reason will in part tell us but faith doth more assure the Soul of it and impresseth the dread and awe of God upon our souls as if we did see him with bodily eyes By Faith we believe his being Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that he is His Power so as to oppose it to things visible and sensible Rom. 4. 21. being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform That there is no standing out against him who with one beck of his will can ruine us everlastingly and throw the transgressor of his Laws into eternal fire a frown of his face is enough to undoe us he is not a God to be neglected or dallyed with or provoked by the wilfull breaking of his Laws He hath truly potestatem vitae necis the power of life and death Iames 4. 12. There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy These considerations are best enforced by Faith without which our notions of these things are weak and languid You are to charge the heart with God's Authority as you will answer it to him another day not to neglect or despise the duty you owe to such a God No terrour comparable to his frowns no comforts comparable to his Promises or the sense of his favour 3. That these laws are holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. Wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandment holy and just and good This is necessary because in believing the Commandments not onely Assent is required but also Consent to them as the fittest laws we could be governed by Rom. 7. 16. If then I do that which I would not I consent to the Law that it is good Consent is a mixt act of the Judgment and Will they are not onely to be known as God's laws but owned and embraced not onely see a Truth but a Worth in them The mandatory part of the word hath its own loveliness and invitation as the Promises of Pardon and Eternal life suite with the hunger and thirst of Conscience and the natural desires of Happiness so the Holiness and Righteousness of God's Laws suit with the natural notions of good and evil that are in mans heart These Laws were written upon mans heart at his first Creation and though somewhat blurred we know the better how to read a defaced writing when we get another Copy or transcript to compare with it especially when the heart is renewed when the Spirit hath wrought a suitableness there must needs be a consenting and embracing Heb. 8. 10. This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts There is a ready willing heart to obey them and conform to them in the Regenerate therefore an Assent is not enough but a Consent this is that they would choose and prefer before liberty they acquiesce and are satisfied in their Rule as the best Rule for them to live by But let us see the three Attributes holy just and good 1. They are holy laws fit for God to give and man to receive when we are convinced of this it is a great help to bridle contrary inclinations and to carry us on chearfully in our work They are fit for God to give they become such a being as God is his Laws carry the express print and stamp of his own nature upon them We may know how agreeable they are to the nature of God by supposing the monstrousness of the Contrary if he had forbidden us all Love and Fear and trust in himself all respect and thanks to our Creator or bidden us to worship false Gods or change the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to a corruptible man as birds four-â—…ooted beasts and creeping things or that we should blaspheme his name continually or despise his glory shining forth in the work of his hands and that we should be disobedient to our Parents and pollute our selves as the beasts with promiscuous lusts and fill the world with Adulteries Robberies and Thefts or slander and revile one another and leave the boat to the stream give over our selves to our passions discontents and the unruly lusts of our corrupt hearts these are conceits so monstrous that if the beasts were capable of having such thoughts transfused into them they would abhor them and would infer such a manifest disproportion in the Soul as it would in the body to walk with our hands and doe our work with our feet And they are fit for man to receive if he would preserve the rectitude of his nature live as such an understanding creature keep Reason in dominion and free from being a slave to the appetites of the body To be just holy temperate humble meek chast doth not onely concern the Glory of God and the safety of the world but the liberty of the reasonable nature that man may act as a creature that hath a mind to know things that differ and to keep him from that filthiness and pollution which would be a stain to him and infringe the glory of his being There is no middle thing either a man must be a Saint or a Beast either conform himself to Gods will and look after the interests of his Soul or lose the excellency of his Nature and become as the Beasts that perish Either the Beast must govern the Man or the Man ride upon the Beast which he doth when he taketh Gods Counsel 2. Just. because it referreth to all God's Precepts I take it here not strictly but largely how just it is for
guiding of our hearts and ways 2. It is such a part as hath a necessary connexion with the Promises as without which they can doe us no good therefore if we mean to be happy we must regard both the one is as necessary and fundamental to our happiness as the other Our consent to God's Covenant is required not as if we were to debate and alter the terms at our pleasure but that we may take it as God hath stated it and bind our Duty upon us by our consent to God's Authority We cannot prescribe Conditions and Laws of commerce between God and us but onely God alone Man did not give the Conditions or treat about the making of them what they should be but is onely bound to submit to what God was pleased to offer and prescribe We are not left free to model and bring down the terms to our own liking to take hold of them nor to appoint them Isa. 56. 4. For thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and doe the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant for though he condescendeth to treat with us yet still he keepeth the place of a Sovereign and therefore if we believe Promises and do not believe God's Commandments it is not God's Covenant but one of our own devising When we take and leave and part and mingle and chop and change at our own pleasures The Covenant requireth a total universal unlimited Resignation of our selves to the Will of God I will be your God you shall be my People 3. The Gratitude that resulteth necessarily from Faith or believing the Promises will put us upon this it apprehendeth Love and leaveth the stamp of it upon the Soul and worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. Now how are we to express our Love to God not in a fellow-like familiarity but dutifull subjection to his Laws 1 Iohn 5. 3. For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous And Iohn 14. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me nor my glavering respects or a fond remembrance and esteem of his Memory Matth. 7. 11. If we live to God not to the World not to the Flesh if Faith be lively it will put us upon this 2 Cor. 5. 15. And that he died for all that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 4. Our Trust in the Promises is always commensurable to our Fidelity in the Commandments Faith in the one is maintained by Faithfulness in the other and assurance of acceptance with God cannot be greater than our care of Obedience When love to the World and the Flesh tempt us to omit any part of our Duty then do we weaken our Confidence thereby and Sin will breed distrust if we be serious and mind our Condition The fruit of Righteousness is Peace 1 John 3. 21. Beloved If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God And Heb. 7. 2. Being by interpretation King of Righteousness and after that also King of Salem which is King of Peace and Christ saith Matth. 11. 29. Take my Toke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls Confidence and Comfort follow Grace as heat doth fire and Fears and Doubts follow Sin as Pain doth the pricking of a Needle or any sharp thing wherewith a man pierceth himself therefore when sensual Objects oversway us and take us off from obedience to the Command they will also make us doubt of the Mercy of God as well as transgress our Duty We cannot trust him when we have offended freely and without restâ—…int Sin will breed Shame and Fear At present all Sinners feel it not yet hereafter that Sin that now weakneth the Faith we have in the Commandments will in time weaken the Faith we have in the Promises Every part of our Trust in God's declared Will cometh to be tryed one time or another our confidence in God's Mercy is not fully and directly assaulted till the hour of death and the time of extraordinary trial when the evil day cometh then the consciousness of any one Sin whereunto we have been indulgent and of the delight and pleasure we took in transgressing God's Commandments will be of force to withdraw our assents from God's Mercies 1 Cor. 15. 56. The sting of death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law 5. Faith in the Promises if it be not a conceit and a vain dream it is not onely an act enforced by our necessity but done in obedience to God's Will therefore we believe because God hath commanded it 1 Iohn 3. 23. And this is his Commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Iesus Christ. John 6. 29. This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent It appeareth sensibly many times a poor Soul hath no other Motive nor Incouragement it ventureth notwithstanding all discouragements to the contrary in the strength and sense of a Command as Peter Luke 5. 5. Master we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing nevertheless at thy word I will let down the Net Now that which is done if rightly done merely in obedience to a Command cannot be the ground of disobedience in other things We must not pick and choose certainly if we believe the Promises on God's Command we will make Conscience of other things commanded also for he is truly obedient to no Precept that doth not obey all inforced by the same Authority III. The Utility 1. That we may begin with God to yield up our Wills absolutely to his Will it is upon a belief that this is his Will concerning us for his Will concerning our Duty is revealed in his Precepts He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to doe justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Micah 6. 8. Certainly an obedient Creature desireth to know no more but what God will have him to doe and therefore it is needfull we should believe what is God's Will that we may resolve upon his Will Rom. 12. 1 2. I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God The first thing that we doe in Grace is to arm our selves with a resolution to obey God's Will though it be never so contrary to our own or to the wills of Men or the course of the Worlds Fashions 1 Pet. 4. 1 2. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the
same mind For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from Sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God Now that this Resolution may be made knowingly and with the greater strength not onely with the strength of Inclination or our own resolved renewed Will but in the sense of God's Authority a strong belief is necessary that this course of life is pleasing to God 2. That we may hold on with God in an awfull watchfull serious course of Godliness it is necessary that the belief of the Commandments be deeply impressed upon us alas otherwise we shall be off and on forward and backward according to the impulsion of our own Inclinations and Affections and the sense of our Interest in the World Many of the Commandments are crossing to our natural Inclinations and corrupt Humours or contrary to our Interests in the World our Profit Pleasure and nothing will hold the heart to our Duty but the Conscience of God's Authority this is the Lord's Will then the gracious Soul submitteth 1 Thess. 4. 3. For this is the will of God even your Sanctification that ye should abstain from Fornication And 1 Pet. 2. 15. For so is the will of God that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men That is Reason enough and instead of all Reasons to a Believer to awe and charge his heart that we may not shift and distinguish our selves out of our Duty that we may shake off sloath and negligence much more deceits and fraudulency and corrupt Affection Many shifts will be studied by a naughty heart that dispense with our Credit Esteem Honour Preferment in the World for our loyalty to God nothing but a deep belief of the Sovereignty of God and the sight of his Will can be of sufficient power to the Soul when such Temptations arise and our Duties are so contrary to the inclinations of the Flesh Heb. 11. 8. By Faith Abraham when he was called to goe out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance he obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went and verse 17 18. By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his onely begotten Son Of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy seed be called Gen. 12. 3. In thee shall all Families of the Earth be blessed Oh how have Believers need to bestir themselves upon such an occasion and to remember no evil can be compared with God's Wrath no earthly good with his Favour that transitory Delights are dearly bought if they endanger the Soul to compass them That the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8. 18. The ordinary experience of Believers in lesser Temptations is enough to evince this c. Use 1. Is for Reproof 1. That men do so little revive the belief of God's Commandments hence Sins of omission Iames 4. 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is Sin of Commission Ier. 8. 6. I hearkned and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickedness saying What have I done every one turned to his course as the Horse rusheth into the battel Would men venture to break a known Law if they did consider that it was the Command of God that hath power to save and to destroy Surely want of Faith in the Precepts is a great cause of their coldness in Duty boldness in sinning Prov. 13. 13. Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed but he that feareth the Commandment shall be rewarded Now any one would fear God's Commandment if he did consider it in all its Circumstances 2. Those that would strongly believe the Promises but weakly believe that part of the Word that requireth their Duty from them all for Privileges seldome reflect upon their own Qualification it is a good temper when both goe together Psal. 119. 166. I have hoped for thy Salvation and have done thy Commandments So Psalm 147. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his Mercy But when asunder all is naught God's Promises cannot comfort us if we be not of the number of them to whom they do belong Not onely consider what God is but what we are and what is required of us our Qualification as well as his Goodness our Duty as well as his Mercy Use 2. To believe the Commandments with a lively Faith we should be tender of disobeying God's Law The Law may be considered as a Covenant of Works or as a Rule of Life as a Covenant of Works so it is satisfied by Christ for those that have an interest in him and serveth to quicken us to get this interest in him as it is a Rule of Life so in the New Covenant we give up our selves to God to walk according to the Tenour of it as Israel by a voluntary submission Exod. 19. 8. All that the Lord hath spoken we will doe So in the Church of the New Testament we ingage our selves by a voluntary submission to walk according to the Will of God and confirm it by the Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper Well then we are still to regard it as a binding Rule looking for Grace to perform it it is not onely a Rule given us for advice and direction but for a strong obligation to urge and inforce us to our Duty So Psalm 40. 8. Thy Law is in my heart I delight to doe thy will O God Use 3. Do we believe the Commandments Then 1. We will not please our selves with a naked Trust in the Promises while we neglect our Duty to God That which God hath joyned together no man must put asunder The Prophet saith Hos. 10. 11. Ephraim is an Heifer that is taught and loveth to tread out the Corn compared with Deut. 25. 4. Thou shalt not muzzel the Ox when he treadeth out the Corn. We are addicted to our own ease prize Comforts but loath Duty Oh make more Conscience of Obedience 2. Their Faith will be lively and operative cause to keep God's Charge and observe his Commandments otherwise it is but an Opinion and a dead Faith Iames 2. 20. Wilt thou know O vain man that Faith without Works is dead Many may discourse of the necessity of Duty that have little sense of it as the Children in the Furnace the fire had no power over them neither was one hair of their Heads singed nor their Coats changed not a Lust mortified no good by their strict Notions 3. They must be obeyed as God's Commands abstaining from evil because God forbiddeth it practising that which is good because God commandeth it Notitia voluntatis 1 Thess. 4. 3. This is the will of God even your Sanctification that ye should abstain from
is communicative of its self he is good that noteth his Nature and Inclination and he doth good that noteth his Work whereby he giveth proof of his Goodness Unumquodque operatur secundùm suam formam every thing acteth according to its Nature So doth God as is his Being so is his operation he is good and doth good the Work must needs be answerable to the Workman The Point is Doctr. It becometh all those that have to doe with God to have a deep sense of his Goodness 1. What is God's Goodness 2. How it is manifested to us 3. Why those that come to God should have a deep sense of it 1. What is God's Goodness There is a threefold Goodness ascribed by Divines to God 1. His Natural Goodness which is the natural Perfection of his Being 2. His Moral Goodness which is the moral Perfection of his Being 3. His Beneficial communicative Goodness called otherwise his Benignity which is of chief regard in this place besides the Perfection and Excellency of his Nature there is his Will and Self-propension to diffuse his Benefits the Perfection of his Nature is his natural and moral Goodness the other his Bounty All must be spoken to distinctly 1. God is naturally good There is such an absolute Perfection in his Nature and Being that nothing is wanting to it or defective in it and nothing can be added to it to make it better As Philo saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Being must needs be the first Good assoon as we conceive there is a God we presently conceive that he is good in this Sense it is said Mark 10. 18. Why callest thou me good there is none good but one and that is God He is good of himself good in himself yea Good it self There is none good above him or besides him or beyond him it is all from him and in him if it be good He is primitively and originally good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good of himself which nothing else is for all Creatures are good onely by participation and communication from God He is essentially good not onely good but Goodness it self the Creatures good is a superadded quality in him it is his Essence He is infinitely Good the Creatures Goodness is but a Drop but in God there is an infinite Ocean and Sea or gathering together of Goodness He cannot be better he is Summum Bonum The chiefest Good other things are good in Subordination to him and according to that use and proportion they bear to him He is not good as the Means but as the End things good as the Means are only good in order proportion measure and respect but God is absolutely good beyond God there is nothing to be sought or aimed at if we enjoy him we enjoy all good to make us compleatly happy he is Eternally and Immutably good for he cannot be less good than he is as there can be no Addition made to him so no Substraction or ought taken from him 2. God is morally good that is the Fountain and Pattern of all that vertuous goodness which is in the Creatures So Psalm 25. 8. Good and upright is the Lord. And Exod. 33. 19. He said I will make all my Goodness go before thee and proclaim my Name As the Creature hath a natural Goodness of Beauty Power Dominion Wisdom So it hath a moral Goodness of Purity and Holiness Accordingly we must conceive in God his Holiness Purity Veracity Justice as his Moral perfection and Goodness as his Will is the supream Pattern and Fountain of all these things in the Creature 3. God is communicatively and beneficially Good That implyeth his Bounty and Beneficence or his will and Self-Propension to diffuse his Benefits It may be explained by these Considerations 1. That God hath in him whatsoever is usefull and comfortable to us That is one notion we apprehend him by That he is God Allsufficient Gen. 17. 1. or that he hath all things at command to doe for us as our necessities shall require Psalm 84. 11. For the Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Gen. 15. 1. Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward The privative and positive part is expressed in both these places whether we need life or comfort or would be protected from all dangers bodily or spiritual why should we seek good out of God Riches Pleasures Honours they might more happily be had if we could possess all things in God Ier. 2. 13. My people have committed two great evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water God is the Fountain of all those things which are necessary to give us all good and defend us from all evil Possidet possidentem omnia 2 Cor. 6. 10. As having nothing and yet possessing all things 2. That he hath a strong inclination to let out his fulness and is ready to do good upon all occasions Thou art good and dost good Bonum est primum potissimum nomen Dei saith Damascene The chiefest Name by which we conceive of God is his Goodness By that we know him for that we love him and make our addresses to him we admire him for his other Titles and Attributes but this doth first insinuate with us and invite our respects to him The first means by which the Devil sought to loosen man from God was by weakning the conceit of his Goodness and the great ground of all our commerce with him is that God is a good God Psalm 100. 4 5. Enter ye into his courts with praise be thankfull unto him and bless his name for the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting He presently inviteth the world to come to him because he is good As God is Allsufficient in himself so he is communicative of his riches unto his Creatures and most of all to his own people goodness is communicative it diffuseth it self as the Sun doth Light or as the fountain poureth out waters 3. He is the Fountain of all that good we have or are We have nothing but what we have from God Iames 1. 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights And Ier. 2. 13. He is called the Fountain of Living waters As Rivers are supplied by the Sea so the gathering together of all Goodness is in God All Candles are lighted at his Torch there is nothing in the Creature but what is derived from him Who hath given to him first and it shall be recompensed to him again Rom. 11. 35. As the Sun oweth nothing to the Beam but the Beam oweth all to the Sun and the Sea oweth nothing to the River but the River oweth all to the Sea 4. There will a time come when he will be all in all 1 Cor. 15.
out into leaves the baits of the Flesh must be taken from us that our gust and rellish of heavenly Things may be recovered The Use is to caution us against our Murmurings and taxing of God's Providence How few are there that give him thanks for his seasonable Discipline and observe God's Faithfulness and the Benefit they have by Afflictions but rather murmur repine and fret through Impatience If it be good to be afflicted let us accept of it for Good is matter of choice Levit. 26. 41. If their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their Iniquity Now all Affliction on this side Hell is good as 't is a lesser evil hic ure hic seca if God will cut here burn here lance here as a Chirurgion that we may not be destroyed for ever corrected that we may not be condemned 1 Cor. 11. 32. 'T is good as it is a means to Good for the end putteth a loveliness also upon the means though things in themselves be harsh and sowre We must not consider what things are in themselves but what they are in their reduction tendency and final use so all things are yours Crosses Deaths 1 Cor. 3. 18. all their Crosses yea sometimes their Sins and Snares by God's overruling We lose the benefit of our Affliction by our Murmurings Repinings Faintings carnal Sorrows and Fears an impatient distrustfull Mind spoileth the working of God Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience 'T is not the bare Affliction worketh but the Affliction meekly born Let us not misconstrue God's present way of dealing with us there may be a seeming harshness in some of his dealings but yet all things considered you will find them full of Mercy and Truth Murmuring is a disorder in the Affections misinterpreting in the Understanding to prevent it 1. Consider you must not interpret the Covenant by God's Providence but God's Providence by his Covenant Certain it is that all New Covenant-dispensations be Mercy and Truth Psalm 25. 10. our Crosses not excepted by them God is pursuing his Covenant and eternal Purpose concerning our Salvation There is sometimes a seeming Contradiction between his Promises and his Providences Word and Works his Voice is sweet like Iacob's but his Hands rough like Esau's Goe into the Sanctuary and God will help you to reconcile things Psalm 73. 16 17. otherwise the difficulty will be too hard for you The Children of God that have suspected or displeased him have always found themselves in an Errour Isa. 49. 14 15. His Promise is the light side his Providence is the dark side of the Cloud Psalm 77. 19. Thy way is in the Sea and thy path in the deep waters and thy footsteps are not known We cannot trace him nor find out the reason of every thing which God doth onely in the general That he doth all things well Mark 7. 37. nay what is best 2. We must distinguish between a part of God's Work and the end of it We cannot understand God's Providence till he hath done his Work he is an impatient Spectatour that cannot tarry till the last Act wherein all Errours are reconciled Iohn 13. 7. What I do thou knowest not now but hereafter thou shalt know No wonder if we are much in the dark if we look onely to present sense and present appearance then his Purposes are hidden from us he bringeth one contrary out of another Light out of Darkness Meat out of the Eater God knoweth what he is a doing with you when you know not Ier. 29. 11. I know my thoughts to give you an expected end When we view Providences by pieces we know not God's mind for the present we see him it may be rending and tearing all things therefore let us not judge of God's Work by the beginnings till all work together Our present State may be very sad and uncomfortable and yet God is designing the choisest Mercies to us Psalm 31. 22. I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my Supplications when I cried unto thee Psalm 116. 11. I said in my hast all men are liars Hast never speaketh well of God nor his Promises nor maketh any good Comment upon his Dealings 3. We must distinguish between that which is really best for us and what we judge best for us Deuter. 8. 15 16. Who led thee through that great and terrible Wilderness wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions and Drought where there was no water who brought thee out water out of the Rock of Flint Who fed thee in the Wilderness with Manna which thy Fathers knew not that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to doe thee good at the latter end Other Diet is more wholsome for our Souls than that which our sick Appetite craveth 'T is best with us many times when we are weakest 2 Cor. 12. 10. When I am weak then am I strong Worst when strongest 2 Cor. 26. 16. When he was strong his heart was lifted up to his own destruction Lot chose Sodom a fair and pleasant Situation but you know what inconveniencies he met with there Many times the Buffettings of Satan are better for us than a Condition free from Temptations so is Poverty Emptiness better than Fulness loss of Friends than the injoyment of them Use 2. Is of Information 1. By what note we may know whether God chastens us in anger yea or no whether our Crosses be Curses The Cross that maketh thee better cometh with a Blessing 't is not the sharpness of the Affliction we should look to but the improvement of it the bitter Waters may be made sweet by experiences of Grace if we are made more godly wise religious 't is a good Cross but if it leave us as careless and stupid or no better than we were before that Cross is but a preparation to another if it hath onely stirred up our Impatience done us no good God will follow his stroak and heat his Furnace hotter 2. It informeth us that 't is our Duty not onely to be good in Afflictions but we must be good after Afflictions David when escaped saith 'T is good for me that I have been afflicted Wicked men are somewhat good in Afflictions but assoon as they are delivered they return to their old Sins As Mettals are melted while they are in the Furnace but when they are taken out they return to their natural hardness but the godly are better afterwards 3. That every Condition is as the Heart is Afflictions are good if we have the grace to make a good use of them Look as the good Blessings of God by our Corruption are abused to wantonness and so made hurtfull to us so Crosses that are evil in themselves when sanctified are good All things are sanctified to us when we are sanctified to God Other things that would be Snares prove Helps and Incouragements are great Furtherances the Creature is
becoming one heartily devoted to God thy hands have made me c. he would willingly return to his Creatours Service and glorify him with what was made by him I acknowledge that I am obliged as I am the work of thine hands to live in a faithfull obedience to thee Lord I give up my self to this work Mark this is a good Spirit he doth not beg his own Comfort but ability for Service that he might so know his Masters Will as to doe it Now this is Repentance towards God when we are heartily willing to return to our Duty more than to our Comfort Acts 2. 21. there is more hope of that Soul that rather seeketh Obedience than Comfort and where there is a resolved Will and Purpose to devote our selves to the Lord to please him and serve him This was God's end in his New Covenant Grace and Christ's end in Redemption to restore us to obedience as well as to favour and put us into a capacity of service again Heb. 9. 14. Purge our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God 1 Pet. 2. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness He died to weaken the love of Sin in our Hearts and to advance the life and power of Grace and Righteousness 3. There is implied in it a confession of Impotency that God cannot be glorified and served by him unless he be renewed and strengthened by Grace not by him as a Creature till he be made a new Creature or have renewed influences of Grace from him God permitted the lapse and fall of Mankind that they may come to him as needy Creatures and take all out of his hands Man's great errour which occasioned his fall was that he would live alone apart from God be sufficient to his own Happiness We greedily catched at that word Ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3. 5. the meaning was not in a blessed Conformity but a cursed Self-sufficiency Man would be his own God desired to have his Stock in his own hands and would be no more at God's finding Gen. 3. 22. The man is become as one of us to live as an Independent being Well then to cure this God would reduce him to an utter necessity that he might bring him to an entire dependance and might come as a beggerly indigent Creature expecting all from God putting no confidence in his own Righteousness for his Justification nor natural power and strength for Sanctification Gal. 2. 19. I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God The rigorous Exaction of perfect Obedience under the hazard of the Curse of the Law maketh them dead to the Law the Curse of the Law puts them so hard to it that they are forced to fly to Christ to be freed from Condemnation and the spiritual Nature of the Law as 't is a Rule of Obedidence driveth them to see there is nothing in themselves tending to Righteousness and Holiness to the glory of God without the power of his Spirit They that serve in the newness of the Spirit Rom. 7. 6. God bringeth us at last to this Matth. 19. 26. With men 't is impossible but with God all things are possible Well then when we are brought to see our Impotency we are at a good pass and lie obvious to his Grace 4. It implies an earnest desire after Grace and that is a good frame of heart when not satisfied with common Benefits David was not satisfied with his natural Being but seeketh after a spiritual Being What 's that he prayeth so earnestly for but an inlightened Mind and a renewed Heart and all that he might be obedient to God Thus we are more fitted to receive Grace A Conscience of our Duty is a great matter in faln Man who is turned Rebel against God and a Traytour to his Maker who is impatient and self-will'd and all for casting off the Yoke Psal. 2. 3. Well to have an Heart set upon Duty and Obedience that 's the next step the third was a sense of Impotency now this fourth a desire of Grace such the Lord hath promised to satisfy Matth. 5. 6. these open unto God and are ready to take in his Grace Come as Creatures earnestly desiring to doe your Creatours Will and in the best manner and will God refuse you Because I am thy Creature teach me to serve thee who art my Creatour 5. There is one thing more in this Plea a perswasion of God's Goodness to his Creatures This is the very ground and reason why this Plea is used Psal. 145. 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works There is a great deal of fatherly care and mercy to his Creatures till by their impenitency persisted in against the means of Grace they render themselves uncapable of it The first battery which Satan laid to Man's Heart tended to undermine the sense of God's Goodness to the Creature as if God were envious Gen. 3. 5. Doth not God know that in the day ye eat thereof as if God envied their Happiness this the Devil would instill To have good thoughts of God is a great means to reduce us and bring us back again to him We frighten our selves away from him by entertaining needless Jealousies of him as if he sought our Destruction or delighted in it Surely he will not destroy a poor Soul that lieth submissively at his Feet and is grieved he can no better please him and serve him the man that had hard thoughts of God neglected his Duty Matth. 25. 24 25. I know thou wast an austere Master therefore I hid my Talent in a Napkin that is the legalism and carnal Bondage that is in us which makes us full of Jealousies of God and doth mightily hinder and obstruct our Duty The Use is to press you to come to God as Creatures to beg relief and help for your Souls this will be of use to us in many Cases 1. To the Scrupulous who are upon regenerating that are not sure that the work of Grace is wrought in them you cannot call God Father by the Spirit of Adoption yet own him as a Creatour come to him as one that formed you your desire is to return to him 2. 'T is of use to Believers when under desertions and God appeareth against them in a way of Wrath and all God's Dispensations seem to speak nothing but Wrath yet come to him as the Creatour Lord we are the work of thy hands if you cannot plead the Covenant of Abraham which was made with Believers plead the Covenant of Noah which was made with Man and all Creatures Isa. 54. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more goe over the Earth so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee there may be a great
the Emphasis he doth not barely acknowledge that God was faithfull though or notwithstanding he had afflicted him but faithfull in sending them Affliction and Trouble are not onely consistent with God's Love plighted in the Covenant of Grace but they are parts and branches of the New Covenant-Administration God is not onely faithfull notwithstanding Afflictions but faithfull in sending them There is a difference between these two the one is like an exception to the Rule quoe firmat regulam in non exceptis the other makes it a part of the Rule God cannot be faithfull without doing all things that tend to our good and eternal Welfare the conduct of his Providence is one part of the Covenant-Ingagement as to pardon our sins and sanctify us and give us glory at the last so to suit his Providence as our need and profit requireth in the way to Heaven 'T is an act of his Sovereign Mercy which he hath promised to his People to use such discipline as conduceth to their safety In short the Cross is not onely an exception to the grace of the Covenant but a part of the grace of the Covenant The meaning is God is obliged in point of fidelity to send sharp Afflictions Psal. 89. 32. I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Sharp Rods and sore Stripes not onely may stand and be reconciled with God's loving kindness and truth but they are effects and expressions of it 't is a part of that transaction viz. his Covenant-Love 3. The third thing to be explained is his sense of these Truths I know Knowing implies clearness of apprehension and firmness of perswasion so that I know is I fully understand or else I am confident or well assured of this truth But from whence had David his Knowledge how knew he all God's Judgments to be right not from the Flesh or from natural Sense no the Flesh is importunate to be pleased will perswade us the contrary If we consult onely with natural Sense we shall never believe that when God is hacking and hewing at us he intendeth our good and benefit and that when sore Judgments are upon us his end is not to destroy but to save to mortify the Sin and save the Person Sense will teach us no such thing but will surely misinterpret and misexpound the Lord's dealings For the Peace of God is a riddle to a natural Heart Phil. 4. 7. Whence then had David his Knowledge partly from the Word of God and partly from his own observation and particular experience 1. From the Word of God for 't is a maxime of Faith that God can doe no wrong That he is righteous in all his ways and just in all his works Psal. 145. 17. And again Deut. 32. 4. He is the rock his work is perfect for all his ways are judgment and truth and without iniquity just and right is he These are undeniable Truths revealed in the Word of God and must satisfy us whatsoever Sense saith to the contrary the causes and ends of God's particular Judgments are sometimes secret but they are always just Psal. 97. 2. Clouds and darkness are round about him but righteousness and truth are the habitation of his throne Therefore when we see not the reason of God's particular Dispensations we must believe the righteousness and goodness of them 2. David knew by his own observation and particular experience he had much studied his own Heart and considered his own ill deservings and Soul distempers and therefore saw the Lord's Discipline was necessary for him We should better understand God's work and sooner justify him both in point of justice and faithfulness if we did use more observation and did consider what need and profit there is of Affliction Tribulation worketh experience Rom. 5. 4 5. We see what need there was of Affliction and how seasonable the Lord's work was This is a more sensible way of knowledg than the former Faith is a surer ground but spiritual Observation hath its benefit Natural Conscience doth represent our guilt but experience sheweth God's faithfulness how seasonably God took us in our Month and suited his Providence to our present Condition Doct. That it would much quiet the minds of the people of God about all the sad dispensations of his Providence if they would seriously consider the justice and faithfulness of them So did David silence all his murmurings when the hand of God was sore upon him so should we silence all our murmuring all our suspicions of God's dealing when we are under the Cross. I know the Lord doth nothing unjust but is faithfull he will not retract his Covenant-Love and I know his Covenant-Love binds him to lay on us seasonable Affliction and Correction I shall doe two things First Illustrate the Point by some Considerations Secondly Shew that there is much of justice and faithfulness in all the Troubles and Afflictions of God's People Consider 1. We are not onely to grant in the general that God's Judgments are right but that he hath in faithfulness afflicted us So doth David when the stroke of God was heavy upon himself Many will assert the Righteousness of God when they speak to others in their Afflictions but do not indeed justify him in the Afflictions that come upon themselves We are hasty to censure but backward to humble our own Souls before God they will give him the praise of his Justice when he chasteneth others but think God dealeth harshly and rigorously with them when his Scourge is upon their own backs Such a difference is there between Knowledge speculative and experimental between that Conscience which we have in others Concernments and that Knowledge which self-love giveth us in our own David here doth not onely own the general Truth but sees God's faithfulness when the stroke lighted upon himself So Iob 4. 3 4 5. you shall see this was objected to Iob that he could comfort others but now the hand of God was upon him his Soul fainted They that stand upon the shore may easily say to those that are in the midst of the Waves and conflicting for life or death Sail thus When we are well we give Counsel to the sick but if we were so how would we take it our selves So can we say patiently all is just and keep silence to God Consider 2. We must not onely grant this truth that God is faithfull when at ease but when under the sharpest and smartest Discipline We use to praise God in prosperity but we should bless him also when he seemeth to deal hardly with us speak good of God when under the Rod. When we view a Cross at a distance or in the doctrinal contemplation of this Truth we say that God may exercise us with the greatest evil and that we need these methods to bring us to Heaven but when Afflictions come thick and near and close and we are deprived of our nearest and dearest Comforts Credit Liberty Health Life
Children then we have other thoughts 'T is more easy to speak of Trouble than to bear it We reade of Iesus Christ that he learned by experience Heb. 5. 8. He had an actual experience by the things he suffered and he saith now is my soul troubled John 12. 27. There is a vast difference between the most exact apprehension in the Judgment and the experimental feeling of it in the Senses the one may be without so much vexation as the other will produce Though Christ understood perfectly what his Sufferings should be and had resolved upon them yet when he came to feel it his very righteous Soul was under perplexity as a glass of pure Water may be tossed and shaken Affliction is another thing to present sense and feeling than it is to guess and imagination Much more doth it hold good in us for we have not such a perfect foresight of Sufferings as Christ had We suppose they may be avoided or shifted off one way or other I speak this that we may not depend upon our present Resolutions when out of trouble but labour to be more prepared than usually we are that when trouble cometh upon us we may glorify God Consider 3. This acknowledgment must be the real language of our Hearts and not by word of mouth onely thus we must give unto God the praise of his Truth and Righteousness We tip our Tongues with good words and learn such modesty in our language as to say God is just and do not rave against his Providence in wild and bold Speeches but justice and faithfulness must be acknowledged not with the Tongue so much as with the Heart 'T is the language of the Heart which God looketh after When the Soul keepeth silence to God and a due and suitable impression is left upon it of his Justice by a meek and humble submission Mica 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord for I have sinned against him When God is angry and chastiseth for sin we must stoop humbly under his afflicting Hand bear it patiently and submissively for the Rod is dipped in our own guilt that stoppeth our Mouths and checketh repinings so seeing his faithfulness it maketh us accept the punishment of our iniquities Levit. 26. 41. that is yield to it as a man would to a bitter Potion or a medicinal preparative for his Health so to afflict is as a means to get rid of Sin which would be the bane of the Soul Consider 4. 'T is not enough to acknowledge justice but we must also acknowledge faithfulness not onely his just severity in the punishments of the Wicked but his fidelity and love in the correction of his Children 't is not enough that we justify God and forbear to murmur against his afflicting us but we must see his love and faithfulness in it and that he performeth his Covenant-love His Wisdome and Justice that suppresseth Murmurings his Love and Faithfulness that giveth Hope and Comfort and Courage the one concerneth the Honour of God he righteth himself by his just Judgments the other concerneth our benefit and eternal Welfare Faithfulness is to us and for our good Pharaoh could own Justice Exod. 9. 27. The Lord is righteous but I and my people are wicked But 't is an higher thing to own Faithfulness that supposeth Faith as the other doth Conviction Guilt will sooner fly in our faces and extort from us an acknowledgement of God's Justice than we can own the grace of the New Covenant especially when carnal sense and smart seemeth to speak the contrary The sight of his Justice checketh murmurings the sight of his Faithfulness fainting and discouragement God's Dispensations are just with respect to the Sentence of the Law faithfull with respect to the Promises of the Gospel in short the cause of all Affliction is Sin therefore Justice must be acknowledged their end is Repentance and therefore Faithfulness the end is not destruction and ruine so they might be acts of Justice as upon the Wicked but that we may be fit to receive the Promises such to whom God will perform the promise of eternal Life and so acts of Faithfulness Consider 5. Faith must fix this as a ground not once to be questioned much less to be doubted of or denied that God is just upright and faithfull in all his dealings though weak Man be not able to conceive the reasons of them His Justice may be dark as when he permitteth us to the will of wicked men who afflict us without a cause and lay on without any mercy and pity and God seemeth to befriend their Cause at least doth not restrain them nor give check to their fury we are apt to be tempted to thoughts of rigour and injustice in God's Dispensations but we must consider not mens dealing but God's 't is unjust as to men but we have no cause to be angry with God and complain of God as if he did not doe right No though we do not see the reason of it yet 't is just God's Iudgments are a great deep we should believe the Righteousness and Goodness of God in the general Psal. 36. 7. before we can find it out The People of God have maintained their Principle when they have been puzled and imbrangled in interpreting God's Providence Ier. 12. 1. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee and Psal. 73. 1. Yet God is good to Israel In all such cases 't is best to acknowledge our own ignorance and rather accuse our selves of blindness than God of injustice This is a fixed truth that God is righteous though we cannot so clearly make it out And sometimes we are tempted to doubt of his Fidelity and Truth when we feel nothing but the smart of the Rod the benefit is future not an object of Sense but Faith and it must be evident to Faith before 't is evident to Feeling Heb. 12. 11. No affliction for the present seemeth joyous but grievous but afterwards it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness When all is sharp and hard to Sense Faith can see all is for our profit for our good Here is nothing repugnant to God's Truth nothing but what is necessary to make good his Truth Faith must determine it to be when Sense will not find it so God's Works are misexpounded when we go altogether by present Sense whether internal or external many times we know not what God is about to doe as Christ told Peter John 13. 7. What I doe thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter That which the Lord is doing tendeth not to ruine and wrath though through our ignorance and mistake we so interpret it Alas no wonder we are in the dark when we so judge of his Work who is wonderfull in counsel and excellent in working who will not always satisfy our sense and curiosity but chooseth such a way as will most suit his intent But ever in all such cases Faith must determine that God is
Luke 6. 36. Had it not been for this mercy the World had been long since reduced into its ancient Chaos and the frame of Nature dissolved 2. There is a special mercy which he sheweth to his People Pardoning their Sins sanctifying their Hearts accepting their Persons So of his mercy hath he saved us Tit. 3. 4 5. Quickned us Eph. 2. 4 5. God who is rich in mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickened us together with Christ. This sheweth God hath more mercy foâ—…â—…is People than for others Now this is a great incouragement he that took pity upon us in our lost Estate and did then pardon our Sins freely will he not take pity upon us now we are in the state of Grace and have our sins pardoned Surely he will shew mercy unto us still in forbearing the punishment due unto us or in mitigating his corrections or sweetning them with his Love What matter is it who hateth us when the Almighty pityeth us and is so tender over us 2. The satisfying effect which is comfort Here I shall shew 1. What is comfort 2. That Consolation is the gift and proper work of God to be asked of him 1. What is comfort 'T is sometimes put for the object or thing comfortable Sometimes for the disposition of the subject or that sense and apprehension that we have of it 1. The object or thing comfortable and so comfort may note 1. Deliverance and temporall Blessings these things are comfortable to the senses and in a moderate proportion and with submission they may be asked of God That comfort is put for deliverance many Scriptures witness Take these for a tast Psal. 71. 21. After deep and sore troubles thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side So Psal. 81. 17. Shew me a token for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me So Isa. 12. 1. In that day thou shalt say O Lord I will praise thee though thou wast angry with me thine anger was turned away and thou comfortedst me In all these places comfort is put for temporal deliverance which is an effect of Gods mercy and may be an object of the Saints Prayers 'T is lawfull to deprecate afflictions There are but few of the best of Gods Children that can hold out under long troubles without murmuring or fainting 2. An other object of comfort is the pardon of Sins or a sense of Gods special love in Christ wrought on our hearts This is matter of comfort indeed This is the principal effect of Gods mercifull kindness in this life and the great consolation of the Saints as offering a remedy against our greatest evil which is trouble that ariseth from guilt and sin This obtained filleth them with joy and peace Psalm 4. 6 7. puts gladness into our hearts To feel Gods love in the Soul Rom. 55. is the Heaven upon Earth which a believer enjoyeth which allayeth the bitterness of all his troubles Heaven above is nothing but comfort and the comforts of the Spirit are Heaven below God keepeth not all for the life to come 3. An other object of comfort is our happy estate in Heaven which puts an end to all our miseries Rev. 7. 19. God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes Rev. 21. 4. There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor any pain Luke 16. 19. In thy life time thou receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented We have not our full comfort till we come to Heaven In the world there still is Day and Night Summer and Winter Here is a mixture of Mourning and Joy but there all comfort Matth. 5. 4. Fourthly The highest and chiefest object of our comfort is the Lord himself 1 Sam. 30. 6. David comforted himself in the Lord his God Though all things else fail this should satisfie us Though we have little health no friends no outward supports to rejoyce in yet thou hast God whose favour is Life and who is the Fountain of Happiness and the centre of the Souls rest The prophet when reduced not onely to some streights but great exigencies Hab. 3. 18. Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation The joy of sense is in the Creature the joy of Faith is in God Thus we may consider comfort objectively All that I shall say farther is this that we should take heed what we make to be the object of our solid comfort Luke 10. 24. They are carnall men that wholly place their comfort in earthly things in the pleasures and honours and profits of the world Luke 6. 24. Woe to you that are rich for ye have received your consolation They have all here and can look for no more and if disappointed here they are utterly miserable There are consolations arising from good things exhibited but more in good things promised Everlalasting Consolations 2 Thes. 2. 16. 2. Let us consider it subjectively Comfort 't is the strengthening of the mind when it is apt to be weakened by doubts fears and sorrows as by patience we are kept from murmuring so by comfort we are kept from fainting 'T is the strength stay and support of the heart against any grievance whereby it is likely to be overcome There are three words by which that delightfull sense of Gods favour as a stay and strengthening to the heart is expressed Comfort Peace and Ioy. Comfort is that sense of his love by which the sorrows that arise from the sense of sin and the sears of Gods Justice are not altogether removed and taken away yet so mitigated and allayed that the Soul is not overwhelmed by them but hope doth more prevail This is the nature of Comfort that it doth not altogether remove the Evil but so alleviate and asswage it that we are able to bear it with some alacrity and chearfulness and this is the common state of Believers answerable to the ordinary measure of Faith which God giveth his Children Though they are assaulted with Sorrows Doubts and Fears yet they have that true and solid ground of Comfort in the Promises which begets some hope and expectation towards God and when the conslict groweth grievous God of his mercy allayeth the storm by the working of his comforting Spirit 2. There is Peace which is another Notion which implyeth Comfort but withall a more full degree of it for Peace doth so settle and calm the Conscience that they are assaulted either with none or very light Fears It may be explained by external Peace External Peace is that state of things which is not troubled with Wars from abroad or intestine Tumults and Confusions at home for some long space of time A Truce is a shorter respite but a Peace is a long calm and quiet So when we are not assaulted with Doubts
their inclinations to the pleasures honours and profits thereof unbroken and unsubdued as Simon Magus cherisheth the same corruptions under his new Faith that he did under his old Sorceries Acts 8. still he did desire to be thought some great one among the people you must not think that he altogether dissembled but he had some sense upon him for he believed and beheld the miracles and wondered but the same inclinations remained with him Evermore some temporal interest or worldly advantage is laid closer to the heart and hath a deeper rooting therein than the word of promise and this in time prevaileth over the interest of God And therefore whatever good affections we have till we get a command over our base and carnal delights our hearts can never be sound with God 2dly Positively What the sound heart is not or to what it is opposed we have seen You may from hence easily gather what it is 't is such a receiving of the Word into the heart that it is rooted there and diffuseth its influence for the seasoning of every affection and beareth an universal sovereignty over us sometimes 't is described by its radication and sometimes by its sovereign prevailing efficacy 1. Sometimes 't is described by its radication and so 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ingrafted word that is able to save our souls Jam. 1. 21. The root of the matter is within 't is not tyed on but ingrafted so in that promise of God Heb. 8. 10. I will put my law into their minds and write it upon their hearts There is something written I will write my law and there are Tables and they are the hearts and minds of men that is the understanding and the will or the rational appetite and this with God's own finger I will write upon their hearts and minds There where is the Spring and Original of all Moral Operations of all Thoughts Affections and inward Motions there is the Law of God written in those parts of the Soul where the directive counsel and the imperial commanding power of all humane actions lieth there doth God write his Laws and engrave them in lively and legible characters And what is the effect of this but that a man becometh a Law to himself he carrieth his rule about with him and as ready and as willing a mind to obey it So Psal. 37. 31. The law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide The truth is rooted in him and his heart is suited and inclined to it He knoweth and loveth what is commanded of God and hateth what is forbidden of him thus a man becometh a Bible to himself Indeed this planting and ingrafting the Law upon our hearts 't is sometimes made our work because we use the means God doth not write his Law upon our hearts by Enthusiasm Rapture and Inspiration as he wrote in the hearts of the Apostles and Prophets but maketh use of our Reason and Reading Hearing Meditation Conference and Prayer 't is made our work because we work under God Psal. 119. 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee And Prov. 6. 21 22. Bind his commandments upon thy heart tie them upon thy neck When we look for the deep implanting of the Word in our hearts this is the sound heart here described 2. The efficacy of this Word so radicated and the power and dominion it hath over the soul to subdue it to the will of God and that is when the heart is transformed into the nature of God Rom. 6. 11. Ye have obeyed from the heart the form of sound doctrine that was delivered unto you When the form of the Word is delivered to him he delivereth up himself to be moulded and assimilated to the nature of it as that which is cast into the fire is changed into the colour heat and properties of fire Thus where the Word is incorporated and rooted in us the heart is assimilated to the object seen and discerned therein the image of God is stamped and impressed upon us 2 Pet. 1. 4. Having these great and precious promises that we might be partakers of the divine nature And 2 Cor. 3. 18. We are changed into his image or likeness from glory to glory by the Spirit of our God Well then you see what the sound heart is But yet more distinctly if you would have me unfold what this sound heart is there is required these four things First An inlightned understanding that is the directive part of the soul and 't is sound when 't is kept free from the leaven and contagion of Error Prov. 15. 21. A man of understanding walketh uprightly A sound mind is a good help to a sound heart Light breedeth an awe of God and mindeth us of our duty upon all occasions 1 Chron. 28. 9. And thou Solomon my son know thou the God of thy fathers and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing â—…nd First know him and then serve him He can never shoot right that taketh his aim contrary The understanding doth direct all the inferior powers of the Soul if that be infected with Error the affections must necessarily move out of order A blind Horse may be full of mettle but is ever and anon apt to stumble and therefore Without knowledge the heart is not good Prov. 19. 2. Secondly There is required an awakened Conscience that warneth us of our duty and riseth up in dislike of sin upon all occasions Prov. 6. 22. When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee when thou walkest it shall talk with thee To have a constant Monitor in our bosoms to put us in mind of God when our reins preach to us in the night season Psal. 16. 7. there is a secret Spy in our bosomes that observes all that we do and think and speak a domestical Divine that is always preaching to us his heart is his Bible Such an awaken'd Conscience is a Bridle before Sin to keep us from doing things contrary to God and a Whip after Sin if we keep it tender so it will do Indeed 't is easily offended but 't is not easily pleased as the Eye the least dust soon offends it but 't is not so easily got out again Till men have benummed their Consciences and brought a brawn and deadness upon their hearts their Conscience according to its light will warn them of their danger and mind them of their duty 't is a great mercy to have a speaking stirring Conscience otherwise 't is stupid and sensless Thirdly There is required a rightly disposed Will or a stedfast purpose to walk with God in all conditions and to do what is good and acceptable in his sight Acts 11. 23. He exhorted them with full purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord. Many have light inclinations or wavering resolutions but their hearts are not fixedly habitually bent to please God therein chiefly lieth
upward that is to God for ease and relief as when we expect any bodies coming we send our eyes towards the place from whence he cometh Reasons 1. The Children of God make more of a Promise than others do and that upon a double account Partly because they value the Blessing promised Partly because they are satisfied with the assurance given by God's Word so that whereas others pass by these things with a careless eye their souls are lifted up to the constant and earnest expectation of the Blessing promised 'T is said of the Hireling that he must have his wages before the Sun go down Deut. 24. 15. Because he is poor and hath set his heart upon it Or as it is in the Hebrew lifted up his soul to it meaning thereby both his desire and hope He esteemeth his wages for it is the solace of his labors and the maintenance of his life and he assuredly expecteth it upon the promise and covenant of him who setteth him awork So it is with the Children of God they esteem the Blessings promised and God's Word giveth them good assurance that they do not wait upon him in vain 1 Tim 4. 10. Therefore we both labour and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the saviour of all men especially of those that believe They know God is good to all much more to his Covenant servants They value his salvation and venture their All upon his salvation and the truth of his Word and therefore lift up their souls to him in the midst of their pressures and difficulties 2. It is some satisfaction to enjoy the Blessing in Idea and contemplation before we have it indeed Hope causeth a kind of anticipation and preunion of our souls with the blessedness expected as Heirs live upon their Lands before they have them And that 's the reason why Joy is made to be the fruit of Hope though it be proper to fruition and enjoyment Rom. 12. 12. Rejoycing in hope of the glory of God It refresheth them in their Pilgrimage and affecteth them in some measure as if it were in hand So Rom. 15. 13. The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the holy Ghost While believing waiting hoping while conflicting with difficulties They carry themselves as if they had already obtained the thing promised for by eying the Promise they are cheared and revived Hope giveth a foretaste especially when the comforting Spirit addeth his impression thereunto 3. The opening of the eye of Faith argueth a closing of the eye of Sense which giveth a double benefit First That we are not withdrawn with vain Objects Secondly Not discouraged with contrary Appearances First That we are not withdrawn by vain Objects Nothing doth quench Zeal and Holiness and Joy in the Lord nor cast water upon that sacred fire which should be kindled and kept ever burning in our bosoms so much as keeping the eye of Sense always open to behold the lustre and beauty of worldly vanities Alas then hope of Heaven and salvation from God is a cold heartless thing we think of it carelesly desire and press after it very weakly But now when the eye of Sense is shut and the eye of Faith kept always open then Hope advanceth it self with life and vigor and present things seem less and things to come more great and glorious in our eyes 1 Pet. 1. 13. Be sober and hope to the end c. Sobriety is the moderation of our affections in the pursuit and â—…se of earthly things The delights of the present life burden the Soul glue it to the earth and to base and inferior objects But when our Souls are kept in the fresh lively and serious expectation of better things all the things of the world appear more contemptible 'T is not for Eagles to catch Flies nor for the Heirs of Promise to be captivated by the delights of Sense so that every day our Hope is more certain and powerful our pursuit more earnest The mind is not darkned with the fumes of lust nor diverted from those noble objects Secondly The eye of Sense being shut we are not discouraged with contrary appearances nor with fears and troubles and the tryals of the present life because Hope seeth Sun-shine behind the back of the Storm We have a notable Emblem of the eye of Faith and the eye of Sense in the Prophet and the Prophet's man 2 Kings 6. 15 16 17. When the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth behold an host compassed the city both with horses and charets and his servant said to him Alas my master how shall we do And he answered Fear not for they that be with us are moe than they that be with them And Elisha prayed and said Lord I pray thee open his eyes that he may see And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and charets of fire round about Elisha's man is afrighted with the dreadful appearance of Enemies encompassing them round about and is at his wits end What shall we do But his Master Elisha had the eye of Faith and could see great preparations which God had sent for their defence which the servant could not see therefore encourageth him and in a Prophetical Vision sheweth not only more horses and charets but charets of fire which were no other than the Angels of God come together in the manner of an Host to rescue the Prophet of God What was represented to him in a Prophetical Vision is always evident to Faith and to the eyes of a believing Soul They see God and his holy Angels set for their deliverance When God openeth the eyes of the mind they can see the glory and power of the other world and then though troubled on every side yet not distressed though perplexed yet not in despair though persecuted yet not forsaken though cast down yet not destroyed 2 Cor. 4. 8 9. Though wrestling with difficulties yea brought to some extremities yet this invisible assistance supporteth them and though they have little humane means yet God carrieth them on to their expected end and issue 1. USE To reprove us for poring so much upon present things and neglecting those to come especially the great recompence of reward Alas Men have either none or cold thoughts of that blessed estate which is offered in the Promises Our thoughts flie up and down like dust in the wind they may sometimes light upon good things but they vanish and abide not We may have some cold ineffectual glances upon Heaven and heavenly things which flie away and never leave the Soul better This argueth Hope is very weak if there be any at all for Hope is always longing and looking out for the blessing Sending Spies into the Land of Promise to bring it tydings thence it will discover its self
filled on the one side there is the World and the perfections thereof and on the other side the Word of God and the benefit that we have thereby and sensibly the Beam breaketh on the Word's side in the one Scale there is limited perfection which will soon have an end in the other an happiness that hath length and breadth I have seen an end c. In the words there is a Thesis or Proposition and then an Antithesis or something said by way of opposition to that Position The Thesis I have seen an end of all perfection And the Antithesis But thy commandment is exceeding broad Both together will yield us this Point That the serious consideration of the frailty and fadingness of all natural and earthly perfections should excite and quicken us to look after that better and eternal estate which is offered to us in the Word of God I shall make good this Proposition by going over the circumstances of the Text as they are offered to us First I begin with the Thesis or Proposition I have seen an end of all perfection And there you may take notice 1. Of the subject or matter here spoken of 't is perfection understand it in a natural and worldly sense the most excellent of all the creatures and the greatest glory of all natural accomplishments 2. The Extent All perfection whatever it be 3. The Predicate Hath an end 4. The confirmation from sense I have seen 'T is either dictum experientiae I have often seen it fall out before my eyes or dictum fidei I could by faith easily see to the bottom of the creature see vanity in it whil'st in its greatest glory Let us open these things Mark 't is not said in the Concrete I have seen an end of perfect things but in the Abstract I have seen an end of all perfection itself The most perfect of worldly things are but imperfect Man in his best estate is altogether vanity Psal. 39. 11. And then mark the Extent of it 't is all perfection not only some but all perfection wisdom and learning as well as beauty and strength wit and wealth honour and greatness I have seen an end of all of it Many will readily grant that some kind of perfections are slight but all is vanity and vexation of spirit Here is a Meditation fit for persons of all sorts and conditions For great ones that they presume not For mean ones that they repine not For the old whose vigor and strength is gone in whom 't is verified And for the young or those that are in the vigor and freshness of youth in whom within a little while it will be verified For the rich that they trust not in uncertain riches For the Poor that they be not over dejected For the honored that they please not themselves overmuch with the blasts of popular breath and vain applause The disgraced that they may make a sanctified use of their afflictions all perfection first or last will wither and decay And then here is the Predicate hath an end the word also fignifieth limit or bound there is an end in regard of length duration and continuance and an end in regard of breadth and use that also must be taken in for the narrowness of worldly comforts and the breadth of the Commandments are often opposed one to the other I will shew you first that all earthly perfections have their bounds and limits as to their use and service they are good for this and that but not for all things but godliness is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4. 8. They are not able to bear full contentment to the mind nor give full satisfaction to the heart at least in all conditions and all sorts of afflictions riches will help against poverty and health against sickness but godliness is profitable to all things There are many difficulties and dangers in which the limited power of the creatures cannot help us but the Word of God applied and obeyed and followed with his mighty Spirit will yield us relief and comfort in all cases and conditions all the pleasures and profits and honours of the world are nothing to this as for instance all these perfections cannot 1. Give us any solid peace of conscience and rest to our souls in the midst of all our fulness there is something wanting carnal affections must be mortified before they can be satisfied Grace must do that for you 'T is godliness that brings contentment to the heart of man 1 Tim. 6. 6. Godliness with contentment is great gain Alas wealth can never do it our desires are increased the more we have and the way to contentment is not to increase our substance but to limit our desires as in a Dropsie the way to cure the man is not to satisfie him with drink but to open a vein to take away his thirst We expect too much from the creature and then the disappointment breedeth trouble Eccles. 1. 14. and therefore why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Outward things do not bear a thorow proportion with all the wants and desires and capacities of the soul and therefore cannot give any solid peace to our souls 2. It cannot make you acceptable to God neither wealth nor beauty nor honour nor strength 't is grace that is of great price in the sight of God 1 Pet. 3. 4. The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price This is a beauty that doth never fade nor wax old Since thou wert precious in my sight thou wast honorable and I have loved thee Isa. 43. 4. God loveth his People for the grace he putteth into them not for the outward gifts he bestoweth upon them 't is grace that makes us amiable to God and fit objects of the divine complacency you are not a jot the more pleasing to God when rich than when poor no but the more hateful to him if you are not rich towards God Luke 12. 21. 3. It cannot stead you in your greatest and deepest necessities and therefore they are but limited there are two great necessities wherein all creature comforts will fail First In troubles of Conscience Men do pretty well with their worldly portion and happiness till God sets their Consciences a work and begins to rebuke man for sin and reviveth the sense of their own guilt and liableness to the curse in such a case all the glory and profit and pleasure of the creature will do no good it cannot allay the sense of God's wrath scorching the soul for sin Psal. 39. 11. When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin thou makest his beauty to consume like a moth Tell him of Honours Friends Estates Pleasures all is nothing the vertue of that Opium wherewith he laid his soul asleep is now quite spent Trouble of Conscience arrests the stoutest and most jovial Sinners and layeth
them under sadness and horror Iudas threw away his 30 pieces of Silver when his guilt star'd him in the face I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Mat. 27. 4. When God is angry the creatures cannot pacifie him and make you Friends as when a man is going to Execution with a drooping and heavy heart bring him a Posie of Flowers bid him smell of them and comfort himself with them he will think you upbraid his misery so in troubles of Conscience what good will it be to tell a man of Riches and Honours the remedy must be according to the grief so that if outward things could satisfie the heart they cannot satisfie the Conscience our sore will run among all the creatures and there 's no salve for it Secondly They will not stead us at the hour of Death when a Man must launch out into Eternity and set Sail for an unknown World Can a Man comfort himself then with outward things that a Man is great rich and honourable beautiful or strong or that he hath wallowed in all manner of sensualities If Men would look to the end of things they would sooner discern their mistake Deut. 32. 29. Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end So Ier. 17. 9. At his latter end he shall be a fool He was a Fool before all his life-long but now he is so in the account of his own heart So Iob 27. 8. What hope hath the hypocrite though he hath gained when God cometh to take away his soul The poor Man would fain keep his soul a little longer no but God will take it now and he doth not resign it but God takes it by force And 1 Cor. 15. 56. The sting of death is sin The dolors and horrors of a guilty Conscience are revived by death and then the weakness of worldly things doth best appear our wealth and honour and pleasure will leave us in the dirt when the soul is to be turned out of doors our vain conceits are blown away and we begin to be sensible of our ill choice if Conscience did not do its office before death will undeceive them When a man dyeth he shall carry nothing away with him his glory shall not descend after him Psal. 49. 17. He shall be eaten out by Worms as others are when he cometh to go the way of all the Earth then for one Evidence for Heaven one dram of the favor of God as Severus the Emperor cryed out I have been all things but now it profits me nothing 4. 'T is of no use to you in the world to come Gold and Silver the great Instruments of Commerce in this world are of no value there all civil distinctions last but to the Grave some are high and others low some are rich and others poor these distinctions will last but awhile but the distinction of good and bad lasts for ever their works follow them but not their wealth outward things cannot save your souls or bring you to Heaven 5. In this World it will not prevent a Sickness or remove it The honorable and the rich have their diseases as well as the poor yea more they are bred upon them by their intemperance All your Houses and Lands and Honors and Estates cannot ease you of a Fit of the Gout or Stone nor an aking Tooth nor keep off Judgments when they are Epidemical There were Frogs in Pharaoh's Bed chamber as well as among the meaner Egyptians and all the King's Guard could not keep them out Well then all these things shew 't is of a limited use indeed they serve to make our Pilgrimage comfortable and to support us during our service that 's the best use we can put them to but the use the most put them to is to satisfie a sensual appetite or please a fleshly mind Psal. 17. 14. The utmost that these things can procure is a back well cloathed and a belly well filled This is but a sorry happiness to feed a little better than others to provide a richer Feast for the Worms yea a Prey for Hell Take all created perfections not as subordinate to grace but separate from it it serveth but to please the appetite or the fancy make the most or best of it Secondly By their time and period as to continuance All these things perish in the using like Flowers they wither in our hands while we smell to them The fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 31. And whosoever liveth here for awhile must look for changes and reckon to act several parts in the World Whatsoever was wonderful in former Ages 't is lost and past with age things that now are are not what they once were Psal. 102. 26 28. They shall perish but thou shalt endure for ever saith the Psalmist speaking to God Yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years have no end Christ he hath no end but Men will soon see the end of all perfection The World and all things were made ea lege ut aliquando pereant that they might at length fail and come to an end That which you now have you cannot say it shall be yours this time twelve month or it may be a month hence we hold all things by an uncertain tenure God may take away these things from us for Man is compared to Grass and the glory of Man to the flower of Grass 1 Pet. 1. 24. What is the glory of Man Riches Wisdom Strength Beauty Credit all these things are called the Flower now the Flower fadeth before the Grass and withers the neglected stalk remaineth when the leaves of the Flower are shed you may be gone and they gone if they continue with you till death then you must take your final farewell of all your comforts Thus you see all perfection will have an end Fourthly Here is the confirmation from Sense I have seen Consider it 1. As 't is matter of sense or experience 2. As 't is an observation upon experience First The vanity of the Creature is matter of sense and plain experience We have seen and others have seen all outward things come to their final period goodly Cities levied with the Earth mighty Empires destroyed worldly Glory blasted Honours vanished Credit and Esteem shrunk into nothing Beauty shrivelled with Age or defaced by Sickness yea all manner of greatness laid in the dust We trample upon the Graves of others and within a little while others will do the same over ours All things have their times and turns their rise and ruine there 's no man that converseth with the world but he will soon see the vanity of it David found it not only by clear reason but by his own experience I have seen saith he and so will you say too within awhile these things will fail when you have most need
this kind of wisdom 1 Cor. 3. 18. 2. You may look upon them as corrupt and sinful In those days of Saul the Teachers might be corrupt as vvell as other ranks and orders of Men and then it only implies this That God gives greater understanding to his People than to their corrupt Guides Luk. 11. 52. Wo unto you lawyers for ye have taken away the key of knowledge ye entred not in your selves and them that were entring in ye hindred The Expounders of the Lavv vvere corrupt and hindred others from entring into the Kingdom of God it is a great evil vvhen the Church of God is given up to such kind of Guides But novv in such a case they that make conscience of God's Ordinances use private means vvith diligence have more understanding than their Teachers Mat. 23. 2 3. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat Whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do but do not ye after their works for they say and do not Though they were naught and corrupt themselves yet if they bring God's message it should not be slighted because of the office and lawful authority with which they are invested though not every way qualifi'd for their station and in this sense a Child of God may be wiser than his Teachers 3. We may look upon them as contenting themselves with the naked Theory of God's Law without making conscience of practice that they were such kind of Guides that never tasted themselves what they commended to others or practised what they taught then I have more understanding than my Teachers He that excels in practice he hath the best understanding Practical knowledge is to be prefer'd before speculative as much as the end is to be prefer'd before the means the end is more noble than the means now speculative knowledge is the means to the end Psal. 111. 10. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments Not only know what is to be done but do what is to be known as for others whatever light they seem to have they have not wisdom and understanding Ier. 8. 9. Lo they have rejected the Word of the Lord and what wisdom is in them They were boasting of the knowledge of the Law yet there was no wisdom in them A mean Christian that fears God is a Man of more understanding than he that hath a great deal of head-light and in this sense may it be well said The Children of God are wiser than their Teachers Many times those that are unlearn'd rise up and take Heaven by violence when others by all their literal and speculative knowledge are thrust down to Hell Suppose it spoken no way in diminution to these Teachers but that they did their duty 4. Some comment thus That David had more understanding than all his Teachers which taught him the first Rudimens of Religion that he transcended them by far by God's blessing in making further progress in this kind of knowledge If this were the sense it would teach us not always to keep to our milk and to the first principles of Religion but to wade further and further into these mysteries Heb. 5. 12 13. We should go on still and grow up to a greater fulness in knowledge according as we have more means and advantages But this is not the sense for he saith than all my Teachers Why then 2dly take it for his godly Teachers that were every way qualifi'd and it is no new thing for a Scholar to exceed his Master and Christians of a private station many times to excel those that are in office Look as in secular things among the Heathens Aristotle was wiser than Plato his Master and oppos'd him in many things therefore is call'd an Asses Colt that as soon as he was full with the Dams milk kicks her he forgot that he was his Father We should if we can exceed our Teachers but not despise them and Daniel chap. 1. 20. was wiser in civil Arts than all his Teachers so also 't is true as to holy things Iesus Christ at twelve years of age puzled the Doctors Eli brought up Samuel in the fear of God but he proved wiser than Eli Paul brought up at the feet of Gamaliel Acts 22. 3. prov'd a more notable instrument of God's glory And Austin was taught by Ambrose but grew afterwards more eminent than he Thus David was wiser than his Teachers and yet they might be faithful and holy Now he mentions this partly to commend the Lord's grace Thou hast made me wiser than my Teachers and partly to commend meditation in the Word the means by which he got it not to boast of his own attainments but to commend grace and commend the means of grace to others What may we observe from this Assertion of David I am wiser than my Teachers 1 Obser. First The freeness of Gods grace in making a difference between men and men as to measures and degrees of knowledge 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who made thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou hast not received Some have more and some less understanding and all is as God gives out There is not only a difference between men and men as to their great distinction of Election and Reprobation but within the sphere of Election as to measures of grace God manifests himself to some more than to others they are admitted to this favor to see more than others into the mind of God though they have the same Teacher God's Spirit the same Rule and Direction God's Word the same Principles of Grace yet they have greater measures of knowledge the reasons lie in God's bosom and grace Now this should be noted that those which excel should be kept humble as being more indebted to grace than others are and surely none should be proud because more in debt and that those who are excelled might submit and be contented to be out-shined Iohn 3. 30. He must increase but I must decrease It should be a rejoicing to them that God is likely to be glorifi'd more by others especially Teachers should rejoice that God should give such a blessing to the Ministry that they which seem to be under them should see more than they when those two quarrelling Pronouns meum tuum mine and thine have no more use as in Heaven then we shall fully rejoice in one anothers gifts and graces and what they enjoy it will be our comfort as in a Quire of Voices one sings the Treble another the Bass they are refreshed and every one delights not only in his own part and performance but in the part of each other all concurs to the harmony so one hath this measure of grace another another and all concur to the glory of God 2 Obser. Secondly Not only the freeness of God's grace in giving wisdom to one more than to another but observe also the Soveraignty of God's distribution the treasures of grace are at his free disposing and
That I might keep thy Word 6 This refraining must be from every sinful course The grace of Justification will teach this and the grace of Sanctification the grace of Justification that pardoneth all sin will teach us to deny all Tit. 2. 12. And the grace of Sanctification will teach us to deny not one but all for that introduceth a setled hatred against sin in the soul Now hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the whole kind he that hates one sin as sin hates all sin As Haman thought scorn to lay his hands upon Mordecai alone but sought to destroy all the seed of the Iews Esther 3. 6. So this hatred 't is universally carried out against all sin Indeed they do not mortifie any sin that do not mortifie every sin one lust remaining unmortifi'd it keeps the Devil's interest afoot in the soul. Pharaoh when the Israelites would have gone would fain have a pawn of their return their Flocks their Herds or their Children that they might be sure to come back again So Satan if a Man be touched in conscience and will bethink himself and look after Religion if he can get but a pawn a corner of the heart one sin he knows his interest is still kept Herod did many things but he had his Herodias and that held him fast and sure to Satan The young man had a sense of eternal life upon him Mat. 19. 22. and he did many things All these have I kept from my youth but he was worldly There are certain tender parts in the soul that are loth to be touched but now if we would be sincere with God we must refrain from every evil way Any one man entertained besides the Husband it breaks the Marriage Covenant any one sin allowed in the soul be it never so small it forfeits our priviledges by grace But now because particulars are more affective and do strike upon the soul with the more smart blow than generals briefly consider 1. We must refrain from every evil way not only notorious sins but those that are plausible and of more reputation in the world that are not so ranck in the nostrils of men and expose us to such disgrace and dishonor There are open sins that are found hateful that have a turpitude in them and bring shame Gal. 5. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The works of the flesh are manifest such as Murder Adultery gross oppression these are ranck weeds of an ill savor that stink in nature's nostrils and are accompanied with shame and disgrace To refrain from these is little thanks Luke 18. 11. The Pharisee wipes his hand of these I am not an Adulterer c. Ay but he was proud censorious and covetous there 's Pride Censoriousness Covetousness and Worldliness cloaked sins that are not of such disgrace in the world all these should be hated by you Many times those sins that are majoris infamioe of greater infamy they are not always majoris reatus they do not leave the greatest guilt upon you Unbelief it is not infamous in the World neglect of the Gospel of grace want of love to Christ Jesus these are great sins and therefore you must not only abstain from notorious sins but those which are more plausible and are not of such ill fame in the world 2. You must abstain from sins outward and inward Isa. 55. 7. The Sinner must not only forsake his way but his thought by his way is meant his outward course and practice but he must make conscience of his thoughts and secret workings of heart Practices may be over-rul'd by by-ends but thoughts and desires these are the genuine immediate motions and issues of the soul that do come immediately out of the Fountain and are restrained only by grace 3. Sin 's profitable and pleasant as well as those that have no such allurement and blandishment in them There are many sins that have nothing of allurement in them that are entertained only upon sin's account and evil custom as rash swearing blasphemy malice and the like But there are other sins that allure and entice the soul by the promise of profit and pleasure these two bastard goods that do make us often quit the good of honesty and duty Now you are to deny all ungodliness and worldly Lusts Tit. 2. 12. worldly Lusts what ever would endanger the soul all inordinate inclinations that carry you out to these things of pleasing the flesh and gratifying worldly interests 4. In refraining the feet from every evil way that is from sins against either table Rom. 1. 18. Mark God hath owned both tables not only revealed his wrath against ungodliness breaches of the first table but against unrighteousness breaches of the second table Many they indeed will not be unjust intemperate unkind to their neighbours I but they express no affection to God by worshipping him in their hearts by faith fear and love or in their houses by constant prayer morning and evening and secret and familiar in closet converses with God they are guilty of ungodliness though not of unrighteousness And there are many that would be much in worship in praying fasting and hearing but they forget their neighbours they are unrighteous they do not make Conscience in their dealings with men and in the duties of their relations are unfaithful many times to the great dishonour of God they do things Heathens would boggle at 5. There are great sins and small sins Many make not Conscience of small offences count these venial certainly he that would have a tender regard to God's Law no sin should seem little to him that is an offence to the great God It is Satan's custom by small sins to draw us to greater as the little sticks do set the great ones on fire and a wisp of straw enkindles a block of wood and by small sins we are enticed by Satan the the least sin allowed of is of a deadly and dangerous consequence Matth. 5. 19. Whosoever shall break the least of these commandments and teach men so It is treason to coin a penny as well as a pound To break the least of God's Commandements to make no Conscience of them because it is a small thing it argues a naughty heart Bodkins may wound and stab as well as swords Look as we read of the Prophet he was devoured of Lyons so we read of Herod he was eaten up by lice Small sins may be a very great mischief to the soul. Little sins are often the mother of great sins and the grand mother of great punishments and of plagues from God and therefore these lesser sins we must refrain from I kept my self from every evil way 6. We must not commit any thing that is evil out of a good intention if it be an evil but stand at a distance from it Do not turn aside to any crooked path upon any pretence soever Some have a good action but a bad aim now these do as it were make God serve the
They hate the Magistrate that would reform the faithful Christian that condemns them by his exact walking Iohn 15. 19. Because I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you They hate God's image in his people and cannot endure to be condemned by the light that shines out from their conversations Godly Men are Objects reviving guilt Therefore they hate them Thus shamefully are a man's affections transposed we love where we should hate and hate where we should love And then if we come to the other sort of men a degree above these many are frighted out of their sins by slavish fear but yet their hearts are in league with them still and as they get out of the stocks of Conscience they enlarge themselves in all manner of carnal liberty these are not changed but awed Sin is not mortified but only lurks to watch a safe opportunity when it may discover itself with more advantage SERMON CXI PSAL. CXIX VER 104. Therefore I hate every false way THE Second Proposition is the Universality of this Hatred Every false way They that hate sin must hate all sin 1. This doth necessarily follow upon the former for if we hate sin especially as sin for the intrinsick evil that is in it not upon foreign accidental reasons then we will hate all sin for hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the whole kind As Haman when he hated the Iews he thought fcorn to lay his hand only on Mordecai but would have destroy'd all the Iews Esther 5. 6. 'T is but a casual dislike and not a hatred certainly if we hate sin as sin we shall hate all sin The same reasons that incline us to hate one sin will incline us to hate all why what is it to hate sin as sin as it is a violation of God's Law as it is a contempt of God's Authority a breach of spiritual Friendship it grieves the Spirit these are the reasons to incline us to hate one as well as another Well then private reservation and indulgences or setting up a toleration in our own hearts will not stand with the hatred of all sin Some sins may shame and trouble us more but all are alike contrary to the Will of God therefore if we hate them upon reasons of duty to God we should hate them universally every false way 2. Every sin is hateful to God therefore every sin should be hateful to us The reason of this is we should hate what he hates and loue what he loves there 's a perfect friendship between God and those in Covenant with him Now that 's true friendship to will and nill the same thing it is built upon likeness and suitableness of disposition This Argument is urged by the Holy Ghost Prov. 8. 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate This is friendship with God to hate what God hates I hate it therefore they hate it Sins of thought are intended by Pride and Arrogancy for that puts us upon vain musings and imaginations And sins of word by the froward mouth And sins of action by the evil way outward practice All this God hates so should we Rev. 2. 6. Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate If we be in the same Covenant with God we will have the same love the same hatred Nay as we have the same nature with God the Saints are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. the divine nature shews itself by suitable dispositions 3. From our Covenant Relation with God which implies an entire surrender of soul which is without any reservation when you give up your selves to God he will have all If you say God be merciful to me and spare me in this then you forfeit all the blessings of the Covenant God will have all or none therefore all sin without exception must be hated by us for otherwise God is not our chief good if any thing be loved besides him or against his Will it is love above him One man allowed besides the Husband is a violation of the Marriage Covenant so one sin allowed in the heart it breaks all the Covenant between God and us Iam. 2. 10. If a man keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all That Sentence is not a legal Sentence belonging to the Covenant of Works that were a mistake of it it is not only true in the sense of the Covenant of Works one sin undoes us for ever but it is true in the Evangelical Covenant Thus one sin allowed with full consent of heart it makes void the Gospel Covenant as one Article not consented to disannuls the whole Treaty and Agreement between us and God It is not consistent with sincerity that we should bring down the Gospel-Covenant to allow any one sin 4. From the damage and mischief that it doth to our souls One sin keeps up the Devil's interest it is like a Nest Egg left there to draw a new temptation You continue his Empire in you this is his great design to keep a part Conscience begins to work they must have something all then that he pleads for is but a part and he knows that will bring the whole as Pharaoh would have a Pawn either their Flocks Herds or Children that this might bring them back again One sin reserved gives Satan an interest One leak in the Ship though all the rest be stopt if that be neglected will sink it in time Use. Let us lay this Branch also to heart There is something usually wherein we would be excused and expect favor We all have a tender part of our soul and loth it should be touched some vain fashions customs or ways and outgoings of soul which we are unwilling to leave though we have often smarted for them Consider it is not consistent with your obedience and your love to God nor with the power of grace in your hearts to allow any false way Herod did many things yet perished for all that A man may do many things that are good upon sins account when you allow any one thing it is only to hide and feed your lusts with greater pretence so many religious things may be fuel of lusts as well as carnal comforts It is not for the interest of the flesh or in-dwelling corruption that men should have no Religion sin cannot be served in such a cleanly way unless there be something done in compliance with God's Will under some disguise or conformity to the Will of God Say then Shall I do and suffer so many things in vain bring your hearts thus to hate every false way Thirdly This is a part and fruit of true wisdom 1 That this is a chief part of wisdom and understanding to hate every false way it appears from Iob 28. 28. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that
get to sâ—…re again but a man for a Voyage resolves upon all weathers So whatever disappointment here 's my business thus will I do and though he should kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13. 15. 5. It must be a resolution for the present not for the future for all resolutions for the future are false Psal. 27. 8. When thou saidst Seek ye my face like a quick Eccho My heart answered Thy face Lord will I seek And we must resolve so as to engage presently for what we do for hereafter it is but a cheat we put upon our selves meerly to elude the workings of heart to avoid the present impulse 6. It must be a resolution according to the Covenant of Grace in a sense of our insufficiency and dependance upon Christ not in a confidence of our own strength Peter went sorth in a confidence of his own resolution and how soon did he miscarry therefore we must resolve in the strength of God Psal. 119. 8. I will keep thy precepts O forsake me not utterly If God forsake all will come to nothing Thus we should solemnly dedicate our selves to his use and service 2 Secondly Having entred into such a solemn Engagement to be the Lords keep this Covenant and Oath-made with God For Motives 1. From the nature of such a solemn Engagement it hath more in it than a single Promise There is in every solemn dedication or vowing of our selves to God an attestation or calling upon God to take witness and there is an imprecation An attestation a calling God to witness of our serious intentions to perform and will you call God to be witness to a lye And 2dly an imprecation a calling upon God to punish us if we do the contrary therefore being entred into the Bond of such an holy Oath how should we tremble to break it For he that renevvs his Oath of Allegiance to God he doth as it vvere dare God to do his vvorst for you thereby vvish some heavy plague to fall upon your heads if you do not fulfil the duty of your Oath that is he that eats and drinks the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily he is guilty of Damnation guilty of the Lord's Blood because these solemn Rites do not only confirm the promises but confirm the threatning and there is implied not only an invocation of blessing but an imprecation upon our selves that is if you do not fulfil the duty of the Covenant you offer your selves as it were to God's curse 2. Consider the tenderness of God's people in case of any Oath or solemn promise though it concerned their duty to Man Iosh. 9. 19 20. it is spoken of the League with the Gibeonites We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel Now therefore we may not touch them left wrath be upon us because of the oath which we sware unto them They looked upon it as horrible impiety to break an Oath now much more doth this hold in our engagements to God Shall we not look upon it as a horrid impiety to break a solemn Oath so solemnly renewed and our faith so solemnly plighted Every sin of ours is made the more heinous because of this Oath 3. Remember the great quarrel that God hath against the Christian World and all the Professors of his Name is about his Covenant and Oath taken What 's the reason God doth visit Christendom with Famines Pestilences Inundations and Wars because they do not stand to the Oath of God that is upon them Every Professor of the Name of Christ he is supposed to be in Covenant with God Heb. 10. 29. Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing All visible Professors of Christianity are under a Covenant with God to take God for their God and to live as his People now because of their loosness and profaness they do not stand to their Engagement therefore so many plagues are upon them Lev. 26. 25. I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my Covenant that is because they did not perform the duties sworn to him SERMON CXVI PSAL. CXIX VER 107. I am afflicted very much quicken me O Lord according unto thy Word HEre we have 1 A representation of his case and condition I am afflicted his condition was calamitous and here 's the degree of it Very much 2 His prayer Quicken me O Lord according unto thy Word wherein we have the nature of his request Quicken me O Lord then the Argument According unto thy Word For the first I am afflicted it may be understood of outward pressures or soul troubles From thence note Doct. God's People are liable to sad and sore afflictions here in the world He doth not so fondly and delicately bring up his Children but that he exerciseth them with sharp afflictions David a Man dear to God much in communion with him ever and anon you hear him complaining of trouble It is the Churches name Isa. 54. 11. O thou afflicted and tossed with tempest and not comforted God's People are sometimes afflicted in the outward sometimes in the inward Man In the outward Man either by Enemies the more because they are godly 1 Tim. 3. 12. All they that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution They must not dream of worldly ease and think to go to Heaven upon a Bed of Roses but sometimes their way is strew'd with thorns and they have fiery trials 1 Pet. 4. 12. Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing hapned unto you No more than you would to see a shower of rain fall or a cloudy day succeed a fair We would laugh at one that should be troubled to see a showre fall so sometimes by sickness under God's immediate hand The 3d Epistle of Iohn the Apostle saith of Gaius I wish that thou may'st prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospereth It seems he had a healthful soul in a very sickly crazy body And Paul's thorn in the flesh notes some racking pain stone or gout which he alludes to thrusting up a stake in the body of slaves The inward Man that hath its affliction too anguish sorrow of heart sometimes by reason of God's desertion Christ Jesus drunk of this Cup Mat. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And the Cup goes round his People pledge him in this bitter Cup and often complain of a withdrawing God that they cannot find God as they were wont formerly Many times perplexing lusts and prevalency of sore distempers O wretched man c. Rom. 7. 24. so Paul groans And sometimes from temptations and assaults from Satan Luke 22. 31 32. Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Christ did not pray to exempt
being near of kin to him she comes in a cunning manner under pretence to worship him and propounds a general question to him she does not at first propose the particular but says in general I have a certain thing to request of thee And what was her Request That one of my sons may sit on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom Saith Christ To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father Mark out of this Story you learn how apt Christ's own Disciples are to dote upon worldly honor and greatness The sons of Zebedee Iames and Iohn those two worthy Disciples employ their mother to Christ in such a message they were dreaming of earthly Kingdoms and worldly honor that should be shared between them notwithstanding Christ taught them rather to prepare for Crosses in this world Do but reflect the light of this upon your own hearts Do we think we are better than those Apostles And that it is an easie thing to shut the love of the world and the honor thereof out of our hearts since they were so inchanted with the witchery of it therefore Christ tells them ver 22. Alas poor Creatures ye know not what ye ask can you pledge me in my Cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with We know not what we do when we are hunting after high places in the world we are to pledge Christ in his bitter Cup before our advancement come Nay to prove this is not only the bare worldlings disease but it is very incident to the choicest of God's people for after Christ had suffer'd and rose again the Apostles were not dispossess'd of this humor but still did dream of worldly ease and honor therefore they come to Christ with this question Acts 1. 6. Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel meaning in the Iewish sense break the Roman yoke and give them power and dominion over the Nations hoping for a great share to themselves when this work was done Thus you see humane weakness and the love of worldly honor bewrays itself in Christ's own Disciples One instance more in Ier. 45. 5. of Baruch Seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not Baruch he was Ieremiah's Scribe had written his Prophesie and believed it that dreadful Roll written it over yet he was seeking some great thing for himself The best are apt to think they shall shift well enough for themselves in the world therefore saith Ieremiah for thou to have thoughts of honor and credit and a peaceful and prosperous Estate when all is going to rack and ruine never dream upon such a matter Now judge whether there be not great cause that God should bring his people to such a condition that they should carry their life in their hands from day to day that he might cure them of this distemper 4. That they may value Eternal Life the more which they would not do if they had a stable condition here in the world After death there will be a life out of all danger and a life that is not in our hands but in the hands of God none can take that life from us which God keepeth in Heaven Now that they might look after this life and value and prize it the more they are expos'd to hazards and dangers here The Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15. 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable When they find the present life incumbred with so many sorrows and expos'd to so many dangers then they conclude surely there 's a better and safer estate for the people of God elsewhere in Heaven God's people cannot be of all men most miserable there is another life they have hopes in Christ and for other things therefore they long for it and look for it Heb. 13. 14. Here we have no abiding city but we seek one to come All things are liable to uncertainties and apparent troubles that we might look after that estate where the sheep of Christ shall be safely lodg'd in their eternal fold now God by their condition doth as it were say to them as Micah 2. 10. Arise this is not your rest Your stable comforts your everlasting enjoyments are not here here all our comforts are in our hands ready to deliver them up from day to day 5. God doth by his righteous Providence cause it to be so that his People carry their life in their hands to try their affections to him and his Word When we sail with a full stream of Prosperity we may be of God's side and party upon foreign and accidental reasons now God will see if we love Christ for his own sake and his ways as they are his ways when separated from any temporal interest yea when expos'd to scorn disgrace and trouble It is easie to be good when it costs us nothing and the wind blows in our backs rather than in our faces the state of affairs is for us rather than against us Halcyon times and times of rest are times of breeding the Church but stormy times are times of trying the Church 1 Pet. 4. 12. Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing hapned unto you God will put us into his Furnace there will a fiery trial come to see if we have the same affection to truth when it is safe to own it and when it is dangerous to own it when it is hated and maligned in the world Few Professors can abide God's trial Zech. 13. 9. I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried When two parts fall away there 's a third part refined and tried by trials When the generality proves dross or chaff or stubble in the Furnace there are some good metal preserved and shine brighter for trial as their zeal is increas'd and their grace kept more lively and their faith and dependance upon a continual exercise God will try whether we can live upon invisible supports and go on chearfully in the performance of our duty in the midst of all difficulty without these outward encouragements They are proved that they may be improved 6. God doth cause such things to befal his People to shew his power both in their preservation and in over-ruling all those cross Providences for their good 1 His power in their preservation when they have no temporal interests to back them God will shew he can preserve his People Psal. 97. 1. The Lord reigneth let the earth rejoice let the multitude of isles be glad thereof It is well that the Lord reigns else how could his People stand The Lord reigns and the multitude of Isles they have a share in the joy and benefit One
not of they have all in God You account him a richer man that hath much Land and a thousand pounds in Bonds than he that hath only a hundred pounds in ready money so a Child of God that hath one promise is richer than all the world he hath Bonds and his Debtor cannot fail him Let me tell you a man may not only live by faith but he may grow rich by faith You read of living by faith Gal. 2. 20. this is that which supports and keeps up a Believer in heart and life This will not only keep Body and Soul together but help us to grow rich Use 2. For Examination You have heard much what it is to have an heritage in the testimonies of the Lord O but who is the man try your selves Let me propound a few plain Questions 1. Were you ever chased out of your selves in the sense of the insufficiency of your worldly portion and the curse due to you Are you driven out of your selves Heb. 6. 18. There 's a comfortable place God willing to shew unto the Heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation O who are these Heirs of promise If we could find out that we are sure there 's enough in God there they are named who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us There is none ever took the testimony of the Lord for their portion but they came first to take hold of it as men in danger ready to sink and perish and be undone Our first address is to take Sanctuary in the Covenant to flee to Christ represented there as a City of refuge that we may be safe It is an allusion to a man which fled from the avenger of blood when taken out of the City of refuge under the Law he was to dye without remedy so a poor soul that first takes hold of the Covenant runs for sanctuary there first before he comes to take possession of the comforts of it 2. What do you take to be your 〈◊〉 and your great work Do you make it your main care to keep up your interest in the promises the great business you drive on you would â—…it down in as your work and employment What do you wait upon as your great project and design in the world Mary chose the better part Luke 10. 42. do you make this to â—…e your choice your work and business you drive on that you may be possest of the whole land of promise and enjoy eternal life and clear up your Right and Title to Heaven 1 Tim. 6. 19. Laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal life 3. Are you very chary of your interest O you would not hazard it upon such easie terms this is that all your happiness depends upon what shall I break with God for such a trifle Are you afraid to lose your Inheritance by sin as a man his Treasure by theft Are you careful and wary in this kind that you may not hazard your interest 1 Kin. 21. 3. said Nâ—…oth God forbid that I should sell mine inheritance Mark there was a King would traffick with him and that inheritance was but a poor Vineyard of the Earth but it was that which was descended from his father now God forbid I should sell it Thus will be the disposition of Gods Children O here lies my all my happiness my daily supplies from God God forbid that upon every trifle and carnal satisfaction I should break with God It was a great prophaneness in Esau Heb. 12. 16. who for one morsel of meat sold his Birth-right It is an argument that God is little valued or the Covenant and Testimony of the Lord when you can part with them for a Mess of Pottage when the consolations of God are so cheap and you can part with them for a little temporal satisfaction and sell your part in Christ at a very easie rate 4. What respect do you bear to the promises of God Do you often meditate upon them Have you recourse to them in straits Do you keep them up as the choicest things upon your heart upon which all your comfort depends as a man would keep the Key safe which opens to all his treasure Do you carry the promises as a bundle of Myrrh in your bosome Because this is the Key that gives you admission to the Blessings promised A man will keep his Bonds chary and will be often looking over them and considering them so are you meditating upon the promises Are they the rejoycing and delight of your Souls Do you keep them near and dear to you When alone do your hearts run upon them For a man may know his heritage by his musing and imagination When Nebuchadnezzar was alone Is not this great Babel which I have built for the honour of my Majesty He was thinking of his large Territories So if you have taken the testimonies of the Lord for your heritage your heart will be running upon them O what a happiness is it for God to be my God and my interest cleared up in eternal life and the great things of the Covenant Many times the flesh interposeth Psal. 144. 15. Happy is that people that is in such a case You will be admiring carnal excellency sometimes but then you will check your Souls Yea rather happy is that people whose God is the Lord. 5. If the testimonies of the Lord be your heritage then you will live upon them and make them the Storehouse from whence you fetch all your supplies as righteousness peace comfort and spiritual strength nay all your outward maintenance This will be comfort in straits strength in Duty provision for your Families There are two sorts of the Children of God either those that are in prosperity or those that are in want and both live on the Covenant A Child of God that hath a plentiful affluence of outward comforts yet he doth live upon God 1 Tim. 4. 5. To them that believe for every thing is sanctified by the word and prayer Though God hath supplied them with mercy yet they have their right all comforts and blessings owe their rise from the promise I take them immediately out of Gods hand from a God in covenant with me and so I use the Blessing and praise God otherwise if you look only to present supplies you live by sense not by faith Every one is to say Give us this day our daily Bread to fetch out his supplies from God every day rich men as well others when you see you have a right and liberty by Christ so Gods leave and Gods blessing go along with all by this means rich men live upon the Covenant I but chiefly in want the word quickned and strengthened him when he was in distress and want of all
men hate God as a Law-giver and as a Judge they cannot hate him as a Creator and Preserver under that formality they do not hate God but the ground of our hatred to God is his Law Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be But now saith David I love thy Law I do not fear it but love it I do not only keep it but love it A Child of God will bless God for his Commands as well as his Promises he ownes God in the holiness of his Law and looks upon it as a Copy and draught of Gods own perfection 't is a good Law there is a suitableness between it and a renewed heart and therefore I love thy Law The one of these is inferred out of the other his love to the Law is mentioned as a ground of his hatred against vain thoughts Love is the great wheel of the Soul that sets all a going Therefore sin is hated because the Law is loved He that hath a true respect to the Law of God is sensible of the least contrariety to it for hatred is uniform the Philosopher tells us it is to the whole kind as Haman when he hated Mordecai sought to destroy all the people of the Jews and when a man hates sin he hates all sin even where he finds it in thoughts words speeches love will not allow it Well then I love thy Law therefore do I hate vain thoughts that is though I cannot wholly keep them out of my heart yet I hate them resist them watch against them they are not allowed there Without further glossing the Point is this Doct. It is a sign of an unfeigned love to the Law of God when we hate vain thoughts I observe it because a man never begins to be really serious and strict till he makes conscience of his thoughts his time and is sensible of his last account Of his thoughts for that 's a sign he minds an intire subjection to the Law of God that he may obey it from his very soul. Of his time that it may not pass away before his great work be done Of his account that is not far off the Christian that lives in a due sense of his great account is always preparing to reckon with God The one of these doth inforce the other A man that is sensible he shall be called to a reckoning will be careful how he spends his time and he that is careful how he spends his time will make conscience of his thoughts I. To give a tast of the vanity of thoughts II. Shew what sins most occasion vanity of thoughts III. The reasons why a godly man will make conscience of his thoughts I. Some tast of the vanity of thoughts There are three solemn words by which the New Testament expresseth thoughts 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discourses with its compound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render imaginations 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 musings 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render devices These three ways the Dunghil of Corruption reaks out by our thoughts Sometimes in our vain arguings and reasonings by way of image and representations in our musings sometimes by way of foolish inventions and devices that are in the heart of man 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carnal Discourses of the mind come under the notion of vain thoughts If our more refined reason came to scan them how light and vain would they be found Our reasonings are usually against the Soveraignty of God Rom. 9. 22. Who art thou O man that repliest against God We cannot see how it is just that by one mans transgression all should be made sinners that God should chuse some and endow them with Grace and leave others in their corruption how he should have mercy on whom he will have mercy and harden whom he will harden Man would be free from God but would not have God free and therefore contrary to these reasonings and vain discourses the Scripture pleads the Sovereignty of God Mat. 20. 15. to shew he may do with his own as pleaseth him And as against the Right and Sovereignty of God so there are strange discourses against the Providence of God many anxious traverses and debates in our minds and therefore the Scripture takes notice how distrust works by our thoughts Matt. 6. 25. Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink c. and v. 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one Cubit to his Stature We are tortured with many suspensive workings and discourses of mind within our selves whereas a little trust in God would save many of these vain arguings Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established He sheweth that want of trust in God and his word and Providence and committing all to his Dispose is the cause of a great deal of confusion and darkness in our thoughts and breedeth such perverse reasonings against the Providence of God So against the truth of the Gospel the Law is natural and runneth in by its own light with evident conviction upon the heart but the Gospel is suspected looked upon with prejudice received as a golden Dream and as a well devised Fable we have reasonings in our selves against that which is discovered concerning the salvation of Sinners by Christ therefore the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 10. 5. Bringing into Captivity every thought imaginations or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reasonings Those thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God in Christ. Then disputes against Christian Faith the Mysteries of the Trinity the Incarnation of Christ we are saying as the Virgin Mary when the Angel brought her tidings of it How can these things be So we have perverse reasonings against positive Institutions 2 King 5. 12. Are not Abana and Pharpar better than all the Rivers of Israel We are apt to say Why is this The means of Grace seems foolish and weak 1 Cor. 1. 19. It pleaseth God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe So our arguings in perverting the truth of the Gospel and holy principles of the Word to the countenance of our Lusts as Deut. 29. 19. When we reason thus within our selves we shall have peace though we walk in the imagination of our own hearts we need not be so nice and strict God will be merciful he will pardon all Iude 4. turning the Grace of God into lasciviousness wresting the truth from its purpose to countenance a laziness It is good to observe the different arguings in Scripture from the same principle To instance in this principle Our time is short what doth a holy man argue from it 1 Cor. 7. 29. Let those that have wives be as those that have none those that weep as though they wept not c. Therefore we should be strict temperate sober
Iosiah ran upon his own death by his own folly 2 Chron. 33. 22. 2. The resolution of his obedience that is renewed and promised upon obtaining of this mercy And there take notice First Of the accuracy of that obedience promised I will have respect unto thy Statutes Secondly The constancy of it Continually not for a moment only a few days in a pang or when the mercy is fresh and warm upon the heart but constantly without intermission without defection First Observe from the repeating of the same request Doctr. I. That sustaining Grace must be sought with all earnestness and importunity Uphold me before and now again hold thou me up and I shall be safe Reason 1. First They that have a due sense of things upon their hearts will do so that is to say that have a sense of their own weakness the evil of sin and the comfort of perseverance in obedience 1. That have a sense of their own weakness as David was touched with a sense of his own necessity therefore he repeats this prayer Hold thou me up and if David need to be held up what need have we If Pillars are not able to stand of themselves what shall Reeds do If Giants are overthrown and vanquish'd Children much more Prov. 28. 14. Happy is the man that feareth always How so With a fear of caution not a fear of distrust with a fear of reverence not with a fear of bondage otherwise it were a torture not a blessedness That man that is sensible of his own frailty is more blessed than other men why Because he will ever have recourse to God to set his power a work for the good of his Soul Rom. 11. 20. Be not high-minded but fear Though weakness be a misery yet a sense of it is a degree towards blessedness because it makes way for the great Christian Grace which is trust and dependance 2. They have a sense of the evil that is in the least sin This is the difference between a tender Conscience and a hard heart one is afraid to offend God in the least matter the other makes nothing of sin and so runneth into mischief Prov. 28. 14. Well then a man that hath a tender heart is loth to fall into the least sin he is ever drawing to God to be kept from all sin When we are earnest in this matter it is a sign we are sensible what an evil sin is Men that side with their own lusts and interests may wonder at the frequent requests of the Psalmist here establishment and preservation from sin But those that have a tender Conscience are like the eye soon offended and make it their business to keep it from offence they are thus sollicitous and earnest with God to be upheld 3. They are sensible of the good of perseverance in obedience There are two things here First Obedience is good the more we experiment it the more we would desire to keep it up in an even tenour of close walking with God without interruption without intermission God appeals to experience Micah 2. 7. Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly And when men wander they have this experience Am I a barren Wilderness Mic. 6. 3. O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me The more we find liberty sweetness and comfort in the ways of God the more we should desire to continue in them Secondly As obedience is good so perseverance in obedience is good for it strengthens Grace especially in an hour of temptation when many make defection The choicest discovery of good men is in bad times Noah was upright in his Generation Gen. 6. 9. to stand when others decline to be like Fish that keeps its freshness in salt water to hold fast there where Satan hath his Throne Rev. 2. 13. and to be faithful as is said of Iudah Hos. 11. 12. when Ephraim compassed me about with lies and the house of Israel with deceit It is a comfort and honour to persevere with God Reason 2. Secondly This sustaining Grace must be asked because God will shew his Sovereignty that it is not at our beck it must cost us waiting striving and earnest and renewed prayer 2 Cor. 12. 8. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice God will not answer at the first knock but at the third then God came in So Christ Matth. 26. 44. the third time he came and repeated the same thing then if you compare Luke he received his consolation by an Angel God doth not come at the first knock therefore we must pray again Uphold me Reason 3. Thirdly Without continued influences of Grace we cannot be safe therefore they must not be sought once and no more but daily As we seek daily Bread so we should seek daily Grace the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this day hath respect to all the petitions this day we must have our daily bread this day lead us not into temptation this day keep us from evil While temptations continue we must continue prayer Long suits though often denied may prevail at length In short the continuance of strength and assistance from God is necessary to preserve both habitual and actual Grace therefore they must be continually asked 1. To preserve habitual Grace the seed that remains in us We would wonder to see an Herb to thrive and grow in the midst of many Weeds so that Grace should be there where there is so much pride love of pleasure worldly care and bruitish lusts especially when any of these are set awork by temptations without The Angels and Adam fell when there was nothing within to work upon them but the mutability of their Nature so when there is so much within to work and temptations without it is hard to keep Grace in the Soul 2. For the quickning and actual stirrings of the Soul to good We should soon faint and tire in the ways that we have begun were it not for Gods sustaining Grace these sparks would quickly go out if God did not keep them alive 1 Chron. 29. 18. When the people were in a high point of willingness Lord keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people When we have gotten any good frame of spirit we cannot preserve it without this continual influence Reason 4. Renewed prayer is a means of persevering not only for it but by it God keeps us alive in the way of Grace as by the word so by prayer Praying in the Holy Ghost is one means of establishment Iude 20. Prayer is a solemn preaching to our selves or a serious warming of our souls in our duty in the sight of God now means of supports must be used not once but often There must be constant meals for the encrease of bodily strength If a man be never so strong yet he cannot always grow in strength by one meal there must be new refreshment so this
11. Shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh which I have provided for my Shearers and give it to men I know not affect them not so as to neglect heavenly things affect them not so as to lay out your whole time and care about them Prov. 23. 4. Cease from thine own understanding labour not to be rich Isai. 55. 2. Why do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not but only affect them as you may honour God Prov. 3. 9. Honour the Lord with thy substance you may provide for your families in the fair lawful way of Gods Providence 1 Tim. 5. 8. also you may be helpful to others Ephes. 4. 28. for if you so do you are not the wicked of the earth but those that use this world but hope to enjoy better things Use 2. Let us be contented though we be kept low and mean in the world Gods people are not the Children of this world better things are reserved for them in the world to come and therefore if we have food and rayment and that but of the coursest let us be content 1 Tim. 6. 8. Having food and rayment let us be therewith content Jesus Christ gave thanks for five barley Loaves and two Fishes Mark 6. 41. The wicked are characterized to be of the earth Gods Children are from above as to their original and thither they tend as to their scope and end and if we have any thing by the way we have no cause to complain 1 Pet. 2. 11. I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims What â—…ld a man care for in a journey but a bait or a little refreshing if we seek after more 't is iâ—…dinate affection and must be mortified not satisfied Ephes. 3. 5. Mortifie your members which are upon the earth Evil inclinations bend us to the Earth and earthly things those splendid nothings Riches Pleasures Honours these hinder us from nobler things yea they encrease our difficulties about the things that are necessary for us by the â—…ay Heb. 13. 5. Let your conversations be without covetousness and be content with such tâ—…â—…as you have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee implying that wâ—…â—…e indulge carnal desires 't is hard to trust God with daily supports for daily proteâ—… and daily maintenance but always distract our selves with fruitless cares and thoughts about the things of this life And also we may say The Lord is my helper I do not fear what man can do unto me Therefore let us not desire more than God alloweth a little with Gods blessing is enough to supplie our necessities as to wants and to give us protection against dangers as the Apostle subjoyneth Gods undertaking and the Saints confidence thereupon by way of cure if we believe Gods promises and have the spirit of his Saints this is enough to us Use 3. Let us not envy the prosperity of the wicked First They are the wicked of the Earth here they flourish as Nettles will more easily grow than choicer Plants the soil bringeth them forth of its own accord so do wicked men thrive here but you need not envy them not only our hopes are much better than their possessions but our present condition is much better Psal. 17. 14. their possessions are not to be compared with our hopes what is a more plentiful table to the everlasting fruition of God the pomp of the world to the seeing God face to face vain-glory to everlasting Glory honour here to the Glory that shall be upon us at Christs appearing their momentany pleasures which pass away suddenly as a dream to the everlasting pleasure you shall enjoy in the sight of God Nay for the present you have Communion with God and the sense of his favour how poor and afflicted soever your outward condition be Psal. 4. 6 7. There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time when their Corn and Wine encreased Carnal men rejoyce in sensual earthly good things not in the favour of God and mark this joy is proposed with a supposition of encrease and at the time of this encrease when the Carnalist doth enjoy the greatest affluence of worldly blessings take them at their best when they have the most lively sense of these things yet a Christian hath more cause of rejoycing Thou hast put gladness in my heart here is matter and ground of rejoycing They drink of the Cistern you of the Fountain Ier. 12. 13. they rejoyce not in God but his gifts and not the best gifts but the common sort Riches Pleasures and Honours and these not as the effects of Gods bounty but as happening to them in the ordinary Course of second Causes Who will shew us any good but you rejoyce in God in his best gifts his Love and Grace And then here is the Authour of this joy Thou hast put gladness This joy is allowed by God and wrought by him Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost it is stirred up by his Spirit their joy is neither Gods allowance nor Gods work And then here 's the subject and seat of this joy not tickle the senses but delight the heart Thou hast put gladness in my heart And then here is the measure 't is more joy 't is more pure and sublime of a stronger efficacy which not only overcometh the sense of present infelicities but the fear of Death Hell and Judgment to come Heb. 6. 18. That we might have stronger consolation But wicked men dance about the brink of Hell have their secret gripes and will you envy them as if your condition were not much better When God hath given you the Feast will you be troubled that they have the scraps and fragments of his bounty Secondly In regard of the uncertainty of their condition Psal. 37. 1 2. Fret not thy self because of the evil doers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down like the Grass and wither as the green Herb. Though they seem to be in a very prosperous condition for the present as Grass while it is standing is very green yet they are soon cut down by the Sythe of Providence then presently fadeth and is carried away from the place where it grew You think Providence doth not deal righteously because the unworthy are exalted and the worthy depressed Do but tarry a while and you will have no cause to complain or to grow weary of godliness or to cry up a confederacy with evil men they are never nearer their own ruine than when they come to the height of their exaltation as the Sun declineth presently when he cometh to the highest Point of the Zenith Who would envy those that
when all humane probabilities are taken away and we have nothing but Gods Providence to live upon II. Second Consideration Though he bear long yet he hath his times to punish and arise to judgment First With respect to himself and his own Glory Psal. 9. 16. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth Little of God would be taken notice of in the World unless he did now and then give out sensible demonstrations of his power and justice and mindfulness of humane affairs What strange conceits would men else have of God! as if no God no Providence no distinction between good and evil but as if God were indifferent to either and did favour good and bad alike and therefore 't is in vain to trouble our selves about the Worship and Service of God no reward nor punishment These are the uses the wicked make of Gods forbearance either to deny God and Providence Psal. 55. 19. Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God If they be shifted from Vessel to Vessel they corrupt and settle upon the Lees Zeph. 1. 12. they say God will not do good neither will he do evil nor interpose but suffereth enemies to trample upon his people and glorious name or else pervert the interpretation of Providence Psal. 50. 21. Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thy self as if he did favour their ways They misinterpret Providence and make the Sun go according to their Dial or else ascribe the act of Providence to themselves Deut. 32. 27. Lest they should say Our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this When long permitted to prosper they think they have mastered Heaven that there is no power superior to theirs and they can carry all before them at their pleasure Therefore God must vindicate himself by his works and give out some demonstrations to sense that there is a distinction between good and evil That God is differently affected to either that he hateth the evil and loveth the good and accordingly there is a reward and punishment Psal. 58. 11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous God is fain to teach them by Briers and Thorns or else the stupid World would not take notice of it but think the World is governed by Chance not administred by an Almighty Alwise and most just Providence they knew not what to think of Providence when they saw the Godly oppressed and the Wicked high in power Secondly With respect to his people Surely God will not always chide for God considers the weakness of man Psal. 103. 14. He remembers we are but Dust. The hearts of his people would fail and faint and they would be tempted to some forbidden course to ease themselves Isai. 59. 16. He knows our spirits would fail God would not have us utterly to be discouraged We are liable to temptations Psal. 125. 3. The Rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put forth their hands to iniquity Therefore he hath his breathing times and times of intermission from trouble The spirits of a poor Creatures would soon be drunk up if there were not some well days therefore he will shew himself to his people Thirdly With respect to the wicked who would grow excessive and outragious in sin Rom. 2. 5. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath Eccl. 8. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil grow bold resolute and setled in an evil way go on without remorse because they go on without trouble and so grow to be Monsters in sin 'T is only faith that can see afar off but Infidelity and Atheism mind not what is to come and look only to what is present Well then lest wicked men should thus continue themselves in sin God hath his time to reckon with them his Justice is not asleep all this while but God keeps a petty Sessions in this World before the general Assizes Now concerning this time let me tell you four things 1. There is a time appointed There is an end of all things not only an expected end but also an appointed end Hab. 2. 3. The vision is for an appointed time things are not left to their own hazard and chance to work out their own end but ordered and appointed by the wise God Dan. 11. 27. Yet the end shall be at the time appointed Verse 35. To try them and purge them and to make them white even to the time of the end because it is yet for a time appointed There is a course of Providence set by God which shall at length come to its end and period 2. This is the best time 1 Pet. 5. 6. That he may exalt you in due time There is a due time as well as a set time There is nothing in the whole administration of God preposterous unseasonable or disorderly Wait but a little and you shall see the reason of all this course of dispensations for God doth all things in number weight and measure If it had come sooner or later it would not have come so seaâ—…nably Eccl. 11. 3. He hath made every thing beautiful in its time When Gods work is done and all things are put together you will see a marvellous beauty in it 'T is just with the work of Providence as with the work of Creation every days work was good But when God saw all his works together in their frame and correspondence All was very good Gen. 1. 31. We would think that God should come sooner to our deliverance God is not slack but we are too hasty if he should come sooner it would be the worse for us We would have thought God should have owned Ioseph in the Pit No God stays till he be cast into Prison and in Prison Ioseph would fain come out as soon as Pharaoh's Butler was come out but he forgot him God would not have it so he must tarry there till Gods time was come and then had not only deliverance out of Prison but preferment So many times we would be contented with half a deliverance and would have it now but God will give it us in the best season 3. 'T is but a short time Say sense what it will 't is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10. 37. 'T is not so long as enemies would make it for they would root out the memorial of Gods Children Not so long as sin would make it or as fancy would conceive it Suffering hours pass tediously we count Quarters and Minutes when we are in pain or anxious expectation we think an hour a week a week a month a month a year and every year seven Yea not so long as reason would make it as to probabilities and
be desire or no. Fifthly Gods Children have these desires because they see more in the Word than others do or can do Spiritual discerning is an help to spiritual affections They whose eyes are anointed with spiritual eye-salve see wonders in the Law and so are wondrously affected with them But why should Gods Children see more 1. They look through the Spectacles of Faith they believe the Commands to be the Commands of the great God the promises to be the promises of God and therefore as good as performance and so what to others seems fancies and fine dreams to them are the chiefest realities Heb. 11. 13. These all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them Who would having the promises be so strangely transported but they that are strongly perswaded Faith that looketh upon the things promised as sure and near maketh them more active and lively They that have not Faith or do not exercise Faith have but cold affections but they who believe these wonderful felicities which the Word of God speaketh of long to enjoy what they are sure is true 2. They look into it with an eye of love and love sets a price on things They see more of the loveliness of spiritual things than others do Mens affections are according to the constitution of their souls or the end they propound to themselves They that are carnally disposed know all things after the Flesh and value them by the interests of the flesh as that is gratified and they that are spiritually disposed are affected accordingly as mens Genius lyeth And that is the reason why eminent Grace hath strong affections which carnal men are not competent Judges of It seemeth improbable to them that a man should have such fervent desires of holiness and be able to speak thus to God I opened my mouth and panted for I longed for thy Commandments The constitution of their souls is quite otherwise and their hearts hang world-ward they have not such a sense of their duty and do not make it their business to please God and so having no deep sense and Conscience of their Duty they do not see such a need of the Word as their Guide and Help They have no love to these things therefore no passionate desire for this is the order the will chuseth love desireth the union desire presseth to endeavours after it but now a godly man that maketh it his business to please God the principal desires and choice of his will is to be what God would have him to be and to do what God would have him to do 3. Because they have experience Two things quicken our affection to any thing that is good viz. The knowledge of the worth and use of things and our want of them And the Children of God know both of these by experience in the course of that life wherein they are engaged and nothing is known so intimately and pressingly as what is known by experience By experience they see the want of the Word of God and in comforts and helps not only when God first touched their hearts with care of saving their souls and they were humble and parched with a sense of sin and wrath all things were then unsavoury as the White of an Egg then they longed they panted for one comfortable word from God one passage of Scripture to give them ease and the Word becometh as necessary as meat to the hungry and drink to the thirsty and cool Air to the weary Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and ye shall find rest to your souls But still they are sensible of their spiritual necessities so as they cannot breathe without it nor thrive without it they find such a necessity of it It is the food of their souls the seed and principle of their Being the rule of their lives the means of their growth the Charter of their hopes their defence and strength in temptations and assaults Christ himself guarded himself with the Word when he was assaulted Now being practically convinced of this they must needs have vehement longings after it and after a more full understanding of it They find by experience that the Soul is apt to faint as well as the Body Heb. 12. 3. Lest ye be weary and faint in your minds and that in all these things nothing relieveth them but the comfort and direction God giveth them in his Word Sixthly The more godly any are the more they feel these strong affections All that have life their Pulses do not beat alike strongly some are weak others more robust So it is in Grace some have larger souls than others and so as they are more in action for God they must have more supplies and a greater measure of Spirit and Grace these long and pant In others there is a greater sluggishness and narrowness of mind and they rest satisfied with what they have their spiritual affections are not so raised and therefore every one that is godly is not acquainted with this panting and breathing and longing they have so much appetite as is necessary to maintain the new Creature but not these enlarged desires I confess you are to judge by your willingness rather than the passionate stirrings of your affections It is the heart which God requireth and if he hath the will he hath the heart But yet affectionate workings of the soul towards spiritual and heavenly things are very sweet and such as all Christians should strive for but not the best marks by which to judge of our estate There may be a solid and sincere intention and choice when there is little stirring perceived in the affections If the will be fixedly set for God the man is upright Yet you are to endeavour to raise your affections to that height which is suitable to the excellency of the object especially when it is movingly represented to us our desires should be upon the wing It is a Duty as far as we can reach it we should The more the soul is refined from the dregs of carnal longings and worldly lusts the more are they enlarged towards God and as their passionate desires of earthly things are abated so their spiritual desires are enlarged David saith Psal. 119. 36. Encline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness And the Apostle Col. 3. 2. Set your affections on things above and not on things on earth The more the heart is given to the one the more it is taken off from the other Riches honours and pleasures as these are loved they hinder this noble working of the soul this breaking longing panting for better things Worldly things have a great advantage over our affections because they are sensible and near us and our knowledge of them is clear and by the senses obtrude and thrust themselves upon the soul. Therefore use them with a guard and restraint Seventhly Though this
God values his happiness by Gods friendship not by his worldly prosperity and is miserable by Gods absence and by the causes thereof his sin and offence done to God Nay his loving kindness is not only life but better than life A man may be weary of life it self but never of the love of God Many have complained of life as a burthen and wished for the day of death but none have complained of the love of God as a burthen All the world without this cannot make a man happy What will it profit us if the whole world smile upon us and God frown and be angry with us All the Candles in the World cannot make it Day nay all the Stars shining together cannot dispel the darkness of the Night nor make it Day unless the Sun shines so whatever comforts we have of a higher or lower nature they cannot make it day with a gracious heart unless Gods face shine upon us for he can blast all in an instant A Prisoner is never the more secure though his Fellows and Companions applaud him and tell him his Cause is good and that he shall escape when he that is Judge condemns him Though we have the good word of all the world yet if the Lord speak not peace to our Souls and shine not upon our Consciences what will the good word of the world do 2 Cor. 10. 18. He is approved whom the Lord commendeth A sense of Gods love in Christ is the sweetest thing that ever we felt and is able to sweeten the bitterest Cup that ever Believer drank of Rom. 5. 3. We glory in tribulation It will be a blessed thing when we cannot only bear tribulations but rejoyce in them but how come we to rejoyce in them Why because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us so he goes on If we would know the value of things the best way is to know what is our greatest comfort and our greatest trouble in distress For when we are drunk with worldly prosperity and happiness we are incompetent Judges of the worth of things but when God rebukes a man for sin what 's our greatest trouble then That we may take heed of providing sorrow to our selves another time then we find sin and transgression the greatest burthen when any notable affliction is upon us Iob 36. 9. and what will be your greatest comfort then for then your comforts are put to the proof One evidence of an interest in Christ a little sense of the love of God how precious is it Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. His thoughts were intangled and interwoven one with another as Branches of a crooked Tree for so the word signifies there when his thoughts were thus intricate and perplext then thy comforts delight my soul. O then what should we labour for but to be most clear in this that God loves us This will be our greatest comfort and rejoycing in all conditions 'T is good for us in prosperity then our comforts are sweet and in adversity and deep affliction to see God is not angry with us Though we feel some smart of his afflicting hand yet his heart is with us 2. They deal with God as worldly men do with sensible things for as others live by sense so they by faith Now worldly men are cheered with the good will of men and troubled with the displeasure of men upon whom they depend The down-look of Ahasuerus confounded Haman and put him to great trouble He was afraid Esth. 7. 8. Absolom professes 'twere better for him to be banished than to live in Ierusalem and not see the Kings face 2 Sam. 14. 32. Surely it is death to Gods Children to want his face and favour upon whom they depend Their business lies mainly with God and their dependance and hope and comfort is in God they live by faith Poor Worldings walk by sense therefore their souls run out upon other comforts in the smiling face of some great Potentate or some friend of the World this is their life peace and joy But they that live by faith see him that is invisible and value their happiness by his favour and misery by his displeasure 3. The Children of God have tasted the sweetness of it therefore they know it by experience The best demonstration of any thing is from sense Description cannot give me such a demonstration as when I taste and feel it my self 1 Pet. 2. 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious They have an experimental feeling of that which others know only by guess and hear-say Carnal men know no other good but that of the Creature The Spouse did so languish after her Beloved being sick of love when her desires were disappointed it made her faint Cant. 5. 6. They that have not seen and known him know not what to make of those spiritual and lively affections that carry us out after the favour of God with such earnestness and importunity but they that have tasted and know what their Beloved is their hearts are more excited and stirred up towards him Iohn 4. 10. If thou knewest the gift of God c. You would more admire the favour of God if you knew it especially by experience you would find it is a better good than ever you have yet tasted Use. Is this our temper and frame of our hearts Can we live contentedly and satisfiedly with the light of his Countenance A Child of God may be without the light of his Countenance but cannot live contentedly without it Are we troubled about it ever seeking after it Surely this is the disposition of the Children of God they are ever seeking after the favour of God I shall press to this by this Argument 1. God bespeaks it from you Psal. 27. 8. Thou saidest Seek ye my face There 's a Dialogue between God and a gracious heart The Lord saith Seek he saith it in his Word and speaks by the injection of holy thoughts by the inspiration of his Grace and the renewed heart like a quick Echo takes hold of this Lord thy face will I seek Psal. 106. 4. You should ever be seeking after God in his Ordinances seek his favour and face 2. The new Nature enclines and carries the soul to God it came from God and carries the soul to God again The Spirit of the World doth wholly encline us to the World They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh and the Spirit of God doth encline us to God and therefore the people of God will value his favour above all things else David speaks in his own name and in the name of all that were like-minded with himself he speaks of all the Children of God in opposition to the many the brutish ones that were for sensual satisfaction Psal. 4. 6. Many say Who will shew us any good But
Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us He doth not say Upon me but upon us as the common language of all the Saints The favour of God is so dear and precious to the Saints that they can compare with the affections of carnal men take them at the greatest advantage He doth not consider their worldly things in their decrease but he considers them when they are encreased and he considers them in the very time when they are encreased in the Vintage and Harvest time the shouting of Vintage and joy of Harvest are proverbial and the comforts of this life when new and fresh most invite delight They that place their happiness in these things cannot have so much joy as they that have a sense of their interest in God Now shall we be wholly strangers to this temper and disposition of soul 3. If we be backward to seek after the favour of God the Lord whips his people to it by his Providence for sometimes their spiritual disposition may be marr'd Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face In their affliction they will seek me early The Lord withdraws his gracious presence for this reason not that we may seek ease or freedom from trouble but that we may seek his face and the applying of his Grace to our Consciences 4. God is not wholly gone neither is the desertion total when there is such a disposition in the heart He hath left something behind him which draws you after him The estimation of Gods favour keeps his place warm till he come again it keeps room in the soul Psal. 88. 13 14. Unto thee have I cried in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Lord why castest thou off my soul why hidest thou thy face from me But when they can digest such a loss with patience it is an indifferent thing whether they have any sense of Gods love yea or no. 5. We find it to be a sad thing to lose any worldly comfort and shall we lose the favour of God too and never lay it to heart and live contentedly without it It is a sign we despise that which the Saints value and which is the principal blessing you will not have cheap thoughts of the consolation of God Iob 15. 11. 6. Unless we seek Gods favour all our labour is lost in other Duties 2 Chron. 7. 14. If my people that are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from Heaven c. This is put in among other conditions and without this the promise is not made good to us Many seek to the Lord in their distresses but it is only for redress of temporal evils or obtaining necessary temporal supplies but do not seek his face then their prayers are but like howlings but like the moans of Beasts Hos. 7. 14. They do not seek reconciliation and communion with God but only ease and riddance of present trouble Those are not holy prayers 7. It is the distinguishing point that will separate the precious from the vile to have a tender sense of Gods favour Psal. 24. 6. This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Iacob There are many thoughts of Interpreters about that place I find though they differ in it yet they all agree in this sense that they are the true Israelites the true Iacob's posterity that cannot brook Gods absence that seek his face that will not let him go but strive with him till they get the blessing These are not Israel in the letter but Israel in the spirit Iacob said I will not let thee go unless thou bless me Gen. 32. 36. Such diligent Seekers of God should we be never to give over till we find him Or as Moses said Lord if thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence We will not stir a foot without thy favour and presence III. They that are sensible of the want or loss of the favour of God have liberty to sue for it with hope and encouragement to find it For so doth David Make thy face to shine Whence comes this liberty First Because of Gods promise because of the mercy of God pawned to us in his promises He hath told us none shall seek his face in vain Isai. 48. 19. and Prov. 8. 17. and Psal. 22. 20. One that seriously and diligently is seeking after God before he hath done his search he shall have some opportunity to bless and praise the Lord some experience of Grace shall be given to him if he conscionably diligently and seriously seek it Secondly Because of the mediation of Jesus Christ you may come in his name and seek the favour of God Psal. 36. 7. How excellent is thy loving kindness O God! therefore the Children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings Interpreters upon that place conceive the shadow of Gods wings does not allude to an ordinary similitude of a Hen that when Vultures and Kites are abroad covers her little Ones gathers her Chickens under her wings No but they think the allusion to be to the outstretched wings of the Cherubims and this is the ground of our trust and dependance upon God Let the Sons of men put their trust under the shadow of his wings there to find God reconciled in Christ for the Throne of Grace was a Figure of that propitiation He is called the propitiation God propitiated and reconciled in Christ is the Throne of Grace interpreted However that be it is clear Psal. 80. 1. Thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shine forth When they would have God hear they give him the title of one that sits upon the Mercy-Seat reconciled by Christ. Though the Cloud of sin doth hide Gods favour from thee he can make it shine again and here 's our ground the merciful invitation of Gods promise and then God propitiated in Christ. Use. O then let us turn unto the Lord in prayer and in the use of all other means humbling our selves and seeking his favour 1. Waiting for it with all heedfulness Psal. 130 6. My soul doth wait for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning and he repeats it again I say more than they that watch for the morning Look as the weary Centinel that is wet and stiff with cold and the Dews of the Night or as the Porters that watched in the Temple the Levites were waiting for the day-light So more than they that wait for the morning was he waiting for some glympse of Gods favour Though he do not presently ease us of our smart or gratifie our desires yet we are to wait upon God In time we shall have a good answer Gods delays are not denials Day will come at length though the weary Centinel or Watch-man counts it long first so God will come at length he will
gave it at first Gen. 2. 7. God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life and Man became a living Soul and still this Life is at Gods disposing and he will sooner continue it to us in a way of Obedience then in a way of Sin Iob 10. 12. Thou hast granted me life and favour and thy Visitation hath preserved my Spirit Act. 17. 28. In him we live and move and have our being The same Power that giveth us Being maintaineth it as long as he pleaseth All is at the dayly dispose of God 2. Life is better preserved in a way of Obedience then by Evil-doing that provoketh God to cast us off and exposes us to Dangers 'T is not in the Power of the World to make us live or die a day sooner or longer than God pleaseth If God will make us happy they cannot make us miserable Therefore give me understanding and I shall live that is lead a comfortable and happy Life for the present Prevent sin and you prevent danger Obedience is the best way to preserve Life Temporal as great a Paradox as it seems to the World 't is a Scripture Truth Prov. 4. 4. Keep my Commandments and live And Verse 13. Take hold of instruction let her not go keep her for she is thy life And Prov. 3. 16. Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left Riches and Honour And Verse 18. She is a tree of Life The Knowledge and Practice of the Word is the only meanes to live Comfortably and Happily here as well as for Ever hereafter II. Life Spiritual that is two-fold the Life of Justification and the Life of Sanctification 1. The Life of Justification Rom. 5. 18. The free gift came upon all men to Iustification of Life He is dead not only on whom the Hangman hath done his work but also he on whom the Judge hath passed sentence and the Law pronounceth him dead In this sense we were all dead and Justification is called Justification to Life there is no living in this sense without knowledge Isa. 53. 11. By his knowledge shall my righteous Servant Iustify many We live by Faith and Faith cometh by Hearing and Hearing doth no good unless the Lord giveth Understanding as Meats nourish not unless received and digested 2. The Life of Sanctification Eph. 2. 1. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins And men live not properly till they live the life of Grace they live a false counterfeit Life not a blessed happy certain and true Life Now this Life is begun and carried on by saving knowledge Col. 3. 10. the new man is renewed in knowledge Again Men are said to be alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them Eph. 4. 18. They that are ignorant are dead in Sin Life Spiritual cometh by Knowledge Hence beginneth the change of the Inward Man and thence forth we live Give me understanding ut vere in te vivam that the true life begun in me may grow and increase daily but never be quenched by sin III. Life Everlasting or our Blessed Estate in Heaven So 't is said of the Saitits departed they all live to God Luk. 20. 38. And this is called Water of life the Tree of life the Crown of life properly this is life What is the present life in Comparison of Everlasting life The present life 't is mors vitalis a living death or mortalis vita a dying life a kind of death 't is alwayes in fluxu like a Stream it runneth from us as fast as it cometh to us Iob. 14. 2. He flyeth as a shadow and continueth not We die as fast as we live it differeth but as the point from the line where it terminateth 'T is not one and the same no permanent thing 't is like the shadow of a Star in a flowing stream It 's Contentments are base and low Isa. 57. 10. called the life of thy hands 't is patcht up of several Creatures fain to ransack the Store-houses of Nature to support a ruinous Fabrick And compare it with the Life of Grace here it doth not exempt us from sin nor miseries our Capacities are narrow we are full of Fears and Doubts and Dangers but in the Life of Glory we shall sin nor sorrow no more This is meant here the righteousness of Gods Testimonies is everlasting give me understanding and I shall live 't is chiefly meant of the Life of Glory this is the fruit of saving knowledge Ioh. 17. 3. when we so know God and Christ as to come to God by him Use. Let us seek this saving Knowledge of God that we may live first Spiritually here and Gloriously here But few mind it all desire sharpness of Wit and to be as knowing as others no man would be a fool but would own a wickedness in Morals rather than a weakness in Intellectuals but who thinketh of being wiser for Heaven of being seasoned with the Fear of God Most men choak all the Motions and Inclinations they have in that kind with Worldly delights and Worldly businesses being alive to the World and dead to God thronging their hearts with Carnal Vanities but leaving no room for higher and serious thoughts But at length be perswaded what do men desire but Life If you know God and Christ with a saving knowledge you shall have it 1. We were made for this end to come to the knowledge of the Truth and be Saved 1 Tim. 2. 4. We do not live meerly to live but to make provision for a better Life not to satisfie our bodies out of Gods storehouse but to furnish our souls with Grace and exercise our selves in his Law day and night that we may know his Will concerning us and provide for a better Life and live according to the directions of his Word 2. No Creature is so bad as Man when he degenerateth from his End for which he was created 'T is not so much for the Sea to break its bounds or to have a defect in the Course of Nature as the Degeneration of Man 3. You live not properly when destitute of the Life of God and Heavenly Wisdom he doth not live the life of a Man nor preserve the rectitude of his Nature SERMON CLXII PSALM CXIX VER 145. I Cryed with my whole Heart hear me O Lord I will keep thy Statutes IN these Words are First An Allegation I cryed with my whole Heart Secondly A Petition hear me Thirdly A Promise of Obedience I will keep thy Statutes First In the Allegation we have a Description of Prayer by the two Adjuncts of it 1. Intension and Fervency I Cryed 2. The Sincerity and Integrity of it with my whole Heart Secondly The Petition is for Audience only what we translate hear me is in the Heb. answer me Now this being a General it is uncertain what he prayed for it may be for deliverance out of
which importeth his Integrity and Sincerity in Praying Doctrine Our Prayers to God must be Sincere as well as Fervent The Heart must be in them and the whole Heart This noteth 1. Seriousness that we heed what we say otherwise we do not pour out our Hearts before God 'T is so far from being a Spiritual act that it is not a Rational act but like the Parrots speaking by Rote or as Children say their Prayers and we must not be always Children Surely we do not speak to God as God as an All-seeing Spirit if we do not mind what we say Ioh. 4. 24. And Prov. 28. 23. Burning lips and a wicked heart are as a pot-sheard covered with silver Dross 2. A hearty Desire or Affectionateness Praying from Memory and Invention and praying from Affection are two distinct things yea praying from Conscience and praying from the Heart Many times the Mind is in prayer when the Heart is not in it The mind or Conscience dictates what is fit to be asked but the heart doth not consent or not urge it to make any such suit to God and so the prayer is repeated in the very making Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear me The Understanding Judgeth that a meet prayer but the heart is byassed the contrary way to some known sin Therefore as David calleth all that is within him to bless God Psal. 103. 1. so to pray to him Memory Understanding Conscience Will Affections all that is within us must attend upon this work that which God heareth is Desire Psal. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the Humble Thou wilt prepare their Heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear So Psal. 145. 19. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their Cry and will save them 3. The Prevalency of these Affections That God and his Interest be uppermost in the Soul and the Heart be effectually bent towards him for prayer is not a work barely of our natural Faculties but of Grace guiding ordering and inclining those Faculties not onely a work of Understanding and Will but of Faith Love Fear Zeal Hatred of sin Temperance Patience and other virtues which do bend the Heart towards God and draw it off from other things and without them the understanding will not be clear and have any deep sense of the worth of spiritual things 2 Pet. 1. 19. without these The Will is remiss and they never pursue them in good earnest we may wish for them but shall not Will them As Balaam Oh that I might die the death of the righteous But he loved the wages of iniquity 2 Pet. 2. 15. and so spake words which his Heart allowed not The Affections will be diverted to other things and we cannot have those Longings and strong Desires after Grace Psal. 119. 36. And Col. 3. 2. or at best but a little passionate earnestness for the present 4. An Universal Care to please God in all things without harbouring any known sin in our Hearts Psal. 66. 18. And Psal. 17. 3. Thou hast proved mine Heart thou hast visited me in the night thou hast tryed me and shalt find nothing Nothing contrary to the new Covenant no Guile nothing in his heart contrary to what was in his Mouth So no insincerity found Iob 11. 13 14. If thou prepare thine heart and stretch out thy hand towards him If iniquity be in thy hand put it far away and let not wickedness dwell in thy Tabernacles If you mean to call upon God with any Confidence all that is displeasing to him must be cast out of the Heart This is the best preparation all filth must be swept out when you come to the Holy God for he will not do us good till we are fit to receive good Therefore if you mean to stretch out your hand in prayer thus you must do then may you lift up your Face without spot have boldness and Confidence in Prayer but when the Heart is wedded to any vanity God will not hear Iob 35. 13. Surely God will not hear vanity neither will the Almighty regard it Use. Is to perswade us to pray with our whole Hearts For 1. God will not be mocked Gal. 6. 7. that is in vain you may venture to mock God put him off with vain pretences but it will cost you dear He knoweth the thoughts afar off Psal. 139. 2. And Heb. 4. 12 13. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than aâ—…y two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Ioints and Marrow and is a discerner of 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 open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Though Man cannot find you out yet God can 2. God hath expresly told you the prayer of the Upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. He will pardon many defects but he will not pardon want of Sincerity either in the Person or prayer Though you cannot bring the Pomp of Gifts or exact Righteousness yet if sincere God will delight in you he measureth your prayer by that 3. Where there is a Moral Integrity you do not dissemble God can find the defect of supernatural Integrity Deut. 5. 29. I have heard the voice of the words of this People which they have spoken unto thee they have well said in all that they have spoken Oh that there were such an heart in them c. Therefore be sure your lips do not feign Psal. 17. 1. and pretend more grace than you have so that for the main your hearts be upright seriously readily bent to please him in all things To this end 1. the Tongue must not only pray but the Heart How dare you tell God to his face that you love him and fear him and trust in him when there is no such matter No such Forgery as Counterfeiting the Voice of Gods Spirit The Heart should be first and chief in prayer Psal. 41. 1. And Lam. 3. 4. Lift up your Hearts with your hands to God in the Heavens There is the chief Voice the hand without it is nothing 2. You must make Conscience of Graces as well as Gifts yea more than Gifts 1 Cor. 12. last verse But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way with 1 Cor. 13. 1 2. And bewail unbrokenness of Heart more than brokenness of Expression if you chatter like Cranes yet if there be a holy desire in it God will hear 3. You must pray earnestly in secret as well as in Company Matth. 6. 5 6. When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the Corners of the Streets that they may be seen of men But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when
Morning Gen. 22. So for bad things if a man be Worldly his Worldly Desires and Affections compel him to rise early for their satisfaction Psalm 127. 3. The Drunkard is thinking early of his morning draught to be filled with Wine Isa. 15. 11. Wo to them that rise up early to follow strong drink The People when they were mad upon the Calf Exod. 36. 6. They rose up early in the morning and offered burnt-offerings to it Whatsoever hath secured its Interest in the Soul will first urge us so if Prayer be our chief pleasure it will urge us to be up betimes with God our Delights and Affections sollicit us in the Morning 3. 'T is the choicest time of the day and therefore should be allotted to the most serious and necessary imployment 'T is the choicest time partly with respect to the Body because the Body is then best refreshed and our Vigour repaired which is lessened and spent with the business of the day Our Memories quickest Senses readiest natural Faculties most acute And partly with respect to the Mind our Morning thoughts are our Virgin thoughts more pure sublime and defecate usually free from Worldly Cares which would distract us in prayer and will more incroach upon us by our Worldly business and the baser Objects which the necessity of our life ingages us to converse with and be imployed about Certainly the best time should be taken up about the best business not in recreations to be sure for this is to knit pleasure to pleasure and to wear away the sithe in whetting not in working They are brutish Epicures that rise up from sleep not to service but to their sensual Delights and Vanities as the Scripture brandeth them that eat in the Morning not for strength but Excess Eccl. 10. 16 17. The Morning is the fittest time for business now what business should we do but the most weighty and that which requireth the greatest heedfulness of Soul which is our communion with God 4. Consider 'T is profitable to begin the day with God and to season the heart with some gracious exercise as David Psal. 139. 18. When I awake I am still with thee It sanctifieth all our other business as the offering the first fruits did sanctifie the whole lump and to whom should the first fruits of our Reason and Sense restored be consecrated but to him that gave us all and is the Author and preserver of them When the World gets the start of Religion it can hardly overtake it all the day the first thoughts leave a powerful Impression upon it Mich. 2. 1. They devise evil upon their beds and when the morning is come they practise it With carnal men sin beginneth in the morning stayeth in the Heart all day playeth in the fancy all night but if you begin with God in the Morning you take God along with you all the day to your business and imployment 5. This will be some recompence for the time lost in sleeping half our lives are consumed in it our time is parted between work and sleep 'T is the misery and necessity we are subject unto whilest we are in the body that so much of our time should be spent without doing any thing for God or shewing any act of Love and thankfulness to him None of the other Creatures ever stand still but are alwayes executing and accomplishing the end for which they were made And in heaven the blessed Spirits are alwaies beholding the face of God and Lauding and Blessing his Name and need not those intermissions which we bodily Creatures do Now though this be our Necessity and so no sin to need the refreshings of sleep yet because so much of our time is lost by way of recompence the least that we should do is to take the next season and if health and bodily constitution will permit to prevent the dawning of the Morning and to be as early with God as we can All the time we can well spare should be given to God do but consider since thou wentest to bed the Sun hath Travailed many thousand miles to give thee light this Morning and therefore what a shame it is that the Sun being continually in so swift motion should return and find him turning and tossing in his Bed like a door upon the hinges Prov. 20. 14. after Nature is satisfied with sleep And that we should not rise and own Gods Mercy in the Rest of the Night and sanctifie the Labours of the day by some serious address to him This Meditation is enforced by Augustine Indecus est Christiano si radius solis eum inveniat in lecto posset enim dicere sol si potestatem loquendi haberet amplius laboravi heri quam tu tamen cum jam surrexerim tu adhuc dormis So Ambrose on this Text Grave est si te otiosum radius solis orientis in verecundo pudore conveniat lux clara inveniat occulos somnolento adhuc corpore depressos III. 'T was a Vehement and Earnest Prayer for saith David I cryed Observe Doctrine 'T was earnest though private and 't was earnest though he could get no satisfactory Answer 1. Earnest though Private in all our Addresses to God we must be serious whether men see or hear or no God seeth and heareth An Hypocrite hath a great flash of gifts in Company but is streight when alone but Gods Children are most earnest in private when they do more particularly open their hearts to God without taking in the necessities of others Christ when he was withdrawn from his Disciples then he prayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more earnestly Luk. 22. 44. Iacob sent away his Company to deal with God in good earnest and then wrestled with him ille dolet vere qui sine teste dolet Peter went out and wept bitterly so a Christian trieth it out between God and him when he hath a mind to plead for his own Soul or for the Church therefore hath no outward reason to move him but Conscience and spiritual Affection The Pharisees would pray in the Synagogues and corners of the streets but Christ saith go into thy closet and shut the door and pray to thy father in secret Matth. 6. 7. This is the love and confidence we express to our Father in secret A man may put forth himself with great Warmth and Vigour before others that is slight and careless in secret Addresses to God In these secret intercourses we most taste our spirits and discern the pure workings of Affection towards God A Woman that only bemoaneth the loss of her Husband in Company but banisheth all thoughts of him when alone might justly be suspected to act a Tragical part and to pretend sorrow rather than feel it Some will pray in secret but customarily utter a few cold words but David saith I cried Remember there is one seeth in secret as Christ saith I am not alone Iohn 16. 32. And Mal. 1. 14. He is a God of
and God is too Fatherly to deny it to his Children You may deny an Apple to a wanton Child but you will not deny Bread to a fainting Child The bowels of a Father will not permit you to do that you may deny them superfluities in wisdom but your love will not permit you to deny them necessaries Meat is not so necessary to revive and refresh the Body as Grace for the Soul and his Holy Inspirations to act and guide you And will God deny these requests 7. Know when you have received Quickning Many Christians look for rapt and extatick Motions and so do not own the work of God when it hath passed upon them they under-rate their own Experiences and so cannot take notice of Gods Faithfulness Sense Appetite and Activity are the fruits of life and quickning 1. We have the more sense of indwelling Sin as an heavy Burthen Rom. 7. 24. None groan so sorely as those that are made partakers of a new Life Elementa non gravitant in suis locis a delicate Constitution is more sensible of pain Wicked Men scarce feel deep wounds given to their Conscience nor have any remorse for gross sins Gods Children their hearts smite them for the smallest disorders and irregularities 2. Appetite after Christ his Graces and Comforts 1 Pet. 2. 2. the more life any have the more craving of Food to maintain it in being they are always hungering and thirsting after God Matth. 5. 6. our Appetite will be after the things that conduce to the maintaining and preserving that being which they have If a man lose his Appetite the body pineth and languisheth and strength decayeth desire prepareth the soul to take in its supplies Your Life is in good plight when that is desired 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 't will be a means of Spiritual growth a kindly appetite after this Milk They are under a great decay who have lost their Appetite after the Gospel 3. Activity in Duties That we may honour Christ 1 Pet. 2. 4 5. To whom coming as a living stone ye also as lively stones are built up into a spiritual House Christ liveth and we live by him as the stones in the building carry a proportion with the corner-stone So Christians as the body with the Head It must needs be so because of Gods Spirit dwelling in us Ezek. 36. 27. Ioh. 7. 37. and because of the Graces in a Christian Faith and Love Faith working by Love is the great evidence of the new Creature If Faith and Love be strong it will quicken us to do much for God the apprehension of Faith doth enliven our notions of God Christ Heaven and Hell Faith puts Life into our thoughts of him Love is a notable pleader and urger 2 Cor. 5. 14. The Love of Christ constraineth us c. Secondly The Reasons why c. 1. They that have so much to do with God do see a need of it for he is a living God and will be served in a lively manner Rom. 12. 11. Not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. They that serve the Lord Negatively must not be slothful in business Affirmatively fervent in spirit God will not be served negligently coldly but with Life and earnestness The twelve Tribes served God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instantly Act. 26. 7. Instantly serving God with the uttermost of their strength He that hath a Right to our all must have our best surely he will not be put off with every slight thing Now the Children of God that are sensible of this are earnest for quickning that they may serve God in such a way as becometh him with Life and Power and Zeal for the manner in every Duty is to be regarded as well as the matter A man may do many things that are good but there is no Life in what he doth He prayeth but without any life in Prayer dead in Prayer Heareth but no Life in Hearing dull of Hearing All things in a Christian may be counterfeited but Life cannot be counterfeited that cannot be painted 2. They are acquainted with themselves and observe the frame and posture of their own spirits Now they that know themselves will see a need of Quickning 1 Because of the instability and changeable frame of mans Heart it hardly stayeth long in the same state now 't is up and anon 't is down as the constant experience of the Saints witness Sometimes they have a forwardness and strong propension of Heart to that which is good at other times a lothness and dulness or unfitness to perform any spiritual service when their Will is more remiss and their Affections unbent 'T is not indeed the constant frame of their Hearts yet it is a disease incident to the Saints even good men may feel a slowness of Heart to comply with the will of God and some hanging off from Duty Spontancae lassitudines sunt signa imminentis morbi so is this laziness and backwardness of spirit a sign of some great spiritual distemper Sometimes they are carried with great largeness of Heart and full sail of Affections at other times they are in bonds and streights that they cannot pour out their Hearts before God Psal. 77. 4. I am sore troubled that I cannot speak sometimes they have great Life and Vigour at other times no such lively stirrings but are flat and cold and dead when with Sampson they think to go forth and shake themselves as at other times Iudges 16. 20. by sad Experience they find that their Locks are gone that their Understandings are lean sapless and their Affections cold and their Delight and Vigour lost Man is a sinful weak inconstant Creature his heart is as unstable as water and much of this levity and instability remaineth with us after Grace as is seen in the various postures of spirit that we are under 2 Because of the constant opposition of the Flesh. There is an opposite Principle in our Hearts Gal. 5. 17. The body of Death that dwelleth in us doth always resist the life of the Spirit in us and therefore God must renew the influences of his Grace to preserve Life There are desires against desires and delights against delights this must needs abate our Vigour The Spirit draweth one way the Flesh another 'T is drawing Iam. 1. 14. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed 'T is depressing Heb. 12. 1. Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a Cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us Carnal Affections hang as a weight retarding us in our Heavenly flight and motions 'T is warring Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin And therefore the Lord had need to cherish the new Creature and good seed which cannot but be weakned with this opposition 3 Because our outward condition doth
lives upon invisible things secured by Gods faithfulness p. 745 746 It hath an Eagles Eye p. 833. How to get it p. 834 Faith strengthned from the Consideration 1. Of Creation 2. Of Providence p. 584. From Events p. 285 Faith and Fear make us truly wise p. 645 Faith concerning the World to come a great help to the keeping of a good Conscience in this p. 417 Faith encreased by thankfulness p. 447 Faith Conjecture Opinion how they differ p. 286 Faith brings meat out of the caters p. 424. It keeps alive in a dead condition p. 161 How we may know that Faith is of Gods raising p. 327 Faith may Faint and not Fail p. 542. 836. It may fail in some degree p. 835 836 Faith its use in application of promises p. 768 Faith has notable operations 1. The adventure 2. The waiting 3. The resolution 4. The resignation 5. The prudence 6. The Obedience of Faith p. 326 Faithfulness of God relates to some promise it depends on Gods unchangeableness It has been evidenced in all Ages of the World p. 579 580. 831 Faithfulness of God to us should encourage our Faithfulness to him p. 581 How we are to depend on Gods Faithfulness p. 832 Seen 1. In bringing 2. Guiding afflictions p. 510 Falling of a greater dishonour to God then bare refusal p. 342 Fall All may fall in some measure p. 782 Fallen Man compared to a lost sheep p. 1101 Falshood is either 1. In point of Opinion or 2. Practise p. 678 Familiarity reconciles us to Troubles and Temptations p. 872 Familiarity with wicked persons to be avoided Why 1. From the contagion 2. The molestation 3. The seduction 4. The scandal that arises thence c. p. 774 775 Vid. Company of wicked men Family God provides for his Family p. 848 Fast-day the work thereof to put away the evil of our doings p. 658 Fatherly Love of God to his Children under discipline p. 592 Father of Mercies not of punishments p. 512 Favour of God in the sense of it may be withdrawn from his dearest children p. 925. It is the souls life p. 518 Favour of God sought for by all that chuse him for their portion Why When How p. 391 392 393 It is the fountain of all goodness p. 924 925 Favour of God the priviledge of those that walk with him p. 7. Gods Children account it a great favour if he will but look upon them p. 903. It is better than Life p. 926 Reasons 1. From the necessity 2. Their value of it 3. Their confidence p. 903 Fear is ballanced with a sence of Gods great mercies p. 994 Fear of God What p. 427. 290. Twofold Fear servile and filial p. 427 108 290 291 A great resister of sin p. 18. 664 665 A qualification of those that expect Counsel from God p. 154 The great principle of obedience p. 427 Fear filial twofold 1. Of Reverence 2. Caution p. 428 It s influence on obedience p. 428 429 Fear of God consistent 1. With blessedness 2. Comfort 3. Courage 4. Free Grace p. 429 430 Fear to off end an effect and sign of Love p. 861 A note of a true servant of God p. 290 291 292 Fear of God drives out the slavish fear of Man p. 808 Fear and Faith make us truly wise p. 645 Fear of Man a great snare p. 308 Fear of God from the Word of God p. 290 Fear and Shame how they differ p. 309 Feares and cares checkt by Gods Faithfulness p. 511 Feeling of deadness a sign of some life p. 934 Feet what meant by Feet in Scripture p. 400. 658. 395 Fellowfeeling a duty though we feel nothing in our own persons p. 145 Fellowship with the Godly a great happiness p. 527 Fervor and vehemency required in Prayer p. 898. 926 What it is How to obtain it p. 901 902 Vid. Earnestness and Vehemency A few wicked may bring great judgements p. 805 Few punished should make all the rest fear p. 809 Fickleness in obedience matter of humiliation p. 341 Vid. unsteadiness Fidelity in keeping the Commandements should be joyn'd with Faith in believing the promises p. 458 Firâ—… of Tryals purgeth away dross p. 803 Fixed Spirit its excellency p. 525 526 Necessary to the sound heart p. 532. 752 Means to get a fixed spirit p. 535. 596 Fixed desires after holiness to be laboured for p. 308 309 Flashes of Religion Vid. Moods Pangs Flee to Gods Mercy through Christ p. 517 Flesh not to be consulted p. 411 Floods of Wickedness breaking out should put us upon prayer that God would deliver his people p. 855 Fool hardiness to rush into evil Company p. 776 Folly in sinning p. 684 Fore-armed against temptations a duty p. 869 Forbearance of God with sinners upon what grounds p. 855 856 Force Some do good by Force Two ways p. 1076 Forfeiture of mercy by ingratitude p. 422 by using indirect means to get out of trouble p. 542 Forerunners of mercy p. 868 Forgetting is neglecting p. 553. 596 Forgetfulness of Gods Word p. 99 It is Twofold p. 596 Helps against it p. 100 We are naturally apt to forget God p. 366 Formality not regarded by God p. 44 Formalists insist much on little matters p. 33 Formal and Godly professors how they differ p. 12 Former judgments to be laid to heart when like sins abound p. 808 809. 345 Former judgements are to be told to after Ages p. 345 Forsaken of God visibly What 1. When God lets loose Enemies 2. When he comforts not 3. When he directs not 4. When he supports not in an afflicted condition p. 818 Forsaking utterly to be forsaken of God ought to be earnestly deprecated p. 336 Forsaking God and duty to him in trials VVhat 1. To lose our patience 2. Our Confidence in him 3. To desert the Truth p. 414 415 Arguments against forsaking of God ibid God forsaketh none but those that forsake him p. 498 Forsaking God is 1. Folly 2. Rebellion 3. Ingratitude 4. Injustice p. 349. 350 Fortitude true when we can bear reproach for Christ p. 870 Fortifie within against temptations without p. 343 Against 1. Errors 2. Persecutions 3. Scandals ibid. Foundation of the stability of Gods Testimonies 1. Gods Nature 2. The blood of Christ p. 957 Vid. Testimonies Foundation of Righteousness the sure Foundation p. 817 Foundation of spiritual Life said in the word p. 880 Fountain of all goodness is God p. 471 513 514 Fountain of wisdom and knowledge God p. 636 Frame of heart right 1. When the principle is right 2. When there 's a constant progression suitable to that principle p. 892 To long for subjection to the will of God p. 303 Frame of heart spiritual in holy things difficult to be maintained p. 754 Several enquiries about the frame of the heart p. 754 Frame of the heart required by the word as well as the outward Act p. 859 A right frame of heart in six particulars p. 478 Frame of heart evil when we continue not in
not allowed a ground of Comfort p. 37 All Sin must be refrained 1. notorious and plausible 2. inward and outward 3. pleasant as well as not pleasant 4. sins against both Tables 5. great and small p. 660 661 Sin weakens both Grace and Comfort p. 663 1040 Heynousness of sin in breaking Gods Law striking at Gods being contradicting his Soveraignty p. 686 Sin removed 1. in Justification 2. Sanctification p. 185 Sin its Dominion p. 917 918 919 920 Differences of Sins p. 920 921 Sin brings trouble two ways 1 meritoriously 2. effectively p. 315 316 Sincere prayer must be sincere as well as fervent p. 902 909 910 Sincerity in prayer implies 1. Seriousness 2. Affectionateness 3. prevalency of those affections 4. universal Care to please God p. 903 Sincerity of Sanctification what it is p. 5 Marks of Sincerity 1. Carefulness to practice what we know 2. inquisitiveness to know more of our duty 3. to stand in awe of Gods Word p. 6 11 It makes God judge of its heart p. 627 Sincerity may be accompanied with failings p. 11 Sincerity and Integrity constitute the whole Heart p. 15 It aims at universal Obedience p. 33 59 It is to be asked of God with earnestness p. 530 It gives confidence with God p. 6 533 It keeps us good in bad times p. 866 Two Notes of Sincerity 1. the manner 2. the principle of Obedience p. 1042 Sinking under Burdens by looking on the bare Affliction p. 591 Prevented by considering that God is 1. Wise 2. Just 3. Good in afflicting p. 884. 885 Sinners the greatest when converted are the greatest mourners for the sins of others p. 930 Reasons ibid. Slander not only in the Deviser but the Receiver p. 141 299 300 Sleep there 's a surfeit in sleeping as well as eating p. 926 Slight prayers argue low thoughts of God p. 899 We are apt to be slighty in our prayers p. 915 Sluggish prayers teach God to deny p. 29 899 Snares of the Devil and wicked Men of several kinds p. 735 736 What use we are to make of these Snares p. 137 Song Gods word is our song in the house of our Pilgrimage p. 358 359 vid. Rejoycing Sorrow wasts the natural Spirits p. 554 176 It must be proportionable to sin p. 405 Sorrow of Gods Children greater than others why p. 177 Sorrow affect solitude joy company p. 503 Soveraignty of God must be submitted to p. 119. 789 God sometimes forsakes his people out of Soveraignty p. 51 Soveraignty of God in distributing wisdom p. 648 653 Soul is the Man p. 43 1093 God must be served with the Soul as well as the Body p. 1043 1044 Soul-Blessings are special Blessings p. 43 they are pledges of eternal Blessings ibid. to take ones Soul in his hand what the phrase imports p. 726 Souls life is Gods favour p. 518 Soul is 1 fons actionum ad extra 2. terminus actionum ad intra p. 1044 Soundness of heart what it is p. 530 531 532 Speedy turning to God necessary why p. 402 403 Pressed in general and particular p. 410 Speeding with God should make us come again p. 168 How to speed with God p. 162 H. Spirit is a spirit of Peace 1. as a Sanctifier 2 as a Comforter p. 1027 Spirit of God our Guide as the word is our Rule p. 8 152 153 Spirits work to draw the heart from earthly things to God p. 3 H. Spirit beareth witness to the Gospel p. 9 H. Spirit gives help as Christ gives leave to come to God p. 15 Spirit VVater and Blood how they bear witness p. 9 Spirit Word and holy Heart agree p. 934 H. Spirit gives 1. direction how to apply the Rule 2. to make a good choise 3. to act Grace 4 to manage civil Affairs p. 31 H. Spirit gives Liberty 1. from slavish Fears 2. from potent Lusts p. 304 H. Spirit encreaseth our delight in Gods Commandements p 316 H. Spirit the Author the Scripture the Means of Light p. 694 Spiritual seeing requires 1. that the object be clear 2. that the Organ be right p. 694 Spiritual Blessings call for praise why p 1057 Spiritual Blessings give us a heart to praise God temporal Blessings only give us an occasion p. 43 Spiritual sense and Life p. 671 672 673 It differs from the bare understanding p. 673 Spiritual Delight exceeds that in worldly things p. 87 593 There are three spiritual Senses chiefly 1. seeing 2. tasting 3. feeling p. 671 672 Spiritualizing common and earthly things p. 90 763 Springs of Comfort all in God by the word p. 514 Stability of the earth an Emblem of the Stability of Gods word p. 582 and of his Being 588. Stability of Gods Testimonies p. 889 890 620 956 957 Stability of Gods word opposed to the Creatures Vanity p. 618 620 Stablishing of the word to us two ways p. 284 how to get the word stablisht to us p. 287 288 Statutes of God what what it is to seek them p. 987 Strangers on Earth the Condition of all Gods Children p. 114 Men may be strangers on earth as to their Condition who are not so in Affection p. 114 Why Gods Children are and account themselves to be Strangers p. 114 115 116 How to carry our selves as Strangers in this world p. 118 119 Straights he that makes Conscience of Gods Commands may boldly seek help from God in his straights p. 1079 In all straights we are to delight in Promises p. 1035 Strength natural and spiritual both may fail as they are ours p. 538 Strength spiritual what it is how given out how God is concern'd therein p. 181 182 How to get spiritual Strength p. 182 183 Study the word but take God for your teacher p. 42 Arguments to study the Word p. 652 653 Study the word 1. not out of curiosity 2. nor meerly to be able to teach others 3. nor meerly for delight c. but in order to practice p. 68 68 Study Gods Name 1. what 2. how Stumbling preservatives against it p. 1032 v. scandal Stupidity under the Rod a great evil p. 159 It argues Stupidity to be careless in Prayer p. 906 907 Stupidity not to be affected with Gods Judgments on others p. 812 Subjection to God to be chosen before liberty p. 707 Subjection to God pressed from two grand Motives p. 308 309 Submission to Providence advanced by thanksgiving for received Mercies p. 421 Submission to Gods disposing and commanding Will p. 588 Submission to God 1. for the mercy 2. for the time of the mercy 3. for the way and means of it p 826 Suffering for Christ very reasonable who suffered such hard things for us p. 870 Suffering better than sinning p. 148 525 842 731 732 928 Sufferings are like to be long 1. when Reformation is rejected 2. when Deliverance would be a greater mischief 3. when there is a damp on the Spirit of Prayer 4. when god is about to punish us and we go not about to reconcile our selves to
wild asses colt not only for untamedness and affectation of liberty but for rudeness and grosness of conceit yet man would be accounted wise The Pharisees took it ill that Christ charged them with blindness Joh. 7. 41. Are we blind also We all affect the reputation of wisdom more than the reality that is the reason why we are so touchy in point of Error we can easier brook a sin reproved than an error taxed Till we have spiritual ey-salve we do not know it and will not hear of this blindness Rev. 3. 17. It is a degree of spiritual knowledg to know that we know nothing 2. Observe how much spiritual blindness is worse than bodily those that are under bodily blindness are glad of a Remedy glad of a Guide 1. Glad of a Remedy How feelingly doth that man speak Mark 10. 51. What wouldst thou have me to do Lord that mine eyes may be opened Those that are blind spiritually are not for a Remedy not only ignorant but unteachable and so their blindness groweth upon them to their natural there is an adventitious blindness If we cannot keep out the light we rage against it 2. Glad of a Guide as Elymas the Sorcerer when he was stricken blind looked about for some body to lead him by the hand Acts 13. 11. But the blind world cannot endure to be directed or the blind lead the blind and both fall into the ditch He that prophesieth of strong wine is the teacher of this people saith the Prophet Men love those that gratifie their lusts and humours let one come soundly and declare the counsel and will of God to them he is distasted 3. We cannot help our selves out of this misery without Gods help Our incapacity is best understood by opening that noted place 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things that are of God for they are folly to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Let us a little open that place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the souly man that is a man considered in his pure naturals Jude 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sensual having not the spirit However he useth the best word by which a natural man can be described he doth not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only those that are brutish and depraved by vicious habits but take Nature in its excellency soul-light in its highest splendor and perfection though the man be not absolutely given up to vile affections Well it is said of him that he neither doth nor can receive the things of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things of the spirit are such truths as depend upon meer Revelation and are above the reach and knowledg of Nature There are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of God that may be known by a natural light Rom. 1. 19. That which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things revealed in the word though a natural man be able to understand the phrases and sentences and be able to discourse of them yet he wanteth faith and a spiritual sense and relish of them They are folly to him It noteth the utter contempt of spiritual things by a carnal heart who looketh upon Redemption by Christ crucified with the consequent benefits as things frivolous and vain Paul at Athens was accounted a babler Acts 17. 18. The same disposition is still in natural men for though these truths by the prescription and consent of many Ages have now obtained veneration and credit yet carefully to observe them to live to the tenor of them whatever hazards and inconveniencies we are exposed to in the world is still counted foolish Mark for greater emphasis it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 folly as carnal wisdom is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. Neither can be know them it is out of sloth and opposition and moral impotency as 't is said Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be Reason is a short and defective light not only actually ignorant but unable to conceive of them 'T is not only through negligence he doth not but through weakness he cannot Take meer Nature in it self and like Plants neglected it soon runs wild As the Nations barbarous and not polished with Arts and Civility have more of the beast than the man in them Jude 10. But what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves Suppose they use the Spectacles of Art and the natural light of Reason be helped by Industry and Learning yet how erroneous in things of Religion Rom. 1. 21. When they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkned c. The most civil Nations were most foolish in matters of Worship and many placed Fevers and human passions and every paultry thing among the gods The Scythians worshipped Thunder the Persians the Sun the most stupid and blockish Nations seemed most wise in the choice of their gods others were given up to more gross superstitions All the arts in the world could not fully repair the ruins of the Fall The Heathens invented Logick for polishing Reason Grammar and Rhetorick for Language for Government and as a help to human society Laws for bodily necessities Physick for mollifying and charming the passions so far as concerned human conversation Ethicks for Families and private Societies Oeconomicks But for the Soul and Religious concernments how blind and foolish were they Nay go higher Suppose besides the Spectacles of Art Nature be furnished with the glass of the Word yet John 1. 5. The light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not We see how great Scholars are defective in the most useful and practical points Nicodemus a Teacher in Israel was ignorant of Regeneration Iohn 3. 10. They always err in one point or another And in these things of moment if they get an opinion and a Dogmatical Faith and have an exact model and frame of Truth yet as long as they are carnal and unregenerate how much doth a plain godly Christian exceed them in lively affection and serious practice And whilst they are disputing of the natures and offices of Christ and the nature of Justification and Sanctification others enjoy what they speak of and have a greater relish and savour and power of these Truths upon their hearts For ever it was a truth and ever will be Rom. 8. 5. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit Nature can go no further than it self than a fleshly inclination moveth it They have not this transforming light and that sense of Religion which is prevalent over
them afar off were persuaded of them and embraced them Secondly That the same common promises have been fulfilled to the Faithful in all Ages there is but one and the same way to eternal life in necessary things and the dispensations of God to every Age are still the same and so in every Generation the promises of God are still fulfilled as if they were directed to that time only God's Faithfulness hath been tryed many ways and at many times but every Age furnisheth examples of the truth of his promises from the beginning of the world to the end God is ever fulfilling the Scripture in his Providential Government which is double External or Internal 1. External in the deliverance of his People the answers of Prayer and manifold Blessings vouchsafed to Believers and their seed See Psal. 22. 4 5. Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them They cryed unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded The Godly in former times trusted God and trusted constantly in their Troubles and in their trusting they cryed and did never seek God in vain which should support us in waiting upon God and to depend on his mercy and sidelity For they that place their full affiance in God and seek his help by constant and importunate addresses shall never be put to shame 2. Internal in conversion to God the comforts of his Spirit establishment of the Soul in the hopes of the Gospel as to the pardon of sins and eternal life Certainly God that hath blessed the Word thoroughout many Successions of Ages to the converting and comforting of many Souls sheweth that we may depend upon the Covenant for pardon and eternal life How many have found comfort by the promises Now as the Apostle speaketh of Abraham It was not written for himself alone but us also Rom. 4. 23 24. So these comforts were not dispensed for their sake alone but for our benefit that we might be comforted of God having the same God the same Redeemer the same Covenant and Promises and the same Spirit to apply all unto us if they looked to God and were comforted why should not we his faithfulness is to all generations he is alike to Believers as they be alike to him Rom. 3. 22. there is no difference 5. That the experience of God's Faithfulness in former Ages is of use to those that follow and succeed to assure them of God's Faithfulness for God's wonderful and gracious works were never intended meerly for the benefit of that Age in which they were done but for the benefit also of those that should hear of them by any creditable means whatsoever 't is a scorn and a vile contempt put upon those wonderful works which God made to be had in remembrance if they should be buried in oblivion or not observed and improved by those that live in after-ages yea 't is contrary to the Scriptures 〈◊〉 Psal. 145. 4 One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts Joel 1. 3. Tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children another generation Joshua 4. 6 7 8. That this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers in time to come What mean you by these stones then shall you answer them That the waters of Iordan were cut off from before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God So Psal. 73. 3 4 5 6 7. That which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us We will not hide them from their children shewing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done For he established a testimony in Iacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children That the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments From all which I observe 1. That we should tell generations to come what we have found of God in our time and more especially Parents should tell their children they are bound to transmit this knowledge to their children and they to improve it either by word or deed by word by remembring the passages of providences and publishing his mercies to posterity Psal. 89. 1. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever with my mouth I will make known thy faithfulness to all generations Or by deed putting them in possession of a pure Religion confirmed to us by so many providences and instances of God's goodness and truth 2. That this report of God's gracious works and owning his Covenant is a special means of Edification why else should God enjoin it but that the Ages following should receive benefit thereby Surely 't is an advantage to them to hear how God hath owned us in Ordinances and Providences 3. And more particularly I observe that this Tradition is a great means and help to Faith for 't is said Ver. 7. That they may set their hope in God 6. That to be satisfied in point of God's Faithfulness is of great importance to Believers Partly because their fidelity to God is much encouraged by his fidelity to us They that do not trust God cannot be long true to him Heb. 3. 12. Take heed lest there be found in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God And Iam. 1. 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that doth not stick fast to God and is ever unresolved being divided between hopes and fears concerning his acceptance with God A wavering Christian that is divided between God and some unlawful course for his safety divided between God's ways and his own and cannot quietly depend upon his promises but is tossed to and fro doth not intirely trust himself in Gods hands but doth wholly lean upon his own Carnal confidence And partly because God is Invisible and dealeth with us by proxy by messengers who bring the word to us We see not God in person Heb. 13. 7. Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversations Their manner of living their perseverance till death in this faith and hope And partly because the Promises are future and the main of them is to be accomplished in another world Now nothing will support us but the faithfulness of God Prov. 11. 18. The wicked worketh a deceitful work but to him that soweth righteousness there shall be a sure reward Men think to be happy by their sin but find themselves deceived at last but none can be deceived that trust in the living and true God Partly because
many of the Promises contradict sense as when the Soul is filled with anguish because of the guilt of sin 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness And the power of sin 1 Thess. 5. 24. Faithful is he who calleth you who also will do it Supported in great distresses 1 Cor. 10. 13. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able That we may be able to stand in the judgment 1 Cor. 1. 9. God is faithful by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his Son Iesus Christ. Here is a Christian 's great security and support God's Faithfulness testified by Christians now and in all Ages confessing they have found by their experience the Word of God to be true for they have transmitted Religion to us by their constant consent and left it to us under a seal of God's Faithfulness and therefore we should persevere in our duty to God 2dly As represented by an Emblem we should consider it for 't is an help to frequent Meditation as being always before our eyes and they are without excuse who see not God in this thing Every time we set foot on the ground we may remember the stability of God's Promises and 't is also a confirmation of Faith Thus 1. The stability of the Earth is the effect of God's Word this is the true Pillar upon which the Earth standeth For he upholdeth all things by the word of his power Psal. 33. 9. For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast Now his word of Power helpeth us to depend upon his word of Promise God that doth what he pleaseth never faileth in what he promiseth We see plainly that whatever standeth by God's Will and Word cannot be brought to nought Whence is it how came this world to have a being 't is the work and product of that God whose word and promise we have in Scripture certainly the power of this God cannot fail 't is as easie for him to do as to say 2. Nothing appeareth whereon the globe of the earth and water should lean and rest Job 26. 7. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing Now that this vast and ponderous Body should lean upon the fluid Air as upon a firm foundation is matter of wonder the question is put in the Book of Iob Chap. 38. 6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastned or who hath laid the corner-stone thereof Yet firm it is though it hang as a Ball in the Air. The Globe of the Earth is encompassed with the Regions of the Air and the Celestial Spheres and hath no visible support to sustain so heavy a Body hanging in the midst of so vast an Expansion yet God hath setled and established it so firm as if it rested on the most solid Basis and Foundation fitted so strange a place for it that being an heavy Body one should think it would fall every moment yet which whensoever we would imagine it it must contrary to the nature of such a Body fall upwards and so can have no possible ruine but by falling into Heaven Now since his word beareth up such a weight all the Churches weight and our own burden leaneth on the promise of God he can by the power of his Word do the greatest things without visible means Luke 7. 7. But say in a word and my servant shall be healed Therefore his people may trust his Providence he is able to support them in any distresses when no way of help and relief appeareth 3. The firmness and stability offereth its self to our thoughts The earth abideth in the same seat and condition wherein God left it as long as the present course and order of nature is to continue Psal. 104. 5. He hath laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be moved for ever God's Truth is as immoveable as the earth Psal. 118. 2. The Truth of the Lord endureth for ever Surely if the foundation of the earth abideth sure the foundation of our salvation laid by Jesus Christ is much more sure Heaven and earth shall pass away but not one tittle of the word and law of God till all be fulfilled Mat. 5. 18. If the Law given by Moses be so sure much more the promises of salvation by Christ. 2 Cor. 1. 20. For all the promises of God in him are yea and amen 4. The stability in the midst of Changes Eccl. 1. 4. One generation passeth away and another cometh but the earth abideth for ever When man passeth away the earth stayeth behind him as an habitation for other comers and abideth where it was when the Inhabitants go to and fro and can enjoy it no more All things in the world are subject to many Revolutions but God's Truth is one and the same The vicissitudes in the world do not derogate from his fidelity in the promises he changeth all things and is not changed though there be a new face of things in the world yet we have a sure Rule to walk by and sure promises to build upon and therefore in all conditions we should be the same to God and there is no doubt but he will be the same to us 5. In upholding the Frame of the World all those Attributes are seen which are a firm stay to a Believer's heart such as Wisdom Power and Goodness Wisdom Prov. 3. 19. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth by understanding hath he established the heavens Look on it 't is the work of a wise Agent So for Power this great Fabric is supported by his Almighty Power His Goodness is seen in that he hath made the earth to be firm and dry land that it may be a fit habitation for men this is a standing Miracle of Goodness Luther saith we are always in medio rubri maris kept as the Israelites were in the midst of the Red Sea The Psalmist telleth us Psal. 24. 2. He hath founded the earth upon the seas and established the world upon the floods That part of the world whereon we dwell would suddenly be overwhelmed and covered with waters were it not for the goodness of God for this the order of nature sheweth in the beginning of the Creation Gen. 1. 7. that next under the Air were the waters covering the whole Surface of the Earth but God made such Cavities in the Earth as should receive the waters into them and such Banks as should bound and bridle the vast Ocean that it might not break forth Gen. 1. 9. and so now by his Providence the water is beneath the Earth and the Earth standeth firm upon that fluid body as upon the most solid foundation which as it is a work of wise disposal and contrivance so an effect of the goodness of God for the preservation of mankind And though once for the sins of the world these